Saturday, February 23, 2008

Macaroni Soup


















A few friends wanted to come by at 2.30pm today. What should I serve that is not too heavy because I'm sure they've eaten lunch before coming over to our home? At first I wanted to make makaroni goreng but, hubby made a request for macaroni soup (my mother's recipe).

Here are 2 pictures of the final product. I'll post the recipe tonight because right now we're going out.

Jap deh ...


Ingredients:

1. 1/2 packet of macaroni or any type of pasta you desire, cooked 3/4 done based on the packet's instructions. It will cook some more later when you add the macaroni to the soup.

2. 3 big yellow onions + a small bowl of small/red onions + 2 medium sized garlic cloves - all blended together

3. 1.5 tbsp of chili paste/ciliboh (I made my own. dried chilies cut into 3-4 pieces to get the seeds out. soak in hot water to soften for 15 minutes, strain & then blend)

4. 2 tbsp curry powder

5. chicken fillets/strips cut into bite sizes

6. 2 litres of water

7. celery, young corns, cauliflower & carrots cut into bite sizes

8. Maggi tomato sauce (hubby loves the sweetness of tomatoes, so I used a lot of tomato sauce. How many bottles depend on your tastebuds & how much liquid you've put into the pot. For this recipe I used 1.5 large bottles of tomato sauce)

9. salt for taste

10. garnish: chopped daun bawang(scallions) & daun sup (celery),
bawang goreng (fried onions)

11. cooking oil


Note:
~ amount of water, chili paste & curry powder can vary depending on your preference for the soup - soupy, spicy or tomatoey taste.


Steps:

1. Heat oil in pot, fry blended ingredients until fragrant. (bawang & lada garing @ pecah minyak)

2. Add curry powder and fry till oil separates from the mixture. (pecah minyak)

3. Add chicken pieces and mix well. Fry till chicken meat changes colour. (isi ayam masak skit & pecah minyak sekali lagi)

4. Add water & veges. Let it boil. The young corn will help to thicken the broth abit. (if you do not have young corn, you can add a little cornpowder mixed with water)

5. Add tomato sauce & salt to suit your taste.

6. Add macaroni & meatballs (optional)

7. When taste is up to your satisfaction, serve in a bowl & sprinkle the garnish.


I like to add meatballs to the soup, it adds flavour & texture. Here is the recipe for meatballs:


~ 300gm minced meat
~ 1 clove of garlic & 1" ginger - pounded finely
~ white pepper, black pepper, salt, sugar & lite soy sauce to taste (mixed first b4 adding to mince meat)
~ a tbsp of cornflour
~ mix everything well, make into balls (size by preference) & fry (for this soup, I made them small - bite size)


mMmmMmmmMmmmmMMMMmmmm :o)

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Fresh Fishball Soup



















This was tonight's dish for dinner. The fishballs were freshly made from scratch this evening. My mother's recipe.

Each had a bowl of fishball soup with green leaves & bits of macaroni, served with light soy sauce with cilipadi. Dessert was fresh nectarines with mint lemon tea (no sugar).

I have loads of pics on how to make the fishballs but they were taken using the phone camera. I forgot to bring along the digital camera.

I'll upload the pics, how-to and ingredients later.





:o)

Monday, February 18, 2008

Salad

Being on a diet, I have to be creative when it comes to dinner. Hubby does not want rice and neither do I. So, here's my first recipe in this blog. It's a salad and I don't have a name for it hehehe

No special recipe, just threw a few things together. Documenting it here :o)




I first marinated a few squids with abit of olive oil, turmeric powder, salt & pepper. I left it in the fridge for about an hour. Then I started grilling it.







After grilling them for a few minutes, I cut them into smaller pieces and grilled for a few more minutes.









To add crunch to the salad, I crushed a few roasted almonds. The pestle and some wrist work did the job ;o)








The base of the salad is made of butterhead salad. You can get it at Giant or Cold Storage supermarket. The leaves are crispy and I love its sweet taste.








I also prepared some shreded carrots, slivered capsicum & celery.











At first I wanted to make the dressing from scratch but changed my mind and used the Italian dressing that was in the fridge. I love the tangy taste of this dressing.
























Mixed everything up and here's the result.




Each had a bowl of salad, a glass of oatmilk, a glass of water and an apple. Kenyang :o)