Steamed Basted Egg Recipe

I love eggs. Who doesn't?

Unless you're living a dietary lifestyle which excludes egg, of course.

Or, you're simply that weirdo who don't.

Super versatile (think fried, poached, scrambled, hard/soft boiled etc.,) and it's a staple in most of our diet.

I like mine in most ways (omelette being my least favourite out of all the ways to cook'em), but some times I am just extremely lazy. You might be wondering to yourself: "What? It's not that hard to cook eggs. Da fuq you on about??".

Whilst it is easy to cook eggs in general - some methods require a bit more patience and caution if you want great results.

Poached: is nearly impossible in my kitchen. I also have no patience for this. Normally wait for a breakfast outing at a restaurant.
Over-easy: I tend to break the yolk when I flip'em. I have no patience for this.
Sunny-side up: When I really don't care. Easiest thing for me. Ever.
Scrambled: When I have milk & a bit more patience in the morning. Though easy for most, I like mine "creamy". Some some of effort required for me personally, since I add extra spices to mine.
Hard-boiled: Amazing, though I have to keep track of time to make sure the yolk is still runny. Over-cooked yolk is a major no-no. I aim for a Ajitsuke Tamago or "ramen-style" egg.
Soft/Half-boiled: When I am home-sick and want comfort food. Easy, but requires waiting aka patience. 6-8 some minutes is just too long. Someone else in the house doesn't like it either.
Omelette: Close to never, unless I am attempting omu-rice.

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That was up until I learned that Steamed Basted Eggs was a simple as hell technique. Don't get me wrong. Some of the few other ways I've listed above is easy as hell as well, but it doesn't always please the rest of the household - whether it's texture... mostly texture.

For me, this recipe is a perfect balance of: over-easy, poached & sunny-side up! Here's a video of what it looks like:

This requires a teeny-weeny bit more observation on my part, but the results are glorious!

Some days, I am too lazy to even worry about the presentation and add in the water before the sides turn white. Still ends up great, though not as pretty as the one shown in the video.

Also, I don't always add butter/margarine to my non-stick pan. I add for flavour. It sticks a tiny bit more if you don't, but feel free to omit this if you're using a non-stick pan as well.

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Season with salt & pepper (and other herbs, if you're like me) and serve!
Don't have any recent photos, so this old one will have to do.
[UPDATE: Thought I didn't make a post about this method. Apparently I did here]

What's your favourite "egg-cellent" breakfast method?

THE Perfect Egg Recipe

For a while, my partner has been snobbing me when it comes to cooking eggs. I've always made sunny-side up for myself in the past, ones with a somewhat crispy border. However, when we first started living together, he wanted the "over-easy" eggs that he was used to. 

I remember my grandparents making these for me as a child, with a tiny splash of soy sauce to complement the eggs. However, I just thought it was rather bothersome to risk breaking the yolk whilst flipping them over, therefore sticking with the sunny-side up option. 

As the years passed, I had a fascination ... an addiction to poached eggs as the "healthy" alternative for breakfast. I liked the fact that it was cooked without butter, had a funky shape but mostly still had the runny yolk I love. 

My partner said he didn't like my sunny-side up eggs, as they did sport rather crispy egg whites and if I were to rush making them, I end up with a bit of runny egg whites too (much to his disgust). Over many failed attempts in making his ideal over-easy eggs, I somewhat gave up and allowed him to take over the cooking of fried eggs. 

It was only recently that I stumbled upon a post on Pinterest, that boasted the perfect "over-easy" egg recipe. Upon further reading, I realised that it wasn't really an over-easy egg, as it wasn't fried on both sides, but it utilized steam to achieve results. With further research, I discovered that it used the Steam-Basted method which I had never heard of before. 

I just had to try this out for myself - like the results to me were the perfect combination of sunny-side, poached, and over-easy all-in-one! How could I not?

My first attempt resulted in this:

I made the mistake of taking off the lid just a little too late, when the white film had already developed on the yolk, and the residual heat overcooked the yolk slightly more than what we were used to. Nevertheless, I had never made an egg looking this good ever. 

The second attempt was perfect, but I was too hungry to take any photos (we devoured ours within minutes), so here's my third:

Dudeee.... just look at that eggy perfection!

My personal preference will always be half-boiled eggs as it brings back great childhood memories. Otherwise, this has now become my next best favorite!

Ingredients:

Egg(s)

Butter/Margarine/Oil

Salt & Pepper (optional; to taste)

Frying pan with a lid

Water

Method:

1. Heat up your frying pan on high heat. Melt a tiny bit of butter/margarine/oil. Trust me, you will not need much. 

2. Crack egg(s) into the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high. Wait for the egg whites to cook to a point where it is opaque. 

3. I don't have exact measurements for the water, but I pour just enough to water where it reaches the edges of the egg whites. Cover frying pan with lid. 

 Don't know if you can see, but there's a slight water line if you must use this as an indication. 

Don't judge the over-sized lid. My frying pan did not come with one, so I had a substitute!

4. I highly suggest keeping an eye on the eggs as soon as you pop on the lid. I would say that in a couple of minutes or less, the egg yolk(s) will soon develop the thin white film on the yolk base. If you like your yolk runny (like me), quickly turn off the heat, take off the lid and remove from heat immediately. 

If you like your yolk a slightly bit firmer, wait until the yolk has clouded over and then immediately remove from heat. 

5. Serve immediately. Crack salt & pepper according to your preference. 

My boyfriend's serving. I already had mine when I made his lol. 

Eggs, wedges & Cretons on toast. 

I prefer my eggs on top of smashed avocado toast for a filling, satisfying brekkie! 

Enjoy & bon appetit!

Simple Asian Roasted Pork Shoulder Recipe

Ahhh, there's definitely nothing better than the taste of pork! Growing up in Malaysia, pork made its mark as one of the staple ingredients in our meals (for us Chinese mostly? Definitely non-halal lol). I would say that my favourite cut is pork belly *drools*

Since my relocation, my partner decided that instead of bumming around at home all day, he'd ask me to walk all the way to the grocery store (and for the much needed "exercise"). 

Walked over to the meat section, and I was just about to pick up some pork chops, but, I looked over to the other fridge and noticed pork shoulder picnic cuts for cheaper! Me, being greedy and somewhat a cheap-skate at times, want the best value for more meat. So, pork shoulder it was. 

I've prepared large slabs of pork belly in the past, but that chunk of meat is probably one of the thickest (heaviest, largest??) portion I've worked with, besides a whole chicken. 

Since I was walking home, I only bought a few other ingredients wholly unrelated to this pork dish. I realised this as soon as I got home - upon some of my research, if I wanted a tender pork dish, I have to have like either (a) twenty other ingredients which I do not have, (b) slow roast the shit out of the pork overnight, but I don't want an alarming electricity bill, or (c) pop it in a slow-cooker, again, which I do not possess. AHHHHH...

So, I thought to myself, why the heck not. Let's try slow-cooking it at a relatively low temperature and for longer. Turns out, it was a darn heck of a tender roast with awesome, awesome flavours. 

Job well done, Mesha. Job well done. *gloats*

Anyways, decided to keep a record for self-use or for anyone who happens to tumble upon this post. Keep in mind, when I mentioned "simple", its based wholly on a few staple ingredients I have in my pantry. Also, I have a convection oven.

Before I forget as well, I remember that I don't really do measurements either. Mostly a gut feeling.

Simple Asian Roasted Pork Shoulder Recipe

Cooking time: 5 hours

Ingredients: 

1 pork shoulder (picnic)

4 cloves of garlic (peeled, half-pressed, & halved)

1 Brown Onion (sliced)

1 tsp Sesame Oil

Chinese 5-spice 

Black Pepper

White Pepper (the one I am currently using is a white-pepper salt mixture. If it's plain white pepper, add salt)

*Salt

For the homemade teriyaki sauce 

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup mirin 

2 tsp white sugar 

Method:

1. Leave the pork out on a bench until room temperature (or slightly cold to touch if needed).

2. Preheat oven to 250F / 120C. ("Roast" setting)

3. With the pork, create little garlic "pockets", by making a deep slits in the pork. Depending on how big your piece is, you can try and evenly make slits. (I only made 5 slits, so the remaining garlic halves was stuffed into the slits which I had over cut). Stuff garlic halves into slits.

4. The first layer of dry rub is the 5-spice. Evenly, but thinly coat the meat with this spice. It is a very strong spice, so depending on your preference, use more or less. (I coated mine with more!)

5. The second layer of rub is the white pepper, black pepper (*and salt). The best ratio is 2:1. More white pepper than black. *If you are using salt, evenly season it on the entire meat.

6. Drizzle top of meat with sesame oil

7. Put the well-seasoned meat onto a non-stick baking tray and transfer to the second rack of the oven for 4.5 hours.

8. After time has elapsed, take meat out, transfer to a plate and set aside. Re-set oven to 450F /232C

**OPTIONAL STEP**

On the baking tray, take a teaspoon of rendered pork fat and put aside. (I put mine straight onto the frying pan).  You can either keep the rendered pork fat/oil for other recipes or discard.

9. With the onions, layer it on the tray, focusing the amounts mostly on the middle. Take the pork and put it on top of the onions. Pop it back into the oven, middle rack, for another 30 minutes.

10. With the kept rendered pork fat, (if you decided to keep it), transfer to frying pan. Heat stove to medium - medium low. Pour in wet ingredients and mix.

11. Once the sauce is hot enough, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Leave it simmering until reduced, which should take about 30 minutes as well. 

12. Remove tray from oven. Let the meat rest. Carve to desired thickness and serve with the homemade teriyaki sauce.

Verdict:

Boyfriend-approved. He even dared to say that it was the best meal I've conjured up in a while @#$%! 

The 5-spice, white & black pepper rub is one that I am very fond of; I've tried this with osso bucco, pork belly, etc., Also, the smell of the spices fills the room. Win-win

In summary, this was a success: the meat was oh-so very tender and moist (dare I say, almost falling apart), whilst still maintaining that thin spiced-crust which had formed, which also provided a lot of flavor. The garlic was so soft, it almost became like a natural garlic butter paste. Additionally, I loved the teriyaki sauce with it as it added sweetness and further flavour depth to this dish. 

Lastly, I find this awesome as I am technically kitchen-ware impaired as I have yet to buy myself a slow-cooker and do not have many other spices or ingredient on hand!

** No photos cause we devoured it for dinner. Leftovers in fridge **

Mesha's Home-made Pomegranate & Red Wine Jam

Jam or fruit preserves,  are simply a combination of fruit, vegetables, and sugar, canned/bottled for long-term storage. In most of today's recipes for fruit jam often includes the need for pectin, which is a natural gelling-agent. 

I found this bowl of pomegranate fruit (already peeled and ready to eat) sitting in the fridge for almost a week now and decided that it would be a waste to dump it. So, armed with a glass of wine already tipsy, and Google at my expense, I decided to make some jam.

Now, upon Google-ing pomegranate jam, a lot of the recipes I found require pectin. Owning a normal pantry, I do not have pectin, so I googled jam recipes without the need of pectin and the closest I found, was substituting honey for both sugar and pectin.

Great.

I don't have honey.

So, what the heck. If the pomegranate is meant to be in the bin, may as well improvise.

Ingredients:
1 peeled and ready-to-go pomegranate
1/2 cup Hot water
1/2 cup red wine of your choice
Just a little less than 1 cup of brown caster sugar
Preferably, you own a blender as you will need this to thicken the mixture naturally.

Method:
1. Put the pomegranate fruit into a medium sized saucepan. Add the remaining ingredients.

2. Bring the fruit/wine mixture to a boil.

3. Once it has been brought to a boil, lower the heat (medium-low) and let it simmer for 30-45 minutes. Stir throughout the process to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.

4. Transfer the mixture into the blender and blend it to your desired consistency. Transfer it back into the pan.

5. Let the blended mixture simmer on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, keeping an eye on the mixture to ensure that it does not burn or stick to the pan. This is where the concoction should start to thicken.

6. Let it reach the desired thickness of the jam and pour it into a storage utensil of your choice. Let it cool before you refrigerate it.

7. Once it has cooled, serve it with toast or scones! Enjoy ~

Okay. Not the best photo but my first home-made jam! Voila! 

Verdict:
I am obviously not a connoisseur in jam-making and it is my first play-it-by-ear jam. I must advise that this jam does not have the same consistency as the jams you buy at the supermarket. Without the use of pectin or any other gelatine products, it has a distinct viscous consistency (like those thick, almost crystallised honey), so don't freak out when it is not as jelly as you imagined/hoped it would be.

I also want to advise to probably add in less sugar than I did, unless you have more fruit (like 2 or 3) as it is super duper sweet after the reduction process. Nonetheless, it still tastes like jam!

Easy Naan Bread Recipe (I Have Naan Left!)

Naan is a popular leavened flat-bread which most of us associate with the Asian cuisine- in particular, Indian cuisine and cuisines from the surrounding area. 

Naan also holds its own place in my heart as it brings back fond memories of going to a mamak stall at ridiculously stupid early hours in the morning for a very, very late supper. This bread pairs well with the spicy, aromatic herbs and taste of all sorts of Indian curries, and especially, when it is freshly out of a tandoor oven, along side tandoori chicken. My absolute favourite naan, which I order every single time I visit Steven's Corner in Malaysia, is the Garlic Cheese Naan (think garlicky pizza with puffy, soft, luxurious naan bread as the "pizza" base). The Steven's Corner OUG branch is still the original place I go to for that particular naan!

Funnily enough, I only decided to make my own a long time ago whilst in Australia during a Caravan, Camping, Boating & Fishing expo. How weird, right? The chef on the day won us over with his Bush Spiced Naan Bread & Crusted Roo recipe and ever since, I have been using the recipe (simplified to accommodate what I already have at home) to make naan.

So, on weekends when we are out of bread at home (and when I actually find the motivation as I am that lazy!), this is a great simple, almost fool-proof way to make your own naan at home without a tandoor. 

Ingredients:

1 sachet or 1 tsp dried yeast

500g plain flour (I used 2 cups)

3/4 cup warm water

3 tsp sugar

1 beaten egg

2 tsp salt

1/4 oil (I used olive oil. Macadamia oil was used in the original recipe as it was the feature produce of the day. Any cooking oil should work fine.)

1/4 cup of yoghurt/milk*

3 tsp spice mix of your choice* (Especially in Australia, there are many bush spice mix available in grocery stores. If bush spice isn't available, get creative and mix your favourite mix of herbs or throw in some poppy/sesame seeds!)

*:What I did not use in this batch as I was lazy didn't have any and wanted see the result without those ingredients.

Method:

1: Mix 1 teaspoon of sugar with 1/4 cup of the warm water, then add the dried yeast. Mix the yeast in and let it sit until froth appears.

Not the best looking image of frothed-up yeast. Looking at this still give me goosebumps.

2. Whilst waiting for the yeast to froth, I quickly beat up an egg in a separate bowl.

If your egg doesn't look like this, well.. I don't know what you did wrong. Seriously! Jokes.

3. In a big bowl, mix other remaining ingredients together and the started yeast. Knead dough for a couple of minutes, into a smooth ball.

Mine isn't perfect. Don't judge! If yours looks a bit rough, like mine, it's a sign that more flour could have been added (just don't add more than 3 cups in total). Yoghurt or milk does help for a smoother dough, from what I've heard.

4. Cover the bowl with the ball of dough (I used clingwrap) and leave it in a warm place until it has doubled in size (mine took 45 minutes to an hour).

5. Take the risen dough and a)If you are bloody awful at measuring a perfectionist, you can attempt cutting equal portions of the dough. b) If you are like me, I just estimate and pull off chunks of dough as I go along. These portions are to be rolled into balls/spheres.

6. Dust a large chopping board, or any clean surface you are working on with a little bit of flour. Flatten the balls of dough with a rolling pin until they resemble small pizza bases. 

Extra sprinkled flour helps the dough not to stick to surfaces. Don't over do it. I used half a tablespoon for each ball of dough.

7. Heat up a non-stick frying pan on medium to high heat. The original recipe said to use hot BBQ plates or a cast iron pan. I used one of those small non-stick frying pans you can easily get at any grocery market! No oil needed. 

8. Once the pan has heated up, put those flattened dough into the pan. Again, the original recipe stated for it to be heated for no longer than 30 seconds maximum, assuming if you are using a scorchingly hot BBQ plate or cast iron pan. For me, on high heat, I decided to play it safe (didn't want the dough to be still raw) and 30 seconds on each side. 

Just a heads-up that the dough will puff during cooking. I completely forgot about that and freaked me out for a second!

The End Result:

Burnt marks on my batch as I really seared these on high heat!

I found some of mine a bit dry as due to a number of factors - I rolled some of the dough quite thin and left it a tad too long in the frying process. But the rest were good! I mean, who doesn't like fresh, hot bread? Flat or not flat!? Especially with generous portions of butter! 

For breakfast, I had this with Spicy Tuna Mayo (swear I have that with everything!) and some cheese or just some butter.

I definitely can't wait to make more variations of these in the near future! 

Spicy Tuna Mayo Onigiri Recipe

My Spicy Tuna Mayo Onigiri! <3

For all the years in which I was a poor university student, I had never crossed my mind to make onigiri. I mean, it's literally a rice ball with a stuffing of your choice in the middle of it - cheap, affordable, easy to make and filling! This should be every broke student's dream food! Not to mention, it is healthier than the cheap packets of instant noodles or McBurgers. 

We hadn't had much food as we had neglected grocery shopping for a while now, so when I was foraging for food inside our fridge and pantry, all we had left was rice, pasta and tinned tuna FML T_T

I think it was out of sheer desperation and hunger (Okay, I am just exaggerating here) that I had an epiphany -What can I make out of rice and tuna and for it to look somewhat appetising? Why, onigiri of course! 

Just Bento has a great guide explaining what onigiri is, so I'll let them do most of the explaining.

I decided to do most of the experimenting instead of following a set recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of Rice (sushi rice or any other short-grained rice)

2 cups of water (for cooking rice)

Spicy Tuna Mayo (click for recipe)

5 tsp Rice wine vinegar (optional)

Nori (optional)

Salt (optional)

Method:

1. You can start off preparing the tuna stuffing ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for not more than a day, or alternatively, use a stuffing of your choice.

2. Prep rice as per instructed on the packaging. (I made mine the lazy way as I do not own a rice cooker. Washed rice a couple of times, poured in water, and popped it in the microwave for 15 minutes).

3. Once the rice is cooked, add in shredded nori and/or rice vinegar (optionally, some people said to use salt, but I didn't as the tuna mayo was quite salty on its own).

Hot, sticky sushi rice and shredded nori

4. Here comes the fun part! Shaping the onigiri! Make sure the rice is nice and hot as the heat makes it easier to shape. Everyone has their own way of shaping it and I found it sooooo much easier to cheat by using clingwrap! I don't like rice sticking all over my hands, especially when it's hot! I remembered this method I tried donkey years ago.

Here's a step-by-step photo guide using clingwrap.

Place a 2 tablespoon worth (an estimation) and flatten it on the clingwrap.

In the middle, place stuffing on top of the rice

Slowly grab each corner of the clingwrap and ensuring that the stuffing stays in the middle, wrap it up so it forms a ball. Then, tighten the clingwrap by twisting the excess bits and mould the desired shape. The easiest is obviously a ball. 

5. Serve whilst fresh and hot!

Note: I also practiced making triangular-shaped ones whilst using the clingwrap method as I need not worry about it breaking up and falling everywhere! Great for beginners like me!

End result:

This one was the first batch I practiced with arborio rice. Though it held together initially, it fell apart upon consumption. Arborio rice is a big no-no.

My first attempt in making triangular onigiri.

Well, hopefully one day I'll master onigiri! :)

Spicy Tuna Mayo (Mesha's Version)

To be honest, I don't really fancy tinned tuna too much (I like 'em raw - think sashimi) but they are so darn cheap ($0.90AUD) per tin and it comes in a variety of flavours. That is why there are always a few tins of tuna laying around in our pantry. 

The reason I made this spicy tuna mayo, was specifically for onigiri stuffing, but could be used in sandwiches as well. I could eat this spicy tuna mayo with plain white rice all day (I'm trying not to brag, but damnnn, I didn't expect my experiment working well! Well enough to document on this blog anyways.

This recipe is simple and very well worth making to keep in the fridge.

Ingredients:

2 small tins of tuna (both I had were Lemon & Pepper flavoured)

1 big clove of garlic 

1/4 brown onion 

2 tbsp ABC Extra Hot Chilli sauce

2 heaped tsp mayo (preferably Kewpie)

Cooking oil or butter

Method:

1. Finely dice garlic and onion.

2. Heat up some oil or butter on a frying pan (I used butter). 

3. Add the diced onion and garlic. Sweat it for 5 minutes on low to medium heat.

4. Add tins of tuna.

5. Turn the the heat up to medium - high and keep stirring the tuna in order to evaporate excess liquid. Evaporate it to get as much liquid out as possible. 

6. Add the chilli sauce and mix thoroughly.

I absolutely adore and am a complete addict to ABC's chilli sauce. Personally, this beats Sriracha. I used this on almost everything I eat. 

7. Remove from heat and place tuna mixture into a small bowl.

8. Add mayo and mix thoroughly with the tuna

Okay, so not the best looking paste ever, but it's yummy!

Verdict: 

Have to admit that the photo makes it look somewhat disgusting but it's the flavour that counts! Did not need to add salt/pepper as the chilli sauce had enough flavour in it (not to mention that the tuna already had lemon and cracked black pepper). Guess salt/pepper could be added if plain tuna was used.

Recommended for onigiri and sandwiches! 

Basil, Bacon & Mushroom Pasta with Cream Sauce (Beta Version)

I have always loved cream sauce with pasta (mostly due to my love for dairy products) and I was somewhat inspired to make my own cream sauce from scratch. Years ago, it was founded upon carbonara (creamy, bacon-y goodness!) and though I knew that carbonara was made from cream and eggs, I stumbled upon a white sauce recipe instead and have been using that (Yes, ashamedly I've been making faux carbonara as I didn't want to end up scrambling the sauce) whenever I desired pasta with cream sauce. 

Today, I was inspired to try using cream (again, didn't dare to use eggs) and using a few of my other favourite ingredients - bacon, mushroom and basil! 

To be completely honest, I rarely work with cream - I make a mean batch of white sauce which IMO, I have perfected - so, this is definitely in a testing stage.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms (whatever tickles your fancy! Better if you could get your hands on a few varieties)

Bacon 

Garlic (2-3 cloves)

Pasta (I bought Fettucine, when I really wanted linguine :( Use your favourite pasta)

Thickened cream (4 tbsp)

1/4 Onion (I used Red Onions; finely sliced)

Black Pepper

Cheese (Unfortunately, I used normal tasty cheese but feel free to use your favourite cheese!)

1 tbsp Basil paste (preferably fresh basil, but all I could find was basil paste...)

Butter or oil (Butter-wise, I used a small chunk. I estimated, so no measurements)

Method:

1. Prep time! I coarsely diced the garlic cloves (I love the taste of garlic with anything creamy, but reduce or add more garlic to your preferance) and thinly sliced the onion. Next, cut up your mushrooms! (In terms of proportion, it's really up to you!)

Now, I like really big chunks of mushrooms, so I bought the biggest mushroom packs the grocery store had to offer:

No, I did not cheat. This is not an upclose shot of the mushroom. My phone's camera isn't that fancy.

I told you it was a big mushroom! Palm-sized!  \(o^_^o)/

2. Next up - slice or dice the bacon to your liking! Again, I enjoy chunkiness, so chunky strips it is! (I only used one rasher of bacon in this dish).

 

Glorious bacon-y goodness! (I heard from my boyfriend that Australian bacon is like bacon-flavoured ham  (T_T) I'll have to try American bacon someday, but for now, this will suffice)

3. Bring water to a boil (or in my case, I just used the kettle) in a large saucepan. Add pasta to boiling water (I boiled the fettucine for about 8 minutes, give or take). Once done, get rid of the hot water and rinse pasta in a sieve under cold water until pasta is cool.

4. In this instance, I used a wok (any big frying pan shall do the trick too), add the butter to the wok until melted. Add garlic and onions. Sweat it for a couple of minutes on medium heat.

5. Add in the sliced/diced bacon and mushroom. Fry it for a couple more minutes.

6. Add in thickened cream and stir for a minute or so and then add in the basil paste and continue stirring for another minute.

7. Add the cooled pasta. Stir until sauce is evenly distributed. 

8. Turn off heat and serve! Add as much or little cheese towards your preference and do not forget cracked black pepper to taste.

THE END RESULT:

Definitely need to work on presentation, but I was so hungry, I didn't really care so much - I just quickly took a photo and went on omnomnomnoming.

Taste-wise, it sure does not beat my faux cream sauce aka white sauce. It didn't thicken enough and I should really have added in more cream and next time, maybe extra chunks of tasty cheese to thicken it up more. More importantly, I cooked too much pasta in proportion with the sauce, so that's probably why it wasn't tasty enough. 

End verdict: With the amount of pasta I cooked, I needed more of everything. Actually, a generous topping of shredded tasty cheese or parmesan would have made it better. Not the best I've made, but definitely enjoy cooking with new ingredients. More practice with cream until I succeed!

Stuffed Squid with Beef Mince (Beta Version)

Being recently unemployed has certainly sparked some sort of motivation and creativity - which is good but also bad as I'm broke as hell.

Anyways, I was surfing the interwebz to kill time and was looking through food columns and the one thing that caught my attention was squid. I asked myself, 'How often do I cook and prepare squid?'

Answer was: 'Not at all'.

Initially, I really wanted to make squid ink sauce pasta (only if my local store sold it) and alternatively, if there weren't any squid ink, I wanted to make stuffed squid - it  brings back so many memories of grandma steaming stuffed squid with minced pork! Yummy!

So, I headed down to my local fishmongers and see whether there was any squid ink. The lady told me that they did and I was ecstatic, up 'til the point I realised that it was sold, in a jar, for $36AUD =__= FML. Guess the dinner menu was stuffed squid!

The squid hood was so cheap! I bought 3 humongous ones (minimum I had to pay by card was $10AUD booo) for $10.80AUD!!

Then headed to the nearest Woolworths and screw you Hamilton branch! All they had was "premium organic minced beef" selling at $9.90AUD!! Y U NO SELL CHEAP MINCED BEEF?! OR EVEN MINCED PORK?! *sigh* Seriously, just cause I live in an upper-class suburb doesn't mean I like jacked-up prices (3 times the average price?!).

I did do a little bit of research prior to the commencement of this dish and there were quite a few variations and it was quite hard finding one similar to what my grandma used to make for me. I opted to  play it by ear and see what I could do.

This is my rendition of a stuffed squid dish:

Ingredients:
Squid hoods (cleaned)
Minced meat (mostly recommend pork or chicken mince, but I had to do mine with beef)
Chopped spring onion stalks
4 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
White pepper
2 tbsp sesame oil
Toothpicks

I bought the squid hoods cleaned and prepped, so less work for me!

Method:

1. I love spring onions and thought this would be a wonderful addition to the minced meat stuffing, so I  chopped up 2 big stalks of it (add as much or as little to one's preference). Mix it with minced meat in a bowl.

2. Add soy sauce (I actually recommend more than what I typed above as it wasn't salty enough, but not too much!), Chinese cooking wine, sesame oil and white pepper (again, add as much or little; I put several shakings of it) with the minced meat and combine it all with a spoon until it looks like this:

3. Rinse the squid hoods and remove any impurities and then stuff the minced meat concoction into the hoods. Do not overfill as the squid will shrink during cooking. I left an inch space near the opening.

Should look something like this. Mind you, the squid hoods I bought were huge! I suggest finding a small to medium sized squid.

4. Use toothpicks to seal the opening of the squid. I, however, forgot to buy toothpicks, so I resorted to doing it a very shitty way (slitting little holes with a knife and using long strips of spring onion to tie it). This is to prevent the meat stuffing from falling out during the cooking process. Highly recommend using toothpicks. This is how mine looked like upclose:

6. If you have a bamboo steamer, great! Use it! Steam for 15-20 minutes until meat is cooked and serve! Alternatively, you can cut them up to show the meat inside!

Me, on the other hand, do not possess such a wonderful kitchen utensil, so I have resorted to making my own steamer. Beware: mine did not work as well.

Unfortunately, all 3 squids could not fit into my make-shift steamer, so I tried pan frying one of the stuffed squids. I also didn't think that it would cook all the way through, especially and admittedly, did put a lot of the stuffing into the squids. The steamed ones looked alright but would have done better in a  proper steamer.

Ultimately, out of frustration, I popped all 3 (steamed and pan-fried) into the oven at 150 Celsius grill for about 15 minutes and constantly checking the state of it. I also did, at one point, turned the oven down to 100 Celsius, for 5 minutes and turned it back up to 150 before bringing them out of the oven. I seriously consider this a fail in my books.

THE END RESULT:

To be honest, I thought I flunked this recipe completely but the oven did save this dish. Taste-wise, it could have been saltier with more added soy sauce or salt. The meat turned out fine (though this picture makes the meat looks pink, I assure you that it was well-done).

I ate this with ABC Chilli sauce or for all Sriracha fans, that would be a perfect dipping sauce too!

Definitely a beta version and hopefully do an upgrade on it later on!