Aglio Olio with juicy Pork Balls

I woke up with skies overcast. Soon after a heavy downpour followed. What a great morning actually to sleep in and laze around in bed but the bf was coming over for lunch. We had this convo the night before. He said let's eat at the hawker near your house... easier. I, on the other hand had a better idea.. to whip up something special as a surprise. I probably did that countless times that it ain''t such a surprise after all. 

Anyway, I was rummaging through the freezer to look for my frozen yogurt for breakfast ( yes, I crave it to the extent that I resorted to putting our normal yogurt in a cup in the freezer so it'd become some sort of frozen dessert the very next day) when I saw minced pork and a packet of mixed veg. Ah hah. Makes me think of juicy meatballs with a thick teriyaki glaze. My only recollection of meatballs were those from Ikea accompanied by a measly slab of creamy sauce.. and everytime I would feel like punching the guy who said " 30c extra for more sauce". 

Making these porkballs were more of mixing everything up and trial and error. I had no clue what to put inside so I just went along with my feelings. Minced pork, mixed veg and then I saw prawns so I decided to food process the prawns along with the pork. Added in some teriyaki sauce as marinade.. Open the fridge to search for more stuff I could add to the amazing balls and hmm thought I'll add some sesame oil as well. and hmm how about some onions too,,... and oh yes oh yes breadcrumbs and an egg :)) Concocting stuff and playing around with my food is what describes me best. 

Anyway, ultimately they turned out pretty well I must say. I was satisfied with the outcome and I'm gonna bookmark this in my recipe book. 

PORK MEAT BALLS

Ingredients:

-minced pork ( all I could find. But using minced  beef should taste nicer) 

- about 6-7 prawns deveined

-1 onion

-mixed veg ( I used carrots and peas)

-2-3 tbsp of teriyaki sauce ( or even more)

-2 tbsp sesame oil

-sugar

-salt (to taste)

-pepper

- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

-1 egg

-cornstarch

Blend prawns, minced pork, onion in a food processor to form a paste. Add teriyaki sauce, sugar, salt , pepper, sesame oil and blend 

Add pepper, breadcrumbs and cornstarch and mix well. Leave to marinade for awhile. Lightly beat an egg.

Heat some oil in a frying pan. Roll meatballs into balls and dip into egg and pan fry till brown. 

For the glaze ontop:

- teriyaki sauce

-cornstach dissolved in a little water

Heat teriyaki sauce. Add cornstarch mixture and heat until sauce thickens. Pour over meatballs =]]] and ENJOY. 

We had some Aglio Olio to go along with the porkballs as well. Simple, cheap, easy to do yet satisfying. Many a times I prefer plain pasta cooked with olive oil to those heavy cream laden ones. This is a simple dish to whip up at home. All it takes is for the pasta to be cooked al dente and you have it going your way. 

Ingredients

-speghetti

-dried chilli 

-garlic slices

-salt/pepper ( to taste)

- olive oil

Boil a pot of water in a saucepan. Add salt. When water boils, add pasta and cook till al dente. 

In the meantime, fry garlic slices, chilli in olive oil till garlic slightly browns. Set aside. Toss pasta into oil when cooked. Add pepper and salt and season till desired. 

Sushi with the word fun in it

wow wow wow.. I've been so busy that I realised I wrote a draft halfway and only to find it still Here after 2 weeks. Ok.. here's the uncompleted draft.. It was so long ago that after I read it I went " ohhh that's what happened a few weeks back" oh really??
<
Had a pretty packed weekend last week. Stuff like that happens when you try to squeeze so many activities and meet ups as possible with that short time frame you have left. Pathetic? maybe.. but I realise it's times like these that you learn how to treasure the people around you more and maximize the quality time you have together, whether long or short.


I started the week with my very first French lesson at Alliance Francaise. There were supposed to be 18 people in total but only 13-15 turned up. Age ranged from 16 and up. The first thing the tutor did was to go around greeting people in French. Apart from the Bonjour word in the long sentence, it was extremely funny seeing the shocked and clueless expressions the students gave in return. But nevertheless, we were all able to converse in simple French at the end of the class. Pronunciation is definitely a challenge heree with all that nasal sound & rrrr grrrr. Sometimes I use chinese han yu pin yin to pronounce words. Never knew mandarin could be so much of a help. It's particularly useful in learning Japanese too. Hhaa I'm secretly in love with the way Japanese people talk.  After hearing so much Jap at work everyday, I am motivated enough to dig out my sister's contemporary Japanese textbook and learn some phrases. Hopefully the language barrier will be broken soon enough and I'll be able to communicate with my teacher Chef Matsu San smoothhly.

Inspired by the Chef and people who keep asking me to make my own sushi, I decided to attempt making it again after many years. The last time I remembered making it was more than 5 years ago. My only recollection of the sushi was that it was HARD as rock when I took it outta the fridge. Haha ( I put it in the fridge overnight). So here it goes.


My experience with susshi this time round is not at all a pleasant one.. I wasted half the rice I cooked because of the gooey mess I made while handling the rice. The rice was cold when and it stuck on like adhesive glue onto my hands that I decided that the best solution was to wash them alll off. However, in the end, the portions were just nice for dinner...


Here are the ingredients you need to make your own basic sushi. Technique wise, I'll give the gist of it but it'd help if you learn it from someone more experience or go watch some youtube vids.


First off: you need


-sushi rice (short grain or japonica) Some say calrose rice could be used but I tried it and it's not close to sushi rice  at all...
-Sushi su  ( a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar and salt). I used this cuz it was easier..  Alternatively you could use your own rice vinegar and mix them with sugar and salt according to proportions.
-seaweed
-japanese cucumber
-avocado
- unagi
-salmon
-jap mayo
-or actually any ingredient you'll like to see in your sushi.. Everyone has different preferences ...
-and most importantly a sushi mat!


I did a couple of sushi that day. First off was the Dragon roll. Consisted of jap cucumber , mayo, unagi and avocado. I cooked 2 servings of rice. ( a measurement of 360ml of rice with 280ml of water). Important to rinse the rice well until water is clean and let soaked for 30 min and then drain. When the rice is cooked, you can embark on your adventure. but first mix the sushi su in the hot rice (to get that sweet taste). Here I did some estimation cuz I didn't know how much exactly to add but it's definately gotta be quite alot to get that sweeter taste... Anyway, I wouldn't say making sushi is easy neither would I say it is difficult but I'll rather use the word fun because it really is. That coming from someone who finds cheap thrills in playing with food is surely not wrong.


First cut out a rectangular seaweed and line it on your sushi mat. Place a handful of rice onto the seaweed and spread out till it covers it. Flip the seaweed over and place your ingredients that you want encase in that glorious sushi of yours and then roll. Can't show you the rolling technique. Best to youtube it..

and then place slices of cut avocado on the top and roll with sushi mat again.. 

Second: California Maki. My all time fav! Done the same way as the dragon roll just that I added crabmeat instead of unagi inside and coated them with a layer of tobiko! 

Tobiko's that awesome flying fish roe that burst into your mouth as you chew on them. I remember I was at the supermarket trying to find some of these. I asked the store assistant where I could get some of this but he looked at me with a puzzled look as if I was some alien from another planet. And then I explained again in simple english where could I get flying fish roe -the one used to coat california maki ( shaped like a small circlee) . At last, there was some response from him but guess where he brought me- to the fish ball section!! and then I saidd noo the one used to make SUSHI. It's orange in colour. Again he responded and brought me to another section- THE CUTTLEFISH BALL section.

Third: Kani sushi. Used to be a big fan of this when I was younger but then I've moved on to the kani mayo version because of the yummy mayo and this I felt had a little too much rice. Left( made by me) Right ( made by Shad) hahaa...

and 2 more:! 

Last but not least. a refreshing potato salad topped with spring onion to end the scrumptious dinner. 

Bleh with more good things to come, I'll definitely return to make sushi again. So what are you waiting for. Get your hands dirty and whip up your very own sushi. 

RAMEN, you so fine

Whats not to love about Ramen. The thick broth, cold egg with runny yolk, the aroma, the pork, green tea is enough to leave you begging for more. HAH! I have succumbed to the ramen chase since eons ago. 3 ramen places in 2 weeks. 

The thing about ramen is when it hits you, it hits you hard. That's from the perspective of a hardcore ramen eater. Anyways, headed down to Central for our nightly doze of heavily goodness. Hilariously, my stomach reacted in a good way ( consisted of 4-5 trips to the toilet) to prepare for the glorious evening at :

Restaurant: Santouka Ramen- Voted best for egg and pork according to 8 days :)

Location: The Central #02-76, 6 Eu Tong Sen Street

Line forms up pretty quickly during dinner time so be there early but nonetheless you won't end up waiting ridiculously for like 3-4 hrs --> remember the donut craze. The ramen wasn't served quickly compared to  Ippudo, Tampopo or Marutama but wasn't slow enough to make me annoyed.

We ordered their famous Tokusen Toroniku ramen. Everyone's been talking about their pork cheeks so I was extremelly excited to taste it for myself.

Got the shoyu based ramen. PLAIN NOODLES?

 Nah. It came with a generous serving of pork cheeks that melts in your mouth like instantly. Now I see what the rave is all about. Good stuff indeed. Check out that layer of fat beneath the pork cheeks.

 More pics to drool at!

 Save the best for last! EGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG A peek at the hidden treasure.

The treasure exposed!

 8 days was spot on the pork cheeks and eggs. So were the many reviews by fellow ramen lovers. However, I thought the soup was still a little too salty for my liking and after eating the ramen halfway, it got pretty bland. Noodles were fine, comparatively better than those at Marutama but we came to a consensus that Ippudo's springy noodles won hands down. If only there's the perfect combi of Marutama's broth with Ippudo's ramen and Santouka's pork cheeks and egg = I would be there every weekend.


Cost: Btw $14 per bowl, $19 for the ramen + pork cheek set and abt $22-$24 for ramen+rice. Our total bill amounted to $50. We ordered 2 ramen+ pork cheek set and 3 eggs ($1 each). Better to order the set because  it cost $9 to order the pork separately. I would revisit the place!


If you have any recommendations on other good ramen places, please kindly let me know ;)

Omu Rice

Bored of the usual fried rice on a plate? So am I. Just use whatever fried rice or ingredients you have left and fry them with ketchup,spoon  them onto the thin omelette and wrap like a popiah!!