The Occasional Cook

Minced Beef Kofta

April 24, 2010April 24, 2010 7shasha7

For today’s lunch, I decided to make kofta because the only thing I had in the freezer was a packet of minced beef. When I got back home from work, I quickly mixed the minced beef with cumin powder, coriander powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, a tiny bit of black pepper, salt and a bit of paprika powder. I then went outside to The Hubby’s potted plant garden and snipped off some mint. I chopped the mint and mixed them into the beef mixture. After which, I added a little bit of olive oil and shaped them into elongated patties. My weakness is inconsistency. I cannot and am not good at creating perfect shapes of the same size. That’s why I hate baking cookies during Hari Raya. I like to think of myself as a more bohemian rustic sort of person. I did grow up in the Grunge era. :p So anyway, after browning the patties in olive oil, I finished the cooking process in the oven and served the koftas with a big dollop of Greek yoghurt and bread.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Raw minced beef with all the added seasonings and mint leaves.

Baked Portobello Mushrooms

April 18, 2010June 9, 2010 7shasha7

A few weeks ago, I saw some portobello mushrooms which were on sale in NTUC. I love mushrooms and I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like mushrooms. It’s a pity we can’t get any of the Western wild mushrooms like chanterelle and such. Portobello is the closest I can find that could be labelled as ‘field flat mushrooms’ and I used these to make one of Jamie Oliver’s mushroom recipes.

P3311321 — Marinade shrooms in olive oil, garlic, chili flakes, salt, lemon juice and top with a knob of butter

P3311333 — Bake in the oven and serve as a side.

The mushrooms will be juicy and flavourful and of course, best eaten warm. Remember this recipe when you next see a packet of portobello sitting patiently to be picked up. 😀

Noodles and Pasta

Penne in Easy Cheese Sauce (For Kids)

April 17, 2010April 25, 2010 7shasha7

Just now for dinner, my daughter asked for pasta. I boiled some penne and while the penne was boiling, I played again with my new toy. I used the grater contraption and it was so amazingly fast that I really feel like taking orders from people who would like their cheese or vegetables grated. Maybe I could open my own vegetable business selling freshly grated carrots, cabbage etc, mandolin sliced root vegetables… I love my food processor!

P4171625 — A whole block of parmesan grated in less than ten seconds!

P4171631 — Cheese Sauce: Butter, Cream, Parmesan, Salt, Black Pepper

Make sure you add a lot of parmesan (about two large handfuls here) or it’ll be really bland. I sprinkled chilli flakes and parsley flakes for the adults. It was yummy as testified by The Hubby and The Domestic Helper. The Daughter, which the dish was meant for, ate a measly four forkfuls and proclaimed she was full. Sheesh.

Indian, Salads and Vegetables, Snack

Fried Indian Bitter Melon (Bitter Gourd)

April 17, 2010March 3, 2021 7shasha7

As a kid, I used to loathe bitter gourd. I only developed the taste of the vegetable, ironically, when I got pregnant. I started developing the taste of it not because I suddenly found out how tasty the bitter vegetable is but rather because of the fact that I kept forcing myself to eat the vegetable because of its purported health benefits. Bitter gourd supposedly lowers down the blood sugar level and when I was pregnant, I ate bitter gourd almost on a daily basis.

The recipe today is of the Indian variety of bitter melon. It’s small and has small bumps. A colleague once told of a famed Indian bitter melon recipe that her relative ate a long time ago in some restaurant. She described briefly but I’ve forgotten now. What I do remember is after that story, whenever we went to Little India for our Indian food fixes, we’d look at the mounds of small, bumpy emerald green gourds and think of ways to cook it. Always. Without fail.

This is one recipe that my ex-RO used. And it’s also the most palatable for most people since it’s fried. Even so, don’t be fooled because the bitterness of the Indian bitter melon will numb your tastebuds and you’ll be soon reaching for that glass of cold water soon after.

P4171620 — Such a beautiful rich vibrant green. Love it.

Serve hot with rice and a chutney. Bottled in my case. If you’re feeling adventurous, try eating bitter melon. I’m sure your complexion will improve in time. :p

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The recipe

1. Wash bitter melon and cut into thin slices. Sprinkle salt over.

2. Leave to stand for 30 min after which drain the water that would come from the bitter melons.

3. Marinade in turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt.

4. Fry till really crisp.

Salads and Vegetables

Home made Sweet Potato Chips

April 17, 2010April 29, 2010 7shasha7

I got a food processor for my birthday and am so happy with it that last weekend, I decided to use it. I didn’t have many ingredients but I saw I had one sweet potato, or kumara, 😉 and a potato. I decided to try out the blade that is supposed to ‘slice food very thinly’ like a mandoline.

After twenty minutes (because I am slow like that) of trying to figure out how the parts connect, I finally managed to use the device properly. And I was ecstatic! The potatoes were super thin! I fried them in olive oil and sprinkled salt over and had them for breakfast. I’m going to buy more potatoes this weekend and experiment.