It's solely Julia Roberts' movie Eat. Pray. Love. and her fantabulous way of eating that got me into researching for this recipe. I'm not quite impressed by the story and how the flow of it went about. It started slow, then great, then slow, then just became a little bit cheesy.

You can already guess which part ranked "great" for me. The dining part definitely made a huge impression... to my stomach!

I wasn't sure how it would taste. Movies are all about acting... so it was a risk. I hate wasting food and if the end result isn't as I expected, I'd be very disappointed! But, after cooking this... I understood... Julia wasn't acting ... it was rich, creamy and just a really beautiful dish.

I think everyone should cook it, eat it and find out for themselves how great of a dish this is. It's a typical Italian dish. It wasn't made to be complicated... it was made for you to taste each and every component of the dish and how each complements the others.

Tip 1: Use as many or as less cherry tomatoes. My husband loves how it bursts in his mouth, to think that he doesn't like tomatoes.
Tip 2: Add the basil towards the end of your cooking. Basil is one of the herbs that has lighter oil, which means if you add it earlier in the cooking, its flavour would be lost among the crowd.
Tip 3: I haven't used chicken or beef in this dish but I bet it would taste good too.
Tip 4: You can use guanciale or lardon instead of pancetta. It's just easier for me to find pancetta in the supermarket so that's why I prefer to use it.
Tip 5: Of course, if you want to use a different pasta, say a Bucatini, a spaghetti-like thicker version with holes in the middle, it's up to you. Pasta and sauces are partners. Thick sauces call for thick pastas, thin sauces call for delicate pastas.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
227 grams or 8 oz pancetta
2 large onions, diced 1/2 inch
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4-cans (227 grams or 8 oz) tomato sauce
15 cherry tomatoes optional
500 grams spaghetti
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano plus extra for garnish
Fresh basil leaves, sliced

Directions:
Cook spaghetti in a large pot of well salted water. Cook it 2 minutes less than what the package states. Drain and set aside making sure you reserve 2 cups of pasta water for later use.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the pancetta and saute over low heat until it is brown and crispy, about 15-20 minutes. Remove pancetta and set aside.

Bring the pan to medium heat, add garlic, onions and pepper flakes. Season with salt. Cook the onions until it's transluscent, starting to turn golden and the aroma starts whafting through the air, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the sauce 2/3 of pancetta and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for about 25 mins. Adjust the salt, as needed. Reserve 3 ladlefuls of the sauce for later use. In the last 5 minutes of simmering, add cherry tomatoes. If the sauce becomes too thick, add some pasta water until your desired consistency.

Add the drained pasta to the remaining pot of sauce. Add cheese, drizzle with olive oil and toss well to ensure the flavours are married well. If the coating is too thick, add more sauce. It should be a balanced coating.

Serve on individual bowls, sprinkle additional parmegiano cheese, basil and divide the remaining pancetta on each bowl. Make sure each bowl has a cherry tomato or two. Cherry tomatoes will still be whole but once it's in your mouth, it bursts into a sweet flavour that works so well with the sauce and pasta.

Enjoy your Spaghetti All'Amatriciana, pasta in a creamy tomato and cheese sauce with a fresh flavour of basil and a good side of spcicy kick.

Related Post: Eat. Pray. Love. - Eat! Eat! Eat!

-AcousticChef, cookin' one tune at a time!

I made my first Hot Bun half a year ago and though I was proud of the recipe I discovered, I'm still on the lookout for a recipe that will make my face smile with just pure glee. I did, with this second version.

The first version was good, the flavour is reminscent of the hot buns I grew up with. However, this new one that I ventured into incorporated the old flavour while including other flavours that takes hot buns onto a different level. There is a depth of flavour that is more of a grown up version of the ones I used to enjoy.

I think the most important reason why I enjoyed making this second version more than the previous one is because I matured as a baker. Also, this recipe broke the complication down to simple and almost to point of being commonsensical. Those light bulb moments when you're doing something and your finally understood the reason behind why you're doing certain things in a particular way and realized that recipes are basic guidelines, you really don't have to follow it to the tee.

I'd like to think that this recipe is my coming-of-age recipe, because the following recipes I've taken on after this one, have somehow got deconstructed in my head. A method in reality that takes a lot of deep understanding of how the flavours should play about and complement each other even if the ingredients were prepared differently. I know I sounded uber geeky but it is what it is.
 
It will be an understatement to say that this recipe belongs to my fave list.

Tip 1: Don't be scared by the process... it's surprisingly easy! Start with the dough coz you actually leave it alone for 4 hours! While the dough is puffing up, you can easily do your sauce and filling with no pressure. You can actually make the filling and sauce the day before and keep it in the fridge! How convenient is that?
Tip 2: You can knead your dough with gloves... but where's the fun in it? I kneaded it with bare hands, of course I washed my hands really well first... then I slathered them with Crisco... yes, Minny Jackson's fave Crisco... fun! 
Tip 3: To help your dough in its rising stage, keep the dough in your oven (switched off!) with a bowl of hot water next to it. You'd be surprise how the bugger loves it.
Tip 4: If you don't have a lard, any oil will do.
Tip 5: Play around with the filling. It can be vegetarian, it can be chicken, beef, whatever you want it to be. The secret is the filling's seasoning, sauce and dough. 

To Make the Filling
Ingredients:
3 tblspoons lard or oil
2 tblspoons garlic, minced
1 medium size onion, minced
2 tblspoons dark soy sauce
2 tblspoons light soy sauce
4 tblspoons hoisin sauce
2 tblspoons honey
2 tblspoons dry sherry or xiao hsing wine
1 tspoon sesame oil
1/2 tspoon Chinese five spice (optional)
1 tspoon grated ginger
500 grams pork loin, cut into strips, about 1/2 inch wide by 1 1/2 inch long.
1 tblspoon cornstarch, diluted with 2 tblspoons COLD water

Directions:
Combine soy sauces, hoisin sauce, honey, wine, sesame oil, five spice, ginger, garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a pan. Sautee galic and onion. Add pork bits, soy sauce mixture and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Add the constarch mixture, cook and stir until sauce becomes the thick consistency you prefer.

To Make the Dough
Ingredients:
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup flour
2 1/4 tspoons active dry yeast or 1 packet
2 tspoons sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 tspoon baking powder
1/2 tspoon salt
2 tblspoons sugar
1 tblspoon oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tspoon baking powder

Directions:
Proof the yeast by combining water, flour, yeast and sugar (first 4 ingredients) in a large bowl and set aside for half an hour.

Mix in flours, baking powder, salt, sugar and oil. Continue mixing while slowly pouring water until it just forms a dough.

Knead the dough on a board until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Place the dough back into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 4 hours.

Sprinkle the remaining baking powder on top and knead again.

Roll a log and divide into approximately 12 chunks or 50-60 grams each piece to be exact.

To Make the Sauce
1 beef broth cube
2 cups water
2 tbsp corn starch diluted in a 4 tblsps of cold water
1/4 cup diced onions
2 cloves diced garlic
Fresh ground black pepper
4 tbsps brown sugar
2 tbsps soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Place 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Boil and add the beef cube, stir until fully dissolved.

Add onions, garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, ground black pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. Make sure to trap the steam by covering the saucepan. Add extra water if needed.

Add the constarch mixture, cook and stir until sauce becomes thick. Strain the liquid to get rid of the onion and other bits.

Transfer your sauce to a serving container or better yet a squishy bottle.

Assembling and Steaming Your Siu Bao:
Flatten the dough until a round shape is formed, first with your hand, then with a rolling pin.

Place 2 tbspoons filling in the middle of the dough and wrap by pulling and crimping the sides together. Gather on top and twist it around.

Place the siopao on individually cut wax paper and cook them in a steamer for 15 minutes.

You can make 12 hot buns with these recipe, prolly some left over filling and a bottle of sauce. Serve your Siu Bao hot with your home made sauce and enjoy!
 
-AcousticChef, cookin' one tune at a time!

J's favourite pudding is not chocolate, not caramel, not cheese inspired... he loves banana cake. He'll eat any sweets but whenever he sees me baking, that's the first thing he'll ask me.

I don't bake banana cake often not because I don't like it ... but my boys are like monkeys... I need overripe bananas to bake a cake and I'd be lucky to find one banana after 2 days of buying a bunch.

I practically hid 5 bananas inside the cupboard to speed up the ripening process as well as avoid my boys' prying eyes. Once it started having dark spots on the skin, I took it out for further ripening.

My boys don't like bananas that have spots. For them it's bruised. My sis also thinks it's the start of the rotting process. WRONG. It's actually the starch turning into sugar and that's what we need for baking banana cakes. The darker it is, the better, at least for me. 

Tip 1: if you don't have buttermilk, you may put 1 1/2 tablespoons of vinegar in a measuring cup and pour milk until it reaches 1 1/2 cups. Let it cultivate for 10 minutes before using.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups overripe banana, mashed
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Makes 2 loaves or 1 square pan

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 275F.

Spray your pans with quick release spray or line them up with baking paper or grease and flour it, whichever you prefer.

Add the lemon juice to the mashed banana and set aside.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating thoroughly before adding another egg. Add vanilla.

Alternately mix flour and buttermilk to your butter mixture. Always start with the dry ingredients and in equal parts of liquid. It's always a good idea to divide each into three parts. It doesn't have to be exact. A rough estimate of each transfer is good enough. dry-wet-dry-wet-dry-wet.

Stir in the mash bananas completely.

Divide the batter to two loaf pans or one square cake pan and fill it up to 3/4 of the pan.

Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Start testing with skewer when you reach 1 hour. It's baked if the skewer or toothpick comes out clean after the test.

From the oven, keep your cake straight to the freezer for 45 minutes to ensure it's moist is locked in.

Bring it out, let it warm up to room temperature. Either spread the frosting or enjoy it on it's own. Have tea and milk to go with your cake and voila! You're one happy camper! 

Happy Eating!

-AcousticChef - cookin' one tune at a time!