​Where should I start? Meatballs, as simple as it is, it's one of those dishes that I have a love-hate relationship with. 

I tried to make meatballs possibly two times and both were not good ones. Consistency was good but the seasoning part is where I always make a mistake. Unfortunately, meatballs, like burger patties, you won't really know if you did the seasoning right, until it's cooked. I guess you can still salvaged it but for avid cooks like me, that's just masking the error. At the end of the day, it still means the seasoning was not done right.

This time around, I was able to do it right, well at least half way. I tell you why it was half way. I bought a ready-to-cook Italian sausage. Just because in Dubai, Italian ground sausage somehow is not easy to find. I had to improvised. That being said, it still means I had to play around with the seasoning because the Italian sausage that I got is already seasoned and I have to mix it with an unseasoned ground beef. So it was still a success, albeit half way.

Tip 1: This is exactly how my meaty meat sauce was done, without the meat since this has meatballs
Tip 2: If you have a sauce that your family particularly like, you can just add the meatballs part to up the ante
Tip 3: Get your kiddos involved. Sure there will be funny shapes, it won't be uniform but you and they will have fun.

Ingredients for the meatballs:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed and diced
2/3 cup cold water
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ready to cook Spicy Italian Sausage (taken out from casings)
1/4 cup grated parmegiano regiano
6 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1-2 tablespoons white sugar (depending on your preference)
1 large egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour to dredge meatballs
Light olive oil to saute

Ingredients for the sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium green capsicum, diced
2 (6-ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
​1 tbsp Italian Seasoning (ready made or make your own)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sugar (to cut the acidity, especially good with young eaters, but if they are very much into the authentic Italian sauce, no need to add sugar)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water

Instruction for the meatballs:
​1. Place bread pieces in a small bowl, add cold water and soak for at least 5 minutes then mashed with fork
2. In large mixing bowl, add beef, pork sausage, parmegiano regiano, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, egg and mashed bread. Mix until well combined.
3. Form into 1 inch meatballs (about half a scoop of ice cream), but if you want big meatballs, oh please go big by all means!
4. Dredge/roll meatballs in flour, dust off excess flour
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat with 3-4 tablespoons olive oil.
6. Add meatballs in batches without crowding the pan. Saute until brown on all sides (turn every minute). Don't worry about not cooking the them through, it will be cooked fully when it's added to the sauce.
7. Set aside

At this point, if you followed the size of my meatballs, it should actually be cooked through by this time. The one you should worry about are your kids stealing them before you are able to make the sauce. 

Instruction for the sauce:
1. In the same pan, saute onion and capsicum in butter and oil, until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 more seconds.
3. Add tomato paste, sauce and stewed tomatoes, seasonings and water.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes. 
5. Add the meatballs
6. ​Simmer for another 15 minutes.

I have to confess, because I made small meatballs, I did not add them all into the sauce (thinking I will make more sauce later on). The problem with that was, my kids ate the ones not in the sauce when I went to work. Apparently, according to my nanny, they ate it with rice and were even fighting over it. 

That for me is a clear translation of success.

Happy Eating!!!

I'm not kidding, it is as easy as counting up to 5!

Tip 1: I love panchetta and I usually add them to any dish that calls for bacon, or just to up the ante for any stir fry veggie
Tip 2: Please only use the real deal parmigiano reggiano. I will not recommend using a substitute or the powdered in a bottle one. I have made a mistake of buying one before, never again.
Tip 3: Have everything ready. Mis-en-place you all! I might be an organised chaos lady but I usually have my ingredients arranged according to its order of use.
Tip 4: Cut the ingredients in half if there's only 4 of you. We're only 5 but my Jason eats for 3. No lying, he ate 3 plateful of this for dinner and even had the left over for lunch the next day.

Ingredients: 
500 grams spaghetti
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano
4 slices of streaky bacon, diced
154 grams of panchetta (small pack)
8 garlic cloves
Freshly ground black pepper
​Salt

Serves 8

Instructions:
Cook pasta as per package instructions. Drain and reserve a cup of pasta water.

In a medium size bowl, whisk eggs. Once done, add grated Parmegiano and combine with fork. 

Slowly add a tablespoon of pasta water into the egg and cheese mixture, one at a time.  2-3 tablespoons is a good ratio to bring the temperature up. This is to temper the egg and ensure it does not cook as scrambled egg later on. 

In a frying pan, fry your bacon and panchetta on its own fat. If you only have bacon, just double the amount and you are good to go. Once it's brown, depending on how cook you like your bacon bits. Fish it out of the pan and set aside.

Use the fat in the pan to fry the minced garlic. Once it becomes fragrant, add pasta.

Switch the flame off and move the pan to the unused stove top. You will finish cooking your carbonara using the residual heat. This will also ensure your egg does not get scrambled.

Slowly add the egg mixture and quickly toss pasta and egg continuously until pasta is well coated. 

Add more pasta water to achieve the sauce consistency you prefer.

Add the bacon and panchetta bits, pepper and a little bit of salt. I use my Himalayan salt to complete this dish, not too much though because panchetta is salty enough. Serve hot! 

You can add parsley, or other type of herb you feel like having.

Happy Eating!

I love burgers... who doesn't right?

I'll eat any priced burger, from MickeyD's to gourmet... I love 'em. I mean yes, MickeyD's tastes like a monotonous cardboard paper but i still eat them as if it's the yummiest food of all and it's the end of the world tomorrow.

Don't be fooled though. I actually have a pretty good palate but there is something so addictive (at least to me) about junk food. Not sure if it's the french fries that comes with every meal that makes me come back at least once a month (I'm trying to be modest here... gimme a break!). Or, it's my kids' once a month treat to a happy meal (again, this is me finding an excuse for MickeyD's trip).

As you know, I'm also a huge fan of Shake Shack and their witchcraft brews. Dining there is an indulgence I really must have every so often.

So you see, burgers is somewhat an addiction. I should probably come up with a group... I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I swear I've eaten burgers from different places, from the cheapest (talk about Burger Machine! that's to anyone who knows about it), to the random food chains that has response time like a 911 call to the really expensive ones and I mean expensive. I feel like, in addition to my quest to find the best joints for beef carpaccio...  the hunt for the juicy burgers in town is piggy-backing on my carpaccio journey. 

It's also just in the last five years that I began to understand that burgers or beef are best served medium rare (or if you can stomach it, rare!) The science behind the overheating of these precious jewels make muscles constrict, thereby makes them tougher. Oh boohoo! I won't bore you with the theoretical background of parts and cooking methods... let's go back to the essence of this whole musing, Burger at its best.

Well, fine, I'm sure I can still outdo myself... knowing my appetite for beating my own record. But for now, this recipe will give you a layer after layer of taste that is simply comforting without that big hoo-ha and sweat and not to mention the gajillions of ingredients that comfort mood normally requires.

So here it goes... get your pen and paper, boys and girls ... I can see you're not moving... yes... you can do that too... saving this page into your favourites for easy browsing.. of course that's a much better option,,, you tech-savvy-you!

 I have to warn you, the procedure is so complex that you're gonna need to be uber smart like me to make it... like seriously...

There are days when I get really lazy in the kitchen. Tonight is one of those days and boy I'm glad I was lazy... I wouldn't have gone creative otherwise.

Easy peasy recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sherry
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon ground or freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:
Smile! You just won an amazeballs recipe :P

Simple really... baking pan + aluminum foil (so you don't really have a war fight when you wash it) and the ingredients. Voila!

Cover with another foil to seal steam. Bake in the oven for one hour and a half hour, flipping them on the other side half way through the baking time.  

Grill press until it gets nicely charred. Baste using caramelised sauce in the pan. If there's no grill available, take off the foil covering and bake for another 10 minutes.

Serve with hot sauce and extra sauce on the side

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!

FV33-06-1110

Original Recipe: Molly Stevens
Bon Appetit | April 2007

I tried this one night and I loved the concept behind it,,, but sad to say, I'm not bowled over by the whole thing. I guess it came out the way it should but it's just not that usual dish that my palette is accustomed to. It looked very appetizing, there is a wow factor when you serve it. The cream colour of the sauce, the brown of the pork and the green of the peas, it's a beautiful combination. 

I eneded up with a pasta with such a strong character. Flavours were killing each other to the finish line. Deeply flavoured pork and pungent Pecorino Romano might be too much for my delicate buds. This is very, very, very Italian and I'm pretty much Asian where everything should either be sweet or greasy :P Maybe this is how it's supposed to taste but it's just not working for me like the other Italian dishes I'm so in love with.

I'm stubborn so I'll do this again but with Pancetta, easy and more subtle than the original version.

Anywho, here is the recipe.

Tip 1: If you have no patience, don't attempt the pork belly part, just buy ready made pancetta

INGREDIENTS:
Pork Belly
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
1/2 kilo fresh pork belly
1 small onion, quartered
1 small carrot, peeled, quartered
1/2 celery stalk, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons (or more) dry white wine
1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup dry white wine

Spagehetti Carbonara
1/2 kilo spaghetti
1 1/2 cups fresh shelled peas or frozen petite peas, thawed
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Serves 4-6

Pork Belly
Rub coarse salt and coriander into pork belly. Cover and chill at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 275°F. Place pork belly in large ovenproof saucepan. Add onion, next 7 ingredients. Bring to boil, cover, and transfer to oven. Cook until pork is tender, turning every 30 minutes, about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Cool slightly. Cover and chill at least 1 day and up to 2 days.

Discard any solidified fat on surface of pork belly mixture. Remove pork from cooking liquid, scraping any gelatinous mixture back int saucepan. Rewarm mixture in saucepan. Strain liquid into measuring cup, adding white wine if necessary to measure 1/2 cup. Cut rind and all but 1/4-inch fat layer of pork belly. Slice pork cross wise in 1/2-inch slices, then cut slices crosswise into 1/2-inch thick strips.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork belly and cook until browned on all sides, stirring often, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add pork cooking liquid and 1/4 cup wine. Bring to boil then cover to keep warm. Take off from direct heat.

Spaghetti Carbonara
Cook spaghetti in a pot of boiling salted water with a knob of butter until al dente, stirring occassionally. Add peas; cook for a further 1 minute.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs in large bowl. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, Pecorino Romana cheese and parsley; set aside.

Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Whisk 1/4 cup hot cooking liquid into egg misture. Add pasta; toss to coat. Add pasta mixture to skillet with pork and toss. Add more cooking liquid by tablespoons if dry. Season generously with black pepper. Divide among bowls and serve. Have the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese alongside for the taking. 

If you like strong flavours, don't mind me, cook this and enjoy!

FV28-01-1110

This is one easy concoction that is absolutely fantastic with a toasted bread or bread stick or garlic bruschetta. Great for appetizer that doesn't need so much prepping.

Tip 1: If you like pancetta instead of bacon, your choice.
Tip 2: Important part of my Philly Steak Sandwich

Ingredients:
8 good quality streaky bacon, diced
2 punnets of mixed mushroom (i.e. oyster, portabello, button mushroom
3 ounce butter
1 small red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

Heat 1 ounce butter into the pan and sweat onions and garlic for a few minutes.

Add the bacon and cook for a few more minutes then add the mushrooms together with the remaining butter.

Season, turn the heat right down and cook for 10-15 minutes. If the mixture starts getting dry, add a little lemon juice.

Serves 4
375 Calories per serving

*More photos will be posted when I remember to take pictures of it! Excuse my senile moments

FV22-09-1010

Back home we only have BBQ the grill version. We also marinate in a sauce concoction.

This time I've decided to get out of my comfort zone and use a totally different way of cooking ribs, in the oven, dry rub, broiler pan, broiler, BBQ sauce and still have the same result,,, finger lickin ribs!

Tip 1: If you don't have a broiler pan, improvise! I did. I used my all metal wok, fill it with apple juice, used french fries oven pan as the top portion and voila, instant broiler pan!
Tip 2: You can use as little or as much BBQ sauce as you want. You can even omit it if you are happy with the dry rub flavour.
Tip 3: Be as messy as you want.
Tip 4: Because this dish doesn't have lots of active time, take it as the perfect opportunity to prepare your side dish(es)
Tip 5: Dry rub will last for months so make as much as you want and keep it for your next BBQ

Total time:
24 hours marinate
2 1/2 hours roasting time
10 minutes or so broiling time

INGREDIENTS
Dry Rub
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sweet spanish paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon garlic and herb powder (or just plain garlic powder will do)
1 teaspoon cayenne

1 kilo pork ribs
4 cups apple juice
favourite bbq sauce

Using dry rub, marinate the ribs overnight.

Pre-heat your oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fill the bottom section of the broiler pan with apple juice while you lay out your ribs on the top section.

Enclosed the whole broiler using aluminum foil. This ensures the ribs gets all the gloriousness of the apple juice steam. This helps the ribs cook without losing flavour.

Roast the ribs for 1 1/2 hour.

Take it out and slather your favourite BBQ sauce on each rib before covering it once more with tin foil and putting it back to the oven for another hour.

Take your ribs out of your broiler pan and place it on a shallow baking pan. Place it under oven broiler to caramelised the sauce. Cook it until it's charred the way you prefer it to be.

Serve immediately with rice, chips, wedge, mash... serve it with whatever side dish you want! Enjoy getting your fingers all sticky and messy.

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