Spinach pasta with grilled fish, pinenut and special white sauce

Grill boneless fresh fish with lots of salt and pepper in a hot pan to bring out the full flavour. Flake and put into a moderate oven of 150 C to keep warm.

Meanwhile, make use of the heat to roast some pinenut with shopped garlic as well.

Boil spinach noodles in salty water with a drizzle of olive oil till al dante.

Deglaze pan (after cooking the fish) with white wine,
Add mushroom and fry briefly. Then add thickening corn flour mixture, capers, spring onion and chopped chilli.

Fried noodle with extra meat

No leftovers should be wasted. Slow cooked pork can help to spice up noodles or filling for pies.

You may add fish paste and prawns to enhance the flavours.

White cabbage, chives, bean sprouts go well with this stir fry noodle.

Both light soy and dark soy sauces could be used for seasoning.

Pounded or cut chillies at the side for dipping or stirring into the pipping hot noodles.

Here's one rendition.

Fried Rice Noodles: Char Kway Tiao (kwai tew) tropical style

Char Kway Tiao (also known as kwei teow or kwai tew) is a challenging task due to the demand to control the and retain the integrity of the noodles at the same time. Hopefully, this would help you to succeed in whipping up dishes of the noodles that have become very popular in all parts of the world.

This recipe would be sufficient for a family of four.

The main and must have ingredients are:
Thick Rice Noodles (300g)
Yellow Hokkien or similar wheat noodles (200 g)
Chinese rose meat sausages (sliced thinly)
Prawns - devined and sliced in the middle
Mustard green or choy sum or baby kai lan - wash, separate and slice
Garlic chives
Bean sprouts (80g) rinsed and drained well
Garlic
Cooking Oil
Eggs (3 - 4)
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
Chilli paste (optional)

1. Start frying the garlic in oil till fragrant. Put in sausage and prawns. Do not overcook.

2. Increase the heat over the frying pan. Add yellow noodles, followed by rice noodles and green vegetables and stir well. (If using chilled noodles, steam it till slightly soft and warm 10 minutes before frying. If using dried noodles, blanch in warm water for 5 minutes and drain well before hand. The worst thing to have are half cold noodles on the plate.)

3. Add some light soy sauce to taste. (Leave dark soy sauce till the end to avoid burning)
You could either add chilli at this stage or leave it at the side for individuals to help themselves.

4. Make a well in the centre and break the eggs. Stir quickly to ensure the slightly cooked egg is spread evenly to all the noodles.

5. Add garlic chives. Then add beansprouts last.

Tips: To avoid noodles sticking to the bottom of the pan, one way is to add oil as the frying progresses. However, a healthier way is to use a good quality non-stick pan to reduce the amount of oil needed.

Water is sprinkled if there is a need to soften the noodles further.

A helpful tool to have is a long pair of bamboo chopsticks on one hand and a light slotted wooden spatula on the other hand to stir the noodles without breaking them to pieces.

Be quick and do not spend too much time pondering and waiting. This is a quick stir fry using strong heat.

Note: Though both are former British Straits Settlement ports, the main difference between the Penang fried rice noodles and Singapore fried noodles is the latter use more dark soy sauce. Also, Penang version uses only rice noodles of the thinner width and omits yellow wheat noodles. Traditionally, street food sellers add cockles (clams) and lots of chilli paste to their already fiery fare.

Mediterranean (Italian, Greek) Pasta - Very Delicious Vegetarian Noodles in Garlic Aioli

Mediterranean  Marinated Vegetables


100 g each of : marinated Italian antipasto (more of whatever you favour) :
- Stuffed or pitted olives (green or black or both if you love olives and prefer variations and colour)
- Sundried Tomato
- Marinated Mushrooms

Fresh Herbs and Vegetables


Spinach, Rocket, Parsley, Lemon Basil for Garnishing 
(any one of the selection or combination of all)

For Roasting (Aioli)


Garlic Cloves (2 to 3)

Chilli slices from 1/2 long variety
(alternative : dried chilli powder or chilli flakes)

Optional : Pinenuts (separately in oven till dark yellow but not brown)

* For non-vegetarian option : add marinated octopus

STEPS

Warm up marinated vegetables to at least 80 degrees C so that the temperature difference will not cause shock and bring down the level of the aioli and pasta later.

Boil pasta in salt and vegetable oil till al dante or below (if leaving in water before sauce is ready)

Fry garlic till fragrant. Add chilli but do not leave it to cook for more than a minute (discard if you prefer a less spicy sauce).

Stir in noodles and toss with marinated Italian vegetables until well combined but don't overdo it.

To serve, garnish with fresh herbs, vegetables and pinenuts.

* Viola : a complete meal within 10 minutes!

Laksa with Cockles

Those who have lived in Southeast Asia would know what they mean by laksa with sihum.

Cockles without cockles (called hum by the locals) is not the real mackoy.

Then comes the tedious part. Do not overcook the cockles. The difficulty lies in most cockles don't open easily unlike clams. They are alright for consumption even if they are closed (not tightly clammed up and impenetrable, pardon the pun).

Cook laksa lemak (the coconut based with moist spices and not the curry powdered version) as per normal. The spice mix (remapah in Malay) comprises ground dried chillies (presoaked, deseeded and cut), tumeric, galangal (blue ginger), lemongrass and small onions. Pounded dried shrimp should be fried separately from the rempah.

The most essential ingredient is the Vietnamese mint leaves (polygonum) which has to be cut and chopped finely. Sprinkle on the laksa before serving. The stalks can be dropped into the rest of the soup before cooking.



Optional are tofu puffs, prawns, chicken slices, beansprouts and cucumber. They enhance the taste of the dish and are recommended if it this is meant to be a main course.

Good quality pure coconut milk or diluted coconut cream is preferable. Compromising on the quality of the coconut milk will debase the taste and enjoyment of this ever popular dish which has gained worldwide reputation.