Handmade pasta

Israeli couscous {Tarhonya} w bacon and Peas

I had planned to make risotto one day , then changed my mind due to shortage of time. Since I still wanted to use peas and bacon as the complimentary ingredients, I thought that Tarhonya (a type of Hungarian granulated pasta ... almost similar to couscous) would make a very good substitute for risotto.

This dish can not be easier while the result is so satisfying!! - I just LOVE the nuttiness from the oven-toasted tarhonya :)

Tarhonya with bacon and peas

Ingredients
Oil , for sauteing
Bacon, about 2.5cm cube - sliced
1 onion, sliced into half ring
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp smoked paprika
Tahonya pasta , I didn't measure ... it was enough for 3-4 servings
peas, 2 handfuls
chicken / vege stock - double the measure of pasta (or according to liquid required per package's instructions)
salt, pepper - to taste
Ewe's cheese

Method
1) Brown tahonya pasta in pre-heated oven at medium heat for about 10 mins or until brown. Set aside.

2) Heat oil in pan , sauté bacon until slightly brown. Add in onion and cook until translucent. Lower heat and put in the minced garlic and smoked paprika. Stir until fragrant.

3) Pour in chicken / vege stock and bring it to a boil. Once stock is boiling, pour in the pasta and stir it couple of time while it is cooking. Cook until pasta is ready.

4) When pasta is ready, adjust seasoning at this point. Next pour in the peas, stir and switch off the heat, put on the lid and let it rest for a bit. Check for readiness of peas before serving with sprinkle of ewe's cheese.

Left-over Pumpkin Soup as pasta sauce

Horrible photo; but the sauce and pasta combination was so moreish, I had to restraint myself !
The recipe is as per the title, it starts from cooking a batch of pumpkin soup (recipe below) spiced with dashes of curry powder for extra kick. Then use the leftover as pasta sauce for next day's main - just cook and mix in your favourite pasta, some grated cheese, pieces of fried chorizo, and finally sprinkle with chopped parsley - seriously good!
Pumpkin soup

Taste.com.au

serves : 6

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp ground coriander (omitted - didn't have any in the pantry)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1kg peeled pumpkin, diced
1 large potato, peeled, diced
1L chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup (125ml) thin cream (omitted)
*added
curry powder, to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add onion and leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add garlic and spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then blend in batches.
2. Return soup to pan, stir through cream and reheat gently. Season and add a little more nutmeg if desired.

Spaetzle { nokedli }

Spaetzle (Nokedli)
via for detail instructions check aprosef

For 1 serving (*I've doubled the recipe and it was good for 3-4 pax)

Ingredients

100gm Plain flour
1 large egg
60ml water
salt, to taste
a pot of boiling water

Method :-
1) Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, don't forget to season water with salt.

2) In a bowl , place the flour, and the crack the egg in the middle. Add a little water, and with a wooden spoon combine by pushing the flour towards the egg. Add water as you go until a not too runny consistency.

3) When water boiling, place spaetzle maker over the pot (see link for instructions) and push the mixture over the hot water.

4) You should be doing in batches, and remove dumplings which have floated.

5) Rinse with cold water to get rid of some starch, drain and serve.

Chinese style Angel Hair Pasta

Fried vermicelli rice noodles is comfort food for the Cantonese. We eat them in the morning, afternoon, night and sometimes even during parties as the noodles could be pair with endless flavours. Since it is harder to get vermicelli made of rice flour in my area, I have learned to substitute with angel hair pasta whenever I crave the Cantonese staple.

I will not be including a recipe in this post. What I do is I toast the pasta first either on a skillet or in the oven for maximum 10 mins. on medium heat or until pasta is browned. Next you simply cook the pasta per package's instructions, once cooked to al-dente, you toss it in Asian-inspired aromatics and you're good.

Chow Mein, Asian stir-fried noodles 炒麵

I think every Chinese household has a different versions of chow mein. This kyliekwong 's version (as seen on Tv Paprika) uses ginger, which I've never included in my version before this. Also, her soy base sauce was much more straight forward to prepare than mine. Anyway, here's how I tweaked her recipe based on what is available in my kitchen .

Chow Mein 炒麵

Serves : 1

Ingredients :-

One serving of spaghetti pasta (kw's recipe uses flat rice noodles)

few slices of ginger

2 cloves of garlic

half of red onion

cabbage (kw's uses chinese cabbage)

spring onions

white pepper to taste

thick soya sauce

light soya sauce

oil for stir-frying

* sesame seeds omitted (totally forgotten about it!)

* bean sprout was omitted (not available in my kitchen)

* You may also add any kind of meat / seafood of your choice.

Preparation :-

1) Cook spaghatti pasta according to your brand's instruction.

2) In the mean time, prepare sliced ginger, chopped onion , garlic, spring onions.

3) Heat oil in a wok, sauté ginger, onion and garlic until fragrant. Next in the same wok, put the dark soya sauce (enough to cover the pasta) , simmer it for a bit. Then toss-in the cooked pasta and stir-fry until soya sauce colour pasta fully. Next , toss-in cabbage, spring onion and neam sprout and continue to stir-fry for a bit. Add light soya sauce and white pepper to taste. Stir-fry for a about 3 minutes and it's ready.

4) Serve with toasted sesame seeds.

Rice Noodles dry style { Kon low }

Finding asian cooking ingredients here hasn't been easy. Fortunately, Tesco has a section of shelves that fulfil my needs. Though the supplies are limited, they do stocked general ingredients i.e. the soya sauce, curry powder, various instant sauces, etc. One of the best finds is rice noodle. This rice noodle is not quite like the fine rice vermicelli but some what similar to kway teow.

On the packing, it suggested to pour any flavour of hot soup over the rice noodle. However, for my taste, I prefer dry version instead. The following recipe was inspired whilst watching Nigella 's cooking programme with minor additions.

As you can see, I've prepared a small portion of each ingredients as we're going to toss these ingredients with the ready noodles. Clockwise - stir fried mince pork, toasted sesame seeds, stir fried button mushrooms, fried onions in oil, finally spring onions.

Usually, the tossing is done for one portion of noodle. In an empty bowl, first put the fried onions in oil, mushrooms, mince pork, dash of soya sauce and pepper to taste, mix the ingredient, then put in the rice noodles, toss til consistent, finished off with a sprinkle of spring onions and sesame seeds. Repeat the same for 2nd portion. This way, the unfinished ingredients can be kept in the fridge and heated up until the next meal :)

Verdict : the rice noodle were smooth and firm. Slurping was very easy! Give it a try :)