Angel Hair Pasta with Fried Scallop and Sichimi [Prize Winning Recipe]

Last December, I participated in the Jusco Selection Pasta Masta Contest organised by Jusco (AEON Malaysia). It was my first time taking part in food/recipe related contest, result was finally out two weeks ago. I was surprised to find my name among the winners!

All started on one fine day in December 2011, we went to Jusco supermarket for grocery shopping and found the contest announcement at the service counter. The moment I saw the announcement little evil in me whispered "why not? just try with one of the recipe on my blog" then I went straight back to the store and grabbed two packets of our favourite pasta. Lunch the next day was this easy pasta prepared with Fried Scallop I made earlier.

Photo above was the Fried Scallop, very yummy with pasta and another important ingredrient was the nori strips. I simply adore fusion pasta dishes like this one.

Ingredients (4 servings):
200 g Jusco Angel Hair Pasta
2 sheet nori (seaweed), cut into 1-inch strips
Few slices lemon
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Lettuce for garnish

Fried Scallop with Sichimi:
30 g dried scallops
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 heap tsp sichimi (Japanese spice mixture)


Method:

1. Soak dried scallops until softened, drain and break them into strands with fingertips. Reserve water from soaking scallop for soup or other dishes.
2. Heat oils in wok, rub scallop strands with salt then add into wok. Fry with low heat till browned lightly. Add in sichimi and continue to fry till golden brown. Transfer to a bowl and allow cooling down.
3. Cook pasta according to the instruction on packaging, to the desired softness. Drain.
4. While pasta is still hot, toss with fried scallop and chili oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, mix well.
5. Transfer pasta into serving plates, garnish with lettuce and lemon slices. Put nori strips on the top and serve immediately.

Yes, I got 3rd prize!

Now you know my real name, age and birthday.

*wondering if I would get a birthday surprise*

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Thosai [What An Indian Day!]

Last night, we were invited to a casual Indian dinner. The food was fantastic, nothing compared to home-cooked meal. Many thanks to this thoughful sis, she even cooked a non-spicy soup for my boys. J(4yo) simply loved the soup with rice, he had two bowls and kept telling aunty "sedap" (means delicious in Malay).

We chatted about different types of Indian bread over the dinner, sis was very kind she gave me a packet of premixed Thosai flour as sample after I mentioned to buy some to send to Japan. Also, she packed some chicken curry for us to bring back so that we could have Tosai with curry the next morning.

This morning, I made some Thosais for breakfast served with chicken curry and dhal curry with sambal added. Never thought that it was so easy to make thosai at home, almost non-fail bread making but need a few more practices to get the perfect shape. We prefer the crispy version so I added extra water into the batter.

Recipe source: Lingams Thosai Mix's packaging

Ingredients:
500 g Thosai mix
1000 ml water (I added 20% extra)
Vegetable cooking oil

Methods:

1. Combine Thosai mix and water, mix well and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat a flat pan and grease oil.
3. Add and spread enough batter to make a thin bread. Cook on low-medium heat till browned on the bottom.
4. Transfer to serving plate and serve immediately to enjoy its crispiness, with curry or chutney.

After breakfast and some chores, we went to Penang Road for the famous Chendol it tasted good but did not have the wow factor. The assam laksa and char kuey tiao were very busy then, laksa forgotten my order and char kuey tiao aunty told me to wait for 30 minutes. At the end, we had only chendol then headed over to Little India for marketing and take-away lunch. Indian breakfast, lunch, and the leftover lunch for dinner. What an Indian day!

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Stir-Fried Yam Cake [MK Version of Char Kuey Kak]

Weeks ago my dear hubby came back from a gathering with three containers of steamed yam cake. It was like four or five pieces in each container, my jaw dropped when I saw it. I like yam cake but have never eaten more then two pieces in one go, how can we digest three containers?! 

We had some fresh on the same day and kept the rest in the refrigerator. The next day, I cooked some char kuey kak (炒粿角)  for breakfast. Char kuey kak is one of hubby's favourite Penang food, he used to have it like five times in a week! His regular hawker food at the moment is Tom yam vermicilli with fried fish. Again, four to five times a week.  If we go to hawker centre everyday, I think he will have it for seven straight days.

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):
2 cups yam cake / radish cake, cubed
1 tbsp chopped preserved radish
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chili paste or sambal tumis
2 eggs

A handful spring onions or chive, chopped

2 tbsp cooking oil

Seasoning:
1 tbsp sweet, dark soy sauce (kicap manis)
1-2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp fish sauce

Methods:

1. Heat a wok, add in oil. Add in dried radish and garlic, stir fry until fragrant then add in chili paste.
2. Add in cubed yam cake, stir fry on high heat for few seconds then add in seasonings (reserve 1 tsp)  and continue to stir until each cube is coated with sauce.
3. Push fried cake to one side, to make space for eggs. Add in a little bit of oil , crack in eggs and break briefly then add in reserved seasonings. When the egg is almost set, mix together with the fried cake.
4. Add in spring onion, toss for a few seconds then add salt to taste if necessary. Transfer to serving plates and serve warm.

Cook's note:

1. Add in 1-2 handfuls of mung bean sprouts (in step 4) of desired.
2. My version is slightly sweetened, it's the combination of Singapore and Penang version of char kuey kak.

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