Thursday, December 26, 2013

Blue Macaroni and Cheese

You make regular macaroni and cheese from a box, and then melt blue cheese over the top. It's very sharp. I got a block of blue cheese at Costco for about the price you usually pay for cheddar.
It's fun because it's at the same time really low class and high class food. It's like putting caviar in your instant ramen. Except I've never had caviar so I don't know if that would be any good. 

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A modest proposal

For a Halloween-themed dessert:

Ingredients:
1 20 oz. bag of assorted Mars candy bars
1 10 oz. bag of M&Ms

Unwrap all the candy bars. Dump them unceremoniously into a heavily buttered 8-inch cake pan. Create the top crust by dumping all the M&Ms on top. Bake at 110 F for 30 minutes. Allow the dessert to rest at room temperature until solid. Serve with a garnish of Karo syrup (optional).

Friday, July 19, 2013

Kettle Corn Breakfast Cereal

Kettle corn is butter-popped popcorn with sugar and salt. You can get it in big bags at Costco. If you put it in milk and eat it quickly, it's like breakfast cereal with salt and butter. But you have to drop it in the milk and eat it within seconds before it melts.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Shrimp Biryani

I got this recipe from an arabic food blog.  It is sooo good. What's in the parenthesis is from me. When I made it, I didn't cook the rice as long because it doesn't take long to cook the kind I bought.  After layering the shrimp and rice, you just want to cook it until it's done.  

Cuisine: Arabic
Category: Arabian Gulf
Serves: 8 persons
Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium

Preparation time :     20 minutes
Cooking time :     1 hour, 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice or 400 g

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 medium onion or 250 g, finely sliced (if you want crunchy fried onions, wring out the onions in a towel before frying)

2 medium onion or 250 g, finely chopped

500 g shrimp, peeled, raw, de-shelled & de-veined

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 cup fresh dill or 50 g, finely chopped

3 tablespoons curry powder

2 cinnamon sticks

5 whole cardamom pods

3 cubes MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon or 30 g (the bouillon cubes here are bigger so be generous)

½ cup water or 125 ml, hot

2 cups cilantro leaves or 100 g, roughly chopped

6 cups water or 1½ liters

2 tablespoons ghee (or oil)

1 tablespoon saffron, powder (didn't use this as I haven't found it yet and it's very expensive)

pinch of salt

pinch of ground pepper

Preparation

Wash and Soak rice in cold water and set aside for 30 min.

In a large pot, heat vegetable oil, fry sliced onions till golden brown, remove and set aside.

In the same pot on medium high heat fry chopped onions till golden, add shrimp and sauté till pink (about 4-5 minutes), add tomato paste, Garlic, Dill, Spices, Cinnamon sticks, Cardamom pods, MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon , and Water and bring to a simmer. Add chopped fresh coriander leaves and remove from pot and set aside.

In the same pot, bring to boil 1.5 liters of water, place rice and cook until rice is ¾ cooked (andante).

Drain rice in a colander and discard excess water.

Melt Ghee on the bottom of the same pot; add a layer of strained rice, followed by a layer of shrimp and onion mixture and a sprinkle of Saffron powder. Follow this step until all the rice and shrimp sauce is used.

Steam rice and shrimp on med-low heat until rice is fully cooked (about 20 minute).

Gently fluff cooked rice ensuring even distribution of rice and shrimp.


Serve on a large plate, and garnished with fried sliced onions.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Pesto Pistachio Pasta

The tastiest food based on wordplay!

One bowl cooked pasta
Three spoonfuls pesto sauce
two spoonfuls sour cream
one handful pistachios (not in shells)
microwave for one minute.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Raw asparagus

It's really good. It tastes just like sugar pea pods if you eat it straight from the garden.