Quick Rosti

Ah, the ubiquitous potato. What's one to do when one needs the carbs but is bored with rice? The trusty potato comes to the rescue. I was wondering what kind of carb to pack for my lunch meals this week, and instead of going for the mash, I decided to whip up a quick* rosti instead.

* err, that's quick if you have a large grater. And I only spent 20 min preparing the whole dish, so that's pretty quick - I have a policy of not spending more than half an hour preparing my pack meals every night.

Quick Rosti

2 large potatoes, grated in long strips
1/2 inch knob of butter
1 tbsp plain flour
Pepper
1/2 tsp Tumeric
1/2 tsp chili powder

1. In a shallow pan, melt butter and reserve half for later.
2. Mixed grated potatoes with flour and spices.
3. Heat pan with melted butter on medium-low heat. When the butter bubbles, lay potato mixture on pan, spread and flatten.
4. After two or three minutes, use a metal spatula to scrape the bottom of the potato pancake to separate it from the pan. Fry until crispy. (Or smells a little burnt. heh.)
5. Pour the remaining butter on the uncooked side of the rosti. Flip over and fry until crispy.


Note: Two large potatoes for me work nicely with my 12" pan. You might want to experiment the amount of potatoes with your pan. Also, tumeric isn't part of the traditional rosti recipe, but I added it in the keep the pancake a nice yellow colour.

Tags: potato rosti budget recipe

Sweet & Spicy Meat Balls

This is my housemate, Kevin's recipe. I usually never like meatballs but these are the only ones I'll touch.

Sweet & Spicy Meat Balls

500g beef sausage mince
Sultanas
Fresh Parsley
Chilli flakes

1. Empty the beef sausage mince in a large bowl.

2. Throw in a generous handful of sultanas, some fresh parsley and chilli flakes into the beef sausage mince (there are no exact measurements for this recipe: If you like sultanas, be generous; if you love chilli, go wild. Just estimate.).

3. This is the fun part: Start mixing everything up with your hands. Hands are the way to go. It's the best way to make sure everything's mixed in.

4. Create some rough-looking balls (no need for perfect rounds). Not too big, about half the size of a tablespoon. 500g of beef sausage mince should give you about 20 balls.

5. Heat a generous amount of oil in a frying pan.

6. Fry up meatballs until the inside is cooked. Set aside on paper towels.

7. Voila!

This is a perfect snack because you can keep it for a few days and you don't need to heat it up before eating.

Big yum. Seriously addictive.

* Courtesy from Kevin *


Tags: meatballs sweet spicy budget recipe

Spiced Indian Rice with Curry Chicken

Yes, yes...It's been a long time. So long that I actually forgot my username and password!

But it's back to business from now on. I've definitely expanded my menu now that I've become an actual uni student again.

Before I start, I apologise beforehand for all the photos that I'll post here. I think I'm the only person who still believes in film cameras and the only modern camera I have is my crappy 1.3 megapixels phone camera.

But who cares about pictures? We need to eat!

* note: I haven't put in exact measurements for how much rice or chicken to use. It really depends on how many people you're serving. Just adjust accordingly. *

Spiced Indian Rice

Basmati rice
1 red onion (huge if possible) - diced
A tiny bit of minced ginger
1 carrot - grated
Butter
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves
1 teaspoon tumeric powder (a.k.a kunyit)
Sultanas

1. Wash the Basmati rice and drain off the water. Set aside.

2. Heat about 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a wok/frying pan, throw in the cinnamon, cloves and onion. Fry until onions are soft and fragrant but not brown.

3. Pour in the rice and carrot. Stir fry for a bit. Then add in the tumeric powder and mix well. The rice will turn yellow. Add a bit of salt.

4. Transfer the rice into a rice cooker. Flatten the rice so it sits in nicely then pour in some water. Just enough water so that there's a thin layer of water above the rice.

5. Leave the rice to cook. Once the rice is done, mix in sultanas.

6. Voila!

Curry Chicken

Chicken breast or drumstick (depends what you prefer)
1 red onion (huge if possible) - diced
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves
A bit of curry leaves
1-2 teaspoons of tumeric powder (just enough to marinate chicken)
2 tablespoons dry curry powder
2 tomatoes - wedges
2 potatoes - wedges
1 zucchini - sliced
2 tablespoons santan powder mixed with water or coconut milk

1. Wash chicken, pat dry and rub chicken with tumeric powder and salt. Set aside.

2. Heat oil, throw in cinnamon stick, cloves and onions. Fry until onions are soft and fragrant but not brown.

3. Add in chicken and stir fry. Add curry powder and continue to stir fry. If chicken starts to stick to the wok, add in tomatoes or a bit of water. Throw in curry leaves.

4. Add in potatoes, zuchinni and some water. How much water depends on how much gravy you want.

5. Turn the heat down to medium and wait until the potatoes are cooked and soft.

6. When the chicken and potatoes are done, stir in santan. Add in more santan if you want your curry to be thicker.

7. Add salt to taste and serve with spiced rice.

8. Voila!

Tags: indian spiced rice curry curry budget recipe