secret recipes

nuff had always been impressed with my cooking skills.  i am too, sometimes, when i cook out of shear pleasure instead of a daily chore.  argh..... one day, nuff asked me how do i cook pasta for the children... she also reminded me to share my secret recipe on my blog.

the principle is throw in anything and everything and try to make a nice meal out of it.  if it turns out delicious, good for you. if it doesn't, try to fix it and pretend to have tried out a new recipe.  ooo and aaa would help as well.

oh well.... i realised some of the above has become my children's favourite too....

cream sauce pasta... butter, garlic, prawn, broccoli or mushroom, cheddar cheese and coffee-mate if cream is not readily available (soorrryyy, cheating sikit)! saute pounded garlic in butter, add prawn, broccoli or mushroom and continuing sauteing. add a little water and bring to boil. add all the pepper and salt.  add coffee mate and cheese until sauce thickenes... the kids love them...

some other easy dishes.... tosai, i grew up eating tosai for breakfast. nowadays, for dinner too at my mum's.  my mum keeps lots of tosai mix in the fridge and all we need to think of is the tosai dip.  like some people eat rice everyday, it is tosai at my mum's for dinner.  i like it best with lots of butter or margerin and sugar.  lenthils are fundamental in ones diet and therefore, tosai serves as one of the most nutritious food. all that you have to be careful with tosai mix is the level of fermentation.  read this link for more information.

soak overnight a mix 1 cup of rice and 1/3rd cup of skinned black dhal (oolunthu).  add some water, a big handful of cooked rice and blend them together. make sure the mix is not too watery.  add a little salt and keep the mix aside for about 4 hours for the fermentation process to take place and good results.  bear in mind that you need to use a big container to keep the mix as it will rise due to fermentation. 

you need a griddle or a pan. the cooking method is like how you make a pancake.  grease the griddle with oil or ghee or butter.  ladle some mix on the griddle and spread out and form a pancake.  cover the griddle and take as much time to cook it, usuall,y it takes less than a minute.  remove it from the griddle once it is dry.  take a little more time if you want it to be more crispy.

the same mix in a thicker form can be steamed in idli pans to make idlis.  you can eat oth idli and tosai in a variety of dips and curry like chutneys, chicken curry and etc. read this link for more information.

good luck....