Shrimp Scampi

A super simple recipe.

Ingredients
Butter
Olive oil
Parsley
Garlic
Shallots
White wine
Cooked Shrimp
Angel hair pasta
Lemon juice
Salt pepper

Procedure

Cook and drain the angel hair pasta and set aside.

Heat up the pan, add olive oil, chopped shallot, minced garlic and sauté. 

Add a half cup of white wine and shrimp, wait for the wine to reduce, and add the chopped parsley. 

When the wine has evaporated, season with lemon juice, add the pasta, simmer for a minute or two.

Serve with veggies of your choice, or good crusty bread to soak up that delicious wine sauce.

Easy Baked Salmon with Lemon and Capers

Ingredients
Salmon
Olive oil
capers
salt
pepper

Procedure
Just layer the lemon slices over the salmon, add good olive oil, sprinkle salt, capers, and add the lemon juice and bake in a preheated oven at 400C for 12 mins :)

Channa Masala

A simple home style channa masala. A super easy curry to make on a weekday, this is a quick version, there are about a hundred ways to make, it is versatile and forgiving recipe.

Ingredients

A can of garbanzo beans(channa)

A medium size onion

Two tomatoes

A medium red potato

Half a can of coconut milk

Red chili powder

Coriander powder 

Cumin powder
Garlic powder

Star anise

Black cumin seeds

Cloves 

Procedure 

Heat a pan with few spoons of oil.

Sauté the cloves, star anise and cumin seeds.

Sauté the chopped onion.

Sauté the chopped tomatoes and chopped red potato. 

When it is simmering, add the can of garbanzo beans, and the spice powders to suit your taste( I add a spoon of red chili powder,1/2 spoon of garlic powder, 1/4 spoon cumin powder and 1/4 spoon coriander powder).

Let it simmer for 10-15 mins, stir in the coconut milk and add salt to taste.

Allow to simmer for 5 mins and we've with hot rice. 

Simple focaccia

Ingredients 

1/2 cup of warm water

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 packet of quick rise yeast 

1 spoon of sugar 

1 small spoon of salt

Topping of your choice, I used this combination 

1/4 red onion slices

A few kalamata olives sliced 

2 spoons of Parmesan 

2 spoons of asiago

Oil to drizzle over the focaccia 

Mix the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water and 1 table spoon of sugar, let this mixture rise for 10 minutes. 

In a bowl mix the yeast with 2 cups of all purpose flour and salt to taste, let this mixture rise for about 30mins. 

The flour mixture will double, oil a tray, gently knead the flour mixture on the tray.

Add toppings of your choice: I used asiago, Parmesan, kalamata olives and red onion. Some of the popular toppings include plain fennel seed or tomato and basil topping or classic rosemary topping. 

Preheat the oven (450F), bake the focaccia in the oven for 10 to 15minutes, it will be golden brown when it's done. 

Serve hot! :) 

Other toppings: capers, serano peppers, yellow onion  and parsley. 

Classic basil and tomato toppings taste amazing as well! 

Tofu Fried Rice

 

Tofu is a cheap source of protein, it's versatile and packed with nutrients. There are several variations of tofu fried rice, this recipe is my favourite, it is easy to prepare and difficult to mess up, especially when you don't have too much time on your hands. I made a small batch last week and devoured every single bite. 

 

 

Ingredients 

 

1 pack extra firm tofu (I used the whole foods 365 brand tofu, it's barley two dollars)

Half a red pepper chopped

Half a green pepper chopped

Half a spoon of minced garlic and minced ginger paste 

Half an onion chopped or a few scallions chopped (this is optional)

A cup of cooked rice (I used leftover basmati rice, you can used any long grain cooked rice)

Siracha sauce or traditional sambal (chilli paste)

Soy sauce

Salt and pepper 

Procedure 

 

Heat a thick pan and add a few teaspoons of vegetable oil. 

 

Add the onions/scallions and minced ginger and garlic and sauté. 

Add the red and green pepper and sauté for a minute or two, don't let it cook too soft.

 

Add the chopped tofu pieces and sauté gently. 

 

Add the cooked rice and stir it gently with a forked spatula or fork. 

 

Season with siracha sauce, soy sauce and check for salt and spice.

 

Soy sauce is salty, so it should be sufficient to flavour the rice but if you feel the need you can sprinkle more salt along with pepper and be sure to check before you serve it.

 

Sprinkle chopped green scallions (optional) and serve hot.