Sausage Casserole - my way

OK...this method is NOT english at all...

1) Brown 1 big onion in pot - diced

2) Add a pack of sausage ( you can use any type, I used butcher's pork sausages) into pot and stir-fry till sausages are brown as well.



3) Add diced carrot and mushroom into mix (if you like peas, you can add some in ..umm..those tomatoes weren't added in, they were there just to add a splash of red into the picture, grown by my workmate and tasted fabulously sweet!)



4) Add chicken stock (2 teaspoon) and half cup of hot water,1 tablespoon of flour, stir well, shut lid and let simmer for 10 minutes.

5) Add salt and pepper to taste, a dash of balsamic vinegar, stir well and cover the top with sliced potatoes.

6) Continue cooking in oven 220 c (middle tray) for another 20 minutes.



As you can see, it's not the greatest looking dish, but it was really comforting as the Autumn slowly creeps in...

Sushi cravings

Several days back, I had this craving for sushi. In Malaysia, I would have rushed to Sagano at Renaissance or Gen Japanese at Legend hotel to have my dosage of Japanese buffet, no problem! For about RM 60++, I would have the whole spread of Japanese food for my picking...including fresly made sushi and sashimi. (oooo...how I miss all that...on top of domestic help of course)

But here...errr..things are a little different...I live in the sticks, unlike in the big cities like London or Birmingham, there's only ONE Japanese restaurant around town called something corny like SAKURA or whatever. It will cause an arm and and a leg to pay a visit. So we did we go? TESCO lar!



Can always depend on our good ol' local Tesco.

Disaster and Delight

The other evening, I felt like cooking up a storm for dinner. Well, not exactly a feast, especially after a ..umm..'hard day's work'. Anyway, it was suppose to be spring onion and ginger lamb and mushroom prawn.

So I chopped and sliced......




Then, I painstakingly sliced the meat off half a lamb shoulder. The almighty light bulb came on.. 'Hmmm...maybe I can TENDErise this....' I read in a food blog that sodium bicarbonate (the one use for baking) would do the trick! Using my usual sledgehammer style (according to SK), I just add in the amount I felt was right. It was about 5 teaspoons...I figured it should be the same amount, as if adding flour...so I marinated it for 15 mins, then it started to smell funny...something was wrong, so I rinsed the meat under running water again and again...

I started cooking...stir-fried the ginger, garlic and the white- of the spring onion, then added the lamb pieces...it started to FOAM!!!! I can't believe my eyes, it was foaming off the wok!...when it's ready...I tasted it ,and it tasted nothing like lamb, but like some jelly!...yukk!!!!! anyway, it was to the bin....$%^&**...an hour lost just because of my stupidity. I went online and found out that I am suppose to add something like HALF a teaspoon of that potent stuff into the meat.....well, lesson learnt the hard way...

But thank God for prawns...it didn't need any sort of tenderising...



Sigh...

A year older...

.....ummm...hopefully wiser?!

Ikea and Asda

SK went for his weekly badminton session with my bro-in-law last night. me? I went to my earthly heaven...Ikea. Best of all, I can shop for 2 hours all by myself and without some impatient male presence waiting to get out of his version of hell. Thank God for their 10pm weekday closing time. Once inside, I felt like a kid in toys 'R us.

I went straight to the Market Hall to browse throught every section. Then I made a second round to grab what I wanted from the 1st round of browsing. I tried very very hard to only buy what I needed . So I needed a poster for the blank wall in the lounge, got that, a bathroom mat, got that *goody-goody me for being practical* , a spray can, needed for my indoor plants' foliage, and a bamboo plant...shhhhhh. You see, SO in-control right?

Well, let you in on a secret, there was actually another poster 70cm x 100cm frame, matching picture, a bonsai plant and a set of curtains in my shopping bag before heading for the check-out, but I gave up half-way, stupid me for not getting a shopping cart, as the big yellow Ikea bag strap was eating into my shoulder. It was a painful way for my sensible side to kick-in, but it did nevertheless...I off-loaded what I don't need, or could live without and escaped with only a slight dent. It felt victorious!

By the end of that 2 hours, I had another hour to kill before I get picked up, so I visited Ikea's neighbour, the huge Asda/Wal-Mart. It was a 24 hours superstore and oh boy! they even have a section selling wholesale sized packs of lentils for curry and dhal making...first for me, as these stuff are usually found in Asian shops in your local 'little India' dotted throughout the UK. They also stock roti canai!!! (Roti Pratha). Again, this is news!

Anyway, by the end of the evening, I was extremely tired but satisfied.