say hello to mister pasta roller

say hello to mister pasta roller....my latest toy in the kitchen... got all hyped up about ravioli... really wanted to taste the thing...but you see ...most ravioli that is sold in cans or in frozen form..is not halal...and kat jepun ni..lagi susah nak cari..

so i do what i always do...i make it myself... but i'll never know what it's really supposed to taste like lah kan..when u take the original recipe and take out the prosciutto...and alcohol...but you make do with what you can use...right...

so anyway..since i was dying to make that thing...first came the search for a round cutter...cookie cutter pun blh...tp nak cr a big sized circle cutter was not an easy chore...cr kat fukui ..then cr kat toyo..ada yang mahal je..last2 beli jugak...sekali..last weekend kat 100円 jusco to baru keluar stok....three sizes for 105円...urghhh..geram geram....hahaha...

the thing about making home made pasta is that...serious mendokusai nak roll out the dough...so i thought..why not invest in a pasta roller...saje je la usha2 kat tnet...and there it was...on sale...from 5800 to 1890...ape lagi ...beli beli...hahaha 2000 yen je...my hubby ..said beli je la...haha...and i was really proud of it too...sampai lah the night when i called up my mum for a chat... and she was like...you can get that for rm 30-40 in msia...waa waa waaaa......terus down..she had a laugh though..and i begged her not to tell dear hubby coz nanti kena gelak je.....but he overheard..so double kena gelak...hahaha..tp tak pe...i'm happy with my new toy and that's what counts...

my mum gave me some ideas too....al though i have thought of using it to roll out gyouza (potstickers) dough... she said why not use it to roll out you karipap dough...hehe....but it's the taste that counts right...so dearest hubby can't grumble bout me buying mister pasta roller...heck he might want to help me roll it out...maybe even try to figure the mechanics of the thing.....

so then comes the search for the perfect fresh pasta recipe...i had one in mind...the one my jamie oliver recipe book...tp it's a bit too ambitious for me...and some of the stuff tak tau nak cr kat mane kat fukui ni..
yesterday tnet buat pasal ...tak leh load page allrecipes...so here i am ...searching...found one that's seems to have potential with an in-experienced pasta maker...and here it is basic pasta

hopefully it turns out nice....still thinking up ideas for the ravioli fillings though...the possibilities are endless...

when it gets chilly

in japan, bila time time dah chilly mcm ni...people bring out their kotatsu (table with heater under them with a comforter-like tablecloth to keep the heat in) and they prepare dishes to help them warm up...amongst popular dishes is of course the nabe (which literally means periuk)

anyway here's a nabe dish i learnt from my juniors last year when they had a nabe party at their house...

Kimchi Nabe

The first thing you do is prepare the dashi (fish stock). Since dashi is a common ingredient in japanese cooking it's easy to find it sold in powder form ..org dulu2 buat from scratch.....pergh mendokusai.. since i don't really like the taste of dashi i added some udon soup to the pot...bagi wangi sikit..

Next you add the kimchi flavouring....masam masam pedas gi tu.

And last but not least you add in all the condiments...fish cake , toufu, chinese cabbage, mochi, mushrooms and so on...my juniors put in pieces of fish to give it more flavor and so on...i opted for chicken meatballs.

Chicken Meatballs

A simple mixture of:

* 1/2               Onion

* 2     cloves    Garlic

*1/2   cm         Ginger

                        Red Chilly (optional)

  250  g            Minced chicken

  1                    Egg

                        Oyster Sauce

                        Katakuriko

                        Salt

Then you just shape it into little balls...and drop them into the soup.....yum yum

cooking and what it means to me

i love to eat...
cooking....not so much...huhu
but when i feel like it...i go all out

this blog is about my life and what i'm going through...mainly in things connected to food...new recipes...failures and so on..

so before i go on...i'm gonna make this all about me and tell you how i came to cooking....

i cooked my first dish solo in fourth grade ( i was barely 10)... telur masak kicap...simple
i called my mom at work after school one day..asking her for the recipe.. and jotted it down and cooked for the first time.. all by myself... i got engrossed with the recipe ..re-copying it again and again in an A4 sized yellow notebook.. the second dish was lala masak lemak which i have since forgotten how to cook since we haven't cooked that in more than 12 years if i'm not mistaken...

after that there was spagetti, bergedil, and so on

i stopped after that..because i entered a boarding school and didn't have a chance to cook again until the time came for me and my fellow batchmates to leave for Japan to study.. it was then that once again i asked my mom for her recipes..sitting next to her ..this time armed with a laptop and thumdrive ready in hand..and so she gave me the basics...curry, nasi minyak, sayur goreng and so on...but i was frustrated...my mother with her years of experience well lets just say they didn't really measure their onions in exact porportions..it was more of a feeling...like when they see..maybe 2 onions is enough...other times its 3 or more depending on the size...

me being who i am...badgered her with question...make it easy i said...how many...2 or 3....only now do i understand...in the art of cooking...apart from desserts (those have exact measurements)..it's all about throwing things together...my mother told me...it was the same when she was younger...she too was once frustrated

but i wasn't too keen on cooking..i cooked a big portion of something and ate it until it was finished sometimes with a dish lasting a week..but that all changed after i met him... let's just say..having someone to share your meals makes you want to try harder...and so i started adding recipes to my little collection...and lets just say its been fun...