Pipin (a real person, not a hobbit) taught me this dish when I was training in Thailand. She’s a talented cook with a big, kind heart. In fact she’s so nice I wanted to pack her into my suitcase and bring her home.

Having said that, she is also the cause of my typical weekend evening:

me: What shall we have for dinner?
D-man: I don’t know. What do you think?
me: hmm..how about pasta?
D-man: ‘pose we can……
me: you don’t sound excited. how about sushi?
D-man: hmmmm….
me: what about curry?
D-man: *silence accessorized with a face furrowed deep in thoughts*
me: salad?
D-man: *checks his fingernails*
me: pizza?
D-man: *crickets*
me: ok ok, cashew nut chicken?
D-man: YES! Let’s go to the supermart now!

That pretty much sums up how much he like this dish, and my feeding duties.

Ingredients (serves 2 very hungry, very greedy persons)
2 chicken thighs, deboned & cut into chunky bite size
80gm sugar beans, cut into 3′s or 4′s if 3 ain’t your lucky number
1 cup brocolli, cut into bite size
1 cup cauliflower, cut into bite size
1 cup carrots, sliced into thins
1/2 onion, diced into chips
2 gloves of garlic, minced
handful of shitake mushrooms, sliced
1/2 – 1 chilli, thinly sliced
handful of raw cashew nuts
Condiments
3 tbsp cooking oil (I use veggie oil)
2 tbsp Oyster sauce
Dash of fish sauce (depends on how much you like the stuff)
1/2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of sea salt
Dash of sesame oil (optional)

I’m tabling the ingredients & condiments very loosely cos you should customize the dish to your very own liking. I.e. you don’t have to add cauliflower if it puts you off your mojo.

First heat up a wok and add cooking oil but do not overheat oil (oil must not smoke). With medium heat, lightly fry cashew nuts. They cook real quick so just give it a few toss & dish them up onto blotting serviettes when they get a slight tan.

Using the same heated work, fry garlic and onions till garlic turns golden and onion chips are slightly soft, and add chicken. When chicken turns pale, throw in mushrooms and all other vegetables. Give everything a good stir & wok out those arms! (wok up! Geddit? Geddit??)

When veggies start to wilt & soften (do not overcook veggies or I’ll spank your bottom!), add in all condiments except sesame oil & taste to adjust, or adjust to taste, whichever you fancy. Once everything is perfect, dash in the sesame oil (optional) & serve the wonderful deliciousness with warm rice.

Then be prepared to get demanding request to cook this awesome dish every night.

Once upon a time I had a wonderful Swede for a boss. He is very cool. I will never forget the time when he wore a tee-shirt that says “My sausage is deadly” to the office. Bet your boss didn’t! Ha! Anyway, he married a gorgeous and kind exotica whom fed us many a great meals. She taught me this wonderful (and healthy) recipe and D-man and I have never gotten sick of it till now. I made it recently for some friends and realize that it’s a really easy and fool-proof dish to bring to a potluck.

Cook pasta, let cool. Then mix everything together. Adjust condiments to suit taste.

Now was that easy peasy or was that easy peasy?

Let me think that over and get back to you later.

*psst:  Tomatoes are one of those “happy foods”. They also contain lycopene which is a powerful antioxidant, and we all know antioxidants make you pretty and fights cancer cells.

I have to be careful not to make this a foodie blog but I can’t help it. Every time I make something decent, I can’ t wait to share it with everyone.  Why get fat alone when all your friends can join you in the wonderful process right?

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Another easy-peasy recipe that you do not need an oven to accomplish. Just a very sweet tooth and extreme fondness for cheese is what it takes. I made this for my gym mates. I hope they like it. But not enough to blame me for any weight gain.

To finely crush the Oreo, either use a food processor, or simply put them in into a ziplock bag and beat the crap out of it with a rolling pin (with a cloth underneath the bag if you don’t want the police knocking on your door).
Mix the crushed and powdered cookie crumbs with melted butter, and press the mixture firmly into a 8 inch springfoam pan. I used a disposable aluminum pan for convenience of gift. Stash it in the freezer until it’s being called for duty.
Using a double boiler, heat and combine the gelatin with the lemon juice and hot water.

Beat the cream cheese, milk, icing sugar and rum at medium speed until well combined. Then add whipping cream and beat for about 5 minutes.

Add in gelatin mixture and stir till well combined.
Take out the Oreo crust, poke it a few times with a fork. Then pour half the cream cheese mix into the pan.

Mix the coarsely broken Oreo chips into the remaining half of the cream cheese mix, and give it 3-4 folds to incorporate the cookies. Then pour everything into the pan and turn the pan a few rounds to evenly distribute the cheese batter.
I do not like to crush the Oreo’s too finely for this because I like chunky bits in my cheesecake, but if u do not, go ahead and improvise. The finer your cookies, the more grey in colour your cake would be.
Refrigerate until set before serve (about 3-4 horrible waiting hours)

Then have a light dinner so you can eat an extra slice for dessert.

I initially didn’t intend to post this up so I did not take many pictures, but apparently reviews are pretty good and I’ve been asked for the recipe. So cheesaholics, brace yourselves!

Ingredients (makes 12 delicious muffins)
200g self raising flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
0.5 teaspoons sea salt
300g shredded cheddar cheese (or colby-jack cheese)
1 cup milk (I used fresh full cream milk, but low fat works as well)
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter (56 grams), melted

Heat up oven to 180 degrees celsius.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and shredded cheese together.
In a seperate bowl, lightly whisk egg, milk and butter together. When well mixed, pour the butter mix into the dry ingredients and fold to evenly combine everything.
If you’re not using a non-stick muffin pan, grease lightly before scooping in the muffin mixture and bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until the cheese browns on top.

These muffins are best eaten warm, so if you’re not eating them immediately (which is really tough), warm the muffin slightly before gobbling it down full speed.

Then go kick some bags to get it off your b*tt.

Love,
Cheesey

Ubi is the Malay word for tapioca, and if you like this wholesome yet down-to-earth (literally) root, you’ve hit paydirt! This is an easy-peasy dessert if you can find the required ingredients and a quality grater.

Cassy, this is for granny!

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This local / Asian dessert is essentially a sweet spring roll filled with coconut. It’s so easy to make, costs less than a bag of crisp and requires very few equipment. That is a relief for bummers like me who are so terrified of washing up we’ll rather visit the dentist. Twice.
With some creativity, you could modify your own version of this crepe-like dessert with a variety of fillings ie. sugared crushed peanuts, red bean/lotus paste, vanilla custard….or stuff a Toblerone inside…or whatever tickles your fancy.

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This is a special treat I often make for the furries of my family and buddies. Its healthy, super easy and (if you have time to make them) it beats buying costly doggy cookies from petshops. Baking and cooking for dogs is so gratifying and stress-free. They never complain that’s it’s too bland or that your crockery is not pretty enough.

No bones about that! (pun totally intended)

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How much does supermarket pasta sauces cost these days?  I have no idea because I haven’t bought any in years. It is so easy to make delicious, mind blowing tomato pasta sauce that doesn’t cost the moon and the stars. I use fresh basil in this spaghetti sauce because D-man is a basil junkie and cannot ever get enough of it. We often have this sauce with spinach pasta and wild mushrooms (pictured below), but the possibilities are endlesssssssss….

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D-man loves Thai food. He loves Thai food so much that he had always dreamt of marrying a Thai girl. Until he met me. Or so I’ll like to think. To stem out competition, I make him his favourite fried noodles, Padthai. When he has been a good boy and behaves.

Please meet the Thai ensemble!

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