The week before I started my vegetarian diet, I came across this prepacked frozen roti paratha, or Indian flatbread, at the grocery store. Roti paratha is also known as roti canai and is usually served with curry on a banana leaf at Indian restaurants. But instead of doing that, I decided to turn it into a wrap with spicy beef filling.

I used

• 250 grams of ground Australian beef
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 2 tomatoes, finely diced
• 2 green chillies, finely diced (feel free to vary based on your heat preference, I used birds’ eye chillies but you can use jalapeno or whatever you like)
• 3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
• 1 lettuce, shredded
• 1 pack of frozen roti paratha (about 5 or 6)

To prepare the filling, I simply drizzle some olive oil into my non-stick pan on medium heat. I chuck in the onions and tomatoes followed shortly by the chillies, beef and barbecue sauce and saute for 3-4 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste. When beef is cooked through, I scoop into a bowl and leave aside.

In another saucepan, I heat up a piece of roti paratha first on one side, then flip over to the other side. When heated through, lay the bread flat on a plate and layer on the fresh lettuce followed by the filling.

It’s really this simple and it makes a really fulfilling meal. This recipe is entirely my own concoction. I decided to give the old roti canai in curry a breath of fresh air and this is it. I like that this is so different yet tastes so good *gives self pat on back* :smile:, enjoy!

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Earlier this week, the kids were talking about a German restaurant we used to go to a couple of times in the past. It was a nice little place that not many people knew about.

They had a smoking section out back which was actually the five-foot way fenced in and decorated with cast iron outdoor furniture. Well, the place has closed down now so where else can we get those yummy Bratwurst sausages.

Well, I found them at my regular deli at Tesco last weekend. So I made potato salad with bacon bits and we had our Bratwurst lightly fried. Very nice. So nice, in fact, that the kids are calling for an encore.

It’s been a while since we had homemade pizza. To be honest, we kinda OD’d on it a while back and the kids didn’t want to have anything to do with it .

Recently on one of those quick trips to the baking supply store, I picked up a five-pack of pizza bases. Five regular-sized pizzas would be just right for one meal for us.

What I did was very simple. I opened up a jar of Prego pasta sauce and spread a fairly thick layer on each pizza base. I know many moms use tomato ketchup or puree as a red sauce for pizzas and pastas. The taste is not the same because first off, there are no herbs in ketchup and secondly, puree tastes pretty darned tart unless you spruce it up.

I believe if you want to make a really great pizza or pasta with a decent level of authenticity, you got to either cook your own red sauce or use a really good sauce from a jar. Maybe that’s why my kids are such picky eaters .

Okay, so back to my pizza. I preheat my oven to 350F (180C). I cut my fresh tomatoes and onions into semi-circular rings, and 3-4 cheese sausages into round slices. With the Prego pasta sauce as a base, I layer on the tomatoes, onions and cheese sausages.

Sprinkle a generous amount of grated cheddar cheese on top. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or till cheese is nicely golden. And you’re done! Simple enough!

I remember being pregnant and stuck in one of the business hotels overseas and craving for a pizza. It was way past 9pm and our meeting was still dragging on after hours and by the time we got to the lobby cafe, they had practically run out of food! Can you imagine if I’d had one of these homemade pizzas then!

The last time I made spaghetti carbonara, I used canned carbonara sauce. It tasted alright but it’s not quite the same as the one made from scratch. Un-Italian though this version may sound, let me assure you it really has quite an international flavor about it .

Okay, I got creative and used French beans and enoki mushrooms which I take it are from Japan ? Anyhow I was looking for shiitake mushrooms but it didn’t have a price label and I didn’t want to waste time hunting down the barcode scanner so I opted for the enoki instead.

For this, I used:

• spaghetti to feed 5 people
• 2 large slices of bacon ham, cut into long, thin strips
• 1 handful of french beans, blanched
• 1 pack of enoki mushrooms
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 packet (250g) of heavy cream
• 1 sachet of mushroom soup base
• Italian seasoning
• dried parsley flakes
• black pepper
• olive oil

I cook the spaghetti till al dente. In a non-stick pan, I drizzle some olive oil and saute the onions. Then I add the heavy cream and mushroom soup base, stirring continuously to mix well. I didn’t use any cheese because I reckon the heavy cream is fattening enough.

Then in go the french beans, bacon ham and enoki mushrooms. I let everything simmer for about 5-7 minutes on medium to low heat. Add a sprinkle of Italian seasoning, dried parsley flakes and black pepper, and season with salt to taste.

I pour the cooked spaghetti into the carbonara sauce, turn off the heat and mix to coat the spaghetti well. It’s best eaten piping hot before all that lovely sauce gets soaked up.

I made a huge big bowl for lunch and the kids whacked everything in one sitting. There were no leftovers and that’s definitely a good sign. It means I should cook this again sometime .

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that we had Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs for our Year of the Ox kickoff lunch. Stephanie of “From Huskies to Husbands” commented that she’s “got to have the recipe for this because it looks so good I want to lick my computer monitor”.

So Stephanie, here I am, with the recipe you can easily make at home. I tend to eyeball my ingredients rather than use exact measures, so these measurements are just estimates.

Here I used about 2-3 long pork ribs. You need to get your butcher to chop them into 2-inch lengths. Give them a quick rinse and dry them on paper towels.

First, I coat the pork ribs well in a bowl with 2-3 tablespoons of flour and a pinch of pepper. Meantime, I get my wok fired up with 2-3 cups of cooking oil for deep-frying.

Nope, it’s not dangerous and you definitely won’t need any safety equipment. Just be sure you switch to medium/low heat and stand back a little when you drop/slide the ribs gently into the hot oil.

I flip the ribs over and move them around, and generally give them like 5-7 minutes so they’ll be cooked through but not burnt. I then remove the pork ribs to a plate, and drain all the oil from the wok till I’ve got like maybe a tablespoon left.

To that, I add 3-4 tablespoons of sweet and sour sauce, or hoisin sauce (available from your Asian grocer), a drizzle of light soy sauce and a handful of 2-inch lengths of spring (green) onions, and bring to a quick simmer.

After that, I pour the deep-fried pork ribs back in, and give it a few quick stirs to ensure every piece of rib is coated with that lovely sauce. Arrange ribs on a dish lined with lettuce leaves. Okay, ready to dig in ?