Spicy Garlic Butter Prawn Spaghtti

I know spaghetti is Italian’s thing but do you know it also goes well with soy sauce ? Have seen this dish from @marionskitchen at Youtube, I knew it would be delicious and I absolutely love it when I tried out. Inspired and adapted from Marion’s original recipe, here is how I made it :

 

Ingredients:

-Spaghetti.

-Prawns.

-Octopus. (I used thinly sliced octopus.)

-Garlic cloves, sliced and chopped.

-Unsalted butter, 50g.

-Chilli flakes, 1 tsp.

-Soy sauce, 3 tbsp.

-Oyster sauce, 1 tbsp.

-Spring onions, chopped.

 

To make garlic oil:

-Cook the sliced garlic in a saucepan with oil over medium heat.

-Once the garlic is starting to turn golden at the edges, transfer to another heat-proof bowl and set aside.

 

How to make:

-Cook the spaghetti. (Follow the cooking instruction on the packaging)

-While the pasta is cooking, pour oil into a frying pan over medium heat.

-Add chopped garlic and cook for 3 minutes until soften, then add prawns and octopus.

-Add soy sauce and oyster sauce, stir well.

-When the pasta is al dente, move the pasta straight into the pan. (Also spoon some pasta water so it won’t get too dry.)

-Add butter and chilli flakes, mix well until the sauce has been absorbed by the spaghetti.

-Top with a drizzle of garlic oil, sprinkle with spring onions and more chilli flakes.

 

大家有常追的Youtube煮菜頻道嗎？我最近會看Marion’s Kitchen，她有些結合中西料理的家常菜色真的滿適合我這種旅居海外卻還是擁有亞洲胃的人，這道加了醬油跟蠔油的奶油義大利麵可能在義大利人眼中覺得超不正宗，不過就像日本人會把義大利麵「改造」成和風口味，用中式醬料調理義大利麵最後再撒上青蔥其實也是很對味！然後這次使用的章魚片是在Waitrose買的Octopus Carpaccio(用油、檸檬汁、酒醋醃製的一種義大利小菜)，單吃我覺得口感有點像台式豬耳朵，加在義大利麵一起拌炒也很好吃。

Suan La Fen / Hot & Sour Noodles Soup 酸辣粉 (蒟蒻麵版本)

 

Suan La Fen (酸辣粉) is famous Szechuan-style hot and sour noodles soup that consists of spicy, sour, and umami flavours along with noodles and different ingredients. Before I always had instant noodles version, but it turns out making Suan La Fen at home is not as difficult as you thought.

𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 :

-3 cloves garlic, chopped.

-Chilli flakes, 1 tbsp.

-Salt, 1/2 tsp.

-White pepper, 1/2 tsp.

-Sugar, 1 tsp.

-Soy sauce, 2 tbsp.

-Vinegar, 2 tbsp.

-Sesame oil, 1 tbsp.

-Stock, 2 & 1/2 cups. (Chicken, beef, or vegetable one. If not, boiling water is also okay.)

 

𝐓𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐧 :

-Mix garlic, chilli flakes, salt, white pepper in a heat-resistant bowl.

-Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan until shimmering and smoking slightly, pour over the above mixed ingredients to sizzle with fragrance.

-Stir the sizzling ingredients, add sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil.

-Heat the stock and pour the hot stock into the bowl and mix well.

Once the soup is done, you can add the cooked noodles, top with chopped spring onions and roasted peanuts. My version was also within prawns and fried tofu sheets. Usually Szechuan Suan La Fen comes with glass noodles, but I used shirataki/konjac noodles as a low-calorie alternative which was also tasty.

Japchae / Korean Glass Noodles Stir Fry

 

Japchae (or Chapchae/잡채) is one of my must order dishes when eating at Korean restaurants. (another one is sea food pancake!) I love the chewy texture of Korean style glass noodles and the taste with various ingredients (meat, vegetables, eggs…). Have heard Japchae is Korean classic dish particularly for festive days or special occasions, but I believe nowadays you can enjoy Japchae whenever you want. I think the method is not difficult, but it takes time to prepare and cook the ingredients one by one before you mix everything together. Here is how I made this Japchae :

 

Ingredients :

-Korean sweet potato starch noodles / glass noodles / Dangmyeon (당면)

(You can buy it from oriental supermarkets, if not, use rice noodles as substitute but be aware it won’t have the same chewy taste.)

-Carrots, thinly sliced.

-Shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced. (I used wild mushrooms)

-Red pepper, cut into strips.

-Spinach.

-Pork belly, cut into strips.

-1 to 2 eggs.

-Roasted white sesame seeds.

To marinate the meat :

-Soy sauce, 2 tbsp.

-Sugar, 1 tbsp.

-Vinegar, 2 tbsp.

-Sesame oil, 2 tbsp.

-White pepper, 1 tsp.

-Minced garlic

Mix pork belly strips with above sauce mixture and leave it for about 15 minutes.

 

To make egg garnish :

-Crack the eggs and lightly whisk.

-Add oil into a non-stick pan over a low heat, swirl the oil around to make sure the pan is fully covered.

-Add beaten eggs to the pan, swirl to create a thin layer and cook both sides for about 1-2 minutes.

-Transfer to a plate, once cooling down, cut into strips.

 

 To get the rest ingredients ready :

-Cook spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds, then rinse under cold water and drain.

-Add oil into a non-stick pan over medium heat, add carrots and stir fry until soften. Set aside.

-Repeat the same process to stir fry sliced mushrooms, red peppers, and marinated pork belly strips. (follow the order if you can)

-Cook Korean glass noodles in boiling water for about 10 minutes, then drain and set aside.

(you can cut into noodles randomly with kitchen scissors to shorten them)

 

To make the sauce for Japchae :

-Soy sauce, 4 tbsp.

-Sugar, 2 tbsp.

-Sesame oil, 3 tbsp.

-White pepper, 2 tsp.

Mix above well until sugar is dissolved.

 

To mix and serve :

-Mix Japchae sauce, glass noodles and all the cooked ingredients together.

(mix all together by hand if you can, make sure the noodles has cooled down enough before you do it by hand.)

-Sprinkle with roasted white sesame seeds.

*You can adjust Japchae sauce to taste by adding a little bit more of soy sauce or sugar if necessary.

本來用英文寫了落落長的食譜，結果竟然字數太多沒辦法PO在IG上。。。雜菜冬粉真的是我去韓料店的必點之一，而且它竟然也是我來英國之後才知道的一道韓式料理！(以前在台灣都只知道烤肉飯)特別喜歡韓國冬粉那種QQ的口感，而且自己在家裡做雜菜冬粉其實不會很難，費工費時的是每個食材都要事先切好，然後個別分開拌炒(不要問我為什麼不全部一起炒，韓國人都是這樣弄的)，只是每次在韓超買韓式冬粉對我來說實在是一大困擾，因為那包裝真的滿佔地方的 (有買過的就應該懂我在說甚麼)，我後來則比較常買中國的紅薯粉絲替代，煮起來的口感也很類似，重點是它的麵體是一球一球的，要煮的話比較方便。