Michelle's world of food

Hands up those who like tofu. No? Well, I hope I can sway you with this recipe. My husband had an aversion to tofu until he met me. Now, he even requests for this dish. The flavour of tofu, or rather the lack of it makes tofu a great candidate as accompaniment to stronger tasting ingredients.   This is another easy to make recipe with minimal ingredients. Tofu with Bean Sprouts Ingredients: 400 gm Firm tofu* 250 gm Mung bean sprouts 2 Cloves garlic 2 tsp Light soya sauce 1 tsp Salt ½ tsp Sugar Cooking Oil Steps: 1. Slice tofu into squares of about ½ inch thick. 2. Heat 1 ½ tbsp cooking oil in a non-stick frying pan. 3. When oil has heated up, place the pieces of tofu flat in the frying pan. (You probably do not have enough space in the pan. Cook them in 2-3 batches) 4. Leave tofu pieces in the pan for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Then turn them over and repeat on the other side. 5. Set cooked tofu aside. 6. Thinly...

The thought of spices and buttery pastry simply makes my mouth water, or maybe it was that extra teaspoon of chili I added to the pie! Whatever it is, this recipe is always a hit with friends and family. Best of all, it is easy to make. Mini Chicken Curry Pies Ingredients: 1/2 Brown onion 1 Large potato 2 Chicken breast (or 500gm boneless chicken) 4 Sheets flaky puff pastry 3 tbsp Curry powder 1/2 tsp Chili powder (optional) 1/2 tsp Garam Masala (optional) 1 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Sugar 1 Egg Cooking oil Steps: To make pie filling: 1. Boil water (enough to cover the large potato) in a sauce pan. 2. While waiting for water to boil, finely chop onion. 3. Dice potato into small cubes of about 1 cm in size. Add to boiling water. Boil potato cubes until almost soft, about 8-10 mins. You do not want to cook the potato completely. Drain and set aside. 4. Dice chicken into cubes of about 2 cm in size. Add 1/2 tbsp cooking oil to a frying pan. Fry chicken until 70% cooked. ...

I love summer. Nothing beats Wellington on a nice, hot and still summer's day. We love packing a picnic and heading to the beach for a relaxing evening meal in the sunset. It totally redefines the meaning of "eating out". On spontaneous moments like these, I often just quickly put together what I can find in the pantry. This is my adaptation of bean salad. It is extremely easy and quick to make (If I can do it so can you). Wonderful as a light lunch, for a picnic or as a side dish. Quick Bean Salad Ingredients: 2 cans 400g Four beans mix * 1/2 cup Thinly sliced celery 1/4 Red onion 1/4 cup Coriander 40ml Olive oil 1 1/2 tsp Ground cumin 1 tbsp Lime juice 1 tsp salt Pepper to taste * Four beans mix contains: Butter Beans, Cannelini Beans, Borlotti Beans and Red Kidney Beans. Steps: 1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan. When the oil is hot enough, (Test it by putting a wooden spoon or wooden chopstick into the oil. If it bubbles, it means that the oil is...

Welcome to Michelle's world of food.  Why a blog? Simply because I love food and most of all, I love cooking. I contemplated calling this blog, "The skinny chef". However, on consultation with the bathroom scale, we both agreed that it was a bad idea. (We couldn't decide which was worse, the skinny part or the chef part...) Wise men once said that music is the language of the world. I beg to differ. I say that food is the universal language of humankind! Food transcends culture, geographical boundaries, time, race, ethnicity, social classes, religions and politics. Where else would you find two people with opposing viewpoints coexisting amicably? In a restaurant of course.  I do not not profess to be a chef, except perhaps in my own kitchen! In fact, far from it. I just happen to be blessed with an innate ability to fry an egg without mucking up and most importantly, a wonderful husband and a neat group of friends who so obligingly put up with being guinea p...