SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spaghetti alla carbonara is a recipe which I would certainly classify under "porn-food". 

I'm not talking about the pour imitation of spaghetti alla carbonara with a number of ingredients added by a twisted mind or a very bad cook. I'm talking about the original recipe, rigorously Italian Style.

Thus, if in the past you had an original pasta alla carbonara, you must agree with the fact that it is substantial, creamy, heavy, meaty, cheesy and sexy!

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Time: 20 min
Ingredients:

• Spaghetti
• Egg Yolk (one per person/one per 80gr of spaghetti)
• Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Cheese
• Pancetta Affumicata (smoked bacon)
• Red Fresh Chilly (optional)
• Olive Oil EVO (Extra-Virgin Olive Oil)
• Salt&Pepper

Preparation:

Spaghetti alla Carbonar

• In a large vessel, bring to boil the water for spaghetti.

• Grate the pecorino and place it in a large glass bawl. Add the yolks, salt, pepper and mix it weel. As a result, you will get a pretty dense texture sauce, if not, add more pecorino.

• When the water is boiling, add salt and spaghetti. Cook them al dente.

• In a large pan, add the red chilly, the pancetta along with a little bit of olive oil. Let it fried till the pancetta is crunchy.

• Before drain the pasta, remove a cup of boiled water and keep it aside. Don't forget to do it!!!

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

• When the pasta is al dente, drain them and add them into the pan with the pancetta. Toss it well.

• Add the spaghetti into the bawl with the pecorino and yolks, add the cup of boiled water and stir fast and well.

• Adjust with pepper and serve it hot.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

If you have any question or suggestion, you know how to find me.

all the material belongs to @inindiaperamore.blogspot.com

EGG RICE NOODLES WITH SOYA SAUCE

If you like noodles, you will definitely love rice noodles!

Rice noodles are manly used in East and South East Asian cuisine and the famous South Indian idiappam is also made out of a type of rice noodles. 



There are many varieties and many shapes, from rice flakes noodles (shaped like tortilla chips) to wide rice noodles (shaped like tagliatelle), river rice noodles (flat and wider) and the classic vermicelli rice noodles.




You can have them in soup, stir-fried, deep fried, as a spring roll filling or barbecued prawns wrapping. You can combine them with meat, fish, sea food, eggs and vegetables as well. They are used as a basic ingredients in so many countries that recipes are endless and much creative.

Today, I'm going to propose you the simplest way to cook rice noodles. Frankly, I'm not a fan of all those chinese sauces and I just like to make it easy and plain. I like to taste each every and flavor, including veggies, soya sauce and the consistency of the rice noodle itself. I would suggest you to add whatever crunchy vegetable (cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach etc.), seafood or meat, preferably chicken. Eventually, we are talking about chinese food so use any edible scrap you have in the fridge which may go well with this dish (no offense to chinese cuisine...).





I'm very particular about soya sauce and I use Kikkoman only. Since it's not light soya sauce it is better to dilute it with some water otherwise the taste might be too strong. 



Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

• Rice Noodles
• Carrots
• Cabbage
• Spring Onions
• Onions
• Ginger Garlic Paste or Ginger and Garlic
• Eggs
• Green Chillies
• Soya Sauce
• Chilli Vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

• Soak the rice noodles in warm water for about 20 minutes.

• Cut all the veggies in julienne and in a small pan scramble the eggs. Keep all aside. 

• Take a large pan and sautée in olive oil garlic, onions, 1tsp of ginger garlic paste. First add carrots and cook them for 5 minute, till softened. Add spring onions, cook them for a while and at last add the cabbage. 

• Before start seasoning, incorporate the scramble eggs into the veggies, adjust salt and pepper and add 1 tbls of chilly vinegar and 1 tbls of diluted soya sauce. Fry it till evaporate.

• Drain the rice noodles and cut them into two with a scissor (or knife). Add them to the veggies and stir well so that they absorbe the sauces and start to change the color.

• Keep adding diluted soya sauce and fry them in medium flame for at least 7 minutes.

For better taste, eat with chopsticks only!
If you have any suggestion or question, you know how to find me.

Images: foodsubs, easyrecipeworld

all the material belongs to ©inindiaperamore.blogspot.com

DIY-LET'S SPROUT

After my "starvation week"at Devaaya Ayurvedic Retreat in Goa, I started to appreciate sprouts. It happened the very day they decided to make a little variation on my diet: no more clear vegetable soup for breakfast but a big bowl of warm, unseasoned and crunchy sprouts.

Let me tell you that I was very happy and the first two days of sprouts my jaw was in pain. It seems that swallowing only liquids for a certain period of time, makes your jaw "unfit". Finally, I put it back to work with some biting exercise. Eating something with a crunchy texture, at that point of time, was paradise...

So, this is why, I decided to include sprouts into my diet and I mostly eat them in big, tasty and colorful salads.

If I didn't persuade you yet, here are 5 health benefit of sprouts:

1. Rich in essential nutrients, which means a loads of vitamins (A, B1, B6, C, K) and minerals (phosphorus, Magnesium, Potassium and Calcium). Not enough? Let's add some Omega-3 fatty acid, some dietary fiber and Folate (vitamin B9) too.
2. High in protein, but vegans and vegetarians already know that. In fact, they can contain up to 35% of vitamins.
3. Excellent source of enzymes, which can keep our body healthy and fit. If cooking food results in the loss of some enzyme, eating fresh sprouts is a good way to acces to all those enzyme.
4. Easy to digest, because of this "enzyme party". Good for young and elderly people.
5. Good for weight loss, reach in proteins and fibers and low in calories.

That was convincing, wasn't it?

The Basic of Sprouting
Dry seeds are dormant. Soaking them ends theirs dormancy and begins a new life. By “awakening” the seed, we are actually eating all of the live potential energy of the sprout.

• Soak the seeds overnight in a bowl with water.
• The next morning, drain water and rinse with fresh water once or twice.
• Place them in a cheesecloth, sprouting bag or sprouting jar without any water.
• Every morning and night rinse with fresh water.
• Ensure the sprouts never dry up, and repeat process until your desired length or age of sprout.
• Rinse out with fresh water before using them.

Now, you can eat them raw, stir-fried or boiled. If you decide to eat them raw, you will be gifted with all benefits I mentioned before. If you are going to cook them, forget about nice friendly enzyme and couple of things more. 

Why, anyway, would you cook sprouts? I came across articles about sprouts (especially mung beans) carrying Salmonella, Listeria and E.Coli. Probably, that pinch of hypochondria is too enlighted in my personality, therefore I don't really feel confortable with the thought of eating raw sprouts. And honestly, I like them cooked. 

Here, my lovely Sprouts Salad Recipe.

Images: wikimedia, pangravykadaicurry

all the rest belongs to ©inindiaperamore.blogspot.com

FARFALLE AL TONNO - PASTA WITH TUNA

Farfalle al tonno is one of the simplest recipe with pasta. It's fast and it needs a few ingredients only.
Today, I decided to experiment a variation of the original recipe by adding a bit of fresh cream. It taste great, softening the fish flavor and integrating the sauce ingredients. Yes, it was a smart one... 

You will notice some italian cooking terms that I didn't translate in english because the litteral translation didn't really satisfy me. 

Soffritto is a basic thing in Italian cuisine and the principal ingredients are 3: olive oil, onion and garlic - sautée. There are different types of soffritto depending on the dish. For example the soffritto for risotto will have: olive oil, onions, garlic, carrots and celery.

Mantecare is another word usually referred to risotto and pasta dishes. Basically, it can be translate with mixing, blending and incorporating - in order to get a creamy texture.

Let's try it!

Time: 20-30 minutes
Ingredients:

• Pasta
• Tuna in can
• 4 Tomatoes or Tomatoe Sauce
• Onion
• Chilly
• Garlic
• A bit of Fresh Cream  
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

• Cook the pasta in boiling salted water.
• Fry a few cloves of garlic and some chilly in olive oil. Chop the onion fine and add to it.
• Drain the oil/brine out of the tuna can, smash the tuna with a fork and add it to the soffritto. Let it fry along the onion and garlic so that it releases its flavor.

• If you use fresh tomatoes, here's a smart advice given by Deliciously Directionless: to have a fresh tomatoes puree, grate them! Add the tomatoes fresh puree or sauce into the frying tuna and let it cook till all the water released by tomatoes will evaporate. Add salt and pepper to taste.

• Drain the cooked pasta and keep aside some boiling water. 
• Add the fresh cream and few tbs of boiling water into the tuna sauce which is on a law flame. Add the pasta and let it mantecare for few minutes.

• Serve it hot.

If you have any suggestion or question you know how to find me.

all the material belongs to @inindiaperamore.blogspot.com

SUSHI, GOA AND OFF SEASON? I KNOW WHERE

Only sushi lovers can really understand what happen inside the head while experiencing the withdrawal symptoms of sushi. It's about chemicals reaction into the brain. Sometime, you get this "sushi call" and you cannot ignore it.

I've to say that sushi is also a food to be boycotted. Yes... taking the risk of being hypocrite, let me remind you the mercury contamination or massive degradations of fish species and the environmental impact that the sushi trend implies, just to say few. Eventually, we should boycott almost every food which is sold in the supermarket or restaurant, become vegetarian and engage ourselves in organic farming during our day off. Good luck with that.

Besides being a true sushi lover, I'm grateful to say that here in India, the Japanese speciality it's not available at every corner. Not like in many other countries. You do find sushi, but most of the time it sucks and it is overpriced. Being addicted is one thing, eat expensive shit is another.

Anyway, last night I was in the middle of these withdrawal symptoms from sushi and I couldn't really help it. Indeed, I infected my hubby. Like two junkies, we were going through the net in search of some restaurants in North Goa, calling each and every number we've got from the web. All restaurants were closed, under renovation or disappeared!

This is Goa during off season, a big contrast to the high season - so efficient, versatile, resourceful, multipurpose and handy.

The only solution available was the Tamari Restaurant at Vivanta by Taj, in Panjim. Awesome food, enchanting atmosphere but too far and too expensive. We decided to have some chinese food for consolation and we started to ride towards Calangute. On the way, a huge advertising board (and if you know Goa, you know what I mean for "huge advertising board") picturing the cutest tuna nigiri ever was waiting for us. That's how we came to know about Pan Global.

Pan Global is located at Neelams The Grand in Calangute. What makes this restaurant unforgettable are the chefs: handpicked to provide an authentic taste and experience from each known gastronomic location since the range of food varies from Mediterranean, Mexican, Arabic, Oriental and Japanese.

We order one mixed sushi plate (rolls, nigiri and sashimi, INR800 appx.) and two sashimi plate (tuna and salmon, INR500 per plate). It wasn't the best sushi of my life but it didn't suck either. We decided to order something else and we had the best baked salmon steak with garlic sauce ever, for the modest price of INR500... all washed down with a good bottle of white wine.

Here at Pan Global, you dine in an elegant atmosphere, you choose from an exclusive à la carte menu and you eat delicious international standard world cuisine, a combo achieved only by few restaurants in Goa.

Enjoy and let me know!

Images: Neelams The Grand, tripadviser

all the rest belongs to ©inindiaperamore.blogspot.com 

CHATUCHAK MARKET IN BANGKOK

Tammy Faye Bakker once said: "I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist".

Damn, I cannot disagree with her!

If you are visiting Bangkok, the Chatuchak market is a MUST. Not just because it is one of the largest market in the world but also, things you can shop here you will not find anywhere else. Trust me.

For the bazaar freak, the Chatuchak market is a dream come to reality and the experience will be an epic!

Every week-end 8 thousand stalls occupy an area of almost 300 acres and more than 200 thousand visitors walk between stands till exhausted and then crash in one of the restaurants.

The market is enormous and it is very easy to loose the sense of direction: you happen to walk the same route over and over again. Don't worry, at every entry point you get a pocket map that show the different sections, but if you like adventures trust your instinct and start to walk.

There is actually a system to navigate inside the bazaar and it's pretty useful for "novices": there is a main street that surrounds the entire market and from this, leave many lanes (Soi1, Soi2, Soi3, etc.) that lead to various sections (27 in all). Of course, same kind of goods can also be found in different sections (for example, shoes can be sold in in Soi2 as in 10 or 15) but at least this system doesn't let you loose your orientation. 

Do not expect the "bazaar prices", so that many restaurants have two menus: one for locals and one for tourists. What I recommend you is to bargain the prices as much as possible and do not trust the authenticity of the goods, especially if you are buying antiquities. For the rest... get jiggy with it!

In Chatuchak Market you will find just about anything and this small list helps you to get an idea of its immensity:

• Clothing & Accessories (sections 2-6, 10-26)
• Handicrafts (sections 8-11)
• Ceramics (sections 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 25)
• Furniture and Home Decoration (sections 1,3,4,7,8)
• Food and Beverage (sections 2, 3, 4, 23, 24, 26, 27)
• Plants and Gardening tools (sections 3, 4)
• Art and Gallery (section 7)
• Pets and Pet Accessories (sections 8, 9, 11, 13)
• Books (sections 1, 27)
• Antiques and Collectibles (sections 1, 26)
• Miscellaneous and Used Clothing (sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 22, 25, 26)

Getting to the market is very easy and we all should thank the excellence of the public transport in Bangkok. With the sky train get off in Mo Chit Station, take exit No.1 and follow the crowd till a small entrance that will take you straight into it. With the subway get off at Chatuchak Park and again follow the crowd.

The market is open during week-end from 9am to 6pm and friday night from 6pm to 12pm.

Before going there, don't forget to carry an empty bag and to refill your wallet!

Images: quinet, jeffleigh, rwp-roger

all the rest belong to ©inindiaperamore.blogspot.com