Spicy Prawn Pasta

Another pasta dish and I hope you aren't too sick of seeing this :P

Mum came over my place last week to accompany me while Hubby was out of town and I cooked this simple prawn pasta for Mum. Was not a big feast but I was glad Mum gave me the thumbs' up :)  Definitely enjoyed the 2 days spent with just my Mama alone.  Love cooking for my family and bonding with my family over food. ♡♡♡

Spicy Prawn Pasta
260 to 280g pasta of your choice
8 pcs of big tiger prawns / shrimps
5 garlic, minced
1 medium onion, half of it minced and the other half sliced thinly (you may mince the whole onion if preferred)
2 to 3 red chilli, cut and remove seeds (if you preferred a milder level of spiciness)
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried parsely or italian herbs
Black pepper (optional)
Salt
Water

1. Add salt into a pot of water and bring to boil. Add spaghetti and cook til al dente, about 8min or plus 2 or 3 more minutes if prefer a less firm texture (or follow the pasta packaging directions)
2. When spaghetti is cooked, retain about half a cup of salt water and drain the rest, then set drained spaghetti aside.
3. Heat 1/2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan.
4. Add in minced garlic, all onions and chilli padi bits and stir fry till fragrant, onions to be slight translucent. Do not allow garlic to brown.
5. Add in prawns/shrimps and stir fry till prawns is half cooked.
6. Spoon in 5 or 6 tbsp of tomato pasta sauce and stir to mix well with all ingredients. Allow sauce to come to a boil on medium heat.
7. Add in 2 tbsp salted pasta water and mix well, then do a taste test. Add in dried parsley and dash of black pepper. Mix well.
8. Place in drained spaghetti and do a quick stir to coat spaghetti with sauce. Dish out and serve immediately.

Prawn Noodles with Prime Ribs

My mum is a great cook and cooks wonderful laksa and prawn mee. She is my inspiration when it comes to cooking. Always yearn to be a great cook like my mum and here I am, on this journey. I'm lovin' it!

Tried cooking prawn mee for the first time ever. Not a bad try but could improve further. Nevertheless I am gonna document this down and do better the next round :) Gonna be some time later before I cook this again since prawn mee soups are laden with cholesterol that we all ought to be aware of!

Prawn Noodles with Prime Ribs

(Serves 2)

2 servings of yellow noodles or vermicelli
300g prime pork ribs

300g to 350g tiger prawn shells (heads and tails) - I collected this over few weeks because we don't eat prawns that often

12 tiger prawns or more (deshelled and deveined)

fishcakes, as desired

4 tbsp oil 

8-10 pc garlic (minced)

1 tbsp dried shrimps (minced)

1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
1 tbsp of rock sugar or brown sugar
Pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

3 tbsp fried onions (2 for saute-ing, and 1 for garnishing -optional)

2.5l of water
4-5 red chili (chopped) - optional

chilli powder - optional

1 small bunch of beansprouts or kangkung - optional

1. Put a small pot of water to boil for blanching prime ribs to rid scums and excess oil. Drain and set aside.

2. Boil 2litres to 2.5litres water - for soup base.

3. Heat oil on high heat in a large pot or wok. Add in washed and cleans prawn shells and saute till fragrant as well as colour cha ges to orange.

4. Add in minced garlic, dried shrimps and sugar and stir fry till fragrant. Stir in fried onions.

5. Add in the boiling water into pot/ wok with prawn shells and mix well. Add in dark soy sauce and pepper. Stir well.

6. Add in prime ribs and mix well. Let boil on high heat for 5min and then lower heat to simmer for 1.5 hour and turn off heat. When ready to serve, let soup come to boil on high heat, use a strainer to remove prawn shells and place in prawns with a strainer to blanch them. Remove and set aside. Do the same with the fish cakes. Sliced the fishcakes thinly after blanch. Thereafter taste soup and add salt to taste, if required.

7. Blanch noodles in a small pot and place in serving bowl. Blanch washed bean sprouts in same pot and place over noodles.

8. Place blanched prawns and sliced fishcakes into bowl. Ladle prawn soup and prime ribs over noodles. Garnish with fried onions and chilli powder if preferred. Serve.

Baked Garlic Butter Prawns

Hubby wanted to have some western style dinner. He asked and he got it. I actually prefers that he lets me know what he wants so that I need not rack my brain on what to cook then.

Woot! These baked prawns were sure yummilicious! Fast and easy to do, and delicious they were.  Baked these prawns to go along with grilled beef steak, pan seared scallops and foie gras. Yums!

Baked Garlic Butter Prawns
(Serves 2)

8 pieces of fresh tiger prawns, butterflied and de-veinned
6 garlics (or more if desired), minced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp butter, melted
Olive oil
Salt
Ground black pepper
Chopped parsley (I did not have so I left it out and used thyme leaves instead)

1. Preheat oven to 180deg C.
2. Cut prawn whiskers and rinse prawns.
3. Butterfly the prawns by running a sharp knife down back of prawns, slicing deep enough to have it opened up. Remove intestinal tracts.

4. Place prawns on a baking tray and season with some salt and ground black pepper.
5. Mix together minced garlic and melted butter.

6. Add in half teaspoon garlic powder.

7. Sprinkle some ground black pepper into butter mixture and mix well. (You may add in chopped parsley if you have it)

8. Spoon garlic butter mixture onto butterflied prawns.

9. Drizzle some olive oil all over. Sprinkle thyme leaves over top and put to bake for 15 minutes or till done.

10. Serve immediately.