Thursday, February 15, 2007

How to whip up a Valentine's meal to please your partner

It was lovey-dovey day again this year, and not wanting to spend a bomb at a time when restauranteurs literally 'chop' you off, I decided to make my own homemade valentine's meal.

This "How-to" post of course, is intended mainly for guys whom I assume are mostly noobs at cooking. Girls may take note too, it'll please your man plenty, I guarantee. To make things simple, I whipped up some spaghetti ala deriku style.

The ingredients: A pack of spaghetti (or in this case, whatever pasta you fancy), grated cheese, tomato puree, a tin of Campbell's soup and also some milk. Everything available at your nearest hypermarket.



Total cost - RM50. Pleasure your partner will have - priceless.

And you'll even have leftovers for next year :)

So let's start off with the spaghetti. Take roughly two servings and soak in boiling water. Make sure there's enough water so the pasta won't stick together.



No that's not lidi. It's spaghetti in uncooked form.

For immediate servings, wait for 15 minutes or so. You can also try small pieces to make sure they're soft but still having some level of firmness, referred to as al dente by the Italians. When you're satisfied, drain the water and you have yourself a plate of spaghetti.



They say the Chinese invented spaghetti, so to all chinamen out there, you should not have any problems preparing this. It's in our blood.

Next up is the soup. Now this should be easy, except for the can opening part when you have no can opener. Once you've got the mushy stuff out (they resemble lards of fat), mix one can of water and stir to simmer.



Why does food look disgusting before it's cooked?



No can opener so I had to improvise with a kitchen knife.

You can make your own tomato puree but I simply got the ready-made version for the sake of simplicity. Just heat up and add some salt to taste.

See, that's me! Proof that I made it...

After the puree is heated, just pour it over the spaghetti and top it with some grated cheese. Of course, what's a meal without any meat. So I came up with half a chicken, pepper-roasted to perfection. Voila! Valentine's dinner for two.



You didn't think I'd know how to roast chicken, did you? Thank God for Ayamas.



Oooh...Ayamas!

One happy customer. THE customer.

So now you have Deriku's secret recipe for spaghetti. No more excuses next time the girlfriend asks you to cook something for a special occasion.

For more cooking tips, why not visit my other culinary experience? Have fun!

thought completed at 10:10 PM | 3 comments

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