Spicy aubergine with tomatoes

I got the inspiration for this dish from the BBC Good food website. It's again a simple dish to prepare, as I'm pretty busy at work lately, I always go for dishes with minimal effort, but maximum flavour.

This dish is not 'chilli hot'. I used a pinch of crushed chilli flakes to give a bit of heat, but it wasn't too much to overpower the flavours of the other spices.

Spicy aubergine, with bread

I used plum tomatoes in this dish which I much prefer than normal cherry tomatoes. They are a lot sweeter and more flavourful. The aubergine was juicy in this dish, and I used the bread to mop up the sauces. I had some leftovers the next day for lunch; it tasted even better!

Simmering in the pot

Ingredients
(serves 2 as a side dish)

1 aubergine, sliced into about 1/2 cm slices and lengthwise
150 grammes of plum tomatoes, sliced into halves
3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
a handful of parsley
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin (and an extra pinch)
1 teaspoon of turmeric ( and an extra pinch)
1 teaspoon of whole coriander
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of chili flakes
salt to taste

Method

• Brush the aubergine with oil, and season with salt, a pinch of cumin and a pinch of turmeric. Grill for about 20 minutes until tender. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a small saucepan to medium high, and add the mustard and coriander seeds. Let the seeds heat slowly in the pan to infuse the oil with its flavours.
• Add the garlic pieces and when it starts to brown, add the tomatoes. 
• Add the grilled aubergine and the remainder of the spices and the chilli flakes.
• Stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the tomatoes soften. If it gets to dry, add about 2-3 tablespoons of water.
• Add the parsley, season and serve.

Creamy tagliatelle with mushrooms

This was the first time I used fresh pasta! I'd say in terms of flavour, I did not taste much of a difference. It does cook much quicker though, only about 2 minutes in boiling water. I haven't had tagliatelle for some time now although it ranks pretty high on the list of my favourite pasta. 

Creamy tagliatelle

I had this for dinner some time ago, I was craving for a creamy dish, and wanted something simple and quick after work. This did the trick.

Cooking the mushrooms and asparagus. Note the pasta on the left ready to go :)

 

With the chopped parsley

Ingredients

(Serves 2 as a main)

200 grammes of fresh tagliatelle
75 grammes of button mushrooms, sliced
75 grammes of asparagus, sliced at an angle
1 brown onion, chopped
a splash of single cream
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
a handful of parsley, roughly chopped

Method

• Heat the oil in a deep saucepan. Add the onions and sweat until soft.
• Add the garlic and the mushrooms. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until almost done. 
• Add the asparagus and cook for another 2 minutes or until tender. At the same time, cook the tagliatelle in a pot of boiling water according to the instructions on the packet.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool slightly. Drain the pasta, and add it to the saucepan with the asparagus and mushrooms.
• Add the cream, and season to taste. Stir in the chopped parsley and serve. I added only a little cream as I didn't want the sauce to be too heavy. If you prefer a thicker sauce, add more cream.

Malaysian Food: Bugis Street Birmingham

I had dinner at Bugis Street a few weeks ago. The restaurant is part of Copthorne Hotel, however, non guests of the hotel are also welcome. Although it advertises itself as Singaporean food, the chef is actually Malaysian and so are a few of the members of the staff. Quite a lot of the food served here is also distinctly Malaysian. However as I have not been to Singapore myself, it is possible that similar dishes are available in Singapore. I've been here a few times before and I wish I found out about it earlier! I've only had good experience here so far, so it seems fit that I should blog about it.

I ordered a Fried Hokkien Mee. This is actually a Southern Malaysian dish, if you order a Hokkien Mee when you're in the Northern States where I'm from, you'll get noodles in a prawn-flavoured broth instead.

This was really good! Fried Hokkien mee is essentially yellow egg noodles stir fried with an assortment of fresh ingredients in a sauce made of dark soya sauce. Bugis Street's version had some seafood (prawns and squid) and some thin slices of pork. The 'wok hei' was strong, lending a very good smoky flavour to the dish. It also had some small crunchy pieces of fried pork lard- warning, this is very unhealthy, but really delicious in this dish.

Fried Hokkien Mee

My dining companion Z ordered the Seafood Laksa. Again, if you order Laksa in different states in Malaysia, you will find that each state has their own version of laksa. Laksa is typically noodles (sometimes yellow egg noodles, rice vermicelli or rice noodles) in a broth. Where I'm from, the Laksa is rice noodles served in a piquant fish based stock and sliced bird eyes chillies.

Bugis Street's version is more like Kari Laksa (translated to Laksa in curry); yellow egg noodles served in a bowl of curry topped with seafood and a hard boiled egg cut into half. This dish again didn't disappoint. The curry was absolutely drinkable, it wasn't too spicy, it was creamy and had a slight tang to it.

Seafood Laksa

Overall dinner was absolutely delicious! The portions were good-sized, and the price of both the dishes were in the region of 7-8 pounds. Good value, and I have to say, pretty authentic. I would say go for the dishes under the 'Singaporean/Malaysian Specialities' section, as these tend to be pretty authentic. 

Bugis Street

The Copthorne Hotel 

Paradise Circus, Birmingham B3 3HJ, England

Disclaimer: This entry was not a sponsored post, and is entirely based on my personal tastebuds. I have not received any monetary or non-monetary payment to write this post.