Shrimp Laksa

Another great idea from my SO.  This has to be one of my first Malaysian dishes. According to Wikipedia, it is a Chinese Malay dish, so therefore you would find various types of this in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. I had to improvise a bit since we didn't have all the usual ingredients that you would normally put in this dish. Most notable in their absence was lime, lemon grass, and rice noodles. What did I substitute? Well lemon juice mostly, although I also added Kaffir Lime Leaves as well.  As for the noodles, well I added the only thing I had which was gluten-free spaghetti. They are actually made partly from rice, but they taste like conventional spaghetti which is not ideal.

Further research revealed that there seem to be two main classes of Laksa - curry based, and tamarind based. I opted for the curry form. I don't have Tamarind on hand, maybe next time. I ended up blending about 5 recipes, since they all had either ingredients that I didn't have or found undesirable, or used overly complex methods. I didn't have carrots, fish cakes, or tofu puffs;  I didn't want macadamia nuts or mushrooms; I didn't feel like manually grinding 19 spices or simmering and de-boning a whole fish; and finally I didn't have or want ready-made curry paste. This may turn out to be Kraft Dinner for a Malay, we'll see.

Shrimp Laksa

The prep turned out to be a bit involved, but mostly because of all the ingredients. If you just used shrimp paste and curry powder it would go faster. But the actual cooking was very quick, and in the end a nice hot soup is both satisfying and fortifying.

Next Time: Make sure I'm not missing ingredients beforehand, esp. lemon grass and lime. Maybe try tofu puffs as well.

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 9/10 (liked the plain shrimp and pasta - no sauce)

Roasted Lemon Basil Chicken

I don't remember much about this recipe, it was a month ago that I made this. It is one of those fantastic Sunday dinner meals though so I had to write this down.  We are starting to enforce the eating at the actual dining room table on Sunday evening. The rest of the week it is really easy to eat on the couch in front of the t.v.  We borrowed all 6 seasons of "The Big Bang Theory", and have been methodically going through it. Not terribly conducive to family talk and bonding, but at least we're sitting together. Nice to unwind after a stressful day.  Anyway, what could be easier than potatoes and chicken in a roaster.  I think we may have thrown in some frozen corn in the microwave at the last minute, since I realized the only veggie making an appearance was the cherry tomatoes.

Tossing the potatoes with basil-lemon puree

Can't say enough about these all-in-one easy dishes. It's nice to get complicated and fancy once in a while, but "easy" means that we'll end up with some quality food rather than something processed. Came out looking a bit strange with the roasted basil on top, but it tastes better than it looks.  And with the size of chicken breasts these days, three were enough for the 3 of us PLUS leftover for a lunch for me the next day.

Roasted Lemon Basil Chicken

Next time: maybe throw more veggies in there, and would season the chicken a bit more

Me: 8/10
SO: 8/10
SSO: 5/10

Cinnamon Biscuits

I like this recipe.  It comes out looking more like a "Cinnabon" rather than what comes to mind when you say "biscuit", and it is a bit drier and not quite as sweet (which goes without saying as the classic Cinnabon is at the far end of the sweet spectrum). Way good with a fresh strong coffee.

Cinnamon Biscuits - rolled-out dough with butter spread evenly

I'm also not really a strong pastry or bread baker, so usually I shy away from anything that requires things like Crisco, and any technique that requires kneading, proofing, and "punching down". So this is more my cup of tea. Cutting in cold butter is not really that hard, and I can knead dough a few times as long as there is no yeast involved.

Cinnamon Biscuits - before baking

So after assembling the dough ball and rolling it out on my perfectly sized floured wood board (maybe I'll just try straight on the counter next time), it's really just spreading tons of butter, sugar, and cinnamon, rolling it up, slicing, and baking. Reasonably impressive and not too difficult. Just don't expect Cinnabon.

Cinnamon Biscuits - after baking

Next Time: maybe a bit more butter-sugar-cinnamon mixture

Me: 7/10
SO: 7/10
SSO: 5/10