This post has been waiting to be posted since a few days ago but finally – we made it!

I know I’m not a good cook but I guess what I can cook is good enought to keep Ted and me alive! lol I never used to step in the kitchen because my Mum does all the cooking and she is awesome at it plus I hated getting my fingers all smelling of onions, garlic and gunger. But today, it’s a whole new story for me – I cannot imagine cooking without them!! And I’m sure my Mum will be pleasantly surprised that most of my cooking now contains garlic and really finely chopped too. I only go throught the hassle because I know myself that if it’s any bigger in size, I would pick them out so in order for me to ingest it, I have to chop it up. In my personal opionion, everyone can cook. The difference is whether or not its mouth-watering and delicious or just good enough to fill the tummy. So even if you can only fry an egg – you can cook! At least you can still live on fried egg and bread everday la. Only problem is that your cholesterol level will sky rocket! Hehehe…

Both my Mum and Sis are awesome chefs. In fact, it’s a tragedy that I do not have the magic touch for cooking and I normally only cook to live and not live to cook. In another words, I only cook in times of desperation and not for fun. My Sis is more adventurous when it comes to cooking but not me. I like to follow the instructions to a T if possible – a bit of a chicken to try new things out for fear of spoiling the dish and wasting it. Before I got married, Mum used to tell me to get off my butt and learn to cook because I’ll be on my own here but because my Sis prefers to cook, I let her do it instead. I end up washing up afterwards coz she tends to forget that the pots and pans don’t really get up and wash themselves cleans after the cooking. I have to add that Mum doesn’t really like us cooking in her kitchen coz we tend to mess it up afterwards! lol Coming back to my Sis, I mean why want to rebut other people’s chance when that person enjoys it more right? *cheeky I know!* But I always tell my Mum that I know enough theory to save myself from hunger but theory is close to nothing when put into practice! Funny how in my mind, all the recipes I have is perfect but when I try it out – alamak, always tak jadi!

But now that I’ve been married for 1.5 years, I’m glad to say that I believe my cooking skills must be improving because Ted is getting more *prosperous* by the day, and not to mention I am too! Hahaha….so today, I want to show off my current speciality or my signature dish since I’ve been cooking this quite often and Ted really enjoys it.

Yvy’s Special Mince

Prep Time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : At least 45 minutes

Ingredients :

• Half a big onion diced [you can use the small ones but since I hardly buy them here, I use the big ones]

• 3 cloves of garlic chopped finely

• 1/2 kg of mince beef or pork

• Mixed herbs [I use McCormick's which is a blend of marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory and sage - this is optional if you're not into herbs]

• 1 fresh tomato diced or a can of chopped ones is fine too [Add more if you want it slightly sour]

• 3 to 4 fresh flat mushrooms diced [Alternatively you can use the canned button mushrooms]

• 200g of baked beans [Optional]

• 1 1/2 tablespoon Tomato paste

• Salt to taste

Method :  

1. Fry the onions and garlic until the aroma starts to rise.

2. Add in the mince and stir.

3. Once the mince is cooked [you can see from the change of color], add in the rest of the ingredients.

4. Mix well and simmer for at least 1/2 hour but the longer you simmer it, the better it will taste because all the flavours will then inffuse into the meat and YUM.

Once the mince is done, you can either have it with any pasta of your choice [I prefer those like macaroni or fusili kind compared to your regular spaghetti or linguine] or if you feel like having a snack with the mince, throw in some Doritos [corn chips] and you have nachos.

Don’t worry if you have any balance left which I normally do. Just keep it in the fridge overnight and have it with toast the next day – an awesome light lunch and no wastage at all. I normally cook a little extra for this purpose.

And if you’re like me – crazy over cheese, you can sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese or like the above since I didn’t have it with me, I threw in a slice of Cheddar cheese pun jadi la. Happy trying! [Maybe can cook for CNY eh?]

Next time I’ll share my MIL’s no-fail recipe for the perfect roast pork.

Ps. Note how my corn chips are also SUPREME cheese? LOL