CoCo's Aglio Olio

This recipe is tried and tested and is currently Cobby's favourite. He claims it's restaurant standard, but the best thing is... it is SO easy to make!


The key is the ingredients so try to get them in the supermarket. Especially the anchovies!



For 2 people, you need:
A handful of spaghetti (about the circumference of a slightly bigger 50cent coin)
3 slices of bacon – cut into small piecesAny type of meat – can prawn or chicken. Or just have it by itself.
3 pieces of anchovies
4 cloves of garlic - chopped (if you are not a garlic fan, you can use less)
1 capsicum – chopped
1 tomato – remove the seeds and chopped
2 small onions – chopped
3 chilli padis – cut into big pieces


1. Add some salt and oil into a pot of water and prepare your ingredients while waiting for it to boil.

2. Put in the spaghetti only when the water boils.

3. Fry the bacon in the pan with some oil. The oil would crisp the bacon faster.

4. When the bacon is just slightly brown, put in all the vegetables and the anchovies.

5. Add a pinch of salt to sweat the onions

6. If you want to add any meat or seafood, now is the time. Stir fry it till it is cooked. The stir fry should be quite moist and oily now.

7. The noodles should be ready now – try eating a strand of the pasta to make sure that it is the right consistency for you. When you are satisfied, drain the noodles and pour it into the pan.

8. Stir fry! Main objective is to coat the pasta with all the ingredients, sauce, oil, everything! Add in another pinch of salt and stir again till it’s incorporated.

9. Always remember to taste your food! If it is bland add more salt. The anchovies and salt should be enough for taste, but generally pasta is very bland and we did not marinate the meat/seafood. So flavour according to your liking.

10. Serve!


Bon Appetite!

Go Halal...

I'm always at a lost when asked to suggest dining places that is Halal-Certified.

So when I saw this article on the Straits Times Classifieds today, I thought it would be good to note down somewhere for easy reference in fututre.

It's a special focus on a few Halal-certified restaurants. I've never been to any of them, so if you have any comments on the below restaurants, do drop me a comment! Thanks


Barbeque Steamboat

Han River Table Barbeque
#04-15
Eastpoint Mall
6789 9555
11.30am – 11.30pm

East Javanese cuisine

Pondok Jawa Timur
#02-66/67
Far East Plaza
6999 8785

The Atrium @ Orchard,
#01-16
60B Orchard Road, (next to Plaza Singapura)
6884 5853
www.pondokjawatimur.com

Indian Muslim Food

Lucky Prata
Lucky Plaza
#01-42/43/44
304 Orchard Road
6235 5223
8.00am – 8.00pm

Japanese

Ramen Ten
Far East Plaza #01-22 - 6238 7983
Jubilee Ang Mo Kio #01-06/07 - 6552 7328
Harbourfront #02-03/04 - 6376 4151
Century Square #01-37 - 6789 7566

Satay

Satay Power
6, 13 & 14
Lau Pat Sat Market,
18 Raffles Quay
Ibrahim – 9746 7841

CoCo's Easy Peasy Beef Stew

I love this dish! You just pop everything into the pot, switch on the timer, and walk away! The end result was so impressive, yet it didn’t even take much effort from the cook. Hahaha, cheers.






Main ingredient
Beef (Shin) 300 grams
Carrot 1 large stick, chopped
Radish Half a stick, chopped


Spices & Flavoring (A)
Black peppercorn cracked slightly with the flat of your knife
ClovesStar anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp Five spice powder
6 slices of ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1tsp sugar
Sesame oil


Additional Flavoring
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tsp of cornstarch + water


1. Briefly boil the beef in water for a minute and drain.

2. Pour fresh water into the pot of beef so that the water covers the meat with an addition of another 1 inch of water on top.

3. Add in everything in Spices & Flavoring (A) and boil in high heat for ½ hour

4. Lower the fire and simmer for another ½ hour

5. Add your carrots and radish and continue to simmer until it turns soft. (estimated – 20mins) Add water if necessary.

6. Stuff to be added when carrots and radish has turned soft:

a. Oyster sauce for a more intense flavor
b. Dark soya sauce for that rich brown colour
c. Cornstarch mixed with water to thicken the gravy

7. Serve with steamy fluffy rice and serve! Enjoy...

Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant

The beautiful thing about Singapore is that you don't have to travel the world to enjoy authentic cuisines from the other side of the globe.



Hop down to Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant at Vivo City to satisfy your German cuisine cravings. I loved the cosy yet stylish deco and also the outdoor seating with a fantastic view of Sentosa.




Their draft beer is pretty good but what I really like was the range of German beers that you can’t find elsewhere.



The food is great too! We shared a pork knuckle accompanied by a spicy galosh and we absolutely loved it!

The pork knuckle flesh was moist and tender with an unbelievably crispy skin. A cardiologist's nightmare! Most brauhaus would pour the gravy over the knuckle and serve, but at Brotzeit, they serve it in a gravy boat at the side. So you can decide how wet you like your knuckle.

The spicy galosh is a dream... It's a German cabbage beef stew (i think haha). The soup is so rich and flavourful, it was wonderful to the last drop.



It’s definitely a great place for anyone who loves good quality beer with good hearty food. Good food, good beer, great view and even greater company. This place is a fantastic place for friends, colleagues and even families to hang out at the end of the day. Seating is definitely a problem with it's popularity, so go early or call to reserve seats to avoid dissappointments..



Address
#01-149-151,
1 HarbourFront Centre Walk,
VivoCitySingapore 098585


Reservations : 62728815

Opening Hours
Sunday to Thursday: 12.00pm to 12.00am
Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holidays: 12.00pm to 1.00am


Website Link

CoCo's Stone Soup

CoCo’s Stone Soup (Serves 2-3 persons)

2 potatoes – skin and cut into small chunks
2 carrots – skin and cut into small chunks
2 medium onions – skin and quarter it
1 tomato – quarter it

1 chicken back bone
1 chicken boneless thigh meat

1. Boil your chicken bone in half a pot of water for about 15mins. It can be chicken bone or pork bone. **
2. Put in the potatoes and carrots and boil until it turns slightly soft
3. When the hard vegetables have turned slightly soft, add in your tomato, onion and chicken thigh meat.
4. Add a pinch of salt and continue boiling till the meat is cooked.
5. When the meat is cooked (5-10mins), remove the meat and chop it up. I fried up some cabbage earlier while the soup is boiling, so I just place the chicken on top of the cabbage and serve.
6. Remove the chicken bone from the soup
7. Taste the soup and flavour accordingly and only if necessary.
8. Serve with rice and cut chilli padi.

** Boiling bones add much more flavour to the soup, which means less salt is needed when flavouring. Boiling the bones instead of the meat would also mean more tender meat.

Why is it called stone soup? There's actually a story behind it. See it here. But mine stone soup has less ingredients... :)