Spaghetti Aglio-Olio Inspired

People have asked me what my favourite type of food was. I find it really difficult to answer that question, because truth be told, I love all types of food! I love Thai, Indian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Western.. Oh and also Indonesian! They're all my favourite. Lol! So greedy right? That explains where those flabs came from. Sigh. Let's see, Tom Yam is one of my favourite Thai food. Best tom yam soup I've tasted is actually from Just Thai, but they seem to not taste as nice as it used to anymore, but still good. As for Indian food, I like banana leaf rice; where you eat your rice on a banana leaf, with fried chicken and other side vegetable dishes. It is quite pricey to eat banana leaf rice in my opinion, therefore I seldom eat it. So I don't really know which places serves the best banana leaf rice. Please leave a comment if you do know a place, it's quite sad that not much comments are left on my blog :(. Hmm, Malay and Indian food are quite similar, aren't they? I guess if someone likes eating Malay food, they'll be fine with Indian food too. Oooh, 'Ulam' is definitely one of my favourite. 'Ulam' is basically raw vegetables (petai, long beans, four angled beans, cucumber) that is usually eaten together with sambal. Petai is sooo good whether raw or cooked. Those who thinks petai is smelly, you're probably right! Haha but if you really are a connoisseur of food, you will know how to eat it. It is really good for health too, it is said to cleanse your kidney or something. Cat fish (Ikan Keli) is absolutely delicious too, especially the deep fried ones. Can't recommend a specific place that has nice Malay food though, cause so far I do think that most Malay stalls food are not bad at all. When it comes to Chinese food, hmm the list of favourites won't end! Char kuey teow, Porkball noodles, Fish head noodles, Tai Chao, Mixed rice, Chicken rice, and all kinds of dishes that go well with white rice, some of which I have blogged about in my previous posts.
Salmon sashimi is my utmost favourite Japanese food. At first I thought it was quite disgusting, the jelly-like texture and the fishy taste, to know that it is 100% raw just did not sound appealing to me... But later on I kept trying it again and again then I slowly grew to like it so very much! I prefer to just consume the salmon sashimi on its own without rice. Best japanese food I've tried so far is Rakuzen and Sushi Zanmai... Am still looking for better Jap restaurants. My favourite Korean restaurant however, is Bon-Ga Korean BBQ in Solaris, Mont Kiara. The price is reasonable and the side dishes are free and refillable, they even give you free stone-bowl kimchi soup, free iced coffee and dessert! Very satisfying. I'm sure most Korean BBQ restaurants serve free side dishes if you order their BBQ dish. In Bon-Ga Korean BBQ, their pork belly for 1 person costs about RM25. Super reasonable, and it's my favourite too. Bbq-ed right before my eyes, and then eaten hot and fresh. Not to mention that Korean rice are really nice too, as it is short-grained.
As for Western food, I really like grilled beef or lamb. T-bone steaks, Rib eye steaks are just too appetizing.
When I think of Italian, I think spaghetti, risottos, cheese, cheese, cheese! Mozarella, Parmesan, Cheddar... Haven't tried blue cheese. People say they stink but then again, petai and durian 'stinks' too according to some people. So I'm not gonna judge until I try it myself. Erm, I used to think Italiannies was the best Italian restaurant. My perception changed after I tried D' Italiane Kitchen @ Jaya33. I'm definitely a fan of risottos, so I tried the risotto with bacon bits and light cream. It was like carbonara risotto, lol! Very nice. The Garden Lifestyle Store & Cafe at 1 Utama near Hang Ten also serves reasonable and delicious spaghetti. I tried their Spaghetti Vongole (Spaghetti with pesto sauce and clams), and it was very nice. When the dish arrived, I thought I had ordered wrongly cause, I didn't expect pesto sauce to be green in colour plus the illustration did not show the dish having any leafy green sauce. Now I know that basil leaves and pine nuts are used to make pesto sauce! Hehe.

So today, I'm gonna share an Italian dish - a recipe on how to cook spaghetti aglio olio. Aglio-Olio does not have sauce, instead it is mixed with generous amounts of olive oil. No worries there, as olive oils are really healthy and absolutely not fattening. As the dish does not have sauce, it is important to add enough chopped garlic, salt and herbs for better taste.



Ingredients
1. Spaghetti
2. Sliced beef (optional)
3. Peeled prawns
4. Sliced button mushrooms
5. Olive Oil
6. Italian mixed herbs
7. Chopped garlic
8. Salt

Method
1. Boil spaghetti in a pot for about 20mins with a pinch of salt. If you're not sure if the spaghetti is soft enough, check the texture of the spaghetti by just taking one strand from the pot, cool it and 'pressing' it with your fingers.
2. When spaghetti is done, strain them and place them in a bowl. Mix 1 tablespoon of butter to prevent the spaghetti from sticking together. Set aside.
3. In a clean pan, heat a generous amount of olive oil, and then saute some chopped garlic till fragrant.
4. Add in sliced beef and button mushrooms first, fry for about 1 minute and then add in prawns and stir fry till cooked.
5. Add in spaghetti and toss while adding mixed herbs and some salt.
6. Serve hot.