Cashew Nuts - Wok Roasted

One of the CNY favourite snack is the cashew nuts. I bet any house with trays of cookies and nuts displayed, it's always the almond, cashews of pistachios that's a favourite and it goes well with beer, tea or soft drinks.

I waited till CNY was over to wok-roast the nuts. We had far too many snacks then and I'm glad that my table is almost clear now. I gave away lots of cookies and snacks to the neighbours and gardener.

Ok, back to the cashews. Here's how I did mine.

Wok-roast with sea salt

Pour sea salt over cashew and  fry on medium heat.

 Stirring very frequent to avoid overburning

 Sift away salt.

Cool at room temperature and store in jars.

Now, isn't this a healthier way to gobble those yummylicious nutritious packed cashews ?  :D

Spaghetti Carbonara

This is by far the easiest and less messy of all pasta dishes. Cooking time is quick too. I had it all out in 3o minutes from the second I stepped into the kitchen.

Ingredients :

1. Pasta enough for 2 **I used spaghetti but a better choice would be fettucine**
2. 2 tbsp of olive oil
3. 6 strips of bacon, cut small
4. 1 cup of double cream
5. 2 pips garlic
6. 1 egg yolk
7. pinch of salt

• boil pasta till al dente with a deep frying pan, non stick preferred
• drain pasta and set aside
• with the same pan, add in olive oil and streaky bacon, fry till bacon is crispy
• toss in drained spaghetti, coating with the bacon fats from the frying pan
• return to serving plate
• with same pan, add in another 1tbsp olive oil (or butter if you prefer) and garlic, fry till fragrant on low heat.. do not brown
• add salt and cream and another half bowl of water.. **use low fire, do not overboil**
• slowly stir in egg yolk and pour on to pasta and serve.
• **add mushrooms or chicken meat for more bulk**

streaky bacon, use portion as needed and freeze the rest. do not keep well in chiller. keep frozen

panfry bacon bits. i used pasta stirrer, saves lots of washing.



once bacon is crisp. add in boiled pasta.. al dente


stir well and place on serving plates

fry garlic

add cream and use a whisk to lightly stir

the pasta.. already on serving plates.. in fact.. this is already good on it's own, add some chilli flakes and you'll have a ready easy dinner.

pour sauce and serve.

this is a lazy and easy dinner dish for 2.

i buy cream by 1 liter packs for my cakes and 1 liter is too much to be consumed

double cream don't last once opened. pour them into cup portions and freeze for cooking use. frozen cream when defrosted will curdle a little and is no longer suitable for cakes

but for carbonara and cooking, tho' you'll lose a bit of creaminess, it's still acceptable.

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