Watermelon & Parsley Popsicles

Unlike the widely written about freakish winter that's hitting quite a few countries in the northern hemisphere this year, KL is suffering from a heatwave. We on the equator have learned to adapt to the generally high temperatures, but these past few weeks have been almost more than I can bear. So to those friends and readers who are going through this dry and extremely hot season with me, I have this quick and easy recipe that is sure to cool you down on a hot afternoon NOT spent in the air conditioned office.



You can substitute the parsley with mint or basil, or leave it out entirely if you don't want to and just have a watermelon popsicle. A simple syrup, if you feel that your watermelon isn't sweet enough (though I'll point out that watermelon tastes sweeter after it's been frozen) is easy to make. Just boil 1 part caster sugar and 1 part water in a saucepan until the sugar granules have dissolved, let it cool then it's ready to use. There's no need for thickening or caramelising.

Also, if you don't have popsicle moulds and don't feel like wasting money on something you're likely to never use again and eventually toss out when you do a spring clean in 6 years time... use paper cups and stick a popsicle stick, or spoon in it. Ice trays are perfectly alright too, and would be quite a great way to make flavoured water.

Take care friends, whether you're too hot or too cold... be sure to take extra precautions against the weather. To friends in Malaysia, please drink more water and stop wasting water in and around your houses. A little goes a long way, and in about 15 years or so we'll wish we had done more to save our natural water resources. I'm not going to bore you with stats you already know... but don't be surprised if a water-related infographic shows up soon.

Garlic Tomato Pizza Sauce

I am not one of those homecooked, organic food snobs, however I do enjoy taking the time to whip up fresh food from scratch when I have the time. Nigella calls it her Italian Mamma mode, which I would love to adopt, but have no Italian blood in my my heritage... so I'll need to come up with something while I knead my bread dough next. 

As I have recently finally found a choice recipe for making my own pizza crust, I needed to experiment on making my own pizza sauce! I prefer heavily tomatoey sauces, have always leaned towards marinara sauce as my favourite, and thought... if it works on my pasta, it should definitely work on my pizza. 

This is a ridiculously easy pizza sauce to whip up, you should have all the ingredients stocked in your pantry already, but even if you don't it's no trouble adapting it to what you do have... or just running into the store for 5 minutes to grab the stuff. You don't even need a basket to carry the ingredients! 

Let's get to it: 

Super Easy Garlic Tomato Pizza Sauce 

• 1 14oz can diced tomatoes, no salt added
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Handful fresh basil leaves (you can use dried basil)
• Handful oregano (I used dried, you may use fresh)
• 1 tsp (or less) dried chili flakes
• Pinch sea salt
• Crushed black pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil, once it starts to bubble, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes. When the flavours have all blended (be sure to season to taste), transfer the mixture to a food processor and whiz for about 1 minute or less, just to get all the big chunks down. You want it smooth, but not too smooth, ya know?

This amount of sauce is good enough for a moderate layer on 4 medium sized pizzas (so double this pizza crust recipe), and will go with most savoury toppings. For Sunday lunch with the family, I made a vegetarian pizza and a pepperoni pizza. With a layer of sauce over olive oiled crust, shaved mozzarella, slices of pepperoni, zucchini, eggplant, and then more mozzarella... my brothers loved it! 

I'm actually quite surprised at how easy pizza is to make from scratch, and now that I know this... I can't wait to recreate some of my favourite salads as pizzas. 

100th Post!

I thought long and hard about what recipe I would feature on my 100th blog post; fancy sweets or simple tea cakes, stylish cupcakes or a super complicated iconic recipe? Then I just took a moment to think about why I decided to do this in the first place: I just love to cook. I love baking, I love tasting and playing with flavours, and Laaaawd knows I love eating (my rapidly increasing waistline is testament enough to that). 

I started blogging as a coping mechanism, let's be honest here. I had just started a new, really tough, corporate job, broken up with my boyfriend, and just really needed to get back to what I like to do in my own time. Cooking and baking became the way I had quality time with myself, and blogging was my way of staying connected to the world. 

Sometimes the routine of our daily lives get to us and we forget to just sit back and like ourselves. I got to a point where I really did not like who I was, and I really did not know what I liked. So I started this, and you know what?  It's been an amazing experience the whole way! I never expected to stick to it til this point (I've left a trail of half-started blogs on the world wide web in the past ten years), and I certainly didn't expect to actually have readers. 

So to the friends and family who have given me so much love and encouragement over the past year, thank you so much! I'm going to share the recipe of the first dish I ever made: bolognese sauce! It's nothing fancy, it's nothing new, but it was the first thing I cooked in my life, and it's still my favourite dish to make when I have the time. It's my mum's recipe, and I may have tweaked it here and there over the years, but the premise for the idea is still there. 

Our Bolognese Sauce

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 6 cloves of garlic, finely crushed
• 400g minced beef
• 1 can of ready diced tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato puree
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk or cooking cream
• A handful of fresh basil leaves
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil

1. Heat your pot and pour in enough olive oil to just coat the bottom, then toss in the diced yellow onions and garlic. Just cook until they soften up, you don't want colour or crispiness on them. Toss in the minced beef and mix with the onion and garlic until slightly browned. 
2. Pour in the tomatoes and puree, and what I like to do is fill the puree can with water and pour that in as well. Just get all that tomatoey goodness out. Allow the mixture to bubble and boil before turning the heat down to a low simmer, then pour in milk or cream to add a little thickness to the sauce. 
3. Stir in the hand torn basil leaves, and season to taste. 
4. Serve over your pasta of choice, and grate on some parmesan. 

I can't wait for the next 100 posts, guys, and really excited to share my favourite dishes with you. As you've noticed, I'm trying to share more savoury dishes, as I'm also trying to cut back on my own sugar intake. That doesn't mean I'm not going to still share TONNES of dessert recipes. In fact, there's one coming up very soon featuring Butternut Squash ;) 

Lots of love, 

Nabs