First of all I wish all my friends from blog land and the real world and my dear blog visitors who celebrate Christmas a Merry Christmas.
This cake was made for N's birthday today and as always most times I end up making a chocolate cake. This is a steamed chocolate cake that I got from San's Blessed Moments.
Chocolate has always been a favourite in this house with everyone and also because ~
" Every time I hear that dirty word exercise I wash my mouth out with chocolate." Unknown
This was a moist and chocolatey cake with the perfect amount of sweetness ...meaning not too sweet at all. I covered it with fresh whipped cream because ...
I had taken out the butter from the fridge, looked at it then put it back in.
Since we had only cut the cake this evening I could not take a photo of a sliced piece. I hope to take a picture tomorrow. Do take note of the word "hope" though.
The recipe...
200 gm sugar
200 ml evaporated milk
180 gm butter
2 eggs
100 gm plain flour
50 gm cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Butter and line an 8 inch pan with greaseproof paper. Prepare the steamer and let the steamer heat and come to a boil while you make the cake.
In a medium pot simmer over low heat the sugar, milk and butter until the butter has melted. Let cool until almost cool then beat in the eggs. I used a whisk.
Sift the flour , cocoa, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl. Pour the butter/milk/egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. I used the whisk again to do this. I find that a whisk mixes the dry and wet ingredients faster and better than a wooden spoon would.
Pour mixture into the cake pan and when the steamer water is on a rolling boil place the cake pan into the steamer. Steam for about 45 mins . I divided the mixture into two 8 inch pans and steamed each for 30 minutes.
the cake is done when it feels firm when gently pressed in the centre. Let cool before turning out.
It is quite difficult to over bake a cake that is being steamed. Steamed cakes are moist and does not dry out while being steamed.
I had used a bamboo steamer and the one challenge I often encounter with a bamboo steamer (placed over a wok) is to have the cake pan level and not dipping more to one side. But often the cake comes out thinner on one side and thicker on the other because of the imbalance. I would have used a pan rather than a wok if I had one large enough to accommodate the bamboo steamer.
I have tried very hard to like strawberries because they are such pretty little things but I can't. That's why you will find few recipes with strawberries on this blog. I always find them tart and not at all sweet.
Having said that, they were at the least ..juicy. I bought strawberries with the original intention of making financiers with sliced strawberries on the top like here. I thought they would look very pretty. But that didn't happen. This did. Because I did not want the strawberries to go to rot.
I used the same recipe as Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls but added dried cranberries and fresh strawberries instead. Then I placed the dough into cupcake liners and 3 mini loaf liners, scattered flaked almonds and sugar nibs that Sarah from Siliconemoulds had given me sometime ago on the tops. I made buns. They were very moist because of the sweet potatoes and fruity because of the cranberries and strawberries. Strawberries out.... next time.
The recipe is here. Just add a large handful of dried cranberries that have been softened in a little warm water for about 5 minutes then drained and patted dry, some chopped strawberries if you will just after the flour dough has been brought together with the egg and warm water. Knead gently as in the recipe instructions and let rise once before dividing the dough into cupcake or loaf tins. Then sprinkle some flaked almonds and sugar nibs if you have them over the top just before you put them into the oven.
I baked the "muffins" for about 20 minutes depending on the size you make of course and the mini loaves for about 35 minutes. Than I dripped over their tops in zig-zaggy lines some glace icing (I mixed icing sugar with some water to a flowing consistency). However, R did not like that. Alternatively you could brush some honey over the top just after it comes out of the oven.
They actually taste like a cross between bread and very moist muffins. You cold add more sugar for sweetness. These only had a hint of sweetness...mostly coming from the sweet potatoes.
Yes I'm back ~ It took quite an effort to come back. But here I am again. Again. But honestly.... I have good reasons. Yes I do.
This was so quick to make, so delicious, so addictive that I had to blog about it. White Chilli sambal is something I learnt to make from my late Mother in law. Yes they are white chilies that she used and I have only seen white chillies in Sabah, East Malaysia.
White chillies remain white and do not turn red when ripe. Unlike normal bird chillies or othere larger chillies which are green when young and red when ripe. I'm not quite sure why these are white. They were green at first, then they turned white and finally red. H says they are not true white chillies which never ever turn red. They are also not as big as the 'true' white chillies. But cravings make everything possible. So I made some. And they certainly will do. And I found that it really didn't matter if they were white or black. Or red.
This dish is so full of umami you just have to love it. Dried shrimps, belacan and of course the chillies. All sauteed to a fragrant aka smelly pesto.
H 'banned' me from making this dish years ago because of its fiery spiciness. Bad for the health he says. Anything extreme is bad for the health. This is poison he says! Yes sir. Poison they are. And the more people I don't have to share my poison with so much the better for them. Yes.
The recipe ~
A handful of white chillies ( you could use green chillies, sliced as well ~ I did once and it was good too)
2 inch square of belacan, dreid shrimp paste
1/4 cup of dried shrimps, soaked to plump and soften it up then drained
6-7 shallots, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 T cooking oil
Pound shallots, garlic, belacan and softened dried shrimps until coarsely mushed up. There is no need to pound till fine.
Slice chiiles in half or leave real tiny ones whole.
Heat wok and pour in oil. When hot saute the pounded ingredients until fragrant and the mixture looks cooked through (the onion pieces will be translucent and limp and the whole mixture a slightly darker shade). Throw in the chillies and stir fry until the chillies lok slightly soft and limp. Add salt if necessary. I did not add salt because the belacan and dried shrimps are salty enough.
Serve as an appetizer with steamed white rice and other Malaysian dishes like fried fish, stir fried vegetables, Malay salad or a mild curry. Oh yummm ~
Angry Birds. I know not what they are all about. But there I was taking an Angry Bird Cupcake class by invitation from Cake Connection. After a pleasant email from Shyamala and Nancy, the co-owners of Cake Connection, six other food bloggers and I came together for a long morning to afternoon session of sculpting 6 angry sugar paste figurines. We had so much fun, a little bit of pain and most definitely laughs. Nancy was the perfect instructor....extremely patient, kind, generous and forthcoming and Shyamala was very welcoming.
This is what the Cake Connection looks like as you enter. I have come here several times to get my sugar paste supplies. Cool, cozy and inviting.
In the workshop.... the tools of the trade and the materials like fondant, cupcakes and buttercream were all set out for us..
There were notes and super colourful playdough.....yummm...also known as fondant and sugar paste.
We were more than ready. Nancy started by explaining clearly and logically the difference between fondant aka sugar paste and gum paste aka modelling paste. Fondant is soft and used for covering cakes and/or making 2D shapes, it may also be used for simple flowers while gum paste is the more pliable and therefore wonderful for sculpting fine sugar art work like intricate flowers, 3D figures and other delicate pieces. It's an ingredient that is added called CMC powder ( a man-made gum) or gum tragacanth (natural) that makes the diffrence in the paste's pliability and elasticity and to how hard it sets. Both CMC and Gum Tragacanth are available at the Cake Connection. Nancy also gave us invaluable tips which is what a good and worthwhile class is all about. Tips that you can never learn from a book but only from the experienced.
Tips on how to knead colours into fondant more quickly and evenly. Tricks on how to make small amounts of fondant more workable, how to work clean and neat, how to make edible glue, how to secure your figurines, how to get an evenly flat and not floppy fondant covered cupcake, how to make lifting minuscule cutouts easy, how to colour fondant a really deep red or black, which brands are better for this or that.......and all the whys and why nots...She also let us in on the secrets on making fondant taste like strawberry bubble gum. Oh My YUM...Invaluable lessons learnt. So I came home armed not only with six angry looking birds in my pink box but with mental ammunition for my next sugar paste project. Now that's an excellent class no? Yes.
The angry birds ~ that I made....mmhm ~ so fun ~ so tiring ~ my eyes crossed a few times when I rolled out their tiny pupils and cut out their fierce eyebrows ~ the beaks were somewhat tricky. And must they have feathers and tails too!? These may look like child's play but believe me they are not. We heard Sonia heave a big, fat sigh .....now that made us laugh.....notangry ~
Do they growl or twitter ? Don't be angry little black bird ~ I made you ~
It wasn't easy rolling out a perfect round (perfection is the keyword in sugar paste class I find)....and Nancy said "Not too much pressure." The eyes are 'simply' 3 tiny circles of fondant, one larger than the other, each pressed flat and all glued one on top of the other. Easy? No.
He reminds me a little bit of the Simpson's don't you think?
Oohh la la here they come ~ the angry birds ~ owwww ~
The 3D figurines were secured with spaghetti poked into the cupcake and the angry bird figure poked over the end sticking up. Yes it secured them alright. The easiest part was making the nest.
When pigs fly ~
God ...those nostrils gave me problems. One had to be bigger than the other....and I like the way all the dark 'inside' parts of the noses and ears merged and looked like they were one. Very clever Nancy.
Could they be partners in crime? These very angry birds ~
Hey Mr. Red Bird !.....your beak drove me crazy ~ duh
Finally ~ Sweet success ~ Tweet ~ No wonder figurine-d cupcakes are so expensive! ~ We spent almost 5 hours decorating...just decorating (not baking) six cupcakes! Never more shall I wonder why.
Thank you to Nancy and Shyamala from Cake Connection. T'was wonderful :)
The Cake Connection also makes beautiful wedding cakes to order, conducts various levels and varieties of sugar paste/fondant and baking classes for adults and children in addition to having an abundant supply of ready made sugar paste flowers, an array of sugar craft tools, food colours in regular and fluorescent shades, gold, silver and pearl edible dust, ready made fondant both white and coloured and so much more and finally, of course, experienced, warm and friendly instructors. You would do well to give them a visit for your supplies and consider taking classes too. I have taken their World of Roses class and it was worth every sen :) True.
PS:
Sonia has shared Nancy's yummy chocolate cupcake recipe from the class. Hop over to Sonia's if you would like the recipe. It was YUM and chocolatey and moist.
Perhaps you can guess how I ate the cupcake. I lifted the fondant pieces including the blue base carefully, preserving everything whole and in perfect order. I placed it on a flat plate....then ate the cupcake while looking at the angry birds being angry at me. I know.....I'm weird.
Today is sweet potato day. I've just made some sweet potato cinnamon rolls that are the moistest, softest, cushiony-est, sweet potatoe-iest buns I've ever made. This recipe is one that I concocted. There was a lot of vacillating between cake, buns or onde-onde. But finally ...a decision. And more importantly ....action. And these rolls are here to stay. You just have to make them. Have to make them. Have to make them.
I used Japanese Sweet Potatoes....the purple skinned kind. The smooth inside kind, the yellow inside kind, the non fibrous kind...yes I did. Things may turn out differently if you were to use a different kind ~ I know you know that ~ I'm just saying ~ :)
The large proportion of grated sweet potatoes gave the buns so much flavour, moistness ans richness. I'm so soo pleased. It was a hit at home. You must try.
I must declare too that those sweet potatoes were steamed, drained and sat in my fridge for the longest time. Like a week. Or more? I must also declare that the bread dough sat in my fridge for 2 whole days before being baked. Yes it did.
Some brown sugar to sprinkle ( i didn't measure) Cinnamon powder
Grease a 9 inch tube pan well and keep aside.
Mix flour, yeast sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir to mix. Add butter and rub in the butter into the flour until it becomes crumbly. Add the grated sweet potato and mix it in. Add egg and then the water. I added 125 ml. Mix with a spoon first to gather up the dough and then use your hands to bring the dough together and then turn onto a floured board and knead for about five (5) minutes.
The dough will be very soft and sticky so knead very lightly and don't put too much pressure otherwise the dough will simply stick to your hands. If too sticky ...flour your hands rather than the dough and continue to knead until reasonably smooth. Don't worry if its still soft and little sticky.
Oil a large bowl lightly and place the dough inside and cover with a damp cloth or cling film and allow to rest for 1 hour or more if necessary until the dough doubles in size. I left it in the fridge for 48 hours.
Turn out the dough, once it has risen, onto a very well floured board, press it down to flatten a little with your hands and roll out with a rolling pin into a large rectangle about 15 inches by 10.I didn't measure but I think it was about that size. This is just like making a cinnamon roll.
Using the softened butter spread the butter all over the rectangular dough like spreading butter on bread but leaving 1 cm clean all around the edges. Then sprinkle brown sugar, then cinnamon all over the buttered dough as much or as little as you like but make sure it is evenly spread.
From the 15 inch end start o roll the dough into a swiss roll puling to tighten as you roll so that the roll will not come loose.
Cut the rolled dough into 12 equal pieces. Arrange the slices of cut rolls into the greased tube pan at an angle until it is filled up with all 12 pieces. Let rise, covered with a damp cloth or cling film draped loosely over the pan. Once the dough has risen I sprinkled a little more brown sugar and cinnamon over the top. Bake in a 350 F pre-heated oven for about 20 -25 minutes until golden brown.
Invert and pull the rolls apart and serve.
Note : the sliced raw rolls may be kept overnight in the fridge and baked the next morning. That's what i did.
I craned my neck to look at the translucent sheet of rice paper rain that H had pointed out to me. It was pummeling the ground, before us, a few meters away. Within seconds I heard it drench our black Hyundai as we entered its realm. I ducked. It sounded like a Niagara. But I felt the eerie-ness of a clenched fist, at first knocking then spreading its fingers, softly, on top of my head. Have you ever felt that?
Juxtapositions of weather never fail to fascinate me ....nature's abrupt seperateness of downpour and clearness existing within meters of each other...side by side, face to face, meeting up, merging, yet apart, clear on one side, grey on the other, dry over here and wet over there. How cool is that?
That happened a few days ago. And it has nothing to do with these spring rolls. I just had to tell you. Because the past month has been a sort of tropical winter. Wet and gloomy most times yet smouldering in between. And my enthusiasm towards cooking or baking have shifted according to the weather. You can tell, can't you?.... from my blog.
I feel paralysed and unmotivated most times but with short sunny bursts of enthusiasm in between. Today I have three things in the making after a period of relative dormancy. Sometimes I wonder what makes me tick. And then tock :D
Anyway.....To cut a long story short.....with the excitement of eating healthy I had baked these spring rolls after swiping them with oil. But they looked so pathetic that I finally agreed to fry them in a little oil. That straightened them up, they came to life,looked perky crisp and sunny. What a difference a little frying made. yea...grease..tell me about it.
I would have left them at baked if I didn't have to take photographs didn't spend 2 hours clicking 10,000 frames until the sky started to sulk and began to cry.
8 medium sized prawns, shelled, de-veined and chopped finely 2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced finely 1 small Chinese cabbage, washed and finely shredded 2 small carrots, washed, skinned and julienned 1 sengkuang (turnip?) (tennis ball size, maybe larger), skinned, washed and julienned A handful of shitake mushrooms, cleaned, stalk removed and sliced finely
2-3 tsp light soy sauce 1 T oyster sauce (optional) I didn't use this 1 tsp sugar salt pepper 1 T cornstarch mixed with a little water to a slurry
1 2/2 T vegetable oil
Make a paste from about 2 T plain flour and a little water to use as glue later.
Heat a wok until hot. Pour in the oil and saute the garlic for a few seconds until aromatic but not brown. Throw in the shitake mushrooms, carrots and turnips and stir to mix evenly. Add salt and pepper, sugar, soy sauce and oyster sauce if using. There is no need to add water at all. Just keep stirring and tossing and when the carrots and turnips are a little softened throw in the Chinese cabbage and mix and toss again. Adjust seasoning to taste. Keep stirring until the cabbage just softens. Add the cornstarch slurry and mix again and the cornstarch slurry thickens and the vegetable mixture is just slightly wet.
Note : The vegetable mixture should not be overly wet...just damp. And cool completely before making rolls.
Remove the spring roll sheets from the wrapper and cover with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out. Peel off one sheet and place on a board. Fill with the vegetable mixture (about 2 T) and roll into a firm and reasonably tight roll. Not too tight that it tears though. 'Glue' the end of the roll with the paste of flour and water that you made earlier. Keep aside on a tray while you make the rest.
If baking the oven should be pre-heated 15 minutes before at 375 F. Spray or swipe a baking tray with oil. Place all the spring rolls on top and swipe the rolls with oil on top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the rolls turn a light golden brown. Serve immediately otherwise the rolls with get wrinkled and limp.
Alternatively, shallow fry the rolls to a crisp. They'll look better and stay crisp longer. :)
I'm not much of a drink person. I'm more of an eat person. So spoonfuls of Nestle's Everyday Milk Powder, cod liver oil, Wood's Peppermint Cough Syrup and Milo from the tin/bottle were weird combinations of snacks for my mid-afternoon-after-school indulgences before I resumed frolicking aka wrestling aka as punching matches with my brother or careering down the tarred, bumpy and sandy road on our nailed together four wheeled sled/plank. Those were the muted turquoise, mint and tangerine vintage-coloured years of my childhood.
I want it back.NOW.
Back to the future........comes Milo Dinosaur. I first heard of this concoction when N the man returned home from Singapore and gushed about it several years ago. I gave a glazed smile and the Milo dinosaur slipped into a small fissure of my brain. Then yesterday H and I found ourselves wandering into a food court like lost and aimless souls. I sashayed over to the drinks counter and my eyes fell upon the printed out price of a Milo Dinosaur at RM 5/. I almost shook with laughter and swore I'll make a Milo dinosaur when I got home.
However my vintage mind had no clear idea where to begin so I googled a forum by teenage kids discussing their favourite Milo Dinosaurs and incredible Milo concoctions. They were so cyuute that I spent a good hour reading and giggling like a teenage schoolgirl over the threads of their conversation.
It turned out that a Milo dinosaur is a no-brainer and in my experiment I decided against using any hot water at all. I was right. The Milo dinosaur was lumpy, cold, thick, chocolatey and yummy. I also gave it a twist by adding 1/2 a teaspoon of instant coffee. Oh MY...
However, the sizes of what I made were more like baby Milo dinosaurs.....someone said.
No exact measure really.....do what you like....its the how that makes it what it is ~
A standard mug or a small mason jar was what I used 2 T Milo powder 1/2 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp instant coffee 2 T (about) of very cold fresh milk more very cold fresh milk Crushed ice More Milo powder
Mix ingredients 2 to 5 in the mug with a spoon until it looks muddy and the Milo granules somewhat dissolved. Add more cold milk 2/3 way up and stir. Top with crushed ice. Then top with lots of Milo powder until it looks like an anthill. Serve cold and immediately. Drink/eat with a spoon.
It's hard to picture bau on a plate and Dad on a chair together, face to face. But curry was a different matter altogether. He had to have it everyday. Like water. Especially a fish curry. So if Mom asked (which she would do almost everyday) what she should cook with this or that, accompanied by a plagued and tired look on her face, Dad would simply answer "curry" without flinching, without looking, without thinking. You would think that that would be the end of Mom's problems. But no. That was her problem.
Was that why she left him? We often wondered. Because right after she did she abandoned curry and went for bau. Bau this, bau that, it was bau, bau, bau.
Finally, exasperated, Janna asked her one day after school
"What's with the bau Mom? "
"This is the one thing your father hated. Bau. And I hated all that curry. Everyday. To cook, to eat, to cook, to eat. Why do you think I left him? "
Janna who was strangely unaffected by our parents' divorce until that moment glared at Mom through her dark, almond eyes from behind her thick fringe. Yes, it was a long fringe that she grew so she could stare at a boy at school without looking like she was staring at a boy at school. Then she got up, scraping the kitchen chair backwards against the floor, stomped over and reached for a pau. As soon as she snared it in the palm of her hand she headed for the kitchen door, opened it and stood there for a moment as if debating if that was the right thing to do. Then with a fling of an arm the white, round bun flew like a jet plane and crashed into the Cat's Eye tree about 10 meters away. Leaves rustled, birds flitted, bird wings flapped and Mom opened her mouth to start a cry of astonishment that didn't come. That was when my older sister walked out, lived with Dad and never came back.
Ever since then Mom started making bau with a curry filling. She made it like a machine, emotionless, her fingers deftly pleating white circles of dough over a crimson, spicy filling, her dark eyes blank, her lips a line, almost as if defiance and submission had fought out a duel and neither won. I would watch her and feel my mind wander. Was this what life was all about? Curry or Pau? Either this or that? Or this and that? Or this with that? Often in bed I would shake my head in the void of the night so that those confounding and senseless thoughts would spill out and things would be right. It never did. Then one day, two years later, Mom whispered in a wasted and dying voice,
" If you hate something bad enough it will surely come back and haunt you."
With that she let out her last breath, closed her eyes and died before me. I felt her dry hand go limp in mine. I looked down at the dead tributaries of bumpy veins embossed on the back of her hand. I ran my finger along one of them, slowly. And in that silence, alone with my dead mother I heard my heart thumping and felt my temples being squeezed by God.
I have never, since, hated anything as badly as I hated my mother at that moment, and myself, for not figuring it out. So that she could have saved herself. Because it was not the bau or curry after all. It was hate that consumed her life.
And Janna knew.
Therefore I am now.....balanced.
I love Bau and Curry. Curry with Bau, Bau or Curry, Curry over Bau, Bau over Curry, Curry inside Bau. I love bau. And curry. :)
1 - 2 T curry powder, any, mixed to a slurry with 2 T water
1 T cornstarch mixed to a slurry with a little water
1-2 T cooking oil (I used vegetable oil)
1-2 T oyster sauce
salt to taste
Heat the pan and then add the cooking oil. Throw in the diced onion, garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant or the onion pieces turn translucent.
Add the slurry-ed curry powder and stir and watch carefully so that the paste doesn't burn. Add the oyster sauce. Add the diced chicken, mix well and then add salt to taste. you may add a little water if the mixture seems dry.
Finally pour in the cornstarch slurry and stir quickly so that the sauce won't get lumpy. Taste again and adjust salt.
The final mixture should be a thick curry almost a paste with diced chicken in it. ...like spaghetti sauce or sambal.
To make buns ~
Tear off pieces of risen dough into 50 gm pieces. Roll into a ball and roll out with a small rolling pin on a floured board into a small circle about 3 inches in diameter. Thin the edges by lifting up the circle of dough and pressing the edges with your thumb and first two fingers all around the circumference. Then place the flattened circle of dough onto the palm of your hand.
Then using a teaspoon scoop up some filling and place in into the centre of the dough. Start pleating the edges like in this video. :)
I made a mess . Some of the curry sauce leaked out while I was "pleating" and my 'pleats' were not exactly pleats. But who cares :)
As each bun is filled and shaped line them with squares of grease-proof or baking paper and place them in the basket of a steamer (detached from the steamer bottom) about 1 inch apart. Let them rest for 10 minutes but not more (if left to rest too long the buns will rise and flop after steaming). Meanwhile heat the water of your steamer to a rolling boil them place the basket of buns over the steamer pot and steam the buns for 10 - 12 minutes until risen and puffy.
I didn't count but this recipe definitely made more than 10 buns.
I love Pinterest. Why didn't anyone tell me that Pinterest could be so addictive? To the point of ridiculousness. Yours truly now needs a neck brace. And a good spanking.
Oh and I love presents.
J had given me these from her travels to Italy and Spain recently. How sweet ~ as sweet as the presents.....rainbow coloured pasta and a delicious looking red pesto sauce in a cute little jar. The pasta colours were all natural :)
I'll use the pesto sauce tomorrow but for today I was craving some Aglio Olio.....my favourite way to cook pasta...forever.
A, my sis, had also given me an enchanting kitty dish cloth she had bought in Perth ...and which I'll never use as a dish cloth of course. I never use presents in a way that will make them wear out. I like keeping them like little treasures for important 'little moments'...... unless they are to be eaten of course.
N the girl had also given me a stack of beautiful Japanese plates and bowl "for your food photography"....so I had used them for some food photography as suggested.
I quartered the recipe and used coriander leaves instead but this is the original ~
The recipe ~
Aglio Olio and Spicy Shrimp
Spicy Shrimp :
1/2 kg jumbo shrimps 1 lemon, juiced 1/4 chopped flat leaved parsely 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 4 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled coarse salt, about 1 tsp 2 T extra virgin Olive oil (evoo)
Aglio Olio :
1/4 cup evoo 1 tin anchovy fillets ( I did not use this..I'm sure it made a difference) 6-8 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced 1/2 tsp crushed pepper flakes 1/4 chopped flat leaf parsely coarse salt 500 gm spaghetti, boiled until al dente
tomato and onion salad on the side crusty bread as accompaniment
Combine shrimp with next 5 ingredients and toss to coat evenly.
Heat a large frying pan add the oil and fry shrimp in 3 seperate batches. Fry until the shrimps just turn opaque, lift it out and keep aside.
Return pan to heat, add 1/4 cup olive oil, add anchovies, garlic and pepper flakes. Break up anchovies until they break up and dissolve into the oil and garlic mixture.
Toss spaghetti in the pan with parsely and garlic oil, then season with salt to taste.
Serve spaghetti and onion and tomato salad and crusty bread if you wish.
