Dischi Volanti with Shitakei and Fresh Basil in Basic Italian Tomato Sauce

I know what you guys are thinking out there, what a long name for this beauty huh? As of now, my brain's kinda dead from last's night long hours of journal reading therefore, naming the dish right now isn't the best time. Despite the partial brain dead i'm experiencing right now, i'm pretty focus especially when i have something cooking on the stove! All this while i've been a linguine person. and as of late, i find myself liking short pasta more, perhaps its easier to work with and i don't need a big pot to boil my pasta! Also i love experimenting with different shapes of pasta. This is my first time cooking with dischi volanti and it seems like i've already put it in my list of favourite pasta.

INGREDIENTS
* 411g diced tomatoes
* 2 cloves garlic. minced
* 2 medium red onions, chopped
* 8 fresh shitakei mushrooms
* Handful of chopped fresh basil
* Salt and black pepper to taste
* Some brown sugar
* Dischi volanti for two.

Method:
1) You can work on the sauce and the pasta simultaneously if you've more than a stove to work on, otherwise you can prepare the sauce then proceed with the pasta.
2) Cook the pasta according to the package direction or about 10-12minutes. Add some salt and a drop or two of olive oil.
3) Heat your pan with some olive oil and add minced garlic and when it turns golden, add your sliced shitakei mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
4) Next, add your chopped onions and stir further until it turns translucent.
5) Introduce your diced tomatoes into the pan and stir further and let it simmer.
6) You can season with salt and pepper after you've added the diced tomatoes or you can do it when your sauce is almost done.
7) Sugar is optional. Do add in if you want to cut down the sourish tomato taste.
8) Add in your chopped basil and stir.
9) Add in water or vegetable broth if it starts to dry.
10) Again season with salt and pepper if you didn't when you added your diced tomatoes.
11) Taste from time to time and add what is necessary , salt/pepper/sugar.
12) Remove your pasta from the boiling water when its done and add it to your pan of sauce and stir to combine thoroughly and serve.
13) You can garnish with some torn fresh basil and coarse black pepper or some finely chopped basil with grated parmesan cheese.

Note:
Add in more ground black pepper if you like a spicy after taste in your mouth. I surely did for my pasta sauce.

The red onions used in this recipe is to add sweetnees to the sauce. You can also use yellow onions but do sure to replace the water with vegetable broth for more flavour.

You can also add the chopped basil shortly after you've added your diced tomatoes. Do break up your diced tomatoes with your spatula while cooking.

Vegan Bread Pudding

Personally I don't think i ever tasted bread pudding, well perhaps i did when i was much younger at some buffet dinner but i really can't recall the taste or even the texture. Therefore when i made this vegan bread pudding, i brought some over to my dearest friend so that i can get some feedback , if this is the right texture or even taste.

From what my mom told me, the non vegan version has eggs, butter and milk as part of the ingredients and also some served it with some syrup , perhaps maple or some sweet syrup or even cream, which i'm not too sure of. I read that some baked it in a water bath, but my version is just like how you would normally bake anything.

INGREDIENTS
* 3 cups soy milk
* 3/4 cups brown sugar
* 1 tbsp vanilla extract
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1 cup golden raisins
* 4 cups day old bread (cubed)
* 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Method:
1) Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except the bread and stir well.
2) Arrange the cubed bread in the pan and pour the soy mixture on it.
3) Let the bread and soy milk mixture sit for bout 20-30mins, so that the bread will be even soaked.
4) Bake in a preheated oven of 180 degree C for bout 30mins.

Note:
Instead of mixing the raisins together in the soy milk mixture, i scattered it around the cubed bread before pouring the soy mixture over it. If you like raisins all over , u can even layer your bread and raisins alternatively, which i did. I also omitted the nuts for i don't have any at that time.

I baked it for 30mins like what the recipe suggested but it turn out too soggy and wet for me , therefore i further bake for bout 25-30mins. I let the pudding sit for almost 2-3 hours before i tasted it. The texture turns out great after a few hours of sitting and not when its freshly out from the oven. For those who likes a thicker pudding, add more layers. Mine was only 2 layers of thick cubed bread compressed into a pretty decent thickness after a few hours of sitting at room temp.

Non-Dairy Eggless Brownies

For those who has been following my blog, I'm really sorry that i took so long to update. I've been pretty busy and due to that i've hardly had any spare time to experiment. But i'm definitely sure that this will be a good post for those chocolate lovers out there!

My dear friend, Denny, taught me a lot about food, especially those with special diets. With all that knowledge, i'm definitely putting it on good use and i'm slowly learning on how to cater for those who doesn't consume certain food/raw materials. My uncle for instance, he's lactose intolerant therefore there's quite a bit of food/desserts that he has to forgo, which is a pity cuz i totally know and understand how it feels to not be able to eat what your heart desires!

So for those lactose intolerant/egg-free lifetstyle people out there, this is definitely a treat you can whip up at home!

INGREDIENTS
* 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 vegan margarine
* 2/3 cup cocoa powder
* 2 cups brown sugar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 1/1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Method:
1) Combine 1/3 cup of flour with 1 cup water and cook on medium heat until thick. Set aside to cool.
2) In a new saucepan, melt the margarine and stir in the cocoa powder.
3) Sift together the remaining flour along with baking powder.
4) Beat sugar, salt & vanilla into the flour mixture. Then add the melt margarine/ cocoa mixture into the flour mixture.
5) Add the above mixture to the sifted flour, baking powder mixture.
6) Bake for about 25mins in a preheated oven of 18o degree C.

Note:

For those who wants a more chocolatey bite, prepare just enough chocolate ganache and pour over the brownies when it has cooled down and voila! your perfect piece of chocolatey dessert!

I've replaced the cocoa powder with chocolate powder for a more chocolatey touch to it. Chocolate powder is a little bit more expensive as compared to cocoa powder but its definitely my preferred ingredient in anything chocolate!