3 easy dishes to impress your friends at a holiday potluck
The TL;DR: Learn to make easy dishes – spaghetti aglio e olio, blueberry muffins and Japanese curry – with these recipes to impress your friends and family at a festive gathering.
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Try making one of these dishes – (clockwise from left) spaghetti aglio e olio, blueberry muffins and Japanese curry – for a festive meal.
ST PHOTOS: DILLON LOH
SINGAPORE – One of the best ways of ringing in the festive season with friends and family is to have a potluck – a gathering where each guest contributes a home-cooked dish to be shared.
For those who struggle in the kitchen and get a headache over contributing to a potluck, fret not. Here are recipes for three easy-to-make dishes that are sure to impress your friends and family, and they cater to all skill levels.
For novices: spaghetti aglio e olio
Consider whipping up this classic pasta dish instead of rushing to the supermarket to buy a ready-made meal.
ST PHOTO: DILLON LOH
For those who skipped food and nutrition class in school, consider whipping up this classic pasta dish instead of rushing to the supermarket to buy a ready-made meal. This simple dish, called spaghetti aglio e olio, which literally means spaghetti with garlic and oil in Italian, requires only a few ingredients.
You will need:
500g of dried spaghetti
Eight cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Salt
Chilli flakes
Optionally: parsley, shredded or grated parmesan cheese
Makes six servings of pasta
Only a few ingredients are needed for six servings of spaghetti aglio e olio.
ST PHOTO: DILLON LOH
Here is how to prepare it:
Thinly slice your garlic.
Bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil. Once it does so, add in your spaghetti and cook until it is al dente (still firm when bitten), according to the package instructions.
Three minutes after adding the pasta, heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add in garlic and chilli flakes, cooking until the garlic slices are a light golden brown.
When the pasta is almost cooked, transfer it from the pot to the pan. Add half a cup of the water used to cook the pasta to help combine the sauce.
Toss until the pasta is evenly coated in the garlic sauce. Gradually add in small amounts of pasta water if it appears too dry.
Store the finished dish in an airtight container when cooked. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil and toss to prevent the noodles from sticking together.
Add parsley, shredded or grated parmesan and chilli flakes to garnish when ready to eat.
For intermediate cooks: blueberry muffins
These healthy yet tasty blueberry muffins will be a hit at gatherings with your friends and family.
ST PHOTO: DILLON LOH
For those with some experience in the kitchen, try your hand at baking. These healthy yet tasty blueberry muffins will take you through the fundamentals of baking, while also being a hit at gatherings with your friends and family.
You will need:
240g of all-purpose flour
Two heaped teaspoons of baking powder
Three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt
115g of butter
150g of sugar
Two eggs
1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
One-quarter teaspoon of almond extract
120ml of milk
200g of blueberries
Makes 12 muffins
The dry and wet ingredients for making blueberry muffins.
ST PHOTO: DILLON LOH
Here is how to make it:
Put butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Ensure that the butter is soft enough by checking if you can make a small indentation with your finger when pressing down on it.
Whisk the butter and sugar together until they are fully combined and the sugar is no longer visible. The resulting mixture should be a pale yellow colour.
Crack two eggs into a separate small bowl. Add vanilla and almond extract to the eggs.
Add the eggs one by one into the sugar-butter mixture and fully incorporate each egg into the mixture.
Sieve the all-purpose flour into a different mixing bowl, and add baking powder and salt. Stir gently with a whisk.
Using a spoon, add a small amount of the dry ingredients (the flour mixture) and a small amount of milk into the wet ingredient mixture (the sugar-butter-egg mixture). Fold in the dry ingredients and the milk until they are fully incorporated. Repeat until all the flour and milk have been fully mixed.
Add the blueberries to the final mixture and fold them in.
Prepare your muffin tin by placing paper liners into the cavities of the tin. Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C to 190 deg C.
Distribute the mixture evenly into each muffin liner using a spoon or ice-cream scoop.
Bake the muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Test if the muffins are done by sticking a bamboo skewer into them. If there is no residue on the skewer when you remove it, the muffin is ready.
Remove the tray from the oven and leave the muffins to cool for about 10 minutes before storing or serving.
For experienced chefs: Japanese chicken curry
This classic dish uses store-bought blocks of Japanese curry roux.
ST PHOTO: DILLON LOH
While more complex than the previous two recipes, this classic dish, using store-bought blocks of Japanese curry roux, should not pose a challenge for those who have spent time in the kitchen.
You will need:
One large onion
Two medium carrots
Three potatoes
Two cloves of garlic
400g of skinless chicken fillet
One block or approximately 100g of store-bought curry roux
Two cubes of chicken stock
Two to three tablespoons of neutral oil such as canola oil
Makes four to five portions of curry.
Some of the ingredients needed to make Japanese chicken curry.
ST PHOTO: DILLON LOH
Here is how to make it:
Dice the onion and mince the garlic.
Peel and cut potatoes and carrots into bite-sized chunks.
Cut the skinless chicken fillet into bite-sized chunks.
In a pot, heat up the neutral oil and add in four to five pieces of chicken. Use tongs to turn each piece of chicken, ensuring that they are cooked on the outside. Remove each piece of chicken when the exterior has been browned and forms a crust. Repeat the process until every piece of chicken is seared.
With all the chicken pieces browned, add in the minced garlic and diced onion. Saute until the onions become translucent.
Add the potatoes and carrots to the pan, and fry for 10 to 15 minutes.
Dissolve the chicken stock cubes in hot water according to the instructions on the packaging.
Add the cooked chicken back to the pot.
Add enough chicken stock to fully submerge the ingredients in the pot. Add pieces of the curry roux into the pot. Bring the entire pot to a rolling boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer.
Continue to cook until you can easily pierce a bamboo skewer through the potatoes and carrots. Serve with rice or noodles such as udon or soba.
