Category: Recipes

Posted in Recipes

Salted Popcorn

Posted on by Serena

Popcorn’s gotta be one of my favourite savory snacks. When I was young I would always share microwave popcorn with my dad. My mom would limit me to one small bowl. But as we watched TV he would secretly fill my bowl again. I ate so much my lips turned white from the salt, that’s how my mom found out haha. As you can see, my love for salty popcorn goes way back. My friends like sweet popcorn, but I’ll always be on team salty. When I got older, I learned about popcorn lung which freaked me out. The chemical used to flavour microwave popcorn was making the factory workers sick. I also realised that microwave popcorn is very expensive in Malaysia… no wonder mom seldom bought it.

My dad started to make our own popcorn at home. At first we used a pot on the stove to make it, it turned out great, but our arms got tired. After some experimenting, I found out the microwave works just as well! I’ve been making popcorn this way for years, no more store bought popcorn for me! Unless I’m at the cinema… Fresh popcorn also tastes 100% better. The best things about making your own popcorn are there are no funny chemicals, and it costs just a fraction of the price of store bought!

Time: 5-7 minutes (microwave)/ 10-15 minutes (stove top)

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

  • 3 Tablespoons popcorn kernels (The kernels can be found in the dried foods section, with the nuts and spices)
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Microwave method : Paper bag
  • Stove top method: Pot with lid, 1 Tablespoon cooking oil

Microwave instructions:

  1. Place popcorn kernels into paper bag and fold the opening of the bag 3 times to keep it closed
  2. Microwave on high for 1 minute 40 seconds (may vary according to the power of your microwave)
  3. Tip the popcorn into a large bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and toss to coat evenly, add another teaspoon and toss again.
  4. Season wit salt and toss to coat evenly.

Stove top instructions:

  1. On medium heat, heat up 1 tablespoon of cooking oil into the pot.
  2. Place one kernel into the oil. When it pops, the oil is hot enough.
  3. Put in the rest of the kernels. Shake the pot to prevent burning,
  4. When the pops are 1-2 seconds apart, pour the popcorn into a large bowl.
  5. Season with olive oil and salt as above.
Posted in Recipes

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal

Posted on by Serena

This oatmeal has a terrible name, but it has a GREAT TASTE. If you’re someone who doesn’t like the taste of oats, this is the one for you. The oatmeal is mixed with cocoa powder so it becomes really chocolaty like a pudding. You’ll barely realise it’s oatmeal. This recipe is inspired by my favourite childhood birthday cake, chocolate banana cake and one of my favourite candy, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. To me, chocolate, banana and peanut butter are meant to be together. The combo just tastes so good! All the ingredients here are non perishable, perfect for hostel cooking. Cocoa powder does make the oatmeal a bit bitter so I added date syrup on top, but feel free to just stir in some plain old sugar. The cacao nibs are totally optional, my mom bought some so I wanted to try them hehe…

Time: 2-3 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 Tablespoons Instant oats (I used Quaker brand)
  • 2 Tablespoons Plant milk powder of choice
  • 1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder (can be found in the baking section)
  • Hot water
  • 1/2 a banana, sliced
  • 1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
  • 1 teaspoon Date Syrup (or sweetener of choice)
  • Optional: 1 teaspoon Cacao nibs

Instructions:

  1. Add oats, cocoa powder and the plant milk powder to a bowl.
  2. Add hot water to cover the oats. If you like your oatmeal more watery, add more hot water.
  3. Stir until the plant milk powder dissolves.
  4. Let the oats soften for 1 minute.
  5. Top with sliced banana, peanut butter and date syrup.
  6. Enjoy!

(If you prefer, the sweetener and peanut butter can be added in step 1 so it will be mixed into the the oatmeal. Either way is delicious though :P)

Posted in Recipes

Pink Oatmeal

Posted on by Serena

I recently ran out of my black bean milk powder, so I decided to try Pink Lady Oatmilk (honestly because it’s pink haha…). It’s pink because it has beetroot, which makes it perfect for another coloured oatmeal! Just substitute a “white” plant milk for Pink Lady to make a pink and yummy breakfast. The toppings are optional, I just searched around my fridge for pink/red things to add, purely to make the whole bowl the same colour, it doesn’t have to be completely pink if you don’t want to 🙂 Hope this gives you some breakfast inspiration!

Simple oatmeal

Time: 2-3 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons Instant oats (I used Quaker brand)
  • 2 tablespoons Pink Lady Oatmilk (Or half a sachet)
  • Hot water
  • 1 Tablespoon Pomegranate seeds
  • 1 Tablespoon Goji berries
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Dried cranberries
  • Optional: Sprinkle of Chia seeds
  • Optional: Sprinkle of Desiccated coconut

Instructions:

  1. Add oats and the Pink Lady Oatmilk to a bowl.
  2. Add hot water to cover the oats. If you like your oatmeal more watery, add more hot water.
  3. Stir until the Pink Lady Oatmilk dissolves.
  4. Let the oats soften for 1 minute.
  5. Add toppings and enjoy!

P.S. Sidenote…Pink Lady says gluten free on the package but the ingredients have barley…why? Is there gluten free barley?

Posted in Recipes

Yellow Oatmeal

Posted on by Serena

When I’m at the hostel, I like to keep my breakfasts simple and easy. Usually that means plain oatmeal, pour and stir and eat. Done. It’s never fancy nor instagrammable in any way. Since I’m home at the moment, I have the luxury of a kitchen and access to my mom’s spice collection (thanks mom). I decided to make some less boring things for a change 🙂 This oatmeal is inspired by the “eat colour for 24 hours” videos on Youtube! It looks fancy (I hope), but it’s still very easy! Basically, it is an extension of my simple oatmeal recipe.

The secret ingredient to making the oatmeal yellow is turmeric powder. It’s gives a really intense yellow colour naturally which I think is pretty cool. The more you add, the brighter the yellow. I’m not a professional but from what I know, turmeric is anti inflammatory so hey, that’s a bonus. But turmeric does have its own flavour, so if you don’t like the taste of turmeric, don’t add too much. I added cinnamon because I don’t love the taste of just turmeric and I feel the two are a nice spice combo. The toppings honestly are up to you. I just chose some that were yellow to make a totally yellow breakfast. Hope you enjoy!

Yellow oatmeal

Time: 5-8 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons Instant oats
  • 2 tablespoons Plant milk powder of choice
  • Hot water
  • Dash of turmeric powder
  • 2 tablespoons diced mango
  • 1/2 banana, sliced
  • Desiccated coconut
  • Optional: Dash of cinnamon powder
  • Optional: Toppings of choice

Instructions:

  1. Add oats and the plant milk powder to a bowl.
  2. Add hot water to cover the oats. If you like your oatmeal more watery, add more hot water.
  3. Stir until the plant milk powder dissolves.
  4. Let the oats soften for 1 minute.
  5. Stir in the turmeric powder and cinnamon powder (if using).
  6. Top with mango, banana and desiccated coconut. Enjoy!
Posted in Recipes

Simple Oatmeal

Posted on by Serena

Ahhhhh oatmeal, my favourite breakfast food. I used to hate it, but ever since I started living in a hostel, I had it so often, I fell in love with it. Why? Because with hostel cooking, for a food to make it to my favourite list, apart from being delicoius it must not need the 3 M’s, Mess, Money, and Minutes (aka time).

No mess because we will be using instant oats so no need for cooking and/or cleaning, apart from the bowl and spoon. No money (actually its not reaallly no money) because there are only 2 main ingredients, oats and plant milk powder. The oats cost about RM8 for a month’s worth, the plant milk powder costs about RM25 for a little longer than a month. That’s just around RM1 per serving! Even with toppings the cost isn’t too high. Lastly, no minutes because literally, you just scoop, pour, mix!

I could rave about oatmeal all day. The ingredients are cheap, non perishable and easy to store. The meal is filling and pretty nutritious. You can change the flavour easily by changing the toppings. You don’t need a kitchen to make this. I honestly don’t have anything negative to say!

Hostel food is more than just instant noodles guys!

Simple oatmeal

Time: 2-3 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons Instant oats (I used Quaker brand)
  • 2 tablespoons Plant milk powder of choice (I got mine at Jaya Grocer)
  • Hot water
  • Optional: Toppings of choice

Instructions:

  1. Add oats and the plant milk powder to a bowl.
  2. Add hot water to cover the oats. If you like your oatmeal more watery, add more hot water.
  3. Stir until the plant milk powder dissolves.
  4. Let the oats soften for 1 minute.
  5. Add optional toppings and enjoy!

Personally I like non perishable toppings like dried friut or seeds just for the sake of convenience. My favourite though has to be cinnamon. Sometimes I’ll also stir in cocoa powder or peanut butter to change the flavour. If I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll add some ripe banana slices on top. Here are some topping ideas:

  • Dried fruit (eg. raisins, dried cranberries, goji berries aka “geiji”. These can be found at supermarkets or convenience stores)
  • Sprinkle of sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar etc)
  • Seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds. These can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, baking shops, or pharmacies/health shops)
  • Nuts or nut butter (peanuts, almonds, cashews etc. These can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, baking shops, or pharmacies/health shops)
  • Fresh fruit (eg. banana (least messy), mango, strawberries, dragon fruit, apple)
  • Coconut flakes, cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, marmite (for a savory twist)

Don’t be afraid to experiment to find your favourite flavour! But hey, plain is good too 🙂