The secret to packing in so much flavour in such a short amount of time is to use a paste and elevate the flavour by frying it for a couple of minutes. This recipe has very minimal prep and is highly customisable. For example, if you really love tau pok, aka tofu puffs, just add more! 

And before you comment that what we are making doesn’t look like laksa, I just want to remind you that there are at least 20 different Malaysian varieties of laksa, not to mention that there are also countless more from our Singaporean, Indonesian and Thai neighbours. In Australia, we don’t have a super wide variety of Laksa pastes available so we made do with what we had and ended up combining elements from a couple of different varieties. 

Serves: 2

coconut milk

chicken stock powder

water

Laksa paste

fish sauce

Laksa ingredients

prawns

tofu puffs

fish cakes

Fresh yellow alkaline noodles

Vermicelli noodles

Bean sprouts

Fresh lime

Fried shallots

Toppings

Today, we will be making a delicious bowl of laksa that comes together in 20 minutes and costs $4 per serve.

20 Minute Laksa

Say hello to air fried chickpeas. They're crunchier, healthier and honestly could snack on these all day long

chickpeas

Seasoning of choice

Feeling snacky but hate the heavy, guilty feeling that follows about an hour after you polish off that packet of chips that was designed to feed 7 people?

Air Fried Chickpeas

Today we chose to eat it with some homemade pesto aioli. Honestly, I really wanted to like it but it was just a tad underwhelming, especially for the amount of effort it took. I think that an easier way to achieve something pretty similar is to do a pasta bake and let a bit of the pasta stick out of the sauce so it can get a bit crispy.

dried pasta

extra virgin olive oil

grated parmesan cheese

finely chopped parsley

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Paprika

These pasta chips were pretty crispy and chewy and can be served with a lot of different sauces.

Air Fried Pasta Chips

This idea literally came to us seconds before falling asleep. In our half-asleep stupor, we wrote down this idea so that we could give it a shot the next day. We tried it, knowing in the back of our heads that if this didn't work, it was fine and we wouldn't share it. 

It might not be the most aesthetic, instagrammable food but sometimes you just have to close your eyes and give it a go.

Tteokboki

You know that feeling when you are sitting on a secret and you are not sure if you should share this stroke of brilliance or keep it all to yourself? Well, that was us with this recipe.

Air Fried Tteokboki

It tastes similar to sesame balls that you often find at dim sum restaurants but is a lot easier to make.

tteokboki

sesame seeds

red bean paste

If you enjoyed the previous air-fried tteokboki recipe, you're gonna love this one.

Air Fried Tteokboki (Sweet)

We definitely added too much water so don't fall into the same trap as us! We forgot that our ingredients were floating up, so it kept looking like we needed more water when we didn't really. Don't worry, we have adjusted the amount of water in the recipe below. 

Typically, people use a larger, flat pan to cook army stew. Since we don't have one, we just used a large pot. It might not have looked as appealing, as you need to fish down quite far into the pot to get the goodies, but we can assure you that it still tastes great.

silken tofu

spam

korean fish cakes

gochujang

soy sauce

cup mushrooms

enoki mushrooms

kimchi

stock

spring onion

Shin Ramen

It is hopefully one of the last few cold days here in Australia and we had to make this one last time before it gets too hot for soup.

Army Stew

Whenever we create a new recipe, we go back and forth thinking of what we should call the recipe. Often, the name is too long or we don't really feel that it is representative of what we just made. Just in case it wasn't already clear, we had some trouble finding a good name that did these meatballs justice. 

The flavours are somewhat Asian inspired, but not necessarily any particular cuisine. All we know is that they tasted yummy and we wanted to share this with you.

chicken mince

firm tofu

Ginger powder

Deciding what to name your food is deceptively difficult. You want something that is short, catchy and unique that also captures the eating experience.

Asian Inspired Meatballs

Although we've made avocado pasta before, we've never made the sauce in a blender before. Comment if you want us to share our usual recipe!

We highly rate adding bacon and sundried tomato to this pasta sauce!

avocado

spinach

garlic

bacon

sundried tomato halves

Pasta

Deliciously creamy sauce that is dairy free? Yes please!

Avocado Pasta

Well, until today, neither had we. It takes way less time than it would on a frying pan, plus you can cook your veggies at the same time and you have a perfectly balanced meal done in 25 minutes.
A downfall, though, is that you don’t really get the same browning on the meatballs as you would in a frying pan. We did try to crank up the heat but it wasn’t quite the same.
Nevertheless, if you are prepping these ahead of time, you probably would be able to notice a difference in texture after they’ve been in the fridge. Let’s just say that we rate this for meal prepping but if you’re going to eat it straightaway, we’ll probably be sticking to using a frying pan.

beef mince

haloumi

brown onion

bread crumbs

Paprika powder

Black pepper

Meatball Ingredients

sweet potatoes

zucchinis

Serve with

Have you ever tried baking meatballs in the oven?

Baked Haloumi Meatballs

Sometimes we make it into a loaf, and sometimes we make it in a muffin tray. 

Our hack is to use a larger tray. It makes the banana bread a bit shorter but it cooks a lot faster. The tray we use is around 20cm x 35cm. 

Also, like a lot of stereotypical Asians, we don't really like our desserts to be too sweet. So if this is also you, don't worry you don't need to reduce the sugar amounts, we've got your back.

(ripe) bananas

unsalted butter

eggs

all-purpose flour

baking soda

brown sugar

white sugar

vanilla extract

chocolate chips/chunks

ground cinnamon

salt

This is one of our favourite recipes to bake. It's so simple; you don't even need a mixer.

Banana Bread

Well, then it's time for another banana recipe! We are trying to step outside of our comfort zone (ie. banana bread) and this was what we made today. Although it does take a bit more time and effort than our usual recipes, it is pretty tasty. It's also (unintentionally) reasonably low in sugar, with most of the sweetness coming from the bananas. 

Let us know if you give this recipe a try.

butter

milk

yeast

bananas

all purpose flour

Banana Cinnamon Scrolls

It's that time of the week again. We have a few bananas that are going brown and need to be finished off quickly!

cinnamon

maple syrup

Banana Pancakes

This is a tried and true recipe that is both quick and easy.

rump beef

mirin

sesame oil

ginger powder

onion powder

In a world where we are constantly trying to innovate and push the boundaries, sometimes it's nice to get back to basics.

Beef Bulgogi

It's one of our favourite dishes to eat when we go out. There's just something so satisfying about having meat that melts in your mouth with some perfectly chewy noodles.

beef chuck

leek

black bean and garlic paste

garlic powder

five spice

Noodles

This is the food embodiment of a warm hug and is perfect for a winter day.

Beef Noodle Soup

This is a simple yet delicious recipe that can be cooked in less than 20mins!

beef

capsicum

black pepper

corn flour

oyster sauce

cooking rice wine

sugar

Transform your dinner into a flavour-packed delight with this Black Pepper Beef recipe.

Black Pepper Beef

Each bite bursts with the perfect balance of tangy blueberry goodness and the natural sweetness of bananas, creating a heavenly treat for your taste buds. These blueberry banana muffins offer a comforting, irresistible snack for any time of day.

greek yoghurt

olive oil

cinnamon powder

quick oats

plain flour

Indulge in the delightful blend of sweet blueberries and ripe bananas baked into moist, fluffy muffins.

Blueberry Banana Muffin

When we were writing this recipe, we realised that we didn't really know how to represent how much bolognese sauce we used. Technically, we almost filled a 1L container with bolognese, which we eyeballed was probably around 3 cups.

puff pastry

pre-cooked bolognese

grated cheese

If you're anything like me, you can't stand eating the same meal 5 days in a row so when I meal prep, everything needs to be just how I like my functions when I code - modular. These pies are a great way to switch things up and make leftovers cool again.

Bolognese Pies

The haloumi cheese adds some much needed saltiness and the chili oil packs a punch too, so you don’t really need to add any extra seasonings. You can prep the filling ingredients ahead of time, so all you need to do in the morning is cook the roti and assemble.

haloumi cheese

roti paratha

Mayo

Homemade chilli oil

Does anyone else prefer a savoury breakfast, over a sweet one? This roti wrap will keep you full the whole morning and is so flavourful.

Breakfast Roti Wrap

No need to go and buy those over-priced fancy dips when it's so simple to make at home for a fraction of the price.

brown onions

sour cream

cream cheese

aioli or mayo

Salt

This is the perfect dip to elevate your dip game for a pot luck or picnic.

Caramelised Onion Dip

Don't get us wrong - we thoroughly enjoy a hearty, creamy pasta made with cream. But sometimes, you just want to opt for a lighter version that still satiates those cravings without sending you into a deep food coma. And that is why we started making this recipe. 

Topping the pasta with the toasted bread crumbs helps it feel like a pasta bake without the time commitment. We promise, you will not want to skimp out on this one!

We chose to roast our cauliflower because we were doing a bunch of other meal prep in the oven. Feel free to boil or roast or prepare the cauliflower however you wish. Just note that if you boil it, you will want to add extra seasoning when you blend up the sauce so that it is super tasty.

cauliflower

pasta water

dried herbs

This is literally the food embodiment of comfort. On a cold, rainy night in winter, there's nothing better than rugging up with a steamy bowl of your favourite creamy pasta.

Cauliflower Pasta

We tried this one for no other reason than we just felt like it. I don't know why we thought it was going to be super complicated, but it's really just a matter of marinating the meat overnight and then throwing it in the oven. 

The main difference between our version and one that you'd typically find at a restaurant is its vibrant red colour. We opted to skip the food dye mainly because we simply didn't want to buy it just to use in this one recipe. 

We wanted to keep the recipe as simple as possible without compromising the flavour. Have you ever made char siu at home before?

pork shoulder

honey

hoisin sauce

It's not as hard to make as you think - give it a go!

Char siu

The cheese gives the dumpling filling a unique texture, and the burger sauce packs a flavourful punch. 

Once again, we used our own homemade dumpling dough, so we were able to get the skin nice and thin.

burger sauce

BBQ/burger sauce

dumpling dough

These cheeseburger dumplings are the perfect unification of 2 epic foods.

Cheeseburger Dumplings

To be completely honest, we just didn't make Ipoh Hor Fun because by the time the idea came to us, we were simply too lazy to go to the grocery to get all the missing ingredients so we improvised a little. 

Just like all soups, the longer you cook, the better the flavour. We cooked ours for about an hour before we got too hungry/impatient and ate it. The flavour also intensifies if you leave it sitting in the fridge overnight. Our leftovers the next day tasted superb.

Prawn shells

whole chicken

chicken stock

This recipe is reminiscent of Ipoh Hor Fun, which is a chicken and prawn soup with thick/wide rice noodles.

Chicken and Prawn Soup

A common misconception is that curry takes a long time to cook and is hard. However, if you use a curry paste, it can actually be quite a quick meal that is packed with flavour and will leave you with leftovers for the next day.

chicken thigh

white potatoes

bean curd sticks

curry paste

Rice

Chicken curry that can be cooked in under 25 minutes? Unheard of, until now!

Chicken Curry

If you have an extra 5-10 minutes to spare, you can leave the rice in the pan without the lid on so that it forms a nice crust underneath.

chorizo

garlic cloves

One pan dinner in under 25 minutes? Say less.

Shin Ramen Carbonara

Ingredients

Method