Making spaghetti :)

Spaghetti is one of the few food that I make real well. It being really simple is one, and knowing what to put in to make it taste better is another =)

The way I cook spaghetti is, it must be easy. Years back, I used to cook the sauce with puree. However in recent years, we have switched to Prego's ready made Chunky Garden - taste not as sour, and much better.

And of course, you can choose your preferred spaghetti - whether it's angelhair, pasta and such. My mum prefer the normal spaghetti and really dislike angelhair - with it being much fine, it tends to get into a big lump once its cooked. My family do not have any specific brand that we goes for, only the cheapest. Because it tastes the same to us. Haha!

The ingredients - my family preferred alot of veggies. We love button mushrooms - here you can see there's two different types of it. One fresh, the other from a can. Both are of different textures, so they bring a slightly different tastes. Obviously, you can't miss out on the tomatoes - it brings some sweetness to the sauce itself. And garlic, tonnes of it!! I love garlic-ky smells and tastes in my food. And oh, soon I'll post up some nutrients in garlic and how + why it is being used as core ingredients in Korea.

As for the meat, we tend to go for minced pork. Minced chicken doesn't bring any taste to the sauce, so it is definitely out of the question. We have tried minced lamb - and mind you, it tastes AWESOME!! So it's a must-try =D

And of course, one thing we can't miss-out - BASIL LEAVES. Basil have this strong flavor that goes really well with anything Italian, and it makes your sauce smells especially yummy!

Basil can easily be grown - just buy the seeds and it will
grown to take over your garden. 

Once you have all the ingredients ready, the whole process is actually very fast. 

First off, to cook the spaghetti - boils a pot of water. Once the water is boiling hot, put in a teaspoon of salt first. As it dissolve, put the spaghetti in and allows it to cook for 5-10 minutes. To ensure it is fully cooked, cut one to see whether the core of the spaghetti is the same color with its outside. If it is, turn off the fire and pour out the water. If you prefer to have the cheese inside the spaghetti (mind you, it will get sticky and icky once its cool), now is the time to put it in the spaghetti so it melt.

Now, the sauce. Once the wok is hot, pour in a reasonable amount of oil. Let it heat for a while, then pour the chopped garlic in. Once the garlic turned a little brown, place the meat into the wok. While you are cooking the meat, once it is about 80% done then it is time to put the mushrooms in. Let it all cook together for a bit, then put in both the basil leaves and tomatoes. Cook it all together for another 5 minutes, the pour in the Preggo. Put in about 1 glass of hot water as well, else the sauce will become too thick as it cooks and dries up. Usually I'll put in 1 teaspoon of salt, but I've known some friends who put sugar instead as they doesn't like the sauce being too sour, so it is a matter of your own preference. Let it boil for another 5 minutes, and voila, you are done!