Fantasy-Cooking on Hello! I'm Nandi

Salty seamen paella

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 20:46:00 +0200

Wanted to do a real paella, but no prawns. Had no fish broth either, so DIY.

Ingredients

500ml fish broth:

2 tsp vegetable broth powder
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp salt (too much, probably)
hot water
6-8 saffron threads

Other:

mussels, rinsed in boiling-hot water, 30s
chicken thighs, sliced and wok fried
250g round rice
a small double concentrate (tomato paste)
2 decent-sized garlic cloves, sliced
fresh parsley
1 medium onion
0.5-1 tsp smoked paprika

Topping:

Minesweeper salmon lasagne

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Twice the béchamel you think you need.

Ingredients

Béchamel, aka filling 1:

70g butter
50g firm Italian cheese of your choice
flour, milk

Filling 2:

250g spinach
5 garlic cloves + garlic pesto, or 8 garlic cloves
olive oil
fresh rosemary
salt
vegetable stock
MSG

Topping:

salmon, without coat, in pieces
cocktail tomatoes, cut in half

Pasta:

fresh pasta: 1 egg, flour

Method

Make the pasta dough and let it rest! Roll thin sheets.
Filling 2 must be overly salty. Obviously too salty is the target flavour.
The top layer gets no béchamel, only the toppings: salmon, and the tomato halves water side up.
Sprinkle olive oil, rosemary, a bit of salt and pepper on top.
Lay the mines.
Into the oven, 220°C for about 35 minutes, closer to the top of the oven so the tomato and salmon get some colour.

Philosophers' curry

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200

I had leftover soffritto and green beans, while I wished for curry, but we were also out of rice that day.

The recipe assumes you have no leftovers.

Ingredients

150-200g green beans
200g pork shoulder, thin cubes
vegetable stock (powder, MSG is not optional)
100g carrot
150g celery
1 large onion
cumin, caraway, nutmeg, green cardamom, white pepper
smoked paprika
cilantro, mint
lime
deep frozen, pre-fried potatoes for 2-4 people (750g is fine), they come out the crunchiest

Method

Start with a soffritto, but go 1.5x on the celery.
Separately steam the green beans.
In your favourite huge pan, on high heat, roast the tiny pork cubes. When there’s enough brown add some vegetable stock, salt and white pepper.
Mortar 6-9 green cardamom pods and sift them into the mix. Mortar a tiny piece of nutmeg too. Lots of salt and about as much sugar.
Add 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp caraway.
Add the soffritto and the beans to the meat, and rinse the soffritto pan into the huge pan with a bit of water.
Now it’s time to put the potatoes in the oven.
Boil until everything is soft, adding water as it evaporates. At the end, water it up properly so it’s a thick sauce. Add some flour to thicken it.
Fire off, wait 1 minute.
The most important bit, make sure the meat and all is cooked through and the potatoes in the oven should be done last, and done well, potatoes must be crunchy.
Put the sauce and potatoes and the chopped herbs and a bit of the smoked paprika into a bowl that you can shake. Shake it. Check for salt, now’s the right time to adjust. Also add some lime, but it’s also part of the garnish on the plate with some extra herbs, but this is optional.

You’ve got the recipe right if the flavours are really smashing you in the face, the pork and spices provide the basis, the foundation so it’s not collapsing, we are stacking flavour on top of each other. Potato and green beans are the bridge to the refreshing flavour of the cilantro-mint-lime combination. It’s an explosion.