Weekday Dinners – How to Cook Indomie 3 ways. Part 3: Indomie alla Carbonara

Now, considering my revulsion for raw egg mixed into Indomie you would think I should hate Carbonara, but I don’t. Blame the Italians, they converted me. I will tell you the story of how I came to love Lasagne when I post the recipe. I have never liked Dairy products. I didn’t find out that I was Lactose Intolerant until I was an adult. All those years my mother suffered through tummy upsets. I was told that as a baby, I could scream for Nigeria. The doctors told her it was just colic. Breakfast time in my childhood years was war. What kind of child are you, my mum would say. Everyone loves cereal and oats for breakfast, everyone loves bread and butter or cheese. Not me, the sight of milk used to induce tears faster than Mentholated Rub. So I stayed away from all Dairy except ice cream. Until one evening when I was sitting at a small restaurant in Rome, and the waiter passed by with this steaming delicious bowl of Spaghetti Carbonara and my order for Spaghetti Bolognese (I will be posting a recipe for that this evening) was changed with immediate effect. I have been a huge fan since, preparing it with lots of Ata Rodo 9ja style of course. With so much anticipation, I ordered this dish at a London restaurant after my Italian culinary experience. Let me just say the British deserve their nasty food reputation, times 100. Lol. I have been cooking carbonara myself since then.

Italians are food snobs too, though not as much as the French, and they say Carbonara is one of the dishes most people get wrong. My interior designer Katie is Italian, and I picked her brain to pieces with glee about Italian cooking. I mean, when next will I be that close to an Italian on a friendly basis, so I capitalised on it. I will be posting some of the advice she gave me. I’m sure she must have been wondering if she should add cooking tips to her list of charges. Lol…. So, people, I am bringing an authentic ancient Italian recipe (but with a Dooney’s Kitchen twist) to your homes.

So you’ll need:

2 packets of Indomie

1 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp ofOlive oil

1/2 a clove of Garlic

1 handful of Bacon – Italians will say Dunni no no no not ordinary bacon but Pancetta. Ok, if you can find, otherwise use bacon please. This is a weekday meal, I don’t want you going around looking for Pancetta. For my Muslim readers, use smoked sausages. (I can hear Katie fainting already. Lol)

2 Eggs

White wine* – optional

1/4 cup grated Cheese – Parmesan or Pecorino

2 tbsp Parsley or Fresh Thyme – you can used the dried version if that’s what you have

1 Ata Rodo or 1tsp cayenne pepper – dry pepper

So basically think of Carbonara as breakfast inside Indomie.

How to

1. Chop the garlic and Ata Rodo and set aside

2. Boil the Indomie noodles with the seasoning till it’s al dente – hey this is Italian recipe permit me a few phrases. In English for till it is firm but but hard

3. Whilst the noodles are boiling, heat up the butter and olive oil and fry the ata rodo, garlic and the bacon till its brown. There will be sticky bits in the pan, so de glaze with a dash of white wine, and let it boil for 1 minute to burn off the alcohol

4. Beat the eggs slightly in a bowl, add add the cheese, parsley and salt. Combine gently

5. Drain any excess liquid from the pasta and pour in the egg mixture and stir. Make sure the noodles are hot straight from the boiling pot when you do this. This is why I said start the cooking process simultaneously

6. Empty the contents of the frying pan into the pot and stir again.

………and that’s it Now, how fast is that?

With these three recipes, four if you count my Lamb Noodle soup, I hope you will never look at Indomie Noodles the same way again. Pictures of all three versions will be added this weekend