Going back to my roots and the basics~

It just hit me recently that I haven’t made this in so long – over a decade. It served as my entry into cooking and I have expanded my recipe repertoire immensely.

I remember coming up with this idea and making it even before posting on Facebook or Instagram was a thing.

The inspiration came from hotpot…the sauce that you make for hotpot (and everyone makes it completely different).

I decided to use this shape of pasta instead of the shells shown in the old photo because it is probably a better representation – rotini used to be my absolute favorite.

If I were to guess what was in my original sauce, I would think it’s the following…based on my preferences at the time and what minimal ingredients I most likely had on hand:

hoisin, worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, chili oil (chiu chow or guilin), white pepper

For me, my preference was hoisin > oyster sauce, worchestshire > soy sauce, white pepper > salt. I was more into sweet than salty. But since then, my pantry is now so much more full of sauces and spices.

Based on the photo, it appears that I used dried shrimp and a chinese vegetable.

To make this:

I cooked the pasta for half the time as instructed on the box. Then drained most of the water, leaving a base layer of it in the pot. I mixed the hotpot sauce, veggie, and dried shrimp and put on a lid to cook it for the remaining time until al dente.

This reminds me of my college days when I was pretty much a pescetarian, because I almost never cooked meat. I love seafood, plus it’s quick and easy to cook. Veggies are just a must because I grew up with a mom who always cooked super healthy and balanced meals – 1 or more different types of vegetables, a seafood dish, a meat dish, rice, AND soup. It was also something different every day of the week, guaranteed. Little salt and minimal oil. That’s actually impacted me a lot because I’m always on the hunt to make something new and crave variety.