My Recipe

i've come to the realisation that i'm quite a good cook, which is a conclusion i derived frm 2 major pieces of information:

1) Nobody has actually died after eating the food i cook.

2) People tell me that i'm a good cook while holding their stomach and cringing.

i find the second piece of info particularly compelling becos if people actually make the effort to compliment you in spite of the whatever pain they are experiencing due to work-stress or doing too many abdominal exercises or something else, it must mean that the food is really pretty good...

Anyway, i contemplated putting some of my recipes here on DuhEconomist.com but the problem is that most of my readers in SG will go 'Why don't u just buy it at the kopitiam?' and those in UK will be like 'But i only eat instant noodles and broccoli' So i thot, might as well start with something easy to cook and not available in most kopitiams...

DuhEconomist teaches you...
DUH way to cook #1: Instant Noodles!

Nobody has ever asked me how to cook instant noodles, but i know that's just becos they are all shy abt it... Admittedly, Whipping up a quick bowl of instant noodles which looks nothing like the picture on the packet is easy enough, but cooking a delicious bowl of instant noodles which still looks nothing like the picture on the packet, now that's the tough bit... DuhEconomist.com teaches you the secret to cooking good instant noodles..

Firstly: ingredients ingredients ingredients... Cooking instant noodles is as much about what you put into it as fine cuisine is... Remember, the only people capable of getting a ridiculously good deal for their money when they pay peanuts all work at the NKF, and if you read this blog, chances are you're not one of them, so don't try! Spend a bit more money and get better noodles... They may even come along with more MSG and maybe even a small packet of nutritionless freeze-dried veg bits! That's value for money! Personally i recommend 'Maitro Khon: Super Noodles 120', which don't just taste good but also make you feel good when you laugh after reading some of the very pointless statements printed on the packet, ie. "HOW DELICIOUS!"

Secondly: do not believe everything the instructions tell you... Any good chef will tell you that cooking is a process which is always different, depending on the heating element, ventilation, amount of kids running around at the location and many other crucial factors... Ready in 3 minutes? Think again, Einstein has already proven that time is not constant but relative... 400ml of water? Hmm, bear in mind that diluted soup tastes bad and doesn't reduce the amount of salt you take in... In a nutshell, instant noodle cooking is a process which requires a lot of fine-tuning to perfect at your cooking location... Practise practise practise...

Thirdly and finally: taste the food while you are cooking... Just like good artists don't paint blindfolded and good musicians don't play wearing ear-plugs, brilliant chefs taste their food while it's being cooked... Bite that noodle to see if it's al dente, drink that soup to see if the level of MSG is just parfait... if you don't taste while cooking, you should not be surprised if you end up with a bowl of soggy noodles in dishwashing liquid...

Remember, a good bowl of instant noodles is as enjoyable as a 45.36% done Rump Steak with gravy and hence is just as difficult to cook. Do not ever underestimate the food you are trying to cook... but as Sun Zi said, "Know yourself, know your enemy, a hundred battles, a hundred victories" and as Sun Zi's 孙子 once said, "My grandfather makes a lot of sense" so now that you have learned DUH secrets of instant noodle cooking, you are already on your way to becoming a first-rate instant noodle chef.

Unless the MSG kills you first.

Really practical tip: Instead of following the cooking instructions, put the flavouring into the boiling water before you put in the noodles, the noodles will then be cooked in soup and have flavour instead of being bland.