Mie chinese noodles with vegetables and shrimp

Very easy and fast.

What you'll need:

- mie chinese noodles (or other noodles or any pasta)
- medium size shrimp (I bought mine frozen)
- 2 green onions (cebolinho, in Portuguese)
- 1/2 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small red pepper
- 1/2 tomato
- 1 thai chilli  (it was really spicy! add only 1/2 if you don't like spicy food; if no thai chilli is available add 1 small malagueta - Portuguese chilli)
- black olives
- salt, pepper, paprika

How to do it:

Boil the mie noodles in water with salt for 10 min. Separate the noodles with a fork and cook for 5 more minutes or until the pasta has the consistency you desire (I like mine well done). 
Cut all the vegetables in small pieces. Smash the garlic cloves. Put a bit of olive oil in a wok, add the shrimp and fry for a while. Add the vegetables and the spices and cover. Cook for 10 - 15 min until the vegetables are soft. Add the noodles and mix everything. Decorate with black olives.

Arroz de Polvo (octopus rice)

This is a famous recipe by my father who, I must say, is a specialist! It's actually very easy, I have tried it for the first time today and it is delicious. Since I don't have a pressure cooker like my parents, it takes longer to cook the octopus. It took me 1 1/2 h to get it really soft like it should be. In a pressure cooker it takes only 30 min.

What you will need:  

- 1 octopus (fresh or frozen)

- 1 onion (medium to large)

- 2 garlic cloves

-  piri-piri (Portuguese dry pepper; if not available use chili peppers)

- salt to season

- basmati rice

How to do it:

First, cook the octopus in water and salt. Cook for 1 1/2 h in a regular pan or 30 min in a pressure cooker.

Remove the octopus and save the cooking water. The octopus must be tender! Cut it into small pieces. In the same pan fry the garlic and the chopped onion until soft. Add the cooking water (measure how many cups you have of it), some salt, the piri-piri and the octopus in pieces. Add an amount of rice which is 1/2 the amount of cooking water you added. Let it cook until done and sprinkle with cilantro.