Successfully made a cottage pie.

A cottage pie is a shepherd's pie with beef. To make one, one need minced beef and mashed potatoes. Don't bother to ask for measurement. I never measure. I never bothered to give measurement when I share my recipe. Once, I prepared macaroni soup with my roommate, well actually by myself, while my roommate was busy with his stuffs. He is a good cook to, but he's more into baking. He baked some cakes for me. Assuming he knows how to cook, I didn't bother to put measurements when sharing my recipe. He loves the macaroni soup which is a modified recipe I got from my Filipina aunt.

"May I have the recipe?'
"Sure, why not!"

A moment later.

"Hey, where are the measurements?"
"Huh?? I thought you were watching me cooking. I don't really measure the ingredients. I reckon that you saw how much I put in the ingredients"

The thought of him baking makes me realized, bakers always measure their ingredients, while cook just measure by eye... and tongue.

And back to the cottage pie.

I sauteed some diced onion and crushed garlic. My aunt always reminds us to all the garlic later as overcooked garlics are bitter. Saute' until fragrant. Then I added some minced beef. And some yoghurt later. I let them simmer until reduced. Then I add some carrot wedges and continue simmering. Don't overcook the carrots. It will get mushy. Remember you still need to bake them.

As for the mashed potatoes, I'll just scrub the potatoes and boil until tender. I don't peel, they can get soggy if peeled before boiling. After they are tender, mash them in the ricer, add some butter and salts. Mix.

In the pie pan, put the minced beef filling and cover with the mash potatoes. Pop it in the oven until done. It's done when the mash potatoes are golden brown. Et voila!

See, I didn't mention any cups, pinch or grams. No time mentioned too. Well, nobody measures their ingredients in this region. Recipes are handed down by mentoring. Probably, in the past, nobody had measuring cups or doesn't know how to read and write. Even if they can read and write, it's better to supervise and teach at the same time. First hand experience, hands on learning.

(Well, if you're an agak-agak* cook like myself, you'll figure the measurements yourself, don't bother ask as I really don't measure my ingredients)

*literally means guessing. the term agak agak is best described in this article http://articles.latimes.com/1994-11-25/food/fo-1263_1_malay-cooking or this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UjzXJcxr8k

Ricer is a contraption to rice potatoes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_ricer