Saturday, July 31, 2010

Kimchi Pumpkin Fried Rice

I am glad I always make sure there are homemade kimchi kept in my fridge. At times when I wanted to cook a one-dish meal at home, these kimchi will comes in handy!

I invited my friend over to my place this afternoon. So, I made some salad and this fried rice since it is a routine catch-up chit-chatting session for us.

My friend enjoyed the taste of my self created healthy kimchi pumpkin fried rice (I have used the usual brown and red rice mix).

Since I have cooked quite a bit, I gave her a box when she left.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Birthday Cake

I received a surprised message from my sister-in-law (Bakericious) yesterday! She text to me that she has baked a cake for me... So sweet of her that she specially baked the cake for my birthday today!


I went over to her place to collect this cake yesterday, since my sister-in-law had to rush to the airport for her business trip.

So...here's my pink birthday cake! ^^

I cut my birthday cake to share with husband this afternoon... We like the taste of this ice-cream cake which is made of pink dragon fruits. It tastes sourish with a hint of mild sweetness, which I guess is from the fruit itself.

And as you can see, there are pieces of cut fruits and layers of cakes in between (isn't it pretty??)...and it is yummy too... Thanks Jess! ^^

Saturday, July 24, 2010

New Green Pasture Cafe

I arranged a meeting with my friend Suzanna (a long-time vegetarian), to meet and chat at the Fortune Centre this afternoon. Why I picked to go to the New Green Pasture Cafe??? Because I stumbled upon many vegetarian blogger reviews of how good and fresh are they sushi roll and soba salad!! So, I decided to have a try!

As we approached the eatery, Suzanna said that she has dine a couple of times there and also commented that, she also like their sushi roll! Hearing this... I look forward eagerly to our orders.

The sushi roll was naturally the number one order. Look at the colours! No rice added...but lots of combination of various raw vegetables all wrapped within the nori. The roll was lightly dressed with a sweet tangy sauce which makes them really yummy (I simply love it ^^).

Our second order was the tauhu goreng! Very light and nutritious.

Our third initial order was supposed to be the soba salad! But the lady at the cashier suggested that we order another item since the sushi roll and soba salad are of similar sauce; therefore I picked the zha jiang mian instead!

The zha jiang mian was topped with plenty of fresh greens and their meat substitutes were made from tofu and some others (I guessed). Again, they were very healthy and satisfying! (^^)

I am sure I will make my second visit for more of their sushi roll again (^o*)

New Green Pasture Cafe
Fortune Centre #04-22
190 Middle Road
Tel: 6336-8755
Open: 11am to 8pm, closed on Mondays

Remarks: It is a self-service eatery and all orders must be made at the cashier.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Vegetarian Mee Goreng...Again

I mentioned on my earlier post that we bought the wrong type of green peas for our Indian vegetarian mee goreng. And while I was at the supermarket yesterday, I make sure that I remember to buy another brand of the peas so that we can cook our mee goreng again. In the end, I chose the Wattie's brand since I have used them for cooking fried rice.

Yummilicious... ^^

Ingredients
500g Yellow noodles
200g beansprouts - washed
200g Chye Sim - wash and cut into 2cm
4 tbsp peas
2 tomatoes - washed and diced
2 potatoes - cooked and cut to chunks
1 tbsp curry powder

Seasonings
5 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp chilli sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar


Method

With some oil, fry the curry powder. Add in potatoes, vegetables, tomatoes, peas and beansprouts, stir & mixed well. After 2 minute, add in noodles and followed by seasonings and fry till well-mixed. Serve hot with slices of cucumbers and/or squeeze some lime juice on top of noodles.


Steamed Radish Cake

I managed to steam this radish cake late last night since I have wanted to try making this. If you love dim-sum, you will be very familiar with this radish cake. The Hong Kong style of radish cakes are usually pan-fried or deep-fried till they are brown and crispy on the outer layer.

The original version of radish cake usually are made with added Chinese sausages, dried mushrooms, lots of dried shrimps together with oyster sauce seasoning in it. In this instance, I wanted to try my version of making it absolutely plain.


Actually, my radish cake looks alright...except it was a lot firmer, which is not to my expectation! I think I have make a mistake for not adding more water to soften the texture.

This morning, I cut them up into rectangular shapes for steaming.


Serve them with topping of sesame seeds and thick sweet soy sauce... ...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Stir-Fry Angled Loofah(丝瓜)

This is one of the common dish I used to eat before I got married. However, I simply don't know the exact reason but...this is never in my vegetables shopping list!

When my mum came along with us to our neighbouring city, Johor Bahru for shopping; some fresh looking angled loofahs set at the organic corner caught her eyes. Instantly, my mum took 2 fresh looking ones and handed one to me (her eyes told me that - "they are extremely fresh, you should take one too"). And there goes, my very first simple stir-fry angled loofah...

I love the taste! When cooked, they were very crunchy and turned into pretty jade green colour!

Ingredients

1 large fresh angled loofah
some chopped garlic (or either chopped ginger*)
some oil
some salt

Method

Heat the wok. Stir fry garlic (or ginger) briefly with some oil. Add in loofah and then some salt to taste. Simmer it with work cover for approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Cook till soft and serve.

Nutritional Value **
Angled Loofah is a popular vegetable in the summer. Soft, young loofah is edible and its fluid is a skin moisturiser. The juice treats coughing and clears phlegm. Mature loofah is not edible however, the strong, netted vein can be used as cleansing tool in the bath and kitchen. Angled loofah contains protein, fat, luffein, citrulline, and vitamin B and C (extracted from Cook Easy! Eat Healthy! - Fruit & Vegetables).

Monday, July 19, 2010

Pumpkin Fried Rice

Last weekend, I bought two halves of the pumpkin from supermarket since they were on offer.

I wanted to use half of it to do fried rice and was doing an online search for a good recipe. I was a suprised to learn that pumpkins are used commonly on many types of cookings...but not fried rice!


Instantly, I decided to cook my own Chinese invented fried rice (one-dish-meal) with the existing ingredients found in the fridge.


Ingredients

2 cups of cooked brown mixed red rice
1/2 medium size pumpkin - skinned and diced
1 medium carrot - skinned and diced
some french beans - chopped
8 Chinese mushrooms - pre-soaked and diced
some oil
soy sauce
vegetarian mushrooms seasoning
some pepper

Freshly cooked mixed brown and red rice


Sunday, July 18, 2010

Mee Rebus

I am delighted to share with you my humble (first time) mee rebus, which I have cooked for dinner tonight.

While searching for a vegetarian version of this local delights, I stumbled upon this vegetarian mee rebus recipe, generously shared with us by the hawker owner - Mr Liu. Actually, I kind of share a common thing with Mr Liu, after reading his story. I was also convinced by a vegetarian friend about the health benefits of meat-free diet.

To share with you what I have gone through, I make it a slow process and gradually switched our diet and began to avoid buying meats for home during any of my shopping trips (and I should say husband has been very cooperative since then). And with only vegetables and fruits found in the fridge, there is no choice but to cook vegetarian at home. Eventually both husband and I did not miss meat all that much when they are not available at home.

I am not sure if any one out there shared the same problem with me, it is always difficult to convince those around us (parents) that you want to be vegetarian! I consider my parents are both traditional, they cannot understand my choice of trying to go vegetarian. Their belief is that no meat, no strength!! Even my sister who is six years my senior, cannot understand my choice...!!

When we dine at parent's place, I try to request my mum to cook lots of vegetables and will take a little fish. Even after more than a year, when most already knew that we only cook vegetarian at home; my mum will still continue to pass the comment that I am "torturing" my husband for not cooking meat for him; since the obvious thing to them is that, husband has lost more than 10kg .... At times, even my niece would casually laugh that we are eating rabbit food...

Despite receiving all these remarks, I am determined that I will continue my vegetarian diet, and continue to improve my skill in vegetarian cooking! So...if you have a nice vegetarian recipe, I will be happy to hear from you! (^o^)

MAKE IT YOURSELF: VEGETARIAN MEE REBUS

INGREDIENTS (I modified some of the ingredients)

5 dried chillies, coarsely chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, coarsely chopped
small piece of galangal, thickly sliced
2 candlenut (buah keras)
1 tsp curry powder
1 litre water
4 small potatoes, steam and skinned
2 sweet potatoes, steam and skinned
3 tbsp fermented soy bean paste (tau cheo)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp potato starch
500g yellow noodles
150g beansprouts
2 eggs, hard-boiled and sliced
2 stalks coriander, coarsely chopped
2 fresh green chilli, sliced
2 lime

METHOD

1. Place the dried chillies, lemongrass, galangal and candlenut in a food processor, cover with water and blend for about 15 seconds on high speed until a coarse paste forms.

2. Pour the paste into a pot, add curry powder and 1 litre water. Mix well and bring to a boil on high heat.

3. Place the potatoes and sweet potatoes in a food processor, cover with water and blend for a few seconds until a coarse paste forms. Set aside

4. To the boiling gravy, add the potatoes paste, mix well and bring the mixture to a boil again on medium fire. Stir continuously.

6. Add the fermented soy bean and sugar to the gravy. Mix well.

7. Dissolve potato starch in 100ml of water and pour the mixture into the gravy gradually.

8. Scald the noodles and beansprouts in boiling water for half a minute. Drain well and place in serving bowl. Add in the gravy and garnish with eggs, lime, green chillies and coriander.

Remarks: I avoided adding coconut milk, which the original recipe called for. Instead, I added 2 mashed sweet potatoes and few more mashed potatoes to thicken the gravy.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Vegetarian Indian Mee Goreng

Husband cooked this Indian style vegetarian fried noodles aka Mee Goreng, for dinner today. He used the recipe from our previous vegetarian cooking lesson. In fact, the recipe we had was a very direct one; and not forgetting with the cooking lesson we attended...it makes it much easier for him handle the job.

His mee goreng was really yummy... I told him that, his is better than what we had from the hawker centre. Well, the only imperfection was the hard and tasteless peas which we bought from the supermarket..... I guess it may be a pack which was already left for too long, for sure I have already marked that in my mind, not to buy the same brand ever again (*o*")





Thursday, July 15, 2010

Huat Kueh - 2nd Batch ^^

I tried to used up the balance pack of fresh coconut milk to steam my second batch of Huat Kueh aka Fa Guo (发糕). The label of this pack of fresh coconut indicates that we must consume within a week; so I thought it could wait for me second trial of my steam huat kueh. Well...guess what I saw when I was ready to add in to the second trials?? The coconut milk had this lumpy clog formed, and the rest of the milk became very watery.

Seeing that...my natural reaction was to smell the pack to check if the milk turns sour! I was lucky that coconut milk smelled alright so I proceeded to measure the mixture of lumpy and watery coconut milk to my flour mixture.

I have added one additional thing into the initial ingredients called for; that is one tsp of baking soda! Noo nooo...not my intention to modify the ingredients (but my mum's idea to do so). Recalled that day when I was happily telling my mum about my success of my first huat kueh trial, she asked if I added baking soda? According to her, she once commented to the store owner that her huat kueh were so nicely baked and asked if there were any secret to make them "Huat" nicely. My mum got the answer that adding a little baking soda could do the "miracle".

So... as you can see, my huat kueh indeed "bloom" higher than the first trial.

But... there was a setback for this second batch; it did not taste as good as the first trial. I immediately realised the fault lays on the coconut milk because I had scooped more of the watery coconut milk to the mixture. Therefore it only had this very mild coconut taste in it (*o*")

In the end, husband came up with the idea of eating the huat kueh with kaya instead. With the coconut milk mistake, I am sure my third batch would be nicely bloom and taste yummy! (-o-")

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Vegetarian Zha Jiang Mian (渣酱面)

I recalled having a small box of left-over stewed mushrooms kept in the freezer, from my previous cooking; thinking to make something different out of it, I decided to create this Zha Jiang Mian!


Again, I wanted to emphasize that I am really a noodle person. I love to try out all sorts of noodles, some were bought and left in the kitchen cabinet for too long that I almost forgotten about them... this pack of organic udon (I think) must have been silently waiting for me for more than six months.

Using the udon with left-over stewed mushrooms, I created a yummy noodles taste... ...and not forgetting with lots of fresh julienned carrots and cucumbers, did some jaw exercise too! ^^


Saturday, July 10, 2010

Vegetarian Stir Fry Jap-Chae

Last week, a pack of Korean glass noodles caught my eyes while I was doing my shopping in the supermarket. Since lately, I just can't get enough of Korean food; I decided to have a try of this particular type of glass noodles.

Unlike the Chinese glass noodles which is made from mung beans, these Korean glass noodles are actually made of sweet potatoes flour. The noodles are also broader in size and grey in colour, before and after being cooked.

I am trilled to present my own version of stir fry Korean Jap-Chae. My version, as I have said...is stir frying the various vegetable ingredients, and lastly combining the cooked glass noodles together. This is more of my usual stir-fry Chinese noodles cooking method.

Husband and I love the texture of these glass noodles as they are so springy and firm!

Ingredients

300g Sweet Potato noodles
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 small cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, julienned
12 French beans, julienned
1 packet of vegetarian noodles, soaked with hot water and drain dry
10 small Chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced
2 tsp salt
some pepper
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oil

Method


Fill a large pot of water on to boil. Add the glass noodles and cook according to package. Drain and rinse with cold water. Toss about 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Cut the noodles into shorter pieces, set aside.

In a saute pan, heat oil, stir-fry the garlics, shallots, cabbage, french beans, carrots and mushrooms in stages, approx. 40 seconds each. Add salt and pepper to taste. Next, add in the noodles and pour in the soy sauce and stir-fry together for 2-3 minutes until well combined with the rest of the ingredients. Cook until heated through. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Yum-Yum...(^o^)

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