Stir-Fried Udon

Udon is a type of thick wheat-based noodle which is very popular in Japanese cuisine. Besides using it for noodle soup, here is a stir-fry version. For this recipe, I used cabbage, carrot and shimeji mushroom. Don’t be constraint from using other ingredients like pepper chilli, shredded black fungus, shiitake mushrooms.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 2 packs (400g) udon noodle
° 25g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 150g cabbage, shredded
° 150g buna shimeji mushroom/brown beech mushroom, base discarded and separated
° 2 cloves garlic or 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 2 tablespoons olive oil
° ½ teaspoon salt
° 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, or to taste
° ground black pepper, to taste
° 750ml water, for cooking udon
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish

Method
1. Place the udon in a pot or wok of lightly salted boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain well and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the garlic or ginger and fry till fragrant.
3. Add the carrot, cabbage and stir-fry briskly for 30 seconds.
4. Add the mushroom and stir-fry for 1½ minutes. Season to taste with salt and push all the ingredients aside.
5. Throw in the udon, add the light soy sauce and toss gently to mix over low heat. Sprinkle some water for easier tossing, if needed. Season to taste with black pepper.
6. Dish up, garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion and serve immediately.

Garden Peas Soup

Another quick and simple soup!

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 250g frozen garden/green peas
° 200g potatoes, peeled and diced
° 3750ml water or stock
° ½ -1 teaspoon non dairy margarine
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method
1. Place the potatoes and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until all the potatoes are tender.
2. Throw in the green peas and bring to a boil.
3. Transfer to a blender or food processor. Add the margarine, salt and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, sprinkle with pepper and serve hot.

Stir-Fried Potato

Another simple and easy to put together dish! This is quite a common Chinese home-style dish that is usually cooked with minced meat. Add in some vegetarian ham or vegetarian meat, if desired. If not, carrot can be added to lend its sweetness to this dish.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 350g potatoes, sliced
° 2 cloves garlic or 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 275ml water
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
° freshly ground black pepper, to taste
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the garlic or ginger and fry for 1 minute.
2. Add the potatoes and stir-fry briskly for a moment.
3. Pour in the water. Stir in the light soy sauce and vegetarian oyster sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes or till the potatoes are soften. If the sauce dries up, add a little bit of water.
4. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion and serve immediately.

Steamed Vegetarian Noodle Prawn

This is a simple dish by heating up the vegetarian noodle prawn that we can get easily from the vegetarian shops or stalls. These Vegetarian Noodle Prawns (Vegetarian Chai Har) consist of mushroom, carrot, beancurd puff and Chinese swede and seasoning. Normally, it is deep-fried but for a healthy choice, tries the steaming method. Not to steam too long, as it get very soft. Alternatively, try baking or toasting it, if you don’t mind that it is a little bit dry. Dip it with light soy sauce or ‘chicken rice’ chilli sauce, if desired.

Preparation: 3 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 6-8 vegetarian noodle prawns, defrosted

Method
1. Arrange the vegetarian noodle prawns in a heatproof serving plate.
2. Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Place the vegetarian noodle prawns in the steamer and steam for 2-3 minutes.
3. Serve immediately.

Stir-Fried Lo Han Chai with Chinese Cabbage

According to the ‘Have a 2-week Supply of Food at Home Now for Any Emergency’, it is recommended that we stock up some canned food which had longer shelf life. One of those canned food that I would buy is Vegetarian Lo Han Chai, besides the Baked Bean, Beans etc. Periodically, I need to check the expiry date and renew the supplies whenever necessary. This is the time, I will used the canned food to cook the below dish by adding some fresh vegetable. No need seasoning, as the canned food had it all.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 can Vegetarian Lo Han Chai
° 200g Chinese cabbabe (wok bak/bok choy), cut into broad strips
° 10 thin slices carrot
° 3 slices ginger
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil
° 1 red chilli, seeded and sliced, for garnish
° 2 stalks fresh coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Add in the Chinese cabbage, carrot and stir-fry briskly for 2 minutes.
3. Pour in the Lo Han Chai and stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes or until the vegetables are soften.
4. Add in the chilli and coriander leaves. Transfer to a serving dish and serve hot.

Stir-Fried Bean Vermicelli

Something similar to stir-fried rice vermicelli but for this recipe it is using bean vermicelli instead. If you prefer the colour of the bean vermicelli to be darker, reduce the amount of light soy sauce and replace with dark soy sauce, adding a bit at a time till you reach the desired result.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g bean vermicelli
° 100g bean spouts, tailed
° 25g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 4 Chinese dried mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms, soaked and shredded
° 2 stalks (50g) fresh coriander leaves, cut into 5cm section
° 2 cloves garlic or 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
° 2½ tablespoons light soy sauce, or 2 tablespoons light soy sauce and ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
° ground black pepper, to taste
° 500ml water

Method
1. Place bean vermicelli and water in pot and bring to a boil. Drain well and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the garlic or ginger and fry till fragrant.
3. Add the carrot, mushrooms and stir-fry briskly for 30 seconds.
4. Add the bean sprouts and stir-fry for 1 minute and push all the ingredients aside.
5. Throw in the bean vermicelli, add the light soy sauce, coriander leaves and toss gently to mix over low heat. Sprinkle some water for easier tossing, if needed. Season to taste with black pepper.
6. Dish up and serve immediately.

Water Caltrop and Mini Yam

Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner, 25 September for the year of 2007. Besides different variety of moon cakes, lanterns, what else do we have? Yes, Water Caltrop aka Trapa Natans ! You can spot them at the wet market and it is the only time you can find them here. Read up Wikipedia for more info on water caltrop, which look like the horn of the bull. The most common method to cook water caltrop is by boiling it. To eat it you need a pier for removing the hard shell by working on the both ‘horn’ first, follow by the bottom. Warning: Never never use your teeth!

Mini yam is also one of those items that I have during Mid-Autumn festival during my childhood. Steam and peel off the skin and into the mouth. Dip with some sugar, if prefer. If you happen to see these at the market, buy some and have a try. Water Caltrop S$0.30~S$0.35 per 100g.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients (serve 2-4)
° 20 water caltrops
° 8 mini yams
° water

Method
1. Place the water caltrops with enough water to cover them fully in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
2. Place the mini yam in a heat proof serving bowl and steam for 15-20 minutes or until soften.
3. Serve warm.

Stir-Fried Chinese Chive with Yellow Tofu

Chinese chive also known as Chinese Leek, Ku Chai or Oriental Garlic Chives combines the taste of garlic and chive. It is often used for stuffing in the Dim Sum and Dumping. It is also use to flavour noodle (Long Life Handmade Noodle). For this recipe, it is used to stir-fry with yellow tofu - Chinese heritage yellow taukwa is a kind of firmer tofu or beancurd which is orangey yellow in colour. This type of tofu is much firmer.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 150g chinese chive, cut into 5cm length
° 1 (110g) Chinese heritage yellow taukwa/yellow beancurd, cut into strips
° 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt to taste

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Add in the tofu and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
3. Throw in the Chinese chive and stir-fry briskly for 1 minute. Season to taste with salt.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Crispy Tempeh

Fresh Tempeh

Ahh! What is tempeh? Tempeh is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybean particles into a cake form. It contains more protein than tofu and also has more vitamins plus it has a nutty flavour. Here is a quick and tasty snack. Crispy tempeh can be made as substitute for meat in some Chinese dishes.

Preparation: 5 mins, plus 15 mins standing time, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g fresh tempeh, cut into small chunks or 2cm thick slices
° vegetable oil, for deep-frying
° ¼ teaspoon salt
° ¾ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

Method
1. Marinate the tempeh with Chinese five-spice powder and salt for 15 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or wok over high heat or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil brown in few seconds. Drop the tempeh into the hot oil and fry in batches until lightly golden brown.
3. Remove the tempeh with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper.
4. Arrange on a serving plate and serve immediately.

Stir-Fried Chinese Mustard with Red Chilli

Chinese mustard cabbage can be found in different varieties. It can stand up to stir-fry or braising in a sauce. To make this dish more interesting, add some shitake mushrooms or shimeji mushrooms, if desired. This vegetable can be used to make salted vegetable too, refer to Home-made Salted Mustard Green and Stir-Fried Home-made Salted Mustard Green for the recipe.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 300g Chinese mustard, cut into small pieces
° 8 thin slices ginger
° 2 cloves garlic (optional), finely chopped
° 1 red chilli, seeded and sliced
° 1 teaspoons corn starch, mixed with 30ml water

Sauce
° 30ml water
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° ½-1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° pepper, to taste
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the ginger, garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute.
3. Add the Chinese mustard and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the sauce and bring to a boil for 1-1½ minutes.
4. Stir in the corn starch mixture and throw in the chilli. Bring to a boil.
5. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Leaves

Sweet Potato leaves? Sweet potato leaves and shoots are a good source of vitamins A, C, and B2 (Riboflavin). You can easily get sweet potato leaves from the wet market or the supermarket, it is sold as a bundle with leaves still on the vine. Keep the vine of the sweet potato leaves, it can be eaten. Just that it required some work to remove the ‘silk thread’ on it, by tearing from the tip of the vine. You can spot the ‘silk thread’ peeled half way and still hanging on the vine in the picture. It can be stir-fry with vegetarian sambal belacan too, if prefer. Just get those fresh and young leaves, it tastes better.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 250g sweet potato leaves, trimmed and cut into 5cm length
° 2 cloves garlic or 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil
° salt, to taste
° 1 fresh red chilli, sliced, for garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the garlic or ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Add the sweet potato leaves and stir-fry briskly for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle some water if it is too dry. Season to taste with salt.
3. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with red chilli and serve immediately.

Stir-Fried Baby Spinach (Amaranth)

Simple yet delicious and it is incredibly easy to cook. I added some wolfberries to spice up this dish.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g-250g baby spinach/amaranth, trimmed
° 2 cloves garlic or 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil
° 1 teaspoon wolfberries, soaked
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° salt to taste

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the garlic or ginger and fry till golden brown.
2. Throw in the baby spinach and wolfberries. Drizzle cooking rice wine over it and stir-fry briskly for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Hedgehog Hydnum Mushroom (Monkey Head Mushroom)

Bought a packet (220g) of Hedgehog Hydnum Mushroom from a vegetarian shop, which can be used for stir-fry, boil soup or just eaten on its own after heating up. The ingredient consists of hedgehog hydnum mushroom, egg, veg seasoning and the brand is Goldhat. There is another brand which does not contain egg, it is a product of Taiwan by Yuan Ren (渊仁).

Preparation: 2 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 220g hedgehog mushroom/monkey head mushroom

Method
1. Place the hedgehog mushroom in a heat proof plate. Steam for 5-8 minutes. Serve immediately.

Sweet and Sour Oyster Mushroom

Ahh! This is the vegetarian/vegan version of the sweet and sour fish or meat Chinese dish. Forget about the mock fish or pork. Use oyster mushroom and it is equally tasty. If you are not a big fan of mushroom, use tempeh (made from a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybean particles into a cake form) instead.

Preparation: 5 mins plus 20 mins standing time, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 100g oyster mushroom/spawn mushroom, washed, drained well and pat dry
° 1 (100g) tomatoes, cut into wedges
° 100g cucumber, cut into cubes
° 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 2 cloves garlic (optional), finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° vegetable oil, for deep-frying
° ¾ teaspoon Chinese five-spices powder
° 60g corn starch, for coating
° ¼ teaspoon salt

Sauce
° 2 tablespoons tomatoes sauce
° 1 tablespoon chilli sauce
° 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
° 1 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
° ¾-1 teaspoon corn starch
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° 90ml water

Method
1. Marinate the oyster mushrooms with Chinese five-spice powder and salt for 20 minutes.
2. Pour the corn starch on a plate and coat the oyster mushroom with corn starch.
3. Heat oil and sesame oil in a deep-fryer or wok over high heat or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil brown in few seconds. Drop the oyster mushroom into the hot oil and fry in batches until lightly golden brown.
4. Remove the oyster mushroom with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper and arrange on a serving plate. Set aside.
5. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
6. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for 1 minute.
7. Add the tomatoes, cucumber and stir-fry for 1½ minutes. Give the sauce mixture a stir before pouring into the work and bring to a boil.
8. Pour over the deep-fried oyster mushrooms and serve immediately.

Steamed Spawn/Oyster Mushroom

This is a simple dish using spawn mushroom/oyster mushroom which is high in protein, fibre and vitamins and contain no cholesterol. Garnish with some red chilli shreds, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g spawn mushroom/oyster mushroom
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° ½ tablespoon olive oil
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Arrange spawn mushrooms in a heatproof serving plate. Steam for 8-10 minutes
2. Drizzle sesame oil and light soy sauce over the plate. Garnish with coriander and serve immediately.

Braised Beancurd

Photographer: Little JFBraised Tofu or beancurd is known as – Hong Shao Dou Fu.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 small firm tofu/beancurd, cut into cubes and deep-fried
° 6 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked
° 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 1 clove garlic (optional), finely chopped
° a small handful spring onion or fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Sauce
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
° ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
° 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° 75ml water
° pepper to taste

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Add the garlic, ginger and fry till golden brown. Add the mushroom and stir-fry for 1-1½ minutes.
3. Throw in the tofu cubes. Stir in the sauce mixture and simmer until the sauce is thickened.
4. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion and serve hot.

Stir-Fried French Bean with Yellow Tofu

Photographer: Little JF

This is a super simple dish to put together and tasted terrific. Delicious, healthy and inexpensive! Chinese heritage yellow taukwa is a kind of firmer tofu or beancurd which is orangey yellow in colour. It is available at the supermarket. Normal firm tofu can be used instead, it might look plainer but just add some shredded carrot to dazzle up this dish. If you prefer the French bean to be softer, you might need to cook it slightly longer.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 250g French beans, trimmed and cut into 5cm length
° 1 (110g) Chinese heritage yellow taukwa/yellow beancurd, cut into small cubes
° 2 cloves garlic or 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt to taste
° ½ red chilli (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a non-stick wok. Add the garlic or ginger, yellow taukwa and fry for 2 minutes or till fragrant.
2. Add the French beans and stir-fry briskly for 2-3 minutes or until how crunchy you like the French beans to be. Sprinkle some water if it is too dry. Season to taste with salt.
3. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with red chilli and serve immediately.

Stir-Fried Tomatoes

This is a simple dish. The cooking style is simple, quick, and easy. Another way to eat those lovely tomatoes!

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 4 (250g) tomatoes, cut into wedges
° 50g onion, diced
° 2 slices ginger, shredded
° 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish

Sauce
° 2 tablespoons tomatoes sauce
° ½ tablespoon chilli sauce
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)

° pepper, to taste
° 30ml water

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the ginger and fry for 1 minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, onion and stir-fry for 1½ minutes. Stir in the sauce and bring to a boil.
4. Garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion, transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Stir-Fried Broccoli with King Oyster Mushroom

Photograhper: Little JF

Broccoli is a hardy vegetable of the cabbage family that is high in vitamins A and D. Traditionally ginger is always cooked with broccoli - its warmth balances the coolness of yin vegetables such as broccoli. So for this recipe, instead of using small amount of ginger juice, I used few slices of ginger and chopped finely to intensify the flavor of the vegetables. Other ways of stir-fry broccoli is with carrot, beancurd, and other types of mushrooms. It is a bit difficult to avoid overcooking the broccoli during the stir-frying process, therefore I like to blanched it first. In fact, blanched broccoli florets tasted good with or without any dipping sauces.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g broccoli florets, blanched
° 75g-100g king oyster mushroom, 5cm length and 1cm thick strip
° 2-3 slices ginger, finely chopped
° ¾ -1 tablespoon olive oil

° 1 teaspoon wolfberries (optional), soaked

Sauce
° 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon sugar
° 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
° pepper, to dash
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° 90ml water

Method
1. Arrange the blanched broccoli in a serving plate and set aside.
2. Combine the ingredients for sauce and wolfberries in a bowl and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant. Add the mushroom and stir-fry briskly for 1-2 minutes or until soften.
4. Stir in the sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Drizzle over the broccoli serve immediately.

Honeydew Soy Milk Shake

This is a sweet and delicious soy milk shake. For a healthy choice, use reduced-sugar and high calcium fresh soy milk.

Preparation: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 1-2)
° 200g honeydew, peeled and chopped
° 125ml fresh soy milk
° sugar (optional), to taste

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste it, add more sugar, if necessary. Chilled or serve with ice.

Amaranth and Wolfberries Soup

Besides stir-frying amaranth, here is another way to cook this vegetable – use it to make a quick and simple soup. You may use carrot and corn to lend its sweetness to the soup. Remove the carrot and corn, if desired. The corn can be used to make corn with margarine and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins
Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g-200g amaranth/Chinese spinach
° 1 slice ginger
° 1 tablespoon wolfberries (boxthorn berries), soaked
° 3 seedless red dates
° 750ml water
° salt, to taste

Method
1. Place the ginger, red dates and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add in the amaranth, wolfberries and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve hot.

Thunder Tea Fried Rice

Thunder Tea Fried Rice garnish with crispy basil leaves with chilli

I am trying to find different ways to fried rice and decide to make use of the herbs used for thunder tea rice. If you like the thunder tea rice, most likely you will enjoy this thunder tea fried rice. To make it more nutritious, I add tofu to the fried rice. Besides sesame seeds and peanuts, I have included some cashew nuts as well (add some pine nuts if desired). If you like salted radish (chye poh), just add that in too.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, cooked
° 1 small (125g) firm beancurd/tofu, pat dried and diced
° 2 tablespoons olive oil
° salt, to taste
° ½ teaspoon green tea powder, or to taste
° 1-1½ teaspoons roasted/toasted white sesame seeds
° 2 tablespoons roasted/toasted peanuts
° some cashew nuts (optional)

Thunder Tea Paste
° 25g basil leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 25g mint leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 25g coriander
° 1 slice ginger
° 30ml water

Method
1. Place the basil leaves, mint leaves, coriander, and ginger in a multi-chopper with 30ml of water. Blend well and set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok. Add the tofu and pan fry till lightly brown. Drain well on kitchen paper and set aside.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium heat and fry thunder tea paste for a moment.
4. Stir in the cooked rice and season with salt and green tea powder. Fry about 2-3 minutes or until rice is heated through. Throw in the tofu and mix well.
5. Sprinkle some sesame seeds, peanuts, cashew nut and serve hot.

Tip
1. Rice for frying must be cooked at least 2 hours in advance or the night before.

Muah Chee with Snow Powder or Soybean Powder

Must muah chee be always coated with peanut powder? In fact, snow powder or soybeans powder can be used instead. This will make this snack available for those with nut allergy to enjoy!

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g glutinous rice flour
° 250ml water
° 1½ tablespoons sugar
° ½ tablespoon vegetable oil
° ½ teaspoon green tea powder/matcha powder (optional)

Coating Mixture
° 100g snow powder
or
° 100g soybean powder
° snow powder/icing sugar, to taste

Method
1. Combine the flour, green tea powder, water, sugar and oil in bowl. Mix well.
2. Grease a heat-proof ware, pour in the muah chee mixture and steam for 10-15 minutes or until it turn gooey.
3. Meanwhile, to make the coating mixture, combine the soybean powder and snow powder or icing sugar in a plate. Set aside. Nothing needs to be done if only snow powder is use for the coating or dusting.
4. Scoop out the cooked muah chee dough and use a pair of scissors to snip into small nuggets and coat it with the coating mixture.
5. Serve warm.

Muah Chee (Matcha Flavour)

This is another variant of Muah Chee by adding green tea powder or matcha powder to the dough giving it a unique flavour and adding a nice twist.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g glutinous rice flour
° 250ml water
° 1 tablespoon sugar
° ½ tablespoon vegetable oil
° ½ teaspoon green tea powder/matcha powder

Peanut Mixture
° 100g roasted peanuts powder
° 2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

Method
1. Combine the flour, green tea powder, water, sugar and oil in bowl. Mix well.
2. Grease a heat-proof ware, pour in the muah chee mixture and steam for 10-15 minutes or until it turn gooey.
3. Meanwhile, to make the peanut mixture, combine the peanuts, sesame seeds and sugar in a plate. Set aside.
4. Scoop out the cooked muah chee dough and use a pair of scissors to snip into small nuggets and coat it with the peanut mixture.
5. Serve warm.

Matcha Rice

I was reading MINDYOURBODY (from THE STRAITS TIMES) yesterday - Sept 5, 2007 and read an article on ‘Drink and eat your tea’ by Sylvia Tan. In this article, it mentions that not only the Japanese who add green tea to their food, the Taiwanese do it as well by sprinkling powdered green tea over fried rice. So guess what I did, I add green tea powder to cook my rice! If you want to reduce salt in-take, omit adding salt, it is then just like plain rice. It turned out to be lovely jade green rice and I sprinkle some sesame seeds and nori shreds on top.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° ½ teaspoon green tea powder (matcha powder)
° ½ teaspoon salt
° 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds (optional)
° some shredded nori (optional)

Method
1. Place the rice, water, green tea powder, salt into an electric rice cooker, mix well and turn it on.
2. When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds and shredded nori.
3. Serve hot.

‘Anyhow’ Soup

Photographer : Little JF

This recipe is rather similar to the creamy vegetable soup recipe that I post in my blog earlier on. I called this ‘Anyhow’ soup, as there is no need to exactly follow how much ingredients to use. If you find some ‘left over’ vegetables in the refrigerator and it can’t be cook into a dish by itself, you can mix them with some other vegetables to come up with this soup. There is no need to go and get broccoli stem just that I have it and therefore I just dump it in. If you have cauliflower stem, use it. Potato is a must for the creamy texture, if there are too much of the other vegetables and you don’t want a big pot of soup, reduce the amount of potato used. Then, just pour enough water to cover all the vegetable and boil. Pretty easily, isn’t it and real sweet and delicious. Carrot and onion gives the sweetness to this soup.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1-2)
° 2 (± 200g) potatoes, peeled and chopped
° 2 stalks (± 100g) white leek (white portion), chopped
° 1 (± 50g) onion, diced
° ½ carrot, peeled and chopped
° 1 broccoli stem
° water
° ½ -1 tablespoon non-dairy margarine
° salt and ground black pepper, or to taste
° few sprigs coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Place the potato, leek, onion, carrot, and broccoli in a pot. Pour just enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. 2. Transfer to a blender or food processor and add in the margarine and salt. Blend until smooth and creamy. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls.
3. Garnish with coriander leaves, sprinkle some black pepper and serve hot.

Olive Fried Rice

This is an amazingly simple recipe, with few ingredients and brief preparation time. Omit the vegetarian ham, if desired.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, cooked
° 20g carrot, peeled and diced
° 1 slice (25g) vegetarian ham, diced
° 10-12 pitted black olives, sliced
° 1½-2 tablespoons olive oil
° 1 clove garlic or 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° a small handful freshly chopped coriander, for garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and stir fry the garlic or ginger till fragrant.
2. Throw in the carrot, vegetarian ham and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Stir in the cooked rice, olives and season with light soy sauce, salt and pepper. Fry about 2-3 minutes or until rice is heated through. Sprinkle with some water if it is too dry.
4. Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Tip
1. Rice for frying must be cooked at least 2 hours in advance or the night before.

Steamed Tofu with Mushroom and Mock Ham

A hassle free dish, simple and yummy.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 300g silken tofu, sliced
° 2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped
° 1 slice (25g) vegetarian ham, chopped or diced
° 25g carrot, finely chopped
° 1 teaspoon freshly chopped coriander or spring onion

Seasoning
° 60ml water
° 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
° 1/5 teaspoon salt, or to taste
° ½ teaspoons sesame oil
° pepper to taste

Method
1. Arrange the tofu slices in a heatproof serving plate. Place the mushroom, vegetarian ham and carrot on top.
2. Combine the seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the ingredients and steam for 10 minutes.
3. Garnish with coriander or spring onion and serve immediately.

Cucumber Salad

A no cook dish – cucumber salad.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 250g Japanese cucumber (weight after cutting), cut into match-stick length
° 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° 1-2 cloves garlic (optional), finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon sesame oil
° 2½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar, or to taste
° 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° salt to taste

Method
1. Place the cucumber, ginger and garlic in a salad bowl. Stir in the sesame oil, vinegar, sugar and salt.
2. Use your hand to mix well and serve.

Simple Celery Salad

This is a very simple salad. To make it more interesting, scrambled tofu, onion, carrot or vegetarian ham can be added, if desired.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 250g celery (weighed after trimming), trimmed and cut into match-stick length
° 2½ tablespoons vegetarian salad cream or vegan mayonnaise, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or to taste
° freshly ground black pepper, to taste
° salt (optional), to taste

Method
1. Place the celery in a salad bowl. Stir in the salad cream or mayonnaise, vinegar, pepper and salt.
2. Use your hand to mix well and serve.