Deep-Fried Spring Rolls with Banana

It is something like Pisang Goreng (Banana Fritters) which the banana is dipped in batter and then deep-fried. In here, what we need is to wrap the banana with a spring roll wrapper and just deep-fried. Very simple and that’s! Just don't eat too much deep-fried items!

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 (200g) ripe banana, peeled, halved and cut 6 sections
° 6 pieces spring roll pastry skin, 125 x 125mm
° vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Place a piece of spring roll pastry skin on a chopping board or plate. Place a section of banana on it and roll up. Repeat for the rest.
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 spring roll into the hot oil and fry in batches until lightly golden brown.
3. Remove the spring roll with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper.
4. Arrange on a serving plate and serve immediately.

Mini Cocktail Rolls

There is this cocktail roll that looks like mini spring roll with sambal shrimp filling sold in the supermarkets. I decide to make some little cute mini rolls using wonton wrapper instead of the spring roll pastry skin with tofu or banana filling. If you prefer a spicy version, spread a little bit of sambal chilli on the wonton wrapper before placing the tofu. Or you can make different filling rolls and mix them up. Let there be some elements of mystery, suspense and fun in guessing what are you going to have when you pick one – salty, sweet or spicy!

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (makes 20)
° 20 pieces wonton wrappers
° 1 small firm tofu/beancurd, cut into 20 small rectangles and pan-fried
or
° 2 small bananas, peeled and cut into 20 small rectangles
° vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Place a piece of spring roll wrapper on a chopping board or plate. Place a piece of tofu or banana on it and roll up. Repeat for the rest.
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 mini roll into the hot oil and fry in batches until lightly golden brown.
3. Remove the mini roll with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper.
4. Arrange on a serving plate and serve immediately

Spicy Kacang Puteh (Chickpeas)

Was soaking some chickpeas for making Dhal, i used some to try out the suggestion given by Veganic in Vegetarian Society Forum on Chickpeas. I toasted them in the toaster oven. You may want to turn them to prevent them for burning, if necessary. Well, it is perfectly simple and taste yummy.

Preparation: 3 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 50g chickpeas
° 200ml water
° ¾ teaspoon curry powder, or to taste
° sea salt to taste
° 1-1½ teaspoons olive oil

Method
1. Soak the chickpeas with 400ml of water for 12 hours or more or overnight. Drain and rinse well.
2. Place the chickpeas, curry powder, salt and oil in a bowl. Mix well.
3. Spread out on a baking tray and toast for 15 minutes.
4. Serve immediately.

Yasai Udon with Dashi Sauce

This dish is the combination of Yasai Kaminabe which is vegetables in paper hot pot and ‘Hor Fun’ but using udon and dashi stock base. It is best to use agedashi tofu for this dish. Replace china leek with nappa and udon with rice, if desired.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 50g enoki mushroom/golden mushroom, trimmed and blanched or raw
° 75g buna shimeji, trimmed and blanched
° 2-4 vegetarian crab meat sticks, blanched
° 1 stalk china leek (optional), sliced diagonally and blanched
° 1 (300g) pack silken tofu, cut into cube or deep-fried as agedashi tofu
° 2 packs (400g) udon noodle
° 750ml water, for cooking udon
° few slices fresh red chilli (optional), for garnish

Dashi Sauce
° 8 dried kelps in knot
° 2 thin slices ginger
° 600ml water, for soup base
° 50g carrot, cut into 2 chunks
° 2 shiitake mushrooms
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 30ml shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) or light soy sauce, or to taste
° 20ml mirin or 10ml cooking rice wine
° 1-1½ tablespoons tapioca flour, mixed with 2 tablespoons water

Method
1. Place the udon in a pot or wok of lightly salted boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain the noodle thoroughly and divide among 2 individual serving bowls.
2. Place the dried kelps, shiitake mushroom, ginger, carrot and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove all the ingredients with a slotted spoon. Ensure that there is 500ml of stock, if not add in some water. Season to taste with sugar, salt, shoyu, and mirin. Add in the tapioca flour mixture, stirring constantly and bring to a boil.
3. Top the udon with enoki mushroom, buna shimeji, shiitake mushroom, china leek, tofu, carrot, vegetarian crab meat sticks and chilli.
4. Ladle the gravy into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

Red and Green Curry Fried Rice

Out of a sudden, I feel like cooking 2 different types of curry fried rice. Therefore, I used one portion of the cooked rice to fry with red curry paste and the other with green curry paste. As the green curry paste is not that green, the contrast is not that obvious.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
Red Curry Fried Rice
° 100g rice, cooked
° 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
° ½ tablespoon vegetable curry powder
° ½ teaspoon chilli powder (optional)
° 1 tablespoon coconut milk (optional)
° 1 sprig curry leaves
° 150g yarn beans/long beans, finely chopped
° salt, to taste

Green Curry Fried Rice
° 100g rice, cooked
° 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
° ½ tablespoon “Earthen Pot” green curry paste
° 1 tablespoon coconut milk (optional)
° 2-3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
° 100g bamboo shoot, diced
° 6 slices carrot, diced
° salt, to taste

Method
1. Red curry fried rice: Mix the curry powder and chilli powder with a tad of water to form curry paste.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan, fry the curry leaves for half a minute. Stir in the curry paste and fry until fragrant over medium heat. Add in the coconut milk.
3. Throw in the yard bean and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and season with salt. If it is too dry, sprinkle some water on it. Fry about 2-3 minutes or until rice is heated through. Set aside.
4. Green curry fried rice: Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan. Stir in the green curry paste, lime leaves and fry until fragrant over medium heat. Add in the coconut milk.
5. Throw in the bamboo shoot, carrot and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and season with salt. If it is too dry, sprinkle some water on it. Fry about 2-3 minutes or until rice is heated through.
6. Serve both type of fried rice on individual serving plate or bowl.

Tip
1. Rice for frying must be cooked at least 2 hours in advance or the night before.
2. Oil for frying the curry paste should be heated to the right temperature and maintained at a steady heat until the curry spices have release their flavour, without burning.

Stir-Fried Vegetarian Squid

Vegetarian squid by itself does not have any flavour, therefore, it totally depends on the gravy and sauce used.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 150g vegetarian squids
° 10 snow peas, trimmed
° 4 slices ginger, finely shredded
° 1 tablespoons olive oil
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° ground black pepper to taste

Sauce
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
° 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
° 2 tablespoons water

Method
1. Mix the vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, water in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
3. Throw in the vegetarian squids, snow peas and stir-fry briskly for 1 minute. Drizzle with cooking rice wine. Stir in the sauce mixture and do a last stir fry. Season to taste with pepper.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Chinese Potatoes Chips

Chinese Arrowhead is known as Chinese potatoes or Chi Gu. This can be served as a snack or side dish during Chinese New Year. Usually, we can only purchase Chinese arrowheads during the Chinese New Year period. Surprisingly, I found that one of the stalls in the wet market is selling them now. Bought some and decided to make chips, and it tasted lovely, although too much deep-fried food is no good. But once in a while, a little of it should be fine and homemade chips without any salt are still better. I should have sliced it even thinner and it will absorb less oil and more crispy.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 6 Chinese arrowheads, peeled, thinly sliced and pat dry
° oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or wok. Place the Chinese arrowhead in and then fry until golden brown. Drain well on kitchen paper and set aside.
2. Serve immediately.

Asparagus with Golden Roasted Vegetarian Duck

This is perfectly easy dish. Wrapping blanched asparagus with the golden roasted vegetarian duck slice. If you find that this is a little too plain, add some enoki mushrooms/golden needle mushroom to the bundle. By making a sauce and drizzle it over the asparagus bundles, it can be a main dish.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (makes 8)
° 24 young asparagus, end trimmed
° 8 slices golden roasted vegetarian duck
° 16 slices carrot
° 500ml water
° pinch of salt
° few toothpicks

Method
1. Bring the water in a pot to a boil. Blanch the asparagus for 30 seconds and removed. Drain well and cut into halve.
2. Place a slice of golden roasted vegetarian duck on a plate. Place 6 asparagus stalks and roll up. Decorate with carrot slice and secure with a toothpick.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Spring Rolls (Popiahs)

Lately, there is one Thai Eatery, selling deep fried spring rolls with different type of fillings – tofu filling, vermicelli filling etc. It reminds me of the previous recipe - Vietnamese Popiah.

Just that the wrapper is not rice paper but spring roll wrapper which is more suitable for deep-frying. You don’t need any special culinary skills to whip this up, except deep-frying it which most of us have no problem with. Basically, this can be a 'No Cook' dish too.

I bought a packet of plain Fried Been Hoon (rice vermicelli) from a vegetarian stall for S$0.80 (around 300g) which is enough to make 50 pieces. With some salad sprouts, mint leaves and shredded carrot, I started making the spring rolls. After which, I deep-fried them and they go well with chilli sauce.

If you prefer it not to be deep-fried, just roll up and dip with some sauce (plum sauce mixed with lime juice, sugar, chopped chilli and sesame seeds or some other sauces) ,it tastes good too !

Simplified Vegetarian Peking Duck

This is a ‘No-Cook’ recipe. All the ingredients are easily available at the supermarket. Using spring roll wrapper to replace pancake wrapper, golden roasted vegetarian duck to replace peking duck, plum sauce to replace hoisin sauce. Place the spring roll wrapper in the streamer (turn off the heat) for 1-2 minutes to soften it, if desired. You might even add some fruits or salad sprouts, if desired. Remember to serve immediately or cover up with cling wrap to prevent it from drying up.

Preparation: 20 mins

Ingredients (makes 12)
° 12 pieces spring roll wrappers
° 12 slices golden roasted vegetarian duck
° 50g cucumber, cut into batons
° 50g carrot, peeled, shredded and soaked in water
° 1 stalk spring onion (optional), shredded
° 3-4 tablespoons plum sauce
° 2 chinese lettuces leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place 1 piece of spring roll wrapper on a chopping board or plate. Spread some plum sauce in the centre and around.
2. Fold in one of the corner to the centre. Arrange the golden roasted vegetarian duck, cucumber, carrot and spring onion on it. Fold in the opposite end corner and roll up. Alternatively, just wrap and roll as you desired.
3. Arrange on a serving plate and garnish with lettuce. Serve immediately.

Soy Dessert with Fruits

Ha...ha…, a 'No Cook' Dessert!

Just a bowl of Sweet Soy Dessert and toppled with some mango and pomegranate. That’s! Use any other type of fruits that you love.

Mango with Glutinous Rice

This is a Thai dessert. It is real easy that even a kid can do it. Usually, the glutinous rice is streamed but I opt for the easy way out – cook it using the rice cooker. The rest of the work is just peeling the mango using a fruit peeler and prepared the ‘no-cook’ sauce. To make it more interesting, just treat this dessert as a little art piece. It definitely tastes good, as glutinous rice plus coconut milk are the main ingredients used for some kueh recipes.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 1 (200g) ripe mango, peeled, sliced or diced
° 200g glutinous rice
° 200ml water
° 2 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds (optional)
° 4 longans (optional)
° few mint leaves (optional), for garnish

Coconut Sauce
° 75ml coconut milk
° ¾ teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° a little pinch of salt

Method
1. Wash the glutinous rice and place in a bowl with enough water to cover. Leave to soak for 3 hours or more. Drain thoroughly.
2. Place the glutinous rice, water and pandan leaves into an electric rice cooker, mix well and turn it on.
3. Meanwhile, to make the coconut sauce: combine the coconut milk, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside.
4. When the glutinous rice is done, scoop into a little bowl or teacup and turn over on a serving plate. Pour few teaspoons of coconut sauce over the rice. Top with mango, longan, mint leaves and sprinkle with some sesame seeds. Finally, drizzle over a teaspoon of coconut sauce. Repeat for the rest.
5. Serve.

Stir-Fried Snow Peas with Fresh Lily Bulb

This is a simple and easy stir-fry dish.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g snow peas, trimmed
° 20g-25g fresh lily bulbs, trimmed and peeled
° 10 carrot slices
° 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the snow peas and stir-fry briskly for 30 seconds.
3. Add in the lily bulbs, carrot slices and stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Avocado and Vegetarian Noodle Prawn

The avocado and vegetarian noodle prawns on the bamboo skewers can be prepared for a picnic or as a cold dish. Serve with the special prepared plum sauce for dipping.

Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (makes 6)
° ½ (75g) ripe avocado, diced
° 6 vegetarian noodle prawns, deep-fried or pan-fried
° 6-12 slices carrot
° 6 bamboo skewers

Sauce
° 3 tablespoons plum sauce, or to taste
° 3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
° 6 tablespoons warm water
° 6 tablespoons (6 limes) freshly squeezed kalamansi lime juice, or to taste
° ¼ fresh red chilli, finely chopped
° ¼ teaspoon roasted sesame seeds (optional)

Method
1. To make the sauce: Dissolve the sugar with water in a bowl. Add in the plum sauce, chilli and lime juice. Mix well and sprinkle some sesame seeds. Set aside.
2. Arrange a slice of carrot, vegetarian noodle prawn and avocado dice on a bamboo skewer. Repeat for the rest.
3. Serve with the sauce.

Avocado and Mango with Plum Sauce

An easy and quick fruit salad!

Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 1 (150g) ripe avocado, diced
° 1 (150g) mango, peeled and diced
° 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
° 30g salad sprouts (optional)

Sauce
° 1 tablespoon plum sauce, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
° 2 tablespoons warm water
° 1 tablespoon (2 limes) freshly squeezed kalamansi lime juice, or to taste

Method
1. To make the sauce: Dissolve the sugar with water in a bowl. Add in the plum sauce and lime juice. Mix well and set aside.
2. Arrange the salad sprout, avocado and mango in a serving plate.
3. Drizzle the sauce over the salad. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Vegetarian Cuttlefish Kangkong

There are not many stalls selling cuttlefish kangkong now in Singapore. It is even very rare to find vegetarian cuttlefish kangkong. So far, I had tasted it from 2 vegetarian stalls and one of them no longer operates. One day, I saw the picture of vegetarian cuttlefish kangkong at Veggie Bun’s blog - Cuttlefish. She had it at Ma Zhi Su. To re-create this dish in vegetarian version, it is not that difficult as we don’t need to prepare the cuttlefish, as we use vegetarian squid (product of SuXianZhi). As for the sauce, I used the red sweet sauce for Chee Cheong Fun and got it from the supermarket. The only problem is that I have no control over the sauce. Add some freshly squeezed lime juice, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g kangkong/water Convolvulus, trimmed, blanched, drained and cut into 5cm lengths
° 50g vegetarian squid, blanched
° 100g sweet sauce
° warm water
° 1 beancurd puff (optional), toasted and cut into strips
° 1 teaspoon roasted white sesame seeds
° 1 teaspoon roasted grounded peanuts

Method
1. Mix some warm water with the sweet sauce to achieve the desired consistency.
2. Arrange the kangkong in a serving plate. Top with the vegetarian squid and beancurd puff.
3. Pour the sweet sauce over the kangkong, vegetarian squid and beancurd puff.
4. Sprinkle some sesame seeds, grounded peanuts and serve immediately.

Chee Cheong Fun with Mushroom Sauce

Chee Cheong Fun or rice noodle rolls with mushroom sauce. Another way to enjoy the chee cheong fun just that it required a little more work.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 2 fresh rice noodle rolls, cut
° 3-4 dried Chinese mushrooms, washed and soaked with 250ml water
° 1 clove garlic or 1 slice ginger
° ½ teaspoon olive oil
° 1 tablespoon mushroom sauce or vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
° pepper to taste
° ½ teaspoon tapioca flour, mixed with 60ml water
° some roasted sesame seeds
° 1 teaspoon finely chopped spring onion (optional)
° 1 teaspoon crispy shallot (optional)

Method
1. Squeeze out the water and thinly sliced the mushrooms. Set aside and keep 125ml of the soaking water.
2. Arrange the rice noodle rolls in a heatproof serving plate. Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Place the rice noodle rolls in the steamer and steam for 2-3 minutes.
3. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
4. Throw in the mushrooms and stir-fry briskly. Stir in the mushroom water and add in the mushroom sauce/vegetarian oyster sauce and light soy sauce. Bring to a boil and add in the tapioca starch solution. Season to taste with pepper and sesame oil.
5. Ladle the mushroom sauce over the rice noodle rolls. Sprinkle some spring onions, crispy shallot and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Masala Potatoes

I love the masala potatoes that are in the Thosai from the Indian Stall. I happened to get a packet of potato sagu from Mustafa Centre and used it to make masala potatoes to go with Roti Prata. I have not tried other brand yet and therefore not sure which is good. This potato sagu masala curry powder is suitable for vegetarians, as the ingredients are sugar, salt, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and asafetida. Alternatively, you can use red chilli power, turmeric powder plus a little bit of curry powder for whipping up the masala potatoes. For those who do not consume onion, just replace it with cabbage that was what I found in the masala potatoes I ordered. Masala ptotatoes can be used as bread spread, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 200g potatoes, peeled and diced
° 50g onion, peeled and diced
° 50g round cabbage, diced
° 1 fresh green chilli or red chilli, deseeded and diced
° 1 sprig curry leaves
° 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 3-4 teaspoons potato sagu masala(curry powder)
° ½ - 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
° 1 tablespoon lemon juice or to taste
° 500ml water
° salt (optional) to taste

Method
1. Place the potatoes and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Mashed the potatoes into little small chunks and keep aside. Keep 250ml of the cooking water.
2. Heat the oil in a wok. Lower the heat and add in the mustard seeds. Fry till it starts to pop. Add in the ginger, onion, chilli, cabbage, mustard seeds and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add in the potato sagu masala and briskly stir fry for a moment.
3. Stir in the mashed potatoes and 250ml reserved water to get the right consistency. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until it is mushy. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
4. Dish up and serve with immediately.

Stir-Fried Asparagus

Stir-Fried Asparagus

Alternative :Stir-Fried Asparagus with Chinese Black Beancurd ...

Asparagus with great source of folate, vitamin B, it benefits the kidneys and the liver as it promotes elimination through urine. It is also good for those who have rheumatism and arthritis. As for pregnant women, it can help to prevent birth defects like spina bifida. But it is not recommended for those suffering from gout due to high in purines.

Preparation: 15 mins,Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g young asparagus, end trimmed and cut into 5cm lengths
° 25g fresh lily bulb, trimmed and peeled
° 50g red capsicum, seeded and cut into 5cm lengths
° 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms
° 5-6 baby corn, halved
° 1 tempeh, cut into small cubes
° 2 slices ginger or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or shredded
° 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
° salt and pepper to taste
° sugar (optional) to taste

Method
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or non-stick pan. Add the tempeh and pan-fry till crispy. Set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
3. Throw in the mushrooms and stir-fry briskly.
4. Add in the asparagus, red capsicum, corn and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Lastly add in the lily bulb, tempeh and season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar.
5. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Cheng Tng Dessert

Sterculia Seeds with jelly-like masses expanding after soaking for awhile

I brought only 50g of sterculia seeds from the Chinese Medical Shop for the previous recipe and there are still lots of them left and decide to cook Cheng Tng. I used quite a lot of the sterculia seeds in this recipe as I like it very much, you may reduce if desired. My first try and it turns out well. You may even add fresh lotus seed, fresh gingko nuts, sweet potatoes, preserved persimmon or soaked agar agar strips to this dessert, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, plus 30 mins standing time, Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 12 dried longans, soaked
° 50g white jelly fungus (pre-soaked)
° 10-12 sterculia seeds/mollow nuts, lightly bruised
° 1 tablespoon Holland barley, soaked for 30 minutes
° 25g fresh lily bulb, trimmed and peeled
° 4 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° 1 litre water
° rock sugar to taste

Method
1. Soak sterculia seed in ample water for 20-30 minutes until the flesh has expanded into a loose, jelly like mass. Peel off and discard the skin. Drain well.
2. Place dried longan, white jelly fungus, sterculia seed, barley, pandan leaves and water in a pot. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the barley is soft. Add in the rock sugar, lily bulb and bring to a boil.
3. Ladle the dessert into individual serving bowls and serve hot or chilled.

Falafel Balls

Read about Falafel in Vegetarian Society Forum. And this time, I soaked the chickpeas and didn’t turn them into those chickpeas that sold at the Pasar Malam. I am quite happy with the result of this first attempt. Only that the blended chickpeas were a bit watery and I have to add more flour for easy shaping. It would be better if less flour is used. Next time round, maybe I should use mortar and pestle instead of using the blender or leaves the mixture in the refrigerator to let it dried up a bit. Falafel usually used spices like coriander, fennel, cumin, in here, I replaced with curry powder. It is something similar to the tofu ball which I had, just that the ingredients are different. For more info, click here - Falafel

Preparation: 20 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (makes 10-12)
° 100g chickpeas
° 400ml water, for soaking chickpea
° 50g onion, finely chopped
° 25g Chinese parsley, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon curry powder
° salt and pepper to taste
° 1 teaspoon chilli flakes or coarse chilli or paprika
° 1 teaspoon baking powder
° flour, for dusting
° oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Soak the chickpeas with 400ml of water for 12 hours or more or overnight. Drain and rinse well.
2. Place the chickpeas in a blender with a little water and blend until it is smaller in pieces. Add in the onion and parsley and blend for a few seconds.
3. Transfer to a bowl, add in curry powder, salt, pepper, baking powder and chilli flakes. Mix well and mix in few tablespoons of flour if it is too watery. Let it rests for 30 minutes.
4. Using your hand, shape the mixture into 10-12 balls. Dust the tofu balls evenly with flour and shake off any excess flour.
5. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or wok and fry in batches until golden brown.
6. Remove the tofu balls with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper and serve hot or cold.

Stir-Fried Tofu and Mushroom with Basil

Using natural herb in cooking can help to spice up the flavour. Moreover, herb can benefit to our health. Basil is an excellent source of vitamin K and a good source of iron, calcium and vitamin A, manganese, magnesium, vitamin C and potassium.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 50g basil leaves
° 1 small firm tofu(beancurd), cut into cubes and deep-fried
° 10 fresh shiitake mushrooms
° 2 slices ginger or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or shredded
° 1 fresh red chilli, sliced
° 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
° 2 tablespoons cooking rice wine
° salt to taste
° few basil leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add in the basil leaves, tofu and drizzle with cooking rice wine. Stir-fry briskly for a moment, throw in the red chilli and season to taste with salt.
4. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve immediately.

Sweet Potatoes and Sterculia Seed Dessert

A plate of Sterculia Seeds/Pangdahai/Mollow Nuts before soaking

Sterculia Seed is known as Pangdahai or Boat Sterculia Seed or Semen Sterculiae Lychnopherae or Mollow Nuts. It is often found in Cheng Tng dessert and you can purchase it from the Chinese Medical Shop (known pang da hai, 100g for around $2.50). Sterculia Seed is good for clearing lungs, moistening throat, treating heaty phlegm, constipation and fever. I love this very much as it looks so elegant in the dessert with its loose jelly like mass floating around. For quick and easy cooking, I place all ingredients and bring to a boil. In fact, you can add sterculia seed and rock sugar at the later stage.

Preparation: 10 mins, plus 30 mins standing time, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
° 6-8 sterculia seeds/mollow nuts, lightly bruised
° 50g fresh lotus seed
° 6 dried longan, soaked
° 4 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° 500ml-600ml water
° 1 slice ginger
° 50g rock sugar, or to taste

Method
1. Soak sterculia seed in ample water for 20-30 minutes until the flesh has expanded into a loose, jelly like mass. Peel off and discard the skin.
2. Place all the ingredients in a pot. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
3. Ladle the dessert into individual serving bowls and serve hot or chilled.

Vegetarian Ipoh Curry Mee

Ipoh Curry Mee is noodle in light, hot and spicy curry gravy which is orange red in colour and served with mint leaves and half fresh lime. It goes with shredded chicken or pork meat, pork skin, prawns, fish cakes/balls, prawns, fried beancurd, and assorted vegetables like long beans. I had a bowl of Vegetarian Ipoh Curry Mee and I tried to re-create the recipe by using unsweetened soy milk to replace coconut milk and reduce the amount of oil used in stir-frying the curry paste and therefore there will not be orange red curry gravy with a little layer of red chilli oil on top. Use Carotino oil to add a tint of red to the curry, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g egg plant/brinjal/aubergine , sliced or cut into 5cm lengths
° 75g yard bean/long bean, cut into 5cm lengths
° 75g oyster mushrooms
° 6-8 small beancurd puffs
° 15 curry leaves
° 1 lemongrass, peel off outer layers leaving tender whitish centre, cut out 5cm, bruised
° 2 tablespoons curry powder
° 1 teaspoon chilli powder
° 600ml unsweetened soy milk
° 2 tablespoons carotino oil or vegetable oil
° salt to taste
° sugar (optional), to taste
° 200g hokkien mee, blanched
° 40g beanspouts, tailed and blanched
° few spring mint leaves
° 1 kalamansi lime, halved

Method
1. Mix the curry powder and chilli powder with a tad of water to form curry paste.
2. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan, fry the curry leaves for half a minute. Stir in the curry paste and fry until fragrant.
3. Stir in egg plant, oyster mushrooms, soy milk, lemongrass and bring to a boil. Throw in long beans, beancurd puff and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and sugar.
4. To serve, divide beansprouts, hokkien mee, mint leaves between serving bowls. Ladle the curry into individual serving bowls and serve hot with lime.

Green Soybeans and Non-alcoholic Malt Beverage

Non-alcoholic Malt Beverage, S$1.73 @ Shop n Save

Sweet Potato Porridge

Using sweet potato in porridge is not uncommon. It adds sweetness to the porridge. Moreover, sweet potato is a wonderful food full of goodness.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 30 mins, plus 30 mins standing time

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g rice, washed and drained
° 1.2 litres water
° 150g-200g sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
° 2 thin slices ginger (optional)
° salt (optional), to taste

Method
1. Put the rice and water in a claypot or pot. Let it stands for 1 hour or more, if desired.
2. Bring the congee to a boil for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and leave it to stands for 30 minutes or more. Throw in the sweet potato and re-boil the congee for 10-15 minutes prior to serving. Season to taste with salt. To thicken the congee, mix 1-2 tablespoons of glutinous rice flour with 4 tablespoons of water and stir into the congee, if desired.
3. Ladle the congee into individual serving bowls and serve hot.

Stir-Fried Tofu with Tempeh

I have seen the vegetarian stall using tempeh to stir fry tofu. Here is my recreation of the dish. Feel free to adjust the amount of chilli sauce, tomatoes and water. Thai chilli sauce will be a good ingredient to use for this dish. I have omitted salt and sugar, as I find that both the chilli and tomatoes is more than enough to flavour this dish.

Preparation: 3 mins, Cooking time: 12 mins

Ingredients (makes 4)
° 2 pieces (100g) fresh tempeh, diced or sliced
° 1 small firm tofu(beancurd), cut into cubes
° oil, for deep-frying
° few sprigs fresh coriander or spring onion, for garnish

Sauce
° 1 tablespoon chilli sauce
° 1 tablespoon tomatoes sauce
° 1-1½ tablespoons water

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or wok. Place the tofu and tempeh in and then fry until golden brown. Drain well on kitchen paper and set aside.
3. Pour the sauce into the work. Throw in the tofu and tempeh and stir-fry briskly for a moment.
4. Dish up, garnish with spring onion or coriander and serve immediately.

Thunder Tea Pasta

Thunder Tea Pasta with Deep-fried Temeh

Improvised from Thunder Tea Rice - the Famous Hakka Cuisine, the paste that used for the soup can be used for fried rice and pasta too. For this recipe, I like angel hair pasta a lots, because it does not required lots cooking time.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g angel hair pasta, cooked
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt to taste
° pepper to taste (optional)
° ½ teaspoon green tea powder (optional), or to taste
° 1-1½ teaspoons roasted/toasted white sesame seeds
° 1-2 red chilli padi, sliced
° some pine nuts (optional)

Thunder Tea Paste
° 25g basil leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 25g mint leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 25g coriander
° 1 slice ginger
° 60ml water

Method
1. Place the basil leaves, mint leaves, coriander, and ginger in a multi-chopper with 60ml of water. Blend well and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat and fry thunder tea paste for a moment.
3. Stir in the cooked angel hair pasta. Season to taste with salt, pepper and green tea powder. Toss evenly and divide between individual serving plates.
4. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and pine nuts on top. Garnish with red chilli and serve immediately.

Green Curry Udon

Green Curry with Udon

Green Curry with Lotong Rice

By using the commercial Thai Green Curry paste, making a pot of curry can be so simple and quick. If you do not like tomatoes to be too soft, add it in later. No kaffir lime leaves and basil leaves, just omit it, however these herbs really spice up this curry. Usually green curry goes with plain rice. For this recipe, I used it as a soup base for Japanese udon noodle.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 2 packs (400g) udon noodle
° 2-3 tablespoons “Earthen Pot” green curry paste, or to taste
° 250ml water
° 250ml fresh coconut milk or soy milk
° 150g eggplants(aubergine), cut into bite-sized pieces
° 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
° 1 small firm tofu(beancurd), cut into cubes and deep-fried
° 4 young corns, halved
° 1 fresh green chilli, seeded and cut into large pieces
° 1 fresh red chilli, seeded and cut into large pieces
° 2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
° small handful basil leaves, shredded
° salt and sugar, to taste

Method
1. Place the udon in a pot or wok of lightly salted boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain the noodle thoroughly and divide among 2 individual serving bowls. Set aside.
2. Throw in the coconut milk, green curry paste, eggplants, tomatoes, tofu, corn, water in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add in the chilli, lime leaves and basil leaves. Season to taste with salt and sugar.
3. Ladle the curry into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

Stir-Fried China Nai Bai

I love this unique vegetable as it is and usually I just stir-fry it with garlic or ginger. It is simple yet crisp and delicious. This vegetable can be used in soup (hotpot/steamboat).

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g china nai bai, base trimmed and halved
° 2 cloves garlic or 2 slices ginger, finely chopped
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° salt to taste

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the garlic or ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the china nai bai, 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.

Orange Juice

I love orange juice. In fact, it is so easy to squeeze it yourself. Oranges were on offer last week, 5 for S$1.35 and I brought a big bag. Halve the oranges and use a simple manual orange juicer. Few turns or twists, and a glass of freshly squeezed oranges juice is ready, so refreshing. And there is no added sugar or preservatives at all.

Preparation: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 2-3 oranges

Method
1. Cut the oranges into half lengthwise. Use the manual oranges or citrus juicer to squeeze out the juice. Alternatively, use your hand.
2. Serve chill or with ice.