Sunday, December 23, 2007

Strawberries with Chocolate Flavoured Cream

Actually, I bought this Chocolate Flavoured Cream for making Vegan Chocolate Mousse Dessert. In the end, We used it for the lovely strawberries.

The ingredients for the chocolate flavoured cream: sugar, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, emulsifier & flavour.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Claypot Tofu

Claypot Tofu - (Deep-Fried Soft Tofu)


Claypot Tofu (Silken Tofu)

I had this dish of claypot Tofu at Mai Zhi Su Vegetarian Eatery after Veggie Bun featured it in her Food Blog - Mai Zhi Su. It was scrumptious and I decided to make this dish myself. I have increased the amount of vegetable used. For a healthy version, you may opt to have silken tofu instead of deep-frying the soft beancurd from the wet market stall. It would be tastier if you are using vegetable stock.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 1 piece (400g±) soft beancurd/tofu, halved and deep-fried
° 100g chinese cabbage (wong bak), shredded
° 2 (50g) shiitake mushrooms, shredded
° 25g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 1 tablespoon dried black fungus shreds, soaked
° 1 slice vegetarian ham or sweet beancurd wafers, shredded
° 1 slice ginger
° 375ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, or to taste
° 1½ tablespoons tapioca flour, mixed with 3 tablespoon water
° pepper to taste
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° dash sesame oil (optional)
° salt (optional)
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Combine the Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, ginger, black fungus and water/vegetable stock into a claypot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
2. Add in the carrot, vegetarian ham/sweet beancurd wafer and tofu. Season to taste with vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, salt, pepper, sesame oil and cooking rice wine.
3. Stir in the tapioca flour mixture and bring a boil.
4. Garnish with coriander leaves and red chilli. Serves hot.

Stir-Fried Chinese Arrowhead with Small Black Fungus

Lately, arrowhead is quite easily available at the market as it is the season which it is harvested. This year it comes very early, usually, we can only get them 1 month before Chinese New Year. When the lady who mans the noodle stall at the wet market saw my arrowheads, she suggested that I stir-fry it with pork and red fermented bean curd. When she came to know that I am a vegetarian, she suggested that I stir-fry these starchy corms with small black fungus.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 300g Chinese arrowhead or arrowroot, peeled and thinly sliced
° 1 small handful some black fungus, soaked and trimmed
° 1 thin slice ginger
° 1 piece red fermented bean curd (2cm x 2cm cube), mashed finely
° 1-2 tablespoons red fermented bean curd sauce, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 125ml water

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Add the red fermented bean curb and stir-fry briskly until aromatic.
3. Add the Chinese arrowhead, black fungus and stir-fry briskly for a moment. Add water, red fermented bean curd sauce and simmer until the sauce is slightly dry.
4. Dish up, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Vegetarian Assam Sambal Fish

This is a delicious Malay dish.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 4 (100g) vegetarian fish slices, pan-fried or toasted or baked
° 2 tablespoons oil
° 2 (100g) tomatoes, peeled and blended
° ¾ tablespoon assam/tamarind paste, knead with 100ml hot water and strained
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° black sugar or sugar, or to taste
° 2 kalamansi limes

Sambal Paste
° 2 lemongrass and 25g ginger or 15 shallots, chopped
° 6-8 dried chilli, soaked and chopped
° 4 candle nuts, chopped
° 1 teaspoon vegetarian belacan

Method
1. Grind the sambal paste ingredients until fine and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the sambal paste and fry over low heat for 3 minutes or until thickened and fragrant. Add the tamarind juice, tomatoes puree, salt, sugar and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the vegetarian fish slices and stir well to ensure the vegetarian fish slices are coated with the sambal paste.
4. Dribble lime juice and serve immediately.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Millet Congee

This millet congee looks like plain congee with beaten egg. Add some seaweed or shredded nori, if desired.

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

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g rice, washed and drained
° 50g millet, washed and drained
° 1.2 litres water
° salt and pepper, to taste
° sesame oil (optional), to taste
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Put the rice, millet 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. Re-boil the congee for 10 minutes prior to serving. Season with salt, pepper and sesame oil.
3. Ladle the congee into individual serving bowls, garnish with corianders leaves and serve hot.

Soy Milk Macaroni

Macaroni is usually cooked in water, drained and added to clear soup with mushroom and vegetables. In here, this is super easy and quick way of cooking macaroni. Just throw in all the ingredients accept the seasoning, let it cooks over medium heat and stirring occasionally. Within 15minutes or when the macaroni is softened, you can enjoy a bowl of nutritious and healthy dried macaroni with lots of coriander mix in. You may even use the electric rice cooker to cook this.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 150g Macaroni , rinsed and drained
° 100g king oyster mushroom, diced
° 750-800ml unsweetened soy milk
° 25g ginger, peeled and bruised
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt and ground black pepper or to taste
° 25g coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method
1. Throw in the macaroni, mushroom, ginger, soy milk and olive in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the macaroni is softened. Remember to stir occasionally.
2. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Mix in the coriander.
3. Ladle into individual serving bowl and serves hot.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Stuffed Toff Puff with Stir-Fried China Dou Miao


I love China Dou Miao (Snow Pea Shoots) stir-fried with ginger or garlic. It is simple yet delicious. If you have too many of such simple stir-fry veggies for meals, you might like to jazz it up a bit, like combining it with some tofu or tofu puffs and drizzle with some simple sauce. For a more robust sauce, you might want to use vegetable stock, light soy sauce etc.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g china dou miao/snow pea shoots
° 1 slice ginger or 2 clove garlic, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt and pepper to taste
° 6 big tofu puffs, make an incision on 2 sides and toasted

Sauce
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
° 125ml water
° 1 teaspoon tapioca flour
° pepper to taste
° dash sesame oil

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the china dou miao and stir-fry briskly for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Divide the dou miao equally into 6 portion and stuff into the beancurd puff pocket.. Arrange the tofu puff on a serving plate.
4. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and mix well. Stir in the sauce mixture in a heated wok. Stirring constantly until the sauce thicken.
5. Drizzle the sauce over the tofu puff and serve immediately.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Tricoloured Fried Rice

Tricoloured Fried Rice

Tricoloured Fried Rice (Mixed)
I actually plan to do up this recipe for kids that do not like vegetables or are slow eaters. Just blend the vegetables (celery, carrot and mushroom) individually and fry them with the steamed/cooked rice. You can serve them as separate mounds or mix them together to get lovely colourful fried rice. As the vegetables are all blended, it is not that visible, so kids might not easily recognize it. Garnish with some toasted nori and sesame seeds to make it more nutritious. Add some baked or toasted onion rings or French fries to make it more appealing to little kids, if desired. By the way, this rice is yummy and is not just for the kids, can be for adults too.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, cooked or steamed and divided into 3 portions
° 100g carrot, peeled, chopped and blended
° 100g shiitake mushrooms, chopped and blended
° 200g celery, trimmed, chopped and blended
° 3 slices ginger or cloves garlic (optional), finely chopped
° 1½ -3 tablespoons olive oil
° salt and pepper, to taste
° roasted sesame seeds (optional), for garnish
° 1-2 roasted nori sheet (optional), shredded for garnish

Method

Green Coloured Rice
1. Heat ½-1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Stir fry the ginger or garlic until fragrant.
2. Throw in the celery and stir fry for 1 minute. Stir in the cooked rice and season with salt and pepper. Fry about 1-2 minutes or until rice is heated through. Sprinkle with some water if it is too dry. Set aside.

Orange Coloured Rice
3. Heat ½-1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Stir fry the ginger or garlic until fragrant.
4. Throw in the carrot and stir fry for 1 minute. Stir in the cooked rice and season with salt and pepper. Fry about 1-2 minutes or until rice is heated through. Sprinkle with some water if it is too dry. Set aside.

Dark Brown Coloured Rice
5. Heat ½-1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Stir fry the ginger or garlic until fragrant.
6. Throw in the mushroom and stir fry for 1 minute. Stir in the cooked rice and season with salt and pepper. Fry about 1-2 minutes or until rice is heated through. Sprinkle with some water if it is too dry. Set aside

7. Place some toasted nori on each individual serving plate. Mix the tricoloured rice well, if desired. Scoop the different coloured rice onto the plate. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and serve hot.

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

Stir-Fried Watercress with Vegetarian Sambal Chilli

Someone just told me that stir-fry watercress with sambal chilli is real yummy. Vegetarian sambal chilli can be easily purchased at most vegetarian shops. If not, you can easily make some. This dish can be done in a jiffy!

Preparation: 3 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g watercress
° ¾ tablespoon vegetable oil
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian sambal chilli, or to taste
° salt (optional) to taste

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the sambal chilli and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the watercress and stir-fry briskly for a moment or 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Crispy Chinese Cruller with Sesame Seeds

Sometimes, you can spot a dish using Chinese crullers coated with honey or syrup and sesame seeds at the vegetarian stalls. Here is a simplified and super-fast recipe where you just need to buy some ready-made Chinese crullers around S$0.50-S$0.70 per piece. But remember, consuming too much of Chinese crullers is not that healthy as it is deep-fried. In this dish, you can limit the amount of Chinese cruller used and increase the portion of vegetables.

Preparation: 13 mins, Cooking time: 7 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 chinese cruller, halved and cut into 4 portions
° 150g-200g iceberg lettuce, finely shredded
° 50g carrot, peeled and finely shredded
° 40g maple syrup
° 4-5 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian salad cream (optional), or to taste

Method

1. Dip the Chinese cruller in the maple syrup and then coat with sesame seeds. Repeat for the rest. Alternatively, brush the Chinese cruller with maple syrup and sprinkle sesame seeds on it.
2. Place the coated Chinese cruller in the over toaster and toast for 5-7 minutes.
3. To serve, place the shredded lettuce and carrot on a serving plate. Arrange the toasted Chinese cruller on top. Squeeze some vegetarian salad cream on top and around, if desired.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Watercress and Soy Milk Soup with Button Mushroom

Basically this recipe is almost the same as the previous recipe on watercress and soy milk soup with tofu added. For this, white button mushroom is used. As the mushroom requires slightly longer time to cook, it is been boiled in water or stock prior to adding soy milk. The unsweetened soy milk used is those from the supermarket which is much thicker than those from the wet market, therefore when water or stock is added to this soup, it will not be too diluted and tasteless.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g watercress
° 4 white button mushrooms, sliced
° 300ml water or vegetable stock
° 250ml unsweetened soy milk
° 8-10 slices ginger, peeled
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste

Method
1. Place the button mushrooms, ginger slices and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes.
2. Add in soy milk and bring to a boil. Throw in the watercress and let it boils. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

Watercress and Soy Milk Soup

This is a simple yet nutritious soup which can be cooked in minutes. It is healthy and quick to make. Lots of ginger is added which is same as those sweetened soymilk drink with ginger juice added to it. Reduce the amount of ginger, if desired. If you are using those unsweetened soy milk from the supermarket, dilute the soymilk with water or vegetable stock for a “light” soup, if desired.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g watercress
° 500ml unsweetened soy milk
° 150g silken tofu (optional), diced
° 8-10 slices ginger, peeled
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste

Method
1. Place the ginger, soymilk in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add in watercress, tofu and turn off the heat when it boils. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Pickled Cabbage

Sometime back, an anonymous left a suggestion on my Plum Sauce Achar, on using shredded cabbage and sprinkling some salt and then leaving it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. That sounds like making Sauerkraut and led me to making this. This pickled cabbage recipe requires slightly more work but it is much more simplified than compared to Sauerkraut. Some pickled recipes require you to boil the vinegar to blanch the vegetables. In this recipe, I skipped that process. It tastes better when serves chilled and sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds, if desired. If you like it spicy, add one or two chilli padi.

Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 300g round cabbage/white cabbage, shredded
° 50g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 1 tablespoon salt
° 100ml-125ml white rice vinegar or distilled white vinegar
° 4 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

Method
1. Sprinkle the salt on the shredded cabbage, carrot and mix well. Let it sweat for 2-3 hours.
2. Drain and squeeze the shredded cabbage and carrot to remove the moisture as much as possible.
3. Combine the shredded cabbage, carrot, vinegar and sugar in a glass container, mix well and leave to stand for 24 hours prior to serving.

Stir-Fried Endive with Deep-fried Beancurd Stick

This is a simple and easy stir-fry dish. Deep-fried beancurd stick or beancurd sheet can be added to most stir-fry dishes to enhance the look and taste. It can help to soak up any liquid in the dishes.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 250g endive, cut into 5 cm lengths
° 25g deep-fried beancurd sheet or beancurd stick
° 10 carrot slices
° 5 slices young ginger
° 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 endive and stir-fry briskly for 1 minute.
3. Add in the deep-fried beancurd sheet, carrot slices and stir-fry for another minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Dhal

This is a very basic recipe for cooking dhal. Feel free to increase the amount of dhal and reduce the amount of the other ingredients like chickpeas, carrot or potatoes. Add in some onion, if desired. If the dhal is too watery, just add some tapioca flour solution to slightly thicken it. Adding Dhal to Breakfast Rice Cereal is yummy too, give it a try. For little one, just reduce the amount of chilli used.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 35 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 25g chickpeas, soak for 12 hours or more
° 50g chana dhal, soak for 2 hours
° 50g carrot, cut into small chunks
° 100g potatoes, cut into small chunks
° 1 slice ginger
° ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
° 500ml water

Seasoning
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil
° 10 curry leaves
° ½ -¾ teaspoon mustard seeds
° 2-4 dried chilli, soaked

Method
1. Place all the ingredients except the seasoning in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 30 minutes or until tender. Stirring occasionally.
2. Heat the oil in the wok. Add in the curry leaves, mustard seeds, chilli and stir-fry until the chilli is crispy and mustard seeds start to pop.
3. Add into the cooked dhal and let it simmer for another 1 minutes and serve immediately.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Guava and Red Jumbu

Guava and Red Jumbu with Lemon Ring and Mandarin Orange Peel/Tangerine Peel

Red Jumbu

Guava and Red Jumbu. Normally, Guava can be dipped in sweet prune powder, if desired. I just learnt from a lovely 70 years old lady whom I met at the Yacht Club (mentioned in my earlier post), she has another way to spice up the fruits like guava, star-fruit, red jumbo etc. I find it real interesting and therefore decided to post it here.

Using Lemon Ring and Mandarin Orange Peel/Tangerine Peel, where you can get them from Traditional Chinese Medicine Store. Just snip them into little tiny bits and sprinkle on top of the fruit, it gives it a different flavour.

Red Bean Paste with Mini Glutinous Rice Ball

I love Red Bean Soup but it takes such a long time to cook till the bean is soft and mushy. After asking around for ways to speed up the cooking process, there is this 70 years old lady whom I met at the Yacht Club, told me to blend it to make red bean paste instead and serve with glutinous rice balls. I gave it a try and make little mini glutinous rice balls. Used ready-made glutinous rice balls or omit totally, if desired. Aha! ‘Kee Chang’ (glutinous rice dumpling) can be added too.

Preparation: 20 mins, Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)

° 200g red beans
° 1 litre water
° 4 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° sugar to taste

Glutinous Rice Ball
° 100g glutinous rice flour
° 90-100ml water

° 750ml water, for cooking the glutinous rice balls

Method
1. Soak the red bean with 750ml of water for 12 hours or more or overnight. Drain and rinse well.
2. Put all red bean, water and pandan leaves in a pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
3. Place the cooked red bean in a blender with a little cooking water and blend until it is smooth. Add in all the cooking water and blend to mix well. Pour into a pot and add sugar. Bring to a boil and set aside.
4. To make dough, combine the flour and water in a mixing bowl. Mix well, knead into dough and divide into small equal portions. Add some water if the dough is too dry or some flour if it is too watery. Shape it into a ball using your hand.
5. Bring 750ml of water to boil. Add in glutinous rice balls and return to boil. Remove water the glutinous rice balls with a slotted spoon as soon as they float to the surface. Transfer to the red bean paste.
6. To serve, ladle the glutinous rice balls and red bean paste into individual serving bowls. Serve hot.

Vegetarian Fish with 'Chilli Crab' Sauce

Vegetarian Fish with 'Chilli Crab' Sauce
&
Angel Hair with 'Chilli Crab' Sauce


The main ingredients ...

Just cooked this dish, an hour ago for lunch. Have a look.

Same recipe as posted earlier. This time, I decided to chop the ginger, garlic and chilli, plus I added 30ml of water. As you can see from the picture, the ginger and garlic can be chopped a little bit finer, if desired. Garlic can be reduced, as some garlic has a much stronger content. The amount of chilli and chilli sauce can be adjusted for the spicy of your liking.

Pasta with 'Chilli Crab' Sauce
is another dish you can have.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Vegetarian Fish with “Chilli Crab” Sauce

East Coast Chilli Crab is the word-famous dish that put Singapore on the culinary map. Till now, I still have not found a vegetarian/vegan version of it at any of the vegetarian eateries. My last tasting of this dish was more than 15 years ago, I almost forgotten the taste. Yesterday, I cook it which was my first try, I think it is almost there – sweet and spicy. I could not find a good substitute for the crab, so I used vegetarian fish slices. I still believe that young jackfruits, those unripe ones will make a good substitution but I don’t know where to get them.

Oh yeah, I added tomatoes puree to replace the usage of corn starch. Egg is omitted for a vegan version. I cannot remember whether the chilli crab sauce thick or thin. Therefore, I didn’t add any water in the recipe. If you find that it is too thick, just add some water or stock a little bit at a time to get the desired consistency, before you turn off the heat. It is better to mince or finely chopped the garlic, ginger and chilli rather than blended (I blended it, so you can't see little lumpy garlic, ginger and chilli in the picture). Don’t forget the hot buns which is crispy outside and fluffy inside that you can use to mop up the sauce with.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 2-4 slices vegetarian fish, pan-fried or bake or not at all
° 1 tablespoon oil
° few sprigs fresh coriander or spring onion, for garnish

Sauce
° 25g ginger, finely minced or blended
° 15g-20g garlic, finely minced or blended
° 2 red chilli padi or 1-2 red chilli, seeded and finely minced or blended
° 100g tomatoes (weight after peeling), peeled and blended
° 1½ tablespoons chilli sauce, or to taste
° 3 tablespoons tomatoes sauce
° 1 tablespoon salted soybean paste
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine
° 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° pepper to taste

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add in the ginger, garlic and chilli and fry till fragrant.
2. Add in the salted soy bean paste and stir-fry for a moment. Stir in the tomatoes puree, chilli sauce, tomatoes sauce, cooking rice wine, sugar and pepper.
3. Bring to a boil. If the sauce is too thick, add in some water or stock. Throw in the vegetarian fish slices.
4. Dish up, garnish with coriander and serve immediately.

Millet Rice

Mixing millet with rice! After trying the eight treasure porridge, I got another new product – Yellow Millet . It can be used to cook millet porridge or millet rice. I used a 25% millet and 75% rice combination. Check this out: Millet

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 150g rice, washed and drained
° 50g millet, washed and drained
° 400ml water

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients 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 and serve hot.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Stir-Fried Sugar Snap Peas with Baby Corn

This is a perfectly simple dish. Sugar Snap Peas is also known as sweet peas and it is sweet and crunchy. Just don’t overcook them, if not it will lost its flavour.
Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 150g sugar snap peas/sweet peas, trimmed
° 8 (50g) baby corns, halved
° 5 slices ginger
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the sugar snap peas, corn and stir-fry briskly for 1 minute. Drizzle with cooking rice wine. Stir fry for another ½ a minute or until tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Olive with Golden Roasted Vegetarian Duck

Olive with Golden Roasted Vegetarian Duck Slice

Friday, December 07, 2007

Traditional Glutinous Rice Balls



22 December is associated with the winter solstice and glutinous rice ball. A day before the winter solstice, you will be able to spot some white and red (in fact, it looked like pink) dough in the wet market. That is used for making glutinous rice ball which is then cooked and served in sugar syrup (white or brown sugar). It can be served in soup – for a salty version. For a filled glutinous rice ball, mix some sesame or peanut powders with sugar and oil/water for the filling.

Here is the basic recipe for making the dough, it is real simple and fast. Get the little ones involved in the process, they will love it and make different colours and sizes (BIG and small) of glutinous rice balls.
For fun, I added basil seeds in the sugar syrup which is never present in the traditional version.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
Dough
° 100g glutinous rice flour
° 90-100ml water
° red food colouring

Syrup
° 500ml water
° 4 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° 1 slice ginger (optional)
° sugar to taste
° ½ -1 teaspoon basil seeds (optional), soaked and drained

° 750ml water, for cooking the glutinous rice balls

Method
1. To make syrup, add the water, pandan leaves, ginger and sugar to a pot. Bring to boil over medium heat and set aside.
2. To make dough, combine the flour and water in a mixing bowl. Mix well, knead into dough and divide into 2 equal portions. Add some red food colouring to one portion and knead well. Add some water if the dough is too dry or some flour if it is too watery. Divide the dough into smaller portions and shape it into a ball using your hand.
3. Bring 750ml of water to boil. Add in glutinous rice balls and return to boil. Remove water the glutinous rice balls with a slotted spoon as soon as they float to the surface. Transfer to the sugar syrup.
4. To serve, ladle the glutinous rice balls and syrup into individual serving bowls. Serve hot.

Spicy Stir-Fried Yard Bean

Omit the tempeh, if desired.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g yard bean/long bean, trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
° 50g tempeh, chopped or cut into small cubes
° 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
° ½ tablespoon curry powder, mix with 1-2 tablespoons water
° salt to taste

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok or non-stick pan. Add the tempeh and pan-fry till crispy or golden yellow.
2. Throw in the yard bean and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the curry powder mixture and stir fry briskly or until the yard bean is tender. Sprinkle with a little bit of water if it is too dry. Season to taste with salt.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Oriental Spaghetti

This is a spaghetti dish improvised from the earlier recipe - Hokkien Mee with Tomato and Chilli Sauce. Instead of using the yellow noodle, spaghetti is been used. The vegetarian fishball is added to create the East meets West fusion. And with lots of lettuce and carrot added, it increases the fiber intake. Healthy, delicious and yet simple to whip up.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g spaghetti, cook according to the instruction on the packet
° 150g-200g iceberg lettuce, finely shredded
° 50g carrot, peeled and finely shredded
° 2 vegetarian fishballs (optional), blanched
° a small handful fresh spring onion or fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
° 2 tablespoons olive oil
° 4 tablespoons ketchup or tomatoes sauce
° 2 tablespoons chilli sauce
° salt to taste (optional)

Method
1. Divide the lettuce and carrot into individual serving plates.
2. Place the spaghetti, oil, ketchup/tomatoes sauce, chilli sauce and salt in a big bowl. Toss evenly. To serve, divide the spaghetti between serving plates. Garnish with some spring onion, coriander and vegetarian fishball.
3. Serve immediately.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Soy Milk Rice

I bought a packet of unsweetened soy milk from the wet milk and used it to cook my plain white rice. I added quite a lot of ginger to enhance the flavour of the rice. Omit the ginger and salt, if desired. The soy milk from the wet market is usually thinner compare to those from the supermarket.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)

° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml unsweetened soy milk
° 1 slice ginger (1 cm thick)
° ½ teaspoon salt or to taste

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients 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 and serve hot.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Black Glutinous Rice Dessert

This is a simple dessert and is not something new.
Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 60 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g black glutinous rice
° 8 dried longans
° 900ml water
° 4 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° sugar to taste
° 2-4 tablespoons thick coconut milk (optional)

Method
1. Wash the black 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 black glutinous rice, longan, water and pandan leaves in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45-60 minutes or until the glutinous rice is soften. Add in sugar.
3. Ladle the dessert into individual serving bowl, drizzle 1 or 2 tablespoons coconut milk over it and serve.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Stuffed Cucumber with Vegetarian Crab Meat Stick

Stuffed Cucumber with Vegetarian Crab Meat Stick
Stuffed Marrow Green with Vegetarian Crab Meat Stick (without Buna Shimeji)

This is a relatively easy recipe. Replace with marrow green (hairy groud) if you do not like cucumber, just steam a bit longer to ensure it is tender. The amount of vegetarian mock stuff used is very minimal. If not, try to stuff with mashed tofu with some seasoning or anything else you can think of. The sauce for this recipe is rather gluey, thin it with more water or reduce the amount of tapioca flour used if you prefer a thinner version sauce.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 1 cucumber, peeled and cut into 4 or 8 sections
° 2 vegetarian crab meat sticks, cut into 4 or 8 sections
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil
° few buna shimeji (optional)
° few coriander leaves (optional), for garnish
° few slices red chilli (optional), for garnish

Sauce

° 180ml – 200ml water
° 1 tablespoon tapioca flour
° 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
° 1.2 teaspoon salt
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° pepper to taste
° dash sesame oil (optional)

Method
1. Cut a small square in the centre of the cucumber using a small sharp knife and removed the fresh. Stuff one section of vegetarian crab meat stick in it.
2. Arrange the cucumber in a heatproof serving plate. Stream for 10-15 mins or until tender.
3. Mix the all the sauce ingredient in a bowl and set aside.
4. Heat the oil in a wok. Add in the sauce mixture and stirring constantly until it thickens.
5. Drizzle the sauce over the cucumber.
6. Garnish with chilli and serve immediately.
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