French Bean Fried Rice

French bean or Yard Bean Fried Rice – it is simple and yet tasty. For a healthy diet by eating more vegetable, you may notice from the picture, the amount of vegetables used is real generous. Reduce the amount of vegetable used, if desired. Garnish with lightly toasted sesame seeds or finely shredded nori, if desired. Top with some crackers and tomatoes slices to make it more appealing. It is a Vegan dish! As indicated in the Vegan Key Chain.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, cooked
° 200g French bean or yard bean(long bean), trimmed and finely sliced
° 50g carrot, peeled and finely diced
° 1 thin slice vegetarian ham (optional), finely diced
° 1 clove garlic or 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt and pepper, to taste


Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the French bean, carrot and vegetarian ham and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Stir in the cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until rice is heated through. Sprinkle with some water if it is too dry.
4. Serve hot.

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

Avocado Jelly

Here is another way to enjoy avocado. For a healthy dessert topped with different types of fruit like mango dices, strawberries, and grapes. Use can fruit cocktails or Nata De Coco, if desired. For a little special avocado jelly, drizzle with fresh coconut milk and finely chopped gula melaka (palm sugar) or gula melaka sryup.

This is also a special dessert for kid who does not like fruit, just topped with some chocolate cream, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (Makes 12 glasses)
° 12g agar-agar powder
° 1.5 litre water
° 250g sugar, or to taste
° 3 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
° 6 strawberries (optional), halved
° 24 grapes (optional)

Method
1. Dissolve agar-agar powder in 1.5 litre of water in a pot.
2. Add sugar and bring to a boil. Remove pot from heat.
3. Combine agar-agar mixture, avocado in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour the agar-agar mixture into individual serving glass and leave to cool before refrigerating until chilled.
5. Top with strawberries, grapes and serve chilled.

Seaweed Tofu

Spot this “Lo Sam” brand – Seaweed Tofu at the supermarket. One good thing about this, just heat it up and you can eat it. Simple, isn’t it?

What I did was, steamed the tofu and sliced it. Wrap it with lettuce and dip with chicken rice chilli sauce or freshly sliced chilli with light soy sauce.

Stir-Fried Soybean Sprout with Celery

Soybean sprouts with Celery is not a bad combination. The result is simple, crunchy and oozing with “freshness”. Oh, the soybean sprouts which look like gigantic mung bean sprouts are rich in vitamin A, B and C and can be eaten raw. Now it is available in some supermarkets or wet market.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g soybean sprout, tailed
° 2 stalks celery, trimmed and sliced
° 2 slices ginger or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil
° salt, to taste
° Korean chilli powder or dried red chilli flake, or coarse chilli (optional), to garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
2. Add the soybean sprout, celery and stir-fry briskly for 1½ -2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and transfer to a serving dish.
3. Garnish with chilli powder/chilli flake and serve immediately.

Celery Soy Milk Shake

If you think it is too much work to do this, you can easily get a cup of Celery Soya Milk at those soymilk kiosks. I decided to make it after having a cup of Celery Soya Milk which I bought few days ago. Just adjust the amount of celery or soy milk used to your own liking.

Preparation: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 100g-150g celery, trimmed and diced
° 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.

Tofu with Vegetarian Oyster Sauce

Very simple! And it is extremely fast to whip up and yummy.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 pack silken tofu (300g), cut into cubes
° 1 clove garlic or 1 thin slice ginger, chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish
° ½ teaspoon black and white sesame seeds (optional), for garnish

Sauce
° 2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 1 teaspoon Chinese cooking wine (optional)
° 3 tablespoons water

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Add the garlic or ginger and fry till fragrant.
3. Add the tofu and sauce mixture. Stir occasionally and bring to a boil.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with coriander leaves/spring onion and sesame seeds.
5. Serve immediately.

Stir-Fried “Fu Gui Cai”

You may have seen this vegetable before, usually only during Chinese New Year period. This is a simple recipe, just stir-fry it with ginger or garlic. To make this dish more interesting, you may opt to use vegetarian oyster sauce, or even stir-fry with vegetarian abalone.


Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g “Fu Gui Cai”, trimmed and leaves separated
° 2 slices ginger or 2 clove garlic, finely chopped
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt to taste
° pepper (optional) to taste

Method
1. Heat the in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the “Fu Gui Cai” and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Tofu and Pickled BaiLing Mushroom Congee

Something simple! I brought a bottle of Pickled Bailing Mushrooms from the Supermarket, thinking it would be good to keep as Emergency Food (Have a 2-week Supply of Food at Home Now for Any Emergency). Then, I remember a Non-vegetarian which I met sometime ago, taught me how to prepare an easy congee using tofu and can braised peanuts. So, instead of using the braised peanuts, I replaced with Pickled Bailing Mushrooms and it tastes good too. Don’t forget the pepper!

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

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g rice, washed and drained
° 1 small firm tofu, cubed
° 3-4 thin slices ginger, finely shredded
° 3 seedless red dates (optional)
° 1.2 litres water
° 1 bottle Pickled Bailing Mushrooms (vegetarian)
° salt and pepper, to taste
° ¼ fresh red chilli (optional), seeded and finely chopped, for garnish
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Put the rice, tofu, ginger, red dates 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 pickled bailing mushrooms and re-boil the congee for few minutes prior to serving. To thicken the congee, mix 1-2 tablespoons of glutinous rice flour with 4 tablespoons of water and stir into the congee, if desired. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Ladle the congee into individual serving bowls, garnish with chilli, corianders leaves and serve hot.

Claypot Braised Beancurd Sticks with Black Fungus

This is a simple recipe and easy to whip up. All you need to do is throw all ingredients in a claypot and let it cook. Occasionally, give it one or two stirs, leaving you time to prepare other dishes or read a book or the newspaper. If you prefer the ingredients to be real soft, cook it for a longer period, but remember to top up with more water when it is going to dry up.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 100g dried beancurd sticks, washed and break into small sections
° 2 handful small black fungus, soaked
° 1 slice ginger (1 cm thick)
° 2 star anise
° 625ml water
° ½ teaspoon dark soy sauce
° 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients into a claypot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the ingredients are tender. Stir occasionally.
2. Serves hot.

Oriental Mix and Match Claypot

Oh, another easy one-pot meal, just put most of the ingredients in a claypot and bring to a boil. Short and sweet! It goes well with yellow noodles and rice. You may even add few different types of mushrooms, fungus to make this a mushroom pot.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g broccoli florets
° 100g can bao-bailing mushroom, sliced
° 50g golden needle mushroom (enoki), based trimmed
° 25g deep-fried beancurd stick, cut into strip
° 25g fresh lily bulb, trimmed and peeled
° 2-3 slices ginger
° 1½ tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 350ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 teaspoon Chinese wolfberries, soaked
° pepper to taste
° 1 teaspoon tapioca flour, mixed with 4 tablespoons water

Method
1. Combine the bao-bailing mushroom, golden needle mushroom, beancurd stick, ginger, vegetarian oyster sauce, water or vegetable stock in a claypot and bring to a boil.
2. Add in the broccoli, chinese wolfberries, lily bulb and season to taste with pepper. Stir in the tapioca flour mixture and bring to a boil
3. Garnish with coriander leaves and serves hot.

Tofu with Preserved Olive Vegetables (Simplified Version)

Steamed Tofu with Preserved Olive Vegetables
Mashed IT and Mix well!

Here is the simplified version of the recipe Tofu with Preserved Olive Vegetables. Just steam the 1 pack of silken tofu topped with 2 tablespoons of Preserved Olive Vegetables for about 8 minutes. Mashed the tofu and mix well with the Preserved Olive Vegetables, garnish with chilli (optional) and coriander (optional) and serve.

Just remember to drain the preserved vegetable, as it is rather oily, you will need to drain it well. For me, I would put them into a paper coffee filter bag and squeeze out all the oil.

Tip: Steam Tofu in Rice Cooker while cooking rice, for less work and to save time.

Tofu with Preserved Olive Vegetables

If you do not mind having preserved vegetables with bit of MSG once in a while, this is a perfect easy dish to whip up in few minutes and it really goes well with plain white fragrant rice. All you need is preserved olive vegetables and the ingredients are mustard, plant oil, olive, salt, monosodium glutamate. As this preserved vegetable is rather oily, you will need to drain it well. For me, I would put them into a paper coffee filter bag and squeeze out all the oil. No seasoning is required, as the preserved olive vegetables are tasty enough. By the way, this preserved vegetables is often used as a condiment for congee or porridge.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 1 pack silken tofu (300g), cut into cubes
° 2 tablespoons preserved olive vegetables, drained well in a paper coffee filter bag
° 250ml water
° 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
° ¼ fresh chilli (optional), seeded and chopped
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Combine the preserved olive vegetables with 125ml of water in a bowl. Pour into a wok and bring to a boil.
2. Add in the tofu and cook for 1 minute.
3. Combine the tapioca starch with 125ml of water and mix well. Pour over the tofu, stirring slowly and bring to a boil.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with coriander leaves and chilli.

Braised Chinese Cabbage with Bao-Bailing Mushroom

This is a simple and easy to cook dish. The Bao-Bailing mushroom which had the same colour and texture as the abalone can be easily used to fake as real abalone. I bought this can of Bao-Bailing mushroom from HockHua Tonic. On this can of this Bao-Bailing Mushroom, it says that Bao-Bailing Mushroom (pleurotus eryngii var) is a rare fungus and well-known as prince in fungus family.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g chinese cabbage (wong bak), base trimmed and halved
° 100g can Bao-Bailing mushroom, sliced
° 5 slices ginger
° ¾ teaspoon olive oil
° 1½ tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 250ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 teaspoon Chinese wolfberries, soaked in warm water
° pepper to taste (optional)
° few sprig fresh corianders, for garnish

Method
1. Combine the chinese cabbage, bao-bailing mushroom, ginger, olive oil, vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, water or vegetable stock in a claypot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stirring occasionally.
2. Add in the chinese wolfberries and season to taste with pepper. If it is too watery, thicken the gravy with a bit of corn flour solution, if desired.
3. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with coriander leaves and serves hot.

Stir-Fried Fuzzy Melon with Silken Tofu

This is a light and simple dish. Add vegetarian ham or sweet beancurd wafer, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 150g-175g shredded fuzzy melon or hairy melon
° 25g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
° 1 pack silken tofu (300g), cut into cubes
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° 200ml vegetable stock or water
° 1 tablespoon tapioca flour, mix with 50ml vegetable stock or water
° salt and sugar, to taste
° pepper to taste
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
° few slices fresh red chilli, for garnish

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the fuzzy melon, carrot and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until the fuzzy melon is tender. Drizzle with cooking rice wine and season to taste with salt and sugar.
3. Add in the tofu and stir in the vegetable stock or water. Bring to a boil.
4. Stir in the tapioca flour mixture and bring to a boil. Sprinkle sesame oil and pepper and transfer to a serving dish.
5. Garnish with coriander leaves, chilli and serve immediately.

Avocado and Banana Soy Milk Shake

This is easy. I just love fruit with soy milk shake, they are simply delicious. Usually, I prefer using unsweetened soy milk and it tastes good too, the sweetness come from the fruit.

Preparation: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° ½ ripe avocado, peeled and diced
° 1 (150g-175g) banana, peeled and diced
° 250ml-300ml fresh unsweetened soy milk or fresh soy milk
° sugar (optional), to taste

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

Avocado Fried Wanton

A lovely person left a wonderful comment on one of my avocado’s recipes. The comment: Dipping avocado in sweet and sour chilli sauce. This leads me to the idea of wrapping avocado with wonton wrapper, deep-fry it and then dip with sweet and sour chilli sauce. We can all forget about using minced meat, prawn and tofu for wanton’s filling, just use fruit which is so much simple to prepare, even kid can do it. Try banana, ripe mango and any fruit that you dare to experiment with, it can be a lovely surprise.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (makes 24 pieces)
° 24 pieces wonton wrapper
° 1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
° oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Lay a wonton wrapper in front of you. Place a piece of avocado in the middle. Fold up the wonton diagonally, making sure the end meet. Press down firmly on the ends to seal.
2. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or wok and fry in batches until golden yellow.
3. Remove the wonton with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper and serve as soon as possible to ensure they remain crispy.

Tip
1. Put wontons in oven or microwave for 1-2 minutes if they lose their crispiness.

Simple Vegetable Curry

Vegetable curry is always one of the daily dishes you can find at the Vegetarian stalls. In fact cooking this is very simple. This is a light and simple vegetable curry using only cabbage, long bean and tofu puff. If you like the veggie to be softer, cook it a bit longer till it is tender. If you prefer it to be more robust, you may want to use more oil to fry the curry paste till there is a layer of red chilli oil or also by using more coconut milk. If you prefer to add egg-plants and lady fingers, just add them in. If you want to have lovely coloured egg-plants or long bean, you can consider blanching them in oil and wash with water prior to adding to the curry after the curry is cooked.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 300g cabbage, cut into 3cm squares
° 100g long bean, cut into 5cm lengths
° 6-8 tofu puff, cut into 4 sections
° 1-2 sprigs curry leaves
° 1-2 stalk lemongrass, peel off outer layers leaving tender whitish centre, cut out 5cm, bruised
° 1 slice ginger (1-2cm thick)
° 375ml water
° 125ml coconut milk
° 1 tablespoon curry powder
° ½ teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt and sugar, to taste

Method
1. Mix the curry powder and chilli powder with a tad of water to form curry paste and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pot or wok, fry the curry leaves for ½ minutes. Add in the curry paste and fry over medium heat until fragrant.
3. Throw in the cabbage, long bean, tofu puff, lemongrass, ginger, water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until all vegetables are tender. Add in the coconut milk and season to taste with salt and sugar.
4. Serve hot with rice.

Mango and Cucumber Spring Roll

This is a no-cook dish, simple and yet delicious plus healthy. The vegetarian mushroom which is made from mushroom stalks can be purchased from the vegetarian shops. Thaw it prior to cutting or shredding. Steam the vegetarian mushroom, if desired. You can still enjoy this dish if you don’t have the Vietnamese rice paper. Just pour the dipping sauce over the ingredients and toss well.

Preparation: 20 mins

Ingredients (makes 10-12)
° 150g shredded mango
° 100g shredded cucumber
° 100g shredded vegetarian mushroom
° 10-12 pieces rice paper

Dipping Sauce
° 2 tablespoons tomatoes sauce
° 2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
° 2 tablespoons (4 limes) freshly squeezed kalamansi lime juice, or to taste
° ¼ teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)

Method
To prepare dipping sauce
1. To make the sauce: Dissolve the sugar with lime juice in a bowl. Add in the tomatoes sauce and mixed well. Sprinkle sesame seeds and set aside.

To wrap spring roll
1. Soften the rice paper sheet in warm water till soft or as per packet’s instruction. Do not over-moisten the rice paper sheet. If it is too brittle, lightly moisten it with some water or wipe with a damp cloth.
2. Place 1 sheet of rice paper on chopping board or plate. Place a small amount of cucumber, mango and vegetarian mushroom in the centre and roll up.
3. Arrange on a serving plate and serve immediately with the dipping sauce. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent from drying if it is not consume immediately.