Tofu Croquettes

This is quick and easy to prepare and inexpensive. Reduce calories by baking rather than deep-frying these tofu croquettes.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 1 small firm tofu/beancurd, pat dried and mashed
° 2 (125g) harsh brown, mashed
° 2 (50g) fresh shiitake mushroom, chopped
° 50g fresh corn kernel
° ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
° 40g-50g self-raising flour
° salt and pepper, to taste
° oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Combine tofu, harsh brown, mushroom, corn kernel, sesame oil, flour, salt and pepper and mix well. Make into 4 patties.
2. Heat oil over a high fire and deep-fry the patties until golden yellow. Remove, drain on kitchen paper and leave to cool.
3. Serve with chilli sauce or dipping sauce.

Mixed Rice (Simplified Vegan Bibimbap)

This recipe is inspired from the Korean dish - Bibimbap @ Wikipedia, which is a healthy and nourishing one-pot meal. Meat and egg are omitted for a vegan version. Usually, the vegetables are either seasoned or sautéed. However, I have left the carrot and cucumber raw, to save work, lazy me! Blanched or sautéed the carrot and add some seasoning, if desired. If you can’t get the vegetarian mushrooms, just sautéed some fresh shiitake mushroom. What’s next? Just mixed the rice and vegetables well, sprinkle with some chilli flakes! Enjoy the mixed rice.

Preparation: 30 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 75g shredded carrot
° 75g shredded Japanese cucumber
° 100g vegetarian mushroom, steamed and shredded or chopped
° 1 nori sheet, shredded
° 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
° 4 bowl cooked brown rice

Soybean Sprout
° 150g-200g soybean sprout, trimmed and blanched
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil
° 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
° ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
° Korean chilli powder or dried red chilli flake, or coarse chilli, to taste
° salt to taste

Spinach
° 250g spinach, trimmed, blanched, drained well and cut into sections
° ¾ tablespoon sesame oil
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds

Method
1. Place soybean sprout in a salad bowl. Stir in the sesame oil, sesame seeds, vinegar, chill powder or dried chilli flake or coarse chilli, salt and sugar. Mixed well and set aside.
2. Place spinach in a salad bowl. Stir in the sesame oil, light soy sauce and sesame seeds. Mixed well and set aside.
3. Divide brown rice into individual serving bowls or plate. Arrange soybean, sprout, spinach, carrot, cucumber, and vegetarian mushrooms on top.
4. Garnish with shredded nori and sesame seeds and serve.

Toasted Vegetarian Fish with Breadcrumbs

This is a recipe inspired by Chow Vegan's Crispy Baked Tofu @ Crispy Baked Tofu. I used vegetarian fish slice instead, which does not required any marinate. I used batter instead of egg to ‘hold’ the breadcrumbs. I added some oil in the batter and breadcrumbs, as I do not have any oil spray.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (makes 2)
° 2 slices vegetarian fish
° 20g breadcrumbs
° 1½ teaspoons olive oil
° ¼ teaspoon spice salt
° 1 teaspoon self-raising flour
° 1 tablespoon water

Method
1. Combine breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon of olive oil, spice salt a bowl, and mix well. Set aside.
2. Combine flour, water, and ½ teaspoon of olive oil. Mix well to form the batter.
3. Spread the batter evenly on the vegetarian fish slices and coated well with breadcrumbs.
4. Grease a baking tray with oil and place the vegetarian fish slices on it. Toast or baked for 15 minutes or until it is golden yellow. Turn them over halfway.
5. Serve hot with chilli sauce or dipping sauce.

Toasted Tofu with Breadcrumbs

I found this recipe at Chow Vegan’s Blog - Crispy Baked Tofu and was so tempted to try it. This is another easy way to cook tofu, if you do not like deep-fried tofu. I did it with some variation and toasted it in the toaster oven. As this is a vegan recipe, I omit egg and replace with batter to ‘hold’ the breadcrumbs. Marinate the tofu with spice salt or curry powder or seasoning, if desired. I added some oil in the batter and breadcrumbs, as I do not have any oil spray. Take a look at Chow Vegan's Crispy Baked Tofu.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (makes 6)
° 1 small firm tofu, pat dried and cut into six slices
° 25g breadcrumbs
° 1½ teaspoons olive oil
° 1/3 teaspoon spice salt
° 1 teaspoon self-raising flour
° 1 tablespoon water

Method
1. Combine breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon of olive oil, ¼ teaspoon of spice salt a bowl, and mix well. Set aside.
2. Combine flour, water, ½ teaspoon of olive oil, and pinch of spice salt. Mix well to form the batter.
3. Spread the batter evenly on the tofu slices and coated well with breadcrumbs.
4. Grease a baking tray with oil and place the tofu slices on it. Toast or baked for 15 minutes or until it is golden yellow. Turn them over halfway.
5. Serve hot with chilli sauce or dipping sauce.

Vegetarian Summer Roll (Goi Cuon)

This is another no-cook dish. I came across a non-vegetarian recipe on summer roll with meat floss. Therefore, I decide to make a vegetarian version summer roll using vegetarian golden pumpkin meat floss and omit the prawn or crabmeat and pork. It is yummy with crisp fresh vegetable plus herbs (the mint leaves, coriander leaves). To speed up the process, you can choose to cut the carrot and cucumber in strips or slices, wrap it just like the sushi hand roll. Oh yeah, never forget the mint leaves, it brings out the flavour of the summer roll.

Preparation: 15 mins

Ingredients (makes 6)
° 75g shredded carrot
° 50g shredded cucumber
° 3-5 tablespoons golden pumpkin meat floss (vegetarian)
° few pieces lettuce leaves
° 18-24 mint leaves
° 6 pieces rice paper

Chilli Dipping Sauce
° 2 fresh red chilli padi, sliced
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
° 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Method
To prepare chilli dipping sauce
1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

To prepare 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 piece of lettuce leave, few mint leaves, some cucumber and carrot, and vegetarian meat floss 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.

Homemade Vegetarian Noodle Prawn

After Baking

Was curious how to make the vegetarian noodle prawn and try it. As I did not have wonton noodle at home, so I just made do without using it to tie the vegetarian noodle prawn. Use granulated mushroom bouillon or any other vegetarian seasoning to replace the spice salt if desired. Decided to toast it instead of deep-fry for a healthy dish and it is much simpler.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (makes 12)
° 12 pieces beancurd skin (11cm x 11cm)
° 12 pieces beancurd skin (5cm x 8cm)
° 50g carrot, peeled and cut into 6cm x 1cm strip
° 50g white radish, peeled and cut into 6cm x 1cm strip
° 2 fresh shiitake mushroom, cut into 12 strip
° olive oil, for brushing

Seasoning
° ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon sugar
° ¼ teaspoon spices salt or taste
° pepper to taste

Method
1. Combine the carrot, radish, mushroom with seasoning and mix well. Marinate for 15 – 30 minutes.
2. Wipe the beancurd sheet with wet kitchen towel to remove saltiness. Lay the big beancurd sheet on a plate or chopping board. Then, place a smaller beancurd sheet on top in the middle.
3. Place the carrot, radish, mushroom on the top. Fold in the top corner, wrap up, and give it a little twist near the end. Alternatively, tie with noodle. Brush with olive oil. Repeat with the rest.
4. Place in the toaster oven or oven. Toast or bake until golden yellow.
5. Remove and serve immediately.

Watermelon & Honeydew Juice

Lately I have been very busy and also getting very lazy. I just dump my 2 serving of fruits into the blender and few moments later, my precious Watermelon and Honeydew juice is ready. Nothing is wasted, all the fiber of the fruits are in the drink itself. You don’t need to be that exact on how much each fruits to use, just adjust to your liking.

Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 400g seedless watermelon
° 150g honeydew, peeled and chopped

Method
1. Throw in the watermelon and honeydew into a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Serve chill or with ice.

Tofu Seaweed Roll

This is a simple tofu seaweed roll. You may want to wipe the beancurd sheet thoroughly to remove the saltiness. If not, just omit salt in the filling. Just add any other ingredients such as carrot, water chestnut, pumpkin or mushroom to the mashed tofu, if desired.

This is roughly the way Vegetarian/Mock Fish is made. Just that firm tofu is too soft and need to be replaced or mixed with “Dou Bao” or some other ingredients. With cornstarch added and the finally product is wrapped up with cellophane paper and steamed.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (makes 1)
° 1 small firm tofu, pat dried and mashed
° 1 piece nori sheet
° 1 piece beancurd sheet, cut into 20cm x 22cm and wipe with wet kitchen towel
° ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
° salt and pepper to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon or seasoning, to taste
° few slices fresh red chilli (optional), finely chopped
° oil, for deep-frying

Method
1. Combine mashed tofu, sesame oil, salt, pepper, mushroom seasoning, chilli in a bowl and mix well.
2. Lay the beancurd sheet on a plate or chopping board. Then, place the nori sheet on top.
3. Spread the mashed tofu on the nori sheet on one side. Roll up as a spring roll. Tap some water at the end to seal up.
4. Heat oil over a high fire and deep fry the beancurd until golden yellow Remove, drain on kitchen paper and leave to cool.
5. Cut into sections and serves with chilli or dipping sauce.

Chayote and Pumpkin Green Curry

Chayote - pronounced [chah-YOH-teh], is an edible plant belonging to the gourd family can be eaten raw or cooked. In this recipe, I use chayote and pumpkin as the main ingredients to cook green Thai curry. It is my first time eating this plant. Next, I might try out stir-frying chayote and pumpkin with basil leaves. Check out other ways of cooking chayote @ mummyrecipes.blogspot.com - Fou Shou Gua with Dong Fen & Tofu with Vegetables .

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g pumpkin (weight after peeling), diced
° 150g chayote, peeled and diced
° 1 small firm tofu(beancurd), cut into cubes and deep-fried/pan-fried
° 50g “Earthen Pot” green curry paste, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 1 stalk lemongrass, peel off outer layers leaving tender whitish centre, cut out 5cm, bruised
° 2-3 kaffir lime leaves
° 125ml water
° 125ml fresh coconut milk or soy milk
° small handful basil leaves
° 1 fresh red chilli, seeded and cut into large pieces
° salt and sugar to taste

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the lemongrass, green curry paste and fry till fragrant.
2. Stir in the pumpkin, chayote and fry for a minute.
3. Throw in the water and bring to a boil. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Add in the lime leaves, basil leaves, tofu and coconut milk. Season to taste with salt and sugar if necessary.
4. Garnish with chilli and serve hot with rice.

Mango & Banana Soy Milk Shake

Preparation: 8 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 ripe mango, peeled chopped
° 1 (200g) banana, peeled and sliced
° 250ml fresh unsweetened 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.

Claypot Braised Tofu with Red Fermented Beancurd

Running out of recipe soon, sigh! What’s next? Hmmm… so I just try the below, it is not something very fantastic but it is still edible. Red fermented beancurd can be used to marinate firm tofu for deep-frying. Just mash the red fermented beancurd, season with sugar, sesame oil and mix well with the tofu.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 2 firm tofu/beancurd (225g)
° small handful small black fungus, soaked and trimmed
° 1 piece red fermented bean curd (2cm x 2cm cube), mashed finely
° 250ml water
° 1 slice ginger (½ cm thick)
° 2 star anise
° 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients into a claypot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serves hot.

Simple Stir-Fried Power Beans (Petai)

Petai again! Yes, petai, the stink beans which are firm and shiny. It has a diuretic effect and believed to flush toxins from the body. It can be eaten raw or cooked in sambal chilli. Usually, it needs strong accompaniments to mask its taste. In this recipe, I used chilli black bean, a product which I just discover and is a vegetarian product.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g petai, halved
° 1 slice ginger or 1 clove garlic, chopped
° ½ tablespoon olive oil
° 1 tablespoons chilli black bean, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine
° sugar to taste (optional)

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger or garlic and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the petai and stir-fry briskly for a moment.
3. Add the cooking rice wine, chilli black bean and stir-fry briskly for 2 minutes. Season to taste with sugar.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Papaya & Banana Soy Milk Shake

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g papaya, chopped
° 1 (200g) banana, peeled and sliced
° 250ml fresh unsweetened 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.

Vegetarian Soya Meat Roll

I bought this product from one of the supermarkets. It even has a “Healthier Choice" Logo from Health Promotion Board.

The ingredients are soya bean curd skin, yam, soya meat vegetables, salt, sugar, sesame oil.

The suggested method on the packaging is to cut and steam. What I did was, I thawed and toasted in my oven toaster. After that I use a pair of scissor to cut into small sections. Dip it with chilli sauce or sweet soy sauce or maybe vegetarian mayo cream, it is delicious. If you prefer, you may even wrapped it with lettuce leaves and go with some dipping sauce.

So simple and easy!

Nonya Kueh: Steamed Tapioca Kueh

Hey, did not know that this is so simple to make. The only work is grating the tapioca but it is fun using the grater, or else makes use of the blender. The tapioca is quite cheap about S$1 for 1kg when I bought two days ago. Peeling the tapioca is easy too, just made a slice lengthwise and the bark can be easily peeled off. Food colouring is optional for a healthy choice. Use desiccated coconut if freshly grated coconut is unavailable.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (makes 6)
° 300g tapioca (weight after peeled), grated
° 90g sugar, or to taste
° 150ml water
° ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
° food colouring (optional)
° 75g-100g fresh grated coconut
° a pinch of salt

Method
1. Combine the grated tapioca, sugar, water, vanilla essence and food colouring in a mixing bowl. Mix well.
2. Grease a tin with oil and pour in the mixture. Steam for 20 minutes and leaves to cool prior to cutting.
3. Mix the grated coconut with a pinch of salt in a plate. Ensure that the steamed tapioca kueh are evenly coated with grated coconut.
4. Serve.

Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Herbs Sauce

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 150g spaghetti, cooked
° 5 (300g) tomatoes
° 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
° small handful basil leaves (25 pieces), finely chopped
° small handful mint leaves (20 pieces), finely chopped
° 50g onion or carrot, peeled and diced
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 2 tablespoons ketchup or tomatoes sauce
° ½ teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° salt to taste
° freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method
1. Cut a cross at the top of each tomato. Place the tomatoes in a pot or wok of boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes. Drain well and peel.
2. Blend 2 tomatoes and ginger into purees. Chopped the rest of the tomatoes into small pieces.
3. Heat oil in a wok and stir-fry the onion or carrot till fragrant.
4. Stir in the tomatoes purees, tomatoes, ketchup or tomatoes sauce and bring to a boil. Throw in the mint and basil leaves. Season to taste with sugar and salt.
5. Pour the sauce over the spaghetti, sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper and garnish with mint leaves.
6. Serve immediately.

Kiwi & Banana Soy Milk Shake

Preparation: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 kiwi, peeled and chopped
° 1 banana, peeled and sliced
° 125ml fresh unsweetened 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.