Preserved Olive Vegetables Rice

This recipe is the act of my right brain at work! When my son told me about the yummy Herbal Fried Rice offered by the Vegetarian Stall in his school.  I was not present in the HERE and NOW, upon hearing the word 'herbal', my right brain wander off to the thoughts of fried rice with olive, then it reminds me of the preserved olive vegetable and many other things that eventually lead me to this creation - adding preserved olive vegetable to cook the rice.   

This is the characteristic of a Right-Brained (often misunderstood), where they can think of one thing, say another and their brain has already moved on to another thought. 


If you are curious whether you are a right-brained or left-brained person, take the simple test @ The Right Brain vs Left Brain test. Have fun!

Preparation:     10 mins, Cooking time:  15 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g rice, washed and drained

°         400ml water

°         2-3 tablespoons preserved olive vegetables

°         some freshly chopped spring onion (optional) 

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.

3.      Garnish with chopped spring onion and serve hot.

Vegan Soy Bean Sprout Pancake (Kongnamul Jeon)

Eggless Kongnamul Jeon!  Kongnamul Jeon is a Korean pancake like dish using soy bean sprout as the main ingredient. You can cook it like a big omelette or in small pancake size. Chickpea flour is used, as it has the colour of the egg and has higher portion of protein compare to other type of flour.

Preparation:     15 mins Cooking time:  10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)

°         150 soy bean sprout, trimmed

°         50g onion, sliced

°         50g carrot shreds

°         150g chickpea flour (besan flour/gram dhall)

°         250ml water

°         salt and pepper, to taste

°         2-3 tablespoons oil

Method

1.      Combine the chickpea flour, water, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Throw in the soy bean sprout, carrot, onion and blend well. Set aside.

2.      Heat 1- 1½ tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Ladle half of the soy bean sprout batter mixture into the pan and spread well.  Flip over the pancake after 1½ minutes or when the base is slightly brown. Remove from heat after another 1½ minutes and transfer to a serving plate. Repeat with the rest of mixture.

3.      Cut into smaller size and serve. 

Potato Kinpira

Simple, healthy and tasty! Another Kinpira recipe using potato! I omitted mirin in this recipe, you can add mirin or cooking rice wine, if desired.

Preparation:     10 mins Cooking time:  10 mins 

           

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

°         200g  potato, julienne 

°         4 slices carrot, julienne

°         1 tablespoon olive oil

°         some toasted sesame seeds

°         some spring onion (optional), chopped or shredded

Seasoning

°         2 tablespoons light soy sauce

°         3 tablespoons water or dashi stock

°         1/3 tablespoon sugar

Method

1.      Place all the seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

2.      Heat oil in a wok. Fry the potato for 5 minutes.  Add in the carrot and pour in the seasoning and simmer for 1 minute or until it is dry.  

3.      Dish up, top with spring onion, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Soy Bean Sprout Rice

This is rather similar to Korean Rice Dish - Kongnamul Bab. You can even simplify it by having two ingredients -  rice and soy bean sprout,  with simple seasoning like salt or light soy sauce with or without sesame oil.  You may even replace carrot with mushroom or other ingredients you have in your kitchen.

Never underestimated the taste of this simple dish! We are surrounded by many simple and yet delicious vegetarian dishes. So just experience the richness of vegetarian food by taking the opportunity to savor it and fully taste it, by just focusing on the sensations in the mouth and appreciate it fully.

Preparation:     15 mins  Cooking time:            15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g rice, washed and drained

°         400ml water

°         125-150g soy bean sprout, trimmed

°         25g carrot, peeled and shredded

°         1 tablespoon curry powder (optional)

°         salt and granulated mushroom bouillon  to taste

Garnish

°         some shredded nori and roasted sesame seeds

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 garnish with shredded nori, sesame seeds and serve hot.

Vegetarian Assam Fish

I brought a pack of instant Vegetarian Assam Fish where it only required heating-up. I added some other ingredients to make this more nutritious yet simple to be done.  Instead of stir-fry the ingredients and add to the heated up Vegetarian Assam Fish, I just put them together and heat up.

Preparation:     8 mins Cooking time:  8 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         1 pack (400g) vegetarian assam fish

°         1-2 tomatoes, cut into wedge

°         1 wedge pineapple, cut into small chunk

°         1/2 onion, cut into wedge.

°         mint leaves (optional),  for garnish

°          

Method

1.      Place the ingredients in a pan and heat up.

2.      Garnish with mint leaves and serve.