Rice Set with Minced Mock Meat and Scramble Tofu

Do you think you would be able to do this? Why not? It is real easy as long as you know how to wash the rice grain and dump into a rice cooker, boil a pot of water and dump in the French beans and removed immediately once the colour start changing and how to fry scramble egg! Only this little skill set required.

The mock meat in mushroom is a ready made Singapore product that I bought (ingredients: soya bean, mushroom, textured vegetable protein, chili, soya bean oil, sugar, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and yeast extract). That saves some time in cooking using fresh ingredients. And the yellow stuff is not egg, it is scramble tofu seasoned using turmeric to give the colour of the egg. You can omit turmeric if you don’t have any in the kitchen. Turmeric helps to prevent the onset of arthritis and offer some protection against breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Preparation: 15mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 bowls cooked rice
° 1 can mock meat in mushroom sauce (brand: cixin vegetarian)
° 8 French beans, sliced and blanched
° 1 (225g) big firm beancurd/tofu, pat dry and scrambled
° ¼- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt and pepper, to taste

Method
1. Marinate the scrambled tofu with turmeric powder, salt, pepper and sesame oil. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and fry scrambled tofu until dry. Set aside.
3. Divide the rice into 2 serving plates. Top with mock meat in mushroom sauce, French beans and tofu. Serve immediately.

Fake Fried Rice

Hmm… I am not so creative in naming veg*n recipes. This is not something new, just that playing with 2 old recipes and simplified even further. Many would say to have a plate of nice and fragrant fried rice, you need some techniques to do it. It is simple fried rice but the ability to achieve that is not that easy.

So, what can a newbie or kid can do … maybe try this recipe. What we need is to stir-fly the ginger to make it fragrant. The rest is just mixing the oil and dark soy sauce or maybe together with the ginger. It is simple but tastes good, remember those olden days, where we just add some oil and soy sauce to the rice. Garnish with more lettuce or carrot shreds if you desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 250g cooked rice
° 75g ginger shreds
° 2 tablespoons olive oil
° 1 tablespoon sesame oil
° 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
° lettuce shreds and corianders leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger shreds and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until fragrant.
2. Remove the spring roll with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper and set aside.
3. Place the cooked rice in a big bowl. Add 1 teaspoon oil from the wok, dark soy sauce and mixed well.
4. Transfer to a serving plate and top with the ginger shred.
5. Garnish with lettuce shreds and coriander leaves and serve.

Tofu Bibimbap

If you have a hectic lifestyle but still want to prepare nutritious and delectable meals in a short time, it’s not “Mission Impossible”. For this recipe, only 1/5 of the ingredients used needs simple cooking and the rest of them require no cooking at all. The carrot, zucchini and lily bulbs can be eaten raw. As for the tofu, I bought this instant Seaweed Tofu from the supermarket and skip the streaming. If you have the time, just pan-fried some slices of firm tofu.

What left is the soybean sprout that needs to be blanched in boiling water and mixed well with some seasoning. If you like to have a bowl of soup to go with this dish, keep the boiling water for blanching soybeans sprout, add a slice of ginger, red dates (optional) , wakame and bring to a boil. Then, season to taste with salt, pepper and sesame oil.

The ingredients used for Bimbibap is very versatile- feel free to use your imagination! Soybean Sprout is very nutritious and now you can easily get them from the supermarket. However, I prefer those sold in tub of water and that tastes better.

Don’t forget to add some sesame oil to the Bibimbap, to give it a wonderful aroma.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 bowls cooked rice
° 50g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 50g zucchini, peeled and shredded
° 100g instant seaweed tofu, sliced
° 25g fresh lily bulbs, peel off petals piece by piece
° some toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
° gochujang (Korean Hot Bean Paste), to serve

Seasoned Soybean Sprout
° 100g soybean sprout, trimmed and blanched
° ½ teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
Seasoning
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° ¼ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
° Korean chilli powder or dried red chilli flake, or coarse chilli, to taste
° salt to taste
° sugar to taste (optional)

Method
1. Seasoned Soybean Sprout: Transfer the soybean sprout to a big bowl or plate. Stir in the sesame oil, vinegar, salt, sugar, Korean chilli powder or dried red chilli flake and mix well. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and set aside.
2. To serve: Divide rice into individual serving bowls and garnish with sesame seeds. Arrange seasoned shredded carrot, shredded zucchini, seasoned soybean sprout, seaweed tofu and lily bulb on top or on another serving big bowl or plate. Serves with a plate of Gochujang.

Sushi Wrap with Lettuce

I happened to read an old article on ‘Office pal-itics’ and surprise to read below:

“… But much like low-fat Vegetarian Food diet which is theoretically good for you, I can’t see much joy or laughter in such an existence. I would probably go mad.”

Well, Vegetarian Food is definitely good theoretically or not, and is getting interesting, fun and yummy as well. Now, the Vegetarian Food scene is going to be different from the past, it can storm the world if more energy has been channeled to explore in this area.

If you don’t believe me…., let take sushi for example! Must Sushi Rice be always wrapped with nori sheet, can’t it be eaten in another way. Now, you may even see more innovative ways in eating sushi – a bowl of sushi rice topped with some veggies, in some Sushi Cookbook.

My way of having sushi –a combination of Japanese Sushi and Korean Lettuce Wrap Rice. Just cook some rice and mix well vinegar, salt, sugar, mirin (optional) or get a pack of powdered sushi mix from the supermarket. Garnish with some toasted sesame seeds and finely chopped carrot (optional). Serve with some lettuce leaves and shredded nori.

To eat, just take a lettuce leaf, scoop some rice on it, top with shredded nori and wrap it up. Next just put it into your mouth! Fun and yummy!

Seaweed Curry Rice Wrap

I saw the picture on the pack of Korean Seaweed. Why didn’t I think of eating sushi in that way? Making sushi can be time consuming with the rolling and so on. If we are not having any guests around, why not just spoon some rice and wrap with a rectangle piece of seaweed and that’s it.

It made me think further, must it be sushi rice, why can’t we have something else too. What I did use was improvised healthy curry flavour rice instead.

By stir-frying a tablespoon of curry powder paste (powder mixed with some water) and then adding to the rice with some of the water replaced with unsweetened soymilk instead of coconut milk and don’t forget the salt. After 15-20 minutes my curry flavour rice is ready in the electric rice cooker.

You can skip the stir-frying of curry powder if you want an even more simplified way of cooking curry flavour rice. Simple, not much work plus its more nutritious!

So going green, going vegetarian, and food need not be boring. There are thousands of innovative ways to add taste and colour to make them yummy and interesting.

Mushroom Bibimbap

No wastage - Soup make from water blanching mushrooms with simple ingredients added!

Crazy about Bibimbap!

For this Bibimbap dish, the main ingredients are mushrooms. And I added millet to cook the rice. Millet is nutritious. Just mix all the ingredients and toss well prior to eating. Ever wonder why Korean ladies are so slim, part of the answer is found in Korean Cuisine – Kimchi and the Korean Side Dishes.

Keep the water for blanching mushrooms, and by adding a little bit of salt, light soy sauce, before garnishing with chopped spring onions , coriander or enoki mushroom, you can enjoy a bowl of clear soup too!

Preparation: 20 mins, Cooking time: 25 mins

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

Seasoned Shiitake Mushroom
° 150g fresh shiitake mushroom, sliced, blanched and drain well
Seasoning
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil
° l½ tablespoon light soy sauce
° 1 teaspoon sugar or to taste
° some roasted sesame seeds

Seasoned Eryngii Mushroom
° 150g fresh eryngii mushroom, diced, blanched and drain well
Seasoning
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil
° l½ tablespoon light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon sugar or to taste
° some roasted sesame seeds

Other
° 50g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 25g pea shoots (dow miao)
° some local lettuce
° 50g enoki mushroom, base trimmed
° some toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
° Gochujang (Korean Hot Bean Paste), to serve

Method
1. Millet Rice: Combine all the ingredients into an electric rice cooker, mix well and turn it on. When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes. Set aside.

2. Seasoned Shiitake Mushroom: Transfer the mushroom to a big bowl or plate. Stir in the sesame oil, light soy sauce, sugar and mix well. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and set aside.

3. Seasoned Eryngii Mushroom: Transfer the mushroom to a big bowl or plate. Stir in the sesame oil, light soy sauce, sugar and mix well. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and set aside.

4. To serve: Divide millet rice into individual serving bowls and garnish with sesame seeds. Arrange seasoned shiitake mushroom, seasoned eryngii mushroom, carrot, pea shoots, local lettuce and enoki mushroom on top or on another serving big bowl or plate. Serves with a plate of Gochujang.

Raw Veggies Bibimbap

Bibimbap mixed!

If you know nothing about cooking, or never whip up any dish before. With a given task to whip up a Korean Dish, do you think it is mission impossible? Well, nothing is impossible.

Here is the simple dish – Raw Veggie Bibimbap that you can churn out to impress anyone! Have a electric rice cooker at home to cook plain white rice? If not, just pack some steaming hot white rice from any rice stalls.

Next, get few veggies like carrot, Japanese cucumber, radish, lettuce, dow miao (pea shoots), sprouts, rocket leaves and the list goes on. For carrots, Japanese cucumber, radish and lettuce you just need to cut them into shreds.

And don’t forget you need to have the Gochujang (Korean Hot Bean Paste) where you can easily get them from any Korean Supermarkets in Singapore.

Now, you have rice, raw veggies and gochujang. Just scoop the cooked rice into individual big serving bowls and top with a portion of the raw veggies. Serve with a plate of gochujang on the side. Your guest could just mix them all well prior to eating.

You are going to impress them and it is sooo simple!

For my Raw Veggies Bibimbap, I have

* shredded Japanese cucumber

* shredded carrot

* shredded lettuce

* dow miao (pea shoots)

* enoki mushroom

* shredded nori

* cooked plain rice sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds

* tomato, for garnish

Mix all the ingredients well with gochujang and drizzle ½ teaspoon of sesame oil (optional). I also added some crispy wonton skin (which is not in the photograph), it is so lovely!

In fact, any Vegetarian Eateries can serve this Raw Veggies Bibimbap or Raw Veggies Bibimmyeon (noodles) at any time, as there isn’t much preparation required at all.

Hmm... A good dish for picnic, charity fair or lunch box. Just keep the cooked rice in a food warmer! And most importantly a perfect and fuss free lunch or dinner for a lazy me on some lazy days …

Colourful Beetroot Rice

I got this beetroot and I throw it into the rice cooker to cook with the rice. The colour from the beetroot had made the rice so beautiful. I didn’t add any salt to it, so I can choose to mix with homemade Vegetarian Furikake (combination of Vegetarian Salted Fish, Aonoriko Seaweed and Black and White Sesame Seeds). I just garnish it with mint leaves and Vegetarian Floss. This should appeal to little kids too. What about the cooked beetroot, I used them to make a Beetroot and Banana Soymilk Shake, in this way, I save time and energy.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 1 (125g) beetroot, peeled and halved

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.

Vegetarian Belacan Fried Rice

Belacan Fried Rice - you can simply do it yourself, no problem. I add tempeh and carrot to substitute prawn or shrimps which usually call for. Lots of lettuce and cucumber are used to garnish this fried rice and also to increase the fiber intake. If you love fried dried chilli, use more!

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 bowls cooked rice
° 15g-20g vegetarian belacan, chopped and mashed
° 2 dried chilli, chopped
° 2 pieces (100g) fresh tempeh, chopped
° 25g carrot, peeled and chopped
° 2½ -3 tablespoons olive oil
° some lettuces and cucumber slices, for garnish

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan, fry the vegetarian belacan and dried chilli for 1 minute.
2. Add in the tempeh and fry for another 1 minute or until fragrant over medium heat.
3. Stir in the cooked rice and carrot. If it is too dry, sprinkle some water on it. Fry about 2-3 minutes or until rice is heated through. Serve hot.

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

Corn Battleship Sushi

Oh, my corn battleship sushi does not resemble the battleship. I didn’t make the rice “oblong” enough in a hurry and it looks like sushi with some mayo corn topping. This sushi should be prepared just before serving as the nori turn soft rather quickly.

Preparation: 45 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (makes 12)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 1.5 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° ½ teaspoon salt
° 3 sheets nori, toasted and cut into 4 equal strips
° 2 ears corn on the cob, cut or peeled kernels off the cob
° 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise or vegetarian salad cream, to taste

Method
1. Add the rice and water into an electric rice cooker and turn it on. When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.
2. To make mayo corn, put the corn kernels in a heatproof serving plate and steam for 8-10 minutes. Remove from streamer and leave to cool. Mix well with mayonnaise.
3. In a bowl, combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and stir until dissolved. Using the rice paddle or spoon to spread the cooked rice. Stir in the combined vinegar, sugar and salt. Fold the rice to mix well and divide into 12 portions.
4. Wet your hand and pick up one portion of rice. Roll to form an oblong shape slightly less than 1 inch thick and place on a plate. Repeat with remaining rice.
5. Wrap a nori strip around each rice oblong and seal with 2 grain of rice at the edge.
6. Spoon some mayo corn onto all the rice and serve.

Vegetable Mui Fan

This is simple Mui Fan recipe.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 bowls cooked rice
° 50g baby corn, sliced
° 50g red capsicum, seeded and cut into small dices
° 50g green capsicum, seeded and cut into small dices
° 50g crab mushroom, base discarded
° 3 slices carrot, chopped
° 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
° ¾ tablespoon olive oil

Sauce
° 200ml vegetable stock or water
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° pepper to taste
° 1-1½ tablespoons tapioca flour

Method
1. Divide the cooked rice among 2 individual serving plates and set aside.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
4. Throw in the corn, green and red capsicum, carrot, mushroom and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the sauce mixture and bring to a boil.
5. Pour over the cooked rice and serve immediately.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves, chilli and serve immediately.

Sweet Potatoes Brown Rice

There are so many ways to cook rice. If you are not having enough time and want something simple or maybe you want to be more environmental friendly, this might the thing you are looking for.

Just added some sweet potatoes, a little bit of salt to the brown rice. Sushi vinegar and sugar can be added, if desired for a more robust taste. When it is done, you have a bowl of healthy sweet potatoes brown rice top with some raw vegetables like lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

Brown Rice with Wolfberries

Wolfberries have antioxidant qualities, nourish the yin, strengthen the eyes, and help support the kidneys, liver and blood. It is commonly use in Traditional Herbal Soup.

I added wolfberries to the brown rice, to make it more nutritious. For each bowl of rice, I add 1 teaspoon of wolfberries, you may add more, if desired. Nothing too difficult, throw in the wolfberries when washing the rice and the rest is as per normal way of cooking rice.

One-Pot Cabbage Rice

Incredibly simple and healthy one-pot meal. What you need to do is to have a rice cooker and just dump all the ingredients in and leaves everything to it. Light soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce, seasoning or sesame oil can be added, if desired. You may even opt to use Brown Rice. The vegetarian mushroom I used in this recipe is the seasoned mushroom from Yuan Jen Product range. If you cannot find this, just substitute with 2-3 dried mushrooms or fresh mushrooms.

To make it look presentable, just garnish with some chopped spring onion or coriander, sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds or even nori shreds on top. The beauty of this dish is that you don’t have to do much washing after that – just the rice cooker, 2 plates and 2 spoons!

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 150g vegetarian mushroom
° 100g Chinese cabbage (Wong Bak/Bok Choy), cut into broad strips
° 50g carrot, peeled and diced
° 1 slice ginger (optional), finely chopped
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° pepper (optional), 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.

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.

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.

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.

Yam Rice

This is slight different from Mushroom and Yam Rice recipe which I had. In here, I used only yam and some spices. If you prefer lighter colour rice, replace the dark soy sauce with light soy sauce or used half of each type of soy sauce. I cooked this rice to go with the Salted Vegetable Tofu Soup.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 150g yam or 2 baby yams, peeled and diced
° 1 slice ginger
° 3 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° 2 star anises
° ½ cinnamon stick, 3cm length
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
° 1¾ -2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
° 1 tablespoon olive oil (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 and serve hot.

Bamboo Shoot Rice

This is another easy recipe. Just throw all the ingredients in the rice cooker and you will have your wonderful bowl of rice within 20 minutes. During that time, you can do some else while waiting. Just sprinkle with some sesame seeds or add some Edamame (salted soya bean).

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 100g fresh bamboo shoot, boiled in hot water for 10 mins and diced
° 1 slice (25g) vegetarian ham (optional), diced
° 3 fresh shiitake mushrooms, diced
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine
° 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon sugar (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 and serve hot.

Chestnut Rice

Kuri gohan is a Japanese dish which boiled rice (usually glutinous rice) with sweet chestnuts. Currently, we can easily get shelled chestnut in the wet market or supermarket. And by adding it to the rice, it saves time and energy in cooking, which is what I love. It definitely adds some flavour and twist to the plain rice that we have. Mix with some unpolished brown rice if desired. Chestnut has about 40% carbohydrate and makes a good source of energy. It is also high in Vitamin B1 and good for anyone suffering from general fatigue. Peeling chestnuts can be easy by soaking them in hot boiling water for 10 minutes before peeling.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 10-12 fresh chestnuts (shell removed), soaked in hot water for 10 mins and peeled
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine
° 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon sugar (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 and serve hot.