Steamed Pumpkin Cake

with crispy shallot, chilli and coriander ...

with sweet sauce 'n' chilli 'n' sesame seeds ...

with mock floss ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This recipe is inspired by the Steamed Carrot Cake or Steamed Yam Cake. It looks kind of troublesome to whip but it is not.

To include some fun elements for your guests or kids, allow them to designer their unique Pumpkin Cake to show off their creativity or culinary art. They are few ways to garnish or add flavour to the Pumpkin Cake - top with some mock floss and coriander leaves, or drizzle some sweet soy sauce and sprinkle some sesame seeds or chopped chilli, with some Japanese Spring oil shreds and shichimi, or with some crispy shallot and chopped spring onion, or with chee cheong fun sauce and sesame seeds ...

Preparation:     15 mins, Cooking time:  25 mins

Ingredients (makes 8 pieces)

°         250 pumpkin weight after  peeling, diced

°         4 chinese dried mushroom, soaked and sliced

°         150g rice flour

°         1 tablespoon corn starch

°         1 teaspoon salt or to taste

°         pepper to taste

°         ½ teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

°         500ml water

°         1½ tablespoon oil

Garnish

°         ½ fresh red chilli, finely chopped

°         few coriander leaves

°         some toasted sesame seeds

Method

1.      Combine the rice flour, corn starch, salt, pepper and sesame oil with 250ml of water. Mix well and stir into a smooth batter.

2.      Heat oil in a wok. Throw in the pumpkin and mushroom and stir fry for 1 minute. Pour in 250ml of water and bring to a boil.

3.      Off the heat and pour in the batter. Stir till the batter turn thick and transfer to a steaming container and steam for 25 minutes.

4.      Let it cool. Garnish with chilli, coriander and serve.  

Steamed Vegetarian Fish with Enoki Mushroom

Ideal for busy people who have little time to spare preparing meal especially during weekday. For this dish, the emphasis is more on the natural food like tomatoes and mushrooms, which is a little different from my earlier version of Steamed Vegetarian Fish. It required very little and simple seasoning. You can opt to sprinkle sesame oil after steaming, if desired.  

Preparation:     7 mins, Cooking time:  8 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         1 vegetarian fish slice

°         2 tomatoes, cut into 4 wedges

°         100g enoki mushroom, base trimmed

°         2 thin slices ginger, finely shredded

°         1 teaspoon sesame oil

°         1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste

°         1-2 mini dried Chinese mushroom (optional), soaked

°         coriander leaves and chilli/wolfberries, for garnish

Method

1.      Arrange the enoki mushroom, tomatoes, vegetarian fish, ginger shreds, mushroom ion a heatproof serving plate.

2.      Sprinkle salt, oil and steam for 8 minutes.

3.      Garnish with coriander, chilli and serve immediately.

Steamed Eggplant in Tangy Chilli Sauce

Steamed Eggplant with Tangy Chilli Sauce 

Steamed Eggplant with Chicken Rice Chilli N Tomatoes Sauce

This is an Indonesia Dish with I had in the 90s at an Indonesia Restaurant in Shenton Way for our monthly departmental lunch. It is known as Terong Balado –Baked Eggplant in Spicy Chilli Tomatoes sauce. I just discovered a quick and easy version, if you find the below too troublesome and want less cooking. For the Tangy Chilli Sauce, use the chicken rice chilli sauce (http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/chicken-rice-chilli-sauce-with-garlic.html) and add tomatoes sauce (ratio 2:1) or to taste.  If you don’t consume any shallot and garlic, omit those and increase the ginger but not too much.
Preparation:      15 mins Cooking time:    10 mins

          

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         1 (200g) long slender eggplant, sliced

°         a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Spicy Sauce

°         1 (125g) tomato, poached and peeled

°         25g ginger, sliced

°         25g shallot, peeled and sliced

°         25g garlic, peeled and sliced

°         2 fresh red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

°         1 tablespoon olive oil

°         1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

°         1 teaspoon sugar

°         1/3 teaspoon salt

°         1 tablespoon tomatoes sauce or to taste

Method

1.       Arrange the eggplant in a heat proof serving plate and steam for 10 minutes or until soft.

2.       Put tomato, ginger, shallot, garlic in a blender and blend till smooth.

3.       Heat the oil in a wok and pour in the spicy paste, Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, add in the chilli and season to taste with vinegar, sugar, salt and tomatoes sauce.

4.       Pour sauce over the eggplant, garnish with coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Steamed Eggplant with Mock Floss (aka Purple Eggplant 'N' Auburn Floss)

Want some? It looks good and tastes good too!

This dish is inspired from two non-vegetarian restaurants – Taste Paradise and Peach Garden. Taste Paradise has Crispy-fried Japanese Egg plant topped with Pork Floss. For Peach Garden is thin crispy fried egg plant strips fried in light batter and tossed with generous helping of pork floss and a touch of garlic.

Anyway, I haven’t taste these 2 dishes at all, pork floss isn’t vegetarian! Am I going to miss out delicious food, of course -  NO, I decide to whip up and share this with all Vegetarians and Vegan -  a simple and healthy vegetarian version – Steamed Eggplant with Mock Floss.

Here you go, just simple 3 steps where anyone can cook :-

·        Slice the eggplant (or cut into long thick strip), arrange on a serving plate and steamed for 8-10 minutes.  

·        Drizzle shallot/olive oil, little amount of light soy sauce (optional) over the eggplant.

·        Topped with generous amount of mock floss, garnish with coriander leaves and chopped fresh red chilli.

For a special feel – instead of chopped fresh red chilli – use shichimi togarashi (seven spice chilli mix) where you can get from supermarket.

Food presentation isn’t difficult at all, sometime, it can be labour intensive and time consuming but there are also some very simple and yet elegant that can be done up real fast. There is no fix rule, how edible food garnish should be placed, so loosen up and play with it. The more you do it, it just come naturally, without even having to think about it.

So, hurry grabs some eggplant, mock floss and cooks this …

Steamed Vegetarian Minced Meat

Steamed minced meat is a very common home-style dish for non-vegetarian. I bought the vegetarian minced meatless by accident instead of getting the vegetarian mushroom. The ingredients is textured soy bean protein, soya bean, wheat flour, mushroom steam, vegetable oil and vegetarian seasoning and have the minced meat texture. Just add some preserved salted vegetable (Tong Chai) and mix well with the vegetarian minced meat. Do rinse the preserved salted vegetable well to get rid of the saltiness or use lesser. If you prefer it to be bond together, just add some corn starch with some water, and mix well with the rest of the ingredients. It is a simple dish that anyone can cook.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 150g vegetarian mushroom slice
° 25g-50g preserved salted vegetable (Tong Chai), rinsed
° 30ml water

Method
1. Place the vegetarian minced meatless and preserved salted vegetable in a heat proof serving plate.
2. Add water and mix well.
3. Steam for 8-10 minutes and serve with rice.

Steamed Mei Cai with Vegetarian Mushroom

Steamed minced pork with preserved vegetables such preserved salted vegetable (Tong Chai) or Mei Cai is a popular traditional home style dish in the past. For the vegetarian or vegan version, vegetarian mushroom is used to substitute the minced pork. The vegetarian mushroom or vegetarian mushroom slice can be purchased at any vegetarian supply stalls/shops. The ingredients are vegetarian mushroom and seasoning. A simple steamed dish, if you want some traditional home style dish.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 175g-200g mei cai (preserved mustard), washed and finely chopped
° 50g vegetarian mushroom or vegetarian mushroom slice, chopped
° ½ teaspoon olive oil
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° 30ml water

Method
1. Place all the ingredients in a heat proof serving plate and steam for 8-10 minutes. Serve immediately.

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.

Steamed Sweet Potatoes

SWEET POTATOES are ranked the highest in nutritional values, low in sodium, cholesterol free, fat free, high in fiber, with protein, vitamins A, B6 & C, iron and calcium. Orange and yellow sweet potatoes contain beta-carotene and purple sweet potatoes are very rich in anthocyanins. It helps to prevents osteoporosis, constipation, boost the immune system and anti-aging with whitening effect etc. It is also good for young children brain development and growth.

You can cook sweet potatoes in many ways, baked, roasted, sautéed, boiled or steamed. To save time and conserve energy, I place the sweet potatoes in the rice cooker when I cook the rice. Just remember to give the sweet potatoes a good scrub or peel the skin, halved it if desired.

As it is not the purple ones, it does not leach out their colour. Even if the colour and nutrients is leaches out, it goes to my rice and not wasted. Or you may opt to put the sweet potatoes on the steam tray of the rice cooker instead.

When the rice is ready, my healthy snack is ready too. The skin can be eaten too, peeled it off, if preferred.

Steamed Vegetarian Noodle Prawn

This is a simple dish by heating up the vegetarian noodle prawn that we can get easily from the vegetarian shops or stalls. These Vegetarian Noodle Prawns (Vegetarian Chai Har) consist of mushroom, carrot, beancurd puff and Chinese swede and seasoning. Normally, it is deep-fried but for a healthy choice, tries the steaming method. Not to steam too long, as it get very soft. Alternatively, try baking or toasting it, if you don’t mind that it is a little bit dry. Dip it with light soy sauce or ‘chicken rice’ chilli sauce, if desired.

Preparation: 3 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 6-8 vegetarian noodle prawns, defrosted

Method
1. Arrange the vegetarian noodle prawns in a heatproof serving plate.
2. Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Place the vegetarian noodle prawns in the steamer and steam for 2-3 minutes.
3. Serve immediately.

Steamed Spawn/Oyster Mushroom

This is a simple dish using spawn mushroom/oyster mushroom which is high in protein, fibre and vitamins and contain no cholesterol. Garnish with some red chilli shreds, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g spawn mushroom/oyster mushroom
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° ½ tablespoon olive oil
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Arrange spawn mushrooms in a heatproof serving plate. Steam for 8-10 minutes
2. Drizzle sesame oil and light soy sauce over the plate. Garnish with coriander and serve immediately.

Steamed Tofu with Mushroom and Mock Ham

A hassle free dish, simple and yummy.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 300g silken tofu, sliced
° 2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped
° 1 slice (25g) vegetarian ham, chopped or diced
° 25g carrot, finely chopped
° 1 teaspoon freshly chopped coriander or spring onion

Seasoning
° 60ml water
° 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
° 1/5 teaspoon salt, or to taste
° ½ teaspoons sesame oil
° pepper to taste

Method
1. Arrange the tofu slices in a heatproof serving plate. Place the mushroom, vegetarian ham and carrot on top.
2. Combine the seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the ingredients and steam for 10 minutes.
3. Garnish with coriander or spring onion and serve immediately.

Steamed Japanese Pumpkin with Wolfberries

Usually, we can spot stir-fried pumpkin with frozen mixed vegetables and black fungus or wolfberries at some of the vegetarian stalls. If you like that dish, you can try out the steamed version instead of stir-frying. For this simple and easy delicious dish, it is best to get good quality pumpkin.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g Japanese pumpkin (weight after peeling), cut into 1cm slices
° ½ -1 tablespoon wolfberries (boxthorn berries), soaked
° 2-3 seedless red dates (optional)
° few sprigs coriander, for garnish

Seasoning
° 60ml water
° 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
° ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil
° pepper to taste

Method
1. Arrange the pumpkin slices in a heatproof serving plate. Place the wolfberries and red dates on top.
2. Combine the seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the pumpkin and steam for 8-10 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft
3. Garnish with coriander and serve immediately.

Steamed Winter Melon with Wolfberries

It is a simple and easy delicious dish. No stir-fry, time-saving, plus no mess at all. Not much seasoning is required as the vegetarian ham used is sufficient to spice up this dish. I opt for tapioca starch instead of corn starch for a lightly heavier texture. To conserve energy, steam this dish for 10 minutes and leaves it covered in the streamer for about 8 minutes.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g winter melon (weight after peeling), cut into 1cm slices
° 1 teaspoon wolfberries (boxthorn berries), soaked
° 1 slice (25g) vegetarian ham, chopped or diced
° 1 teaspoon freshly chopped coriander or spring onion

Seasoning
° 80ml water
° 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
° 1/5 teaspoon salt, or to taste
° ½ teaspoons sesame oil
° pepper to taste

Method
1. Arrange the winter melon slices in a heatproof serving plate. Place the wolfberries and vegetarian ham on top.
2. Combine the seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the winter melon and steam for 10-15 minutes or until the winter melon is soft
3. Garnish with coriander or spring onion and serve immediately.

Steamed Vegetarian Mushroom Slice

This can be considered as an instant dish, just added some shredded ginger and steamed. Vegetarian mushroom slice can be purchased at any vegetarian supply stalls/shops. The ingredients for vegetarian mushroom slice are mushroom stalks, salt, egg and flavouring. Therefore, it is not suitable for vegan. It is manufactured by Tao Yuan Vegetarian Trading. I have omitted salt and limited the amount of oil used.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 125g vegetarian mushroom slice
° 6 thin slices ginger, finely shredded
° 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Method
1. Place the vegetarian mushroom slice and ginger in a heat proof serving plate and steam for 8-10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Vegan Steamed ‘Egg’

This is a vegan version of Asian Steamed Egg Custard, using tofu puree and turmeric powder to achieve the texture and colour of the egg. Turmeric powder should be used sparingly here, to avoid overpowering the dish. By adding mushroom, sesame oil and light soy sauce to the recipe, it helps to tone down the taste of the tofu – to achieve the flake streamed egg custard!

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 pack silken tofu
° ½ teaspoon salt
° ¼ teaspoon sugar
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine
° ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, or less
° 2 teaspoons natural egg replacer, mixed with 4 tablespoons water
° 1 fresh shiitake mushroom, finely sliced
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil or shallot oil
° 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon chopped spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Combine the tofu, salt, sugar, cooking rice wine, turmeric powder, natural egg replacer in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
2. Place the mushroom in a heat proof serving bowl, pour in the creamy tofu puree and steam for 10 minutes.
3. Garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves. Drizzle with sesame oil, light soy sauce and serve immediately.

Steamed Eggplant in Soy Sauce

This quick and easy steamed dish is using eggplant, aubergine or brinjal. Choose eggplant with smooth and unblemished skin. Normally, eggplants are not peeled as the skin preserves their texture, taste and shape.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 long slender eggplant, sliced
° 1 thin slice ginger, chopped
° 1 fresh red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
° 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
° 1.5 tablespoons light soy sauce

Method
1. Arrange the eggplant in a heat proof serving plate and steam for 10 minutes or until soft.
2. Garnish steamed eggplant with coriander.
3. Heat the oil in a wok and add ginger, chilli and stir-fry briskly until aromatic. Drizzle over the steamed eggplant.
4. Add light soy sauce before serving.

Tip
1. Peel the skin of eggplant, if desired.

Steamed Cardoncello Mushroom

Photographer: Little JFThis is an easy steamed dish without much work at all. This dish can be used as a substitute for the poached chicken that goes with Hainanese Chicken Rice. Alternatively, just wrap a piece of lettuce leaf around a slice of cardoncello mushroom and dip with chicken rice chilli, to eat.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 150g cardoncello mushroom/king oyster mushroom, sliced
° 2 thin slices ginger
° 1½ tablespoons sesame oil
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Arrange the ginger and cardoncello mushrooms in a heatproof serving plate. Drizzle sesame oil and light soy sauce over the plate. Steam for 10 minutes.
2. Garnish with coriander and serve immediately.

Steamed Vegetarian Fish

This easy steamed dish without much work and is ideal for busy people who have little time to spare.

Preparation: 7 mins Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 2-3 (100-150g) vegetarian fish slices
° 1 tomato, cut into 6 wedges
° 2-3 thin slices ginger, finely shredded
° 1 preserved sour plum (optional)
° ½ fresh red chilli (optional), seeded and finely shredded
° 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
° ½-1 teaspoon light soy sauce
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Arrange the vegetarian fish in a heatproof serving plate. Drizzle oil, soy sauce and scatter plum, ginger and tomato over the plate. Steam for 8 minutes.
2. Garnish with coriander, chilli and serve immediately.

Tip
1. Thin slices of silken tofu and cooked Chinese dried mushrooms can be scattered before steaming, if desired.

Steamed Vegetarian Salted Fish

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
- 4-6 thin slices ginger, finely shredded
- 3 pieces vegetarian salted fish
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- salt to taste

Method
1. Put all ingredients in a plate and steam for 8-10 minutes.

Steamed Tofu with Ginger and Spring Onion

This quick and easy steamed tofu is a delicious dish. Using chilled tofu, instead of steaming it to makes a special starter, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 1 pack silken tofu, cut into quarters
° ¼ fresh red chilli, seeded and finely shredded
° 2 thin slices ginger, finely grated or chopped
° 1 spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish
° 2 teaspoons lightly toasted sesame seeds (optional)
° ½ teaspoon olive oil
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Method
1. Place the tofu in a heat proof serving plate and steam for 5 minutes.
2. Garnish steamed tofu with ginger, spring onion, chilli and sprinkle some sesame seeds.
3. Drizzle with oils, light soy sauce and serve immediately.

Tip
1. Heat the oils in a wok, add ginger and stir-fry briskly until aromatic for drizzling, if desired.