Angel 'N' Penne playing with Curry Leaves

This was an impromptu creation for dinner last night using whatever left over ingredients I have. Therefore, I didn't even write down the quality used for each ingredient. It was only after cooking, those curry leaves look so harmonize with the pasta, radiate a kind of simple beautiful energy that captured my heart.  Therefore I took a picture of it and share it with you.  

It could be I was experiencing a feeling of great satisfaction yesterday. I went for my 9th blood donation at Blood Bank [yep, passed haemoglobin check, Thalassemia Minor have a much higher requirement than normal person]. 

I have small vein and the staff nurse was surprised that my blood flow so smooth and fast that within 3 mins 47 secs, they collected 450ml of my blood (weight 45-50kg only 350ml blood will be taken, > 50kg 450ml blood will be taken). The fastest record according to her was a guy with big vein within 3 mins 20 secs.  The friendly staff-nurse really knows how to bring surprises to me.

Could it be the vegetarian diet or could it be I have drink lots of plain water prior to the blood donation that resulted such an uncongested good flow? I don't really know.

Few days back, I just attended an EFT (Emotional Freedom Workshop) conducted by Ms Tan Hwee San (Counsellor and Healer), learning a little about Emotional Acupressure and Energy Psychology. On my way to the blood bank which was about 1 hour train journey and having nothing to do, I started to do some simple tapping near the end points of my energy circuits or meridians. Maybe, that also helps to create that small wonder too.

Back to this pasta, it calls for pasta, minced garlic (optional), curry leaves fried in olive oil, salt and curry power for garnishing.  So just play with any ingredients, have no expectation and be surprise by the outcome ... 

Aonori Ko Aglio Olio

Aglio Olio is a real simple to whip up pasta dish and yet simply great.  The minced garlic lightly stir-fry in olive oil add a wonderful aroma and taste to it.  I like to make it real spicy using chilli padi or use dried chilli flake if I run out of fresh chilli padi.  I have a similar recipe Shell Pasta with Dried Chilli Flake that used dried chilli flake but for the above Aglio Olio, I added Anori Ko to add more nutrition values to it!

There are so many way to play with food like garnish it with julienne nori  and Shichimi Togarishi or garnish with Edamame soybean with black sesame seeds,  so have fun and create your own unique or fusion  pasta.

Potatoes ‘N’ Veggie Salad with Paprika Mock Floss Furikake

Potatoes Salad with a different twist 

As filling for Sandwiches ...

Paprika Mock Floss as always be used in Potatoes Salad to give it a new twist and you can also use it as filling for sandwiches! No Mock Floss for this furikake, just omit it! For children who do not take spicy food, omit the chilli flakes. This would be a good dish to introduce children to eat raw vegetables like celery, carrot and onion cut into tiny bits and by mixing them with cooked potatoes.

Preparation:      15 mins Cooking time:    15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

°         2 potatoes, peeled, cubed and steamed

°         2 stalks celery, chopped or diced

°         1 onion (optional), chopped

°         ½ carrot, peeled and chopped

°         mayonnaise/vegetarian salad cream or to taste

°         salt and pepper to taste

°         Paprika Mock Floss Furikake to taste 

Method

1.       Combine all ingredients in a salad bowl and mix well. Serve chilled.

Mini Tofu Balls

This is not a new recipe, I just use the old recipe created in Mar 07  - Crispy Tofu Balls.

Explore old recipe … Experiment with a new presentation … Exchange ideas … new appealing dishes Evolved ... So, just be daring and start enjoying the fun.

By serving this cutie mini tofu ball wrapped in lettuce leaves, it becomes a finger food and a perfect item for parties! It gives a light and healthy appeal. A homemade special dipping sauce which can be as simple as spicy mayo sauce or mixing tomatoes and chilli sauce or change around the sauces, mixing and matching, would add a new twist to it.  Replace lettuce leaves with few julienned carrot, green mango and alfalfa, then team with green mango salad sauce, if desired.

This little cuties tofu ball can be served with Tomatoes and Herbs Sauce Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Herbs Sauce

Or add few of these tofu balls to the Spaghetti with Tomatoes Sauce Spaghetti with Tomatoes Sauce, to make a more complete meal.

Is Veg*n Food is bland and boring? Nay! We can even re-invent those Traditional Veg*n Food and make it New Style Vegetarian Cuisine.

p.s. A little secret! In fact, I didn’t purposely re-do these tofu balls, it was some left over when I used them for creating the Tofu Cabbage Roll … then I started playing with the lettuce leaves and homemade pasta tomatoes sauce I have in the kitchen with these deep-fried tofu balls …

Matcha Power Fries

Haha! After trying out with the crispy healthy curry shoestring fries, felt like creating a totally different taste of fries for kids that does not eat spicy food. Matcha Powder!  

Mixing the matcha powder (green tea powder) and oil with the fries, instead of deep-frying, just threw them into the oven toaster. The end result is fries in an interesting shade of green. Any dipping sauce, again anything you desire. To go with the greeny theme, add wasabi to the salad cream or mayo, if it is not served to kid.

In fact, to make French Fries more colourful and exciting, mix or serves 3 different types of Fries, Original(yellow in colour), Matcha Fries (green in colour) and Curry Fries (red/orange in colour) in a plate!

Preparation: 3 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)

 100g fries

 ½ teaspoon matcha powder/green tea powder

 1 teaspoon oil

 salt to taste

 Few basil leaves or curry leaves (optional), deep-fried

Method

1. Combine the fries and matcha powder in a bowl and mix well.

2. Drizzle the oil over the fries and mix well.

3. Place the fries in the over toaster and toast for 15 minutes or till crispy.

4. Sprinkle some salt, garnish with fried basil leaves and serve immediately.

Healthy Curry Shoestring Fries

Read about curry version fries that have spicy powder sprinkled on them. Happen to have a pack of fries in the freezer and decided to play with it. Mixing the curry powder and oil with the fries, instead of deep-frying which can make my kitchen real oily, I threw them into the oven toaster. These make cooking fries so much simpler and yet with a new twist. What dipping sauce to go with this, anything you desired. If you like spicy food, add some curry powder to the salad cream or mayo.

Preparation: 3 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)

 100g fries

 ½ teaspoon curry powder

 1 teaspoon oil

 salt to taste

 Few basil leaves or curry leaves (optional), deep-fried

Method

1. Combine the fries and curry powder in a bowl and mix well.

2. Drizzle the oil over the fries and mix well.

3. Place the fries in the over toaster and toast for 15 minutes or till crispy.

4. Sprinkle some salt, garnish with fried basil leaves and serve immediately.

Oriental Spaghetti

This is a spaghetti dish improvised from the earlier recipe - Hokkien Mee with Tomato and Chilli Sauce. Instead of using the yellow noodle, spaghetti is been used. The vegetarian fishball is added to create the East meets West fusion. And with lots of lettuce and carrot added, it increases the fiber intake. Healthy, delicious and yet simple to whip up.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g spaghetti, cook according to the instruction on the packet
° 150g-200g iceberg lettuce, finely shredded
° 50g carrot, peeled and finely shredded
° 2 vegetarian fishballs (optional), blanched
° a small handful fresh spring onion or fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
° 2 tablespoons olive oil
° 4 tablespoons ketchup or tomatoes sauce
° 2 tablespoons chilli sauce
° salt to taste (optional)

Method
1. Divide the lettuce and carrot into individual serving plates.
2. Place the spaghetti, oil, ketchup/tomatoes sauce, chilli sauce and salt in a big bowl. Toss evenly. To serve, divide the spaghetti between serving plates. Garnish with some spring onion, coriander and vegetarian fishball.
3. Serve immediately.

Thunder Tea Pasta

Thunder Tea Pasta with Deep-fried Temeh

Improvised from Thunder Tea Rice - the Famous Hakka Cuisine, the paste that used for the soup can be used for fried rice and pasta too. For this recipe, I like angel hair pasta a lots, because it does not required lots cooking time.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g angel hair pasta, cooked
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° salt to taste
° pepper to taste (optional)
° ½ teaspoon green tea powder (optional), or to taste
° 1-1½ teaspoons roasted/toasted white sesame seeds
° 1-2 red chilli padi, sliced
° some pine nuts (optional)

Thunder Tea Paste
° 25g basil leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 25g mint leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 25g coriander
° 1 slice ginger
° 60ml water

Method
1. Place the basil leaves, mint leaves, coriander, and ginger in a multi-chopper with 60ml of water. Blend well and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat and fry thunder tea paste for a moment.
3. Stir in the cooked angel hair pasta. Season to taste with salt, pepper and green tea powder. Toss evenly and divide between individual serving plates.
4. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and pine nuts on top. Garnish with red chilli and serve immediately.

Spaghetti with Curry Leaves and Chilli

Spaghetti with Curry Leaves and Chilli with a plate of steamed vegetarian prawn

Another one of my East meets West dish, this consists of simple blend of curry leaves and chilli tossed in olive oil. This is improvised version of the Pasta Aglio Olio, using curry leaves to replace garlic. To make it more exotic, sprinkle some curry powder on it. Use fresh red chilli if chilli padi is too fiery and use Angel Hair instead of spaghetti which requires much shorter cooking time.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g spaghetti or angel hair
° 2 tablespoons olive oil
° 2-3 red chilli padi, finely sliced
° 4 sprigs curry leaves
° salt and black pepper, to taste
° a pinch curry powder (optional)

Method
1. Cook the spaghetti or angel hair according to packet instructions.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Stir fry the curry leaves and chilli for 1 minute or until slightly crispy. Add in the spaghetti and toss evenly with salt and black pepper. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water if it is too dry.
3. Divide between individual serving plates or bowls. Sprinkle curry powder and serve immediately.

Angel Hair with Mushroom and Nori

This is an East meets West dish, mixing shredded nori with pasta. It is simple and quite straight forward to cook. You can use commercial shredded nori for convenience.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g angel hair pasta
° 100-125g cardoncello mushroom/king oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced
° 1 nori sheet, toasted and finely shredded
° 1 tablespoon white/black sesame seeds
° 2½ tablespoons olive oil
° 1 tablespoon water, boiled
° salt and pepper, to taste

Method
1. Mix cardoncello mushroom with pinch of salt and dash of olive oil. Baked in toaster oven or oven for 10 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Set aside.
2. Cook angel hair pasta according to packet instructions. Toss pasta evenly with salt, water and olive oil. Divide between individual serving plates or bowls.
3. To serve, top with baked cardoncello mushroom, nori shreds and sprinkle some sesame seeds.

Vegan Oatmeal “Butter Prawn” Pasta

Oatmeal Butter Prawn is a popular dish in the restaurants in Singapore. And Pasta is a popular dish in the West. By matching and mixing them together, an “East Meet West” Dish is derived. Just cook the pasta, toss it with salt and olive oil. Add the Oatmeal “Butter Prawn” on top of it ( refer to the recipe Vegan Oatmeal Butter Prawn).

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 3)
° 150g pasta or angel hair
° 2 thin slices of ginger or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
° 2 tablespoons olive oil
° 50ml water
° salt and pepper, to taste

° 6 Vegan Oatmeal Butter Prawns

Method
1. Cook pasta or angel hair according to packet instructions and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan. Stir fry the ginger or garlic until fragrant. Add the cooked pasta. Season with water, salt, pepper and toss evenly.
3. Transfer to individual serving dish and top with the vegetarian pawns. Serve immediately.

Spaghetti with Tomatoes Sauce

Spaghetti with Tomatoes Sauce with carrot, onion, mushroom and vegetarian ham

Spaghetti with Tomatoes Sauce is a simple pasta dish, so delicious and healthy. The great amount of fresh tomatoes used is to reduce the ketchup sauce used and to increase the intake of fiber for a healthy diet.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 3)
° 12 tomatoes
° 2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, coarsely chopped
° 1 slice vegetarian bacon or ham (optional), coarsely chopped

° 2 vegetarian monkey head mushroom(optional), coarsely chopped

° 150-200ml water
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 2 tablespoons ketchup or tomatoes sauce
° 1 teaspoon cornflour (optional)
° 300g cooked spaghetti
° salt and light soy sauce to taste

Method
1. Cut a cross in the top of each tomato. Place the tomatoes in a pot or wok of boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes. Drain well, peel and mash tomatoes with a fork to make purees.
2. Heat work with olive oil, add the bacon/ham, mushrooms and stir-fry till cooked. Stir in the tomatoes purees and water, stirring occasionally and cooked till it boils. Season with sugar, pepper, salt, ketchup. Mix cornflour with a bit of water and add to thicken the sauce if required.
3. Pour the sauce over the spaghetti and serve immediately.

Tip
1. Carrot, onion can be added, if desired.