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.

Simple Gomoku Gohan (Japanese One-Pot Mixed Rice)

I had GOMOKU YASAI KAMAMESHI  @ Miyako and decided to re-create it. Well, this is like Gomoku Gohan (five ingredients mixed rice) cooked using dashi stock. To skip the process of making dashi stock, I added the ingredient for shojin dashi (fish free stock for vegetarian) which consist of shiitake and kombu plus the carrot to the rice and cooked together.

Replace chicken with king oyster mushroom or add vegetable like burdock root, bamboo shoot to it, if desired.  The light green shiraganegi (Japanese-style spring onion) thinly sliced would be the classic garnish which can impact flavour and visual appeal to this rice dish.  I had added a little too much of spring onion for garnish, reducing it a little would make it more presentable.

Kids would like this too … Serves with miso soup, pickles and few side dishes to make a complete meal set.

Preparation:     15 mins  Cooking time:            15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g rice, washed and drained

°         450ml water

°         4 chinese dried mushrooms, reconstituted and diced

°         25g carrot, peeled and shredded

°         10 kelp in knot

°         3 tablespoon light soy sauce

°         1 tablespoon cooking rice wine (optional)

°         ½  tablespoon sugar or to taste

Garnish

°         some coriander leaves or spring onion shreds 

°         sesame seeds and chilli flakes or shichimi (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 garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion, sesame seeds and chilli flake or shichmimi and serve hot.

Sandstorm Snack ...

Sandstorm Snack  

The original is just a simple glutinous rice ball but I shaped it to be like a cube after pressing the round glutinous rice ball at six sides to look like a mini cube. Then boil in boiling water (steam it, if desired) and place on a plate of glutinous rice flour (toasted in the oven) to coat it.

Lastly, into the Macha Peanut Coating and giving it after a sandstorm effect!

Hmmm … cooking can be a creative activity if you want it to be, so just unleash your creativities and imagination…. Have fun! 

Macha Peanut Coating ...

Kinako (soybean powder) coating is a basic ingredient for Warabi Mochi. And there is a different variant – Macha Kinako Coating,with green tea powder added to it (other spices like cinnamon can be used). Since I don’t have soybean powder in the kitchen, I used grounded peanut powder to make Macha Kinako Coating which is not as delicate and fine comparing to soybean powder …

From Essentially Japanese Cooking & Cuisine, Mattcha-kinako coating recipe – Mix 1 teapsoon mattcha (grean tea powder), 20g sugar and 15g kinako (soybean powder)

Winter Solstic Dessert ...

Abacus Shape Glutinous Rice Ball with grounded peanut powder …

 Mini Glutinous Rice Cake with Azuki Bean (stuff it in, if desired ...)

Sprinkle or sift some macho powder on it ...  

I am not a big fan of Glutinous Rice Ball or Dessert and why are there so many postings related to it?

Just that I haven’t got bore with photographing these mini creations using the ingredient glutinous rice flour. And I find that dessert and snack can be made more interesting with slight modifications that do not required lots of work or cost a bomb and yet can be served in a small portion to enhance a bento set or as a beautiful snack in any party menu.

Simple ingredients like glutinous rice flour which are not costly at all and yet it can be use to make mochi, mua chee, glutinous rice ball, kueh etc. With different ingredients added and methods used, it can make into different desserts/snacks with many different variants.

Must Winter Solstice Dessert which is the traditional glutinous rice ball be round (round shape symbolize 团圆), of standard size, in red and white colour, in sweet soup or coated in grounded peanut powder?

In fact, it can be unique and different … I have few other ingredients in mind that I wanted to test out when I am free …  It is quite fun, mixing the flour with water and shaping those tiny little balls and throwing them into boiling water and seeing them floating … sound like Clay Therapy …

So, be daring, create a new Winter Solstice Dessert this year and maybe a different one for every other year! 

Macha Peanut Coating! 

Kinako (soybean powder) coating is a basic ingredient for Warabi Mochi. And there is a different variant – Macha Kinako Coating,with green tea powder added to it (other spices like cinnamon can be used). Since I don’t have soybean powder in the kitchen, I used grounded peanut powder to make Macha Kinako Coating which is not as delicate and fine comparing to soybean powder …

Homemade Simplified Shichimi

Shichimi Togarshi is the Japanese spices mix that contains 7 ingredients.  For this version, I used black/white sesame seeds, 5 spices salt (or just salt and sugar) and dry chilli flake.  For a more spicier version, use more chilli flake …

Use it to garnish the dishes or as furikake (Japanese Rice Seasoning) …

Shrek's Drink ...

This creation is not new actually, Soymilk with Grass Jelly is a common combination! What I did was change the soymilk to Green Tea Soymilk as I still have some left, it gives a different colour – Green ‘N’ Black rather the traditional Milky White ‘N’ Black – maybe a little simple surprise for the kid – name it as Shrek’s Drink!

By the way, any kid can make this drink easily. I would put the grass jelly in a container, using a knife (plastic knife) and go through it in all directions, within minutes, it is all done if you don’t mind about the shape. Or use a grater to do it.

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.

Simple Claypot Noodle

Crave for claypot noodle? No problem, it can be easily done in 10 minutes. Here is the simple recipe for it.

The bad news for me, is that I broke my camera yesterday while rushing to take picture, get ready for dinner, listening and commenting on my boy’s day in school. Moral of the story – never multitasks! So until I can a new one, I might not be able to post any recipe even I have quite a long list of to-do dishes. The good news, I still have 2-3 more recipes haven’t post yet and to think positively I can have a longer break again! Thinking of spending money to get a new camera is real heartache, so to comfort myself – all things are impermanence … Any suggestions for good and reasonable price camera are always welcome, thank you :)

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 250g fresh cooked noodle, blanched
° 3-4 fresh shiitake mushrooms
° 100g cai xin, cut into small section
° 1 slice ginger
° 375ml water
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Seasoning
° 2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 3 tablespoons water
° 1 tablespoon corn flour

Method
1. Combine all seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
2. Place ginger, mushroom and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 mins.
3. Throw in the cai xin, noodle and seasoning and bring to a boil.
4. Serve immediately.

“No Gongfu” Noodle

Gongfu (Chinese 功夫 ) means long, hard and skilful work. As the title suggests, the “No Gongfu noodle” needs ry little work, and requires absolutely no skill at all! This recipe does not need any stir-frying, so any kid can just whip up this dish and impress their friends/ parents, plus you don’t have spend so much time in cleaning up the kitchen.

You don’t have to worry about not having enough oil for the stir-fry, broccoli not cooked or not acting fast enough to ensure the noodle doesn’t stick to the wok. Relating yet again to the title “No Gongfu Noodle”. You can even omit the heating of the garlic or ginger in oil and replace with just olive oil, if desired. The reason for heating the garlic or ginger in oil is to have some aroma to the noodle.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 250g broccoli florets
° 25g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 400g fresh cooked noodle
° 1 litre water
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 1 clove garlic or 1 slice ginger
° some spring onion or coriander leaves for garnish

Seasoning
° 2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 4 tablespoons light soy sauce, or to taste
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Method
1. Combine all seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
2. Place water in a pot and bring to a boil. Blanch the broccoli florets for ½ minute. Drain well and set aside.
3. Bring the pot of water to boil again. Blanch the fresh cooked noodles for 2-3 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
4. Heat oil in a wok. Fry the garlic or ginger for half a minute or until fragrant. Off heat.
5. Throw in the carrot, noodle, broccoli and seasoning. Toss well.
6. Garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Curry Lo Shi Fun

Yesterday, I was trying to teach my boy how to cook a curry noodle. Since, this is his first try, I made the recipe real simple, no fuss and just a notch up from cooking instant noodle. Standing beside him, giving all the instructions and without a few minutes we have 2 bowls of piping hot Curry Lo Shi Fun.

Ha., boys can cook too! I remember teaching ‘Teach Me To Fish’ programme in Catholic High Primary, which was organized by the Parents Support Group. Look at the primary school boys, they love the cooking sessions so much. For 2008, the programme for P6, was teaching “How to fry an egg” and I brought something extra – noodle and veggies, just in case we have too much time left as the class only had 22 pupils.

So at the end, I got Gabriel and Felix do a simple Stir-fried Noodle with Veggies and the noodle was shared among their classmates. Brandon thought that the noodle was cooked by me and told me it was delicious. When I told him, it was done by his classmates, he just could not believe it! What I enjoy most was, how these young gentlemen do the cooking, so engrossed and dedicated … And they really enjoy what they had cooked.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 300g Lo Shi Fun, blanched
° 5-6 fried bean curds, blanched and sliced
° 1 tablespoon curry powder
° ½ teaspoon chilli powder (optional), or to taste
° 3 tablespoons water
° 20 curry leaves (optional)
° 250ml water or vegetable stock
° 500ml unsweetened soy milk
° 1-1½ tablespoons olive oil
° salt to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste

Method
1. Mix the curry powder and chilli powder with 3 tablespoons of water to form curry paste and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a non-stick wok. Add in the curry leave and fry for half a minute. Stir in curry paste and fry over medium heat until fragrant.
3. Pour in water, unsweetened soy milk, fried bean curds and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt and granulated mushroom bouillon.
4. Divide Lo Shi Fun into individual serving bowls. Ladle the soup and serve immediately.

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!

Udon with Fried Bean Curd

Wow, a hot bowl of Udon with Fried Bean Curd that is simple enough for anyone to whip up. If you know how to cook a packet of Instant Noodle, I can assure you that it is not a problem at all. Simple and yet tasty – the secret – use good quality ingredients. I depend on the light soy sauce to bring some flavour to the soup and no salt is added. It will look beautiful if you add one small piece of Tang-O for garnishing.

As for the kelps, toss well with simple ingredient like sesame oil, sugar, salt and sesame seeds, you will have a nutritious side dish.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 pack (200g) udon noodle, cooked according to instructions on the packet
° 1-2 fried bean curds, blanched and sliced
° 10 dried kelps in knot
° 2 thin slices ginger
° 500ml water
° 2½ tablespoons light soy sauce, or to taste
° ¼ teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
° finely shredded spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish
° some roasted sesame seed (optional), to garnish

Method
1. Place the dried kelps, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste with light soy sauce and sesame oil. Discard the kelps or use it to makes a seasoned kelps side dish.
2. Transfer the udon and fried bean curd in a bowl. Ladle the soup and sprinkle some spring onion or coriander leaves and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Mushroom Bibimbap (Kids Version)

Mushroom Bibimbap (Kids Version) served with Doenjang (Korean Soybean Paste), Shredded Nori and Crispy Wonton Strips

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

This recipe is actually derived from Mushroom Bibimbap! As some kids do not like spicy food, I have replaced the Gochujang (Korean Hot Bean Paste) with Doenjang (Korean Soybean Paste).

Kids love Deep-fried food which are crispy and produce a lovely sound when they munch on it. So, I added a little plate of Crispy Wonton Strips together with some Korean Seaweed. It can be eaten on its own or added to the rice.

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!

Oh yeah, don’t forget to let the kids have some fun – use a BIGGER bowl, so that the kids can mix and toss all the ingredients without messing up the dinning table – learning how to “stir-fry” rice like a chef! Get the kid to wash the rice and cook it too, if they want to help out.

Preparation: 20 mins, Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
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
° Doenjang (Korean Soybean 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 Doenjang.

Noodles with 'Feng Cheng Toon Vegetarian Chops’

HA! You don’t need any cooking skill to whip up this dish. Just blanched the yellow noodle in boiling water and drained. Next, add ‘Feng Cheng Toon Vegetarian Chops’ (香椿素食肉燥), no other seasoning or oil is required. Toss well and enjoy a simple bowl of noodle.

For garnishing, some toasted sesame seeds or freshly chopped spring onion or sliced Lady’s Finger (blanched).

Quick Instant Udon

A cube of preserved tofu/fermented tofu

This was an accidental discovery. Few days back, I just dump half a pack of udon which had been left in the refrigerator for quite awhile into a pot of water and bring to a boil. A bottle of fermented beancurd (preserved tofu) was left on the dinning table which I forgotten to put back in the refrigerator. So, I just took a cube of preserved tofu and mixed in. It turn out, not a bad choice! If you find this too simple, you can add silken tofu, season with sesame oil and/or granulated mushroom bouillon. A hot bowl of udon in less than 10 minutes.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 pack (200g) udon noodle
° 3 cubes preserved tofu, mashed
° 450ml water
° ¼ teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
° small handful nori shreds
° small handful freshly chopped spring onion (optional)

Method
1. Place the udon in a pot or wok with water and bring to a boil.
2. Stir in the mashed preserved tofu and mix well.
3. Transfer to a bowl. Garnish with shredded nori, sesame seeds, and spring onions serve hot.

Bread Sushi

It is fabulously simple!

Trim the crusts of the white bread. Then place the bread on the nori sheet. Spread some vegan mayonnaise or vegetarian salad cream evenly on the bread. Place a Japanese cucumber strip on the bread and start rolling …

Oh yeah, seal the edge with some mayonnaise and cut into 3cm pieces or eat it as a whole roll.

Simple Mayo Corn

Simple and easy plus tasty. The secret to sweet and delicious mayonnaise is to use fresh corn on the cob.

Preparation: 2 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 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. Put the corn kernels in a heatproof serving plate and steam for 8-10 minutes.
2. Remove from streamer and leave to cool.
3. Mix well with mayonnaise and serve or serve chilled.