Another Winter Melon with Miso Soup

Having over 650 recipes, I really cannot remember what I had created and have long stop printing out a hardcopy (or tag the photo index to them). It was only I had whip up this soup and starting to type out the recipe that I discovered that I have something rather similar - winter-melon-miso-soup! Anyway, this is yummy too. Next round, maybe I should try to marry matcha with miso.

Sometimes, I am thinking, maybe this is more than enough, even if I re-cook one dish per day, it needs more than 1 year to complete them. However, this does not mean, there are no more veg*n dishes to be created, in fact, there are still a lots more even we doesn’t need to veg*nise those meat dishes. Even by glancing through non-vegetarian cookbooks, those beautiful photo of the dishes, the presentation, the colour can easily inspired one to come up with a new veg*n dish.

Living in a Food Paradise country, there is a saying if you love Asia Food and can only go to one place, make it Singapore. Over the years, by intermingling of ingredients and spices from nearby cultures and also internationally, lead to Singapore’s distinctive fusion cooking that might not be easily found in Asia at this level. And the surviving of diversified Veg*n culinary in Singapore where a nation past time is eating, is a BIG achievement. That tell something – Veg*n food here is excellent.

Today, the veg*n food here is moving up another level, it is not just limited to hawker’s food or street food , it is now going into a new trend - wholesome organic food, fine food, tonic food and in future, we might find more and more good up-scale Veg*n Cuisine restaurants as the world is moving towards a more healthier lifestyle and going meatless more often.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 150g winter melon, thinly sliced
° 75g king oyster mushroom, thinly sliced
° 25g carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
° 1 tablespoon wolfberries, soaked
° 1 slice ginger
° 750ml water
° 1 tablespoon miso paste or to taste
° freshly chopped spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish
° 2 slices fresh red chilli (optional), finely chopped for garnish

Method
1. Place the winter melon, mushroom, carrot, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until the ingredients are soften.
2. Add in the wolfberries and season to taste with miso paste.
3. Ladle into individual serving bowls, garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves and chilli.
4. Serve immediately.

Vegetarian Cabbage Kimchi

Homemade kimchi
kimchi paste

A bowl of Bean Vermicelli cooked with homemade kimchi

Wanted to try out making kimchi last year, only tested it out recently. My second try and I omit fish sauce and added vinegar. And I used the normal chilli powder which is easily purchase from the supermarket rather than the Korean Chilli powder which is much preferred. If you consume garlic, add garlic to this and adjust the marinade ingredients per each individual preference. Feel like simplifying this further to make "mock" kimchi ...

Preparation: 20 mins, plus standing times 24 hrs

Ingredients (makes 300g)

° 300g Chinese cabbage
° 1 litre water
° 50g salt

For marinade
° 25g chilli powder
° 25g carrot shreds
° 25g radish shreds
° 25g ginger
° 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
° 1½ tablespoons salt
° 1 tablespoon sugar

Method
1. Mix the marinade ingredients well in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Make a deep cut across the base of the head of Chinese cabbage and split it in two, if it is a whole. Place the cabbage in a big bowl, cover with 1 litre of water and adding 50g salt to it. Leave it to stand for 4 hours. Remove and rinse the cabbage and squeeze dry.
3. Place the cabbage on a large plate and coat and spread the marinade on each layer of leaves. Ensuring that the marinade mixture get evenly between the leaves and no leaf is left uncovered.
4. Roll the cabbage up and use the outer leaf of the cabbage to wrap tightly around the other leaves to help the seasoning permeate throughout the whole.
5. Place the cabbage in an airtight container and leave it at room temperature for few hours and place it in the refrigerator for 1 day.

Simplified Dry Tom Yum Vermicelli

This might be a good, pretty simple to whip up and yet impressive item for party or fun fair, as all the ingredients can be prepared in advance and just mixed them prior to serving and it will not go wrong at all even without any stir-frying.

This can also be an item that can be given to your helpful guests who want to help out in your party or easy task for little boys and girls to do. Remember to taste and add more lime juice or tom yum paste if necessary. Use shallot oil instead of olive oil, have some fresh shallot slices, if desired. Pea shoots is too common to add as addition green veggies for this dish, try something else … julienned green mango or something that does not required too much work …

How about putting in a beautiful bento box with some fruit/veggie salad or a cup of lovely smoothies/juices/soya blends plus crispy cracker and take it to work for lunch?

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-8)
° 150g rice vermicelli, cooked according to packet’s instruction
° 1 firm tofu, cubed and pan-fried
° 1 stalk lemongrass, peel off outer layers leaving tender whitish centre, cut out 5cm, thinly sliced
° 5-6 kaffir lime leaves, finely cut/snip just before using
° 25g carrot, shredded
° some fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
° 1 fresh red chilli or 3 chilli padi, sliced
° some toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Tom Yum Sauce
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 2 tablespoons vegetarian tom yum paste or to taste
° 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or to taste
° 2 tablespoons (4 limes) freshly squeezed kalamansi lime juice
° 4 tablespoons (60ml) water
° ¾ tablespoon sugar or to taste

Method
1. Place the Tom Yum sauce ingredients in a bowl and mixed well.
2. In a big bowl, throw in the vermicelli, corianders, chilli, tofu, carrot, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves.
3. Pour the Tom Yum sauce over, toss and mix well. Sprinkle some water if it is too dry. Taste and add more Tom Yum Paste (more fiery and spicy) or lime juice, if necessary. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.

My Miso Japanese Ramen (Vegetarian/Vegan)

Miso Ramen with okra, shiitake mushroom and carrot toppings Miso Ramen with nori shreds, shanghai green, mock meat and carrot toppings

Have I gone crazy about Ramen? No, not me! Just to finish up all the Ramen that was sitting in the freezer, so I decide to have a different variant – Miso. Miso Broth for Japanese Ramen is common. Veg*n version is not difficult to recreate. Of course, if you have good broth, it definitely gives this dish a boost. As for the shiitake mushroom and okra, you can blanch them in the broth prior to adding miso and rice wine to broth.

Oh yeah, keep the kelps to make a Seasoned Kelps side dish or added to this Miso Ramen if desired. Shredded kelps might looks more appealing compare to kelps in knots.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 Japanese Ramen, cooked
° 2 okra, sliced lengthwise and blanched
° 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, blanched
° 10 slices carrot, for garnish
° some freshly spring onion, shredded or chopped

Broth
° small handful kelps in knot
° 3 slices ginger
° 750ml water
° 1 tablespoon miso or to taste
° 1 tablespoon rice wine (optional)

Method
1. Place the kelps, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove all the ingredients. Season to taste with miso and rice wine.
2. Meanwhile, place the ramen in each individual bowl, top okra, mushroom, spring onion and carrot.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

Dried Japanese Ramen (Vegetarian/Vegan)

This is real simple! What you need to do is to cook the Japanese Ramen based on the instruction given on the packaging. Using Vegetarian BBQ Sauce沙茶酱) to transform it to a bowl of palatable Dried Japanese Ramen. Add a bit of olive oil to the Ramen so that it does not stick together. Or add some vegetable stock to make it tastier. As for the topping, any ingredients you prefer. I like to use King Oyster Mushroom, as it is easily available and the price is reasonable, it gives some textures to this dish. Opt for Bailing Mushroom (which has the abalone texture) specially braised if prefer to give a more posh feel. Pair this with a decent small bowl of soup to make it perfect!

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 Japanese Ramen, cooked
° 50g king oyster mushroom, sliced and blanced/cooked
° 10 slices carrot, for garnish
° some freshly spring onion, shredded or chopped
° Vegetarian BBQ sauce (沙茶酱) to taste

Method
1. Place the ramen in each individual bowl, top with the king oyster mushroom, spring onion, carrot and Vegetarian BBQ sauce. Serving bowls and serve immediately.

Scrumptious Japanese Ramen (Vegetarian/Vegan)

HA! I finally whipped up a bowl of delicious Japanese Ramen at home using whether ingredients that I can find in the refrigerator late last evening!

It is difficult to find Japanese Ramen here in Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian eateries. In best Ramen eateries (non-vegetarian), the soup broth is a Big NO-NO for veg*n as it calls for pork bone or fish even if they offer Veggie Ramen or Mushroom Ramen! As for the Vegetarian eateries, there are serving China Ramen style and not the Japanese Ramen.

Use your own version vegetable stock or mushroom stock, if desired. I added a distinctive seasoning (e.g Vegetarian BBQ Sauce沙茶酱) to transform the quick vegetable broth into a restaurant-quality Ramen. As for the topping, be inventive and flexible, lady-finger, alfalfa with avocado, lettuce shreds, snow peas, veggies tempura, mint, nori, kelps, wolfberries, it can be any fine ingredients as long as it goes well with Ramen in taste and the whole presentation.

As for the broth, you can add cabbage or kelps or soy beans, and cook longer to extract the sweetness from these ingredients. For an impatient person like me, I chopped up the vegetable into small pieces and shorten it to half an hour. You can use miso, tom yum or whatever for the broth … feel like making another Ramen for lunch ...

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 Japanese Ramen, cooked
° 50g king oyster mushroom, sliced
° 10 slices carrot, for garnish
° some freshly spring onion, shredded or chopped
° 4-6 pieces agedashi tofu or deep-fried tofu

Broth
° 2 stalks celery, sliced
° 1 (100g) carrot, sliced
° 6 seedless red dates
° 3 slices ginger

° 1 litre water
° salt to taste
° 1 tablespoon Vegetarian BBQ sauce (沙茶酱)or to taste

Method
1. Place the celery, carrot, red dates, king oyster mushroom, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove the king oyster mushroom and set aside. Discard the rest of the vegetable. Season to taste with salt and Vegetarian BBQ sauce.
2. Meanwhile, place the ramen in each individual bowl, top with the king oyster mushroom, agedashi tofu, spring onion and carrot.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

Corn and Broccoli Mixed Rice

This simple recipe is created for fussy little kid or kid who does not eat much veggies, by presenting food in smaller portion and interestingly. The yellow and green veggie might not look that attractive, but feel free to experiment with other types of colourful veggies and create your very own unique mixed rice for your little prince and princess. Get them to name it or create their own rice with favorites tasty ingredients, to make the process more fun.

Is this small amount of veggie enough? Of course not, go with a glass of thirst-quenching frothy veggie/fruity beverage to make it a wholesome, health enhancing meal. Isn’t it perfect! Oh, there is no scientific evidence supporting the claim that fruit should be eaten two hours after a meal for the purpose of maximizing nutritional benefits as published in mindyourbody 10 Oct 2007 by a Nutritionist.. So, no more worries.


Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 bowl hot steam rice
° 25g fresh corn kennel, blanched
° 50g broccoli florets, blanched and separated
° 1-2 slices carrot (optional), blanched
° some deep-fried ginger shreds (optional), for garnish.
° some toasted black/white sesame seeds, for garnish

Method
1. Put the rice, corn and broccoli in a bowl and mix well. Garnish with ginger shred, carrot and sesame seeds.

Rooty Veggie Yusheng

Time Flies! It is long past Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) and I just had “Yusheng” ! Isn’t “Yuseng” mix ONLY available during Chinese New Year period? At the moment, Yes!

And I just really can’t understand why it can’t be served all year round just like Rice Dumpling for Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Festival in Mandarin). Salad lover will like this I guess and it is definitely good to share such lovely stuff with other Vegetarians/Vegans around the World.

I don’t know, maybe, having it as a daily affair, it loses its “special occasion kind of feeling”. Just like we lost the great enthusiasm toward Chinese New Year when we don’t have to wait till Chinese New Year to feast and don nice clothing …

Back to this Yusheng - How did I have this “Yusheng” Mix? In fact, I bought it in February early this year, as one of the surprise special gifts to someone who came over to Singapore from Italy in March. We were supposed to meet, but we were at the same meeting place and at the same time, but missed the chance of meeting each other.

Therefore, this pack of Yusheng Mix (expiry: end of 2009) was still with me until few days back when I finally decided to do another different type of Yusheng (not the Traditional Yusheng or Fruit Yusheng) but using ONLY root vegetables (Beet Root, Yam Bean and Lotus Root). It was appetizing …

Beet Root strained the other ingredients, what can be done here is to cut the root beet into shreds and leave it in the refrigerator to “dehydrate” it a little, so that it is not so "watery".

As for the Lotus root, slice them thinly (the hole pattern looks so beautiful) and put them in water with a few drops of vinegar added, if desired. You can also deep-fry it to make Lotus Root Chips that can be eaten on it own or use it for garnishing or add to a bowl of piping hot Ramen cooked with scrumptious Herbal/Vegetable stock …

Let your creative juices flow, look around the kitchen, mix and match the ingredients, and having unique and delectable dishes is so simple, easy and full of surprises …

The Universe of Vegetarian Cuisine is so vast and yet undiscovered …

The Art of Being a Creative Vegetarian No-Cook: Peanut and Lotus Root Congee

The Art of Being a Creative Vegetarian No-Cook! Let me share a little secret here, how to enjoy a piping hot Peanut and Lotus Root Congee, if you can’t find any Vegetarian Eatery offering this dish!

Very Simple. The trick is to get (take away) Peanut and Lotus Root Soup from a Vegetarian Stall. Next, in your own kitchen, take out ½ rice cup of washed and frozen rice grain. Throw the soup and rice grain into a claypot,bring to a boil and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes.

When the congee is ready, just garnish with some fresh coriander which is optional. Add pepper if desired.

What’s next ?- Eat directly from the claypot of course (save the task of washing another bowl, be nice to Mother Earth) ...

Do you need to be an expert in cooking? No, Everybody, even young kids can do this simple task! It is similar to cooking instant congee!

So, next time, if you find a stall that sell palatable Peanut and Lotus Root Soup, get some home and frozen it till you need to whip up a quick meal or when a cold or sore throat attack.

I got mine from Eight Immortals @ Causeway Point (Woodlands) – Horizon Food Mall, Level 5 @ S$3 for a big bowl.

Bitter Gourd and Tofu Soup

The colour of this soup looks beautiful, green, orange, white and maroon! And most importantly, it is simple to whip up. Here is some cool fact about Bitter Gourd or Bitter Melon:

Bitter gourds are very low in calories but dense with precious nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, and B3, C, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and has high dietary fiber. It is rich in iron, contains twice the beta-carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, and twice the potassium of a banana.
Bitter melon contains a unique phyto-constituent that has been confirmed to have a hypoglycemic effect called charantin. There is also another insulin-like compound known as polypeptide P which has been suggested as insulin replacement in some diabetic patients.
Source: http://www.juicing-for-health.com/bitter-gourd-benefits.html

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 100g bitter gourd, sliced
° 1 (125g) firm tofu, cubed
° 25g carrot, sliced
° 6 seedless red dates (optional)
° 1 slice ginger
° 750ml water or vegetable stock
° salt and pepper, to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste
° crispy ginger shreds (optional)

Method
1. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the bitter gourd slices and mix well. Let it stands for 10-15 minutes and rinse off the salt. Drain well and set aside.
2. Place the ginger, water/vegetable stock, red dates in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add in bitter gourd, tofu, carrot and bring to a boil for 2 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper and granulated mushroom bouillon.
4. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with crispy ginger shreds and serve immediately.

Simple Rice Soup

This is an easy-to-prepare clear rice soup. Don’t discard the kelp, use it to make a mini side dish – Seasoned Kelp http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/seaweed-salad.html.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 bowl cooked plain white
° 10 kelps in knot
° 5 seedless red dates (optional)
° 1 slice ginger
° 500 ml water or vegetable stock
° salt and pepper to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste
° few drops sesame/shallot oil (optional)
° small handful freshly chopped coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish
° 1-1½ tablespoons vegetarian meat floss
° some nori shreds
° small handful freshly chopped spring onion (optional)

Method
1. Place kelps, ginger, red dates and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the kelps, red dates and ginger. Season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated mushroom bouillon and sesame/shallot oil.
2. Place a bowl of rice on a serving plate, top with vegetarian meat floss and nori shreds. Garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion.
3. Ladle the soup on the bottom of the rice and serve immediately.

Rooty & Fruity Pink Salad

Another simple salad using beets which has been identified as a nutritional powerhouse and high in folate, manganese and potassium. The beet root will strain the yam bean, therefore making this salad pink (2 different shades) after mixing. Replace green mango with Japanese cucumber, if desired. The sweet pineapple gives a refresh sweet and sour taste to it. And adding mint leaves gave a different favour. For this salad, I added rice cereals too!

Preparation: 8-10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 25g beetroot shreds
° 25g green mango shreds
° 25g yam bean shreds
° 10g pineapple shreds
° 3 tablespoons rice cereals
° few mint leaves, finely chopped

Salad Dressing
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian salad cream/ vegan mayonnaise, to taste
° 1 tablespoon vinegar, to taste
° 1 teaspoon sugar, to taste

Method
1. Combine all salad dressing ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
2. Arrange the beetroot, green mango, yam bean, pineapple in a serving plate. Garnish with mint leaves.
3. Add the salad dressing and sprinkle the rice cereals over it. Serve immediately.

Dried Green Curry Udon

I had cooked this dish "It's OK to be Wrong" Dried Green Curry Udon before but was a failure. Finally, I gave it another try it. Slightly better than the previous creation. In fact, some deep-fried tofu mini cube or toasted tempeh cube or mushroom or young corn can be added. Replace the udon with pasta, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 pack (200g) udon noodle, blanched
° 20g basil leaves
° 1 kaffir lime leave (optional)
° 1 tablespoon green curry paste
° 1 tablespoon olive oil
° 125ml fresh coconut milk or soy milk
° salt to taste
° 2 dried chilli, sliced and pan fried/toasted

Method
1. Combine the basil leaves and coconut milk in a blender and blend. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the green curry paste, kaffir lime leaves and fry till fragrant.
3. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt.
4. Add in the udon and mix well.
5. Garnish with dried chilli and serve immediately.

Salted Vegetable Soup with Tom Yum Paste

Beginning of this year, I had a salted vegetable and tofu soup from Lotus Heart Tea House ( closed now :( ) in Chinatown. It tastes a little special and I think it had added Tom Yum paste to it. Therefore, I tried to recreate this but I choose to use king oyster mushroom instead of tofu just for fun. Use silken tofu, or deep fried firm tofu, if desired. If you want to taste how it likes and not wants to cook it, maybe you can try something a little bit similar at Naïve http://www.naivecompany.com/ , they serve a much better dish - “Ugly Duckling”. It is not soup but a dish that had tofu, specially cook fresh mustard with tom yam taste I think.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 50 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 125g-150g salted preserved mustard, cut into pieces and blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes
° 100g king oyster mushroom, cubed
° 2 (100g) tomatoes, cut into 4 wedges
° 2 slices ginger
° 750ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 teaspoon white peppercorn
° 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
° 1 teaspoon vegetarian tom yum paste
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves or spring onion (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place the salted preserved mustard, mushroom, ginger, water and pepper corn in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Throw in the tomatoes and bring to boil for 3 minutes. Season to taste with light soy sauce and vegetarian tom yum paste.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion and serve hot.

Vegetarian "Century Egg" Congee (Version 2)

When I first created the Veg*n Century Egg Congee (using Avocado & Shiitake Mushroom to replace century egg) in 2007, I have thought of using Grass Jelly (Chin Chow) instead of shitake mushroom. Finally, gave it a try some time back.

It is even much easier, just cook some plain congee with vegetable stock or season with mushroom bouillon. Prior to serving, adding the avocado dices and grass jelly! That’s it!

Frozen the rice grain (washed) for few hours in the freezer before cooking the congee, it helps to speed up the cooking time and all you need is about 15 – 20 minutes.

Little White and Brown Shimeji in Muddy SPA

This is supposed to be a stir-fried dish! But to simplify it, just blanch the mushroom in boiling water and mix well with the simple seasoning. And that’s! real simple and even the kid can whip this up. The water used for blanching the mushroom, can be used to make a quick miso soup or for blanching other vegetables etc. Mushroom is a great alternative for children that are not too keen on green. Plus it is high in protein and low in fat.

Preparation: 5 mins Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g white shimeji mushroom, base trimmed and separated
° 100g Buna shimeji mushroom, base trimmed and separated
° fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Seasoning
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce or to taste
° 2 tablespoons warm water
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method
1. Combine all the seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
2. Blanch the mushroom in a pot of boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Drain well.
3. Stir in the seasoning sauce and mix well. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.

Quick Pumpkin Clear Soup

Simple and easy, because I am lazy and does not have much time lately! Have to come back to spend more time on recipes ... For a different twist, use miso paste to replace all the seasoning … I accidentally put a little more oil in the soup for the picture taking, oil can be omited.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 125g pumpkin (weight after peeling), small chunks
° 10 kelps in knots
° 6 seedless red dates
° 1 slice ginger
° 375ml water or vegetable stock
° salt and pepper to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste
° sesame oil or fragrant oil (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place the pumpkin, kelps, red dates, ginger and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.
2. Season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated mushroom bouillon and sesame or fragrant oil.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.

Apple of My Eye Shake

Green Apple … This is good for kid who does not like to eat sour fruit, by adding it to soymilk and it tastes better ...

Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 3 green apples, peeled and chopped
° 500ml fresh soy milk (reduced sugar)

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Taste it, add more sugar, if necessary. Chilled or serve with ice.

Red Date with Nata De Coco, Sterculia and Agar Agar Dessert

Great the uploading problem in Blogger is resolved! Fell in love with the combination of Nata De Coco, Sterculia and Red Agar Agar. It looks lovely and yummy too. To make this dessert more nutritious, I used red dates.

Preparation: 5 mins, standing time 30 mins, Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 12 seedless red dates
° 500ml water
° 2 pandan leaves (screwpine), tied into a knot
° 1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
° 2 sterculia seeds/mollow nut, lightly bruised
° 50g-75g agar agar (jelly), cubed
° 360g Nata De Coco

Method
1. Soak sterculia seeds in ample water for 20-30 minutes until the flesh has expanded into a loose, jelly like mass. Peel off and discard the skin. Drain well and set aside.
2. Place the red dates, water and pandan leaves in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in sugar and discard pandan leaves.
3. Mix all the ingredients and ladle into individual bowl.
4. Serve hot or chilled.

Veggie & Fruity Salad

We had this simple yet wonderful salad at KMSPKS. We like it. We re-create it. We share it. The salad we had, have some grapes too, add them or any other fruits you desired. I omit vinegar/lemon juice, salt or sugar totally, as I find the salad cream after mixing with the fruit had the just nice consistency.

Preparation: 8-10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g green apple dices
° 100g red apple dices
° 75g carrot dices
° 75g Japanese cucumber dices

Salad Dressing
° 2-2½ tablespoons vegetarian salad cream/ vegan mayonnaise

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

Silken Tofu with Minced Tempeh and Mushroom

I got the inspiration of this recipe from minced meat over tofu. Using tempeh and mushroom to replicate the minced meat. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water for more sauce and don’t forget to add a tiny bit more vegetarian oyster sauce or soy sauce for that too, if desired. Want a spicy version, add chilli padi or chilli flake!

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 pack silken tofu (300g), steamed or blanched and drained well
° 100g tempeh, cubed
° 50g fresh shiitake mushroom, cubed
° 1- 1½ olive oil
° 1½ tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce or to taste
° 3 tablespoons water
° some roasted sesame seeds, for garnish
° few coriander leaves (optional), for garnish


Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the ginger and fry till fragrant.
2. Throw in the tempeh and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add in the mushroom and stir-fry for another minute. Mix the vegetarian oyster sauce and water well, pour over the tempeh and mushroom.
3. Place the tofu on a serving plate and top with the tempeh and mushroom.
4. Garnish with coriander leaves, sesame seeds and serve.

Kelps and Red Dates Congee

Real simple and hassle free …. Ever since, my ex-colleague taught me how to make congee with frozen rice grain, I find cooking congee even much easier and faster. There is always some frozen rice grain in my freezer, just in case, I want to cook something easy and quick.

Often, I heard that non-vegetarian can’t really go vegetarian even if they really wish too, because they find that their body can’t take ‘coolness’ from eating vegetables. Well, being a vegetarian does not mean we eat only vegetable, there are many other ingredients that not only add colour but also nutrition to our diet.

If the body nature belongs to the ‘cool’ type like me, I would add more ginger, chilli and ingredients that are warm in nature to cook my dishes. For this recipe, I used ginger and red dates which are warm in nature to offset the ‘coolness’. So, if your body belongs to those ‘heaty’ types, just omit the red dates and use lesser ginger. Red dates improve the ‘Qi’ and boost blood circulation and rich in iron too.

Preparation: 5 mins Cooking time: 20 mins, plus 2 ½ hours standing time

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g rice, washed and drained
° 750ml water
° 2 slices ginger
° 10 kelps in knot
° 6 red seedless red dates

Method
1. Wash the rice and drain well (not too dry). Put the rice in a plastic or metal container and freeze it for 2 – 2 ½ hours in the refrigerator.
2. Remove from the freezer and add 250ml water to it and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
3. Pour into the rice, ginger, kelps and red dates into a claypot or pot. Add the remaining water and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 15 minutes or until the congee is soft. If it is too thick, just add some water.
4. Ladle the congee into individual serving bowls and serve hot.

Mango Crispy Mock “Prawn”

In fact, I was thinking of doing a veg*n version Mango Crispy Chicken, using either mock chicken drumstick or marinated king oyster mushroom and deep-fried. In the end, I used the mock prawn and it is quite similar to one of my earlier recipe Plum Sauce Mock Prawn! The problem is having too many recipes, I lost track of them!

Ok, this is so much simpler! You need to know how to deep-fry and that’s about all. The rest is just mixing the sauce. For Thai Mango Crispy Chicken, the sauce called for sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and chilli. In this recipe, I used plum paste and adding a little bit of tangy taste using orange juice! So, you can always come up with your own sauce or use other sauce like Tangy Orange Sauce!

Preparation: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 8 (200g) vegetarian noodle prawns, deep-fried or pan-fried or baked
° 1- ½ mango, diced
° some mint leaves, for garnish

Sauce
° 2 tablespoons plum paste
° 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
° toasted sesame seeds (optional)
° ½ fresh red chilli, seeded and sliced
° toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Method
1. Mix all the sauce ingredients a bowl and set aside.
2. Arrange the mock prawns, mango and mint leaves on a serving plate.
3. Serve with special plum sauce.

Potato Salad with Avocado Wasabi Cream

I was looking at those ripe avocado and potatoes at home, not knowing what to do with them. Out of sudden, Sunny who I have never met before, came to my mind, I don’t know why. She loves avocado and wasabi! Usually, we would use mayo for potato salad. To make this recipe healthier, I use avocado to replace mayo. Since Sunny loves wasabi, I use it to give it a different twist. So, this recipe is for her. And this also look like Egg Mayo Salad!

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 200g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks and steamed

Avocado Salad Cream
° 1 avocado, peeled and stoned
° 1 tablespoon mayonnaise/vegetarian salad cream
° 1 tablespoon freshly squeeze lemon juice
° ¼ - ½ teaspoon wasabi or to taste
° salt to taste

Method
1. Combine avocado, vegetarian salad cream, lemon juice, wasabi, salt in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Place the potatoes in a salad bowl. Add the avocado salad cream to the potatoes and mix well.
3. Set aside to cool in the refrigerator and allow the flavour to develop.
4. Serve chilled.

Nata De Coco with Sterculia and Agar Agar Dessert

Dried Sterculia Seeds / Soaked Sterculia Seeds in water

You see, with a minor change of the one of the ingredients, you can create a different treats! I replaced soymilk with Nata De Coco! And my boy loves this and asked for more. And it looks colourful and attractive to little ones. Nata De Coco is a high-fibre, low-calories and cholesterol-free dessert. Again, you can make the agar agar yourself or you just get them from the Fruit Stall in the food court.

Preparation: 5 mins, standing time 30 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 sterculia seeds/mollow nuts, lightly bruised
° 50g-75g agar agar (jelly), cubed
° 360g Nata De Coco

Method
1. Soak sterculia seeds in ample water for 20-30 minutes until the flesh has expanded into a loose, jelly like mass. Peel off and discard the skin. Drain well.
2. Mix all the ingredients in a jar and pour into individual glasses.
3. Chilled or serve with ice.