Spinach Nori Maki

 Spinach Nori Maki  

 Dipping Sauce - Light Soy Sauce and Wasabi 

Miso Soup (minimize wastage - using water from blanching spinach)

This is what I had learnt from Zen Vegetarian (Shojin Ryori Cuisine ) Cooking Class by Chef Danny Chu of Enso Kitchen on 3 April 2010 at  Onaka Healing Kitchen.  

Zen Temple Vegetarian Cooking is not just about cooking.  It is a whole new cuisine on its own, an experience…awareness of the senses, food, taste, presentation, meditation, reflection ...  I had blog about this  Shojin Ryori Cuisine cooking class at A different dinning experience - Vibrant Food for the Body and Soul

We were taught to blanch the spinach and then rinse in cold water, drain and squeeze out the water gently. As usual, I love short cut to save time. Via shortening the blanching time and leave the spinach to cook on its own while cooling off. So I skipped the step of rinse in cold water and save water too.

If you question whether this simple dish with few maki enough, just look at 250g of spinach shared by 2 pax, there lots of fiber. Besides spinach is full of iron and other good stuff. Sprinkling sesame seeds on it was my own idea to make the my food photo beautiful ...

To apply the Zen philosophy of minimize wastage been taught, I used the water for blanching spinach to make Miso Soup for 2 pax or add shiitake mushroom to make a clear soup or what ever ingredients available and to your liking. 

Preparation:        5 mins  Cooking time:      10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)

°          250g spinach, crowns removed, blanched in salted boiling water

°          2 sheets nori

°          soy sauce and wasabi, for dipping

Method

1.       Attend the next available cooking class at ONAKA website.

2.       Alternative, you just check out Chef Danny Chu's Cooking Video! 

Woodsy Gobo Gohan

Quick and easy, awesome and yet wholesome brown rice with root and sea vegetables that anyone can whip up! Marrying Kinpira to One-pot Rice! Burdock Root or gobo is a nutritive powerhouse which is high in fiber and low in calories. It is also a blood purifier in herbal medicine but not suitable for pregnant and lactating women due to the plant's uterine actions.

Preparation:        15 mins  Cooking time:    30 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)

°          200g brown rice, washed and soaked and drained

°          1 tablespoon barely

°          500ml water

°          100g gobo/burdock root, cut into thin match-stick length

°          4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

°          25g carrot, peeled and cut into match-stick length

°          2 pieces konbo (4cmx 6cm)

°          4 tablespoons light soy sauce

°          1½  tablespoons 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 shichimi and serve hot.

Vegetarian Jerky Fried Rice With Mock Floss

Finally, here the recipe ...

Preparation:     5 mins, Cooking time:  8 mins 

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g rice, cooked

°         25g-50g (1-2 slices) vegetarian jerky or Bak Gua, cut into small square

°         25g carrot, cut into small dices

°         1½-2 tablespoons olive oil

°         salt and pepper, to taste

°         2 tablespoons mock floss

°         6-8 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

Method

1.      Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and stir fry the vegetarian jerky till fragrant.

2.      Throw in the carrot and stir  in the cooked rice and season salt and pepper.

3.      Add in the kaffir lime leaves and fry about 2 minutes or until rice is heated through. Sprinkle with some water if it is too dry.

4.      Top with mock floss and garnish with kaffir lime leaves, vegetarian jerky and serve hot.

Creamy Winter Melon and Carrot Soup

Quite a fun and easy way to serves creamy soup if you do not really like clear soup and want some texture in it. For a light orange color or more creamy colour soup, reduce the amount of carrot (few slices) used and increase the winter melon portion. Have fun, it is all based on individual preferences.

Preparation:     10 mins, Cooking time:  25 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         350g winter melon (weight after peeling), cut into small chunks

°         75g carrot, cut into mall chunks

°         50g shiitake mushroom, sliced 

°         350ml water or vegetable stock

°         1 piece (25g) vegetarian ham, sliced thinly

°         salt and pepper to taste

°         granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste

°         some coriander,  for garnish

Method

1.      Place the winter melon, carrot and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5-8 minutes or until winter melon and carrot are tender.  

2.      Transfer to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.

3.      Place the mushrooms, vegetarian ham and soup  puree in a pot and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and granulated mushroom bouillon.

4.      Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.

Red Bean NianGao with Grated Coconut ...

This is the Red Bean NianGao from Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant that I was talking about in my other blog post - Red Bean NianGao and Turnips NianGao

And I followed the tip given by their waitress - Add a pinch of salt to the grated coconut and steamed. Next place the steamed niangao with the grated coconut ... Lovely, I like the new twist to the Traditional NianGao ... 

Quick Pumpkin 'N' Mushroom Soup II

Using almost the same ingredients from the previous post - Quick Pumpkin 'N' Mushroom Soup. It is thicker, as I make use of the  left over radish and carrot (for the vegetable stock), to make it into a puree and omit the corn starch.  Pumpkin and Winter Melon puree will give a different texture consistency.

Quick Pumpkin 'N' Mushroom Soup

GONG XI FA CAI - Toast to a year of Prosperity, Health and Good Fortune! 

We had a delectable CNY Set meal @ Whole Earth Vegetarian Restaruant, early this month. They have a delectable Doubleboilded Golden Pumpkin Sharksfin Soup (Photo of Whole Earth's Golden Pumpkin Sharkfin) which my young man loves it so much. As this is special sharkfin soup in the restaurant that comes with the CNY Set, I can't just order this dish alone, I guess.

So, I cooked this simplified version for my young man. The taste is not exactly the same as I omit lots of other ingredients which the restaurant used, are rather expensive during Chinese New Year period, like the Vegetarian Shark Fin cost $12.50 instead of $8.50 few months back. And I don't really want to keep so much ingredients in my already pack refrigerator, therefore, simplified it. Add in more ingredients, if desired, just ensure ingredients balanced well.

Preparation:     10 mins, Cooking time:  25 mins 

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g pumpkin (weight after peeling), small chunks

°         50g shitake mushroom, sliced

°         50g enoki mushroom, base trimmed

°         500ml water or vegetable stock

°         1 piece (25g) vegetarian ham, sliced thinly

°         salt and pepper to taste

°         granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste

°         1½ teaspoon corn starch, mix with 1 tablespoon water

°         some coriander,  for garnish

Method

1.      Place the pumpkin in a steamer and steam for 5-10 minutes or until tender.

2.      Transfer to a blender or food processor and add in water or vegetable stock. Blend until smooth and creamy.

3.      Place the mushrooms, vegetarian ham and pumpkin puree in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated mushroom bouillon and thicken with corn starch.

4.      Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.

To my Dearest Readers ...

Dearest Readers

Whether you are vegetarian or semi-vegetarian or non-vegetarian or just one time visitor or returning visitors from all over the world (as far as Russia, Bahrain, South Africa, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Mexico etc), thank you very much for visiting my blog.

Sometime, I received emails from non-vegetarians asking for permission to have a particular photograph on my blog for their web (which could be totally unrelated to vegetarianism - gardening on lily bud), ebook etc, it really make me really happy that you like my photo.  Of course, it is not a problem at all.

In May 2009, a reader asked me for the photo of Sterculia Seeds but I find my previous photograph wasn't that nice and happened to find some sterculia seeds at home and have some time on hand. So, I soaked and took some photo and send to her.  In the process, not to waste those soaked sterculia seeds, it triggered some new recipes with sterculia as an ingredient - http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html

Today, I find another email from Tịnh Tâm in Vietnam (below) in my "In Box" to use the recipes. Yes, it is not an issue at all, ALL ARE WELCOME (vegetarian or non-vegetarian) to take any recipes or photographs you like or of any use.  


It is Free and for Sharing - Free Photograph, Free Recipes, if you like, maybe just have a tiny acknowledgment of my blog otherwise, it is fine with me.

As all my recipes are quite "raw" due to time constraint (also some typo errors), please feel free to modify them and I am sure you will be able to generate something great and unique. I need to thank Tịnh Tâm for this in her email -" The more i searching your site, the more i found alot of interesting ".

While playing with the recipe even under time-constraints and skipping lots of stuff -  I discover this - The Universe of Vegetarian Cuisine is so vast and yet undiscovered …  So, I believe more others would be able to bring out the beautiful of Vegetarian Cuisine, just as any other cuisine where everyone on earth can enjoy not just for vegetarian ...

Tịnh Tâm, thank you very much for taking the effort in translating the recipes into Vietnamese, it definitely make more sense than using the "translation" tool on the web. When I chance upon my blog link in Taiwanese website, the translation via a tool, make the whole message funny.

As I am going to be very busy, I will only share more recipes which time permits : )

Have a lovely day.

Cheers crystal

Email from my blog reader - Tịnh Tâm :-

"

Hi Sister,

When i first found your site two weeks ago, i translated some into Vietnamese as a gift for my mom, help her have more ideas in cooking vegetarian/vegan food. While doing that, i posted some on the blog to share with some friends can't understand English.

The more i searching your site, the more i found alot of interesting ideas. So i would like to ask your permission if i can translate your recipes into Vietnamese and post on the http://anchaythoidaimoi.blogspot.com/ to share with Vietnanese community for those can't read or understand English?

With the vegetarian/vegan trend nowadays in order to help environment, decrease the hunger, and so on, i hope more people eating vegetaian woud be very ideal. Thank you a million times for your time preparing food, energy, and love.

anchaythoidaimoi "

Mee Suah in Thunder Tea Rice Broth

Happy Lunar New Year!

 May All be well, happy and prosperous ...

January gone! and it is now February 2010, getting near to Chinese New Year which is on 14 February! I still have not started working on any of my to-do list.  Busy and will be very very busy, as I fallen in love with -  Doing Nothing at all and trying too enjoy the Sound of Silence ...

What I had for lunch yesterday was just a bowl of Simple Mee Suah in Thunder Tea Rice Broth! I got the handmade Mee Suah (product of malaysia) from someone quite awhile ago and still have not finished the pack.  Just throw the mee suah in boiling water to cook it for a minutes or two and then transfer to the piping hot Thunder Tea Rice Broth, garnish with some coriander leaf and chilli if desired.

Too plain? Add something to it - blanched shimeji mushroom maybe! Or some veggies!

Simple Willow Mushroom 'N' Solomon's Seal Soup

In 2010, most likely I will be very busy and posting very few recipes. I still have 10-20 veg*n dishes on my recipe to-do list which I guess when time permit then I will post and share with all. Really appreciate the lovely comments, the encouraging emails etc that I received regarding this blog.  Here is an herbal soup recipe which I done last year to share.

Spot some fresh willow mushroom (tea tree mushroom) - 150g @ $$2.55, at the supermarket last year and could not resist buying this unique mushroom. And use it to whip up this quick and simple soup. The willow mushroom imparts a unique flavour to this soup. Add some dried mushroom if desired, it will gives this soup a much stronger flavour and darker shade.  You can opt to boil this soup longer but remember to increase the amount of water when needed.  

Preparation:     10 mins Cooking time:  20 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         150g fresh willow mushroom, base trimmed

°         10g solomon's seal/yu zhu

°         6 seedless red dates

°         1 slice ginger (optional)

°         3/4 tablespoon wolfberries, soaked

°         750ml water or vegetable stock

°         salt and pepper to taste

°         granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste

°         some fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method

1.      Place willow mushroom, solomon's seal, red dates, ginger and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

2.      Throw in the wolfberries and season to taste with salt, pepper and granulated mushroom bouillon.

3.      Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.

Soy Bean 'N' Edamame Bean Clear Soup

This is an accidental creation and therefore I didn't note down the ingredients required.  I was making some soybean stock and have some edamame beans in the refrigerator.  So, I dropped some  edamame beans to this simple clear soup, it adds colour to the presentation.

Recipe? When I make this again ...

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.