Healthy Vegetable Curry

Ingredients
(serve 4)

1 big carrot cut into sticks
225 g cauliflower florets
1 Aubergine cut into chunks
1 tomato cut into quartered
a handful of green peas
5 fresh white mushroom
1/2 cabbage shred thickly
3 big potatoes
1 tbsp red lentils, soak

Seasonings

1 tsp pounded red chilli
5 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
salt

Method

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Put into a pot of water and boil till cooked. Mash it together with the stock when cool.

2. Rinse the white mushrooms and sliced thickly. Prepared the above vegetables and set aside.

3. Preheat another pot with oil, stir fry the cabbage until it almost limp. Add in the aubergine and carrot sticks. Allow further simmer of 10 minutes.

4. Put in the rest of the ingredients. Add in the seasonings and pour over the mash potato puree. Stir and blend well.

5. Cook the vegetable curry over low heat for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are completely cooked through. Serve hot.


Note: Alternatively you can use frozen cauliflowers instead of fresh. Potato puree instead of coconut milk in this recipe helps reduce calorie and fats.

Thanksgiving Pies

Basic Pie Crust (for 4, 9 inch pies):
-550g all purpose flour
-350g butter
-1 ½ tsp salt
-2 tbs sugar
-150g ice water (approximate)

**Mix together salt, sugar, and flour. Cut butter into flour and add water a tablespoon at a time until moist and crumbly. Divide into 4 portions, roll and line pie pans.

Filling:
Apple and Pear Pie (for 2, 9 inch pies)

-250g sugar (approximate, depending on sweetness of fruits)
-500g: Barlet Pears
-500g: mixture of Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Jonagold apples
-4 tbs flour
-2 tbs ground cinnamon

**Peal, seed and slice fruit into thin pieces. Mix everything together and fill pies. Bake at 450’F for 15 mins, reduce heat to 350’F and bake for another 40 mins or until juices from the center of the pie bubbles.
***Note: If making apple pies, use 1kg apples. If making pear pies use 1kg pears and omit cinnamon.

Pumpkin Pie: (for 2, 9 inch pies)

-800g pumpkin puree (from 800g pumpkin, steamed and mashed)
-350g sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tbs ginger juice
-1 tbs ground cinnamon
-1 tsp each: ground cloves, nutmeg
-4 eggs
-500g evaporated milk
-2 tsp vanilla

*Mix everything together and ladle into crusts. Bake at 400’F for 15 mins, reduce temperature to 350’F and bake for another 35 mins or until set. Decorate cooled pies with fresh whipped cream.

Sweet & Sour Dish

Ingredients

1 green pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
1 carrot, shredded
2 tomatoes, quartered
5 water chestnuts, peeled and quartered
6 Vegetarian pork chop, sliced thickly
Tomato ketup
1/2 cup lemon juice
water

Method

1. Preheat the pan with oil, slightly brown the vegetarian pork chop and set aside. In the same pan, stir fry the tomatoes for 1-2 minutes. Add in the carrot shred and pepper chunks, swirl and let it coat with oil.

2. Pour in the brown vegetarian pork chop and water chestnuts and mix well.

3. Add in the tomato ketup, lemon juice and sufficient water. Stir and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

4. Off fire and serve hot.

Lek Tow Suan

Ingredients:

500g split green bean, washed and soaked for four hours
4 cups water
6-8 pandan leaves, tied into a knot
200g caster sugar
2 1/2 tbsp sweet potato flour (55g) mixed with 100ml water
4-6 pieces you tiou (dough fritters), cut into 1 cm pieces

Method

1. Rinse soaked split green beans and drain.

2. Place a muslin cloth in a steaming tray. Put the drained split green beans on it. Cover and steam for about 20 mins or until the beans are cooked.

3. Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Put in the pandan leaves and the sugar and boil till the sugar dissovles.

4. Add the sweet potato flour mixed with water and cook, stirring all the time till it thickens.

5. Transfer the steamed split green beans and mix well.

6. Serve with cut you tiou pieces.

Stir-fried Mixed Vegetables

Ingredients:

100g Chinese cabbage
100g carrots
100g French beans
5-6 dried Chinese mushrooms
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp water

Preparation

Soak the dried mushrooms in warm water for 20-30 minutes. Squeeze them dry, discard the hard stalks and cut into thin slices. Trim the french beans and cut the Chinese cabbage and carrots into slices.

Method

Heat the oil in a preheated pan. Add the chinese cabbage, carrots, mange-tout peas and dried mushroom and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Add the salt and sugar and stir for another minute or so with a little water if necessary. Do not overcook or the vegetables will lose their crunchiness. Serve hot.

Note: Alternatively you can use any ingredients that you can offer.

Potato Curry

Ingredients
(serve 4)

4 tbsp vegetable oil
500 g potatoes, cut into chunks
1/2 ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 gound coriander
2 tsp grated fresh root ginger
1 fresh red chilli, chopped
4 tomatoes, peeled and quartered
75 g frozen peas
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
300ml water
shredded fresh coriander, to garnish

Method

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a cooking frying pan. Add the potato chunks and fry over a low heat, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the tumeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, ginger and chilli to the pan, mixing the spices into the vegetables until they are will coated. Fry over a low heat heat, stirring constantly for 1 minute.

3. Add the tomatoes, peas, chopped fresh corriander and water to the curry mixture.

4. Cook the potato curry over a low heat for 30-40 minutes or until the potaotes are tender and completely cooked through.

5. Garnish the potato curry with fresh coriander and serve.

(Note: Alternatively you can partially cooked the potatoes first and reserve the stock for the curry mixture. )

Meat is expensive in India and much of the population is vegetarian, so the cuisine is typified by tasty ways of cooking with vegetables.

Potato Fritters

Ingredients

100 g plain flour
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
some water
350 g potatoes, peeled
1/2 carrot, peeled
vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Method

1. Place the flour in a bowl, stir in the spices and salt and make a well in the centre. Add the water and mix to form a fairly thick batter.

2. Coarsely grate the potatoes and carrot. Place the potatoes in a sieve and rinse well under cold running water. Drain and squeeze dry, then stir them into the batter and mix to combine thoroughly.

3. Heat about 5mm/1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a large frying pan and add a few tablespoonfuls of the mixture at a time, flattening each one to form a thin cake. Fry over a low heat, turning frequently, for 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.

4. Drain the fritters on absorbent kitchen paper and keep them hot while frying the remaining mixture in the same way. Serve the potato fritters with chilli sauce.


These are incredibly simple to make and sure to be popular served as a tempting snack.

Brussels Sprout Casserole

Ingredients

500 g Brussels sprouts
100 g shredded black fungus
1 carrot, slice slanting
1 cake beancurd, cut into cubes
200 g fresh white mushrooms
3 tbsp vegetable oil
vegetable cube
1 tsp sesame oil
water

Method

1. Wash the Brussels sprouts and discard all the tough outer leaves. Trim the roots and make a cross-cut at the base.

2. Heat the pan with oil, slightly brown the beancurd and set aside. In the same pan add the sprouts and stir for 1-1/2 minutes. When all the sprouts are well covered with oil, add in the fungus and carrots and mushrooms.

3. Add sufficient water and seasoning. Transfer it to a casserole with the beancurd and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. Off fire, and serve hot.

Bánh Hạnh Nhân Kiểu Tàu (Chinese Almond Cookies)

Ingredients:
-100g each: white sugar, brown sugar
-200g shortening (use half lard and half shortening for better flavor)
-1egg
-400g all purpose flour
-2 tbs almond extract
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/3 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-sliced almonds
-egg wash

What to Do:
Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Cream shortening with sugars and egg until fluffy add vanilla and almond extract. Add flour mixture and mix to form a smooth dough. Rest dough for ½ hour and divide into golf size balls. Flatten the balls into “cookies”, brush with egg wash and sprinkle some sliced almonds on top. Bake at 350’F until golden, about 15 mins.

Northwest Tofu

Located in an alley, about a block away from Chùa Việt Nam (a Vietnamese Buddhist temple I volunteer at) is Northwest Tofu. This is where the temple goes for its weekly tofu needs, reason not being because they’re close, but because the tofu here is the best in the market. Many different brands of tofu are sold in Seattle markets, and a handful (about 10) of those brands are made in Seattle. Needless to say, if you’re in Seattle getting your hands on a piece of tofu is easy as pie. But what makes Northwest Tofu’s tofu better than the rest? It’s their taste, texture and quality. Their taste is unbeatable; rich and creamy. The texture is smooth and silky. Quality wise, the tofu is made daily, always fresh and warm if you buy them at the factory.

Armed with a camera, notepad and a pen I decided to spend my Friday morning on a short field trip at the tofu factory. The people there are extremely nice and were more than happy gave me a tour. Their family run operation uses an average of 300lbs of soy beans a day. Most of their costumers are restaurants but their products are only sold fresh at the factory and at 3 grocery stores in Seattle. They produce all types of tofu and also offer soy milk, yu chao kway, sesame pancakes, onion pancakes, and rice milk.

Making of tofu is hard work! I requires time, and lots of manpower…..yeah and soybeans too.

The process begins; Soybeans are soaked overnight:

The beans are then grounded up and the “milk” is extracted:

The milk is then coagulated in large wooden barrows, once the mixture sets, it is stirred to break up and separate the curds and whey:

Meanwhile, the wooden moulds are prepared by lining them with cheesecloth:

The mixture is now then poured into the moulds:

The moulds are capped before being pressed (to remove excess water) and you are rewarded with tofu!

Soybean pulp at the end of the day is then sold to farms which trun it into animal feed:

I mentioned they also make yu chao kway right? Here’s some fresh out of the fryer:

Warm thank you to Northwest Tofu for opening your doors and giving me such a wonderful and detailed tour. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Bánh Khoai Môn Tàn Ông (Dimsum Taro Puffs)

Dough:
-100g dried mung beans (peeled and split)
-300g taro
-100g shortening
-125g wheat starch
-80g boiling water
-1 shy tsp baking ammonia

*Rinse and soak mung beans in water for a few hours to “rehydrate”. Peel taro and chop taro. Steam taro and mung beans until tender mash into a smooth paste. Stir boiling water into wheat starch, and let rest until cool enough to handle. Finally, knead everything together to create a smooth dough.

Filling:
-1 Chinese sausage
-1/4 cups each: shrimp, ground pork, bamboo shoots, cha siu (Chinese bbq pork)
-3-4 shitake mushrooms
-1/3 tsp 5 spice powder
-1/2 tsp ground pepper
-1/2 sesame oil
-dash of soy sauce
-pinch of salt

*Soak mushrooms in warm water until tender. Chop mushrooms, shrimp, bamboo shoots, sausage, cha siu into small pieces. Stir fry all the ingredients for about 5 mins over high heat.

Wrapping and Frying:
Divide dough into 20 pieces. Wrap a tsp of filling in a portion of dough. Repeat same process for the rest of the dough and filling. Deep fry the puffs in oil temp. of 200’C or 390’F. Remove when golden and puffy. Serve hot.

Note:
The most important factor when making these puff is the oil temp. in which you fry the puffs. If the temp. is too low the puffs will “dissolve” in the oil.

Muai Chee

Ingredients
(serve 2)

200 g glutinous rice flour
cooking oil
a handful of peanuts
100 g white sesame seeds
fine sugar
tap water

Method

1. Mix the glutinous rice flour with tap water. Knead well to form a dough.

2. Add 2 tbsp of oil and knead again. Add more wtaer to the mixture until it looks sticky yet not too watery. (this part needs estimation)

3. Pour the mixture into a greased container. Place it to steam for 30 minutes only after the water starts to boil and ensure that no steam escapes.

4. Rinse the sesame seeds with water, dry it and fry without oil in a wok until the sesame turns brown or starts jumping in the wok.

5. Fry the peanuts without oil until it's crunchy. Remove the peanuts' shells and grind the nuts until fine.

6. Grind in the sesame seeds as well, and mix together with the nuts and sugar.

7. When ready, cut a portion of the dough into small pieces and mix with the nuts mixture. Serve hot.

Quick & Fast Tomato Soup

Ingredients

1 big tomato, cut into wedges
a pot of water
vegetable cube
1 tsp sesame oil
a dash of pepper
a small of seaweed

Method

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add in the seasonings, last the tomato wedges. Cover and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Off fire and serve hot with seaweed.

Cheng Tng dessert Soup

Ingredients

a handful of barley grains
2 tbsp of sago, soaked
100 g dried longan
1 pandan leaf
2 L water
sugar

Method

1. In a separate pot cook the sago. Stirring consistently to prevent the sago from sticking together. Once the sago becomes transparent, drain the sago and soak in cold water. Set aside.

2. Bring the barley grains and longans to cook with knotted pandan leave.

3. Add in sugar (depending on your sweetness) when barley grains are well cooked.

4. Off fire, put in the sago and dessert can be served hot or cold.

Brown Rice Sushi

Ingredients (make up to 10 rolls)

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
nori sheets
1 carrot
1 cumumber

Method

1. Season cooked rice with vinegar and sugar, loosen the rice and put to cool.

2. Prepare the carrot and cumumber, cut into long strips and set aside.

3. Put a nori sheet on top of a bamboo mat.

4. Spread the sushi rice on top of the nori sheet. Place fillings lengthwise on the rice.

5. Roll up the bamboo mat, pressing food to shape the sushi into a cylinder.

6. Press the bamboo mat firmly and remove it from the sushi.

7. Cut the rolled sushi into bite-sized pieces. Wipe the knife with a wet cloth before slicing sushi.


Note: You can add mayonaise, sesame seed or anything u like to bring extra taste to your sushi.

Stir-Fried Heart of Sucrine/Lettuce

Ingredients

3 heart of sucrine/1 lettuce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
a dash of pepper

Method

1. Cut the sucrine into bite-sized pieces. Wash and drain aside.

2. Preheat the pan with oil, saute with some chopped ginger for a minute. Pour in the sucrine cover it and allow simmer for 2 minutes.

3. Add in the seasonings and stir fried for another 1-2 minutes. Off fire and serve immediately.

Vegetable Jambalaya

Ingredients

1 aubergine, diced
1 yellow pepper, halved, deseeded and diced
50 g frozen peas
1 tomato, diced
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1/2 tsp pounded chilli
150 ml water
salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan and saute with some ginger strips. Add in the aubergine, pepper, peas and stirring occasionally, for a further 2-3 minutes.

2. Stir in the water and the tomato, tamato sauce and pounded chilli.

3. Season to taste an cook over a low heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

4. Transfer the vegetable jambalaya to a warm serving dish and serve at once.


Note: you can also offer baby corn cobs, brocoli florets, & tomato puree.

Chow Mein

Ingredients
(serve 4)

500 g egg noodles
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 carrots, cut into thin sticks
125 g button mushrooms, quartered
125 g mangetout
1/2 cucumber, cut into sticks
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil

Method

1. Cook the egg noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain and rinse under cold running water until cool. Set aside.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a preheated pan. Add the ginger shred and carrots and stir fry for 1 minute, then add the mushrooms, mangetout and cucumber and stir fry for a further 1 minute.

3. Stir in the remaining vegetable oil and add the drained noodles.

4. Blend together all the remaining ingredients and pour the mixture over the noodles and vegetables.

5. Stir fry until the noodle mixture is thoroughly heated through, transfer to a warm serving dish and serve.

Cook's Tip: For a spicy hot chow mein, add 1 tablespoon chilli sauce or substitute chilli oil for the sesame oil.

Note: noodles can be replaced by spaghetti and any vegetables at your convenience

Stir-Fried Cabbage

Ingredients

500 g white cabbage
2 tbsp oil
11/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil

Preparation

Choose a round, pale green cabbage with a firm heart -- never use loose leafed cabbage. Wash in cold water and cut the leaves into small pieces.

Method

Heat the oil in a preheated pan until it starts to smoke. Saute some ginger shred and add in the cabbage. Stir for about 11/2 minutes until it starts to go limp. Add in the salt and sesame oil just before serving. Serve hot.

Potato Slices in Sweet Sauce

Ingredients

3 medium size potatoes
1 small carrot, chopped
a handful of frozen green peas
3 tbsp mushroom sauce
1 tbsp sugar
water

Method

1. Skin the potatoes and put to cook. Drain aside and cut into thick slices.

2. Heat the pan with oil, saute with chopped ginger for 1 minute. Add in the carrots and peas and stir fry for another minute.

3. Pour in the mushroom sauce and some water to form enough gravy. Add in the sugar to taste.

4. Off fire. Pour the sauce over the potato slices and serve immediately.

Vegetarian Shark Fin Soup

Ingredients

1 small carrot, shredded
1 small courgette, shredded
10 g black fungus, shredded
1 can or a packet of fresh needle mushrooms
1 packet of vermicelli (tong fen)

Seasonings
Dark soya sauce
1 vegetable cube
Black vinegar
a dash of pepper

Method

1. Soak the black wood ear with hot water, and cut into strips. Drain the canned of needle mushrooms and rinse. Soak the vermicelli and cut into shorter length.

2. Bring a pot of 1.5 L water to boil. Add in all the ingredients last the vermicelli to cook.

3. Add in the vegetable cube & dark soya sauce to slightly brown the soup. Put in the starch to thicken the soup. Off fire, scoup into a serving bowl, add in vinegar and pepper. Serve immediately.


Note: Ingredients mentioned above are optional, you can modify with your favourites.

Bánh Chuối Nướng (Baked Banana Bread Pudding)

Ingredients:
-8 large ripe bananas
-2 tbs all purpose flour
-1 ½ loafs old bread (preferably wheat)
-4 tbs rum
-2 eggs
-1 ¼ cups sugar
-2 cups milk
-2 cups coconut milk
-4 tbs melted butter
-1 tbs vanilla
-1/4 cup raisins (optional)
-1/4 cup walnuts (optional)
-1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

*Slice bananas and mix with flour, 2 tbs rum, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tbs butter, raisins, nuts and cinnamon. Beat eggs with the remaining cup of sugar, add coconut milk, milk, vanilla, remaining butter, and rum. Slice bread into ½ inch thick slices. Grease an 8 inch cake ban pan. Quickly dip the bread slices in egg mixture and lay the slices into the bottom of pan to create the first “layer”. Add half of the bananas to a second layer, followed by another layer of bread, before finally topping it off with a layer of bananas. Bake at 350’F until golden, about 45 mins.

Reference:
ninhthuan from www.datviet.com

Bò Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew)

Ingredients:
-1lbs beef brisket + 1lb beef tendons (or 2lbs beef brisket)
-4 carrots
-3 star anise
-1 stick of cinnamon about 4 inches long
-1 stalk of lemongrass

-2 bay leaves
-1/2 can (6oz) tomato paste
-1 large onion
-1 thumb size piece of ginger
-3 cloves of garlic
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tbs dark soy sauce
-1 tbs oyster sauce
-2 tsp sugar
-“liquid” (water, coconut juice or broth)

*Dice onion, ginger, and garlic. Boil beef for about 5 mins, the remove from water and cut into bite size pieces. Boil tendons for about 1 hour and cut the same size as beef brisket. Marinate beef brisket and tendons with onion, ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar for at least ½ hour (overnight if you have the time). Crush the lemongrass. Heat oil in pot, roast anise and cinnamon until fragrant, add the marinated meat and lemongrass; stir fry the about 5 mins. Add the tomato paste and enough liquid to cover the beef. Simmer until almost tender, add in carrots and continue to simmer until carrots are fork tender, give the stew a taste test before serving to make sure the flavors are balanced. 

Serve with bread or over noodles and blanched beans sprouts.  

Bean Sprout Soup

Ingredients

225 g fresh bean sprouts
1 small carrot, shredded
1/4 sichuan vegetable, strips
600 ml water
1/2 cube vegetable stock
a dash of pepper
2 slices of ginger

Cooking

1. Boil a pot of water with ginger slices and sichuan vegetables.

2. Allow cooking for 10 minutes, before adding in the bean sprouts and carrots. Add in the seasoning.

3. Off fire, serve hot with a dash of pepper.

Emerald Green in Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

250g broccoli
1 tbsp oil
3 tbsp mushroom sauce
1 tbsp of tapioca starch
water

Preparation

Cut the broccoli into small pieces and remove the rough skin from the stalks.

Cooking

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, add some oil and salt. Put all the broccoli to cook. Off fire and let it simmer for 10 minutes or when it turns bright green.

2. Drain the water and dish up the broccoli and set aside.

3. Heat up a pan with oil, saute with some ginger. Pour in the mushroom sauce and 1/2 cup of water. As it starts to boil, mix the tapioca starch with some water. Slowly pour in the starch to thicken the sauce. Off fire and pour over the broccoli and serve hot.

Aubergine with Salted Soya Paste

Ingredients

1 medium size Aubergine
1 red pepper
2 tbsp salted soya paste
a dash of pepper
oil

Method

1. Wash and cut the aubergine in half. Wedge into smaller pieces.

2. Core the red pepper and strips.

3. Heat the pan with oil, saute with ginger. Pour in the aubergine and cook awhile. Add some water to simmer.

4. When the aubergine is almost done, add in the red pepper strips. Mix in the salted soya paste and water. Stir well. Off fire and serve hot.