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.

Soy Milk with Sterculia and Agar Agar Drink

Dried Sterculia Seeds / Soaked Sterculia Seeds in water

Really, you don’t need special ingredients to come up with some interesting and creative drink for kids or anyone. It can be so simple and yet so easy. 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
° 400ml fresh soy milk

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.