vegetarian san choy bow

Not the prettiest dish in the world, but it's my new favourite dish.

This week, we've got heaps of lettuce leaves in our vegie box.
I don't normally buy lots of lettuce leaves myself, as they tend to wilt in a few days in the fridge, and to be honest, I thought iceberg lettuce is the most boring tasteless vegie ever.
Sorry iceberg, not your fault, I shouldn't have judged you too soon, blame the restaurants or cafes that turned you into a boring dish they called "garden Salad".
Anyway, this particular iceberg lettuce that I've got is far from boring, it tasted really fresh and crunchy!! So I searched for a non-salad recipe that uses this crunchy baby.
Holly google brought me to Zoe's recipe, from vegan easy. I don't like fake mince, so I tweaked the recipe a little bit, and came up with this recipe:

4 - 5 iceberg lettuce leaves, break carefully, don't leat them tear, wash and drain (this will act as a vessel for the tofu)
1/2 block of firm tofu
2 cups of mushroom, sliced (I used plain old buttons, but you could use fancy mushrooms as well)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 tsp olive oil
a few drops sesame oil
1 tbsp tamari (or less, I don't normally measure it)
1 tbsp kecap manis
1 tsp sriracha chilli sauce
salt and pepper to taste

serve 2 - 3

heat olive oil in a frying pan, add onion and fry until fragrant
add crumbled tofu, I normally crumbled my tofu straight on top of the frying pan, but there's a high chance of having crumbled tofu everywhere in the kitchen
mix it up with the onion, add sliced mushroom and garlic, cover with a lid, and let it cook for 2 minutes
uncover, and stir for further 2 minutes
add sesame oil, tamari, chilli sauce and kecap manis
season with salt and pepper, taste, and adjust
to serve, arrange the lettuce leaves, and put the tofu mixture on top
to eat, put a squirt of sriracha sauce if you want extra hot, roll up, and eat with your hand. YUM!

rocket and parsley pesto

A lovely lady from work (a different one from last one), shared her fresh rocket from her vegie garden. It's the freshest rocket leaves I've ever tasted! I don't want them to wilt, but I really want to enjoy it longer. So, I bought myself a bag of walnuts, and googled 'vegan rocket pesto' just because I don't want to use parmesan, trying to cut back on my saturated fat intake.
The search landed me on this page from easy as vegan pie.
I made a teeny bit of changes, and omitted the raw garlic, I just can't stand the lingering taste of raw garlic in my mouth.

here's my take:

2 handful of rocket leaves
1 handful of parsley (I didn't add much, as I want the rocket to be the star of the show)
1/2 cup of walnuts, toasted on frying pan
1 tsp of miso paste (as parmesan substitute)
juice of one lemon
1 to 2 cloves of raw garlic (I omitted this, but feel free to add)
1/4 cup of olive oil
pepper to taste

Put all the ingredients in a food processor, and blitz away!! taste, and add something if you think it fit. blitz again for a few seconds.
transfer into a container or jar, and pour a little bit of olive oil on top.
Tore a piece of bread, take the blade out of your food processor, wipe your food processor bowl with the bread, and eat.
repeat if necessary
no waste allowed! :)

Mung Khichadi

A very lovely lady brought this dish and share it over lunch break, I fell in love instantly, and asked for the recipe.
It's the kind of food that give your tummy a warm comforting hug, lightly spiced with turmeric, a super spice that is also act as an anti-inflammatory agent. Just make sure you're not spilling the powder on to your white t-shirt.
The only changes I made is I cracked two eggs, and cover the pan to cook the eggs.


1 cup mung beans soaked over night in 4 cups warm water drained and rinsed
2 tbsp olive/canola/sunflower oil
1teasp black mustard seeds
1/2 teasp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 teasp salt (adjust to your own taste)
1 teasp brown sugar
juice of 1 lemon
coconut to garnish
fresh coriander leaves to garnish (i used parsley, it's all I have)
1 cup hot water

Preparation:
mix the soaked rinsed grain with the turmeric, salt and sugar before beginning to heat the oil.
Heat the oil in a thick based frying pan
Test if the oil is hot enough by adding one mustard seed to it, if it bursts add the rest of the mustard seeds to the oil and allow them to pop slightly.
Add the grain mix to the oil, stir mixing well.
Add some hot water to cover the grain and allow to simmer covered stirring occasionally till water is reduced to bare minimum about 10 minutes.
Serve warm with lemon juice, coconut and coriander leaves.
Can be consumed as is, or accompanied with low fat Greek yogurt or served on a bed of basmati rice or whole grain bread.

Mixed Business, Clifton Hill

On the way to high noon festival, we stopped by for a late lunch at Mixed business. I was predicting that the festival will be too crowded to enjoy and digest food properly, and I was pleased with my decision.
I ordered a sweet option from the menu, which is a bit unusual, but, hey its a special day :)
besides, who can resist gingerbread waffles with candied walnuts, and vanilla bean ice cream?
The waffles has a right topping waffle ratio, so I didn't end up with sad pieces of cold soggy waffles.
By the way, they are not cold and soggy at all, they were 2 pieces of crunchy-on-the-outside fluffy-on-the-inside- kind of waffle. The vanilla bean ice cream was lovely, rich, smooth, and I could see tiny vanilla seeds in the ice cream.
I would definitely come back for more brunch goodness, and for the gingerbread waffles.

Mixed Business,
486 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill

Avocado chocolate cake (egg free)

This is the recipe that screams healthy food! but doesn't actually taste that way.
First of all, this cake incorporate avocado, the buttery creamy avocado replaced the role of butter in a cake.
You could leave out the chocolate chip and make this into a vegan and dairy free cake, you could also replace it with cacao nibs.
If you're gluten intolerance, you could also swap the flour with gluten free flour, just adjust the liquid content, or just add more avocado.
I've got the original recipe from here, I just tweaked it a bit, since I've never add vinegar into any cake ever, i just don't want to risk it.
I also leave out the avocado oil, I figure it's only two tbsp worth of entire batter,don't think it will affect the texture too much.

My photo doesn't do justice, this cake tasted better than it looks like. trust me.

180 g flour or a bit more than 1 cup of flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
110 g raw caster sugar
60 g ground walnuts or hazelnuts or almonds or dessicated coconut if you're allergic to nuts
1 small avocado, or 1/2 large avocado
1 cup water (you could add more if the mixture a bit dry)
1 tsp vanilla extract (not vanilla essence)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chip or 1/4 cup cocoa nibs

preheat oven 180 degree, and line baking tray with baking paper
mix flour, ground nuts, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt
blend avocado and vanilla extract in a food processor
you could also mash it, but you will end up with bits of green avocado in your cake
add water to avocado, stir or pulse it again
mix wet to dry ingredients
don't overbeat or you will develop the gluten in the flour and the cake will become tough
fold chocolate chip into the batter
pour the batter into cake tin and bake for 25 min
test with a skewer, if ti comes out clean, then it's done

green pasta

a few weeks ago, I bought a packet of dried spinach fetuccini, when I cooked it, it leeched scary looking fluorescent-green colour in the cooking water. They must have been packed full with green food colouring. I vowed to never buy that pasta again.

Last week, I picked up the same pasta! exactly. the. same. one. :(
Anyway, this recipe reminded me of my stupidity, well maybe its the silver lining on my stupidity cloud.
No exact measurement, as this is a midweek-quick pasta dinner type of food.
Here it goes :
2 cups of cooked spiral pasta (fussili i think it's called?)
1 bunch spinach
1 handful of dill
2 tbsp grated parmesan (add more if you want, more cheese always better)
2 egg yolks
1 cup chopped broccoli, steamed or boiled
2 slices of brie or feta cheese diced
olive oil
chilli flakes

place egg yolks and parmesan in a food processor
blanch spinach and dill in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and squeeze all the water out with tongs
put the spinach mixture in the food processor, blitz, taste and season with salt and pepper
toss with hot pasta and chopped broccoli, topped with brie
drizzle with olive oil, and add chilli flakes

I purposely leave out garlic in the recipe, just because I hate sleeping with garlic breath, it doesn't matter how hard I brush my teeth, I could still taste it in the morning. yuck.
But, if you're a garlic fan, pop 1 clove of garlic in the food processor.

aaah, much better than the fluorescent green pasta :)

it took me five years, but I finally love you, Vegemite

First time I had a taste of vegemite was five years ago, straight from the jar (belong to my ex-housemate), with a teaspoon.
my thought was, revolting.
second time, in a scroll from bakers delight, couldn't finish the whole scroll, but I manage to squeeze a few bites-full.
third time, in a scroll form again,this time from coles supermarket, it had smaller vegemite to bread ratio, I finished the whole thing! Maybe I was hungry, or maybe I just started to warmed up to this yeasty jar of brown paste.
next thing I know, I bought a small jar of it.
Now it's a part of my breakfast repertoire,slathered on wholemeal toast, with avocado, rocket leaves, and lemon juice. YUM!
oh yeah, and a cup of soy latte. perfect.
Strangely, now I thought it taste a bit like parmesan cheese.
I'm glad I was persistent.

Off for a few weeks & best salad recipe

Next Saturday, I will be stretching myself and my brain at intensive yoga course.
Excited, but a bit nervous as well, because this will be the first time I travelled alone, I know, it's not that far away, but still..

After that, I will fly home to visit family , friends, and my golden retriever.
Should be good, I just need to keep myself healthy.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I made this pomegranate and haloumi salad. You must try it, it's seriously good, and try not to change the recipe, it's perfect as it is.

Bubur "ayam" (vegetarian "chicken" congee)

I'm having a massive homesickness syndrome.
One of the symptom is sudden craving to food from home.
I used to have this rice congee for breakfast, from a food stall near my house. We just need to bring our own crockery, and ate them in the comfort of our dining table. No need to balance on a tiny wooden stool.
Well, there's hardly a recipe, I just made it up as I go, it had quite a lot of elements though (masterchef-y language - "elements"), to simplify the assembly of the dish, just put all the elements on tiny plates, so people can help themselves.

rice congee :
2 cups vegie stock (or water + 1/2 cube of vegie buillon)
1 cup cooked rice (I used leftover rice, or 1/2 cup uncooked)

braised wom bok :
2 cups wombok, shredded
sriracha sauce
2 drops of sesame oil

Stir fry tofu :
1/2 pack of firm tofu (if you want dryer texture, freeze the tofu, thaw, and squeeze the excess liquid)
1/2 cup mushroom
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp tamari
salt and pepper to taste

toppings (optional, but highly recommended):
kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds, toasted
chopped parsley
sriracha sauce

how to :
bring the stock to the boil in a pot, and add the rice, bring it to boil and stir to prevent the rice grain from sticking and burning.
Turn down the heat, and simmer for 30-40 min, until the texture is silky and smooth, and the grains are broken down.
in frying pan, heat oil, add wombok, stir for 30 seconds, add a splash of water, and cover to wilt them.
while waiting the congee and wombok to cook, sliced the tofu into tiny batons (or matchsticks), slice the garlic and the 'shrooms.
uncover the wombok, add sriracha sauce a tiny bit at a time (this sauce is sooo hot!!), add sesame oil. stir, for a few minutes, until completety wilted and transparent.
transfer to a plate. Don't wash the pan yet, we'll use it for the tofu.
Don't forget to stir the congee at this point!!
heat up 1 tsp of oil in the frypan, fry the tofu and mushrooms, add garlic, salt and pepper.
after the tofu looked nice and golden, add tamari.
transfer the tofu to another plate.
after the congee looked silky and smooth, ladle to a bowl.
add wom bok, tofu, and sprinkle with almonds, and parsley, drizzle with a bit of kecap manis, and sriracha.
eat s l o w l y...

vegetarian gyoza

Really more-ish gyoza!

Ingredients :
150 g tofu (approximately, I just use about 1/3rd of 1 pack of dried tofu)
1/3 cup of kimchi (depends on how spicy your kimchi is, start with less, you could always add more)
1 pack of gyoza skin, it's really important to get the right gyoza skin, the round white ones, not the yellow square ones.
a few drops of sesame oil
a pinch of salt
olive oil / coconut oil for frying

blitz everything -except the gyoza skin- in a small food processor
put 1 tsp of filling in the middle of wrapper, wet the rim, and fold the gyoza, you could do basic half circle, or fan shaped ones
when you're down to your last 3 wrapping job to do, heat 1 tsp oil in a frying pan
pan fry the gyoza for 3o seconds, or until the skin turns golden and a bit crunchy
flip the gyoza, and add 1/4 cup of water
watch out, the pan might sizzle, cover the pan, to let the steam cooked the filling for 1 - 2 minutes
take the lid of the pan to let the steam out and the gyoza to dry up a bit
transfer to plate

Here, I serve my gyoza with a side of soba noodles and diced avocado.
Simple side, to let the gyoza shine, they are the star anyway :)

morning ritual

There is no way I could survive a morning without their help. This post is dedicated to them.
Head here for instruction to brew a cup of coffee using a stovetop pot.

Pose for a photo please, Thanks guys! :)

Matcha Shortbread Cookies

A few day before my birthday, I went to Cibi cafe, collingwood, a cute little japanese cafe with homey food. I had a set menu and the best-ever green tea muffin for dessert. The muffin was soft, with the right balance of the sweet and bitter taste, and in the middle, it filled with red bean paste. The meal was a tad expensive for my standard, but it inspired me to make these little green babies.

Instead of muffins, I've decided to go with matcha shortbread, just in wouldn't be able to compete wih Cibi's muffins. :) So, googled I went, and found this recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini.
I basically follow the recipe instructions, the only changes I made was I used ground raw sugar instead of caster sugar, just because I haven't got one at that time. The cookies came out beautifully, however they weren't as 'dense' looking as C&Z's, they might need a bit more time in the oven.

Taste-wise, they were perfect little shortbreads, slightly sweet, slightly bitter, a bit crumbly on the inside. Would definitely make it again.

Happy Birthday to me

Today I turn 28, and this is the 4th year I spent my birthday here. My expectations of an awesome birthday decrease every year, maybe it's just me getting old? I don't know. Anyway, I started the first day as a 28 years old with yoga, full ashtanga primary series.
After that, I got a big hug and kiss from the person I love most, and then we're off for a great coffee from wide open road.
It was a slow and unpretentious birthday, and I closed it with baked kale chips and green tea cookies.
Recipe follow soon.

white beans with rosemary and garlic

Anyone ever tried henry's white beans from a cafe in brunswick called A minor place? mmmmm... so good, so comforting..!! Here's a perfect description of it. It's so smooth and silky that I would happily lick my plate off.
We're quite lucky that it's only 5 minutes walk, but who could afford brunching there everyday? (well, not us anyway)
here's something I've created to soothe my white beans craving. It's obviously not as good as the real thing, but worth a try :)

ingredients :
1 can of canelini beans, drain and rinsed
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp chopped rosemary
olive oil
1/2 cup of water / light cream
dukkah (optional)
rocket leaves
2 slices of sourdough toasts

first, heat olive oil in a frying pan, add garlic, and fry until fragrant. add the beans and rosemary, stir it around and mash it up a bit with the back of a wooden spoon, add some water or cream and mash it again until it turns into a thick mashed of beans, but leave some beans whole (or not, it's up to you ).
Taste, season with salt and pepper, meanwhile, pop your bread in a toaster and toast for 2 minutes, and spread some butter / drizzle with olive oil.
Serve in a big plate, sprinkle some dukkah on top,serve with some rocket leaves and toasts.

butter chickpea

finally, a curry recipe that doesn't take hours to make. thanks stonesoup!
here's the recipe, fairly easy and straightforward, the only thing I add was I add chopped coriander at the end. Head to stonesoup for video instructions. Because the ingredient list is quite short, make sure to use high quality spices, invest in a good garam masala. I got mine from a cute spice shop called gewurzhaus in Carlton.

ingredients :
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 – 2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes
1 can chickpeas (400g / 14oz), drained
1 can tomatoes (400g / 14oz)
2 – 3 tablespoons cream

1. Heat a few tablespoons olive oil in a saucepan. Cook garam masala and chilli over a medium high heat for about 30 seconds.

2. Add drained chickpeas and cook for another minute or so.

3. Add tomatoes and their juices and bring to a fast simmer.

4. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then and breaking up the tomato with a fork.

5. When the sauce has reduced a little stir in the cream. Taste and season.

nicoise salad

Fresh tuna is a million time better than canned.


This is the easiest meal ever, just a matter of assembling it.
you will need :
fresh tuna, cos lettuce (or other crunchy 'substantial' lettuce, (save romaine for takeaway lunches, pls), 1 cucumber, cherry tomatoes-halved, pitted olives, some fresh soft herbs (here i used dill), hardboiled eggs (1 per person), some yoghurt, olive oil, salt and pepper.

how to :
first, season the fish with olive oil, salt and pepper, and panfried 3 minutes on each side.
While waiting for the tuna, you could also start assembling the salad on platter, simply just scatter the vegies on the plates. After 3 minutes on each side, your tuna should be nice and pink, you could slice them, or tear for a more rustic look ( jamie-oliver-esque).
for the dressing, mix yoghurt, olive oil, season with salt and pepper,stir some chopped herbs. taste & think..... add something more if you think it's appropriate.
Place the sliced tuna on top of the vegies, serve with dressing on the side.

Loaf of bread

Now I'm baking my on loaf of bread as much as I can. thanks to "artisan bread in five minutes a day"!

Oh, here's our new flat looks like

it was a pizza night that night.

Hello 2011!

Now that we got our internet connection back, I'm able to update again.. woohoo.. :)
I have a new goals for 2011, they are :
1. practicing what I preach :
practice yoga more often, and nope, teaching doesn't count
sleep early, rise early, and don't push that snooze button
learn anatomy to be a better teacher
eating less sugar, and less junk
2. consume less, make or save more :
buy what I need, not what I want
make my own loaf of bread as often as possible
save eating out for special occasion
try to pack lunch to work
3. be happier
remember, happiness is inside, not outside, and no one is responsible for my happiness
try to be less of a... grinch on that time of the months ;)
4. do any of these things :
moonlight cinema or rooftop cinema
make an apron
make a tote bag
learn to wolf whistle (just because)
catch up with friends more often
do the asthanga intensive in Bali
hmm...
what else? I'll add some more later..