a cuminy sabzi

Sometimes you are making a dal and you are like, I need to eat something green. And you rummage around and you find in your fridge: 

- 2 very small heads of broccoli 

- half a red capsicum 

- two small white potatoes 

and you think, I can make a little side dish out of this. 

a very easy cumin and mustard sabzi, to go with your dal

ingredients

2 small heads of broccoli, or one regular broccoli 

half a red capsicum, or whatever capsicum you prefer

2 middling potatoes 

1 tablespoon ground cumin (ish - I was too lazy to get out a spoon) 

Equal amounts of minced ginger and minced garlic 

1 teaspoon mustard seeds 

a stick of curry leaves 

some garam masala (but not much) 

cook this in a fry pan or a wok, not a pot! 

dice the potato, the broccoli and capsicum. boil the potato until it is almost cooked in some salty water; add the broccoli for the last three minutes. drain. 

in a little bit of oil, fry the garlic, ginger, cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves. (remove the curry leaves from the branch) after about a minute, add all the vegies, and coat them in the spices. add a pinch or two of garam masala. fry this all together until it is starting to look a little dry and concerning, then add a splash or three of water. put a lid on the fry pan. let it steam until all the water is gone and the potato is starting to get a bit mushy. whip off the lid and serve. 

fishie curry

This fish curry is so good I both started and ended my CNY with it: I made it for reunion dinner in the hometown with the fam; and I made it today for the last day of CNY with some friends.

This is actually a recipe from a friend's stepparent, and the only modification I've made is to make the fish vegan and add chilli and some lime kaffir leaves because I'm Malaysian, it's a sickness and I have my own tree now.

Anyway, when I invite you to dinner, definitely feel free to demand I make this curry.

200-300 grams vegan fish

1 inch knob ginger (minced finely)

1 - 2 cloves garlic (minced finely)

1/2 onion, leek, etc, sliced finely

fish curry powder (a Malaysian curry powder is fine)

cumin powder

turmeric powder
whole lot of chilli flakes or oil or something

1 large ripe tomato (grind, slice, dice as you choose. sometimes I use cherry tomatoes cut in half if I don't have bigger tomatoes)

3 - 4 curry leaves
2 lime kaffir leaves

200ml (ish) coconut milk or fresh milk or whichever vegan substitute your soul desires

If you have some snake or french beans you can feel free to chop them into 8cm pieces and add them at a time I will indicate. 

Fry onion thing in oil over medium heat until onions are soft and translucent. Add minced garlic and ginger and fry lightly, stirring all the time. Add water, curry powder, turmeric and cumin, curry leaves. Bring to the boil, simmer until gravy thickens and spices have mixed well. Add tomato mix and fish and cook for 5-10 minutes (until fish looks cooked through).

Add milky product, lime kaffir leaves, and any beans you might be using, bring to the boil and simmer for about five minutes.

Turn off the heat and go eat it all up.

[fitzroy] mukka indian restaurant

I can't even be reasonable in this review, for tonight I did the thing Australia so often fails to give me:

Dosa a short walk from house. Look at that beautiful thing. Crispy all the way, a heavy and spiced masala aloo, and a dal sambar that was so good I kept eating after all the dosa was gone - which I never do!

And the mark of a good dosa is how sad I am when I'm finished it and there's no more, though I'm full to bursting and shouldn't eat anything else. (I was sad indeed)

Housemates Bella and Alex were first time dosa eaters, and were both very happy with their dosa. Bella had the masala dosa also (listed on the menu as the 'classic'); Alex had the eggplant and pea dosa, which I briefly sampled and had a very mild smokey flavour.

Our eyes were massive, so I insisted on ordering the vegetable biryani and a dish of momo for sharing also. The biryani was excellent, interestingly minty but very moreish. The momo were also excellent and I will eat them again for sure.

I also had a mango and pistachio cooler, which is basically a lassi but with almond milk. I chose to have mine with added coconut rum. It was good but it wasted precious tummy space. Maybe on a beautiful summer evening.

Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free are all clearly labeled on the menu. The staff are really friendly, and as Mukka just opened, they're having a discount until 12 November. I plan to eat there this Sunday lunch time, not cos there's a special but because dosa for lunch is one of the greatest reasons to exist on this planet.

I just made my mum jealous on the phone by describing to her in loving detail the distance between my house and this dosa. (Always remember that the way to make a Malaysian mother annoyed is to tell her you're having better food than her)

My only complaint is that I wish the biryani was a little spicier. D:

Mukka Indian Restaurant
365 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Totally failing at remembering if there's a step to get in. Low tables, mixture of stools and chairs with back. Inside is well lit, ordering happens at the table. Payment over a high counter. Toilet is down a dark narrow path. Takes cards and cash.

Get there on the 96 or the 12 tram. Please don't bring a car into Fitzroy if you can help it, it's so annoying.

facebook

the first curry

My kitchen here is pretty limited, so I was a bit nervous about trying curry for the first time. I should not have worried, though: I don't think I've ever had a curry disaster, for I am a Curry Master. I made this one up as I went along, and had to use curry powder because I haven't been able to find turmeric, and red onions because I didn't have any shallots, and it still all came out okay.

I served this on noodles, because I don't have any rice.



pumpkin curry

ingredients
quarter of a red onion, diced tiny
inch of ginger, minced or shredded
little bit of garlic, minced
1 large tomato, diced large
300g pumpkin, diced larger still
some curry powder
some chilli flakes
some cumin
little bit of extra water

method
in a little oil, fry the onion until it starts to colour, then add the garlic and the ginger. after a minute or two, add the curry powder, chilli flakes and cumin, and fry until they become fragrant, then toss in the tomato and the pumpkin. allow the tomato to soften, and ensure it's mixed a bit with the pumpkin, then add in some water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cover, leaving to simmer for about half an hour. check on it every now and then, adding a little bit more water if it's soaked it all up. keep simmering and adding water until the pumpkin is nice and soft.

serve on rice or noodles or roti.

(i would pay a lot of money for roti right now)

china iv: new age veggie - super brand mall [ 新素代餐厅 ] Shanghai

Across the river in Pudong, the very picturesque tall buildings of Shanghai can be found: the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Centre, and the Jinmao Tower. Towards the end of our stay we ventured across to this side of the river, hoping to get a closer look at the Oriental Pearl Tower, and an opportunity to go high up in the sky. We did manage to find ourselves 91 stories high, in a bar at the Park Hyatt (which doesn't even start until the 87th floor). However before we got that far, we found New Age Veggie, located at the Super Brand Mall in Pudong.



There was a lot to pick from at New Age Veggie, and I wanted to eat all of it. It was hard to decide, but in the end we went with the pulled noodles and pork in soup; seafood curry with vegetables; saffron chicken rice; and salted chicken things (not its real name).

Probably my favourite of these dishes was the pulled noodles with pork. The broth had this lovely flavour and the noodles were excellent, just perfectly cooked. I actually ended up eating most of this, both because it was super delicious and because it was a bit too spicy for C. New Age Veggie is very Sichuan influenced, so a lot of the dishes have quite a beautiful chilli bite to them. I think that this noodle dish was an excellent example of it.



The seafood curry with vegetables was a perfectly serviceable and not too rich curry, complete with tofu cut and coloured to look like one side of a king prawn (awesome); the saffron rice was very understated but a perfect aid to mopping up the curry. Finally towards the end the salted chicken came out. Not only is it battered mock-chicken, but also capsicum. This was, as advertised, quite salty, and not really my thing, but C enjoyed them.

After we had paid the bill and were leaving, we dallied by the sweets counter. There had been a little menu sitting on our table during dinner, and C had perused it, interested. But New Age Veggie does use dairy, so we were unsure. Still, we hovered, and one of the wait staff came across to us. When I asked, she pointed to the black forrest cake. She was adamant that it was free of all dairy, so on that advice, we took it back to the hotel with us.



Certainly it didn't make me sick, and my body reacts quite dramatically in the presence of dairy (as it proved three days later after a coffee at Starbucks in Hong Kong), and it didn't after eating this moist and creamy cake, so I am calling it definitely vegan despite appearances and wishing I could have another. This cake was lovely, though it was apparently the only vegan sweet in the window.

All in all, a most excellent experience at New Age Veggie. After I absconded to HK, C went back for lunch without me and reported that the pancakes with pork was good, and like everything else we'd eaten there it was kind of spicy.

The menu is in Chinese with English subtitles, and has several pictures. The staff don't speak English at all. No egg, but some items have dairy so you have to ask.

Accepts credit cards, accessible via lift in the mall, wide apart tables and an area just inside the door with no steps. You can call for service via a remote that sits on the table (it has buttons for water, order, and cheque).

New Age Veggie - Super Brand Mall
5F - 20A/B
Super Brand Mall
168 Lujiazui Xi Lu
Pudong
Shanghai

Take Metro Line Two to Liujiazui Station ( 陆家嘴站)

新素代餐厅- 正大店
上海
浦东
陆家嘴西路168号
正大广场
5楼20A/B

[wa] heavenly plate, applecross

Heavenly Plate is a new(ish) vegetarian restaurant in Applecross. I've heard a lot about it primarily from one friend, and nothing else from any other source, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I manufactured an opportunity to eat there on the weekend.

In fact, what happened was that I was so excited I started tweeting about the menu immediately (using the hashtag #heavenlyplate). Heavenly Plate is vegetarian, and mostly vegan (or vegan options); there is an entire hot chocolate menu featuring items such as 'orange and cinnamon' and 'strawberry' and entrees such as mango bruschetta and all sorts of really exciting and interesting things.

We decided to maximise our tasting opportunities by sharing three entrees (between four people), then ordering our own mains with lots of sampling.



Our entrees were the japanese wedges and wasabi mayo; the avocado rolls; and the murtabak. I wish the murtabak photo had turned out - aside from being incredibly delicious, it was beautifully and artistically laid out. The avocado rolls were encased in spring roll wrappers and fried, then served with a light mint (?) mayonnaise which was so delicious Danni scraped the remnants up with her knife in order to eat it all up. The murtabak was filled with a 'chicken tofu' and it was light and delicious with a lovely sauce and looked delightful, too. The wedges were herbed and sprinkled with nori, and the wasabi mayo had a spicy bite to it which became less potent (but no less delicious) as you continued.



Alas, my bad luck with my photos continued in to our mains, so you only get to see two. Above on the left: my Thai green curry spaghetti. This looked rich, and being Thai green curry, it certainly was; but I didn't find it overwhelming, and I loved the combination. The carrot could have done with being a little softer, but aside from that it was delicious and I thought it was great. Dr G ordered the noodles with cheese wontons (sadly the wontons are not pictured). The noodles were exactly what one expects from a chasiu wonton noodle dish (which I love); the wontons were served in a slightly salty soup. The soup was perhaps slightly too salty, and the cheese wontons were interesting. I'm not sure what was in them, but definitely a cheesy flavour, and definitely worth a try.

Gilly ordered the the Tripple C, where the mock chicken was battered in flour and Diet Coke, and deep fried, served with some lovely crisp chips and a perfectly serviceable salad. Gilly reports that she could taste a slight Coke-y flavour to the batter, but the rest of us were unsure. Danni went for the chilli chicken in red jam, a beautifully presented dish featuring rice and vegetables and mock chicken and cashews. The flavour of this dish was excellent, and not spicy (more flavoursome), with a slight sweetness which I assume was the red jam.



Intrigued by the desserts and chocolates menu, we decided to split two desserts and each order a hot chocolate. Due to the unavailability of the peach pie, we ordered the apple torte and the chocolate sundae. Chocolates ordered to the table were the strawberry hot chocolate and the orange + cinnamon hot chocolate.

The chocolate sundae was So Good icecream with a whole lot of chocolate syrup and sprinkles. This was very fun to eat, but nothing exciting (aside from the experience of the chocolate sundae). The apple torte had a lovely flavour but I found it a little dry; I took this opportunity to combine the two, and this was excellent.



The strawberry hot chocolate had been particularly recommended to me; alas, I found it way too sweet for me, and had to keep cleansing my palate with chocolate sundae. When one needs to palate cleanse with icecream, it is perhaps too sweet! I found the orange + cinnamon hot chocolate much more to my taste, with a light tang and a lovely sweetness. Alas then that I was not the person to order that chocolate!

Total bill for all that food came to just over $130. It was slightly too much food for all of us; each of my dining companions complained of being uncomfortably full, and I was leaning towards that myself. But certainly not disappointed. In fact, I am searching for excuses to dine there again before I depart Perth.



Heavenly Plate
899 Canning Highway
Applecross (WA)

open every day

didn't ask about gluten free options

little ramp up, easily navigable with wide apart tables inside. large, unisex toilets available. get there via the train (about a 5-10 minute walk from canning bridge station on the mandurah line) or a canning highway bus. some parking available.

home cooked perth noms

The other thing I do when I'm in Perth is eat things that people cook especially for me.



I don't know how to describe my levels of excitement when these Welsh cakes appeared in front of me! I went for afternoon tea with the Ex-Laws, and Nan went to experimental lengths to make me vegan Welsh cakes, and apparently they were just as they should be! Certainly I found them just as they should be (delicious), and had to fend off non-vegan interlopers who could have had their pick of the raspberry slice she'd brought, or the cupcakes already there, and instead tried to eat all my Welsh cakes. They were SUPER DELICIOUS, I will have more please!



On my first night at my parents' house I was way too tired (after five days in the con hotel with (surprise!) not a lot of sleep) to actually go out for dinner, so I requested my mother make CKT for dinner. Which she did! I love it when my mum makes CKT, she makes a portion for every person because everyone wants it slightly different. But this means sometimes she forgets things from batch to batch: in my case, chilli.



On my last night staying with my parents, we decided to cook some curries and things. Featured here are a vegetable curry (cooked by mum); a chana masala (cooked by me); and some gailan and mushrooms. OH YEAH this is one of my favourite meal sets.

Thanks, Perth! As always you were delicious.

kind of like a kapitan curry thing

For ages I had planned to make this curry. A friend modified her step-mother's fish curry so that it was vegan, especially for me, and it was simple and tasty and filled with familiar delicious flavours. So this recipe sat in my inbox for months and months, and finally last week I went to make it...and every where I went I could only find mock fish with whey in it. Even brands that were previously vegan contained whey.

Too lazy to look up any other recipes for new curries, I amalgamated this instead with what I had in the house and in my head (which is like an ode to curries).




kind of like a kapitan only not really

200gm mock chicken pieces
1cm knob ginger, minced
1 clove minced ginger
half of a brown onion, sliced finely
a whole lot of curry powder* (I didn't measure, but about 1 and a bit tablespoons)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon tumeric
half a teaspoon garamasala
a dash or three of ground coriander
1 large tomato, diced
small handful of snake beans, ends off and halved
some curry leaves
a couple of lime kaffir leaves
400mlish coconut milk
a cup or two of water


*so here is the thing about curry powder: sometimes people refer to it as 'inauthentic.' This is a smokescreen! Curry powder comes from the curry leaf. You should never use it as the only spice in a curry, but it is a perfectly cromulent addition to your curry along with many other ingredients! Unless you would like to tell my mother that she is inauthentically Malaysian Chinese. That would be amazing.


method:
In some oil, fry the onions over a medium heat until they are soft and translucent (about ten minutes), then add the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Then throw in the curry powder, cumin, tumeric, and garamasala, mix it all together, then throw in a little bit of the water. Let it simmer for a few minutes so it all mixes through and renders down, then throw in the mock chicken pieces. Let these fry in the spices until well coated, then add the tomatoes and the rest of the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer covered for fifteen to twenty minutes. Or even longer, if you like. After this, add in the snake beans, curry leaves and lime kaffir leaves, and leave to simmer for another ten. Then add the coconut milk, simmer another five, and it is ready to go!

easy bean + potato curry

One of the things I love the most is curry. I love simple curries that require nothing further than throwing some things from jars into a pot, and I love complex curries that require me to start thinking about it a full day in advance, and are a lot of physical effort. I love sampling new curries at restaurants, and curries at new restaurants. I love them all.



I threw this potato and bean curry together when I was feeling a bit down and just wanted a whole lot of delicious things, and didn't have to put in too much effort. There was no grinding involved, no pounding together to make a paste; it was fast and simple, with a handful of ingredients and some time simmering on the stove. It was something I made up, and I am definitely going to make it again. I loved the sauce especially - three days later as I was eating the leftovers, it was super delicious.

This curry is medium spicy.

easy bean + potato curry

ingredients
oil
1 brown onion (diced)
2 clove garlic (minced)
a small amount of ginger (grated or minced)
1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala (make your own if you need the meal to be gluten free)
1 teaspoon tumeric
2 small tomatoes (diced)
4 medium sized potatoes, white or red, scrubbed well and diced
a handful of snake beans, tailed and chopped in to halves or thirds
1 can coconut milk
some stock or water (a few cups at least)

method
Fry the onion in some oil until it's getting soft, then add the garlic. Follow this with the ginger, coriander, cumin, garam masala and tumeric, and quickly fry until fragrant, then throw in the potatoes. Let them fry for a minute, before adding the tomato and some water. Bring to a boil, then reduce and put on the lid. Simmer for ten fifteen minutes, until the potato starts to soften, then add the beans. Add more water if necessary, then simmer for another ten minutes. The potatoes should be super soft. Add the coconut milk, simmer another five minutes, and then you're done!

Serve with lots of mushy rice.

curries + recipe by my mum

So I was staying with my parents! And my mum loves to cook for me. SO SHE DID. Not heaps, because I was only in town for almost but not quite five days, but every cooking was a delight.

Because we're super Malaysian, it was mostly curry. And that's totally okay, because my mum makes some really great curries.



On Saturday night she cooked a pumpkin curry and a mixed-vegetable curry. OH YEAH.

On Tuesday, I was concerned that maybe I would be eating bread all day (toast, then sandwiches, then more sandwiches on the plane), so my mum cooked me a delicious eggplant curry for lunch.



There's something about a good eggplant curry that's just really awesome. Done well, the eggplant falls apart and is all squishy and kind of fatty, and it soaks up all the flavours and it's delicious. And my mum does a good eggplant curry. Which I am going to attempt to share with you! I say "attempt" because I sort of kept looking over to see what mum was doing, but my mum very rarely actually measures things out so it's all a bit of guesswork. Just go with what works best!



eggplant + mixed vegetable curry

Slice a couple of Lebanese eggplants lengthwise into strips. They don't have to be super thin. In a little bit of oil, fry these until they colour, then set aside. You'll add these in again at the end.

Pound together two large shallots and three large red chillis, and in the remaining oil, start to fry this. As it becomes fragrant, add some water and two lengths of lemongrass. After five to ten minutes, add two diced potatoes, one diced carrot, and two diced tomatoes, as well as some fresh beans (if you're using them - or add them in ten minutes if you're using frozen). At this point, also add a bay leaf and some fresh lime kaffir leaves. Add some more water, and some garam masala (you will need to make your own if it needs to be gf), and leave to boil, lid on.

My mum has a lime kaffir tree, and at this point I'm pretty sure I stared at it, longingly.

After twenty or thirty minutes, the vegies should have softened. Add one small can of coconut milk, and the eggplants. Leave to simmer, lid off, for another ten to fifteen minutes.

Serve and eat.

tom yum noodle soup

I have been a bit under the weather the last two weeks, and in grand SEAsian tradition, we've been eating a lot of curries to try and kick it (to the point that I went to hang out with some friends and volunteered to cook laksa for dinner at their house…).

I'd never tried making Tom Yum soup before, so when Danni suggested it as something to try, it was a challenge I was keen to accept. It's got a lot of really homey elements in it for me; because of the moderate Thai influence on Penang cooking, lemon grass, lime kaffir, and coconut feature heavily across Penang dishes.

The tart, lemongrassy flavour, with the spice of the chilli and the bite of the galangal, along with the soup and the noodles, makes this dish perfect for the cold weather, comfort food eating, and helping me shake off this cold.


Tom Yum Noodle Soup



I added some bok choy to this because I wanted the extra vegetables; they're totally optional.

ingredients
1 length lemongrass
small handful lime kaffir leaves
1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small piece (approx 2 cm) galangal, sliced
3 cups veggie stock
100g golden boy mushrooms
handful cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon veggie oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
quarter cup coconut cream
some rice noodles
optional: bok choy

method
Simmer lemon grass, lime kaffir leaves, some dried chilli flakes, garlic and a little bit of sliced galangal in some veggie stock for about half an hour, lid on. Then add some golden boy mushrooms (washed and halved), and do some more simmering. Also add a handful of cherry tomatoes. When this is merrily boiling away, add a tablespoon or so of veggie oyster sauce. Leave to simmer for about twenty minutes. Then reduce heat and add a tablespoon of light soy sauce, and quarter cup of coconut cream. At this point, throw in the bok choy, sliced, if you are adding it. Simmer five minutes longer, lid off, then serve, with noodles, or even without noodles if that's your preference.

(Noodles are the best)

tofu + tempeh kapitan and lots of ginger

First Danni picked up a cold, then she passed it on to several people. So we were sitting around the house, and en-colded vegans were feeling a bit gross, so I did what I always do in this situation: I made a curry.

I had a little bit of tempeh and a little bit of tofu floating around in the fridge, so I thought I'd use this to make a kapitan. I also had two bulbs of bok choi wilting in the bottom of the fridge, and so it seemed like a good time to make ginger bok choi.

I usually use mock chicken for this, as kari kapitan is a chicken recipe, so I wasn't sure how this was going to go. Overall it went okay - the tofu was good, but even though I fried the tempeh for ages, it was still kind of bland. If I was going to try this again, I would probably try and marinate the tempeh in some chilli or something for a little while before hand, and then cook it exactly the same way. It might make for some spicy bites, though, which are all good.



tofu and tempeh kapitan

I would recommend marinating the diced tempeh first in some chilli flakes, mixed in a little water to form a thick paste that you can rub into the tempeh.

ingredients
1 shallot
1 clove garlic, minced
1 heaped teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 heaped teaspoon garamasala
3 curry leaves
3 lime kaffir leaves
3 medium to large potatoes, peeled and diced (some small cubes, some larger)
half a cup of firm tofu, cubed
half a cup of tempeh, cubed small
a large handful snake beans (cut in thirds)
1 tomato, diced tiny
1 large can coconut milk
1 cup vegetable stock

method
Using a thin-bottom pot, fry the shallot (sliced) in some peanut oil with the garlic, until it starts to discolour. Mix together the chilli and garamasala with a little water until a thick paste is formed, and add this paste, as well as the tempeh, to the pot. Braise the tempeh, and coat well in the paste. Keep frying, and adding more oil, as necessary, until it is well cooked. About halfway through, add the tofu. The tofu doesn't need to be well cooked, but some firming and frying is good.

Add the potato, tomato, lime kaffir leaves and curry leaves, as well as the stock. Add extra water so that the ingredients are almost but not totally covered. Simmer on low heat with the lid on for about thirty minutes, then add the snake beans. Add extra water if necessary, and replace the lid. Simmer or another twenty minutes, then add the coconut milk. Leave to simmer with the lid off for ten minutes. Smother rice in the gravy and serve (maybe with some roti).

bok choi and ginger

ingredients
2 bulbs bok choi, stalks and leaves separated from each other
2 cm of fresh ginger, julienned
1 or 2 fresh chillis, sliced
a dash or two of dark soy
1 dash vegan oyster sauce
half a carrot, julienned

method
In a little peanut oil in a hot wok, fry the chillis with the ginger, then add the carrots and a dash of water, and put the lid on. Leave to steam for a minute or three, until the carrot softens slightly. Add the bok choy stalks and a dash more water if necessary, and repeat with the steaming. Then throw in the leaves and the sauce to wilt, and serve.

red curry noodles

Our friends J and dB have been away for a few weeks, and before they went they turned off their fridge and freezer, so we ended up with a whole lot of stuff. Amongst these surprises included half a jar of red curry paste and several containers of homemade vegie stock, so I decided to use some of it up by making some red curry noodles.



This curry paste had a much sweeter flavour than what I am used to in my curry paste (which I would ordinarily make myself), but the idea is sound!

And just this morning, dB and J returned home! What a timely posting.

red curry noodles

This was really fast and really easy. Quick dinner or lunch idea, I think!

ingredients
dried thick rice noodles - not a lot, only 200g or so
three or four tablespoons of curry paste
1 or 2 chillis, sliced
1 carrot, julienned
1 bulb bok choy
1 clove garlic, minced
1 short stalk of lemon grass
half a red capsicum, julienned
some firm tofu
half a cup of coconut milk
cup or one and a half of vegie stock

method
Soak the noodles in hot water for a minute or two, to soften, then drain and set aside. Slice the tofu and fry it in some peanut oil until it is puffy and fried. Set aside.

In a wok, throw in the carrot, capsicum, garlic and chilli. Fry in a little oil until the garlic is fragrant and the carrots are softening, then add the lemongrass and the curry paste, then the coconut milk, vegie stock, and the bok choy stalks. Put the lid on and allow to simmer for about four minutes, then add in the noodles and the bok choy leaves. Mix through, and allow to simmer until most of the liquid has been soaked up by the noodles. Serve topped with tofu.

mixed vegetable and lentil curry

After several weeks of eating at a lot of restaurants, I'm trying to do a similar thing to Jess, and eat mostly at home for the next little while.

I started before Danni's parents even left, kneading the pizza dough as they loitered waiting for Danni to take them to the airport. But you have seen my standard pizzas before, so I don't really need to blog them!

Tuesday I slacked off, and we had scrambled tofu for dinner (but I made it!).

Wednesday I had the day off work, so I spent the afternoon experimenting with kaya, and then decided to cook a curry before I hurried out the door to my class. We have a lot of chillis growing on our balcony (it's awesome!), and the weather is growing colder, so I'm starting to cook a lot more curries.



mixed vegetable and lentil curry

This is sort of based on the Sindhi vegetable and lentil curry in The Asian Vegan Kitchen (pg 23). I took the basic idea and then modified it to suit what I had and what I wanted.

ingredients
half cup yellow lentils
half cup red lentils
1 teaspoon ground cumin
half teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 clove garlic
a little bit of ginger
3 fresh red chillis from my garden! (these were quite hot)
1 brown onion (diced)
4 tomatoes (diced)
2 potatoes (peeled, washed and diced roughly)
1 carrot (peeled and diced)
quarter head of cauliflower (wash well! then chop into small florets)
1 bushell spinach (wash super well, and roughly shred)
2 cups water
2 cups stock


method
Rinse the lentils, then soak in a little hot water. Saute the onion (in some oil) with the cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper and ground coriander, then add the ginger and garlic (both minced), as well as the chillis. Chillis should have been chopped, with their seeds.

After the onion starts to soften, drain the lentils and add them, as well as the tomatoes, potatoes, carrot, cauliflower and spinach, preferably in that order. I like to let the tomatoes, potatoes and carrot cook for a couple of minutes before I add the cauliflower and spinach, but you may not!

Add the stock and the water, and mix, then leave to simmer on medium to low, covered, for about 25 - 30 minutes.

This is a tiny bit spicy! Also very liquidy, perfect for rice and roti.

steph's mum's pumpkin curry

Since I've moved away from my mum, I've been trying to make a more concerted effort to cook the things she used to cook for me, that I never bothered learning to cook. This pumpkin curry only entered her repertoire after we went vegan, but it quickly became a favourite so I was inspired to try cooking it recently.



steph's mum's pumpkin curry

ingredients
500g/halfish a small butternut pumpkin (cubed, skin off)
2 shallots
1 piece ginger
1 short length lemongrass
2 red chillies
2 garlic cloves
half tsp garam masala
half teaspoon mustard seeds
5 cardamom pods
4 or 5 vietnamese mint leaves (daun kesom) or curry leaves
cup of veggie stock

method
Pound the red shallots, ginger, lemongrass, red chillies and garlic
together. Then add garam marsala, mustard seeds, cardamom pods and
Vietnamese mint or curry leaves. In a small amount of peanut oil, fry this paste until fragrant. Add in the pumpkin, mix through, then add the veggie stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer on medium for about half an hour, until the pumpkin is soft, almost starting to go to mush. Check the curry occasionally, you may need to add a little bit (only a little!) more liquid.

This makes a good dish with something else. Serve warm.

things that didn't quite work

Here are some recent things I've cooked that haven't quite been as delicious as I might have hoped.



SJ has this really awesome tempeh bolognaise recipe, which I have made several times as the sauce for plain pasta. We thought we'd see how this went as a pasta bake, since it allegedly goes amazingly as a lasagna sauce. I topped this with grated cheezly and some nutritional yeast/savoury yeast flakes, and it didn't go that well. The sauce was either too thin to hold to the pasta, or too thick with tempeh to hold to the pasta. The very top of it, encrusted with cheezly and nutritional yeast, was quite tasty though.



The texture of this dish was perfect, and given it was brown rice I was quite pleased. However biriyani it was not. I followed this recipe ish, approximately anyway, and doubled the spices and added extra (garamasala, for example, featured heavily), and it was still kind of bland. Could have done with more spice. I might try this one again.



Lastly a curried vegetable pasty. Not sure where I got the recipe for this one, but again it was a bit bland, could have done with some more spices. Puff pastry covers many sins, but not all of them.

tofu rendang

We had a bit of a drama-rama Wednesday night, and Danni woke up feeling moderately under the weather, and had a bit of a sick day. In my family, the answer to 'feeling cold and flu-ey' is always curry, so I suggested we have a bit of a Malaysian day. 'When don't we?' Danni asked, and I suppose this is true, so we followed our delicious Malaysian treats with some delicious Malaysian curry.



I haven't made rendang in ages, and was hoping to try something new, so I modified this recipe at the star online (which to my shame, ahaha, is often my first stop when looking for Malaysian recipes).



Tofu Rendang

Rendang renders all the way down, so don't expect too much liquid from this dish.

ingredients
300ish grams of firm tofu
1 stalk lemon grass
5 fresh lime kaffir leaves
300 ml light coconut milk
2 tbl lime juice
quarter cup of stock (a vegie beef, or vegie)

for the paste
4 shallots
5 or 6 large red chillis
1 clove garlic
2 tbl dried chilli flakes
20g galangal
one small knob ginger
8 cashews
half teaspoon ground tumeric

method
Pound together the paste ingredients until a chunky paste is formed. You can make it a smooth paste, but I like it to still have some bits in it.

Squish out the water in the tofu. In a thin-bottomed pot over medium heat, add a little peanut oil with the lemon grass and the tofu. Fry the tofu for about five minutes, until it starts to colour, then add the paste. Keep frying for another three or four minutes, stirring constantly so that it doesn't stick too much. Add a tiny bit more oil if necessary. Add the coconut milk, and bring to a boil, then reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for about twenty five minutes, lid off. Stir occasionally, and about halfway through add the stock.

Add the shredded lime kaffir leaves and the lime juice, and simmer for another five minutes, or until the entire mixture has well reduced.

I served this with some bok choy and bean shoots in a little garlic-soy sauce.

kari kapitan and veaty chicken bites

One of the difficult things about moving across the country is finding substitutes or replacements for all the things you used to buy. Currently I am trying to find a good mock chicken pieces product. I used to use the same stuff that Lord of the Fries uses for their nuggets, it was amazing. Anyway, now here we are in Melbourne and I am looking but not quite there.

The most important thing my fake chicken pieces have to be able to do is perform adequately in a kapitan recipe.



I picked up something called 'veaty bites' from the grocer at Barkly Square. The chicken pieces had the right sort of texture, and are gluten free, so meaning I can still make this recipe gluten free, hooray! But the pieces were not quite right, and the packaging was extensive, so whilst these were an okay substitute, I continue my search.

thai(ish) red curry

I am very fond of curries, it is one of the first things people learn about me. I have many old staples, things I make all the time, but I love discovering new and delicious curries. This recipe was an attempt at a Thai red curry - it is good, slightly coconutty and quite delicious, but it is not exactly what I was going for, and so the experimentations continue. Don't get me wrong though, I will definitely make this again.



red curry paste
2 teaspoon red chilli flakes
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
2 shallots
a handful of coriander leaves
1 tablespoon lemongrass (middle fleshy bit)
2 red chillis
1 garlic clove
1 small piece galangal
5 or 6 lime kaffir leaves
half a teaspoon of salt.

Crush the lime kaffir leaves. Soak the chilli flakes and the lime kaffir leaves in a tiny amount of hot water, just enough to cover them. Leave for ten minutes. In the meantime, roast the coriander and the cumin until fragrant. Pound together all of the ingredients.



red curry
3 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons of grated palm sugar
quarter cup of light soy sauce
6 lime kaffir leaves
1 small length of lemongrass (middle fleshy bit)
1 cup vegetable stock
a whole lot of vegetables (I like to use carrots, brocolli, capsicum and bamboo, and maybe some snow peas)
handful of tofu puffs, sliced into small squares.
large handful of Thai basil leaves

Dry fry the curry paste, then as it begins to smell delicious (only a minute or two), add a little bit of oil, then toss through the harder vegetables (such as carrots and capsicum, bamboo, or potato), and coat well. Add the coconut milk and lemongrass, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer for five or six minutes, covered.

Add palm sugar, soy sauce, lime kaffir leaves, vegie stock, and any appropriate vegies such as brocolli. Simmer for another ten minutes, covered. By this time all the vegies should be tender or just tender. Add the snow peas, and simmer uncovered for five minutes. Stir through the basil (and bean shoots if you're using), and let sit for five minutes, before serving.

delicious curry post

On Friday night it was a bit cold and stormy, and I wanted some curry, but I wanted to try something new. I love a good Malaysian curry, or a good Thai or Indian curry, but I eat a lot of curry and I'm always looking for something new and awesome. I searched through my delicious to see what I could see, and found these two curries that worked just great. I even managed to judge the cooking time correctly so they were both ready at the same time.



This spinach and tomato curry made heaps. At first I was worried that the two bunches of spinach the recipe called for would be too overwhelming, or two much, but it was just perfect. This was really delicious, and is definitely becoming a regular. Next time I might add some chunks of potato. I used Riva's recipe. This recipe had a small bite to it (but nothing you can't handle).



I supplemented it with this Kashmiri Dhingri Chole from Tigers and Strawberries. It made quite a small portion, so I was glad I had chosen to cook it in conjunction with the spinach curry, but the flavour of the mushrooms came through really well and made this a very delightful dish. This is not spicy at all.

We ate these curries all through the weekend, with roti and rice.