Vegetarianism: Potato Fried Egg

This dish is well-liked by my hubby. It is sort of inspired after I had rosti in Marche.

Personally, I preferred to use russet potatoes because I like the texture. Also, it is because the size of potato is just right. But, it should work with any breed of potatoes. If you are using baby potatoes, just make sure that there are enough strips to cover the bottom of your frying pan.

Ingredients:
1 potato cut into strips
2 eggs
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp chilli flakes
Cooking oil

Steps:

1. Fry the strips of potatoes in cooking oil, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp chilli flakes until thoroughly cooked. Mix well.
2. Roughly arrange the potatoes to cover the bottom of the frying pan.
3. Beat 2 eggs and pour over the potatoes.
4. Flip side when the bottom side is cooked until golden brown.
5. Serve when both sides are cooked until golden brown.

Bon appetit!

Vegetarianism: Chye Sim Egg Soup

Chye sim egg soup occupies a special place in my heart. It holds a dear memory which my maternal grandmother and I shared. Before I share the memory, let's take a look at how to cook this simple soup which takes less than 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 stalks chye sim cut into smaller pieces

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1 beaten egg
500 ml water

Steps

1. Add 1 tsp pepper and 1 tsp salt in 500 ml water (use hot water to speed things up), and boil.
2. Add in chye sim and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes until chye sim is crispy green.
3. Switch off flame and swirl in 1 beaten egg.

That's it! It's done and ready to serve. Do adjust the amount of seasoning to suit your taste. 

Now, back to the chye sim fond memory of my maternal grandmother. She passed away since I was in Secondary One. But, I still recalled vividly what happened that day.

It was a school day. My father sent me to primary school per mother's instruction. I was supposed to be on one more day of medical leave still due to chicken pox. Of course, I got sent back the moment I got into the classroom.

First, I tried to contact my parents but could not reach them. Since the only other number I remembered was my maternal grandmother's, I dialled it while praying that she was at home. Rang thrice and she picked up. A sigh of relief! Phew~ 

Luckily for me, she stayed near my primary school (and my place). Within an hour, I was at her house waiting for my parents to pick me up. Seeing that I am on the verge of crying (pretty traumatic experience for a primary kid), she cooked me this soup. Hence, this soup is one of my comfort food. It never fails to calm me down.

For years, I was trying to recreate it by adding seasonings such as vegetarian oyster sauce, mushroom granules, vegetable stock cubes, etc. but in vain. Something about the soup just did not bring back those fond memories.

Then, I recalled that my maternal grandmother was not a vegetarian (hence, I doubt she stocked up those seasonings). Also, she cooked me the soup about 20 plus years back. At that time, those seasonings were not readily available (or not in the market) too. So, I decided to go back to the basics and use only pepper and salt. Viola~  I finally got back the taste I missed so much. More accurately speaking, I miss her dearly still...

This is a very simple clear soup. Some might feel that the vegetable taste is a bit strong. But, I hope you will also like it. To increase its nutritional value, you may want to add in other ingredients such as tomatoes, carrots, etc. Go ahead and experiment with it! 

Bon appetit!

Vegetarianism: Tomato Rice

A Facebook post on cooking tomato rice using rice cooker captured my attention. It looked simple and fuss free enough for me to give it a try. One thing to note, I deviated the amount of seasoning and water used from those suggested by the YouTube[1].

Ingredients:
1 tomato (pick a big one place of at least the size of your palm)
2 cups rice
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
Water

Steps:

1. Wash 2 cups of rice and add water as indicated by the rice cooker.
2. Add 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp olive oil. Mix well.
3. Remove stem from tomato and it on top the mixture with stem side faced down.
4. Once cooked, stir the tomato into the rice and serve.

Step 3: Ready to commence cooking

Step 4: Mixed well and ready to serve

As compared to plain rice, this is definitely more nutritious if you are in a rush to get a meal ready. It has the fresh tomato smell, yet not over powering. A really quick way to boost the amount of carotene lycopene[1] (a very powerful antioxidant) and vitamin A in a meal~

Bon appetit!

References:

1. YouTube - How to make whole tomato rice
2. Wikipedia - Tomato

Vegetarianism: Cantonese Congee

There are different types of congee or porridge. Some more watery (I think that is the hokkien or teo chew version?), some more sticky (the cantonese congee), some with added ingredients (e.g. mushrooms, vegetables, etc.), and so on. This post will be on the plain version of cantonese congee.

Usually, I prefer to use a slow cooker whenever I feel like having cantonese congee (so that I do not have to keep stirring). Depending on the amount you cook and the heat you set on your slow cooker, it may take around 2 hours to cook.

To ensure that the congee is sticky like those sold by the stalls, the ratio of water to rice is very crucial. Personally, I found the best ratio of water to rice is when the amount of water is 10 times the amount of rice used.

Ingredients:
1 cup short grain rice (or new long grain rice)
10 cups water
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp mushroom granules
Sesame oil
Coriander
Chinese cruller (油條)

Steps:

1. Wash 1 cup of short grain rice and then add 10 cups of water into slow cooker. 
2. Add 1 tsp pepper and 1 tsp mushroom granules. 
3. Commence cooking.
4. Add sesame oil, coriander and Chinese cruller (油條) before serving.

That is it really! Simple right? You can adjust the amount of seasonings (mushroom granules and pepper) to suit your palate. Also, you can adjust the amount of rice. Just remember that the amount of water is 10 times the amount of rice used. 

It is up to your personal preference whether to add sesame oil, coriander and Chinese cruller (油條) as finishing touch. You can opt to add other ingredients too at Step 4. For example, if you add century egg (皮蛋), you will end up with century egg congee (皮蛋粥).

Before I end this post, does making the plain congee in less than 15 minutes might sound impossible? Well, we are aware that porridge usually takes pretty long to cook. Here, I share a trick I learnt on YouTube[1]. It can shorten the cooking time by a lot. And the trick is is to freeze the washed rice in freezer compartment for at least an hour before cooking it.

You might question why freezing would cut short the cooking time. I think it has something to do with what we learnt in science: greater surface area = shorter cooking time. Well, the washed rice grains have water molecules in them. So when you freeze the rice grains, water expand as it freezes to become ice. Hence, an increase in surface area because the rice grains are broken into smaller bits.

Hope you find the trick useful! Bon appetit!

Reference:

1. YouTube - Trick to cooking porridge quickly

Vegetarianism: Egg Noodle Soup

One of those simple, less mess and easy to make one-pot dishes. Most importantly, the preparation time is very short. Hence, my love for one-pot dishes because of its simplicity yet nutritious and filling nature. I got the inspiration from a blog written by Minimalist Baker [1].

Everything is in one-pot alright. But of course, you don't throw all the ingredients in at one go (because some ingredients use shorter cooking time). All you have to do is to identify and drop in the ones that require longer cooking time earlier, then just keep adding on. It's that simple!

Another great thing about this dish is you get to be creative! The ingredients you add into your soup, the soup base or even the noodle you use can vary according to your liking! For example, you can use pasta, kway teow or even vermicelli instead of egg noodles. If you don't like vegetable stock soup base, you can change it to tom yam, curry, etc. If you like it more soupy, you can add more water. Else, use lesser water. You get what I mean, right?

Here are the ingredients I used for this round:
Egg noodle
6 vegetarian dumplings
3 mock chicken feet
Sliced tomatoes
Chye sim (greem vegetable)
Oyster mushrooms
Dried seaweed
1 egg
Half a scoop of mushroom granules seasoning
2 tbsp tom yum paste
1000ml water

Steps:

1. In 1000ml water, add mushroom granules seasoning, tom yum paste, sliced tomatoes, mock chicken feet and oyster mushroom. Bring to boil and simmer.
2. Add in egg noodles and cook till al dente or desired softness.
3. Add vegetarian dumpling and seaweed. Cook for about 2 minutes.
4. Add in chye sim and sesame oil. Cook until chye sim is crisp-tender.
5. Switch off the flame. Beat the egg and stir it in. 

If you like clear or less starchy soup, you can cook the egg noodles till al dente (drain it and put into soup bowl first) and soup mixture separately. Then add the soup mixture to the egg noodles before serving.

Oh! If you are pressing for time and you have a water air pot or hot water dispenser at home, use the boiled water from your air pot! That probably would save you 0
about 10 minutes.

Bon appetit!

Reference:

1. Minimalist Baker - One pot vegan pasta