Kerala Vegetable Strew

From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus Editions, 2003.

I am still cooking for myself so making dishes that last for at least a couple of days. I have had the ribollita, an Italian rich thick vegetable soup, so now I thought I would go for a spicy Asian stew.

The first task was to make a spicy paste. A tablespoon channa dal (split chickpeas) and a tablespoon urad dal (black lentils) were cooked in a tablespoon of heated olive oil until they began to brown. Now I added a chopped green chilli, 5 sliced garlic cloves, a tablespoon cumin seeds, ½ teaspoon turmeric and a good handful of desiccated coconut. These were all sautéed until the coconut had become a golden colour. The mixture was let cool, then placed in a blender with ½ cup water and zapped until it had become a thick puree.

Into a large saucepan now went about a cup of sliced cabbage, a sliced carrot, a cup of cauliflower broken into small pieces, ½ cup of green beans cut into sections, ½ cup peas and a teaspoon salt. A cup of water was added as well as the pureed spice mix. The vegetables were cooked for about 15 minutes.

When the cooking time was nearly up a tablespoon of ghee was melted in a pan and ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and ½ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds were added with about 6 curry leaves. When the mustard seeds started popping the mixture was poured into the vegetables  which were simmered for another few minutes.

I should have eaten this with rice but settled for slices of toasted sourdough bread which went well with it, though not as well as rice would have.

This served me for an enjoyable two meals. I do enjoy spicy foods and this was really well flavoured with spices, perhaps overpowering the flavour of the vegetables a little.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Chinese-style Eggplant Salad

From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus Editions, 2003.

For this dish I took 2 Asian eggplants and dropped them into a pot of boiling salted water. After 8 minutes they were taken out and left to cool. I then cut them in half lengthwise and then into pieces of about 5cm.

While they had been cooking I had made a dressing to pour over them. I finely chopped one garlic clove (the recipe called for more) and mixed it with one teaspoon soy sauce, two teaspoons white vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, one teaspoon sugar and a lot of freshly ground black pepper. I then beat in one tablespoon sesame oil until it was well incorporated. This was all poured over the cooked eggplant and some chopped coriander sprinkled over.

This was eaten warm like a warm salad and was an extremely tasty way to have eggplant. I would make this again as a side dish to Asian-style meals. It was well flavoured and juicy.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Spicy Stuffed Potatoes in Tomato Curry

From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus Editions, 2003.

I was a little hesitant about this recipe but, as I have always had success from this particular book, I was ready to give it a go.

The potatoes were boiled for a few minutes until they were part cooked. When they were cool they were cut in half along their long sides and hollowed out, leaving a thin wall.

A stuffing was made of almond meal, chopped cashew and pistachio nuts in about equal quantities. Raisins were chopped and added. The mix had yoghurt added and a pinch of cayenne pepper and some salt. The potato insides were then added and stirred in. This stuffing was piled into the hollowed potatoes. The two potato halves were stuck together and held in place with some toothpicks.

The curry was made next. A cup of chopped onions was fried until golden and then put into a blender with a little chopped ginger, a couple of garlic cloves and three sliced tomatoes to make a paste.

Another onion was sliced and sautéed until golden, when the mixture was added from the blender together with ground cumin, turmeric, garam masala and a pinch of cayenne pepper. This was slowly cooked until the oil began to part from the mixture. A little yoghurt, a tablespoon of desiccated coconut and water was now added with salt. This was brought to the boil and cooked for a few minutes longer. The potatoes were added and the sauce spooned over them. They were covered and kept at a simmer until the sauce had thickened. It was then ready to serve.

There had been stuffing left over that would not fit into the potatoes so I gave this a quick fry and served it alongside the dish.

My doubts were erased when I tasted it. This was such a flavoursome meal and another way to use one of my favourite vegetables: the potato. I am not sure where I picked up this book (it’s a Singaporean publication) but it has always delivered.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Split Chickpea Curry

From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus Editions, 2003.

I’m not sure what split chickpeas are. I suspect that they are not what I know as chickpeas. Anyway to make this recipe I ended up using a split pea.

The peas were simmered in water with turmeric for 20 minutes. They were still a bit on the hard side at this stage.

Vegetables were added next: onion, carrot, eggplant and tomato. After another 15 minutes, chopped green chillies were added for another 5 minutes simmer.

At the next stage coconut milk and tamarind juice were added with seasoning and they were simmered for another 5 minutes. The peas were breaking up well now.

In a pan, mustard seeds and cumin seeds were fried until they began to pop. Dried chillies, curry leaves, shallots and garlic were added and cooked until the shallots had browned. This was mixed into the peas and vegetables and it was ready to eat.

It was a moderately successful meal. I prefer curries with a lot more bite than this one had. I found I was depending upon a mango chutney to give it the tang it seemed to lack.

I have found so far that recipes from this book are generally successful. This one turned out to be just a little below what others had been but it was still worth the making. Possibly my use of the wrong split chickpeas may have been part of the reason.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Chinese Spinach, Mushroom and Tofu in Clear Broth

From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus Editions, 2003.

Asian soups are so easy and quick to prepare—and they are usually tasty as well. This soup turned out to fit the mould.

I’m gradually working my way through this little book and thoroughly enjoying the results. It’s often difficult to find a vegetarian Asian cookbook that really works but this one seems to do the trick.

For this soup I only had to stir-fry some ginger and garlic for a few seconds. Spinach that had been chopped into reasonable pieces was then added and fried for a couple of minutes.

Then in went the stock, tofu and button mushrooms, on went a lid and it was brought to the boil and simmered for a couple more minutes.

 Some sesame oil was now added together with seasonings. Ready!

This was a pleasant, clear broth soup that was fresh tasting and fun to eat.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Nourishing Chinese Green Pea and Tofu Soup

From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus Editions, 2003.

A nourishing clear soup was just what I was in the mood for and I found what looked like one in this book of healthy Asian vegetarian food. Not having used the book before I was keen to see how it would go.

It was so easy.

Firstly black fungus had to be put into water and soaked. Frozen peas were taken from the fridge to defrost a little.

While this was happening I put stock on to bring to the boil and chopped up a carrot and diced tofu. This went into the pot to simmer for 3 minutes while I chopped the mushrooms and cut up the black fungus that was now soaked. Mushrooms, peas and fungus went into the pot to simmer for another short while.

This gave me time to mix some cornflour and water to stir into the soup when it was ready. It was then brought back to the boil to thicken and it was done. Some sesame oil was then dribbled on top.

The soup was placed into serving bowls with chopped up spring onions added.

I did enjoy this soup. It was just what I felt like, satisfying though not over filling, well flavoured though neither too spicy nor too strong. And it was ready to eat in just a few minutes.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔