Bok Choy Soup

From Quiet Food, The Buddhist Institute of South Africa, Double Storey Books, 2006.

With bok choy in the refrigerator and dried mushrooms in the pantry, this seemed the perfect recipe to use them up.

I took three dried mushrooms and soaked them in 250ml hot water for about half an hour.

I chopped a bok choy and added it to a saucepan of hot oil and stirred it around until it had wilted. To this were added the mushrooms now drained and finely chopped, the mushroom water, a chopped garlic clove, 4 slices of fresh ginger, a chopped red chilli and a stalk of crushed lemon grass. Stock was added to make the liquid up to about a litre. This was cooked for another 5 minutes and it was ready.

It was served in plates and topped with finely sliced spring onions and coriander leaves roughly

chopped.

The soup was light and slightly spicy.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Tomato and Feta Salad with Aubergine Relish

From Market Vegetarian, Ross Dobson, Ryland Peters & Small, 2008.

This was a salad of tomato and mozzarella. I had feta cheese so decided on using that instead.

The relish was made first. I chopped a red onion and sautéed it for about 2 minutes in olive oil. I then added a chopped eggplant (aubergine) and cooked this with the onion for about 10 minutes when the eggplant had turned golden and was perfectly soft. While it was cooking I chopped 2 garlic cloves, a stick of celery and a red capsicum. I also measured out a tablespoon of capers and about a handful of black olives.

The garlic was added to the eggplant mixture and cooked for about a minute before I added the celery, red capsicum, capers and olives. These were cooked for another minute. I did not want them to lose their crispness. I now added a good dash of red wine vinegar and a couple of teaspoons of sugar. They were brought to the boil and cooked for another minute. The heat was now turned off. It was seasoned with salt and black pepper and left to stand until it was at room temperature. I checked it for taste and it was very good.

When it was time to serve, two large tomatoes were sliced and placed on a serving dish. The eggplant relish was spooned on top and the feta crumbled and sprinkled over. Some mint leaves were scattered on top.

The relish was zesty and a little crunchy. It went very well with the tomatoes. Perhaps the creamy mozzarella would have been better than the feta, but it was all very enjoyable.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Dry-Spiced Potato Curry

From A Passion for Potatoes, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2009.

I had made a spinach dish and wanted something that would go well with it. This dish, which seemed Indian, looked a good choice.

Two potatoes were placed in a saucepan of cold water, brought to the boil and then cooked for another 10 minutes. They were then cut into goodly sized pieces when cooled.

In a frying pan I dry-roasted a tablespoon of cumin seeds and a tablespoon of fennel seeds until their fragrance arose. They were then ground in a mortar and pestle and a little water added to make them into a paste.

A tablespoon of ghee was heated in the frying pan and a chopped onion was added and sautéed until beginning to turn golden. Another 2 tablespoons ghee were now added and 4 curry leaves and a teaspoon black mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds began to pop the spice paste was stirred in and cooked for a couple of minutes more.

Now the potatoes were added together with a teaspoon of turmeric and 4 tablespoons of desiccated coconut, a chopped red chill and water sufficient to half cover the potatoes. The pan was covered and cooking continued for another 10 minutes.

This was a satisfying spicy dish that went well with the spinach and cannellini beans.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Spinach and Cannellini Beans

From Best-Ever Vegetable Cookbook, Hermes House, 2002.

Feeling in the mood for greens and not having had many for a few days I set out to make this dish.

I began by brushing a slice of bread with olive oil on both sides. It was then fried until crisp and golden.  This was now broken up and placed in a blender with a peeled garlic clove. It was processed until grainy.

I peeled 3 tomatoes and chopped them. I chopped an onion and sautéed it until it was soft and then added the chopped tomatoes. The heat was turned to low and I let them cook on this heat while I prepared the other ingredients.

I heated up some olive oil in a large frying pan, stirred in a pinch of paprika and then added a goodly amount of baby spinach leaves. They were stirred around a little and a lid added until they had wilted. The onions and tomatoes were now poured in, stirred and the heat turned to low.

A tin of cannellini beans was drained, rinsed and added together with the bread mixture.  A little water was added and the ingredients were all stirred until well mixed.  It was now cooked on low for about 15 minutes when it was ready to be served.

Normally I would not have considered adding bread to a dish like this but I was pleased with the result. I had initially thought that it would add some crunch to it but with the added cooking time it had thickened the dish and, of course, added to the flavour. A tasty and satisfying way to serve some green.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Chilli Roasted Vegetables with Feta Cheese

From Market Vegetarian, Ross Dobson, Ryland Peters & Small, 2008.

Looking for a dish that would comfort but would be low in carbs I turned to this salad. It more than fulfilled my need and was delicious.

A red and a yellow capsicum were seeded and cut into sections. A fennel bulb was sliced thinly. Two garlic cloves were sliced thinly. Two red chillies were deseeded and sliced thinly. Three tomatoes were cut in halves. The vegetables all went into a bowl and were sprinkled with sea salt and a dribble of olive oil. They were gently tossed to ensure that they all were coated with oil and then they went into a 180ºC oven for an hour. They were turned over after about half an hour.

The vegetables came out of the oven and were rested for about half an hour after which they were picked out and arranged on a serving plate. Feta cheese (the recipe called for goat’s cheese but I had feta) was crumbled over. Some basil leaves were scattered on the salad.

Now some balsamic vinegar was added to the juices left in the pan and the liquid was poured over the vegetables as dressing.

This was the most mouth-watering salad. Writing this I start thinking about it again and would dearly love to have it again. The recipe suggested having some sourdough bread to eat with it and soak up the juices. I wish I had had the bread for it would have been a great accompaniment.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔