Spinach and Mung Dal Fritters

From Fields of Greens, Annie Somerville, Bantam Books, 1993.

It was belting down rain outside with gusting wind that made an umbrella impossible to use. So I checked the pantry and found I just had sufficient ingredients to make these fritters.

I measured out a cup of mung dal and, after rinsing, soaked it in water for four hours. It was now drained and placed in a blender with ½ cup water. The beans were churned until they had formed a smooth paste. The bowl was now covered and left in a warm place for another couple of hours.

When it was time to cook the fritters the following ingredients were mixed with the paste: about ½ cup defrosted frozen spinach chopped finely, a handful of chopped coriander, a chopped red chilli, ½ teaspoon salt, a pinch of baking powder and the juice of ½ lemon.

The mixture was now dropped into hot oil about a teaspoon at a time. They browned quickly and were able to be stirred so that they browned on all sides. Once removed from the pan they were able to be eaten after letting them cool a little.

The mixture made quite a lot of fritters (I wouldn’t really call them fritters as they were more in the way of little dumping bites) but they soon began to go down as the eating commenced. They needed a sauce to go with them and went very well with a sweet chilli sauce or a fresh salsa verde.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Spiced Lemon Rice

From a recipe of Jill Dupleix in Winter+ Food, The Sydney Morning Herald, June 2007.

I needed rice to go with the Chinese broccoli dish so decided on making this one.

An onion was chopped and gently fried until it was soft. Now ½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds were added and the frying continued until they began popping. The onion mix was taken off the heat.

I washed 150g basmati rice and added it to the rice cooker with 300ml water. The onions now went in with a large pinch of salt, a little freshly ground black pepper, ½ cinnamon stick, 3 cardamon pods crushed, a clove, a little ground cumin, ½ teaspoon coriander and ½ teaspoon turmeric powder. A tablespoon lemon juice was added and the cooker turned on. When the rice was cooked it was fluffed up with a fork and served.

An easy to make rice and wonderfully spicy.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔ 

Chinese Broccoli with Water Chestnuts and Fried Bean Curd

From Quick Vegetarian Dishes, Kurma Dasa, Chakra Press, 2000.

I felt that I needed a change from what I had recently been cooking and wanted something that was heavy on greens so changed to Asian with this simple dish.

To begin I put on a large pot of salted water and brought it to the boil. I cut a bunch of gai lan (Chinese broccoli) in half and placed it in the boiling water, the thick stems first and then the leaves to follow and left them for a couple of minutes to blanch. It all then went in a colander and cold water was poured over until the heat had left the vegetable.

The sauce was now made. A tablespoon each of vegetarian oyster sauce and soy sauce were mixed in a bowl with a good shake of ground white pepper, 2 teaspoons of sugar and ½ cup water with ½ stock cube. This mixture was left until required later.

The remaining vegetables were prepared. About 2cm fresh ginger was peeled and sliced very thinly. Half a cup of water chestnuts were also sliced. About 100g oyster mushrooms were torn carefully into slices where they were too large. Puffed bean curd blocks were cut into halves. I measured out ½ teaspoon asafoetida. Now the cooking could begin.

A little olive oil was heated in a wok and the ginger added for a few seconds. The water chestnuts now went in with the asafoetida and the mushrooms. They were given a couple of minutes before the sauce was added. This was given a few minutes before the bean curd and the gai lan went in. They were stirred to mix the ingredients before a lid was added for about 2 minutes more.

I should have given the gai lan a little bit longer, I think, or sliced the stems into halves as the stems were still a little tough—a pity as these can be the best part. Nevertheless I did enjoy this and should try it again and I might be more successful. I do like gai lan and generally have it when we go to the Green Gourmet. The mushrooms were not in the recipe but I had some so added them and they worked very well in it.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔ 

Mushrooms and Pearl Barley with Macadamia Bread Sauce

From The Blue Ducks, Mark Labrooy and Darren Robertson, Plum, 2013.

I’ve never been to The Blue Ducks restaurant but the message is that it is well worth the visit. I settled for the cookbook. It is not vegetarian but there are ample recipes included that are. It is a large size book that, though it takes up space, makes reading the recipes very comfortable. Included are pages of lifestyle, personal philosophy as well as comments about cooking and the restaurant.

I’m in a pearl barley phase so tried out this recipe. The barley had to be cooked first so 100g of it were placed into a saucepan of boiling salted water. It was brought to a simmer and cooked for half an hour when the barley was tasted and proved to be cooked.

A bread sauce was made while the barley was cooking. About 150g sourdough bread was cut into pieces and added to the blender with 100ml water, a little olive oil, a good dash of white wine vinegar, juice of ½ lemon, a small garlic clove and 5 macadamia nuts. It was processed until smooth. Salt and pepper were added to taste and a little more olive oil added to liquidise the sauce a little more.

Now the barley was drained and placed on the heat with a little olive oil, salt and pepper added with some chopped parsley. The heat was kept low while the mushrooms were cooked.

Oyster mushrooms and Swiss brown mushrooms, 100g of each, were sliced and added to a pan with a sliced shallot and a little oil and sautéed for a few minutes until cooked.

Some sauce was now placed on the side of a serving dish and the barley spooned on. The mushrooms were spread on top with a little more parsley.

I did enjoy this. The barley is a grain that I enjoy because it had a texture that feels good as you bite into it. The mushrooms are wonderfully savoury and the bread sauce imparted a lemon tang.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔ 

Tomato, Basil and Zucchini Soup

From Hungry, Guy Mirabella, Plum, 2011.

Suddenly the weather turned cold. We had had several days of heat and then down we dropped to 17ºC. I needed a warming soup.

I chopped an onion, a carrot and a celery stalk and added them to a large saucepan to cook slowly in olive oil until softened. I now added 2 chopped garlic cloves, 2 red chillies deseeded and sliced and a teaspoon of fennel seeds. These were cooked for another 2 minutes.

It was now time for the zucchini to go in. The recipe called for 1kg; I only had 800g and this seemed heaps to me. Anyway, I roughly cut them in pieces and added them to the saucepan and let them cook for a few more minutes. Two cans of chopped tomatoes now went in the saucepan with two cans of water. It was brought to the boil, then reduced to a simmer and let cook for an hour.

The soup now was taken from the heat and a large handful of torn basil leaves were added. A stick blender was used to churn the ingredients. The soup was tasted for seasoning and needed salt, but had heaps of heat from the chillies that seemed to be nice and hot.

When served a dribble of extra virgin olive oil was added and a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

This was just what I wanted and satisfied my need. It was hot and very spicy, quite thick from all those zucchini and tangy from the tomatoes and basil.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔