Stir-fried Mixed Vegetables

This was the only vegetables I had for the CNY gathering.

Ingredients without exact measurements:

soft white fungus, soaked and trimmed (You can use black fungus too!I ran out of black fungus)
baby corn, sliced to half
canned button mushrooms, halved
cauliflower, cut into sprigs
carrot, sliced
broccoli, cut into florets
soaked and cooked Chinese mushrooms, halved
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable stock (use cubes)
1 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp mushroom sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil

1. Boil a small pan of water and blanch the white fungus. Rinse in cold water, drain and set aside. Blanch the baby corn and the button mushroom in the same pan of water and rinse.
2. Heat the olive oil in a wok. Add salt, cauliflower and carrot and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the baby corn and broccoli, button and fresh Chinese mushrooms and white fungus. Stir to combine.
3. Pour in the stock and continue cooking for 1 minute. Season with soy sauce, mushroom sauce, sugar and sesame oil.
4. Adjust the flavor to taste.
5. Serve.

Chana Dhal Curry

Hobbit loves curry dishes. So today when I went to the kitchen and saw all the spices piling there, I thought okay, it's time for another Dhal take. So I dug deep into my fridge and see what combination would be wise to be cooked with the dhal or daal. Then I reached out for green chilies, onion, tomatoes, carrots, ginger and garlics. Too bad, I cannot give the exact propotion for this recipe for I let go and went for what my cooking instinct told me to do. Nevertheless, I know you home chefs, you have this instincts too right? :)

As I was halfway cutting and Hobbit heating the stoves, suddenly we smelled something rubber-like burning. I thought it must be the stoves but never in my cooking life heating stoves would release rubber-like smell. Then there was a spark! It came from the extension cord which was connected to the stove's cord. Hobbit quickly unplugged the cord and we watch the spark subsided with small puffing smoke! We could have burnt down the kitchen for all we know! Lucky enough we had an extra extension cord. Anyway, back to cooking...

To start with the cooking, I poured the soaked chana dhal and a mixture of masoor dhal into a half pot full of boiling water. I let it boil and simmer for at least 20 minutes (I don't have pressure cooker hence the time) while using the waiting time to prepare the combination and spices. Note that after 10 minutes I added the carrots into the boiling pot.

Now heat a pan and add olive oil and stir-fry the following ingredients: ginger-garlic paste, chopped onion, sliced green chilies, and tomatoes. For the spices, add sesame seeds, mustard seeds, cumin powder, tumeric powder and a pinch of garam masala. Stir fry these ingredients for a minute or two. Meanwhile, check the pot of dhal, add curry powder and salt to taste. Stir the mixture. Add a small cup of evaporated milk to make the curry thicker. The last step is to combine the ingredients in the pan into the pot and let everything simmer for a minute. Turn off heat and the food is ready to be served with rice.

Vegetarian Brinjal Curry

I don't know what is with me that I have this Indian food craving for almost 3 weeks already. Right now even Hobbit gets sick of helping me prepare all the Indian spices before I start cooking. I knew at the tip of his tongue that he wanted so much to blurt out "can we change the menu?" but can't help it since unconsciously I kept telling him about all the spices I recently learned about from the Internet and how it has somehow enriched my cooking skills. Maybe I should snap myself back to reality and get back to normal cooking?! But before that, let me jot down one of Hobbit's favorite brinjal curry that I made for lunch before I forget the ingredients the next time I want to cook it.

Ingredients:

2 long brinjals (dice into 4 parts about 1 cm long)
1 tomato (diced)
2 big chilies
1/4 cup fresh ginger (finely cut)
1/4 tbsp curry powder
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 tsp garam masala
a bit of mushroom sauce (optional)
pinches of salt to taste
a pinch of cumin seeds
1/4 cup e.v olive oil

1. Heat oil in a pan until hot.
2. Pour in ginger and cumin seeds and stir fry until fragrant.
3. Add brinjals. Stir fry and cover for 3 minutes.
4. Add in tomatoes and chilies.
5. Mix water and curry powder in a bowl and pour into pan.
6. Pour in evaporated milk, pinches of salt, mushroom sauce and garam masala. Mix well.
7. Lower heat. Leave it to simmer for another 3 minutes and turn off heat.
8. Serve with hot rice.

Himali Cha Cha

Our tastebuds went Indian again and this time our dining gang joined us in exploring Himali Cha Cha at Sukhumvit Soi 35. We Hobbits had been wanting to go to this place long time ago but never had the chance to. So this time we finally made it to this place.

Himali Cha Cha actually has three branches and is one of the oldest names in the town. It is quite a well-known place consider that it has been operating for decades. As we looked through the menu, this place serves a wide variety of exotic North Indian cuisine in a traditional style.

HCC restaurant is actually a house. If you are coming from Sukhumvit road, it is hard to miss this place because the sign is one of the first signs you will see. If you are walking or driving from Sukhumvit road, turn to Soi 35 and it is on your right hand side. It is surely impossible to miss on the sign. The parking space is very limited but this place is not always crowded. The quite atmosphere was the first to capture my attention. The inside is well-decorated with Indian portraits and tables are nicely set. If you happen to come in the afternoon where the weather is a little humid, remember not to sit too far from the main counter. What happened to us was that we sat way behind and the weather was humid. The air cond was off and we had to eat like sweaty cows!

Since I am just learning about Indian cuisine, I don't know the exact name of most of the dishes we ate. So let me show you some pictures of the food!

See this bowl of water with lime? It's for washing your hands and NOT for drinking. A story was told that a friend who was a first timer in India drank the whole bowl in an Indian restaurant he visited, thinking it was drinking water. :)

Sukhumvit Branch: 2, Sukhumvit soi 35; Tel: 02 2588843

Convent Road Branch: Convent Road, Silom; Tel: 02 2381478

Charoenkrung Branch: soi 47/1, Charoenkrung Road; Tel: 02 2351569

Sesame Steamed Broccoli

I almost forgot about the broccoli we purchased last week and it was sitting in the fridge waiting to screaming for us to do something with it before it rots. I, in moments of recipe block, couldn't think of any recipe for it. So many times, again, google became my resort.

Steamed Broccoli Recipe Ingredients:

1 tsp. oil
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
Steamed broccoli

Steamed Broccoli Recipe Cooking:

Heat oil. Brown sesame seeds in oil. Add the final three ingredients. Pour on top of steamed broccoli. Cover for a few seconds and tadaa!

source: Vegetable Recipes Cooking

Body Potato Side Dish

We love this recipe from Mike Geary. It is such a healthy diet!

Geary's Lean-Body Potato Side Dish

• Desired quantity of baby potatoes (I like to use this mixture I found recently at a health food store... it is a mixture of white, red, yellow, and purple baby potatoes)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 or 2 onions
• a couple cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 or 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• a little salt and pepper to taste (I like using a sea salt instead of normal commercial salt)

Cut the baby potatoes into slightly smaller pieces and place in a steamer until soft all the way through. Slice up the peppers and onions into strips and add with the chopped garlic into a pan with the olive oil. Cook the peppers, onions, and garlic until tender, and then add the steamed baby potatoes. Stir it all together and serve. This is a delicious and healthy side dish that goes great with chicken or red meat.