Laotian Eggplant with Tomatoes for #Food of the World

We are visiting Laos this month for the Food of the World event. I made this Laotian Eggplant with Tomatoes and Mint recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine.

Laos is a landlocked country bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the West. I've heard about Laos, but had very limited knowledge of the country or the cuisine. A little googling later, I learnt (from Wiki) that steamed sticky rice is the staple food of Laos and they eat more sticky rice than any other country in the world.

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Thai Pineapple Fried Rice (Khao Pad Sapparot)

Blogging Marathon#64: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Mega BM Bookmarked Recipes 

Dish: Pineapple Fried Rice from Mireille 

For Day 2 of bookmarked dishes I have a sweet, sour and spicy Thai Pineapple fried rice from Mir's blog. I have seen pineapple fried rice recipes on any food blogs but I wasn't sure how the sweetness of the pineapple would taste in a savory rice dish. So never tried to make it at home before.

But when I saw Mir's dish, I wanted to give it a try. I had all the ingredients on hand and my husband was travelling so I took a chance and made it for myself. I have to say I really liked this dish. The sweetness from the pineapple is actually complemented by the spicy curry powder and the saltiness of the soy sauce.

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Hakka Noodles (Indo-Chinese Noodles with Vegetables)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 8: H for Hakka Noodles
Can't believe we are the end of Week 1 in our Journey through Cuisines and final Bengali dish I present to you is in fact a fusion Indo-Chinese dish that has it's origins in Calcutta/ Kolkatta, the capital city of West Bengal. H for Hakka Noodles was my first and final choice for the letter. Soma @ Ecurry has a lovely post for Hakka noodles where she talks about the Chinese businesses in Calcutta and the amazing Indo-Chinese cuisine that was developed there years ago.

Calcutta (or more recently Kolkatta) is known to be the first place where Chinese migrated in the late 18th and 19th centuries. They brought along their Chinese seasoning and cooking techniques that were adapted to Indian tastes which developed into the popular Indo-Chinese cuisine that we all enjoy today.

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Thai Curried Noodles for #Food of the World

We are visiting Thailand for this month's Food of the World event. Thai cuisine is one of my favorite and I have tried and posted quite a few Thai dishes on the blog. I looked through my 'Buddha's Table' cookbook and found this Curried Noodles recipe.

This is a spicy and delicious dish that is perfect to serve on a chilly winter day. The list of ingredients is long but all of them are easily available in well stocked Asian grocery stores. I made a trip to my local Korean market to get the noodles and some other ingredients and I was set to make the dish.

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Indonesian Tofu Satay for #Food of the World

For this month's #Food of the world event, we are visiting the beautiful island of Aruba. It is an island country in the southern Caribbean sea. It is one of the 4 constituent countries that form the Kingdom of Netherlands along with the Netherlands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. 

Traditional Aruban cuisine includes dishes with goat meat, stoba-stew pots filled with vegetables that are locally grown - fish and maize. Finding a vegetarian recipe turned out to be quite challenging. Luckily Mir, my dear blog buddy and a fellow food of the world member, offered to help because her mom is Aruban. I jumped right away and took up the offer.

She emailed me quite a few vegetarian options for Aruban food. She also mentioned that Aruba has a very large population of Indonesian because it is a Dutch island and Indonesia was the largest former Dutch Island. and Arubans also eat a lot of Indonesian food.

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General Tso's Tofu

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Weekend Special Dinners

Dish: General Tso's Tofu
Today's weekend special is a Chinese-American dish called General Tso's Tofu. It is the vegetarian version of General Tso's Chicken that is quite a popular item on Chinese fast food and restaurant menus in America and Canada. From what I read, this dish is unknown in China and is probably been introduced by one of the many Chinese chefs who came to America years ago.

In the original version, it is a sweet, slightly spicy and the chicken is deep fried. In this vegetarian version, tofu is used instead of the meat and it is baked until crispy.

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Indonesian Nasi Goreng for #Food of the World

We are going to Indonesia this month's #food of the world event. I made a very simple Indonesian dish called 'Nasi Goreng'. Nasi Goreng literally means 'fried rice' in Indonesia and it is simple rice dish spiced with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), shallot, garlic and chili and is accompanied by other ingredients like egg or other protein.

Nasi Goreng is stronger and spicier compared to Chinese fried rice with the addition of kecap manis and other spices. It can be eaten at any time of the day and many Indonesians eat it for breakfast. It is also a popular choice for late night supper served by street vendors.

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Spicy Korean Tofu with Pear Slaw for #Food of the World

For this month's #Food of the World event, we are going to South Korea. The town we live in has a large Korean population in fact one of our next door neighbors are Korean. We have a very big Korean grocery store in town (actually that is the only store we have in town) and they have pretty much everything you need to make a Korean dish at home.

For today, I actually wanted to make another dish and bought the ingredients too. It was a cold noodle dish and the noodles I bought completely clumped up after boiling. Not sure what went wrong and then I had to change plans and make this tofu.

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Thai Vegetable Red Curry (Vegan Recipe)

Today's dish is a spicy, creamy & slightly sweet Thai red curry made with vegetables. I always have Thai curry pastes, both red and green, in the refrigerator to make quick curries, rice or even noodles. Make sure to check the ingredients on the store bought Thai curry pastes because some might have fish sauce or other seafood related ingredients in them. Even better, use the recipe for the curry paste at the end of the post for your very own homemade version.

This recipe is adapted from 'Buddha's Table: Thai feasting Vegetarian Style' cookbook. I used the veggies listed in the recipe, but any vegetable can be added to this curry. Potato, mushroom, zucchini, baby corn, carrots are all good in here. It is great when served with some steamed jasmine rice.

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Thai Green Papaya Salad (Vegan Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 48: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: 1 Cuisine -- 3 Dishes

Dish: Thai Cuisine -- Thai Green Papaya Salad
My theme for this week's blogging marathon is pick 1 cuisine and cook 3 dishes. Valli gave us 4 countries to choose from and I went back and forth between Arabian and Thai cuisines, but finally ended up picking Thai. So for the next 3 days I will be posting 3 different courses of Thai dishes.

Today is a very famous Thai salad made with Green Papaya. My husband used to travel to Thailand quite frequently and he had nothing but praise for this Green Papaya salad. He tasted them at many street vendors and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. We were at a party in a Thai restaurant recently where they served Green Papaya salad, it looked amazing but had dried shrimp and fish sauce in it, so we couldn't taste it. But it definitely inspired me to make the salad right away at home.

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Kimchi Pancakes (Kimchijeon) -- Vegan recipe

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: One Dish, Different Countries
Dish: Korea -- Kimchi Pancakes

Being a food blogger, I am always looking for new dishes to make. I rarely repeat or make the same dish again unless it is an everyday dish that the family is used to. My husband was saying the other day I cook for the blog and not for them. Mmmmm, I think I'm guilty of doing that, but I don't usually comment when he says that because I need my taste-testers happy and not grumpy.

Talking about new dishes, when I made this Kimchi -- I wasn't actually sure what to use it in. Then I found Kimchi fried rice recipe which I really liked. But as I said before, repeating dishes is something that happens very rarely, I looked for something else to make with kimchi and I found these Kimchi pancakes on the Kitchn and they seemed simple and easy to make with just a few ingredients.

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Vegan Gado Gado recipe

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: National Dishes from around the World
Dish: Indonesia -- Gado Gado

We are starting this month's blogging marathon today and my theme for the first week is 'National dishes from countries around the world'. I didn't really realize each country has it's own national dish until I started researching for this theme. There is a whole list of national dishes on Wiki. Some countries have more than one national dish.

Choosing 3 dishes from countries all over the world was quite a challenge. I was really happy to see 3 dishes that have been on my to-make list on Wiki's list. So for the first day, I have Indonesian national dish "Gado Gado'.

Gado Gado is an Indonesian salad that is served with a creamy peanut sauce. This salad usually has both cooked and raw veggies along with boiled eggs, fried tofu and tempeh. Most of the ingredients for the salad are customizable. I read somewhere that boiled potatoes and eggs are absolute must and everything else is optional. I skipped the eggs and made this a vegan salad.

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Fuzian Stir Fry

BM# 34: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Cooking from Sapana's blog
Dish: Fuzian Stir Fry

Week 4 of BM# 34 and the theme for this week is one of my favorite themes, 'Cooking from fellow BMer'. I love browsing through blogs, but these days I hardly get anytime to do that, so this week's theme is great to focus on just one blog, pick 3 dishes and post them.

Valli paired me with lovely Sapana who blogs at 'Cooking with Sapana'. Sapana has been blogging for about an year, but already has about 400 recipes on her blog. So you can imagine how tough it was to chose only 3 dishes for the week :-) I picked dishes based on the limited ingredients in my pantry, because this past week my husband was travelling and I didn't go grocery shopping.

Sapana has a variety of recipes to choose from, both Indian and International. So for the first day, I picked her 'Fuzian Fried Rice' recipe, but instead of making a fried rice I made just the veggie stir fry and served it with rice.

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Vegetarian Summer Rolls (Vegetarian Vietnamese Rolls)

Blogging Marathon# 30: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Get it Rolled
Dish: Summer Rolls (Vietnamese Rolls)

We are starting our 2nd of Blogging Marathon# 30 today and my theme for this week is "Get it Rolled". Any dish that is cooked rolled or served as a roll. Summer rolls were the first thing that came to my mind and with the temperatures soaring in the 90s (degree Fahrenheit), these are perfect no-cook rolls that are filling, healthy and delicious. They are salad rolled up into a portable package -- easy to eat and very convenient.

Summer rolls are very versatile and any of your favorite veggies can be used. I followed Nupur's recipe for Summer rolls. The spicy peanut dipping sauce is to die for -- its salty, spicy, sweet and very addictive.

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Black Rice Salad with Mangoes & Tangerines

This is week 2 of BM# 17 for me and for this week, my theme for this week is "Summer Salads". We are not big salad eaters and I prefer my veggies cooked than raw. I know a lot of people who would order salad at a restaurant I'd rather eat something cooked and hearty than a salad. But for this week, I tried 3 different salads that can be put together in no time, but at the same time they are hearty and healthy. 

I wanted to incorporate some kind of a grain in all my salads making them a complete meal instead of just a "salad". Also with the summer temperatures slowly creeping up, these quick cooking meals get done without a sweat and a lighter on the stomach too.

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Veg Noodles

It's already the 4th day of our Blogging Marathon. I'm enjoying myself doing this everyday and I'm sure my son's happy too since I'm asking him what he wants to eat, so I can make him something and post it on the blog too (since the theme I've chosen for the marathon is "kid-friendly" dishes).

For today's lunch, I steered him toward noodles since I wanted to make some myself. I asked him "Do you want some noodles for lunch today??", he cheered and said "Noodles, Noodles!!", so there we have Veggie Noodles for lunch.

My 3 year old likes to slurp on noodles, he starts to slurp and blow with his mouth even before putting the spoon in his mouth. I make him "Maggi" noodles occasionally and really like the new "Atta noodles" that Maggi came up with. The seasoning sachets have dehydrated veggies and one pack makes for a quick meal for my little one.

I had some roasted vegetables in the fridge that I used in this dish which made making the noodles a snap, everything got done in about than 10 minutes (not including the time to boil water for noodles). If you don't have roasted veggies, simply sauté the veggies of your choice until crisp tender and proceed with the recipe.

Ingredients:

Hakka Noodles - 1 pkg

Red Onion - 1 small, thinly sliced

Cabbage - 1 cup, thinly sliced (quarter of a medium sized cabbage head)

Roasted vegetables - 1 cup (I roasted Zucchini, Japanese eggplant & red pepper in a 425°F oven for 30-35 minutes with some salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar)

Soy sauce - 2tsp

Sriracha sauce (red chili sauce) - 1tsp (or per taste)

Ginger - 1" piece, finely grated (I use a microplane to grate it really fine)

Garlic - 2 cloves, minced

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Cook noodles according to package directions; drain well and spread on a plate. Mix in some oil to prevent sticking and set aside.
• Heat 2tsp peanut oil on medium-high flame in a large wok; add ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
• Next add onion & cabbage and stir-fry until the veggies are crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes.
• Add the roasted veggies, sauté for another minute.
• Add soy sauce, chili sauce, salt and the cooked noodles. Stir-fry for another minute or until the noodles are heated through. Serve hot.

Don't forget to check out what the other Marathoners are cooking up in their kitchens.

Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Sowmya, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jay, Kamalika, Mina, Meena, Padma, PJ, Priya Mahadevan, PriyaSuresh, PriyaVaasu, Rujuta, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Srivalli, Suma,Usha,Veena.

Vegetarian Jap Chae

This is my entry to A.W.E.D – Korea, being guest hosted by PJ @ Seduce your Taste buds. A.W.E.D (A World Epicurean Delight) is the brain child of talented DK @ Culinary Bazaar. I am lucky to have a very good Korean market not too far from us that we visit at least once a month for the fresh produce and good deals on tofu and fruit.

During my recent visit I bought some gochujang, Korean hot pepper paste to try. I already had half a package of sweet potato noodles, dang myun, that I had bought a while back. Jap Chae is stir-fried noodles with vegetables and meat. Here’s my recipe for Jap Chae.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato Noodles – 2 bunches

Peppers – 2, I used 1 red & ½ green

Onion – 1 large, thinly sliced

Mushrooms – 1 cup, chopped

Carrots – 1 medium, chopped into matchsticks

Chinese Broccoli – ½ cup, chopped (you can use spinach)

Garlic – 2 cloves, minced

Gochujang – 2 tsp

Soy sauce – 4tbsp (I use low-sodium)

Rice Vinegar – 2tsp

Sesame Oil – 1tbsp

Sugar – 2tsp

Salt & pepper – to taste

Eggs – 3

Method:

• Cook noodles according to package directions and set aside. Sweet potato noodles are very long and hard to handle, so when cool enough to handle, cut noodles into 6" pieces.
  
• Heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat; add 1tbsp peanut oil, when hot and sizzling, add garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds or until lightly browned and fragrant (not burnt). Add onions, carrots and peppers; sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and Chinese broccoli and sauté until all the veggies are crisp but tender, another 4-5 minutes.
  
• Add gochu jang, soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook for couple of minutes. Add cooked noodles and stir fry for 2 minutes. Check the seasonings and adjust accordingly.
  
• In the meantime, make an omelet with the eggs, cut them into strips and serve them over the stir fried noodles.

General Pav's Seitan for A.W.E.D-Chinese

I usually make Chinese food at least once a week; be it Indo-Chinese, American Chinese or even Pavani Chinese(this is where I get extremely creative and add soy sauce and sesame oil in almost everything to make it Chinese). But I wanted to make something authentic Chinese for A.W.E.D-Chinese event (brain child of DK @ Culinary Buzaar)

So I searched online for General Tso’s Chicken (Seitan) recipe and found them here and here. I adapted both the recipes to make my own General Pav’s Seitan. I have to say it didn’t taste bad at all and it also had the same glazed look that General Tso’s dish does. I’m going to make it again.

Ingredients:
Seitan – 1 cup, homemade or store-bought (I used home-made Seitan)
Peppers – 2, I used one green, one red pepper
Carrots – 2 medium, thinly sliced
Chinese Broccoli – 1 bunch, chopped
Green Onions – 1 bunch, chopped
Ginger – ½” piece
Garlic – 2 cloves, crushed
All-purpose flour – 2tbsp
Cayenne Pepper – ½ tsp (or to taste)
Garlic powder – ½ tsp (or to taste)
Red Pepper flakes – ½ tsp
Salt & Pepper – to taste

For the Sauce:
Sherry (or Rice Wine) – 2 tbsp
Rice Wine vinegar – 1½ tbsp
Honey (or sugar) – 1½ tbsp
Corn Starch – 2 tbsp
Soy Sauce – 3tbsp


Method:

• Whisk AP flour, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt in a bowl. Drop seitan and toss around to coat with the flour.
  
• Heat 1 tbsp peanut oil in a pan and sauté seitan on medium-high heat till lightly browned on all sides. Remove and keep aside.
  
• Rinse and wipe the same pan clean; add 1 tbsp peanut oil, sauté on medium-high heat green onions, carrots and peppers along with ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes till tender and browned around the edges, about 8-10 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
  
• Now add Chinese broccoli, cover and let the leaves wilt.
  
• In the mean time mix all the ingredients for the sauce to make smooth slurry. Add some water to help mixing.
  
• Slowly stir in the sauce and sautéed seitan into the veggies and cook on medium flame until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve over brown rice or noodles.

Golden Bowl

This recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine. I usually keep at least two varieties of frozen mixed vegetables in my freezer. Very handy when there is no time to clean, peel and chop the veggies. Simply thaw and use them in pulao or mixed vegetable curry or upma or anything for that matter.

(Recipe adapted from Vegetarian times)
Ingredients:
Extra firm Tofu – 1 15 oz. package
Onion –1 cup, finely chopped
Frozen mixed vegetables - 2 cups (I used Italian style blend that has broccoli, beans, squash etc)
Mushrooms – 1 cup, sliced
Cabbage - 1/2 cup, shredded
Carrots - 1/2 cup grated
Low-Sodium Soy sauce – 2 tsp plus more to taste
Nutritional Yeast – 2 tbsp, or more to taste
Salt and Pepper – to taste
Brown Rice – 2 cups, cooked


Method:

• Heat 1tbsp vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add tofu and saute 10 and 15 minutes, until light brown all over. Sprinkle with soy sauce, and saute 2-3 minutes more to further brown tofu. Transfer tofu to paper-towel-lined plate.
• Drain and rinse skillet, and wipe dry.
• Heat 1tbsp oil over high heat. Add tofu and all vegetables. Saute 5-7 minutes, or until tofu is browned and vegetables are tender, tossing constantly with spatula. Sprinkle with soy sauce to taste. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast over tofu to coat. Saute a few seconds more. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Serve over brown rice.

This is my second entry to Protein Rich monthly event hosted by Sangeeth @ letusallcook.