For all you can have for lunch on a warm, sunny autumn Sunday in southern California:
- Rice cooked with whole mung beans (Mung beans are good for your health, I’ll write about it another day)
- Cauliflower and bell pepper of colors
- Spinach and glass noodle soup
Tips for making these dishes:
- Soak the mung beans for a half day before mixing them with the rice and put into the rice cooker
- Cauliflower and bell pepper of colors is a great vegan dish that I learned from a Buddhist cooking guidebook. Choose a combination of red, yellow, and orange bell pepper in this case, but not green bell pepper which has a slightly different taste.
To make cauliflower and bell pepper of colors:
- Put in a hot pan a drizzle of Canola oil
- Then drop in some slices of fresh ginger (and chopped fresh garlic/scallions depending on personal preference)
- Add cauliflower cuts, stir well
- Wait for a few minutes, and add diced bell peppers
- To enhance the flavor, add some vegetarian oyster sauce (my secret ingredient
) - Again stir well and keep the the lid on till the veggies are softer before serving
To make the soup:
- In a sauce pan, pour half of a can of vegetable broth and mix with twice amount of water
- Bring to boil, and drop a small bundle of glass noodles (those made of mung beans, potatos, or with special flavors such as fiddlehead fern are good)
- Add some gouqi (dried goji berries) and wild mushrooms (any kind but smaller ones)
- Add a bag of fresh spinach the last
- Keep simmering for a minute or two then it’s done
- Some people like to put a drop of sesame oil right before serving (it smells great and puts a layer of shine on the surface of the soup ~~)
And I know, I know – next time I’ll remember to take pictures before I dive into the delicious meal, okay?
