August 26, 2009 at 12:09 pm (Favorites, Main Dish, Stories)
Tags: garlic, olive oil, Pasta, Sweet Basil, tomato
Loved the handmade pasta when I saw them in Venice and couldn’t help but buying a bag of boat-shape pasta as souvenir of my trip in Italy….Not mention how much I enjoyed cooking it at home with all the sweet memories =)
Handmade Pasta shop in Venice
Pasta in the shape of Venice boat
My Pasta
A close-up
Ingredients: Durum wheat flour, if black with black squid 2%, if green with spinach 2%, if red with tomato – bee troot 3%, if yellow with turmeric 2%, without artificial colouring or additives.
Even though the garlic in the States was not as fresh or garlicy as in Italy, I still loved the smell on my hand after I made the pasta =)
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May 28, 2009 at 4:08 am (Favorites, Main Dish, noodles)
Tags: avocado, soba, tomato
A retreat to myself – I went back to Shojin right after my dissertation prospectus defense…
More delicious pictures to share:
Artistic decoration1
Artistic decoration2
Avocado and Tomato Soba
A close-up shot
Haven’t been able to find the mysterious egg mold in Little Tokyo, LA…
made by egg mold - super cute! Courtesy of my friend Lena
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April 12, 2009 at 5:09 am (Main Dish, Recipes, Soups)
Tags: avocado, bean thread, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, radish, shrimp, winter melon
Spring salad, fried rice bowl, and winter melon soup
Spring Salad:
- Spring mix
- Radish slices
- Avocado
- Pumpkin seeds
- Pine nuts
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Fried Rice Bowl:
- Yellow leek
- Fresh shrimp
- Leftover rice
Winter Melon Clear Soup:
- Winter melon cubes
- Dry mini shrimp shells
- Shrimp balls
- Bean threads
- Veggie broth with a couple of ginger root slices
- Cilantro
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October 27, 2008 at 1:23 am (Main Dish, Recipes, Soups)
Tags: bell pepper, cauliflower, glass noodles, gouqi, Lunch, mung bean, Recipes, rice, Soups, spinach
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?
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October 13, 2008 at 7:40 am (Breakfast, Main Dish, Snacks, Stories)
Tags: asparagus, banana, beans, beverage, black fungus, blueberry, Breakfast, cashew nut, cauliflower, Dinner, egg, Lunch, macadamia nut, mueslie, mushroom, noodles, nuts, peanut, pumkin seeds, rice, tomato, walnut, zucchini
This was my first day staying, working, and eating at home in a long time. It was such a great pleasure to enjoy homemade meals – and three of them!
Breakfast: Muesli
- Soyogurt (with real vanilla)
- Fresh blueberries
- Banana slices
- Pumpkin seeds
Lunch: Noodles
- Japanese buckwheat noodles
- Chili bean curd (famous brand 王致和 Wang Zhihe)
- A touch of rice vinegar (镇江香醋)
- Zucchini with mushrooms
- Stir-fried cauliflower
Snacks: Nuts and Juice
- Raw Spanish peanuts & walnuts, roasted salted cashew nuts & macadamia nuts
- 1 QT of Odwalla antioxidant vitamin C micronutrient fruit juice drink
Dinner: Rice with kidney beans
- Rice with kidney beans
- Tomato with scrambled eggs (the most common Chinese homemade dish; well, I think my version tastes just a little better than my dad’s, hehe)
- Asparagus and black fungus
Wow, my diet can’t get better than this. Maybe I should spend more time at home than in the PhD office!
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September 30, 2008 at 5:29 am (Favorites, Main Dish, Soups)
Tags: bibimbap, dining out, Korean, Soups
I enjoy dining out with friends – part of my weekly fun schedule now…
Just to show a few pictures from the nice Korean Bibimbap restaurant:
Vegetarian Bibimbap! Irresistible!
How can't you love these Korean appetizers?
Oh, and Souplantation! I had the best lentil soup ever! Hmmmm, yummmmy! And of course, salad, Asian noodles, and the special blackberry acai water!
Best Indian lentil soup ever!
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September 5, 2008 at 12:30 am (Main Dish, Recipes, Stories)
Tags: Main Dish, mushroom, pine nut, rice, vegetable broth
If my memory serves me right, I discovered rice pilaf about 5 years when I was living with an American lady. She works as a figure skating coach and was always busy. We often share food, so one day on shortage of supplies, I “borrowed” a box of her rice and mixed in a couple handy ingredients. I somehow have only cooked it once or twice after that, but every time I did, it turned out to be a quite quick and tasty meal! So this one absolutely goes with the idea of SEMI-HOMEMADE meals :-p
Ingredients:
- A store-bought box of rice pilaf (usually about 6-7 oz)
- A handful shiitake mushroom or similar kind (dark color preferred), cut in small pieces
- Some pine nuts
- A can of vegetable broth
- Chopped garlic
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil ~ What Food Network Racheal Ray calls EVOO, and now me too
How to make it:
- In a 2 quart saucepan, put in 4-5 tbsp. EVOO to coat the bottom of the pan
- When the pan is hot, drop in the chopped fresh garlic, stir well, and then add shiitake mushroom
- Cook the mushroom for a minute and mix in the rice pilaf and seasoning that comes with it, stir well
- Pour 1 cup of vegetable broth and 1-1½ cups of water (note: no additional seasoning needed)
- Bring the mixture to a boil and drop in the pine nuts, stir well
- Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat to low, let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes; then turn off the heat, and let it stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.
Tah-dah! My rice pilaf - hmm yummy!
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September 3, 2008 at 7:27 am (Main Dish, Recipes, Stories)
Tags: asparagus, carrot, cucumber, Main Dish, nagaimo, Recipes, Stories, sweet corns, tofu, water chestnut
A couple weeks ago, my roommate bought a big bag of fresh water chestnuts. They then sat in the fridge for days being ignored until one day we figured we have to cook them before they’ve gone bad.
So here are two resolutions of a similar kind: a stir-fry of colorful veggies.
#A: Asparagus, Water chestnuts, Carrots, and Sweet corns.
How to prepare it:
1. Trim the hard ends of fresh asparagus, and cut with an angle (easier to absorb the flavors of seasonings)
2. Peel off the skin of water chestnuts, and cut in halves
3. Some thin slices of carrots and a couple spoonful sweet corns for color.
How to make it:
1. In a hot pan put in some canola oil to cover half of the pan; when it’s hot, drop in the water chestnuts
2. Stir for a few seconds, wait for a minute before putting in the asparagus and carrots.
3. Add a bit of salt, freshly ground black pepper, and about two table spoons of the vegetarian oyster sauce. Stir thoroughly. Leave it with cover for a couple minutes.
4. Add sweet corns, stir well, and turn off the stove.
#B: Nagaimo, Tofu, Water Chestnuts, Carrots, Cucumbers, and Sweet Corns
Ingredients:
- Water chestnuts in halves
- Soft tofu
- Nagaimo in cubes
- Carrots and cucumbers in cubes
- Sweet corns from cans
The key in making this dish is the order in which you put each ingredient in: from the hardest to the softest
So it could have worked out better than the one in this picture if I put water chestnuts in first, then carrot and cucumber cubes, then nagaimo cubes, before the soft tofu. Don’t stir too hard as it would break the tofu too much. Similarly, add the sweet corns at the last minute. Just the combination of tofu and nagaimo would be great, but you need to put in some colorful veggies – otherwise, it looks boring
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August 21, 2008 at 9:44 am (Main Dish, Recipes)
Tags: green onion, Main Dish, mushroom, Recipes, soy sheet, sweet bean sauce, vegetarian pork shreds
My veggie version of the famous Beijing Silk Pork Shreds with Brown Sauce
Beijing Silk Port Shreds with Brown Sauce was one of my favorites when I was not a vegetarian yet. So once I became a veggie person, I invented my own version … It was not my best try this time (yesterday) but the idea is there…and I’d love to share…
Key ingredients:
- King oyster mushroom [杏鲍菇]
- Soy sheets [豆腐皮]
- sweet bean sauce [甜面酱]
Other ingredients: Fresh green onions, Vegetarian pork shreds (optional)
How to prepare:
- Slice the king oyster mushrooms into strips (about 1/4 inch wide, 1 inch long)
- Thinly slice the green onions to about 2 inches long
- Cut the soy sheet to about 3×3 inch squares, soak in boiled water for a couple of minutes, take out and dry, put them on a plate with plastic wrap (to prevent it from drying out)
- Open the can of sweet bean sauce
How to make the dish:
- Lay the thinly sliced green onions on a big plate
- In a cooking pan, put in some canola oil to cover the bottom. Once the oil is hot, add the king oyster mushroom shreds and the veggie pork shreds, stir well.
- Add the sweet bean sauce and mix well
- Take it out once the shreds are soft and shining with the brown sauce. Plate on top of the layer of green onions.
- Open the soy sheets to serve.
How to enjoy:
- The key is to use appropriate amount of oil and sweet bean sauce so the shreds would look shinny.
- I’ve been using a combo of veggie pork shreds with the king oyster mushroom shreds, but I guess it would be just fantastic if it was only with the king oyster mushroom shreds.
- When you eat, put some green onions and the mushroom shreds in the center of the soy sheet, and wrap it up like a spring roll, and then … bite in
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