Chinese Veggie Stir-Fry

Are you also like me browsing through cookbooks in the morning trying to figure out what to do with your leftovers and preferably without too much fuss? There are plenty of ideas here at BurntMouth.com on how to use up leftovers and this one is no excpetion.

It is said that bright orangey colored foods encourage appetite and provide our bodies with lots of nutritious elements. Depending of course which veggies you end up using, you should in any case end up with plenty of vitamins.

CHINESE VEGGIE STIR-FRY
（中式炒菜）

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp apple juice
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 cm long ginger root
• 2 cup ready to cook veggies (chopped or in matchsticks)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tsp sesame oil

In a small bowl mix together the soy sauce, cornstarch, vinegar, sugar and the apple juice and a teaspoon of the oil. Set aside.

In a wok, heat the rest of oil and fry the sliced onions, chopped garlic and chopped ginger. Add the veggies and stir-fry ofr about 5 minutes stirring constantly.

Add the sunflower seeds and after a few seconds, the mixed dressing. Cook through and take off the heat. Serve with rice.


I had mine with brown rice pulao and some really nice home-made seaweed chips.

Universal Tomato Pasta Sauce

Anyone who runs a lot is advised to eat plenty of "easy carbohydrates". Pasta with tomato sauce is strongly encouraged, especially the night before a marathon.

Regardless if you are a runner, a busy mother or just a poor student, past with tomato sauce must come in handy. Low in calories and easy to make, you will never get tired of it. With this one, you can make a whole bunch and then add different ingredients when re-heating. You can of course use different types of pasta, too. Great, isnt it?
TOMATO PASTA SAUCE:

• 2 onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp oil
  
• 5 tomatoes
• 6 sun-dried tomato halves in oil
  
• chilli flakes
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt, pepper
• fresh herbs
  

Chop the onions and garlic and sauté in heated oil. Add the chilli flakes and sugar and sauté until the sugar caramelizes. Add the chopped tomatoes and the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Bring to boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and chopped fresh herbs and continue simmering for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime cook the pasta as per instructions and serve with the sauce.

Now here comes the fun part. You can add just about anything to the ready made pasta sauce. Here are a few examples:

- garlic fried shrimps
- flaked pecorino cheese (Pasta Arrabbiata)
- roasted aubergine and grated parmesan cheese (Pasta Alla Norma)
- fried meat balls (Pasta Alla Bolognese)
- chopped olives (Pasta Alla Putanesca)

... or nothing. Here is the one I made recently - with shrimps...

Soy Bean Roast

Roasts, patties and burgers, these are all great - regardless whether made with meat or not. They just feel like you are eating some 'real' food. I have enjoyed many bean or lentil patties, many tofu or veggie burgers, bean burgers, you name it, but I have only ate nut roast once. Even though it was the best nut roast ever (compared to the ones I imagined they could taste like), I still am a little shy when making one myself. Nuts are very fatty and I am scared of enjoying it too much.

Soy bean roast is a different story. It is light, hearhty and still filling in a very comfy way. Mine is mixed with shredded root veggies, which makes it creamy and rich in flavor. This was the first time I made it and man it was good :-)

SOY BEAN ROAST

• 1 cup cooked wheat berries
• 1 cup cooked soya beans
• 1 onion
• 1 cup root veggies (celery bulb, carrots, parsnip etc)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeeds
• 1 tbsp marjoram
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp soy sauce

Place the wheat berries and soy bean into the blender together with some cooking liquid to blend easier. Add the chopped onion, shredded root veggies, oil, herbs ans spices and chopped garlic. Blend until smooth. Adjust the taste with soy sauce and pour into a greased baking tray.

Bake at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes or until crispy on top.

Serve with green beans blanched in boiling water and sauteed in oil, garlic and soy sauce.

Chinese Rice Congee Porridge

Chinese congee (粥 - zhou) needs no introduction. It is probably the most popular breakfast in Asia. There are millions of ways to eat congee - sweet, savory, spicy, sour or just plain, where pretty much anything edible makes a suitable congee ingredient.

I have never made congee, because I wasnt sure how difficult and time consuming its preparation was. And then again - I lived in Asia, where it was impossible not to get a real nice rice porridge any time of the day.

Now that I came back to Denmark again and the weather here is impossible at this time of the year, the idea of a warm breakfast bowl is more than tempting. This morning, I made myself one just like that. Here is my recipe for the most basic one:

CONGEE:
(粥 - zhou)

• Rice
• Water

All you need are these two ingredients in ratio of 1:8. Any type of rice can be used - white, brown, black, glutinous, polished or unpolished. You take the call. For a simple congee for one person I use 2 tbsp raw rice.

Soak the rice in water for 2 - 4 hours. Plain white polished needs shorter soaking time than black, brown, glutinous or unpolished rice. Drain well. Transfer into a saucepan together with eight times more water. Bring to boil, reduce the heat and cook for about 30 minutes. You will see that the porridge will get very gooey and lovey smelling. This is when its done.

Simple as that, the topping is up to you.

For a savoury variety, cook the porridge with some chicken or beef or top the ready made porridge with soy sauce, chilli sauce, dried fish or sautéed vegetables.

For a sweet variety, I recommend soaking and cooking the rice together with some black, red or mung beans and top the ready porridge with a dollop of brown sugar. Some fresh or dried fruits can be added.

I soaked / cooked mine together with red dates （红枣）and lotus seeds　（莲子） and added a spoonful of brown sugar and some wolf berries （枸机子）as topping.

There are no limits to my porridge imagination :-)

Enjoy!

Chinese Herbal Medicine - Slimming Tea Recipe

Travelling in Asia last month once again sparked up my old curiosity for discovering new spices and herbs. I used to browse the stores buying stuff I have never seen and then spending days indulging myself into figuring out what these things were and how to use them.

This time I was on a Chinese slimming tea recipes quest. I must admit that I have put on a loooot of weight last year :-( However to all fairness, I did eat the best. I think that was the best gourmet year in my life. Not much cooking and if, it would involve scrumptious stuff like scallops, lobster, leg of lamb, port wine cream sauce, etc. December was nearing by and I wasnt happy standing on my scale...

Sooo, it all probably started with meeting Julane, who is one hell of a lady. Spent years traveling the world, trying new stuff and shares the same love of Asian food, culture, spices and walking. The two of us just cold not stop talking, running around eating, drinking and really enjoying ourselves.

She took me to a few Chinese stores with traditional herbal medicine and showed me around. I ended up doing what I used to do while living in China - shopping for weird-looking stuff.

Once I came back I opened up all the goodies, google and dusted off some old Chinese medicine books. After turning everything upside down and inside out, I ended up with a list of all kinds of herbs and fruits that claim to have metabolic and other digestive-friendly qualities. Yesterday, I brewed my first cup and it was pretty good :-) Not that I can claim a considerable amount of weight loss, bt it felt right. It has about similar ingredients as most of the stuff you buy in Asian stores that has "Slimming Tea" on it.

Here is my recipe:

CHINESE HERBAL SLIMMING TEA:
(中式减肥茶）

• 4 rose petals （玫瑰花 - mei gui hua）
• 10 Hawthorn fruit slices（山楂片 - shan zha pian）
• 2 tsp cassia seeds （决明子 - jue ming zi）
• 15 wolfberries （枸机子 - gou ji zi）
• 5 red dates （红枣 - hong zao）
• 3 threads lotus flower (金针花 - jin zhen hua)
• 3 slices dried tangerine peel (陈皮 - chen pi)

(in the middle, you can see the purple rose petals, then in the top right corner the dried tangerine, clockwise the 3 lotus flower threads, cassia seeds, red oval-shaped wolf berries, sliced dried hawthorn fruit and finally the four big red dried dates)

Instructions (做法）:

Put all the ingredients except for the tangerine peel into a big sauce pan together with a litre of water. Bring to boil, reduce the heat and let simer for about 10 minutes. Add the tangerine or lemon peel and boil for another 2 minutes.

Turn off the heat and strain. Drink this tea as desired.

Cabbage Vadai Fritters

Hm... cabbage fritters - unforgettable crunchiness. My favorite leftover treat. Served with mango chutney or dips - I can eat them anytime. Ok, I know I should not :-( Even though cabbage is a vegetable (and a very healthy one) we know that deep-frying it does not help much to maintaining our skinny waistlines, eh? ;-)

Just to make it a tiny bit more fair, I shallow-fry mine in very little oil. Yeah... it sort of helps...

CABBAGE VADAI:

• 1 cup split red lentils (red dal)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 4 small green chillies
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage*
  
• 1 onion
• 1 bunch coriander leaves
• oil

*Use spinach leaves for another variety.

Soak the lentils in the water for at least 2 hours. Drain off the water completely and blend the lentils in a blender. Add the asa, chopped chillies, chopped onion and salt. Blend some more.

Add the cabbage and chopped coriander leaves. Mix well. With a wet hand, take a spoonful ofthe dough and form a ball. Flatten it with a palm of your hand and let slip into hot oil. Fry until golden brown and crisp. Drain on the kitchen towel until the others are done.


Serve hot with chutneys or dips.

Curried Sugar Snap Peas

This simple dish I pulled together during one of my lonely lazy Copenhagen after-work evenings. It was one of those when you come back late from work, forgot all about shopping and the only thing you want to do is to look into the fridge and come up with some kind of cooking math:

"One tomato + one onion + a few sugar snaps equals tonight´s dinner".

Ok, happy. It is just me after all and I really hate a) going to bed hungry and b) throw away food if it is still edible.

So, unexpectedly enough, this turned out to be such a simple tasty stir-fry, that now, two years later, I still find myself cooking this one up:

CURRIED SUGAR SNAPS:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tomato
• a few curry leaves
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• salt
• two handfuls sugar snaps
  

Heat the oil in a pan, add the chopped onion and fry until light brown. Add the curry, the cumin seeds and the tomato and cook until gravy-like. Add the curry powder and mix in the sugar snaps. Cook for a minute or two. Adjust salt to taste and serve right away.

Very simple, but tasty. Good with flavored or plain rice.