Korean Seasoned Vegetables

Eggplant is definitely my most favorite vegetable. I can never get tired of discovering new recipes with this purple wonder.

This one below is a recipe for a simple marinade for steamed or sautéed vegetables:

KOREAN SEASONED EGGPLANT:
(Kaji Namul)

• 300 g eggplant (any type)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine or vermouth (I used Japanese rice vinegar)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 green onion
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• pinch of salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Slice the eggplant lengthwise into quarters. If using the long European kind, cut in half, first to make shorter slices. Steam the pieces in a bamboo steamer for about 7 minutes.

Meantime, mix the soy sauce, wine or vinegar, finely chopped onion and garlic, sesame oil and seeds and the pepper flakes. Adjust the salt and black pepper taste.

Once the aubergine has partially cooled down, wrap in a towel and squeeze as much water as possible. Tear the sliced aubergine into bite-sized pieces and mix with the marinade.
Garnish with a few snipped chives and serve.

We had ours with true home-made kimchi, plain brown rice and a handful of fresh spicy mache salad leaves.
This is also a lovely dressing for sautéed summer squash. Thinly sliced and slightly pan-fried in a tablespoon of oil, just enough to let the juices come out.


This is my entry to Vegetables, Beautiful Vegetables event hosted by Abby over at Eat The Right Stuff. These are my beautiful vegetables...

Tofu Dip

I absolutely love the logo and idea of Susan´s Beautiful Bones event. As paying attention to calcium was crucial during my vegan years, I am particularly happy to participate in such events.

This fresh dip is a great choice on those mornings, when you have to go to work, but first to the post office and make a phone call, pay the rent and definitely do not have time to cook lunch or even think of cooking. What is more, there is not much in the fridge...

Challenging, but still, my all time favorite calcium shot:

TOFU DIP:

• 100g Tofu
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1oo ml yoghurt
  
• handful of walnuts
• chilli
• black pepper
• salt
• basil leaves

Place all the ingredients into a blender and let it work its magic. Adjust the salt to taste and voilla, here goes your summer bone-friendly treat.

This is an absolute forgiving recipe, so don't be afraid to experiment. Throw in tomato for extra flavor or top with tadka for extra spice kick.

Serve:

1. as dip - with tortilla chips or crackers
2. as spread - on your morning toast
   

Nepalese Tofu And Pea Curry

I am always on a constant hunt for genuine ethnic recipes. So each time I go to a library or a store I am trying to grab a cookbook that would justify this hunger. I was pretty lucky on my last trip to our library discovering a cute little book on Nepalese cooking. I have tried several recipes so far, all of them yummy and spicy, somehow an interesting fusion between Chinese and Indian cuisine. Here, I would like to share my absolute favorite:

NEPALESE PEAS AND TOFU CURRY:
(Kerau Ra Tofu Tarkari)

• oil for frying
• 450 g firm tofu
• 2 cm fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 red fresh chili
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups peas
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 cups water or veggie broth
• 1/2 tsp ground chili
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp garam masala

Cube the tofu into 2 x 2 x 1 cm pieces and shallow-fry them until golden. Remove from the pan and pat dry with a kitchen towel to remove excessive oil. Grind the garlic, ginger, turmeric and cumin to a paste. Reheat the oil in a wok and fry the onion, cardamom and bay leaves until the onion are golden. Add the paste and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, garam masala and salt and cook until the tomatoes loose their shape and become compact with the rest of ingredients.

Add the water and boil down to a thicker paste. Carefully, add the tofu and peas and mix well with the sauce. Set off the fire, garnish with cilantro and serve.

My best choice so far with this unique curry has been mint pulao and apple or raisin pickle.

This one goes to Sunita´s Think Spice Think.... this time hosted by Simple Indian Food. Cardamom is the choice of the month.

BERBERE - Ethiopean Spice Paste..And An Award

Berbere (bari-bay) is a real delicious, full flavored thick paste used in African cooking as a spice kick to curries, breads or dips. Influenced by French cuisine, yet widely used all around Ethiopia (and in my kitchen) I am in love with this spice miracle.
The two only times I ever tasted real berbere was while in the States, once in Arizona and the other time in San Francisco. The one I dug out and fell in love at home is slightly spicier than the one served in restaurants, but I don't find that of a disadvantage. Here it is, my very own:

ETHIOPEAN SPICE PASTE:
(Berbere)

• 10 dried chillies
• 8 whole green cardamoms
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 8 whole cloves
• 1 tsp whole all spice
  
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp ajowan (lovage) seeds
• 1 cm fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp strong red paprika powder
• 1 tbsp mild paprika powder
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp red wine
• 100 ml water
• oil

Heat the wok and dry-fry the whole spices for about three minutes or until fragrant. Crack the cardamom pods prior to roasting, so they release their flavors well.
Take out the seeds from the cardamom pods and together with the rest of roasted spices, grind them into a fine powder.

Heat the wok again and over the low flame, roast the paprika powders. Take great care not to burn it. Together with the rest of dry ingredients, mix in the powders well.

Chop the onions, garlic and grate the ginger.
Place all the ingredients (except for the water and oil) into a blender and process to a smooth paste.

Transfer the paste, together with the water into a sauce pan, mix well and boil vigorously for about 10 minutes stirring constantly. At this point, the water should have reduced down and what you have is a smooth compact paste of a thick consistency. Turn off the heat and let cool down.

Transfer to a sterilised jar and cover the top with a thin layer of oil. Store in the fridge, it will hold for months. Each time you use the paste, do not forget to re-new the thin oil layer on the top. This will prevent the space from going bad.

Wondering about how to use berbere? Here are a few tips from my kitchen:

1. as a marinade - Rub the spice paste onto some meat, eggplants or tofu and marinade for couple of hours. Grill or fry in a pan for a few minutes.

2. as a spread or dip - Blend a tablespoon of the paste together with tomato, roasted bell pepper or yoghurt. Three delicious dips for veggies, with meat balls or spreads on toasts, burritos ...

3. as a curry base - Below is a recipe for a simple veggie curry.

SIMPLE BERBERE CURRY:

• 1 tbsp oil
  
• 2 cups chopped veggies (broccoli florets, peas, potatoes..)
• 1 tomato, chopped
  
• 1 generous tbsp berbere paste (recipe above)
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp basil

Heat the oil and roaste the berbere paste for a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes mix together with the paste and cook down to a sauce.
Add the vegetables, 1/2 cup water, season with the herbs, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the veggies are soft.

Serve with rice or as I did, with a dollop of polenta.

I would love to contribute this awesome curry paste to Putting Up , an awesome preserving vent hosted by Pixie of You Say Tomahto, I say Tomayto... .

... and at the very last (but foremost) my humble blog received the Yum Blog Award - thanks to Maheswari of Beyond the Usual, AND Ranji of Ranji´s Kitchen Corner. Honored as I feel, I was asked to confess my four most favorite dishes. Well, that is not hard... you might recognise them, yourselves ...

1. Readers favorite - Home-Made Marzipan Shaped Like A Mushroom.
2. My personal favorite - Soy Milk Pancakes (also the savory variety).
3. Tompa´s most favorite weekend start-of-the-day Fruit Smoothie.
4. And my recent obsession - Chinese Moon Cake.
   

Now, it is my turn to spread the awards... aaaaand the winners areee (applause):

1. Christine of Kitschow for her amazing collection of traditional Chinese dishes
2. Pel of Elaichi Et Cetera... for making me laugh on a regular basis
3. Lisa of Lisa´s Vegetarian Kitchen for having the same tastes buds as me
4. Bindiya of In Love With Food for her love and support throughout her blogging days, come back, baby :-)

Enjoy!

T&T - A Carribean Feast...

My T&T event rocks, because I get to choose a blog I want and cook anything I want :-) It actually is not that easy with wonderful blogs like Cynthia´s Tastes Like Home, for there are so many things one just drool at and it has been actually very hard to pick out a recipe that I would like to try without ditching all the others. So I did what I did - and made a huuuuge Carribean feast:

Here are my (Cynthia´s) dishes that finally made it to my table, a delicious trio of dry curries with only four ingredients :

1. Chickpea Spinach - a wonderful combination of spicy spinach and salty chickpeas. Crunchy and chewy, yum...

2. Eggplant Tofu (originally paneer) - a lovely light dry curry flavored with a unique garam masala paste. I added a teaspoon of roasted cumin seeds and a sprinkle of amchoor (mango) powder to the original recipe to bring out the flavor of rather plain Tofu.

3. Chickpea Eggplant - a fantastic cross-match of both dishes above, a lovely fusion with heaps of fresh European herbs. I even took it a step further, adding a splash of wine while sautéing the chickpeas and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce at the end.

4. All this above served with my previously posted Tamarind Relish,....

5. ..... and, naturally - Layered Paratha Roti:

5. Feeling full, but yet a bit hungry for something, ... hm... sweet? There is no better thing than a lovely traditional Chinese Mooncake - a true beauty. And I absolutely adore my Chinese cake mold. A feast for the eye....

... and taste buds :-)

Cynthia, thank you so much for bringing such tasty recipes to us. It had been a great opportunity to cook from you and I am very curious to see what other foodies think of Tastes Like Home.

Roasted Bell Pepper Salsa

The very first time I made this sauce, I was still living in Slovakia together with my sister. It was shortly after I started experimenting with spices in the kitchen and this one came a bit too hot for my sister´s European tongue to handle, so despite the fairly little amount, there were still some leftovers next day:

ROASTED BELL PEPPER SALSA:

Prep time: 25 minutes
makes: 100 ml

• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 green chilies
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• juice from ½ lime
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Put bell pepper together with pepperoni in a heated frying pan and dry fry them from all sides until black.
Set aside and put them into a plastic bag. Cover tightly and let cool down. This way, the burnt skin separates from the roasted flesh and peeling the peppers is not at all difficult and messy. De-seed all of the peppers and blend in a blender, together with the rest of ingredients.

I have made this salsa several times. I used a great amount in burritos, or added a tablespoon into wok-fried grated root vegetable and sunflower seeds and mixed it with boiled pasta. Or you can simply eat it as a dip with some grilled veggies. Oh, is this one good…

(Here is a simple stir-fry of tomatoes, zucchini and peas with a generous splash of the bell pepper salsa, served over some nice tagliatelle).

The salsa goes to A.W.E.D. - Mexican hosted by DK of Curry Bazaar, and the pasta dish goes to Presto Pasta Night run by Ruth of Once Upon A Feast.

Fish-Fragrant Eggplants

Fish-fragrant flavor is one of Sichuan´s famous 23 flavors and an overall Chinese classic. As my favorite Chinese food guru Fuchsia Dunlop further elaborates in her Land Of Plenty:

... based on the seasonings used in traditional fish cookery, this flavor combines salty, sweet, sour and spicy notes, with the heady fragrance of garlic, ginger and scallions. The core seasoning is pickled red chilies, either on their own or mixed with fava beans in Sichuanese chili bean paste, which give fish-fragrant dishes their distinctive orange-red hue...

There are many dishes I remember ordering that were "fishy" yet vegetarian, such as fish-fragrant pork slivers (did I say vegetarian? :-) , fish-fragrant Tofu or my absolute favorite all-time winner:

FISH FRAGRANT EGGPLANT:
(鱼香茄子 - yu xiang qie zi)

• 450 g purple eggplants *
  
• 100 g minced meat (or reconstituted soy mince)
  
• salt
• oil (+ a splash of sesame oil for final touch)
  
• 2 tbsp Sichuanese chili bean paste (豆瓣酱 -dou ban jiang)
• 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
  
• 3 tsp pressed garlic
• 1/2 cup veggie broth
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
  
• 2 tsp rice wine
• 3 scallions, green parts only

* NOTE: This dish consists of a sauce and fried cubed veggies, so feel free to experiment. Try cauliflower, zucchini or squash, cubed tofu or even hard-boiled eggs.

Cut the eggplants length-ways into 4 quarters and each part further into 4 even chunks. Sprinkle with salt and leave 30 minutes in a colander to loose some of the juices. Wash well and pat-dry with towel.
In the wok, heat the oil until it begins to smoke. Add the eggplants and fry until golden. Set aside.

Heat another tablespoon in the wok, add the mince, chili bean paste and stir-fry for couple of seconds; then add the garlic, ginger and fry until fragrant.

Add the stock together with the sugar, soy sauce and let simmer for a few minutes.
Add the eggplants and the scallions.

Dissolve the cornstarch mixture in a tablespoon of water and add this mixture to the wok. Add the vinegar and cook until thickened. Remove from fire, add the sesame oil and serve over rice.


This one goes to Chinese Take-Out Party hosted by Mochachocolate Rita. I cannot wait to see the round-up and the lucky-drawn :-)

Chinese Food Rocks! Here are some more recipes from the Land of Chopsticks - the real stuff, as taught and experienced while living in Beijing.

Arusuvai - Secret Revealed..... And Some Chai

Thank to all of you participating Arusuvai - Guess the secret ingredient game. I was having a lot of fun correcting your answers.

Number two seemed to be a no-brainer: Garam Masala - salt and pepper of Indian cuisine, that is correct.

Number three was a bit harder. Some of you guessed habanero or bori in Hindi. Well, pretty pretty close. The correct answer should have been smoked cobanero.

....the Cobanero is also known as the "hot little sister of the Habanero" and officially goes by the name of Cobanero Mayan Love Pepper for it's color and shape resemble that of a heart. Originally cultivated by the Mayan's of Guatemala, it ranks as one of the worlds hottest peppers. The Cobanero is a rare hot pepper that gains its strength from the vine... and like the Cobanero, through cultivation, we can individualize your message with economical vine-like growth.

The very first one was a tough one,... None guessed the right stuff, but to be honest, if I did not receive this spice blend, I would never know what the hell it was or what to do with it. So, here it is, for your curious ears:

Maure Kaoua - a Moroccan Coffee Spice Blend. My supplier Pel of Elaichi Et Cetera... explains:

For each demitasse ("half-cup", "small cup") take 1/2 C of water and 1 t sugar (less or none if you prefer) and set it to boil (there is a special pot called an ibrik, but this isn't necessary). Add 1 heaping teaspoon of finely-powdered coffee-grounds for each 1/2 C of water plus some of the masala (in Turkey, just cardamom is added). It will foam up. Lift it away from the heat to let it settle down. Do this two more times- bring it to boil and lift it away (3 is a sacred number in Islam). Spoon some of the foam into each cup, and then pour the coffee. Let it sit for a few minutes for the grounds to settle at the bottom and enjoy. If any grounds stay floating at the top, grind the coffee more finely next time.

So you wonder what´s in it? Well, I did too... I have to tell you, there is more ingredients than I imagined when I first smelled to it. Pel apparently spent some serious time in his kitchen. Here is his not-so-secret-any more formula:

MOROCCAN COFFEE SPICE BLEND:
(Maure Kaoua)
Recipe by Elaichi Et Cetera, adapted from Paula Wolfert)

• 2 whole nutmegs
• 4 blades of cinnamon (about 1 tsp ground)
• 6-8 dried rosebuds (damask or alba roses)
• 12 whole cloves
• 1/8 tsp gum arabic (aka. gum acacia)
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground galanga
• 2 allspice berries (1/8 tsp)
• 3/4 tsp ground white pepper
• 3 blades of mace (about 1/2 tsp ground)
• 15 green (or white) cardamom pods
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp anise seeds
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp roasted besan flour
  

Pel suggest roasting fennel, anise and sesame seeds before grinding for extra aroma. However you decide, simply grind all the ingredients together to a fine powder and store in closed container away from heat and sun.

To me, Maure Kaoua smells and tastes just like Indian Chai, so I decided to use it exactly the same way. Here is my:

SPICED CHAI:

• 1 cup milk (I used soy milk)
• 2 cups water
• 2 tsp black tea leaves
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 heaped teaspoon Chai Masala (I used Moroccan Maure Kaoua - recipe above)

In a sauce pan, mix together water and milk. Bring to boil. Add the leaves and masala and let boil for about 5 minutes. Turn off and strain the spices. Serve hot.

As for the next Arusuvai receiver, I chose Ronell of My French Kitchen, for I was extremely keen on spreading the friendship chain around Europe.

T&T - Tastes Like Home

Tried and Tasted (T&T) is a monthly event of appreciation of other blogs - an opportunity to thank your fellow bloggers for sharing their recipes by re-creating them.
Starting the very first edition of T&T, I have kindly asked Cynthia of Tastes Like Home to be the first “laboratory rat”.

Cynthia was the very first person to comment on my blog and is a great support throughout my blogging days. I have tried several of her recipes and have to say that not only do they look gorgeous, they taste delicious too.

Cynthia’s blog is beautifully weaved with pictures of dishes mainly from her homeland – Barbados and Guyana. It rarely features actual recipes (this is because she is writing a book), but she is more than willing to share them. All you need to do is to drop her an e-mail.

So why not come home one evening saying: “Honey, let’s have some Caribbean tonight.”

The rules are simple:

1. Cook any recipe(s) from Tastes Like Home and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post :-)
   
1. There is no time-frame for the original recipe. It can be as old as my grand-mother or as fresh as a mung bean sprout.
2. Have you cooked from Cynthia before? As this event is all about tasting and reflecting on the taste, older posts are also welcome. Simply link to this post and mention T&T event.
   
2. Link your post to HERE (feel free to use the logo) and to the original post. Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright fuss.
   
3. Send me an e-mail (zlamushka@hotmail.com) with your name, your post URL as well as the original URL and a picture (any size).
4. Deadline is the May 31st 2008 and the round up will be posted within a week.

Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate (after all, our posts are mainly being written for them). Simply e-mail me (zlamushka@hotmail.com) with your experience of what you cooked and please include a picture.

The round up will be posted during the first week in June.

So from now on until the end of the month, we are enjoying TASTES LIKE HOME!

Excuse my impatience, I have already indulged myself into her Tamarind Relish:

Cynthia suggests this relish as a dipping sauce with raw or cooked veggies or instead of the regular chutney with any curry dish, particularly stirred into a seafood curry. I have stirred a generous tablespoon with boiled couscous, stir-fried mushrooms and peas, fresh veggies, nuts and raisins. Lovely sweet and sour, slightly spicy salad: