Category: Salads and Vegetables

Asian Dishes, Salads and Vegetables, Sides

Agedashi Tofu

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After I made this, I think buying agedashi tofu now is pretty ridiculous because this dish is ridiculously easy to make.

For the tofus,  simply fry soft tofu! Just coat the tofu squares with corn flour. I used a mixture of corn flour and rice flour. Dust the squares of soft tofu just before you want to plop them in the hot oil. I realised that when I did the coating early and saw that while I was waiting for the oil to get hot, the tofu disintegrated. It got stuck tot he metal bowl and somehow sitting in the corn flour mixture made them go soft. Luckily for me, I managed to salvage whatever I had.

The sauce is  just dashi stock, soy sauce, sugar. Well, the original recipe also calls for sake and mirin. Even omitting the alcohol resulted in a yummy sauce.

I boiled bonito flakes to make the stock. Strain till the liquid is clear. Use konbu pieces too if you have.
The strained clear dashi stock.
To the dashi stock, add sugar and soy sauce.

And then, add the two together and you get agedashi tofu!

In the sauce you can add mushrooms, cooked baby prawns (shelled), asparagus. I only used spring onion. And I forgot to add some more fresh bonito flakes on top. 😦
Salads and Vegetables

Roasted Vegetables

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I think I cooked this on my Mom’s birthday this year which was a couple of months back. Lovely colourful root vegetables like purple and red potatoes; sweet potatoes; even corn, get seasoned with black pepper, salt (always my pink Himalayan pink salt) and a generous coating of olive oil before going into the oven till soft and crisp. Gorgeous to serve with any main.

I just love the colours!

Product Recommendation, Salads and Vegetables

Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

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Chipotle in adobo sauce. I heard Alton Brown use this product once and that was enough to pique my interest. I’ve been hearing chipotle everywhere and I doubted I could get my hands on any in our little red dot.

Then one day while browsing through the aisles at Cold Storage Kovan, I saw a can of chipotle in adobo sauce! The very same thing that Alton Brown mentioned and used. I was mighty excited and so bought a can without even looking at the price! (It turned out to be almost four dollar 😦 )

Before using this can, I surfed the net for the best possible way to use it. Alton Brown’s sweet potatoes with chipotle in adobo sauce seemed to be my best bet. His recipe called for steaming two sweet potatoes and then adding butter and one whole can of the chipotle peppers with one teaspoon of the sauce that comes with it. I chose to bake my sweet potatoes since I was baking chicken anyway but when it came to whizzing the potatoes, I was very scared to put in one whole can. I mean, a whole can for two potatoes seemed crazy but I had 5 potatoes and I was already scared to put in a whole can. So, I took out three chilli peppers and followed his recipe of adding one teaspoon of the adobo sauce. Whizz with butter, salt and serve warm.

The result? It was all right but I did’nt quite like the vinegary taste that was the result of adding that teaspoon of adobo sauce. Anyway, when paired with my roasted chicken, it was of course good. It’s worth trying if you want something different that regular mashed potatoes.

Read the reviews online and decide if you want to buy. I think it's worth experimenting with.
What's in that adobo sauce?
This is how a chipotle pepper looks like.
Alton Brown's Chipotle Sweet Potatoes
Chipotle Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Chicken and Side of Vegetables.
Use it in place of mashed potatoes...for a change.
Asian Dishes, Malay, Salads and Vegetables

Pucuk Ubi masak Lemak (Cassava Leaves in Cocounut Milk)

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I love this dish. Once in a while, I’ll crave for it. Luckily for me, the Giant hypermart near my place, stocks up on potato or cassava leaves and they cost like 50 cents a bunch. Less actually. My grandmother taught me her recipe to cook this dish. She uses, besides the usual onions and garlic, chilli padi(!) and ikan bilis. And, she’ll add sweet potatoes in. Lovely!

However that day when I made this, I decided to use only one fresh red chilli so that The Little Girl will be able to enjoy the dish too.

Blend not too finely ikan bilis, an onion, two to three garlic cloves, belacan, fresh turmeric, one fresh red chilli.

However, before this step, you must boil the cassava leaves till soft in plenty of water and a wee bit of oil. After its cooked (mind you, this can take more than an hour!), drain, wring excess water out, cut into smaller pieces and put in back in a pot. Then, you add the blended spices.

After you’ve added the blended spices, add some water, and then add coconut cream/milk. Add salt. If adding the sweet potatoes, boil them till soft first before adding the leaves and spices.

The potato leaves after being boiled.
The finished product.

Mind you, these are not sweet potato leaves, the ones you get easily at NTUC. They’re tapioca leaves. For something different and more kampong-style, try this.

Salads and Vegetables, Sides

Popcorn

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Why buy popcorn when you can make tubs and tubs of it very cheaply at home? I didn’t even know that you can make your own popcorn till I was about 11 or 12. I was visiting my cousin and she taught me how to make popcorn. Then, I taught my friend at her home (I think I brought over some I had made at home) and until today, her mother remembers me for the popcorn.

I use this brand now to make popcorn. It comes in a resealable bag and it keeps for a very long time. It can be popped ‘white’ or ‘yellow’ – I bought the ‘white’ ones.

You can easily get this at Cold Storage.

The best part of making your own popcorn is that you can experiment with as many flavours as you want. I’ve been watching the Food Network and in America they are really big on Kettle Corn. You can flavour your popcorn savoury or sweet or even the bizarre (I had bubblegum flavoured popcorn once).

These are some of the flavours I’ve tried:

Caramel

Put popped corns aside. In the saucepan, heat some sugar till caramelised and then pour over popped kernels till coated well. Before that, you may want to add a bit of melted butter over too. My children love this.

Plain Cinnamon

Just sprinkle lots and lots of powdered cinnamon over the popcorn. Very healthy and good for your health. Don’t add melted butter.

Herbs and Salt

This is French-style. Sprinkle sea salt over and Herbs de Provence. Shake well to coat and serve.

Butter and Salt

Melt lots of butter. Sprinkle over popcorn and then sprinkle salt. Very salty, buttery popcorn. Mmmm…

I’m going to try out other flavours when I can. 🙂