The Yellow Curry

The Chef made a super yummy yellow chicken curry tonight! Being the usual me, I tried to promote the possibility of adding some kind of veggies (e.g., green peas) to the curry, but I wasn’t permitted to because the Chef in the house likes to stick to recipes à la lettre. 🙂 For a vegetarian version of this curry, I think roasted cauliflower would be a great substitute for chicken!

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• Salt to taste
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup plain yoghurt
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat.
• Sauté onion until lightly browned.
• Stir in garlic, ginger, curry powder, paprika, bay leaf, sugar and salt.
• Continue stirring for 2 minutes.
• Add chicken pieces, tomato paste, yoghurt and coconut milk.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes.
• Remove the bay leaf.
• Stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper.
• Let it simmer for 5 additional minutes.
• It’s now ready to be served – with rice, bread or Naan.

Note: The whole thing takes 25-30 to cook.

Bon Apetit!

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Quasi-Roasted TofuBergine

A dish inspired by Gordon Ramsay’s Aubergine Caviar recipe…

I still remember the first time I tasted a roasted eggplant dip made by Tommy, it was like heaven! Yes heavenly delicious! 😀 A few friends and I were spending the weekend at a cottage up-north; the poor guy was spending more than 1 hour in the kitchen making this dish, as it takes 30-40 minutes for the eggplants to bake in the oven – while the rest of us were enjoying ourselves in the hot jacuzzi outside in the freezing cold winter. So I told myself that when I make the dish one day, I refuse to go through this kind of long process. In fact, I rarely use the oven to cook. I’m just not fan of the idea of waiting that long and using that much electricity. So I decided to adapt this Ramsay recipe to my own style! I don’t know if it tasted as good as his version, but it sure tasted yummy enough!

Ingredients:

• 1 large sized Aubergine/Eggplant, cut into small cubes
• 1 package of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
• Fresh basil leaves, chopped thinly
• Dry parsley leaves
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• Oil
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions:

• When the pan is hot, pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and brown the tofu.
• Remove the tofu from the pan after they turned slightly golden brown and set aside.
• Add another 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and fry the garlic.
• Add the aubergine cubes and cook them until they become a bit soft – for about 7 minutes.
• Add a bit of water in between to keep it moist.
• Throw in the browned tofu and stir.
• Toss the basil leaves, dry parsley leaves in.
• Let it cook for another 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Serve with toasts, or rice.

Enjoy! 🙂

Vegetarian Gluten Free Pizza

We made two wonderful 12-inch vegetarian gluten-free pizzas that evening. The crust turned out to be really thin; and let me tell you something: you cannot go wrong with sun-dried tomatoes and cheese!! =)

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of Gluten Free Pizza crust Mix (Bob’s Red Mill) 453g
• 1 pack of Yeast
• 1 1/2 cup of warm water
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tbps of Olive Oil
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 2 packs of Parmesan Cheese
• Mushrooms
• Green Peppers
• Parsley

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425F
• In a large bowl, combine water and yeast
• Let stand a few minutes
• Add eggs and oil to mixture and blend briefly
• Add Gluten free Pizza Crust Mix and blend until combined
• Leaving dough in a bowl, split in half, cover and allow to rise for 20 minutes
• Place dough on greased pizza pans
• Using wet hands, speed out dough to cover the full pizza pan
• Bake without toppings for 7-9 minutes
• Remove from oven, cover with favorite sauce and toppings
• Bake for 15-18 minutes

Bulgur Veggie Burgers with Lime Mayonnaise

Those were some truly delicious burgers!! I was the Sous-Chef for this dish, so all credits go to the Chef 😛

For full recipe, please see: www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Bulgur-Veggie-Burgers-with-Lime-Mayonnaise-242594

Eggplant Gratin

Eggplants (Aubergines) are known for its deep purple color and unique taste and texture (bitter and spongy?). So it’s really important to know how to cook them! Well, with the help of an excellent cooking assistant, I was able to execute this great Eggplant Gratin! =)

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Onions, finely chopped
• Garlic cloves, finely chopped
• Eggplants, thickly sliced
• Fresh Parsley, chopped
• Dried thyme
• Canned chopped tomatoes

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Heat the oil in a casserole over medium heat
• Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes, or until soft
• Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds
• Transfer the onion mixture to a plate
• Cook the eggplant slices in batches in the same casserole until they are lightly browned
• Transfer to another plate
• Arrange a layer of eggplant slices in the bottom of the baking dish
• Sprinkle with parsley, thyme and salt and pepper
• Add a layer of onion, tomatoes and mozzarella, sprinkling parsley, thyme and salt and pepper over each layer
• Continue layering, finishing with a layer of eggplant slices
• Sprinkle with the Parmesan
• Bake, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes, or until the top is golden and the eggplant slices are tender. Serve hot.

Easy Noodle Soup

You think Spring has settled in as the temperature goes higher and higher, but as soon as you store all your winter coats and boots away, the weather plays a joke on you and cools down drastically by a lot. So here I am, walking home from work on this chilly evening fighting against the wind, hoping to get home as fast as I can.

And since I don’t have any strong motivation to spend a lot of time cooking on this Monday evening, I opted for this quick and easy Noodle Soup for supper. To make it healthier, you could add lots of veggies of your choice.

What I did here is:

• Boil 2 cups of water
• Add the soup base/stock cube
• Add the fish balls and tofu cubes
• After 1-2 minutes, add the baby Bok Choy and Bean Sprouts
• Add the noodle last and let it cook for 3 minutes
• Put 2 drops of sesame oil

That’s it!

Have a great Monday night!

Tofu Fish Stew

STEWS are wonderful, a comfort food that’s perfect for colder weathers! They are extremely flavourful with lots of nutrients conserved. Stews are healthy: you can add lots of vegetables but be careful not to add too much salt, they are easy to prepare and so appetizing. Plus you can do other things while you let it stew on the stove!