Author: blenderandbasil

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Recipes, Simple Recipes

Homemade Fries with Egg on Top

Very few meals are as simple as fried eggs. Anyone can make them in a matter of minutes, perfect for those midweek express meals. Sure as eggs, you would probably have a few ingredients at home to make your meal more special: potatoes, for example. Forget those frozen fries you find at the supermarket, I’m talking about those potatoes you forgot in the cupboard for a week already. We are going to turn those into homemade fries. Continue reading “Homemade Fries with Egg on Top”

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Tofu and Chinese Cabbage
Meatless Monday, Recipes, Simple Recipes

Tofu and Chinese Cabbage

Just home from a trip to Kyoto, the city of tofu, I’ve been thinking more about easy home-cooking tofu recipes, and this tofu and Chinese cabbage combo is a typical one to make at home. It’s not quite a completely stir-fry recipe, so I haven’t called it as such. You will need to drop the tofu and the cabbage leaves into boiling water to remove the slightly odd taste that tofu sometimes has when you just unwrap it, and will need to wilt the cabbage a little so that you don’t need to stir vigorously once it’s in the oil pan – so as not to break the tofu apart. Continue reading “Tofu and Chinese Cabbage”

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Meatless Monday, Recipe Review, Recipes

Savoury Courgette Tart

I don’t call this recipe a quiche because the method used for the Italian torta salata is slightly different. For these sort of homemade savoury tarts, Italians don’t add eggs to the short crust pastry, unlike the French. Also, a quiche will require the mixture of creme fraiche with the egg inside the filling, while in torta salata we use cheese (usually ricotta or chewy cheese like mozzarella or sweet provola) as the main ingredient that brings the flavours together. Admittedly, I had never made a torta salata before, and I was a bit disappointed with the results of this recipe, inspired by this one on Giallo Zafferano. I felt that the pastry should have been blind baked before adding the ingredients, as the bottom of my tart stayed very white, even if the top crust was well cooked. It was crispy and had a nice texture, but I decided not to use pancetta, so that my vegetarian friends could also eat it. This made the flavours a little bland, because I didn’t think to use a stronger flavoured cheese to make up for it.
Overall, I suggest you blind bake, and if like me you want this recipe to be vegetarian, choose a type of cheese that will bring out the flavours rather than making them shy away.

Continue reading “Savoury Courgette Tart”

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Mediterranean_Mung_Bean_Soup
Meatless Monday, Recipes, Simple Recipes

Mediterranean Mung Beans Soup

Never mind the Singaporean heat, we do crave for a good bowl of soup every now and then. And after discovering mung beans, it was hard to resist the succulent idea of making a vellutata of them. Traditionally, mung beans are actually believed to be refreshing for the body, and often used in dessert recipes as a way to cool down your stomach after a meal and prevent inflammations. Of course, I went exactly the opposite direction and made a Mediterranean style soup and hand-blended it to obtain a velvety, creamy result. I’d hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Continue reading “Mediterranean Mung Beans Soup”

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Steamed_Sea_Bass_Fish
Recipes, Simple Recipes, Sunday Lunch

Steamed Sea Bass

As a continuation of our steamed recipes, here comes a really simple Chinese-style steamed fish recipe. The fish we’re using here is sea bass, though other kinds of thin white fish fillets such as sole will also work well.

Steaming fish is a bit different from steaming the veggies from previous recipes, as the timing and heat is important. Fish can easily get dry and overcooked. Make sure that the steamer is boiling before you put the fish in, and when it is in there, boil on high heat then mid heat. Continue reading “Steamed Sea Bass”

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Steamed_Tofu_with_Minced_Pork_and_Mushrooms
Recipes, Simple Recipes

Steamed Tofu, Minced Pork and Mushrooms

Here comes another steamed recipe for this week – tofu with minced pork and mushrooms this time. This one can be served hot or cold, so is good for spring and summer. In a similar way to the aubergine and mushroom recipes from the previous weeks, the basis of the recipe is to steam the main ingredient for 10-15 minutes and then to pour the sauce on top.

Continue reading “Steamed Tofu, Minced Pork and Mushrooms”

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Meatless Monday, Recipes, Simple Recipes

Steamed Enoki Mushrooms with Garlic – a ‘Cooked Salad’ Recipe

In hotter weather, salads are a go-to food. This enoki mushroom recipe is a Chinese cooked salad, which means that like last week’s aubergine recipe, the mushroom is steamed before the sauce goes on, and the mushrooms soak up the flavours as it cools with the sauce.

You can also look into using other sorts of mushrooms, like oyster mushrooms, although it would be best to slice them thinly, as enoki mushrooms are naturally so thin and absorb the flavours easily. Continue reading “Steamed Enoki Mushrooms with Garlic – a ‘Cooked Salad’ Recipe”

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Steamed_Aubergine_Eggplant_with_Tahini
Meatless Monday, Recipes, Simple Recipes

Steamed Aubergine with Tahini Sauce – a Chinese Salad

Aubergines (or eggplants) are my favourite – not only healthy, but they are a veggie that can be cooked in so many different ways! Now that the weather is getting warmer, this simple Chinese salad recipe is very tasty – and can be prepared in advance. Not only so, steaming preserves the vitamin content really well.

Continue reading “Steamed Aubergine with Tahini Sauce – a Chinese Salad”

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Corn and red kidney beans
Recipes, Simple Recipes

Corn and Red Kidney Beans – a Staple Food from Northern China

When people think about the staple food in China, white rice usually comes to mind, but this is actually not true in Dongbei, the north east of China. Maize (corn) is the traditional staple there, and the most well-known version is a porridge made from maize kernels: Da Zha Zi.

Nutritionally speaking, corn tends to be a little richer than white rice in vitamins, and offers more fiber. To make up for the lower protein content in corn (which is also an issue, if not more so, with rice), this porridge/congee is usually balanced with red kidney beans, and you can also add peanuts to the mix. Continue reading “Corn and Red Kidney Beans – a Staple Food from Northern China”

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