Roasted Cauliflower And Quinoa Salad

I am completely hooked on quinoa at the moment. Though I have always enjoyed dishes with quinoa when dinning out, I have never cooked it at home until a few weeks ago. 

We bought a box of quinoa and guess what? There is a recipe on the back of the package by Cath Claringbold, a Melbourne chef renowned for her Middle Eastern cooking. I tweaked the recipe a little and it is now a favourite at the Tummies'!

Give it a try if you are a lover of quinoa or a late convert like us. Serve it as it is or as a side dish when you next roast a chook.

Happy cooking and have a wonderful weekend!

P.S The original recipe asks for pomegranate seeds. When the fruit is in season, make sure you add 1 cup of the ruby coloured seeds to brighten up the dish. 

recipe adapted from Cath Claringbold's

serve 2 as a main or 4 as a side dish

you'll need;

1/2 a cauliflower, sliced 

160 g of white quinoa, cooked and cooled

500 ml of vegetable stock

1/4 cup of slivered almonds, lightly roasted

1/4 cup of sultanas, roughly chopped

1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley, shredded

1/2 bunch of coriander, shredded

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1 red onion, sliced and caramelised

for the dressing;

3 tbs of extra virgin olive oil

2 tbs of sherry vinegar

1 tbs of pomegranate molasses

sea salt to taste

crushed black pepper to taste

Place sliced cauliflower in a roasting pan, drizzle with some olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the pre-heated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring from time to time to ensure even browning. Remove and allow to cool.

To cook the quinoa - place quinoa in a pot, wash and drain well then add stock to the pot simmer on low heat and cook until the quinoa is tender and the stock has evaporated. Remove from pot and allow to cool.

Prepare the rest of the ingredients and set aside.

I have added caramelised onion to the salad which works wonder to the already delicious salad.

Place all ingredients in a salad bowl, drizzle with the dressing and toss well. Serve it as a light vegetarian meal.

Or as a side dish with roast chicken or grilled fish.

Niu Rou Dan Dan Mian 牛肉擔擔麵 Beef Dan Dan Noodles

Too soon for another noodle dish with mince? Well certainly not here at the Tummies'!

Spring is here and the weather has been brilliant. Spending hours in the kitchen (after a 9 hour shift in a commercial kitchen) is out of the question, so a simple, quick and delicious one dish meal such as this Sichuan classic is a godsend.

The dish is named after the shoulder poles (dan dan, 擔擔) that once transported street vendors' stoves and everything else needed for business around the neighbourhood.

Unlike its equally popular cousin zha jiang mian (炸醬麵), this dish doesn't require slow simmering of the meat sauce, leaving one plenty of time to enjoy the wonderful spring days. But be warned, it is just as addictive!

There are numerous versions of this popular dish around but this is one I adapted from my favourite food writer and Sichuan cookery expert Fuchsia Dunlop's latest book, Every Grain Of Rice.

recipe adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain Of Rice
serve 10 as an one dish meal
you'll need;
3 tbs of cooking oil
15 dried chillies, snipped and seeds removed
5 tsp of Sichuan pepper
250 g of Sichuanese ya cai (see next photo and notes)
3 tbs of light soy
pinch of salt
Dried Chinese wheat flour noodles (allow 100g per serve)
chopped spring onions to serve
blanched bok choy or Asian greens of your choice to serve

for the sauce (individual serve) ;
1/4 tsp of ground roasted Sichuan pepper
2 tbs of sesame paste
3 tbs of light soy
2 tsp of dark soy
4 tbs of chilli oil with itd sediment

This is what Sichuanese ya cai looks like. A must have ingredient in another popular Sichuan dish - dry fried green beans. If unavailable, substitute with more commonly available Tianjin preserved vegetable instead.

Add cooking oil to a hot wok or pan and saute the dried chillies and Sichuan pepper for around 10 seconds over medium heat. Add ya cai and continue to saute until the oil is hot and fragrant.

Add mince to the pan and stir fry on high heat, breaking up large lumps as you go.

When the meat is lightly brown and a little crisp, splash in the soy. Mix well and season with a pinch of salt.

To prepare the sauce, simply place all sauce ingredients in individual bowl and mix well.

Cook noodles till al dente, drain, rinse and drain well.

Place noodles in the bowls with the sauce , top with some of the fried mince, (I also added some chopped spring onions and blanched bok choy for a bit of extra vibrancy), mix well and enjoy.

Knife Cut Noodles With Spicy Preserved Vegetable And Mince Sauce 麻辣雪菜肉碎刀削麵

It has been a while since I last posted a noodle dish and this is another variation of "noodles with mince sauce" that will feed the whole family happily without breaking a sweat or the bank.

I found this knife cut noodles 刀削麵 from an Asian grocer a while back and I must say we are now completely hooked, needless to say my pantry is now very well stocked with this new favourite of ours. Together with my other kitchen staples such as hot bean paste and various kinds of preserved vegetables, such a simple but delicious meal can be prepared without too much of a fuss.

Feel free to serve the mince sauce with your favourite noodles if you are unable to find the knife cut noodles used here.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 8 as a one dish meal
you'll need;
1 onion, finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 cm knob of ginger, chopped
5 bird chillies, chopped (optional)
4 tbs of hot bean paste
1 kg of mince of your choice
1 packet of preserved xue cai (see bellow)
1 l of stock
2 tbs of light soy
2 tbs of dack soy
1 tbs of sichuan pepper, roasted and crushed
corn flour solution for thickening
1 continental cucumber, julienned
1 bunch of spinach, picked, blanched and refreshed, drained well
2 spring onions, chopped
1 packet of dried knife cut noodles, cooked until al dente just before serving

This is what fresh xue cai (雪菜，Brassica juncea var. crispifolia), also known as curly mustard greens looks like. Preserved xue cai is available at most Asian grocers, sometimes with added bamboo shoots which is what I used in this recipe. If preserved xue cai is not available, simply replace it with other type of preserved vegetables.

Chop onion, garlic and ginger. On the right is what preserved xue cai looks like.

Saute chopped ingredients with 4 tbs of cooking oil, when the onion is slightly brown add in the hot bean paste. Continue to saute for a minute or two.

Add mince to the pot and mix well, breaking up lumps as you go. 

When the mince is no longer pink, add in the preserved xue cai, stock and the rest of the seasonings, mix well, cover and allow to simmer for 35 to 40 minutes. Thicken the sauce with a little corn flour solution and check for seasonings.

While the sauce is cooking away, prepare the cucumber and spinach. They help to cut through the fairly intense sauce, also will brighten up the final dish.

Cook noodles just before serving.

Divide noodles into individual serving bowls, ladle some of the mince sauce over, top with julienned cucumber, blanched spinach and some chopped spring onions.

Mix well and enjoy!

Fu Pei Guen 腐皮卷 Beancurd Skin Rolls - Yum Cha Special 3

I told myself I must put up a post tonight and here you have it - another one of my must order items when visiting a yum cha restaurant.

As I mentioned in my last yum cha special installment, the ingredients of the filling for my fu jok guen is the leftover from my siu mai making. So make a bigger batch of the filling and you should be able to serve both items at your yum cha party without working out too much of a sweat. 

I am making this a very brief post... time to catch up on my reading. Happy cooking and see you soon.

P.S To my fellow blogger friends, I will drop by to say a quick hello when I have a little more time over the weekend :)

makes about 10

for the filling you'll need;

500 g of minced pork or chicken

250 g of banana prawns, shelled, chopped

8 water chestnuts or 1/2 can of bamboo shoots, chopped

2 spring onions (white parts only) minced

2 cm piece of ginger, grated

3 tbs of light soy

1 tsp of white pepper

2 tsp of sesame oil

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

1 egg white, lightly beaten

3 tbs of corn flour

you'll also need;

10 pieces of 8 x 8" beancurd skin

for the sauce;

1 tbs of cooking oil

1tsp of chopped garlic

1 tsp of minced ginger

1 cup of chicken stock

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

a tiny pinch of white pepper

corn flour solution for thickening

Place all ingredients for the filling in a large bowl and mix well.

To wrap the roll - Place a piece of the beancurd skin on a flat surface, use a damp cloth to wipe the beancurd skin to remove the excess salt and to soften the wrapper a little. Place about 3 heaped tbs of the filling in the middle of the beancurd skin.

Roll the beancurd skin over and fold the sides to form an envelope.

Roll tightly into a cylinder roughly 1.5" wide and 4" long. Brush a little egg white on the edge to secure the roll. 

Shallow fry beancurd skin rolls in batches until golden. Remove and drain well.

To prepare the sauce - saute garlic and ginger with cooking oil for a few seconds then add in the stock, cooking wine, white pepper. Allow it to come to a boil and thicken with a little corn flour solution.

Arrange half of the rolls in a shallow bowl, pour half of the sauce over, cover and steam over medium heat for 8 minutes.

Sprinkle with some spring onion julienne spring onions and serve as part of your yum cha at home.

Phat Si Ew Neur ผัดซีอิ๊วเนื้อ Thai Soy Fried Rice Noodles With Beef

Another Sunday with a grand dinner plan but I knew my lavish Malaysian dinner plan was destined to fail after our second bottle of chablis at yum cha.

So instead of fish curry and tamarind prawns, we settled for a very simple stir fried noodles - phat si eww. This is Thai's answer to gon chao eu hor (乾炒牛河 fried rice noodles with beef), a simple one dish meal that is of Chinese origin that can be found all over the kingdom. You may of course replace the beef with pork, seafood or chicken, for my chicken version please click here.

P.S Obviously my Malaysian Monday post will be late again this week, but do send in your entries to me at sureshchong@yahoo.com if you have been dishing up delicious Malaysian fares.

recipe per serve

you'll need;

200 g of fresh hor fun, mixed with a dash of soy

50 g of beef rump, marinated with dash of soy, oyster sauce and pepper

1 egg

3 stalks of kailan, sliced at an angle

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbs of light soy

2 tbs of dark soy

pinch of sugar

Slice beef thinly across the grains and marinate with soy, oyster sauce and pepper.

Prepare the kailan and garlic.

In a smoking hot wok, char noodles mixed with soy with a little oil for a minute, carefully move the noodles around to char the other side. Don't be tempted to move them too much or you'll break them into pieces. Set aside.

Heat up the wok again and fry the marinated beef and chopped garlic with a little oil til lightly browned. Remove and set aside.

When the wok is hot again, add a little more oil and crack in the egg, allow the egg set a little before lightly scrambling it, add kailan and stir fry on high heat for a minute.

Return the beef and noodles to the wok and mix well. Add seasonings and stir fry on high heat for another minute or so.

Serve with some cut chillies with fish sauce.

Pork And Chinese Broccoli With Silky Egg Sauce On Rice 滑蛋豬肉芥蘭飯

I had grand plan for a big fancy dinner on Sunday night but all I could managed was this simple one dish meal after a long lunch with perhaps a few drinks too many.

Though simple and far from fancy, this moorish dish is something I could eat everyday.... well anything that comes with the delicious egg sauce really! Feel free to replace the pork with beef, chicken or seafood of your choice. 

If you are also a wat dan sauce (silky egg sauce) fan, remember to check out the following dishes too;

1) wat dan hor (rice noodles with silky smooth egg sauce)

2) crispy egg noodles with fresh water prawns

3) rice topped with a quick braised sauce

3) egg tofu, prawns and peas in silky egg sauce

4) fried beef hor fun with gravy

5) prawns and peas in silky egg sauce on rice

serves 2 as a one dish meal

you'll need;

2 tbs of cooking oil

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

3 cm piece of ginger, finely chopped

1 small bunch of kailan (Chinese broccoli), cut into manageable pieces

300 g of pork neck, finely sliced and marinated 10 minutes

2 tbs of oyster sauce

2 tbs of light soy

1 tsp of white pepper

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

2.5 cups of stock

corn flour solution

2 eggs, lightly beaten

pork marinade;

1.5 tbs of light soy

1 tbs of oyster sauce

1 tsp of sesame oil

1 tsp of white pepper

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

2 tbs of corn flour

Prepare the aromatics and kailan and set aside.

Marinate pork for at least 10 minutes.

Brown marinated pork slices with a little in a very hot work, remove and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the wok and saute chopped garlic and ginger for 5 seconds before adding the kailan. Saute on high heat for about a minute, add seasonings and mix well.

Add stock and allow to come to a boil, thicken the sauce with a little corn flour solution.

Return the pork to the wok, slowly add in the beaten egg and stir gently to incorporate the egg to the sauce. Check for seasonings.

Divide the content of the wok between two waiting plates of steamed rice, serve with some chopped chillies in soy.