Ready-to-go Egg Muffins

While many of my non-nursing peers are either studying for exams or done with their theses, I have only just begun my clinical practicum at a hospital.  My post-thesis ecstasy has since ebbed away, and in place of which is clinical depression (pun intended).  Even the word 'depression' fails to capture the myriad of negative emotions afflicting me whenever I am doing my practicum.       

Some patients with depression suffer from sleep deprivation due to insomnia, but sleep deprivation due to shift work is one major cause of depression in my case. 

Morning shifts are 0700 to 1500, afternoons are 1300 to 2100, and nights are 2100 to 0800.  Here is the catch, afternoon shifts usually end one hour later because you need to wait for your turn to hand over your cases to the night-shift nurse.  For my hospital, the ratio of night-shift nurses to patients in a Class-C ward is 2:32.  Worse thing is that the management doesn't seem to recognize the detrimental health effects of rostering nurses on afternoon-morning shift sequence.  And I live 75 minutes away from the hospital. 

I should be thankful that I wasn't scheduled for night shifts though.  Due to manpower crunch, the management has (insensitively) increased the number of consecutive night shifts from three to four.  Having done night shifts before, I tell you it is no joke to even do three night shifts in a row.  If you are lucky enough to be not fighting to save lives (when your patients decide to collapse on you), you are fighting against your own body to stay awake - and alert.  

So anyway, now that I am facing the perennial issue of sleep deprivation, making my own lunch to bring to work has become an enormous challenge.  When on morning shift, I wake up at 0430 and leave house at 0540 to catch the train that takes me to my workplace by 0645.  Why make your own lunch despite time constraint?  Well, simply because outside food no longer appeal to my palate (and fit my food beliefs) anymore.  One solution then is to prepare food beforehand and store it in the refrigerator.  These egg muffins are a perfect example.

Ready-to-go Egg Muffins

(Adapted from the Primal Palate)

Ingredients (makes 14-16)

• Cooking fat (I used ghee)
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 2 red onions (diced)
• 1 broccoli (cut into small florets)
• 1 yellow zucchini (grated)
• Minced pork (according to carnivorous desire)
• 14 eggs (beaten)

Directions

1. Heat oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
2. Heat cooking fat in the wok, and then add garlic and onions to stir-fry until they begin to brown.
3. Add and stir-fry broccoli and minced pork for 2 minutes to half-cook them.
4. Lastly add grated zucchini and continue to stir-fry vegetable and meat mixture for another 2 minutes.  The whole stir-frying process isn't long because you don't want to overcook them in the oven later.
5. Fill the muffin tray with the stir-fried vegetable and meat mixture (as shown in the picture above).
6. Pour in the eggs until they fill almost to the brim.
7. Place the muffin tray in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes.
8. Cool the muffins for 5-10 minutes before taking them out of tray.

Verdict
I tried one...Great-tasting!  What else can I say?  I am planning to store them in the refrigerator and then pack them into a container before I go to work.  Of course, when it is time for meal break, I will then microwave the muffins before wolfing them down.  The muffins are very nutrient-dense, and also low in carbs which won't give me the insulin crash after eating a high-carbohydrate meal.  Moreover, the high protein level should keep me satiated until my shift ends. 

Additional notes
Feel free to explore and replace the vegetables and meat with other kinds of ingredients.  The only constant here is the eggs.

Overdue recipe 2: Cream of Mushroom Soup (creamless & flourless)

I am a big fan of creamy mushroom soup, and I count the Mushroom Stroganoff at Soup Spoon as one of my favourites for its chunky mushroom pieces.  However, I decided to make my own version on one of my thesis-churning days after I recently happened to know that the soup contained flour.  Frequently, flour, which I suppose in this case is all-purpose (AP) flour, is used surreptitiously to thicken soups.  And I don't like the idea that I am eating empty carbs in the form of nutrition-less white flour.  I am not trying to count calories here...Soup Spoon states that its mushroom soup has a caloric value of 275, and how much of it is derived from flour?  In addition, because AP flour is derived from wheat, gluten-intolerant or sensitive people would not be able to digest the soup very well.

What is the alternative to making a creamy mushroom soup without using flour?

Cream of Mushroom Soup (creamless & flourless)

(Adapted from Mushroom Bisque, The Earthbound Cook by Myra Goodman, p. 22)

Note: In this recipe, I am just going to give general instructions without exact amount of ingredients used.  This is because I cooked the soup a long time back during thesis-churning days, haha.

Ingredients

• Cooking fat (I used butter)
• Garlic cloves (minced)
• Red onion (diced)
• 4-5 varieties of diced mushrooms, including crimini, shiitake, enoki types (I must tell you, I went the easy way of buying this huge value packet of mushrooms for steamboat purposes from NTUC supermarket, haha!)
• Vegetable broth*
• Arrowroot starch
• Italian seasoning (optional)
• Dried thyme (to garnish)
• Ground black pepper (to taste)
• Sea salt/nama shoyu (to taste)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and onion to stir-fry for about 3-5 minutes.
3. Add mushrooms (and Italian seasoning) and saute them until they start to soften and ooze out water, which takes about 5-7 minutes.
4. Add vegetable broth and let the mushrooms simmer away for about 10 minutes.  At this point, you may choose to reduce heat to avoid uncontrolled drying of the liquid.
5. Remove heat and let mushrooms sit to cool for about 5 minutes.
6. Transfer them to a high-speed blender.
7. Add arrowroot starch.  (You don't really have to add much of the starch, say about 2-3 tbsp at most, to thicken the soup because when you blend the mushrooms, the soup is naturally thickened.)
8. Blend the mushrooms and arrowroot starch mixture till it takes on a coarse pureed consistency.  Unless you want a baby-feed like consistency, please go ahead and blend away.
9. Transfer the soup to a bowl, add ground black pepper and salt to taste, and garnish with dried thyme before ready to serve.

Additional notes

• I am still a novice when it comes to playing with temperate herbs like thyme, rosemary, basil and stuff like that.  I used Italian seasoning for the sake of experiment and I think the variety of herbs in the seasoning added some complexity to the mushroom taste.  In the original recipe, the author used dried thyme to saute with the mushrooms.
• I think packaged vegetable broth is not common in mainstream supermarkets.  I bought mine from Cold Storage for about 7 SGD at about 950 ml.  Quite expensive.  You can choose to use vegetable stocks, but I discourage it because I don't like the food additives, especially MSG, inside such stocks.  For economical purposes, you can make your own vegetable broth or bone broth and store it in the refrigerator for future use.  
• Vegetable broth - Dump any kind of vegetables you like into a large pot and boil them for about 3-5 hours to extract the vegetable essence.  Some ideas are carrots, sweet potatoes, leeks, onions, celeries, cabbage etc.
• Bone broth - If you are a big fan of traditional Chinese meat broths, this should not be too surprising for you.  Just grab generous amounts of soup bones and boil them to extract the marrow. 

Overdue recipe 1: Stewed Pork Belly in Sweet Onion and Apple Gravy

I think this post is the most defining one for my blog.  I am no longer vegetarian/vegan or some strict herbivore anymore.  I find it embarrassing to explain myself, but I believe I have to.  You see, I can no longer stomach fruits and vegetables - literally.  Anything with fibre bloats me up like a balloon, and the only things that I can safely eat are meat, meat, meat...and small amounts of cooked dark greens.  Pretty depressing in the beginning.  Especially on one occasion when I had to buy and cut a whole chicken body to make a chicken stew.  I felt sad over the fact I had to give up my beloved veggies and make meat my life.  But I am adjusting well, the biggest challenge being how to cook meat dishes with so little experience.  And I should add that I feel better knowing my boyfriend is rather pleased with the fact I have started cooking meat because that means he would get to eat meat when he comes back to Singapore.  

So I now present to you one of my first meat experiments during the two weeks when I had been away from blogging and focusing on my thesis (which I submitted yesterday).

Stewed Pork Belly in Sweet Onion and Apple Gravy

(It was a successful self-experimental recipe, at least IMHO.)

Ingredients

• Pork belly
• Yellow onion
• Red apple
• Ghee (or replace with other cooking fat)
• Goji berries
• Salt to taste (I used a tsp of nama shoyu)

Directions

1. Heat ghee in cooking pan.
2. Stir-fry yellow onion and red apple at medium heat for about 5 minutes till the apple starts to soften.  Don't use too high heat as the purpose is to draw out some water from the onion and apple which contains their sweet essence.
3. Add pork belly and stir-fry with the rest for about 3 minutes.
4. Add some water and let the ingredients simmer for about 15-20 minutes with the cooking pan covered.
5. Garnish with Goji berries (or add them in the last 3 minutes before turning off heat) and serve.

Verdict
As you can see, I did not use any sweeteners or other condiments (except for a little nama shoyu).  Yellow onion was used because I find it sweeter and less onion-y than red onion.  Thus it potentiates the sweetness of the red apple used.  When it comes to cooking fatty meat, I find that simmering is a good method to soften the meat and melt its fat to produce a richer tasting gravy.  I know many of you are afraid of saturated animal fat.  But having done my personal reading, I find that it is not harmful at all, and should be part of an (omnivorous) healthy diet.  The bad thing about Singapore is that I haven't found a place that sells non-factory-farmed pigs.  Sad, isn't it? 

Spinach in Mashed Sweet Potato

If you may recall, I am currently writing my thesis which is due in less than two weeks' time.  Being a nursing student, writing a thesis is not just reading journal articles and inventing a story.  In fact, I had to plan and conduct my own research study from scratch.  I did a qualitative study exploring the experiences of older Singaporean Chinese women coping with chronic illness, which involved a series of face-to-face interviews with real-life patients in a hospital.  I then had to listen to the audiotapes on repeat and transcribe the interviews into written form.  That was not the end.  I had to read my transcripts again and again, analysing the content and coming up with themes  Painstaking?  You bet!

The research process was undoubtedly arduous but strangely rewarding in its own way.  As it approaches its end, I like to share with you one of the themes which emerged from my study.  The theme is 'To eat is wealth', which is drawn from the translation of a common Chinese saying '能吃是福'.  Now I am not sure about other ethnic cultures in Singapore and around the world, but being a Chinese myself, I think the finding resonates in me.  

Food is the embodiment of life.  You feed your body with nourishing food.  You feed your soul through the enjoyment of good food.  Food is also the celebration of life.  You eat with people and talk over food.  You celebrate birthdays with birthday cakes.  You cook food for your loved ones.  Most good things in life come with food.  

To the older Chinese women whom I interviewed, food was life and life was food.  This was in spite of their chronic illnesses which often imposed on them dietary restrictions.  Having been feeling somewhat ill for the last two weeks, I think I can attest to such ingrained mentality towards food.  Even though I was bloated and lost my appetite, I still felt sad over not being able to cook and eat the food I wanted!  

So now, I present to you a simple but delicious recipe that goes pretty well into my tummy.  

 Spinach in Mashed Sweet Potato

(inspired from a couple of similar recipes which I have forgotten)

Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
• Baby spinach leaves (amount depends on how much you love greens)
• 1 red onion (diced)
• 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp ghee/butter/VCO* 
• A few cloves (optional)
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)

Directions

1. Steam sweet potatoes for 20-30 minutes until soft enough for a fork to penetrate easily.
2. Heat the cooking fat, and then add spices, red onion and garlic to stir-fry until the onion becomes soft and slightly brownish.
3. Add the baby spinach leaves and stir-fry for about 1 minute.  (Baby spinach wilts very fast, so make sure you don't overcook them!)  Then turn off heat.
4. Once sweet potatoes are ready, mash them up in a large bowl and then mix in stir-fried vegetables.  

Just an idea, if you like the mashed sweet potato to be more creamy, feel free to add (nut/rice/dairy) milk.

Verdict

I love it.  This is my third time cooking it.  The first was without spinach and the second was with fennel instead of red onion.  I think the third try is the best as I really like to see green against the yellow backdrop of the sweet potatoes.  Haha.

*In my humble opinion, I believe that ghee, butter and virgin coconut oil (VCO) are the best oils to use for high-heat cooking.  I don't believe in seed oils like sunflower or canola, even though they are aggressively promoted as 'healthy' oils.  Some emerging studies are showing that such oils may be more unhealthy than the much demonized saturated fats like butter and coconut oil.  I am traditional in the sense that if these oils weren't used in the past to make food, I shouldn't be using them at all.   

Apple Brown Rice Congee

As an aspiring food blogger, one of the many challenges I face is making the food I cook look pretty in the photos.  I can eat visually unappealing food as long as I am the chef.  Simply because I know what goes into my food.  It is only natural, however, that people feel suspicious if they see that the appearance and purported taste of the food do not match.  Looking at the photo, would you doubt me if I were to say the congee tasted fabulous?

As you may recall, I had been suffering from a severe episode of abdominal bloating which persisted, despite going grain-free for more than a week.  So a few days back, Mom brought me to see a traditional Chinese physician who prescribed me some medicine which seemed to help, along with a list of forbidden foods, among which is anything raw.  No raw fruits.  No fruit/vegetable juices.  No raw salads.  Cold foods are out of question.  Until he pronounces me to be fully recovered from my digestive woes.

Today's recipe follows a principle of health in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), that is, to eat or drink warm, cooked and easily digestible food.  Nothing raw, uncooked, cool or cold.  These two traditional health systems also share the view that congees (or porridge if you wish to call it) make an excellent breakfast, provided you cook the whole grain properly so as to maximise its nutritional value.  And the recipe is inspired by stewed apples, commonly extolled in Ayurveda for its simplicity and nourishing qualities.  For Chinese readers, this should not be too surprising since the Chinese also have their own Apple and Pear Pork Rib Soup which involves stewing apples too. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup of brown rice* (soaked for at least 24 hours)
• 1 large red apple (2 small ones)
• 1 tbsp ghee (optional)
• 5 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 aniseed
• 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup (or to taste)

Directions
Add everything into a cooking pot and cook for about 40 minutes to 1 hour (as was in my case since my share was so small).  For a larger portion, you can opt to use a slow-cooker but I think the time taken to cook needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Verdict
If you aren't a congee type of person, you won't appreciate eating it as a meal by itself.  However, what makes it different from traditional Chinese congee is clearly the use of spices and pure maple syrup.  The maple syrup adds an overall mild sweetness to the congee, while the stewed apples create a delightful burst of sweetness when you bite on them.  For me, at least, the congee sits comfortingly well in my belly.


* For proper brown rice preparation, please refer here.  Among all the whole grains, I do think brown rice is one of the best sources of essential minerals, but you really need to prepare it very well because it has substantial amounts of phytic acid which chelates with these minerals, effectively negating any potential nutritional benefit it may have.

Coconut banana brownies

First of all, let me express my most sincere apologies for being away from blogging for a while.  Though I know a serious blogger would never allow a long hiatus to happen, I couldn't help but stay out of my kitchen for the following reasons:

• I have been feeling extremely bloated for nearly a week, and I still do.  I don't know what I have eaten that has caused such a severe reaction in my digestive system.  I cannot eat much, only subsisting on raw fruits and hot liquid soups.     
• I have been working on my thesis that is due for submission in the next two weeks.  Combating writer's block has left me too weary to step into my kitchen.

The emphasis of today's recipe is that the brownies are grain-free.  You probably may not have realised, but grains, in all their diverse forms, are ubiquitous and integral in the standard modern diet.  However, that wasn't the case in many traditional societies, in which more emphasis was placed on fruits, vegetables and free-range animals in the immediate environment.  Where grains were consumed, traditional methods of preparation had been developed to ensure that these grains were suitable for consumption.  Traditional methods of preparation included soaking, fermentation and sprouting, which, of course, would be deemed time-consuming from a modern perspective.  But why should grains undergo such intensive treatment prior consumption?  Well, simply because they are not digested and assimilated well in the human digestive system.  Moreover, grains have substantial anti-nutrients, which are substances interfering with absorption of micronutrients.  The most notorious anti-nutrient found in all grains is phytic acid, which chelates with minerals like zinc and iron and thus, deprives the body of their absorption.  In the absence of proper preparation of grains, prolonged consumption of grains could lead to many types of health problems.

Now, I am not sure how many of you are aware of celiac disease, a condition characterised by chronic intestinal inflammation due to gluten intolerance.  Gluten is a type of protein that is found in many grains, most notably wheat.  Other gluten-containing grains include rye, barley and spelt.  Gluten-intolerant individuals cannot eat foods containing gluten, and their dietary restriction is extremely challenging to adhere to, especially in the standard modern diet which is heavily based on wheat and its derivatives.  The worse thing is, many people are ignorant of the importance of proper preparation of wheat.

For example, modern wheat bread is made using quick-rise yeast whilst its traditional counterpart utilises sourdough, a dough containing both (natural) yeast and bacteria (a Lactobacillus strain) in symbiotic co-existence.  Quick-rise yeast allows the dough to ferment and rise more quickly, but compromises optimal fermentation that is necessary to break down gluten and phytic acid in the wheat flour.  In contrast, sourdough is able to break down the gluten, and especially phytic acid much more effectively because its Lactobacillus bacteria produces a favorably stronger acidic environment.  Moreover, in traditional bread-making, the wheat dough needs to be fermented for a much longer time, even up to two weeks to ensure thorough degradation of the harmful substances.  The fact that at least some gluten-intolerant people are able to consume traditional sourdough bread testifies to the importance of proper grain preparation, which unfortunately, many of us are unaware of.

Because of my condition, I have been abstaining from grains for a few days now.  In fact, I suspect that my poor digestive health may be attributable to prolonged consumption of ill-prepared grains.  Even though it is merely a suspicion, I would rather not take chances.  Although I am still bloated, I must admit that I feel slightly better.  I hope my suspicion proves me right; at least, I have better control over my own body by knowing what to eat and what not to eat.  Being a person who loves bread, however, I find the elimination of grains to be challenging.  And so, I tried to make for myself coconut flour bread, but which turned out to look more like brownies due to using a wider baking tray.

Coconut banana brownies

(Lightly adapted from the Nourished Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 6 small bananas (acting as egg replacement and its natural sugars acting as sugar replacement)
• 75 g coconut flour *
• 50 g almond meal (aka ground almond; I used it here to add some density)
• 100 - 120 ml virgin coconut oil (adjust according to the consistency of batter)
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon, or to taste

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together, including the bananas to form dry batter.
3. Slowly add in the VCO to test for the desired consistency, which should not be too wet.  What I achieved was somewhat sticky and slightly wetter version of bread dough.  
4. Pour batter into oiled/ parchment-covered tray and bake in oven for 40 minutes.

 * I made my own coconut flour using grated coconut flesh bought from a wet market.  Grated coconut was used for two purposes.  First, I placed it in a muslin bag and squeezed to procure coconut milk.  Second, I dehydrated the dried coconut remaining and then used a food processor to further grind it into finer shreds which formed the flour.

Verdict
Unless you are a coconut fan, you probably won't enjoy the coconut aroma and taste in the brownies.  My parents said they were pretty strong, but I love them anyway.  Yums!!!  If you don't like the brownies to be too coconut-ty, you could incorporate other types of flour, or replace the VCO with butter.

Sauteed Mushroom Pasta Salad

Let me begin by saying that butter from grassfed cows was used to saute the mushrooms.  So okay, this is a vegetarian but not a vegan dish.  For me, at least, I consider butter from grassfed cows, besides EVCO, to be superior to those supposedly healthier cooking vegetable oils like soybean, cannola, sunflower seed oil.  Before you proceed to read the recipe, please indulge in my rambling for a while. 

At least in my own social circle, food has yet to acquire a political and ethical dimension.  Food is just, you know, food.  You eat when you are hungry.  You eat for pleasure.  You eat to socialise with other people.  For many people, food is food.  And many Singaporeans, including myself, love food for what it is.

Lately, however, I have been reading much on food politics and reflecting on what food means to me.  Now, I am no strict vegan simply because I have only started to venture into veganism very recently, and am the only one amongst my family members and friends to do so.  Or so I thought, until I realised a few days back that I probably wasn't even one to begin with.  Because I eat raw honey.  And honey is a product from bees.  Well, bees are insects, not animals.  Why would eating honey harm any animal?  Because veganism is a living philosophy of not doing harm to sentient beings, even insects.  It is more than a diet, even a lifestyle.  It is a spirit of compassionate living.  Very commendable, but veganism definitely does not appeal to everyone.  How about vegetarianism?  Vegetarianism is a more flexible approach, in the sense that individuals can choose to include or exclude dairy products and eggs from their diets, while abstaining from meat.  And then there are flexitarians, who are semi-vegetarians only eating meat very occasionally.  So I am most likely a flexitarian after all.  But does the term matter, really?

My aspiration to become a 'semi-raw vegan' was originally rooted in my desire to change my health for the better.  However, it soon became clear to me that adopting a plant-based diet would have much more profound consequences than simply changing my own health.  When I started to cook food from scratch using the most natural and purest ingredients, I began to see the massive and complex food chain unfolding in my mind.  You know what?  The problem was not about domesticating and killing animals for food.  It was not about burning down forests to make more land for agriculture.  The epidemic problem is the ignorance of how food reach our tables.  And how often do we eat at our tables?  The Buddha calls it 'mindfulness'.  Studies have shown that mindful eating facilitates weight loss by allowing one to feel satisfied with food and eat less.  But I think mindful eating is also an act of compassion that allows you to appreciate what has gone into making the food you are eating.  For one to live, one must die.  That is the life cycle, repeated over and over again in the food chain.  I am not a Christian, so I don't thank God for my food.  But I think it is good practice for us, vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike, to show gratitude for all the living things (including plants) gone into our food that nourishes our bodies and minds.

If you have reached this point, thank you very much for your patience with me!  So here we go.

Adapted from Sauteed Mushrooms recipe by Mark Bittman in "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian", p314-315

(Serves 1 petite girl like me so please adjust amounts of ingredients used accordingly.)

Ingredients

• Thin slice of grassfed butter (*If you opt to use butter for cooking, do use butters from grassfed cows as they have a better nutritional profile than cows kept in confined spaces and fed with chemical-loaded grains.)
• Two handfuls of mixed mushrooms (*I used portobello, king oyster and Swiss brown mushrooms.  As much as possible, you should use mixed mushrooms to create a more complex mushroom-y flavour.)
• 1 tsp shoyu 
• A pinch of ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Heat butter in the wok.  When hot, add mushrooms and ground black pepper and allow them to cook until tender.  Some water will start to ooze out, so don't worry about your mushrooms drying out.
2. Add garlic to cook for 1 minute. 
3. Add balsamic vinegar and shoyu for flavour.  Continue to cook for another 1 minute for the flavour to sink in.  Serve hot.

I didn't want my mushrooms to be too wet, so I didn't use water at all.  You may choose to add some water if you want to have a bit of gravy in the dish.  Adjust the seasoning accordingly to your taste.

I served my mushrooms with buckwheat pasta and mixed greens, and ate everything as a salad.  I liked the earthly taste of my mushrooms.  But on hindsight, I think it would have been better to have some gravy to act as dressing over my pasta.  Gee.

No more oyster sauce

Oyster sauce is a staple condiment in Chinese cooking, especially in stir-fry dishes, because it enhances the natural flavours of meat and vegetables.  Unfortunately, many of us Singaporeans, including myself, have never savoured the prowess of the condiment.  Because the bottled ones you get from the supermarket are mostly fakes.  I daresay, you cannot even find one bottle of genuine oyster sauce.  Traditional oyster sauce is produced from a time-consuming process of boiling oysters until they caramelise and form a thick broth.  Time means money, so manufacturers maximise their profits by adding additives (notably MSG) and colouring, and then call their product 'oyster sauce'.  The French would say, "Voila!" but I scream, "Walau!"*

*'Voila' (pronounced wa la) means 'behold', a word I learnt during my one-month stay in Switzerland.  And 'walau' (pronounced  wa low) is a common Singaporean expression for exasperation and frustration, as was in my case.  

But I was raised on the good ol' traditional Chinese meals consisting of one soup, one stir-fry dish and one bowl of rice.  I can do without rice and soup, but not stir-fry (vegan) dishes.  They are the cooked version of raw salads, with plenty of room for creativity in terms of choosing ingredients and making your own dressing.  Especially when eaten fresh from the wok, they are warm, crunchy and flavourful.  Yum.  Even without commercial oyster sauce, I was determined to make my own stir-fry vegetables on a somewhat cold afternoon today.

Stewed potato and broccoli in mirin

I had recently purchased organic mirin and in my quest to learn how to use mirin, had found and bookmarked this recipe from a random website.  It called for beef, but I replaced it with broccoli because of its dark green colour and hardy crunch.  Strictly speaking, the dish was not a stir-fry, but more of a stew since I had to simmer my vegetables in considerably more water.  It was, nonetheless, stir-fry inspired.
    
Ingredients

• Potato (diced)
• Broccoli (cut into florets)
• Carrot (julienned)
• Small red onion (thinly sliced)
• Garlic (finely chopped/minced)
• Cooking oil (but you know me, I used EVCO)
• 5 tbsp organic mirin (I used organic because it is unadulterated with other stuff like added sugar.  Be sure to check ingredient list if you aren't sure!)
• 1-2 tbsp Grade B maple syrup
• Water

Very simple but satisfying for me

Heat your cooking oil and then add onions and garlic to stir-fry till lightly brown.  Then add your potato dices and some water to allow them to simmer for a while and absorb the essence of onions and garlic.  The main player is really the potatoes so I recommend you lightly steam the potatoes if you are short of time.  I thought my potato dices were small enough to cook fast, but they proved me wrong.  After 3-4 minutes, they were still somewhat hard.  It took them about another 2 more minutes to become satisfactorily soft.  You don't want them to be overcooked, so before they start becoming soft, you have to add your carrot and broccoli to cook them as well.  Pour in your mirin and maple syrup mixture, and allow your vegetables to simmer.  Once you are satisfied with the softness of your vegetables, switch off heat and serve them up in a bowl.

The old me might have selected to use commercial oyster sauce for flavouring of the broth out of convenience and ignorance.  Of course, mirin and maple syrup form a distinctly (but pleasantly) different taste from that of oyster sauce.  However, I am only too glad to give up on oyster sauce - anytime!

Raw Energy Bars

This afternoon, I made a mistake of not bringing my own food out.  So when I turned from being hungry to famished during lunchtime, I did not hesitate to wolf down a plate of vegetarian fried rice at my relative's house.  Plus a few pieces of fried mini potato puffs.

This should never happen again. 

To celebrate my lesson learnt, I have decided to make myself some delicious raw energy bars to take on the run in the future.  Like when I am in a hurry and unable to pack a small salad before I leave my house.   

Ingredients

• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Flax seeds
• Deri dates

I love raw and nutritious energy bars!

Grind all the ingredients in a food processor and use your hand to mix them further in a bowl.  The 'batter' is very malleable so you can wrap it up in a plastic cling wrap and then mould it into the shape that you want.  For me, I made a few long bars, not unlike those commercial ones.  Place your energy bars into the freezer until they harden.  Alternatively, you can dehydrate them to obtain a dry and crispy texture.  I didn't try that because I was too lazy to assemble my dehydrator, but I thought it was certainly a feasible idea to play with in future.

See the big piece of energy bar in the foreground?  I used apricots in place of Deri dates, and added cashew nuts as well.  It tasted less sweet than those made from dates, but was just as satisfying.  I think when you eliminate refined sugars from your diet, all types natural sugars appeal to your tastebuds whether they are intense or not.  Sweet is not just sweet, because natural sweetness has its own unique character.

Stir-fried mixed vegetables soba

Let me begin by thanking my friends who have been giving me encouraging feedback about my food blog.  I feel very heartened that my efforts have not been misplaced.  It is satisfying to know that your recipes are appreciated by other people.  I shall continue working on my food blog to share with you what I know. 

The dish that I would like to share with you today is an inspiration from those typical fried noodles served by many zi char stalls.  For those who do not know, the words zi char translate into 'cook and stir-fry'.  Pardon my less than elegant translation for my Mandarin isn't good.  And this dish is dedicated to my boyfriend who is currently on an exchange programme in Manchester.  He loves to eat such noodles from zi char stalls, which are unfortunately, oily and lacking in vegetables.  And I am darn sure that food additives, especially MSG, were liberally used to enhance the noodles' taste.  Very unhealthy, but the guy is too used to such food.  So I am going to demonstrate how one can adapt dishes to individual health preferences.


Ingredients

• Garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• Small red onion (finely chopped)
• Ginger (finely chopped)
• Half a green zucchini (thin slices)
• Half a large red bell pepper (thin strips)
• 4 Swiss brown mushrooms (cubed)
• Dark green vegetable of your preference (e.g. kai lan, cai xin)
• Japanese soba noodles
• Handful of dark sesame seeds
• Cooking oil (I used organic butter.  Not vegan at all but it is another good alternative to other forms of supposedly healthier vegetable oils.  Will explain myself in another entry on cooking oils in future.)
• 4 tbsp organic mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
• 1 tsp organic nama shoyu (Japanese soya sauce)
• 1 tbsp Grade B maple syrup (or other kinds of natural sweetener you want)
• Water

Cook your soba noodles according to instructions and set them aside.  Mix mirin, nama shoyu and maple syrup to form your flavour mixture.  As in any stir-fry recipe, heat your oil in the wok before throwing in finely chopped garlic, onion and ginger to cook for a very short while.  Then add your zucchini, bell pepper and mushrooms to stir-fry.  Pour in your flavour mixture and small amount of water.  Simmer the mixed vegetables for a while before you throw in soba noodles and later, your dark green vegetables.  The reason behind adding the dark greens at the last stage is because you want to prevent overcooking them.  Once your dark greens are cooked (which takes a very short time, trust me), serve up your noodles.  Sprinkle black sesame seeds over them for garnish. 

The mirin and nama shoyu created a very Asian flavour that I had been craving for.  The slightly acidic sweetness in mirin was subtle but highlighted the natural taste of the mixed vegetables in the noodles.  The good thing about Asian stir-fry vegetable dishes is that you can use different types of vegetables in different combinations.  What I have is merely an example.  You can substitute broccoli for kai lan.  Or use purple cabbage for an interesting splash of colour.  Or include thin slices of carrot for additional crunch in your noodles.  I am sure you get what I mean, right?   

Homemade dark chocolate

I am a girl.  I love chocolate.  Especially dark chocolate.  This isn't primarily a health blog, but I thought I should share with you what I have found out about commercial dark chocolates, even those of reputable brands from Switzerland.  Most unfortunately, it applies to some organic brands of dark chocolate, which you would have thought are supposed to be healthier than non-organic ones.

Dark chocolates are supposed to be the healthiest type of chocolate around.  Or so I thought, until I learnt that what I was ingesting contained more than just a high dose of antioxidants from cocoa.  Let me show you what I mean using the brands I have always loved. 

From the chart, it is pretty clear that the most offensive brand is Frey, one of those beloved chocolate manufacturers from Switzerland! 

Sugar
I know sugar is important in lending sweetness to an otherwise heavy bitterness in dark chocolates.  But when you read 'sugar' in the list of ingredients, the word itself is extremely vague.  You don't know what type of sugar was used in the production of the dark chocolate.  Was it refined white sugar?  Demerara (brown) sugar?  Or...in my worst fears, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)?  Cheaper and sweeter than cane sugar, it is one of the most common toxins used in processed foods, even seemingly healthy ones like yoghurts and granola bars. 

Butterfat
Its presence indicates adulteration which compromises the quality of the dark chocolate.  Butterfat is used to make the dark chocolate softer and hasten its melting in the mouth.  It is cheaper than cocoa butter, and thus, its use lowers the cost of production of the dark chocolate.  Frey's production of dark chocolates is perhaps, more frayed than I can imagine.

Flavour
Look at the word 'flavour' too.  I cannot conjure an image in my mind because I really cannot imagine the vast arrays of artificial flavours humans can invent.

Soya lecithin
Lecithin is used as an emulsifier in chocolates, which makes them viscous and thick in consistency.  Even though the food industry claims it is safe, it is an additive.  An additive is an additive is an additive.  It never existed before industrialisation.  Can I believe it is really safe?

If they looked good to you, they tasted just as good to me as well!

Ingredients

• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Raw carob powder
• Dessicated grated coconut (for interesting texture)
• Extra-virgin coconut oil (EVCO)
• Very small amount of Sucanat (or any other kind of natural sweetener you desire)

Mix all the ingredients together to form a thick and viscous batter, which resembles melted dark chocolate.  Pour the mixture in a mould and place in the freezer for about an hour to set the chocolate.  One key ingredient I like to emphasize here is the EVCO, because it is liquid at room temperature and solidifies at much lower temperatures in the refrigerator.  This characteristic allows your dark chocolate mixture to set. 

Another thing I like to highlight is that using both cocoa and carob is unnecessary.  I used carob because it added a hint of its unique sweetness that cocoa lacked.  If you aren't familiar with carob, it is frequently used to substitute cocoa in many recipes as a caffeine and fat-free alternative.  (Raw carob powder can be bought at some shops selling organic products.  I bought mine from Organic Paradise at Cuppage Plaza.)  You can use either ingredient in your own mixture.  Or experiment using both ingredients in varying ratios.    

From the picture, you can see that I have sprinkled some sunflower seeds for decoration.  Of course, if you love nuts and raisins, feel free to incorporate them into your dark chocolate mixture.  Or you can have it plain.  Either way, you know what goes into your own dark chocolate, and its taste (and nutritional value) can never be on par with those commercial ones.

Sweet potato & millet cakes

I think it is pretty evident that I am a BIG fan of sweet potatoes.  Before I started learning how to cook, my idea of potatoes was erroneously predominated by images of commercial potato chips, french fries, KFC mashed potato and all that unhealthy stuff.  Potatoes aren't just those ubiquitous brown-skinned, white-fleshed potatoes.  As I have come to realise, sweet potatoes are severely underutilised in everyday cooking.  In my personal opinion, they taste so much flavourful than their white counterparts.  Plus, they have a much lower glycaemic index (GI) than their white peers, even though they are sweeter in taste. 

This afternoon, I attempted to make my parents and myself some sweet potato and millet cakes, the recipe adapted from Eating Bird Food.  The original recipe used quinoa (pronounced as keen-wah), cranberries and spring onion.  Here, I used millet and Goji berries, and omitted the spring onion which, in my opinion, functioned more as a garnish than as a key ingredient. 

Cake batter which can be eaten on its own!

Ingredients (makes for 12 patties)

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes 
• 6 tbsp millet 
• 1/2 cup Goji berries

Steam the sweet potatoes for about 20-30 minutes till they are soft enough to be mashed up in a large bowl.  Cook your millet at the same time.  Heat your oven at 180 degrees Celsius.  When your sweet potatoes are ready, mash them up and mix in the millet and Goji berries to form your cake 'batter'.  However, the batter was so irresistable that I ate it on its own.  I could imagine having it as part of a big warm salad on a cold day!

Batter on oiled tray

Once done, scoop up a handful of batter and mould it into a patty before placing on an oiled baking tray.  Repeat until the batter is completed (of course).  Then bake them for about 20-30 minutes.  Halfway through, remember to turn the cakes over so as to ensure both sides are cooked equally. 

These cakes, mind you, were no typical cakes.  In appearance, they looked like small patties.  They were lightly crisp on the outside, and when I took my first bite, they were oh-my-oh-my sweetly moist and delicious!  The millet rendered a kind of nutty density to the cakes.  The Goji berries diversified the overall sweetness of the cakes.

I had meant to make those cakes for my parents when they come home from work.  Most unfortunately, however, I gobbled down everything save for four cakes sitting in the oven right now.  Either I used too little ingredients or I was too greedy!

Honey-glazed parsnip and carrot

This dish is based on the concept of caramelisation.  Caramelisation is a chemical reaction in which sugars in food are transformed by heat to produce a complex type of sweetness.  In this recipe, parsnips and carrots, being root vegetables containing loads of starch, are cooked to the point of caramelisation to bring out their natural sweetness.


What are parsnips?
Parsnips are rather uncommon in Singapore.  They look like carrots in terms of structure, but their skin is light brownish and their flesh is whitish in colour.  Parsnips are sweet.  While people claim that they are sweeter than carrots, I cannot verify that because I am still new to that vegetable.  Usually, you would find parsnips in supermarkets like Cold Storage and NTUC Finesse.  I suppose that is because such supermarkets cater to Caucasian expatriates who are familiar with parsnips in their cooking. 


This was adapted from the Nourished Kitchen.  I was attracted to the recipe because I thought it was an excellent substitute for traditional popiah or springroll filling in Singapore.  In the traditional popiah recipe, the filling is made from stir-fried bang kwang (otherwise known as jicama), bean sprouts, eggs, shrimps and some lettuce - not vegan at all!  Moreover, the popiah skin is also made from wheat, thus making it unsuitable for gluten-intolerant people.

In my own adaptation, I used raw honey and apple cider vinegar to substitute maple-syrup in the original recipe.  The sweet and sour taste from the honey and vinegar enhances the earthly caramelised flavour of the root vegetables.  In addition, I used extra-virgin coconut oil (EVCO) to cook, thus lending a hint of coconut aroma to the dish.  (You may realise that I love to use EVCO in cooking.  This is because it is the most healthy cooking oil that can withstand high levels of heat.  I shall leave my explanation for another entry.)

Parsnip and carrot on Vietnamese rice paper

Ingredients

• 1 parsnip (julienned)
• 1 carrot (julienned)
• 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• 1 red onion (thinly sliced)
• 2-3 tbsp extra-virgin coconut oil
• 1-2 tbsp raw honey
• 2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Warm water

Mix raw honey with warm water and apple cider vinegar, and then leave aside.  As with most stir-frying recipes, heat the cooking oil in the wok first.  Then add the garlic and onion to cook for a short while.  Throw in the julienned parsnip and carrot, stir-frying them for about 4-6 minutes to the point of being tender (but not too soft to retain a degree of crunch).  Turn off the heat.  Cool for very short while, and then pour the honey mixture over the vegetables and mix well.  The rationale for turning off the heat before adding raw honey is because you do not want to (1) destroy live enzymes in the raw honey and (2) degrade the molecular structure of the honey, which makes it toxic for consumption.

Wrapped up in rice paper

Popiah alternative
I used Vietnamese rice paper to wrap up the root vegetables, along with some raw baby spinach leaves.  Rice is gluten-free.  You could use lettuce leaves as part of your filling, and I would if I had them in my fridge.  The alternative tasted good, but being someone who loves salads sooo much, I finished the dish with raw baby spinach in the form of another warm salad.

Goji mushroom millet salad

I love to eat raw salads, but my body is ill-suited to eating them at every meal, every day.  There are times when I crave for something warm and hearty but don't want to miss out raw greens.  This afternoon was one such instance, and I prepared myself a warm salad, comprising cooked millet served with raw baby spinach leaves.  To infuse an earthly flavour to the millet, I stewed it in mushroom broth and then sprinkled a handful of Goji berries for a dash of delicate sweetness.  The result?  A simple but nourishing lunch on a cold, windy afternoon.

Ingredients

• Raw baby spinach greens
• 3 tbsp hulled millet (sufficient to fill up a petite girl like me)
• 1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
• 1 red onion (sliced)
• 2 medium-sized portobello mushrooms (substitute with other mushrooms if you wish, Shitake mushrooms are a good alternative)  
• Goji berries
• Extra-virgin oil coconut oil (can use other healthy types of vegetable oil)
• 2-3 tsp soy sauce (adjust accordingly to taste)
• Water

Cook your millet separately while you prepare your mushroom broth.  Heat the oil in the wok, and add garlic and onion to stir-fry.  Then add some water to keep them cooking as the oil dries up fast.  This is to allow their flavours to permeate into the broth before adding the mushrooms.  Once you are satisfied with the broth, add your millet which should be moderately moist to facilitate its mixing into the broth.  Simmer it for a while before sprinkling with Goji berries and spraying with soy sauce for taste.  I left Goji berries to the last step because I didn't want them to be too soft (and they typically turn soft fast!).  Serve with raw baby spinach greens.

Bell pepper pancake (or does it look more like a patty?)

My heart sank when I lifted my bell pepper pancakes from the wok.  (It was not that I didn't learn my lesson about using traditional woks to make pancakes.  I couldn't find a decent pan in my kitchen, oops.)  My first thought flashed across my mind, "Walau, is this a pancake or PATTY?!?!"

I think the picture showed what was the obvious.  This was supposed to be a blog propagating semi-raw veganism, not encouraging fake meat production!  Admittedly, the taste of these (erm) patties was decent.  I wouldn't say they were fantastic though the spirit of adventure in the kitchen was commendable.  To meat-lovers, they may not like the crunch of vegetables in their patties.  For me, however, I was ecstatic that I was able to savour the juice bursting from bell peppers when I took my first bite.  Seeing green in my patties was another redeeming factor.  At least my grated zucchinis weren't burnt!

Ingredients

• Half a zucchini, grated
• Half a red bell pepper
• Half a yellow bell pepper
• Minced garlic cloves
• Buckwheat flour
• 1 egg replacer
• Water

Mix the last three ingredients together to form a batter, before adding the vegetables in.  Better take my instruction with a pinch of salt.  It is better that you play around with the ingredients of your own pancake batter though, since my culinary experiment was a semi-failure!

Sweet Potato Prata

I must confess that these sweet potato prata weren't meant to be prata.  I had wanted to create sweet potato pancakes which were supposed to look light and fluffy.  However, my pancakes looked slightly charred, creating an unwanted image of being oily.  They weren't!  Despite their less than ideal appearance, they tasted awesome.  The sweet potato provided nutritional and atomical density that filled me up fast.


Lessons learnt

1. Never use a traditional wok to make pancakes.  It produces charring on the surfaces of the pancakes.  Should use a non-stick large pan.  That is why pancakes are called pancakes.
2. Be diligent in flipping your pancakes.  They turn brown pretty fast!

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato, steamed for 15-20 minutes and then mashed up
• About 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin coconut oil
• 1 egg replacer (1 tbsp ground flaxseed meal to 3 tbsp water)
• Water

Mix all the ingredients together, adding water until the batter has a smooth consistency.  However, if you like, you can use less water to retain the texture of mashed potato.  Slightly oil and heat up your pan before pouring your batter over it.  Makes 3 medium-sized pancakes...oops, prata, I mean!

Sweet Potato Chips

I love potato chips, especially those BBQ-flavoured ones.  However, commercial potato chips are deep-fried and loaded with chemicals.  You know how bad they are when you reach out for them again and again, never feeling fully satisfied.  On the other hand, these sweet potato chips are dehydrated to the point of being crispy.  They are raw, which means these chips are packed with nutrients!

Ingredients

• Sweet potatoes, sliced thinly using a mandoline
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Apple cider vinegar
• Paprika powder
• Ground cinnamon

Marinate your sweet potato slices in the remaining ingredients mixed together.  Dehydrate them for 3-5 hours.

Buckwheat waffles

Waffles are one of my favourite comfort foods.  Before I started on semi-raw veganism, I loved those waffles from bakeries like Prime Deli, despite knowing they contained high levels of refined sugar and flour.  I can never stress enough how unhealthy such a combination is.  It is more than just the empty calories you eat, because these calories are highly likely to stick onto your intestinal walls and feed the bad microbes and their burgeoning colonies.  A yucky thought, isn't it?

To avoid the tragic combination of refined sugar and all-purpose white flour, I have used buckwheat flour and very minimal brown sugar instead. 

Buckwheat flour
Despite what its name suggests, buckwheat is NOT a type of wheat at all, but in fact, a type of seed.  As such, buckwheat can be eaten by people who are gluten-intolerant.  Although buckwheat sounds foreign to many of us, it has been an integral part of many Asian diets.  For example, the popular Japanese soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour.   

Brown sugar    
Though brown sugar is a healthier alternative, it is still a processed, un-raw type of sugar.  Truly unprocessed, raw sugar is made up of larger and rougher granules, which people typically call Sucanat.  I have seen supermarkets like NTUC Finesse and Cold Storage selling Sucanat.  I would have much preferred using Sucanat to make my own waffles, but I was answering a sudden craving for something sweet and dense so I had no choice but to use brown sugar.

Ingredients

• Buckwheat flour
• Egg replacer (1 tbsp ground flaxseed meal to 3 tbsp water)
• Nut milk
• Very small amount of brown sugar (optional)
• Ground cinnamon (optional) 

Mix all the ingredients to form the batter of smooth and appropriately thick consistency.  How I estimated whether my batter was good enough was by dipping a fork in and using the dripping fork to draw a figure of eight on its surface.  If you don't have a waffle maker, you can always use the batter to make pancakes instead.

Zucchini noodles

This was my first attempt at creating noodles from zucchinis, and I must say that I was very pleased with the result.  Before my foray into raw veganism, I had never known the existence of a vegetable called zucchini.  The appearance of a zucchini is not unlike that of a large cucumber, and can be either yellow or green.  Its flesh is softer and more chewy than that of a cucumber, which makes it ideal for making vegetable noodles.  I used a hand mandoline to churn out strands reminiscent of vermicelli, and then lightly steam them so as to make them warm.  Serve with lightly sauteed vegetables for an Asian-flavoured dish.