Life and a Really Good Risotto

Hello my readers, I hope you're all still there.

It's been more than three months since I last blogged and I can hardly believe it myself.

The reason, you ask? Well I am now living in England pursing a Master's degree in the beautiful North-East.

I've been here a little over two months and love everything about the place. Before I came here, I was definitely excited and not sure what to expect but it is amazing how quickly I have come to feel completely at home here.

There are a lot of differences between Durham and Dubai, most obviously the weather. I marvel at how- at the height of a Dubai summer- I secretly wish for the icy winter I am currently experiencing....and vice versa...

There's also a big difference in lifestyle and society...perhaps that's just because it is a university and student town, though...

Before I got here, I promised myself I wouldn't slide into the student routine of pasta and cereal. I thought I'd be able to recreate all the stuff I make back home, I thought that I'd be resourceful and great and amazing by cooking a four course dinner for twelve people in a kitchen I share with five others with a limited number of utensils to exploit.

I'm happy to say that I haven't completely turned into the pasta and cereal person, but there are days where I just couldn't be bothered. There are days when the type of food you eat is surprisingly at the bottom of your list of current mental preoccupations... Although, me being me, I tend to compensate by every once in a while going off on a culinary tangent and whipping up something really weird.

Just today I chucked the entire contents of my fridge into a stew which was....interesting.... to say the least, but hey, at least I got to answer a long-standing curiosity of mine which was: what do mushrooms taste like boiled? And let me tell you, they don't taste bad at all.

But the recipe that I am going to share with you today is one I made last week which I have quite creatively called "roasted pepper, tomato, feta, and olive risotto".

There I was, reading about the benefits of a combined effort of Track I and Track II diplomacy, and how community-based peacebuilding can really positively impact conflict transformation when all of a sudden my mind wandered.......and wandered....and wandered... until it got to a place it had never really been before. And that place was plain-risotto-land. Yes. Why didn't I EVER think of making a COMPLETELY plain risotto and adding on whatever I wanted to at the very end since they would be ingredients that didn't really need to be cooked. Genius? Genius.

And so I walked the five and a half steps to my airy little kitchen and chopped up some onions and garlic, heated some oil in a pot and got cooking. And what I came up with was what you see below.

So here's the recipe, I do hope you get to try it someday, or maybe you've already tried something similar. What's your favorite risotto that you've invented?

Recipe
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup arborio rice
6 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp pitted black olives
20g crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
30g roasted red peppers (bottled), chopped

Procedure
Heat the oil in a large pot and add the onion and garlic. Stir for five minutes until fragrant and soft.
Add the rice and stir for one minute to coat in the oil mixture.
Add two ladlefuls of stock and stir until absorbed. Repeat process for about 20 minutes or until rice is creamy and cooked through.
Season to taste then add the olives, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, and red peppers.
Remov from heat, add two tablespoons of stock, cover, and allow to rest for five minutes before serving.

Tofu and Zucchini Fusion Salad

What did you do during Earth Hour?

I, for one, sat in the 'dark' with some candles and ate this great fusion salad. All the lights were off but the TV just may have been on (shh!). 

I love taking part in Earth Hour although I constantly wonder how much of a long-term impact it has. I'd like to statistically analyze how much it increases awareness, sparks environmental concern, and reduces consumption levels. But that isn't something to do on this blog. You're here to read recipes and check out photographs of course. 

  

The environment is something that get me very gloomy very quickly. Reading any statistics or case studies leaves me feeling so bleak. Moreover, in my Public International Law class today we discussed how there is very little accountability when it comes to the environment. Oil companies can empty out their tankers in the middle of the ocean killing thousands of fish but no one will ever know. This leads to marine life obviously being contaminated but even if someone does manage to find out, how easy is it to bring a company to justice?

We treat the Earth- who gives us everything we need to survive on- like trash. And we're slowly going to turn it into that. How can a person not feel a sense of responsibility? Just because the air in the atmosphere, or the ozone layer, or the seaside doesn't officially "belong" to you doesn't entitle you to deal with it in any manner you please. But would you go wreck somebody else's couch just because it's not yours? No. 

People fail to grasp that the Earth IS theirs. We are all from this Earth. Maybe this sounds a bit hippie but I wish people saw each other not in terms of religion, ethnicity, race, or nationality, but as people just like them- belonging to the same earth, breathing the same air, drinking from the same water, and eating from the same soil's bounty. 

But enough of my rant. Keeping in spirit with the hippieness- here is a fusion recipe. I find fusion cuisine to be the hippie of the culinary world- it's all about coexistence and harmony between two or more diversely different ingredients. And fusion is something that, in my opinion, you must get right. It's not like normal cooking where changing just one or two ingredients still makes the dish work (sometimes exponentially so). If you put just one wrong ingredient into a fusion dish- you've had it. 

Maybe my analysis is totally off the mark but it's what I think based on the fusion food I've tried making and the ones that I've eaten. Getting it right requires a special level of talent and skill- an ability to instinctively know what to pair together. 

I did no sort of that instinctive analysis when making this salad- The sauces that went into the tofu were a totally last minute thing that I used just because I happened to see them lying on the kitchen counter. 

Enjoy! 

250g tofu, cut into 2cm cubes

2 tbsp sweet chili sauce

2 tbsp sweet and sour sauce

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large green zucchini, sliced lengthwise

1 tbsp vegetable oil

200g rucola leaves

2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

2 tbsp pitted green olives

1 tbsp basil pesto

20g crumbled feta cheese

Mix the tofu cubes with the combined sauces and set aside. 

Heat half the olive oil on a grill plate. Grill the zucchini slices for 1-2 minutes on each side until softened and lightly browned. 

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok and add the tofu cubes with the sauce. Stirfry for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. 

In a large salad bowl, mix together the rucola leaves, grilled zucchini slices, tofu, pine nuts, and green olives. 

Mix together the remaining olive oil with the basil pesto and drizzle over the salad- mixing together thoroughly. 

Garnish with feta leaves. 

This salad can be covered with a plastic wrap and refrigerated. 

Couscous and Rucola Salad

There's something so refreshingly creative about mixing together random ingredients and coming up with a wonderfully tasting dish.

Last week, some of my friends and I were having a small picnic among one of the many grassy lawns in our university. I needed something that was filling and quick to make. Albeit this a wasn't picnic-friendly dish what with having to use bowls and forks, it was still fun to eat. And make.

I looked through my refrigerator and cabinet and lined up random ingredients on the kitchen counter. I chose couscous as the central ingredient for my dish and decided to pair it up with ingredients that would complement it. It's amazing how starting off with a central ingredient can build up a great, unique dish.



I recreated it today at home for lunch and everyone loved it.

Ingredients
1.5 cups couscous
1 cup boiling water
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp salt
4 cups rucola leaves
3 tbsp pitted black olives
2 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
40g snow peas
1 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp basil pesto

20g crumbled feta cheese
2 tbsp dried cranberries
Splash of balsamic vinegar


Procedure
Place the couscous in a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Cover the top with a plate and leave to rest for 5 minutes. After that, fluff up with a fork. Stir in the lemon juice and salt.
Mix in the rucola leaves and stir until thoroughly combined.
Next, stir in all the ingredients apart from the last five.
Make a paste by combining the olive oil and basil pesto and stir through.
Scatter the crumbled feta cheese and cranberries over the top and mix well together.
Add the balsamic vinegar and gently toss through.

Pumpkin and Rocket Tortilla Wraps

I haven't blogged more than a month. Why, you ask? Well I've had finals. And any of you who are in college/have been to college will know how stressful finals can be when they're in your senior year. Top that off with tons of papers due right before finals week and you end up with someone (me) who has no time to bake, let alone photograph and blog about it.

I finally finished exams last week and have been busy in the kitchen making all sorts of things (which inevitably end up being eaten before they can be photographed). I made a lovely no-bake chocolate pudding/trifle dessert, a raspberry cheesecake (also no-bake), swirly blueberry and caramel ice-cream, tiramisu, cake bites (nope, not cake pops- cake bites.. my own invention), oreo cupcakes, and a whole lot of other savory stuff.

This tortilla wrap I had been meaning to make for lunch since before my finals. I finally did, but I need to learn how to wrap it better. This is a delicious wrap that is filling and wholesome and a whole lot of fun to make.

Ingredients
2 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp basil pesto
6 tortilla rolls
2tbsp olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dark brown soft sugar
300g butternut pumpkin, chopped finely
2 tsp chili flakes
1 tbsp fresh sage, torn
1.5 cups rocket leaves
4 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

Procedure
In a bowl, stir together the cream cheese and basil pesto until smooth and well-mixed. Spread over one side of each tortilla roll.
In a pot, on high heat, heat the olive oil and then add the onions, coating to stir. Cook for five minutes and then add the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar and stir well. Reduce the heat to medium and cover the pot and allow to cook for 10 minutes. After that, increase the heat back to high and stir in pumpkins, sage, and chili flakes. Add more oil if necessary. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft. Season to taste.
Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before adding the rocket leaves which will wilt in the heat. Stir in the feta cheese.
Place one heaped spoonful of the mixture in the center of each tortilla wrap. Fold over both sides (bottom and  top) and then roll the left side of the tortilla over to make a wrap. Place on a flat surface with the fold at the bottom- this helps secure it.
After five minutes, slice the wrap in the middle and serve!

Fresh and Light Side Dishes

(Written on December 18- hence the lag in dates!!) I am finally getting back to normal routine after working for the Dubai International Film Festival for the past two weeks. It was an insanely busy time since I was sort of working full time and studying full time. I'm really glad that I  chose to have all my classes on three days of the week this semester so that left me with Monday and Wednesday mornings to catch up on studying.

This was my sixth year at DIFF and the first time that I worked on the red carpet. My first two years I was a volunteer and did everything from working at the standby queue to ushering and checking tickets. The year after that I became staff and managed the Green Room which was quite interesting. I was basically babysitting any VIP talent  or film talent until the screening began. I got to see quite a few "celebrities".. I've never really been interested in them or their lives and so none of them impressed me so much... apart from Gerard Butler. Who is the most charming and witty person. Who I might have fallen in love with had I managed to spend more time with him. Hahaha.

And last year, I managed the 1400-seater theater. That was a lot of fun, very challenging, dynamic, perfect if you're OCD about organization like me. But this year, I finally got to see all the energy of opening night as it happens. I was on the red carpet with the guests, invitees, security, press, and fans. And opening night was great since Mission Impossible 4 was premiering and the amount of worldwide press and fans we had was insane. Tom Cruise himself spent almost 2.5 hours on the red carpet speaking to every single fan and reporter. He was beyond nice. Except that a couple of times I kept on sarcastically wishing he was a snob like other celebrities so that he would just glide through and ignore most of the fans. I had to wait for him that entire time to do my job and got very impatient. But no, he was really nice and I am very impressed at how down to earth he was.

Now that DIFF is over, I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms as I(and every other staff member) experience ever year. All of us staff are such a close-knit group that we're almost like family- family that gets to reunite once a year. I've made some great friends through DIFF, people who I consider to be closest to me.

But enough about that, and onto the recipes. These are two side dishes I always make because they require very little effort and taste amazing. They're quite filling and make a very adequate meal in themselves.

The first is an arugula and olive salad.


Ingredients
3 cups arugula leaves, washed and patted dry
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp sliced olives
1 tbsp pine nuts
1 tbsp crumbled feta cheese.


Procedure
Combine everything together and serve immediately.

The next dish is a wonderful meal in itself: roasted capsicums stuffed with feta cheese, olives, basil, and pine nuts.

















Ingredients
3 red capsicums, halved and deseeded
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup olives
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tbsp french dressing
1 tbsp basil pesto

Procedure
Roast the capsicums, skin side up in a 200C oven until the skin is blistered and black- around 30 minutes.
Place the capsicums in a sandwich bag and seal well so that the steam loosens the skin. Allow to cool for around 15 minutes before peeling off the skin.
In a bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients with a splash of balsamic vinegar, if desired.
Take two to three teaspoons of the feta cheese mixture and place in the middle of each capsicum slice.
Roll up and secure with a toothpick.
Mix together the basil pesto and french dressing and pour over the tops of each capsicum.

Nasi Goreng- 2nd Blog Birthday and a GIVEAWAY!

It's been exactly two years since I started food blogging and like everything else, it seems as if it was just yesterday.

Looking back, I realize how much as I've grown as a person who enjoys cooking and baking (dare I say chef?). I've discovered a wealth of new information, met amazing people (both online and in real life!), and read some amazing posts. I've tried to harness my interest in photography by focusing on food (but admittedly, not as much as I'd like to) and what's the best part is that having a blog has been a catalyst for my increased passion and interest in the world of food.

Here's the first food related post I wrote on this blog (exactly two years ago) "Autumn- the season for rich colors and gorgeous comfort food". This post was dedicated to butternut pumpkin which has grown to become one of my favourite vegetables along with capsicums. It contains two soup recipes and one vegetarian stew recipe. And yes, there aren't any photographs in that post.

And exactly one year ago: I posted a restaurant review of one of my favourite restaurants: Saladicious in Jumeirah.

To mark this auspicious event, I'm having a giveaway! One lucky winner is going to receive this lovely little book called "200 Delicious Desserts". The publisher is Hamlyn and what I love about this series is that the pictures are gorgeous, the recipes easy to read, and the results fabulous. The choice of recipes in this book is wonderful and includes a pear and almond tart, coffee and hazelnut choc ices, double chocolate puddings (YUM!), and strawberry choux puffs (to name just a few!- there are 200 as the title indicates!)

What you have to do in order to win is really simple!
1. Like "Spontaneous Euphoria Food Blog" on facebook
2. Follow @Spontiphoria on twitter
3. Leave a comment on this post saying that you did the above two and mention which of your recipes on this blog is your favourite and why!

The winner will be chosen by a friend of mine through picking a name out of a hat (fun, eh?)
The deadline to enter is exactly a month from today November 23, 2011

Now on to today's recipe:

Nasi goreng. Nice spicy rice with prawn crackers and fried egg and chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce. MMMMM.. but this is a vegetarian option (with the eggs, though- but you can easily omit it!)

I made this a month ago, and have made it four times since already. It's THAT good.
And it's so simple!

Ingredients
3 tbsp peanut or sunflower oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion, finely chopped
2 birds-eye chilies, finely chopped and deseeded
2 garlic cloves, crushed
5cm ginger, grated
1 cup button mushrooms, chopped
200g baby corn, chopped
1 red capiscum, chopped
1 yellow capsicum, chopped
1 green capsicum, chopped
3 cups brown rice, cooked
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 spring onion, finely sliced
80g brussel sprouts

Procedure
- Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok and add the eggs. Swirl to coat the base of the pan. Cook until set and then remove from wok and slice into thin strips.
- Heat the remaining oil and cook the onion, chili, garlic, and ginger until fragrant and soft, around 5 minutes.
- Add the button mushrooms, baby corn, and capsicums stirring for around 10 minutes until mushroom and corn has softened.
- Next, add the rice and stir to coat. Then add the sauces, spring onion, and brussel sprouts and stir again until everything is well combined.
- Transfer to a serving dish and arrange the strips of omelette on top of the rice.
- Serve immediately.

It's THAT simple and takes around half an hour to make! It's indulgent for a simple dinner at home in front of the TV and glamorous enough (if presented nicely) for when you have guests!

Enjoy! And don't forget to take part in the giveaway contest!!

Random Recipe: Mozzarella, Mushroom, Basil, and Tomato Sandwiches

University has begun. Although I think I've mentioned this before.

And so with university having begun, the first signs of stress, sleepless nights, and reams and reams of paper start to appear.. (not to mention the ghosts of all those trees we seem to have killed while printing...)

And naturally, there is less time to do the things you really wish to do.. those include one's nails, watching a movie, spending hours in the kitchen, and cuddling up in bed with a book..

But sometimes, feeding oneself takes prominence over all other tasks and duties, and that is when you try and make something that you know you'll really enjoy eating.

I was so excited when I read about Dom's challenge for this month. It was to pick a random recipe from all your food related magazines and clippings and the like.. I have a little section on my bookshelf devoted to recipe related magazine clippings/magazines but to be honest with you, I've never made a recipe from any of them. That's why I was so glad when I read about this month's challenge because then I'd be able to explore something new out of all these recipes I had never tried.

The magazine I randomly picked was called "Soups and Sandwiches" by Fine Cooking. I bought it at JFK airport this April so that I could have some light reading/entertainment on the fifteen hour return flight (although traveling with 18 twenty year olds was much fun in itself.)

I like the idea of soups and sandwiches for dinner. It's light yet filling and hearty and is very convenient to eat. Since I've recently gone vegetarian (since the beginning of this month actually) I tried picking a random recipe from the vegetarian section of the magazine which was towards the end. I ended up with mozzarella, mushroom, basil, and tomato sandwiches which are very quick to prepare.

Recipe
Ingredients:
4 sandwich rolls/buns
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp crushed garlic clove
basil leaves
1 cup button mushrooms, cooked
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Procedure:
Combine the mayo, cheese, and garlic in a bowl and evenly spread over both sides of cut sandwich rolls.
On the bottom half, layer mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and tomato.
On the top half, place the basil leaves.
Sandwich together and lightly heat on a heated grill plate for 4-5 minutes until bread is lightly toasted.
Serve warm.

I had these with some tomato and capsicum soup.. the combination was amazing!

I hope I'm not past the posting deadline for this! >_< sorry if I am, Dom! :(

In other news, I just realized that this was my first savoury post of the month (and it's the end of the month!)
But I have made some nasi goreng, pasta, and grilled fish a few times.. all really good.. hoping to post up some of those recipes soon!

I also made macarons after doing much research on techniques. I now have two A4 pages full of tips and techniques that I've gathered while reading blogposts, watching videos, and reading cookbooks. Should I have a post on my macarons? "Dissecting the Macaron" as I'd like to call it..

Sorry about the picture quality! I didn't have a proper camera with me and these were about to be gobbled up in a second.. 

Classic Lasagna with a Side of Roasted Vegetables

I think this is perfect for an indulgent and filling weeknight meal. For me, indulgent weeknight meals are those which COOK ON THEIR OWN! Where you have to let something simmer for 45 minutes, let it bake for an hour... roast it for two.. That way you've cooked, you have a good meal, and you have time to do other things while it cooks on its own.

The following is a classic lasagna served with roasted potatoes and carrots a la herb (yeah I invented that last bit).

I love the messy, splattered effect you get when you bake something big like this. Such a homey feel.

Classic Lasagna


Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
30g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
500g lamb mince
2 tablespoons tomato paste
400g can diced tomatoes
250ml cranberry juice
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
One packet instant lasagna sheets
60g butter
40g plain flour
560ml milk
100g grated Parmesan cheese


Procedure
-Heat the oil and butter in a heavy based pan and cook the onion, carrot, and celery over medium heat until softened, stirring constantly. Increase the heat, add the mince and brown well, breaking up any lumps of fat. Add the tomato paste, can tomatoes, juice, and parsley and season to taste. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
- To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a medium pan over low heat. Add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the milk. Return to heat and stir constantly until the sauce boils and thickens. Simmer for another minute. Add the nutmeg and salt and pepper, to taste. Place a piece of plastic wrap on surface of sauce.
-Preheat the oven to 180C.
-Take a large, ovenproof dish and place a thin layer of the meat mixture over the base, top with bechamel sauce and layer the lasagna sheets over that. Repeat the process until all the ingredients have been used up and the final layer is bechamel.
-Spread the grated Parmesan cheese on top and bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until top is golden and cheese has melted.

Roasted Potatoes and Carrots with Fresh and Dried Herbs


Ingredients
2tbsp olive oil
Two medium potatoes, roughly chopped
Two medium carrots, cut into chunks
30g butter
Salt and pepper
1tbsp mixed dried herbs such as basil and chives.
2tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

Procedure
Grease an overproof dish with half the olive oil.
Arrange the cut potato and carrot chunks onto the dish and drizzle with remaining olive oil.
Cut the butter into chunks and scatter around the dish.
Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with dried herbs.
Bake in an 180C oven for one hour or until vegetables have softened and cooked through.
Before serving, scatter coriander over dish.

Vegetarian Paella

I love the idea of paella..it seems so delicious...in those huge vats, with wonderful red and yellow colors- and to be honest, rice mixed with meat and vegetables is almost always good. Risotto, biryani, and... paella! I've never had it though since I'm allergic to shellfish and I've been looking for a vegetarian recipe for quite a while. Yesterday at 5AM, I was flipping through some cookbooks and came across this one and immediately decided to make it.

I was quite happy with the result (although I forgot to season! did that at the end >_<) but somehow I feel as though adding diced tomatoes would enhance the flavor.. that and some pieces of chicken. I knew that paella used arborio rice but I was concerned when the recipe said to leave the stock and rice mixture to simmer without stirring- continuously- like you have to with risotto.. I kept on thinking it would stick to the bottom of the pan but it didn't!

The recipe is fairly simple and quick and can be ready in an hour and a half, maximum.

Ingredients
750ml vegetable stock
500ml water
1/8 tsp saffron threads
2 tbsp olive oil
120g baby eggplants, quartered
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped finely
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped finely
1 green capsicum, chopped finely
1 red capsicum, chopped finely
1 yellow capsicum, chopped finely
2 tsp paprika
250g arborio rice
150g frozen peas
120g green beans, chopped and trimmed
1/4 cup black olives
1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped.
1 tbsp pine nuts

Procedure
Bring stock and water to a boil. Add saffron threads and remove from heat.
Heat oil in a saucepan and cook the eggplants until softened and browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
In same pan, cook onion, garlic, tomatoes, capsicums, and paprika until onion softens.
Add arborio rice and stir to coat in oil mixture.
Pour in the stock and water mixture and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat, and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally until water is absorbed and rice is tender- around 30 minutes.
Add peas and beans and cook, covered for 10 minutes- stirring occasionally.
Add coriander, olives, and pine nuts and stir through.
Stand, covered, 5 minutes before serving.

As you can tell, I didn't spend any time food styling- too eager to try it haha

Creamy Leek, Mushroom, and Pea Pies

I was looking for something light to make today and came across this recipe from Australian Women's Weekly. It's light, healthy, and vegetarian. Only 200 calories per serving which is perfect for dinner!

I've made slight modifications to the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 large leek, sliced thinly

250g mushrooms, thickly sliced

2 tbsps plain flour

150ml vegetable stock

125ml low-fat milk

120g frozen peas

2 tbsps chopped fresh chives

1 tbsp mustard

3 slices wholemeal bread

cooking oil spray

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. Heat oil in large saucepan; cook garlic and leek, stirring until leek softens. Add mushrooms; cook; stirring, about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.

3. Add flour; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk and stock; cook, stirring, until mixture boils and thickens slightly. Stir in peas, chives, and mustard; cook 2 minutes or until peas are tender.

4. Place mixture into Pyrex dish, top with chopped pieces of bread, spray bread lightly with oil. Cook, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until bread is browned lightly.

Sid's spicy and warm winter vegetable invention

So there I was in class at 1PM this afternoon, hungry as anything. Naturally, I started to daydream...about food. Almost immediately, I got an idea of chopping up some winter vegetables and throwing them into a pot with tons of spices and letting the whole thing cook for ages.

Here's the recipe.. you can tweak it to your preferences.

Ingredients

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped into big pieces

2 parsnips, roughly chopped into big pieces

2 potatoes, roughly chopped into big pieces

2 carrots, roughly chopped into big, round pieces

2 sweet potatoes roughly chopped into big pieces

4 baby eggplants, sliced into quarters

2 onions, roughly chopped into big pieces

4 cloves garlic, each cut in half

2 teaspoons chopped fresh fennel

Add butternut pumpkin if you wish

Rocket leaves

Tomato pasta sauce, 3 tbsp

Balsamic vinegar

Spices, herbs, and seasoning (to taste)

Ground coriander, ground garlic, ground cinnamon, ground cumin, paprika, a pinch of dried lavender (yes!), peppercorns, mixed spice, fennel seeds, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, sea salt, chilli flakes, curry powder, ground turmeric.

Procedure

Heat up 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil on high heat, add ALL the vegetables, then add all the spices, herbs, and seasoning (I added 2-3 teaspoons of each... except for the peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, lavender, and sea salt, turmeric). Mix very well together and let cook for two minutes. Place the lid on the pot, reduce the heat to low and let it cook slowly for around one hour.

After the hour, taste the vegetables and check whether they're cooked. If they are, add some tomato pasta sauce and mix well.

Place rocket leaves on a plate and then spoon the vegetable mixture on top of it. Splash a quick dash of balsamic vinegar for some tanginess. This really improves it.

Enjoy!

Pasta

Bottled pasta sauce, boiled pasta, fresh carrots uncooked, bottled olives, dried chives, salt, and pepper.. GOURMET!

Tofu Satay Pad Thai

So here are some pictures from a stirfry that I made today... the recipe is originally from AWW's Vegetarian Stirfries but I played around with it and changed the noodles from hokkien to pad thai.. also added more spices, and changed some vegetables around.

I feel that with stirfry you can NEVER go wrong with a sauce combination of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and a little bit of sweet chilli sauce! A good squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped birdseye red chillies works amazingly too!