Veggie Smorgasbord

After procrastinating of getting one forever, I finally have a grill pan yipee! And I got a little bit carried away with my excitement that I grilled every vegetable I could find in my fridge!

- white onions
- tomatoes
- zuccini
- green bell pepper
- (swiss brown)mushrooms
- asparagus
- skewered veggie meat.

While grilling, I brushed olive oil and sprinkled salt on the veggies.It went well with couscous.


To add up with my vegetable craze today, I made an Ensalada de Papaya ;). Now I feel like a herbivore dinosaur.

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Ginisang Sayote (Sautéed Chayote)

This is a typical Filipino veggie dish that I hated with passion when I was young because of it's "juicy" property (when forced to, I chew so little, pinch my nose and swallow so I don't taste it). I have outgrown most of my weird vegetable-eating requirements but still left a little in my bucket list :P. This dish, however, is usually cooked with ground meat. But to make it vegetarian meal, skip the ground meat, or replace it with a soy/veggie meat.

Ingredients:

- 2 sayote, peeled and diced
- 2 pcs medium sized fresh tomatoes, sliced
- 1 clove crushed garlic
- 1 medium size red onion, chopped
- 1 1/2 cup water
- salt and pepper to taste
- ground veggie meat (optional)


1. Heat oil in a pot. Sauté garlic and onion, until garlic is golden brown and onion is soft.
2. Add the tomatoes. Sauté for about 1 minute.
3. Add veggie meat (optional).
4. Add the sayote and mix well.
5. Add water. If you want it soupy, you can add more water.
6. Let it simmer until the sayote is soft.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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Baked Carrot Balls

Powered by Lumix GF1 by Mark Mulder

This recipe inspired me to make my own version of carrot balls.

Ingredients:
- 2 large carrots, peeled, boiled and mashed.
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1 large beaten egg
- 1 red bell pepper, minced
- bread crumbs
- garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste

1. In a mixing bowl, mix mashed carrots, bell pepper, butter and egg together.
2. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and mix well.
3. Add a dash of garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Make small balls on your palm, then sprinkle it with bread crumbs.
5. Put the carrot balls in an oiled oven safe pan/dish.
6. Heat oven for about 350 C.
7. Bake the carrot balls for about 20 minutes until it's golden brown.

It goes very well with a garden fresh salad :).

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Bamboo Shoots Curry + Deep Fried Tofu

Ingredients:

- 1 can bamboo shoots, drained (if you can't get it fresh)
- 1/2 cup thick coconut milk.
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp. yellow curry powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 medium size red onion, finely chopped.
- veggie meat (optional)

1. Heat oil a pot. Saute garlic and onion until garlic is golden brown and onion is soft.
2. Mix in the bamboo shoots and blend together for about 2 minutes.
3. Pour the coconut milk and water and bring it to a boil. Make sure to cook the coconut milk.
4. Once the coconut milk is cooked, sprinkle curry powder, salt and pepper.
5. Simmer for about 3 minutes.

The amount of curry powder you can put there depends on your taste. I don't like it too yellow and too spicy so I just put about 1 tbsp. just for the flavor.

You can find my technique in frying crispy tofu on this blog entry.

Tofu sauce/dip:

- 1/2 cup Datu Puti soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Datu Puti vinegar
- 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- red sugar
- red chili or sambal oelek

1. Mix the ingredients altogether. Add more vinegar if you wish. The amount of chili depends on how spicy you like. I am not a fan of spicy food so I just put about half teaspoon of sambal oelek (lekker), my favorite Indonesian chili paste :).

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