Vegetarian Sambal (Fried Chilli) For Nasi Lemak (Coconut milk Steamed Rice)

I made this vegetarian sambal for my vegetarian friends recently. It uses the same ingredients as normal nasi lemak sambal except that I did not use belachan (shrimp paste) in it. Nasi lemak is a local Malaysian all time favourite food. It is actually steamed rice with coconut milk and screw pine leaves.
Here is my vegetarian version of sambal for nasi lemak.

Ingredients
Shallots, 5 pcs
Chilli paste, 5 table spoon
Tamarind juice to taste
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Vegetable oil, 3 table spoon

Heat up wok and add in the vegetable oil. Stir fry the shallots until fragrant. Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar to taste. Serve with coconut milk rice.

Stir Fry Crisp-head (Green ice) Lettuce with Nutmeg Powder and Butter

Leafy lettuces are a great source of folate, vitamin A and vitamin C.
Got some left over lettuce from a party in my house and I decided to stir fried it using the recipe that I learned from Chef Michael Smith of Chef at Home show in Asian Food Channel. He used spinach for this recipe but I decided to go ahead with the leftover Crisp-Head Lettuce.

Ingredients
Lettuce, 10 leaves
Butter, 1 table spoon
Pepper, to taste
Salt to taste
Nutmeg powder, ½ teaspoon

Heat up wok and put in the butter. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put in the nutmeg powder and lettuce. Switch off the heat and stir the lettuce for a short while in the wok. I sprinkled some crispy fried garlic on the lettuce before serving!

Stir Fried Bell Pepper with Preserved Bean Paste, Chinese Style (Vegetarian)

Bell peppers or capsicums which are available in many colors are normally used to brighten up a dish. They are available in red, orange, green and yellow. The name ‘pepper’ was mistakenly given by Christopher Columbus when he brought it back to Europe from one of his voyage. He must have thought it to be the fruit of the highly prized during his era, the peppercorns. In order to taste the natural sweetness of bell pepper, I just stir fry it with preserved soya beans. This simple dish is very tasty and goes down well with steamed rice.

Ingredients
Bell Peppers, 2 pcs, cut into small pieces
Preserved Bean Paste (Tauchu), 1 table spoon
Garlic, 5 pcs, chopped finely
Vegetable oil, 1 table spoon

Heat up wok; put the vegetable oil and sautéed the garlic until fragrant. Put in the preserved bean paste. Stir fry for a while. Add in the bell peppers and a little water.

Vegetarian Tomato Soup Recipe

I love to cook tomato soup for supper, especially during rainy days. Nothing beats a good hot soup during the downpour and when the weather is cold. I guess, tomato soup is everyone’s favourite and my kids love it very much.
This is my version of tomato soup.

Ingredients
Potato, 2 pcs, boiled and smashed into puree
Tomato Puree, 1 small tin
Tomato, 2pcs, blended finely
Onions, 2 pcs, chopped finely
Butter, 1x1x1 square inch
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Oregano, ½ teaspoon
5 cups of water

Add some oil in pot and sautéed onions until fragrant. Add water and bring to a boil. Put in the potato, tomato puree, onions, butter, salt and sugar to taste. Add the oregano. Bring to a boil. You can blend the soup in the blender if you want too if you don’t like chunks of ingredients floating in your soup. Bon Appetite!

Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Tofu Recipe

Sweet and sour dishes are quite popular in many Chinese restaurants.
Instead of using meat to cook this meal, I tried it using deep fried tofu. Well, it actually turns out to be quite delicious. I have also added more vegetable to the dish.
Due to the dish sweet and sours taste, kids would love it.

Ingredients
Tofu, cut into 1x1x1 inch squares, 20 pcs
Cucumber, cut into round slices or any shape you like
Pineapple, 1 slice cut into small pieces
Tomato, 1pc, cut into 4
Tomato Sauce, 5 table spoons
Plum sauce, 1 table spoon
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Onions, 1 pc, cut into four

Deep fry tofu in hot vegetable oil until it turns golden brown. Put the tofu aside. Add 2 table spoons of vegetable oil in hot wok and sautéed the onions until fragrant. Add the tomato sauce, plum sauce, sugar, a little water and salt to taste. Put the pineapple, cucumber, tomato and fried tofu into the sauce. Serve the dish with steamed rice.

Vegetarian Tofu with Thousand Island Salad Dressing Recipe

I like to make tofu salad, especially the ones that have been deep fried. The crunchiness of the fried tofu skin and the soft part inside with the taste of Thousand Island salad dressing is simply delicious.
I used spring onions to garnish this dish and also to add some greens to it. The spring onions also added some extra flavour to this dish.

Ingredients
Tofu, cut into 1/2x2x1 inch size
Thousand Island Salad Dressing
Spring onions, 3 stalks
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Deep fry the tofu in vegetable oil and put them aside. Pour the Thousand Island Salad dressing on to the tofu and garnish with spring onions. Great party food!

Vegetarian Stir Fry Tofu with Leeks Recipe

Tofu and leeks make very good combination. This is my wife’s favourite food. The tofu absorbs the natural sweetness of the leeks. I manage to get my kids to eat some green vegetable this way. The simply love the tofu fried with leeks.

Ingredients,
Tofu, 3x3x3 inches block, cut into 1/2x1/2x1/2 inch size
Leeks, 5 stalks, cut into large pieces as in the picture
Garlic, 5pcs, chopped finely
Vegetable oil, 2 table spoon
Salt to taste

Deep fry the tofu until golden brown and put aside.
Stir fry the garlic in hot oil until golden brown. Add in the leeks and salt to taste. Stir fry for a short while and add a little water. Add salt to taste. Put the fried leek over the tofu. Serve with steamed rice.

Vegetarian Sui Kow (Fried Wanton) Recipe

Sui Kow is a great finger food for parties. It is rather easy to prepare and the taste normally suits most people taste buds! Well, I tried to make vegetarian version of sui kow (fried wontan) over the weekend and the taste turned out to be as good as the ones that use meat or prawns.

Ingredients
Water Chestnuts, 5 pcs, remove skin and chopped finely
Onions, 1 pc, chopped finely
Corn Flour, 5 teaspoons
Sesame oil, 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Wantan skins for wrapping, 50 pcs
Mix the water chestnuts, onions, corn flour, sesame oil and salt in a bowl. Take a wanton skin and add in about ½ teaspoon of the mixed ingredients and then fold the skins into a triangular shape. Deep fry the wanton in hot oil until golden brown. Served while it is hot and crispy! .

Chinese Stir Fry Scrambled Eggs with French Beans

This is a very easy dish to prepare and kids are sure to love it. A good way to get kids to eat French beans. The taste of fried eggs with a little garlic chilli sauce is nice. My kids love to eat the eggs with tomato sauce!

Ingredients
Eggs, 3 pcs, beaten slightly
Onions, 1 pc, chopped finely
French beans, 7 pcs, cut into small strips
Light Soya Sauce, 2 table spoons
Cilantro for garnishing

Heat up 2 table spoons of vegetable oil in wok. Stir fry the onions until fragrant. Add in the French beans. Fry until the beans are cooked. Add the eggs and then the soya sauce. Remove the cooked dish from the wok and put in a bowl. Turn it over and put it onto a plate, so that the dish will take the shape of the bowl. Garnish with cilantro and serve with white rice.

Vegetarian Fried Spaghetti with Soya Sauce

I ran out of Chinese wet egg noodles, so I used spaghetti instead to cook fried mee for my kids’ supper meal. The fried spaghetti turns out to be the same taste as the original fried yellow noodles but the spaghetti has a slightly tougher texture.

Ingredients
Spaghetti, 250gms, blanched in boiling water until soft
Light Soya Sauce, 3 table spoons
Dark Soya Sauce, 1 teaspoon
Pepper, ½ teaspoon
Egg (optional), 1pc
Bean curd strips, 2pcs, cut into small strips (optional)
Cabbage, 8 leaves, cut into strips (or you can use bean sprout)
Garlic, 5 pcs, finely chopped

Heat up wok; add 2 table spoons of vegetable oil and sautéed garlic until golden brown. Fry the cabbage until it turns soft. Add in bean curd strips and eggs. Fry for a short while. Put the spaghetti in to the wok and fry for around 3 minutes. Add light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and pepper. Taste good if eaten with pickled green chillies!

Vegetarian Jiu Hu Char – Fried Turnips, Penang Nyonya Style

Jiu Hu Char, (Fried Turnips) is an all time favourite among the Babas and Nyonyas in Penang and it is a must have dish during Chinese festivals. The secret to a good Jiu Hu Char; the dish needs to be simmered for a while to bring out the sweetness of the turnips.
Normal non vegetarian version uses dried cuttle fish slices and sometime also lard. For vegan version, you can replace the cuttle fish with dried bean curd strips.

Ingredients
Turnip, 1 pc, cut into small strips
Carrot, 1 pc, cut into small strips
Bean Curd Strips, cut into small pieces
Garlic, 5 pcs, chopped finely
Vegetarian oyster sauce (optional), 1 table spoon
Light Soya Sauce, 2 table spoon
Salt to taste

Heat up wok and add in 2 table spoons of vegetable oil. Sautéed garlic until fragrant and then add in the bean curd strips. Put in the turnip and carrot. Stir fry until fragrant. Add soya sauce and vegetarian oyster sauce. Add a little water and let the dish simmer for a while or until the turnips turn soft. Add salt to taste. You can wrap the fried turnips with leafy vegetable and eat it with white rice. Alternatively, you can also use the fried turnips to make spring rolls!

Vegetarian Puri – Indian Pancake

Puri is healthy food and I love the taste of it. You can eat puri with sugar (my daughter’s favourite) or dip it in potato masala curry. I normally have puri for my breakfast whenever I visit any Indian Restaurant. Don’t let the looks of puri fool you. It is actually hollow in the inside. Therefore one puri is not enough to fill my stomach. I usually have two pieces at one go!

I use premix Atta Flour to make puri.

Mix 2 cups of Atta Flour with one cup of water. Need the dough and divide into equal round ball around 1” in diameter. Use a roller pin to make it into round flat shape. Deep fry the puri in hot oil until golden brown. Try not to poke a hole in the puri while frying it or else the puri will not puff up!

Happy cooking!

Red Vegetarian Red Tortoise Bun – Ang Mi Ku

Ang Mi Ku or Red Vegetarian Red Tortoise Bun is very popular in the Northern States of Malaysia especially in Penang and Butterworth. It is one of the must have offering during Chinese religious festival and you will see many of them are lined up at the prayers altar. The most common ones are red but you will sometimes see other different colours Mi Ku too. Some comes with head and legs just like a tortoise which is also a symbol of longivity. Mi Ku taste nice if eaten just the way it is or for extra kick you can dip it in curry just like roti canai (Malaysian Pancake). Sometime I will fry them in flour batter. Yummy and delicious!

Here is the recipe for Mi Ku

Mix 1 teaspoon of dry yeast and 2 table spoons of sugar in warm water (leave it for 15 minutes)
Pour the mixture into 500gms of wheat flour and knead the dough until they are well mix.
Take some dough and make it into tortoise shell shape and colour the outer layer with red food dye (Optional). Cut some grease paper and put the bun on it so that it will not stick to the steaming pan.
Cover up the tortoise bun with towel and put aside for the yeast to do their work for around 3 hours.
Steam the buns using high heat for 20 minutes.

Penang Nyonya Style Vegetarian Pickle – Accar

This is one on my mum’s favourite recipe and it is a must have dish during festival season. She is at her eighties and can still dish out good Accar for the family. The way she manages the balance of sweetness, sourness and saltiness of the dish to perfection amazes me. I guess she must have got it right through years of experience. Mum’s cooking is the best!

Ingredients For Penang Nyonya Style Vegetarian Pickle - Accar

Gravy
Shallots, 5 pcs, blended
Chilli, 1 table spoon
Turmeric, 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Vinegar to taste

Vegetables
Long Beans, 8 pcs, cut into 1” length
Carrot, 1 pc, cut into 1”x ¼” x ¼ “
Cabbages, 1/4, wash and cut into large pieces
Cucumber, 1 pc, cut into 1”x ¼” x ¼ “

Garnish
Toasted peanuts, ½ cup, pounded into small pieces
Sesame seeds, ¼ cup, toasted until golden brown

Heat some vegetable oil in wok and sauteed ingredients for gravy (dressing) until fragrant. Add a little water if the gravy is too dry. Add all the vegetables and stir fry for a short while. Garnish with peanuts and sesame seeds and serve.
Enjoy your Penang Nyonya Style Vegetarian Pickle with steamed rice!