Chinese Vegetarian Mock Pork Trotter Recipe

Chinese Vegetarian Mock Pork Trotters

During my childhood days, I always look forward to eat vegetarian pork trotters whenever I follow my late grandma in observing 9 days of strict vegetarian diet during the Nine Emperor God Festival. I can still remember vividly the taste of the ready made vegan pork trotters that my grandma used to buy in Butterworth. It consist of bean curd sheets, like the one that they use for lobak (five spice meat rolls), with spice added and rolled tightly. I used taukan (wet bean curd blocks) as the internal part of the vegan pork trotters.
Here is the recipe

Ingredients
Taukan, 1 packet
Bean curd sheet, 1’x’x1’
Five spice powder, 1 teaspoon
Dark soya sauce, ½ teaspoon
Light soya sauce, 1 table spoon
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Cotton string to tie the vegan pork trotter


Taukan in spices


Vegan pork trotters all wrapped up and ready
for deep frying

Marinade the taukan with five spice powder, dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, salt and pepper. Use the bean curd sheet to wrap the taukan and shape it like an actual pork trotter. Then tie it up with the string and let it to rest in the fridge. Deep fry the vegan taukan in hot oil. Remove string and cut into slices. Serve with steamed rice or fried bihun (vermicelli).

Vegetarian Steamed Stuffed Tofu Pok Balls

I like to cook tofu pok by turning it inside out and then stuff fillings in it. Steamed tofu is indeed a healthy meal. The ones that you normally eat at restaurants are fried and it actually soaked up a large quantity of oil. But then of course it is tastier if fried.

Ingredients
Tofu Pok, 8 pcs, turned it inside out. See my post in Peteformtion blog on how to turn the tofu pok inside out via this link, http://peteformation.blogspot.com/search/label/Tofu%20Pok

Fillings
French beans, 5 pcs, cut into small strips
Turnips, 1/2 , but onto small pieces
Sesame oil, 1 table spoon
Corn flour; add with water until the filling mixture thickens
Salt to taste
Soya sauce, 1 table spoon

Fill up the tofu pok with the fillings. Steam the tofu pok balls in high heat for 20 minutes. Your stuffed tofu pok balls are ready!

Simple Chinese Stir Fried Choy Sum Vegetable- Vegetarian

The secret to cooking this simple Chinese dish is the ‘fire control’, ie how you control the heat of your wok and how fast you can fry it under the high heat. You will have to get all the ingredients ready before you start cooking because you will need to put in one after another ingredients real fast.

Ingredients
Choy Sum Vegetable, 1 bunch, cut into 1 ½ “ size
Garlic, 5 pcs, chopped finely
Light soya sauce, 1 table spoon
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil, 1 table spoon
Vegetarian Prawns, 3 pcs (optional, I did not use in this dish)

Heat up wok and put in the vegetable oil. Turn up the heat and then put in the garlic. Quickly add the vegetable before the garlic burn and turned into charcoal. Add salt to taste and soya sauce. Put in a little water and take the dish out from the wok. Serve with steamed rice.

Vegetarian Taukan (Wet Bean Curd Blocks) With Rosemary Sauce

I love cooking with Taukan (wet bean curd block). It is great replacement for meat and the texture is similar to lean meat. I tried to use western herbs in this recipe. The result turns out ok.

Ingredients
Taukan, 6 pcs (you can also use dried bean curd but you must first soak it in water)
Rosemary, 1 table spoon
Lemon juice, from half lemon
Tomato sauce, 2 table spoon
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Garlic, 3 pcs, chopped finely
Corn flour, 1 table spoon

Heat up two table spoon of vegetable oil in wok and stir fry the garlic until golden brown. Add some water, lemon juice, tomato sauce, sugar and salt to taste. Put in the tau kan and stir fry it until it is cook. Add a little water if it is too dry. Add some corn flour mixed in water to thicken the gravy. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Spicy Thin Crust Vegetarian Tom yam Pizza Recipe

I tried out this recipe out of curiosity. The pizza turned out quite nice and have a very unique taste of its’ own. Just like east meet west, the taste of cheese and Thai tom yam smell is rather special and one of its’ kind.
Check out this recipe!

Pizza Dough Ingredients
250 gms of flour½ teaspoon of dried yeast mixed with warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugarSalt to taste

Toppings
Fresh Chili, 2 pcs, cut and removes seeds (You can use bird eye chili if you want this pizza to be real spicy!)
Onions, 1 large pc, cut into rings
Cheese, 3 table spoons
Kaffir Lime leaves, 5 pcs, cut into small strips
Lime juice from 1 large lime
Salt taste
Sugar to taste

To get thin crust pizza, make the dough as thin as possible. Then arrange all the toppings ingredients on the dough, with the cheese lining on the top layer. Bake in preheated oven at 180 Deg C for 15 minutes.

Vegetarian Angel Hair Spaghetti Recipe

My son loves spaghetti very much. Instead of using the usual minced meat as a base for the spaghetti sauce, I tried using dried bean curd strips and corn for some natural sweetness. The recipe turns out ok, and my son ate his entire portion of vegetarian spaghetti.

IngredientsAngel Hair Spaghetti, 250 gms, blanched in boiling water until soft

SauceTomato Puree, 1 can
Onions, 3 pcs, chopped finely
Garlic, 5 pcs, chopped finely
Bean curd strips, 5 pcs, soak in water until soft, cut into small strips
Frozen corn, green beans and carrot, 1 bowl
Salt to taste
Sugar 1 tablespoon
Oregano, 1/2 teaspoon (dried)
Vegetarian oyster sauce (optional), 1 tablespoon
Mozzarella cheese, for garnishing

Heat up 2 table spoons of vegetable or olive oil in wok, then sautéed the onions, garlic and bean curd strips until fragrant. Add in the tomato puree, corn, green beans and carrot. Bring to a boil and then add sugar, vegetarian oyster sauce and salt to taste.
Put the sauce on the angel hair spaghetti and garnish with mozzarella cheese.

Vegetarian Tomato Sauce Fried Bihun (Rice Vermicelli)

I like to cook this dish for supper and it takes only a short time to prepare. I used tomato sauce for this dish instead of tomato puree because tomato sauce is not that sour and taste better with bihun. Here is my recipe for Vegetarian Tomato Sauce Bihun.

Ingredients
Rice Vermicelli, ¼ packet, soaked in water to soften
Shallots, 3 pcs, cut thinly and fry until golden brown
Tomato sauce, 6 table spoons
Chili sauce, 2 table spoons (optional)
Light Soya Sauce, 1 table spoons
Cabbage, 3 leaves, cut into find strips
Bean curd strips, 2 pcs, soak in water until soft and cut into small strips
Eggs, 1 pc (optional)
Salt to taste

Put 2 table spoons of vegetable oil in a hot non-stick wok. Stir fry egg and bean curd strips. Put in the cabbage. Add in the soya sauce. Put the bihun in the wok and fry until it is cooked. Add tomato sauce, chilli sauce and salt to taste. Add a litte water and bring to a boil. The tomato bihun is ready. Garnish with fried shallots before serving.

Vegetarian Sambal Goreng (Fried Chilli) Taukan (Wet bean curd blocks) with Celery

I love cooking with taukan (wet bean curd blocks). It goes down well with many types of ingredients and it is a great replacement for meat. I decided to add in some leeks to give the dish some crunchy green vegetable.

Ingredients
Tau kan, 1 block, cut into small strips
Onions, 1 pc, chopped finely
Celery, 2 stalks, cut into bite sizes
Tamarind juice, from 1 table spoon of tamarind paste
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Chilli paste (or powder), 3 table spoons

Sauteed onions and chilli paste in hot oil until fragrant. Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar to taste. Add a little water and bring to a boil. Add taukan and celery. Serve with steamed rice or nasi lemak (coconut milk rice)

Related post using Tau Kan
1) http://veganformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/simple-recipe-vegetarian-tomato-sauce.html
2) http://veganformation.blogspot.com/2008/09/simple-recipe-vegan-sambal-petai-tau.html

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!