This is a healthy way of eating spinach. No oil. The miso paste also adds more nutrients. Sesame adds fragrant too! My kids who don’t like vegetables love this dish. I learnt it from one of the health book I bought recently.

INGREDIENT
1 pack of spinach
2 tbsp white sesame
1 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp Thai chilli sauce (甜辣酱)

METHOD
1. Steam or boil spinach (whole) in work till soft.
2. Drain the spinach, keep some water for the gravy.
3. Cut the spinach into about 2″ length and arrange on plate.
4. Dry-fry white sesame till slightly yellow and fragrant. Crush the sesame slightly.
5. Mix sesame with miso paste and chili sauce. Pour onto the spinach and serve immediately.

Hubby doesn’t like it if I use ready-to-eat tomato pasta sauce, like Prego. Kids love macaroni in tomato sauce, occassionally they also ask for angel hair in tomato sauce as well. I have experimented a few times and found this recipe quite tasty. My kids love it!

INGREDIENTS
10-12 red tomatoes
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 onion, chopped
3-4 pips of garlic, finely chopped

METHOD
1. Boil a pot of water, scald the tomatoes for a few seconds. Wash in cold water. Then, the skins can be removed easily.
2. Heat some oil in wok, stir fry chopped onion until translucent. Add in garlic and sugar and stir fry a while.
3. Add whole tomatoes, basil, oregano, pepper and salt. Simmer in wok, covered, for about 30 min until tomatoes softened.
4. Mash the tomatoes with spatula.

This gives you the very basic tomato pasta sauce. Can serve hot immediately with cooked macaroni or spaghetti/angel-hair. I like to cook a lot, and keep them frozen for future usage. If frozen, can keep for a few months (but I usually use within 1-2 weeks).

When used on pasta, can add in other ingredients like meat balls, sausage, etc.

The tomatoes can be roasted instead of boiled, which gives more aroma, but I dislike that because it means more consumption of electric. LOL!

It is the durian season now! MIL bought a lot of durian for us, and we cannot finish them. I took the flesh of one box, make it into this delicious Durian Light Cheesecake. SIL loves it so much. Yummy!

INGREDIENT
1 slice 7″ sponge cake
250g cream cheese
3 egg yolks
150ml fresh milk
150g durian flesh
3 egg whites
50g caster sugar

METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Line a 7″ cake tin and put in the sponge cake slice to line the bottom.
3. Beat cream cheese and egg yolks at low speed until well mixed. Add fresh milk and durian flesh. Mix well.
4. In a separate clean bowl, whisk egg whites at high speed till peaked.
5. Mix egg white mixture into the cream cheese mixture in 3 batches. Mix well.
6. Pour onto sponge cake in cake tin.
7. Steam bake at 180C for 20 min. Reduce to 140C and continue baking for another 1.5 hours or until cooked.
8. Leave cake in oven for another 1 hour. Chill in fridge for 4 hours before removing it from tin and serve.

I used to love this biscotti a lot. I can take the whole can of it, keep munching until it is gone. Have been trying to find a recipe to bake this, and didn’t realize I already have the recipe in one of my books!!!

I did a test bake last week. Reduced the sugar, because the only complaint I have about any biscotti sold, is the sweetness level. At first I thought I had a failure, because it didn’t rise in the cake tin, and it produces just so little. But the result was fantastic! The right sweetness for all of us – who just eat it plain. I think if you want to eat this with ‘sweet’ coffee, maybe you can add in more sugar.

INGREDIENTS
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
70g caster sugar
120g medium protein flour (sifted)
120g whole almonds
Few drops of vanilla essence

METHOD
1. Beat egg white with cream of tartar till peaked. Gradually add sugar, beating constantly until stiff. Lightly fold in flour, almonds and essence.
2. Bake in a greased tin for 35 min at 180C using a rectangular tray.
3. When cooled, cut loaf into wafer-thin slices and bake in an ungreased baking tray for 10-12 min at 150C.

This is another good way to make children eat carrots (if your kids don’t like it)… But of course, don’t tell them this is a ‘carrot’ cake, and don’t let them see how you make it! Ian and Isabel both saw how I made the cake, they refused to try it – the trick didn’t work. But Ryan didn’t know… his mommy told me that he loves the cake, and ate 2 pieces at one go!!

INGREDIENTS
4 eggs, separated
1.5 cups vegetable oil
120g caster sugar
100g brown sugar
300g carrots, grated

(sift together)
250g low protein flour
2 tsp mixed spices
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

100g chopped walnuts
100g chocolate chips (optional)

METHOD
1. Beat egg yolks till fluffy, add in oil, sugar, carrot and mix well.
2. Add dry ingredients and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg white till peaked and fold into cake mix.
4. Pour into a lined and greased 9″ tin and bake at 175C for 45 min.
5. Cool the cake and top with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1. Cream 250g cream cheese with 60g butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add in 60g icing sugar and cream till smooth.

Alternatively, another easier method to bake this cake is, to buy the carrot cake pre-mix. Very simple, just pour the pack of powder into a large bowl, add in 4 eggs, mix until smooth. Add in carrot, walnut and choc chips, lastly add in vegetable oil. Tasty and easily made.

BTW, the original recipe calls for raisins instead of chocolate chips. I don’t like raisins, so substituted it with choc chips. :p

The Chinese believes Winter Melon has cooling effect on our body. When purchase, should look for those covered with white frosts (you just cannot wash it away).

This soup is one very good alternative for vegetarian:

INGREDIENT
100g black beans
100g black eye beans (眉豆)
600g winter melon
8 dried black mushrooms
2 candied dates (密枣)
1/4 dried tangerine peel

METHOD
1. Wash black beans and soak for 1 hour.
2. Wash black eye beans and soak for 30 min.
3. Wash winter melon, remove pith, and cut into chunks together with the skin.
4. Wash mushrooms and soak until soft – throw away the soaking water.
5. Wash candied dates and tangerine peel. Soak tangerine peel until soft and remove pith.
6. Bring 1.5L water to the boil, together with the tangerine peel.
7. Add in all ingredients and bring to the boil again. Reduce to low heat and cook for 2 hours. Season with salt and serve.

This Burdock Soup is very tasty, with all natural taste, and I didn’t add any salt it was already so tasty. Of course, I know, the faux meat is already salted. LOL! Oh, if you are not vegetarian, you can use beef, chicken or pork instead.

Just to re-emphasize, burdock is a very good food. It regulates blood circulation, prevents high blood pressure, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, stroke and lowers blood sugar. It is also believed to prevent cancer related disease. You can also cut this into thin slices and stir fry with other veggie to eat.

INGREDIENT
1/2 burdock (choose the thick ones)
1 carrot
1 corn
4-5 dried scallops (or 2 only if yours is big)
Some Faux meat (approx 200g)
1 tbsp QiZi (杞子)

METHOD
1. Put all ingredients into 3.5L of water, bring to boil.
2. Turn to slow heat and continue to cook for 4 hours.
3. Season with salt if you like.

Note: If you cook with conventional gas stove, then you need 3.5L water. I cook with induction cooker on power 3, I only use 2L or it will be too ‘watery’.

Since I rejected meat, I have been starving from nice soups. MIL and Mom think boiling soup must use chicken bones or pork ribs, or it will not be nice.

I found a recipe book on vegetarian soups. They are surprisingly delicious. That’s why I have been boiling a lot since early this year. I don’t really use any faux meat like many would guess. Natural vegetable ingredients can make soup even more delicious than meat based soup. And here is one example: Black Eye Beans and Peanuts Soup with Potatoes (马铃薯眉豆花生汤):

INGREDIENTS
100g black eye beans (眉豆)
100g peanuts
500g potatoes
6 red dates
2 slices ginger
1/4 dried tangerine peel
[You may add 6-8 dried oyster if you are not vegetarian]

METHOD
1. Wash peanuts and soak for 2 hours.
2. Wash black eye beans and soak for 30 min.
3. Peel potatoes and cut into chunks.
4. Wash and core red dates.
5. Soak dried tangerine peel until soft and remove pith.
6. Bring 1.5L water with dried tangerine peel to the boil. Add all other ingredients and bring to the boil again. Reduce to low heat and continue cooking for 2 hours.

Again, without any seasonings, this soup is very delicious. You may add some salt if you like.

Tell you what… this is the best-est soup I have made so far. Happened that my in-laws were here for dinner when I made this soup. Father-in-law keep saying that it was delicious.

Then DH came home without much appetite. He didn’t eat much, but he told me the soup was very nice.

Here comes the red radish, tomatoes and apples soup!

Well, I was supposed to use beetroot instead of red radish, but I bought the wrong one. Turned out it was okay and I am happy!

INGREDIENTS
1 large red radish
2 tomatoes
2 red apples
1 corn cut
2 stalks celery
2 potatoes
2 slices ginger

METHOD
1. Peel the skin of red radish, potatoes, tomatoes and cut into pieces.
2. Wash apples, remove core and cut into pieces (keep the skin).
3. Wash and cut celery into pieces.
4. Remove corn leaves, wash and cut into 3 chunks.
5. Bring 1.5L water to boil. Add all the ingredients and bring to boil again.
6. Reduce to low heat and cook for 2.5 hours.

I did not add any seasonings, and it tasted so well. I think you should not add any salt to help reducing sodium intake. It is so good that, if you add, it might even spoil the soup.

The other day when I boiled the Chinese Burdock (Cobo) soup, I used only half of the very large radish. Trying to clear my fridge, I took out whatever ingredients left from previous cooking and made this pot of soup. This can be made vegan if you omit the dried mussels – it tastes equally good (I added because I wanted to eat it!).

Ingredients
1 corn cut into 3 segments
1 medium radish or half a large one, cut into large pieces
1 tomato wedged
2 stalks of celery, cut into chunks
1/2 carrot, cut to chunks
1 pc (150gm) pumpkin sliced
6-8 dried mussels, washed and soaked (can be obmitted to turn this into vegetarian soup)

Method
1. Bring 1.5L water to the boil.
2. Put in all ingredients and bring to the boil again.
3. Turn to low heat and boil for 2 hours.

If you like, you may add some salt to taste, but my family prefers it this way without seasonings. The soup is very tasty with natural sweetness. Again, Isabel gobbled up the corn!