Vegan Choc-Chili

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Vegan ChiliThere’s something completely satisfying about making a really good vegetarian dish that would win over the biggest meat eater. Especially a good amount of veggies and beans with a punch of bold spicy flavours! The combination of chocolate and chili is utterly delicious. I put a hind of cayenne pepper in my brownies, chocolate muffins, hot chocolate, everything with chocolate. So here we have a healthy, vegan, gluten-free, awesome choc-chili.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of  forbidden wild rice
1/2 cup of brown rice
1 tbsp of coconut oil
1 spring onion
1 stalk of celery
1/3 zucchini
1 tomato
1 carrot
100g button mushrooms

Sauce & Spices
1 dried birds eye chilli (seeds removed if you want mild flavour)
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp of tomato paste
1/2 cup of water or vegetable stock
1 tsp of chilli flake
1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
1/2 tsp of ground aniseed
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of thyme
1 tbsp of cacao powder or carob powder
1 tsp of Himalayan salt
1 tsp of olive oil
crumbled feta for garnish

Soak your rice overnight. Drain, rinse well and set aside. Heat coconut oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute for a couple of minutes. Add chopped vegetables, rice and all spices in and stir to combine. Add water or stock and bring it up to boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until cooked. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with olive oil and crumbled feta. You can have it by itself or serve with pita chips.

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes, Vegetarian

Beetroot and Fennel Salad – Beat the Bloat!

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Beetroot FennelI love having crunchy raw vegetables and simple dressing, ideal for Summer but challenging in Winter. Cooler weather always makes me crave for a warm soup over cold salads. Thanks to the beautiful Autumn weather in Perth, I can enjoy cool salads before it gets too cold. This salad is so refreshing and delicious. Earthy beetroot, aromatic fennel, crunchy celery and tart-sweet grapefruit all goes well together.

On top of that, this salad is so good for your digestion. Bloating can be caused by a number of things – lack of exercise, types of foods you eat (especially gassy foods like meat, beans, cabbage, etc), an acidic diet which causes an unbalance between good and bad bacteria in your stomach. Well..if you experience bloating after meals, you are not alone. I can give you some tips here.

  • Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. It also helps gas to move along the digestive tract & flushes out excess salt. No vigorous exercise after meals though.
  • Drink more water, especially between meals. It flushes out excess salt and also helps with constipation which is another big factor in the bloat.
  • Avoid gassy foods such as meat, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, etc.
  • Take some supplements such as probiotics and digestive enzyme.
  • Find a way to deal with stress – exercise, meditation or anything that makes you relaxed, you can also look into stretching and find the answer to “does stretching count as exercise?”
  • 10 best foods to beat the bloat – fennel, celery, asparagus, cinnamon, artichoke, peppermint, ginger, pear, watercress, quinoa

Ingredients

1/2 baby fennel
1/2 raw beetroot
1 stalk of celery
1/2 cup of romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 of grapefruit
chopped dill
a squeeze of lemon
1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp of e.v.o.o
salt and pepper to taste

Shave or finely slice fennel, beetroot and celery. Mix them with lettuce leaves and segmented grapefruit in a large mixing bowl. Add half of the dressing into a bowl and toss gently. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle the rest of the dressing. Season with salt and pepper. It would go well with seafood like salmon or prawns.

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes, salads, Vegetarian

About Korean Food

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Korean food5These photos are a few years old, taken when Daniel and I visited my home town, Seoul. He has already been to Korea six times, wow 6 already! We catch up with my family and friends and most importantly eat Korean foods. I don’t know how much of you know or are interested in Korean food. I don’t cook much Korean food at home myself, so thought it would be a good idea posting some real photos to show you how they look like (and make you hungry 🙂 ).

The first photo is me with a cafe mascot called Ms. Lee. Same name, though there are thousands of Ms. Lees out there in Korea. Second photo (top right) is a seaweed soup with rice and side dishes, which I had for hotel breakfast. Third photo is barbequed duck with ssam (wrap in Korean). So how to eat? Take a variety of the greens, layered for flavour (choose from bitter, crunchy, sweet or spicy leaves), and spoon on some rice and ssamjang (a dressing made of fermented soybeans), then somehow fit in your mouth. You need to make sure not filling too much in the wrap 🙂 Focusing on fermented soy, vegetables and grains with minimal meat is a big tick for the healthy Korean cuisine. It is also fun to make ssam at the table. I find it definitely makes Daniel eat slower. The last food is Daniel’s favorite street foods, Korean black pudding and veggie tempura.

Korean food1We went to this Korean restaurant in Insadong and had Deonjang braised pork ssam with spicy radish Kimchi and soybean soup, and a giant seafood-scallion pancake (even bigger than a plate, can you see?). Yum!
Korean food2These photos are taken from last year when we went to Busan for the weekend. From the top left, kelp noodle salad with pork, veggies and wasabi dressing, cold noodles, Korean style dumplings called Mandu, and raw beef tartar with raw egg york and nasi pear.

Korean food4Time for desserts? Koreans love frozen desserts such as shaved ice, ice creams, ice blended drinks and scoops of ice cream pressed between waffles in Summer (or all year around?). My favorite, Patbingsu, has sweetened tender red beans, fruits, cereals and syrup on shaved ice. Truly light and bright, the taste of summer! We also have a lot of green tea desserts, too.
Korean food3Lastly, some deadly drinks that Daniel and my cousins had. They drop a shot of whiskey or soju in a glass of beer to make this cocktail. I cannot imagine the taste >.< When you say “yes” to going out on Friday night or weekend, it means you are likely getting into these bad boys and maybe some silly karaoke session. Ah the last photo is a night view from Seoul Namsan tower, showing a small part of Seoul. Yes, it is a big busy city. Oh well..good memories.. I hope you enjoyed taking a look at the taste of Korea and feel free to ask me anything if you happen to go traveling there. I’m happy to help x

Posted in: Dining and Wining, South Korea, Travel

Chicken Risotto and Roasted Pumpkin Salad

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Roasted Pumpkin SalaIngredients

1 cup of green salad
1 cup of cooked pumpkin
a bunch of sage
1 tsp of coconut oil
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of goji berries
1 tsp of cacao nibs
1 tsp of buckwheat
1 tsp of maple syrup
1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
1 tsp of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Cook diced pumpkin with coconut oil, cumin and sage in the pan until tender. Combine with green salad and a dressing (maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, olive oil). Transfer to a serving plate and top with goji berries, cacao nibs and buckwheat. The recipe is totally flexible. Add any of your favorite ingredients or the ingredient you have on hand. For protein, I served with chicken risotto today, but boiled egg, grilled fish or prawns will also go well together.

Chicken RisottoIngredients

5 lovely chicken legs
1 cup of arborio rice
1 tsp of minced garlic
1/2 cup of finely chopped onion
1/2 cup of shiitaki mushrooms
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp of coconut oil
5 cups of water or stock
sage leaves
Himalayan salt and pepper to taste

Cook onion, garlic, mushrooms with coconut oil until softened. Add chicken to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat the chicken for 2 minutes each side. Take the chicken out and add the rice. Keep stirring until the rice is pale. Add water or stock and chicken to the rice and simmer for 20 minutes or until the stock is absorbed and the rice is cooked al dente. Stir frequently and add more stock a little at a time if you need. Remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan and season to taste.

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes, salads

Baked Green Tea Cheesecake

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It is Saint Patrick’s Day today. A lot of Irish people must be wearing shamrocks or green clothes and celebrating their national holiday with green foods and drinks around the world. I never knew about St Patrick’s Day until I came to Australia. I guess there is no big Irish community in Korea so I never heard about it back then. Anyways I’m definitely not Irish nor Christian, but wanted to make something green. Green foods don’t really sound appetizing though the first thing comes in my mind is mold? Then green desserts sound better to me. Mint, pistachio, green tea… So I decided to make baked green tea cheesecake. Maybe my oven was a little hot as you can see the cracks on top. Keep an eye on this baby while it’s in the oven so that you don’t get a giant crack like mine or it might get too brown on top. You can also add some fluffy whipped cream by CreamMachine on top based on your preference. Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Green Tea CheesecakeIngredients

1 tbsp of green tea powder
1 tbsp of kale powder
200g low-fat cream cheese at room temperature
1 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tbsp of self-raising flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of vanilla bean powder
1 tbsp of melted coconut oil
1 egg at room temperature

For crust
1/2 cup oats
1 tbsp of cacao powder
1/2 cup of dark chocolate buttons
5 dates
1 tbsp of desiccated coconut
a pinch of salt
water if needed

To make a crust, put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until you get a dough consistency. Add a bit of water if too dry. Pour the mixture into a spring-form tin and press evenly with the back of the spoon. Set in the fridge while making a filling. Gently beat cream cheese, egg, sugar and coconut oil in a mixing bowl. Then add green tea powder, flour, vanilla bean powder and baking powder and combine well with a spatula. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust. Bake in the water bath in the preheated oven (160) for 40-45 minutes until cooked. When the cake is done, take out of the oven and cool down in the tin. Refrigerate to set at least for an hour before serve.

Posted in: Baking, Dessert, My recipes