Sprouted Flavourful Spring Rolls with Asian Peanut Dipping Sauce and Asparagus & Green Beans with Black Sesame Dressing

Kitchen Play List: BBC Radio 2 2 Day Concert

A little something different...

A little something different....well yes..this meal definitely lived up to that. lol. On one of the blogs I follow these spring rolls were featured and they looked so lovely, fresh and delicious that we had to try them. And then we couldn't find the rice paper needed to make them until My Love came home with a packet last week and told me that it was my Mystery Ingredient Challenge item...fantastic. Our friend BD was here at the time and she witnessed my excitement upon receiving this gift...romance is not dead in this house..lol. I think she thought we were mad. lol.

Anyway...I printed off the recipe for the spring rolls and realised I didn't have a dipping sauce to go with them and soy sauce just wouldn't have been right with the filling. So I did a simple search for dipping sauces and the Asian Peanut dipping sauce was one of the first I looked at. It looked tasty and easy to whip up but was frustratingly posted by Anon...again! I felt that the meal would need something else to round it out a little and I knew that I would be craving something green so I turned to Hema Parekh's Japanese section of The Asian Vegan Kitchen 

Asparagus in Black Sesame Dressing just seemed to leap out at me as a good accompaniment to the spring rolls. It was simple to make, full of flavour and now I am beginning to find my asparagus love..it seemed perfect. 

Now it all looks beautiful on the plate and looks exactly as it should be compared to the photos I've worked from. So after all the chopping, filling, rolling, dressing and arranging we sat down to eat and was a little shocked. Admittedly this meal was out of my comfort zone and neither of us had tried 'raw' spring rolls before...but the first few mouthfuls were a little strange. I don't know what I was expecting from the spring rolls and in my mind I probably had the 'regular' cooked kind...

Firstly I will say that the filling was absolutely delicious and was fresh and a delight. The dipping sauce was excellent and wasn't too rich and the lime juice in it brought a whole different layer of flavour. My issue was with the actual rice paper rolls. I have no idea what I was expecting...accept from their cooked counterparts...but they were...well sticky and quite chewy. Not awful just very different from what I was expecting and it took some getting used to. Would I try them again?...Yes. I didn't hate them. It was just a shock. We made one and baked it in the oven for 5 minutes and although it was initially crispier, it still went chewy once you started to eat it. So I just felt it right to warn you about this. I've done a little research this morning to make sure that we made them correctly and nothing has come up to say we hadn't. There are many differing recipes for these rolls with differing fillings and dips but are all made the same way. So they are obviously meant to be sticky and chewy. lol 

The Asparagus in Black Sesame dressing was delicious and the only note I would say about this recipe is to make sure you really grind the seeds to dust otherwise you do get very 'crunchy' mouthfuls that leave you checking all your fillings, crowns and teeth. lol. 

So if I haven't put you off...lol...and I really hope I haven't. I just wished we had had the warning before we'd tried them. Here are the photos and recipes. Good luck and please let me know of your experiences with 'raw' fresh spring rolls or if you try these and your opinions...~R~ 

Sprouted Flavourful Spring Rolls  Makes approx 13 rolls
(Recipe from SweetSaltySpice.net )

Sprouted Flavourful Spring Rolls

 rice paper circles
white sesame seeds
16 mint leaves
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2/3 of cucumber, peeled, seeds removed and cut into matchsticks
2 pears, peeled, cored and cut into matchsticks
1 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice
bean sprouts...(SSS.net suggests Fenugreek but I didn't have them so used regular and they worked just fine)

Damp down a clean kitchen towel and lay it flat on the kitchen counter. 

Add the pear matchsticks and lime juice in a bowl and toss together. 

Fill a bowl with warm water.  Have all the fillings to one side and start a production line. 

Dip a rice paper into the warm water for 5 seconds and lay out on the kitchen towel. 

Sprinkle with sesame seeds. At the closest part to you lay a mint leaf, leaving a lip to be able to fold over the filling.

Add some of the carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, pear sticks and some sprouts. 

Fold the lip up and over the filling pile and roll up and then fold in each side and then continue to roll up until you have a tight little parcel. Then place on the serving dish. 

And repeat until the fillings are used up or you have the amount of rolls you require. Serve cold with dipping sauce.




Asian Peanut Dipping Sauce Makes about 1 cup
(Recipe post by ANON!)

Asian Peanut Dipping Sauce

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (I use Whole Earth Original Smooth)
1 garlic clove 
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp agave nectar or 1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/3 cup water
fresh ground black pepper


In a blender put all of the ingredients, blitz until smooth then pour into a serving bowls.


Asparagus & Greens Beans in Black Sesame Dressing 
(Recipe from The Asian Vegan Kitchen/Parekh)

Asparagus & Green Beans in Black Sesame Dressing

In Perakh's recipe book she says she has made this recipe using both aspargus and green beans separately with great success. So I decided to combine the two veggies for this meal. But the choice is yours ~R~

1 bunch of fresh asparagus
1 pkt of fresh green beans
4 tbsp black sesame seeds
3 tsp soy sauce (I use reduced salt soy sauce)
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp sugar (I used 1 tsp agave nectar)

Remove the woody ends from the asparagus and then chop them and the green beans into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Keeping the tips of the asparagus separate. In a medium sized pan bring water to a boil and then toss in the asparagus and green beans and simmer for 3 minutes. Then toss in the asparagus tips and cook for a further minute. Drain immediately and leave to cool down to room temperature. 

Toast the sesame seeds in a pan until fragrant but do not leave to burn! Then grind them into powder in a blender. Transfer to a bowl, add the soy sauce and sake and mix until a smooth paste is formed. 

Add the veggies to the bowl and stir until the paste coats them. Serve at room temperature. 

Enjoy folks! 
~R~
     

Eggplant/Aubergine In Tomato Gravy

Kitchen Play List: Adele ~ 21 Album

I have wanted to try this recipe for a long time and can't figure out why I haven't. No idea! lol. It is one of the recipes from the 'List' hanging in my workspace. It comes from the Indian section of Hema Parekh's fantastic The Asian Vegan Kitchen 

The sauce is very simple to make even with having to make the Garlic/Ginger paste. The hardest part is blitzing the tomatoes in the processor. Seriously, it is. lol. 

I have to admit though I did adapt the recipe quite a bit. In Perakh's recipe she asks you to heat oil and deep fry the aubergine and I don't do that. I'm not a fan of deep fried anything so I made my mind up to adapt the beginning. I simply sauteed the bite sized aubergines and added spring onions to the pan. Once they were cooked down and tender I added the coriander and sauted for a couple of minutes longer. The sauce is very spicy so I left out the cayenne too. I'll post the recipe as Perakh advises and then it's up to you which option you choose. 

Eggplant/Aubergine in Tomato Gravy

Eggplant/Aubergine in Tomato Gravy
(Recipe from The Asian Vegan Kitchen/Perakh)

Ginger/Garlic Paste
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece of ginger, walnut sized, peeled

Blend the garlic and ginger into a smooth paste, using a few drops of water. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge. Keeps for 1 week. 
 
Tomato Gravy
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1 1/4 lb/600g tomatoes, coarsely pureed
4 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup/120ml water
2 tsp  caster sugar
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp fenugreek powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cardamon powder
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the oil in a wok, then saute the cumin seeds and the ginger garlic paste

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, and the water. Add the sugar, coriander, fenugreek, cayenne, garam masala, pepper, cardamon and salt. Simmer for 5-7 minutes over a medium high heat, until the gravy thickens and the spices are thoroughly blended. 

Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container. Keeps for 1 week.  

Eggplant/Aubergine in Tomato Gravy

Vegetable oil for deep frying
5-6 small aubergines or 2 large, cut into bitesize pieces
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
salt to taste
1 1/2 cups/360ml Tomato Gravy
Finely chopped spring onions, for garnish (or 7 chopped and cooked with Aubs and 1 to garnish)

Heat the oil for deep frying and deep fry the aubergine until well browned. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen towel and sprinkle with the coriander, cayenne and salt. Set to one side.

In a saucepan, heat the Tomato Gravy. Stir in the eggplants until they are heated through. Remove from the heat and serve garnished with the spring onion. 

Parekh advises that any leftover gravy is great as a pasta sauce topped with fresh basil and parsley. And believe me there will be leftovers..lol..it makes a lot. 

NB: I made my Gravy and Paste a few days before and it keeps really well.

When arty shots go bad! lol. Ah well...it's all a learning curve.
Enjoy! 
~R~ 

North Indian Potato Curry

Kitchen Play List:  Groove Armada ~ I See You Baby 
                                     Bowes & Morley ~ Illogical
                                     Queen ~ You're My Best Friend
                                     Sammy Davis. Jr. ~ Too Close For Comfort
                                     Maroon 5 ~ Secret
                                     Uh Huh Her ~ Say So 

I am a little embarassed to admit this....lol...but I will. I made this dish on a Thursday evening for our evening meal but life had other plans for us so I stored it in one of my new super lock tight containers ( thanks to R&H ) and placed it in our fridge. Then the weekend happened and there it stayed. 

Monday afternoon after a busy day of paperwork I had a discussion with My Love about what we wanted to eat that night...I was reminded that the curry was still sat in the fridge. Yikes would it still be edible five nights later..I know that curry gets better with time but wasn't this pushing it?? lol. Apparently....not! It looked perfectly fine...the potatoes still looked fresh and coated in the sauce.

So we fired up the rice cooker and cooked ourselves some brown rice...and heated the curry up thoroughly in a skillet instead of the microwave. We threw in some frozen garden peas towards the end and we were set. 

The photo below is the serving bowl before we divided it up but I think you will agree, it looks good? It was...so tasty and the potatoes were lovely. We were very full as we hardly ever have potatoes and rice together...we try and keep to 1 cup of starch a day. Originally I was going to serve it on a savoy cabbage bed and I will next time. 


We loved this meal and it's one of the recipes from my list of 300 to try! lol. Another one to cross off.  The recipe is from Hema Parekh's great cookbook The Asian Vegan Kitchen 

North Indian Potato Curry

North Indian Potato Curry Serves 4
(Recipe from The Asian Vegan Kitchen/Parekh)

12-15 baby potatoes
2 tbsp veggie oil
1 med onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 green cardamon pods
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1/2" cube fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp veggie oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp fennel powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
3 med tomatoes, pureed
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
1 cup (240ml) water
fresh coriander leaves

Handful of frozen garden peas ( This is our addition to the recipe...)

Boil the potatoes in salted water leaving their skins on for 5-7 minutes. Peel the skins off and pierce with a fork in several places so that they will absorb the sauce.  OR  Steam the potatoes for 5-7 minutes and leave the skins on and pierce the potatoes. ( This is what I did ~R~) 

Heat the 2 tbsp of oil in a large skillet, then add the onion, garlic, and cardamon. Saute for 5-6 minutes, until the onions are soft. Remove from the heat with a slotted spoon and blend to a paste with the poppy seeds and ginger, using a food processor. 

Heat the 1 tbsp oil in the skillet and add the cumin seeds. Add the paste from step 2, and saute for 2-3 minutes over a medium heat. Add cayenne, fennel, and cumin  powder, and the tumeric. Stir to mix.

Add the tomatoes, sugar, and salt to taste. Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the part cooked potatoes and simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Enjoy....we sure did! lol

~R~
 

Malaysian Stir Fried Noodles with Veggies

Kitchen Play List:  Rolling Stones ~ Under My Thumb
                                    Ke$ha ~ Tik Tok
                                    Turtles ~ Happy Together
                                    Mr.Buble ~ I'm Your Man
                                    Rolling Stones ~ Gimme Shelter
                                    The Union ~ Easy Street
                                    Thunder ~ The Devil Made Me Do It

I have a vast library of cookbooks..of all kinds but mainly vegetarian and vegan now. So when I'm bought them as gifts I'm a very happy person. A few years ago my pals D & B bought me two vegan cookbooks that I had been coveting on Amazon.co.uk. They were Japanese Cooking Contemporary & Traditional by Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner and The Asian Vegan Kitchen by Hema Parekh.

Both really good cookbooks but always get overlooked when I'm flipping through cookbooks searching for inspiration. Until a few months ago when I sat down with both books and wrote out a list of recipes I wanted to try and then I stuck the list to one of my notice books in my workroom. It was pointed out to me that it would've been easier to write a list of the ones I didn't want to try! lol. But as a visual aid the list is better. So I committed myself to working through the list and on a Sunday evening I would cook something from the list. So I should be through the list by 2014! lol. Ah well.

Something came up Sunday evening to prevent me from cooking so our Sunday evening meal was cooked last night. I chose the recipe (honestly this was the only way we could choose) by closing my eyes and marking one of the listed recipes with a pen...and after we decided that Tofu Shake with Blueberries and Banana wasn't really an evening meal...we ended in the Malaysian section and this stir fry.

As stir frys often are, it was easy to make. Even taking into account the Daily Chilli Sambal you had to blitz up first. I was concerned at one point as it has white cabbage, leeks and beansprouts that it was going to be a very white stir fry...mine are usually full of colour... but I stuck with it. I would definitely use half the noodles advised next time as it seemed way too many. But that's just my personal preference. The taste was good and the veggie mix worked out just fine. I had to make one substitution though as it's almost impossible to get Mustard Greens here..so My Love suggested Pak Choi.

We really enjoyed it but next time I may add some Mange Tout or Sugar Snap Peas for a bit of colour.

Malaysian Stir Fried Noodles with Vegetables

Malaysian Stir Fried Noodles & Vegetables
(Recipe from The Asian Vegan Kitchen by Hema Parekh)

2 tbsp veggie oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 shallots, sliced
2 medium leeks, chopped
1 tbsp Daily Chilli Sambal, recipe follows
7 oz very firm Tofu, stripped
2 cups (90g) white cabbage, shredded
2 cups (200g) bean sprouts
2 cups (110g) mustard greens, shredded (I used Pak Choi)
1 med tomato, chopped
5 garlic stems, chopped (didn't put in)
3 fresh red chillies, sliced
1 tbsp tomato puree
14oz noodles, (I used Wholewheat Noodles)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
Handful fresh coriander leaves
Cherry tomatoes, to garnish
Cucumber, sliced diagonally, for garnish 

Heat the oil in a large wok/saucepan and saute the garlic, shallots, and leek briefly. Add the Daily Chilli Sambal and stir for 10 seconds over medium heat. 

Add the tofu, cabbage, bean sprouts, and mustard greens. Saute over high heat for 2-3 minutes

Add the tomato, garlic stems, chillies, and tomato puree and stir to mix.

Add the noodles, soy sauce, and pepper and stir until well mixed. 

Sprinkle with coriander leaves and remove from the heat. Transfer to a serving dish and serve garnished with tomato and cucumber. 

Daily Chilli Sambal

6 fresh red chillies, seeded
4 tbsp water
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Blend to a paste in a blender. Store in a sealed jar in the fridge until needed.


Enjoy ~Red~