Vegetarian Curry ｜素菜咖哩

終於有機會嘗試煮咖哩，原因有幾：
1. 我喜歡用香料做菜 (除了中國莞茜)
2. 瓶子咖哩都很油膩，或者辣度不對味
3. 爸爸很喜歡咖哩，但因為高膽固醇所以要戒口，餐廳的傳統咖哩都是一片油浮在表面所以爸爸也怕了。
4. 前一天出糧，出了紅豆角，青豆角和秋葵(Okra)，就想起久遺了、美妙的“鋸”哩!

我的糧水

咖哩的好朋友：
- 米 (細長的印度米，賣飛佛；中東小米；中國小米 ；中國絲苗米；珍珠米...另外我也推介耐嚼的南美產物QUINOA)
有一次無意中看到COUSCOUS翻譯作“古斯古斯麵”，我以為那是品牌的名字...

- 麵包，因為它像海綿般吸了很多咖哩汁，跟小時候用餐包飲湯同一道理。
(PITA BREAD，TORTILLA...一片片的夾袋連餡料亦能包著吃，很方便!)

- 餅乾/米餅 (RYE BISCUIT，GARDEN SASAME CRACKER，RICE CAKE...)
香港是文化種族大熔爐，有少數族裔聚居的地方都不難找到賣材料雜貨的商店。(讓我做一點點資料搜集再分享）昨天去了灣仔活道的印度小店買香料，價格便宜，老闆還把咖哩葉送了給我 TVT 如果想方便省事一點可以再citysuper買齊所有香料，它的香料櫃很齊全，連Black Cardamom也有! 價格比一般在壟斷超市賣的更便宜，大概HKD20就買到一瓶50g的。我的Turmeric粉也是在citysuper買。

我把BBC Food Matt Tebbutt的食譜改了點點，
- 以Greek yogurt代替Crème fraîche
- 加了番茄和紫蘿蔔

材料：
2 湯匙    橄欖油
2 茶匙    黃芥菜籽 (我用了黑的)
2 茶匙    小茴香籽
1/2 茶匙 黃薑粉
2 隻        紅辣椒 切碎
2 隻        乾辣椒， 用水泡10-20分鐘至軟身，瀝乾，切碎
25片       咖哩葉
1 隻        大洋蔥 切粒 (CHUNK)
3 隻        番茄  切粒
2 條        紫蘿蔔  切片
8 條        秋葵  切粒
100g       酸奶 (Greek Yogurt)
220ml     蔬菜湯 (Vegetable Stock/ Chicken Stock)
鹽 和 黑胡椒

顧著拍下過程忘了收火降溫，Greek Yogurt的奶蛋白分離了...下次就談Greek Yogurt吧!

爸爸試味後認為咖哩味不夠而且有點辣，但是好吃的(爸的修養好...)，於是我這偵探性格驅使我尋找原因好讓我下一次成功。原因就是我沒有加咖哩粉；咖哩粉含有十多種香料而我只用了5種，咖哩葉有味道但不夠濃，而且一風乾就沒有用了，因為氣味會隨著濕度溜走，保鮮的話要放進冰箱。下一次爸爸說要加入雞肉，祝我好運!

*開始炒FENNEL SEEDS和MUSTARD SEENS時要小心，它們會想爆米花一樣，而且不要大口吸氣，那氣體是催淚彈!

正在努力畫print-friendly的食譜，請耐心等候 :)

Chocolate Meringue

Finally I am writing about non-breakfast baking, and this time I am going for a traditional french sweet snack - Meringue. A super easy yet impressive treat. I am not extremely sweet-toothed but to make great meringues you need a lot of sugar which means they have to be super sweet (to me they are.) My way to enjoy this sugar bombs are eating them with a pot of hot tea or add a piece of dark chocolate. I tried this recipe from allrecipes.com (Yes it is one of the top 5 online recipe sources of mine) and modified only the chocolate, one sweet advice: never reduce the amount of sugar.

Chocolate Meringue

3 Egg whites
1/8 Tspn Cream of Tartar
1/2 Tspn Vanilla Extract
2/3 Cup of White Sugar
1 Tbspn Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/3 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips (Instead of using semisweet chocolate chips I used dark chocolate blocks by crushing a bar of dark chocolate)

Preheat oven to 150 degree Celsius; makes around 36 meringues; preparation time: 10 minutes

1. Put eggwhites, cream of tartar and vanilla in a big bowl, beat until the mixture form soft peaks.

2. Slowly add sugar; beat until stiff peaks form and mixture becomes glossy.

3. Fold in cocoa and chocolate blocks. I set 36 pieces aside because I want to put one on top of each meringue before putting them into the oven.

4. Drop mixture with 2 big table spoons (if you are making bite-size meringues, use teaspoons) onto a baking sheet/ cloth. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

These are the chocolates I chose
- From supermarket: http://www.chocolatfrey.com/
- From baking shop: http://www.ghirardelli.com/
                               http://www.valrhona.com/accueil.aspx

And yes I never use milk chocolate; the bitterness completes the snack!

BEFORE

AFTER

Oh little brains..

Snack of the day - WALNUTS!

Great source of: Omega 3s, Fiber, Protein, Antioxidants, Magnesium & Phosphorus.
Energy: 185 calories in 1 oz. (Oh don't mind that, I bet you cannot JUST eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner right?)

A Little Twist:
Just toss them on a baking plate and place it inside a small oven for 5 minutes and enhance the taste.
If you have a sweet tooth, put some honey on; if you like it salty just sprinkle a little on top :)

I always find Chinese culture very very interesting and I love it, not all but I still respect the country's culture. In the eating culture, we have a saying that "any living thing with its back facing the sky is edible", it's like an all-you-can-eat statement. I was joking with my sister when we were younger, what about the old people with a crooked spine or those with a hunchback? Are the Chinese going to eat them? Oh dear...anyways, another interesting fact is that we believe food that looks similar to body parts, or eating the same body parts can improve or is good for the particular body part's condition. For example, if your tendons/legs are not doing well, you have to eat the ox's tendons or chicken feet, etc; my friend's grandma makes pig brain's soup for my friend whenever she needs to take her exam; we eat ox's heart or pig lungs for our hearts and of course, our lungs...but I have never heard of eating the intestine is indeed good for your intestines, I guess it is just a popular stinky snack!

Walnuts were not originated from China. Some believe these little brains were originated from the area around Germany where they call them wallnuss/welche nuss, some argue that they are from Anglo-Saxon word wealh hnutu meaning foreign or alien nuts.

This is how the fruits look like. Its fun to find out how the fruits of nuts look like and I couldn't help but wonder if they taste good or even better!

Source: http://forestry.sfasu.edu/faculty/jstovall/dendro//images/tree_photos/juglnigr/juglnigr_fruit1.jpg

There are unlimited things you can do with this nut, it can easily be found in any supermarket/market. It goes well with a lot of dishes and as snack itself! I will include them in the recipe after the next one.

Crazy for Capsicums

I have always wanted to write about capsicums or bell peppers; the first question that came into my mind was - What is the difference between the two? I got my answer here. A very interesting and short article indeed, so capsaicin was the answer! I did not know the word "pepper" indicates spiciness in Europe though..

I did not like pepper as much as I do now when I was little. Our bond grew stronger as I grow up, even better when I became a vegetarian. They come in vibrant colours and various shapes and sizes. The best thing is, you can always choose the size according to the size of the meal you have to prepare.

WHY ARE THEY GOOD?
-Easy to clean, to cut, simply to handle.
-Add colours to your dish!
-Taste good.
-Cripy & juicy!
-For health? Oh they are rich in Vitamin A,C and beta-carotene (strong pigment that is good for vision, immunity & overall health); like almost all vegetables, they are low in fat, cholesterol and calories. 

It goes very well (& never fail) with:
-Tomatoes (Both cherry tomatoes and regular ones)
-Onions & Garlics
To bring out their freshness, the seasonings I use are very simple - salt, pepper and herbs.

For herbs, you can use both fresh and dried ones, I am still growing the fresh ones at home so for the time being I am using this, manufactured by Cape Foods. 

4-in-1 Herbs - Parsley, Rosemary & Thyme

Supermarkets in Hong Kong import quite a lot of products from this company and they are pretty handy. I bought the cake decorations, you never know when a  4-in-1 can save your life ;)

Come back to the recipe, what you need is a frying pan, a small oven and fire. It would be a great dish for camping.

How to cook:
1. Clean the capsicums or bell peppers, remove the seeds. You can keep them, dry them first before planting them in the soil. I am going to try this out pretty soon!

2. Slice them into blocks or slices. I slice them really thin when I want them well cooked and become really tender and soft.
3. Chop garlics if you want a stronger taste; slice onions if you want to add sweetness to your dish. If you are greedy like me, add both. 

4. Turn on the heat (Medium), pour a little bit of oil on the frying pan. Add chopped garlic/sliced onions, stir fry them until you can see them turning golden yellow and smell them. Then add the capsicums/bell peppers. Stir a little and add a pinch of salt and pepper, season it according to your preference. I usually add half a teaspoon of sea salt for three bell peppers. Yes it taste like nothing to some people but try it first. It is all about personal preference. I add LOADS of herbs though, thyme is my favourite!
5. If you want it crispy then do not cook it more than 15 minutes; well cooked ones will take around 20-25 minutes, depends on how soft you want them to be. What I do is put them in an oven safe pan, grind some parmesan cheese on top, add some dried herbs and put it in the small oven for 15 minutes until the cheese are melted. 

Tiny Organic Capsicums from local weekend markets

Stir fry crispy ones!

Soft and tender, with cheese and tomato sauce

Yes for melted cheese!

Yes they are only this small!

Have a colourful Monday! Ciao!