My Serendipitous Notes {October 18, 2009}

I've been catching up on my food blog reading this past week as well as working on my blog posts. I just wonder how people do that with so many great blogs on the web. And even wonder if I could post what I've made every week. The strange thing is I'm not even working. I think I have to slow down on my blogging. :)

Green Tea Daifuku



This is the same daifuku recipe I made last week only this time, I coated it with green tea powder. It definitely has a bitter and grassy taste at first bite, but mellow and slightly sweet at the end. If only I have a large wooden mortar and pestle I would have probably pounded my own cooked sweet rice until it turns to a sticky dough. I think this is what my late-father would actually do. And instead of serving each daifuku on a piece of avocado leaf, I used the ashitaba leaves (photo above) as a base. You can actually eat them together or separately. I’m still also perfecting the art of shaping daifuku.

A few people already asked me if I'm selling them. Unfortunately, I'm not selling them at the moment.

Healthy Vegetarian Fried Eggplant



If you’re short on time, you can cook this eggplant dish for a quick lunch or dinner. Sometimes ground pork is added. I skipped deep-frying the eggplant and proceed adding them to the wok. This recipe is from Mary (@keeplearningkeepsmiling) who has a lot of easy Asian recipes on her site.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Pancakes

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

These are one of the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted. I make these at least once a month. I did substitute a few ingredients. Coconut oil for the canola oil, whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour, yogurt for the butter milk and muscovado sugar for the brown sugar. This recipe is from Dawn at Rouxbe Online Cooking School.

Turmeric Chips



One of the best ways to use turmeric is to slice them thinly and deep-fry them. Eric Gower shared this idea on his blog The Breakaway Cook. The turmeric chips taste really good. Working with turmeric could be worst than working with beets. So, wear your ugliest clothes when working with turmeric. Remember to use gloves too if you don’t want to stain you hands and even nails for too long.

Dhall and Veggie Curry



I used some of my turmeric on this dish by Kristy (@mylittlespace). Mine looks different as I don’t have any yellow lentils except for the red ones. I don’t have even had the mustard seeds but I will make this dish again. I know Kristy, they look completely different.:) You can also try a another type of Daal by Stacey (@nutritionasnatureintended) which is simple and easy to make.

I also soaked my red lentils. You will notice that when you drain the red lentils after soaking and keep in the fridge for a day or two, the red lentils will start sprouting. If you want them to sprout completely, you will have to leave them at room temperature. I did some sprouts a few months a go. You can check my posts on More Fantastic Sprouts and Mung Bean Sprouts.

Prawns Baked in Herbed Salt

These prawns by Rachel (@tokyoterrace) are just wonderful. You preserve the flavor of the prawns by cooking it this way. You can also do this with whole fish but the salt mixture is mixed with the foamy egg whites which acts as a paste. This seals in the whole fish while they're baking in the oven. I just didn't have the chance to take a photo but you can check Rachel's site for more wonderful photos and recipes.

Have a great weekend.