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Posts tagged vegetarian

Somy’s Vegetarian & Vegan Pho recipe (Vietnamese rice noodle soup)

Apr06
2012 22 Comments Written by chefshane

It's been a busy but great couple of days.
Last night Moet Hennessy had a pumping function for a hundred beautiful cognac ladies and about 12 well out-numbered men.
I almost felt sorry for the blokes.
Live stations of spring rolls, liquid nitrogen ice cream, Pad Thai, sushi and Vietnamese salads were attacked like a honey-covered man outside a bee hive, and all went well.

We also have some fantastic guests in-house at leisure right now too, so we've been doing tours of the herb garden and making some really fun stuff off the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner for various people.
It pretty much means no idle hands, and no time for the Devil's Work. Probably the only downside ;-)

Somy and Srini from Singapore asked me about a Vegetarian Pho yesterday, and it sort of threw me, as so much of the flavour in Pho comes from beef or chicken.
At lunch time today they asked if they could actually order one, so we went out the back and came up with a recipe.
I started off hoping to not disappoint them too badly, but three of us got together and made the following version and it was so good that it will definitely be going on the menu.
Deep Pho taste, nice colour, and 100% vegetarian & vegan.
And because it's a rice noodle soup, it's also gluten free. And fat free. And low GI.

Without further ado, here's the Vegan Pho recipe.

If you have any questions, feedback or alternative versions, please give me a holler in the comments section.

Chef Shane’s Vegetarian and Vegan Pho Recipe

Vegetarian Pho Stock
1000 Water
45 Ginger root (unpeeled)
30 Garlic cloves, peeled, whole
30 Shallots
60 Onion, brown or white, thick strips
40 Carrot strips (or trimmings)
30 Celery
2ea.Asian Cardamom pods
1pc  Cinnamon stick
3ea Cloves
2ea. Star Anise
Salt to taste
½ tsp MSG (optional) or Knorr Vegetable stock (Optional)

  1. Using a wire rack, char the ginger, garlic, shallots, cardamom, cinnamon and onion over an open gas flame until lightly blackened and aromatic
  2. Put into cold water with carrot, celery and remaining ingredients
  3. Simmer for 15 minutes to infuse the flavour (Up to 1 hour very gentle simmer)
  4. Strain the stock and adjust seasoning. Keep some onion, cardamom, anise and the shallots to serve with the soup)

Garnish
Pho Noodles (Fresh, or alternatively dry, soaked in warm water)
Broccoli
Cauliflower (Lightly charred for taste & colour over a wire rack on an open flame)
Baby corn (fresh)
Bean sprouts (Cleaned and Blanched briefly in boiling water)
Chopped sawtooth coriander
Bean sprouts
Basil

Side serve
Ngo Gai leaf (Fresh sawtooth coriander)
Fresh Local Vietnamese or Thai basil
Chilli (Large Mild or Small & spicy to your personal taste)
Bean sprouts
Lime wedge

NOTES:

  • When heating the noodles, heat in boiling water, but drain well so they don’t make the soup watery.
  • Don't be scared to get some black colour on the onions, shallots, garlic and cauliflower. It will give colour and depth of flavour to the soup. Don't burn though, or it will become bitter. Light charring is good – patches of black, but not solid ;-)

Posted in Gluten free, Healthy & Low fat, Vege & Vegan, Vietnam - Tagged , , , , , , ,

Thai eggplant and basil leaf nam prik dip

Jul12
2010 4 Comments Written by chefshane

What is a nam prik?

In Thailand most meals consist of a number of mixed dishes with different tastes, ingredients, cooking styles and textures.
For example, a meal may have a soup, a salad, a curry, a grilled item, greens, dips and vegetables, something fried, and rice.

A popular course is nam prik, which is often served crudite style, with raw and boiled vegetables to eat with it.
There are many types of nam priks, just as there are many kinds of dips.
It literally means 'chilli water', but more often than not it's a sumptuous puree whose taste can range from subtle through to extremely pungent and volatile.

Other famous nam priks include nam prik gapi made from fermented shrimp paste, and nam prik ong made with pork and tomato like a Thai style Bolognaise

This is a simple vegan & vegetarian recipe using two common and inexpensive Thai veggies.
Thai eggplants are known here as "Maekua", and the most common two are the ones I'm focusing on.
They tend to have a slightly bitter taste compared to their purple counterparts in the West, and you'll often see them floating around a Thai curry, or sat next to a redolent bowl of nam prik, boiled, soft and wrinkled.

The first one is the pea eggplant. (Maekua puong)
They grow on trees – bushes actually, unlike money,and they're the size and shape of green garden peas.

The second is the apple eggplant, or white Thai eggplant (Maekua praow).
These are a little bit smaller than a golf ball and they also get quartered and simmered in Thai coconut curries a lot.

This is a vegetarian dip!
At last. A South-east Asian recipe without pork in it! A North Thai recipe without pork is like a South Thai recipe without chicken or seafood :-)
This is a cheap tasty dip and a nam prik that's well worth making, kind words from an unashamedly omnivorous chef like me.
It has a great balance of flavours, enhanced by the sweet basil stir-fried in at the end.

Nam Prik ingredients

  • Thai pea eggplant (maekua puong) 1/2 cup / 80 grams
  • Thai apple eggplant (Maekua praow) 5 each / 80 grams
  • Garlic, fresh cloves (first batch) 4 each
  • Chilli, fresh green Thai 4 each (or more – up to your taste)
  • Garlic, fresh cloves (second batch) 10 each
  • Salt – to taste.
  • Fresh sweet basil leaves (Bai horapa) 1 cup

Method

  1. Boil the eggplants whole until they're soft and fully cooked. They won't look very appetising, and you'll wonder if you've cooked them too much. Don't worry. They'll be fine. See picture of the nasty looking things below for instant relief. They're going to taste awesome. Trust me.
  2. Crush first batch of garlic and chillies in mortar and pestle
  3. Add cooked, drained eggplants. (Remove stalks from the larger eggplants)
  4. Crush until eggplants are mashed up and soft
  5. Heat a little oil in a wok or frying pan
  6. Fry the second batch of garlic
  7. When garlic is golden and smelling great, add the crushed eggplant dip and stir-fry it
  8. Season to taste with salt.
  9. Throw in the fresh picked basil leaves. Stirfry 2 minutes more.
  10. Serve the nam prik with a mix of raw and cooked vegetables to eat with it, or with sticky rice.

    *Great veg choices include carrot, boiled broccoli, boiled cauli, morning glory, bamboo, raw cabbage, fried tofu, green beans, boiled okra and boiled baby corn

See the soft-boiled yukky looking eggplants? They'll taste exquisite.
Pick the stalks off the big ones at this point. 

Mash the eggplants.
Stirfry the rest of the garlic, add the eggplant mash and then add freshly picked and washed sweet basil to the nam prik

Here's the finished 'nam prik maekua'.
I love this recipe, but I'm also into babaganoush, moussaka, grilled eggplant, and eggplant parmigiana, as well as the plentiful Middle Eastern eggplant salads.
What's your favourite eggplant recipe?

Posted in Gluten free, Healthy & Low fat, Northern Thai, Thailand, Vege & Vegan - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stir-fried sweet bamboo recipe

Jun25
2010 Leave a Comment Written by chefshane

There are four types of bamboo commonly used for cooking around these parts, and this one's called 'Nomai waan', or 'sweet bamboo'
Most of the bamboo we are used to in the West has a very yellow tinge, and a woody flavour – normally out of a can or vacuum pack. This variety has a really nice taste – mild, sweet and excellent all by itself.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young bamboo shoots are the edible bit used in any bamboo recipe.
You could try and gnaw on the old stuff below, but people would tease you and call you a "Panda".
It DOES have culinary uses though, when it gets older.
The heavy wood cylinders or 'pockets' are used to cook food inside, giving flavour and retaining moisture. the outside gets charred and smoky, flavouring and steaming the food inside which retains its moisture and infuses the flavour trapped inside.
Sticky rice gets cooked inside, and another great bamboo recipe is fish wrapped in turmeric leaves, packed into bamboo, and barbequed. That one is going on my menu at some point – it's just delicious.

This next pic is the thin young shoot of bamboo.
Good ones are hard to find, because the tip is below the earth, or mulch covering. 
Digging around like a truffle dog can help – and experienced harvesters know how and where to look.

On these skinny young ones, only the lower half of each segment is edible – the top half normally woody.
They are not as meaty as the plump, larger 'nomai wan' shoots. 
The idea for skinny ones like this is to peel the bamboo and use the tender bamboo from the lower part of each segment and then discard the woody top parts.

Next step is easy for this variety of sweet bamboo. 
No curries, spring roll fillings or salads are necessary to mask the overpowering flavour, because it is subtle and delicious.
Just peel until no skin is left.

Bamboo recipe

 
  1. Boil until soft, in plain water. This should take around 40 minutes.
  2. Cool, then shred finely.
  3. Heat a wok or frying pan.
  4. Stir-fry in a small amount of oil, with a little salt.
  5. Add a little water (2 dsp. only), and stir-fry a minute or two.
  6. Serve with a little shredded cilantro chopped through.Enjoy, served with steamed white sticky rice. Here's a recipe for cooking sticky rice with 6 simple steps
Posted in Healthy & Low fat, Northern Thai, Quick & easy, Thailand, Vege & Vegan - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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