Potato and Turnip Rösti

Rösti would be a fancier term for the humble potato pancake. I added a couple of turnips in mine, seasoned with only fresh black pepper and salt.

What I Want Now: Vegetarian Bánh Mí Sandwich

Vegetarian Bánh Mí Sandwich featuring a delectable mushroom pattie. I've also seen variants of this recipe with marinated and grilled tofu as your "meat."

Recipe and photo courtesy The Chubby Vegetarian (Wonder why there is egg in the recipe, then?!):

Parsi Vegetable Dhansak

Once upon a time, I was a Parsi - I have Persian blood, which would explain why everyone thinks the Parsis are a crazy bunch. However, religion  - like milk - stopped making sense to me over a decade ago and I am now proudly atheist.

However, my point is, we do have some lovely food! My personal favorite is was the Patra-ni-Machhi (fish fillets with a spicy pesto, steamed inside a banana leaf).

The most famous of the lot is probably Mutton Dhansak. Dhansak is essentially white rice caramelized to a red/brown colour; topped with a spicy lentil and meat curry.

Here's a vegetarian recipe for Dhansak, courtesy of My Diverse Kitchen.

What I Want Now: Falafels

Here's a raw version of the Middle eastern classic - Falafels! 

I am sooo having these tommorow. Going to the Farmers Market tommorow is just the excuse - There's a Falafels outlet just nearby to get my fix...Mmmm...

My Miso Soup

I had this for dinner last nite as I was eager to taste what Korean miso tastes and looks like - definitely a lot darker in color than the Japanese one - almost a brick or burnt red color. I wanted to stay true to the original recipe and make it just with miso paste and tofu, but I made the mistake of putting my tofu in the freezer and it wouldn't thaw fast enough for my post-work hunger. So I improvised with cabbage, baby corn and asparagus. I boiled the asparagus for 2-3 minutes, which did leave some of the stalks a bit chewy and sinewy - So, I'd recommend boiling them for an additional minute or so.

Ingredients:

• 1 large tablespoon of Korean miso
• Two baby corns, chop into bite size morsels
• A big handful of green cabbage, julienned
• A small handful of asparagus (stalks?)
• A small knob of ginger
• Sesame seeds to garnish

To make:

• Boil the cut asparagus for 3-5 minutes.
• Drain and plunge into ice water.
• Retain the water used to boil the asparagus.
• Pour some of it over the miso paste in a seperate bowl.
• Stir till the miso is dissolved and gives off a lovely brown color.
• Add that back to the asparagus water.
• Add the ginger, finely chopped, to the boiling water.
• Put this back on the gas and bring to a boil, then turn off the gas.
• In your serving bowl, add the cabbage, corn and asparagus at the bottom of the bowl.
• Pour over your miso-ginger water over the vegetables in the bowl.
• Garnish with sesame seeds on top.
• Serve immediately.

Note: I did not forget to mention salt. The miso is salty enough on its own. Plus, I dont use salt or sugar.

Time to make: 5-10 minutes, tops.

Tahini Time

So...I've been meaning to make Tahini for the last few days now but reaching home tired at 8.30 pm or later really zaps my culinary intentions. I already bought 1/2 pound of white unhulled sesame seeds (plus, poppy seeds, walnuts, and black salt) from Crawford market last weekend when I was showing someone around town - Gosh they are expensive!! So what I am going to do is use half the sesame seeds to make my dates+some seed bars. The other half I'll try my hand at making Tahini.

As far as dishes go, this one really is just too simple. Just two basic ingredients: sesame seeds and oil. However, as with all good things in life, no one seems to agree on the exact amounts of each of these ingredients. Proportions will vary widely the more you look it up on the net. To make tahini sauce, just add more water, lime and a garlic clove.

Here's a fairly decent recipe - However, I will be making my raw - so no roasting beforehand.