Lotus Roots with Garlic Shrimp and Sweet Pea Stir Fry

Dear: Food manias!

 

Watching Kylie Wong trip to China and especially her lotus roots treasure hunt was a big joy! It had made me gained more  appreciations of this earthy root vegetable. The prolong process of harvesting the lotus roots really gave me an insight how the work is behind the scene. Thanks to all  farmers hard work!

 For those who does not know, lotus roots grow in a muddy pond, inside the soil. The farmers normally use their bare feet to feel the bulbs, and once they felt it with their feet, they have to yank the roots out from the muddy soil. Not only its labor intensive, it could  really take along time to find a decent, fresh lotus bulb.

 

During my walk to old china town in Dundas and Broadview area, I found a Chinese grocery market that sold lotus roots. Filled with excitements, I decided to buy 2 bulbs to make a stir-fry.

Now...

Ever since I wrote this blog, I have committed to provide a healthy, artful meal that is 

easy to make, easy to your body, and easy to love.

So in this light, I created a recipe that I think have won over my stir fry favorite list. I hope this recipe will win you over too!

 

Ingredients:

• 2 bulbs of lotus roots, peeled and sliced thinly to quicken cooking time
• 400 Grams of peeled shrimp ( veined)
• A handful of sweet peas
• A handful of oyster mushroom ( you can use shitake or chanterelle)
• Half of red sweet pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 stalk of green onion
• Chicken bouillon or chicken broth
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1tsp of sesame  oil to enhance the earthiness of the lotus and mushroom ( you can always add more at the end if its not enough)
• Pinch of sugar for a sweet savoury taste of the shrimp
• 1tbsp of fish sauce or soy sauce ( choose light soy sauce with less sodium if you can)
• Splash of Chinese cooking wine

 Tips: Slicing the lotus before hand and soaking it in water with salt will allow the cooking process faster.

The “ execution”

 

1. Pre heat a wok or stir fry pan with the olive oil and sesame oil
2. When pan is hot, sautéed the garlic, mushroom and sweet peppers.
3. When mushroom has absorbed the flavor, stir in lotus roots and sweet peas
4. Cook until lotus roots change its colour to slightly translucent  from opaque
5. Add in the shrimps and sautéed until its cooked
6. Add in the Chinese cooking wine to give a depth to the dish
7. Add chicken stock and let it cook and simmered.
8. Sprinkle the dish with green onion.
9. Ready to serve for 3-4 servings with rice.

Have a savory meal! I hope you enjoy the  Lotus Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry as much as I enjoyed it!

 

Passion + Patience

*Gastrobutterfly*

A food to your soul.

Baked Banana Cereal Dessert with Dark Chocolate drizzle

Dear : The lovely readers…

 

Its been a while since I wrote any new recipes…

Few days ago I walked by kitchen stuff and got myself a blow torch.

I had always wanted blow torch since forever….It seems so versatile…

It comes handy in almost any dessert, not to add the rustic feel it gives, and the seductive smell of caramel!

Oh how I love them!So, I decided to make a very healthy dessert inspired by caramelized banana that is normally served with ice cream.

However instead of using ice cream, I am using skim vanilla yoghurt with bold dark chocolate drizzle to give the depth and oomph that is definitely addicting!

However I feel so dumb toward the “execution” I just realized that the torch did not come with the butane!!! I was so ready to whip the dessert that it almost made me cry. I thought well … this is just another challenge on getting good ideas to make it work. So for those who does not have blow torch…don’t worry this recipe works almighty fine!

 

Ingredients: ( 2 servings)

 

3 bananas ( you can slice it thinly to let it baked more evenly)

3 tsp sweet condensed milk

Oil spray

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

Drips of vanilla extract

5 tbsp of vanilla yoghurt  ( unsweeatened)

A cup of any left over cereal, crushed  to your preferred textured ( I used the oatmeal crisp that comes with almods, and crushed it coarsely with pinch of salt )

1 tbsp of nutela chocolate

1 block of dark chocolate ( Bakers)

4 tbsp of skim milk

 

“The execution”:

1. Put the sliced banana nicely on a tin foil
2. Drizzle  the banana with the  sweet condensed milk ( this will help to glue the cereal)
3. Coat the drizzled banana with the cereals
4. Spray  some oil lightly  to make it crispy
5. Bake for 10 minutes at 300F,
6. Mean while you are waiting, we are going to make a deep dark chocolate sauce with the  4tbsp of skim milk, nutella, and also the dark chocolate block. Let it melt on a  low temperature.  Ideally a double bath is a perfect way for melting  chocolates ( a glass bowl on top of a bowling pot) This will avoid the chocolate being burnt. Otherwise, you can always use regular pans but put a very low temperature ( I don’t suggest this).  Voila your chocolate sauce should be slightly bitter. You can always add sugar to sweeten the sauce to your palate.
7. Now another thing we should get ready for  is the yoghurt. I like to put a slightly acidic base to balance out the sweetness in the banana, as well as to give an awesome substitution for the fatty ice cream. Yoghurt is healthy for your tummy  and it taste yummy!so why not?

So mixed the 5tbsp of yoghurt with drips of vanilla extracts to enhance the aroma.

 

8. Take out and drizzle with brown sugar and put it back on slightly higher       temperature to make it caramelized ( this is where blow torch can come handy)
9. When everything is done, you can  start the fun part: composing  your plate. The yoghurt as the base,the banana, and then the chocolate sauce drizzle. You can almost add nuts such as hazelnut or almonds or fresh strawberries. Otherwise it would taste awesome already!

 

Happy eating, I hope you love it. By the way, you have fulfill 1.5 servings of bananas just eating this dessert! Not too mention the hearty good ingredients it contains!

 

 

Passion + Patience

Gastrobutterfly

a food to your soul.

Yum Yum Spinach Salad with Korean Grilled Chicken

Dear: all

So ... my friend and I had a conversation several day ago and he said: why dont i put nutritional value on my recipes since...i have been doing this for a while now ( I major in Food and Nutrition in Ryerson--> which makes people think I am a fussy nutrionist and picky eater ) 

 Well thats not true if thats since thats just a typical stereotypes about my folks.  

We : the nutrition students are just like normal dudes... me...in particular love food too much to give up some of the bad ones for a cup of celery sticks everyday.  hahhhaa... afterall quoting from 4 years of studying i learn that  MODERATION and VARIETY  are the keys, and there is no food that can make us Lesser of a person or a better person. Its just the overall diet that counts!

 So today I decided to make some delicious meal. I actually did not plan this meal at all : as always. I opened  my fridge and these were  the lists of  ingredients  that had potential in mind:

• thawed  chicken breast 
  
• baby spinach and cherry tomatoes-
  
• english cucumber
• some red onions

i decided to play around with them since Iam so stressed out with  exam. Cooking should be a coping channel for me.

VA Voommmmmmmmmmmm 1 hour later I feel sooooooo much better already. Odd but the feeling was like a life after all nite karaoke. lOL i loveeeeeee it.

Oh  just in case  you want to try this recipe:

I marinated the chicken in:

•  4 tbsp Wochestershire sauce
  
• 2tsp  brown sugar
  
• 1tbsp of soy sauce
  
• 1tsp of dijon mustard
•  2 cloves of garlic chopped
  
•  dash of paprika
  
•  dahs of pepper
  
•  dash of salt
  
•  sprinkle of olive oil to moisten the chicken

You can marinate this over night to let the chicken absorb all the goodness, or right before you cooking it. The trick is to layer the flavor. You can do this by coating the chicken with the marinate several times during cooking. This will give a nice shiny gloss and richer flavor to the chicken. Put the chicken in a rack where you can hold the dripping juice. Grilled it  at 350F for 25 minute ( keep an eye on your chicken )don't overcook it will taste like your winter tire. Make sure use the meat thermometer to reach  74 celcius internal temprature to know the chicken is done. 

Toss in some spinach and baby tomatoes also some english  cucumber in a plate. You can opt for the Chicken dripping as the dressing and garnish with squeeze of lemon juice, or you can simply make a dressing with ingredients we used before in the marinate, olive oil, some worchestershire sauce, a little salt and pepper. 

There you go...have a tailored meal the way you like it. As i mentioned before Moderation and Variety are the keys, so eat smart & choose wisely!

 Eat smart!

passion + patience

* Gastrobutterfly*

a food to your soul

Virgin Chicken Cookie

Hello helooo....

What a catchy title I bet you thought... Well i have my justification...I just made a very yummy baked chicken chive cake minutes ago..: 

----------------------"er what the hell is that?:----------------

Let me explain: i have a serious problem in finding good food names in English just because I like to come up with something self explanatory.There you go then,  I call my very first recipe on this blog MyVirginChicken Cookie

Due to several reasons:

1. It was chicken...

2. I shaped em like a baked one of you favorite choc chip cookie just imagine that instead of choco, it goes to a greener choice; the chive. 

3. Oh i get the "virgin" as a marker of my very first blog here. YEay!

Thought i would share my recipe with you & please please please i plead you, tell me if you like or hate it! i would love to do some recipe development too. 

Here it goes:

• 2 chicken breast boned , sliced thinly
  

marinated for 15-30 minutes with:

• a clove of garlic thinly diced
  
• chives ( as much as you like) i put a handful of chopped chives
• pinch of salt, pepper
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• pinch of wasabi ( be careful)

Batter: 3 egg whites beaten to incorporate air

1 cup of tapioca flour ( or as much needed to make the egg batter slightly creamy)

pinch of salt

Cooking:Preheat the oven at350 F, spray your baking sheet with a little oil .Mix the marinated chicken to the batter and form a little cookie dough shape on the baking sheet. Do not overcrowd them. Bake for 15 minutes. Drizzle with red papprika and Voila! 

good for 3-4 serving.