Braised Shiitake Mushroom With Gluten Balls

Another Vegan Dish from Woon Heng's blog. I think I am slowly turning to be a Vegan. This is Braised Shiitake Mushroom With Gluten Balls. So yummy good. The gluten balls are homemade since I have learned to make them.  No more store bought. 

Recipe link : Braised Shiitake Mushroom Gluten Balls

Vegan Fish Fingers

I am actually very surprised that there are so many vegan cafes sprouting out in Ipoh. Plant based dishes are trendy lately ,no longer those gluten made ones. Today, I am trying to make vegan Fish Fingers out of white oyster mushrooms. Learning so much from vegan websites around the round and I am glad that my hubby is quite receptive in trying out my vegan dishes. He ate 2 pieces of vegan fish fingers . He asked me " are there any bones?" I replied " yea, watch out for bones " He is truly a clown!

The texture is flaky like the real thing and the taste is flavourful with the nori powder giving the fish fingers the seabrine taste. Serve them with Japanese mayo dip ( add in chopped cucumber and mint leaves and a squeeze of lime juice) One word.. delicious!

Vegan Fish Fingers

300gm white oyster mushroom

1/2 cup AP Flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 nori powder

1tbsp lime juice

Corn flakes - finely ground for coating

1/4 cup olive oil for frying

Blitz oyster mushroom together with line juice till coarsely chopped up in a food processor. Add in the rest of ingredients and give it a quick blitz.

Take out and shape them into fishfingers size. Coat them with ground cornflakes . Freeze them for 30mins.

Take out and pan fry them in olive oil till golden brown. Serve with Japanese mayo (add in chopped cucumber and mint leaves and a squeeze of lime juice )

Note:

Can freeze them up to 3months. Straight from the freezer to the hot oil. Do not thaw them or microwave them. 

Enjoy!

 

Steamed Fish Thai Style

This is our favourite style of steaming fish. Thai style with lots of garlic, lemongrass, chilli, kaffir lime leaves, and most important ingredients the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and 

salt.  This dish is aromatic and refreshing. Just this steamed fish warrant extra bowls of rice for my hubby and me. Easy to prepare and a healthy version compared to fried fish.  Steam the fish without the aromatic mix. 5 mins before taking the fish out, pour the aromatic mix over the steamed fish. Close lid . After 5 mins, off heat and take out from steamer and served hot with steamed rice.

I like to cut the fish into few pieces then stuff in between the fillets with crushed lemongrass. 

Mix all the finely chopped aromatic together, add in sugar, fish sauce and lime juice

 Enjoy!

Fried Wheat Gluten Puffs

Making Chinese wheat gluten /Mian Jin again. This time, it is more fluffy and bouncy. I have them fried in oil to make fried gluten puffs.  Boiled them in salt water to remove excess oil and at the same time to allow the gluten puffs to absorb the salt water to give the bland gluten puffs added taste. Squeeze them dry and keep in container and store in the freezer for future cooking. 

I used 300 gm flour to 150gm water. Resting dough for 6 hours.Final result 18 pieces of fried gluten puffs. I like to make things from scratch. It is challenging and I love the washing off the starch part and holding that blob of gluten in my hand. So thrilling.

Boil them in salt water to remove

excess oil and add 

taste to the gluten fried  puffs

Pinch out small portions and

fried till golden brown, take

out and place on paper towel

to drain off excess oil

blob of glutten after

washing off the starch

from the dough

love that spongy look gluten

in clear water

Recipe for dough

(Final result after washing is 300 plus wheat glutten)

1kg all purpose flour 

500gm water

Combine AP flour with water, and knead till dough is smooth . Rest dough for 6 hrs. Wash and squeeze the dough in a basin until water is clear and you have a blob of glutten in your hand. It is ready for cooking.

Reunion Dinner - Just The Two of Us

Reunion dinner is all about families coming together, exchanging stories over great food and bonding with loved ones. This year has been tough for everyone. Though we are not able to have reunion dinner with our children this year, I still cooked a storm eventhough it is  just for the two of us.

'Poon Choi' is a dish made up of different layers of ingredients such as meat, seafood and vegetable in rich broth served in a basin or pot. I served ours in my favourite Japanese claypot. 

I have Braised Napa Cabbage in superior soup at the base of pot. Top up with a thin layer of

1. Pan Fried Salted Prawns

2. Braised Trotters with Mushrooms & Sea Cucumber

3. Oil Poached Chicken 

4. Stir Fried Broccoli with homemade Gluten balls and 'Fatt Choy'

5. Roast Pork Belly

Pan fried salted prawns

Home Roasted Pork Belly

Oil Poached Chicken

Two days work but worth all the efforts.

Happy Chinese New Year to all my loved ones and friends. Stay safe and stay healthy.

Chinese Wheat Gluten Balls

Yesterday I tried making some wheat gluten balls for a vegetarian dish that I am going to cook for our CNY Eve dinner. I used Sonia's recipe and it turned out great. So thought I will share here since it is a success. Easy to make and preservative free. Now I don't have to buy from the store. Can make them from home. 

I steamed them for a healthier version. After steaming, cooled them before storing. Can keep in the fridge or freeze for future cooking.

Final result of a 300gm flour recipe

I got 111gm, not too bad I guess

A ball of gluten goodness after washing

Wash the gluten ball till water is clear

and remove the whitish traces

of dough from the ball of gluten

Leave the dough to rest for 6 hours

before washing

Chinese Wheat Gluten Recipe click here

 

Best Homemade Pizza

This is by far the best pizza I have made for the husband. I used to make for the kids when they were young, tasted good too but not as good as the one above. So glad that I tried the crust recipe which takes less than 30mins to prepare. Light and soft crumb with crispy edges. Toppings can be anything we desire. I used the leftover of last night roast chicken with 'rempah marinade' . The tomato paste base, I cooked them using tin whole tomato, cooked till thicken s with dried oregano and pepper added. Cheddar cheese and mozzarella is a must. Added lots for a gooey texture. So good that this recipe is a keeper.

Added homegrown culantro salad on top of pizza when serving. The fragrance from the culantro gives extra oomph to the pizza. 

Culantro are homegrown

I prefer the mozzarella to be slightly

burnt 😝

Cheddar cheese added too

The leftover roasted chicken

makes delicious topping

Recipe for the crust

2.5 cups bread flour

1cup warm water

6gm instant yeast

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp sugar

1tsp salt

Mix all dry ingredients together till well combined. Add warm water to the flour mixture and knead till smooth. Leave to rest for 30mins. Knock down and roll out into 2round disc . Add tomato paste, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, toppings of your choice and finish off with another layer of  mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30mins till pizza is golden brown. 

Enjoy