Meatless Monday Potluck Lunch Party - Japanese Food

What did we bring to our #MeatlessMonday potluck party this time?

Here we go!

Vegetarian sashimi.
They are made of konyaku, I was amazed how close the texture and taste to real sashimi.


Vegetarian yakitori including mock beef and mock sausages.


Tangy cold noodles salad. Glass noodles and shredded vegetables in sesame oil & vinegars.
Very refreshing!


Vegetarian pork chop - again, really close to the real deal. I was completely shocked.

To go with the pork chop cutlet, I made this.

Vegetable Japanese curry.
It went really well with the vegetarian pork chop.
I generally have no access to mock meat, so I try to make do without.
The curry has carrot, potatoes, baby corn, broccoli, and mushrooms. Very colorful!
I used my favourite S&B Japanese curry cubes.
Oh, actually I can't take any credits for this. My wonderful helper did it, I simply gave her instructions ;)


Soft tofu with vegetarian "meat floss"


Soy sauce konyaku noodles with mock shrimps.


Cold spinach side dish.
Blanched spinach with soy sauce, black vinegar, manuka honey, sesame oil.


Beansprouts spicy side dish.
Blanched beansprouts, spicy 7 spice powder, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper.

And the star of the show...

Toblerone Cheesecake!
Cream cheese & cream & melted toblerone on chocolate crust, topped with shaved toblerone.
There is no way it is no

Who says meatless means not good (or must be healthy?)?
Ahem!

We're having a break next week because Mid Autumn Festival Holiday.

'Til next time~!

Cutest Farmer Ever at Produce Green Foundation Hong Kong

We had an awesome experience visiting Produce Green Foundation last weekend. The place is beautiful, full of wild flowers, fresh produce, gorgeous butterflies everywhere, and did you notice that goat in the background?


First, we learnt how to plant lettuce. Missy taught us this awesome "Miss Hong Kong" pose, the most optimum pose to work the field. It was hilarious...

And here's the cutest farmer ever...

Clearly, following instructions isn't his thang :D

Voted most vain farmer ever...

...of course it's SC.

After that, we learnt how to make recycled paper.

Our paper has holes here and there, but SC did it. It's pretty easy and cool. I'll make something out of the paper he made.

We brought our own lunch. We all brought different things and shared the food.

Most popular item, fastest to finish... those yellow fish siu mais.
Nothing tasted yummier after farming.

Some of our colleagues are really hard core.

They brought camping gas stove and made instant noodles, fried eggs... amazing!

After lunch, we learnt how to make organic whole wheat bread.

Baby M did a good job stirring the empty bowl. Heheeheh


SC posing with someone else' bread ^_^'
The most vain pretend bread maker ever...

While waiting for our bread to be baked, we had a tour around the place.

Beautiful swiss chard...

Gorgeous tomatoes.


We had no idea broccoli looks like this...


And those slimey green veggie that we hate has such lovely purple flowers...


Or how beautiful radicchio is...


And I wouldn't mind being given a bouquet of fennel on Valentine's day... how pretty!


We also learnt about natural fertilizers and methods to drive away nasty pests.


And finally, our bread's ready to be devoured. Yum yum. Unexpectedly decent!


We had lots of fun!

Some tips:
- They don't sell food/drink, so bring your own - bring lots of drinks
- You can't spray mosquito repellent there. Spray prior to entering the place, or use stickers
- Wear light colored long sleeve tees and long pants and comfy shoes
- Wear hat and sunglasses on sunny days
- Other than that, enjoy!

For more info and how to go there, visit Produce Green Foundation's website.

Ultra Easy Side Dish - Zucchini with Truffle Paste

Made this as the side dish of our KFC dinner ;)
Super easy, and what's not good with truffle paste (poor me obviously can't afford to buy fresh truffle)?

Recipe 
- 1 or 2 zucchini, cut into 1cm thick chunks
- 1 tbsp butter, a touch of oil, salt, truffle paste
Heat up frying pan, melt butter and a touch of oil, add zucchini chunks, brown them a bit, season with salt, transfer to plate, toss with about 1-2 tsp truffle sauce.

Yum! Perfect for a quick weekday dindin.

Zucchini Lasagna with Bistik Flavors - Low Carb Recipe

Urgh. Low carb, low carb, low carb.
I am not loving it, until a good friend of mine, the evangelist of low-carb diet, Miss ChicMcMuffin showed me  this low carb lasagna recipe.

Oh my! I had to try it!

Too add my own twist, aka. making it work with ingredients I have in my kitchen, I made it with bistik (Indonesian sweet savory) flavors .

Recipe (I made a small portion to try out, only good for 1-2 persons on diet max)
- 1 zucchini, cut into slices about 5mm thick
- 1 cup of minced meat (I used lean pork, the cheapest option here. You can use others)
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 2 shallot, sliced
- 1 tomato, diced
- butter, light soy sauce, Indonesian sweet soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, nutmeg, pepper
- 1 tsp corn starch dissolved in a bit of water
- grated cheeses (I used cheddar, which was on sale ^_^. An addition of mozzarella would be perfect)

Preheat oven to 200C.

Saute garlic and shallot with a bit of butter (or olive oil) until fragrant. Add mince meat. Add diced tomatoes, season with sauces until you achieve the perfect balance of savory sweet tangy, add hot water to create more sauce. Thicken with corn starch mix, set aside.

In a vessel, add a bit of the meat sauce, add zucchini slices, top with meat sauce and grated cheese, add a layer zucchini again, and so on. The top one should be meat + cheese. Cover with foil and bake until bubbly (check after 15 mins? I checked mine too often - wasting my time a bit ^_^'), and continue to bake uncovered until the cheese and meat on top gets golden.


I like this low carb. But oh my... so high in fat and others! T_T

Who cares? It's YUM!

Pickled Vegetables

I fell in love with SC's grandma's pickled vegetables when I visited Guang Zhou during the Chinese New Year. We asked for her recipe and decided to make some at home. These aren't as good as hers...but pretty close.


We were greedy, so we chose lots of different vegetables to pickle :)


We just used the inner part of the mustard greens, and boiled them for a bit. The rest of the veggies didn't need boiling. I think we can get away with not boiling them, but I just followed SC's mom and granny's instructions. These are drained after boiling to be joined by the other veggies.


All the veggies were mixed in the wok, we scattered some sea salt on them and let them be for about an hour. The salt helps draw the water from the veggies so they'll absorb the pickling liquid better.


After an hour, we squeezed the veggies dry. Lots of water came out!


Placed the veggies in a pot, ready for pickling.


During the salting time, you could prepare the pickling liquid. We started with about a cup of vinegar and a cup of sugar...continue adding sugar and vinegar bit by bit until you achieve the perfect balance of sweet and sour. Once done, let cool. Once cooled, pour the pickling liquid into the pot with veggies and let them pickle away. They'd taste fantastic the next day. I love them chilled in the fridge.


In Guang Zhou, we had these with almost any dish...or even eat them as snack.
I gotta make more soon!

Hong Kong Farmers Market - Crossroads Foundation - Tuen Mun - Part 1

A farmers market in Hong Kong? Really? Seriously?
Uh huh!
Here are some pictures from that super fun day.

Produce, glorious produce <3



Lovely people.




So cute!


Teeny tiny melon! I bought this :)


I bought dry and fresh rosella too!


My favorite veggie, tong ho!




Colorful chillies. So pretty!


Handmade noodles.


Next time we should bring a portable hotpot.


My two boys had so much fun there.


There's a lovely cafe and a charming shop selling arts and crafts.
Part 2 photos coming up, stay tuned :)

To find out more about Crossroads foundation, check out their website.