Chinese cabbage is one of my favourite vegetables. It’s not only delicious, it looks downright gorgeous when fried with carrots and peas.
The method is quite straightforward. First, fry garlic in oil, toss in the vegetables. Fry until soft. I normally use oyster sauce and a bit of sugar for seasoning this dish. In this instance I used seasoning powder Hao Chi. Add a dash of Chinese cooking wine and you’ll have this fragrant and nourishing vegetable dish.
Those of you who have been trekking in Nepal will be familiar with this dish. It’s tasty, easy to cook and highly nutritious. I know some of you pampered trekkers would be sick of dhal baat after a week of it. But always remember that it feeds the fiercest fighters in the world!
The main ingredient is of cause the humble cauliflower which is really cheap. A bunch of it that feeds the family should cost about $2. Cut out into small buds with a pair of scissors, chop up some carrots. If you have peas, use peas. I didn’t have them here, so I just slice up some green capsicum and we’re ready to go.
Fry garlic and mustard seeds till popping fragrant. Lower heat, then add turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Toss in the vegetables, stir fry till soft, add a teaspoon of salt and you’re done.
Not being a fan of ham or salami, I’m one of those who like an oriental twist to pizzas. Here is one of my many versions. This one uses spicy shrimp paste readily available at any supermarket in Singapore.
The first thing you do is of course open the can and spread out the shrimp paste on your pizza dough. I have yeast and sugar in this dough and had allowed it to ferment for a little over an hour.
Spread out the shrimp paste as you would spread mayonnaise on bread. This layer will give your pizza its oriental character – spicy and savoury.
The next thing you do is to sprinkle some sliced capsicum and grated cheese on top of the dough. It’s that simple. Pop it into the oven, 240 deg C for about 18 minutes.
And here you it – Chan’s oriental pizza. It has an interesting blend of flavours that will tantalise the taste buds of those who don’t fancy the bland and conventional pizzas.
