Category Archives: Asian

Curried Brown Rice Salad

Indian Brown Rice Salad

Curried Brown Rice Salad
 
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Brown rice with chopped fresh raw veggies and an Indian inspired creamy dressing For a speedy week night dinner, cook the rice the previous day. This can easily be stretched to feel more mouths, depending on how much rice you add to the chopped veggies.
Author:
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 large stick of celery
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 medium capsicum
  • ½ cup baby frozen peas
  • ½ cup frozen corn
  • 12 green beans, steamed and sliced
  • 2 fat spring onions, sliced
  • ½ cup raisins or sultanas (optional)
  • 4-6 cups cooked brown rice, chilled or at room temperature
  • Garnishes: (optional): Fresh chopped coriander, coconut, toasted cashews, chopped chillies
  • Dressing:
  • 2 tsp tahini
  • 2 desert spoons avocado
  • ¾ cup soy milk or other milk of choice
  • 3 tablespoons vinegar, any variety
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
  • 1 tsp curry powder
Instructions
  1. Put the rice on to cook if you're not using precooked rice.
  2. Whisk together, or blend in processor the ingredients for the dressing.
  3. Finely chop all the vegetables and mix together in a large bowl.
  4. Once the rice is cooked, spread it out on a large tray to cool down, or place in fridge for 30-50 mins if you have the time.
  5. Dish up the rice in to individual bowls and top with the vegetables and dressing, and optional garnishes.
  6. Leftovers can be mixed together and put in the fridge for lunches the next day! 🙂

 

 

 

 

Sushi Brown Rice Salad

Sushi Brown RIce Salad

All the taste of a nori roll without the rolling!  Crunchy veg, marinated tofu, edamame beans and avocado, mixed with strips of nori, sesame seeds, dressed with a sushi seasoning and soy sauce.  If you love sushi you’ll love this.

Sushi Brown Rice Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Japanese
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 250 grams brown rice
  • 2 sticks celery, finely diced
  • 1 large cucumber, deseeded, finely diced
  • 1 red capsicum, finely diced
  • 2 carrots, finely diced
  • 1 cup blanched, podded edamame beans
  • 200g marinated Japanese flavour tofu, cut into small dice
  • nori seaweed sheets, cut into small squares or strips
  • 1 avocado, cubed
  • 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • sushi seasoning - vinegar, sugar, mirin blend (I use Obento brand, from the supermarket, or Asian supermarkets would stock a range)
  • soy sauce or tamari
  • radish - optional, finely diced
  • pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce - to serve as required
Instructions
  1. Whilst your rice is cooking, finely dice all the crunchy vegetables (and add whatever others you like) and put set aside. Blanch and pod your edamame beans, and dice the avocado. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry non stick pan, until golden brown.
  2. Once your rice is cooked, tip in to a large bowl and sprinkle generously with the sushi seasoning mix, stirring well to thoroughly incorporate. Taste and add more as required. I used about 8 tablespoons. Add tamari or soy sauce to taste. Once the rice is at room temperature, stir in as much of the vegetable mix as you like, portion out into your serving bowls and decorate the tops with the nori, avocado, edamame beans and sesame. Allow it to cool slightly
  3. Serve alongside pickled ginger, wasabi and extra tamari / soy sauce as desired.

Chinese Savoury Rice

I don’t know why but for years we called this plain old “Savoury Rice”.  No idea where we got that from but it’s not very descriptive so I’ve added “Chinese” so you get the idea.  This is a forgiving recipe in that it can be adapted to whatever veggies you have in the fridge so it’s always a bit different every time you make it.  It’s quite incredible how many veggies you can pack into this.  It used to be a great way of getting them into my kids when they were small and suspicious of new ones as they’re all chopped up quite fine so you don’t really know what they are. 🙂

Do add some toasted nuts if you  have them, they add a lovely crunch.  Other additions which work are some cubed tofu –  marinated preferably; or some toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

Tip: To cut down on the chopping time, if you’re planning on making this during week, dice some of the required vegetable every time you use it, and pop it in to a box in the fridge.  By the end of the week all your veggies will be ready.

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Chinese Savoury Rice
 
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Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 800g cooked brown rice. It works much better if you cook rice much earlier or even the day before and refrigerate so it's cold and dry before you begin.
  • Vegetables you use are completely up to you, you need about 1kg - 1.2kg prepared weight (i.e. diced small) for 4 people. It's really a good idea to include the onions, of any variety. Last time we used:
  • Broccolini - 100g
  • Carrot - 100g
  • Green beans - 100g
  • Cauliflower - 100g
  • Red capsicum - 150g
  • Zucchini - 150g
  • Celery - 100g
  • Mushrooms - 100g
  • Spring onions - 100g
  • Sweetcorn - 100g
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon grated / chopped fresh garlic
  • 40g toasted nuts - cashews / peanuts etc - optional
  • Peas - 100g
  • Sauce - mix together in a small jug:
  • 40 ml reduced salt soy sauce
  • 40 ml sweet chilli sauce
  • 10 ml chopped chillies
  • 20 ml unhulled (the dark one) tahini - has a roasted sesame flavour
  • 60 ml hot water
Instructions
  1. It's best to cook in 2 batches to not overcrowd the wok. That works out well also if you want to add more chilli or garlic etc for the adult portions.
  2. Heat a large wok, spray very lightly with oil or a dash of stock.
  3. When it's hot add your vegetables (half of them if you're doing this quantity)
  4. Stir around, place on the lid if you have one and steam the veg.
  5. Add the garlic and ginger and stir well and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Once your harder vegetables like carrots are tender add your rice, mix thoroughly, pour over half of the sauce / extra chilli etc if required. Heat through thoroughly then serve, garnished with coriander if liked and your toasted nuts if using.

 

Thai Curried Lentils

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Here is a really delicious, quick and easy curried lentils dish (particularly quick if you happen to have cooked lentils on hand – or use canned – you need about 3 cups cooked lentils).  Finding a good curry paste is essential for this, I used Ayam’s Thai Panang which doesn’t contain fish or shrimp – and 20g only contains 1.6g of fat.  This serves 6, or 4 really hungry adults. 🙂

Thai Curried Lentils
 
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Author:
Cuisine: Thai
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 large red capsicum
  • 250 grams green beans (unprepared weight)
  • 3 heaped teaspoons thai curry paste - about 20g
  • 2 lime leaves, scored
  • 280 grams dry regular green or brown lentils
  • 3 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • to serve: fresh chopped coriander, yogurt
  • 1 cup soy milk mixed with 1 tsp coconut essence
Instructions
  1. Put the lentils into a medium saucepan, cover with boiling water, bring to boil and simmer until just tender - about 20 minutes.
  2. Put your rice (we like long grain brown rice with this dish) on to cook.
  3. Chop the onion, dice or slice the capsicum, top and tail the green beans.
  4. Heat a large casserole or saucepan (which has a close fitting lid) on a medium heat.
  5. Add the vegetables, and once softening, reduce the heat, and stir in the curry paste, and stir for a few minutes until all incorporated. If you have to wait a while for your lentils you can just switch off the heat at this point, place on the lid and continue once your lentils / rice are ready.
  6. Add the lentils once they're ready, stock, lime leaves and lime juice.
  7. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
  8. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until your green beans are cooked to your liking, then stir in the soy/coconut mixture, and heat through gently.
  9. Serve over your rice and top with coriander leaves and yogurt.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 244 Fat: 1.28 Carbohydrates: 18.6 Sodium: 70 Fiber: 16 Protein: 15.8

 

 

Thai Vegetable Curry

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Sometimes you really fancy that creamy, fragrant, hot curry from the local take away.  But then you think about all that coconut milk and oil and how it goes solid in the fridge overnight (only saturated fat does that..) and it makes you feel kind of queasy?  Well now you can have your curry AND eat it!  There’s a sneaky alternative to coconut milk (even the low fat varieties are actually high in fat) and you can’t tell the difference!  This uses shop-bought curry paste (I used Ayam Thai Panang) so you can make it as hot as you like – or add a spoon or two of hot chilli sauce to just your portion if you’re catering for little ones too.  Mine (11 and 16) handled the amount in this just fine – it’s warming and spicy but not hot.

Thai Vegetable Curry
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Curry
Cuisine: Thai
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 large head broccoli
  • Same amount of cauliflower
  • 1 large red capsicum
  • 2 carrots
  • Handful green beans
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1 packet baby corn
  • 1 large zucchini
  • 2 sticks celery
  • SAUCE:
  • 3 cups soy milk (we use Vitasoy Milky Lite)
  • 2-3 teaspoons coconut essence (like you'd use for baking)
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Thai curry paste (there are lots now without fish sauce or shrimp paste)
  • 4 teaspoons coconut sugar
  • 4 teaspoons tamari
  • Juice of a large lime
  • 4 kafir lime leaves, cut through from centre to edge to release extra flavour
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Instructions
  1. Cut the vegetables into smallish pieces so they will all cook evenly.
  2. Steam them in a large steamer, in batches if necessary. Once just tender, tip them into a large casserole dish.
  3. Meanwhile put your rice on to cook.
  4. In a large bowl whisk together all the ingredients. Check your sauce for heat/ salt / sour / sweet balance and adjust to suit your tastebuds (or those of your guests) and pour over all the vegetables, bring to a heat gently until hot.
  5. Serve over rice with lime wedges and a sprinkle of freshly chopped coriander.

 

“Pad Thai”

There are inverted commas around the title as I’m not saying this is especially authentic, but given that most Pad Thai dishes from a Thai restaurant are very oily then that’s not such a bad thing.  This still has that sweet, sour and salty thing going on, and I’ve added more vegetables than you usually get in a Pad Thai (like none, usually!).  OK I know it’s white rice noodles which aren’t the healthiest thing in the world, but we see this is a “treat meal” so it’s not on weekly rotation! This is a crafty way of getting cabbage into children as they disappear into the noodles once they’re cooked.  I got most of the ingredient ideas from watching Marion Grasby cook it on her TV show, then I veganised it!  I like the classic version without chilli, but you can add hot sauce on the top at the end.  We like to garnish ours with fresh coriander leaves, toasted cashews rather than peanuts, and lime wedges.

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"Pad Thai"
 
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Recipe type: Noodles
Cuisine: Asian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 400g wide rice pad thai style noodles
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoon tamarind paste
  • 12 teaspoons coconut sugar
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
  • 1 pack marinated tofu cubes: sweet chili / thai / garlic flavour
  • 2 pink shallots
  • 1 small savoy cabbage
  • 1 red capsicum
  • 6 spring onions
  • 1 bag beansprouts
  • 2 limes
  • Sweet chilli sauce
  • Fresh coriander
  • Raw cashew nuts
Instructions
  1. Put the noodles in a large deep bowl and cover with very hot water (not boiling) and leave to stand.
  2. In a small bowl whisk together the water, tamarind paste, coconut sugar, tomato paste, lemon and lime juices and soy sauce. Taste it and adjust to your palate - it should be equally sour, salty and sweet.
  3. Finely slice the shallots, cabbage and capsicum, chop up the coriander and slice the limes into wedges. Toast the cashews.
  4. Put the tofu cubes into a sieve / colander and pour boiling water over to remove the excess oil from the marinade. Cut the pieces into 1cm cubes if too large.
  5. Heat your wok or very large frying pan and add the shallots, cabbage and capsicum. Once starting to wilt, drain the noodles and add to the wok and mix in well, immediately adding your sauce - you may not need all of it, keep some on reserve if you like to pour over once served up.
  6. Stir in the tofu, beansprouts and chopped spring onions.
  7. Once hot and thoroughly mixed (not too long as you need to preserve some crunch in the beansprouts), serve! Top with toasted nuts, freshly chopped coriander, and offer extra sauce / soy sauce / sweet chilli and a lime wedge on the side.

 

My Buddha Bowl

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Google “Buddha Bowl” and you will be inundated with versions of this.  Basically it’s a bowl of steamed veggies with brown rice or another grain like quinoa, with a sauce over the top.

I’ve already posted my son’s favourite dish, well this is my teenage daughter’s!  It’s the sauce that makes it of course, and this is such an easy weeknight dish you will be tempted to have it several times, just changing the veggies or grains, and adding tofu or tempeh etc.

My Buddha Bowl
 
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The sauce makes enough for 3-4 servings, I haven't given quantities for the rice or veggies so just prepare as much as you need.
Author:
Cuisine: Asian
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • Sauce ingredients:
  • 1 T cashew butter
  • 1 T tahini,
  • 2 T vegetarian oyster sauce or other Asian stir fry sauce
  • 1 T sweet chilli sauce
  • 3 T lemon and/or lime juice - either or both, mixed together (orange is also good!)
  • 2 T tamari
  • ½ cup soy milk
  • 1 T sweet soy sauce
Instructions
  1. Put your rice on to cook, or even easier, use packets of ready cooked brown rice which just need warming through! (you can put itin the steamer along with the veggies if you like)
  2. Whilst your rice is cooking, prepare and steam your desired vegetables – broccoli, carrot, capsicum, celery, mushrooms, baby corn etc, and top with a packet of ready marinated and cooked tofu cubes to heat through (if desired - this is optional) – sweet chilli / garlic variety.
  3. Blend all the sauce ingredients in a blender (we use the Magic Bullet for this) or a jug with an immersion/stick blender until very smooth and creamy. Taste the sauce and adjust a little if necessary - different people like it more salty / more sour / more sweet etc. Pour it into a saucepan and heat gently for a few minutes when your rice and veggies are almost ready.
  4. Divide the rice, veggies and tofu between your bowls and pour the sauce over the top. Also nice scattered with fresh chopped coriander / toasted sesame seeds / etc.