Indian-Spiced Green Beans 印度香料长豆

When these green beans are cooked down to tender, almost soft, with the spices, they are just so delicious. The ingredients in this recipe are almost similar to Indian Spicy Chickpeas.


Indian-Style Green Beans 印度香料长豆
Ingredients: green bean sliced, 4-5 shallots sliced, 2-3 garlic minced, 1-2tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp turmeric, butter, salt, 1tbsp oil, freshly ground black pepper, sprinkle of red chili pepper flakes

Directions: Add butter and 1tbsp oil to a frying pan, add in minced garlic, shallots saute till fragrant. Add in green beans and saute till green beans and onions are slightly tender/onions caramelized. Add the spices. Salt to taste. Cook for about 10 mins in low-heat pan (note: if too dry, add some water). Add in some freshly ground black pepper and red chili pepper flakes, mix well.





Really good with steamed rice!

Tag: indian spices, green beans

Garlic Herb Butter Crostini 蒜泥香草牛油烤面包

A hearty bowl of minestrone or pumpkin soup would pair so well with these garlic crostini (means "little toasts" in Italian).


You do not need a full-range oven for this. A small little toaster oven will do the job. And even a better deal - you can use "old" baguette (bread) and inject new life into that dry loaf of mass.


Garlic-Herb Butter Crostini - 蒜泥香草牛油烤面包
Ingredients: Baguette, thinly sliced; unsalted butter; garlic, finely minced; dried herbs (basil, oregano), salt

Directions: Preheat toaster oven at "Bake". When the butter is slightly soft (at room temperature), add in the minced garlic and herbs, then mix them thoroughly into the butter. Spread the garlic-herb butter on one side of the bread slice, then place the bread slices (slathered side up) onto a tray laid with Al foil. Set oven to "Toast" and toast for about 12-15minutes till the bread becomes toasted, golden brown.





Enjoy.

Tag: soup, garlic crostini

Flavoring Vegetarian Soups + Bitter Melon Soup 苦瓜蛋花汤

It is not the (huge) amount of oil you have to use. You also don't have to depend on excessively-rich, heavy hot sauces. How to flavor vegetarian soups?

Cooking Tips:
- Add tomatoes (I cannot emphasize enough);
- Then there is also a pre-fry of the onions (till slightly charred and caramelized) to deepen the flavor intensity.
- It is sometimes not everything-all-at-once-in-the-pot! The sequence of adding the ingredients is important as well. Refer to this post: Since celery, and carrots cook longer than Napa cabbage - those were added first so that more time is allowed for developing flavors with the aromatics (onions, ginger, garlic) before the Napa cabbage is added. To zoom into details, you should add the "white" bottom stems of the Napa cabbage first (since those take longer to cook), then the leaves.

This Bitter Melon Egg Drop Soup 苦瓜蛋花汤 is another example of using tomatoes and using a pre-fry step.



Bitter food is good for us, and helps to speed up our metabolism. Green vegetables such as broccoli, and spinach can also be classified as bitter good. Well, broccoli and spinach do not taste bitter to me. Bitter melon might be the ultimate!

I have cooked bitter melon soup many times and bitter melon soup (egg-drop version) quite frequently.

This time, the base of this Bitter Melon Soup 苦瓜蛋花汤 starts with ikan billis (dried boiled anchovies), some onions, ginger, and tomatoes. In a soup pot, aromatize them in a little oil. When the onions turn translucent, then add water (or stock) to constitute the soup. Allow it to come to a boil for about 10 minutes (for flavors and aromatics to infuse), then turn down heat, add in bitter melon and continue to let it simmer till the bitter melon is cooked (no more than 30 minutes). Before serving, gently stir in whisked egg to create silky egg-strands. Turn off the heat. Sea salt and ground white pepper to taste. Garnish generously with finely chopped green onions and cilantro.



Tag: bitter melon, soup

An Escape to Food on Facebook