Crispy vegetable dumplings

These dumplings were an accident that went amazingly well! I wanted to create a dumpling filling of walnuts and mushroom base, but, lacking the right ingredients and not being well at the moment (and unable to venture to the shops), I did what I could with what I had. And ooooohhhh my goodness, they are yummy!

The dumplings in this picture is not gluten free, but uses dumpling wonton wrappers (because…not well at the moment). If you would like to make your own dumpling case gluten free, see here.

Ingredients:

1 cup finely shredded wombok cabbage

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

3 spring onions, finely diced

2 mushrooms, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 Tablespoon tamari

1 Tablespoon mushroom “oyster” sauce

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes

 

Combine all ingredients and mix the flavours through. Place a spoonful of mixture on to dumpling wrapper and fold together in desired shape. Perfect for frying or steaming. * Served with Asian greens.

*We did have both steamed and deep fried to try. The steamed ones were just as tasty but stuck to my steamer so they were not in good shape when I peeled them off! The picture dumplings were deep fried in rice bran oil.

Mushroom & walnut San Choi Bow

Wow where have the months been going? Time seems to be passing so quickly at the moment (that, and I am currently working full time! :/) – and I do apologise for not blogging more regularly!

I have posted a recipe for San Choi Bow in the past but it was a lentil one and nowhere near as good I might say. I really think this recipe is perfect. It has the perfect balance of softness and crunch. It is rich and delicious with the fresh outer iceberg lettuce. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

1 cup finely diced walnuts

1 cup finely diced mushrooms

1 cup finely diced water chestnuts

1 iceberg lettuce

2 cups cooked quinoa (or rice, optional)

Sauce ingredients:

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup almond butter

1/4 cup tamari sauce

1 Tblspn brown rice syrup

dash chilli flakes

dash onion powder

dash smoked paprika

 

Saute mushrooms and after a few minutes, add in walnuts and water chestnuts. Blend all sauce ingredients together and stir through mushroom mix and allow to cook further for a few minutes.

Serve in fresh iceberg lettuce cups (the outer leaves are best) with quinoa or rice.

Enjoy!

Healthy peanut noodle salad

Healthy peanut noodle salad

SUCH a lovely, light healthy lunch. Or a main meal for dinner. Given that I have a love-hate relationship with lunchtimes, this one works well for me. It is quick, easy and healthy. And anything that has a peanuts/satay feel to it is a win for me. If you can’t do peanuts, you could always substitute in another nut butter and I’m sure it would be just as delicious.

There are so many substitute options to this salad it’s ridiculous so make it your own! You could make it with pasta noodles if you prefer or soba noodles. But here is what I did:

Ingredients:

Rice vermicelli noodles, soaked in boiling water and drained

Broccoli

Carrot, finely sliced

Celery, finely sliced

Cucumber, sliced using a peeler to make slithers

Spanish onion, finely sliced

cashews

Handfuls of chopped fresh mint, coriander and spring onions.

Toss the noodles, salad ingredients and herbs together with the following sauce:

*NB. The water content in the sauce is important to keep, as tossing the sauce through the noodles will prevent them from sticking together.

Peanut sauce:

1 spanish (purple/sweet) onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger (or ground)
3 T peanut butter (100% peanuts. You could easily just process peanuts until smooth as an alternative)
2 T  soy sauce
2 T rice bran or coconut oil
1 tsp rice syrup
1 tsp sesame oil
juice of 1 lime

Whisk together.

World’s best stir fry

Stir fry’s seem so – easy – that they shouldn’t need a recipe. But I was so excited by this I just had to share. We are staying at my parent’s place and decided to whip up a stir fry for tea. Mum powered on and chopped up

kale

bok choy

asparagus

celery

broccoli

cauliflower

yellow, green and red capsicum

carrot

onion

corn

snow peas

and garlic!

For the sauce we mixed rice malt syrup, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame oil. Personally I would add fresh ginger and chilli. Mum is definitely not friends with ginger however!

Add to that some almonds! It’s one of those times when you know your  body is loving you for it 🙂