Vegetarian Thursday: Stir-Fried Celery and Tofu

If you have been following my blog, you must have seen countless stir-fries with tofu hehehe yup cos it's the easiest and it's very versatile. I usually just see what I have in my fridge to be incorporated with firm white tofu (taufu korn in Cantonese) which can be kept  for about 3 days in a container soaked in salted water with a daily change of salted water.

This time round, I have celery and some leftover carrots so this is it... very easy peasy but I've taken great pain to weigh out the ingredients haha.

Stir-Fried Celery and Tofu

2 pieces firm tofu
3 ribs (about 250g) celery
50g carrots
80g oyster mushroom
1 clove garlic, slice thinly

Salt, to taste
A dash of white ground pepper
2 tsp water
2 tsp Chinese cooking wine, Hsiao Tsing (optional)

To prepare the celery, use a peeler to remove the fibrous bit. Then slice them thinly diagonally. I would also use the leafy tops as they can be eaten, why waste? As for the carrot, remove the skin. Sliced into half. Then slice thinly diagonally.

For the tofu, slice horizontally once so you'll get 2 pieces of tofu. Then slice into 4 squares. So each tofu, you'll get 8 pieces of squares. Dab the moist tofu with paper towel to dry them up. In a non-stick pan, add a little oil and pan fry the tofu pieces into light golden brown. Dish up and set aside.

Add a little more oil in the same pan but if your non-stick pan is small, do change into a wok or larger pan for stir-frying. Fry the mushrooms till they're caramalised, otherwise I find the mushroom emit a kind of weird smell. Dish up and set aside together with the tofu.

Add a little oil in the same pan. Put in the garlic and saute till light brown. Quickly add in the celery and carrot slices. Keep stirring. Drizzle in the water and let them cook for about 2 minutes. Return the tofu and mushrooms to the pan. Stir to mix them up well but be gentle. Season with salt and white pepper.

Lastly, drizzle in the Chinese cooking wine and stir for another 2 minutes. Dish up and serve with rice.

Check out my other similar tofu stir-fries:
Stir Fry Tofu and French Beans

Stir-Fried Tofu, Zucchini and Mushroom

Mixed Vegetables and Tofu Stir Fry

Stir Fry Tofu and Mushrooms

Stir-Fried Preserved Radish with Tofu and Vegetables

Vegetarian Thursday: Tofu With Mushrooms

We're observing vegetarian once a week and Thursday is the day. So I'll see if on the days I'm around to cook I can jot down what I've cooked to share out here. We're not on strict vegetarian basis, just basically no meat, that's it! So if you're not taking garlic and onion, by all means omit them.

I've made this tofu dish when BoiBoi was around as he loves eating tofu. He would be happy with just lightly steamed soft tofu drizzled with shallots oil and dark soy sauce. So this time round, to add more zest to the usual minced meat topping, I've made a medley of mushrooms topping. Easy peasy by just gathering all sorts of fresh mushrooms of your choice and stir fry them with some sauces. Serve by placing the mushrooms on top of steamed tofu... tadaaaa... yes it was just that simple.

Tofu With Mushrooms
(Serves 4 - 6)

Combination of fresh mushrooms:
60g enoki mushroom
60g shiitake mushroom
90g oyster mushroom

2 blocks Japanese silken tofu
3 cloves garlic, sliced/chopped
2 stalks spring onions, sliced into 4 cm length
2 Tbsp oil

Sauce (mix together):
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
Dash of ground white pepper
1 tsp corn flour (optional for a lightly thickened sauce, I did not use this as I prefer no starch in my sauces but it will look nice on the dish when served)

1 - 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine (Hsiao Tsing), optional

Heat a pan and add in the oil. Stir in all the mushrooms. Let the mushrooms sit a while in the pan so that they'll caramalised before stirring. Once they're browned thoroughly, add in the garlic and stir. As the garlic turned fragrant, stir the sauce ingredients before pouring into the pan.

Let it come to a boil, taste and adjust accordingly as my tasted is more on the low salt side :p

Add in the spring onions and Chinese cooking wine. Turn off the fire. Pour on top of lightly steamed tofu (you can do this in the microwave if you do not have a steamer. Sometimes I just place the tofu on a heatproof plate and put on top of the cooked rice in the rice cooker under keep warm mode.). Serve hot with rice.

Black Quinoa with Grilled Vegetables

This is the second recipe featured in BSC's reTALE magazine. I was told this Ceres Organics Black Quinoa (pronounced as "keen-wah") which was new in O Gourmet then would be a good option to try on for a recipe. They would love to have these healthy grains to be introduced as many Malaysians may not know what to do with them.

I've taken the white ones in salads and was quite excited to try the black ones out. These highly nutritious grains are light and nutty in flavour, works well in salads and soups. I've read in one of Martha Stewarts magazines that it could be used in replace of breakfast cereals by just cooking the black quinoa, drain and then let it cool. Pour milk over them together with fresh fruits and nuts!

For this recipe, I've actually tested with vegetables roasted in the oven but theyvegetables turned a bit mushy and doesn't look quite appealing. In the end, I grilled the vegetables on a grill pan and they vegetables looked and tasted far better :D

Since I've used some nuts and seeds, I decided to drizzle some extra Vom Fass pumpkin seed oil to enhance the already nutty flavour and some sweetish sour balsamic vinegar to balance things up.

Black Quinoa with Grilled Vegetables
Serves 4 as side dish

1 cup Ceres Organics Black Quinoa
100g asparagus, remove the woody ends
100g eggplant, sliced lengthwise about 0.5cm thick
100g cherry tomatoes, halved
50g red capsicum, remove the core and sliced into quarters lengthwise
50g yellow capsicum, remove the core and sliced into quarters lengthwise
1 tbsp Vom Fass Madonia - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and grounded black pepper to taste
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp hazelnuts, roasted and crushed

Dressing:
2-3 tbsp Vom Fass Basil Olive Oil
2 tsp Vom Fass Aceto Balsamico di Modena Riserva Quality
Salt and grounded black pepper to taste

Vom Fass Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil and Aceto Balsamico di Modena Maletti Riserva Speciale for drizzling


1. Cook Ceres Organics black quinoa according to package instructions.

2. Heat up grill pan. Place all vegetables in a large bowl and drizzle in Vom Fass Madonia - Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt and grounded black pepper. Toss evenly. Arrange the vegetables in the hot grill pan and grill them until cooked before turning over. Do not keep turning the vegetables around as it may not leave nice grill marks on them.

3. Remove cooked vegetables onto a plate and let them cool a little before slicing them into bite-sized pieces.

4. In a small bowl, mix in all the ingredients for the dressing with a small whisk or fork. Taste to adjust the seasonings.

5. In a large bowl, toss the cooked black quinoa, grilled vegetables and dressing together before placing them in a serving bowl.

6. Garnish with crushed hazelnut and pumpkin seeds before drizzle lightly with Vom Fass Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil and a few drops of Vom fass Aceto Balsamico di Modena Maletti Riserva Speciale.

In this series:
Life is Colourful
Chilli Angel Hair Pasta With Prawns, Scallop, Tomatoes & Basil
Hazelnut & Chocolate Chips Cupcakes

Stir Fry Tofu and French Beans

A lot of times I tend to stock up on longer lasting items in the fridge to prevent trips to the wet market. Items like cabbages, french beans, baby corn, fresh mushrooms, carrots, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes and squashes generally could last better. Green leafy vegetables does not last long as they turn yellow fairly quickly even after cling wrapped followed by another layer of newspaper. Lettuces could last a little longer though and I found out that storing vegetables in the plastic clear boxes that you buy salad leaves like butterhead lettuces, frisse, romaine lettuce etc could actually last longer in the fridge. Do give it a try!

So here's another stir fry with similar ingredients hahaha... well this time it has pan fried firm tofu squares, french beans, snow peas and baby corn. Pre-fry firm tofu squares and set aside. Heat up some oil and stir in chopped garlic. Wait till fragrant before adding in the french beans and baby corn. Next, stir in the tofu and a little water with a couple dashes of oyster sauce and some white pepper. Let it cook for a couple of minutes before adding the snow peas as these cook very quickly. Dish up and serve with rice.

Stir-Fried Tofu, Zucchini and Mushroom

This dish has a rather unconventional ingredients for a Chinese style stir fry as it has zucchini in it LOL. I was trying to clear half of each of the green and yellow zucchini after making the Beef and Guinness Stew and so this was how this dish came about. Surprisingly this stir fry turned out very well with the zucchini oozing it's natural sweetness and I loved those charred bits on them plus the crunch on each bite of the zucchini slices.

Stir-Fried Tofu, Zucchini and Mushroom

1/2 of a medium sized green zucchini, cut lengthwise before slicing into about 1/2 to 1 cm thickness
1/2 of a medium sized yellow zucchini, sliced as above
1 piece firm tofu, cut into thin squares
2 stalks of eryngii mushrooms, sliced into rings
1 clove of chopped garlic
Salt and black pepper to taste

1. Pan fry the tofu pieces with a little oil until golden brown and set aside.

2. Add a little oil (you don't need a lot for this one) into the same pan/wok and fry the garlic until fragrant. Stir in the zucchini slices. If you wish to have some charred bits, just leave them untouched for a couple of minutes before stirring.

3. Stir in the mushroom and tofu next. Sprinkle some water all over, be careful with the amount as the zucchini would expel some liquid whilst cooking. Season with salt (about 1/2 to 1 tsp) and black pepper (amount depends on your taste). Stir to mix and taste. Quickly dish up and serve with rice.

Mixed Vegetables and Tofu Stir Fry

First my PC acted up and now the modem... so I'm without internet at the moment. I will post up the Lompat Tikam recipe later on since there were requests for it. Here's a simple recipe (well not really a recipe since there isn't any measurements :p) while I sulk waiting for magic to happen.

This is another version of stir fry of whatever vegetables I found in my fridge. If you follow my blog, I tend to do this a lot, well to clear up whatever I have plus this let me to be creative once in a while heh.

I just needed a little bit of everything and they really do bulk up when put together. This time round, I have a little of cabbage, a stick of celery, a small segment of carrot, a few pieces of oyster mushrooms and half a piece of firm tofu. Sliced up the cabbage, celery and carrot.

Cut tofu into slim sticks and pan fry them with a little oil. Remove from pan when all sides are browned and set aside. Add a little oil if there isn't enough of it. Once it's hot, stir in chopped garlic. When it's fragrant, put the carrot and cabbage in. Sprinkle some water all over so that they both can soften a little. Add in the celery, mushrooms and tofu. Stir and season with salt and black pepper. Dish up and serve with steamed rice.



So this is another one of my easy stir fry dish that contains lots of fibre and some protein.

Review: Restoran Chat Masala (Vegetarian)

Phewwww... am so glad the PC is finally fixed. I so missed out reading all my fave blogs! Okie, let's roll...

Let's do some back logs. We visited Restoran Chat Masala back in January, the day before Ponggal festival and what a day to pick to drive through Brickfields *roll eyes* 45 minutes crawled from the police station to front of Chat Masala! Actually we wanted to check out another place further down but the just-after-lunch-hour-cum-Friday-cum-Ponggal jam was just really bad and we were both getting hungry! Law abiding Capt'n Hook couldn't even bothered to get a proper parking lot :p he just joined the shoppers and park by the road side. There's a massive sprucing up in Brickfields but seriously it's not helping with the parking and traffic woes here :( What a pity as the transformation was really colourful.

Anyway back to the restaurant... whilst Capt'n Hook went to park his car, I went to the restaurant to grab a place as it was jammed pack since it's a Friday where a lot of Indians go on vegetarian diet. I joined a lady who was finishing up her lunch. I managed to browsed at the dishes available at the heated server right up front and I couldn't believe they are all vegetarian dishes heh. I even checked with the staff twice kekeke but it's not helping when he kept saying it's Chicken Varuval, Mutton Curry etc! These vegetarian dishes are cooked using mock meat made of soy products, hence they do look and at times tasted like real meat.

We have a very simple lunch of vegetarian chicken varuval. Very spot on except the "chicken" was boneless :p



Capt'n Hook had a tosai that is crispy on the sides. It was served with dhal and tomato chutney.

 

I had a chapati which was served with dhal and "chicken" curry. Too bad the chapati was pre-made, hence it's not a fluffy as I would like one. The dhal and curry are commendable though.



We both loved the fresh cow's milk masala tea! It's creamy but yet light and not overly sweet, just nice with the right hint of spices.



Seems like Chat Masala is popular with their afternoon snacks but they weren't available yet when we left the place. Capt'n Hook did pack some Indian sweetmeats back and he told me they were good and not sickly sweet unlike the usual sweetmeats. Anyway I do noticed that I do not need to ask for "kurang manis" (less sweet) these days after the rise on sugar price, was it just me?

I can't verify for sure if Chat Masala uses onions and garlic in their cooking but if you're looking for an Indian restaurant that do not uses onions nor garlic, do check out Gopala Vegetarian Restaurant which is located a short distance away long Jalan Thambipillai. Gopala serves not only Indian style food but a rather Malaysianised menu where the satay is really good.


Restoran Chat Masala
259G Jalan Tun Sambanthan
Brickfields
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2260 3244

Stir Fry Tofu and Mushrooms

Oppsie daisie... sorry for yet another stir fry dish with similar ingredients :p

The home PC decided to act up and we're now waiting for the spare part to arrive. Hopefully by end of this week it will get sorted out. In the meantime, I'm using Capt'n Hook's Macbook and the thing is all my photos are in the PC, my back up hard disk cannot be read by the Macbook grrrr... I only have some stir fry dishes uploaded in my flickr album, so bear with me ok.

This post is dedicated to "quick and easy" Celine (Life, Love and Me) since this is another easy peasy dish but can look great to even serve to guests. Super healthy cos I only have this dish with brown rice as it has protein and fibre altogether in one dish.

This dish comprises of firm tofu, assorted mushrooms (you can use all sorts of fresh mushrooms) and carrots for colour; served on a bed of blanched dou miao (pea shoots). Just need to shallow fry firm tofu that has been sliced into squares and set aside when golden brown. In the meantime, quickly blanch some pea shoots, drain and place them on the serving plate.

Using the same pan on medium heat, make sure the amount of oil is just enough for your serving size. First stir in some sliced garlic. When it's fragrant, add in the sliced carrots and stir. Next stir in mushrooms and fried tofu. Pour in a little water, a few dashes of oyster sauce and a tiny dash of dark soy sauce which you can omit. I've used it just for some colour. Season with some white pepper. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Simmer for a few minutes or till liquid is dried up (you can add cornstarch solution to thicken). Serve this over the blanched pea shoots.

Yummy or what?

Mushroom, Carrot & Capsicum Stir Fry

I loved the colour of how this dish turned out, it's so vibrant and pretty... makes the dish looked appetising. I've used eryngii mushrooms, carrots and yellow capsicum (bell pepper). If I've added some red and green capsicum, my dish would have looked lovelier!

Very very simple, just heat a little oil and add in some chopped or thinly sliced garlic. Once fragrant, stir in sliced carrots. Pour in a little water to soften the carrots, omit this if you like your carrots to be crunchy. Cook for a couple of minutes. Next mix in the mushrooms and capsicum. Seasoned with salt and black pepper. Dish up and serve with steamed rice.

Review: Tean's Gourmet Vegetarian Curry Paste

Remember my last review on Tean's Gourmet Curry Chicken Paste? Since it was so favourable, I moved on and tried the Sambal Tumis sauce but I did not put up a post since the photo didn't turn up looking delicious :p The sambal tumis made really good stir-fry of the 4 Heavenly Kings of petai, four angle beans, long beans and brinjals! A short cut way instead of using the mortar and pestle to pound away the spices.

I've also tried the Vegetarian Curry Paste. Just like curry chicken, it's so so easy. Just prepare the vegetables you liked, in my case I have carrots, long beans, cabbage, brinjals and tofu puffs. Then just followed the steps printed on the packet and voila... a pot of vegetable curry in less than 20 minutes (including the washing and chopping but excluding the soaking time :D)!



However, I didn't quite like the taste of this curry as I find the spices too strong to my liking but Capt'n Hook liked it though. I guess no harm in trying as you may liked it as one man's meat is another man's poison.

Stir-Fried Ginger Kai Lan

Had enough of the festive dishes? Time to have loads of greens then...

Baby Kai Lan is one of my favourite vegetables. I usually blanch them but another way is to stir fry them. Most times I uses garlic and oyster sauce but this time I remembered how my mother does it. She uses ginger and Chinese cooking wine or DOM and sometimes brandy too.

My version is very simple, I just cut old ginger into thin strips and fry them in oil till brown and crispy before adding baby kai lan. Keep stirring and sprinkle a little water to help with the cooking process if necessary. Add some salt to taste. When it's cooked, I poured in a couple tablespoons of Stone's Ginger Wine. Give it a stir before dishing up. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Stir-Fried Preserved Radish with Tofu and Vegetables

Another dish of my childhood memory is this simple stir-fried french beans with tofu and strips of preserved radish (sweet choy po)! For my version, I've added some leftover cabbage and coloured it with some carrots.

I've washed the sweet preserved radish and soak them in water for about 20 minutes before cutting them into strips. Then, I sliced up firm tofu into squares and pan fried both sides in a little oil until browned. Remove and set aside.

Fry up some chopped garlic (can be omitted if you're strict vegetarian) in some oil till fragrant before tossing in the preserved radish and stir. Add in some water, cover wok with a lid and simmer for about 10 mins on low heat or until water almost dry up. This will soften the radish a little but yet retain a little crunch, otherwise your jaw is going get tired from the amount of chewing needed :p

Add in french beans, carrots and cabbage. Stir and add in some oyster sauce and pepper to taste plus a teeny pinch of sugar to bring out the flavour. Only add salt if necessary as the oyster sauce is salty already. Put in the tofu and gently stir till well mixed. Dish up and serve with rice.

Eggless Carrot Cake

Thank you for all your wonderful wishes on our 6th blog anniversary. We're very happy to celebrate this milestone indeed for all the exciting things that have came our way this year. Hopefully the coming year will be fun filled but yet informative as well.

I'm very happy to announce that I've received lots of great ideas for this year's Merdeka Open House. Just give me a little time to pick out a few suggestions and set it up as a poll. Perhaps I might just throw in something for the person whose suggestion got picked :D Hang on there!!! In the meantime, here's something healthy to drool over.



I've made this cake upon the request from my colleague who is a vegetarian. She can't take eggs but dairy is fine with her. It's my first time using this recipe that I've jotted down in my notebook. This is a very moist and dense cake, tastewise it was not too bad but you might want to stick to 150g of sugar as 120g might be a bit bland for most of you. A bit of tweaking is necessary as I find 35 - 40 minutes is not enough to cook through the cake. This cake is still damp in the centre, I reckon another 10 - 15 minutes will correct that. This recipe need another try in my kitchen.

Eggless Carrot Cake

(A)
200g soft flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I've also added 1/2 mixed spice)

(B)
1/2 cup low fat milk
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tbsp lemon juice

150g mixed nuts (I've used walnut and almonds)
140g brown sugar (I've cut down to 120g)
1/4 cup corn oil
200g carrots, peeled and grated

1. Grease 10 x 25 cm rectangular baking pan and line base with grease paper (my pan was 8"x8").

2. Sift (A) together into a bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix together (B). Whip in sugar and oil. Add in carrots and nuts.

4. Mix in flour mixture with wooden spoon. Spatula works for me too.

5. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven 180C for 35 - 40 minutes. For my oven, I would need another 10 - 15 minutes so this will depends on the kinks of your oven.

Vegetarian Fare

Since tomorrow is Wesak Day, some of us might observe a vegetarian fare for the day. We're not as lucky as our PM to have Gordon Ramsay to cook for us on such occasion. So, here's a compilation of vegetarian ideas, recipes and places you can go for some hearty vegetarian food.

For pure vegetarian dishes that do not contain onions, garlic, egg and dairy products, there are Braised Dao Gan (a type of layered beancurd skin), Stir-Fried Kei Chi Mix Vegetables (just sub the oyster sauce with the vegetarian kind), and Stir-Fried Snowpeas and Eryngii Mushrooms (just remove garlic and wine from the recipe). My many versions of Tzai Choy that I normally cooked on the first day of Chinese New Year.



Simple one dish noodles like this fried bee hoon will keep your hunger pangs at bay. Did you know you can cook pak gor meen or Shanghai nian gao into this delicious noodle dish? Have you tried olives leaves? If not, try this Vegetarian Olive Leaves Fried Rice.

No time to cook? No worries, just chuck these yummy Veaty Bites' Pandan "Chicken" Style into your oven. There's a plain version which some cooking need to be done. They're very versatile where you can practically use this in your curry, soup, rendang or how about a tangy sweet and sour style?



Dong Zhi is coming soon and if you're a lover of karn shui tzung/kee chang (Alkaline Glutinous Rice Dumpling), Kawan manufactures a nice frozen mini dumplings. I hope Kawan still makes them today! Kawan also manufacture really good chapati that is great to go with their instant vegetable curry or dhall curry (but do check the label as it might contain garlic and onions).

One of my favourite restaurant that serves really good Chinese vegetarian cuisine is Yin Futt Kuok. Loved their assam fish and yam ring basket here! Check out Gopala Vegetarian Restaurant for some decent Indian and Malaysian vegetarian cuisine. Food in this restaurant are not cooked with onions or garlic as they practice Hare Krishna belief here.



For some new age vegetarian cuisine, one must check out Kechara Oasis. This restaurant has a nice ambiance apart from having a healthy alternative vegetarian food.

When I'm hankering for vegetarian hawker food, I would naturally head to Blue Boy Food Centre. Ah Wah can certainly fry up a mean plate of char kuey teow and it's fantastic to be able to savour yong tau foo, assam laksa, curry laksa, mixed rice, burger and chee cheung fun at this hawker centre.



Trouble finding vegetarian cakes, buns, onigiri and western cuisine? Try MG's Cafe or Tian Yian Cafe & Restaurant!

If you can partake onions, garlic, egg and dairy products, I have some lovely tapas recipes here such as Avocado Dip, Aubergine in Tomato Sauce and Marinaded Mushrooms. EggPlant Fritters with Spiced Yoghurt is a great dish to hide vegetables away from the prying eyes of children. And I have to say, Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce is one of the best pasta sauce I've ever tasted.

p/s: plus there's an egg free chocolate cupcake!!!

Braised Dao Gan

As with the previous years, we usually have a vegetarian meal on the first day of the lunar new year. I've made another version of Tzai Choy, Sweat and Sour Veaty Bites, and a Braised Dao Gan (a type of layered beancurd skin) dish.



I just made this according to what I have on hand eliminating the usage of a vegetarian oyster sauce since I didn't want to buy one bottle just to make one dish. What I have here is a packet of defrosted dao gan, a handful of soaked dry Chinese mushroom stalks (mushrooms were used for the Tzai Choy), some soaked kei chi (boxthorn/lycium/Chinese wolfberry) and reserve the water, and a bunch of blanched broccoli to line the plate.

Shred the mushroom stalks with fingers (fingernails come in very handy here) into floss like strips and fry them in oil till crispy. Remove and set aside. This look kinda like dried scallops.

Lightly pan fry the dao gan. I've used a non-stick pan to easy frying and did not need to use a lot of oil. Remove and soak up the oil with paper towel.

Using the same pan which should not contain a lot of oil, pour some water including the kei chi water (enough to cover the dao gan), light soy sauce, white pepper powder and wee bit of sugar. Let it come to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly. Put in the dao gan, mushroom stalks (you can leave some to sprinkle on top of the completed dish but I was just too lazy) and kei chi, braise for about 15 mins. Pour in some cornstarch solution to thicken the sauce up slightly.

Dish up and pour dao gan over the broccoli. Serve with rice.


Our First Day of New Year Dish
Tzai Choy Version 2.0
Tzai Choy (Vegetarian Dish) Version 3.0
Vegetarian Dishes for First Day of Lunar New Year
Tzai Choy Version 5.0

Review: Gopala Vegetarian Restaurant

Recently, Capt'n Hook was looking around for a decent Indian vegetarian to bring a group of nuns from Kopan Monastery & Nunnery for lunch after prayers. We went around trying to find a suitable place and I remember there was a place in Brickfields that boo_licious had blogged about. Her post got my Indian colleagues excited as they were wondering where the heck is Jalan Thambipillai. I was roped in to google for the map and later on we found out where exactly Gopala Vegetarian Restaurant was located.

So one evening, we both set out to check out the restaurant. Parking was quite easy as there's an open air car park a stone throw away but look kinda weird cos it's actually a widened road complete with bright street lamps. However, the road is blocked both ways. Upon checking with the attendant, we were told there is no way they'll open up the road as the end of the road there's a temple sitting on it. As it's sensitive to demolish temple at the moment, hence the road leading into the many worship places around Jalan Berhala never materialise. If you want to save on a few ringgits, just watch out and pray for empty parking lots in front of the restaurant.

It's not difficult to look for Gopala as there's a huge signage over 2 shoplots. One lot is air-conditioned and there's no guessing which lot we stepped into :p with the current weather. The place is absolutely clean and pleasant. Service was attentive too.



We were told they practice Hare Krishna beliefs, hence all food served here is vegetarian and cooked without garlic or onions. The menu dotted with photos is quite extensive and there were Chinese and Western dishes as well. We placed our order and the food came rather quickly.

I had the Chapati with Keema set (RM3.50) which came with 2 pieces of chapati and the vegetarian keema. The keema was quite all right but I forgot to tell them I wanted freshly made chapati, hence my chapati was a bit limp.



Capt'n Hook asked for Kashmir Fried Rice (RM4.50) which we found ingredients like vegetarian bits, mixed vegetables, cabbage, cashew nut, raisins and dried chillies. This fried rice had enough wok hei and even though fried chillies were used, they only give the rice a slight hint of hotness.



We ordered a Stir-fried Kai Lan with Salted Fish (RM8). We find the kai lan were too fibrous swimming in a pool of light gravy with shreds of ginger, otherwise it's quite decent but of course can't compare with stir-fried vege at Chinese tai chow.



This is the Satay Set (grilled soy bits, RM5.50 for 5 sticks) which was strongly recommended to us. No regrets ordering this as they were good even on it's own without dipping into the mediocre peanut sauce.



The Mango Lassi (RM4.60) lacked the fruity mango goodness while the ABC (ice-kacang RM4) was vibrant with all the colourful toppings ranging from red kidney beans, creamed corn, cendol, jelly, peanuts and huge sago pearls.




Gopala Vegetarian Restaurant
59 Jalan Thambipillai
Brickfields
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 2274 1959
Halal. Open from 7am till late every night.


Technorati tags: vegetarian + indian food

Stir-Fried Asparagus, Celery and Fresh Button Mushroom

This was an easy peasy stir-fry with whatever I need to clear from my fridge last weekend. I had bought the fresh button mushroom for a Western dish in mind but since I was pressed for time, I didn't get to use them. So I put on my thinking cap after rummaging the fridge and came out with this dish inspired by this Mushroom and Garlic tapas that I've made before.

Prepare the bunch of asparagus by cutting of the bottom woody part and use a peeler to shred away the hard skin before cutting into1.5" in length.

For the celery, remove the stringy strands either using a knife or peeler. Cut them into sticks similar to the size of asparagus.

Clean the mushrooms with paper towel before slicing them. Chop up 2 cloves of garlic.

Heat up some extra virgin olive oil in a hot wok and add in chopped garlic. Fry till fragrant but not brown. Add in asparagus first and stir. Next add in celery and mushroom. Keep stirring and sprinkle a bit of water inside. Add sea salt to taste and a generous pinch of black pepper. Keep stirring and drizzle in some Chinese cooking wine (in replace of white wine). Since I've over "sprinkled" more water than needed, I added a bit of cornstarch solution to thicken up the sauce. Serve immediately with rice.

Surprising this stir-fry came out tasting good. I loved how the olive oil and black pepper have given the stir-fry a new lease of life, completely different from the usual Chinese stir-fries. Give it a try ;-)


Technorati Tags: vegetable

Review: Restoran Kechara Oasis

We can't resist giving Restoran Kechara Oasis a try after seeing the tag "New Age Vegetarian Cuisine", what more with reassurances by Yozora that the food was great here especially the yue sang (raw fish dish) which was given a total new twist. Yozora arranged for a Chap Goh Mei lunch yesterday and we happily trouped down the errrmm basement??? of Jaya One. Seems like the new trend of not calling road level as Ground floor but for Jaya One, the ground floor is actually above ground... oh never mind.

To access this restaurant on Block D, you'll need to either park your car at B1 where Kechara Oasis' entrance is located, somewhat opposite of Overseas Restaurant; or from road level look for Killiney Kopitiam/News Junction and take the escalator up to B1 and proceed walking into the car park and turn left. You should be able to see Kechara Oasis from here. If you're coming over from Palm Walk, look for Simply Fusion Cafe and take the escalator down to B1 and walk into the car park and turn left.

We toured the place earlier last week, the setting were rich in magenta which is Kechara House signature colour, paired with beige and lots of silver Tibetan ornaments plus furniture, the place spell exquisite. A beautiful contemporary fine dining vegetarian restaurant, great to entertain guests. There is a special VIP room which one could use when the menu is above RM1K, they're waiting for the karaoke set to arrive. Wine is served but you'll need to inform in advance so that you can be placed in a separate dining area so as not to offend religious vegans in the main dining hall. Since the restaurant is very new, the proper menu is not done up yet, just make do with the current one printed on white paper first ok.

We started off with the Kechara Yue Sang of course. The different nuts and seeds on separate dishes were added to the various shredded carrot, white radish, seaweed, purple cabbage, pomelo and some other things we could not decide what were they. All Irene Lim, the Director, told us was we must lap up every single morsels cos they contain loads of selenium, collagen, vitamins and minerals that will make us look younger teeheehee! I loved the macadamia, cashew and sunflower seeds, on top of the usual peanuts which gave this yue sang a very crunchy and fragrant experience. However, RM58 for half a portion, I think it's a bit expensive AND should you like to try this, sorry, you'll have to wait till next CNY heh :p



Yozora reserved 10 pieces of Deep Fried Vietnamese Spring Rolls (RM15) cos these babies run out fast! Beneath the crispy rice paper roll lies in the soft mushroom fillings. Served with lettuce and pickled carrot and white radish.



Yozora ordered Set C RM128 which can cater to 8-10 persons that have 6 main dishes and came with rice plus soup of the day. Here are the dishes we have yesterday...

Vegetarian Char Siu (mock bbq meat) is nice with a coating of sweetish char siu sauce.



Then we have this Deep Fried Oyster Mushroom lightly coated with sweet and sour sauce. I like this cos the mushrooms doesn't taste oily even though they were deep fried! The sauce is not over powering at all.



This dish of brinjal wins hand down for they're totally not oily. Not sure how this was cooked but the brown bits tasted a bit like lai yau. I believed these brinjal were cooked in water before being stir-fried just like this Stir-Fried Eggplants With Minced Fish which I've cooked before hence they don't soak up so much oil.



Next came the mock fish errmmm I'm not sure if it's known as assam sauce cos it tasted a bit like assam but it's not entirely sour like one. The mock fish looked like cod with rather similar texture. This is something I would order again.



Mapo Tofu was smooth and easily slurped down the throat. Not hot, great for people who can't tolerate hot stuff.



These stir-fried sweet potato shoots were great. Gently fried to retain crunchiness.



I've ordered this Braised Yee Meen for my boiboi who was recovering from fever. The yee meen was braised till soft and contained a lot of ingredients which my boiboi did't ate much. He likes the yee meen so much that he asked for second and third helping. Later on our friend, Casper, scooped some for her 2 year old daughter. Turned out she liked it as well.



Actually by now, the 6 adults were already very stuffed but we couldn't resist the desserts. The majority have Colourful Ice (RM5.50) which contained strips of nangka, jelly, sea coconut, longan plus I've no idea what else since I stayed far from them. Errmm I can't stand nangka smell :p



And so I had Mango Pudding (RM4.50) instead. I have to say this smooth and soft pudding is freshly made and not using those instant powder cos can taste the milky bits but not overpowering. Irene told us the dessert chef is from China and he churns out the desserts in small batches and made fresh all the time.



I haven't really scrutinise the menu but there are quite a number of other items we have to try. The prices of the dishes are quite well balanced with some rather steep priced stuff but of course they have reasonable ones. As with my other experience of vegetarian dining, this one is true to what Irene had preached... natural and healthy, less salt, less oil and NO MSG!

Remember do make reservation as the restaurant was almost full yesterday but that was most prolly because it was the 15th day in the lunar calendar plus Chap Goh Mei.


Restoran Kechara Oasis
D19, B1 Block D, Jaya One
72A, Jalan University, Petaling Jaya,
Tel: 603-7968 1818
Opening Hours:
Daily Lunch - 11.30am to 3.00pm
Daily Dinner - 6.00pm to 10.00pm


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + vegetarian + jaya one

Stir-Fried Snowpeas and Eryngii Mushrooms

Another simple stir-fry from the kitchen that comprised of 3 major ingredients ie. snow peas, Eryngii mushrooms and carrot slices. Heat some oil in the wok and put in chopped garlic. Once the garlic turn light brown, stir in the 3 ingredients. Quickly pour in oyster sauce to taste and sprinkle some water. Mix well before adding some rice wine or you can use ShaoXing wine. Give it another quick stir and dish up. Serve immediately.


Technorati Tags: vegetable + vegetarian