Almond Butter

I'm crazy about almond butter. I first tasted them in the raw veggie sushi at Yes Natural at Aljunied and I'm hooked. Having bought a few jars of almond butter of various brands and from different places, I had almond butter for breakfast with bananas, as a spread for raw sushi lunch, or sometimes just eat it on its own as a snack or a spread. Within a week I found my skin looking tauter and plumper, and my complexion improved (it's all that Vitamin E). I also ate less as my brain was deliriously happy with amount of fats it was getting. Thus my sweet tooth went away too.

Interestingly, eating almonds (together with other food) elevates our mood as well. Almonds contain huge amount of manganese, Vitamin E and B2, magnesium, trytophan, copper and phosphorus. Trytophan trigger release of serotonin, and Vitamin B2 is necessary for folic acid and serotonin production while magnesium is a muscle relaxant. No wonder I feel happy eating it!

I ate so much of the stuff I decided to make my own instead as a jar of 280g only last me a week or less.

A sidenote; all the different brands of almond butter tasted good yet variate with brands. It got to do with the almonds used and their duration of roasting and grinding time. Also, the cheapest jar of almond butter ($9.90) found in Sg is the Merdien brand available at Meiya Supermarket at Liang Court.

Making almond butter is seriously easy.

First get a decent food processor.
Next, you'd need some almonds. I usually purchase them from at Albert Centre Market (3rd storey) at 龍馬 at $10 a kg. Usually 1 kg give you half a kg of almond butter.

I experimented with raw and baked and now I prefer baking almonds at 50 deg for around 5 minutes, so they taste better and yet the vitamins and minerals are retained.

Within a minute, I'd have almond flour. This stage is ideal for bakes and if you're making almond milk (put the flour in a cloth sack and pour hot water over, like making kopi (coffee) at kopitiams (coffeeshops) )

But grind on for almond butter.

This is the toughest part, when oil is released and the almond flour start to clump together and stick to the side of the processor. Continuous scraping is needed.

At this point it gets easier. More oil is released and the almond flour now has a dough like texture and is creamier. Whew, no more scraping is required.

At this point, the texture of the almond butter depends on the duration of processing from this point. For a nuttier, crunchier taste, lessen the time duration.

But I prefer my almond butter smooth and easy to spread. Thus I usually continue for a few more minutes.

Ta-dah! The finished product. It stores in room temperature for at least 2 weeks. And it taste best when its freshly made, when it's warm and buttery from the processing!

It's the same process for most nut butter, cashews, peanut, walnuts or even pecan.

Raw Vegetable Sushi

Hallo, Merry X'mas!

For the past two days I had been busy with potluck dinners with friends. Thus, it also called for some preparing of my favourite snacks and goodies.

When I first had vegetarian food, one of my favourite is the raw vegetable sushi. I would try it wherever it's on the menu and there's definitely no identical raw veg sushi in two places. The dressing, ingredients, all differ from place to place. It's a marvellously tasty, simple and healthy snack to make. And to my surprise, my vegetarian and omnivorous friends like it.

Even my mum, who don't quite fancy raw vegetables much. o_O

 I usually use beetroot, carrots, pea sprouts, red capsicum, zucchini (optional), and cucumbers. The roots are shredded while the other vegetables are cut into fine strips. And because it's Christmas, I added some almond flour.


I buy my nori sheets from Albert Centre market (third storey), where it's sold at 龍馬  at 50 sheets a pack for $5.50. To have a nice crisp nori, toast it for a few seconds in the oven, or over a gas flame.  But were the sushi to be served beyond 10 minutes later, it wouldn't make much difference.

First spread the dressing. I looooooove almond butter, so it's pretty much what I use most of the time. Especially since I make my own, I get quite generous with the stuff.  And the best thing is that it tastes and smells so good, no seasoning is needed. So the sushi is holistically healthily made from whole food sources.

Next layer on the veggies, with roots first.

The zucchini, cucumbers and capsicums next. The finer rheir strips, the neater the sushi will be.









Last of all, the pea sprouts. Pea sprouts are loose and it's hard to put anything else on top of them so they have to go on last.

And with firm fingers, push the vegetables inwards and roll it up!










This was a good attempt. Yay!

And the finished sushi roll. :)

My friends commented this is less crunchy than the one I made last year. That's due to the zucchini added and less cucumbers. To have a crunchier sushi with higher water content, just swap the zucchini for cucumbers. Or try substituting zucchini with chinese pears for a sweeter sushi.

Other possible ingredients are daikon, chinese pear, lettuce,  kale, spinach. avocado. Or for fruit sushi, with apples, pears, mangoes, dragonfruit, kiwi, strawberries.

Different combination of vegetables or fruit might call for different dressing. Alternate dressings are vegan mayo, plum sauce, cashew butter.

Have a healthy, lovely and wonderful Christmas!

New Green Pasture Cafe

This is one of my favourite vegetarian places. It's organic and I love the cooking there.

Just ride the escalator to the top level (4th) of Fortune Centre

I was introduced to it by my vegetarian buddy when I first switched to vegetarian. It was a little piece for heaven for my taste buds   Now that I'm more aware of my body, I noticed that I actually feel better inside out after a meal there.

It also has an interesting history.

Sophia (the owner and marvellous cook) was actually a seamstress in the 70s and 80s. But with her love for cooking, she decided to make a switch towards running an organic vegan eatery in the 90s and her passion had kept her running for 19 years. In our conversation with her, she mentioned that while creating each dish, she would consider the health benefits of the ingredients she uses and how they complement each other and balance the body. Definitely no MSG nor artificial flavouring used and no egg, garlic, onion or dairy products. I'm bowled over by her wealth of knowledge about food and their restorative abilities. And very glad to be able to enjoy my meals there! (Sophia is the spunky lady usually in two pigtails and a cap. Just say hi to her and she may chat with you and impart some wisdom too!)

Seaweed roll $6.50

I am a veggie fanatic. And good raw vegetable dishes are a bonus for me. The seaweed roll taste as light and clean as they look. There's a blend of sweet and tart in their dressing and there's just a little bit of preserved ginger which is added minimally and gives a interesting twist on the taste of raw root vegetables.

Sri Lankan roll $7.00

This is da bomb! It's a mix of potatoes, mock meat (soy variety) capsicums, roasted peas and dunno what else in a lovely curry mix, topped with very good vegan cheese dressing, wrapped in a chapati lookalike. It doesn't weigh me down as heavily as indian food sometimes do and it's so damn good!

Hai Nan noodles $8.00

Previously I had blogged about vegan beef noodles near my home and this is the healthier and lighter version. It's chock full of vegetable, with a good serving of beehoon (thick rice vermicelli). The gravy, while a little sticky, wasn't starchy, nor oily (there's almost no trace of oil to be found) and it smells heavenly. According to Sophia, it was supposed to be a beef noodles tastealike, but I found it a bit lighter than the standard beef noodles with more complexity of flavours.

Yong Tau Foo noodles $11.30

This is one of the most unusual and kickass Yong Tau Foo noodles I had. The vegetables and tofu/tou pok items in the dish were stuffed with a filling of tofu, mushroom and nut/seed (?) mix. So overall it's pretty high in protein, not to mention yummy to boot. This dish is lovely to order as a side dish to share with a couple of other persons without the noodles.

Charcoal noodles $9.00

I gravitate towards dishes with generous  servings of vegetables. The Charcoal noodles taste like a sizeable summer salad. I can't identify all the ingredients but some of those not as visible in the picture are passion fruit, pomelo pips and plum powder. Overall, the dish is sweet/tart and fruity. Really nice for a hot day.


This is what it looks like when you mix it all up. Squid ink much no? Today I learned that the noodles are aptly named charcoal noodles simply because there's activated charcoal powder in the noodles. Apparently activated charcoal helps in removing toxins from our intestinal tract. But of course, everything in moderation. More on activated charcoal here.


And no, the noodles don't taste funny, they tasted like really good noodles, silky smooth and chewy.

Korean Bi-Bim-Bap $9.50

The Korean Bi-Bim-Bap does not taste Korean. More like a Singified version of Bi-Bim Bap. But no doubt delicious. It has quite a nice variety of ingredients in it. (some of which I name offhand, yam, xiao bai cai, brussel sprouts, daikon, carrot, mock floss, soy based mock fish, nori strips) topped with vegetarian sambal. The selfmade Kim Chi wasn't too bad either.

I really really like the sambal! It went pretty well with the sizzling hot claypot rice, just don't call it Korean. While not at my desired level of spiciness, but very good nevertheless.

Coral Jelly with Attap seed $3.00

This is one of the desserts my friend would order every single time and I can taste why. A nice serving of coral jelly swimming in soymilk with 3 attap seeds. It is sweet but not overly so and pretty yummy.

Yogurt with passion fruit $4.80

However I lost my sweet tooth in the course of water fast and I now prefer the yogurt, with its passion fruit, pomelo pips, mint leaves and cherry. It's nicely sourish like most yogurt (the actual vegan yogurt is actually less sour, the bulk of the sourness comes from the passion fruit) with just a hint of sweetness from the pomelo.

Charity soup Free!

A special mention goes to the free soup. Just right to the counter, there's a Halloween looking pot of charity soup. It's free for all, if one feels inclined to pay for the soup, the amount goes into the charity box for donation. This is no ordinary soup, it's chock full of good stuff!

After I broke my water fast, I was having some severe water retention after I started eating out again. I only realised it was water retention when I had a couple of bowls at dinner and peed like mad that night. My water retention went off the next day.

Of course from then on, for a week I went strictly saltless, ensured constant hydration and had multiple attempts to make similar soup (which I couldn't because I lack knowing what nuts, seeds and herbs to put together in said soup, and I can't recognise many of the ingredients in said soup.)

3 years ago when I first came here I thought the pricing was a little steep. But in the course of  time as my taste buds got more sensitive and my body became more aware of how it feels, I have come to appreciate it more. Now, when I understand the intentions and thought that went into each dish, I'd say it's really worth it. Especially after the water fast, I could now taste how toxic MSG is, and how it affects my physical and emotional balance, I'm really glad there are places serving delightful meals from the natural taste of vegetables, nuts, seed and fruit. And people who made triple effort into creating these meals without resorting to artificial means.

The unfortunate change might be in the coming switch of ownership as Sophia wants to retire for abit. But then again, perhaps she will continue to her passion in another part of Singapore, and also New Green Nature Cafe will continue as it is. We'll just have to wait and see.


Sidenote: Sophia conducts cooking classes from 3 - 6pm on weekdays at her shop. Check with her or her helpers to know her schedule.



New Green Pasture Cafe

190 Middle Road #04-22
Fortune Centre Singapore 188979

Tel: 63368755

Opening hours: 11am - 8pm
                        Closes on Monday

Lao Di Fang

It's BFF's birthday and coincidentally, she chose Lao Di Fang for her birthday meal without knowing of my surprise attendance (BFF is omnivore). I heard good things about it and being my first visit, I was pretty excited.


It looks like a classic Taiwanese teahouse. Kinda cosy and comfortable. I'm a little surprise the place is not bigger though.

Anyway, with 5 of us, there's definitely plenty of space in the stomach, so we ordered....alot.

Asparagus with Matsutake Mushrooms (Small) $13.80

Their appetisers are simple, peanuts and pickled papaya with carrots added. From the taste of it, the papaya pickles were freshly made.









A clean and simple dish, crunchy asparagus with a good serving of cashews, mushrooms and carrots.

Pumpkin with Doumiao  (Small) $9.80

This is really good. What's good about it was the pumpkin puree. It's sweet and goes well with the green tasting Dou Miao. I love that hardly any seasoning was used in this dish.

Classic Luo Han Zhai $15.80

Another simple yet pleasant dish. We all liked the beancurd skin (tau kee). I also like the variety of ingredients in this dish. There's capsicum, radish, tau kee, mushrooms, broccoli, white fungi and 1 more that I can't identify.

Carrot cake $3.80

Oh till I tried this, I didn't realised I missed carrot cake so much! I usually don't like the stuff, even prior to going green. But this really reminds me of the traditional carrot cake one used to find in Chinatown. Minimum oil was used and it was light and fluffy with mushroom bits.

Stir Fried Chili Fish $15.80

Any vegetarian who misses Sambal stingray definitely gotta order this. It's even better than the real thing......

The 'sambal chili' is amazingly good and so is the mock fish used. We learned that it's actually beancurd skin with seaweed. It taste pretty close to your actually fish and is of a better standard than the usual mock fish sold in vegetarian groceries.

Hakka Zeoadary Beancurd Hotpot $10.80

This is an interesting dish. It looks incredibly salty, but is actually the least salty of them all. I like how it's actually a stew of mock meat (taste very much like lean mincemeat), mushrooms and tofu. The tofu taste very light, very pleasant on its own.

Curry Hotpot (chicken) $10.80

 If you look very closer at the picture, you might notice that there's no oil layer on top of the curry. Definite win for this health freak.

What I appreciate about this curry is that the potatoes were baked, lady's finger and brinjal were blanched, and none of the ingredients were fried. The coconut milk was also lightened thus the end result is a curry that is fairly well flavoured and non oily.

Though, the curry can be stronger and just a tad spicier for that extra kick. Mutton curry might be a better option as mock mutton somehow taste better with curry than mock chicken. The curry hotpot is tasty enough on its own, but compared to the other dishes, it comes across as a little bland.

Si Chuan Style Brinjal Hotpot $10.80

 This is another of my favourite for tonight. Despite its hailing from Sichuan, there's no layer of ominous chili oil on top.

It was stewed brinjal with mock wu hua rou (5 flower pork), the leaner cut. I'm blown away by the mock meat. It tasted better than the original. Little need to be said, this is a spendid dish. The brinjal, mushrooms and mock meat were give time to stew in the claypot, so the end product was really awesome.

Sambal Vegetarian fish $15.80

We loved the Stir Fried Chili fish so much that we decided to give its sambal counterpart a try. But it turned out to be quite different.

The sambal is not at all spicy (or just a hint or so). But the mock fish reminded me of grilled pompret. The beancurd skin although fried, remain moist and tender inside while crisp outside. After trying it, I understood why the sambal wasn't made spicier - so that the taste of the mock fish can be appreciated.

From this dish and the earlier Stir Fried Chili fish, we tried to guess the ingredients for a good vegetarian Spicy sambal. First one can start with this base, a less salty (or watered) bean paste with moderately hot chili oil added as your basic sambal. To spice it up, chopped 2-4 'Zitianjiao' (hot, tiny chili) with a dash of spicy chili oil, and give it a good fry in the wok. It might work. Will blog when I get around to trying it out :D

HongKong Fried Noodles (Large) $10.80

The HongKong Fried noodles is nicely stir fried. The strange part about it was its scent. It smells of strongly of pepper and a little of mock ham. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant, just unusual. I like the noodles. It tasted like egg noodles,delicious, chewy and cooked just right. It also tasted fairly light and doesn't leave oil traces. Ingredients were also fairly portioned

Yam paste with gingko nuts $4.50

I love Orh-nee, yet I'm scared of putting on excessive weight. This one however is quite reassuring. There isn't as much oil mixed into the Yam paste, so it's a little on the dry side. Which is the reason for a thick layer of diluted coconut milk added to moisten the yam paste. The portion is bigger than it seems though. The entire three quarter of the cup was filled with yam.

Taste wise, it definitely doesn't match up to the usual dessert standard with less oil and sugar. But all the better for a guilt free dessert and less stress on my kidneys.

Conclusion. The food at Lao Di Fang is really good. I love that they decided on using authentic ingredients to bring out the flavour of the dishes and cutting down on the oil, salt and sugar used. It is noticeable that serious consideration had gone into creating a remarkable yet healthy vegan dish without onions or garlic. A side note, I didn't have water retention after such a huge dinner, so my body's really happy with that.

Oh this is definitely the place if you wana impress the socks off your carnivorous friends. :)


Lao Di Fang
http://www.classicldf.sg/menu.html

9 Penang Road, #B1-12 Park Mall Singapore 238459
Tel: 65338959

Opening Hours: 11.30am - 3.00pm
                         5.00pm - 10.00pm

Kidney Beans and Lotus seed soup

I had been having really bad water retention for 3 days. My legs literally look swollen and puffy. My body weight also increased by 2 kg.

I did some research and I realised that the culprit of my water retention is sodium and dehydration! Firstly, I'm prone to eating veg and dishes and not much rice, thus sodium intake tend to be higher because I overlooked the cumulative amount of sodium that I ate. Second, I developed the bad habit of not drinking sufficient water (because of not wanting to use the bathroom too often) thus, my yo-yo weight gain and loss are due to water retention. (it finally dawned on me after like years...)

So recently in my post fast, the water retention became very severe. My ankle and thighs were swollen and easily dimpled. Which spells trouble for the kidneys. I had to take some serious action. For 3 days, I ate with minimum salt (or otherwise non at all) and in addition, I made a huge pot of kidney bean and lotus seed soup during the 2nd and 3rd day.

Brought to the boil and cooled repetitively over 5 hour period cos I didn't want to refrigerate and I love how the lotus seeds dissolve into the soup. No sugar added.

I drank alot of soup and water, and I started peeing alot. I actually woke up 3 times at night just for the bathroom. By the 3rd day, my bloated legs became skinny pins again (thank God).  And I lost 5 kg. So my body puffed up with that much water!

It was a huge relief knowing that there are ways to help my kidneys function better and become healthier. I found a new love for my veggies cooked without salt and I actually feel emotionally calmer after 3 days.

My lunch during my 3 day of no-salt cooking. What's in the pan? Cucumber, carrot, broccoli, soy sprouts, tomatoes, spinach, french beans, fungi, shitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms , non salted seaweed and brown rice.

I love food, so even if it's saltless, it gotta taste nice. So with the help of some tomatoes (stir fried with onions, garlic and chilli; it adds a delicious sourish, juicy flavour), seaweed and sesame oil in my cooking to increase the aroma and enjoyment of my meal. Oh there's half a bowl of brown rice underneath the tomatoes.

The best part, I might be happy to cook saltlessly for a long time.

Paradise Inn (Simei)

I know this is weird. Why is a vegan person writing a about subsidiary from a local seafood chain? Well, this vegan person had lunch there with her omnivorous friends and was impressed by the service they gave and the length they went to make her feel comfortable.

I didn't feel too good today. Post fast, my body retained pretty high salt content and I didn't realise it till 2 weeks after breaking fast. So eating out became a huge penalty afterwards as my body started to retain water from the salt in the food (which resulted in my legs looking like trotters and also made me aware of how much crazy amount of salt is added to the food)

Today is also a day for catching up with my beloved girls, despite their meat eating ways. So Paradise Inn (Simei) was the venue for lunch with 6 adults and 2 babies in tow. (I'm glad to say they are babies friendly). My friends were very sweet, they pored over the menu, found nothing for me and spoke to the manager on my behalf who made me feel like a princess when I arrived 15 minute late.

Being the only vegan, I could order any vegetable on the menu to be cooked to my personal preference. Thus, I went meatless, eggless and saltless.

Broccoli with mushrooms (small) $16.90

The broccoli with mushrooms was great. Probably because it is exactly the same as the original in the menu so there was nothing lacking in flavour. The best part was it definitely didn't have salt but still the dish was quite yummy.

There were also 3 different types of mushrooms were in the dish which I really like.

Kang Kong with chili (small) $8.90

Ah, this is the modified Chili Kangkong. (Sorry, got too hungry then remembered to take a shot with unsteady hands)

I couldn't take sambal because of the salt and belachan, so I requested for alot of Zitianjiao (tiny but super hot chili) to be stir fried with the veggies and it turned out exactly as I had requested. May I mention here how much I love spicy kangkong :D

Sweet potato porridge $0.80

And this is the sweet potato rice porridge. Which was a little disappointing as it tasted like normal rice porridge except someone dropped a chunk of sweet potato into it

Perhaps it's more accurate to call it the accidental sweet potato rice porridge.




The good thing was my friends could share my dishes as well, so the more the merrier. The lack of salt went unnoticed till one of them actually piped out when she had the broccoli.
So for fellow vegetarians whose loved ones can't choose between having their meat and you, Paradise Inn may be an possible compromise. Ultimately it's the degree of service I received that merit this post. I'm truly grateful and inspired by their service standard and the hospitality that I received from the manager of this particular branch.

But for the strictly vegetarian diner, are there any vegetarian eatery in the area? You bet! Updates coming when my body regain its normal salt balance.


Paradise Inn (Eastpoint Mall) 
*Author's note: There are other Paradise Inn outlets but only the one at Eastpoint Mall is highlighted due to the exceptional service experienced by the author. Locations of other outlets may be found at their website

http://www.paradisegroup.com.sg/

3 Simei Street 6
#02-14/15 Eastpoint Mall
Singapore 528833

Tel: 67866618

Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday
11.30am to 3.15pm
5.45pm to 10.00pm

Saturday, Sunday and PH
11.00am tp 10.00pm
*Last orders 30min before closing

Hyang-to-gol

Vegan I may be, but I love trying new places. So eating with non-vegetarian friends is great in that sense. And my love for Korean food had never been such till they brought me to Hyang-to-gol Korean restaurant. It's located on the 2nd level of Amara hotel, on its right wing.

Getting there:
Walk into Amara Hotel, turn left and take the lift at the corner to the 2nd floor. Turn left from the lift and walk all the way to the end.





The fun bit about Korean restaurants are the small dishes they would serve and refill endlessly The best part about Hyang-to-gol is its 11 side dishes served.

1- Kimchi; the leafy parts of the cabbage
2- Sour soup; much like a cold version of the Kimchi soup, with cabbage stems and onions (I'm very fond of this soup, it helps digestion as well.)
3- Fishcake with cucumber, sweet peppers and celery stems seasoned with sesame oil
4- Spring onion mini pancakes
5- Kimchi; the stem parts of the cabbage
6- Salad with vanilla flavoured very light mayo  (love it until my wiser friend enlightened me that it's mayo. It's not that bad, but less dressing for me then.)
7- Tofu with cucumber and carrot strips (another awesome side, the sauce used is pretty addictive)
8- Plain Seaweed
9- Jellyfish with radish, cucumber and carrot strips (really lovely, non greasy and nicer than its chinese counterpart)
10- Seaweed strips seasoned with sesame oil and sesame
11- Radish slices in light wasabi

Out of the 11, 9 are vegetarian and 8 are vegan (pity about the mayo, but I think it's possible for the salad to be served without dressing). The dishes were very light, mostly non greasy and for a veggie lover like me, heavenly. Having been there a few times, Side dishes 1, 5, 6, 8 and 11 are permanent and the rest varies day to day. So every visit is kinda interesting to see what new surprises are in store.

It is also one of the few Korean restaurants that offer vegetarian options on its menu, so it's kinda cool for mixed groups of eaters.

Kimchijeon (Kimchi Pancake) $20.00

It was two of us this time, so we had a vegetarian Kimchijeon (Kimchi with pancake). It reminds me of Chai Tow Kway's equally tasty but skinnier korean sibling. Despite its colour and the green chili added inside, it's not spicy. Perhap just a hint.

It's a pretty big serving, about a medium pizza size? And it's served cut into 8 pieces.

Dolsot-Bibimbap (Hot stone pot rice with mixed vegetables) $20.00

And next we had what I like very much, the Dolsot-Bibimbap (Hot stone pot rice with mixed vegetables). I specified no meat nor egg. For aesthetic purpose, I also requested to self serve.

The BBB came with sesame oil, chili paste and a bowl of seaweed soup - which unfortunately has meat in it.

The BBB though was lovely. It has lettuce, cucumber, carrot, spinach, mushrooms. It was as tasty as most BBB goes and what's made it better than most is the quality of the sesame oil. Post dinner, I don't feel at all greasy despite downing all the sesame oil into the BBB, which compared to other experiences, led me to believe the sesame oil used here is of better grade.

In a way, having a meal Hyang To Gol made me happy with its mucho great tasting veggies. It is pricier that the average Korean eatery but for the quality of its food and service, I'd say once is a while is a pretty nice treat.


Hyang-to-gol Korean Restaurant
http://www.hyangtogol.net/main/main.asp

165 Tanjong Pagar Road, Level 2 Amara Singapore 088539
Tel: 62207160
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 3.00pm  
                          6.00pm - 1.00am