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Char-Siu Style Tempeh
At this pre-Lunar New Year time, many of my Singaporean vegan friends will start worrying, what to do at reunion meals when the host family don’t get the “no animals” idea? Simplest solution is they bring a vegan dish to the reunion. Whether you’re going to host a plant eater or you’re a plant eater…
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One-pot meals basics part 3 – cooking times
Last post on my approach to Asian – inspired one pot meals, following the past pantry basics and flavour + texture posts. People seem to have a misconception that cooking takes hours. Not at all! General guide on cooking times (No rules written in stone – it’s common sense, intuition, experience, personal preference!) : 1)…
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One-pot meal basics part 2 – flavour and texture
After part 1 on pantry basics, here’s the ingredients combining part of our one-pot miso udon. Cooking is a simple exercise in layering flavours with textures. Almost all foods give some texture, but not all can impart flavour. It’s important to note that besides salty, sour, sweet and bitter, there’s a fifth sense of taste…
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one-pot meals part 1 – pantry basics
I’m sure many of our new year’s resolution is to eat healthier or better – but that’s not quite possible if one eats out every meal. Cooking your own is not only cheaper but multiple times healthier. Being a typical busy person (once architecture student, now working full time), I do prepare meals nearly daily.…
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Tropical Christmas pudding (non-alcoholic)
Happy holidays! I love the idea of British Christmas pudding – moist, cake-like, warm spices and oozing with fruity bits and flavours. Why is it called pudding when it’s..cake-y? Anyway, I made it more relevant to the Southeast Asia context by using tropical fruits, no alcohol (halal), reduced sweetness, regional spices. AND, a handful of…
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Vegan Kaya
Kaya, a Southeast Asian coconut egg jam , is a breakfast staple on many Singaporeans’ dining tables. Before supermarkets, many households had their own kaya formula, often cooked over a charcoal stove for hours. Current vegan versions on the market use pumpkin or sweet potato as base texture – a creative reinvention, but nonetheless not…
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Masala Chai
My first cup of non-dairy masala chai was handmade by Chef Alka of Roti Alka (now closed) – a local eatery once known for their most amazing vegan Indian food. That chai is the benchmark for my own recipe, even beating the dairy ones I had before (which were probably instant pre-mixes). After much trial,…
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Garlic Tempeh Crumbles
Sure we don’t have a good affordable selection of vegan dairy or mock meat products in Singapore – but we have a protein that’s very amazing but often under appreciated and still rather unknown globally. Tempeh made fresh locally, the traditional Indonesian way of fermentation in a simpoh air leaf resulting in a soft white…
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EarthFest 2015
Today at Singapore’s first festival dedicated to sustainability, EarthFest! The brainchild of my friend Mike – check out his free recipes ebook! Really heartened to see a prominent city space dedicated to promoting conscious living plus environmental awareness on anything from upcycling to palm oil…with a backdrop of music, markets and a puppy adoption drive.…
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Vegan in China – Weifang in Shandong
The land of Confucius, Shandong peanuts and mantous. Being a province in north China, the food can be different from what you’d associate with ‘Chinese food’, which is mostly from southern China due to the bulk of emigration from there. Wheat, in the form of bread, buns and pancake items are the staple compared to…