Thai Basil Eggplant (Brinjal)

Basil is my favourite herb and maybe a reason I love Thai food so much. The soups, curries and stir fries taste amazingly different with just few handful of sweet basil. This recipe is super easy and cooks in very little time. So lets get started with the recipe ...

Ingredients
- 3-4 Chinese Eggplant (Brinjal)( long and slender)
- 1-2 Chili peppers ( add per your taste)
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, washed and roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp thick Soya sauce or paste
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 1/2 cup water

Steps
1. Wash your eggplants and chop it in to roughly 1 inch cubes
2. In a frying pan, heat the oil
3. Add garlic and chili peppers and cook for a minute or so until garlic turns golden
4. Now add eggplant to the fragrant garlic oil, add water, mix it and cover the pan with a lid.
5. Stir every few minutes and continue cooking for 5-8 minutes until eggplant is cooked and looks translucent.
6. Now open the lid, add salt, sugar and soy sauce.
7. Stir it well and continue cooking for few more minutes until a thick sauce is nicely smothered on every eggplant chunk. Cook until all the water is evaporated.
8. Now add fresh basil leaves, mix it once and switch off the heat.
9. Thai Basil Eggplant is ready to serve with some freshly cooked Jasmine or Basmati Rice.

Mmmmm!

Green Bean Soup (Asian Style - Sweet)

Taiwanese people love this soup. This simple recipe originated in China and has been enjoyed in mainland and Taiwan for centuries as part of healthy well being. According to Chinese Medicine, mung is considered a 'yin' food or cool food hence it is a recommended food for a yang person ( one with warm body temperature) or someone suffering from yang disease. It is also perfect to have on a hot summer day (yang).   ( Discovery website has some good basic info on Chinese Medicine for those interested - http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/chinese/yin-and-yang.htm)

I like to enjoy this soup irrespective of my yin and yang state of body. For me, Mung beans are a great source of protein and the soup is really a refreshing snack or light meal on a hot summer day.

Ingredients ( 4 bowls )

- 1 cup green mung

- around 4 cups of water

-  4 spoons of sugar (adjust per your taste)

Steps

- Soak green mung for at least 4 hours

- Pressure cooker the beans so that it is completely cooked ( you can simmer it for one hour at low heat if you don't have pressure cooker)

- If you didn't have enough time to soak mung for 4 hours then you might just have to cook the mung beans for longer period.

- Add 3 portions of water to one portion of cooked beans and add sugar

- Boil the liquid and let it simmer well for five - eight minutes.

- Let the soup cool down and then put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

Enjoy the soup!

Note: you can also enjoy this soup warm and it tastes equally good.

Asian noodles with Basil

This is a yummy recipe with great deal of influence from Thai /Indo-China region. For this recipe I have used Vegetable and 10 grain noodles from my local organic store. You can choose your own noodles and I think this recipe will turn out as delicious.

Ingredients ( For 2 )

- 4 rounds of noodles or 3oo gms

- 1 small red onion, sliced long

- 1 medium sized green pepper, sliced long

-  1 tsp garlic paste

- 1 tsp ginger paste

- 1 tbsp chill sauce ( adjust per your preference)

- 1 tsp tamrind water ( soak 1 tsp tamrind in water for 10 mins, rub it and use only water) or 1/2 tsp of tamrind paste

- 1 tsp sugar

- salt to taste

- 2 tsp of soya paste or thick dark soya sauce

- 1 tbsp of chopped frsh basil leaves

- 1 tbsp cooking oil

Steps

-  Boil the noodles per instuctions on your noodle bag. Add few drops of oil in the boiling water to keep the noodles from sticking

- Heat the wok and add cooking oil. When the oil is hot add ginger and garlic and constantly stir it to preent any sticking or overheating.

- Once you smell the garlic-ginger oil, add red onions and cook it for few minutes until they are tender

- Now add soya sauce, tamrind water, sugar, salt and chilli sauce. Cook it for few minutes

- Add green peppers, mix it well and cook for a 2 minutes. Ensure that you don't over cook it, I like my peppers green and crunchy.

- Add basil, mix it.

- Add noodles now and gently mix it with veggies. Ensure that you don't break the noodles.

- Cook for few minutes, give it a gentle stir to ensure that its  not sticking to the wok.

- Yummy asian noodles are ready.

- Serve it in a bowl  and enjoy it hot!

Green Mung-Oats Smoothie

This is a very Taiwanese ( or Asian flavour). I had never had sweet Green Mung ever in my life as we would load it with spices in vegetables back in India and eat it for breakfast or lunch. But out here green mung is mixed with sugar and various recipes like soups and desserts are made. It took me a while to adopt the sweet mung flavour but now I love it.

This smoothie is healthy and plenty for my breakfast or light lunch. Mung is fat free and low in carbs but packed with proteins so its all good news.

Nutriona value of Green Mung: http://www.ehow.com/about_5448254_nutritional-values-green-mung-beans.html

Ingredients ( Makes 1 400 ml glass)

- 1 tablespoon boiled green mung ( I like to soak it for 6-8 hours and then pressure cooker it)

- 1 tablespoon cooked breakfast oats 

- 1/2 peeled and chopped medium sized apple ( optional)

-  1.5 tsp honey ( sugar or substitute if thats your preference)

- 1 tsp skimmed milk powder ( optional - makes smoothie creamy)

- 200 ml cold water 

Steps:

Put all thee ingredients in the blender and blend it till smooth. Pour it out in a glass and enjoy.

Braised Tofu with Ginger and Tomatoes

This is a nice salty and sweet tofu recipe with aromatic flavors of ginger. 

I am a big fan of ginger for its flavor, smell and medicinal values and I never miss an opportunity to use it in my food and drinks.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=72

Ingredients

200gms firm tofu

2 small tomatoes chopped or 8-10 cherry tomatoes whole

1 big piece of fresh ginger sliced finely

1 small cup carrots sliced

1 tsp sugar

1 table spoon dark soy sauce

1 tsp (rice) vinegar

2 tsp oil

Paprika to taste

Salt to taste

75ml water

Steps

Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch thick rectangle / square slices.

Take oil in a pan and shallow fry the tofu. Once they are brownish on both sides remove the tofu and quickly pat dry them on paper towel. 

In the remaining oil, put the ginger slices and let it fry for few mins until your kitchen is filled with nice smell of ginger;) Now add tomatoes and carrots and stir fry them until tomatoes blister nicely. Add sugar to this and notice that it will quickly start to caramelize in the hot oil, add dark soy sauce, paprika to this and continue stiring gently. Add 1 tsp vinegar and salt to taste ( note that soy sauce is salty so you can completely skip the salt if u like). Now slowly add water to the pan and bring to a boil. Now slowly slide tofu into the brown sauce, cover the pan and slow cook the dish for 15 mins.

Serve it hot with steaming rice (white, brown, multi-grain) and enjoy :)

Sesame Oats Smoothie

This recipe uses a very Asian ingredient - black sesame powder with our traditional good old oats. Black sesame seeds are packed with nutrients and it can only be good for you.
Sesame seeds should be available in any Asian store or grocery store these days. You also get an organic variety here in Taiwan which I usually prefer. If you do not find it in the powder form then I suggest that you get the seeds roasted on low temperature at home and powder it ( coffee grinder should work just fine) and store it in the fridge for later use for few months. Sesame seed taste is an acquired taste so its OK to start with very little in the recipe below and go up to 1 spoon as you enjoy the taste.

Ingredients
1 tsp black sesame seed powder
2 small scoops pre-ccoked oats
1/2 banana
1 spoon honey ( add sugar or sugar substitute if u prefer)
200 ml water
Ice Cubes as preferred
* Add protein mix if you are on high protein diet ( adjust sugar accordingly)

Steps
Put all the ingredients in the blender and give it a nice mix until oats are as smooth as possible. Add the protein powder now if you wish. Throw in ice cubes if you prefer. Give it one last long blend for a smooth healthy breakfast.

Pour it out in a tall glass or your to go cup for a healthy Asian twist breakfast.

 Look up health benefits on google for sesame, here's one link that I like

: http://www.ehow.com/about_5112135_health-benefits-black-sesame-seeds.html