Egg Sandwich

It's so easy to cook when you're starving mad. Especially a quick and yummy one.

Egg Sandwich Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 free range egg
• 2 slices multi-grain organic bread
  
• 1 generous tbsn of almond slivers
• 1 tspn pumpkin seeds

Seasoning and oils

• 1 tspn ghee
• your favorite sauce
• soya sauce
  
• sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
  

Directions

1. Toast the bread
2. While you're waiting, quickly roast the almond and pumpkin seeds in hot ghee. Start with the almond first and when it starts to brown add in the seeds and fry till almond is golden, be careful to not burn it. Remove from pan.
   
3. Use the same pan to fry the egg. As soon as you crack open the egg into the hot oily pan pour a dash of soya sauce and few sprinkles of black pepper onto the egg and whisk it with a fork for a quick 5 sec and remove. Unless you like your egg really cooked then you can take your time.
   
4. Toast - egg - sauce - almond+pumkin - toast. Gobble. By the time I ate mine after the photo-shoot it was all soggy :(
   

Serves 1 person.

Chickpea Curry | Ayurvedic Meal 3

I attended a cooking class by Dr Sujatha Kekada in Ubud Bali. Dr Sujatha is an Ayurvedic doctor who owns Amrta Siddhi an Ayurvedic clinic at Nyuh Kuning in Ubud. The five recipes she planned out for us that afternoon was a dosha balancing meal. So far I've only tried out 3 of them.

I never knew it can be so therapeutic cooking indian dishes especially the part where you have to grind your own spices. I learned so much about spices just cooking this one dish.

Chickpea Curry (Channa Masala) Recipe

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Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups chickpea (channa dhal) soaked overnight. Boil for 40mins in 4 cups of water on medium low heat or till soft.
  

PASTE

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsn fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup shallots

Blend the ingredients together with 1/2 cup of cooked chickpeas until smooth.

SPICES (Garam Masala)

• 1 tspn cumin seeds
• 1/2 tspn fennel
• 2 tspn coriander seeds
• 5 cloves
• 1 cardamom pod
• 1/2 a star anis
• 1/2 stick cinnamon

Grind the spices with a mortar and pastel until it's really fine. Roast in a large pan for 10 mins on low heat till fragrant.

SAUCE

• 2 tbsn ghee
• 4 tomatoes chopped
  
• 1 tspn mustard seeds
• 15-20 curry leaves
• 1/2 tbsn tumeric powder
• a handful coriander leaves
  

Directions

1. Add mustard seeds into hot oil and fry till pop.
2. Add in curry leaves and fry briefly.
3. Add in tomatoes and tumeric powder and cook for 5 mins
4. Add in paste and cook for 5 mins
5. Add in boiled chickpeas together with the broth and cook for 10 mins
6. Add in the garam masala spices and coriander leaves and cook briefly
   
7. Salt to taste
   

Serves 6 people.

Mango Cashew Nut Rice | Ayurvedic Meal 2

I attended a cooking class by Dr Sujatha Kekada in Ubud Bali. Dr Sujatha is an Ayurvedic doctor who owns Amrta Siddhi an Ayurvedic clinic at Nyuh Kuning in Ubud. The five recipes she planned out for us that afternoon was a dosha balancing meal. So far I've only tried out 3 of them.

This rice dish was very much a comfort food. The ingredients blended so well together. Before I tasted it I thought it would taste a little sour because of the young mango in it but surprisingly not. It was oh so delicious!

Ayurvedic Mango Cashew Nut Rice Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup grated young mango
  
• 1/2 white large onion sliced
  
• 1 cup cashew nuts
• 15-20 curry leaves
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 3 cups basmati rice, cooked
  
• a handful of coriander leaves
  

Seasoning and oils

• 4 tbsp ghee
• 1 tspn mustard seed
• 3 tspn sea salt
• 1 tspn tumeric powder
• 1 tspn ground black pepper
  

Directions

1. Add mustard seed into hot oil till they pop.
2. Add in cashew nuts and fry till golden brown.
3. Add in onion, tumeric powder, curry leaves and fry till onion is soft
4. Add in mango, coconut and salt and fry briefly
5. Add in cooked rice and fry till all ingredients are mixed well
6. Chuck in the handful of coriander and fry for 1 min
   

Serves 6 people.

Beetroot Soup | Ayurvedic Meal 1

I attended a cooking class by Dr Sujatha Kekada in Ubud Bali. Dr Sujatha is an Ayurvedic doctor who owns Amrta Siddhi an Ayurvedic clinic at Nyuh Kuning in Ubud. The five recipes she planned out for us that afternoon was a dosha balancing meal. So far I've only tried out 3 of them.

This was the first dish, an appetizer to prepare the gut for a better digestion. We were all pretty reluctant to taste it at first as you must agree it is an unacceptable color for a delicious bowl of soup? But it turned out to be the yummiest homemade vegetable soup I've ever tasted. Those who said they weren't hungry, scraped the pot cleaned!

Ayurvedic Beetroot Soup Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1/2 kg beetroot peeled and halved
  
• 1 medium sized potato and halved
  
• 1/2 tspn thyme leaves
• 2 cloves garlic sliced
  
• 1/4 cup shallots sliced
  
• 2 cups water
  

Seasoning and oils

• 1 tbsp ghee
  
• 2 tspn sea salt
• 1 tspn ground black pepper
  

Directions

1. Boil beetroot and potato for 5 mins at medium heat.
2. Sauté the garlic and shallot
   
3. Pour beetroot and potato together with the stock into the blender. Add in garlic and shallot and blend until texture is smooth.
4. Pour the smooth paste into the pot and bring to boil.
5. Add thyme and ground black pepper.
   

Serves 6 people.

Home fries with shredded Gruyere

Weekends are great for home fries because we can take our mornings slow and prepare a hearty breakfast! I like using new potatoes (young potatoes) for home fries because they don't break apart or have a 'powdery' center when they're cooked.

Home Fries with Shredded Gruyere recipe

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Ingredients

• 3-4 new potatoes
  
• 2 tbsp finely minced garlic
  
• 1/2 cup of shredded Gruyere cheese
  

Seasoning and oils

• 1 tbsp of ghee plus 1 tbsp of olive oil
• crushed chilli pepper flakes
  
• sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Scrub and clean potatoes to remove dirt. Cut potatoes into square chunks leaving the skin on.
2. In a pot of water, add 1tbsp of salt and bring to a boil. Boil the potatoes in the salted water until just cooked through (about 5-7 minutes, depending on the size of potato chunks). When potatoes are done, drain and set aside.
   
3. In a skillet over medium heat, heat ghee and olive oil. Add garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and lightly sauté for about 30 secs.
4. Add potatoes to the skillet and toss to coat potatoes will oil and garlic.
5. Allow potato to fry slowly, stirring minimally until a golden crisp crust forms on the potatoes. About 10 mins. Turn off heat and season with salt and pepper.
6. Sprinkle shredded Gruyere over hot home fries and serve as a side with eggs or by itself!
   

Serves 2 people.

Back

Dear readers,

My apologies for the lack of updates these past months. As some of you might know, I was stuck behind a firewall that cut off my access to many social networking sites and blogs. Thank goodness for internet loopholes! More Hungry Horse recipes will soon be posted. Check back soon!

Dhall Curry

A friend from Malaysia recently visited Beijing and she brought me a packet of yellow split peas! Split peas can be found here, but I would have to go to specialty gourmet markets and they rarely have them in stock. 

I love curries and that's one thing I sorely miss in Beijing. There are several nice Indian restaurants in the city, but boy are they expensive. It's understandable as spices and herbs such as garam masala and curry leaves are impossible to find here. 

Dhall, obviously, goes great with freshly baked naan but a nice loaf of crusty bread does just as well too.

Dhall Curry Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 cup of yellow split peas
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 small potato, diced
• 1 cup of chopped shallots or red onion
• 1 green chilli, cut into large slices
• 2 slices of ginger, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 cups of water

Seasoning and oils

• 1 tbsp of ghee plus 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp whole mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 cloves
• sea salt to taste

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine and moisten spices (mustard seeds, turmeric, cloves and curry powder) with a few tablespoons of water. I do this so it won't burn when I dry-fry them later. 
2. In a heavy pot, heat ghee and olive oil over medium-low heat.
3. Sauté shallots, ginger and garlic until onions are translucent, about 2-3 mins. Add in spices and continue sauteing until mixture is fragrant, about 2 mins.
4. Add water, split peas, potatoes and carrots and give a good stir.
5. Bring curry to a boil and let simmer over low heat for 1 hour, stir occasionally.
6. The dhall curry is ready when the split peas are soft and begin to break apart. You can add more water if curry is too thick. Check seasoning and serve with naan or hot rice.

Serves 2 people.

Amaranth Soup

Edible amaranth is a widely used vegetable in Southeast Asia and it is also referred to as Chinese spinach. Other names most commonly used are en choy (Cantonese) and bayam (Indonesian and Malay). When selecting this vegetable, look for young amaranth with stems that snap easily and do not bend. Edible amaranth is also great eaten raw mixed in salads.

Usually, this dish is prepared in a broth made with dried anchovies and shrimp. I like this dish primarily because it is such a clean tasting soup.

Amaranth Soup Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 bundle of edible amaranth
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 3 slices of ginger, julienned
• a small handful of wolfberries
• 3 cups of stock (or water)

Seasoning and oils

• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp mushroom seasoning
• sea salt to taste

Directions

1. In a wok over medium-high heat, heat sesame oil. When oil has heated, stir-fry garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 1 min.
2. Add stock to wok. When broth begins to simmer, add mushroom seasoning, wolfberries and season with salt.
3. Add amaranth to simmering broth and cover wok allowing it to simmer until amaranth wilts, about 2 mins.
4. Check seasoning and serve immediately.

Serves 2 people.