Lotus Root (Lily Root) Stir-fry

[Flower]

[Root] If yousing fresh lotus roots the slices need to be placed in a acidulated or salted water solution to prevent browning.


This are the lotus roots I got at Komart (Korean Market). They are chinese and come in a ready to use sous-vide bag. So all I had to do was drain the liquid and add to the stir-fry.


Carrots, Napa Cabbage, spring onions, tofu, lotus roots and miso.



Lotus plants are 100% edible; In Asia the entire plant is used and eaten. The petals serve as garnish, the leaves are used as food wrappers, seeds are eaten raw or dry and then reconstituted. The roots been on of the best parts are extensively used in cooking (soups and stir-fry). But may also be roasted, steamed, pickled, fried, or used for tempura.

Lotus roots have a crisp, fibrous texture with a mild, distinctive flavor similar to that of water chestnuts or jicama. They have that crunch and and take on the flavors of what ever they are cooked with like water chestnuts do.

Another reason to try lotus roots or add them to your diet.
Nutrition Facts: No fat,low sodium, great source of fiber, no sugar, contains Vitamin C 59%, Calcium 4% and, Iron 6%.

"The Adri Cake"

Concocted the Adri cake inspired in my good friend Adriana who loves all of the above: lemon, guava, pound cake and meringue. SO this is what this spongy pound cake is made of a lemon pound cake drenched in lemon simple syrup then iced with Swiss Meringue. As for the guava... I got some guava paste that I turned in to a coulis to serve as a side for the cake.

Rocky Road Cake

Whenever I get surprice guests or on the spur-of-the-moment get-togethers I whip up a quick and fast crowd pleaser Rocky Road Cake. All from scratch the devil food cake gets topped with marshmellows, almonds and chocolate chips. Comes out of the oven melting!!! MMM to serve while hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

It yields better results and quantities if done on a sheet pan since you get just the right amout of cake and tons of rocky road topping.

Square sushi

Flower cut daikon (asian radish) for the stir-fry below.


Avocado+Tangerine+cucumber sushi with aubergine+bell peppers and daikon stir-fry.

So I tried to make some square sushi with this new bambo box gadget had fun doing it but I didn't like the compact texture of the rice after all the pressing and squaring of the sushi.

Panko Chicken

Panko is a variety of breadcrumb used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy, coating for fried foods. Panko is made from wheat bread, but it has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in Western cuisine; It is more of a flake rather than a crumb.




Fried rice, panko chicken, duck sauce and buck wheat noodles (soba) stir-fry

Oeufs en cocotte

Out of the oven and in bain-marie.



Oeufs en cocotte or Shirred eggs. In France, this basic methods of baked eggs is called "oeufs en cocotte." Quick and fancy breakfast option of individual servings of baked eggs, uses baking dishes (ramekins, custard cups, individual soufflé dishes, or small oval bakers). I usually like to do this for a birthday brunche. The one above has a turkey bacon + munster cheese with hashbrown + salsa with a side of 9 grain toast points.

Sushi and Panko-Tilapia

Spinach-Tofu stir-fry in miso sauce


Tilapia marinating in a tangy soy sauce based marinade. Topped with Panko (japanese bread crumbs) + spring onions + sesame seeds.


Sushi, Panko-Tilapia, Spianch-Tofu stir-fry, Carrot-cucumber salad, noodle soup.

Apple - Cardamom Galette

Apple Galette, a galette is almost the same as a tart, except that a tart is made in a flan ring or quiche pan, whereas a galette is free form as you see here. This one disappeared so, so fast after it came out of the oven that I wasn't able to have a finished picture. LOL

Dough is whole wheat and brown based. Filling has a mélange of apples + Butter + brown sugar + a apricot jam with cardamom that sipped into the apples and butter to creat a mellow fragant flavor.

Lattice Apple Pie

From apples to pie...


Shell prior to blind bake. The bottom is encrusted with pecans.


After blind bake ready for filling and lattice!


After baking! VOILA! nice golden brown MMM!


Made this pie for my father's birthday it is a whole wheat crust, sugar free Lattice Apple Pie. Used whole wheat pastry flour and worked great no air pockets or shrinking!!! The filling is also made from scratch using fuji apples, granny smith and red delicious apples.

Kake soba and Green Tea (Japan)

Finds from the Asian Market (KoMart)

TEAS and more teas... Jasmine Tea (yellow can), Jasmine-Green Tea (green can) all from China. Small can on front is Japanese green tea in powder (Matcha) the kind used in traditional japanese tea ceremony. (White Box) Toasted Barley and tea from Korea, this one is a very soft, suddle flavor tea that has a similar effect on the tumy as chamomile.


YEAH, this one deserves a close-up and a pharagraph as well!!! LOL i paid $10 for this itsy bitsy can that looks huge on the picture but is like thumb size with like an oz. of green tea powder. Why bother? well this is traditional matcha or powdered green tea not the watered down version we drink as green tea. But I'll let you goodle all the specs. I will be using it to bake as it has become a trendy ingredient in baking.


Trio of designer drinks!


Front view of a Korean made "Slim Water" kind of like Gatorades Propel and many likes out there. This one has a subtle peach taste and is very convenient to carry around because the bag gets lighter as you drink it. PLUS it is a great conversation starter BELIEVE ME!


Side view

Chinese Lychee Soda, the top is aluminum but the rest is a hard as one of those sprite or coke plastic bottles. It tastes smooth like a Sprite but has a tart after taste like a sweet-tart.


YUMMY! the best tasting jasmine tea I've ever had came from this bottle! Believe it or not the aluminum keeps the tea cool and to my surprice there was no aluminum after taste like most canned sodas have.


Vegetable Slicers from Komart (Korean Market).


This one can slice and cut directly from fresh vegetables and yield tons of shreads of perfectly thin vegetable strips.


This one can slice soft vegetables or fruit. Say to fan a cucumber or cornichon to a strawberry for eye catching garnishes!!!


This one I bought on amazon.com but it is a treasure of knowledge!!! It is the definitive guide on Tofu and Miso... covers history,properties,uses,recipes and how to make both miso and tofu at home! Highly recomended reading for vegetarians or anyone looking in to learning more of asian or japanese cuisine as miso and tofu are cornerstone ingredients in this cusine.

Chinese - Japanese Lunch

Carrots and Tofu stir-fry (Japan) and Stir-fried rice with a vegetable melange (China).
To drink chinese Lychee soda in a very original plastick bottle!!!
The soda was smooth and sweet but had a tangy taste throwards the end.
The carrots have silky tofu topped with crunchy toasted sesame seeds!
The rice was ok except the portobellos in my veggy mix stained the rice!!! made it look like Cajun dirty rice!!!! LOL


MY FAVORITE of all miso soups "Shiro miso" or white/winter miso. With potatoes,peas,mushrooms,tofu and spring onions. MMM.

Japanese Lunch

Sushi and Soba


Soba = Buckwheat noodles. Traditionally they are eaten cold with Shoyu (Japanese style soy sauce) but I like mine in a hot dashi broth with a little thai peanut sauce...topped with spring onions and sesame seeds. YUM!!!! a very filling lunch!


Close up on sushi (avocado,cream cheese,cucumber,carrot and red bell pepper). With a special homemade hot soy sauce to spice it up!!!.