vegetarian jiaozi

vegetarian filling for jiaozi
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I have made jiaozi many times, but I don't change on the filling very much. Mostly it is the ground pork variety with cabbage, soaked shiitake and spring onions. But shops were closed, I felt like having jiaozi and I felt the challenge to make a vegetarian filling. So- I rummaged in my stock cupboard and here is what I found! A tin of gluten (a traditional meat substitute from Chinese cuisine), which I opened, drained and chopped finely. Now I soaked some dried shiitake mushroom and mu-er (black wood-ear mushrooms) and chopped these finely. Also, I added shredded cabbage, with water pressed out before adding it to the filling, 3 eggs, fried in oil, and chopped up after cooling. Some spring onions, one centimeter of grated ginger, about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, Also, I soaked a handful of glass noodles (fensir) in boiling water until soft. Those were cut into the tinyest of chunks. For some extra crunch, I added some very finely chopped pine nuts and walnuts, too. I mixed all together, added some soy, some salt and tasted. Tasted OK! After making the jiaozi skins, I wrapped them into their jiaozi shape and after frying, guotie or gyoza style, I found them to be really tasty! Not bad for a first try! Next time when vegetarians come to dinner, they can have this for a starter, too.

moussaka

moussaka
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I love this dish! It actually looks quite a lot like lasaga, but is prepared without the pasta sheets hassle part. That usually takes most of the preparation time for me. This dish has its own hassle for sure, being cutting the eggplant into thin slices and frying those slices in oil. However, my new Boretti arrived last week and cooking has become much faster! I didn't know it made such a difference. My old (gas) stove had not too much power, but this Boretti with its extra wok burner sure has a strong flame. That means frying the slices of 2 largish eggplants is a quick affair. Not even 10 minutes and they were all done (picture here). In the meanwhile, I made a simple beef-lamb mince and tomato sauce which you season with garlic, oregano, salt & pepper and perhaps a little bit of cinnamon for a Greek flavour to your ordinary Bolognese sauce. I had ample space on the stove for a third pan to prepare a bechamel (the stove has room for 5 pans). After making the two sauces and frying the eggplant slices, it is assembly time. Take an oven dish and start with a little bit of tomato sauce; then cover with eggplant slices and spoon bechamel on top. Then add tomato and meat sauce again and repeat. You could sprinkle some grated cheese between those layers, too. End with a layer of bechamel sauce and cheese, put in a hot oven for about half an hour (everything is already done, but the various flavours have to mingle) until fully heated and done. Eat with a green salad and a nice red wine on the side. I think we had Tempranillo. Good stuff.

ravioli with four cheeses filling

making ravioli
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Once you get the hack of it, making ravioli is not too hard to do. I made a filling of cheeses, inspired by a wonderful creamy blue cheese I had bought at the market. Since cheeses seem to come in four, I added mascarpone, ricotta and grated Parmesan to it, plus an egg yolk, some grated zest of a lemon, salt, pepper and some nutmeg too. Make the dough for the pasta: roughly 1 egg to 100 grams of flour. You can use ordinary flour, or a mixture of semolina and white flour, the more semolina you use, the finer looking the dough will be. Let stand briefly, then roll out in a pasta machine to its smallest setting. Put a sheet of dough on a big surface which you dust with flour. Then add small chunks of the filling in an even pattern on the dough. Cover carefully with a second sheet and press the dough around the filling, until ravioli shapes appear. Cut loose with a small ravioli wheel and put the finished ravioli on a non-stick surface, or a surface covered again with flour. Cook in simmering water for about 3 to 4 minutes and prepare sage butter. Just put fresh sage with a large knob of butter in a saucepan and let it all melt; pour over pasta in warmed plates and thourougly enjoy your meal! Serve with a green salad and chilled white wine.

sambal goreng string beans

sambal goreng boontjes
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

This dish I enjoy a lot lately: sambal goreng boontjes; string beans, Indonesian style. Sambal is the Indonesian chili paste, and goreng means to fry, so any dish starting with 'sambal goreng' is basically a slow fried chili and spices affair with vegetables or meat. Although you can make it yourself with a mashed mixture of fresh chili peppers, shredded oinion and garlic and some other spices (will try soon to make it from scratch), it is extremely easy to make with a prefab boemboe [spice paste], which you can buy easily in the Netherlands - it is for sale in supermarkets and in Asian special stores. There are a couple of brands available, but I always buy the Koningsvogel brand; they come in round packaging of 100 grams and one packet is ample to make one dish. They keep forever, too. So: fry 400 to 500 grams of fresh string beans in a wide pan (or use the frozen kind to make this dish even simpler) and add a little water, stir around until half done. Then add one tin of sambal goreng mixture and stir to combine. Put heat on low and let simmer for at least 15 minutes, until beans are done. You can add extra sambal for a hotter flavour. Have it with rice and Indonesian meatloaf and all those extras like fried onions and seroendeng (spiced dried coconut and peanut mixture). Easy for big parties, too.

Dutch pancakes

pannekoek met appel en stroop
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I was out for a couple of days, enjoying the sunshine that hit the Netherlands for more than 6 weeks. It was like summer, over 20 degrees every day, and not a drop of rain in sight. After hiking for a full day, we had this original Dutch pancake as a treat. This is the apple and treacle (appelpannekoek) variety. I like the kind with apple and bacon even better (they didn't serve it here), because that makes such an irrisistible combination of savoury and sweet... Add butter and icing sugar on top and you can keep walking for many more miles! I haven't been blogging too much lately - not that I haven't cooked- but I somehow lacked time to actually sit down with my laptop and write down what I had to eat. Promise to do better now!