0 Weed potato

My sweet potato kick started with an innocuous can of sweet potato puree (Farmer's Market). It featured in breakfast and lunch two days in a row. The canned puree is more watery than if you were to self-mash a sweet potato. Nevertheless, the taste doesn't suffer; if fact it's so freakish puddingly good that I'd call it "weed" potato - addictive!

For example, this morning's breakfast: Baked sweet potato s'nog oatmeal with cherries.

--Ringing in the season with seasonal oatmeal themes!--

Words alone cannot describe how good this was. It had a texture cross between a pudding and muffin, and of course, full of sweet, sweet 'potato. I made this with Silk s'nog and it did up the festive quotient a bit! Most importantly, before baking, I stuffed dollops of Justin's classic peanut butter randomly throughout the mixture, and digging into chunks of melted PB + sweet potato oats is the best thing to wake up to.

Baked sweet potato (s'nog) oatmeal with cherries
Yield: serves one

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup oats (Rude's Health The Oatmeal - blend of steel cut and medium oatmeal)
• 1/4 tsp chia seeds
• 1/2 scoop protein powder (Lifetime Basics, neutral flavour)
• 1/4 cup sweet potato puree (Farmer's Market)
• 1/4 cup soy eggnog (Silk)
• Dashes of cinnamon
• 3 cherries, quartered
• Peanut butter

Directions

1. Mix everything except peanut butter together and let sit overnight in the fridge.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 375. Meanwhile, stuff peanut butter dollops into oat mixture.
3. Bake for 20 mins
4. Enjoy the best breakfast, especially with the festive Christmassy ingredients. Play some Michael Buble Christmas songs if you wish. :)

4 Sign me up

I persuaded Mum to sign up for Biblethon, a church effort to handwrite the whole Bible. Yep you heard that right. It's a three-prong exercise to celebrate our church (Wesley) upgrading project, to emphasise spiritual building (and not just building of physical structures), and to reinforce this year's theme of 'Speak Good Bible'. We each get 15 minutes to write a number of verses, and the final handwritten Bible will be displayed at the church's archives. I think it's quite an innovative idea to bring people together. I also signed up for a talk called 'How Do I Know God's Will?' Everybody faces some identity crisis now and then, and since it's only two hours and at a reasonable price, I thought it wouldn't hurt to go. It will be my first time attending a church talk though.

Did some atas grocery shopping which put me in a very good mood, albeit significantly poorer. ThreeSixty at Ion has spruced up its line of products; it's range is now even more exclusive - and expensive. Extra virgin olive oils, authentic balsamic vinegars (from the region of Modena or Emilia Reggio and aged at least 12 years), Japanese mini-watermelons at 38 bucks and a mango at freakish 128 bucks! The cheapo me bought varlhona guanaja (70% dark chocolate) just because it was going 2 for the price of 1. I also bought a jar of dried porcini mushrooms which would come in very handy for risottos and soups, and a mini jar of fig jam by Hediard. At realfoodgrocer (Killiney Road), I finally found coconut cashew cream. Coconut oil is now sold at many places including specialty supermarts, but coconut butter is still a tough find. I have yet to find pure coconut butter (without mixing with other nuts).

And last but not least, a very stimulating breakfast that I had this morning, both in terms of color and taste. All my favorite ingredients in a bowl!

Should I or should I not volunteer for SIWW?

8 Boo to moo: vegetarian moussaka

When you are carte blanche, what will you do? For me, cooking is a form of relaxation, a practice of science, and an expression of creativity all at the same time. Even before the exams ended, my hands have been itching to cook up a storm. I set out to conquer the moussaka today, my most ambitious culinary endevour to date. It is a Mediterranean (Greek?) dish and typically consists of eggplants, ground meat, tomatoes & vegetables and topped with a white sauce. Although I knew moussaka is time-consuming, still, I totally underestimated the the recipe. But the toil and effort is absolutely worth every vegetable peel. And to set another record, I have incorporated real butter and cheese into the recipe, and not the vegan forms, for the richness of 'authentic' moussaka. A little goes a long way, although I doubt they'll become staples in my diet anytime soon.

Be prepared for a wealth of ingredients and instructions.

Vegetarian Moussaka (serves 4-6)

A colorful mix of golden potatoes, purple sweet potatoes and orange chickpeas take the place of meat. The bechamel sauce is lightened with the use of soy milk, but with the complexity of flavours going on, you won't miss the richness!

Ingredients

"The Layers"

1 tbsp salt

1 eggplant (globe), peeled and thinly sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small potato, peeled and thinly sliced

1 purple sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced

"The Sauce"

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar (I subbed with raspberry balsamic vinegar)

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup chopped tomatoes (Waitrose chopped tomatoes with chopped herbs)

1 cup cooked chickpeas, skins removed and roughly chopped (Waitrose chickpeas in water)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder (I subbed 1 tsp chicken seasoning for the onion & garlic powder)

1/4 tsp cumin

2 tbsp black olives, minced

1 cup fresh arugula

2 tbsp fresh basil

"Bechamel topping"

2 tbsp butter (Lurpak)

3/4 cup non-dairy milk (Silk soy, unsweetened)

1 tbsp flour (Bob's Red Mill spelt flour)

Generous sprinkle of nutmeg

1 egg white, beatened

Ground black pepper

1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded

Directions
"Pre-preparations"
1. Preheat oven to 375 F (180 C).
2. Grease a baking dish (6.75" x 10") with olive oil.
3. Place eggplant slices on kitchen tissues and generously rub with salt to draw out moisture. Let sit for 30 min.
4. Glaze potatoes & sweet potato slices with 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Bake for 10 min.

"The Sauce"
5. Heat 1/2 tbsp oilive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion for 3-5 min until translucent. 6. Add in garlic and cook 30s until fragrant.
7. Add red wine vinegar, lemon juice, tomatoes, chickpeas, oregano, onion & garlic powder and cumin.
8. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 min.

9. Meanwhile, heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Brown eggplant slices, about 2-3 min each side. Set aside.

"Assembly"
10. Line casserole according to the following layers: 1/2 of eggplant, 1/2 potato mixture, 1/2 basil, arugula & olives, 1/2 sauce. Repeat (it should be enough to make two of such layers).
11. Bake for 25 min.

"Bechamel Topping"
11. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
12. Add milk & flour. Whisk well to combine. 13. Bring to slow boil until thickened and reduced.
13. Season with nutmeg and black pepper.
14. Cool 5 min, then whisk in egg whites.
15. After moussaka has baked 25 min, remove, pour cream mix on top.
16. Top with mozzarella and bake another 15-20 min.

This seemingly endless recipe left me all sweaty and hungry after 3 hours, yes 3 hours in the oven-like kitchen. I started at 12 and ended about 3+. After quickly snapping some (mandatory) photos, I couldn't wait to see how it turned out.... it was a flavour bomb! I can't really tease out the taste of each ingredients; no one flavor dominated, but they melded to form a harmonious new blend of je nai se quoi. I believe the only other time I had moussaka was at Whole Foods in London, and this is quite comparable, if not better, since I get mine piping hot (at Whole Foods it was served chilled I think).

3 Salad beasts

What I like about salads is that its quick, fresh, clean, tasty, simple, one-pot meal, minimal clean-up, and great for "operation: clean out the fridge" days. I had an old Japanese sweet potato and a block of firm tofu waiting to be used. I've always been baking my sweet potatoes whole and I was ready for a change; sweet potato wedges it was. For the tofu, I went with a simple soy sauce/cider marinade, which sounds horribly wrong but fear not, it's pretty tasty in fact. In addition, I've been wanting to experiment with roasted chickpeas after reading some recipes online and I bought a can last weekend. With these ingredients in hand, I present two yummy salads, suitable for all occasions, any time, any day and any where.

Sassy Sweet Potato & Tofu Salad Yield: 1 salad Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato, chopped into wedges (I used the Japanese variety which has purple skin and cream-colored flesh)
• Seasoning for sweet potato: paprika, cumin, white pepper, cinnamon, oregano, extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
• Marinade for tofu: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 ripe avocado, cubed
• Handful of lettuce leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp pumpkin & almond chutney (Pert's Pantry)
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• Drizzle of raspberry balsamic vinegar (vom Fass)

Directions

1. Place tofu cubes in soy sauce/cider marinade and let sit for at least 3 h. Feel free to use your own marinade for the tofu. It's versatile!
2. Preheat oven to 190 C.
3. Mix chopped sweet potato wedges with the seasoning. Arrange sweet potato wedges and marinated tofu cubes on a lined baking tray. Bake tofu for 20 min and wedges for 40 min, turning halfway through for each. (I cooked the tofu and sweet potato together to save time.)
4. Once the tofu and sweet potato wedges are done, remove from oven and let cool, then mix with remaining ingredients.
5. Enjoy!

The sweet potato was just marvelous - crispy outsides (a wee bit tough but I shall overlook that) yielded to pillowy pockets of caramelized sugars. I devoured the entire sweet potato, skins and all! I didn't expect much from the tofu but the apple cider taste was surprisingly detectable, lending it a sweet edge. Fancy chickpeas instead? Try this out then!

Chickass Chickpea & Tofu Salad Yield: 1 salad Ingredients

• 1/3 can chickpeas
• Seasoning for roasted chickpeas: paprika, cumin, white pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, oregano, extra virgin olive oil (it's almost identical to the seasoning for the sweet potato just 'cause I love this combination so much!)
• 1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
• Marinade for tofu: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp frozen veggie mix (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)
• 3 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 ripe avocado, cubed
• Handful of lettuce leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp pumpkin & almond chutney (Pert's Pantry)
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Directions

1. Prepare the tofu as above.
2. Preheat oven to 190 C.
3. Drain the can of chickpeas and rinse thoroughly. Peel off the skins if desired (I did but I'm not sure how leaving the skins on will affect the roasting time and cooking of the chickpeas). Pat dry thoroughly with kitchen papers.
4. Place chickpeas in lined baking tray and roast (without seasoning) for 20 mins. Remove from oven, shake thoroughly, add seasoning, then continue to roast for another 10-15 min. (I'm not sure why the seasoning is added only at the end and not before but most recipes seem to add it only at the end)
5. Mix chickpeas with remaining ingredients and enjoy!

I'm not sure if I did the roasted chickpeas correctly. It was hard but not crunchy like kacang puteh, the local version of popcorn. Perhaps the roasting time was too long? I will have to experiment with that. Otherwise, this was a well-textured and well-flavored beast of a salad. The pumpkin & almond chutney from Pert's Pantry knocks my socks off!