Pages

Monday, August 15, 2011

Recipe challenge - feed Denise!

Denise, always serious.
Who doesn't love a challenge! One of my younger sisters lives in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) teaching English as a second language. Denise is, shall we say, not inclined to cook for herself unless it is required to sustain life. She'd much rather just eat great food than actually go through the effort of cooking over a hot stove. 




Apparently in Vietnam, takeout is both a tasty and fairly inexpensive endeavour - but having the same dishes over and over can be monotonous. This past summer, Denise came home to Canada for a family visit armed with a list of healthy ingredients readily available to her overseas, and she's looking for easy recipe suggestions to bring back.

So help us out by submitting your recipe ideas!

Here are the guidelines:
1. The recipes must be short and simple, and ingredients must draw primarily from the list below.
2. Be sure to include ingredient quantities and instructions for assembling the dish. 
3. Denise has access to a stovetop range, and a toaster over - but no microwave or actual oven for baking in, anything baked or roasted would have to be done in her toaster oven.
4. Her list includes meat products because she's not vegetarian, but for the purposes of this blog, I will be adapting and posting the recipes as veg-friendly only.

If you've got a great recipe you think she'd be able to make, send us an email at cookin.from.my.kitchen@gmail.com

Please note that you will get credit for submitting the recipe, but that I will likely tinker with the ingredients to suit her tastes. I'm looking forward to trying some things cookin' in your kitchens!
                           
onions         kidney beans      brown rice     
garlic          lentils                pasta
zucchini      chickpeas           couscous
broccoli      white beans        flour     
carrots                                 spaghetti sauce
bok choy
green beans       tomatoes
limes                 green cabbage
broth cubes        cilantro/parsely
spices

1 comment:

  1. OK so this is my coconut milk stir fry over rice noodles:

    I don't see peanut oil or cocnut milk on the list but I'm sure Denise can get both items in Nam.
    Non-stick frying pan is not what I recommend. The vegies brown better in a stove-top pan.

    Heat up peanut oil in pan (medium heat)
    Fry garlic (crushed or sliced doesn't matter) and onions first (careful not to burn your garlic).
    Cut up and throw in the bok choy and cabbage next. Let fry for a few.
    Next cut up broccoli and zucchini and throw into pan.
    Squeeze fresh lime juice into stir fry mixture.
    If you can find some red or yellow vegies that you like, add those as well. It makes the dish look prettier :)
    Add 1 can of coconut milk and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
    Add local spices.

    If she can get her hands on some cumin, paprika, and curry that would be awesome too! This is what I use in mine. Sprinkle some of each into the coconut milk mixture and it turns a lovely orange colour.

    Cook noodles (I prefer rice noodles for this dish). Pour mixture over noodles when all vegies are cooked.

    Viola! This is my coconut milk sauce for rice noodles. I know this is a vegie blog so I won't mention how good this is with chicken or shrimp lol.

    Kim Neals

    ReplyDelete