Musings

A refreshing change for the taste buds :D

Got the idea for serving this dish at home from a recent function at my workplace. A colleague shared her quick-n-easy preparation of the salad dip and this was how I got hooked to the idea.

The Japanese cucumber was deseeded and cut into long strips. If the cucumber is not so crunchy, try soaking them in tap water for about 20 minutes to make them crunchier. I noticed that my celery tasted weird nearer both ends and hence I used only the middle portion for the salad. To ‘plump’ them up, I cut one long stalk into 2 shorter stalks and stand one end in a glass of tap water for around 20 minutes too. Then I cut the stalks into thin strips. For the carrot, I just peel the skin and cut into long strips. Cut yellow / red capsicum in strips too. The cucumber, celery, carrot and capsicum strips were wrapped in separate cling wraps and refrigerated until use. Peel and cut mango into cubes. Refrigerate them, covered. Cut black, seedless grapes into halves. Refrigerate them, covered too.

To balance the meal a teeny weeny bit for Hannah, I added hard-boiled eggs for their source of proteins and fats. Yup, there is not much of carbohydrates in this meal save the sugars from the fruits.

Now on to the highlight of the dish – salad dip. I have both the healthy (pictured above) and not-so-healthy (pictured below) version. The healthy version (thanks to Annabel Karmel for her recipe) is IMO very delicious and guilt-free. I modified her recipe so that I could use what I already have in the kitchen. Below is the modified recipe:

Ingredients

• onion (50 g, chopped, about 1 small onion)
• fresh ginger (peeled and chopped, 1 tbsp)
• sunflower oil (100 ml)
• rice vinegar (3 tbsp, I used seasoned rice vinegar for making sushi rice)
• light soy sauce (2 tbsp)
• tomato sauce (3 tsp)
• sugar (3 tsp)
• orange juice (2 tsp, freshly squeezed)
• water (3 tbsp)

Method

1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth! :D
2. Wrap and chill the dip in the fridge for 1-2 hours before serving. If you like the dip, can blend in bigger quanitity and keep in glass containers in the fridge for future use. :)

Okay, now the not-so-healthy salad dip but quick to prepare:

The not-so-healthy but easy to prepare dip

Ingredients

• Light sour cream (100 ml)
• Seasoning mix for salad dip (9 g, I used 1/3 pack of McCormick’s Ranch Dip Seasoning Mix from Cold Storage. Just follow the recommended amount of sour cream to go with the mix)
• Paprika

Method

1. Mix the powdered Ranch seasoning mix with light sour cream and a few dashes of paprika. Do taste check. Add more sour cream or seasoning mix according to your preference.
2. Wrap and chill in dip in the fridge for 1-2 hours before serving.

Hannah couldn’t resist the novelty of dipping food into the sauce for the 2 occasions we had this dish for dinner. I had to teach her that she cannot do double-dipping. She finished her meal by ‘licking’ the bowl with the healthy dip clean. Both the girls in the family loved the healthy dip. Yang preferred the not-so-healthy version. To sum up, I found this dish to be a great way to encourage the young ones on their intake of raw veggies. :D

It’s the season for Thai honey mangoes! Yay :D I’ve been taking advantage of these cheap and good fruits to make (& experiment) various desserts :)

Chill out with a healthy popsicle :D

I blogged about a recipe for mango-banana-coconut milk popsicle some time ago here. Just a few days ago, I added nata de coco to the popsicle and it gave a nice chew to the eating experience. I added about one tablespoon of nata de coco cubes into each popsicle mould, poured the blended fruit puree in, and then used a chopstick to give the mixture a good stir before freezing.

Our girl could finish a popsicle in one seating now. And she surprised me by saying that “ice cream is healthy…it is good”. I think she was quite right! :)

Hannah asked for a second helping promptly after the first one :)

A fruity smile :D

I think I’m a little obsessed over creating new agar-agar recipes at home. Really enjoy the fun of experimenting with this seaweed gel. I have been reading up a bit on its properties and the effects of temperature and pH on this natural food. There seems to be some confusion over this type of gel as some say that it is made up of proteins. From what I’ve gathered so far, agar-agar (or kanten in Japan) is made up of carbohydrates, specifically polysaccharides. And for the weight-conscious folks, good news: these polysaccharides are poorly absorbed by our digestive system and hence, extremely low in calories. They are a good source of folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and manganese.

Actually, what prompted me to embark on this journey of self-discovery is the general lack of online agar-agar recipes available that use fresh fruit juices. The agar-agar recipe book I have is also lacking in this area. Traditional agar-agar recipes call for the use of syrups or artificial flavourings to achieve fruity flavours but I prefer something closer to nature for the family.

The general practice in making agar-agar is to bring all ingredients to a boil before allowing it to cool down. This method is necessary and advantageous. It is necessary as agar-agar powder only dissolves in boiling water. The advantage is that most bacteria will be killed in the boiling process and hence the agar-agar can keep fresh longer.  However, boiling will alter the taste and texture of fruit juices. I experimented on adding fruit juice after boiling the agar-agar mixture and it works. Now, the only downside is that the agar-agar should be consumed within 1-2 days. I recommend consumption within 24 hours. Yay, now I can have my fresh fruit agar-agar and eat it. :)

Mango ‘n’ Grape Agar-Agar Recipe

Ingredients (makes 3 small cups)

• Mango flesh – 100 g (I used Thai honey mango for its sweetness and little fibre)
• Red, seedless grapes – 50 g (try to get the sweeter variety, if not, just add more sugar as desired)
• Agar-agar powder – 3 g
• Sugar – 30 g
• Water – 150 ml

Method

1) Blend mango and grapes together until smooth (it is okay to have fragments of the grape skin). Set aside.

2) Place agar-agar powder, sugar and water in a small pot and bring to boil using medium heat. Stir every now and then while waiting for boiling to occur.

3) Once the agar-agar mixture starts to boil, the previously translucent mixture becomes a clear solution. This is an indication that the agar-agar powder has dissolved in water. Turn off the flame and let the agar-agar solution cool down briefly for 2-3 minutes.

4) Carefully pour the blended fruit juice into the agar-agar mixture and stir to mix everything evenly.

5) Pour out the fruit juice-agar mixture into cups and let it cool to room temperature. Cover the cups with cling wrap and chill them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving the refreshing dessert :D

The verdict: A nice and soft, fruit-combo taste which all of us liked.

Warning: May not suit everyone’s palate! :)