Happy Christmas – Vegan Minestrone Soup for a lonesome night!

Today is Christmas and again, I’m enjoying my peaceful evening alone in my apartment, it’s only different from last year that I don’t have to work outside this year in the cold weather. But still, nobody is at home, so I decided to cook something properly for myself at least to enjoy Christmas and I don’t really want to go out since I’m not into the crowd and people might make me feel jealous xDD. However, as long as I got my food, I think I will be fine and I can talk to my boyfriend and friends through skype and facebook (unfortunately my boyfriend passed out already since yesterday he got no sleep due to his big project’s deadline). Anyway, the following ingredients are what you need for this simple vegan minestrone soup. 🙂

_1 medium size carrot – chopped or cut it in flower shape

_1 onion – chopped (or cut in any size as you want)

_garlic – chopped

_broccoli – cut into pieces

_any kind of cabbage you like (because I want to make it simple and make use of my ingredients, but I use the other cabbage, not the one in the previous picture xDD )

_a branch of celery – chopped

_pasta or macaroni (basically you can use any kind of pasta you like, but I use whole wheat fusilli)

_kidney bean (or any kind of bean you like) let it soaked over night and slow cook until it’s soft because if you put them directly in the soup it will take really long to be soft

_leek – chopped (I don’t have leek so I use green onion instead)

_1 tbsp of tomato paste

_5 tbsp of tomato sauce ( or you can use a can of tomato or tomato sauce, anything will work)

_oregano

_caraway (optional – I like the smell of them so)

_olive oil (or any kind of oil you like)

_salt and pepper to taste

_vegetable broth (or water)

So these are the steps of how to make this simple soup 🙂

1. Pour olive oil in your pot, wait until the oil is hot then put the garlic first (I like to fry the garlic first to bring up the smell)

2. After that, add the onion and celery into the pot, green onion (or chopped leek), and then a pinch of caraway.

3. When the onion is soft, add the carrot into the pot, stir well and then add a pinch of dried oregano (I like it to be a bit spicy so I put some hot paprika powder, but it’s up to you 🙂 )

4. Add the tomato paste, stir well.

5. Pour water or vegetable broth into the pot to cover the vegetable, bring it to boil with medium heat, season with salt to fit your taste.

6. When the soup is boiled, add the cabbage and stir well.

7. Add the broccoli (I add it later because if I add it too early, it will be too soft), stir well.

This is what you have when you finish all those steps above. Season the soup again before adding the fusilli.

Finally, add the fusilli into the pot, you can measure for example, 50gr of fusilli is for one person. The soup can serve at least 2 persons. (But it depends on how much you can eat also). Stir well and simmer the soup with low medium heat for around 13 mins or until when the fusilli is soft then it is ready to serve.

This is what you will have, you can eat the soup with bread.

Merry Christmas everyone, may joy and happiness be with you! 🙂 Also sorry for the quality of the picture, I bought a new camera but unluckily it got wet so I had to took it to the customer service, which means I have to struggle with my phone camera again! 😦

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Vegan Mapo Tofu

So here I am again, finally finished all final exams and my winter break is officially coming. Now I have more time that’s why I decided to write something for this little page of mine and it will be vegan mapo tofu. The original version of this dish has minced meat but since I decided not to eat any animal’s product I have to find another way to make it. So instead of minced meat, I would use the vegetables :-).

So here are the ingredients : (for 2 serves)

_green onion (chopped)

_1 medium sized carrot (cut into small pieces)

_peas (I don’t really measure things frequently so you just need to the use the suitable amount for yourself)

_mushroom (slices)

_ginger (chopped)

_garlic (chopped)

_Firm tofu (cut into small pieces)

_tomato sauce (around 100 ml)

_water (around 100ml) (actually you can measure the water and tomato sauce on your own because some people want more tomato sauce than water and vice versa)

_2 tsp of cornstarch

_salt, pepper, soy sauce

So these are the steps :

1. Turn on the stove and heat the pan, then pour into the pan around tbsp of olive oil.

2. When the oil is hot, put the green onion and fry for 15s then put the ginger and garlic into the pan and continue to fry.

3. When you smell the scent of ginger and garlic, put the mushroom and chopped carrot and peas to fry together.

4. Pour the tomato sauce to the pan and then water and mix well.

5. Put the tofu into the pan and turn on medium heat to be cooked well.

5. Pour into the pan the soy sauce and salt until the taste is suitable for you.

6. Sprinkle pepper before serving.

So basically it’s how I make this vegan mapo tofu. I hope you would like it too and I think it will be good to eat with rice or bread.

Bon appétit! 🙂 And sorry for the bad quality of the picture.

Vegan summer rolls for lunch :D

So yesterday after I bought the wine and enjoy my (stressful – a bit) evening, my Romanian friend asked me if we could maybe cook something together and enjoy Friday together, so the idea of vegan meal just bumped into my mind. First I thought about some dishes with Tofu with veggie so it will be decent and simple, then I tried to search for some interesting recipes. Finally, the rice paper rolls just appeared in my mind, also it is one of the ingredients we use a lot in my home country so I wonder, how about a vegan summer roll dish?

After hearing the idea, my girl was so excited so, well, I guess that how we ended up making summer rolls in winter (haha xD). Moreover, she also made some hot red wine, even though I know hot red wine and rolls is a weird combination but well, we don’t really care.

So the ingredients for the summer are pretty simple :

_ 1 carrot

_1 cucumber

_2 paprika (big ones, with yellow or green color – I like the food to be colourful )

_rice paper (you can get this in any Asian shop I guess)

_cabbage (optional, we forgot to put the cabbage inside the rolls but however, it still tasted good)

First you can peel the carrot and cucumber (optional) ; cut all the ingredients except for the rice paper into small slice like in the picture (if you don’t like crunchy raw carrot you can boil it in water so it will be soft).

For me, cutting the veggie this small is enough.

 So when everything is ready, you should start with the rolling. I feel pretty bad since I left my lovely camera at my home in my home country, so I have to use my crazy phone to take picture,which caused the bad quality and I did not take any picture of how to roll it. However, you can Google ”How to roll the summer roll” with images I’m sure you will get how it works.

First you need to wet the rice paper on both sides with the sufficient amount of water, if you put too much water, it will get wet and then will be teared apart like a paper, but if you don’t put enough water, it will be dried and broken.

Next, you can wait for 20s and check if the rice paper is soft enough and then put the veggie on the edge of the rice paper, then start to roll them to the other side of the rice paper. When you almost reach the other side, remember to fold the left and right edge of the rice paper to keep the filling inside and finish rolling. Then you finish one roll, and keep on doing the rest, or to the sufficient amount that will assure your full stomach.

yeah that’s my tiny hands 😀

And this is my result, you can eat this summer roll with the peanut butter sauce or any kind of salty and sweet sauce, but don’t use fish sauce (even though I know it’s authentic to use the mixed fish sauce but since this is vegan meal, I prefer you to improvise a bit).

So enjoy your summer rolls!

Bon appétit!!

Lambrusco bianco dell’Emilia IGP 2012 – White Wine from Italia

For the first post about my interest, I tend to write about cooking but then this kind of white wine just bumped to me as my friend let me taste it and I was so into it. So here I am, talking about this nice, sweet sparkling white wine then. Furthermore, I’m a newbie in Wine’s World so don’t judge me with the information, I’m still trying my best to discover more about my interest.

So the name is the White Wine as I wrote above is Lambrusco bianco dell’Emilia IGP produced in 2012, it originally comes from Italia. The producer is Chiarli 1860, I will tell some information about the producer first and then will be more information about this lovely creature.

This is the picture of it I got in the internet since it got so many appearance recently. I will post the picture of the bottle I bought in Czech Republic also.

According to Chiarli.it, CHIARLI 1860 is the most ancient producer of Lambrusco and other local wines from Emilia Romagna. The Company was
founded in 1860.
Through the strictest selection of the best grapes, an experience acquired over more than 150 years and the scrupulous care in all stages of production, from vinification to bottling, the Chiarli brand guarantees quality for a wide range of prestigious wines from Emilia-Romagna.

So, where is Emilia-Romagna and what is Lambrusco. I will give some sufficient information and if you are interested more in this part of the information, I bet that you can google for full information. 😛

Where is Emilia-Romagna?

• Emilia-Romagna is a rich, fertile region of northern Italy, and one of the country’s most prolific wine regions which is sandwiched between Tuscany to the south, Lombardy and Veneto to the north and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Nine miles of Liguria is all that separates Emilia-Romagna from the Ligurian Sea, and uniqueness as the only Italian region with both an east and a west coast.
• Emilia-Romagna’s viticultural heritage dates back as far as the seventh century BC, ranking it among the older of Italy’s wine regions. Vines were introduced here by the Etruscans and later adopted by the Romans, who used the Via Aemilia road (after which the region is named) to transport wine between its cities.
• Emilia-Romagna’s wine production is divided evenly between whites and reds, the dominant vine varieties being Malvasia and Lambrusco (both in their various forms),Trebbiano, Barbera, Bonarda and of course Sangiovese.

What is Lambrusco?

Lambrusco is a brightly colored grape variety used to make sparkling red wines inEmilia-Romagna, northern Italy. More accurately, it is a collective term for a group of grape varieties – more than 60 Lambrusco varieties have been identified so far. Lambrusco vines are grown in several Italian wine regions, including Piedmont (Emilia-Romagna’s neighbor) and farther afield in Basilicata.

This is the version I bought in Czech Republic.

The alcohol content is 7,5% vol and I think this is suitable for people who don’t usually drink wine or just start to drink wine. You can also put it in the fridge and open it 15 mins before serving it, the serving temperature is around 8 – 10*C. Moreover, the wine has pale straw yellow color with green highlights. Its bouquet is delicate, fresh and fruity. The palate is well-balanced and lightly sweet with nice fruit flavors and a clean finish.

Actually before trying this, I have quit party for almost 2 months and I did not drink any alcohol drink and before, I don’t really like white wine (I guess I was not be able to enjoy the taste of it since I used to drink lots of heavy alcohol like vodka, tequila…). That’s why yesterday when I tried it, I was so amazed by the taste of it, it is like finally my taste has become normal again and I can finally understand why people like white wine in particular and Vin in general. It also made my night more comfortable as wine is the thing to help you sleep like a baby.

If you like sweet wine, I think this is totally suitable for you and any recommendation for food? Drink when you eat beef, lamb, pork, spicy food or with rich fish such as salmon but I think it is also suitable for light dishes as well.

Give it a try and tell me how you think about that!

Enjoy your day! 🙂

New blog! AGAIN! :-)

So here I am again, WordPress. I tried to write many blogs before but finally it all ended up with no idea and motivation. However, currently I do have plenty of ideas and inspiration about my life and my interest – cuisine but I don’t have much time so I will try my best to share with you guys what I am currently into and how I feel about that. I just hope that someone will be interested in the same thing that I am and also I do this to prevent myself from boredom and depression since the winter is coming.

For your information, you can regard me as an Asian girl who lives abroad for studies purpose, my main University is in Finland but this year I am on an exchange in Czech Republic and here I guess people can tell that there are many things are more affordable than in Finland. That’s why I think I will be able to experience more about cuisine here since I usually cook at the dorm. (I like to go out and eat but not all the time).

So I will try my best to devote to this blog and hopefully this time it will last longer! 😛

Enjoy your days guys!