Kung Pao Tofu

I used this recipe.

Cucumber Peanut Salad

This salad contains spinach, cucumber, and roasted peanuts. I used agave syrup in place of honey to make the salad vegan. I found the peanuts were especially tasty due to being cooked with garlic.

Sprouted Mung Bean and Glass Noodle Soup

I had some mung beans left from my last sprouting, so I decided to riff off of mung dip yum. I made a lot of substitutions to work with what I had on hand: a Madame Jeanette chili instead of a Jalapeno, soy sauce instead of tamari, leftover peanut sauce from my lettuce wraps instead of creamy pecan sauce, Chinese cabbage as the green leafy vegetable, glass noodles instead of rice noodles, and different proportions of most of the main ingredients!

I liked this because the taste of the bean sprouts was mild and the broth had a lot of flavour.

Fresh Lettuce Wraps

I meant to make fresh spring rolls, but the wrapping material I’d purchased was too thick. So I settled for wrapping in lettuce around blanched sprouted mung beans, glass noodles mixed with soy sauce, carrot, sweet pepper, cucumber, basil and mint.

The peanut dip was really tasty and was made by mixing the following ingredients in a saucepan: one chopped shallot, about one cup of peanut butter, juice from one lime, two minced cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of maple sugar, salt to taste, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon of frozen grated coconut, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and enough water to allow me to blend the ingredients. I simmered it for about five minutes until the ingredients were all mixed and the excess water had evaporated.

Thai Coconut Rice

Here is the recipe for the rice. I opted for a mix of white rice and brown rice, and half purple, half orange carrots.

Vegan Kare Kare

This recipe already adapts the dish to make it vegan, but I had to make further adjustments. First, I was only able to find banana blossom canned. Second, I chose to get cheaper green beans rather than long beans. Third, I thought I had puffed rice – but I didn’t – so the sauce is a little thinner. And finally I had annato seeds but not powder, so I wasn’t able to get as pronounced a colour when I soaked them.

Baby Aubergine/Eggplant and Peanut Curry

Here’s the recipe I used.

Black Fungus Cucumber Salad

I modified this recipe by briefly boiling the mu-err mushrooms (black fungus) to ensure they were tender. I really liked this salad, in part because I love both star anise and mu-err mushrooms.

Gajar ka Lachcha

This spicy carrot salad is pretty good, and a change from most salads I have eaten.

Black pasta with pickled rhubarb and ginger

Some recipes just don’t turn out. This one, which I modified by using black soybean pasta to make it vegan, was tasted by three people, and we would all describe it as Bad – I will never make this again. We all like rhubarb, and I usually like Ottolenghi’s recipes, but this dish disappointed.