Roasted Vegetable Spaghetti with Capers and Pine Nuts

So many of my favourite ingredients come together to form this thoroughly comforting dish. You can use leftover roast veggies of any kind in it as well, you may just need to cut them up smaller.

Keeping my foot in the door with one post a month at the moment and hoping to be able to increase it soon!

Roasted Vegetable Spaghetti with Capers and Pine Nuts

Ingredients
1/2 medium eggplant, diced into 1cm cubes
1 zucchini, diced into 1cm cubes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 x 400ml cans of diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp capers
2 tbsp pine nuts
300g thin spaghetti

To Make
1. Spray a baking tray lightly with olive oil and spread the diced eggplant and zucchini out. Spray with additional olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees. 
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan and cook the onions and garlic until the onions are softened and translucent. Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to a simmer.
3. Add the roasted veggies and simmer for up to 5 minutes, just to soften any that may have dried out in the roasting. Stir through the capers and leave on a very low heat to stay warm while you cook the pasta.
4. Cook the spaghetti to al dente according to the instructions on the packet, with thin spaghetti varieties this may only take a few minutes. Drain the spaghetti and stir the sauce gently through.
5. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frypan until golden and then remove from the heat immediately. 
6. Serve up the spaghetti and sprinkle generously with pine nuts. 

Makes 4 fairly modest serves or 2 very generous serves (or 3 just right?). 
Depends on how much you love pasta!

If you love pasta as much as I do, you might want to check out all my other pasta recipes too :)

Burmese Eggplant Salad (Khayan Dhi Pope Thoke)

This recipe was one of my favourites from Myanmar month, but I didn't get time to share it that month so here it is, a little late. I made this dish a couple of hours in advance before a dinner party and left it sitting on the bench so that it would be room temperature (rather than chilled in from the fridge) when I served it. Evertime I walked past where it was sitting on the bench I got this divine waft of sesame oil and roasted eggplant and it just smelled so amazing. I couldn't wait to eat it! The smell and taste of this salad are both just wonderful, plus it's very quick and easy to make.

Burmese Eggplant Salad (Khayan Dhi Pope Thoke)

Ingredients
2 large eggplants
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp vegan fish sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 green chilli, de-seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lime
1 large (or 2 small) shallot, white and green parts chopped
Fried shallots, to garnish (optional)

To Make
1. Heat oven to 180 degrees. Pierce eggplant skin a few times with a fork. Lightly oil a baking tray or dish and bake eggplants on it for 20-30 minutes, turning the eggplant over once about halfway through. The eggplant should be soft and the skin easy to peel off. 
2. Cool the eggplants and then peel the skin off. Chop the roasted flesh roughly and put in a bowl (try to catch all the juices as well). 
3. Add the sesame oil, vegan fish sauce, soy sauce, green chilli, crushed garlic and lime juice to the eggplant and mix well. Season with pepper. Taste to check seasoning, and add a little extra of whatever you think it needs more of. 
4. Stir through the chopped shallots. If you like, sprinkle with some fried shallots (pictured in the second photo, but not in the first) immediately before serving.

Can serve either warm with rice (serves 4), or room temperature as a side salad (serves 6).

Last December I featured vegan recipes from Myanmar (Burma).

Check out my other Burmese recipe posts:

Vegan Fish Sauce

Ohn No Khao Swe with Chickpea Tofu

Burmese Tomato Salad

Gin Thoke (Ginger Salad)

Burmese Sticky Rice Cake

Mesa'a'ah (Egyptian Spicy Eggplant)

Had to take a couple of days break from Mofo blogging because I've been flat out at work, but I'm back to it now! My themes for this month are Egyptian food and 'My Spice Rack' and this delicious dish is part of both of those themes. This eggplant dish is called mesa'a'ah or sometimes spelled mesa'a'a or even just mesa'a - I don't know which one is most accurate because I'm just a chick with the internet. This dish uses allspice for flavour, a common ingredient in Egyptian and middle eastern dishes.

Allspice
Given it's confusing name, you would be forgiven for thinking that allspice was a spice blend. It is actually made from a dried unripe berry and is also sometimes referred to as 'Pimento' (which, confusingly, is the Spanish word for pepper). Allspice has a long history - the Aztecs added allspice and vanilla to their chocolate drinks and the Mayan Indians used it in embalming. It is also commonly used as an aid to preservation and even after the invention of refrigeration practices, it still appears in some preserved meats and in Scandinavian canned fish.It is also often used as a substitute for cloves, as it can achieve a much more subtle clove flavour. Allspice contains the same volatile oil (eugenol) as cloves and, surprisingly, as basil. Hence it is a spice which compliments tomatoes very well.

Reference: Hemphill, 2006

For my month of spices I'm using Spice Notes and Recipes by Ian Hemphill as my reference tool to learn about spices and for all the information above. Thanks Ian for writing such a great and informative book! 

Mesa'a'ah

Ingredients
3 large eggplants
2 tbsp olive oil (you will need more if your pan is not non stick)
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 jalapeños (fresh or preserved), chopped (you can use less if you don't like it too hot)
2 x 400g tins chopped or crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1 tsp allspice
Salt and pepper to taste

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180.
2. Slice the eggplant thickly. Heat the oil in a large frypan and fry the eggplant on both sides until just softened (doesn't need to be completely cooked). The eggplant soaks up the oil so you will have to replenish the oil between batches, if you use a non stick frypan you will use less oil.
3. Place about half the eggplant pieces in a layer along the bottom of a large lasagne dish. Top with the onions and jalapeños and then layer the remaining eggplant over the top.
4. Combine the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, water, allspice and salt and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently for 5 minutes and then pour it all over the eggplant.
5. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for about 45-50 minutes (or until the onion is cooked through).

Serves 4-6.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from Egypt.

Check out my other Egyptian recipe posts:

Preserved Lemons

Limoonada (Egyptian Lemonade)

Orange and Olive Salad with Cumin

'Ancient Egyptian Peasant' Beer Onions

Creamy Tahini Sauce

Ful Medames

Khoshaf

Wasabi-fried Eggplant and Avocado Sushi Rolls

Sushi is the perfect party food - it's pretty, colourful, filling and adaptable to whatever you want to put in it! It's also a very fun thing to make with friends. It's lovely to spend some quality time with friends, one prepares the sushi rice while another prepares all the fillings. Then you can roll them up together while another fried slices them up and arranges them on a plate. Easy and great fun, after all, cooking with people is much more fun the cooking for people!

I've been experimenting with new and delicious sushi fillings recently, and this is the first of several you'll be seeing from me. Sushi just feels like perfect spring fare, so I've been having a hankering for good sushi lately. This one didn't disappoint. Now, I know that wasabi isn't everybody's cup of tea, so to speak, but don't fear that. Honestly, I'm not much keen on it myself, however, the wasabi in this is not too strong, and I personally loved it. So if you're not a wasabi lover, don't be deterred - you will still love this! If you are a wasabi lover on the other hand, then I encourage you to double the quantity of wasabi!

Wasabi-fried Eggplant and Avocado Sushi Rolls

Ingredients:

1 quantity sushi rice

6 sheets nori seaweed

4 thin asian-style eggplants, cut into strips

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp sake (optional)

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

11/2 tsp wasabi (use 2-3 if you love wasabi)

1 avocado, cut into strips

You will also need:

A sushi rolling mat

A bowl of water with a dash of rice vinegar

To Assemble:

1.  Heat the oil in a frypan and add the eggplant strips.

2. Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, wasabi and sake (if using) in a small cup or bowl and mix well to completely dissolve the wasabi. Pour over the eggplant strips and fry for 5-7 minutes, turning frequently. The eggplant slices should be soft and slightly charred. Remove and drain on some absorbent paper towel.

3. Lay a sheet of nori seaweed on your sushi rolling mat. Wet your hands in the bowl of water (this stops the rice sticking all over your hands) and grab a handful of rice (about 2/3 cup worth, but you don’t need to measure it out). Spread it over the nori sheet evenly, making sure you spread it out to all the edges as well but leaving about an inch or so at one end.

4. Place a couple of pieces of eggplant and some slices of avocado along the middle of the rice.

5. Lift up the edge of the mat (not the edge with the inch of nori left bare) and, rolling away from you, roll the mat over once whilst gently pressing on the ingredients in the centre with your fingers to hold them in place. You should have rolled over all the rice and only have the bit of nori you left bare showing. Press gently on the roll to make the sushi roll neat and firm.

6. Wet the edge of the nori with a bit of water (to make it stick easier) and roll the sushi that last little bit (being careful not to roll the mat up with it). Press again gently into either a circle or square shape.

7. Repeat steps 3-6 until all ingredients are used up (should be about 6 rolls).

8. Use a very sharp knife to cut each log into eight equal pieces, dip the knife into the bowl of water to prevent it sticking to the rice as you cut. Serve immediately with soy sauce to dip.

Makes 6 sushi rolls, feeds about 4.

Khmer Lemongrass Vegetable Curry

Super exciting news - on Monday I'm going to Sri Lanka! My aim is to get out of the country every winter because I don't cope too well with the cold, so we're heading off for a three week holiday in Sri Lanka!

The sad news is that you won't be getting many posts from me during July! The good news is that I'll be eating lots of amazing Sri Lankan curry and I promise to share lots of photos when I get back. I have to admit I'm very excited about all the curry! Whenever I'm picking places to travel I always immediately think about all the amazing food I'll eat while I'm there - I guess it just shows how food-oriented I am!

To celebrate me going to Sri Lanka and because I'm featuring Cambodian food this month, I'm giving you a delicious Cambodian curry. This is a super easy and really delicious curry, probably one of my favourites out of all the ones I've made (although I haven't been to Sri Lanka yet - so hopefully I'll learn a few new ones)!

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
300g hard tofu, cut in half lengthways
2 tablespoons minced fresh lemongrass
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
3 Asian eggplants (the skinny kind), sliced
2 cups vegetable stock
1 400ml can coconut milk
1/4 cup mushroom sauce (see note)
1 tsp sugar

To Make
1. Heat oil in a wok and fry the pieces of tofu until browned on both sides, remove and set aside on some kitchen paper to drain. Cut into cubes.

2. Add the minced garlic, minced lemongrass and onion and sauté until the onion is softened. Add the eggplant and saute until the eggplant is softened.

3. Add the paprika and curry powder and fry for another minute or two.

4. Add all the rest of the ingredients (including the tofu you cooked earlier) and bring to a simmer.

5. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes, or until the potato is cooked.

Serve with rice.

Serves 4 with rice.

NOTE: Mushroom sauce is generally used as a vegetarian alternative to oyster sauce, it is pretty widely available in Asian supermarkets and some regular supermarkets. If you can't find any, check the Asian section of your supermarkets for anything which is labelled as "Stir Fry Sauce" with no other specific descriptions. These generic sauces are usually vegan friendly (you will have to check the back to make sure) and are made from either mushroom stock or a soy bean product. It will have a very similar taste to mushroom sauce, so just substitute that.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Cambodia!

Check out my other Cambodian recipe posts:

Hot and Sour Mushroom Soup

Kho Manor Nung To Hu (Pineapple and Tofu)

Cambodian Spiced Eggplant

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Parfait (Borbo Skor La-Pov)

Num Chet Chien (Banana Nuggets!)

Nem To-hu Sap (Vegetarian Summer Rolls)

Tirk Salouk Swai (Mango Chilli Salsa)

Cucumber & Vermicelli Salad

Cambodian Spiced Eggplant

This month is Cambodian food month on this blog, I'm researching lots of different Cambodian/Khmer dishes and recreating them here, it has been particularly delicious thus far -starting with delicious Hot and Sour Mushroom Soup and Kho Manor Nung To Hu (Caramelised Pineapple with Tofu).

Khmer cuisine emphasises combinations of complementary flavours in quick and easy to prepare dishes, which is music to my ears because I love quick wok dishes that taste amazing! Here is one - it's a quick and easy eggplant dish which is perfect as a meal served with rice or as a dish to bring to a family gathering or potluck.

Ingredients

6 Asian-style eggplants (the skinny ones)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp white wine or apple cider vinegar

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1/2 tsp ground coriander

Fresh coriander and mint, to serve

Cooked rice, to serve.

To Make:

1. Chop the eggplant up in about 1.5cm width. 

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok and add the eggplant. Fry over a medium heat for about 4 minutes.

3. While it's frying combine all other ingredients (except the fresh herbs and rice) in a small bowl and mix well.

4. Add to the frying eggplant and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the eggplant is softened.

5. Stir through the chopped fresh herbs and serve over cooked rice.

Serves 4-5.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Cambodia!

Check out my other Cambodian recipe posts:

Hot and Sour Mushroom Soup

Kho Manor Nung To Hu (Pineapple and Tofu)

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Parfait (Borbo Skor La-Pov)

Num Chet Chien (Banana Nuggets!)

Khmer Lemongrass Vegetable Curry

Nem To-hu Sap (Vegetarian Summer Rolls)

Tirk Salouk Swai (Mango Chilli Salsa)

Cucumber & Vermicelli Salad

Naaz Khatoon (Iranian Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

This month is Iranian Food Month on Gormandize with A-dizzle and K-bobo and even though the month is nearing an end, I still have a few wonderful recipes to share before the time is up! This is one of them - delicious, easy and very easy to eat your way through a whole pot of it!

Eggplant forms a key part of Middle Eastern cuisine, from Baba Ghanoush to Khoresh Bademjan. In this Naaz Khatoon it is roasted, peeled and then cooked with tomatoes, verjuice and pomegranate molasses - all classic Iranian ingredients. I had to make a special excursion to buy myself the pomegranate molasses, as I've never used it before! Luckily, a lovely friend of mine is Lebanese and took me shopping with her to areas which I haven't been to that are a haven for buying Middle Eastern groceries! I had such a fun time and only my budget stopped me from buying a bit of everything that looked delicious :)

On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html

Naaz Khatoon
Adapted from the Iran Chamber Society website.


Ingredients
4 medium eggplants
4 large tomatoes
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup verjuice

To Make
1. Wash eggplant and dry thoroughly. Bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes. Remove and let cool.
2. Peel the skins off (they should come away easily now) and dice the eggplant flesh (should be nice and juice after the baking so try and keep all the juices in by peeling them over the saucepan you're going to use).
3. Finely dice the onions and tomato.
4. Put all the ingredients except the verjuice in a large saucepan and put over a low heat. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir the verjuice through. Serve immediately.

You can eat as it is or serve with rice, pasta or bread.

Serves 4.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Vietnamese Claypot Eggplant with Glass Noodles

To be fair this is actually eggplant sans the clay pot. You can use a clay pot if you have one otherwise any other heavy based pot will do instead. This version is a bit different from the type that you get in Vietnam - I've added the glass noodles because I love them (and that's a good enough reason as far as I'm concerned) and I added the bok choy as well. Neither of these things would appear in the traditional dish but I like to add them so that this becomes a complete one pot meal - and a very quick one at that.

Ingredients

2 small eggplants or 4 skinny Asian eggplants

1/2 cup oil for frying

4 tbsp sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1x 2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled

1x 4cm piece fresh lemon grass

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp mushroom sauce

Cracked black pepper

2x 100g cakes of died glass vermicelli noodles (also known as bean thread noodles)

1 bunch baby bok choy

Fresh coriander

To Make:

1. Combine the oil for frying with 2 tbsp of the sesame oil and heat in a wok. Slice the eggplant into long strips and fry in batches until soft and browned. You will need to replenish the oil a bit with each batch as the eggplant really soaks it up.

2. Heat a small saucepan of boiling water beside the wok as you are frying. As each batch of eggplant is ready transfer the pieces into the boiling water for about a minute and then remove with tongs or a slotted spoon into a bowl. (This is done to remove some of the oil that the eggplant has soaked up so that you don't eat it all - makes it a bit healthier)

3. Grate the ginger and garlic very finely. Peel the thick outer layer off the lemongrass and finely mince the inner section. Combine the ginger, garlic, lemongrass, cracked pepper, soy sauce, brown sugar, mushroom sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil and 1/3 cup of warm water in a bowl and mix well.

4. Pour this marinade over the eggplant and marinate for about 30 minutes:

5. Line the bottom of your "clay pot" with the bok choy

6. Add the glass noodles

7. Place the eggplant slices on top. Mix the marinade left at the bottom of the bowl with 2 cups boiling hot water and pour over the eggplant and noodles.

8. Put a lid on the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 3 minutes and then remove from the heat. Let stand for a minute and then sprinkle with chopped coriander and a drizzle of sesame oil. Serve.

Serves 2-3.

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