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MY HOMEMADE MEALS (25 recipes)
Spicy Couscous Salad (vegan)
As I've stated before, most of the time I make a salad for my dinner, so every now and then I create a different salad recipe for variety's sake. This time I decided to go Mediterranean.
Ingredients:
1. Cretan Mythos' extra virgin olive oil of Crete is one of the best olive oil choices in Taipei (no, I didn't get paid or get it for free for saying this). It's the most powerful extra virgin olive oil that I've ever tasted, which makes it perfect for this Mediterranean salad -- it goes perfectly with the couscous. I swear, one sip of this olive oil with your eyes closed will teleport you to Crete, Greece's largest island. You may find this exceptional oil at Jason's and Fresh Mart (supermarket below the white SOGO near Zhongxiao Fuxing) for about NT$490. It comes in a large one liter bottle, so the price -- especially given its quality -- is very fair. I should also mention that it's award winning. There are not many quality extra virgin olive oils in Taipei; most of them are fake or of low quality.
2. King Garden's Best Quality Red Chili with Oil. For some reason I can only find it at RT-Mart (大潤發). If you don't like spicy food, use black pepper instead.
3. Couscous. It's healthy and cheap. You can find a 500 gram box of quality couscous at RT-Mart (大潤發) or Carrefour (家樂福) for around NT$60. One box will last a long time because couscous expands when boiled, making a little go a long way.
4. 1 or 2 bags of local Taiwanese lettuce that's usually anywhere from NT$19 to NT$40 at Pxmart (Chuán Lián) (全聯福利中心) or Wellcome (惠康). Pxmart seems to be the most likely place to have it in stock and for the cheapest price. However, day markets are the best option for fulfilling your local lettuce needs for the freshest produce and the cheapest price.
5. Himalayan Sea Salt. Carrefour (家樂福) has the best price for Himalayan sea salt (NT$79 for 180g), also the cheapest price for a grinder (NT$149) -- which comes with 180 grams of Himalayan sea salt in it (making the actual price of the grinder at a cheap NT$70 after subtracting the price of the salt in it) -- and can be refilled.
6. Garlic.
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
1. Rinse, cut up, and put one or two whole bag(s) of lettuce (as seen in the pictures below) in a large bowl or even pot.
2. Use a 1:1 ratio for water for your couscous. Boil the water, turn of the heat, add the couscous to the water (I use about 100 ml for a single serving), cover the pot with a lid and wait about 10 minutes. The couscous should've soaked up all the water at this point and be light and fluffy.
3. Chop up your desired amount of raw garlic into small pieces. I love garlic and add way more than most people would like, but I'm guessing most people would like about 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, as I've shown in the chopped up garlic picture below.
4. Add desired amount of extra virgin olive oil to the lettuce in the bowl.
5. Add Himalayan sea salt and mix the salad around. If you like a lot of flavor, as I do, add another round of sea salt and and olive oil and mix again.
6. Put the couscous on top of the lettuce in the bowl. Don't stir it around, leave it on top. It will fall down itself as you eat. If you stir it, it will all end up at the bottom before you even start eating your salad.
7. Add as much of King Garden's Best Quality Red Chili with Oil on top of the couscous. If you don't like spicy food, add black pepper instead.
8. Add the chopped raw garlic to the top of the salad. It's ready to eat.
9. *optional* Cut up and add some Greek kalamata olives or even black olives.
Click pictures for descriptions
Vegan Protein Smoothie
Whether you're trying to build muscles, lose weight, eat healthily, or just wanting to prepare something easy, you'll find this vegan smoothie very effective and deliciously addictive. That's why I refer to it as The Everything Smoothie in my daily life. Besides food, all you need is a blender. I've been having it for brunch 90% of the time since late 2012, which clearly shows how tasty and addictive it is. This recipe makes about 700-800 ml., which satisfies my body till dinnertime; eating three times a day is unnecessary.
Vegan Smoothie Ingredients:
1-1.5 cups of non-GMO sugar-free soy milk. Homogenized cow's milk is not healthy. The countries with the most cow's milk consumption have the highest rate of osteoporosis in the world. Also, don't use soy milk if you live in a country that heavily processes it (like America), stripping out all the benefits and leaving your body unable to absorb any nutrients, or even being detrimental to your body due to GMOs and other unnatural tampering; about 93% of soy in America is GMO! Therefore, you should use hemp milk, flaxseed milk, almond milk, or rice milk in America. Soy milk in Taiwan is good, and there are several non-GMO options produced through different Taiwanese companies. Soy milk is high in protein as well, making it the perfect liquid for a protein smoothie. Soy milk isn't detrimental for males, that's a soy milk myth; soy milk is healthy for men and women.
1 Banana (Besides being very healthy, it thickens the drink.)
1 heaping spoonful of a Taiwanese companies' 100% natural Black Bean Powder
1 heaping spoonful of a Taiwanese companies' 100% natural Sesame Powder
1 heaping spoonful of a Taiwanese companies' 100% natural Flax-Seed Powder
Fruit (Which provides it's own natural sugar for taste.) I usually add two different types of fruit per smoothie creation. My favorite fruits to use are: papayas, apples, starfruit, pears, and kiwis. Use your imagination and try different fruit combinations to find out what you like best, and to mix it up day to day. Don't use American apples, they're loaded with pesticides and diphenylamine (DPA), which tests have found causes cancer and botulism. That's why Europe banned American apples in 2014: too toxic to eat. Use apples from France, Chile, Japan (if you don't mind paying the high price), or New Zealand (I'm not sure about the latter because they typically don't have much smell, and their taste seems a little artificial, but I have no studies to back up my assumptions). Do a smell test and find out how much more odoriferous Chilean and French apples are over American and most New Zealand apples; American apples have little to no smell! It's time to plant our own apple trees in our non-existent Taipei backyards. Taiwanese apples are also great; I try to buy local when I can, but they're hard to find and quite small.
Optional Ingredients for you (but I always use all of them in every smoothie I make):
1-3 teaspoons of Chia Seeds (Contains protein, calcium, omega-3, fiber, manganese, phosphorus, antioxidants, minerals, and is a super food. Studies show that it boosts energy, stabilizes blood sugar, aids digestion, and lowers cholesterol.)
1 tablespoon Spirulina or Chlorella (They're both high-protein super foods that are extremely healthy.)
Honey, Agave Nectar, Stevia, or any natural sweetener if the particular fruits you're using aren't sweet enough for your liking. Be careful not to add too much, though, because even natural sugar turns into fat the body has to breakdown. I always use 100% natural honey to offset the taste of the spirulina or chlorella (some vegans don't consider honey to be vegan, so they can use a different natural sweetener).
Click pictures for descriptions
If you want to read the whole article that includes not only how to make the Vegan Protein Smoothie, but also exercise routines, information on beneficial vitamins and minerals, what to eat and what not to eat, here is the link to my complete article: Vegan Smoothie & Six Pack Exercises
Deviled Egg Salad (vegetarian)
Being that I usually make a salad for dinner, I brainstormed for a new recipe to mix things up a bit, and I came up with the idea of mixing deviled eggs with salad. Now, four months later, it's still one of my go-to dinner salads. Every ingredient in this salad is healthy -- well, some might argue about the tea egg(s). I'm actually eating this salad right now while I'm typing up this homemade recipe.
Ingredients:
1. 1st Cold Pressed Organic Romanico Extra Virgin Olive Oil or your favorite, but I highly recommend said oil; it's my favorite extra virgin olive oil (no, I didn't get paid or get it for free for saying this). You may find this exceptional oil at Carrefour (家樂福), Wellcome (惠康), Jason's, and Fresh Mart (supermarket below the white SOGO near Zhongxiao Fuxing). It's almost always on sale at Carrefour and Wellcome, I've noticed, for about NT$340 a bottle, which is a great price considering how it's top-rated and one of the best extra virgin olive oils in Taipei. There are actually not many quality extra virgin olive oils in Taipei; most of them are fake or of low quality.
2. Carrefour (家樂福) Dijon mustard (NT$69). It tastes just as good as the top two Dijon brands: Maille and Edmond Fallot. Don't buy one of the many other imitation Dijon mustards; they'll horrible. Carrefour's Dijon is the only non-top brand that I've found that isn't horrible and tastes very similar to the top brands, and I've tried many imitation Dijon mustard brands.
3. 1 to 3, depending on your appetite, convenience store tea eggs (NT$8 to NT$10)
4. 1 or 2 bags of local Taiwanese lettuce that's usually anywhere from NT$19 to NT$40 at Pxmart (Chuán Lián) (全聯福利中心) or Wellcome (惠康). Pxmart seems to be the most likely place to have it in stock and for the cheapest price, but it isn't uncommon for it to be out of stock at any supermarket that carries it, unfortunately. However, day markets are the best option for fulfilling your local lettuce needs for the freshest produce and the cheapest price.
5. Himalayan Sea Salt. Carrefour (家樂福) has the best price for Himalayan sea salt (NT$79 for 180g), also the cheapest price for a grinder (NT$149) -- which comes with 180 grams of Himalayan sea salt in it (making the actual price of the grinder at a cheap NT$70 after subtracting the price of the salt in it) -- and can be refilled.
6. Black Pepper. I got my black pepper grinder and refillable packets at Trinity Indian Store.
7. Paprika. I only used it because it's traditionally used to make deviled eggs. However, I actually think the salad tastes better without it. I started adding raw garlic to the salad instead of paprika, and am liking the overall taste much better (like I said, I've been enjoying this salad for about four months).
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
1. Rinse, cut up, and put one or two whole bag(s) of lettuce (as seen in the pictures below) in a large bowl or even pot.
2. Add desired amount of extra virgin olive oil to the lettuce.
3. Add Himalayan sea salt and black pepper and mix the salad around. If you like a lot of flavor, as I do, add another round of sea salt and pepper and mix again.
4. Add a heaping normal spoonful or two -- I use two -- of Carrefour's Dijon mustard and mix salad around till all the mustard is evenly distributed.
5. Slice up the tea eggs and drop them on top of the salad. Leave them on the top, don't mix, as they'll fall on their own as you fork through your salad while eating. If you mix it, it'll all end up on the bottom.
6. This step is optional. Sprinkle desired amount of paprika on top the salad. I started adding raw garlic to the salad instead of paprika, and am liking the overall taste much better. Extra olive oil and garlic are my two favorite ingredients to include in my homemade meals, so they tend to be in most of my recipes. Good thing they're both super healthy.
Click pictures for descriptions
Dijon Alfalfa Tomato Plate (vegan)
I wasn't able to make a salad for dinner, like I normally do, because of the depletion of lettuce supply due to typhoon Soudelor. So I brainstormed while scanning food at the supermarket, matching different things up in my brain to create a dish that was both healthy and easy to create. You got to eat your veggies. I came up with the Dijon Alfalfa Tomato Plate, and liked it enough to make it again in the future even when lettuce is back in circulation. This dish could be thought of as a sandwich without the bread.
Ingredients:
1. Alfalfa sprouts
2. Tomatoes
3. Garlic
4. Himalayan sea salt
5. Black pepper
6. Extra virgin olive oil
7. Dijon mustard
8. Crushed red chili peppers (optional)(Whole dried chili peppers are are what I used and is what can be seen in my ingredients picture below, but in retrospect it made the dish too spicy, taking away from the other delicious flavors, so use a small amount of crushed red chili peppers instead, which can be found at Trinity Indian Store.)
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
1. Spread the alfalfa on a plate.
2. Put a good amount of extra virgin olive oil in a pan with sliced tomatoes (I used four small tomatoes), chopped garlic (I used four cloves), black pepper, Himalayan sea salt, and crushed red chili peppers (optional).
3. Keep all those ingredients cooking on very low heat for about 15-20 minutes. Normally, heating fruit and vegetables strips them of their nutrients, but tomatoes are special; their antioxidant levels increase anywhere from 50% to 170% after being cooked. Their vitamin C content decreases anywhere from 10% to 30% after being cooked, just to let you know. Get your vitamin C from uncooked tomatoes and elsewhere.
4. After the ingredients are done cooking put them on top of the alfalfa sprouts.
5. Add as much Dijon mustard on top as you like. Carrefour's Dijon mustard is the only Dijon mustard that's as good as the two leading Dijon mustard brands: Maille and Edmond Fallot. All three are French products, contain virtually the same ingredients, and taste the same, so why spend more money on a name brand? Unlike people, your stomach isn't going to think more of you or hold you in higher regard because you put a name brand in it--haha. However, if you've never tried Maille before and would like to at least once, you can find it at Jason's. I've never seen Edmond Fallot in Taiwan.
Click pictures for descriptions
Banana Dessert Wrap
This is an easy, delicious treat to prepare. It's especially nice on hot days being that the banana is frozen and tastes like ice cream. Since decent ice cream is expensive in Taiwan and ice cream isn't healthy anyway, the fact that frozen bananas taste like ice cream is kind of a big deal (if Will Ferrell was a frozen banana, this is what he'd say).
Ingredients:
1. Frozen banana(s)
2. Jam
3. Peanut butter
4. Honey
5. Tortilla
You can minus or substitute any of these ingredients, it's the frozen banana that's the main ingredient that makes this snack great. A frozen banana can even be enjoyed as a dessert by itself because it's texture tastes very similar to ice cream. For example, if you don't want to buy tortillas or peanut butter, just put a frozen banana or two in a bowl and add jam, honey, peanuts, whipped cream--whatever--and spoon it up.
Click pictures for descriptions
Avocado Quattro Formaggi Fettucce
(vegetarian)
The title of this dish is in Italian, it means: avocado four cheeses fettucce (type of pasta). Hass avocados are creamy, so they go extremely well with cheese. I was surprised to find Carrefour's four cheese pasta sauce to be delicious; usually store-bought pasta sauces are flat and bland, but it had a powerful, tasty cheese flavor! It's much better than Carrefour's béchamel sauce because I didn't need to add anything to it in order to improve the flavor. This pasta dish creation is unique and very delicious. Everything is prepared raw except for the fettucce, of course.
Ingredients:
1. Fettuce pasta (a slightly wider form of pasta than the standard fettuccine, meaning “little ribbons,” but feel free to use any type of pasta you like: fettuccine, spaghetti, bavette, linguine, bigoli, capellini, ziti, etc.)
2. Carrefour's 4 Fromages (4 cheeses) past sauce
3. Purple onion
4. Hass avocado
5. Garlic
6. Sea Salt
7. Black pepper
8. Western crushed red chili pepper flakes (not Korean or Japanese!)
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
1. Boil water, add pasta, stir every once in a while (especially in the beginning) to avoid clumping. Cook it al dente. Test a piece of a strand in order to gauge the results.
2. While the pasta is cooking, chop four large garlic cloves into small pieces.
3. Cut two fairly thin slices of a purple onion into pieces (shown in picture below).
4. Cut avocado into four sections and remove the pit, then cut it into smaller pieces.
5. When the pasta is done, turn off the heat; strain the water out; and add half of the 4 cheese pasta sauce, garlic, onion, avocado, sea salt and black pepper (to taste) in the pot and mix it around.
6. Dump it onto a plate and sprinkle as much crushed red chili pepper flakes to it as you want.
Click pictures for descriptions
Teasing Buddhists Salad (vegetarian)
Carrefour has a tasty Caesar dressing that I recommend. Add it to romaine lettuce, or any leafy lettuce, and make your own salad variations. I often make a salad for my diner and have thrown together countless variations. I enjoyed Carrefour's Caesar dressing enough to want to share this particular salad recipe with you, and just let you know about the dressing period.
Ingredients:
1. Romaine lettuce (any leafy lettuce may substitute)
2. Carrefour's Caesar dressing
3. Raw purple onions
4. Raw chopped garlic
5. Black pepper
6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I forgot to add it in the picture below, but I never make a salad without adding it)
Soy Sauce Shuffle (vegetarian)
I often like to throw together stir-fry dishes with whatever I have in my refrigerator. This stir-fry dish turned out to be so tasty that I made it again two more nights in a row. You let the ingredients shuffle around with the soy sauce, and then when the dish's concentration is elsewhere, you pull a soy sauce shuffle by stabbing it with a fork and tossing it in your mouth. Not to be confused with a Kansas City shuffle.
Ingredients:
1. Onion
2. Green onions
3. Mushrooms
4. Chili pepper
5. Garlic
6. Non-GMO marinated Tofu
7. Egg
8. Almonds (The best place to get it is at Costco)(You may substitute with different nuts like cashews, pecans, etc.)
9. Non-GMO Soy sauce
10. Olive oil
11. Black pepper
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Cut some slices off an onion and cut the slices once in half.
Step 2: Cut up some mushrooms.
Step 3: Cut up some of the non-GMO marinated tofu.
Step 4: Put the onions, mushrooms, and tofu in a pan with olive oil and non-GMO soy sauce. Leave the lid on the pan so it cooks with its own steam. Take off the lid and stir the ingredients around every now and then.
Step 5: While it's cooking, chop up the chili pepper, some green onions, and about four cloves of garlic.
Step 6: Add the chopped chili pepper and green onions to the pan when the onions, mushroom, and tofu are about halfway done.
Step 7: When the ingredients are basically done cooking, add the egg, garlic, and black pepper to the pan and mix. If you want your garlic cooked more, making it less powerful, you may add it sooner.
Step 8: Turn off the heat, put the ingredients on a plate, and add some almonds on top.
Click pictures for descriptions
Garlic Basil Béchamel Spaghetti (vegetarian)
Béchamel (bay-shah-mel)(or besciamella as it's called in Italian) is one of the mother sauces of Italian and French cuisine. It's origins are a bit of a mystery; it was created in the 1500s or 1600s by either a French or an Italian chef.
As the housewife in the 17th Century did not have the luxury of modern refrigeration, they were wary of using milk in their recipes. Peddlers were known to sell watered down or rancid produce. Basically, only the rich or royalty could use milk in their sauces.
In France, it's one of the four basic sauces called "meres" or "mother sauces" from which all other sauces derive. It is also know as "white sauce." It is a smooth, white sauce made from a roux made with flour, boiled milk, and butter. It's usually served with white meats, eggs, and vegetables. It forms the basis of many other sauces.
History: There are four theories on the origin of Béchamel Sauce:
The Italian version--the best version--of who created besciamella sauce is that it was created in the 14th century and was introduced by the Italian chefs of Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), the Italian-born Queen of France. In 1533, as part of an Italian-French dynastic alliance, Catherine was married to Henri, Duke of Orleans (the future King Henri II of France. It is because of the Italian cooks and pastry makers who followed her to France that the French came to know the taste of Italian cooking that they introduced to the French court. Antonin Carème(1784-1833), celebrated chef and author, wrote in 1822: "The cooks of the second half of the 1700’s came to know the taste of Italian cooking that Catherine de’Medici introduced to the French court."
Béchamel Sauce was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623), Governor of Saumur, and Lord of the Plessis Marly in the 1600s. Béchamel Sauce is a variation of the basic white sauce of Mornay. He is also credited with being the creator of Mornay Sauce, Sauce Chasseur, Sauce Lyonnaise, and Sauce Porto.
Marquis Louis de Béchamel (1603–1703), a 17th century financier who held the honorary post of chief steward of King Louis XIV's (1643-1715) household, is also said to have invented Béchamel Sauce when trying to come up with a new way of serving and eating dried cod. There are no historical records to verify that he was a gourmet, a cook, or the inventor of Béchamel Sauce. The 17th century Duke d'Escars supposedly is credited with stating: "That fellow Béchameil has all the luck! I was serving breast of chicken a la crème more than 20 years before he was born, but I have never had the chance of giving my name to even the most modest sauce."
It's more likely that Chef Francois Pierre de la Varenne (1615-1678) created Béchamel Sauce. He was a court chef during King Louis XIV's (1643-1715) reign, during the same time that Béchamel was there. He is often cited as being the founder of haute cuisine (which would define classic French cuisine). La Varenne wrote Le Cuisinier Francois (The True French Cook), which included Béchamel Sauce. It is thought that he dedicated it to Béchamel as a compliment. La Varenne recipes used roux made from flour and butter (or other animal fat) instead of using bread as a thickener for sauces.
Ingredients:
1. Béchamel sauce (from Carrefour 家樂福, or even better, make your own from scratch)
2. Fresh Chinese basil (this and the garlic are the major flavors, so add a lot)
3. Mushrooms
4. Spaghetti
5. Green onions
6. Sea salt
7. Extra virgin olive oil
8. Garlic (this and the fresh basil are the major flavors, so add a lot)
9. Black pepper
10. Salted butter (about 1 tablespoon)
11. Cooking oil (I used olive oil)
12. Western crushed red chili flakes (optional)(may be purchased at Trinity Indian Store)
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Bring drinkable water to a boil in a pot and stir in a generous amount of sea salt. The sea salt will absorb into the spaghetti.
Step 2: Add spaghetti to boiling water and cook it for as long as the package says, stirring it every now and then to make sure it doesn't stick together. Test it by eating a little every now and then because you don't want to end up with mushy spaghetti, you want it to be al dente. After it's done and you've taken out the spaghetti, save a little of the sea salt water that you cooked your spaghetti in.
Step 3: While you're waiting for the spaghetti to cook, chop up the mushrooms, basil, green onions, and garlic.
Step 4: If you have two burners, turn on the 2nd burner, add some cooking oil, mushrooms and green onions in a pan and cook it with the top on, stirring it every now and then to avoid burning. If you only have one burner, do this after the spaghetti is done. Mix in a little extra virgin olive oil in the spaghetti so they won't stick together--it also adds to the taste--whether you have one or two burners.
Step 5: After your mushrooms and green onions are cooked, add the salted butter and let it melt (we're adding butter because Carrefour's béchamel sauce is lacking enough fresh butter taste), then add half of the container of béchamel sauce to the pan for a large serving or 1/3 for a small meal (the béchamel sauce box says it's four servings, but those labels are almost never accurate). After the sauce has heated up, which will only take a minute, turn off the heat and stir in the fresh basil and raw garlic to the mixture.
Step 6: Dump the spaghetti and the little bit of sea salt water you saved into the pan, and mix it around in the sauce.
Step 7: Put it on a plate and add black pepper--and more sea salt if you didn't add enough in the spaghetti water and wish the dish was saltier--to taste. If you want it to be spicy, add some western crushed red chili flakes.
As always, feel free to tweak my recipe to suite your own needs. For example, replace the mushrooms and green onions with clams; it wouldn't be vegetarian anymore, but it would be yummy.
Click pictures for descriptions
Scrambled Egg & Tomato Pesto (vegetarian)
Ingredients:
1. Eggs
2. Cherry tomatoes
3. Almonds (Costco has the best price in Taiwan by far)(substitutes: any other nut, but cashews, walnuts, or pecans would work best)
4. Garlic
5. Tomato pesto (Carrefour's Pesto Rosso is delicious & costs NT$79)
6. Sea salt (*optional because there is already enough salt in the tomato pesto)
7. Black pepper
8. Basil (fresh Chinese basil would be even better)
9. Oregano
10. Cooking oil
11. Chili pepper (*optional if you like spicy food. Choose a type of chili that matches your level of desired spiciness. I chose one of the smaller, hotter red chilies because I love spicy food.)
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Chop up some garlic cloves. I used four because I'm a garlic lover.
Step 2: Add cooking oil to a pan and cook the garlic on a very low temperature.
Step 3: Cut cherry tomatoes in two and add them to the very low-heated pan, at the same time as the garlic, with the flat/inside part facing the pan for about 10-15 minutes.
Step 4: Add eggs. I used two eggs for a single serving.
Step 5: Add all the herbs to taste: sea salt, black pepper, oregano, and basil.
Step 6: Add a generous amount of tomato pesto. Carrefour's Pesto Rosso is a delicious tomato pesto and is much cheaper than other brands available in Taiwan (goes for NT$79).
Step 7: Turn off heat and mix in almonds. Almonds or any other nuts used as a substitute shouldn't be heated or they'll lose their crunchiness and desired overall texture.
Click pictures for descriptions
Spicy Tofu Mexican Bowl (vegetarian)
Ingredients:
1. I-Mei marinated non-GMO tofu
2. Cherry tomatoes
3. Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil from Europe (De Cecco is best priced at RT-Mart (大潤發) and Chuan Lian
(全聯福利中心)
4. Tapatío hot sauce (Citysuper has it for NT$65, which is three times more expensive than in the USA). The only bad ingredient in it is the last one: sodium bicarbonate as a preservative. You almost need to make your own hot sauce in order to avoid at least one unhealthy ingredient. Or you can use your favorite Mexican hot sauce or optional sauces that I've shown in the pictures below, but Mexican hot sauces work best since they have a different taste than Asian hot sauces.
5. Black pepper (don't use McCormick because they use GMO. To stay safe, don't buy food from the USA. Most major American food companies are riddled with GMO! Most fruit and vegetables from the USA may be GMO-free, but they're heavily pesticided. Food from China is better than from America at this point. It's crazy!)
6. Paella mix (optional)(can be found at Citysuper or Jason's supermarket, both at a ridiculous price: about NT$145)
7. Sea salt (if you don't like salty dishes, skip the sea salt since there is enough salt already in Tapatío)
8. Garlic
9. One egg
10. A white onion (not from the USA)
11. Cooked black and/or green beans (you may use rice instead. All the Asians just gave a sigh of relief after reading that they can use rice instead)
12. Cheddar cheese (optional)
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Put beans in a bowl
Step 2: Cook 1/4 of a white onion and 1 or 2 cubes of the marinated tofu with cooking oil in a pan
Step 3: When onions and tofu are done, put them to the side of the pan and cook an egg
Step 4: Cut about 6 cherry tomatoes and about 3 garlic cloves (when the onions and tofu are cooking)
Step 5: Add cooked onions and tofu, and raw cherry tomatoes and garlic in the bowl with the beans
Step 6: Add extra olive oil, Tapatío, black pepper, sea salt, and paella mix (optional) in the bowl
Step 7: Mix it all around in the bowl (optional: include the shredded cheddar cheese), and add the egg on top solely for photographic purposes. Cut up the egg into several pieces with your spoon, and mix it around into the other ingredients.
Click pictures for descriptions
Aztec Olive Oil Couscous (vegan)
Couscous is considered a pasta and is made of semolina. It's native to northern Africa and is commonly found in Middle Eastern cuisine. It can be eaten as a side dish, in salad, in soup, or in a main entree. It can be used as a substitute for rice or quinoa -- it's very versatile -- and it’s preparation requires little more than the addition of hot water and fluffing with a fork. It takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. I love it and wanted to share one of my couscous recipes with you.
Why did I choose this particular name for my dish? I incorporated most of the ingredients that I use to make guacamole in this recipe and guacamole was invented by the Aztecs. Also, I use a lot of olive oil in this dish and that's what makes it delicious.
Ingredients:
Biocano Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (can be purchased at Jason's or Citysuper for NT$580) or any cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
A box of Couscous (can be purchased at Carrefour for NT$69 or RT-Mart (大润发) for NT$59)
One Hass Avocado (must be a hass avocado to provide creaminess and superb taste. Can usually be purchased at Carrefour for NT$69. They can also be purchased in a pack of 5 at Costco)
One Tomato
Some chopped up pieces from a Purple Onion
A can of American or Spanish Black Olives
About 4 cloves of Garlic
Sea Salt
Peppercorn or Black Pepper
Basil
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Prepare all the raw ingredients: peel and chop the garlic into small pieces, chop the tomato into chunks, chop the purple onion into small pieces, cut the black olives in half, cut the avocado into four pieces to easily remove the pit and skin and then cut it into chunks. Set all the raw ingredients aside.
Step 2: Cook up some couscous using the simple directions on the box if you can read French or Spanish. If not, here are the simple directions: the proportions for cooking couscous are generally 1:1. A little less water makes drier couscous, good for salads or serving with sauces. 2:1 ratio of more water makes softer and slightly sticky couscous. One cup of dried couscous makes about four cups of cooked couscous. Bring the water to a boil.
Step 3: Remove the pan from heat when the water starts boiling and pour in the couscous, sea salt, peppercorn or black pepper, and basil. Stir to even the couscous and mix the ingredients.
Step 4: Cover the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes. If the couscous hasn't absorbed the water or still tastes crunchy after this time, cover and let it sit for a few more minutes.
Step 5: Break apart and fluff the cooked couscous with a fork.
Step 6: Add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil to the couscous and mix it around.
Step 7: Add and mix in all the raw ingredients from step one to the couscous.
Step 8: Put it on a plate or into a bowl. Add extra virgin olive oil to the top if you're an olive oil fiend like me (optional).
Step 9: While you're eating, add more sea salt and/or black pepper if you feel that you didn't put in enough the first time.
Couscous is very versatile, so use your imagination with different ingredients you think would taste good, creating your own dish.
Click pictures for descriptions
Why did I choose this particular name for my dish? I incorporated most of the ingredients that I use to make guacamole in this recipe and guacamole was invented by the Aztecs. Also, I use a lot of olive oil in this dish and that's what makes it delicious.
Ingredients:
Biocano Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (can be purchased at Jason's or Citysuper for NT$580) or any cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
A box of Couscous (can be purchased at Carrefour for NT$69 or RT-Mart (大润发) for NT$59)
One Hass Avocado (must be a hass avocado to provide creaminess and superb taste. Can usually be purchased at Carrefour for NT$69. They can also be purchased in a pack of 5 at Costco)
One Tomato
Some chopped up pieces from a Purple Onion
A can of American or Spanish Black Olives
About 4 cloves of Garlic
Sea Salt
Peppercorn or Black Pepper
Basil
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Prepare all the raw ingredients: peel and chop the garlic into small pieces, chop the tomato into chunks, chop the purple onion into small pieces, cut the black olives in half, cut the avocado into four pieces to easily remove the pit and skin and then cut it into chunks. Set all the raw ingredients aside.
Step 2: Cook up some couscous using the simple directions on the box if you can read French or Spanish. If not, here are the simple directions: the proportions for cooking couscous are generally 1:1. A little less water makes drier couscous, good for salads or serving with sauces. 2:1 ratio of more water makes softer and slightly sticky couscous. One cup of dried couscous makes about four cups of cooked couscous. Bring the water to a boil.
Step 3: Remove the pan from heat when the water starts boiling and pour in the couscous, sea salt, peppercorn or black pepper, and basil. Stir to even the couscous and mix the ingredients.
Step 4: Cover the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes. If the couscous hasn't absorbed the water or still tastes crunchy after this time, cover and let it sit for a few more minutes.
Step 5: Break apart and fluff the cooked couscous with a fork.
Step 6: Add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil to the couscous and mix it around.
Step 7: Add and mix in all the raw ingredients from step one to the couscous.
Step 8: Put it on a plate or into a bowl. Add extra virgin olive oil to the top if you're an olive oil fiend like me (optional).
Step 9: While you're eating, add more sea salt and/or black pepper if you feel that you didn't put in enough the first time.
Couscous is very versatile, so use your imagination with different ingredients you think would taste good, creating your own dish.
Click pictures for descriptions
Here are some benefits from consuming couscous:
It's high in protein and has less calories than rice and quinoa, not that I care about calories. One cup of cooked couscous gives you six grams of protein. Your body relies on dietary protein to support healthy skin, muscles, organs and other body tissues. Choosing lean protein sources helps ensure you're meeting your daily protein needs without consuming excess fat. A serving of couscous has less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, making it very lean. Also, one cup of couscous provides two grams of dietary fiber. Even though fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate, it plays a vital role in maintaining your health. Fiber may be beneficial for weight management because it absorbs water and swells in your digestive tract, helping you feel full. It also keeps food moving through your body preventing constipation. Your cholesterol level may even benefit from fiber because it binds to cholesterol in the digestive tract and removes it from your body. When grains are processed, many of the nutrients are lost. Choosing whole grain foods typically provides you with more vitamins, minerals, and fiber per serving than refined grains. Couscous is a whole grain food and a good source of B vitamins needed to keep you healthy. Specifically, couscous provides thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, B6, folate, potassium, and pantothenic acid. These nutrients help metabolize energy, maintain healthy red blood cells, prevent certain birth defects and keep your skin, blood, brain, nervous system, heart, and immune system functioning well. Minerals are also present in varying levels in couscous. A serving of the pasta provides 61 percent of the daily value for selenium. Selenium plays an essential role in reproductive health, metabolism of thyroid hormones, protein synthesis, and preventing damage from free radicals. One cup of couscous also contains seven percent of the daily value for the mineral manganese. While only a tiny amount of manganese is needed daily, it plays a part in maintaining the health of bones, blood, hormones, nerve, brain function, and regulating metabolism and blood sugar.
It's high in protein and has less calories than rice and quinoa, not that I care about calories. One cup of cooked couscous gives you six grams of protein. Your body relies on dietary protein to support healthy skin, muscles, organs and other body tissues. Choosing lean protein sources helps ensure you're meeting your daily protein needs without consuming excess fat. A serving of couscous has less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, making it very lean. Also, one cup of couscous provides two grams of dietary fiber. Even though fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate, it plays a vital role in maintaining your health. Fiber may be beneficial for weight management because it absorbs water and swells in your digestive tract, helping you feel full. It also keeps food moving through your body preventing constipation. Your cholesterol level may even benefit from fiber because it binds to cholesterol in the digestive tract and removes it from your body. When grains are processed, many of the nutrients are lost. Choosing whole grain foods typically provides you with more vitamins, minerals, and fiber per serving than refined grains. Couscous is a whole grain food and a good source of B vitamins needed to keep you healthy. Specifically, couscous provides thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, B6, folate, potassium, and pantothenic acid. These nutrients help metabolize energy, maintain healthy red blood cells, prevent certain birth defects and keep your skin, blood, brain, nervous system, heart, and immune system functioning well. Minerals are also present in varying levels in couscous. A serving of the pasta provides 61 percent of the daily value for selenium. Selenium plays an essential role in reproductive health, metabolism of thyroid hormones, protein synthesis, and preventing damage from free radicals. One cup of couscous also contains seven percent of the daily value for the mineral manganese. While only a tiny amount of manganese is needed daily, it plays a part in maintaining the health of bones, blood, hormones, nerve, brain function, and regulating metabolism and blood sugar.
Tomato Almond Pesto Salad (vegetarian)
There are few places in Taipei that can make a salad as good as myself, so I usually make my own instead of eating out when it comes to salads. Off the top of my head, Tutti Cafe 圖比咖啡 and Journey Kaffe 覺旅咖啡 are two places that make an excellent salad.
This is a warm salad since the tomatoes are heated in a pan.
Ingredients:
Pesto sauce
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (make sure it's from Europe and is cold pressed)
Marcona Almonds from Costco (cashews or pecans are a good substitute)
Cherry Tomatoes
White Pepper
Peppercorn (black pepper is a good substitute)
Romaine Lettuce (preferably Taiwanese grown. It use to be hard to find, but has become more popular in Taiwan, so more local growers started growing it, and now it can be found in most supermarkets.)
Oregano
Sea Salt
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Cut the end off of one or more romaine lettuce heart(s), rinse them with water to get rid of the pesticides, cut them into edible pieces, and put them in a big bowl or pot.
Step 2: Cut cherry tomatoes in half and heat in a pan with extra virgin olive oil for about 10-15 minutes, keeping the heat very low to avoid the smoking point for extra virgin olive oil. The heat doesn't need to be hot to heat tomatoes. Halfway through the cooking process, add oregano and sea salt to the tomatoes. Normally, heating fruit and vegetables only strips them of their nutrients, but tomatoes are special; their antioxidant levels increase anywhere from 50% to 170% after being cooked. Their vitamin C content decreases anywhere from 10% to 30% after being cooked, just to let you know. Get your vitamin C from uncooked tomatoes and elsewhere. Put the tomatoes aside for now.
Step 3: Cut up about 3 cloves of raw garlic into slices (shown in picture below).
Step 4: Pour some European extra virgin olive oil on top of the romaine lettuce sitting in your big bowl or pot. Add a generous amount of peppercorn and some white pepper. Mix it around and repeat step 3. This will make sure to saturate all the romaine lettuce with flavor. Don't be scared of the oil, extra virgin olive oil is one of the healthiest oils, and even though it's a source of fat, it's the type of fat that burns fat. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. It also has tons of other benefits such as weight loss, anti-aging skin benefits, strengthens immune system, digestive benefits, keeps bones healthy, anti-cancer benefits, cardiovascular benefits, and longevity.
(Extra Virgin Olive Oil Information, 10 Extra Virgin Olive Oil Benefits)
Step 5: Put some pesto in a container and mix it with enough extra virgin olive oil so that it has a nice salad dressing-like consistency.
Step 6: Put the cooked tomatoes on top of the romaine lettuce. Put the Marcona almonds on top. Put the raw garlic slices on top. Pour your pesto dressing on top. Do not mix the ingredients around or they will fall to the bottom of your salad, making it harder to eat all the ingredients along with the lettuce. All the ingredients will naturally fall down, fork bite by fork bite. Enjoy.
Click pictures for descriptions
This is a warm salad since the tomatoes are heated in a pan.
Ingredients:
Pesto sauce
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (make sure it's from Europe and is cold pressed)
Marcona Almonds from Costco (cashews or pecans are a good substitute)
Cherry Tomatoes
White Pepper
Peppercorn (black pepper is a good substitute)
Romaine Lettuce (preferably Taiwanese grown. It use to be hard to find, but has become more popular in Taiwan, so more local growers started growing it, and now it can be found in most supermarkets.)
Oregano
Sea Salt
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Cut the end off of one or more romaine lettuce heart(s), rinse them with water to get rid of the pesticides, cut them into edible pieces, and put them in a big bowl or pot.
Step 2: Cut cherry tomatoes in half and heat in a pan with extra virgin olive oil for about 10-15 minutes, keeping the heat very low to avoid the smoking point for extra virgin olive oil. The heat doesn't need to be hot to heat tomatoes. Halfway through the cooking process, add oregano and sea salt to the tomatoes. Normally, heating fruit and vegetables only strips them of their nutrients, but tomatoes are special; their antioxidant levels increase anywhere from 50% to 170% after being cooked. Their vitamin C content decreases anywhere from 10% to 30% after being cooked, just to let you know. Get your vitamin C from uncooked tomatoes and elsewhere. Put the tomatoes aside for now.
Step 3: Cut up about 3 cloves of raw garlic into slices (shown in picture below).
Step 4: Pour some European extra virgin olive oil on top of the romaine lettuce sitting in your big bowl or pot. Add a generous amount of peppercorn and some white pepper. Mix it around and repeat step 3. This will make sure to saturate all the romaine lettuce with flavor. Don't be scared of the oil, extra virgin olive oil is one of the healthiest oils, and even though it's a source of fat, it's the type of fat that burns fat. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. It also has tons of other benefits such as weight loss, anti-aging skin benefits, strengthens immune system, digestive benefits, keeps bones healthy, anti-cancer benefits, cardiovascular benefits, and longevity.
(Extra Virgin Olive Oil Information, 10 Extra Virgin Olive Oil Benefits)
Step 5: Put some pesto in a container and mix it with enough extra virgin olive oil so that it has a nice salad dressing-like consistency.
Step 6: Put the cooked tomatoes on top of the romaine lettuce. Put the Marcona almonds on top. Put the raw garlic slices on top. Pour your pesto dressing on top. Do not mix the ingredients around or they will fall to the bottom of your salad, making it harder to eat all the ingredients along with the lettuce. All the ingredients will naturally fall down, fork bite by fork bite. Enjoy.
Click pictures for descriptions
Omelet Lasagna (vegetarian)
Ingredients:
Eggs
Bread
Green onion pancakes (fresh or frozen)
Non-GMO Dougan (marinated hard tofu)(豆干)
De Cecco Spaghetti Sauce (or any other non-GMO spaghetti sauce. Almost all American spaghetti sauces are GMO, even if they say they're natural. Australian spaghetti sauce usually taste bad.)
Imported (preferable American or Spanish -- not Taiwanese!) Black Olives
Onions
Mushrooms
Cheddar Cheese
European Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Hot Chili Sauce
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Toast bread and cover the bottom of your glass container with it. Cut various pieces of bread if need be to make it fit together leaving no spaces.
Step 2: Put olive oil in pan and cook the green onion pancake on either side till golden brown and crispy. 4 or 6 are needed depending on how many layers you want in your omelet lasagna.
Step 3: While the green onion pancakes are cooking, on a different burner, cook some chopped onions with olive oil in a pot.
Step 4: After the onions have cooked for a while, add chopped pieces of dougan and mushrooms to the pot.
Step 5: When it's adequately cooked, add eggs, hot chili sauce, sea salt, and black pepper to taste.
Step 6: After the eggs are done cooking (don't cook them too much, making them too solid), add cheddar cheese and turn off the burner after it melts, which doesn't take long at all.
Step 7: Place a layer of the egg mixture you just made on the toast in your container.
Step 7.5: (optional) Put a thin layer of spaghetti sauce in each layer. I was actually going to do this from the start, but forgot about it and only added it to the top layer in my haste; I was already running late to a potluck gathering.
Step 8: Place two cooked green onion pancakes on the egg layer. You'll need to cut them a bit to make them fit better since they're round.
Step 9: Add another layer of egg mixture.
Step 10: Add two more cooked green onion pancakes for another layer.
Step 11: Add another layer of egg mixture.
Step 12: Add a layer of spaghetti sauce.
Step 13: Shove black olives into the layer of spaghetti sauce.
Step 14: Add two more cooked green onion pancakes for the top.
Click pictures for descriptions
Radish Egg Scramble (vegetarian)
Here is a delicious little breakfast dish that will please your stomach. I think this would be a big hit if they started selling it at Taiwanese breakfast shops.
Ingredients:
Cooking Oil
block of Radish Cake (蘿蔔糕)
Eggs
Peanuts
Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Hot Chili Bean Sauce with Garlic (get a non-GMO Taiwanese brand, not a Chinese brand)
Thick & sweet Soy Sauce (the sauce that is normally used on radish cake (蘿蔔糕) at breakfast shops. You can tell the difference between this sauce and normal soy sauce by tipping the bottle and seeing how fast it moves. A Taiwanese or Japanese brand is best.
Cheddar cheese (optional)
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
Step 1: Add cooking oil to pan.
Step 2: Cut the radish cake into small enough cubes, so it doesn't take forever to fry (it comes in a big block at the grocery store).
Step 3: Add black pepper and sea salt to taste (I add a lot)(don't use any sea salt if you're going to use cheese; it will be too salty).
Step 4: Turn over radish cake as needed until it's lightly browned or to your desired hardness; if you don't fry it long enough, it will taste too mushy.
Step 5: Add the amount of eggs you want in the pan. I added four because I was really hungry.
Step 6: Stir it around while it's cooking.
Step 7: Add the hot chili bean sauce with garlic and the thick, sweet soy sauce.
Step 8: If you're going to add cheddar cheese, do so now and let it melt a little bit, which doesn't take long at all
(I didn't add cheese).
Step 9: Turn off the burner and mix in the peanuts. Don't cook the peanuts or they'll become soggy and lose their crunchiness that is needed for this dish to taste great.
Step 10: Put it on a plate and enjoy!
Click pictures for descriptions
Avocado & Tomato Wrap (vegan)
If you love avocados and tomatoes, here is a great way to wrap them up together for a healthy, delicious meal.
Ingredients:
1 Imported Hass Avocado (can be found at Costco and Carrefour for the best price)
1 Tomato
Tortilla Corn Wrap package (can be found at Florida Bakery, Jason's, Wellcome, etc.)
Garlic
Rosemary (way better fresh than dried)
Green Olive Paste (can be found at Carrefour for NT$95)
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Basil or the Taiwanese equivalent, 九層塔 jiucengta (either way, better fresh than dried)
Crushed Red Chili Peppers (optional)(can be found at Trinity Indian Store in a 100 mg bag for NT$65. They are super hard to find anywhere else in Taipei. Only Japanese and Korean dried red peppers are accessible, and they don't taste half as good if you're used to American-style. I found it a couple times at specialty stores for a completely ridiculous price.)
Cooking/Preparation Instructions:
It is highly preferable that you get a Hass avocado, since the imported avocados taste a lot better than the local Taiwanese options; they're way creamier and butterier.
Lay down a tortilla wrap on a plate. You might want to warm it up a bit in the toaster oven or microwave if it has been stored in the refrigerator and is a little cold. Spread some green olive paste on it (this ingredient is very important; without it, the whole taste of this dish changes). Add tomato that has been cut up into edible bites. Add avocado, pealing and cutting as described in Avocado Dream Sandwich below, and again in one of the pictures below for this meal. Add chopped raw garlic. Add all the herbs and spices: sea salt, black pepper, rosemary, basil or 九層塔, and optional crushed red chili peppers.
You can fold the tortilla wrap in a little bit at the bottom and fold the two sides over each other (as shown in one of the pictures below) or you can fold it like a burrito, as shown in this burrito folding video I found on YouTube. The former is best if you want to fit more ingredients into the tortilla wrap and have less of a corn tortilla taste. When using the former tortilla wrap folding technique, hold the wrap at the bottom with one hand and midway with the other, while keeping it almost horizontal to avoid all the juices running to the bottom.
Click pictures for descriptions
Avocado Dream Sandwich (vegan)
& How to Grow an Avocado Plant
I've been eating a couple of these every week for the last 7 months and am still not tired of them; in fact, I still find it just as delicious and satisfying as the first time I indulged. I am an avocado addict.
This is one of those meals that is easily prepared, but tastes like a masterpiece. First, start out by toasting quality bread, with some denseness to it, in a toaster or mini oven. If you live in America, buy Dave's Killer Bread (picture below). It is so good!!! The cheapest price can be found by buying it in a two pack at Costco for $7 USD. In Taiwan, buy dense bread from a bakery that provides gourmet bread like Peck.
After the bread is toasted, take it out and use a vegan oil spread (or butter, or nothing, as this ingredient is not crucial). Now to cut the avocado. A lot of people find this a hassle, but I have found a super easy way to neatly cut an avocado. Put your knife in the top and press down till you hit the pit, then cut all around the avocado keeping the knife on the pit till you meet up with the cut mark back on the top. Then cut another mark on the top making a plus sign (picture below), and continue that cut all the way around the same way. If the avocado is ripe enough, it will probably start to fall off the pit, but if it's a little harder, you can put the knife back in one of the slits on the side and work it back and forth till you have separated the four pieces from the pit. Then hold one of the avocado pieces and use your thumb to dig between the skin and the edible part. Use the top of your thumb nail to scrape along the inner part of the skin to easily get the skin off. Eat the excess avocado on your thumb and what's leftover on the skin, and put the avocado on the bread. Do this with all four pieces. It's best to buy imported Hass avocados (Carrefour and Costco have the cheapest prices) because they taste very creamy and buttery compared to the local Taiwanese avocados that are sadly pretty dull.
Then add the herbs and spices. Put sea salt, black pepper, and crushed red chili pepper if you like it a little spicy. Add as much as you personally like; I go big on herbs and spices (note that the chili peppers I used below are super weak and that is why I used so many. If they were normal, my mouth would be burning and I wouldn't taste anything with that amount!). Then add fresh rosemary which is way better than using dried rosemary, but if that is all you can get, it's still better than nothing. Then pour a good amount of cold pressed 100% extra virgin olive oil from Europe on the avocados. The olive oil is crucial; it will not taste the same without it! Put the other piece of bread on top the avocados and you're done.
If you want to have a lighter meal, just sprinkle/pour the sea salt, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and optional chili peppers on top of the avocado pieces, and eat it with a fork, without the bread.
If your avocado was never stored in the refrigerator, you can grow your own avocado tree from the leftover pit. This can be a fun little botany project. Here is a good video on YouTube that explains how to grow an avocado plant from seeds. This video is also good to show how to grow avocado plants from the pit. Good information on the entire process of growing avocado seeds into trees and maintaining them can be found on The Garden Helper website. When the plant starts to get bigger, you can put it outside and hopefully it will get pollinated and grow avocados. You have to reside in a warm region, though, or the plant will not survive, as avocado plants only grow in warm to hot regions. You can always keep it inside as a nice plant if you live in a colder climate, but it will not grow avocados because it needs to be outside to have a chance to pollinate. There are pictures below of my avocado pits just starting to grow their roots and growing stems with some leaves after being transplanted to dirt pots.
Click pictures for descriptions
Pizza by normal or wood fired oven (vegetarian or even vegan if desired)
Making really good pizza is not as hard as some might think. You just have to follow a few rules in order to produce a fine tasting pizza. I'll show you how to make a pizza in a wood fired oven or in your normal oven at home.
Dough: There are several different recipes you can find online or in books, some are a lot easier than others.
I prefer to use a pizza dough recipe by master Peter Reinhart. If you want other great bread recipes, you can find his book on Amazon: Bread Baker's Apprentice.
Sauce: Use canned San Marzano tomatoes from Italy for the best and most authentic Italian taste. Just dump them out of the can, mash them up, and remove any leftover tomato skins. Here is a basic video showing how easy it is on YouTube by fornobravo. Then add as much as you like of the following spices & oil: 100% extra virgin olive oil from Europe, sea salt, oregano, basil, black pepper (optional), and crushed red chili peppers (if you like it spicy). You can add these spices to the sauce or apply it on the sauce of each individual pizza. Just keep in mind to add the spices on the sauce and under the cheese and toppings. If you add it on the top of the cheese, it will just get burnt in the oven and lose all it's flavor; besides, the spices mingle with the sauce and create the necessary flavor. Adding the olive oil is a must if you want to have that authentic Italian taste. If you're not sure how much you want of each ingredient, add a little and keep tasting the sauce until you get your desired taste, instead of just dumping it all in at once and hoping it's right. Tasting is ideal if you don't already have your own recipe down after several tries because you might personally like more or less of one particular spice unlike some author's recipe.
Toppings: Your choice, but keeping it simple makes for the best flavor. Adding too many varieties of toppings usually takes away from the best possible flavor instead of helping it; more is not better! If you're vegan, you can use your favorite soy cheese instead. When I was vegan for a year, I eventually found an acceptable soy cheese brand: Follow Your Heart. For toppings, I usually use 3/4 mozzarella cheese & 1/4 cheddar cheese (the cheddar cheese gives it a sharper taste), mushrooms, onions, and black olives.
If you're making the pizza in a wood fired oven, which is the best way because the burning wood gives the pizza a certain taste that you'll never get in a normal oven, make the crust thin or it will not cook through and end up a doughy mess. After you have added your sauce and toppings and have put it in the wood fired oven, keep turning it enough so it doesn't get burnt on one side. Here is a basic tutorial for cooking Pizza in a wood fired oven.
If you're cooking the pizza in a normal oven, you can create a thicker crust if you want, but if you do, be sure to cook the dough without any sauce or toppings on a low heat setting in the oven for a while to get all the dough cooked thoroughly inside so it will not be doughy in the end, but don't cook the dough entirely; leave enough dough baking time left so you can take it out and add the sauce and toppings, and put it back in the oven to melt the cheese, cook the toppings a little, and get that nice browning of the crust.
Click pictures for descriptions
Sweet Stir Fry (vegetarian)
I wanted a change from my normal spicy stir-fry, so I invented this sweet stir-fry. It was a huge success! 美味!
Ingredients: cabbage, dougan (hard, marinated tofu), fake chicken meat (optional), peanuts, and snow peas.
Sauce: cook it in 100% olive oil from Europe. When it's done cooking, turn off the heat and mix in 100% natural maple syrup and sugarless non-GMO soy milk (I-Mei is best).
Decadently Sweet French Toast (vegetarian)
I made three Decadently Sweet French Toast variations:
1. Strawberry jam and Italian maraschino cherries French toast
2. Banana with 100% maple syrup French toast
3. Peanut butter, pure honey, and peanuts French toast.
I prefer using the thick Asian sliced bread. Dip the bread into a mixture of egg and milk (or milk substitute) until it's thoroughly soaked into the bread, but not too much that the bread starts to fall apart. Put it into an oiled or buttered pan so that it doesn't stick. Cook each side until it's golden brown. Put it on a plate and add whatever toppings you desire.
The modern recipe for French toast is American, not French. The American who invented it had the last name French, and that is why he called it French toast. Before the American version, there were all types of weird versions in Europe going back hundreds of years, but they were vastly different and were used with bread that was about to expire so it didn't get wasted; those old recipes (if you could even call it that) are nothing like French Toast as we know it today.
Click pictures for descriptions
Savory French Toast
I made two Savory Tuna French Toast variations. Again, I used thick Asian sliced bread. The first was White Tuna with Mayonnaise and Hot Chili Sauce. Instead of mixing the tuna with the mayonnaise, put some mayonnaise on top of the tuna. This way the tuna keeps its powerful flavor and you still get the added taste of the mayo.
The second was Garlic Tuna Omelet French Toast. French Toast as normal, but then pour more of the French Toast egg & soy milk (or horribly bad for you cow's milk) mix into the pan. Then add chopped raw garlic. Keep it on low heat letting it cook and harden enough so you can flip it without destroying it. You have to flip it like a professional chef, by using the turner at the same time as flipped it into the air off the pan. Once done cooking, put it on a plate and add the white tuna, non-sweet mayonnaise, American black olives, and chili sauce (I used Sriracha). Another completely delicious creation I thought of off the top of my head.
Click pictures for descriptions
Spring Onion Pancake (葱油饼) (vegetarian)
Easy meal or snack to make. Go to a supermarket and buy the frozen pancake (flour exterior). Most supermarkets have different options ranging from cheap and flat to more expensive and thicker. I recommend buying the thicker version which tastes way better. The thin shells are so thin that I started using two of them till I ran out of the package and didn't bother buying them again. Then you can buy whatever you want to put inside of it, but typically you would add egg, cheese, and/or meat. What also goes well inside: frozen potato patty, canned tuna, fake meat, garlic, basil leaves, dougan (packaged hard, marinated tofu), or use your imagination.
To get the flavor like the venders, you need to buy soy sauce glaze which can be found by the soy sauce in any supermarket. If the bottle is only in Chinese, it's OK, if it's right by the sauce sauce, the same color as soy sauce, and you tip it back and forth and can see it is a thick glaze, you're good to go. Buy some hot sauce if you like it spicy.
Cook the frozen pancake on both sides in a pan with some oil or butter. If needed, cook inside ingredients in pan as well or in a mini oven.
Click pictures for descriptions
Nachos (vegetarian)
You'll need to go to Costco, Jason's, or some other western supermarket in order to buy plain corn chips and cheddar cheese. I also love to add garlic and hot chili or hot chili bean sauce. Other good toppings: sour cream, guacamole, and green onions.
Put a layer of plain corn chips on the mini oven bottom tray or on a non-plastic plate if it fits in your mini oven. If you use a microwave, it's not going to taste as good and you might over zap the cheese, ruining it. Not to mention that using a microwave kills the food's nutrients because of the way the microwave bombards the food with waves of oscillating electromagnetic energy that are similar to radio waves, but move back and forth at a much faster rate. OK, I know nachos doesn't contain any nutrients--I'm talking about all food. Put a layer of shredded cheddar cheese on the chips. Add your garlic and/or hot sauce, or whatever topping you want on top of the cheese. Cook it until the cheese starts to melt. If the cheese starts to bubble, you have cooked it too long and the cheese will not taste good; the nachos will have been ruined.
Click pictures for descriptions
Spicy Eggplant Supreme (vegetarian or vegan)
WOW! This is only my second time cooking with eggplant and it turned out to be one of the best eggplant dishes I've ever had.
First, chop, cook and steam the eggplant with water and 100% olive oil from Europe in a pan. Then add cabbage, green onions, and fake meat/tofu/dougan (one or more of). When almost done cooking, add soy sauce, 100% pure sesame oil, and hot chili bean sauce. Turn off heat and mix in chopped raw garlic and peanuts. Add some cold pressed 100% extra virgin olive oil from Europe if desired (I always desire).
Eggy in a Basket (vegetarian)
I've been wanting to make this ever since I saw the great movie "V For Vendetta." It's an easy breakfast dish to make. Cut a circle in the middle of bread and spread olive oil spread (or butter) liberally on both sides. Melt some more olive oil spread on the pan before putting bread on the pan. Once it has cooked for a little bit, carefully crack the egg and put it in hole of the bread. Add pepper and sea salt. Flip it over when it's ready.
I like to give it more flavor, so when it's done cooking, I add some Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce to one of the pieces of toast and 100% Canadian maple syrup to the other. My sides were a potato patty, a fake meat patty, and I made little toast pieces out of the bread I cut out.
Since it's very similar to French toast, you can add almost any topping that you normal would to French toast: maple syrup, strawberries or any fruit, whipped-cream, honey, etc.
I had to go to Jason's supermarket to get 100% Canadian maple syrup in Taiwan. It's so expensive in Taiwan, but I say you either eat 100% natural maple syrup or you don't eat maple syrup at all; the other options are not maple syrup, they're just sugary crappy syrups -- gross!
Click pictures for descriptions
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