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This Underrated Vegetable Is Packed With Flavour | Garlic Stir-Fried Eggplants

You can grill it, bake it, fry it, yet not much attention is given to this humble vegetable.

I'll be honest, when I think of vegetables eggplants would probably end up near the bottom of the list but that's probably due to me being a picky eater growing up. However, as my tastebuds mature I kinda have a sweet spot for the vegetable and felt like I have a duty to make people eat more of this stuff.


We all know eggplants make up some of the most popular around the world; baba ghanoush in the middle east, ratatouille stew in France, and moussaka in Greece. However, they do not appear as often in the menu as the other vegetables. For the casual home cook they might find the bitter aftertaste a bit hard to swallow or the mushy texture may put some people off but prepared the right way, they can be the star on your dinner table. Eggplants in general doesn't have any overpowering taste so it's easy to sneak them into a dish for the extra nutrients but this also means you can tweak the flavour profile however way you want which makes the eggplant a very versatile vegetable to work with.


In this episode we are going to show you a fairly typical Asian way of preparing the eggplant while maximizing the wonderful flavour an eggplant could provide.

Ingredients

  • 5 eggplants, roughly chopped

  • 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped

  • 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

  • A handful of curry leaves

  • 2 tbsp of oyster sauce

  • 1 tsp of chili flakes

  • Salt to taste

Method

  1. Deep fry the roughly chopped eggplants until it's nice and soft. You'll know they're done when it gets to a dark brown colour (but be careful not to burn them). Drain the excess oil and set aside.

  2. In a pan, stir fry the garlic followed by the curry leaves. Once the leaves starts to pop and crackle toss in the tomatoes and stir fry for about thirty seconds. Season it with some chili flakes, oyster sauce, and salt.

  3. Finally, add the fried eggplants into the pan and mix everything well.

  4. Plate up and enjoy!

 
 
 

Eggless Lotus Biscoff Tiramisu

Can you make a tiramisu without eggs? The short answer is yes, and it taste just as delicious as the original.

Tiramisu is one of those desserts that can be classified as 'elegant dessert'. It's a layered Italian dessert made with ladyfinger cookies, espresso, mascarpone cheese, eggs, sugar, Marsala wine, rum, and cocoa powder. By combining these ingredients, an intense yet refined dish was made.


There are a number of reason why tiramisu is so widely beloved. Being a no-bake dessert is certainly one of them and the sensation of the dessert melting in your mouth interrupted by a sudden burst of flavour from the soaked ladyfinger biscuit makes it a very fun experience to eat. With less than 10 ingredients to make, what's not to like?


For this recipe, we are tweaking it a little bit so we won't call it an authentic tiramisu recipe and risk the wrath of the Italians. Instead of rum and cocoa, we are going to inject some Lotus Biscoff flavour into the recipe by incorporating them into the layers as well as the topping. As for the base, we are also substituting the eggs with whipped cream. We know some people are a bit apprehensive when it comes to having raw eggs in their food so by switching it out, you get the same great taste minus the worry :)

Ingredients

  • 300g Ladyfinger biscuits

  • 1½ tbsp instant espresso coffee

  • 500ml hot water

  • 80g lotus spread

  • 8-12 pcs Lotus cookies, crushed

  • 500g whipping cream

  • 400g mascarpone cheese

  • 60g honey

  • 60g icing sugar

  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. In a bowl, pour in the hot water and add espresso powder. Mix well, leave aside to brew and cool.

  2. In a small bowl, heat the lotus spread in the microwave for about 10 seconds at a time, add to a small piping bag and set aside.

  3. In a large mixing bowl, add the mascarpone, honey, vanilla extract and sift in the icing sugar. Using a hand mixer, mix well to combine. Set aside.

  4. In a separate large mixing bowl, pour the whipping cream and beat to medium peak.

  5. Fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone and mix well to combine. Place into a large piping bag to make assembly easier - optional.

  6. Place about 8 pieces lotus biscuits in a resealable bag and crush into chunky pieces with a rolling pin.

  7. Assembly time! Start by piping a layer of frosting, sprinkle the cookies crumbs followed by piping thin strips of the lotus spread on top. Dip the ladyfinger one at a time into the coffee and arrange neatly to cover the frosting layer. Repeat one more layer, finishing with a layer of frosting on top. Feel free to decorate and have fun. I’ve decided to use the rest of the lotus spread to create a pattern and sprinkle the leftover cookie crumbs around the sides.

  8. Chill the tiramisu for about 3-4 hours or overnight preferably. Serve and enjoy!

** Try adding a sprinkle of flakey sea salt before serving. The salt balances out the sweetness from the Lotus Biscoff :)

 
 
 

Quick And Easy Spicy Blueberry Chicken

Sometimes you just gotta experiment with the weird things in life...

Before today, I did not know that blueberries and chicken go together. To me it was as foreign as chicken with chocolate or Maggi curry with Milo (yes I'm looking at you guys). What started out with another one of mom's weird experiments in the kitchen turned into one of the most amazing tasting chicken I've tried. Prying the recipe out of her was a challenge tho, not because she was protective of it or whatever; it's because most of the time she wouldn't remember what she threw in there in the first place. When asked the answer would always be, "sekda pa-pa..bawang dengan cili jak" (nothing, just onions and chilies). This is as close as I'm getting it and I'm sharing it with you guys.


But what makes it work? If you're thinking fruity chicken is not your thing, don't worry. Although the recipe calls for blueberry jam, the resulting dish does not taste like something you'd spread on bread. Instead, it adds a light, tangy sweetness without empowering the entire dish. Usually some would use honey in their dishes to achieve this but the usage of the jam adds a totally new flavour profile to it. Of course, I am never one for sweet foods (as in, dishes which are meant to be savoury but is loaded with sugar) so to balance the flavour profile, we added tartness with the lemon and cranked up the spicy level with them chili flakes and let me tell you; perfect harmony.


Anyways, have a go at it yourself. The prep takes minutes then all you have to do is pop it into the oven and wait. No flipping halfway through, no chopping of anything, and definitely no fuss :)


P.s. wear gloves when rubbing the marinade onto the chicken. My hands were burning for hours afterwards...lol

Ingredients

  • 4 whole chicken legs

  • 2 tbsp of chili flakes

  • 4 tbsp plain yoghurt

  • 2 tbsp blueberry jam

  • Zest of a lemon

  • Juice of ½ a lemon

  • A pinch of nutmeg

  • A pinch of MSG

  • Salt to taste

  • Approx 60g butter

Method

  1. Mix all of the ingredients except for the butter and rub it all over the chicken. Leave to marinade for at least half an hour.

  2. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.

  3. Place the chicken skin-side up in a cast iron skillet or any oven safe vessel you may have. Place pats of butter on top of the chicken (don't mix them in).

  4. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Serve hot and enjoy!

 
 
 

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