Lamb and Eggplant Stew

I am not a carnivore. I can totally live without meat. I don't eat beef. I don't really like pork. But lamb is my favourite meat, probably the only meat I really like. Yeah, I guess there are just two kinds of people in the world, people who loves lamb, and people who hates lamb. Lamb has a really distinctive scent, and I love the tenderness when it melted in the mouth. Since I love food with spices, and lamb goes well with lots of spices, it makes me like lamb even more.

Anyway, since I bought a lamb leg from Maxi two weeks ago (for only 19 dollars!) , and I am the only person eating it. I will probably be posting few more lamb recipes in the following week. Today's dish is very simple. No fancy technique. But super delicious! Of course, if you like lamb! : P

And here comes the recipe!

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs of lamb

half onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tsb of olive oil

2 medium tomatoes

half of a medium eggplant
half a can of tomatoes

fresh coriander for garnish

couscous

Spices:

ground cumin

turmeric

paprika

ground coriander

black pepper

curry powder

garam masala

bay leaf

Recipe:

Spices from left to right: coriander, turmeric, garam masala, curry powder, cumin, paprika, and bay leaves.

Lamb, garlic, onion, tomatoes and canned tomato.

Mince the garlic. Chop the onion. Cube the tomatoes and eggplant.

Heat up a deep sauce pan. Add olive oil, onion, and garlic. Sautee for one to two minutes in medium heat. Add all the spices and mix well. The heat will bring out all the fragrance from the spices. Sear the lamb cubes.

Finally, add the remaining vegs and canned tomato and simmer for 1.5 hours.

Serve with couscous and salad!

Since I made this stew in the afternoon, I had it for dinner. Please forgive about my crappy pictures! T^T

 P.S. for the couscous, I learned a very useful trick from Jamie Oliver. It makes really fluffy and perfect couscous. Basically you just need 1 portion of couscous with 2 portions of hot boiling water (like 1 cup of couscous with 2 cups of hot water). Seasoned with salt and pepper. Add them all in a big bowl and covered with a plate or lid or whatever you have for 5 minutes. You can squeeze some fresh lemon juice or add some herbs like cilantro or mint if you want!

For Chinese version, click here!

Southeast Asian Inspired Red Rice Salad

I have been interested in Southeast Asian food for years, Vietnamese, Thai, Singaporean, and Malaysian especially. The way they use spices in almost every dished, and even in some dessert, I find it very interesting. Probably because I grew up with Cantonese food, which is famous for the freshness of the food materials with not too much seasoning. This year in summer, I finally got a chance to go to Malaysia and dig into Malaysian food. It was a pleasure exploring the actual Malay food. After the trip, I am even more addicted to these Southeast Asian food. And of course, I brought tons of spices back home. You probably will see me making Malaysian food all the time. : P

Today's dish is not truly exist. Yes, I made it up myself. I was inspired from a traditional Malay dish called "Nasi Ulam". Nasi means rice, and ulam refers to a mixture of herbs and spices. I added some vegetables to  give the crunchiness, and some salad dressing to freshen it up. It is a very simple and healthy dish, and you can get all the ingredients from any Asian stores, or even the normal supermarkets. Feel free to switch the vegetables in the salad and make your own favorite dish! 

So, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

for the salad:

Some sweet lettuce (just use anything on hand)

150 g of cooked red rice
A handful of cherry tomatoes

1 hard-boiled egg

2 sprigs of fresh mint

2 sprigs of fresh coriander
1/2 sprig of lemongrass

1 tsp of fresh ginger

1 /2 tsp of garlic

1 birdeye chili
some baby lettuce

a sprinkle of roasted sesame seeds

a sprinkle of coconut flakes

for the dressing

juice of one medium size lime

1 tsp of fish sauce

1/4 tsp of honey (or nectar agave, brown sugar, palm sugar, whatever you want)

a pinch of black pepper

1 tsp of coconut oil

Recipe

1. Mince the garlic. Finely chop the ginger, mint, chili, and coriander. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, and quarter the egg. Rinse the sweet lettuce. 

2. Mix the ingredients for the dressing.

3. Combine everything and sprinkle the sesame seeds and coconut flakes.

4. EAT!

From left to right: lemon grass, mint, and garlic.

Oh yah. Actually, you can use shallots or red onions instead of garlic. That's what they used for Nasi Ulam, but I'm a weirdo.. I don't like raw onions... 

You can use brown rice, wild rice, any rice you prefer.

Just want to show you my rilakkuma container!

Chop everything! And please discard the old part of the lemongrass. You can use it in other dishes.

Just mix everything!

Help yourselves!

Chinese version please click here: Southeast Asian Inspired Red Rice Salad