I usually park at the Minoru Park parking lot when I go to the Caring Place Community Kitchen. It’s just a short walk away. Today, I was greeted by some awesome full bloom cherry blossoms in Minoru Park. It was a breath-taking sight. The cherry blossoms never fail to marvel me.

There were many people armed with cameras at the Minoru Park. How can I miss out this opportunity.

I like the fullness of this variety of cherry blossoms. Do you know what is the name of this variety?

Back to the Community Kitchen, Minoo shared a Pumpkin and Potato Stew along with the Broccoli Salad I blogged earlier. This is such a simple recipe that Zoe helped Minoo to prepare the dish while Minoo ran to the store to get the beans which she missed out in her grocery shopping.

The Pumpkin and Potato Stew is a one pot meal which is complete with protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and fiber. A good recipe for a lazy day.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 to 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 can chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 1 tomato, chopped (optional if using tomato sauce)
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 1 can of beans (butter beans or Lima beans), rinsed and drained
• salt, sugar and pepper to taste
• chili and paprika to taste (optional)

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Pumpkin and Potato Stew"

Jean made two dishes in the Gilmore Park Church community kitchen. Jean told us that we will be the guinea pigs to test the recipes as this is the first time she’s making them.

The first dish is the Baked French Potato Wedges. These potato wedges are crispy, flavourful and cheesy. I’m sure kids will love this, especially mine.

Ingredients

• 4 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 8 wedges each
• 2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

continue reading "Baked French Potato Wedges"

Minoo made a Vegetable Pancake in her cooking class at the Caring Place. If you have problems getting your kids to eat vegetables, like mine, the Vegetable Pancake is a good way to get them to eat it. This pancake is crispy which somehow camouflages the vegetables in it.

The tuna topping gives the Vegetable Pancake an extra edge. I think it’s a brilliant idea Minoo had of the tuna topping. I can imagine how rather ho-hum this would be without this extra topping.

Ingredients

• 2 potatoes peeled
• 1 onion peeled
• 2 carrots peeled
• 1 cup Biscuit or pancake flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dry or fresh herbs like rosemary, thymes, sage (optional)
• oil for frying

Toppings

• Mix a can of fish (salmon/tuna/sardines) with some mayonnaise and green onions (optional)
• Crush a can of beans (chickpea/navy beans/kidney beans) and add 1 tablespoon of oil and 1-2 teaspoons of chopped garlic

continue reading "Vegetable Pancake"

I’m back. :-)

Lorna cooked up a storm in the South Arm Community Centre cooking class. We used to only make a dish or two during the classes. This time she made a record breaking four dishes. I like this because it gives me more materials to blog about! When we first started our blog, we always mulled over what we want to blog for the next day but today, we had almost one month worth of blog postings waiting to be posted. So, Ben had been insisting that we release more blog entries every day but no-can-do!

I digressed, the dishes prepared were:

• Banana Shrimp Cake
• Fried Fish Fillet with Guava and Fermented Soy Beans
• Arctic Surf Clams, and
• Yam with Cheese and Bacon Bits.

Just the names alone sounds so appetizing, doesn’t it? Well, it sounds good, it looks better and let me tell you, it tastes great!

We had a mini buffet after the cooking class. All the dishes were so absolutely yummy. I was so full that I had to skip my dinner that day.

The first dish is very simple and quick to make — it is called Yam with Cheese and Bacon Bits. Lorna told us that she makes this as breakfast for her family.

The whole yam is microwaved until it is soft and is then top with cheese and bacon bits. If you have more time, the yam can be baked in the oven until it caramelized and becomes very sweet.

I will post the recipes for the rest of the cooking Lorna demonstrated over the next few days. Lorna, thanks for sharing such great recipes. We surely learned a lot today.

Zee made her sons some Indian Fries called Chana Na Bhajia. Chana is a kind of lentils flour. Na Bhajia means the shape of the food which is kind of oval or in a blob.

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes
• 4 tablespoons chana flour
• salt and chilli pepper to taste
• about 1 cup of cold water

Click on the link below for instructions.

continue reading "Indian Fries (Chana Na Bhajia)"

Zee came to my kitchen to show me how to make a simplified version of samosas. I am going to call it Potato Puffs. We only use potatoes as filings but you can make it with other filings like chicken, beef, fish, etc.

The Potato Puffs is crispy on the outside and the potato filing is soft and of the right spiciness. My family loves it, especially Arkensen. He ate the most of it.

It’s kind of like the curry puffs we find in Malaysia. The difference is that the curry puff in Malaysia is deep fried while the Potato Puffs is oven baked which is more healthy.

Ingredients

• 1 box of puff pastry from the frozen section of the groceries stores where you find pie crust, etc
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 piece cinnamon stick
• 3 black cloves
• 6 whole peppers
• 2 white cardamon
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley and green chilie paste
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
• salt to taste
• chilie powder to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon crush tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 egg

Click on the link below for instructions.

continue reading "Potato Puffs"