All Entries Tagged With: "Vegetarian"
The Naam on West 4th and MacDonald, Vancouver
From being a family who usually have light breakfasts at home, we find ourselves going out for breakfasts quite a number of times lately. All this started since we first went to Bon’s Off Broadway which serves one of the best $2.95 breakfast in town.
Frankly, Suanne and I are not big fans of breakfasts but we got to make it up to Nanzaro who was still mentioning about him missing the breakfast in Bon’s. So we woke up bright and early last weekend and went to The Naam. What we did not tell Nanzaro though is that Naam is a vegetarian restaurant.
Naam starts serving breakfast at 6AM. You might think, wow, it’s early but actually they are opened 24 hours. The Naam is located on West 4th Avenue near the intersection with Macdonald St.
The beauty of going there early at 7AM is the quietness. The place exudes that kind of morning calmness with people enjoying a big breakfast, hot cup of coffee with a book in hand. The wooden varnished tables and casual decor adds to the charm of this place.
It was not like that for long. By 8AM, this place was absolutely buzzing with customers and getting service from the waiters is a true test of patience.
You know, you can’t just build a restaurant with these kind of ambiance these days. The total mood, character and experience we see here is built over the 40 years that The Naam had been in existence in the core of the Kitsilano neighborhood.
The Naam has a big breakfast menu. You could probably imagine that it took us a while before we finally settle on our selection. Anyway, if you can’t read the menu above properly, click on it for a larger image.
Hot Coffee and Hot Chocolate was $2.50 with free refills of coffee. The hot chocolate cup had a paper napkin tied to it. We were wondering why they did that because this is the first time we had seen anyone doing it. Does anyone know if there is a practical reason for this?
The hot chocolate was pretty good. It tastes like it is made with cocoa powder and is unsweetened. We like it this way but knowing Nanzaro, he hates it. To him, hot chocolate is not supposed to taste this way and it has to be sweetened like those you find in Denny’s and IHOP.
The Naam describes themselves as a “Vancouver’s Oldest Natural Foods Restaurant”. They pride themselves as saying most of everything they serve are made in premises, using pure and fresh ingredients.
Nanzaro opted for the Breakfast Quesadilla ($9). It has red organic corn tortillas with scrambled eggs. You can opt for tofu instead of eggs.
You got to hand it to Naam. Their breakfasts are … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Quinoa Salad with Mango and Black Beans
The last salad item in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors salad cook off was Quinoa Salad with Mango and Black Bean. You can use quinoa as a substitute for rice, or mix it with chopped vegetables, nuts, or dried fruit for a salad. One thing to remember when using quinoa is to wash it thoroughly before cooking. This is because each grain has a naturally bitter coating called “saponin” that needs to be rinsed off.
Jane (also a new member of the cooking club) and Karen prepared this salad which serves 6.
This yellow and red high protein grain is easy to cook and has a moist, fluffy texture.
Ingredients
Quinoa:
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa
- 3 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons rice, cider, or wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Salad:
- 5 cups cooked quinoa (see above)
- 2 mangoes, diced
- 1 large red pepper, diced
- 1/2 jalapeno, finely minced
- 1/2 cup green onions, finely sliced
- 1 can black beans
Marinated Lentil Salad
This is first salad for the salad theme in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. Sydney and Lorna made this salad besides the Island Pork Tenderloin. Lentil is a high in fiber and a great meat substitute for a vegetarian dish.
Cooking the lentils for only 15 minutes preserves their shape and texture. Tossed with a little vinaigrette, they make a tasty and satisfying salad. This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light and it serves 8.
Ingredients
Vinaigrette:
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salad:
- 1/2 cup chopped parsnip or turnip
- 1/2 cup chopped carrot
- 6 cups boiling water
- 1 1/2 cups dried lentils
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Bok Choy Salad
Among all the salad dishes made in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors, I like the Bok Choy Salad the most. Perhaps, it has the Asian flavour in it. Even Ben likes this salad. He had this for his lunch several times already after I got this recipe.
Christina and Helmut made this salad together. Helmut is also another new member of the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.
Eaten raw, bok choy is surprisingly tender. This crunchy, sweet salad is high in calcium from the leafy greens, sesame seeds and almonds. This is my first time eating bok choy raw. I usually stir fry them with garlic and oyster sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 (3-ounce) package instant ramen noodles
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
- 1 1/2 lbs bok choy
- 6 green onions, chopped
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons rice, cider or wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Peanut Summer Rolls
June and Ronald made this refreshing Peanut Summer Rolls in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. Ronald is new to the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. June had to slow him down as he did his part like preparing the vegetables and sauce in a jiffy like an expert in the kitchen.
The Peanut Summer Rolls is a vegetarian dish. It uses the translucent rice paper wrap as commonly found in Vietnamese cuisine. It is very refreshing and fragrant with the use of herbs like cilantro, mint and basil. Summer is the time to enjoy all the fresh vegetables and lettuces.
This recipe is adapted from Gourmet and it makes 4 rolls.
Ingredients
For Rolls:
- 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2/3 cup coarsely shredded carrot (2 medium), raw
- 4 (8-inch) rice paper rounds
- 2 red-leaf lettuce leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Optional Veggies:
- 1/2 cup shredded napa cabbage
- 1/3 cup coarsely shredded zucchini (1 small), raw
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced button mushrooms, raw
- 1/2 English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
For Peanut Sauce:
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 small garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste or ketchup
Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors met again in the South Arm Community Center. This time, the seniors made 3 items to share. The main dish is called Quinoa Stuffed Peppers. For the nutritional values of Quinoa, please click on this Quinoa and Black Bean Salad link to learn more.
Christina, Frank and Hugh worked together to make this Quinoa Stuffed Peppers. This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light and it serves 4.
The Quinoa Stuffed Pepper has a kick to it with the presence of jalapeno pepper. Although this is a Vegetarian dish, the Quinoa is a good source of protein, equivalent or more superior to milk product.
Ingredients
- 4 yellow bell peppers or (5-inch) poblano chiles
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 2 teaspoons minced seeded jalapeno pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seed kernels
- 1/2 cup minced green onions
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 medium can diced Mexican-style tomatoes
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Saravanaa Bhavan on Broadway, Vancouver
Christina and ET invited us to try something new … a meal they enjoyed a lot and thought of going there again. We hardly had any vegetarian meals before and thought it would be a great idea to check it out.
Saravanaa Bhavan on Broadway
It is hard to correctly spell the name of the name of the restaurant. Firstly, there are too many syllables and then the way it is spelt makes it difficult to remember.
Saravanaa Bhavan is a popular South Indian Vegetarian restaurant. I checked with some of my East Indian friends and they all swear by the food here. Saravanaa Bhavan is located on Broadway, just east of Oak. I was told that this is where the Broadway Phnom Penh restaurants once was.
Their premises is really clean. We were there early. That is why you see that it was quite empty. By the time we left,the place was bustling with customers.
Service was superb. Being new to South Tamil cuisine, we obviously asked a lot of dumb questions. The waiters were very keen to help us with our questions.
They came by promptly and served us water with stainless steel cups. It felt kind of odd at first drinking from the cups.
I had to be the hero. The waiter tried to talk me out of ordering the Lasi saying that I would enjoy the Mango Lasi more. Christina also tried, in vain, to tell me I better order the Mango Lasi. The more they tried to talk me out of it, the more determined I was to order the traditional Lasi.
The Lasi ($3.50) came in two flavours … salted or sweetened. Salted sounded more exotic and so Salted Lasi it was. Well … it came and it looked like some thickened milk. The taste … it was sour and salty and frankly, not meant to be rude or what, it tastes like … puke. It was not my kind of drink but I finished it off nevetherless … a sip at a time. Actually, the first sip was the worst but it gradually was not so bad after that. I tried the Mango Lasi ($3.75) … and yes, it was like a million times better.
I consider the Medhu Vada ($5) the Indian version of donuts. There were four pieces of it. It is fried lentil donuts and served with coconut chutney and sambar. Unlike the normal donuts, this one is quite salty.
Arkensen and Nanzaro could not find Salted Fish Fried Rice on the menu. So, they ordered the next thing closest to fried rice. They had the Paneer Biryani ($9.25). For all I know, Paneer is the Indian version of cheese … I expect to see some cheese cubes or bits in it. The boys liked it.
My choice was simply their version of “The Works”. It is simply called the Saravanaa Special Meal ($9.95). It came with 10 small tiffins. Collectively, I think this is what they call a Thali. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
