Bi Bim Bap

Serves 2 - 3

• 1 cup of white rice
• 1 large zuchinni, julienne sliced
• 1 cup bean shoots
• 1 carrot, julienne sliced
• soy sauce
• sesame oil
• egg

Sauce

• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp miso paste
• 2 tbsp sambal oelek

1. Cook the rice.
2. Mix together sauce ingredients to taste (the miso cuts the chilli factor down a lot so adding or reducing the miso alters the heat).
3. Put bean shoots in a pot of water with a little salt. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
4. Stir fry the zucchini in a little sesame oil and soy sauce. Set aside.
5. Stir fry the carrot. Set aside.
6. Place the rice in two bowls. Top with the vegetables in little piles.
7. Fry an egg, sunny side up. Place on top of vegetables. Add sauce.
8. Serve, Stir, Eat.

Alternatives: 

Baked: if you have access to a hot pot that can go in the oven it is worth baking the dish.  Prepare up to step 5. Put rice in a lightly oiled hot pot. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Add the vegetables and top with the cracked egg egg and cook for a further 5 minutes until the egg is just set. Serve in the hotpot if possible.

Cheese: Adding some cheese before putting the vegetables on the rice is a nice addition (not very authentic but nice). A mild cheese is best. This is particularly good if baking the dish as the rice and cheese get nice and crispy.

Meat: you can include meat if you want. Cut finely, marinate in soy sauce. Stir fry and add some sesame seeds at the last minute.

Pumpkin Soup

• 4 cups of pumpkin, peeled and diced
• 1 large potato, peeled and diced 
• 1 carrot finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 500ml beef stock (check for onion/dehydrated vegetables - massell does a good FF one which is also vegetarian)
• 500ml water
• 1 cup of milk/cream
• 2 tbsp diced chives
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Sautee the carrot, celery and garlic in the olive oil. Sweat until soft and going golden.
2. Add pumpkin, stock and water. Bring to boil and let to simmer for 1 hour.
3. Blend with a stick blender and add milk/cream, chives and seasoning to taste.
4. Serve garnished with parsley and, if you like, sour cream/yogurt/cream.

Alternatives: you can use half pumpkin/half sweet potato if you like. Also, I have had a nice version which used some curry powder and coriander.

Grilled Vegetable and Proscuitto Salad

This is a nice variation on this salad I published a few months back which doesn't require an oven.

• 4 cups of rocket, rinsed and dried
• 1 medium eggplant, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1/4 cup of shaved parmesan
• 100g finely sliced proscuitto, shredded
• 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

1. Salt the eggplant and zucchini and sit in a sieve over a bowl for 30 minutes or more. Once the bitter liquid has come out of them, rinse the salt off and pat them dry with paper towel.
2. Heat up 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a fry pan. Fry the eggplant and zucchini until cooked through and browned on the edges. Set aside.
3. Toss together, rocket, parmesan and prosciutto. Top with cooked vegetables.
4. Mix together remaining oil, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Pour on salad. Toss and serve.

Alternative: you could leave out the proscuitto to make this vegetarian. If I did this I think I would stir some pesto in to the dressing or add a couple of finely sliced sun dried tomatoes to give it a bit more zing.

Spicy Cumin Beef Stir Fry

Serves 2

• 250g beef finely sliced across the grain (you can use any beef steak - I used chuck and it was not chewy at all because of the marinade and searing)
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp corn flour
• 1 long red chilli finely chopped
• 1 red or yellow capsicum large dice
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp of peanut oil
• 1 clove minced garlic (you can omit this if sensitive)
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped chives
• 1 tsp of sesame oil

1. Mix the soy and cornflour together. Add beef and leave for 30mins - 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in wok. When very hot and smoking add the beef in batches. Sear the outside of the beef, remove from pan and drain on paper towel.
3. When the beef is done, drain any remaining oil from pan and add the sesame oil. Stir fry the remaining ingredients except the chives. When fragrant (about 1 min) add the beef back into the pan. Stir fry until capsicum is cooked. Be careful not to burn the cumin.
4. Add the chives and season with more chilli flakes to taste. Serve hot with rice or noodles.

Source: this is a slightly modified version of this recipe from the NY Times.