Month: January 2017

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Asian Pumpkin Soup

Quick and easy in cooking pumpkin soup with an Asian spicy flavour. Serve it for lunch and have some toasts on the side or serve it as starter with a nice home cooking dinner meal. Hope you like this dish.

Serves 4P and cooking time 40min

Ingredients

  • 1x small golden nugget pumpkin
  • 5x tomatoes
  • ½ shallot
  • 200gr shitake mushroom
  • Drizzle of olive oil
  • 1x tea spoon Thai red curry paste
  • Garnish with beetroot or red cabbage sprouting seeds or coriander
  • Sea salt to add to taste
  • Potato peeler
  • Soup pan or a big pan
  • Measuring cup
  • Colander
  • Food blender

What to do?

  1. —— Prepare Pumpkin ——
  2. Put the pumpkin in microwave for 2min/900W. This is too soften the skin so you can easily peel the skin.
  3. Remove top and end of pumpkin.
  4. Cut pumpkin in half and remove fibers and seeds with a spoon.
  5. Cut pumpkin in blocks.
  6. —— Continue With Cutting ——
  7. Wash and cut tomatoes in quarters and remove stem/core.
  8. Fine dice shallot 
  9. Cut shitake mushrooms in thin slices.
  10. Wash and drain the garnish on a kitchen paper towel.
  11. —— Start Cooking ——
  12. Fry shallots in olive oil.
  13. Add pumpkin and tomatoes in pan.
  14. Add curry paste and stir well.
  15. Add 400ml water.
  16. Cook for 20min on medium/high heat.
  17. Blend ingredients in pan into puree.
  18. Add shitake and cook 10min on low/medium heat.
  19. Stir from time to time.
  20. Pre-taste and add pinch of salt to taste

Finally: fill up soup bowl and garnish with sprouting seeds or coriander.

Asian Pumpkin Soup

Eet smakelijk!

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Beetroot salad & Carrot-Ginger dressing

This dressing is delicious! Years ago, I tasted this in a Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. Since then, I haven’t been able experiencing this unforgettable salad dressing in any Japanese restaurant I go. A mystery and at some point I gave up. Probably it has no relation to the Japanese cuisine. Recently, I found this salad dressing recipe at one of my favourite food blogs where I explore cooking inspiration. I was so happy, I wasn’t imagining in my head! And yes, it is related to Japan but created in the States.

The combination of carrot and ginger is so refreshing with a light flavour of spiciness. You can dress it up to most simple salad creations. The original carrot-ginger dressing I tasted was much more fine in texture. I think the chef used a rasp grater. Anyhow, the food blender is much easier and still tasty 🙂

Cooking time 30-40min with raw beet. You can also buy pre-cooked beet in saving time. Personally, I like cooking beet fresh. This taste so much better then the preserved beetroot you get from the supermarket. Salad dressing takes 10min.

Ingredients Salad

  • Raw yellow beetroot
  • Iceberg lettuce
  • Alfalfa sprouting seeds
  • Drizzle of olive oil
  • Few sprigs thyme
  • Plastic sandwich bag
  • Aluminium foil

Note: you can preserve the beet for a few days in the fridge. Serve it cold or warm it up next day (1min/600W)

Ingredients Carrot-Ginger Dressing

  • 3x giant carrot ~20cm each
  • ¼ red shallot
  • Fresh ginger ~1,5cm block, not too much as it will make it too sharp
  • 1x table spoon sugar
  • 5x table spoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2x table spoon white miso paste
  • 1x tea spoon sesame oil
  • ½ coffee cup of rice vinegar ~100ml
  • Pinch of fresh ground pepper
  • Food processor
  • Potato peeler

Note: you can preserve the dressing for about 1 week in the fridge by using a containment food box. Recipe is up to ~10 portion.

What to do?

  1. —— Prepare Beetroot ——
  2. Pre-heat oven on fanned function at 180°C/356F
  3. Mix beet, thyme, olive oil in a sandwich bag.
  4. Pack beet and thyme in aluminium foil. You can pack them in pair or per portion.
  5. Heat in oven for 30-40min. Beet is cooked when you can fork in.
  6. Unpack foil and cool down for 10min. The extra package, just open the foil a bit to cool down and re-pack for next day.
  7. Peel beet, the top and the end.
  8. Cut beet in slices or blocks.
  9. —— Prepare Carrot-Ginger Dressing ——
  10. Peel and cut carrot in pieces.
  11. Cut shallot in pieces.
  12. Peel ginger skin with a knife.
  13. Put all ingredients in food processor.
  14. Blend for 5min until all ingredients are smoothly mixed.
  15. Pre-taste dressing, add extra vinegar or pepper if required.

Finally: mix the beetroot, salad and the carrot-ginger dressing in a bowl. Dress up all ingredients on a plate and bon appetite!

Beetroot salad with carrot-ginger dressing

Eet Smakelijk!

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Happy 2017 !

Welcome in browsing on Simple Single Lifestyle.

A brand new year and one of my resolutions is building my first blog. Yep, a newbie and I will share my passions in travel, cooking, photography or any event that inspires my life. 

I am looking forward to my new learning journey of blogging and I hope you will enjoy the reading.

Happy New Year & may all your resolutions work out too!

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