Stir-fried Rice with Spinach

One of the best things about stir-frying is that the procedure is really very basic. You can use various ingredients and apply the procedure in many ways again and again resulting each of the finished food looking so differently.

You can mix the stir-fried vegetables according to your preference... with pasta, rice, couscous, gnocchi, etc. The choice is simply yours.

The most important thing is to know which ingredients require longer cooking. Mostly it´s the hard vegetable such as carrot that need more time to cook. For practical reason and for this recipe, I steamed the carrots before I fried its pieces.

Stir-Fried Rice with Spinach 

(serves: 4 portions)

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked round corn rice

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 cup cut spring onions

1 cup crispy fried onion rings to garnish ( see below on how to make this)

1 zucchini- thinly chopped (in rounds)

1 red bell pepper, chopped into smaller pieces

3 medium diced carrots-steamed beforehand

1 cup green peas (thawed if frozen)

200 grams fresh spinach, wash and dried, remove water residue 

      with paper cloth 

olive oil or cooking oil, 

Soy sauce

salt & pepper , a dash of curry powder.

How to make the crispy onions:

Slice the onions finely and coat all the pieces with flour, season with salt. Deep fry the onion rings for about 5 minutes or until they become golden brown...set aside for later use as topping.

Preparation:

1. 

Steam the  carrots for about 10 minutes or until the pieces become slightly soft....take out of the steamer and set aside.

2.

In a hot pan with 1/2 tbsp cooking oil, fry the zucchini pieces turning sides once til it becomes golden brown. Repeat on all pieces. Take out the zucchini pieces and place on a platter. 

In the same hot pan with 1/2 tbsp cooking oil, stir fry all spinach leaves, continue stirring for just 30 seconds (not more). The spinach will be reduced drastically in size after the frying, set aside.

3.

Meanwhile in a hot pan with 2 tbsps olive oil, fry the garlic and the spring onions, add the bell pepper and green peas. Stir-fry until the ingredients become soft. Add the steamed carrots and continue mixing. Add the cooked rice and carefully mix so that the rice blends with the other ingredients. 

Set a few pieces of the zucchini and spinach on the side as toppings later and add the rest to the pan, mixing carefully. Season with salt & pepper according to your taste, a dash of curry powder, sprinkle 1 tbsp soy sauce, mix well.

     4. 

Arrange the rice in a serving bowl and top it with few pieces of zucchini and spinach and the crispy onions. Serve hot as main dish or by-dish.

The most delicious thing about this food is , it´s light and you can even eat it meatless even as main dish.

ENJOY COOKING!

Linked up at:

The Charm of Home

vegetable fritters

     Marathon cooking is a chore I enjoy when I´m at home on weekends. I call it marathon because I cook lots of various food for freezing.  It begins with my food shopping on Fridays. 

     When I´m doing food shopping, I do not have a list of ingredients to buy.. my cooking is dependent on which ingredients are being offered in the market. So my cooking evolves on the ingredients I get on my food shopping.

     I´m a practical cook and as much as possible,  I used fresh ingredients.  In winter, our supermarkets are full of imported vegetables and fruits...prices are more expensive. That´s the time that frozen veggies come into action.

After a marathon cooking over the weekend, I sometimes have vegetable leftovers...what to do?

      If ever there are veggie leftovers,  one thing I´d do 

 is to use up all to make  vegetable fritters... and here´s how I make them.

Vegetable Fritters

Ingredients
(makes about 6 fritters)


2 medium carrots, peeled and grated coarsely
1 cup zucchinis, finely cubed
1 cup green beans (if frozen, thawed) coarsely  pressed 

2 cloves of crushed garlic 
1 medium size onion, chopped 
1 cup canned red kidney beans, coarsely pressed

2 medium boiled potatoes, peeled & cut into very fine cubes

3 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp créme fraíche
Salt , pepper 
a dash of nutmeg
breadcrumbs to coat the fritters
olive/cooking oil

Preparation:

1. 

Steam the carrots, zucchini and the green beans for

 about 10 minutes or until medium soft.... remove from fire and set aside.

2.

 In a heated pan, fry the garlic and the onions til golden brown... set aside.

3.

Place the steamed vegetables in a bowl, add the
 garlic + onion, 
the kidney beans, and the potatoes.

4.

Add the 3 tablespoons flour, 1 egg, and the créme fraíche. 

Blend thoroughly using a wooden spoon or spatula

 until  the vegetable mixture become moist all over .

Season with salt & pepper and a dash of nutmeg.

5.

Prepare 2 plates.... 1st with 1 beaten egg + 2 tbsp milk...

 the 2nd, with bread crumbs.

Scoop around 3 tbsps of the vegetable mixture and put it  between your palms making a ball, thereby pressing it to flatten the fritters as in hamburgers.

6.

Coat each fritter with the egg mixture and then with the bread crumbs. Fry each fritter in a heated pan 
with 2 tbsp. oil turning sides 2 times until all sides are golden brown. 

Best served warm  as main dish or by-dish...

ENJOY!

blue and white love

Yesterday Saturday was supposed to be my marathon cooking, but I didn´t cook that much because I already cooked so many things the weekend before...

The bed linens have been changed yesterday. I took a bit of time for our guest bedroom which has the blue & white scheme. In the last decade, I did a lot of soft furnishings in various shades and designs  of blue fabric. I even made a Sampler quilt for my husband and various quilted pillows too.

The guest bedroom, which I have blogged before shows the complete bed canopy I designed.  For more on this blog, just simply click parade of pillowcases... 

The curtains, the headboard, bed canopy as well as most of  the pillowcases were all made by me.

I was just really playing with the coordinates and I think the fusion of various blue colors

is ok, at least that´s how I see it...

...and so, I hope this will inspire anyone reading this to just try making their own linens and collect.

Happy Sunday everyone and 

have a great week ahead!

Linking up at : French Country Cottage- Feathered-nest-Friday_23

Home Sweet Home #193

broccoli recipe and setting-up the table

Setting-up a table is a matter of personal taste...I would love my tablewares to coordinate with each other... and I would love to have nice and pretty tablecloth.. 

The choice of plates could give a nice impact on the food to the beholder. For me,  food styling is very important in an event. Even the simplest food prepared basically would look scrumptious if the plates are beautiful.

Today, I prepared a simple steamed broccoli  and I think the green and white plate made the food looks 

scrumptious, if you agree.

Here´s how I prepare it.. 

1.

 cut the broccoli into flowerettes ( bite size) and place in a steamer and steam for  about 15 minutes or until 

broccoli becomes soft.

2.

In a pan, heat 1 tbsp butter and add  the broccoli flowerettes let butter coat them fully. Season with salt and pepper and a dash of dried ground garlic...

3.

Arrange in a platter and sprinkle 1-2 tbsps. of virgen squash or pumpkin oil. Can be served warm or cold with white bread or baguette.  

I love my table to have colors...

...and I love mismatched plates, too....and for as long as the colors and designs are well coordinated,

 I´m sure your guests would love the informality feel.

That´s all for now.... coming up is my blog on the blue and white love !

 Stay tuned!

xoxo,

Mercy

Linking up at : French Country Cottage-feathered-nest-friday_23

Botanical Garden

Verbenas ( latin name : Lantana sellowiana)

I may not have imagined this...but this botanical garden is just a few steps away from my office...

I kept on seeing it from my window ( see below pic) and I thought of visiting it the soonest.

It ´s actually a park full varieties of plant/species including the trees, I mean really big trees that you will see here as you scroll this blog...

If one needs to have peace and take a pause from a stressful day, then is one place to go.. there are banks and seats everywhere.

The following are just some of the flowers in this Garden. so have your seat and drink your coffee or tea and enjoy each of the images...

Dahlias

Salvia coccinea

Cobaea Scandens from Mexico

Back of a dahlia

Sunrays captured by my Digicam..

A bee sucking the nectar of this flower..

Hostas in a green house, They are old examples that are suspended  on top and always being sprayed cold water in the form of a thin mist like liquid..

The main hosta has black leaves and the newbies come out green

Ash tree that is so huge that it needs at least 4 people to embrace its  whole trunk. A tree that is also found in Canada abd the US.

If you´re planning to visit Vienna, you should consider this in your itenerary...

Our city has more greens to offer as much as its palaces and castles... You will surely love the city because Vienna is one of the most greenest cities in the world.

simple blueberry muffins

Hi everyone, today I´m sharing my simple blueberry muffin idea .. A simple blueberry muffin recipe that is really easy to make ... 

It´s always quickly done and  I´m sure, you too will love it´s delicious taste. You can also make this recipe beforehand and even freeze the muffins. You just have  to thaw these a couple of hours before serving and mind you, these can also be served warm. Simply heat them for 1 minute in the microwave at 600 watt.  So that it would look more delish, add a teaspoon of blueberry marmalade  and whipped cream  on top of each muffin before serving.

                              Simple Blueberry Muffins

Makes : 12 pieces,

Preparation time: around 30 minutes

Oven temperature: 180°C 

250 All purpose Flour 

100 grams Brown sugar

2 tsps Baking powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda, Salt

juice of 2 oranges

grated peel of an organic orange or a ready made pack  ( I used Dr. Oetker´s
Finesse - grated orange peel)

1 egg- beaten

6 tbsp Olive oil

Confectioner´s sugar for topping

Ingredients:

Margarine and flour to coat the muffin form

1 1/2 Cups blueberries (washed and dried-up with paper towels)

1 tbsp grated peel of an organic orange ( extract the juice, strained & set aside)

1 1/3 Cups pure Orange Juice ( freshly pressed juice of 2-3 oranges or ready made 

  from Food store)

 sugar to dust muffin top

Preparations:

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C, coat the Muffin form fully with Margarine then with flour. Grate 1/2 tbsp orange peel, then squeeze the juice and set aside for later use.

2. In a container, mix the sugar with baking powder, baking soda, and a dash of salt, set aside.

3. In a second container, mix the beaten egg, olive oil, grated orange peel.Add this mixture to the 1st Container with the dry ingredients.By using a spatula or cooking spoon, mix thoroughly until the dry ingredients are well coated and moistened. Add the juice from the organic orange, mix well. Add the blueberries carefully mixing it with a spoon so that they´re well distributed in the batter.

4. Fill each of the form with 2 - 3 tbsp muffin mixture ( not more than 3/4 the size of your form), place in the middle oven rack and bake for about 30 minutes. Take out the muffin tray from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes.
Take the muffins out of the form and transfer onto a platter , cool completely and  sprinkle   each muffin top with confectioner´s sugar.

Happy Baking!