As promised..

For my great contributors and supporters: every week a recipe which gives you the taste of Asia – some will be Nepalese, some from surrounding countries, or simply Asian food I am addicted to . I hope you like them as much as I do.

Let’s start with some typical Nepalese food, in the end that’s where I’m heading to in November. Nepal combines a range of characteristics from its neighboring countries, often relatively simple and with subtle flavors, but.. the results are far from bland. Common ingredients include lentils, potatoes, tomatoes, cumin, coriander, chilies, peppers and garlic. Some dishes are unavoidable when visiting Nepal, Dal Bhat is one of them. Rice or roti, accompanied with lentils and side dishes such as curried dishes (meat or fish), pickles, yogurt, and chutney. Can be really nice and tasteful, can be awful as well. Another treat you’ll find everywhere are the momo’s, the Nepalese / Tibetan version of a dumpling.

Via the link you’ll find two recipes for vegetarian momo’s, one in English and one in Dutch. The links will open in a new tab.

week 20 – momo – time:
steamed momo’s (vegetarian) – English
gestoomde momo’s (vegetarisch ) – Nederlands

week 21 – summer rolls – my all time favorite!
vietnamese prawn summer rolls – English
vietnamese summer rolls (vegetarisch ) – Nederlands

Don’t forget to make enough peanut sauce, because that’s simply the perfect marriage  with the summer rolls:

• 3/4 cup natural-style creamy peanut butter (if you use the conventional kind, omit the sugar called for in the sauce)
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 4 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons chile-garlic paste
• 1 garlic clove, mashed to a paste
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

week 22 – red curry with tiger prawns and suger snaps – mmmm… love it!
thai red curry with jasmine rice – English
thaise rode curry met garnalen en jasmijn (thee)rijst – Nederlands

Should be ready in about 30 minutes, in case you want a video, here it is:
Jamie Oliver red thai curry

week 23 – sajoer beans – easy to prepare Indonesian side dish
sajoer beans – Nederlands + English

week 24 – Pad Thai
A recipe for when you are not it the neighborhood  of the little food stall on khao san road (Bangkok) or near Deli Bird (Rotterdam).
Pad Thai – English
Pad Thai – Nederlands (variatie: de saus kan ook gemaakt worden met tamarinde pasta, vissaus, honing en azijn, dit alles op laag vuur laten koken)

Both recipes are with shrimps, but  of course you can use tofu and/or chicken as well.

week 25 – Thai and Indonesian ‘streetfood’
Sorry… no recipe this week, as I haven’t eaten at home. But.. in case the Pad Thai recipe of last week didn’t work out well (and you are not in the neighborhood of R’dam or Bangkok) I recommend the Thai food stall at World of Food.

Do you fancy Indonesian street food? After visiting the Banksy exposition we bumped into Sie-Joe, an unpretentious and very cosy ‘hole-in-the-wall’, dishing up authentic, tasty saté and more. Great for a lunch, but.. no reservations, so you have to be lucky, or patient. Or late… as we were.

update Saturday 2nd of July
After Wroclaw, Warsaw, Budapest and Prague I arrived yesterday in Zurich. Next week I will be back home, let’s see if I still know how to prepare some decent food.. So.. I promise, coming weeks you’ll find new recipes at this spot! For now just a picture I made at a food market here in Zurich. Himalaya is everywhere…

week 27 – Bombay omelette
Incredibly straightforward and incredibly jummie!
Bombay omelette – English

Ik kan helaas geen Nederlandse versie van het recept vinden, maar.. kwam wél deze tegen, ken het niet maar ga ‘m zelf snel proberen. Volgens mij geen risico om alvast te delen.. ook omelet, maar anders – met oesters en koriander

week 29 – Tom Kha Gai
Although I am not a huge fan of soups, this is an all time favorite! Have eaten it so many times in Thailand, many creative versions, always nice. You can decide to add some more coconut milk when the soup turned out to be more spicy than expected (which is mostly the case when I taste it, but that’s just me I suppose). And…according to the recipe… always remember to treat your coconut milk gently… Just so you know 😉
Tom Kha Gai – English
Tom Kha Gai / Thaise (kippen)soep met kokos and citroengras)  – Nederlands
(in het recept staat gember maar als je galanga wortel kunt vinden, dit is lekkerder en authentieker. Beetje rijst erbij en je bent klaar. Heerlijk!)

week 30 – suggestions anyone?
Sorry, no Asian inspiration this week.  But… my  pesto pasta dish from Genoa, with pine nuts and lots of Parmesan cheese (but without the traditional green beans) was delicious. Delicious easy as well, it’s my favorite no nonsense meal. I always use whole wheat spaghetti for this combi.

week 31 – Keralan veggie curry
I created a not so nice odor in my kitchen last week (actually in the whole house..) as well a meltdown in my oven after using the microwave instead of the oven. 10 minutes microwave instead of convection oven for some bread results in a smoky mess, I can assure you… So I spend part of the day checking out new kitchens and actually tried to spend as little time as possible in the house. Lots of incense and a swift veggie curry didn’t help so far, but.. veggie curry was nice! So here are the recipes in ENG and NL:
Keralan veggie curry with poppadoms, rice & minty yoghurt – English
Indiase vegetarische curry met kruidnagelrijst – Nederlands (recept is hetzelfde maar vertaald, men is echter vergeten de pappadoms erbij te doen maar die maken het wel af. En.. voor mij geen pappadom zonder mango chutney, dus ik zou die ook meteen even meenemen als je door de supermarkt loopt; het potje van Patak’s is kant en klaar en niks mis mee, heb ‘m altijd op voorraad)

week 32 – ?
Tonight I’ll join dinner in ‘het kleine cafe aan de haven’. Let’s see if it will be Asian food or not.. I’ll keep you updated.

week 33 – Thai Fish cakes
Well, last week the food was delicious, also great to meet up with precious friends. Food had nothing to do with Asia although Nepal was -of course- topic of conversation. So cool to see how everybody is supporting and interested! For this week I plan to make fish cakes with cucumber relish. Not yet all ingredients in the fridge, so tonight I’ll start with the spicy cucumber relish. Fish cakes will follow later in the week.
thai fish cakes with cucumber relish – English.
As well a video from mr Ramsay himself
thaise viskoekjes met komkommer salade – Nederlands

ทานให้อร่อยนะ !

week 34 – Himalaya Sandwich
This week the very, very special Himalaya Sandwich! You can make it yourself or.. even better, comes over to the lunchroom of Randstad headquarters in Diemen. This week the they serve the Himalaya Sandwich  for only € 2.45. If you buy one, you support the Sisters for Sisters!

‘Broodje Himalaya’: Gestapelde meergranen-baguette in 3 stukken gesneden, elk stuk belegd met verse sla en mooie plakken rosbief. Er wordt een licht pittige salsa bij geserveerd, tomaatje erop, en voor de liefhebber wat Himalaya zout ernaast.

week  35 – icecream..
Watch out for this one, it’s addictive! Maybe not very ‘Asian’, but too good not to mention. And.. just use Himalaya salt to it and the link is made..

week  36 – gajar surwa
I hope this Nepalese carrot soup will be tasteful, as I plan to prepare some for coming Monday; the first edition of the #HimalayaHAIRchallenge. Together with a cous-cous salad and some bread and dips I hope nobody will leave the place with an empty stomach.

I am so proud of the full team of Whoops! They are open from 5-9pm and will donate all their proceeds to the Sisters4Sisters project. How cool is that?  In case you want to join us, you’re more than welcome, there are still some places left.
Himalaya Hair Challenge at Whoops – tel. 010-411 9911

If you want to prepare the soup yourself, here’s the recipe
gajar surwa / carrotsoup – English 
gajar surwa / wortelsoep – Nederlands 

GREAT NEWS: Nar catering is also supporting the #HimalayaHAIRchallenge. I just heard they will prepare some of their delicious worldfood. A true Sisters for Sisters experience.

25th of September update
Shame on me, I am behind in posting recipes, Last weeks have been crazy busy and I hardly been at home. Which means, also not in the kitchen. As well, the weather has been so amazing that summer salads were my main course for most evenings. But..good news for all the food lovers: Saturday 22 October we’ll organize a Himalaya VITALITY day and included in the program will be an Ayurvedic lunch, prepared by Anneke Strootman. Amongst others she studied Ayurvedic dietetics at the Academy for Ayurvedic
Studies in Amsterdam and I am extremely curious to learn more about the food she will prepare. If you are interested to join, I wouldn’t wait too long and book your ‘seat’. Location will be the Present Movement yoga studio in Gouda. In addition to the lunch there are Yoga and Pilates lessons to follow, or you can spoil yourself with a ‘TouchPro stoelmassage’, based on a traditional Japanese  massage. For more information, please contact me or check the following pages for the latest information:
facebook event 22 October – Himalaya VITALITY day
blog Himalaya VITALITY day

So what is on my own wishlist for this week? For weeks I have this recipe in my mind: Spiced Spinach Bread. I just have to make the time to prepare.. But it sounds simply delicious to me. What do you think? Unfortunately I haven’t found a Dutch recipe yet, but the English version comes with a video which I assume is helpful. The same site shows a very attractive Date and Walnut Slice, tempting…

For tonight I just made some easy going but tasteful Asian courgette noodles, no recipe needed as it is dead simple, costed me less that 15 minutes to prepare:

This is what I had in stock:
1 courgette, handvol champignons, 1 paprika, restantje sugar snaps en een ui.

• roerbak de champigons, paprika, sugar snaps en ui in wat olijfolie.
• ondertussen snij je de courgette in slierten met een dunschiller.
• voeg op het laatst wat knoflook toe en laat deze even meebakken om vervolgens de courgette erbij te doen.
• dit hoeft echt héél kort dus bijna meteen maak ik het op smaak met wat sesamolie, sojasaus en gembersiroop. Goed mengen en opscheppen maar. Kind kan de was doen..

week 40 – asparagus cashew rice pilaf 
This week I prepared a pilaf, bit more work than expected so late dinner, but it saved me time the next day as I had prepared way too much (as usual)..
asparagus cashew rice pilaf – English
pilaf van asperges met cashewnoten – Nederlands

By the way,  you have to try the Spiced Spinach Bread (see also the above post)? If not, I would recommend to give it a try as it is really delicious!

week 41 – a Non-Asian cannelloni dish
Yesterday the weather gave me that typical autumn feeling, which equals recipes with mushrooms, pumpkin, sweet potato, rosemary etc. So I prepared  cannelloni with pumpkin, courgette, ricotta and pesto, and… forgot to add all the various types of mushrooms I had in my fridge.. (NOT handy). I know very well that this is not a very Asian recipe, but for the people who would like to give it a try, here’s the recipe in Dutch:
Cannelloni met basilicum-rozemarijnpesto
(Tip: snij de pompoen en courgette redelijk klein, anders past het niet in de cannelloni. Ook heb ik veel meer groenten gebruikt en dus naar verhouding beduidend minder ricotta. Daarentegen wel weer meer parmezaanse kaas, want wat is nu helemaal 20 gr, véél te weinig. En ja.. vergeet dus niet de paddestoelen, mijn plan was om deze op het laatste moment toe te voegen. Voeg ook toe: grote salade, lekker glas wijn, fijne muziek en goed gezelschap en je hebt gegarandeerd een prima en relaxte herfst avond!)

For the non-Dutch, I have found a kind of similar recipe, but..never tested the recipe so at your own risk 😉 By the way, I would add pumpkin to the filling.
Spinach mushroom cannelloni

For more Asian recipes, I am working on the recipe booklet for the Ayurvedic lunch of next week. So bear with me for a moment, will be published soon!

 

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Nepalese kitchens

The below pictures are  taking during my trip through the Nepalese mountains, end of 2014. Nepali cooking – it often takes a while, but I always enjoyed watching and helping a bit. Their kitchen is their pride, no matter how simple and humble they live.

When I was not at a home stay, I had some interesting menu options at the local restaurants, adjusted for the visitors who didn’t want to eat Nepali food.. After the  enormous ‘spagethic’ plate there was no for room for the apple ‘filter’, although I was veeeery  curious and had hallucinations of warm Dutch apple pie with cinnamon. So my desert was a banana some hours later. Unfortunately I don’t think my little shopping helped to lighten the weight on his back.
PS watch the tea mug.. had the same style as my sheets on the bed..

You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.
– Anthony Bourdain