June 14, 2021
I love the flavours of south east Asia but I find making the recipes difficult as I seldom have all the ingredients on hand and I usually cook with what’s in my fridge. To make up for this I always have green and red curry paste jars in the fridge along with small jars of grated lemongrass and even ginger in case I need it. I use these to make Asian style dishes that are... View Article
January 6, 2021
I haven’t posted here in a while but was inspired today to post this recipe. I am more active on Instagram @oliveoilandlemons so feel free to check my Insta account for recent recipes. This little dish came today out of nowhere. I was in the mood for Asian flavours and decided to make some spring rolls. I didn’t have wrappers and didn’t feel like making them so made them with rice paper, which is done... View Article
May 4, 2020
Dal and rice go so well together so now and then I have to make it. It does need something fresh so a smashed cucumber salad and sliced tomatoes are a nice side along with sort of raita. I had whole red lentils this time so this is what I used but I have made it with split red lentils and it works just as well. The flatbread is made with buttermilk instead of the... View Article
March 18, 2020
The hashtag for these uncertain times is #flattenthecurve and we are doing our part to keep this pandemic from spreading by keeping a low profile and practicing social distancing. Being at home does not have to mean true isolation. We can schedule a coffee call with the kids, a video chat to see the baby, “online” lunch date with a girlfriend in front of the iPad, a glass of wine in the evening with a... View Article
January 22, 2020
Sometimes I venture into different cuisines and make a curry of sorts with what I have on hand in my pantry. In the last few days I have been working on a submission to an online food photography challenge and today’s challenge (for Saturday submission) was herbs and spices. Since I pulled out all the colourful spices for a photograph, I decided to use them in a dish for dinner, hence this curry. It’s a... View Article
July 18, 2019
Sometimes nothing but a little Asian flavour would do and on those occasions I may make salad rolls, Sushi, Asian soup or a noodle salad. Here is a quick an easy version that you can adapt to what’s in your kitchen or what is in season. Enjoy Ingredients: 8 oz rice stick noodles Toppings: 1 carrot, 3 radishes, 1 celery rib , 3 asparagus, thinly sliced on a mandolin Parsley or cilantro, whole... View Article
January 20, 2019
As soon as we arrived in Sydney (and even before) I was looking for cooking classes teaching Asian cuisine. I was interested in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, whatever I could find. From watching hours of Masterchef Australia I knew that there is a major Asian influence on Australian cooking, likely because of the proximity to South East Asia. From watching the show it seemed like almost everyone knows how to cook Asian food... View Article
August 25, 2018
Dal is my go-to dish when I want the flavours of India at home. It is a simple dish of red lentils (or other legumes) cooked with spices and water to a creamy consistency and served with rice and other dishes. Ingredients: 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (canola, sunflower) 1 teaspoon cumin seeds1/2 teaspoon cumin powder 1 onion, halved and sliced 1 1/2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drained 1 teaspoon turmeric 1... View Article
August 19, 2018
I had a couple of lunches at 50th parallel’s winery Block One restaurant and came back with a few food ideas to make at home. One of the items on the menu is either wings or cauliflower with Korean sauce, which was a nice way to offer a vegetarian version of a dish. I had the cauliflower and enjoyed it so here is my version of this dish. If you have summer fresh cauliflower be... View Article
August 5, 2018
Once in a while I get out of my comfort zone and try cooking a different cuisine. Today is flavours of India and with the help of a couple of cookbooks I came up with this dish as well as a red lentil dal that I will post next. The curry is inspired by Vij’s at Home cookbook, I had to simplify as I didn’t have all the ingredients and anyway, I always adapt recipes. This... View Article
July 26, 2018
I have been having a lot of fun in the kitchen and lately also trying dishes I have never made before. We recently spent a week in the BC mountains hiking and biking (Sun Peaks, post to come) and our days consisted of all day hikes (or biking) and then dinner at night at one of the several restaurants in the small Austrian style village. Food mostly left some to be desired except for one... View Article
June 28, 2018
Remembering a dish I had at a restaurant a while ago I thought I’d try to make something similar at home. The dish was an elongated Asian eggplant, cut in half and roasted with a sticky, sweet and spicy sauce similar to teriyaki. Rather than buy a bottle of the sauce which would be full of artificial ingredients, I thought I’d try to make it myself. The sticky-gooey sauce was quite good so onto these pages... View Article
