Category Archives: healthy

Farmer’s market Korean-inspired frittata

28 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in breakfast, eggs, healthy, the basics, Vegetarian

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bok choy frittata
Say what? Korean frittatta? Well, kind of. I got inspired from this Food and Wine magazine’s asparagus and bok choi frittata when thinking what to do with all my fresh green goodies. Two exciting things had to happen for this frittata:
1) There was a farmer’s market at my kids’ school and they brought home a load of purple bok choy, and
2) I had recently been to H Mart, a huge Korean supermarket in Edison, NJ, where I picked up (among MANY other things) Korean green onion, enough sesame oil for a year, go chu jang (Korean bean chili paste) and Korean spinach and green chili.

A word or two on Korean green onion. These babies are huge. It’s like if Jack were a spring onion, this is who would be waiting for him at the top of the beanstalk. I plan on using some of these onions for savory Korean pancakes but I could spare one for a frittata. Meanwhile, the purple bok choy… I used one bunch already for a vegetarian ramen soup and I wasn’t feeling like sauteeing or braising the other one. Into the frittata as well. Here’s a pic of my treasures (I forgot to add the ginger to my portrait!):

asian frittata
All chopped and nicely prepped:

bok choy, sesame oil
A close up the Korean green onion, chopped:

korean onion

For three people
7 or 8 eggs whisked with salt and pepper
large green onion or 2 or 3 spring onion chopped at an angle
1 bunch bok choy chopped
1 small bunch spinach chopped
2 cloves garlic sliced thinly
1/4 thinly sliced green chili or bell pepper
1 small piece ginger, minced
plain sesame oil or vegetable oil for frying
toasted sesame oil for serving
go chu jang or sriracha for serving (spicy, optional)

1. Heat up plain sesame oil or olive oil and gently warm up the garlic, ginger and chili or bell pepper for 1 minute.
2. Turn up heat slightly and add in the spring onion, bok choy and spinach. Gently fry so that the vegetables are just cooked. They should still be crunchy. Pour the egg mixture in, making sure it is even.
3. Put a lid on the frying pan to cook as much as you can on the stove. Finish the top under the broiler in the oven. Don’t burn the bottom of the egg. Don’t overcook the egg either. If you are careful, it is not hard to get it perfect. Serve with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and go chu jang (or sriracha!) if you want spice.

bok choy frittata

Pumpkin almond mini cakes

26 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in dessert, healthy, kids, kids lunchbox ideas, party bites, spices

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pumpkin almond mini cakes
pumpkin almond mini cakes
Today I thought I would answer the question most of you are not asking, which is: ‘What did I do with that leftover roasted pumpkin?’

Well, my husband—thinking it was butternut squash—ate some for his lunch and I used the rest to make this amazing pumpkin almond cake. It smells like pumpkin pie in the best way but it’s not. It is CAKE. I think this qualifies as healthy 1) because it’s homemade, 2) because it has pumpkin, almonds and whole wheat flour in it and 3) because it smells too good to be bad. Yes of course you can use pumpkin puree from a can. But that stuff kind of turns me off. We roast squash all the time in America, particularly acorn squash. So why not pumpkin?

Makes enough for a normal 2-layer cake or around 26 mini cakes

Dry ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup finely ground almonds or almond meal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg, grated
4 cloves, ground in a pestle and mortar**

Wet ingredients
1 stick butter, very soft
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup of pureed pumpkin*
2 eggs
2 tsp fresh grated ginger**
3/4 cup almond milk

* Roast the pumpkin till soft. The peel should come right off. Puree in a food processor or in a blender. Add a little water if you need to.
** You can use pre-ground cloves and ground ginger (one tsp only of each)

1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together
2. Whisk all the wet ingredients together (except almond milk), starting with creaming the butter and sugar and then mixing in the rest.
3. Add the flour and almond milk next, alternating as you incorporate each into the cake batter.
4. If using a mini cupcake tray, butter and flour each hole. If using a cake tin, butter and flour it or line it with baking parchment.
5. Cook the mini cakes for about 8-10 minutes in middle of the oven on 350. A full-size cake will take longer–about 40 minutes.

I made one tray of mini cakes for the kids and used the rest of the batter for one layer cake for us old people.

pumpkin almond cake