After my first attempt at making spanakópita, I packed the leftovers and brought it to my day job for lunch. I’ve got a reputation for bringing ‘nice’ lunches (even though they’re usually leftovers) so my co-workers were doubly impressed with my efforts. “Wow, there might be a Greek yiayia (grandmother) in you!” one of them exclaimed.
Hmmm. I don’t think one spinach pie makes me an expert on Greek food, but I guess people were surprised to see an Asian cooking a traditional Greek dish.
Anyway, a Greek friend told me that you can also use other vegetables in a spanakópita recipe. Since I had some butternut pumpkin on hand, I decided to use that in my next pie.
Continue reading “Pumpkin, Spinach and Feta Pie”
Vegetarian Claypot Noodles
Claypot noodles, also known as Yee Mee (伊麵) or Poh Chai Noodles (煲仔麵) are a type of crispy noodles made from wheat flour and palm oil. While resembling spaghetti in shape and texture, they have a unique flavour and are commonly used in claypot cooking.
I love these noodles so much, I usually keep a packet on hand in my pantry. Like most noodles, they can be cooked in soup or stir-fried. Their inherent flavour also creates a fragrant broth from boiling the noodles alone. This comes in handy when I’m after a quick bowl of noodle soup, as additional stock isn’t required.
Here, I’ve cooked these noodles claypot style, sans claypot because I can’t use claypots on my electric burner. It’s a quick and easy recipe, but definitely not lacking in the flavour department, thanks to the umami properties of the shitake mushrooms.
Continue reading “Vegetarian Claypot Noodles”