Mozarella cheese balls are like little bites of cheese heaven. Mozarella is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo milk.Fresh mozarella is generally but may appear slightly yellow because of the animal's diet. Because of its high moisture content, mozarella is served immediately but if kept in its brine in a vacuum-sealed package, they last for a week or more. 

​Anyway, this simple salad is more like a caprese salad but I added balsamic vinegar in the dressing for variation. 

Ingrdients (Serves 2-3)
​15 yellow cherry tomatoes
​15 red cherry tomatoes
16 mini mozarella balls
small handful of basil leaves

Dressing
2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
2bsps EVOO
​Salt & Pepper

Method
​1) Whisk all the dressing together and set aside.
​2) Wash and slice the cherry tomatoes lengthwise and arrange on the serving plates.
​3) Place the mozarella balls and toss in the basil leaves over.
​4) Pour the dressing over and serve.

I love mushrooms - something about how it tastes earthy and so flavorful. Mushrooms impart a savory fifth sense called umami to your palate. Hearty mushrooms are a great way to enhance your meal and for vegetarians like me they are a great alternative to meat, not protein wise but taste wise.

​Mushrooms don't need a lot of seasonings to enhance its flavor. A simple mix of soysauce and garlic will suffice. Try to make this simple oriental salad of marinated tofus stir fried in a medley of button, shitake and Japanese white Bunashimeji mushrooms.  

Serves 2-4
​Ingredients for Tofu Marinade
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
​2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
​1 firm tofu  block (200gm)

​Ingredients for Mushroom Stir-Fry 
2tbsp canola oil
200gm Shitake Mushrooms, washed and sliced 
200gm Japanes white Bunashimeji mushrooms, washed
100gm button mushrooms (either brown or white), washed and sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cm ginger, sliced into matchsticks 
​2 tbsp light soy sauce

​For Garnish
​2 scallions, sliced into thin strips
1 red bird's eye chilli, sliced
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Method
​1) First cut the tofu block into 9 cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients separately in a small bowl and pour over the cubes. Leave it to marinate for at least 2 hours or longer. 

2) Next, heat the canola oil in a saucepan and fry the minced garlic and sliced ginger.

3) When they are cooked for a few minutes, put all the mushrooms in and add 2 tbsps of soysauce. Let them cook, sweat and release all their water roughly for 5 mins.  Don't discard the water. 

4) Put the marinated tofus in and stir fry on high heat for 5-10 mins. Stir regularly to ensure the ingredients don't stick to the pan and burn.

5) Garnish with scallion strips, red bird's eye chilli and roasted sesame seeds.
​Serve with a simple sesame rice for a wholesome satisfying meal.

I had a bag of new potatoes to unload and I also had cajun seasoning which I had bought months earlier but didn't get a chance to use it in any dish. Needless to say but I will still go ahead and mention it, I kinda hit two apples with one stone with this dish!!

Cajun cuisine is a style of cooking named for the French speaking Acadian people deported by the British from the Acadia in Canada to the Acadian region in Lousiana. It is more of a rustic cuisine where preparation is very simple ( yes very!) and locally available products are used. Shrimp and pork sausages are staple meats of the Cajun cuisine. Cajun seasoning consists of a blend of salt and a variety of spices but mostly cayenne pepper and garlic, resulting in an aromatic spicy flavorful dish. Yum...
​
This dish of new potatoes sauted in cajun seasoning was indeed very flavorful and would be a great hit at parties and barbeques!

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)
2 -3 tbsps EVOO
20 new potatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup sliced scallions
2 tsps cajun seasoning
Salt
1/2 avocado
Extra sliced scallions for garnish
1 tsp chilli flakes for the topping
Method
​1) Scrub and boil the new potatoes in salted water till cooked. Slice lengthwise and keep aside.
​2) Heat a medium sized pan and pour 2 - 3 tbps EVOO. Fry the scallions and garlic till light brown.

3) Add in the 2 tsp cajun seasoning and mix well for 2-3 mins.

A close up of the cajun seasoning. We can see granules of garlic, cayenne pepper, bell pepper, parsley, celery and rock salt.

4) This will be followed by the boiled new potatoes.

5) Give it a good mix and let the flavors absorb into the potatoes.  Check for salt and add, if necessary.

6) Top with the cubed avocados and a dash of chilli flakes. Serve hot immediately!

I couldn't decide if this was a fruit or a vegetable salad since it has both apples and wild rocket leaves, so I'm gonna go on a limb here and just refer to it as a simple summer salad.. honestly I wasn't expecting a lot from the dressing...dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil? How could that taste great? But I must say I was blown away from the end result! The sweetness of the crunchy apples complemented the sour salty taste of the dijon, cider and olive oil dressing. A fantastic way to fill up your tummy when you are trying to watch your calories. As usual, there was some tweaking of an original recipe - I have used Parmigiano reggiano cheese as I did not have Pecorino. It wasn't available in where I usually shop. In fact, I have not seen Pecorino cheese anywhere in Singapore. Hmmmm...interesting.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
250gm wild rocket leaves
​2 crunchy red apples, sliced
75gm Parmigiano Reggiano shavings

Dressing
​1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsps apple cider vinegar (ACV)
2 tbsps olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Method
1) Make the dressing first by whisking the mustard, ACV, olive oil and then season to taste with salt and pepper.
​2) Place the rocket leaves and apple slices in a salad bowl.
3) Add the dressing and toss to mix.
​4) Top with Parmigiano Reggiano shavings and a dash of pepper.
​5) Serve immediately.

Dates are in season again as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is upon us. Fasting is mandatory in Islam for all Muslims and we must not eat or drink (not even a sip of water) from sunrise to sunset. It is certainly a very testing month of our faith for all Muslims but we somehow manage and soon the 30 days get over and we get back to our regular eating. Dates are always eaten when breaking the fast at sunset because dates are highly nutritious (dates are very rich in iron, manganese, potassium and copper). It is recommended to eat 2-3 dates when breaking fast because dates provide the body with natural sugar, helping to restore the low blood sugar after fasting all day. And it helps to kickstart the digestive process.  

​So, I happen to be in a supermarket the other day and was thrilled to see boxes and boxes of dates displayed all ready for the approaching fasting month. I quickly grabbed two boxes and brought them home only to have my husband requesting a loaf/bread/cake or bars using the dates. You see, its always a challenge to please my husband's taste buds when it comes to confectionaries because he is so particular about the usage of butter, sugar and eggs. So whatever recipe I come across online, I have to tweak it to replace the butter (for this recipe I used coconut oil), eggs and reduce or sometimes completely omit the sugar. And I am not always successful.

The following recipe gives a no-butter no-egg Date and Walnut Oatmeal Crumble - essentially a date and nut filling sandwiched between two layers of crispy crumb mixture.

​Ingredients (Yields around 18 crumbled squares)
For the Crumb Base and Topping
1 3/4 cups rolled oats (or even fruit-free muesli)
​1/2 cup brown granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup coconut oil

​For the Date Filling
​250 gm dates
​1/4 cup brown granulated sugar
​1/2 cup water
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
​1/2 cup chopped walnuts
​1/2 cup grated white coconut

Method
​1) Firstly, you have to pit and chop the dates into small pieces. This is the most time consuming step of this whole recipe. 

2) Then, place the chopped dates, water and brown sugar into a small pot. Boil till the dates become soft and mushy. This will take roughly 5 mins on low heat. You can mash the date mix to speed up the process.

3) Then, add in the chopped walnuts, grated coconut, vanilla and coconut oil and give it a good mix.

4) Switch off and let this date mixture cool.

5) Take a medium sized mixing bowl and add all the ingredients - plain flour, rolled oats or fruit free muesli, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and coconut oil. Mix it well and divide into 2 portions.

6) Spread out half the crumb mixture into  a greased 10inch by 6inch glass baking dash.

7) This will be followed by the date filling. Use your fingers, to spread it out evenly, if you need to. That's exactly what I did!

8) Top off with the remaining crumb mixture and spread it out evenly.

9) The side view.

10) Bake in a preheated oven for 30-45 mins at 180 deg C or 350 deg F. Once baked, let it cool down bwfore slicing the block into squares.

11) It wasn't easy to cut into perfect squares because of the sticky date filling but they tasted so delicious! The sweet filling complemented the not-so sweet crumb mixture very well.