Sesame Dressing

... over mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber.  I'll it also on fried tofu next time.

... and instant vegetarian noodles.

That was dinner one evening last week.  

***

I'm teaching a new class at Yoga Manila Ortigas starting today.

 Mondays 5:00-6:15pm Pranayama + Intro to Ashtanga 

This class will introduce the students to the classical techniques of pranayama as taught at the Kaivalyadham Yoga Institute in Lonavla, India.  The first part of the class is dedicated to pranayama while the second part introduces the students to asana practice, specifically the fundamental sequence of the ashtanga method.

Om.

Noodles... noodles... noodles...

Because North Park didn't have vegetarian noodles on its menu... I made my own.

Honestly, how difficult can vegetarian stir fried noodles be?

It's quick and easy to prepare... plus it's a complete meal on its own. But because I'm a Filipino, I eat it with rice. :-p Nah... didn't do that today. I did that when I was in India because the Singaporean noodles that I ordered from Veg Park was too hot! Chili hot! The Pinoy solution is, of course, to "tame" it down with plain rice. Nice.

Ingredients
500 grams fresh noodles
1 small carrot, julienned
a handful of bean sprouts (about 2 cups)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
shitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 heads (?) baby bokchoy
2 3x3in hard tofu, sliced and fried
2 tbsp vegetarian mushroom sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1-2 tbsp light soy sauce
Fresh ground black pepper
Some chili sauce/oil of your choice, optional

Instructions
Saute the garlic and onion over medium heat for about 30 seconds. Add the carrots, mushrooms bean sprouts, and bokchoy then stir fry for 60-90 seconds over high heat. Lower heat to a minimum and add the rest of the ingredients except black pepper. Mix well. Serve and top with fresh ground black pepper.

Hao chi.

Ang Pancit... Bow.

INGREDIENTS
Fresh noodles, 500g
A handful of chopped cabbage
1 small carrots, julienned (yes, that's the more appropriate term for "cut into long thin strips")
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small white onion, chopped finely
About 1/2 cup each of chopped oyster mushroom, sliced shitake mushroom, and button mushroom.
1 cup of bean sprouts
2 tbsp of vegetarian oyster mushroom sauce, add more if you like.
2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2-1 tsp chili garlic oil
dash of sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Stir fry everything except the noodles. In the last 1-2 minutes of cooking, add the noodles and mix well. Serve with a slice of lemon (mahal/expensive!!!) or calamansi on the side.

***

Attended a dance movement therapy conference last weekend. Interesting stuff.

Stir Fried Noodles

Lunch today. Story later. :-p

***
Congratulations to the UP Pep - Team Philippines for placing 3rd in the recently concluded 3rd Cheerleading Asia International Open.


You can watch their 1st day performance here. More photos from Markikoy18 here.

Laban Pilipinas!!!

Pancit Habhab

This famous street food from Lucban, Quezon, is not really vegetarian friendly. Like most dishes here in the Philippines, it is mixed with pork and shrimp bits and the noodles is cooked in pork broth. A hair-raising experience for vegetarians really.

With a little imagination and the help of Knorr mushroom stock cube from Thailand, I was able to make a vegetarian version of pancit habhab.

I can't exactly remember the quantity of the ingredients that I used so here's a rough list of what you'll need.

Carrots, sliced thinly
bean sprouts
cabbage, chopped
garlic
onion
salt and pepper to taste
some fried tofu
mushroom stock cube (just use any vegetable stock cube that you can find -- eerrr that's good luck to us who are in the Philippines, although Knorr ginisa mix is now meat-free. I checked the label. It has MSG though. I'd say make your own stock but we live in the Big City so why bother? We'll all die anyway - ok it's the full moon.)
6 tablespoons soy sauce
Calamansi to taste

450g pancit habhab cooked in 4 cups of water with 1 mushroom stock cube. Drained.

Stir fry the vegetables, add another stock cube, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Either serve over the noodles or mix it together. Serve with calamansi and extra soy sauce on the side. For a true habhab experience, drizzle it with spiced vinegar.

Enjoy.

*** For a meaty experience, add slices of shitake mushroom and if you buy the dried ones, the water where you soak the dried mushroom can be used as your stock.

Ok I'm out of here. Still have a dentist appoinment at 2pm. Ciao.