Asian-inspired healthy dinners for reboot February
January didn’t quite live up to your healthy living expectations? Cosy food doesn’t have to come at the cost of health. Try these tasty plant-based recipes made with warming ginger and miso.
Looking for fresh inspiration for warming winter dishes without the stodge? We’ve found two fabulous dishes from Asian Green – the new cookbook from celebrated TV chef, Ching-He-Huang. They tick the healthy box and they’re vegetarian, but there’s no stinting on the flavour – warming ginger and miso feature, alongside the veg (and there’s nothing you can’t get in a decent-sized supermarket).
Food has always been at the centre of Ching’s life, from family feasts at her grandmother’s farm growing up in Taiwan to the food business she began in the UK selling noodle salads. That led her to cooking on television and publishing cookbooks – this one is her ninth. Ching is known for creating fresh, colourful and healthy dishes that don’t require Blumenthal levels of cheffing. Now we’re looking forward to eating our greens!
Teriyaki Tempeh with Long-stem Broccoli
Serves: 2/ Prep: 15 min / Cook: 5 min / Kcal: 687
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2.5cm (1in) piece of fresh root ginger, grated
1 small red onion, sliced into half-moon slices
200g (7oz) block of tempeh, sliced into 1cm (½in)strips
1 tbsp sake
150g (5½oz) long-stem broccoli, sliced on the angle
into 2.5cm (1in) pieces
1 green pepper, sliced into julienne strips
large pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely sliced, to garnish
pinch of black sesame seeds, to garnish
cooked jasmine rice, to serve (see page 194)
For the sauce
1 tbsp sake
2 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp tamari or low-sodium light soy sauce
2 tbsp golden syrup
In a small jug, mix together all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside. Heat a wok over a high heat until smoking, then add the rapeseed oil. Once it’s hot, add the garlic, ginger and red onion and cook, stirring, for a few seconds, until fragrant. Add the tempeh strips and cook for 30 seconds on each side until seared and brown at the edges. Season with the sake and cook, tossing, for 2 seconds. Then add the broccoli and green pepper and stir-fry for 10 seconds more. Pour in the sauce mixture and bring to the bubble. Continue to stir-fry until the sauce starts to reduce and you end up with a slightly sticky shine on the tempeh and peppers. Season with a large pinch of freshly ground black pepper and transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with the spring onion and black sesame seeds. Serve immediately with jasmine rice.
Miso Corn & Sweet Potato Pancakes
Serves: 2 (makes 10 pancakes) / Prep: 10 min / Cook: 10 min/ Kcal: 476
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2.5cm (1in) piece of fresh root ginger, grated
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into
0.5cm (¼in) cubes
50ml (2fl oz) vegetable stock
1 tbsp unsalted sunflower spread
1 tsp red miso paste
340g (12oz) can sweetcorn, drained
1 tbsp tamari or low-sodium light soy sauce
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp mirin
pinch of chilli flakes
To serve
10 small shop-bought wheat-flour pancakes (or use little gem lettuce leaves)
2 spring onions, trimmed and sliced into julienne strips
sriracha, for drizzling (optional)
Place the pancakes in a small bamboo steamer and set over a pan half-filled with water. Close the lid and steam over a high heat for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a wok over high heat until smoking, and add the rapeseed oil. Once hot, add the ginger and stir for a few seconds, then add the sweet potato cubes and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes. Continue to cook,adding drops of vegetable stock as you go in order to steam-fry the sweet potato. Cook in this manner for another 2 minutes until the sweet potato is soft but still has bite. Push the sweet potato cubes to one side of the wok.
Add the sunflower spread and miso paste to the centre of the wok, then add the sweetcorn and mix to coat the sweetcorn kernels in the miso paste. Stir well until the miso has all dissolved. Season with tamari or light soy sauce and golden syrup, then add the mirin to loosen. Cook until slightly reduced, then toss the sweet potato and sweetcorn together for 30 seconds. Sprinkle with chilli flakes.
To serve, fold each pancake in half to form a semicircle, then in half again to make a shape like an ice-cream cone. Holding the cone between your thumb and forefinger, fill it with the sweet potato and sweetcorn mixture. Top with spring onion, drizzle over some sriracha (if you like) and eat immediately.