One thing I think that people don’t realise about dietitians is that we really love food.
We love food, we love to eat and when we throw a party, you can be sure there’ll be great food- and no, it’s not all salads. That said, there are always plenty of veggie filled options- enough inspiration for weeks worth of lunch ideas- and this is where I came across this amazing brown salad rice recipe.
I must admit that I’ve never really been a big fan of Hollandaise. Knowing that it was just an emulsion of butter and egg yolk didn’t excite me all that much, and it really doesn’t add all that much for me- to be honest I’d much rather have my poached eggs on toast with just a sprinkle of pepper. It has however grown on me, even if only slightly, a result of living in a household that loves their Eggs Benedict for breakfast. And although I have made a quick Hollandaise on a couple of occasions, I have been on a hunt for a healthier version of this classic sauce.
My life truly revolves around food.
Not only do I work in the food industry, in my spare time I also blog about food, I cook (and bake) as a hobby, I photograph food when I eat out and I even like to spend my evenings sitting watching food documentaries and television shows. Don’t worry, I watch other things too, but foodie shows are pretty awesome I must say!
A couple of years ago, my friend got me hooked on a Chinese series by the name ‘A Bite of China’ which explores the history and culture of food in various different locations within China. Having grown up in Australia, the show really highlighted how little exposure I had to ‘real’ Chinese food, with each episode showcasing the very unique range of cuisines from the bigger cities to more remote communities within China and the many stories behind the dishes shown.
Whilst we’ve finished both seasons of the show, it has sparked interest in food documentaries and there’s certainly no shortage of similar productions, our latest being a documentary solely on tofu. And being one of my favourite foods, I was most intrigued and particularly keen to try the tofu feasts which are available in some regions of China where diners are served a banquet table full of tofu based dishes- what I would consider as tofu heaven!
Today’s recipe is a little different from my usual recipes- I do plenty of veggie recipes, and some recipes which may involve meat, but not so much a crossover between the two like I have today with these mock ‘meat’ balls made from a combination of mushroom and black beans!
Mock meats are quite prominent in Asian culture, regardless of whether you are vegetarian or not. I can’t say I’m a huge fan, especially as I find that they’re not do cooked the right way most of the time, but I was keen to try this recipe because it
a) actually looked very similar to meatballs in the picture and
b) I had just fresh mushrooms in the fridge and a can of black beans that were almost reaching their expiry.
So why not?
If you’ve been following my Instagram, you may have noticed I’ve had a bit of a baking itch lately, jumping at every opportunity to practice my cake making skills (and running into a lot of failures one the way). For those weekends where I can’t an excuse to bake cake, I like to experiment with different foods in the kitchen, and my idea of fun is any recipe that’s completely new- the more unique and complex, the better of course!
As much as I love spending my weekends on these food experiments, when it comes to taste, sometimes simple is best and that certainly is the case with this delicious miso eggplant dish. I had my first taste of miso eggplant in a Japanese restaurant last year and was blown away by how amazing a simple dish of grilled eggplant with miso sauce could taste.
