purple eggplant

Eggplants are now available in markets throughout the year but they are very best from August to October as it is the season. It has the unique taste and texture
Eggplants belong to the nightshade family of vegetables, which also includes tomatoes, sweet peppers and potatoes. They grow in a manner much like tomatoes, hanging from the vines of a plant that grows several feet in height. While the different varieties do range slightly in taste and texture, one can generally describe the eggplant as having a pleasantly bitter taste and spongy texture.


How to enjoy eggplant:

1. Use a stainless steel knife as carbon steel will react with its phytonutrients and cause it to turn black. First wash the eggplant and then cut off the ends.

2. Most eggplants can be eaten with or without skin. Peel of the skin before cutting or you can cut out the flash once it is cooked if you are baking it.

3. For homemade babaganoush, puree roasted eggplant, garlic, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil. Use it as a dip for vegetables or as a sandwich filling.

4. Mix cube baked eggplant with grilled peppers, lentils, onions and garlic and the top with balsamic vinaigrette.

5. Stuff miniature Japanese eggplants with a mixture of feta cheese, pine nuts and roasted peppers.

6. Add eggplant to your next Indian stir-fry.

cute tomatoes ~

History :

 Tomatoes are grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello in 1781.

 It is the most popular vegetables in United States after potato and lettuce.

 The French called it the love apple, and the Italians named it the golden apple because the first tomatoes were small yellow fruits.

 After the early Spanish explorers sent seeds to Naples, the Italians went crazy for tomatoes.





Varieties:

- Plum Tomatoes
Most plum tomatoes sold here are an Italian variety called Roma.
It is available year round
Good raw in salads and late plum are the best for sauce as they are really
ripe and have been on vine the longest.

- Cherry Tomatoes
Local cherry tomatoes, picked ripe, and the small ones are going to be the
best.
Tiny Tim is one of the best tomatoes. It is as big as your fingernail but is
as sweet as sugar.
Avoid tomatoes that look orange in color and stems that are missing as
there are chances that the tomatoes are kept for a long time. Look for the
red ones and have stem on it.
Tomatoes are grew by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello in 1781.
Tomato is the third most popular vegetables in United States after potato
and lettuce.

- Yellow Tomatoes
Deep, bright yellow color
Low-acid tomatoes that has their unique flavor and texture.
Usually medium to large, round, and very smoothly shaped with a thin skin,
thick meat and solid pockets.

glorious cheese!

Cheese is a part of the cuisine of nearly every culture, and variations on the theme are legion.

Cheese is usually categorized into four types: soft, semi-soft,
semi-hard and hard. Soft cheese and hard cheese are the type
of cheese will be focused on. The designation refers to the
amount of moisture in the cheese, which directly affects its texture.
Making cheese is an ancient practice, dating back thousands of years,
and the home cheese maker can usually find recipes for cheese that
falls into any of the four categories.

Soft cheese includes cottage cheese, cream cheese,
ricotta, brie, bleu, Roquefort, mozzarella, Muenster
and similar cheeses. These cheeses generally pair
well with fruit or meats, or can be used as breakfast
cheeses in an omelette or as pasta fillings. They are
usually mildly flavored and very high in moisture.


Hard cheeses include parmesan, Romano, asiago, Swiss,
Gruyere and others. Parmesan and Romano are most familiar
as the grated powder used to top spaghetti, but they are also
used as accompaniments for fruit, wine, nuts and other appetizer
items. Swiss is a popular sandwich cheese and melts well, unlike
some other hard cheeses.

Korea barbecued beef ~ so nice !

Barbecued beef (“Pulgoki) is one of the most popular dishes in Korea, and also westerners are pleased with the taste. “Pulgoki” literary means “fire beef” but generally it is called “Korean barbeque”. Thin, tender slices of beef are marinated in a sauce and cooked over a hot charcoal grill at table. If it is made with pork, the recipe will be slightly different because of the bad smell of pork. Usually Korean pork barbeque needs red pepper paste and lots of ginger.

Procedure for Barbequed beef (Pulgoki)

Ingredients (4 servings)
1) ½ lb beef rib steak
2) Roasted sesame oil
3) 9 tbsp. finely chopped green onion
4) vegetables (onion, green pepper, green onion, egg-plant or pumpkin slices)
5) For marinate (4 cups) 1.2 medium apple, quartered and sliced or ½ can of coke
6)1 oz ginger root, thinly sliced
7) 1 oz garlic, thinly sliced
8) 2 cups soy sauce
9) ½ cup cooking wine
10) 6 oz sugar and ½ tbsp. MSG

Methods
1) Slice the beef thinly and make it tender using knife
2) Pour the coke and sugar to beef and mix well until the meat softens
3) Mix the marinated beef with the soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, MSG, and sesame salt and let it stay for 2 hours
4) Broil the seasoned beef over hot grill. (Hint: when using oven, 570 degree of F for 10 minutes is good)

Nutrient Pumpkin ~

Pumpkin knowledge Introduction:

Pumpkin gourds are one-year-old a sprawling herb, and its wild ancestors originated in Mexico, Guatemala area, very early into China, extensive planting, consumption, and thus have "China pumpkin" theory.
Pumpkin flesh and seeds can be fit for human consumption, can also be edible flower. Pumpkin dishes also on behalf of both grain and is very popular in rural areas. In recent years, has been found not only to eat pumpkin, but also a certain therapeutic value, so soil full of pumpkin flavor to boarding.


The nutritional value of pumpkin:

Pumpkin in the human body has a useful ingredient: polysaccharide, amino acid, active protein, carotenoids and various trace elements such as. The usefulness of various components:

1. Polysaccharides: Pumpkin polysaccharide is non-specific immune enhancers that can improve immune function, and promote cytokine production, through channels such as activated complement on the immune system exert a wide range of regulatory function.

2. Carotenoids: pumpkin rich carotenoids in the body can be transformed into an important physiological function of vitamin A, thus the growth of epithelial tissue differentiation to maintain normal vision, to promote the development of the skeleton has an important physiological function.

3. Mineral elements: pumpkin in high calcium, high potassium, low sodium, particularly suitable for the elderly and patients with hypertension will help prevent osteoporosis and high blood pressure. In addition, it contains phosphorus, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, chromium, boron and other elements.
5. Lipids substances: The study found that in the pumpkin seeds in the lipid substances in the urinary system diseases and benign prostatic hyperplasia has a good role in the treatment and prevention.

japanese food ~ sashimi

Sashimi is known as slices of raw fish. As it is so fresh, it melts in the mouth without hardly any fishy taste. Sashimi is sometimes the first course in a formal Japanese meal, but is also often served as a main course with rice and miso soup in separate bowls. Sashimi is traditionally considered to be the finest dish in Japanese cuisine, and many people maintain that its delicate flavour should be sampled before other more strongly-flavoured dishes.
The slices of fish are can be dipped in soy sauce or a small amount of wasabi paste (a pale green hot paste like mustard or horseradish).
Some of the most popular sashimi: salmon (sake), squid(ika), cooked shrimp (ebi), tuna (maguro), mackerel (saba), octopus (tako).

Wao ! Spicy Indonasian food ~

Indonesian name: NASI PECEL
Pecel is one of the most widespread Javanese dishes nationwidely. It consists of steamed vegetables, some peanut sauce (spicy, there's a lot of chili in it) which is poured all over it. Nowadays Javanese take this as one of the stuff to accompany white rice, but way back in time, in colonial era, pecel was 'snack' and eaten without rice.

Chinese Hot Pot ~

Hot Pot known as the Mongolian Hot Pot, usually refers to chinese varieties of steamboat stew.It is known as 'huo guo',where 'huo' means fire,'guo' means pot.

It consists of a simmering pot of stock at the center the table dining table.While the hot pot is kept simmering,ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked on the table.

There are often disagreement between different types of hot pot enthusiasts, some like to place the ingredients into the hot pot at a relaxed, leisurely pace ,while others prefer to throw everything at once and wait for the hot pot to return to a boil.


Regional variations

In Beijing (Peking), hot pot is eaten year-round. Typical Beijing hot pot is eaten indoors during the winter. Different kinds of hot pot can be found in Beijing - typically, more modern eateries offer the sectioned bowl with differently flavored broths in each section. More traditional or older establishments serve a fragrant, but mild, broth in the hot pot, which is a large brass vessel heated by burning coals in a central chimney. Broth is boiled in a deep, donut-shaped bowl surrounding the chimney.

The Manchurian hot pot (traditional Chinese: 東北酸菜火鍋) uses plenty of Suan cai (Chinese sauerkraut) (traditional Chinese: 酸菜; pinyin: suan cai) to make the pot's stew sour.

One of the most famous variations is the Sichuan or Szechuan "má là" (traditional Chinese: 麻辣 — "numb and spicy") hot pot, to which a special spice known as huā jiāo (traditional Chinese: 花椒 — "flower pepper" or Sichuan Pepper) is added. It creates a sensation on the tongue that is both spicy and burns and numbs slightly, almost like carbonated beverages.

In Thailand, hotpot is called "sukiyaki", although it is quite different from Japanese-style sukiyaki. A sauce, often mixed with broth from the hot pot, is based on tofu, sesame seed oil, chilis, and garlic.

In Vietnam, a hot pot is called lẩu, and the sour soup called canh chua is often cooked in hot pot style (called lẩu canh chua). The generic term for a salted fish hot pot is lẩu mắm. Some famous Vietnamese hot pots include: lẩu cá kèo, lẩu dê- goat hot pot, lẩu bông bí, lẩu cua tía tô, lẩu lươn chua me, lẩu cá trê om mẻ, lẩu vịt nấu sấu, lẩu măng chua, lẩu hải sản, and lẩu nấu chao.