tips on cooking vegetarian dishes

have been cooking lotsa vegetarian food for mum lately. so i thought it would be useful for me to also blog some of the recipes and tips on cooking vegetarian food. initially i had lotsa tensions about how to cook vegetarian food. afterall, one cannot include the usual ingredients and condiments like garlic and onions. so, tofu-based food become one of the most important ingredients to include. and to add variety to the various dishes, i also experimented with vegetarian dishes with porridge, vegetarian mee tai mak, vegetarian noodles, vegetarian kuay teow soup etc.  the following are some things one can consider to spice things up...

• buy tofu or tau kwa, smash it up, add a little salt and fry the smashed tofu till crispy. this fried tofu is a very useful topping to throw onto any fried vegetable dishes. and the small bits of salt gives the dish an added texture and taste in addition to the flavourful tofu taste that comes with it.

• instead of adding salt to tau kwa before deep frying it, try doing it without adding any salt. the tau kwa itself makes a wonderful dish and without the salt, one can better taste the tofu taste.

• use different types of fresh mushrooms when you stir fry the vegetable. fresh mushrooms, especially shiitake mushrooms, gives the dish a smoother feel and fragrance. use golden mushroom if you prefer a light hint of  sweetness. on the other hand, if you prefer the stronger taste, you can use dried mushrooms. do note, however, that if you use dried mushrooms, you can use the water (used to soak the mushroom) so as not to waste the flavour of the mushroom.

• for variety, you can consider buying those canned vegetarian dishes (eg vegetarian abalone, vegetarian duck, etc) and adding them to the dishes. but do not overdo this cos canned food tend to come with lots of preservatives and is not good for health.

• use various types of spices to, short of a better word, spice up your dishes. tomatoes, parsley, chilli (green or red, fresh or preserved), pepper and so on make wonderful addition to your dishes.

• play around with the different ways of cooking to produce food with different textures. this will make your dishes interesting. deep fried yam, steamed yam, stir fried yam etc all produce different types of taste and experiences for the person eating them.

• make use of food with different colours (chilli, tomatoes, flowers, etc) to make your dishes look interesting and less boring.

heh... there are many more tips i have learned... will add along the way. and one thing i have learned, vegetarian cooking can be fun and interesting! and of cos, healthy too if you do it correctly.

enjoy!