Tricky treats for Halloween

Horrifically healthy pumpkin patch - pic by Yap Chee Hong

We don't celebrate Halloween here in Malaysia. Kids don't walk the streets in their neighbourhoods for candy and adults don't decorate their houses to look like something out of a horror flick. It's not that we don't love our share of horror -  practically everyone has a ghost story or two (real, mind you) to share, whether it's something they'd heard from a friend or an experience they've had themselves. I've got a few myself which I will re-tell upon request :)

Nevertheless, my colleagues at work and I decided to create some Halloween-inspired food for a fun spread (any excuse to eat!) and I was initially stumped for ideas on what to make. I'm not good with decorating cupcakes (my colleague Yuha did an amazing job though - check out her cupcakes below) and I wasn't too keen on making cake eye balls (Ann Marie did that gory job). Julie made a mummy (and yummy) vegetarian lasagna and Jane of The Wayward Oven made a giant spider bread with a creamy, cheesy and bloody dip. Check out some of the photos below.

I settled on making something horrifically healthy instead. Candy? No way! I made a pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were made from ... err... pumpkins. Well, pureed roasted pumpkins, roasted cauliflower and tempeh to be precise. The soil was made from tri-coloured quinoa, minced mushrooms and black sesame seeds. And the leafs? Rocket. 

It wasn't a visual masterpiece, I have to say. But it was a whole lot of fun to create and it tasted pretty damned good. I discovered that pumpkin, tempeh and cauliflower go really well together and, well, you can't go wrong with quinoa and mushrooms.

Halloween Pumpkin patch

For the 'pumpkins'

500g pumpkin, cubed 

60g tempeh, cubed fine

200g cauliflower, cut into florets

handful of parsley, leaves only

breadcrumbs - between 1/2 to 1 cup

salt and pepper

olive oil

Drizzle some olive oil on the pumpkin and cauliflower and toss to coat. Roast in a preheated oven (180C) for about 30 mins. 

Fry the cubed tempeh until they're brown and cripsy. 

Once the pumpkin is cool, puree with half the tempeh. Roughly mince the cauliflower. Add to the puree together with the parsley, breadcrumbs (use as much as needed to bind the pumpkin) and remaining tempeh. Season. 

Form the puree into balls and bake (180C) for about 20-25 mins. 

For the soil

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

6-7 button mushrooms, roughly minced 

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp black sesame seen, toasted

handful of walnuts, roasted, chopped roughly

salt and pepper

Wash the quinoa under running water to remove the bitter coating (as you would wash rice). Drain.

Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the drained, washed quinoa and gently toast it for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer into a saucepan. Add 1 cup water/stock and cook on medium heat. When the water starts to boil, reduce the heat and cover. Cook for 15 mins. Remove pot from the heat. Uncover, place a paper towel or kitchen cloth over the mouth of the pan and place the lid over (the cloth will absorb any remaining moisture). Let it sit for 15 mins.

Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet. Add the garlic and after a minute or two, the mushrooms. Cook till the moisture from the mushrooms leaves. Season and remove from heat.

Mix the mushrooms with the quinoa, black sesame seeds and walnuts. Drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil (or regular olive oil) and mix to toss. 

Quinoa patties

To be completely honest, these quinoa cakes look a little tadpoley - the translucent quinoa seeds that dot the surface of this patty do look a little dodgy. BUT, as with anything in life, looks can be deceiving. I've made many different kinds of vegetarian patties - using a variety of ingredients from tofu to eggplant to beets, chickpeas, yam ... you name it. But, looks aside, these are the best tasting patties that's come out of my kitchen. Honestly. 

I actually don't have a specific recipe for these patties. I've made them three times and each time, I used different vegetables - whatever that was left in my fridge. The base of these patties are, of course, the quinoa - about a cup of cooked quinoa (white, red, black or tri-coloured - it's up to you). 

I also added lots of herbs, mainly parsley but also thyme or oregano.

And then the variables.

The first batch had onions (chopped fine), tofu (pan-fried and chopped fine) and mushrooms (chopped fine also). Oh, and chopped nuts. I used walnuts. They were yummy!

For the second batch, I used some onions (chopped fine), eggplant (about half a medium eggplant, roasted and mashed) and chopped green chilli (one medium). And walnuts. Yummy too.

Last night, I made some with garlic (chopped fine) and green peas (steamed and mashed) and nuts. Also yummy.

My conclusion? The quinoa was so tasty, it didn't really matter what vegetables you used. You don't really need a sauce to go with them: I just squeezed a little lemon on them and ate them with some sauteed baby spinach or salad. 

The recipe below is really just a guide. Use any vegetable - from carrots to long beans and I'm sure you'll end up with a winner.

Tofu and Mushroom Quinoa Patties

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/4 cup tofu, chopped fine

3-4 button mushrooms, chopped fine and lightly sauteed in olive oil

1/2 cup chopped parsley

4-6 walnuts, toasted and chopped fine (not too fine as you want the crunch)

1 medium red onion, chopped fine

1/2 egg (optional) 

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup (or more) breadcrumbs (to bind)

salt and pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix them together and season with salt and pepper. Take a small portion (about 2 tbsp) and press into a patty with your hands. Use some pressure to make a tight patty (use as much breadcrumbs as necessary to hold the patties together).

Freeze the patties for about 10- 15 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven (160C) for about 20-25 mins or until patties are firm and start to brown. Alternately, you can pan fry them in a skillet.

Quinoa crazy

Have you discovered how supremely wonderful quinoa is or are you, like me, late to the party too? I recently had my first taste of quinoa and I was blown away. Blown away. Yes I said it twice. I've been eating very little else since, trying to incorporate quinoa in my meals at least three times a week. Too much? No way. 

Here are some things I've recently learnt about quinoa:

1. Quinoa is pronounced Keen-Wah not Kee-No-Wah. 

2. Quinoa is not a grain. It doesn't come from the family of grasses like wheat or barley but rather from the family of plants like spinach and beets! So what is it if not a grain? Quinoa is a seed. And it's super nutritious. Its a terrific source of protein which is important if you too are a vegetarian/vegan and have limited sourced of protein. 

3. Though it has only recently become "trendy", quinoa has been cultivated by the Andeans in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Columbia for over 7,000 years.  

4. It's freakishly delicious. Yes, healthy food has, for some reason, obtained the nefarious reputation for being tasteless and boring but quinoa is just wonderful both flavour wise as well as texturally. Especially when cooked in stock or salted (and herb or spice infused) water - as the seed absorbs the flavours as it cooks. It has a nuttiness and a crunch that's just delightful.

5. There are over 100 varieties of quinoa but what we get are the common trio of the white, black and red seeds.  

6. It takes just 15 minutes to cook (and another 15 minutes to rest!).

7. When not cooked properly, quinoa can have a slightly bitter after taste. This bitterness comes from the coating around the seed which is actually a layer of Saponins, an organic chemical that keeps predators away. How do you get around this? Simple, rinse or wash the seeds thoroughly (as you would rice) before cooking them.

8. You cook quinoa as you would rice: one cup of quinoa is cooked in two cups of water/stock. To enhance it's flavour however, I like to toast the seeds (once they've been rinsed) in a little olive oil for a few minutes. 

9. South Americans actually use quinoa to brew beer. I haven't figures this out but I wouldn't mind having a go at a quinoa beer!

10. I've saved the best for last: it isn't fattening! Whoooopadeedooda. a 1/4 cup of dry, uncooked quinoa has only 174 calories of which 24 are from protein, 12 from sugars and the rest complex carbohydrates, fiber and healthy fats! 

While quinoa can be used as a rice-replacement, I usually just add it to salads.  I used 1/2 cup of dry quinoa for these two salads below.

Quinoa

1/2 cup dry white quinoa

1 cup vegetable stock

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Place the dry quinoa in a saucepan and wash it under running water, rubbing the seed to wash off the bitter coating. Strain.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the strained quinoa. Toast in over medium heat for a few minutes. 

Transfer the quinoa into a saucepan and add the stock and heat it on the stove. When the stock starts to boil, turn down the heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes, turn off the heat, take the pot off the stove and let the quinoa sit in the covered pot for 15 minutes. Then, using a fork, gently fluff up the seeds so they don't clump together.  

The 1/2 cup of dry quinoa should yield at least 2 cups now!

Warm Broccoli and Corn Salad with Quinoa 

1 cup cooked quinoa

2 cups broccoli florets, blanched in salt water

1/3 cup steamed sweet corn

1 cup green pea shoots

1/4 cup grated cheese 

1 garlic clove, minced

a large handful of walnuts, toasted

2 tbsp Olive oil

salt and pepper

Set aside 1/2 the broccoli to make a pesto. Add the broccoli, cheese, olive oil, garlic, half the walnuts and blitz in the blender to make a pesto. Season with salt.

Add the quinoa, corn, remaining broccoli, pea shoots, remaining walnuts in a bowl big enough for you to toss the salad in. Add the pesto and olive oil and gently toss so everything is coated with them. Season and serve.

Warm Brussel Sprouts, Mushroom and Cranberry Quinoa Salad

1 cup cooked quinoa

6 brussel sprouts, blanched and sliced thin

6 mushrooms (I used fresh button mushrooms)

2 tbsp dried cranberries

2 tbsp sunflower seeds, toasted

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Add the mushrooms and saute till the moisture leaves the the shrooms start to brown. Add the sliced sprouts and cook for a couple of minutes and season. Remove the vegetables off the heat.

Place the quinoa, cooked vegetables, cranberries and sunflower seeds in a bowl. 

Whisk the mustard and about 2 tbsp of olive oil together in a separate bowl.

Pour the oil into the salad and toss. Season.