Zen Mama

Hearty Lentil Stew There are so many ways to customize this dish--make it vegetarian, add sausages and make it a heartier dish, add more bouillon to make it a thinner soup, or add more lentils and veggies to make it thicker... Any way you spin it, this is a destined to become a favorite, simple one-pot dinner to make, even on a weeknight. Here's a version I've created from a couple of different recipes which always leaves my two sons and my husband licking their plates and asking for more. This recipe serves about 6 people as a dinner serving. Ingredients : 350 grams dried Lentils (can be brown, green or lentilles de Puy) 1 tbsp olive oil 2 yellow or white onions, diced 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 carrots, peeled and diced 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced 850ml/1-1/2 pints of hot chicken broth 400g can of peeled, diced tomatoes 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp of paprika sprig of fresh rosemary (dried is OK too) sprig of fresh thyme  (d...

Chinese Gambling Rice So, I finally got around to my next assignment from the Cooking Mamas: Chinese Gambling Rice, or “ pua kiao beng ” in the Teochew Chinese dialect of Singapore, from where this recipe originates. My fellow Cooking Mama, Eva, found this recipe and an evocative story about preserving ties to our cultural past through passing on family recipes, written by author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/22/AR2011032202865.html I adore the history behind the name of this dish, which the author’s grandmother served to keep gamblers in their seats longer, instead of having to leave her illicit gambling den in search of food. That’s a practical and smart woman for you --  serve a rice dish that gamblers can hold in one hand while continuing to gamble.  While reviewing the list of ingredients, I could already smell and just about taste the familiar aroma of rich Chinese black mushrooms (which are believed t...

Something about living in Paris inspires the chef in everyone. Not only have I started my own home-based cake and cupcakes business, I've also joined a group of 3 cooking mamas + 1 (me). 2 of the cooking mamas are fellow Asian women who moved to Paris with their European husbands and children. We met through a great group of Asian women who had been meeting socially once a month, and then we decided that this group was so meaningful to us that we volunteered to set up a Board, to keep the group going. We are now known as the Asian Women's Association of Paris (www.awa-paris.com), we have 80+ members and we keep growing with each new event. So, now back to my assignment! As part of this group of Cooking Mamas, we are supposed to try 2 new recipes/menus a month. My first assignment was Paris Bresse ( poulet de Bresse farci avec asperges ) or Stuffed Bresse chicken with asparagus. Recipe here:  http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Stuffed-Bresse-Chicken-with-Asparagus I only ...