Creamy Tomato Rice & Garlic 'Butter' Roasted Chickpeas

First of all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!!! :) *tomorrowisChristmas!!!*

Here's a nice quote for you all:

"Christmas is not so much as opening presents, as opening our hearts!"

So, the story behind this dish...

I actually wanted to make this with pasta noodles BUT I only realised I'm out of pasta after I started making the sauce hahah, so I ended up using rice instead! And it turned out pretty good! ;)

And the chickpeas! Aaah, I think roasting is the best way to cook chickpeas! I also have another recipe for roasted chickpeas here.

Quick & Easy SWEET & SPICY Rice Bowl

Okay sooooo, I think it's time for a new rice bowl recipe!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately ahah, don't really have much time to cook on school days because I arrive home kinda late.. I think I can post a lot more during the holidays so stay tuned! ;)

This dish is SUPER easy & quick to make (like all my recipes :p), and tastes amazing of course! Also, you can adjust the level of 'spiciness' of this dish by playing around with the ratio of chili-tomato sauce. Feel free to use more/less of those to taste!

As usual, use whatever veggies/type of rice that you like/have on hand! For me, I used white rice, and broccoli + zucchini for the veggie part! I also added some beans because they're delicious & as a daily dose of protein haha!

Oh and, I topped mine with Indonesian sweet & spicy cassava chips (plus more after photo hehe), you can top yours with any chips you like or simply skip it! :)

AMAZING Strawberry & Oreo Ice Cream Bowl

Turns out that strawberry and oreo pairs really well!

WHO can say no to breakfast when you can eat a biiiiiggggg bowl of pretty pink strawberry ice cream topped with oreo chunks and drizzles of chocolate sauce??? Definitely not me! :p

I've always loved oreos since I was a kid! Especially the white filling part haha! I've never been a savoury-snack person, I'm all about the sweet stuff! How about you?

*Yep, oreos are vegan. I already checked the ingredient list!

Try this combo out! SO GOOD~

ROASTED Sweet Miso Chickpeas & Spiced Broccoli

Let me present to you..... My new FAVOURITE way to cook CHICKPEAS!!!

Sweet & salty miso flavour, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, oh boy it's just so good!

And the broccoli... Let's just say that roasted broccoli >>>>> steamed/stir fried broccoli. :p

I served mine alongside heaps of freshly steamed rice and (my current obsession) purple beet chips!

But you can serve it however you like! (or with whatever ingredients you have left in the fridge lol)

Matcha Chia Pudding & Strawberry Ice Cream PARFAIT

YAAASSS!!!

Finally made a parfait again!

What I love the most about them is that you can get all the different textures by layering all the different components in one jar!

My favourite way to layer goes like this: pudding -> ice cream/smoothie -> granola/some kind of crunch! Sometimes I also add some chopped fruits and sauce! *whenimnotlazyHA*

The pudding is made the night before so all you need to do in the morning is blend up some ice cream and layer it on top plus put some crunch on there yas! ;)

PINK Pitaya & Berry Oatmeal

I've been making quite a lot things with Pitaya (aka. Dragon Fruit) these days!

I just LOVE the pink color that it gives haha! I think food tastes 1000X better when it's nice & colourful! Kinda brightens up my day after a tiring/long school day...

Hope everyone is having a great day! <3

CREAMY Mango BLISS Breakfast Bowl

Yepp, that's right, this bowl right here is just absolute BLISS. 

And look at how colourful it is!! 

This is one of the most delicious, creamy, and oh-my-god-yum  smoothie/ice cream/breakfast bowls that I've ever made! (and I make at least one everyday...)

Just look at that!!!

All the components work together sooooo well, creating a flavour explosion in my mouth HAHA :p

Give it a go next time you have good mangos on hand! (the better/sweet/ripe your mango is, the better the flavour will be *obviously though eheh*)

Happy Saturday! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! <3

MINT CHOCOLATE PANCAKES

Part of the reason why I love holidays/weekends is that I have the time to make a proper breakfast! 

A yummy stack of pancakes is one of my FAVOURITE foods ever, but let's be honest, it does take a while to prepare em! (compared to a bowl of oats or pb&j sandwiches haha) *definitely worth it tho*

Curry Rice with Teriyaki Roasted Tempeh + Purple Chips + Kimchi Stir Fry

Here comes another RAINBOW dish!!!

Super amaziiiiinggggg Teriyaki Roasted Tempeh, Purple Chips, and Kimchi Stir Fry served on a bed of delicious and fragrant curry spiced rice (which was SUPER DUPER EASY to make, I promise! *you'll see later below hahaha)

The combination of flavours, textures, colours, and aroma makes this dish extremely pleasing!

Tempeh is a really good source of vegan protein! And I personally think it tastes better than its cousin tofu (the texture/taste is totally different)! :p Roasting is definitely my favourite way to cook tempeh! When the marinade/seasoning seeps into the tempeh, and when it gets nicely crisp & caramelised in the oven, YUM. Oh and also, you can use any greens that you have on hand for the stir fried veggies!

ULTIMATE Mango Oatmeal

It's mango season in here so I've been eating a lot of mangos! (which makes me really happy <3) Well, mangos are available all year long here, however, they taste BEST (more sweet & juicy) on certain months. So, definitely taking advantage of that! :p

I make oats everyday because: 1. they're super quick & easy to cook, and 2. they taste awesome.

After quite a lot of mango oatmeal bowls, I finally came up with my ULTIMATE favourite recipe! Do give it a try, because it's sooooo gooddddd!!!

EASY Vegan Indonesian Peanut Sauce

Indonesian peanut sauce is probably my favourite part of all Indonesian cuisine!

Traditionally used in various dishes, from dipping satay- to salad dressing. It's incredibly versatile! My favourite way to use it is to drizzle (more like pour lol) it on top of my 'fried rice', or use it to dip in some baked tofu/tempeh or even potato chips!

The traditional way to make it is to grind the peanuts together with the other ingredients to form a paste using a mortar & pestle first, but my version is a simplified one hehe :p

If you like peanut butter, I'm 100% sure that you'll love this recipe! Give it a try and let me know what you think! ;)

Spicy Asian FIRE Roasted Tofu

I hope I succeeded in making you hungry with this…

How good does that look omg? A PILE of rice (its red rice btw), stir-fried veggies, with the star of the show: Spicy Asian Fire Roasted Tofu. That's right, mmm, tofu never looked (and tasted) this good!

You can make it more/less spicy by adjusting the hot sauce (see recipe below), but I urge you to challenge yourself! At least don't reduce the amount of hot sauce written, and you can use more if you're brave! :p I like to use either Gochujang (Korean) or Sriracha (Thai) for my hot sauce!

Also, this is just for 1 serving as a side dish, feel free to make more to share/as a main! ;)

Vegan MAPLE CHAI LATTE Oats

Chai Latte (with soy milk, of course) is one of my favourite things to order at Starbucks!

Sweet, creamy, with all the delicious flavour & aroma from the spices, mmm tasty! So I decided to recreate that in a bowl of oats, because, why not?

Chai Latte for breakfast in the form of oatmeal, delicious I say! <3

EASY Vegan Potato & Chickpea Curry

I haven't made curry in quite a while, so glad I did today!

A HUGE bowl of delicious curry with freshly steamed rice for lunch, anyone? :p

A splash of coconut milk adds a wonderful (and authentic-ish) taste & aroma that takes everything to a whole new level, so do not skip that! A bit of fat occasionally on a high carb diet won't hurt!

Also, a lot of people ask me how many serving the recipes on this blog are for, the answer is, 1 serving (for me hehe). But feel free to make more/less depending on your appetite! (note: especially if you're new to the high carb vegan lifestyle and still not used to eating lots of food)

Now let's move on to the recipe! <3

Matcha Mango Oats with Caramel Apples & Chocolate Sauce

My friends always make weird faces or say that oats = tastes 'too healthy' / ew / gross / etc. And then I asked them how they make/eat oats and usually the answer is instant oats / 'plain' oats with little to no sweetener and fruits… Of course oats won't taste good if you cook it that way hahah, you need to get a lil creative!

Don't worry because I'm here to help you out :p (if you still think oats don't taste good or you don't like it). I used to not like oats when I was a little kid because I was given a weird-tasting instant one on my first try and that put me off oats for quite a while. Then I found out how tasty oats can be when I 'experimented' a bit with it! I hope you like this recipe!

Light & Fluffy VEGAN Pancakes

Yep. The title is no lie, these pancakes really are light & fluffy (and vegan of course)! 

Most vegan pancake recipes out there taste good, but kind of dense/wet… Not a big problem, but sometimes (or every time) you just need some fluffy pancakes right?? ;)

Also, no bananas are used in this batter. I find that bananas make pancakes dense and give them a 'banana-ey taste' (I love bananas but regular/traditional pancakes don't taste like bananas heheh).

I hope you can try em out and love it as much as I do! :) 

If you do make it, let me know how you like it (and tag me on instagram if you take a picture :p)

Vegan CARAMEL Oats

Finally! A new recipe is here HAHA!

I've been really busy lately since I just started high school recently and my new school is quite far away (I was eating pretty much the same thing everyday)… Now that things have 'calmed down' a bit I can start making more recipes yayy! :)

Those of you who follow me on snap chat (Healthiecook) probably know how much I love oats <3

I like to post oatmeal recipes there sometimes, but only the best/finalised recipe is posted here!

PLEASE give this recipe a try, you won't regret it!! It's just sooooo good!

SUPER EASY Black Bean, Corn, Veggie Rice

Another rice dish!!! Seriously so good and easy to make! I'll never get bored of making rice dishes (plus so many exciting combos can be made)! A lot of people ask me what food I like to bring to school, rice dishes are definitely my favourite to pack!

This time I used some steamed broccoli, garlic & curry seasoned black beans, boiled corn on the cob, along with some brown rice. As for the sauce, its a sweet & spicy tomato sauce! Talk about YUM.

*See the ver.1 here*

Teriyaki Roasted Tofu & Tomato Basil Rice

I've always been obsessed with anything teriyaki-sauce since I was little. Me and my little sister always chose teriyaki dishes in Japanese restaurants when we were kids *before we fell in love with sushi ;)*

This time I decided to make a vegan, lower in sodium, lower in fat teriyaki dish! And it turned out amazingly delicious! I hope you guys can try it out and love it as much as I do!

Raw Vegan Blueberry Banana Ice Cream

Finally another nice cream recipe! Those of you that follow me on snap chat/instagram probably know my obsession with these for breakfast! You can find the recipes for the more 'special' flavours here on this blog! :)

It's important to use ripe frozen bananas for making nice cream or it won't be as tasty/sweet. A banana is ripe when the skin is spotty and kinda soft to the touch (but not mushy).

Vegan Chocolate Orange Banana Ice Cream

Doesn't this look amazingly delicious? Well, it really is!! I don't know why I haven't made this flavour combination before (ugh), but I'm so glad I did now.

Chocolate and orange is just a classic combination that will never go wrong! Make it into an ice cream form and you're in for a real treat!! Not just any ice cream, this is Vegan & good for you (high-carb low fat as well yay!), perfect for breakfast (especially if you're into Rawtill4 / Raw).

And yeah, it's not Healthiecook style if it's not topped with gazillions (is that even a word? :p ) of toppings! I highly recommend you to do so too! Because it's incredibly delicious and colourful ;)

Vegan Coconut Curry Rice with Roasted Potatoes

I hope you guys are not bored with my 'rice dishes' yet… Because I really love making them hahah! I think they're really easy and quick to make, also tastes good and has lots of good plant-based carbs and protein (if you use beans!). Pretty much my dinner most nights…

Potatoes + Rice may seem like a weird combo, but I think they taste really nice together! Plus both of them are the most common ingredient in any vegan's kitchen (you should have em in your kitchen too!!). Cheap, delicious, and good for you, why not?

Vegan Superfood Energy Bars

I came up with this amazing recipe when I was preparing for a school-trip to Bali a while ago, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find vegan snack options in some places so it would be nice to have something small, easily transportable, and full of nutritious ingredients to carry with me!

It's VERY EASY to make! Seriously! All you need to do is chuck everything in, blend, and form into bars! And of course, they taste amazing. I ended up making more when I came back to top my nicecream/smoothie bowls! Tasty topping for sure!

Chop em' up to make an awesome topping!

Supergreen Detox Water

First things first, when I say detox, I mean detox. Which I think is about better digestion, good bowel movements, and not feeling bloated, and in some people's cases, clearing out toxins from the body. But the media these days advertise detox = weight loss, which is really quite sad..

This mixture really helps me when I eat not-so-good-for-you food (especially when eating out) and feel bloated/sleepy/tired. But I also find that drinking the mixture everyday in the morning right after waking up makes me feel more awake, and usually a few minutes after, I get a bowel movement!

VEGAN Bean Chili Veggie Rice

Rice and beans is probably one of the best rice combinations ever! Of course, lots of colourful vegetables added in for extra nutrients (and taste)!

I actually didn't know what a 'chili' dish is before I was active on instagram. A lot of my friends post this tomato-bean-kinda dish that is served with rice and they call it chili (I thought it was spicy because chili is… you get the idea :p) but turns out it's not, it's filled with beans, vegetables, spices, and tomato sauce (traditionally people add meat but NOT me hahah, vegan brah!)

Then I thought, why not just mix the rice into the dish? So that way you'll get an equal ratio of chili : rice in every bite! Life hacks! So good mmm...

Indonesian Style 'Fried' Rice (VEGAN, NO OIL)

Today I have a very special recipe for you guys!

I'm going to share one of my all-time FAVOURITE rice dishes ever! Which is 'fried' rice! But my fried rice dishes have NO OIL added (which is super awesome for high carb low fat vegans, or anyone really). Now, there are a lot of fried rice 'styles' out there, Chinese style (more savoury, garlic-cky), Japanese style (teriyaki sauce most of the time), and Indonesian style which is very popular (sweet, usually spicy but that's optional!). So! The first fried rice recipe that I'm going to share here is going to be the Indonesian style one! ;)

I used tempeh, broccoli, and mushrooms today but you can use anything that you want (leftover veggies work really well!). Though you should use tempeh for a more authentic Indonesian taste though! Either way works, because what makes this special is the SAUCE!

PINK Beet Veggie Red Bean Rice

If you follow my blog/instagram, you'll probably notice already that I have a kind of obsession with vibrant and colourful food! And this dish is no exception! Rice never looked this good right?? ;)

For pink foods, I like to use beetroot for savoury, and pitaya/dragonfruit for sweet stuff! Both gives a really awesome colour boost and of course, nutrition! What are your favourite 'pink' foods?

Another advantage to vibrant, colourful food is it makes it really attractive and fun to eat (a good way to disguise vegetables!!), perfect for picky kids who hates veggies! This trick works really well with a lot of kids that I know of!

This dish is also a very well-balanced meal, lot's of rice to carb up! Vegetables for vitamins and minerals, and red beans for protein (vegans can get protein mmm has)!

Vegan Sushi Tutorial WITHOUT Sushi Roll Mat (shape variations + sushi rice recipe + filling ideas)

I think the BEST way to enjoy rice and veggies = SUSHI! They're just sooooo fun to make (and eat, of course), not to mention pleasing for the eyes ;)

There are endless options too! You can use white/brown/red/black rice, you can fill it with whatever you want (or whatever you have left in the fridge), use your creativity!

However, I've seen a lot of recipes online that doesn't 'season' the rice! Authentic, good sushi means the rice is seasoned = sushi rice. That's why when you go to a Japanese sushi restaurant, the sushi rice will have a slightly sweet-sour taste that makes it special! Otherwise it will be like you're eating plain rice + veggies + seaweed. Not bad, but not that good either! Below you'll find my 'healthy-fied' version of sushi rice!

Vegan Matcha French Toast

I used to hate french toast because I could always taste an 'egg-y taste' in normal french toast, and I find that sweet egg flavour is something I don't fancy.

Then I went Vegan and made my own egg-free, plant-based french toast which tastes absolutely divine , no egg-y taste at all of course! (not trying to be cocky/overreacting here, just sharing my experience okaaay), heheh.

Most recipes for vegan french toast out there use a kind of flour + plant milk + sweetener, which is okay, but still not good enough for me! Kinda bland, not moist enough.

So, after trial and error, here's my favourite french toast recipe for you! I flavoured mine with matcha green tea this time (hence the green colour), but feel free to omit it or replace it with other flavours like chocolate/cinnamon/etc if you want! :)

Vegan Rainbow Rice Bowl (ver.1)

I never knew that sweet potato fries and rice would make such a delicious combo together! This makes such a great RawTill4 dinner! Mmm all those good carbs, get in ma belly!!!

I always try to make my food colourful, because variety on what you eat is very important! All those colourful vegetables have different nutrient profiles, so eating a variety of colours will help you get all the nutrients that you need! Plus it's just eye candy right? Nutritious + Colourful food = Perfect.

For rice bowl version one, I topped my bowl of freshly steamed rice with my favourite crispy sweet potato fries, balsamic roasted beets, and boiled edamame beans.

I get this question a lot, "Where do vegans get their protein from?" and the answer is…

Mango Berry Banana Ice Cream

A not-so-common combination but definitely a really good one! In fact, I think this is one of the tastiest banana ice cream flavours that I have ever made!

Creamy, sweet, delicious strawberry banana ice cream base, topped with mango cubes and coconut sugar. Oh yeah, I give you the permission to eat dessert for breakfast! Tastes super-yummy but healthy enough to eat for breakfast! Plus it's fully raw as well!

Remember to use a fully-ripe mango ok! You know it's ripe if it's nice & soft when you squeeze it lightly. You really don't want to eat an unripe mango ever because it tastes bitter and horrible for your digestion as well!

Pitaya Power Smoothie Bowl

I really love it when my food gets insanely beautiful nice and colourful! You see, too me visual is just as important as taste, y'know! Hahahah, I guess I'm just an artist at heart. (in and out of the kitchen ;) !)

Nope, it's not acai or blueberries that gave this such a wonderful, vivid colour, but it's Pitaya! (Also known as red dragon fruit) It's one of the cheapest, most common fruit where I live but I just tried it out recently, thanks to my fruit-loving friend at Instagram! (and I'm so thankful I tried it omg, it's such a wonderful fruit seriously!!) 

And no, I didn't edit the colour of the smoothie or add any artificial colouring at all! That gorgeous purple-pink colour purely comes from 'red-purplish' pitaya + 'white' bananas!! Mother nature provides us with so many natural colourings, so do keep that in mind if you reach out to those artificial colours!!

I topped mine with some slices kiwis, cubed pineapples (also obsessed with pineapples at the moment, so good mmm…), and my-must-add-topping which is granola (crunch-crunch-crunch)!

Raw Vegan Tropical Ice Cream Sundae

I can't even tell you how amazingly delicious this is.

Banana ice cream is just the best breakfast ever. It's just so magical you know, how simply some frozen bananas can transform into a delicious, smooth, and creamy soft-sevre ice cream! If you haven't tried it before than you simply have to. Like, seriously.

This time I made something a bit more tropical, it's actually inspired by a dessert in Indonesia (where I live) which consists of shaved ice with syrup or ice cream, tropical fruits, and topped with something similar (forgot the name of that seed) to these soaked chia seeds I put on top.

CRISPY Baked Fries + Vegan Ketchup

 

Did you hear that? Delicious, "CRISPY" (healthy, fat-free) FRIES that are baked in the oven! Paired with a super-awesome vegan ketchup?!

Mmm… it's just oh-so-good even though it doesn't have any added fat or chemicals!

As for the seasoning, this time I seasoned mine with some dried herbs & spices. But feel free to use any other seasoning/spice mix that you like!

Raw Vegan Mint Chocolate Maca Fudge Brownie

I have to say this, I am SO ADDICTED to these squares of heaven! They're so delicious and decadent, fudge, chocolate-ey, with the refreshing mint flavour and a hint of sweet-caramel-like taste from the  Organicburst Maca powder.

And I can eat lot's of these because they're good for you! It's mostly made from dates and nuts which provide energy and healthy fats, raw cacao which is super high in antioxidants, and of course, all the health benefits of maca in dessert form, YUM!

A little bit about Maca, for those of you that don't know, it's a superfood that has been used in Peru for over 2000 years for energy and hormonal balance. I personally can feel myself feeling 'awake' after having it, it's like after having a big cup of coffee (except that maca is so much healthier). So I'm glad to find a replacement for my coffee addiction haha! You can read more about the benefits of Maca here. The Organicburst one has a kind of nutty-caramel like flavour that I really enjoy, unlike many other brands that I have tried in the past which tastes bitter and yucky (LOL, I'm not joking).

For the peppermint flavour, I like to use essential oil as the flavour really comes through, unlike when you use extracts. Just a few drops will do though! The stuff is pretty powerful!