Roasted Veggies Day 1: Mediterranean Pita Sandwich

Simple, delicious and healthy!

For lunch today I packed my little bento box with some of my roasted veggies and a side of my homemade Greek yoghurt. I brought some pita bread to work and, voila, a delicious, mouth-watering, tasty, happy-dance worthy meal in under 3 minutes.

A gourmet meal in minutes!

I didn't even warm up the veggies since I don't mind them cold, though that would be an options. I simply warmed up the pita in a toaster oven, opened it up and spread the yoghurt onto the bread with a knife, and added a drizzle of olive oil before putting in the veggies -- divine!

For good, affordable yoghurt in Shanghai, visit the Avocado Lady or learn to make your own by reading one of my earlier posts, here.

If you missed my post about prepping roasted veggies in advance, read it here.

Luscious Labneh (aka Yogurt Cheese)

Labneh is one of my favorite things in the world. The addiction started at the end of high school, when I dated a Lebanese boy whose family always had this at home. When I headed to college, our relationship ended but Labneh has stayed with me.

I like mine with some ground black pepper and drizzled with olive oil!

My labneh has been a huge hit at parties and events as a dip, served with good bread and crackers, drizzled with olive oil. If you are feeling ambitious, you can pretty it up with olives, dried fruit, nuts and fresh herbs.

This delicious and easy to make "cheese" is really just plain yoghurt that has been strained of its watery part to make it thicker. How long you strain for determines the consistency, and it is totally up to you how solid you want it.

Obviously then, the first challenge is obtaining good plain yoghurt. If you live in the US this is easy since there are billions of brands to choose from, depending on your price range and preference for free range, organic, etc. cows. If you live in China you might be better off making your own yoghurt like I do (refer to earlier post for how to do this!)

Instructions:

Mix about 1 teaspoon of salt into 1 liter (around 4 cups or 32 fluid ounces) of plain yoghurt (this is optional and I often skip it and just add some salt when I want to eat the cheese. If you just want a thicker consistency, e.g. Greek Yoghurt, you won't want to add salt!)

Take a large colander and cover it in a cheese cloth or other appropriate cotton cloth. My Lebanese friends taught me that you don't really need to buy "cheese cloth" per say; as long as the cotton is clean and not too loosely woven, even a pillowcase will do!

Colander

Colander covered in cotton cloth, in large bowl.

Place the covered colander inside a large bowl, where the watery part of the yoghurt can drain into. Try to make the cloth a little taut, so it is not sagging into the colander. This will help the yoghurt to drain. You can do this by tying a string or elastic band around the cloth and colander.

Pour your yoghurt into the cloth, and cover. You can improvise with a lid like I did, or just use plastic wrap.

Yoghurt in cloth, before draining

I have a little saucepan whose lid works well for this!

Place it in the fridge and allow the yoghurt to drain for a few hours. I usually leave mine overnight for around 10-12 hours, which makes it about as thick as cream cheese, though much lighter and easier to spread.

If you leave it for just a few hours, maybe 2-4, you will have a thick (Greek-style) yoghurt that you can use in dips, etc.

If you need to keep it longer than 4-5 days, let it drain longer (around 24 hours) so it is thick enough to be rolled up into little balls. Then you can put those in a jar and cover in olive oil. (I never do this since I go through mine way too fast!)

My labneh, ready to enjoy!

Cool as a Cucumber Salad!

This salad is an adaptation of a recipe I saw on the NYTimes and it is a deliciously refreshing, easy and tasty dish that can be eaten alone or used as a side. It keeps for 3-5 days in the fridge, so I often make extra so I can keep munching on it for a few days. It makes for a wonderfully cooling lunch eaten on pita bread :)

Fresh freshness, radishes credit of Avocado Lady ;)

Ingredients:
Cucumber
Radish (turnip works too, if you can't find radishes!)
Plain yoghurt
Garlic
Salt to taste

Optional:
Red Pepper Flakes
Mint

I used 2 medium cucumbers and 3 radishes, but you can alter the proportions of the ingredients to suit you and make tons more of the recipe if you want to keep it for a few days.

I cut the cucumbers lengthwise twice, and then slice them up so it's as if each slice is quartered and the cucumbers are little cubes. The radishes I just slice.

Add one clove of garlic, crushed through the garlic press (or more, to taste, but I feel like one fat clove already gives this plenty of kick!) and salt to taste. This time I also chopped my recently harvested, fresh mint leaves and added them in, mixing in two big spoonfuls of my homemade plain yoghurt. I added a bit of red pepper flakes, for extra kick, and it offsets the refreshing flavors of cucumber, mint and yoghurt pretty well!

Once the salad is allowed to sit for a while, the cucumber releases some water and there is some separation of the yoghurt. This is normal, so just mix it up before you eat and you are good to go!

This salad rocks my summer!

Delicious Beetroot and Avocado Salad

This is a simple and delicious recipe that makes for a healthy yet heart lunch!

I peeled some of the beets I had roasted, which was super easy since the skin just slips right off. They went straight in my little bento box!

Beets in the Box!

I then cut up an avocado into cubes and added it to the beets. I find that the easiest way to do this is to just slice the avocado in half, remove the pit with a knife and then slice into the fruit while it is still in the skin. Then I just use a soup spoon to scoop it out!

This avocado was just the right ripeness, from the Avocado Lady with love :)

I added a pinch of salt, the juice of half a lime, a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of black pepper. The lime adds some delicious zest and also stops the avocado from getting all brown.

I also added a tiny bit (about one tablespoon) of chopped red onion for a little extra oomph! It is a great way to offset the sweetness of the beets and the creaminess of the avocado, but I add only a little since I am afraid of having stinky onion breath for the rest of the day!

Sometimes I also like to add some plain yoghurt to the salad, but I was out and it tasted wonderful just the same! The salad was delicious and very filling; I ate it with pita bread :)

I know it might not look too pretty, but it was delicious and filling, I swear!

Total prep time: about 10min (assuming the beets are roasted and ready!)

Making Homemade Yoghurt!

Good plain Yoghurt is hard to come by in China, and I love it! To be had with granola and fruit, to be had plain or drizzled with honey, to be used in salads and as a healthier substitute for sour cream... you get the picture!

To eat good plain yoghurt in Shanghai you have to either buy it imported (usually from Europe) at an exorbitant price, or be organized enough to order it from Bebemamie, which delivers weekly to your door but forces you to buy over 800g. (2 lb.) of fresh yoghurt every week for approximately $20 USD! I love yoghurt but even I can't get through 2 lb a week, and I like to have yoghurt on my own schedule, and while $20 for 2 lb is a good deal compared to eating the imported stuff, it's still pretty pricey...

I paid the equivalent of about $7 USD (including shipping!) for my "Little Bear" yoghurt machine and making my own fresh yoghurt at home is awesome! Not to mention it makes my foreign friends jealous! Not to mention it is so easy!

My yoghurt is fresh, unsweetened, and made with milk I trust (somewhat) so I believe I have less of a chance of consuming contaminated dairy. It also contains no preservatives and other chemicals, but for this reason it won't really keep for more than a week or so.

Steps to making your own yoghurt in China:

1) Purchase a yoghurt machine! I paid just 35RMB for mine (about $5 USD) on Taobao and it's been working fine for over 2 years now. I got "Little Bear" brand, but there are lots of others available.

2) To begin your first batch, you will need some fresh yoghurt to start your culture. I bought some Greek yoghurt at city shop for about 30RMB for a cup (almost the price of my machine!!). The good news is that you only really need to do this once.

3) The yoghurt machine basically consists of a plastic container that becomes warm, and a tupperware that fits snugly inside it. Before using it, pour boiling water into the tupperware and lid, and sterilize all the parts that will be in contact with the yoghurt.

4) Pour milk (I always use whole milk, for creamiest texture!) into the tupperware until it is near full. Then mix in a spoonful of plain greek yoghurt.

5) Plug in the yoghurt machine and let the yoghurt bacteria (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus, according to Wikipedia) do their magic! You should keep the yoghurt culture in the machine for approximately 14-16 hours in order to get thick, creamy yoghurt.

6) When it's done, just unplug the machine and transfer the tupperware straight to the refrigerator. It will take at least a couple of hours for the yoghurt to chill completely.

7) Each time you make yoghurt, make sure to save a large spoonful to add to your next culture. That way, you won't ever have to buy the expensive foreign imports again!

Enjoy!!