Senses…

I have two blogger friends from the USA, Opal and Jennifer and they’re both vegetarians. I do appreciate the fact that they make an effort to drop by regularly and post a comment or two even though what I eat or cook may not be all that suitable for them but I do know for a fact that they have tried adapting some of what they see here and come out with their own dishes along those same lines.

Actually, I have wanted to try and cook something suitable for vegans like them but somehow or other, I never got down to it but the other day, since I had opened the packet of bihun (rice vermicelli) that I blogged about here, I decided to give it a try and fry a bit of that without any meat, seafood…not even egg.

These were some of the ingredients I prepared…

– the usual suspects, sliced shallot (1) and garlic (2 cloves)…along with 5-6 fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced as well, a tomato, cut and some celery, sliced thinly – all leftovers  that I found in the fridge. I also took out my missus’ pounded chili, with garlic added, for use – usually, she would make a lot using a blender but this time, for reasons known only to her, she pounded it using our lesung batu (mortar & pestle) so it was kind of coarse and I actually like it that way.

I soaked the bihun, 2 pieces, in hot water till it turned soft and then I added a bit of mushroom soy, around two tablespoons, and a pinch of sugar to counter-balance the saltiness and a bit of pepper…

…and after that, I also added a tablespoon of my missus’ pounded chili and tossed everything together thoroughly. I usually use fish sauce, very popular in Thai cuisine, but I’m sticking to my decision to keep it 100% vegetarian, so I had none of that.

After heating a bit of oil in the wok, I fried the shallot and garlic till brown…

…and here too, I had to make sure that I left out the ikan bilis (dried anchovies) like what I usually did or anything else, for that matter.

Next, the mushrooms went in…

…followed by the tomato and celery…

…and lastly, the bihun…

Gosh!!! As they say, old habits die hard and I really had to refrain from adding an egg or two and thankfully, I managed to control myself…and when it was good and ready, I dished everything out and served…

I must say that I was so very pleasantly surprised when I sat down sceptically to eat for despite the absence of all those ingredients that I would usually include, no salt (though there would be some of that in the soy sauce, of course), no msg added, I found it to be so very tasty I could hardly believe it. Indeed, my senses could detect all those delightful flavours of the ingredients used…

…which, probably, would have been drowned out by the salt and msg and whatever else the way I used to cook it in the past and this time around, I really could savour the delicious sensations and enjoyed every bit of what I had cooked.

The bottom line is that it was so very good I certainly would not hesitate to cook bihun this way again, as and when the need arises.