After spending most of my days inside because of the cold, and snow, I was in need of some naughty food fun. That's my excuse for eating fried food. I don't always live up to my standards of good eating. I forgive myself.
In order to lesson the guilt I made a salad out of grapefruit, oranges and clementines. They were on the markdown bin. I don't know why because they were perfectly good.
I thought I could mock some fried chicken which I used to like when I ate chicken. The best way in my opinion is by using oyster mushrooms.
I got two kinds, including king oysters. I don't remember the name of the other darker ones.
Battered oyster mushrooms
200 g oyster mushrooms
2 cups flour
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili flakes
Salt to taste
1 1/2 to 2 cups plant milk or water
Mix dry ingredients together.
Add liquid bit by bit, and whisk until the batter is smooth and thick.
The batter should be thick enough to not fall off the mushrooms coating evenly.
After coating the pieces of mushroom, I decided to coat them in a bit of flour. I sprinkled extra paprika, salt and pepper.
After heating oil in a pan until it was hot enough to sizzle, I added a few pieces and fried on each side until golden and crisp.
I did a few at a time since they were not in a deep fryer. If they are deep fried it's easier to do more at once, if you have the spider tool to fish them out.
I sometimes eat grapefruit on their own, but I prefer to have them savoury which is why I turned them, along with the oranges into a salad. In Mexico I learned that putting salt, lime and chili on fruit made it better.
I omitted the chili for this and added some fresh herbs.
Citrus Salad
Grapefruit, orange and clemintine (400 g peeled and sliced)
70 red onion finely diced
Citrus herb dressing (recipe follows)
Carefully remove the peel without taking too much flesh. If you're really good at it you won't take off much flesh. I'm not good at it.
I removed the inner membrane carefully with a pairing knife. I started on a board but the juice was dripping so I continued over a bowl. I needed the juice for the dressing.
After slicing take what's left of the citrus and squeeze into the bowl to use for the dressing.
Citrus herb dressing
100 g citrus juice
15 g dijon mustard
10 g cider vinegar
10 g lemon juice
50 g agave or maple syrup
60 g minced garlic
2 g fresh dill
5 g parsley
5 g mint
100 g grapeseed oil
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
I wasn't going to add the vinegar or lemon juice but I found that the citrus juice wasn't acidic enough for my liking. This is a personal taste including the addition of the herbs.
I used a hand blender for this but sometimes I just use the blender. I wanted a little more control.
Before bottling I added more salt.
I gently mixed the citrus and the chopped onion together then drizzled a bit of the dressing to coat.
It was a last minute decision to use some strawberries and pomegranate that I had in the fridge. Lately they are a decent price. Sometimes 1 pomegranate is as much as 6 or 7 dollars.
The quinoa was made before anything and cooled in the fridge. This is one of the simplest things for me to make.
I like to use 2 cups water and 1 cup quinoa.
Boil the water, add quinoa, stir on medium and let cook until the moisture is mostly absorbed then cover and remove from heat for five minutes or so. Add to a shallow pan to cool to make it faster or a bowl if you do it well ahead.
Put the cooled quinoa on a bed of lettuce, if you desire. Drizzle a little dressing on the quinoa and lettuce.
Add a scoop of fruit mixture already dressed.
I happened to have some roasted walnuts leftover so I sprinkled some on top.
I had already made the salad ahead of time. The mushrooms were the final thing made so they would still be nice and crispy.
You probably think that these roses were a Valentine's day thing. We don't do things for this occasion.
The day after Valentine's day, we went to the local grocer. Out in the front, someone had placed a huge bucket of long stem red roses on the sidewalk and said it was a gift for those who wanted them. There seemed to be hundreds of red roses. Even with people taking several, there seemed to be many left. I did my groceries and when I came out there were still many left.
I love flowers so I grabbed a few. Why not?
After taking the final photo I longed to sit down and have dinner. It didn't quite work out.
The stool I had been standing on, slipped out from under me and I couldn't break my fall because my camera would have fallen to the floor. I found myself flat on my back and slammed my head on the floor. I heard the lens make a cracking sound.
Marc missed the first part of the fall and thought I was being dramatic lying on the floor. He said, "okay get off the floor already". I told him I needed to stay there for a while.
Finally I scraped myself off the floor and crawled into bed. When Marc felt the baseball size lump on my head he ran for ice and panicked a bit. I was frozen and needed many blankets. I also lost my appetite completely. My camera lens was broken as well. Fortunately I have another one. At least I saved the camera. In the middle of the night Marc asked me if I was still alive. I was.
The next day I finally had the salad and some mushrooms. They were still good.
Me on the other hand, I feel like I was hit by a bus, but the baseball on my head has almost deflated.
Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.
design by: @KidSistersAll photos taken by me, except the ones of me, with a Nikon D7500
Those mushrooms look like they have a little KICK to them! Well done.
Thanks for your kick ass comment!
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looks delicious, cant go wrong with fried chicken, the salad the sour and sweet is so cool, hope you are doing well after falling, thx for sharing ✌️
Thank you. You realize it was mushrooms and not chicken? Ya you do, of course haha. Yes I'm slowly getting my body back. Much appreciation.😊
Is it? thought I read fried chicken, probably i was feeling hungry for chiken 🤣🤣🤣
Hahah😂 You did read how I used to like fried chicken but now I don't eat it so I have to substitute haha.😂
That looks very refreshing. Thanks for the inspiration!
Yes it was and thank you too!😊
Hi nice to see your photo while making food. the recipe is also very delicious. nice photos. thanks for sharing.
greetings 😊💓
Thank you my friend. I appreciate your support and kind words.😊❤️
Very nutrious mam.Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe
Thank you for passing by and your comment.😊
Thank you very much!
Really, this a❤😋 delicious recipe
You are very kind. I appreciate your comment and thank you.
Your fried chicken dish looks absolutely delicious! It's hard to go wrong with a classic comfort food like fried chicken, and the addition of the salad with its sweet and sour flavors is a nice touch.
Thank you for sharing your cooking with us and for inspiring us to try new recipes in the kitchen. Your creativity and passion for food are truly admirable, and it's always a pleasure to see what you come up with next.
I really appreciate your very kind comment. I just want to clarify that it isn't chicken. It's mushroom to substitute for chicken. I have not eaten chicken in 18 years haha. Anyway I remember how much I liked fried chicken so the mushrooms were a great substitute.
Thanks so much for your very lovely comment.😊
I recently enjoyed a meal with mushrooms but never thought about preparing it this way :) it looks soooo tasty though!
Yes it was the next best thing to fried chicken without eating chicken.
Thank you so much @gabrielatravels!
Glad to see you cooking, and one word your salad is awesome I love the combination.
That means a lot to me coming from you one of my favourite chefs. Thank you!
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much!
🤗🤗🤗
Que rico, divino, felicitaciones muy buena tu receta, quedo jugosa y con mucha hambre que me dio, gracias👍
Gracias y que tenga un buen día😊
Wow, it looks so delicious. You always do very well.
That's very kind of you to say. Much thanks to you.😊
Well what a turn of events at the end there, glad you are still in one piece. Those mushrooms look delish, both of them aren't like the variety I see here locally, it's almost 100% white, but either way all oyster mushrooms are tasty. Strawberries and quinoa, well that's just food porn considering how impossible those things are to find here 😂.
I would gladly trade some strawberries and quinoa for some tropical anything that grows in your neighbourhood.
I can take quite a beating and heal from it. Plantbased super powers haha. I better not be too smug.😂
We don't usually eat fried food either, but would love some fried Oyster mushrooms. They look so good. I hope you get some warmer weather soon so you could spend some time outdoors. I can imagine that with your thai roots, you must be freezing at the moment... I was freezing the other day when the temperature dropped to 21C ... for the tropics that's cold!
I have to admit, the fried oyster mushrooms were really addictive and I have to remind myself, when I get the urge to do it again, that deep fried stuff is pretty much toxic waste. My discipline is terrible and getting worse. I am becoming a food rebel haha.
The winter makes me angry, but today it warmed up to a whoppin' 4C. Whoo hoo!!!! I may have to learn to build an igloo if the world continues on like this haha. They announced that we have the worst air quality in all of Canada to boot. What can ya do, as they say here.
Thanks for the visit and great to see you.😊❤️
Yes it is quite delicious thank you for your visit!