Vegetarian Boiled Bee Hoon - Healthier Version

Today is 15th of Lunar Month again. Many buddhists and taoists will usually turn vegan on the 1st and 15th. Aside from religious beliefs, I find this a healthy practice as consuming too much meat is generally not good for our bodies. 

However, food from vegetarian stalls can be very oily whereby a lot are deep fried. Different preservatives are commonly used as well to make some of the ingredients to look and taste like meat. These will not help us become healthier at all and to me, sort of clashed with the idea of not craving for meat. So one has to carefully choose the type of dishes if turning vegan is for health purpose. Hence, I tend to choose the purely vegetables ones when I want to eat vegetarian on those two days. 

There is this vegetarian stall in Clementi Hawker Centre which I have been frequenting for the past countless number of years. It is my favourite because their beehoon is not stir fried and the ingredients are not oily. However the taste standard seems to have dropped and I did not find as much vegetables  in my plate of beehoon as last time. Price per plate has risen as well.. this is Singapore I guess. A lot of "good old taste" have been sacrificed due to rising rents and ingredients prices. Anyway, I thought I could try to cook a similar vegetarian beehoon dish myself. The gravy that I cooked could never match that of the stall uncle's but it is acceptable and pleasant. Anyone interested can try too, hope it makes you feel healthier :)

My Vegetarian Boiled Bee Hoon

The Ingredients I Used

Serves 2 - 3

Main Ingredients List

200gm or 1/3 pkt Brown or White Bee Hoon (soaked till soft and drained)

1/2 Firm Beancurd aka Tau Kwa (sliced into 0.5cm thick pieces)

(Combi A)

6 French Beans (sliced thinly, diagonally)

1 Small Carrot (sliced into thin strips)

(Combi B)

1 King Oyster Mushroom (sliced into 0.5cm thick pieces)

30gm fresh Black Fungus (sliced into small pieces)

(Combi C)

10gm Bean Sprouts

1/4 small Cabbage (sliced into small pieces or strips)

Gravy Ingredients

2 heap tsps Corn / Potato Starch (mixed with 2 tbsp water)

2 tsps Light Soy Sauce

2 tsps Mushroom Sauce

6 - 8 dashes of Grounded White Pepper

Frying Condiment

2 tbsps Healthy Oil (I use Grapeseed Oil)

Steps

1. Boil a pot of water, add Bee Hoon in to cook till very soft

2. Drain Bee Hoon of water, distribute onto serving plates

3. Heat Oil in wok till sizzling hot, using medium-low flame

4. Slowly place Beancurd slices into wok to deep fry for 1 min each side

5. Drain fried Beancurd slices of oil, place onto Bee Hoon in plate

6. Do not discard remaining oil in wok

7. Add Combi A into wok, stir fry for 1 min then pour 100ml water to simmer till soften

9. Drain cooked Combi A of liquid, place onto Bee Hoon in plate

10. Repeat steps 7 to 9 for Combi B and C

11. Next, add 200ml water, Light Soy Sauce, Mushroom Sauce to remaining liquid left in wok

12. Once mixture boils, add in Starch Mixture slowly till gravy thickens, season with Grounded White Pepper

13. Drizzle gravy over Bee Hoon and ingredients in plate, serve hot! :)