Sunday, December 04, 2005

Who says Mr Cucumber is cheap and useless?

Ladies on diet love the cucumber for its refreshing and low-in-calories quality as 96.4% of it is water. It is a natural diuretic, but not a particularly powerful one.

Choose firm cucumbers without soft spots. With the exception of lemon cucumbers, they should have a solid green color without signs of yellowing or puffiness. Cucumber can be eaten on its own or as a garnishing to dishes. For those nights when you don’t feel like cooking up a storm, I recommend this quick, simple-to-prepare vegan salad recipe of a sweet-sour-salty taste which never fails to increase your appetite. It goes great with egg/tofu and rice.

SALAD RECIPE
Ingredients : Serves 6 to 8

• 1 seedless (hothouse/English/burpless) cucumber


• 4 shallots (or 1 red onion)


• 1 piece radish, coarsely chopped


• 1/2 cup (125 ml) rice wine vinegar


• 2 teaspoons soy sauce


• 1 teaspoon sesame oil


• 2 teaspoons evaporated cane juice (or light brown sugar)


• a pinch of cayenne


• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation :

1. Remove the ends of the cucumber and slice as thinly as possible.


2. Cut off both ends of the shallots (or onion), peel and slice lengthwise as thinly as possible. If any of the shallot slices are attached at the root end, pull them apart.


3. Toss cucumber and shallot slices in a large bowl.


4. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over vegetables. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Another of my favourite quick-to-cook recipe is Cucumber Omelette, which sure to attract both young and old alike.

CUCUMBER OMELETTE
Ingredients : Serves 4

1 seedless cucumber, cut in strips

2 slices of ginger

4 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoon of parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons Light soy sauce

Black pepper to taste

Preparation :

Stir-fry ginger till fragrant. Add in cucumber and fry for a minute before adding the soy sauce. Lower the heat, pour the beaten egg evenly over the cucumber and sprinkle the cheese and black pepper evenly over the egg. When one side of the egg is cooked, slowly flip it onto the other side and let it cooked completely. Serve it hot.

Cucumber is also widely used in facial mask for its cleansing and soothing effect. Here’s a simple and commonly DIY facial mask to try.

CUCUMBER FACIAL DIY

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 egg white
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Teaspoon dried mint flakes

Method :
1. Mix all ingredients together in blender until smooth.

2. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

3. Apply to face and leave on 15 minutes.

4. Rinse with hot water, then cool water.

5. The facial mask is best when used immediately as the ingredients are perishable. The leftovers can be refrigerated in the coldest section of the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days but should be discarded after that.

link | posted by Laura Ng at 6:33 AM |

1 Comments:

 Bessie Wills commented at 7:04 PM~  

"Ladies on diet love the cucumber for its refreshing and low-in-calories quality as 96.4% of it is water. It is a natural diuretic, but not a particularly powerful one."

-Veggie fruit diet is really great to our health but sometimes, we just need to have at least small amount of protein so your vitamin b12 will sustain. My friend recommend this mouth spray http://products.mercola.com/vitamin-b12-spray/ and it works with me.

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