Sunday, July 22, 2012

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles
  • 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
  • 3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 3/4 cup chopped onion
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 (26 ounce) jars pasta sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. Cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse with cold water, and drain.
  2. In a large saucepan, cook and stir mushrooms, green peppers, onion, and garlic in oil. Stir in pasta sauce and basil; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
  3. Mix together ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, and eggs.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread 1 cup tomato sauce into the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer 1/2 each, lasagna noodles, ricotta mix, sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Repeat layering, and top with remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese.
  5. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 462 | Total Fat: 19.5g | Cholesterol: 81mg

What is Oil Refinery and Edible Oil Refinery?


What is Oil Refinery and Edible Oil Refinery?
When talking about refinery, we need to be able to differentiate and identify an oil refinery from the edible oil refinery. Basically, the oil refinery (or petroleum refinery) is an industrial process plant where crude oil (from crude petroleum) is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas. This is the type of refinery mentioned in the 13 Days: Pythagoras Conspiracy Novel. An edible oil plant in the other hand, is almost similar to the earlier refinery accept it processes edible oil and involves the removal of fatty acid and a few more unwanted impurities. The edible oils are obtained from the likes of palm oil, soya bean oil, canola oil, corn oil, rape seed oil and others. In other words, the oil refinery process oil that cannot be consumed by human being while the edible oil refinery process oil that is edible (can be consumed by human beings).
I have no direct involvement in the oil refinery. However, I was a process engineer in an edible refinery plant before for quite some time. I had a really good taste of experience working in the refinery plant before. I strongly believe that if a chemical engineering student or a new chemical engineer wants to gain experience, he or she should work in a refinery. This is mainly because they will learn and apply all that they have learn in chemical engineering.
Edible Oil Refinery
Edible oil originates from crude oil such as crude palm oil (CPO), crude soya bean oil (CSBO), crude rape seed oil (CRSO), crude coconut oil (CCO) and so on. Edible oils have very high content of free fatty acids (FFA) and needs to be refined before using as cooking oil. However, the refinery process isn't only limited to remove FFA, it also removes the undesired components such as moisture, color and odour which may trigger negative impact on the final taste, odour and appearance of the oil product. The resultant oil is thinner without fatty acids, colorless and odorless.
It is imperative to note that the edible oil refinery can be divided into 2 primary types namely, chemical refining and physical refining. This time, I'll explain about the chemical refining plant.
Chemical Refining Plant
Chemical refining plant involve neutralization of crude oil by removing fatty acids. This is always referred to as chemical refining or sometimes Neutralizing process and its plant referred as Neutralizing Plant (NP). In this process the oil is neutralized in the neutralizer to remove the fatty acids by mixing with caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). Oil is heated up to roughly 60oC by and oil is stirred by stirrer. The fatty acids are settled at the bottom as alkali soaps which is called soapstock from where it is taken out into soap tank .
Typical Neutralizing Plant. Image credited to Oiltek Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian company that manufactures edible oil equipments. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
Removal of impurities and color
Neutralized oil is passed through the second vessel called bleacher where color of oil is removed by bleaching process with the help of chemicals such as carbon black andbleaching clay. Oil is usually heated up to 110oC. Stirring is also carried on. Bleaching process is done under vacuum. Bleached oil then goes to filtration process where bleaching clay and chemicals are removed and cleaned.
Removal of unpleasant smell
Bleached oil is then passed through deodorizer where oil is heated above 110C and then live steam clean is used to the oil from the bottom steam nozzles. The temperature of oil is raised up to 200 to 220C through thermic fluid coils. Entire process is done under high vacuum. Thus smell is removed from the oil in the deodorizer. Then it goes to cooler where cold water circulating coils take away heat and oil is cooled.
Final Filtration
Final filtration is performed after cooling down the oil. This operation is carried out in a micro filter closet or filter bag/filter cartridge which makes the final edible oil termed as refined edible oil. This final filtration process is designed for more effective filtration and best quality of final refined edible oil. There are certain refineries that adoptedHazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) to completely ensure that the oil is free and safe to be consumed.
This is a typical physical refinery plant. The image is also credited to Oiltek. Click the image to enlarge it.
In the next post, I'll describe more about the Physical Refinery. This is where I gained the most of my hands on chemical engineering experiences. This is where I learned more about important unit operations such as heat exchanger, cooling tower, deodoriser, pack coloumn etc.


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Vegetarian Korma

Vegetarian Korma Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 potatoes, cubed
  • 4 carrots, cubed
  • 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced
  • 3 tablespoons ground unsalted cashews
  • 1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until tender. Mix in ginger and garlic, and continue cooking 1 minute. Mix potatoes, carrots, jalapeno, cashews, and tomato sauce. Season with salt and curry powder. Cook and stir 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
  2. Stir peas, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and cream into the skillet. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 462 | Total Fat: 31.1g | Cholesterol: 82mg

List of vegetable oils


Vegetable oils are triglycerides extracted from plants. Such oils have been part of human culture for millennia.[1] Edible vegetable oils are used in food, both in cookingand as supplements. Many oils, edible and otherwise, are burned as fuel, such as in oil lamps and as a substitute for petroleum-based fuels. Some of the many other uses include wood finishingoil painting, and skin care.
There are three principal methods for extracting vegetable oils. The relevant part of the plant may be placed under pressure to extract the oil, giving an expressed oil. Oils may also be extracted from plants by dissolving parts of plants in water or another solvent. The solution may be separated from the plant material and concentrated, giving an extracted or leached oil. The mixture may also be separated by distilling the oil away from the plant material. Oils extracted by this latter method are called essential oils. Essential oils often have different properties and uses than pressed or leached vegetable oils. Macerated oils are made by infusing parts of plants in a base oil, a process called liquid-liquid extraction.
The term "vegetable oil" can be narrowly defined as referring only to substances that are liquid at room temperature,[2] or broadly defined without regard to a substance's state of matter at a given temperature.[3] For this reason, some of the entries on this list do not qualify as vegetable oils according to all understandings of the term.
Although most plants contain some oil, only the oil from certain major oil crops[4] complemented by a few dozen minor oil crops[5] is widely used and traded. These oils are one of several types of plant oils.
Vegetable oils can be classified in several ways, for example:
  • By source: most, but not all vegetable oils are extracted from the fruits or seeds of plants, and the oils may be classified by grouping oils from similar plants, such as "nut oils".
  • By use: as described above, oils from plants are used in cooking, for fuel, for cosmetics, for medical purposes, and for other industrial purposes.
The vegetable oils are grouped below in common classes of use.

Major oils


Sunflowers, the seeds of which are the source of sunflower oil.
These oils make up a significant fraction of worldwide edible oil production. All are also used as fuel oils.

[edit]Nut oils


Hazelnuts from the Common Hazel, used to make Hazelnut oil.
Nut oils are generally used in cooking, for their flavor. Most are quite costly, because of the difficulty of extracting the oil.

[edit]Citrus oils

A number of citrus plants yield pressed oils. Some, such as lemon and orange oil, are used as essential oils, which is uncommon for pressed oils. The seeds of many if not most members of the citrus family yield usable oils.[31][32][33]
  • Grapefruit seed oil, extracted from the seeds of grapefruit (Citrus × paradisi). Grapefruit seed oil was extracted experimentally in 1930 and was shown to be suitable for making soap.[34]
  • Lemon oil, similar in fragrance to the fruit. One of a small number of cold pressed essential oils.[35] Used as a flavoring agent[36] and in aromatherapy.[37]
  • Orange oil, like lemon oil, cold pressed rather than distilled.[38] Consists of 90% d-Limonene. Used as a fragrance, in cleaning products and in flavoring foods.[39]

    The fruit of the sea-buckthorn

[edit]Oils from melon and gourd seeds


Watermelon seed oil, extracted from the seeds of Citrullus vulgaris, is used in cooking in West Africa.
Members of the Cucurbitaceae include gourdsmelonspumpkins, and squashes. Seeds from these plants are noted for their oil content, but little information is available on methods of extracting the oil. In most cases, the plants are grown as food, with dietary use of the oils as a byproduct of using the seeds as food.[40]

[edit]Food supplements

A number of oils are used as food supplements (or "nutraceuticals"), for their nutrient content or purported medicinal effect. Borage seed oil,blackcurrant seed oil, and evening primrose oil all have a significant amount of gamma-Linolenic acid (GLA) (about 23%, 15–20% and 7–10%, respectively), and it is this that has drawn the interest of researchers.

[edit]Other edible oils


Carob seed pods, used to make carob pod oil.

Coriander seeds are the source of an edible pressed oil, Coriander seed oil.

Poppy seeds, used to make poppyseed oil

Shea nuts, from which shea butter is pressed

[edit]Oils used for biofuel


A flask of biodiesel

Sunflower kernels

Jojoba fruit
A number of oils are used for biofuel (biodiesel and Straight Vegetable Oil) in addition to having other uses. Other oils are used only as biofuel.[note 3][142]
Although diesel engines were invented, in part, with vegetable oil in mind,[143] diesel fuel is almost exclusively petroleum-based. Vegetable oils are evaluated for use as a biofuel based on:
  1. Suitability as a fuel, based on flash point, energy content, viscositycombustion products and other factors
  2. Cost, based in part on yield, effort required to grow and harvest, and post-harvest processing cost

[edit]Multipurpose oils also used as biofuel

The oils listed immediately below are all (primarily) used for other purposes – all but tung oil are edible – but have been considered for use as biofuel.

[edit]Inedible oils used only or primarily as biofuel

These oils are extracted from plants that are cultivated solely for producing oil-based biofuel.[note 4] These, plus the major oils described above, have received much more attention as fuel oils than other plant oils.

[edit]Drying oils

Drying oils are vegetable oils that dry to a hard finish at normal room temperature. Such oils are used as the basis of oil paints, and in other paint and wood finishing applications. In addition to the oils listed here, walnutsunflower and safflower oil are also considered to be drying oils.[171]

[edit]Other oils

A number of pressed vegetable oils are either not edible, or not used as an edible oil.

The fruit of the amur cork tree

Castor beans are the source of castor oil