It’s Memorial Day here in the U.S. and we are supposed to be thinking about the contributions of those who died in combat in the name of our country. I think most people are thinking about grilling hamburgers and drinking beer instead. I like to make holiday-appropriate meals so in that spirit, I made Vegan Dad’s Perfect Tempeh Burgers (atop homemade whole wheat rolls), baked beans (*cough* from a can, I’m so embarrassed *cough*), and potato salad. I also drank some beer like a good American.

Potato salad is one of those things for which I don’t understand the need for a recipe, so I feel a bit stupid offering one. But I’m training myself to be better about remembering to take pictures so I can share recipes with you when stuff turns out well, so I photographed my potato salad and will thus give you a recipe. I used red potatoes, because it’s what I had on hand, but I think next time I will try to pick up some Russets for this recipe because they sort of disintegrate and make for a creamier salad that is more like what my family made when I was growing up.

My family also always added hardboiled eggs to potato salad. For that reason, I used Indian black salt instead of regular salt in this recipe. Indian black salt – which is actually pink – smells heavily of sulfur and therefore tastes sort of like eggs, so I add it to things I want to remind me of eggs…which honestly isn’t much. Mark hates the smell of it, but I sort of like it. If you don’t have black salt, you can substitute regular sea salt, but don’t use salt that is actually black (lava salt) because it will turn your potato salad gray.

Potato Salad

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, cubed (any kind is okay; baking potatoes will be creamier)
2 stalks celery, diced
1/4 cup Vidalia or red onion, small dice
2 small or 1 large dill pickle, minced
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup Vegenaise
1 tsp Indian black salt or regular sea salt (optional)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs – I used dill and chives because my dill and chive plants are taking over my indoor herb garden, but parsley would be good, too.

Chop the potatoes into 1″ cubes, place in a pot, and cover with water. Simmer until a fork pierces them easily (about 20 minutes).

While the potatoes are cooking, combine the celery, pickles, onions, and herbs.

When potatoes are done, drain and mix with all other ingredients.

Chill for at least an hour to allow flavors to blend.

Here are the rolls I made:

I used this recipe.

Here is the meal plated, although it’s a lousy photograph:

In other kitchen-related news, yesterday I successfully re-seasoned a cast iron Dutch oven that I tried to destroy a few weeks ago by leaving it empty on a hot burner for an hour or so. I have a really bad habit of wandering out of the kitchen in the middle of doing something and then immediately and completely forgetting I have something going on, leaving my husband to ask me much later if the stove is SUPPOSED to be on fire. The great thing about cast iron is it’s virtually indestructible, and in fact, being forced to re-season this piece turned out to be a good thing because it was one of those pre-seasoned Lodge pots and I was never really happy with the seasoning, which wasn’t nearly as non-stick and wonderful as my antique Griswold skillet. It turns out you really should season those so-called pre-seasoned items, so why you should spend twice as much on them, I do not know. You might as well just buy a non-seasoned one if you’re going to have to season it anyway. I guess you don’t have to pre-wash the pre-seasoned ones as thoroughly. Anyway, I rubbed the pot with Earth Balance shortening, in lieu of the much-hyped seasoning power of lard (which is not to say I’m not a fan of The Power of Lard, and if I didn’t think she’d absolutely kill me, I’d share a picture of my mother wearing my Dead Kennedys sweatshirt at my niece’s birthday party this weekend). The Earth Balance worked really well; I baked it at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for a couple of hours. It didn’t smoke much and the finish is really nice. I did a test-run in it by caramelizing some onions for our tempeh burgers tonight and that went very well. The pot is much better than it was before I tried to incinerate it! I’m inspired to go find some more vintage cast iron and re-season it!

The other thing I’m proud of myself about is the fact that I sharpened my chef’s knife all by myself a couple of weeks ago and it’s actually sharper than it was before I sharpened it! I bought a whetstone a while ago, but every time I tried to use it, I’d just make my knife duller, so I’d force my very handy best friend to sharpen it for me whenever he was around. (I make that boy work for his meals.) He’s been a bit complainy about driving to Virginia lately, though, so the last time he was here I made him show me how to do it properly and I later actually managed to do it without his supervision. But I’m still a little surprised every time I use it and it chops things. Tonight it sliced a very ripe tomato (which may sound like an easy task, but you really need a very sharp (or serrated) knife to pierce the skin)!

Thai sticky rice is a fun food you can eat with your hands and flavor with a variety of different sauces. You want to buy rice labeled “sweet rice” or “glutinous rice”. Shown is a store brand I currently have on hand, but I usually buy a Thai brand from the Thai grocery store. This is a short grain, glutinous rice, but it is not the same as sushi rice, so if you are unsure about what you are buying, you may want to ask a clerk. I have found the clerks in Asian grocery stores to be extremely helpful, despite the fact that I’m ordinarily very shy, so don’t be afraid to ask. In fact, everything I am about to show you about making Thai sticky rice, I learned from the very helpful lady at the Thai grocery store.

I cook most of my rice in an electric rice cooker after moving into a home with an electric stove (from one with a gas stove) and finding myself no longer capable of cooking rice properly, however, this type of rice can not be made in a rice cooker (although sushi rice, which is also sticky, can be). Instead, you will need a special steaming basket, which is available in Thai grocery stores and looks like this:

They are inexpensive and you can order them online, from sites such as this one, although you can probably just use a regular steamer if you don’t want to buy one.

First you need to soak the rice. Most of the instructions I have found online have given soaking times between 4 and 6 hours, however, the very nice lady at the Thai grocery promised me two hours was sufficient, and I’ve never had a problem soaking for as little as two hours. If I think of it earlier, I soak for longer, but two hours is fine. Figure on about 1/2 a cup dry rice per serving.

Here is my soaked rice:

Drain the rice. Get a piece of cheesecloth or muslin about 12″ by 12″ and mound the rice into the center of it. In the photo, I thought I would be clever by lining my sieve with the muslin and pouring the soaked rice into it, thinking the water would drain quickly through the fabric and save me a step, however it didn’t really work: the water didn’t drain quickly enough for me and I ended up pouring it out.

After mounding the rice in the center of the cheesecloth or muslin, fold it up into a neat little package:

Place the rice package into the steaming basket:

Put a few inches of water into the pot and place the basket on the pot (make sure the water doesn’t touch the basket). Place a snugly-fitting lid over the rice package:

Steam over medium heat. How long the rice takes to steam will depend on how long it was soaked and how much you are making. I have found it usually takes about 45 minutes, although I start checking it after half an hour. To check for doneness, remove the rice package from the basket, unfold, and try to grab a bit with chopsticks. If the rice is still hard and not sticking together, you still have a while to go. If it is clumping together, test a small amount in your hand and see if it feels soft and sticky. It’s never done the first time I check, but the bottom of the package is usually stickier than the top, so I’ll usually return the package to the basket upside down so it uniformly steams.

When the rice is done, remove from the basket and use a wooden rice paddle to remove from the cheesecloth or muslin.

Traditionally, the rice would be moved to a lidded serving basket, but I for some reason seem to not yet have acquired one of those. Sounds like a trip to the Thai grocery store is in order…

To eat, take a small amount of rice in your hands and dip it in a sauce. Here are a couple of sauce recipes:

Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

I got this recipe off the internet somewhere a long time ago: it is not my recipe. For my husband and I, I usually halve these amounts.

1/2 cup white or rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Meanwhile, crush the garlic with the pepper flakes and salt with a mortar and pestle.

Stir this paste into the vinegar and sugar solution. Bring to room temperature and serve.

Peanut Sauce

This is my very simple and easy peanut sauce recipe that I use for everything from sticky rice to noodles. The bottle on the right in the photo is my homemade chili oil, which looks strange because there is gunk that marinates in it and I actually ran out of the oil and only had some gunk left. Looks like I’ll be making chili oil tomorrow. I managed to get 1 tsp out of it and made up for the remainder of the heat by using sriracha.

1/4 cup peanut butter
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp of seasoned rice vinegar
2 tsp of chili oil
1/2 cup water

Process all ingredients in a mini-chopper, blender, food processor, immersion blender…or just whisk them all together.

Here’s everything I made for dinner tonight (peanut sauce not shown):

The spicy tofu + sticky rice meal is popular around here. My best friend considers this his favorite, and it’s one of my favorites too.

Now that I’ve finally gotten around to explaining how to make tofu, I can share one of my favorite tofu recipes with you. It’s particularly good with fresh, homemade tofu, but you can easily use store-bought instead. One of the reasons I make my own tofu is I make it so firm that I can stir-fry it in a wok without it breaking up, which I can’t do with even extra-firm tofu that I’ve pressed. If you buy tofu instead of making it, buy the firmest you can get, wrap it in a tea towel, and press it under a heavy weight or book for half an hour.

Spicy Tofu

1 lb extra-firm tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
6 cloves garlic, pressed
3-6 dried chili peppers, or red pepper flakes to taste
4 scallions, chopped
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds, divided
3 Tbsp cornstarch

Mix the chili sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and one tablespoon of the sesame seeds together in a small bowl. If you are using dried chili peppers, rip the stems off and pour the seeds into the sauce, then toss the peppers into the sauce; otherwise, add the red pepper flakes to taste. Set aside.

Chop the tofu into 1″ blocks. Place the cornstarch into a flat-bottomed bowl and add the tofu cubes, tossing them to coat. You may find it easier to do this in two batches. (The tofu cubes are not entirely coated in the photo.)

Heat 1-2 Tbsp oil in a wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add the tofu cubes:

Stir-fry until golden on all sides, then add half the scallions and stir-fry for one minute. Add the sauce to the wok:

Let the sauce simmer down for a minute or two, then stir in the additional scallions and sesame seeds.

Serve with rice.