As I mentioned in the previous post, Mark is not the biggest fan of Indian food, so I often try to get my fill of it (I love it) when we aren’t eating together. Unfortunately, this usually occurs on nights when I don’t have a lot of time to experiment, so tonight it was the old stand-by, aloo gobi. Fortunately I happened to have a nice cauliflower waiting for me in the refrigerator. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this recipe: when I want to make it, I just pick Indian spices off my spice rack and dump them into the pot with abandon. I’m hopeless, I know.

This recipe doesn’t make loads because it was just for me, although I wanted enough for a lunch or two too. I actually have trouble scaling my cooking down; quantity-wise, I tend to cook like an Italian grandma. So what I did tonight was use the adorable cocotte my awesome aunt gave me for Christmas. If I had made it in a larger pot, I’d have kept adding stuff until it was full. So the cocotte is a great way of curtailing my overzealous nature.

Aloo Gobi

1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1″ piece ginger, grated or minced
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
2-3 red potatoes, chopped
1/2 head small cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/2 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 springs cilantro (I used 2 of those frozen cubes from Trader Joe’s again because I haven’t yet acquired a new cilantro plant to kill)

In an aptly-sized pan, heat a small amount of oil (or vegan ghee) and add the cumin and mustard seeds, frying until they start to pop (about 30 seconds).

Add the onions and fry until translucent, then add the garlic and ginger and fry until onions begin to brown.

Add the potatoes and fry for a minute or two.

Add the tomatoes, remainder of the spices, and the water and simmer for 10 minutes.

Note: I called for canned tomatoes because that is what I usually use, especially in the winter when fresh tomatoes and tasteless and expensive, however, since I had half an overly ripe tomato that needed to be used up, I chopped that up and then added about 1/4 cup pizza sauce (the recipe for which you can find here) that I also had leftover. As I mentioned in my pizza tutorial, one of the benefits of not spicing your pizza sauce is it’s easy to use leftovers later. This is one way I try to cut back on wasting food.

Add the cauliflower and simmer until everything is tender and the sauce has reduced by about half. Stir in the cilantro (and if you are fancy, hold a little cilantro back for garnish).

I forgot to take a picture in the pot after it was done, probably because I was starving by that time.

The final meal, served with brown basmati rice. Also a crappy picture due to that whole starving/impatient thing. I really don’t know how all the food bloggers who actually take quality photos of their food manage to take the time to set up pretty shots!

Just after plating, I noticed there was nothing green in my meal and remembered that I usually add peas. Oops. If using frozen peas, stir them in just a minute or two before serving. It didn’t look too pretty, but it was tasty. It would have been even better with peas.

Does anyone else’s cat LOVE water?

And lest you think my other cat never gets any attention, you should know that although Tigger helps me prepare just about every meal I make, Brachtune is the one who helps me eat it:

If you’re curious, Brachtune’s current reading material is Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

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.

Like most starving students, there was a time in my life during which I practically lived off instant ramen. Ten packs for $1? You can’t beat that with a (chop)stick! Then one day I happened to look at the nutritional label more carefully than my usual cursory glance to make sure no animal ingredients had made their way into the Oriental flavor and was flabbergasted to discover it had about 800 grams of fat in it. Okay, I may be exaggerating, but I realized how really, really, really bad those things are for you – I don’t think I had realized before then that those noodles are fried before packaging – and that was the end of my ramen-eating era.

But ramen is fun, fast, and tasty, so I quickly found another way to guiltlessly enjoy it, and the good news is it takes barely any more time to prepare than those cheap packages. The bad news it costs about ten times as much, but when you’re talking about ten times ten cents, it’s not really that big of a deal. Plus I have many more options than just the one vegetarian but mysterious “Oriental” flavor.

I usually make kimchee ramen and I suppose one day I will give you a recipe for that. However, after seeing a photo of some ramen in New York on Slashfood yesterday, I did things a little differently tonight.

Here are most of the ingredients I used:

The essential part is chuka soba, which is unfried ramen-style noodles, which I get for $1.99 (two servings) at my Asian grocery store or Whole Foods. The fat content per serving is listed as 0.5 grams. The other “weird” ingredients here are vegan ‘beef’ bouillon and Soy Curls. Oh, and I suppose the Shaoxing wine might strike some people as weird, but it’s also optional, as are the Soy Curls.

I usually put a few cubes of tofu in my kimchee ramen, but a) I don’t have any tofu right now and b) I was going for a different ramen tonight and thought the Soy Curls might stand in for the traditional pork. Soy Curls are a neat product consisting of nothing but the entire soy bean. You soak them in hot water for a few minutes and they magically take on a nice, chewy, “meaty” texture that works very well when you want a less-processed, tasty meat substitute. I got them from Vegan Essentials. If you don’t have any Soy Curls, you could use cubed tofu, or just omit it.

Also, I pretty much consider it a sin to not have several heads of garlic in the house, and in fact, I’d normally put a lot more vegetables in this sort of soup, but my husband and I are leaving early Saturday morning for a week-long vacation and I’ve been trying not to leave myself with a lot of perishables. I used the last of the garlic last night, so I had to use garlic powder tonight. If I’d had them on hand as usual, I’d also have grated some carrot and chopped some cabbage and put them in to cook a couple of minutes before the ramen. I also tend to keep dehydrated vegetable flakes on hand for making this soup nearly-instant, however. I often make ramen soup for lunch when I’m working from home because it’s a nice hot lunch but it doesn’t take me any longer to prepare than heating up leftovers (which is what I usually do for lunch in the office).

Finally, as with most of my recipes, most of the measurements below are approximate. I hadn’t even planned on writing this one up when I began, so I wasn’t paying much attention to what I was doing and am just guessing after the fact. Just add stuff and taste it as you go along and see if you like it – that’s what I do!

Pork-Free Ramen Soup

4 cups water
2 tsp Better Than Bouillon vegan ‘beef’ (this is half the strength recommended for that amount of water) or other vegan soup flavoring (diluted if it’s salty)
3 Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp shaoxing wine (Chinese rice cooking wine) or sake (optional)
2 tsp sesame oil
1-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed or 1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp dried vegetable flakes (for soup, such as these) (optional)
2″ piece of fresh ginger, grated
1-3 tsp chili garlic sauce or sambel olek, depending on hotness of sauce and your tolerance
1/4 cup shredded daikon (grated carrots and/or chopped cabbage would also be good additions)
1/2 cup Soy Curls, reconstituted and shredded (or chopped tofu)
1 package chuka soba (two servings)
2 scallions, chopped

Bring water to boil and whisk in bouillon, tomato paste, soy sauce, wine or sake if using, sesame oil, garlic or garlic powder, vegetable flakes, and ginger. Add the chili sauce to taste – we like ours quite hot – and then the Soy Curls or tofu and any non-dehydrated veggies. Bring to a boil and add the chuka soba, breaking it up into pieces if you like. Cook for three minutes. Break up clumps of noodles by sticking a chopstick into them and stirring to loosen. Stir in half of the scallions. Place noodles and broth into two bowls, top with remaining scallions. Enjoy!

Cheap, easy, fast, and delicious!

And a parting photo of Tigger being inquisitive, because I know you miss him when he’s not in every picture:

My mother, as well as a whole lot of other people, finds mock meat both “weird” and “scary”. A lot of people can’t figure out why vegans would want to eat something that tastes or even looks like meat. Well, people have all sorts of reasons for being vegan, or even eating vegan part-time, and many of those reasons may not preclude the desire to taste meat. And most vegans haven’t been vegan since birth, so I think a lot of the time people are trying to replicate dishes that were previously “comfort food” or that have happy memories associated with them. I generally avoid the highly processed mock meats you can find in grocery stores because it’s just not very healthy, although I do occasionally buy certain items when I don’t have time to cook a proper meal. But mostly when I prepare any sort of fake “meat” dish, the “meat” is little more than a vehicle for a certain type of sauce or seasonings that are associated with the meat. For example, do you really eat jerk chicken to taste the chicken? No, it’s the seasoning. So what difference does it make if you instead eat jerk tofu?

With that in mind, one of the most popular dishes I make is a recipe for “UnRibs” that I got off the internet ages ago. I’ve been making it for years and it is universally enjoyed by omnivores. The fact of the matter is very few of my friends are vegetarian, and I don’t even know any vegans other than my husband. So when I entertain, I have to make very “accessible” food. Although I fortunately have pretty adventurous friends who will eat practically anything I make them, I’m not going to get away with serving them nothing but braised bean sprouts and raw carrots. One of the best compliments I got as a hostess came from a friend’s boyfriend who said, “You are the best kind of vegan because you don’t force your views on anyone, you just cook amazing food.” It’s very important to me that I show people that vegan food is not strange or restrictive or scary. A couple of the ingredients for the famous “rib” recipe may seem a bit esoteric for non-vegans, which I usually try to avoid, but the results are just too good in this case.

The recipe I use for the “UnRibs” is not original to me, although I will supply my own barbeque sauce recipe. You can use your favorite barbeque sauce, either bottled or homemade, or you can try mine (which is never the same twice, but I’ll post what I did tonight). I don’t remember where I got the UnRibs recipe, but I have a note that it is from the cookbook Kathy Cooks.

Here’s all you need:

If you are vegan, you are probably familiar with nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is different than brewer’s yeast and can be found in health food stores. It has a savory, somewhat cheesy flavor (which is why vegans use it in cheese substitutes). The package on the left in the photo contains dried yuba sticks. Yuba is “bean curd skin”. When hot soy milk is left undisturbed, it forms a skin on the top that can be removed and eaten, or dried for later use. This “skin” is yuba. It is rich and more flavorful than tofu. It is somewhat chewy. For the ribs you want to purchase dried yuba in stick form as shown. (It is also sold in sheets and other forms.) You can find yuba in Asian grocery stores. If you absolutely can’t find it, you can substitute seitan, although cooking time may then vary.

Here’s the recipe in its original form, followed by photo tutorial:

UnRibs

8 oz dried bean curd (yuba) sticks
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp miso
2 Tbsp melted soy margarine
2 tsp paprika
2 cups barbeque sauce

Soak the dried bean curd 4-6 hours or overnight in hot water. Drain and cut sticks into 4-6 inch lengths. Squeeze out excess water and drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil cookie sheet.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the next five ingredients together to form a smooth paste.

Toss yuba in and mix until all sticks are evenly coated. Lay sticks in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Bake 25 minutes or until bottoms are brown and crispy.

Remove from oven and put into mixing bowl with barbeque sauce. Toss well. Arrange sticks in single layer on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Now my photos:

Here is the yuba after soaking for several hours:

After draining the soaked yuba, chop it into smaller pieces:

Place the remaining ingredients (except barbeque sauce) into a small bowl:

Mix the ingredients together: it’s easiest to just do it with your hands and sort of knead it. When it comes together it will be like a paste:

Place the chopped yuba back into the bowl or pot you soaked it in, then put the paste into the bowl. Then prepare to get your hands dirty! Just start rubbing the paste into the yuba. Since some water will still be clinging to the yuba, the paste will start to dissolve. Here it is about halfway through rubbing:

And here it is fully rubbed in:

Place the ribs on a single layer on a cooking surface. I made a double batch, which fit nicely on a half sheet pan, which I lined with parchment for easy cleanup:

I usually bake them for longer than the 25 minutes stated in the original recipe. I think these were actually in for closer to 50 minutes. But check to make sure they don’t burn. You want them a bit crisp, but not blackened.

When the ribs are somewhat crisp, smother in barbeque sauce and return to the oven for another 10-20 minutes.

By the way, if you purchase nutritional yeast specifically for this recipe, and don’t know what to do with the remainder, try it on popcorn! I’ll probably be suggesting it here and there in recipes, too. Also try giving it to your cat. Tigger LOVES LOVES LOVES this stuff. I can’t go near it without him sinking his claws into my clothes (or bare skin) and dragging me and the can closer to him. It’s actually good for cats, too. Here he is enjoying a plateful:

Now, as for the barbeque sauce, I usually make it up as I go along, but the following is generally the basis for most of my ribs sauces. But please tweak it to your own tastes.

Here are the ingredients I usually round up:

Barbeque Sauce

1 onion, chopped
4-8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1-4 chili peppers, chopped
1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup vinegar (I used apple cider)
2 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp liquid smoke
1-2 tsp chili powder (I used chipolte)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp dry mustard

Saute the onion in a bit of oil or soy margarine, adding the garlic and chili peppers after a few minutes, until soft. If you don’t have fresh chili peppers, you can use chili pepper flakes to taste. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for half an hour or longer.

Let cool slightly and then puree using an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, let cool more fully and blend, in batches if necessary, in a regular blender. NEVER add hot liquids to a regular blender.

That’s it! Why bother buying bottled, eh?

I usually serve with mashed or roasted potatoes and a veggie. I over-steamed the broccoli, so tonight it was peas!

It’s one of Mark’s favorite dishes!

You wouldn’t know it from the posts so far – you probably think I only eat pizza – but my favorite food is Asian. I can’t narrow it down any more than that because I love all types of Asian food, which is good new for me because many Asian recipes are naturally vegan or very easy to veganize. I made Pad Thai for lunch today. Good news for you: Pad Thai is very quick and easy to make! The only thing that takes any time is soaking the noodles. But you can even cheat at that and cook them, in which case preparing the entire meal takes maybe 20 minutes.

When making a veggie Pad Thai, you can throw whatever veggies you want in. Unlike pizza, which I like simple, I like to put a lot of veggies in my noodles, which makes them more interesting and nutritious.

Pad Thai

This recipe makes about 4 servings.

1/2 package ban pho (rice noodles; available at any Asian grocer)

Sauce ingredients

These amounts are all approximations; mix to your own taste.

1/3 cup soy sauce or vegan “fish” sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp tamarind concentrate
1/4 – 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Other ingredients

Other than the shallots, all of the veggies are optional and/or can be substituted with other veggies of your liking.

2 shallots, chopped
1 carrot, julienned
1/4 cup cubed tofu (you can use fresh extra-firm tofu, pre-fried tofu, or the kind that comes pressed)
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp garlic chives (I used regular chives today because that’s what I had)
1 cup bean sprouts

Garnishes

crushed peanuts
quartered limes (I didn’t have any today and used a lemon instead)
chopped cilantro
additional red pepper flakes

First, soak your rice noodles in some water; the warmer the water, the faster they will soften. You want them to soften to just barely al dente, which will probably take 30-45 minutes. I got tired of waiting after half an hour (I was starving) and turned the burner on for about 5 minutes. The water never made it to a boil, but the noodles softened quickly. Do NOT overcook them. Drain them when they are ready.

This is what they look like as they are soaking:

While the noodles are soaking, prepare the sauce. I put some soy sauce in the photograph (Vietnamese soy sauce is all I had; I guess Thai soy sauce would have been better), but I actually used some mock fish sauce I made from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, because I had it leftover from an earlier experiment. Bittman’s recipe isn’t bad, but I’ve always just used soy sauce in the past, so don’t feel like you need to go out of your way to make fake fish sauce. Soy sauce is the normal vegetarian sub. Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together. I’m heavy-handed with the red pepper flakes because my husband and I both like everything super spicy, but since you can garnish with extra later, it’s much better to use too little in the sauce.

Next prep all your veggies. You may have noticed the humongous carrot I have in the photo. I buy these huge carrots at the Asian grocery store because they are excellent for using on my mandolin, but if you don’t have a mandolin and/or don’t have bizzarely huge carrots, just chop it up into matchsticks with a knife.

Here are all of my veggies, prepped and ready to go. It is essential that you completely prep everything before you start cooking because the cooking goes extremely quickly.

Prepare your garnishes before you do the cooking as well. Crush or chop the peanuts. I just stick them in a mortar and pestle (I’m using a molcajete here because they don’t jump out of it.)

As previously discussed, I kill cilantro plants and didn’t have any fresh on hand. If you do, chop it up now. I used the frozen cilantro I got at Trader Joe’s, which I actually threw in the wok. But usually you would just toss the fresh leaves with the noodles.

Heat your wok up pretty hot. Now, I try to be conscious of the fact that not everyone has as many kitchen toys as I do and suggest alternatives where I can, but I’m not sure you can substitute anything for a wok when making Pad Thai. An ordinary frying pan is probably just not large enough. If it’s all you have, you may have to make one serving at a time. Even if you have a wok, you are only supposed to make two servings of Pad Thai at a time, although I got away with doing all four servings at once. The good news is woks are one of the few things that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on to get a higher quality. I authorize you to buy the cheapest wok you can find. Do NOT buy a non-stick wok. I don’t even know why such a thing exists. Not only are well-seasoned woks naturally non-stick, but woks are made for very fast cooking at very high temperatures – much higher than you can safely heat any non-stick coating. Non-stick woks are completely useless and in fact, dangerous. Non-stick woks sort of make me angry.

OK, enough lecturing. When your wok is hot, add some peanut oil. Pad Thai is generally fairly greasy, but I use only enough oil to get by. Add the shallots and stir-fry for a minute or two.

Add the remaining veggies (except the bean sprouts), one by one, beginning with those that take the longest to cook and finishing with the ones that take the least time, stir-frying for 30 seconds to a minute between additions. The reason for staggering the addition of veggies to a wok is not just because some take longer than others, but because every time you add something to the wok, it brings the temperature of the wok down, and you want the wok to remain very hot. So you are just adding a little bit at a time to allow the wok to recover temperature-wise. Don’t be tempted to dump a bunch of stuff in at once. I ordered my veggies like this: carrots, tofu, peppers, chives.

Since I was using frozen cilantro, I threw it in with the last of the veggies. After the last addition of veggies, dump the noodles in. As I said before, you shouldn’t put more than two servings of noodles in the wok at a time, so ideally you would only have been putting half the veggies in, and now adding half the noodles. Don’t crowd the wok. Mix everything up.

Now add the sauce and mix well. Finally add the bean sprouts and toss.

To serve, place a serving of noodles on a plate with a lime (or lemon if you must) wedge. Top with cilantro leaves and crushed peanuts. Pass additional chili flakes and peanuts around the table so others can spice to their tastes.

Enjoy! Pad Thai is actually a very quick meal once you know how to do it; it’s all prep time. If you buy pre-prepped veggies, or if you chopped extra veggies for a meal earlier in the week, and if you cook instead of soaking the noodles, you could have this ready in ten minutes!

By the way, Chez Pim has a very thorough tutorial on making Pad Thai, which I definitely recommend for further reading.

I am the luckiest girl in the world. Is it because I have the prettiest cat in the world?

No, although that is certainly one of the perks of being me. (Okay, I admit that is a completely gratuitous picture of my cat, but being better behaved than Tigger – and therefore not always jumping on the counter – Brachtune felt left out of the blog.) The reason I am the luckiest girl in the world is my husband actually requests Brussels sprouts for dinner! Often! This is good news for me because I love Brussels sprouts; I may have been the only child in America to like them as a kid. Mark likes Brussels sprouts so much that if he gets a hankering for them, he will drive to the store and buy them – and he’s not a fan of going to the grocery store.

On a recent visit to our hometown of Baltimore, a friend took us to his neighborhood bar, which was not only a really cool place, but apparently has the surprising reputation of making amazing Brussels sprouts, of all things. Mark ordered the Brussels sprouts, of course, and boy, they were good! Soon afterward – I believe it was the next night, in fact – Mark wanted some more of the balsamic sprouts, so I set about recreating the recipe. Tonight I shall share it with you, although it’s so simple I barely consider it a recipe. Here’s all you need:

That’s Brussels sprouts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. About the balsamic vinegar: if you don’t wince at the price tag, you probably aren’t buying real balsamic vinegar. When I first cooked with balsamic vinegar, I couldn’t figure out why the results were so…not good. It turns out the stuff I had purchased in the grocery store for three or four dollars doesn’t even approach being real balsamic vinegar. Real balsamic vinegar will usually put you back at least $100. This Fini stuff, which I got at Whole Foods, for I think about $12, has only been aged for 12 months, which is a few years short of the really good stuff, but it’s pretty good. Mark would probably hesitate to request Brussels sprouts as often as he does if he knew I was coating them in $$$, so I’m happy with the Fini, although I WILL buy a good balsamic vinegar when I have the chance. But to your recipe:

Brussels Sprouts Roasted in Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil

1 pound Brussels sprouts
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
finishing salt, to taste (I use Maldon and love it.)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Wash your Brussels sprouts, trim the ends if necessary (or remove from the stalk if you were lucky enough to buy them that way), remove any unsightly layers, and then cut in half lengthwise. If the sprouts are flatter in one direction than the other, cut so they are wide, not tall, as shown:

Place the oil and vinegar in a small bowl:

(This photo is here just because I think it’s neat.)

Then emulsify by whisking:

Put some of the Brussels sprouts in the bowl and use your hands to mix them up with the oil and vinegar, thoroughly coating each sprout half:

If you are fortunate to have a Brussels sprouts fiend for a husband, as I am, watch out, as he may try to eat the bowl:

Arrange in a single layer, cut side down, on a baking sheet or pan:

Sprinkle with the salt:

Roast for about 20 to 25 minutes. You want them to be dark, almost black in places, but you also don’t want to cook them until the point of mushiness.

Tonight I served them with the Risotto with Broccoli Rabe and White Beans from Lorna Sass’s Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, although I used asparagus instead of broccoli rabe.

These Brussels sprouts are so good your spouse or kids will be piling their plates high!

I make my own soy milk and tofu, the former because commercial brands are too sweet and the latter just because it’s fun. When I tell people I make my own soy milk and tofu, I often get strange looks as if it had never even occurred to the person that tofu can come from any source other than a plastic tub in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Some people aren’t even sure what tofu is made of. Tofu is made from soy beans! The only ingredients in tofu are soy beans, water, and a small amount of coagulant, which I’ll get into later.

Before I start my tutorials on making soy milk and tofu, I’d like to say that much of what I know about making these items comes from Maki’s tutorial on Just Hungry, which is pretty much the definitive article on the subject, and this post on Bryanna Clark Grogan’s (one of my favorite cookbook authors) site. I can’t hope to improve on either of these tutorials, and I recommend you read both of them thoroughly because I’m pretty lazy about it and you’re going to get much better information from them. But this is something I do every week and I thought I’d share it with you in the hopes of making you realize neither process is nearly as complicated as I bet you think it is.

A quick word about electric soy milk makers: if you have a decent blender, you don’t need one. I have to admit that after the first couple of times I made soy milk, I managed to squirt okara all over my face, body, and kitchen, and – looking like an actress in a really bad porno – plaintively informed my husband I needed a soy milk maker. But then I figured out how to keep the okara in the bag and off my face, and I now think soy milk makers are ridiculous. And this from someone with a serious kitchen appliance addiction.

A little terminology for you: okara is the word for the mashed up soy beans that remain after you have squeezed out all the “milk”.

In this post, I’ll show you how to make soy milk, which is the first step in making tofu. I’ll save the tofu part for a later post so I don’t overwhelm you. To make soy milk, you need dried soy beans, a large pot, another large pot or a large bowl, a colander or large strainer, and an “okara bag”. An “okara bag” is just a piece of muslin folded in half and stitched on two sides, leaving one side open and forming a bag. You want to make it large enough that you can fold the edges over your pot or bowl; see the photos below. You can get muslin at any fabric store and it is very cheap. Some people use cheesecloth instead of muslin, but I don’t recommend this because it’s too easy for the okara squirt out when you are pressing it later, and although there are heavy kinds of cheesecloth they say are re-usable, it just seems very messy to me.

You can make as much or as little soy milk as you like at a time. I’ll assume here that you want to make about 2 quarts, because that’s how much I make to make tofu. But for drinking purposes, I halve this recipe and just make one quart because that’s all I need. If you make double this recipe, though, you’ll need to use a large stock pot to cook the soy milk: it expands a lot, so you need extra room.

So to make about 2 quarts of soy milk, put 8 ounces of dried soy beans into a bowl and cover with a lot of water. The soy beans will double in size, so put them in a big enough bowl and use enough water. Let them soak for about 8 hours. Here are my soaked soy beans:

The first few times you make soy milk, you will want to follow the directions precisely, what with the weighing and the measuring. Later, you may find shortcuts, as I have. For example, I noticed that my little fist grabs almost exactly one ounce of soy beans, and I often just grab 8 fistfuls of soy beans and call it a day. See, I’m a very imprecise cook. I have no right to be explaining how to do things to other people!

After soaking, drain the soy beans and put half of them into a blender. Measure 8 cups of water and put into a large pot over medium heat. When changing the yield on this recipe, this is easy to remember: one cup of water for every ounce of dried soy beans. That’s all you need to know! Allow the water to come up to temperature as you blend the soy beans. Add enough water to the blender to cover the soy beans by about an inch or two. The more water, the easier time your blender will have, so be generous:

Now blend, blend, blend! And blend some more. You want to make a very smooth mixture, that looks like this (or a little thicker, I don’t know why that looks so thin):

Pour the mixture into your large pot, and repeat with the remaining soy beans. You should have enough room in the pot for the contents to double, as it may swell up quite a bit. Simmer this mixture over medium heat for about 20 minutes. When it begins to swell, it’s ready, and you want to be watching it because when it starts to swell, it will very quickly swell higher than you expect, quite possibly over the sides of the pot if you aren’t careful. Ask me how I know this.

While the mixture is simmering, get another pot or a large bowl ready. Place your strainer or colander into it, and then line the colander with your “okara bag”, like this, except don’t pull up the one side as I did here so you could see the arrangement:

Carefully (because it’s hot), pour the soy bean mixture into the lined colander, and let it sit for a moment or two as the liquid slowly drains down into the pot or bowl:

Now here’s the part that caused me so many problems in the beginning. You want to squeeze all of the liquid out of the bag, making the contents – the okara – as dry as possible. At least that’s what I read, and for some reason I got it in my head that I had to REALLY squeeze on that bag so incredibly tightly that the okara came shooting through the weave of the fabric…and onto my face. What I would do is pick the bag up out of the colander, spin it around to seal it at the top, and, wearing gloves because it was hot, squeeze and twist as if my life depended on it, bent on draining every last drop of milk out of that bag. It’s a good thing I milk soy beans and not cows. But then I decided to just relax and MOSTLY get the liquid out of the bag by just pressing it with a potato masher against the colander and if the okara didn’t end up quite as dry, well, too bad. And what do you know, I no longer ended up with white stuff all over myself and I got just as much milk out of the bag anyway. The lesson here is to NOT take all your frustrations out on the okara bag and squeeze or press it just enough.

And now guess what! You’re done! Woo! Lift the colander out of the bowl or pot and YOU HAVE SOY MILK! If you are making tofu, you are ready to move on to the next step (coming soon). If you plan to drink this soy milk, or use it on cereal, you have the option of adding sugar and/or flavoring. I just add a bit of sugar, maybe 2 Tbsp per quart (which would be 1/4 cup if you used the measurements I’ve used here), but I don’t like it very sweet and if you are used to commercial soy milk, you may find you need to wean yourself from their excessive use of sugar. As I read somewhere, don’t be afraid to add sugar in any amount, because chances are you still aren’t adding as much as the commercial brands do!

I also often use maple syrup instead of sugar. You can add a pinch of salt if you like. If you like vanilla flavored, add that, or cocoa for chocolate milk.

The finished product (in a lovely glass pitcher I got from King Arthur Flour…have I mentioned my problem with that place? But seriously, it tastes better stored in glass than in plastic.):

I know I’ve been very wordy here, but once you do this a couple of times, it takes next to no effort. If I use the last of my soy milk on my cereal in the morning, I throw my four fistfuls of soy beans into a bowl, cover with water, and head out to work. When I get home, I just whip up the soy milk at the same time I’m making dinner. The only part that requires any thinking is making sure the pot it’s in doesn’t boil over, and since I’m right there working on dinner, that’s no problem.

And a final word about okara: don’t throw it away! You are supposed to eat that too! You’re supposed to be able to add it to all sorts of baked goods, although honestly, I haven’t had much success doing so. It seems to make baked goods leaden. I’m probably doing something wrong though. The best thing to do with okara is make Susan V’s Okara “Crab” Cakes. (By the way, Susan’s Fat-Free Vegan blog is one of the best food blogs out there and one of the inspirations for this blog.) The truth of the matter is I usually throw my okara away…and feel really guilty about it. I end up with a lot of it though. If nothing else, I should be composting it, but I haven’t started composting yet. So I challenge you to outdo me and use your okara more wisely. I really should be getting twice as much use out of my soy beans and saving even more money. If you know of any great uses for okara, please share!

Earlier I explained how to make great pizza dough, that freezes exceptionally well and is perfect to have on hand for whenever you may need a pizza, which if you are anything like me is about once a week. Pizza has a bit of a bad reputation for being bad for you, but my homemade version, particularly when I use a whole wheat crust, is actually not bad at all.

In general, I’ve found the best thing you can do regarding cheese when going vegan is to forget it exists. I don’t usually try fake cheesy things, with the exception of a very yummy nacho cheese dip I make (which I will have to post sometime) and pizza. With pizza though, please keep in mind that cheese is totally optional. In fact, if you made the whole wheat crust that I suggest and top it with a homemade sauce (to avoid junk like high fructose corn syrup) and a thoughtful – but small – selection of fresh herbs and vegetables, such as sliced tomatoes, caramelized onions, and hot or sweet peppers, you won’t even miss the cheese and you’ll be eating a healthy meal! In fact, since I’m vegan I can’t advocate that you use real cheese on your pizza, but nor can I advocate you use vegan cheese if you aren’t vegan because you will hate it, so I encourage you to try it cheeseless! I like a very simple pizza, however, and since I’ve gone ten years without tasting real cheese, I’m very happy with using a bit of Cheezly or Teese.

Anyway, you need to decide at least 8-12 hours before that you want to make a pizza. Either remove the dough from the freezer and place in the refrigerator if you’ve frozen some (where it can remain for up to three days), or prepare it as I detailed earlier and let it rest overnight. Then, one hour before you want to bake the pizza do the following:

1. Heat your oven, with a pizza stone in it, as hot as you possibly can. I’m afraid I consider a pizza stone essential. You can substitute inexpensive unglazed quarry tiles, available at places like Home Depot and Lowes, if you don’t want to fork out the money for a stone. If you decide to spring for the stone, get the thickest one you can find and ALWAYS pre-heat it with the oven and NEVER remove it from the oven while hot. (For this reason you will also be needing a pizza peel.) My stone simply stays in my oven at all times.
2. Remove the dough from refrigerator. Liberally flour a workspace and place each piece of dough on it, turning to coat all sides with flour. Then flatten each ball into a circle about 1/2″ thick.



3. Cover the dough circles with a clean towel and let them rest somewhere out of the reach of your cat. (I can’t tell you how many pizza crusts have ended up with little paw prints in them…)
4. Make your sauce.

Pizza sauce is super easy to make at home. It’s ridiculous to buy it. Here’s all you need:


Pizza Sauce

Makes enough for four personal-sized pizzas. (I halve this recipe for just my husband and myself.)

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste

In a small saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil and allow to come up to temperature for a minute or two. Add garlic and stir for one minute.



Stir in tomatoes and cook for about 15 minutes, until tomatoes have broken down a bit. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (I buy tomatoes with no salt added because I love using my salt grinder and salt pigs, and I figure, why should the tomato tinner have all the fun?)



After the tomatoes are broken down a bit, remove sauce from the heat and allow it to cool a bit. When it’s cool, blend it until it is as smooth as you like. An immersion blender is easiest here, but you can also use a regular blender, a food mill, or if you like it chunky, you can just mash the tomatoes up with the back of a spoon or a potato masher.



That’s it! You can also add spices like oregano and crushed red peppers, but I just sprinkle those on the pizza later. The reason I do that is because I can control the amount on each pizza to adjust for personal preference, and also if I have leftover pizza sauce, the less seasoned it is, the easier it is to throw into another dish later in the week. And taste the sauce before you add anything to it – it is really good without anything else added in!

When your hour of pre-heating the oven and letting your crusts rest is up, prepare your peels, one for each pizza (if you are making more than two pizzas, or if you have a smaller stone, you will have to bake them in shifts). If you don’t have a peel, you can use the back of a baking sheet. To prepare the peel, sprinkle it with semolina or cornmeal:



Next, remove any rings you may be wearing. I should have gotten a photo of this step for you, but I can’t shape a pizza and take a picture at the same time and considering my husband was (and is) busy ripping about 300 CDs for me today, I didn’t want to ask him to come do it. What you want to do, though, is make a fist with one of your hands, and drape the dough over it so your firt is in the middle. Then go around the edges with your other hand and gently pull. You can sort of bounce your fist a little and turn the dough, although I usually end up just grabbing the dough with two hands and pulling it into shape. Place on the prepared peel.



Now, using the back of a spoon, smear the sauce over each crust. You don’t want too much sauce or the pizza will be soggy.



If you’d like, sprinkle with dried herbs, I suggest oregano and crushed red pepper. (If you’d like to use fresh herbs – basil is fantastic – add them after the pizza has been baked, otherwise they will burn.)



I was so excited about the imminent pizza I forgot to take a picture of them after adding the “cheese”, although you can see a similar picture in my earlier Teese post. I sometimes sprinkle finishing salt on top of the “cheese” because it makes it “sparkle”. Go easy on the “cheese” in any case. Add other toppings if you like; I love sliced tomatoes, caramelized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives.

I realized as soon as I put them in that I forgot the picture, so I snapped one just after putting it in the oven.



They need to bake for about 5 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is. Keep an eye on them. In the meantime, figure out how you are going to remove them. I use a stainless steel peel like the one of the right:


If you make a lot of pizzas, you should definitely invest in one. It’s also good for removing hearth breads. If you refuse to buy such a thing, I have successfully used a large stainless steel wok shovel to remove a personal-sized pizza before. If all else fails, I suppose you can hold a large plate under the oven rack and use an oven mitt to push the pizza onto it, although that may lead to a dirty oven mitt.

Here’s the pizza when it’s about done:


And the finished product:


Let the pizzas cool a few minutes before slicing. As for slicing, I recommend using kitchen shears.

Enjoy!