i lived a majority of my life never having had indian food. my concept of it barely existed, probably amounting only to seeing a curry chicken salad at a steakhouse (back in the day), and the bastardization that that was. i don’t even remember the first time i had indian food, but all of a sudden i knew about it and ate it and wanted more. my feeble attempts to make it at home have never amounted to much. there is always so much flavor and depth that i can only imagine comes from hours of cooking and intense knowledge and understanding of indian cuisine.

in the left picture: ginger, serrano chilies, brown mustard seeds, and cumin seeds

in the right picture: bay leaf, asafoetida, turmeric, and coriander

i recently got a copy of lord krishna’s cuisine: the art of indian vegetarian cooking, and picked out a recipe involving mung beans and cabbage. there were no onions or garlic in the recipe, i noticed later, and i did have to pick up cumin seeds and asafoetida for my experiment. asafoetida is a really strange and overpowering spice. part of its latin name (”foetida”) refers to its sulfurous odor, and has been called various vulgar forms of “devil’s poop” in many languages. i got a bit in the bulk section yesterday and had to put the baggie inside another baggie inside some tupperware because the smell kept leaking out! i only used about 1/8 tsp to make this dish, and this has definitely been one of those times where the difference between a pinch and no pinch mattered greatly. cooked, it mellows out a lot, but it is definitely there as an indescribable flavor amongst the other spices. i bought a relatively large amount, so i will have to seek out some more recipes using asafoetida.

the dish itself: interesting, but kind of strange to me. i definitely should have made a half batch, and wouldn’t rule it out in the future, but only as a side dish. i was craving an onion-y, tomato-y curry and some rice to go with it… but since i spent over two hours on this, i had to make do with a chili tortilla from trader joes:

i think next time i try indian food, i am going to stick with a curry, before trying out other things. though i might try to make some naan or parathas! one tip i do know, however, is that you aren’t ever to buy curry powder from the store. make and toast your own curry spices! you will be so thankful for your existence.

the upside to the food part of my night was getting invited to dan’s to make cupcakes with him and michael. at first we were only going to make gingerbread cupcakes, but while those were baking we decided on some double duty and made chocolate cupcakes as well, with the most amazing and salty-sweet peanut butter frosting i could imagine. cupcakes save the day once again!

last night we had a’s coworker anne over for dinner, and i really felt like making some vegan swedish meatballs. so i turned it into a whole swedish-themed dinner. i need to have more dinner parties, i really am kind of a domestic freak about them! the menu included: multigrain crispbread with sliced cucumbers, red peppers, and a chive and white bean pate as an appetizer;

baby romaine salad with cherry grape tomatoes; pear and horseradish sauce;

vanilla scented rutabaga (i subbed earth balance for butter); steamed asparagus with fresh lemon juice; swedish “meatballs” with a mushroom-cashew gravy (and lingonberries of course!), recipe follows;

and saffron-agave cupcakes.

please note, this is definitely not health food, but pretty protein-packed. serve them with steamed veggies on the side and feel less guilty about it!
vegan swedish meatballs (makes about 25 meatballs):

16 oz. tofu, drained and crumbled

1/2 c walnuts

1/2 c soy creamer or milk alternative

3 slices bread

1 enerG egg

3/4 c leeks, finely chopped

1/3 c cornmeal

1/2 tsp vegan worcestershire

1-2 tsp tamari

salt and pepper to taste

preheat oven to 400F.

pulse the walnuts in a food processor until finely chopped. then, either add the tofu to the walnuts and process until well combined, or crumble tofu very well and mix together, and set aside. (i processed the tofu with the walnuts, which made for a rather thick paste that made a more “uniform” meatball, but if you’d like a bit more texture and crumble, i’d suggest the second option.) in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the “egg” and soy creamer or milk. cut the crusts off the bread slices and break apart loosely into the milk mixture until bread is soaked through. add the tofu/nut mixture, leeks, tamari, worcestershire, salt and pepper, and enough cornmeal to bind the mixture together (i added about 1/3 c). let sit about 10 minutes.

using wet hands or a small cookie dropper (that’s what i used), form or drop small balls onto parchment or a greased cookie sheet. bake in oven for 20 minutes, until firm. then, fry in batches for 5-10 minutes over medium heat in some oil or margarine until browned on all sides. serve with your favorite gravy and lingonberries!

i have to say the pear and horseradish sauce was a risky choice but so worth it! now i just have to figure out what to do with the huge leftover horseradish root i have. sweet, pungent, and refreshing, not to mention pretty much the only vegan-by-default recipe on the whole scandcook website. the vanilla scented rutabaga was also delicous–earthy, slightly sweet, and a great way to use fresh vanilla that’s not in a dessert. for those interested in the cupcake recipe, i used the agave nectar cupcakes from vctotw and subbed a generous pinch of saffron threads ground up, and an additional splash of vanilla, in place of the almond extract. they really didn’t need a frosting because they got such a pretty natural glaze, and i couldn’t think of what to pair that exotic, earthy saffron flavor with without overpowering and ruining it. delicious! splurge on some good saffron (not the huge bags of tasteless stuff you get in the latino aisle of the grocery store, which i imagine is used solely for coloring savory dishes). world market or trader joe’s are two good places i’ve found to get cheap but fragrant saffron.

yesterday i made a big batch of chimichurri, as well a batch of the faux beef from ldv, and attempted some combination of the two in a veggie burger.  i want to fine tune this a bit more before i post a recipe, but basically, i mixed chopped sesame seeds, flour, carrots, red pepper, seitan, and chimichurri sauce, made them into patties, and browned them.  i had one for lunch with tomatoes, onion, tofutti cream cheese, and more chimichurri sauce on top of a piece of sunny millet bread.  now, i’m not complaining–they were better than those frozen hockey pucks you get at the store–but they weren’t quite what i was going for.  i think the seitan was too salty (cut back on the tamari), and there should have been a bit more spice and chimichurri-ness in the burger itself.  but it’s a good start, and i’m ready to keep trying.  here’s a closeup shot:

inspired by my recent trip to sf and a tasty, not-too-sweet horchata i had there, i thought a fantastic way to use up my container of vanilla soygurt would be to concoct some sort of horchata cupcake!  they’ve got cinnamon and lime zest in them.  i really need to find ways of making a lightly sweetened but firm cream-cheese frosting (mine was a little runny).  frosting is always the turnoff for me with baked goods.  it’s always too much, too sweet… in my pre-vegan days i was totally content with plain whipped cream as a topping.  so, maybe my calling is to come up with that for my fellow not-too-sweet-vegans.  at any rate, i think this made a pretty sexy cupcake, don’t you think?

my oh my, they are pretty!  i made a double batch of mexican hot chocolate cupcakes from vctotw, and brought half to work.  the other half is going tomorrow.  i don’t like chocolate in this kind of quantity, so i don’t think my review counts very well… but they were super light and fluffy, though they seemed a bit dry.  that’s probably because i’m comparing them in my mindmouth to the chai latte and s’mores ones, which seem to have more liquids in them.  but i got positive feedback from two people so far, and that’s gotta count for something, right?

i just had to use up that remaining buttercream frosting! i guess i’ll have to stop into work with more treats tomorrow. cupcakes are tasty! though perhaps a bit spice-grainy. and they could be spicier! i’ll have to work on it.

i need more flour now.