VeganMoFo: Pumpkin (and Other Orange Delights) October 3, 2009
Posted by a-k in baking, beans and legumes, soup, veganmofo.30 comments
Tonight I found myself alone for dinner at the start of a seldom-experienced three-day weekend with chilly damp temperatures outside and no money to spend. Luckily I was loaded up with CSA veggies, recently rehydrated cannellini beans, and a lot of baking ingredients. I got to bust out my newly acquired vintage holiday-themed Pyrex lidded casserole dish*, and stuff it with whole cloves of garlic, carrots, onions, jalapenos and olive oil. Once sufficiently roasted, I added it to a pot with the aforementioned beans, fresh rosemary and sage from my humble container garden, and some veggie stock. I pureed it with my immersion blender and topped it with more garden-fresh parsley and fresh pepper and warmed my belly:
But wait! There’s more to this dinner. For a few weeks I’ve been imagining how good it would be to have not just cornbread, but pumpkin cornbread, and not just pumpkin cornbread, but maple-glazed pumpkin cornbread. That’s like the triumvirate of delicious fall goodness, am I right? So I played around a little with a plain cornbread recipe and stuck it in the oven and later pulled out a lovely golden-orange pan of pumpkin cornbread, brushed a piece with maple syrup, and stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes. Behold:
I ate it with greens and a beet vinaigrette (made from the juices leftover from roasting beets in olive oil and some balsamic), and the cornbread was moist and fluffy and gloriously soft, and the maple had caramelized and smelled like marshmallows when I pulled it out from the broiler. I really want to give you this recipe, but the only problem was it didn’t taste sufficiently pumpkin-y to me. I’ve already talked up this idea to people at work, so I have to remake it until I get it right in order to share it with the coworkers I managed to impress with my enthusiasm. Which means then I will get it posted here. Oh, and did I mention it is maple-sweetened and relatively low-fat? Oh yes.
And, because I can’t leave well enough alone, I had to go and use the leftover canned pumpkin in a Vita-Mix ice cream concoction. Using frozen bananas as a base, I added the pumpkin, raisins (for sweetness), vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger. I suppose I could have used some nutmeg and gone for the whole pumpkin pie experience, but it was pretty darn tasty as is.
Don’t you just love fall? Orange makes me feel so warm and comfy, which is good considering it’s about 45 degrees outside and our radiators haven’t been turned on. The weather a week ago was, believe it or not, quite warm and t-shirt and shorts-worthy. In case you thought I was totally crazy, I ate the ice cream in front of a space heater wearing a sweater and my special ladyfriend’s big comfy slippers (I have no slippers of my own, sniff).
I’m already dreaming about using the leftover pumpkin cornbread for a delicious weekend brunch bread pudding. I love it when I already have magical new uses in mind for leftovers, instead of consuming them in a (sometimes) less ideal day-old state, or letting them become science experiments because I want something new and different the next day. Hooray for foresight!
*More on this casserole dish and other delicious vintage things later in the month…
Get It Ripe by jae steele January 28, 2009
Posted by a-k in baking, beans and legumes, breakfast, cake, cookbooks, dessert, grains and flours, muffins, salad, soup, vegetables.23 comments
Adzuki-Squash Soup with Chipotle and Red Peppers and green salad with Molasses Cornbread
You know when you get a cookbook and you read it from cover to cover and cradle it in your arms and wanna marry it? Uh… me neither; isn’t that a weird idea?
Okay, so it’s really mostly true. I heard about Get It Ripe in the Post Punk Kitchen forums awhile back and have been waiting patiently for my co-op or one of the local bookstores or our little vegan boutique to carry it. But months went by and I couldn’t find it. I satisfied curiousities by visiting jae’s blog and have made her recipe for maple flax cookies several times (including a fruit-filled thumbprint version for the flaming cabbage soiree), and they were so good and her vision about food so in line with my own, I finally ordered a copy from Herbivore.
Crispy Fried Tofu over dandelion greens
jae is a holistic nutritionist and has spent a lot of time on farms and in communities/co-ops. So what you get is not only a ton of tasty recipes, but a wealth of information on healthy foods, digestion, cleansing/detoxing, organic and local farming, food preparation and baking techniques. This is the kind of cookbook I’ve been looking for for a long time! These are just a few pictures of the gajillion things I’ve made from it in less than a week!
Adzuki-Squash Soup with Chipotle and Red Peppers
So smoky and warm and simple and yummy!
Molasses Cornbread and mixed greens
We had this on the side of the soup, which was sophisticatedly sweetened and the best cornbread I’ve ever had (or made).
Pesto White Bean Bowl
This was quick to make, full of flavor, and full of greens! (My favorite part of the cookbook)
Appleyest Spice Cake drizzled with barley malt syrup
There’s some “naughty” stuff in there too (meaning dessert), but it’s full of non-wheat and non-white sugar recipes, which really makes me happy. This cake was so light and fluffy and without a lot of fat or sugar (Sucanat, in this case).
Slice of Appleyest Spice Cake
Behold the tender crumb!
Raw Fresh Thyme and Celery Soup January 21, 2009
Posted by a-k in pizza, raw, recipe, soup, vegetables.10 comments
- Raw Fresh Thyme and Celery Soup
I know, I know… I can’t quit with the raw stuff lately. But my non-raw fare has really consisted of a lot of cookbook recipes or unimpressive stir fries (well, impressive only because they were palatable despite being made in an empty North Shore cabin kitchen without tamari!).
I’m not the biggest fan of raw celery. In fact, it’s my answer to the question “Are there any vegetables you hate?” As a child I would painstakingly remove every piece from Chinese dishes, refused them at friend’s houses in favor of carrot sticks, and often omit them in recipes because I have no use for the remaining gajillion green stalks I am forced to purchase from the grocery store. The flavor, the texture are just … ick! I hate it. I know some people feel the opposite, and that’s fine by me.
So why in the world am I posting a recipe for celery soup? (And raw celery at that… it’s most horrid form!) Well, while I was reading and un-cooking this month, I have been reading a lot about the beneficial properties of celery (I’m not talking about the it-burns-more-calories-to-chew-than-the-amount-of-calories-you’re-taking-in thing either). It’s a good source of vitamins C, B1, B2, B6, and K, minerals potassium and manganese, and is a natural source of sodium – which means this soup has no added salt (and doesn’t suffer for it either!). It also has a high water content which is good for staying hydrated, especially in these dry winter months.
I cream-ified it with some avocado, added a little poblano and a clove of garlic, and some fresh thyme (I can’t think of enough ways to go through this stuff yet) for a nice herb flavor. And while it definitely is celery-esque in flavor, it somehow isn’t as strong or intense as eating a stalk of fresh celery. Maybe the texture part affects the taste even more for me? Regardless, this self-proclaimed celery hater finds it to be pretty tasty indeed, especially with a healthy sprinkling of sunflower seeds on top.
Raw Fresh Thyme and Celery Soup (serves 1-2)
1 bunch celery, stem ends removed and roughly chopped
2 sunburst/pattypan squash, roughly chopped (or other summer squash)
1 clove garlic
2 green onions, stem ends removed and roughly chopped
1/4-1/3 c roughly chopped poblano pepper (or some of a hot chili pepper)
1/2 avocado, peeled and pitted
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 1/2 c water (or enough for desired consistency)
fresh thyme sprigs and raw sunflower seeds to garnish (optional)
Place all ingredients except garnishes in Vita-Mix or high speed blender and process 1-2 minutes until smooth. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with thyme and sunflower seeds.
Also, I recently made the Thai Chick-un Pizza from Eat Drink and Be Vegan. Yummy! I omitted the ketchup from the peanut sauce because I didn’t understand why it should be there, couldn’t find bean sprouts at the store that day, and used two sprouted wheat tortillas as the crust. The moisture from the sauce kept the tortillas together, and though it says in the recipe notes to use a thick crust because it’s a rich pizza, my instinct is to want a lighter thin crust (plus there don’t seem to be any whole-grain crusts at my store). It worked great! Can’t wait to make it again with bean sprouts (and I have a lot of leftover sauce somehow… probably because the tortillas have a smaller diameter than a crust would). It was lovely and colorful to boot…
- ED&BV’s Thai Chick-un Pizza
A Whole Lotta Raw January 9, 2009
Posted by a-k in coconut, dessert, drinks, fruit, raw, recipe, salad, smoothie, soup, vegetables.16 comments
Coconut Rainbow Salad
You wouldn’t believe it was -2F this morning and we might be getting 4 inches of snow tomorrow, would you? I can’t hardly believe it either, which is apparently why I’m pretending it’s summer with colorful food!
For some reason, eating (mostly) raw is really easy and exciting for me this time around. Which is strange considering last time it was June and not eating cooked food seemed more pleasant than it would in early January. I feel really excited about the food and have been un-cooking more spontaneously by feel and inspiration largely, which is how I usually approach food. I’m actually a bit sad to start having to cook again once my ladyfriend returns! Not that I can’t still eat a lot of raw, but dinner is likely to become a cooked affair once more.
The Vita-Mix is really changing a lot of this for me. I am seriously still using it at least twice a day! Making whole juices and shakes in addition to the smoothies is a great way to use up over-bought produce, and tastes so good! Here is a Fig and Grape Cleansing Shake from Raw Food Real World that I made once before, though it was fluffy and smooth this time around!
Fig and Grape Cleansing Shake
I also have been reading this book called Detox Your World that was written by Shazzie, a UK raw foodist. I made a couple recipes from the back of the book, the first one being a Melonmelon shake (just cantaloupe and lemon zest):
Melonmelon Shake
Isn’t that color gorgeous? It kinda matches this Squash and Kumquat Soup from the same book… I think there were some ingredients in strange amounts (1 tbsp of coconut meat and a cup of almond milk) but overall it was a very satisfying soup that I ate for lunch at work a couple days in a row:
Squash and Kumquat Soup from Detox Your World
Shazzie was a bit of an inspiration for my second attempt at a raw cheesecake, and my first attempt at a nut-free cheesecake. Well, I tell a slight lie: there are nuts in the crust, but sometimes I am a little freaked out by a nut crust topped with more nuts! So this has frozen bananas as the base of the “cheese” and it’s also got blueberries, kumquats, vanilla, cardamom, and a little coconut oil in it. I froze it for a couple hours and topped it with a blueberry-cashew cream (I stopped being freaked out by the nuts I guess) and fresh fruit. Not bad for a first try, but being made from bananas it’s just not as creamy as other cheesecakes (but that’s sometimes a good thing!). Here it is, in all its purple and orange glory:
Raw Blueberry Kumquat Cheesecake
One of the best things about my job, despite the problems I have with it, is access to free organic produce that the store can’t sell. Sometimes it’s too far gone, but usually you get perfectly ripe and ready-to-use treasures. I’ve restocked my smoothie banana supply this week for free, for example, and scored three half-pints of fresh blueberries. Also for some reason, there have been tons and tons of bell peppers – and not just the nasty green kind! I love red and yellow and orange bell peppers, but usually only buy one at a time, occasionally, because they’re so pricey. But I’ve amassed about 7 or 8 this week that have gone into various soups and things, and into a delicious salad that was a combination of almost every kind of produce I had in my fridge today.
While it takes inspiration from Thai food, I can’t really call it a curry, and because of how many delicious and colorful ingredients I used I am calling it Coconut Rainbow Salad. It’s basically a bunch of julienned vegetables covered in coconut-pineapple-chili sauce and garnished with cilantro, scallions, basil, bananas, and blueberries. And it is delicious! The fruit might sound odd, but I was a lovely contrast to the crunchy, spiced vegetables. I am posting the recipe for anyone who is interested, and I think the ingredients could be played around with and even made non-raw if that’s how you roll (rice noodles for the daikon, say, and canned coconut milk instead of fresh).
Coconut Rainbow Salad
Coconut Rainbow Salad (serves 2-4):
For the sauce:
Meat from one Thai young coconut (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 c fresh coconut water
1/2 c fresh or frozen pineapple chunks
1 knob fresh ginger (about 1 tbsp)
1/4-1/2 red chili flakes, or to taste
Julienned vegetables:
1 1/2 c green cabbaged, julienned
1 1/2 c fresh spinach, julienned
1 lg or 2 sm bell peppers, julienned
1 daikon radish, peeled into noodles or spiralized
2 carrots, julienned
To garnish:
4 scallions, sliced
1/2 bunch (or to taste) fresh cilantro, chopped
6-7 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
1 banana, sliced
handful of blueberries
Place all sauce ingredients in Vita-Mix or blender and process until smooth (if you do not have a high-speed blender, you may wish to grate or mince the ginger first). Set aside.
Combine all vegetables in a large mixing bowl to mix evenly. Arrange on serving plates and pour the sauce over the vegetables. Garnish with the scallions, cilantro, basil, bananas and blueberries and serve immediately.
giving an old enemy another chance May 12, 2008
Posted by a-k in cookbooks, fruit, herbs, nuts, raw, smoothie, soup, vegetables.5 comments
pineapple-cucumber gazpacho with jalapeno and cilantro
awhile back i ranted about the book raw food real world. and while i still find classism and elitism at the root of my various issues with the book, i thought i’d give it another look-through to see if there were any relatively simple, less exotic (read: cheaper ingredients) recipes i could try out.
with the arrival of spring comes a renewed interest in light and fresh foods for me, particularly raw ones. i’m sure that many people living in cold climates manage to sustain some high level of a raw diet, but i’m not going to be one of them. however, i am trying to be more conscious of what i am eating, which includes eliminating certain ingredients (mostly refined/white and overly-processed ones) and eating more raw fruits and vegetables. the green smoothie thing is still going pretty strong for me, provided i have the ingredients and don’t have to be at work by 630 am (this happens three times a week)…my blender sure is getting a workout lately! but luckily it’s a lot easier to clean than other blenders i’ve used. and i know i’m not alone in trying green smoothies or trying to “be better” about what enters my digestive system.
so, back to my day-off raw (or mostly raw) food endeavors… this makes it easier because i don’t necessarily have to worry about whether a will eat it because she’s at work. this actually spanned last night’s dinner, and today’s breakfast and lunch (dinner is tbd). i got a free organic pineapple from work last week, which was really the thing that reminded me of rfrw – one of the recipes i made from it when i first got it was a cheater version (i used canned pineapple) of the pineapple-cucumber gazpacho with jalapeno and cilantro. it claimed to make four servings, but it was easily two (or maybe i was really really hungry). since it was an extra-light soup, we had it with some quinoa. it was delicious! i could easily eat this on those blistering, muggy summer days, and it doesn’t require anything fancier than the pineapple.
because i wanted something different, and because a took the last banana to work, i ended up making a different kind of drink for breakfast this morning: the fig and grape cleansing shake.
red grapes, black mission figs, star anise, vanilla, a pinch of salt, water and ice.
i don’t have a vitamix so this wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, but it was a nice change, and very filling and hydrating. i haven’t had grapes in ages! i think it would be good with some ginger too.
and lunch today was definitely the most labor intensive of the three (though because of some nut soaking) and by far the most expensive (again because of the nuts). it is titled celeriac and green apple soup with black truffle. but i wasn’t going to buy myself a black truffle (much less know where to find one) or black truffle oil, when i already have a (seemingly endless, though tiny) bottle of white truffle oil. nor did i want to buy a plastic container of chervil to use as a garnish. all of this especially since i was using 3/4 c of macadamia nuts, which don’t come cheap! i didn’t follow the recipe exactly; i eyeballed measurements as far as the celeriac and green apple, and added some rosemary that i had in the fridge. my half batch this time seemed to make a lot, but the soup was elegant and tasty despite my lack of straining out the pulp and nut particles. i’d make this again for a special occasion, but it won’t be going on my list of regular raw soup recipes (that list isn’t actually real).
i still prefer ani phyo’s book to this one because of the simplicity and wallet-friendliness, but if i were to, say, plan a romantic candlelit dinner involving some raw food, i would probably use rfrw. i think i still need to work on the idea that raw food doesn’t have to mean a gourmet meal from ecopolitan, and try out some recipes that use seeds rather than nuts. this year’s garden should provide plenty of opportunity to make my own creations too. however, cooked food is not forgotten here, it’s just being supplemented.
curried cauliflower-lentil soup February 26, 2008
Posted by a-k in soup.1 comment so far
how many posts can i make in a day you ask? three, it would seem.
i had some cauliflower, some onions, and a handful of french green lentils to use up. i based this soup loosely on the moosewood simple suppers‘ curried cauliflower and chickpea soup. except i didn’t have chickpeas. and i did add berbere spice in addition to the curry. perhaps a bit too much, it seems, for this was spicy spicy spicy! but in a good and bearable way. served over rice or couscous, it would be even better.
raw, yellow rose, and dal February 5, 2008
Posted by a-k in ani phyo, beans and legumes, breakfast, cookbooks, fruit, grains and flours, herbs, nuts, raw, recipe, soup, vegetables, yellow rose recipes.8 comments
today i decided to try out a raw syrup for my flax cake. i didn’t directly use one of the syrup recipes in the book, but it was definitely based on that process, and using my latest produce fun-find: pixie tangerines. they are teeny, juicy, and seedless. this turned out so so good! i would use it on any pancake, raw or cooked. way tastier than plain ol’ maple syrup (but don’t worry, mp, i haven’t abandoned you)!
pixie tangerine and strawberry syrup (makes 2 servings):
juice from 1 tangerine
and
1 tangerine, peeled and segmented
2 medjool dates, pitted
3-4 strawberries, thawed if frozen
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
i stopped in at work and got an apple-lemon-kale juice. delicious! and greens to boot. after fiddling around at home a bit, i then made the heirloom tomato gazpacho from ani’s raw food kitchen.
some changes i made: i reduced the amount of olive oil based on my miso soup experience (good idea), and also added some fresh basil to the soup base. based on the lack of vegetables (only tomatoes and cucumbers featured) and the inclusion of some brazil nuts (which made the soup creamy), i’d say this was more along the lines of a raw cream of tomato soup + cucumbers. not that it wasn’t good – quite the contrary – i just found it a little misleading.
for dessert i made myself a strawberry-banana-almond shake. i wish i’d processed the almonds a little more for smoothness, but the taste was really good (sweetened with barhi dates):
as much as i wanted to make more raw food for dinner, i didn’t think that was going to fly with my lady all too well (she’s into my vegan cooking, even though she misses cheese, but is very afraid lately that i’m going to go raw. which i’m not, but i like to eat raw once a week or so). i have been sorely neglecting my copy of yellow rose recipes since i made the sweet potato and black bean flautas in december, and buried somewhere in my brain i remembered something called “green-wa.” it’s been snowy and gloomy all day, so some green deliciousness and a steamy bowl of dal seemed in good order.
(the gloominess is also responsible for the lack of clarity in my photographs it would seem.) the green-wa is delicious, though i admit to one change: i didn’t add the curry powder since i was making dal to have with it. and really, i didn’t miss it. a didn’t witness the preparation so when i handed her her dinner she said “why is it green like that?” i explained the onion-spinach-cilantro sauce, to which she replied “ohhhh! it’s so beautiful!” this certainly will be a much-used way of preparing quinoa in the future, and went great with the spicy and spiced red lentil dal (i made that up as i went along).
i’ll admit i got full rather quickly, and i think my raw meals earlier in the day were a big big part of that. not to mention some other things i’ve been noticing, bodily, about myself, that i won’t be repeating here…
thursday’s raw lunch February 1, 2008
Posted by a-k in ani phyo, raw, recipe, salad, soup.4 comments
japanese miso-shiitake soup (ani phyo) and red cabbage-kale salad with walnuts and a tangy citrus dressing
i’d wanted to make this yesterday, since i’d started the day out with another coconut-flax breakfast cake, but instead was invited to an impromptu vegan taco party (which was definitely delicious). i can’t call this a raw day, since i had a cup of coffee at 630 this morning, and will be headed to an ethiopian dinner later on, BUT, it was a pretty raw middle of the day for me. i got a beta blast after work (carrot, beet, and celery juice), and headed home to make the japanese miso shiitake soup and some kind of salad.
this soup was good, but really rich, and i couldn’t entirely finish my portion. i don’t think my body’s used to consuming large, uncooked, albeit flavored and diluted, amounts of olive oil. i also don’t think i really like the texture of large pieces of raw mushrooms either, particularly shiitake. (i was really digging the portabellas in the risotto, though.) the scallions were a nice contrast to the creaminess, but if i were to make it again i might add more vegetables with crunch to up that contrast.
today, apparently, the natural lighting gods were not with me, so the focus of my pictures is rather blurred. this salad i was more afraid to try, because while i love kale, i have never found myself loving it in raw form. it is bitter, fibrous, and, even cooked and smothered in oils and spices, it can be a lot to masticate. (i really like the word masticate in a creepy way.) this salad proved for me that there are ways around that: 1)make a flavorful vinaigrette, 2)use dinosaur/lacinato kale, and 3)slice it very thinly and let it marinate a little bit. i didn’t write it down, but it went something like this:
red cabbage and kale salad with walnuts and tangy citrus vinaigrette (serves 1):
2 large or 4 small leaves dinosaur kale, destemmed and sliced thinly
1 1/2 c red cabbage, sliced thinly
small handful raw walnut pieces
1 clementine, peeled and seeded
1-2 tbsp lime juice
splash apple cider vinegar
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp flax seed oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
dash cayenne
place kale, cabbage, and walnuts in a small mixing bowl. put remaining ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. pour over vegetable mixture and toss to coat thoroughly. let stand 10 minutes to marinade before serving.
this was, as you might imagine, pretty tart. i’d probably up the sweet end of the citrus, or maybe add a splash of agave nectar nectar, though it was certainly edible. it’s not a perfect recipe, but the good news after having made it is that i can EAT RAW KALE AND CABBAGE. well, the second part i knew, but it’s good to know that i can achieve the first, maintaining those healthy nutrients that cooking lessens. hooray! now i just need to get a good vinaigrette going and i’ll be eating raw kale and cabbage salads all the time. now, if only i can get motivated to have regular exercise when there are sub-freezing temperatures to contend with…
big ol’ catch-up post December 29, 2007
Posted by a-k in ExtraVeganZa, cake, papa tofu, ppk, soup, tofu, vctotw, yellow rose recipes.5 comments
with xmas, and a’s pre-xmas illness, i didn’t get to cook and bake as much as i’d wanted to, and documentation of what little was done was even more sparse. so this is a bit of a backlog of some things i haven’t had the chance to post.
my love affair with extraveganza! was in high gear the other week. i made two new recipes:
tofu baked in almond mint cilantro sauce (served over brown rice):
this was really tasty, creamy, and simple to make. there was both plain and smoked tofu, green peas, and a mint and cilantro almond butter sauce. so good! i will make it again for sure.
ginger fried rice:
with leftover almond mint cilantro tofu:
though not reflected in my usage above, what i really like about this recipe was that there isn’t any tofu in it. i love tofu fried rice, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes a big load of vegetables and some spice is all i want. i think i ended up adding a few extra vegetables because i had some in the fridge, but the recipe has a tasty variety already.
with my usual habit of not eating breakfast, and especially now that i have to work so early in the morning three days a week, me making anything beyond toast is a pretty big deal. inspired by oatmeal discussions on the ppk, i bough a can of mccann’s irish oatmeal and made enough for a couple of meals. irish oatmeal, cooked up in apricot nectar, with bananas, walnuts, and cinnamon:
the first recipe i tried from yellow rose recipes, per josh’s recommendation, was the sweet potato and black bean flautas. delightful! i also made the tangy sour cream (yum!). i had cilantro to use up so i also served it with chimichurri sauce, and some free avocados i got from work:
another cookbook/zine i am super excited about but hadn’t gotten a chance to use is kittee’s. i remedied that last night by making a cake, using the non-chocolate cake recipe from papa tofu, and adding some chopped rhubarb, cinnamon, and cardamom. i’m not much of a cake decorator, but here is the whole thing:
inside shot:
must say it smelled so good while baking that i almost didn’t decorate it! but i resisted, whipped up some maple frosting from vctotw, and ate a piece as soon as i was done with the photos. next time i will add more rhubarb (i wasn’t sure how tart it would be), and maybe even some raspberries or strawberries. yay kittee!
lastly, my dinner tonight… a creamy potato-leek soup with red chard. i was craving something like this all day at work, and also thought back to the christmas eve dinner soup that a’s brother in law made (though it involved lentils and ginger and fennel and coconut milk). i added a little bit of anise to the soup as a nod to the rye bread i didn’t have a chance to bake today (tomorrow it will have to be!), and i really liked it that way. i want to tweak the recipe a little bit, but this really hit the spot. the rich creaminess of a potato soup with the tender crunch and beautiful colors of swiss chard (not to mention nutrition), with a hint of anise and white pepper:
indian farina and vietnamese pho November 7, 2007
Posted by a-k in noodles and pasta, soup, tofu.1 comment so far
there’s a fairly new indian restaurant on hennepin that serves vegetarian- and vegan-only food, where i first got to try a dish made with cream of wheat. names seem to vary, but i think what i made closely resembles uppma (according to my copy of the art of indian vegetarian cooking), though i changed a few ingredients based on what i had at home and remembered being in the dish i had at mysore cafe. it has a lot of curry-type spices in it that are sauteed with green beans, tomatoes, raisins, cashews, and pistachios, before being stirred into some prepared farina. delicious! i think next time i’d go with the green peas like the recipe asks for, because they have a more delicate bite to them than the green beans i used.
on sunday night, i made vegetarian pho with a and her mom who was visiting. we love love love the pho at jasmine deli and this was my second attempt at recreating it. the problem seems to be in getting the veggie broth right–jasmine makes theirs fresh daily and is full of toasted shallots and all sorts of goodness that i have no recipe for. though this was better than the first time i tried (we accidentally got a veggie stock that had tomatoes in it–not the right flavor!), i still want to tweak this recipe a bit to get it better. this had rice noodles, tofu, green cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, bean sprouts, cilantro, and mint… homemade broth next time!
