Masala Mushroom Loaf. Yowza.

Tired of the same ol' same ol' mushroom loaves? Thyme for something new? In need of some sage advice?

Try this spicy sweet number on: mushrooms, yes, and some tofu - but minced chilis, sweet peas, curry leaves, and good, toasty Garam Masala kill the Fall Flavor Set and make room for Spring. In the middle of February. Yes plz.

I LOOOOVE the parchment paper trick when making vegetable loaves - the lovely browned crust the oven's worked so hard to make comes out in one piece, every time. Just cool for 20 minutes, invert over a platter, and there it is, ready for slicing.

Its the perfect opportunity to play with inclusions, but remember - greenery roasts to brown, so use vegetation with color. Small red pepper flowers work well. Green peas, carrots, and beets work too. Enoki mushrooms keep a light brown shade, so you can laminate your own little 70's Forest Scene on top of your next loaf, if you'd like, as long as you lightly coat your parchment with oil - otherwise, your lovely lamination might stick. And we can't have that!

Masala Mushroom Loaf
serves 4-6


1 tablespoon olive oil
12 small or 8 medium crimini mushrooms, minced
1/2 small red onion, minced
1/2 red pepper, minced
1 bird's eye chili, minced

1.5 tablespoons garam masala

7 ozs extra firm tofu, well drained, crumbled
8 dried curry leaves, crushed
2 tsp brown sugar
2/3 cup raw cashew pieces

2 tablespoons melted EB
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon flax meal
1 medium white potato, baked until soft, mashed (or 2/3 cup mashed potato)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp asofoetida

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tablespoon sea salt


Loaf pan
1 sheet parchment paper
Canola oil, to coat



Preheat the oven to 350f. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the loaf pan, sides included. Cut slits in the corner so it will fold flat to the pan's form. Spray a little oil on the bare metal before fitting the parchment inside - it'll help it stay in place.


Reserve a few pieces of red pepper for garnish. In a dry skillet or saute pan, toast the garam masala for 2-3 minutes, until very fragrant. Set aside.


Heat the olive oil in the same skillet and add pepper and onion. Cook 5 minutes, until pepper softens and onion is translucent. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, for 6-8 minutes, until mushrooms have released their liquid and almost all of it, but not quite, has steamed off.


Remove sauteed veggies to a heatproof bowl.


In a food processor, pulse cashews until they're the texture of large polenta - not powdery, with some chunks still there. Add to warm vegetables. Mix in remaining ingredients and taste for salt - add a teeny bit if need be. The mixture should be relatively dry, but not crumbly - add a little more Earth Balance or even a titch of water if it needs it.


Cut small triangles out of two or three sides of a piece of red pepper with a paring knife. Repeat for as many "flowers" as you'd like.

Arrange red peppers and a stem or two of cilantro on the bottom of the loaf pan, and press 1/2 a cup of the mushroom masala mixture over top, pressing down to keep things stuck in place. Add remaining loaf mixture, pressing down firmly, and flattening top with wet hands once the mix is used up.

Bake for 50 minutes covered, then another 15-20 uncovered, until loaf is browned on top and firm-ish to the touch. Let rest 20 minutes, invert onto a platter, and serve. I'll share the apple-lentil gravy we noshed ours with next week - it was pretty killer.

Cheers!

Baby, it's cold outside.

Not really. High today in N Cakalaka - 65.

That doesn't mean that a huge bowl of salty-sweet, birds-eye-chili laden curry isn't going down my gullet, tho.

Used to be, Cheese Fondue was the holiday indulgence of choice in my casa around Xmas-time. And I'd inevitably feel like crap, after eating 2 pounds of cheese and a ton of toasty bread.

This year, we're going lighter - getting out the woks - searing some bok choy, frying some 'fu. Grabbing chopsticks instead of fondue forks. Eating more healthfully.

The coolest (read:cheesiest) part? It's red and green bonanza in this here curry, because nothing shows off the insanely gorgeous color palette de Ma Nature quite so nicely as a big bowl of stir fry.

Christmas Curry

1 red pepper, julienned
1/2 pound baby bok choy, cleaned, bottoms removed
1/2 can baby corn, rinsed
Green beans, large handful, trimmed
1 red onion, chopped
1 block tofu, drained
4 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 small can red curry paste
1 can coconut milk (full fat please)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 bird's eye chilis, minced (honestly? I used 6. But I like my mouth to be on FIYAH)
1 1-inch piece of galanga
1/2 stalk lemon grass
4-6 kaffir lime leaves
8 fresh thai basil leaves
1 tablespoon sea salt
1.5 tablespoons palm sugar

Get the big wok out. No, not that one - the BIG ONE.

Drain your tofu and squeeze gently. Chop into 1 inch x 1 inch cubes.

Heat 2 tablespoons sesame oil over medium-high heat and stir fry your tofu until a crust forms, flipping often. If it gets sticky, add a little more oil. Drain on paper towels.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to wok and turn heat to high. Add onion, garlic, curry paste, bird's eyes, pepper and green beans, and toss to coat with oil/curry paste. Cover to let steam for a minute. Stir again. Cover again. Add baby corn and bok choy, stir to coat. Cover for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, stir, and simmer 5 minutes. Taste for salt.

Ah, the old bowl o' rice trick. Make a batch of jasmine rice, using a teeny bit more water than usual (helps to keep the rice sticky). Oil a small bowl, and press your freshly-cooked rice into it, packing it down. Invert bowl over your serving plate, tap gently, and remove.

Ladle curry around rice mountain, garnish with fried scallions and cilantro, and serve.

Happy Holidays, my dearies.

Latest obession: dumplings.

Is it the chill breezes and slow, drifting orange shower of leaves that make me want my bread cooked right in the pot with whatever stew I'm concocting?

Guess so.

Remember these, from last year? 'Member? MEMBER? Well, I've gone and lightened them, FREED them, if you will, from their cheesy shackles, but instead - a little pureed almond, some lemon, nutritional yeast (ye holiest of holy flavorings), a slow bake in a warm oven, and we're still tasting salty, stinky parm. In the dumplings, and on top, deeeeelish. Go ahead. Sprinkle it onna pizza.

Minestrone Stew with "Parm" Dumplings

You'll need:

A batch of delish minestrone stew a la this recipe

And for the dumplings:

1.5 cups flour (GF flour works fine - just add a tsp of xantham gum and up the liquid a couple of tablespoons, dearies)
4 tablespoons vegan margarine, very cold
2 tsp baking soda
Pepper
Finely minced parsley and scallion
1/3 cup rice or almond milk, unsweetened
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup vegan parmesian - recipe follows

Flour in a bowl, of course - add baking soda and salt - then all spices, sans cheeze. Mix well. Get a pastry cutter out and go at the margarine, just long enough for it to disperse and look breadcrumby. Add your parm. Add milk, a little at a time, and test dough by gathering it - you want it soft, almost sticky. If you need a few more drops of milk to reach the right consistency, go right ahead. Divide dough into 10 balls, about 2/3 the size of a golf ball. Dust them, and your bowl, with flour as you go, until the dough is gone. Set aside.

Bring your delicious stew to a boil, drop your dumplings in, one at a time, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 8-9 minutes.

No toast needed. Ladle soup, then a dumpling or two or three in a bowl, then another ladle of soup on top. Dust with another generous pinch of Parm, and you're golden.

Vegan Parm

1/2 cup almonds, blanched
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Dash toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon salt
Soaking water, 1/3 cup or less

Soak your almonds in just-boiled water for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain, reserving some liquid.

Get out your big blender, and pour the soaked almonds in. Add your lemon juice and salt, and start that motor running.

Add some liquid - you want the almonds to be pureeing, with the least amount of liquid added. Scrape down the sides, if they need some help. Add a little more soaking water, if you need to.

When a smooth consistency is reached, add the remaining ingredients, and whirr a few more times to combine.

Lightly oil a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 250f.

Scrape the pre-cheese out and spread it 1/2 inch thick in a corner of the baking sheet. Stick her in the oven.

Check and stir every 15 minutes or so to prevent browning. Eventually, it'll start to crumble. Keep going until the granules form naturally into small, parmesan-esque textures.

Enjoy :)

Busy busy...

And slowly, surely, things are falling into place.

I have a spot for my coffee grinder. Lazy susans for the RIDIC amount of spices I keep. A fridge that has a friggin' ice dispenser (oh ya, movin' on up!!). Basically, I'm warning you - a flood of kitchen porn is about to hit NFP, so avert your eyes, if you're sensitive to such utterly domestic stuffs.

Meanwhile, at a gorgeous house just off Providence, my first vegan/gluten free (well, almost) dinner party was thrown with success, nervousness, and finally, relief.

Challenging, cooking, warming, plating and serving 12 people all at once, all by my lonesome, good LORDY. And I didn't, even - one of the sweet girls attending helped me bus between 1st and 2nd course - because I was slinging polenta and ragu in the kitchen and totally forgot that salad plates, once divested of greens, want to get to the sink.

Still, people seemed happy. Even the elbow I almost landed on someone's nose while pouring water - no biggie.

3 courses and an app, here's what we noshed:

If I could only do these, every day, in perpetuity, I think I'd have found my true calling. We'll see.

The dessert wasn't quite as GF as I'd originally intended - and since this was the end of a 3 week program that involved abstaining from all alcohol, refined sugar, caffiene, animal products, and wheat, and people were in the mood to indulge, I snuck some refined sugar and flour in there. Tsk tsk. Note to self - coconut whipped cream must stay chilled until the last possible moment, or it loses it's integrity. I'd have preferred mine a bit fluffier.

Salads are salads, and this group had been eating tons of greens for weeks. Pistachios were nice, soft, slightly sweet. Contrasted with the mustard rather well.

You guys have seen me pull ye old ragu trick many times before - but not quite as healthfully as this night. Ground mushrooms and fava beans formed the base of the sauce -

- along with lots of roasted cherry tomatoes -

- broth, spices, and a cup of bourbon, and we've got some happy vegans. Collarded kale shreds on the side. Pattypans overfilled with rich cashew cheese mixed with herbs and farro. They were good, but as they usually are, a bit tough. It's not often the veggies get to grab a steak knife - but they did, that night.

Got two more planned this upcoming month. Stay tuned! Cheers!

For the Love of Injera

You know the stuff - floppy, covered in moon-scape mini-craters, tart, pancakey, delish. Awesomely and coincedentally - gluten-free!

You can get it fresh in Crown Town in piles of 8. 8 is a LOT of injera to get through, if it's only the two of you. We do our best.

I'm working on my Ethiop cooking skills - done the basics a few times now, and I think I'm improving. I don't feel any pressing need since we have some seriously awesome joints in town that are super veg friendly, but still, I tinker.

The only thing missing here are the tarty, stinky collards you find in a standard veggie combo. Because I still can't get Erk to dig on them greens. Sigh.

I also cheated and added braised tempeh to the regular Yetakelt W'et recipe I've made a number of times for a client - it was deeeelish and substantial. Being Indonesian in origin, I dunno if tempeh's made it over to Africa, so this is a non-traditional alteration. But hey, all in the name of sick deliciousness so it's aiiight.

Yetakelt W'et aka Ethiopian Vegetable Stew with Braised Tempeh

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cake tempeh, cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium carrot, chunked
1 handful green beans
2 red potatoes, diced
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 large red onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tablespoon berbere spices (Cedarland carries a 7 spice mix I like, consult your local Middle Eastern grocery store for this delicious stuff or buy it here)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 cup tomato paste
1.5 - 2 cups vegetable stock or water
salt to taste
minced parsley and scallion, 2 tablespoons each

I start by roasting all my veggies. You can braise your tempeh simultaneously.

Heat oven to 450f. Toss all your veggies, sans tomato, with the olive oil, some salt, and 2 cloves worth of your garlic. Spread on a pizza or baking pan, put a rack at oven bottom, and stick those suckers in there for 15 minutes or so, tossing every 5. Add a little water after the first and second tosses, to steam the taters a bit.

Toss your tempeh with a little sesame or coconut oil, some salt or bragg's, black pepper and 1 clove of the garlic. Feeling fiesty? Dust with berbere.

Set the tempeh in a baking dish in a single layer, add enough water (or veggie stock, if you've got some laying around) to just barely cover the tempeh, and stick it in the oven with the veggies. You want to give it at least 15 minutes to steam/braise, to get rid of the bitter taste tempeh often has. Ideally, all your liquid'll be gone - but it isn't necessary.

So, onto the stewing. Heat your coco oil in a deep pot and add onion and garlic. Saute 2 minutes. Add berbere and paprika, toss and toast a bit. Add your tomatoes and paste - stir and cook 4-5 minutes, until the fresh maters have softened. Now just scrape the entire baking pan of veggies into your pot, and add a cup of stock. Add your tempeh. You want a thick stew, but some sauce to sop with that amazing injera - add stock until the consistancy is reached.

Stir in your salt, parsley and scallion.

Deeeelish. Try this recipe for lentils - and a simple salad of tomato, cuke, lettuce, garlic, parsley and lemon - and feast like a king.

My first attempt at Buticha was kinda fail.

Too heavy handed with the berbere, not a long enough chilling time, the texture was weird. Flavor, too salty, too spicy (YUP I said it).

What am I talking about? This scrambled-egg like dish (sometimes referred to as "fasting eggs" ha!) I always scarf tons of when it's out on buffet. Made with chickpea or fava flour, some chili, mysterious mysterious, usually it's let sit overnight to solidify and then "scrambled" to a light, fluffy texture in the morning.

There was no fluffy in my buticha. I will not be discouraged! I will try again!

Cheers, dears :)

Sneaky Monkey Sauce

For the kids, for the picky eaters, for the "eeewww, carrots" kind of people, grown up and child alike - here is the sauce. Put it on a pizza. In a lasag. Over basketti. In ze calzone. Anywhere regular tomato sauce would make an appearance.

Tomatoes are such an acidic (and delicious!) veggie. They have special powers of conversion - seeping into other, more base substances, turning them red, softening them. Disguising them. Making it possible to get "I only eat chicken nuggets!" child (a client's) to unknowingly scarf 2 servings of veggies in one plate of lasagna.

Awesome.

And so, here it is, a personal-cheffing classic - Sneaky Monkey Sauce.

1 28-oz can diced/chopped tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
3 tablespoons garlic
1 small onion, diced
3 cups vegetables of your choice - I used mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli shreds, carrots, and celery, chopped roughly
Basil and oregano, 1 tsp each
2 tablespoons olive oil
Dash red wine
Salt to taste
Dash sugar

First, we're going to mince those veggies to a pulp. Pulsing is the way to go - you want them small and uniform.

At start:

And, finished:

This is actually the first step to my Mushroom Bolognese as well - mincey mc mincerson. Anyways.

Start the sauce as you would normally - heat oil, saute garlic and onion, 3-4 minutes, until onion softens. Add your veggies and turn up the heat - medium-high or so. Stir to coat with oil, cover, and let those suckers go for 3-4 minutes - I like to brown them a bit. Stir. Cover. Repeat.

Deglaze with wine and add all your tomatoes. Fill up your large tomato can half way with water and add that as well. Turn the heat to medium and simmer the sauce 40 or so minutes, until the tomatoes have fallen apart a bit. You'll have to stir pretty regularly, more often that you would normal mater sauce.

Taste for salt, add a little sugar or molasses. If things aren't simmering to indistinguishable-ville as quickly as you'd like, don't be afraid to get the potato masher out and have ats half way through the simmering.

Lookit that thing! Not even a HINT of the veggie power hidden inside. And remember, this sauce doesn't quite have the congealing power regular stewed tomato sauce does - so if you plan on putting this on a pizza, maybe add another 1/2 can of tomato paste, and simmer just a teeny bit longer.

Stupid Cheese.

Oh cheese... you are the reason.

I have thunderthighs.

I'm not vegan.

I look enviously upon those that can attempt this monstrously unhealthy, incredibly delicious feat.

It is only right that during this sacred month, I pay homage. But not all of us have panini grills.

For all the thrifting I've done, you'd think I'd have picked one up, but no. I do however have an AWESOME old waffle maker. And it makes killer GC's.

This one, as I'm sure you could guess, had kimchi in it, which is so not original. But I first slathered the sourdough with hot mustard:

Made for a nasal, aromatic experience. Straight up the nostrils, the cheddar/pickle/mustard bouquet went. Lovely. Maybe, just maybe, I'd cut the mustard (HA) down to one tablespoon next time, scraped thinly across both slices.

Kimchi Grilled Cheese

two slices sourdough bread
1-2 tablespoons prepared oriental mustard
1/4 pound sharp cheddar cheese, sli ced thin
1/2 cup homemade kimchi, chopped
cilantro, minced (optional)

oil spray
waffle iron

Easiest recipe ever to appear on NFP, this one: spray your iron and let it warm (mine has a little light that shines "ready!" when it's hot to trot). Spread mustard over both slices of bread. Layer cheese on one slice, scatter kimchi over the top, scatter cilantro over kimchi, place the other slice of mustarded bread atop. Press down to seal the fillings in place, then put carefully in the middle of the waffle iron. Close it as far as it will go, and use something heavy and non-flammable to keep the pressure on.

2 minutes, my darlings, that's all it takes. Pull it out, slice it, and go to town.

This kind of screams for syrup of some sort, but I had none at hand. What would you use atop this wafflewhich? Maple? A combination of Maple and something else for kicks? Hmm....

Mac 'n 'Chi

This one's for all my hot sauce + mac n cheese loving homies out there.

You know who you are. Frank's, Marie's, Tapatio, Tabasco, something red and fiery has to be sprinkled over the top for that pile of cheese and pasta to really sing for ya. Not like you wouldn't eat it if it weren't there. But you're the one waiting for Texas Pete when your pals are already shoveling.

The beauty of a batch of kimchi is that it's a long term investment - the longer it sits, the stinkier it gets. Its personality changes. It becomes sharper and more pungent with each passing day - textures dull, flavors blend. For some reason, I still eat it quickly, like it's about to go bad, whenever I make a batch. Seldom does a 2 pound kimchi'd napa sit around this house for longer than a week. Good for the guts (I hope).

I've done a ton of pastry baking this week, exploring whether or not I have the chops to start selling the stuff out of an awesome local coffee joint (the long, arduous tale of finding a legal kitchen to cook it in, we'll leave for another time). I think I'm getting there. The reason I tell you this is that I tried the holy cheddar/kimchi combo in a poptart-shaped pastry this week, and found it to be as near perfect a trio of flav as I'd tried in a long while (pasta/bread, cheddar, stinky, spicy pickle). Had to try it with my go-to macaroni cheese recipe, and, well, holy cannoli. Kinda made my week.

Yeah, I used my two-serving corningware. Having any more than that around would have proved quite dangerous, methinks. If you need more, just double/triple the ingredients as needed.

Mac 'n Chi
2 servings

1/3 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 1/2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
2/3 cup milk

1/3 - 1/2 cup kimchi
1 cup cooked elbow macaroni

Butter, for greasing the casserole

Chopped cilantro for garnish, sliced apple for serving

Make the bechamel (boil the noodles while this happens, if you don't have cooked noodles at hand) - melt your butter over medium heat in a small saucepan, add flour, whisk until flour cooks and turns slightly golden. Whisk in mustard, then milk, whisking constantly as the sauce thickens (should take about 2 minutes). Add your cheese and discard your whisk - use a fork to incorporate it completely. Taste for salt.

In your casserole, combine your pasta and kimchi. Add sauce and fold it all together GENTLY. Sprinkle any remaining cheese over the top (or some buttered bread crumbs, hmm yes).

Bake for 20 minutes in a 350f oven, until sides are bubbly. Broil for 2-3 until the top browns a little bit.

Serve with a lightly dressed lemon-arugula salad or sliced green apple. You could be like moi and eat it for breakfast, and get cheese-spaced early in the day, or save it for dinner. Reheats beeeeeautifully! Enjoy!

Burrito Algebra and Veggie Powdery

Oh, burrito season is upon us. It is perennial in my brain, but somehow, when it warms up a bit, those suckers taste even better.

Sarah + Co. (aka Tastespotting Brain) did this whole savory oat thing last month - risottos, pilafs, yowza - and since the only abnormality that showed up when we got our blood test results back last week (because, wow, now you have to give blood to get health insurance, hifive big brutha) was Erk's bad cholesterol - a teeny bit high. And so, I've gone and jumped on the salty oat wagon.

Three times now, we've gone with steel-cut oats rather than rice in our brekkie/dinner burritos, and three times, have been all "Damn, that was tasty". Lighter, somehow. Pleasantly piecey texture, like grits. Amenable to color and flavor sponginess, like rice. Totally a non-annoying substitution.

Of course, Egg + Cheese + Sour Cream + Fakon - Rice + Oats ≠ Healthy Cholesterol-free Burrito, but maybe just a teeny tiny bit of its badboyness is canceled out. Most importantly - supa delicious.

Yellow Oats 
makes 2 grande burritos

1 cup steel cut oats  (the quick-cooking kind, don't give me that face)
3 cups water
1 cube Chik'n boullion
Dash safflower strands
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
Dash sesame oil
1 tsp butter or earth balance
Pinch turmeric
1/2 cup frozen peas and corn

Easy peasy - bring your water to a boil, add all ingredients, cover, and simmer 8 minutes. Uncover and stir and continue simmering 1-2 minutes more, until the oats have thickened to a thick, almost sushi-rice consistency. Add frozen peas and corn. Mix well and plop down as layer one of a slightly classy, yet bad boy burrito.

Eaten with a pile of black beans - also lovely. Turmeric and safflower (a cheaper sister of saffron and available here if you'd like to play) are colorants, so you can consider them optional. 

You know I'm all about a properly assembled burrito, so I started by steaming the tortilla (12 or 14 inch plz, fellow crown-towners can find them here) like so:

Just fold it up a bit and gently lay it into the colander, set over a pan of simmering water, cover, and cook 1-2 minutes. Flip and do the other side too - just one minute'll do.


Start with oats, then beans, then eggs, then fakon, then cheese (keeping all the warmness in the southern hemisphere) moving onto salsa, sliced avocado or guac, sour cream or yogurt, then greens (julienned lettuce, sprouts, chopped cilantro). Quickly roll that sucker up and wrap in foil, if you aren't eating immediately. If you are, go at it with napkins at hand.

yes plz

And yay, I get to announce the winner of my little giveaway! Thanks for caring, lovelies! I didn't really know what I was doing, so I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper, cut it into 4 even pieces, put them in some kid's punk rock fedora that's randomly been in my car for two weeks, and pulled one out.

Hooray Pretend Chef! You'll be getting some super-cool Spinach and Tomato powder in your mailbox sometime next week. If you guys want to pick some up for yourselves, check out this link! 


Thanks for playing my darlings! That was fun. We'll have to do it again soon. Until then, eat lots of burritos and think of moi!

Weekly Eat - Chicken-Fried Tofu

This recipe is so flexible, you can make it a ton of different ways:

Vegan, replacing egg with egg replacer (redundancy dept. of redundancy)
Gluten free, by dredging in GF all-purpose flour first, using GF breadcrumbs second (I make it this way most often because the crust holds up superbly, even between slices of tomato and lettuce!)
Healthy, by drizzling with olive oil and baking rather than frying (directions below)
Parmesan, by mixing some cheese into the breading mix and stuffing with a little more, plus herbs
Sesame, by adding seeds to the breading mix and drizzling with sesame oil when baking

Last night, I made it just veg - the recipe's below. Check out that golden, crispy crust:

This either ends up next to a pile of roasted garlic mashed potatoes and collards, or in a big ol' club sammich, like so:

Pretty killer. And, honestly, best right out of the pan. I've been known to go through a third of a block of tofu just standing at the fry station! With fakon, onions, tomato, lettuce, plus mustard and mayo, you've got something between a BLT and a Club Sandwich - yeah, you might pull a muscle opening wide enough to get that whole thing in your mouth BUT it'll be well worth it.

Classic Chicken Fried Tofu
serves 3-4

1 block extra firm tofu
1 cup hot water mixed with dash garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, dash sesame oil, dash Bragg's
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
Fresh black pepper
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup panko
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 eggs mixed with 1 tablespoon water, beaten

Corn or Vegetable oil, for frying

Slice your tofu shortways into 8 pieces and marinate in the water+garlic+salt+Bragg's for 30 mins.

On a plate, mix your flour, salt and pepper. On another, mix your yeast, panko, onion and garlic powders.

Scramble your eggs in a bowl big enough to fit a piece of tofu.

Straight from the marinade (let a tad drip off) dredge the tofu first in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, being careful not to rub the coating off as you go (wash your fingertips between tofu slices - accumulated egg/flour will mess with your coating). Set aside on a dry plate or cutting board. Repeat until all slices have been dredged.

Heat your oil to medium-high and put out a plate lined with paper toweling. Three at a time is what fits best in my 10 inch skillet, but break up your batches as you see fit! They'll need less than a minute a side, then carefully flip, another minute, remove to toweling to drain.

The only bummer about frying these babies is that the oil collects a fair amount of refuse, which you then have to skim off/strain out. Baking them in the oven is cleaner, but makes for a drier slice (if you decide to go this route, bake them in a preheated 375f oven for 20 minutes each side, until the crust nicely golden and firm to the touch).

Try this on your "I don't like Tofu" pals and convert them. Or make it for your inaugural spring picnic this weekend, perhaps?

I love yooo, Soondobuuuu.

I'm going to tell you guys a secret.

I drink pickle juice.

I know, I know. Not healthy. And only occasionally. And I'm even snobby about it - my fav is the water that surrounds properly fermented sour dill pickles. Nerdy, yup.

So when a pal o' mine described to me one of her "I miss Cali" dishes, and how it was kinda pickle soup, I knew I had to either find it somewhere in town or make it myself. And since we're only just starting to see Korean joints pop up in CLT, the latter had to do. She linked me this place - and I went to town.

OMG, baby kimchoy!! Or Bokchi? Hmm. Anyways - a week of fermenting baby bok choy in a shrimp-free Chi recipe produced stinky, wilty, and dare I say, cute results. Little pockets of pickly, spicy awesomeness. They're kind of a mouthful - if you prefer your kimchi more dispersed throughout the brew, chop them a bit before adding.

Traditionally, this stew is made over an open flame in a clay pot, with everything going in fresh and cooking in stages, ending up as one big bowl of tofu, veggies, kimchi, pepper powder or paste, broth, and a big ol' egg cracked in at the very end. Insane. Spicy. Textural. Awesome. I was a tad dubious about my Japanese porcelain holding up to the heat, so I cheated and made the stew in a pot and ladled it into by bowl of choice. I love this dish, and will have to hunt down a proper Ttukbaegi. I'll bet Super G has one hidden somewhere in that vast, stinky space.

Soondubu jjigae with Kimchi
(aka KimChoy stew with Tofu, Veggies, and eggs)
serves 2.


For the broth:
3 cups - use either homemade veggie stock or, like me, faux-beef boullion + water (mushroom would be awesome too)
1 piece kombu
2 bird's eye chilis, split down the middle
Dash sesame oil
3 shitakes, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped


For the rest:
1 cup kimchi
1 tube soondubu
Green onions, chopped
Cilantro, chopped (optional)
1 large egg
3 tablespoons (or more to taste - you know me and tongue-searing, I used more like 5) Korean red pepper paste (like this)

Easy peasy. Heat your oil over medium heat either in your Ttukbaegi or small soup pot and saute onion and mushrooms for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 10 minutes, until flavors have melded. Remove kombu.

Now, add your pepper paste, herbs, and kimchi, and stir well. Carefully break your tofu into the pot, piecing it up a tad bit, but leaving some large chunks. While soup is still simmering, crack the egg in. Now, you can either stir it in and enrich your stew or let it poach a bit. I chose the former.

One of the rad things about the afore-mention Super G mart we've just recently been blessed with is that they have TONS of banchan. I love lotus root, so I picked up some sesame-soy marinated root to float in my bowl amidst all the salty, spicy awesome.

Serve with banchan and rice. Soooo goooood.

This is how I like it, anyway.

Isn't that the translation? Okonomiyake = "as you like it" in Japanese?

I immediately considered putting tater tots in mine, but settled for slightly-less-evil Bacos instead. Yeah.

I'd wanted to try my hand at this since seeing Closet Cooking's Shitake Okono take the cake for a Tastespotting recipe contest. Plus, my wok is the perfect size for personal-Japanese-pizzas. AND! Little Sis let it be known that this is her fav food, so I had to practice for some future birthday surprise.

Kevin has another recipe on his site that uses whole wheat flour - which worked out swimmingly and added an oaty, grainy flavor.

The traditional recipe calls for Dashi - made most often with fish, so I went with an imported mushroom broth. Steeped with a little kombu, it had a briney, hint of the sea taste. Perfecto. And since I'm a hot toddie about spicy, I mixed some prepared wasabi with the Mayo before spider-webbing our 'cakes. And covered them with toasted sesame chili oil. So many flavors. So lovely.

Baco Okonomiyaki
adapted from Closet Cooking's awesome recipe
makes two pancakes

2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 small head of cabbage, sliced thin
1/2 cup bacos
1/2 cup broth steeped with one small piece of kombu - for the broth, I used a Japanese mushroom-flavored
Handful of fresh bean sprouts
Handful of frozen edamame
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound shitake mushrooms, stems removed
1 tablespoon soy sauce, or more to taste (whole wheat flour has a sweet undertone - you might want to add a tad more sauce if you likey the salty)
Oil to coat your skillet or wok

To top:

Fried shallots (find these at your Viet/Thai grocery)
Pea shoots (lurv ya TJS!!!)
Chili oil
1/2 cup Katsu sauce
1/2 cup Mayonnaise, preferably Japanese, mixed with 1 tsp wasabi powder

Let's do this.

First, you'll need to saute your cabbage and mushrooms. Heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in a wok, and add your cabbage. Sear them on one side till a tad brown, about 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and a little water and cover your wok, letting the cabbage steam - let it cook 3-4 minutes, until soft. Set aside.

Slice your mushrooms into strips and heat another tablespoon of sesame oil in your wok. Add shrooms and cook over medium heat, until they soften. Shitakes are little sponges, so I couldn't resist adding a little leftover mushroom broth to them just as they were finished cooking - to pump that awesome, earthy flavor. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix your eggs and broth. Add flour and whisk. You want a thin pancake-batter like consistency - adjust if needed. Add all of your veggies, garlic, bacos, soy sauce, edamame, and mix well.

Heat a tablespoon and a half of sesame, olive or veggie oil in your wok until it shimmers. Quickly spoon a large ladleful of batter into the wok's bottom, using the back of the ladle to spread the batter into an evenly-flat circle. Let it cook 4-5 minutes a side - it'll brown nicely. Grab the biggest spatula you have and carefully flip the pancake. Cook another 3-4 minutes, until firmly set. Repeat with pancake 2.

You know I just put the mayo mix and the katsu sauce in a ziplock and cut a little hole to get that tubing action. You might have actual bottles. If so, cheers! Either way, carefully draw a spiral with katsu, then mayo, around the pancake. Use a chopstick to drag lines through the pattern. Preeeeeety. Top with chili oil, shallots, anything you'd like. Thinly sliced nori would have been awesome but Erk's a seaweed hater, so we left it as-is.

Cut into 6 slices and serve. Awesome.

I'm getting back into peanut-butter love, so we ate a simple peanut/sesame/udon salad as a side. It was almost as good as the 'cake - seriously, I love this stuff. For my gluten-free homies out there - try it with brown rice spaghetti. Works perfectly.

Peanut Butter/Sesame Udon Salad
makes 3-4 servings

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced ginger
4 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon agave nectar
Dash rice vinegar 


8 ozs Udon or Soba noodles, prepared al dente


1 cup sliced fresh veggies - I used a small roma tomato and 1/3 of an english cuke
Small handful sprouts
1 tablespoon each black and white sesame seeds, to top
Thin sliced red onion, to top 
Crushed red pepper to top - if you like the spicy.

Prepare your noodles according to package directions, rinse with cold water, and set in the fridge or freezer to chill.

Puree all the sauce ingredients in your blender for a minute or two, till totally uniform.

Toss your sliced veggies and sprouts with your noodles, add sauce, and wrastle that dressing into every nook and cranny. I admit - I gave up on my tongs and used my paws. It's a heavy salad.

Put a handful onto a small plate, top with sesame seeds, thinly sliced onion, and crushed pepper. 

Eat and be merry. Love!