Fiesta Rice Salad - it's so nowtro!

Rice salads - the collection of aged, yellowing 4-H lady's club spiral bound cookbooks I have are full of "salads" made of starch and bean. And jello. And pudding. Good god.

But I'm on a mission with a couple of tots I know, a client's sweeties - to get them to eat more raw veggies - and as you know, it works best when disguised. Since these ladies are even more obsessed with the Mexican flavor set than I am, I figured, why not surround them greens with yellow rice and beans? Maybe they won't even notice the vitamins and fiber going down.

Fiesta Rice Salad
serves 6

3 cups goldenrod rice (aka yellow brown rice) (homemade is best! Check this technique and sub brown rice for oats - chill the rice for 15 minutes in the freezer after making)
1 large or two small cans black beans, drained
1 calabaza squash, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1 carrot, diced small
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
12 -1 4 green beans, chopped
1 handful cilantro, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 avocado, very firm, chopped
1 tomato, chopped

marinade:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
dash sugar
dash cumin

dressing:
Juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon olive oil
Dash cumin
4 cloves garlic, minced
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon sugar or maple syrup
Freshly ground black pepper

Easy peasy.

Marinate your mushrooms, zucchini, carrots and green beans in the marinade for 20-30 minutes. Drain and discard marinade.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and add dressing. Toss very well, cover, and chill for at least an hour. Like curry, this dish is best served the next day, as the flavors meld and soak each other up.

Complete meal in a bowl - shred some romaine or spinach, dollop of salad, hot sauce, perfect. Although maybe not for baby tongues - leave off the 'sauce for the little 'uns!

Gettin' Jiggy Like That

I dunno if I've told you guys this, but I bought a house. It is awesome. It was built in 1952. It has lots of brick as well as asbestos. A kitchen window. A fireplace. It has a shed in the back yard, covered in ivy, that I will make paintings in.

I've been sanding floors, staining things, painting all the weird beige-colored walls white. I found sawdust in my underwear yesterday. I'm not kidding.

So basically, I'm qualifying my week of silence - los siento, mi hombres y mujeres. My brain is frying from all the nesting instinct hormone its producing. Do forgive.

Buuuuut anyway - I'd love to get you lovelies to check out this pile of awesome, vegan delish over at my pal Ensley's blog - The Preppy Vegan - where I'll be doing a post a week of simpler (but still delish) meals while she's doing her Teach for America thang.

Vegan Migas are my new obsession. Come and see how many toppings you can fit on there before you can't see the tortillas any more. It's fewer than ya think!

Plate of raw, Mexi goodness

Lordy lordy, it has been insanely, scorchingly, ozone-ladenly hot in CLT for about a week now.

Blech.

There will be no ovens turned on. There will be no burners and frying pans. There will be the raucous sound of blenders blending and food processors processing, the fake-warming in a barely-toasty oven, however.

I've been reading about and toying with the idea of eating more raw stuff lately, inspired by my natural instinct to gravitate towards the raw section of any salad bar - I don't go for the predressed stuff, it's always everything, jicama, beets, brocolli, cabbage, celery, zucchini, whatever's on there and fresh, get ye on my plate. Now. Results in a teetering tower almost every time, and some well-mannered Biddy's always giving me the "you're a pig" eye. Whatever, girl.

So I found this recipe for cauliflower rice - and it sounded texturally rad, but I didn't like the idear of fresh tomatoes - so I changed it up a bit. Maybe you like.

Raw Mexican Rice
serves 4

1 medium head cauliflower, leaves and stem removed
4 cloves garlic, minced
11/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground ancho chili 
1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
Dash Coco Aminos or Himalayan Sea Salt
Dash sea salt
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes in oil, minced 
Safflower threads, a pinch
2 tablespoons each finely minced cilantro and scallions 


Easy peasy. In tow batches, process your cauliflower with the "s" blade until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Remove to a large bowl.


Toss remaining ingredients and let marinate on the counter for 30 mins - 1 hour, to let flavors blend.

There's a lot going on up there, so let me tell ya how I put ours together.


From bottom to top:


Lettuce, chopped
1 cup cauli rice
1 cup marinated veggies (zucchini, mushroom, asparagus, some coco aminos, some garlic, some lime juice, little raw agave)
minced tomato
Cashew Sour Cream (below)
Avocado-Lime puree (basically guacamole without the 'maters)
Raw Hot Sauce (also below)
and more minced cilantro. 


Filling and super yum, I felt all KINDS of energized after eating this.

Cashew sour cream is simple - I cultured mine, since I already had a batch of cashew cheese going - 


1 cup cashews, soaked for 6-8 hours
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Water
Himalayan Sea Salt (this stuff is awesome, and pink, to boot! Beware, tho - a lot of raw foodists consider pure salts un-raw, but as for me, I gotta have it)


In a blender, puree all your ingredients for a few minutes until smooth. You'll probably add anywhere between 1/2 cup and 1 full cup of water to get a creamy, pourable texture.

You guys KNOW I had to have me some hot sauce.

Raw Hot Sauce


1-11/2 jalapeno (sniff your peppers - you'll get a bit of a burn in the nostril if your jalapenos are hot hot hot, in which case you'll only need one)
1/4 cup water
Dash cold-pressed olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of 1/2 lime
2-3 springs cilantro
Dash Coco Aminos or awesomepinksalt


Blend away. Make sure you warsh your paws afterwards - this stuff is potent.

Enjoy darlings!

Tamales, Cont'd

I was an undercover tamale cart last weekend - hauling a huge, gleaming pot full of cornhusk-wrapped masa + delicious fillings all over town.

Well, to two parties. But I'm trying to sound important.

So we've done soy chorizo - we've done mole seitan - and this time, there were three: Mole Tofu + Bean (vegan+gluten free, hooraaay!), Jalapeno Popper and Kimchi-Cheddar. Once you've got the masa situation handled, it's easy to do multiple fillings - especially simple ones, like kimchi/cheddar and pepper/cheese. Mole, as I'm sure you know, takes a whole lot longer.

A small, shameful hiatus was taken from my summertime veganism in the name of the Holy Combo. And Hail Mary, was that sucker good. But my favorito tamalito, to be sure, was the Jalapeno Popper.

I know it doesn't look like much but TRUST A SISTA that thing was killer. The peppers infused the masa with spicy aromatics - I used a combo of pickled jalapenos and charred poblanos, all fiery and delicious - and the cheese, while steaming halfway out of a few of the tamales and making the pot a bit messy, saturated the masa with tartly salty awesomeness.

I'll be trying this vegan-style with cashew cheese in the near future. I think they could be the bad-assest, healthiest tamales ever known to man. Remains to be seen.

Jalapeno Popper Tamales

makes 20-25 tamales

for the filling:

12 ozs sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 poblano peppers
4-6 pickled jalapenos, seeded and stemmed
2/3 brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp salt
minced cilantro and scallion, 1 tablespoon each

for the masa:

3 cups masa harina
3 cups vegetable or faux-chicken stock, lukewarm
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned corn kernels (or frozen + charred, a la Trader Joe's frozen)
1 head garlic, roasted
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, whipped

30 corn husks, plus 5 torn apart to tie

A steamer or fake-steamer set up like this

Onwards! Into the Abyss!

Char your poblanos over a gas flame or under the broiler until their skin blackens. Toss into a paper bag to steam.

Shred your cheddar into another bowl. Chop your jalapenos and herbs and add - then add minced poblanos and cream cheese. The heat from the roasted peppers will thin your cream cheese a bit - mix everything well and taste for salt, add if needed. Stick in the fridge to chill while you prepare the masa.

Mix your masa, salt, baking powder in a large bowl. In a food processor, pulse your broth, corn and roasted garlic until nice and pulverized - add to the masa and mix well.

Whip your shortening in a small bowl and fold into the masa.

Soak your corn husks in warm water for about ten minutes. Choose 5 of the wimpiest ones to tear into strips for tying.

My steamer set up is kinda strange, but this is how I do it - I place a small quiche pan, face down, in the bottom of a large pot and boil 3 cups of water, which I pour into the pot, reaching almost to the top of the quiche pan, which I then sit a large strainer on top of to hold the tamales. The water cools a bit as I make the tamales, but it prevents mess later, as you'd have to try and pour hot water around the huge pile of tamales waiting to be steamed in your pot.

Take about a half cup of masa and press it into a husk, going for a rectangle shape, at the top of the husk, center. With a spoon, lay about 1.5 tablespoons of filling in the center of the masa. Pick the husk up and peel one side of the masa away from the husk, letting it curl around the filling, then wrap the husk in a cylinder and fold the bottom up, forming a package open at top.

Tie in the middle with a torn piece of masa. Sit in your strainer/steamer, open end up.

Repeat until your masa is adios. Tuck remaining soaked husks around the tamales, saving three to drape over the top of the pile, edges tucked in. This'll help retain steam.

Cover your pot with a lid and a towel, turn heat to high, and as soon as you hear boiling activity, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for an hour.

Probably one of the best beer-accompaniers EVAR, fresh, warm tamales.

The tofu mole ones were a hit as well, so don't let their lack of cheese scare ya. Just make a half batch of this sauce, toss with a can of kidney beans and some pan-fried tofu, and use the masa recipe above - but increase your filling to 2 tablespoons per, to account for tofu and bean content.

Ah, summer.

I like to party.

And I love bringing food to parties.

It started out when I did a lot of hanging with a particularly non-soy-friendly crowd in NYC - I knew there'd be bacon in everything people brought to whatever potluck/shindig was getting crammed into someone's incredibly tiny apt, so I'd play it like I was going to anyway - you know, I just had this vegan lasagna in the fridge and it needed to get eaten.

Over time, I've developed preferences for party-friendly food. It can't look confusing - ingredients should be evident. Small is good - one hand probably has a drink in it. Slimy, gooey textures scare people off (I learned this after making a crock pot full of Swedish Meatballs for a cocktail party that people would stare at suspectfully as they walked by, like some meatball amoeba was about to pour forth and consume them). Basically, it stands to reason that if you can get everything you want people to taste in a single bite (maybe two), that's the best way to go.

That's not to say I'm above standing at the wedding buffet, scooping pounds of spinach/artichoke dip onto a plate waaaay to small to hold the steaming mass, but if I'm the one at the wheel, things usually get tiny and complicated. Anyway.

Hello, burrito sushi.

Fiesta time, mi mujeres y hombres. You might think nori + salsa = weird, and you'd be right. But goodweird.

This is a pretty straightforward recipe - just make a batch of sushi rice but treat it like this recipe for yellow oats - some faux-chicken (or real, if you're so inclined) stock, saffron, garlic, a dash of turmeric for color.

Then, for the filling -

Queso Fresco (vegan darlings - try some Daiya OR crumble a teeny bit of firm tofu, toss with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder)
Refried Black Beans
Salsa (mine's simple - handful cilantro, one large tomato diced fine, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1/3 medium red onion diced fine as well, half a lime's juice, 1 fresh jalapeno, again, fine dice, salt and pepper to taste)
Sour cream (again, darlings - I love this recipe for Soy Sour Cream, give it a whirl or just leave it out!)
Shredded Lettuce
Avocado

- being as conservative as possible. I used about 3/4 - 1 tablespoon of each filling, and still ended up with jumbo rolls.

As long as you don't add any oil or fat to the rice, it'll maintain its stickiness enough so that you don't have to add vinegar/sugar.

Just a piece of advice - if you're making these for 5-6 hours in the future (and especially if they're sitting overnight) double wrap these rolls with nori.

Burrito Sushi Rice

makes enough for 6 rolls

2 cups short grained white rice ("sushi" rice) washed
3 1/2 cups water mixed with 2 cubes faux-chicken boillion
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon safflower
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Boil the broth and seasonings and add rice, stir, and cover. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Let sit 10, uncover and stir, and cool (either on the stove, or if you're anxious to get burrito-sushi makin, in the freezer).

I totally made a batch a couple weeks ago (because I had a ton of fajita making leftovers and wanted to do something weird with them, you know how it is) with standard sushi rice and they were decent. Flavoring the rice really makes this shine, however.

Slice, drizzle with hot sauce, skewer with festive toothpicks, and serve.

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!

Chilaquile Pie - awesome with Mole Tofu.

A cross between Tortilla Pie and Quiche, this combination of corn tortillas, eggs, queso fresco and assorted veggies is soft, make-aheadable, and delicately tasty. I had a serious Mole craving this week and this was the perfecto side to all that rich, chocolately sauce. Try it as a brunch side with scrambled eggs! Or even go nuts and stick a fried egg on top (or in between layers, ooooooh)!

Chilaquile Pie

20 corn tortillas, soft taco size
4 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper
1/2 pound queso fresco, sliced thin
1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, sliced
1 zucchini, slced to rounds
2 cloves garlic
6 leaves epazote, minced
Parsley and chives, 1 tablespoon each, minced

Preheat oven to 375f.

In a skillet, saute your garlic, epazote, parsley and chives in 2 tablespoons olive oil and lay the zucchini in the pan in a single layer. Press them down with a spatula, cover, and sear over high heat 2 minutes. Flip and get the other side. Remove to plate to cool.

Grease a 9 x 4 inch loaf pan or baking pan. Tear your tortillas into triangles. On the bottom, layer 12-14 pieces of tortilla in a complete layer - scatter poblano pepper over. Layer more tortilla pieces, then the queso fresco in a single layer. More tortilla pieces, then the zucchini. Use up your tortillas for the top layer.

Whisk or blend eggs, sour cream, salt, milk, and pepper in a bowl and carefully, slowly pour over the casserole, letting the mix trickle through the layers. Let sit 20 minutes to absorb a tad bit.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until center has puffed. Cool.

We noshed our CP with Tofu Mole - fried blocks of marinated tofu stuffed with roasted Pepitas, a little queso, and diced mushrooms, atop a ladleful of this well-loved mole recipe. A little sour cream on top of the Chilaquile Pie was the finishing touch - a filling, delicious meal.

A little retro, a little weirdo - Waldorf Salad Quesadilla

Happy New Year my dears!

This is totally one of those things I'd never make for myself, but that my clients LOVE. Sweet, tart, slightly creamy. Desert for lunch, a little.

Of course, my ability to love Waldorf Salad goes up exponentially when it's sammiched in between two quesadillas and a bunch of sharp cheddar. Mmmmm hmmmm. If you'd prefer to preserve the illusion of healthy lunch, however, eat it atop lettuce or in a wrap. The addition of tofu makes it a super-complete meal.

Tofu Waldorf Salad

1 block firm tofu, diced to 1/2 inch sized pieces
Vegetable oil, to fry

1 granny smith apple, cored, diced
1 small bunch grapes, destemmed, cut in half
2 ribs celery, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
2/3 cup candied pecans, cut in fourths
Parsley, chives, scallions - about 1/4 cup fresh herbs, minced
Black pepper, lots
1/3 cup dried cherries or cranberries, rehydrated a bit with boiling water for 10 minutes
1/2 cup mayonaisse
1/4 cup sour cream
Dash lemon juice

Heat vegetable oil to fry in a a large pot or wok - fry tofu in batches to golden-crust land. Drain well on paper towels and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes or so. 

The rest is easy peasy. Mix everything but the mayo, sour cream, and lemon juice in a large salad bowl. Mix the remaining three ingredients in a small bowl and using a scraper, add to salad, toss, and serve. Best made the day before to let the flavors meld a bit.

This is kind of like the Club Sammich Quesadilla I posted last month - a weird quesadillafication of a classic salad sandwich. I figured it'd be hella delicious since apples and sharp cheddar are soooo tasty together, and it was. This is a thick quesadilla, so we're going to do this with an oven broiler instead of the skillet, so you don't lost filling when you flip.

Waldorf Quesadilla

2 10-inch burrito tortillas
1 cup Tofu Waldorf Salad
2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar

Lay one tortilla out on a pizza pan and sprinkle half the cheddar over. Spoon the salad over the cheese, spreading, until it uniformly covers the tortilla. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar over the salad and press the second tortilla onto the stack firmly. 

Use the top rack position in your oven and broil the quesadilla on high for 2-3 minutes, until the tortilla starts to brown in spots. Using a plate to flip, cover the quesadilla with a plate, flip the whole thing over, and carefully slide the quesadilla back onto the pizza pan. Return to the oven to broil the over side.

Let cool 5 minutes and slice. Deeeeelicious!

Retro time! Mexican Lasanga

I've been collecting old spiral-bound cookbooks for the last year or two while on my thrifting adventures - I have something like 15 now. Most of them are church fundraisers, and all of them have at least one Jell-O salad recipe.

We won't be making Ham in Aspic here at NFP, don't worry.

It is fun to trace recipes that are still standards now back to the 60s and 70s, tho - watching the spellings change in the non-English words (I found a recipe for Buf Borgonion, I kid you not), seeing margarine replace butter then shortening replace margarine then back to butter, it's all very entertaining. Obviously, there are huge expanses of each volume devoted entirely to Casseroles. And one that makes an appearance in one of my earliest books (1962, the publish date on that one) is Mexican Lasagna.

I have plans to sift through some of the stranger recipes and veggie-fy them in the coming months, but for now, that recipe serves as merely inspiration. Keep your eyes peeled for retro veggie dishes in 2011!

Mexican Lasagna


For the sauce:
1 28oz can tomatoes, diced or crushed
3 tablespoons butter
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon cumin, toasted
1 jalapeno, seeded, minced
Dash sugar
1 tablespoon faux-chicken or vegetable broth concentrate 
1 stick cinnamon, whole
Salt to taste

For the rest:
1 box no-boil lasagna noodles 
1 package TJ's soy chorizo or 10 ozs faux-hamburger crumbles
10ozs shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
2 Poblano peppers
1 package Requeson cheese or Ricotta
2 garlic cloves, minced
Dash Mexican Oregano
2 eggs, beaten
1 can black beans, drained 

Roast your poblanos either over a gas burner, turning until charred, or under your broiler, until the skins bubble and turn black. Place them in a paper bag to steam for 15-30 minutes. 


Melt your butter in a saucepan and add garlic, onion, jalapeno. Saute until onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir well to mix. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until tomatoes have softened and flavors blend. Remove from heat.



Preheat oven to 375f.

De-seed and peel your poblanos. I do this under running water to make the skins slide off more easily. Mince the peppers and put them in a small bowl - add your Requeson (a Mexican ricotta-style cheese) or Ricotta. Add garlic, oregano, and taste - if you've used Requeson, you won't need to salt this. Add eggs and mix well.


Remove cinnamon stick from sauce and puree with an immersion blender or puree in batches in your food processor. 


Oil a 9 x 9 or 11 x 6 baking dish and layer as follows: 1 ladle of sauce, noodles, beans, chorizo, requeson, Jack cheese. Repeat twice, reserving most of the Jack cheese for the top layer. Top with remaining sauce and Jack cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and broil top of lasagna until brown in places.



Serve with hot sauce and minced jalapenos. 


Happy Holidays, my dears! If you're anything like me, you'll be cooking up a storm for family and friends. Which is awesome for vegetarian me - it feels like missionary work AND I can eat everything on the table! If I can manage to grab some shots of the grub, I'll put them up here for showing-offs sake. Cheers and happiness to you and yours!

15 minute dinner - Club Sammich Quesadilla

This is a pretty evil one, for lots of reasons: faux-meat heavy, and super cheesy. But. I. Am. Obsessed. Plus it's the perfect pocket/picnic food, since it's so structurally sound. For any meaters out there - just replace the Facon and Tofurkey with the real thing - you'll dig, promise.

Club Sammich Quesadilla

First you must forage for and gather your ingredients. And by foraging, I mean hit TJ's.

For each 2 tortillas, you'll need:

1 small roma tomato
2 scallions
2/3 cup shredded cheese, TJ's Smoked Blend, preferred
4 slices Tofurkey, sliced to strips
2 pieces Facon, crumbled
Mayo
Mustard
Black pepper
1/2 avocado, sliced
Couple dashes hot sauce (hey, you knew I'd stick it in there)

As your cast-iron's a-heating over a medium-high burner, thinly slice and salt your tomato, chop your scallion, and thinly slice your avocado. Then spread about 2/3 tablespoon mayo on one tortilla, 1/2 tablespoon mustard on the other.

Lay the mayo tortilla in the hot skillet and quickly layer as follows:

Cheese
Tomato
Tofurkey
Hot Sauce
Bacon
Avocado
Scallion
More Cheese

And then press the mustard tortilla on top, with the palm of your hand. Don't be afraid to squish pretty hard, you want it all to stick.Check frequently by sliding your spatula under and lifting the edges - spots of brown are good, lots of brown is bad. Flip carefully, as stuff will make attempts at escaping.

Let cool 2 minutes and either cut with scissors or slice with a knife. Killer party-finger-food, trust me! Bon Appetite!

Winterhaul! Almost.

It is seriously chilling out this weekend - I've just harvested the last of the herbs, since it'll be freezing at some point this noche. What happened to Fall? Sigh.

Still, there were some gorgeous heads of Bibb lettuce at the market this morning. I worry for their younger brothers and sisters.

Neato find - small hibiscus flowers used in brewing Red Zinger tea. Awesome.

And in further celebration of consuming our weights in burritos last week (sob, I miss you SF!!!), I made brekkie burritos. Nowhere near as perfectly made as any taqueria (burritoria?) in the Mission, so that'll be a project: How To Stuff and Roll the Perfect Burrito. And it wasn't like I wasn't hawk-eyeing whoever was making my 'rito every time I stopped for one - they just move SO FAST it's hard to catch the details.

Could it have been an overloaded with fillings problem?

Hmm. Maybe.

Holy Mole. Yeah, I said it.

How amazing is it that the oft-described-as Masterpiece of Mexican cuisine is traditionally vegan? Well, minus the stock. Which is easy to addend.

Not only is it amazing. It is awesome too.

You know I've been on this tamale kick. And as much as I adore that soy chorizo, I really wanted to do a filling from scratch. Like food-nerdy, raw ingredients only, all the way from scratch. So I figured I'd mess with my seitan recipe, try to "porkify" it a bit - a little fattier, smokier, some sweet notes. No sage, thyme, pepper, let the Mother of All Sauces handle all that. And ideally, I'd be able to shred it with a fork, as traditional pork tamales are made.

Alas, that last part didn't happen. But the flavors were pretty damn amazing, if I do say so myself.

I made a change from the last batch of masa I'd used, and it's an unhealthy one. Tamales, like most "peasant" food, are traditionally a catch-all for certain leftover materials, so lard is often used in the dough. I'd heard from a pal (and read on the innernets, of course) that veg shortening was a reasonable substitute, so that's what I used this time. Differences? Compared to corn oil, a key one - the masa was lighter, fluffier throughout, near pudding consistency. So good. Not like any of us need to be chowing down on hydrogenated oils but for a special treat, do try.

If I had to pin down a few essential flavors for mole, they would be first smoke, then sweet, then spice. So everything you eventually throw into your blender needs to get a layer of char, first. You can do that with your gas stove or your broiler. But that means toasting almost every seed, every pepper, dry or no, every nut that goes down the hatch. Laborious, but worth it, trust me.

Seitan Mole Tamales


For the seitan, you'll need:

2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup soy flour
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp smoked habanero powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Wet mix:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
6-8 dashes or 2 tablespoons smoke flavoring
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup water mixed with mock beef or mushroom boullion

To simmer:
4 cups water
2 tablespoons Mock beef or mushroom boiullion concentrate
3 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic, peeled

Mix your dry ingredients thoroughly, and make a well in the center. Mix your wet ingredients in a measuring cup. Using a fork first, then your hands, slowly pour the wet into the dry, working the dough as you pour. When you've emptied all of the liquid, use both hands to knead the seitan for a few minutes, until it comes together, then roll it into a short, squat cylinder.

In a wide pot, place your seitan (cut it into two pieces if need be) and pour your stock mixture over. Bring it all to a boil. Cover and simmer 1 hour.

No cheesecloth here, dears! You want a lighter, less dense seitan. Also, putting the seitan in while the stock is cold gives it a better "crust" (thanks for the tip, PPK!).

We'll come back to the final seitan prep once we have our mole done, giving the flavors time to blend.

Now. Onto the Mole.

This is an alteration of a Chow recipe. The only two animal products they suggested using were pork stock and lard - they've been replaced with veggie stock and oil. I've also removed a couple steps and skipped any straining. Blend the sauce long enough, and it'll be super-smooth.

5 dried guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed
3 dried ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed
5 garlic cloves
1/2 onion
5 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups reserved seitan cooking liquid, to be used as needed
3 Roma tomatoes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup raw pecans
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 ripe yellow plantain, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 corn tortilla
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
1.5 tablespoons salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a dry skillet, toast your chilis until they have a bit of char on both sides. Set aside.

Toast your sesame seeds, tossing, until they're a bit brown. Set aside.

In a baking pan, put your tomatoes, onion, and garlic cloves. Broil 5 minutes, until they're all got a bit of char. Set aside.

In your skillet, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil. Saute your plantains until they soften a bit, two minutes per side. Set aside.

Toast your thyme and oregano very gently in the same skillet, about 30 seconds. Set aside.

Put your tomatoes, onion, garlic, seeds and nuts into a blender. Puree until smooth, about 2 minutes. With the motor running, add your chilis one at a time. How much stock you add here is up to you - you want to maintain as thick a consistency as possible while keeping the blender running, so add a little bit at a time until your sauce is moving again. Add your herbs, the plantain, and the tortilla, and blend until the texture is very smooth, about 5 minutes - there will still be tiny bumps, but they'll be very small.

Heat the remaining oil in your skillet and pour in the contents of the blender. Saute until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add your chocolate and stir until it blends in completely. Taste for salt and sweet, adding either sugar or salt until you're satisfied.

For the Masa:

3 cups masa for tamales
1 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups vegetable or mock chicken stock, warmed
2 tsp baking powder
Salt to taste

With a whisk or hand blender, beat the shortening until it's fluffy. You could also use a stand mixer here, if you have one, with the paddle attatchments.

Using a fork, mix the masa, salt and baking powder. Make a well in the center. Slowly add your stock while mixing with your fork, continuing to work the batter until it's uniform. It'll be pretty wet, no worries!

While continuing to beat the shortening with your mixer or whisk, add the wet masa by handfuls until you've emptied your bowl. Beat on low until everything's well blended. The dough will be a little wet and very spongey. Set aside.

One last step for the seitan:

Slice your seitan into 1/4 inch wide strips and drain on a paper towel. In a large bowl, toss the seitan with about 1/3 - 1/2 cup flour, evenly coating the strips. The flour coating will give your faux-pork an awesome crust.

Heat enough oil in a skillet to cover the bottom of the pan. Add your seitan in batches (took me 3) and fry until browned on each side, about 3 minutes. Drain, again, on paper towels.

Chop your strips roughly, into pieces less than an inch long. Mix your chopped seitan with the entire batch of mole in a bowl and set aside.

Bring it all together, finally:

You'll need:
30 corn husks
A steamer, or the set up described here
Dexterity and a hungry belly!

Tear 3-4 husks into strips to tie your tamales with. You'll need 20-25.

Flatten a husk on a cutting board and using your hands, grab 1/2 cup masa. Smooth it into a rectangle in the upper-center of the husk. Press about 1/4-1/3 cup mole into the center of the masa, and using the sides of the husk, roll the filling into a package. Then roll the husk around the package, fold up the bottom and tie it with a strip of husk. Here's that pictoral how-to from last time. Set upright in your steamer or pot.

Repeat until you've made 20-24 small tamales. Cover with remaining husks and lid.

These cook for about the same amount of time as the previous batch I told you about, but will look a little softer when they're finished. They are amazing. Enjoy them with a little soy sour cream or salsa, or plain, if you can even call a mole tamale that. Viva el Tamale!

Tamalalalale

There is one product at Trader Joe's that I would cry for, were it ever to go away. I'd write a petition. I'd whine and harangue.

The soy chorizo.

Oily, tasty, slightly spicy. Easy to pile on not-firm-yet eggs, for a torta. Lovely in a quiche. Awesome tossed with soon-to-be-Fajita veggies. And the best tamale stuffing. Ever.

I get on these obsessive kicks. I've made tamales three times in a week - only once for work. I'm planning on making a double-batch for an upcoming potluck. So here's what I have to share today - an easy-peasy tamale recipe from a woman obsessed.

The filling that's easiest is the one described below, but there are so many variations. Requeson (a Mex-style ricotta) and roasted Poblanos is killer. Mushrooms, slow roasted, and goat cheese, insane. Pickled jalapenos, avocados, queso fresco, muy bueno. Do your thang and make it yours, or follow the directions below.

Chorizo and Cheese Tamales

Masa:

3 cups masa for tamales (buy cornmeal labeled specifically for tamales)
2/3 cup corn oil
3 1/3 cups vegetable or mock chicken stock
1-2 tsp salt (depending on how salty your stock is)
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
2 tsp baking powder
Epazote, for steaming
25-30 corn husks, for wrapping

Filling:

1 package TJ's soy chorizo
Queso Fresco, crumbled
1 can black beans, drained well
Chopped cilantro and jalapeno, to taste

You'll need a large stock pot, a plate that fits just inside it, and a small, round quiche pan or another heat-proof bowl to keep everything out of the water with. Or, use your steamer. You know how we roll 'round these parts.

In a stand mixer or in a large bowl, mix your salt, masa and baking powder. Make a well in the center and add your stock and oil while continuing to mix. Beat the mixture for a few minutes, thoroughly, to get some air in. Set aside for 20 minutes.

In another large bowl, pour hot water over your corn husks. Press them down into the water with a plate to submerge them all.

In a small bowl, mix your filling ingredients together. Taste for heat and salt.

Take 4-5 husks out of the water and tear them into strips, 5-6 thin each. Set aside.

Pull a husk out of the water. Shake a bit of the water off of it. Grab about 1/2-2/3 a cup of masa and press it into the husk, spreading it into a squarish shape near the top edge of the husk. Add about 1/3-1/2 a cup of filling, pressing it into the masa. Now grab both sides of the husk and roll the masa towards the center of the filling, letting it peel from the husk a bit. Press the sides to seal, and tightly roll the tamale together, first one side, then the other. Fold the spare husk at the bottom of the package up and tie it together with one of your strips using a single knot.

Like many cooking techniques, this process can best be described in visual form:

Keep in mind that the size of the husk should dictate how much masa/filling you use for each tamale. Keep in mind also that traditionally, the filling and the masa amounts used in each tamale are close to equal, with maybe a little more lean to the masa side.

Start piling them on a plate on the side, until you've made 'em all.

In a large stock pot using the set up described above, or a steamer, add hot water. Place your tamales open side up around the edges of the pot, filling in the center as needed. Use any spare husks to stuff in and around the tamales, mixing a sprig or two of epazote in as well for aromaticity. The husks also infuse the already super-corn flavors of the masa, and help them to stay standing up for the duration of their steam bath.

Now to keep the steam in! Take 4 husks and lay them over the top of the tamales, tucking them in around the edges. Put your lid on top as well, pressing down to "seal" everything in place.

Tada! Turn up the heat to high until you hear a boil, then turn down to medium-low and simmer those suckers for an hour. Some people wet a small kitchen towel and cover the entire get-up to ensure as little moisture loss as possible (you reaaaallly don't want to have to open the thing up and add more water halfway through).

The first time I made tamales, I was a little nervous - looked full of things that could go wrong (water boiling over and getting the bottoms wet, cheese melting all over the place, mushy instead of firm, package falling apart, etc etc). I've made 10 or so batches now, and while things have gone wrong here and there (see above list) none of them have turned out un-delicious. I'd like to try a batch with untreated cornmeal sometime soon - the guys from this farm are selling fresh 'meal at the Yorkmont market these days. We'll see!