Seoul Food.

This is a variation on something I make a lot, only instead of pancakes, I put the chicken and slaw inside tortillas.  I wanted to do something a little more involved, so I gave these a shot. These would make a fun appetizer if you make the pancakes tiny, with a tiny bit of slaw and a tiny bit of the chicken, but they can be messy, so having a fork is a must.

Scallion Pancakes with Korean Barbecue Chick'n and Asian Slaw
makes four servings

1 package Simply Balanced meatless Korean Barbecue Chicken, prepared

For the pancakes:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp sugar
1 flax or Ener-G egg
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp shoyu
1 1/2 cups water
6 scallions, trimmed and sliced
2 tsp crushed red pepper

Combine the dry ingredients.  Mix wet ingredients. Combine the wet and dry until just mixed. Fold in the scallions and red peppers. Heat skillet over low-medium heat, spray with cooking spray. With a measuring cup, pour a half cup or so of batter onto the skillet.  When edges turn dry, flip.  Cook for about a minute, and move to a plate.  Repeat with the rest of the batter.

For the slaw:

4 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
3 heaping tbsp vegan mayo
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp shoyu
2 tsp sesame oil
sriracha to taste
1 tbsp black sesame seeds

Mix all that up in a big bowl.

Serve barbecue chicken with pancakes and slaw.

Winding down...

I figured that for the last four days of MoFo, I'd fulfill a request for some quick and easy recipes, since I apparently intimidate with the number of ingredients I use (obviously these people have never seen any of Isa's books). Also, I'm ready for this month to be over so I can go back to Engine 2 and get rid of my MoFo pounds, which I'm sure have accumulated.

I'll try to stick to a rule of five ingredients for these, with the exception of water, oil, broth, and simple condiments. This one, I just whipped up in almost no time at all. Tip: Trader Joe's is AWESOME for quick and easy recipes.



Mock Duck Noodle Bowl
makes 4 servings

8 oz rice noodles
1 tsp oil (I used sesame, but vegetable will do)
10 oz canned mock duck, drained and chopped
8 oz frozen bell pepper mix (half a package of the Melange from Trader Joe's)
1 onion, chopped
3 tbsp bottled peanut sauce (San-J makes a good one, if not, check labels)
hot sauce, to taste
cilantro, chopped green onions, and chopped peanuts for garnish, if desired

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain, rinse in cold water. Set aside.
In a wok or skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Throw in the veggies and mock duck. Stir fry until most of the water has evaporated (those frozen veggies carry a lot of it), yet everything is still somewhat crisp. Remove from heat. Add peanut sauce, and a little hot sauce. Taste for heat. Toss with noodles and serve garnished with cilantro, green onions, and peanuts.

Hot soup on a hot night

Okay, so it's not hot. It's currently 52° outside here in Minneapolis. However; up on the third floor, 'tis sweltering. Granted, the oven was turned on the minute I stepped in the door at 4:00pm today, and the kitchen has been abuzz. I was going to make two things tonight to make up for my absence yesterday, and then I remembered that no one reads my blog, anyway, and I probably wasn't missed. Jerks.

Anyway, back to the heat. The temperature is supposed to plummet in the next day or so, so leftovers of this soup will be welcomed. Not that it isn't welcome now; it's hot, spicy, and sweet. It's just what will hit the spot after today.



Red Curry Squash & Apple Soup
makes about 8 servings

1 medium or 2 small acorn squashes (or 1 butternut, or whatever winter squash you like), enough to make 4 cups of mashed squash
1 tbsp olive oil  
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I used one Granny Smith, and one Braeburn for no particular reason)
6 cups vegetable stock
2 heaping tbsp red curry paste
1 tbsp chili paste or sriracha
1 tbsp tamari
salt & pepper
1 14oz can light coconut milk
cilantro and toasted pumpkin seeds to garnish

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut squash(es) in half, scoop out the guts and seeds. Place the halves in a roasting pan with a half inch of water, and roast for 40 minutes to an hour, until soft. Remove from oven, and cool. Scoop the squash out of the skin, and mash well or puree.

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the oil. Cook the onion, celery, and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the apples and cook for a few minutes over low heat until it starts to caramelize. Add squash, stock, curry paste (I whisk it into a little broth before adding), chili paste, and tamari. Stir well. Salt and pepper to taste. Add more heat, if desired. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for about ten minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut milk. Serve garnished with pumpkin seeds and cilantro.

Soup for the sniffles

Today I recommended a pot of hot, spicy, garlicky soup for his nasty cold as I rang up his Airborne and NyQuil. "Lots of garlic, lots of heat. Your nose is going to run. Let it!" This is my go-to for when I'm feeling icky, or if I have a hankering for something full of garlic and don't plan on going on any dates for a while. I usually make it with the mock duck in the can, but this was pretty easy to do with the soy curls (I hydrated them in a hot water/lime juice/soy sauce/garlic marinade).

This is another one that could be a contender. Oh man. Decisions, decisions.


Green Curry Coconut Soup with Soy Curls

Curry and the Cackler

I almost murdered someone tonight. Well, okay. I probably wouldn't have murdered him if I'd had the green light, but I sure did fantasize about crushing his face with my elbow a few times. It was the DRUNK MORON next to me at Louis CK's show tonight. Everything else was awesome; I went with my best friend, we got fourth row tickets, and Louis was hilarious. But, man. Even this dude's buddy looked like he wanted to disappear into a hole in the ground. Imagine Ricky Gervais's laugh, only less endearing, and he kept saying shit like, "Oh man. This is some funny shit!" and commenting on stuff. Really? This guy must not watch Louie at all, because I was waiting for this guy to become a target, and there I am. Next to him. 

Anyway, before the show, I made Coconut Curried Tempeh. I accidentally poured about a half cup of crushed red pepper into it (yikes!), and even though I scraped most of it out of the pan, it wound up so so so spicy. Luckily, my friend is a big fan of spicy. 

I had to do this in parts, but it came together pretty fast. I think next attempt, I'll bake the tempeh, because I like it crispier, and it's hard to get that texture when you're stir frying in water instead of oil.

Coconut Curried Tempeh

makes 4 servings

1 16oz package tempeh, sliced into two flatter pieces, and then into bite sized pieces

1 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 onion, cut into thin moons

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp minced ginger

2 tsp red curry paste, or curry powder

1/2 lb green beans

1 can light coconut milk

In a large, nonstick pan, blanch the tempeh in about 1/2 inch of water and Bragg's for about 3 minutes. Set aside on a plate. Put diced potatoes and a cup of cold water in the same pan, and cook until almost tender. Pour off the water. Throw in the rest of the veggies, tempeh, and curry. Stir fry until brown, adding spritzes of water to keep from sticking. Add a little more water, cover and steam for about 4-5 minutes. Stir in coconut milk. Serve over brown jasmine rice.

Happy World Vegan Day!

Oh, and Happy Vegan Month of Food! Day one!


I came home today after a long weekend with friends in Chicago. I'm pretty jealous because a) Chicago has way more vegan choices for restaurants, and b) the tap water is drinkable. I'm also in love with Ellie and Tim's beautiful house and pantry. A pantry! I now have a new prerequisite for future apartments.

Ellie picked me up at the airport on Friday, and we went straight to Demera. We have a tradition with Ethiopian Diamond, but this is a new place that deserved our gusto for all things served on injera. The tikle gomen was amazing. The ye-misir wot: heavenly. We destroyed our lunch before I had a chance to take a picture of it in it's whole form, so here's the damage:



Afterward, we hit the Asian market and Whole Foods. Once loaded up with provisions, we planned out the food and timing for the Haunted Housewarming. We caught a sliver of a show at The Empty Bottle, and headed home. Saturday was going to be busy as hell, so I insisted on brunch the next morning. We went to Lula Cafe in Logan Square. It got all kinds of raves on Yelp for it's vegan-ness, but I was stuck with one menu item. Tofu Scramble, which I wanted anyway. What didn't do it for me was the cubed tofu (I like my scramble scrambled), the goddamned cantaloupe in the fruit dish, and that stuff there on the right? Not Earth Balance.



The Gimme Lean sausage patties and the coffee were good, and it fueled us for our day in the kitchen.

I truly suck at life because Ellie and I made a TON of sushi, and I got no pictures of it. Two platters each of nori rolls and inari parcels. I made three batches of rice; one that was made pink with beets, one that was yellow with shiitake mushrooms and green onions, and one that was red with raw beet, carrot, and spinach. We rolled cucumber, bell peppers, green onion, and avocado. The inari pouches (plain fried, turmeric yellow, and spicy red) were stuffed with ginger and the different kinds of rice. I guess they were a hit, because they were inhaled.

Ellie whipped up a batch of my Mediterranean Red Lentil Iron Chef Soup:



And I finished making the cupcakes as people started to arrive. They are gluten free, chocolate with peanut butter caramel filling, and chocolate ganache. This picture sucks.



The weird holes on top are from filling them by hand. Chunky peanut butter + Wilton pastry bag = peanut butter caramel explosion. Which doesn't sound that bad, but it is when you have guests storming the kitchen.

Now, as for Mofo...I have been contemplating several themes. Magazine recipes veganized, candy week, squash week...but am looking for more. Tomorrow will be a late night post, I'm sure.

Catching up.

Oy, I have not much of an excuse for staying away for so long. One is that I am lazy, and the other is that I lost my camera. But then I found it, so laziness wins out.

Much stuff going on in the little vegan world in Minneapolis. I'll start with two fun and successful bake sales! The first one was to benefit Kinship Circle; an organization organizing rescues for abandoned and injured animals after the Haiti earthquake. The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale (Twin Cities style) took place at Ethique Nouveau on April 24. Here are some pictures from both (this was also my chance to get some shots of the new store!) :

This tree is in the front window. I love that they bought Aqua Globes.



Beautiful jewelry, handbags, and cosmetics.





Those avocado brownies were awesome. Really. I swear.



These cranberry-almond muffins got many five-star reviews.



Celeste's truffles. By popular demand, they also appeared at the next bake sale.



These are mine. Lemony macadamia white chocolate scones, and double chocolate muffins.



On May 14, I attended a sushi class at the home of Ciree Linsenman. I had a blast (hanging out with other vegans usually is), and found out that assembling sushi is really not that hard. I'm looking forward to having some friends over to roll our own. These pictures were taken with my new Samsung Behold II phone, as I had misplaced my camera. As you can see, it takes pretty okay pictures of food, while my digital camera leaves much to be desired. I guess six years is long enough. Time to get a camera that takes good food pictures, dammit.

Gobo Boats: red quinoa with pickled burdock root. Color is from beets.



Tavo Tavo Maki.



Tavo Tavo Maki, pre-rolled.



Rainbow Inari parcels.



Black Dragon Back Roll (in the back, with the bok choy sticking out).



Coming soon: Waffles! Iron Chef! Skin Trade movie premier! Stay tuned.

Curry Laksa

A delicious little Malaysian-inspired noodle soup full of bok choy, red peppers, and tofu. Very light and fresh, and incredibly easy to make (if you microplane your ginger, which is the only way to mince it without wanting to kill it).

Alone in the kitchen with an eggplant.

I'm in one of those moods where I want something warm, but not top-of-the-stove warm. I want out-of-the-oven warm. I think a lot of people feel this way, or casserole would have never been invented. Anyway, I had an eggplant. The title is in homage to one of my favorite cooking essays.

I made the Indonesian Eggplant from Peanut Butter Planet, only I added three small russet potatoes, sliced. After roasting, I layered the vegetables with the sauce, added some peas, and baked it at 400° for about 15 minutes.

Here it is with a little sautéed chard.



I know. It looks just like it would look had I made it as per the recipe. BUT, it tasted so incredible. Incredible in a way that can only be achieved through 400° in a Le Creuset dish. Also, the potato added something that would have actually been felt missing in the original dish. Hooray for carbs!

VFaS: The final chapter

Tonight: Asian. Vietnamese Noodles with Tempeh and Peanuts.



This recipe earned three little chiles on the spice scale, so I expected dinner to kick my ass tonight. It didn't, until I added a little sriracha to it at the end. I will say that this dish made me appreciate tempeh, finally. I give it chance after chance, but haven't been able to really get into it (and certainly never thought it was worth the gas). I like the tempeh sausage/white bean gravy from VwaV, but otherwise I couldn't care less about it. I gave it it's last chance tonight to prove me wrong.

This is what tempeh was made for. Fried crispy, and then doused in chili oil and vegan "fish" sauce. Then tossed with udon noodles, shredded carrot, scallions, and cabbage? Dear God. Divine. Like I said, add a little more heat if you want (I even upped the ante with some chile-spiced peanuts as opposed to regular roasted ones). I recommend this served cold, over some shredded cabbage and cucumbers. Yum.

Overall, I really like this book. It's not very brave with the heat, so you've been advised. But I'm also the Queen of Congestion, so I might just be desensitized to anything that might actually clear up the shit in my head. And chest. And nose.

Thai Peanut Pasta Salad

I fear this would get an awful lot of "Oh my goodness! That's just too spicy!" if I brought this to the next family gathering. Also, my father has acquired a horrible allergy to capsaicin. He had a tiny dip on a fork of some serrano chile sauce (wimpy) back in November, and smoke came out of his ears. Hard to believe, as this is a man who used to drink Tabasco.

This is a good one to make when you're down to the last couple blops of peanut butter. Just shake up all the dressing ingredients in the jar!

Thai Peanut Pasta Salad
Makes a TON

12-16 ounces whole wheat pasta (rotini, bowties, shells, or whatever small cut pasta you like)
1 cup frozen peas
1 lb tofu, cut into tiny triangles
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 peeled and seeded cucumber, julienned
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
roasted peanuts and cilantro for garnish

Preheat broiler. Arrange tofu pieces on a pan with a drizzle of peanut oil. Place under broiler and flip often, about 10 minutes or until tofu is golden brown and crispy on the outside.

Cook pasta according to the box, or how you like it (I like it a little more cooked than al dente, so there you go). About 3 or so minutes before you plan to take it off the stove, throw in the frozen peas and bring it back to a boil. Drain and rinse pasta and peas in cold water. Dump into a large bowl, and toss with prepared vegetables and cooled, broiled tofu. Pour dressing over, and mix well.

Dressing:
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
Juice of one large, or two small limes.
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 inch chunk of peeled ginger, grated on a microplane
1 tsp sriracha sauce, or to taste
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup warm water

Put all ingredients in a jar and shake, or mix well with a whisk. Add more warm water if it's too thick.