Udon noodle stir fry

My inspiration to cook kind of went out the door when hockey season finished but lately I’ve been more inspired to cook  - the only problem being I’ve been making the same sort of thing. Lots of stir fries and soup. But I felt like taking pictures so here’s a couple of things :)

This soooooooooo eassssssssy (hence the reason why I’ve been eating a pile of these!).

• udon noodles
• veggies (frozen or fresh. Frozen is faster :D)
• soy sauce
• sweet soy sauce
• oyster mushroom sauce
• sesame oil

I bet you can already guess where this is going, huh? I’ll write it out anyway ’cause this little post is going to look even littler if I don’t :(

• cook the noodles according to the package. Mine were in theory pre-cooked but it told me to put ‘em in boiling water for 2 mins anyway…
• While the noodles are boiling away, put oil in the pan and thaw/cook the veggies. Add a little soy sauce.
• Once the noodles are done, drain them and stick them in the pan.
• Add more soy sauce, sweet soy sauce and mushroom sauce (amounts depend on what you like – how many noodles you’ve got, etc, etc, etc. Just a word of warning though: sweet soy sauce is, well, sweet. Adding a huge glob of it will be gross. Don’t add a lot!!).
• Stir and pour into a bowl. If you have them on hand, add a few sesame seeds on top.

How easy was THAT? EASY.

Kimchi!

It’s finally ready! Behold my beyond awesome kimchi!

Isn’t that amazing?

Kimchi is super awesome and soooo easy to make. I’ve used this recipe/directions from i eat food several times now and it always comes out awesome!

The most AWESOME Vietnamese-style sandwich ever

You know when I said I bought a pile of groceries and I had stuff to post? I meant it. I’ve just been a little caught up with the NHL/AHL/QMJHL playoffs to post food stuff (which reminds me.. I need to come up with some junky playoff food to eat soon).

I made kimchi the other day but I can’t show it to you now because it’s not ready. It takes a few days to sit before it can be eaten. So just be patient :D

I also made the world’s ugliest daifuku today but it was so ugly that it broke the camera when I tried to take pic. Just kidding, but really.. it’s too ugly to show here. It did taste AWESOME so that’s all you need to know XD

I DO HAVE SOMETHING I CAN SHOW YOU THOUGH. DON’T WORRY.

The other day I made this:

It comes from The Conscious Cook. AND IT’S AWESOME. It’s based on this really awesome Vietnamese sandwiches that usually have pork and fish sauce in them. Generally I find a lot of the stuff in that book is “gourmet” vegan food meaning it takes forever to make (it’s worth it but I don’t always have forever to make food). This sandwich is pretty quick to make and did I mention that it’s AWESOME??????!!!!!

makes four sandwiches and supposedly takes 30 mins to bake (because the tofu has to bake).

For the tofu (I really didn’t measure any of the ingredients and it still came out good XD)

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon  cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried mustard
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 table spoons fresh minces chives
• I added one teaspoon or something like that of vegan mushroom sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 pound extra firm tofu cut into 8 slabs

For the Asian Slaw

• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1/4 rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup julienned carrot
• 1/3 julienned daikon radish
• sea salt + pepper to taste

To assemble

• 4 French demi-baguettes, split
• vegan mayo
• chili oil
• cilantro sprigs
• English cucumber, cut into slices
• Asian slaw (recipe coming up)

……..

To make the tofu

Preheat the oven to 375F.

In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients together. Pour into a baking dish. Put tofu in the dish and flip over so that all the sides are coated (don’t forget the sides and the ends!). Bake for 20 mins (flip midway through).

To make the Asian Slaw

Put all the ingredients into a bowl with 1/2 of water. Toss to combine. You can store it for 2 days in a fridge.

To assemble this kick-a…butt sandwich

Put mayo on side of the baguette. Drizzle chili oil. Put two slices of tofu and one or two slices of cucumber next. Put the Asian Slaw and the cilantro on. And then put the other half of the sandwich on.

EAT IT ALL UP.

Falafel sandwiches :)

I had a huge hankering for falafel sandwiches the other day. Today I finally got to buy food (lots of food. I should have more stuff coming up soon!) and I made falafel sandwiches for dinner. The recipe for the smokey tahini sauce comes from here.

For the falafels:

1 can chickpeas (drained)

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 table spoons parsley

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

cayenne (to taste)

4 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon baking powder

gram (chickpea) flour

For the assembling the sandwiches

• pitas
• half an onion (either chopped into small pieces or in rings or whatever you want)
• tomato chopped into smallish bits
• those pink turnip things (they’re bright pink (probably died) and you can find them in any Middle-Eastern place)
• fresh hot peppers (those bright green ones you can find at Middle-Eastern places)
• Smokey Tahini Sauce (recipe below)

to make the falafels

Put everything but the baking powder and flour into a food processor and pulse until just mixed (not pureed yet).

Add baking powder and gram flour. Pulse until it’s smooth. You want to add enough flour until the dough doesn’t stick to your hands when you scoop it up. Well, in theory anyway. Mine were still a little sticky and the finished falafels came out a little doughy-er than the traditional type but I liked it that way.

Transfer to a bowl and put in the fridge for a few hours.

Once refrigerated for a few hours take out.

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

Put tin foil on a baking tray. Brush olive on the foil. Take the falafel dough and form into small balls. Brush more oil on the tops.

Bake for 20 or so mins (turning over mid way through). They’re done when the inside’s are cooked (you can use stick a fork or a toothpick in the middle to test).

To assemble the sandwichs

Open up the a pita and stuff everything in. Seriously =p To roll the pitas.. you take one half of the opened pita and fold it inside. Then you roll the folded bit so that the second flap is all rolled up!

Smokey Tahini Sauce

• 1/2 cup tahini paste
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, whisk all ingredients until a creamy consistency is reached.

Really not authentic miso soup ;D

Miso soup is generally not vegan friendly courtesy of the sardines they use in the soup stock. BUT that has never stopped a vegan or two from making their own stock.

The miso soup I made is pretty much not authentic courtesy of all the other stuff I threw in the stock ;D I think I must have inherited a bit of my dad’s style of cooking which basically involves throwing everything he can get his hands on into the frying pan/bowl/pot/whatever…

ANYWAY

Miso Soup

You need/I used

• One piece of kombu
• dried mushrooms
• A pile of water + some vegetable stock (the amount depends on how much soup you want. Also, I use both water and veggie stock because I didn’t want a heavy veggie taste)
• Piece of ginger (grated)
• several cloves of garlic (smashed up)
• Soy sauce
• random Thai spicy sauce (I forgot what it’s called exactly. It’s not Siracha sauce but it’s like that).
• miso (I had yellow or white or something like that)
• corn starch (optional. I wanted to thicken my soup a little bit)
• Scallions for garnish
• sesame oil

To actually make the stuffs:

• A few hours before you want to eat your soup put the piece of kombu and dried mushrooms in the water/vegetable stock and leave it sit.

When you’re ready to make the soup…

• heat up a pot (medium heat) and put some sesame oil in the bottom. Once heated, add ginger. Wait about thirty seconds or so and then add the garlic. Cook until the garlic starts to brown.
• Add soup stock (with or without the piece of kombu. If you leave it in, just remember not to scoop it out into the bowls later. It’s too tough to actually eat).
• Save a bit of the soup stock in an extra bowl and put in a spoonful of cornstarch. Mix it well. Add miso to the cornstarch water and mix it well.
• Add soy sauce (a few spoonfuls), random Thai spicy sauce (to taste) and a few more drops of sesame oil to the soup in the pot. Stir in cornstarch/miso water.
• When you’re ready to eat it, add the scallions on top!

quinoa, avocado + sweet potato salad

This came from The Conscious Cook. I’m copying it here with a couple of notes on what I did when I made it. It looks like a lot of ingredients but you can omit some of them if you feel like it.

For the quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa, cooked in veggie broth and cooled too room temperature
• 1/2 jalapeño pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
• 1 table spoon olive oil
• juice of one lime
• salt and pepper to taste

For the sweet potato

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the tortilla strips (that I didn’t make)

• canola oil
• 2 corn tortillas, cup into 1/4 inch strips
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

For the dressing (that I didn’t make either)

• 2 tomatillos in olive oil, skins removed
• 3 tablespoons + teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar
• salt and pepper

To Serve

• 2 avocados
• sprouts

1. Make the quinoa: place all of the quinoa ingredients in a bowl and toss together

2. Make the sweet potatoes: Preheat the oven to 400F. Toss the sweet potato with oil and season. Place on a baking sheet and cook until the centers are soft (around 15-25 minutes).

3. Make the dressing: Lower the oven temperature to 350F. In a bowl, toss the tomatillos with one teaspoon of oil. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 15 mins. Transfer to a food processor,  add the vinegar, cilantro and agave nectar and pulse to combine. With the motor running, pour the remaining 3 table spoons of oil in a thin stream. Continue blending until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Make the tortilla strips. Pour 2 inches of oil into a heavy pot. Heat until the oil shimmers. Add the tortilla strips and fry until crisp and browned (1-2 mins). Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning.

5. The next two steps are about making it look pretty on a plate. My wrist is kinda sore right now so I’ll skip that… Just try to make it look pretty! :D

Passover + Veganism = Eeeeek

I’m not Jewish actually. But I was musing the other day what it would be like to be vegan during Passover. Aside from the no grain thing, Ashkenazi Jews (traditionally from Europe) also eliminate rice, seeds and legumes. Basically, you’re eliminating some pretty key vegan staples there. Anyway, a friend of mine said it would be pretty much impossible to be vegan during Passover. I took this as a challenge and I told him that for the next three days (out of the eight) I’d go semi-kosher for Passover. I say “semi” because I’m not making sure my food is certifiably kosher. Also, there are a lot of family traditions and whatnot and it’s common for a lot of places that talk about what’s kosher for Passover and what’s not to say “if you’re in doubt, consult your local rabbi”. Well, I dont’ have a rabbi (as I’m not Jewish) so I decided to either consult my friend or make the executive decisions myself.

There are a lot of annoying things that come with being a vegan at Passover. For a start… butter is kosher, but if you’re following Ashkenazi traditions, vegan butter is not because it contains soy… As of Day One, my solution to this problem is to just not make anything that would require butter of any kind.

So today instead of having my normal toast and/or bagel, I had awesome smoothie which I drank before I could take a picture of it (made with orange juice, pineapple, strawberries and bananas). And then I followed that up with some fried shredded potato things. Basically I just shredded potato and onions and through it in the pan like that.

Lunch was…. well, actually, breakfast kind of was lunch because it was lunch time by the time I go around to making the potato things.

Dinner was…

THIS:

and a roasted tomato/garlic soup:

I’ll have the recipes up later =)

Aloo Parathas

I love Indian food. Despite that, I can’t remember ever eating aloo parathas before. But when I saw some recipes floating around on some blogs about them, I really wanted to try them.

Basically these ones are bread that’s stuffed with potatoes. Very yummy. I consulted several blogs, but  this recipe from Vegan YumYum is the one I drew most of the inspiration from.

A few notes/changes I made

• I didn’t have the special flour so I mixed all purpose flour and spelt flour together (I wanted to mix whole wheat with all purpose flour but I didn’t even have whole wheat!). Never having had the real thing, I can’t attest to how “accurate” it tasted, but it tasted fine to me.
• I used chat masala because I couldn’t find garam masala and it was a hassle to go out to my Indian grocer to buy garam masala.
• I used cumin powder instead of cumin seeds because that’s what I had
• and I used chili powder instead of chili flakes because… I felt like it.
• I had a lot more filling per doughy ball thing. I liked having a lot of filling.

Despite my reservations, these were super easy to make and they tasted great. Will definitely do this again! ALSO I found some weirdish thing trying to be chutney in my fridge and I served it with the parathas. It was good, but next time I need to make chutney or find some realish chutney!

Dinner of win!

I felt like being super industrious last night. Like “I’m going to spend 3 hours making dinner” industrious. Happens once in a blue moon.

Behold!

Okay, so maybe taking pictures of food isn’t my thing… who knew that hockey goalies were so much easier to take pictures of than food? Anyway…. Clockwise from the top: Thai pineapple rice, tofu, awesome pancakey things, dipping sauce for awesome cakey things and tofu. I also had the AWESOME spinach recipe too but it had already been eaten by the time I remembered that I didn’t take a picture of it :|

I already posted the tofu recipe before. The pancakey things come from the ever awesome Kits Chow. The sauce is the same thing I put in the spinach recipe so it’s basically sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, chili peppers and sesame seeds.

The Thai pineapple rice comes from a book that I can’t seem to find right now… cookbooks disappear very quickly around here for some reason. When I find it, I will be sure to mention it! I do remember how to cook it though so here’s how to do it..

Thai Pineapple Rice

You need

• pre-cooked rice of your choice (amounts depend on how many people you’re cooking for/how much leftovers you want). I made 3 cups of jasmine rice and it fed four people.
• assorted vegetables of your choice. Fresh is preferable, but frozen work too
• pineapple (if it’s not cut up already, cut it into bite-sized pieces)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 spoonful of soy sauce
• 1 or 2 large spoonful of curry
• oil for cooking aforementioned vegetables

Note: You can really add whatever you want in terms of veggies and whatnot. I wanted to add water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and fried tofu but I really only had tofu…. D: So yeah… add whatever the heck you want! I don’t recommend adding tomatoes though. The recipe actually called for tomatoes but I didn’t use them because I thought it was a little weird….

Method

• Cook your rice. If you have a rice cooker, that’s great! If not….. that’s still okay. Cook it according to the directions on the package.
• When the rice is done or nearly done start cooking the vegetables. I used onions, sliced red peppers, mushrooms and I had made fried tofu earlier for it.
• Once the veggies are  mostly cooked, add in the pineapple (if your pineapple comes from a can, add some of the juice in too).
• Slowly add the rice. Mix it all up.
• Add in soy sauce, curry and coconut milk. Mix it super well. The rice will probably getting stickier once you add in the coconut milk. This is good.
• Serve and eat it!

Potato thingies

I don’t know what you call these. They’re kind of like a cross between a potato latkha and a hashbrown.. Anyway, they’re fried and they’re good so we’ll just call them Potato Thingies.

You need

• Potatoes
• Onion (use a ratio of 3:1 for the potato and onion)
• egg substitute
• table spoon or so of margarine
• salt and pepper
• a bit garlic powder (optional)
• oil for frying

Method

• Grate the potatoes and the onions. I have a nice machine that does the grating so I don’t have to worry about grating my fingers if I do it by hand.
• Transfer to a bowl and everything else. Mix.
• I recently got a very lovely blini pan which was perfect for these potato things. If you don’t have one, just use a normal frying pan.  Anyway… heat up the pan with some oil in it.
• Put spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the pan. If you’re using a normal frying pan, try to shape the potato stuff into a relatively roundish shape.
• Cook time depends on the size of your potato thingies. Because you’re using raw potato it can take longer than say, if you’re cooking pancake things. I cooked mine at a low to medium heat and just let them brown slowly. Eating raw potato = not good.
• Once it’s all browned on one side, flip and wait until the other side browns. Once done, pat with a paper towel to get any excess oil and then serve.

Note: if you’re came out like mine, they won’t hold together particularly well. That’s fine as long as they’re nice and brown and tasty.