Saturday, August 28, 2010

Just letting you know

that my edamame chocolate bar was featured in Ladies' Home Journal this month (Sept 2010). You can buy it and other flavors here. ^_^ Awesomeness!



I also got married.
I am also permanently moving to London in a week.
This means fun new foods for all of us! Yayyyyyy!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Mini Quiche!

I made these for my wedding brunch, perfect little finger foods!



For a normal-sized quiche, please see the recipe HERE

Pan:
Standard non-stick cupcake pan

Dough:
Pre-made roll-out crust

Filling (from my quiche recipe):

1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 lb. your choice veggies (broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, red peppers, etc), cooked to just done
Any add ins like vegan ham or cheeze
1 lb firm tofu, drained
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric

Heat oven to 350.

1. Cook onion and garlic until golden, and add veggies and heat until soft.

2. In blender, puree tofu, soymilk, mustard, salt, nutmeg, pepper, and nutritional yeast, until smooth.

3. Pour into large bowl and add the onion and veggie mixture and any extra vegan cheezes/faux meats. Combine well. Taste for seasoning.

4. Roll out dough to no more than 1/4" thick. (If using pre-cut sheets, roll together.) Using a knife, cut 12 squares large enough to fit into the cupcake cups, about 4"x4"

5. Lay dough into cups, making sure they are pressed into the bottom. Style the dough tops to your taste- over the edges, straight up, twisted, etc.

6. Spoon mixture into each cup until they are all full.

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

Pistachio-Crusted Tofu with Ponzu Sauce

I have a subscription to Bon Appetit magazine, and this month (Sept 10) one of their featured "Meatless Mains" sounded awesome. So awesome in fact, I wanted to pass it on before I even try it! So let us know if you make it!

*Note: Some ponzu sauce has fish in it, read carefully!

Original link HERE


Pistachio-Crusted Tofu with Ponzu Sauce

Ponzu, a citrus-infused soy sauce, can be found in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets.
2 servings

* PREP:35M
* TOTAL:50M

Recipe by the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen
September 2010
Ingredients

* 1 12-ounce package organic firm tofu, drained
* 1/4 cup ponzu
* 1/2 cup unsalted natural pistachios (about 2 1/2 ounces)
* 1/4 cup (vegan) mayonnaise
* 2 tablespoons peanut oil

*
TECH TIP
Coating the tofu works best if you use one hand for wet ingredients and the other for dry. With your dominant hand ("wet" hand), coat the tofu in the mayo. With the other hand ("dry" hand), press the tofu into the ground nuts. The wet-hand, dry-hand method is a tidy way to coat food for frying.

Preparation

*
Cut tofu in half crosswise, then cut each piece in half horizontally, forming 4 rectangles. Press between paper towels to dry. Pour ponzu into shallow bowl or pie dish. Add tofu rectangles to ponzu and marinate 15 minutes, turning occasionally.
*
Meanwhile, pulse nuts in processor until finely ground (do not allow to turn to paste). Transfer to another shallow bowl.
*
Pat tofu dry. Sprinkle with pepper. Whisk mayonnaise into ponzu in bowl. Working with 1 tofu piece at a time, coat with ponzu mayonnaise and place in bowl with ground pistachios. Turn to coat; press so nuts adhere. Place tofu on rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tofu, ponzu mayonnaise, and pistachios.
*
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add tofu; cook until golden and heated through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Spoon remaining ponzu mayonnaise onto plates. Top with tofu and serve.



Man that sounds awesome! Maybe with a drizzle of sriatcha sauce or chili oil on top and some pan-fried Brussels sprouts in the side with a little ponzu dressing. MMMMM!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

It's that time of the year. You have zucchini coming out of your ears! Or courgette coming out of your nose. Your choice.

And what's there before those delicious squashes? Delicious squash blossoms!



Now, you want to pick the bigger blossoms. Those are the male flowers and will not be producing anything. You also don't want to pick ALL the male blossoms at once, you do want squash babies don't you? (The smaller ones are female, and you can hand-pollinate by pulling out the stamen in the male and rubbing the pollen in the female flower. Boom! Squash baby).

Ok, here we go:

Male squash blossoms, cleaned
Vegan cream cheeze
Herbs De Provence
Salt
Oil for frying

1. Wash the blossoms. You can also clean out the inside, and the little leafy bits at the bottom of the blossom, but I just keep it as it is. Less work! Unless you're deathly allergic to pollen.. then clean it out!

2. Mix a spoonful of cream cheeze with the dried herbs and a sprinkle of salt. You will need one spoonful per blossom.



3. Heat the frying pan on medium, then add a little oil just to cover the pan.

4. Put a spoonful of the cream cheeze into the blossom, and close the petals around the filling.

5. Fry on each side until golden brown!

Want to eat other flowers? Here is a handy little guide I just found! http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Vegan Takoyaki



Previously, I have made Tofu Takoyaki. Very delicious, but not authentic. Well that's going to change! If you want to get super technical, this is called "Konnyakuyaki".
This is a very specific recipe, needing out-of-the-ordinary equipment and ingredients. I have tried to offer replacements where possible.

Hardware:
Takoyaki pan
toothpick or skewer
canola oil for greasing

Batter:
2 C Vegan takoyaki powder mix
OR
2 Cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 C cold dashi stock (water soaked with konbu OR mixed with instant konbu granules)
2 Tbsp oil
extra cold water (if needed)

Filling:
Konnyaku* block (not noodles), cut into squares (or mushrooms halves)
Red pickled ginger, chopped
Green onions, chopped
Tempura bits (tenkasu), optional

Toppings:
Takoyaki/okonomiyaki/tonkatsu sauce (whichever you can find vegan will do)
Vegan mayo
Nori powder (fine cut seaweed)


Preheat the takoyaki pan. Traditionally, over the stove, or turn on the electric type.



1. Stir all the batter ingredients together. It should be a runny medium batter, if not, add the cold water little by little.



2. Grease the takoyaki pan with a paper towel dipped in oil.

3. Spoon in the batter to overfill the cups.

4. Place a square of konnyaku in the center of each cup.

5. As is starts to cook, sprinkle the ginger and onions and tempura bits on top.



6. Now comes the tricky part. Turning. After a minute, using your skewer/toothpick, you grab the edge of the takoyaki ball and flip it over half way so the other side can start to cook. Pick up the spilled over filling and shove it in there too. Keep continuously rotating them until they are completely round and golden brown.



Here is a video, it shows all of these cooking steps.





7. Once they are golden and firm, place them on your plate. Drizzle your sauce and mayo on top, with a sprinkling of nori flakes. You are ready to eat!



*My host family told my konnyaku is a "sea potato". This..... is not true. Even though it is often called a "yam", it isn't that either! This "potato" is made into flour and has hijiki added to it for the color. It has a jiggly texture a lot of people don't like at first, and the taste can be too "fishy" sometimes. But it is a perfect replacement for octopus legs in this recipe!