21 posts tagged “bryanna”

I have made so many different versions of tofu scramble.  For a vegan, tofu scramble is definitely a staple food, something that I can simply whip up when I am feel really lazy.  It is the ultimate comfort food with the benefit of fast food.  You can practically add anything into the tofu scramble to make it Italian, American, Chinese, Indian, or whichever way you want.

But the recipe I used this time is simplicity itself.  I found it on Bryanna's blog and it is Julie Hasson's Yummy Tofu Scramble.  I cooked it in 15 minutes and it is yummy without too many additions or spices.  Sometimes, keeping it simple is the sure way to make it tasty.  This tofu scramble sure beats all the other versions I tried in any restaurant so far (and we have tried many across the country).

God, how I wish I had more time!  I have been extremely busy and blogging has certainly been put on the back-burner.  I haven't been following my neighbors or fellow-bakers (and cooks) at all.  I do apologize and thank everyone for his or her kind comments.  I haven't been cooking much either.  Hubby has been feeding both of us every day, and I barely make my own greens to go along with the pasta nowadays.  Alas!  So quickly it is the reveal day for this month's Daring Bakers Challenge.  I sadly notice that my blog has been only about the Daring Kitchen (not that it is not an honor to be baking and cooking with such a wonderful group of passionate and talented people).  Without furthur ado...

August's Daring Bakers' Challenge has been chosen by Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella and Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar.  They have chosen the famous Dobos Torta, a Hungarian speciality.

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Equipment

    * 2 baking sheets
    * 9” (23cm) springform tin and 8” cake tin, for templates
    * mixing bowls (1 medium, 1 large)
    * a sieve
    * a double boiler (a large saucepan plus a large heat-proof mixing bowl which fits snugly over the top of the pan)
    * a small saucepan
    * a whisk (you could use a balloon whisk for the entire cake, but an electric hand whisk or stand mixer will make life much easier)
    * metal offset spatula
    * sharp knife
    * a 7 1/2” cardboard cake round, or just build cake on the base of a springform tin.
    * piping bag and tip, optional

Prep times

    * Sponge layers 20 mins prep, 40 mins cooking total if baking each layer individually.
    * Buttercream: 20 mins cooking. Cooling time for buttercream: about 1 hour plus 10 minutes after this to beat and divide.
    * Caramel layer: 10-15 minutes.
    * Assembly of whole cake: 20 minutes

The complete original recipe can be found here.  For the sponge cake layers, I used Bryanna's recipe, which involves whipping up Ener-G egg replacers in a stand mixer just like egg white (see the picture below).  The key to use this recipe is to be gentle with the batter.  You cannot stir or mix too hard or too fast.  Using a rubber spetula to carefully fold in the whipped "white egg" is the right way.

This is how the baked vegan sponge cake layer looks like.

I don't make multi-layer cakes at all at home.  It just always seems like too much trouble.  So this is actually the first time that I have assembled a multi-layer cake.  A big Thank-You to our ingenious hostesses Lorraine and Angela.  I did relatively OK, but of course the appearance of the torte could have been much better.  My caramel layer on top was a bit thin, but I liked it.  The texture is more chewy and spongy than a strictly hard toffee layer.  And I had a lot of fun making the caramel.  Boy, it hardens really fast (in seconds)!  For the chocolate buttercream, I simply used Isa's recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

The verdict: It was a fun project to work on.  Would I make it again?  Absolutely yes!  The sponge cake layers are really tasty.  The chocolate-hazelnut combo cannot be more decadent.  The citrus-flavored toffee layer on top rounds out the overall sweetness.  Even Hubby loved it and said it was the best cake yet.

For more gorgeous Dobos Tortes, check out the Daring Bakers blogroll.

I also made these Chicago "Red Hot" Poppyseed Buns (recipe by Sandy Smith of At the Baker's Bench).  The buns are light yet substantial and the poppyseeds really shine in them.  These buns are perfect for a good veggie burger or you can simply slather them with butter or jam.

It's another unbelievable recipe by Bryanna.  I followed the instructions to the T, and I was greatly rewarded.  There is always something really rich and old in Bryanna's recipes.  Even if the recipe only calls for 30 minutes of our time, the result seems to be the work of 6 or 7 hours of hard labor.  This vegan quiche is a good example.  It was really easy to put together, but the taste was hard to achieve even if I had slaved over the hot oven for hours.  By the way, the delicate crust is 50% whole wheat too.

So kudos to Bryanna!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Lasagne is a dish that few people can resist.  It has certainly transcended the borders.  As my first Daring Bakers challenge, I was really excited to try my hands on a savory dish instead of a giant cake that will tempt me for two weeks and increase my waistline further more.  As vegans, we have always loved lasagne as a all-time favorite in our family.  It's creamy, yummy, doughy, and filling.  What more can we really ask for?

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time

10 quarts (9 litres) water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce
1 recipe Lentil-Mushroom Ragu
6 pieces vegan Mozzarella cheese

The biggest challenge for me this time is to make fresh homemade pasta from scratch.  Thank God, Bryanna already solved this problem for us vegans long time ago.  I simply used her recipe with 10 oz. fresh spinach (dried as much as possible and really finely chopped).  The dough was surprisingly easy to make and extremely pliable.  Below is my fresh pasta dough ball after kneading and before resting.  I'll definitely try to make some vegan ravioli with the same recipe.  Even rolling out the pasta noodles was much easier than I thought.  I didn't break any piece, amazingly.

The Bechamel Sauce was comparatively really easy.  I simply subbed Earth Balance butter and soy milk.  It's a very simple but delicious white sauce.

For the Ragu, I found an excellent vegan Lentil-Mushroom Ragu recipe recommended by other Alternative Daring Bakers.  It was really tasty and had a great meaty texture.  The original recipe called for puy lentils but I only had red lentils in the cabinet (my mistake).  It didn't affect the taste much, and I added some fresh edamame to add a little more toothsome texture.

I must admit that assembling the lasagne turned out to be a little more work than I imagined.  Since the fresh pasta cooked really fast (5 seconds) in boiling water - because the noodles were rolled to be really thin (newspaper transparency), I decided to cook each layer of noodles and assemble right away.  It was a good thing that I made the sauces before cooking the pasta.  All I remember now is that it was layer after layer and layer after layer.  I topped the lasagne with six big pieces of vegan mozzarella cheese, which turned out to be a perfect addition to the overall flavors.

I was really blown away by the taste of this lasagne.  The fresh pasta was really doughy and had a wonderfully earthy taste from the spinach in the dough.  The Ragu and Bechamel Sauces mixed with the spinach pasta created such a symphony of different flavors and the whole dish simply melted in our mouths.

It took me altogether six hours and a half to finish the whole challenge, and the time wasn't mostly inactive waiting time.  It was really hard work, which I already knew before joining the Daring Bakers challenge.  But it was so worth every minute of work!  Now I don't know how I can ever go back to eating dried lasagne noodles.  Next time I'll make the sauces one day in advance and make plenty of fresh pasta and freeze some.

Maybe you will be interested in checking out the new Daring Kitchen Web site.  You can also be a member if you dare to dream a little.  You will certainly have many nice eats and treats, I promise you.  :)

And I served the Hunan Tofu with Indian-Spiced Quinoa from Vegan Planet (page 229).  I skipped raisins because I generally don't like them in the savory dishes and used walnuts instead of pine nuts as I simply ran out.  It's the first recipe I have tried out of this vegan cookbook.  I loved the flavors and short preparation time.  I will definitely try some other recipes soon.

Finally, a recipe from one of my favorite vegan cookbooks, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan - Monkey Minestrone (page 97).  I totally adored this soup, but my husband actually preferred my own minestrone.  How sweet!  I didn't use any corn, but added some potatoes and soy beans.  I think the soup was made more earthy and meaty this way.  I also added three tablespoons of tomato paste to make the soup thicker.

We certainly don't need to search for any artesan bread in local bakeries any more.

Life suddenly got busy again.  Don't ask me why or how.  I don't even want to think about it.  I must have gotten out of bed on the wrong side.  I don't like to wake up hearing a time-consuming business conversation and many message alerts on the cell phone.  I thought I had put enough distance between the work and my mood, but apparently I was entirely mistaken.  Enough rant.  The only real drawback is that I haven't been catching up with my VeganMoFo entries again.  Oh well, the show must go on!

We just went through a vegan pizza making experiment over the weekend.  My hubby's aunt and her partner came for a visit.  It's their first visit to see the house and they haven't seen my husband for a few years now.  We thought it would be nice to have some homemade pizzas ready for them.  I made Bryanna's 5-Minute No Knead Bread dough again, and now I can bake a few more focaccie or rolls.  We did a few different toppings.  My hubby made the Mediterranean topping, Roman zucchini topping and rosemary potato topping.  I made Isa's basic tofu basil ricotta as a topping.

The verdict: great pizzas!  Hubby's aunts loved them.  We loved them.  And I'm off to bake a focaccia.

...and what do you do for your lunch and dinner?  You don't feel like cooking for two hours no matter how worth it you might possibly feel the next day.  The answer is to make use of the leftover food that you luckily saved.  So this is how these two vegan meals were prepared.  Leftover soup made into a pizza and leftover scrambed tofu made into a vegan strata.  Add some more spices and modify the flavors a little bit, and you've got yourself a beautiful brand new meal without sacrificing anything.  And the best part, this also minimizes the washing you'll have to do after the dinner.  Besides, you'll feel great about what you've just accomplished and the fridge will be once more ready for something new.

This is what I made using the leftover scrambled tofu.  The recipe is based on Bryanna's brilliant vegan strata recipe.  I simply blended my scrambled tofu and added two tablespoons of tarragon French wine vinegar.  I didn't use lemon juice or wine.  The bread goes to the bottom of the casserole dish, then baby spinach, tomato slices and fresh basil, and the blend mix follows.  By then I actually ran out of bread (shamefully), so I simply topped the whole casserole with another layer of tomatoes.  The outcome: great taste!  You'll never think that it can be prepared within 10 minutes.  Of course, that's just the preparation time, because the baking takes 35 to 40 minutes.  But I watched a movie while the baking took place.

Then my hubby used the leftover autumn soup and a store-bought pizza crust to make us a wonderful vegan pizza.  He added a lot of other spices and sauces (which I don't even know) and the pizza turned out to be full of fire and zest.

I'm back.  Unfortunately, I feel more strain and stress than before I left because I'll have to travel again soon, to finish the unfinished business.  Oh well, the Lord works in mysterious ways and I know things will fall into places at God's pace.  I haven't slept well at all, and I'm haunted by my own to-do list.  It's a result of lacking faith and having too much fear, I'm sure.  On a good note, I've been steadily losing weight because I'm too stressed out to enjoy my food.  I guess it will be a good thing if my mood finally changes in the good direction.  Maybe 2008 is really one of the biggest turning points in my life.

I haven't done anything special for the 100th post of my food porn and recipe series.  So here it is.  I did try Bryanna's recipe and make the no-knead yeast bread.  I made a pizza and a foccacia with the dough.  I still have some of the dough in my fridge that will go to good use.  It was a great experience.  I can't believe half whole-wheat pizza dough can still be so good, better than the non-whole-wheat dough.  The topping was a marinara sauce with two large zucchini.  I loaded on lots of herbs.  I mean really a lot, which was the key.  Great topping and great dough made a great pizza.  My husband said it reminded him of an authentic Italian pizza.

 

I accidentally took out more dough and I had some fun making a foccacia I didn't really intend to make.  I used coarse salt and chives, which gave the foccacia a really good smell.  I'm really in love with the no-knead yeast bread now.