48 posts tagged “coriander”
October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge comes to us from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, who has graciously offered a recipe from her new cookbook The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.
I was lucky to enough to find a window in my schedule to complete both challenges. The vegan Pho Ga was very interesting to make. I only had time to make the short version of the recipe. You can find the long version of the chicken pho recipe here, and beef pho recipe here on Jaden's Web site. I toasted the same spices but used vegan faux meat (chicken breast) and soy sauce and hoisin sauce. I also added lots of shiitake mushrooms to add more flavor. The pho came out really tasty and the rice noodles simply were glorious in this soup.
Now I must get back to my work again. These beautiful foods can at least keep me a little more content now.
For more delicious Vietnamese Pho, check out the Daring Cooks blogroll.
It simply feels good when I have a little more personal time that I can spend on reading and cooking. I'm totally in love with Virginia Woolf's novels right now. I'm currently reading To the Lighthouse. My next book is probably going to be Orlando. I'm still not sleeping well or enough, but I'm totally resigned to the fact at this point, so it doesn't matter at all. All I want is more time. I still can't get over the fact that we think in a certain way and form a resolution during the day, but after we are forced to enter into a strangely necessary slumber, when we awake, nothing new is left; all resolves have been robbed from us by the dark night. Everything is inevitably back to what it used to. How are we going to make any progress if, at night, we always go back to where we came from?
Despite all these puzzles going on in my mind all day long, I am able to spend more time with myself now. The first thing I thought of is to make myself a nice risotto for a change. I can't live on bread and butter after all. This risotto is very similar to the Roasted Red Pepper and Artichoke Risotto I made more than a month ago. I used gourmet mushrooms instead of all roasted red peppers. Thank goodness, our local supermarket does sell some nice mushroom, unlike the lackadaisical farmer's market here.
(Makes 3-4 servings)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
6-7 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups sliced green onions
2 cups mixed baby bella, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms, roughly sliced and chopped
2 tsp. thyme
2 tsp. rosemary
1 1/3 cups white jasmine rice or arborio rice
1/3 plus 2 Tbsp. white wine
4 1/2 cups hot water
1 1/2 large roasted red peppers, finely chopped
1 jar water-packed artichokes (or roasted artichokes packed in oil), drained well * (see notes)
4 1/2 cups hot water
4 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Saute onions, garlic, green onions and mixed mushrooms over medium heat for about 8-9 minutes until mushrooms have released some juice. Add thyme and rosemary and cook for another 2 minutes.
2. Add the rice and cook for 2-3 minutes until the rice is completely coated with oil.
3. Pour in the wine and cook until completely evaporated.
4. Ladle in 1 1/2 cups of hot water and mix thoroughly with the rice. Cook over low-medium heat. Keep stirring from time to time to make sure the rice does not get burned or stuck on the bottom of the pot.
5. Add in roasted peppers and artichokes and mix well.
6. Ladle in another 1 1/2 cups of hot water and stir well. Cook until the water is absorbed. (Keep stirring when the rice seems much drier to prevent it from being burnt on the bottom.)
7. Ladle in hot water by batches. 1 1/2 cups each time. Cook until the water is completely absorbed. Stir frequently. Repeat until the desired creaminess is achieved.
8. When the water is all used up and the rice is completely cooked, remove from heat. Add coriander, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper and mix well. Serve warm.
* If you use marinated artichokes in a jar, it is OK too. But do not use any marinated artichokes with a very strong vinegary taste. Make sure you drain really well, and you can probably rinse a bit in a bowl of water and drain again.
Last night, I had a sudden urge to make my own seitan, which turned out to be really much easier than I had expected, thanks to the wonderful recipe by Joanna Vaught. Now I have two containers of chicken-style seitan waiting to be "butchered", and I can't recall the last time I have made pasta in my kitchen, a crazy idea was born: I should make a seitan pasta that combines all the flavors in the world! This is more or less a mission impossible. First of all, I don't even know half of the flavors around the world; secondly, I have actually never combined seitan with pasta before; last, I simply don't know where to even begin. Do I look up some recipes or think of one by myself?
But the dilemma resolved itself when the morning arrived. I was too hungry to consider what I would actually do with the seitan bathing in the broth in the refrigerator, or the fettuccine that looked so eager to be picked up. All the flavors in the world - the heck with it! I started cooking and the chef in charge was my hungry stomach. That's how this pasta dish finally emerged out of our kitchen. I was really pleased with the taste and the look of it. Of course my stomach loved it more.
I am submitting this pasta dish to Presto Pasta Nights, a great event started by Ruth of Once Upon A Feast and she will be hosting this week's event as well.
(Makes 2 large servings)
3 lb. uncooked whole wheat fettuccine (or enough for 2 people)
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp. sliced ginger, minced
5 scallions, both white and green parts, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups homemade chicken-style seitan (I used Joanna Vaught's recipe), cut into small thin strips
2 Tbsp. red curry paste
1 tsp. cumin
1 1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tsp. ground coriander
A good pinch of fine sea salt
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Smoked paprika for garnish
1. Start a big pot of water cooking on the stove. When the water boils, put the fettuccine in and cook according to the package instructions. The timing should work out in a way that you can put the pasta in when the sauce is ready. But if the pasta is cooked al dante first, pour some olive oil in and mix well to prevent sticking. If the pasta is cooked after the sauce done, you will just put the sauce aside for a little while.
2. Over medium heat, sauté onions, garlic, ginger, scallions and red pepper flakes for 8-9 minutes until onions get softer.
3. Add in seitan strips and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes.
4. Stir in red pepper paste and cumin, and thoroughly mix. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Pour in the coconut milk and turn up the heat a bit to reach a slow boil. Then reduce to simmer and continue to cook for another 7-8 minutes.
6. Add in ground coriander, sea salt and black pepper and throughly stir. Remove from heat.
7. Reserve a little sauce, and add most of the sauce into the pasta and mix very well. Plate. Pour the reserved sauce on top of the pasta and sprinkle some smoked paprika on top for garnish.
Serve warm, with baby spinach and carrots (or any greens you prefer) on the side.
Oh, this is a wonderful day! I finally get to do my first entry for the "Eat to the Beat" event hosted by Elly, since she thoughtfully extended the deadline to Jan. 31st. I still remember wanting to create something really special for this event since more than three months ago. Maybe cooking is too emotionally charged for me. I want to serve everything with love. I want to incorporate everything nutritious into one single meal. I want to feel the calm that comes after cooking up a storm in the kitchen. I want to learn more about myself through cooking which represents all the love in the world for me. So, here I am, for the finale in 2008 of "Eat to the Beat" I have mustered up enough courage to just do my thing without thinking too much.
In this time of the year, potatoes are the ultimate comfort food. When it is wintry cold outside (even in Florida), mashed potatoes, baked potatoes smothered in melted butter or cheese, potato soups, and simply fries bring us all the consolation we need. Nothing beats the all-giving love from potatoes. I have never been a potato fan. I will thoroughly enjoy the above-mentioned potato dishes without giving potatoes any merit. For me, the spices and the specific ways of cooking prevail whereas the object itself is not really special in any way (this is only in the case of potatoes). But one song changed my view. Now whenever I hear or think of this song, I look fondly at my potatoes which are patiently waiting to shine and give. This incredible song is called Potato by Cheryl Wheeler. You have to watch the YouTube video of her performance. The song is witty, hilarious, and full of simple but true praises that remind me of a reliable earthen ware that Greeks used to use thousands of years ago to make their elaborate dinner. Millions of potatoes are underground now, quietly and lovingly growing and waiting for their appearances on our dinner tables. I have to proclaim loudly and publicly now, that I love potatoes.
Now that I love potatoes, I can put them into a pie - one of my favorite food of all time. The warm creamy texture of potatoes and their earthy flavor are finely combined with the flaky and wheaty crust. And why not throw in some fiery grilled peppers? So here is my wonderful Grilled Red Pepper and Potato Pie waiting to be devoured.
Grilled Red Pepper and Potato Pie
(Makes one 10-inch pie)
Inspired by and adapted from Baking History's recipe
What you need:
Filling:
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
4-5 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cups scallions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups grilled red peppers (homemade or packed in oil, or roasted peppers), roughly chopped
7-8 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
3 tsp. dried coriander
1/2 tsp. chipotle chile pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup unsweetened plain soy milk
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
Crust:
1 1/2 plus 2 Tbsp. cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (scant) canola oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3/8 cup ice water
What you do:
Put potato cubes in a pot and cover with water. The water should come up to 1 1/2 or 2 inches above the potatoes. Cook over medium high heat and come to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 7-8 more minutes until potatoes are getting softer. Drain well and set aside. (The timing depends on the size of your potato cubes. Since the potatoes will continue to cook in the oven later, you don't want them to get mushy now.)
Make the Crust: In a food processor put flour and canola oil, and pulse until mixture resembles wet sand and gets pebbly. Dissolve salt in the ice water. With the machine running add water in batches for the dough to come together. Do not overprocess. (You can do all this in a big mixing bowl with a fork.) Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375F (190C).
Filling: In a large skillet, sauté onions, garlic, scallions and grilled red peppers in oilve oil for 10 minutes until the onions get translusent. Add rosemary, coriander and chipotle chili pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Now pour in the half-boiled potato cubes and mix well. Cook for 4 minutes. Now, remove from heat and add enough salt and pepper according to your own preference. Add in nutritional yeast and soy milk and thoroughly mix. Set aside.
Roll the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness and line a deep pie dish, letting the extra pastry hang over the sides of the pan. Put the filling mixture into the pie plate lined with pastry. Fold over the pastry so that the filling is partially covered. Bake for 50 minutes. Serve warm.
Serving suggestions:
You can serve this with a spinach and walnut salad with a cranberry sauce on the side.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We cooked a lot and ate a lot, like there is no tomorrow. I guess during Christmas it is virtually impossible not to overeat. We have decided that we are not going to make any New Year's Resolutions because we already know - because we know ourselves well enough in this aspect - that we will not honor our resolutions for more than two months. So we feel rather relieved for not making any attempt. :) And you know what, I feel rather good about this. For the first time, we just accept and respect ourselves for what we are, and go with the flow. 2009 will be a good year, because we will work more on complimenting ourselves from time to time and being with ourselves in a friendly and loving manner.
Now, back to the food we cooked up for Christmas. Nothing too fancy. I almost did an all-Veganomicon feast.
1. French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme (Veganomicon, page 141).
2. Mac Daddy (Veganomicon, page 195).
3. Seitan Vindaloo (Vegan Dad, recipe here).
4. Singapore-Style Yellow Curry Rice Noodles with Tofu (Vegan Express, page 118).
5. Pumpkin Coconut Cakey Bars (My own recipe).
I wish everyone a happy New Year's Day in advance, and God bless!
I have been cooking but it has become rather hard to keep up posting more often. We always seem to have many things piling up onto the to-do lists. "It's always something" has been such a cliche in our household now. I didn't have time to come up with any new recipe. Nor did I participate in any cooking contest like I planned. I cooked from cookbooks and my recipe collection. Alas! 'Tis life. We ought to be grateful for what we have though. My husband and I have begun our little "self-compliment" group, inspired by LaidOutInLavendar. It is not easy at all. Gosh, I never knew it could this hard to say a few nice things about ourselves without feeling weird or discouraged. But we are trying. It's much easier to compliment each other, but when it comes down to the self-compliment... I guess we just don't know ourselves well enough.
Anyway, here comes the food porn, as usual. The first thing is from VwaV, page 28, "Fronch" Toast. It was great, but next time I will definitely add some cinnamon and nutmet to make it more traditional.
The second thing is Bryanna's Hunan Tofu. I made this before, a long while ago that I can't even remember. This time I didn't even fry the tofu beforehand because I wanted more of a soft and juicy texture. It turned out even better than I remembered. Surely a keeper!
How was everybody's Thanksgiving? I hope that you all had fun and lots of really nice food. Did you overeat like last year and the year before last year...? Here are a couple of things that you can eat when you're so sick of food or thinking about cooking anything.
Scrambled Tofu with Cauliflower and Green Beans
(makes 3-4 servings)
1 large yellow onion, quartered and thinly sliced
7-8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
9 large button mushrooms, wiped clean and thinly sliced
4 cups cauliflower florets, cut into bite size
4 cups green beans, ends discarded and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 1/2 blocks extra-firm tofu, pressed beforehand and cut into cubes
4 tsp. thyme
3 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Saute onions, garlic, green onions, mushrooms and cauliflower over medium heat for about 12-13 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften and mushrooms release some juice.
2. Add green beans and tofu cubes. Mix in well and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add spices except for the nutritional yeast and salt and pepper. Cook for another 10 minutes until green beans are fully cooked. I like them crispy. If you want them to be soft, cook for 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Add in the nutritional yeast and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I bought a few too many sweet potatoes so I decided to finally hit the "Knish Madness" recipe (page 76) in Vegan With A Vengeance. I have no idea what I got myself into. I don't know why the recipe says the baking is altogether 70 minutes while I spent almost 4 hours baking the potatoes at a higher temperature too. I mean I made other pies and baked other things so it seems that my oven is that off. I really don't know what happened. Then the kneading completely wiped me out. By the time I put the knishes into the oven to bake, I was so glad that it was all over I didn't even care if I ever got to eat them. And I didn't make any potato-spinach knishes after all that preparations. But the final products were really good. I think I still said that it was worth the effort - 6-7 hours of working in the kitchen.
I have been busy cooking and doing many other things. I don't how I get so busy doing nothing. :) I made my my own agape pasta sauce again. I made it a couple of weeks ago but didn't write down the recipe. This time I improved it and recorded what I did too. I guess it was meant to be posted today.
D's Agape Pasta Sauce
(makes 4 servings)
1 medium yellow onion, halved and sliced into half moons
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 cups button mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
1/2 cup red wine
1 bunch of scallions, roughly chopped
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 Tbsp. capers, drained and chopped
9-10 green olives, sliced
2 Tbsp. sesame tahini
2 tsp. Thai red curry paste
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk, and a little more if necessary
2/3 cup canned or cooked black beans
1/2 cup fresh basil, torn into small pieces
1/3 cup fresh culantro, torn into small pieces
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1. Saute onions, garlic and mushrooms for about 10 minutes until mushrooms begin to sweat a bit.
2. Pour in the red wine and cook until evaporated.
3. Add scallions, tomatoes, capers and olives and cook for 1 minute.
4. Stir in tahini, soymilk and curry paste and mix well.
5. Add beans, basil and culantro and cook for another minute just to heat through.
6. Turn off heat and add in nutritional yeast and mix well. Serve hot!
I also tried out two of Vegan Dad's recipes since I still haven't gotten back any of my vegan cookbooks. My hubby suggested searching for them in our local library and I was lucky enough to locate a few and found several vegan cookbooks that I never bought before. I guess a lot of cooking experiments are coming my way this week. The first recipe I tried from Vegan Dad is Chocolate Pumpkin Pudding Cake. Boy, it was a decadent cake! Moist, delicious and really chocolate-y.
It's already the 25th. I don't think I can catch up in October. Maybe I'll just continue to finish my VeganMoFo entries in the first two weeks of November. I'm assuming there's no rule against this. In the meantime, we urgently need to solve our drinking water problem and restore my vegan cookbook library since we threw all of them away before we moved. No one wanted them. I know it's a shame.
Talking about water, who knows that most of the drinking water (tap water, bottled water, spring water, etc.) in Florida is actually acidic, including the so-called distilled water?? What happened? Fortunately, we finally found a company that will deliver mountain valley water that is alkaline, but it's the weekend right now.
Enough about the water, let's move on to food. I really don't know what to call this entry. It's just some simple daily food. Pasta and pancakes. How common can you get? The first dish is whole wheat spaghetti mixed with baby arugula, paprika, coriander, nooch (nutritional yeast) and baby spinach. Oh, don't forget the Tofurkey Italian Sausages. I love these vegan sausages! They are really spicy.
Then I made these banana pecan pancakes. They were alright but I wish I didn't overmix the batter. The pancakes were a little too gummy. But now I know how to make them more fluffy next time. The batter contains: all-purpose flour, soy milk, vanilla extract, one ripe banana, flaxmeal mixed in water, olive oil, and pecans. I eyeballed everything. I'll write down the exact measurements next time if it works out better.
And some unrelated stuff here. I love my backyard! So I took some photos here. I don't know if you can see the squirrel in the first photo below. The squirrels down here don't have fluffy big tails.
Now here's my new backyard that I really like. Behind it, it's a public golf course. Thank God, we're not in the danger zone so we don't have to watch for those flying golf balls all the time.
