34 posts tagged “zucchini”

We are huge dumpling/potsticker lovers.  You can eat dumplings/potstickers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  So when our June host Jen from use real butter chose this challenge, I was super excited.  I have always been fond of making Chinese dumplings/potstickers from scratch, but sadly I don't make them often enough.  This time I got my perfect excuse.

Jen from use real butter is our host for the Daring Cooks June 2009 challenge.  It's a basic concept: a filling inside a dough wrapper, sealed, and cooked.  This delicious theme runs through many cultures and is among the more popular bites at Chinese restaurants - especially dim sum.  The recipe she provided is based on her family recipe.  There is a lot of room for exploration and creativity.

Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers

dough: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe)
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for worksurface

dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly by hand.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two).

Make the dough, Method 1: Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade.  Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated.  Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth.  The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky.  [Note: it’s better to have a moist dough and have to incorporate more flour than to have a dry and pilling dough and have to incorporate more water.]

Make the dough, Method 2 (Jen's mom’s instructions): In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed.  Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.  We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.  [My note: I used a little more water than the 1/2 cup listed in the recipe.  The dough is not supposed to be soft, but not too stiff either.  Use your own judgement and you might have to just trust your instinct and see what happens.]

Both dough methods: Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes.  Take the dough and form a flattened dome.  Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide.  Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders.  On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces.  Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers).  With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc.  Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch.  Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges.  Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side (see images in Jen's post for how to fold pleats).  Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.

To boil: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add dumplings to pot.  Boil the dumplings until they float.

To steam: Place dumplings on a single layer of napa cabbage leaves or on a well-greased surface in a steamer basket with lid. Steam covered for about 6 minutes.

To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

To freeze: Assemble dumplings on a baking sheet so they are not touching. It helps to rub the base of the dumpling in a little flour before setting on the baking sheet for ease of release. Freeze for 20-30 minutes until dumplings are no longer soft. Place in ziploc bag and freeze for up to a couple of months. Prepare per the above instructions, but allow extra time to ensure the filling is thoroughly cooked.

To serve: Serve dumplings or potstickers hot with your choice of dipping sauce combinations.

I made dumplings in the soup, deep-fried dumplings, and the traditional potstickers.

My Filling (for 14-16 dumplings):

1 recipe Tofu Ricotta (PPK)
1 medium-size eggplant, peeled and sliced across to 1/4-inch pieces
1 zucchini, sliced to 1/4-inch pieces
1 large portobello mushroom, sliced
15 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/2 large tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup freeze-dried chives
1/2 tsp. red curry paste
1 tsp. black bean chili sauce
A dash of Hungarian paprika
3 water-packed baby artichokes, well drained and squeezed dry, roughly chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped
20 capers, drained and finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Deep all vegetables from eggplant to tomatoes (one type of vegetable at one time).  When done, dry on paper towel very well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mash deep-fried vegetables, tofu ricotta, all spices, and everything else together until creamy and well-combined.

Seaweed Soup:

10 cups water
1 cup dried konbu
3 large cabbage leaves
1/2 cup fresh scallions, sliced
2 Tbsp. white miso
Salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a large pot and cook on medium heat for 5-7 minutes before adding the boiled dumplings.

Verdict: Once you get the hang of making your own wrappers, you can make your dumplings in no time.  It's a fun way of eating and certainly a one-pot-meal.  Regarding the pleating part, I thoroughly had fun.  It may seem difficult at first, but if you are patient enough to try a couple more times, you will get the hang of it pretty quickly.  It's really not so hard.

For more dumpling/potsticker variations, check out the Daring Cooks blogroll.

This is a wonderfully delicious pasta dish made with fried vegetables and seasoned with only salt.  Simplicity is beauty itself in this case.

I finally made this heavenly vanilla yogurt pound cake from Veganomicon because I found soy yogurt in the local store.  Moist and rich, this pound cake will send fat straight to your waistline if you don't stop eating it soon enough.

I was able to get us Teese and then I put plenty of it on this pizza with the classic mushroom marinara sauce.

Teese melts well, and has a rather mild flavor that blends well with the sauce, but don't try to eat it directly out of the package.  Other soy cheeses will taste better if consumed directly.  For the pizza topping, I will definitely use Teese.

This is so weird.  It is the second to last day of VeganMoFo and I'm finally kicking into high gear.  I cooked for a whole day and I'm still looking for the next recipe in my collection to try out.  Well, now I have three beautiful photos to post here.  If you happen to think they don't look good, please just pretend they are.  :)

The first one is the Ten-Minute Couscous Soup (recipe by Heidi of 101 Cookbooks).  I just saw this recipe yesterday and I immediately made it.  101 Cookbooks is one of my favorite food blogs and I've already made a few things out of Heidi's recipes.  Her recipes usually yield wholesome and easy-to-make food, and the photos are just gorgeous.  For this soup, I used half broth and half water, subbed fresh tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and added some zucchini because I have plenty.

The second thing I made is Banana Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe by Kittee of Cake Maker to the Stars).  Kittee's blog is another favorite of mine.  And from her blog title you can easily deduce that her cakes are hard to beat.  This banana cake is absolutely the most moist and fluffy cake I've ever had.  It was so good that I finished eating one-third of it before frosting.  I didn't have white chocolate chips so I used dark cocoa powder instead.

Then another great vegan recipe resource, Vegan Dad's blog gave me the recipe for the Quick and Easy Tofu Etouffee.  I've never even heard of etouffee before, but now I'm loving it.  I didn't make my own vegan sausages so I used Tofurkey Italian Sausage, and I made my own vegan sour cream (blending silken tofu, salt, sugar and lemon juice).  And I used culantro instead of parsley for a stronger flavor.  The Tofu Etouffee is a really meaty dish, so when you have omnivore friends over, you can definitely make this to surprise them.

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.

This is the result of my one-month-long craving for a very spicy scrambled tofu.  I put so many things into the dish that I might as well call it scrambled veggies with some tofu.  It is really tasty and spicy and perfect for a hungry family.

Powerhouse Scrambled Tofu
(makes 4 generous servings)

1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
7-8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups baby carrots, chopped
3-4 large portobello mushrooms, diced
2 cups cauliflower, roughly chopped
1 block of extra-firm tofu, pressed and cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium zucchini, cut into halves lengthwise and then sliced to 1/4-inch pieces
1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends discarded and cut into 1/2-inch pieces and tips reserved
1 cup canned cannellini beans
2 cups of baby spinach, loosely packed
3 tsp. chopped chives
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. ground garam masala
1 tsp. smoked paprika
3/4 tsp. chipotle pepper powder
1 tsp. cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute onions, garlic and peppers over medium for about 5 minutes.  You just want to slightly cook them to release some aroma so that you don't overcook anything in the end.
2. Add in baby carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower, and tofu and cook for 1 minute.  Add all the herbs and spices except for salt and pepper and mix well.  Continue to cook for another 10 minutes.
3. Add zucchini and asparagus and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add in baby spinach and beans and just heat through (about 30 seconds).
5. Turn off heat, adjust your spices if desired and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm.

These are the best pancakes ever, for me, yet!  I can't wait to see how good pancakes can get.  Heavenly smell, texture, and taste.  The original recipe - Coconut Macaroon Pancakes - by Heidi of "101 Cookbooks" calls for 3 cups of shredded coconut.  I used only 1.5 cups because I still wanted a more flour-based texture.  Boy, I can't wait to make the real coconut macaroon pancakes after making these babies.

And I'm still not tired of English muffins.  This batch is definitely my personal best so far.  I probably should refrain from making them too soon.  I know, you agree I really should.

This green scrambled tofu helped me in one of my hardest days.  I lost all of my appetite because I was upset and run down.  But nothing beats two zucchini and three green bell peppers with loads of chives in a good old scrambled tofu.

The third photo is my first attempt at making mochi.  I bought a bag of mochiko a month ago and every time I saw it in my pantry, I felt guilty of not picking it up.  One hot afternoon my cravings made me venture into the kitchen and made some basic sweet mochi.  I was too lazy to make any azuki bean stuffing, and simply pan-fried (or rather, pan-baked) the mochi.  The mildly sweet rice cakes came out so good.  Boy, I love Japanese desserts!  Oh, I almost forogt.  I followed this recipe on Chow.com.

The next photo is Nicole's Four Grain Pancakes.  I used the modified recipe by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen.  Kudos to both Nicole and Aparna!  It's a great recipe and I totally loved these healthy and hearty pancakes.  These four-grain pancakes can be easily made into savory ones that will go nicely with some beautiful soup.

Yet another photo of my regular udon noodle bowl.  This one consists of asparagus, dried Shiitake mushrooms (soaked), and faux meatballs.  The sauce is simple: a couple dashes of vegetarian oyster sauce, dark soy sauce or tamari, a pinch of hot smoked Spanish paprika and a lot of parsley.

And yesterday afternoon I made these beautiful Chocolate Oatmeal Macadamia Butter Muffins.  The original recipe is by Katy of Legally Vegan.  She used chunky peanut butter but I'm loving the unsalted macadamia butter now so naturally I used that.  I also subbed a silken tofu "egg".  Definitely a keeper!

This is after my two bites.  It wasn't easy to put down my muffin to take this photo, so I didn't care much about the quality of the photo at all.

Finally, I made a very simple side dish - Summer Squash Sizzle.  It's just what I needed in this summer.  Crispy vegetables with a hint of lemon freshness.  The original recipe is found in My Vegan Cookbook.  I love that Web site!  Many thanks to the man behind the curtain for all those wonderful vegan recipes.

I guess I won't have much time for regular blogging yet.  But I'll try to, especially I've got so much to catch up in my

Vox neighborhood.  Until then, take care and God bless!

Oh, where did I go?  I don't know how I just don't seem to have enough time to blog more often nowadays.  I gotta quit the fast lane, as soon as possible, for my sanity.  The good news is that we will have our long vacation very soon, in August.  I didn't cook much, but I did conjure up a new vegetable stew for myself.  It's really effective for losing a few pounds since summer is more or less here.

 

 

1 large yellow onion, cut into half moons
3 green bell peppers, julienned
8 garlic bulbs, pressed
2 Russet potatoes, cubed
4 Roma tomatoes, finely chopped and juice reserved
1/2 hot water
1 large zucchini, halved and then sliced thinly
2 bunches of asparagus, tips reserved and the rest cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 cup fresh edamame, rinsed
1/2 cup (tightly packed) fresh basil, torn into pieces
6-7 fresh sage leaves, torn into pieces

1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sauté onions, peppers and garlic for about 10 minutes until softened.
2. Add potatoes and cook covered for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes and hot water.  Mix well and cook covered for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add zucchini, asparagus and edamame and mix well.  Cook for another 10 minutes on low-medium heat.
5. Add herbs, mix and heat through.  Remove from heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve.

 

I had this veggie stew in the beginning of a difficult diet.  It helped quite a bit because it was very satisfying but pretty light.  Of course, I haven't been all that disciplined.  I wish I had just stayed with vegetables alone.  But making Lolo's Easy Tarte aux Pommes is a great pleasure, before, during, and after the process.  It was really easy to make, and it smelled good and tasted good.  If you want a little treat for your weariness after a long day, make this and you will have a smile on the face when you dig your fork into it.

 

And I'm ashamed to report that I also made the vegan English muffins again.  I ate them with a lot of vegan margarine and apricot preserves.  This was obviously for a fattening diet.

 

Yay!  I finally got the time and courage to make the "official" ratatouille (recipe by Thomas Keller) in the movie Ratatouille.  Boy, it was worth hours of roasting vegetables in heat.  It was the most tasty ratatouille I've had so far!  And it looked so darn pretty!

 

This is the vegan version of Ann Brettingen's Swedish apple cake.  The recipe I used is adapted from Dorie Greenspan by Gretchen Noelle of "Canela & Comino".  It was a very soothing and mild-flavored fruity cake.  Perfect for the afternoon tea.