Agar Shots

This post is tagged under "sweets" and "beverages," but it's neither sweet nor exactly a beverage.  I'd been curious for a long time about this North American delicacy called the Jello shot, which is apparently consumed at festive occasions to produce a state of intoxication.  Actually, I was just trying to think of other things to do with agar, having already used it in kantens and in panna cotta.

The good (?) news: yes, you can make alcoholic jello out of agar.  The bad news: this tasted really bad.  Really bad.  I think it needed far more sugar, and a different kind of juice would have made that easier.  I used 1.5 TB sugar, which was definitely not enough, considering you're balancing out not only the lemon juice but also the booze.

I also don't have shot glasses.

Agar Shots (Lemon)

Ingredients

1/2 c lemon/orange juice

1/2 c water (or less?)

1/4 c sugar (or to taste)

1.5 TB agar flakes (or more?)

1/2 c ice cold vodka

Instructions

1. Heat the juice, water, and sugar, dissolving the sugar.

2. Reduce heat, then add agar flakes.  Cook about 5 minutes to dissolve agar.

3. Set aside, let cool, and then mix with vodka.  Chill in the fridge for an hour or so.  Serves about 4.

Smoooooth

So I have this killer sore throat and the only thing I feel like eating is smoothies.  At least I still have my sense of taste, because this one was really good.

TJ's has a new nondairy milk, and it's made out of hemp... It leaves me with mixed feelings.  Compared to rice, almond, or even soy milk, it's very thick and creamy--almost mucousy, like real milk.  Is this a good thing?  I think rice and almond milk are a waste of money and packaging--they're like sweet white water--but this one goes a bit far in the other direction.  And, it's really sweetened, and has extra crap added, and it's like $1 more per carton than TJ's soymilk.  As if that weren't enough, it infallibly curdles in my coffee, no matter how slowly I add the coffee, or how pre-heated the milk is first.

If you ask me, the only thing this milk is really good for is... making smoothies.  How convenient, then, that this week should see me making more smoothies than I have in the last year.  It is in the arena of the smoothie that this hemp milk's mucosity and sweetness are most welcome, producing a slightly richer and more delicious drink.

This particular smoothie is: 1 frozen banana, some hemp milk, and some peanut butter, blended; then unsweetened coconut and chocolate chips mixed in.  This seems like a pretty ok way to make sure I'm still getting some protein, fiber, and liquid in me while babying my throat.  It's still not very sweet at all (and sugar's bad for your immune system anyway, no?); you could add honey/etc. if you're into that.

Flu Brew

I'm sick.  I have a vicious sore throat, but I'm also just achy all over.  I started looking up which foods were most anti-inflammatory and made an interesting discovery...

When I lived in a co-op house in college, one of my housemates was known for making this nasty brew and leaving it in the fridge when battling a cold.  I believe it contained honey, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, and cayenne pepper.  Now, despite his penchant for tie-dye, "stank noises," and occasional drug use, this housemate was one of the healthiest people I've ever known.  I adopted the use of this brew (as has even my mom), but until now I hadn't thought much about why it might be a good idea.  As it turns out, the brew has "real science" behind it: lemon, garlic, ginger, and cayenne are some of the most anti-inflammatory foods out there, and honey has its own antibacterial health benefits.  I'm sure you could use agave instead, but then it would be just for the taste.

Oh, you still want to know what it tastes like?  Like really good lemonade that got garlic in it.  It's sort of pleasant if you pretend you're drinking it and eating something garlicky at the same time...  I suppose you could omit either the garlic or the honey and have a straightup sweet or savory drink, but when you want to get better, you pull out all the stops.  Even the garlicky ones.

Flu Brew

Ingredients

ginger, grated or minced

garlic, minced

cayenne

honey

filtered water, boiling

lemon juice

Instructions

In a jar, mix together ginger, garlic, cayenne, and honey.  Add hot water to fill partway and mix well (until honey dissolves).  Add lemon juice and water as needed to fill, then cover.  To serve, mix equal parts brew (strained--you can put the ginger and garlic chunks back in the jar) and water.  I find hot water to be the most soothing, but you could also drink it at room temp or cold.

Hot Earth Balanced Rum

Am I really going to blog every weekday this month?   I don't know, but here goes... Hey, it had to happen: it was getting cold out, and my friend Adrea had brought some rum to my birthday party that was assuredly going to go bad if I didn't do something with it.  I always thought hot buttered rum was a little weird, and I think using earth balance doesn't exactly help.  Still, it's a very cozy, comforting sort of drink, totally inoffensive, though I think I'd rather just have an interesting dark ale. More rum recipes, btw, are on their way.  :)

Hot Earth Balanced Rum

(adapted from about.com)

Ingredients 1 small slice earth balance 1 tsp brown sugar cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves vanilla extract 2 oz dark (spiced?) rum hot water

Instructions Muddle together everything except for the hot water, then add hot water and mix well.  Serves 1.

Ginger Ale(s)

I've been thinking about audience and genre as if it were my job or something.  When I post on this blog, to whom am I writing?  To my mom?  To my LA friends who appear in this blog?  To my old co-op mates I haven't seen in a year or two?  To the hot girl I just gave my blog address to (hi)?  To the women in my choir?  To my professors, who are probably wondering where I get all the time to blog?  To the community of vegan bloggers who read each other's stuff?  Or to the anonymous readers around the world who find this blog by googling things like "cookies are not for julia" or "tempeh chocolate corn pie"?

My friend Julia--no, not me--came to visit this weekend from her new home in San Francisco.  She brought me a pretty bottle and two recipes for ginger ale.  Naturally, we had to make both of them.

Circumstances led us to Ralph's for ginger, which was 268% more expensive per pound than it was at Jon's.  O, let me count the ways...

Julia also mastered the art of zesting (at right), and pronounced, "I would rather do this than hang out with some people."

The recipes were great: the first one is not carbonated; it's a syrup you mix with soda water.  It was spicy and flavorful, though if you needed to skip the lemon grass I'm sure you could.

The second recipe is fizzy--so fizzy.  Who knew 1/4 tsp yeast could do so much damage?  I reduced the sugar a bit, because I don't really like sweet things, but not too much, as I knew the yeast needed something to work on.

We made our ales, put them into pretty bottles, and were proud of our work.  We watched with pride and excitement as the yeasted ale got fizzier and fizzier.  Then we decided to put zest in them.

Can you guess where this is going?  This was possibly the biggest mess I've ever had to deal with.  The entire bottle, and tons of ginger shards, and 3/4 c of sugar, all over my kitchen.  Even the ceiling.  In retrospect, I'm glad we opened it after one day; another day and it might have broken the glass.  I guess you have to allow some of the gas to escape during the fermentation process--maybe use a jar and don't close it tightly?

Anyway, they both taste great--especially the fizzy one, though after the sticky geyser there was only about 4 oz left of it.

Spicy Ginger Ale (Non-carbonated)

Ingredients

3 c water

1/2 lb fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 stalk lemon grass, roughly chopped

1 small chile, chopped

1/4 c sugar

orange zest (optional)

soda water

lime or orange as garnish

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine water, ginger, lemon grass, chile, and sugar.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and allow to cool

2. Strain mixture, then transfer to a jar.  Add zest, if using.  Keep refrigerated.  Mix with soda water to dilute and fizzify before serving.  Garnish with lime or orange slices.

*

Fizzy Ginger Ale

Ingredients

1 1/2 TB grated ginger

3/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp active dry yeast

juice of 1 lemon

water to fill bottle

Instructions

Combine ingredients in a jar.  Shake and let sit at room temperature for 2 days. *Don't seal the jar completely or you will have a very sticky geyser on your hands!!*  Serve cold.

Chai

This is something you can make when you're like, I want to keep making interesting things but I have too many leftovers!  Or, when you're like, I would like some chai.

Compared to the average chai you'd find in a coffeeshop in the US, the recipe for chai in Indian Home Cooking leans more heavily upon cardamom and ginger, and less upon cinnamon and vanilla (though I added some vanilla).  As a result, you have more zingy brightness rather than just cloyingly sweet pumpkin-pie juice.  (oh, cardamom, you are so magic and, like fennel, queer). 

Obviously, though, you can do whatever you want with this recipe!  I'd like to try this with significantly more black pepper--yum!  The real difference is that you boil everything together and let it steep 15 minutes before serving.  A little bit of sugar brings out the spices, but I thought 1 TB was more than enough--then again, I don't really like sweet drinks, so do it to taste.

Chai (Iced)

(from Indian Home Cooking)

Ingredients

2 c nondairy milk (I used soy)

1 c water

1 1/2 TB loose black tea

a 1 1/2-in piece cinnamon stick, broken in half

9 green cardamom pods, slightly opened/crushed

7 whole cloves

a 1 1/2-in piece ginger, peeled and dived

6 black peppercorns
small splash vanilla extract

1 TB sugar (or to taste)

Instructions

Boil everything in a pot, then turn it off, cover, and let steep for 15 minutes.  Then, strain and reheat or serve over ice.  Serves 4-5.