Oh, hello, old friend. I know it's been a year. A year since those sauerkraut cakes gave me slight indigestion at a rehearsal with the group that would come to upend my entire life. Vancouver, Los Angeles, Chicago, Asheville, Minneapolis. Has it only been a year?

In Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy, a post-apocalyptic cult called the Gardeners uses primitive survival skills in order to weather climate change and epidemic disease intended to cleanse the earth of humankind. They describe depression as being in a "fallow state." Like fields left unsown, people turn inward in order to return more abundantly than ever before.

That's what's happening with this blog. I'm listening, learning, and cooking, and I hope to eventually come back with a project that engages in conversations about food justice and culture with greater depth and integrity.

Kraut Kakes with Cashew-Dill Cream

I've done a bit of fermenting here and there. The kimchi recipes from the asian vegan kitchen cookbook always work like a dream, and one time I made my own hard cider....which subsequently turned into cider vinegar (though I guess that's still an accomplishment?). But this summer I've been playing with the recipes in the fermented vegetables cookbook, and it's some serious science experiments up in here.

My first batch of sauerkraut made A TON, so I made these pancakes as a way of using some of it up (so I could make more fermented veggies!). It's basically a sour cabbage latke.

I used this recipe, but halved it, substituted a flax egg, and added paprika and smoked salt. Then I made a cashew-dill cream to go along with it.

Kraut Kakes

(adapted from food.com)

Ingredients
8 oz sauerkraut, rinsed and drained well 
1 flax egg (1 TB ground flax + 3 TB warm water)
3 TB flour
1/4 cup green onion, chopped fine
1/4 teaspoon smoked salt
pinch paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided

Instructions

Mix together everything but the oil. Heat oil in a pan, then form the batter into little cakes and pan fry, flipping, until brown on both sides and warmed through. Serve with dill cream. Serves 2-3. 

Dill Cream: Soaked and blended cashews, lemon, salt, and fresh dill (all to taste).

all-green spring slaw, red beans + rice, and mango habanero hotsauce

Bryant Terry not only writes fantastic cookbooks, he is also brilliant, and a much-needed counterweight to some of the dumbassery happening in the vegan world. I'm way behind on the "Thug Kitchen" controversy, but I've been wanting to find a reason to link to Terry's great response on CNN. Because I clearly don't have the time or will to do much more besides post recipes here these days, I'll just do some of that!

all-green spring slaw from Afro-Vegan (used pistachios instead of pepitas and asparagus instead of sugar snap peas)

Quick and Easy Cajun Red Beans and Rice (shown with Mango-Habanero Hot Sauce from Afro-Vegan)
(from taste space)

Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil, or oil of choice
1/4 onion
1 celery
1 link of vegan chorizo sausage
2 TB ketchup
1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning, or to taste
2 cups cooked small red beans, rinsed and drained if canned
2 tsp smoked salt

Instructions
1. In a medium-large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Once hot, add onion and celery and saute 5 minutes. Then add chorizo and cook another 5-10 minutes.
2. Stir in the ketchup and Old Bay seasoning. Continue to cook until heated through and browned slightly. Stir in the beans and cook until heated through, around 5 minutes. Season with smoked salt and pepper. Serves 3-4.

breakfast

Homemade berry kombucha, fresh mango, roasted asparagus with smoked salt, whole wheat sourdough with Melt, tofu scramble with red onion and bell pepper, great leftovers from Afro-Vegan.

Coconuts and Coconut Bacon

Coconuts are so cheap at Jon's, I said. Get one; it'll be fun, I said.

This was not worth it! I broke a knife, then moved on to a hammer. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was really trying to be a noise artist. Because it was a mature coconut (ha), it was harder to open than a young one. Even when I did, the coconut water was a little funky and it didn't have that much meat.

I dreamed of coconut jerky and raw coconut ice cream (though I think you might need young coconut for the latter) before settling on coconut bacon. Inspired by this recipe at fettle vegan, I just winged it and it was quite good--more like bacon bits than bacon strips.

Coconut Bacon Bits

Ingredients
1/2 c 'beef' stock
some tamari
some liquid smoke
1 TB sugar
some smoked paprika
some gochujang
some garlic powder
diced raw coconut from one mature coconut

Instructions
Mix everything together, then marinate the coconut. Cook on a baking sheet at 375 for a very long time, stirring every 5 min until crisp.

Tempeh with Roasted Cauliflower and Agrodolce Sauce

The agrodolce sauce recipe from Isa Does It is really fantastic.

Solyanka

There is no soy in solyanka. Well, actually, there was in mine, but only by a specific twist of circumstance.

I had been wondering about olives in soup and whether that would be gross or awesome. This was surprisingly great! It made a TON of soup, however, and it's not something you want to eat meal after meal. I'd cut this recipe in half next time.

As far as I can tell from the internets, solyanka is kind of a "kitchen sink" type stew, with the defining feature being a sourness imparted by something pickled. I used mushrooms instead of meat, but I also threw in some roasted tofu and tempeh I had on hand as well. I followed this recipe, except I halved the onions (still a lot of onion!), cut back on salt, and added a lot of pepper.



Vegan Mushroom Solyanka 
(recipe from Vegan Sandra)

Ingredients
3 Tbsp oil
4 medium onions (note I used only 2; also I found them to be too stringy sliced; I would chop them next time)
2 ½ cups / 200 g chopped white mushrooms or other edible mushrooms
2 large garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
½ tsp ground black pepper
2 heaping tsp paprika powder (or I used aleppo pepper, not too different)
6 cups / 1L + 400 ml boiling water
3 medium potatoes
3 large pickles
3 Tbsp black olives (pitted)
3 Tbsp green olives (pitted)
5 Tbsp tomato paste
1 slice of lemon, cut into four
2 - 2 ¼ tsp salt (I only used 1 tsp--add carefully to taste)
(fresh parsley and/or spring onions for serving)
+Black pepper, other seasoning to taste

Instructions (from Vegan Sandra)
Heat up a thick-bottomed pot. Add oil, sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add chopped white mushrooms, chopped garlic, bay leaves, ground black pepper and paprika powder. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Add sliced potatoes and boil another 5 minutes. Add chopped pickles, olives, tomato paste, lemon pieces and salt. Cook for 5 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Serve with chopped fresh parsley and/or spring onions and sunflower sour cream, if you like.

Buffalo Chickpea Burgers with Onion Rings; Purple Cabbage Slaw

One weekend, my amazing partner offered to cook dinner: these buffalo chickpea burgers with cornmeal-pepita onion rings were delicious. We didn't have almond meal for the onion rings, but I had some leftover breading from a chicken nugget recipe, which only made it more flavorful when substituted.

This was great with some leftover Caribbean pickle (really more of a relish) from the Caribbean Vegan cookbook.

I made a purple cabbage-tahini slaw-salad that was surprisingly awesome. Inspired, I suppose, by this long-ago pressed purple cabbage salad.

ingredients
1/2 purple cabbage, slivered
1 large carrot, grated
5 scallions, chopped
*
2 TB dill
1/4 c (?) seasoned rice vin (to taste)
pinch sugar
pinch salt
1-2 TB dijon mustard
1 TB tahini

instructions
massage the cabbage with salt until it's a bit softer (but still crunchy).

add the carrots and scallions.

mix together everything else and then add that as well. ideally, allow to sit in the fridge for a few hours before eating.

Afro Vegan

Just a quick post here to mention how much I love Bryant Terry's cookbook Afro Vegan. The recipes are creative and fresh--for example, a harissa made with mustard greens. And the way Terry writes about foodways and food justice is thoughtful and smart. The recipes photographed below--Texas Caviar (with fried garlic), Quick-Pickled Vegetable Salad, Cinnamon-Soaked Wheat Berry Salad, and the Spicy Mustard Greens "harissa"--were all fantastic. I loved the bright colors in all of these dishes, also!

Breakfast Permutations

Finally, another camping trip! Adge and I made these last year for a camping trip but didn't get any photos. I finally made some more and get to share this delightful food object with you.

Desert Breakfast Sandwiches

ingredients

English muffins (pref. whole wheat and vegan)

sketchy aioli (there are a bunch of ways to do this, but honestly a mixture of Vegenaise and hot sauce is pretty delicious)

oats and rice sausage patties (recipe makes about 6 so you might want to double it)

tofu egg steaks (recipe below--spoiler alert: it's almost the same as my tofu scramble recipe)

ketchup and/or red pepper spread--for best results apply right before eating

instructions

Lightly toast English muffins and spread both sides with sketchy aioli.

Load one sausage patty and one or two tofu egg steaks onto sandwich. 

If bringing for camping, wrap firmly in aluminum foil and keep in cooler, then when ready to eat, place on grill or among fire coals until warm.

Serve with ketchup and/or red pepper spread.

Tofu Egg Steaks

ingredients (note: if bringing for a big group, double this recipe)

1 block firm tofu

canola oil

1 c warm water

1 TB miso

pinch turmeric

1 tsp black salt (kala namak)

instructions

Cut a block of tofu into thin steaks, about 1 cm thick, and the size you'd like for your breakfast sandwich.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and pan fry the tofu until lightly brown on each side.

From this point on: you can do this in the pan, too, but I chose to do it in the oven to cook more slowly and evenly.

Preheat oven to 375.

Place tofu on a baking sheet.

Mix remaining ingredients in a pyrex measuring cup. Pour over the tofu so that it is mostly submerged.

Roast/braise tofu in the oven until liquid has evaporated and tofu is chewy.

**

If you give Julia's Vegan Kitchen a batch of waffles...

One morning, I made these cornmeal-herb-jalapeno waffles for breakfast (use the recipe from Vegan Brunch, without all the sugar, and with minced herbs and chilies).

But later we realized our (slightly stale) leftovers went perfectly with Bryant Terry's recipe for hominy in tomato-garlic broth from the Afro-Vegan cookbook.

The next day, wondering what to do with the last of the waffles (and also some leftover tofu scramble, which is always really sad when cold), I whipped up this fancy (albeit poorly-photographed) stack of tempeh sausage, an "omelet" patty (leftover scramble with some flour and water), and the same ol' waffles we'd eaten for 4 meals straight at this point. It was really good.

Lemongrass Coconut Curry Dal

I was seduced by the bright color and myriad uses of the Lemongrass-Turmeric Curry Paste that Heidi Swanson posted recently. Once I finally got my hands on some lemongrass, I threw the paste together and have enjoyed using it in stir fries, coconut milk-based curries, etc. But my favorite use so far has been this stupidly easy ad hoc dal I made using yellow split peas. If you already have the paste on hand (which you should!), the active prep time on this is nearly nil.

Lemongrass Coconut Curry Dal

Ingredients
olive oil
1/4 c lemongrass-turmeric curry paste from 101 cookbooks (prepare using virgin coconut oil)
1 c yellow split peas, rinsed
water
salt

Instructions
1. Heat oil in large saucepan. Sautee curry paste over medium heat until very fragrant.
2. Add split peas and a few cups of water. Bring to a boil, then decrease heat and simmer, adding water as needed and stirring occasionally, until split peas are very soft (40 min?). Add salt to taste. Serves 3-4.

Tiny Eggplants; Large Delight

For a large American supermarket, Jon's is unbelievably quirky. Sometimes you'll go looking for something relatively basic, like cauliflower, only to find that they don't have any. And then, when you least expect it, the most delightful things will pop up in the produce department, like Goji berries or chayote squash (also in other departments--I once spotted pants for sale in the cleaning aisle).

So while I often make Indian eggplant dishes with the large, more de facto eggplant that's always in the store, I was delighted to find the little round ones that many recipes actually call for. I thought about making this dish (kind of an eggplant-dal hybrid?) but ultimately settled on this one: Gingery Eggplants in Coconut Sauce. I followed the recipe to the letter, except I didn't add any salt because I used salted peanuts. WOW. This was absolutely fantastic. Add plenty of water to the sauce, and don't skimp on salt or sugar; they balance out the bitterness of some of the spices and the eggplant itself.

Gingery Eggplants in Coconut Sauce

(recipe at Holy Cow!)

Creamy Spicy Pasta with Asparagus and Roasted Broccoli

A good use of leftovers from Adge's spicy aioli.

BEST Mint-Cilantro Chutney

I absolutely love the green chutneys in Indian food, and I've finally found the best recipe! This actually started off as a showdown in which I made two different chutney recipes from two cookbooks. One was too spicy, and one was too sour and salty... but together, they are absolutely perfect. 

This also raises interesting intellectual property questions as this recipe has been less tweaked than most of the ones I re-post, yet is also less recognizable as anyone else's.

ONE CHUTNEY TO RULE THEM ALL

2-3 green chilies (remove some seeds if you don’t want spicy), chopped

1 1-in piece ginger, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

¾ c packed mint leaves, chopped

1 ¼ c packed cilantro, chopped

¾ tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

4 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp apple cider vinegar

3/8 c water

¼ tsp chana masala spice mix

Also, here is a delicious eggplant-tomato dish with nigella seeds and cilantro.

Green Bean Casserole Lasagna

Because "stuff white people eat" should be a blog. Mushrooms, green beans, cashew cream, whole wheat lasagne.

Some other random and pretty food I made:

Thanksgiving 2014!

I found an old Thanksgiving menu on google drive! Sadly, no photos, but this was a fantastic menu--one of the all-time best out of those I've hosted.

Green Corn Soup

Green Salad with Roasted Smoky Chickpeas

*

Autumnal Pickled Veggies (this recipe, but less sugar and with a mix of cauliflower and orange squash)

Sofritas-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Mole (this recipe plus peppers and mushrooms sauteed in at the end, plus the chocolate mole recipe from The Artful Vegan)

Black Bean and Corn Cakes with Pico de Gallo and Cilantro-Lime Crema (cashew based)

*

Spice-Kissed Pumpkin Pie with Coconut Cream

Almond Cookies

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes (this recipe with cayenne and cinnamon) with Pumpkin Buttercream

Thanksgiving 2015

Another Thanksgiving come and gone. It's pretty amazing to think about how much has happened in a year.

And what a feast we had (16 people I think?). These photos won't do it justice, but I can't go another year without recording the menu and the recipes. Believe it or not, I think the broccoli was the group favorite.

Standing
pumpkin garlic knots by Adge
assorted crackers (thanks Ryan!)
cheese plate
        roasted fennel and white bean dip by Adge (like this but no cheese and lots of miso)

       caraway-havarti beer cheese dip

       green apple slices

       olives (thanks Ryan!)

       roasted pumpkin seeds (thanks Morgan!)

drinks
        fancy sparkling water (thanks Alan and Dana!)
        ginger ale (thanks Ryan!)
        seasonal kombucha
        mulled wine by Adge

        much beer (thanks everyone!)

Sitting
lemony broccoli
roasted squash with smoked paprika, pine nuts, and fried sage (this recipe but with a mix of squash and yams)
mashed cauliflower (this recipe but with virgin coconut oil and bajan seasoning as well as thyme)
mashed potatoes by Alex and Eleanor
fig tempeh (too much port in this recipe--I would reduce by at least 50%)
puff pastry-wrapped lentil loaf  stuffing another stuffing by Alex and Eleanor
green olive bread by Adge

refrigerator pickles (red onions, summer squash, green beans, with sage and peppercorns)

mushroom gravy
cranberry-pepper sauce

Milling
pumpkin pie with toasted spices

Thanksgiving Eve

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! The world seems particularly messed up this year, and/but I am really looking forward to sharing food and ideas with friends.

Also, Adge and I have been brewing our own kombucha for a while now, and we made a ginger pomegranate and a (pumpkin) spice for the party.

Lentil Caprese Salad

This is an updated version of that good old lentil salad. I slightly undercook the lentils, then let the acid in the balsamic vinegar finish the job of making them tender (at least, that's the idea). The basil and balsamic make the tomatoes taste downright sweet.

Lentil Caprese Salad

Ingredients
3/4 c dry brown lentils (1 1/2 c cooked?), cooked until just tender
big red tomato, de-seeded and diced
1/2 c yellow cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, diced
2 scallions (green parts only), thinly sliced
lots of basil, chiffonade
*
to taste:
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
red pepper flakes
smoked salt

Hot Weather Food

I'm not going to lie... the weather in Los Angeles has really been getting me down. October, and highs in the 90s? As someone who is pretty much always too hot, it feels like the end of the world. But even besides the temperature itself is the fact that there's no end in sight. Summer in Minneapolis or Chicago it can be 100 and humid, but it feels dynamic: on a micro level (it builds up and then blows off) and on a macro level (fall will come). There's a hydraulic aspect to the weather onto which you can map your own psyche. LA, by contrast, is unchanging, dirty, relentlessly bright, purgatory. Like something out of Camus...

Here are some things I've made in lieu of cooking.

Cucumber salad with lemon, dill, red pepper, smoked salt, and cashew cream

Potato salad with picked green beans, cherry tomatoes, dill, smoked salt, lemon vinaigrette

"Autumnal pickles": butternut squash and cauliflower with white wine vinegar, black peppercorns, sage, thyme, and marjoram

Cucumber salad with lime, peanuts, and blackberries 

Cucumber salad; roasted zucchini; kale salad with avocado, corn, and pickled tomato; brown rice; roasted tofu