Green Bean Falafel

When I was growing up, my family never ate fried food.  And, whether due to some biological instinct, to the associations with fast food, or to the very strong healthy-food prejudices of my mother, the smell of frying oil always seemed like a dirty smell, the smell of something barely edible and potentially toxic.

However, as I came to eat less and less meat, and then less and less dairy, this changed.  I think it's because a vegan diet naturally has so much less fat in it that the occasional fatty food is not only appealing, but actually nutritionally smart.  And of course, it's the "good fat," as there are no vegan sources of cholesterol and relatively few of saturated fat... so long live the tempura avocado!

Speaking of frying...

Falafel, like hummus, seems nearly infinitely adaptable (next up: sweet potato falafel).  I was intrigued when I saw a recipe for Yemeni style falafel--made with green beans!--on taste of beirut, one of the few non-vegetarian blogs I read regularly (seaweed snacks and smitten kitchen, along with some friends' blogs, are probably the others).

Given that there was no gluten and no real eggs in this recipe, I was a little doubtful that these would hold together, but they actually did.  I had a hard time getting the green beans to really blend, so they were a bit chunky.  If I were to make this again, I'd use more spices and less onion--frying takes away much of the raw taste, but they're still pretty oniony.  Using the leftover batter, I remade them the following day as slightly larger patties, brushed with oil and broiled for a few minutes right after I finished making cookies in the broiled (post forthcoming).  They were equally good this way, so as long as you use enough oil, you don't have to fry them.  Paired up with the recently posted creamy hummus, these made for some great wrap sandwiches.

 

Yemeni Style Falafel

(from taste of beirut)

Ingredients

1 pound of green beans (I used thawed frozen green beans)

2  jalapeño pepper, minced (and seeded if you don't want it too spicy)

1 large onion, chopped (or less--I thought this was a bit too much)

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

3 cloves garlic, mashed with a dash of salt (or less--I used 2 and thought it was just right)

2 eggs (I used 2 TB ground flax + 6 TB water)

1 c cornmeal 

1/2 c chopped pecans or other nuts

oil for frying

Instructions

In a food processor, process green beans, then add remaining ingredients and blend well.  Form into balls or patties and fry in oil or brush with oil and broil until golden brown.  Serves about 4-5.

Hummus Remix

I recently tried my hand at the hummus recipe on the back of the package of Bob's Red Mill chickpea flour.  There's something both sneaky and satisfying in the idea of making hummus this way.  When you think about it, it's actually just reversing the steps: instead of hydrating/cooking chickpeas and then grinding them up, you're letting someone else grind them up before adding water.  The main difference is that you get a much finer grind, and a finished product that less closely resembles actual chickpeas.  The hydrated flour was sort of like pudding, or at least polenta (see right).

After blending it with all the other ingredients, it looked a lot better (see below).  I don't know that this will become my go-to hummus method; even though the grinding is done for you, you still need a pot and a blender whereas in the normal method you only need one thing.  And I'm guessing that if you use dried chickpeas in the "normal" method it's significantly more cost effective than this way.  Still, a fun change.

 

Creamy Hummus 

(adapted from the back of the bag of Bob’s Red Mill chickpea flour)

Ingredients

3/4 c chickpea flour

2 1/2 cups water

3 cloves garlic, pressed (I used 2)

1/4 c water or stock for blending

1/4 c tahini

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 c olive oil

pinch of ground cumin

salt

cayenne

Instructions

1. Heat water in a saucepan and whisk in chickpea flour.  Cook until it thickens (5+ min) and then remove from heat, cover, and let cool.
2. Blend everything together.  Makes about 4 c of hummus.

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Sproutwheels

I think this recipe from Sketch-Free Vegan Eating is really creative, and it looks pretty.  Something about the texture of carrot, though, made the "salmon" part of the dish seem pretty dubious.  If I made this again, I would significantly tweak what went into these pastes, but I love the idea.  And yes, those are sword toothpicks.

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Sproutwheels

(from Sketch-Free Vegan Eating)

Ingredients

2 sprouted grain tortillas

sprouts (I used alfalfa)

*

Vege-lox:

1 c carrot juice pulp (I used finely grated carrot)

2 TB olive oil

1 TB  lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

2 TB dulse flakes (I used chopped nori)

1/4 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 c finely chopped red onion

1/4 c finely chopped parsley

*

Cream Cheese:

3/4 c cashews, soaked

1 TB lemon juice

1 TB water

1 TB olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. For each of the two sub-recipes, combine all ingredients in a food process and process until combined (obviously, take one out before making the other one). Taste and adjust condiments as necessary.
2. Trim 2 sprouted grain tortillas so that they are more squareish (I split the difference between getting a perfect square and wasting tortilla).  Warm the tortillas (they must be warm or else it will be difficult to roll), then spread a layer of cream cheese, and then spread on vegelox.  Next layer any kind of sprout (I used alfalfa), and roll. Once rolled, cut into 1 inch thick slices and secure with toothpick. Makes 12-14 pinwheels.

Oh, look, an onion.

Ad hoc stirfry with cucumbers, cilantro, and rice noodles

Last night I came home hungry to a near-empty fridge.  I decided to just put everything that might be reasonably put into a stirfry, into a stirfry.  This included, among other things, alfalfa sprouts, jalapenos, cilantro and a persian cucumber.  The cilantro and the cucumber were really great--and both the cucumber and the noodles added textures that my go-to stirfry usually doesn't have--but the sprouts really just melted down into little unfriendly clumps, refusing to interact with the other vegetables.

Ad hoc stirfry with cucumbers, cilantro, and rice noodles

First: canola, sliced scallions, sliced or minced jalapenos, (garlic would have been nice here)
Second: cubed tofu, sliced carrots
Third: sprouts, chopped cilantro, sliced cucumbers, tamari, pinch sugar, cooked rice noodles, (sesame seeds or gomasio would have been nice here)

Jalapeno and Herb Roasted Tempeh

The other day I made this Jalapeno and Herb Roasted Tempeh and Broccoli from get sconed.  The original recipe called for making a paste and a sauce and combining them later on, but I couldn't quite figure out which thing was which and when you added one.  So I just combined everything at once.  I also got through the entire recipe before realizing it was for 16 oz of tempeh... Most packages of tempeh are only 8 oz, and accordingly and many recipes are for 8 oz as well.  So I have also halved the recipe here (and stashed the leftover sauce in my fridge).

How was it?  Very tasty, tender, and moist, but not as spicy or as herby as I'd have hoped.  Of the jalapeno, the oregano, and the epazote, the oregano definitely dominated, and I had actually halved it.  More than anything the wine adds a lot to the flavor, which is good because I considered not using it, having to open up a bottle just for this recipe and now needing to find other things in which to use the rest of it.  I'll drink beer till the cows come home, but I'd rather drink water than most wines.

 

Jalapeno and Herb Roasted Tempeh and Broccoli

(adapted from get sconed)

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, pressed

2+ TB extra virgin olive oil

1/2-1 tsp dried oregano (or handful of fresh), crumbled

small handful fresh basil

1 jalapeno – sliced (less if you don't want spicy)

1/8 teaspoon salt

generous amount of freshly ground black pepper

1/2 TB agave or honey

1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice

pinch nutritional yeast

1/2 c stock

1/4 c white wine

1 TB soy sauce

*

8 ounces tempeh, sliced into large triangles

1 bunch of broccoli, divided. Slice the stalks thinly.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.
2. Combine all the ingredients besides tempeh and broccoli.  Pour them into an 8x8 glass casserole dish.  Immerse the tempeh triangles into the liquid. Immediately flip over.
4. Add the sliced jalapeno and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Increase the heat to 400F. Remove the dish from the oven.
6. Use a spatula to flip the tempeh pieces over.
7. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.

8. Remove the pan from the oven. Add the broccoli and drizzle with additional baking liquid. If you are low on liquid, add a few tablespoons of additional broth.

9. Roast an additional 15 minutes, then remove from oven and serve as desired.  Serves 2.

Pho

It's sort of been a day of frustrated plans.  Of course the day I'd planned to go to the zoo with Amanda and then take someone else to a biergarten would be the one rainy day in weeks.  But more than with my own frivolity being thwarted, my thoughts are with my brother, who today made the decision to leave Cairo, where he's been living and studying Arabic.  Although I cannot WAIT to hear that he's made it out of the country (his apartment is within a mile of some of the most intense protesting), I know it's got to be disappointing, having moved out of his apartment in the US, sold his car, paid for his tuition and living expenses in Egypt, etc., to be coming back to the US, at least temporarily.  (edit 1/31: Now he's considering staying...)

If rainy weather is good for anything, it's for soup.  I will avoid the seemingly inevitable puns that LA restaurants seem to require, and simply say that I made pho.  Pho the first time ever (oops).

Also, I got to go to the Natural History Museum instead, and then the sun came out and I got to go to the biergarten after all. 

Pho (pre-condiment), with sesame kale in the background

Apparently, some of the appeal of pho, which is a bit lost when you're cooking for one, is that there are all these condiments-- you can kind of make it whatever you want!  Pictured below: mint, cilantro, epazote (still masquerading as basil), lime, tamari, chili-garlic paste, jalapenos.

The broth is really unique-- cinnamon, cardamom, and fennel/anise add new dimensions.  I was worried about my broth being flavorful enough, especially skipping the dried mushrooms, so I also used a little stock paste.

And the finished product looks really pretty.

 

Pho

(from Cake Maker to the Stars)

 Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and quartered

2" piece ginger, thickly sliced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

12 c water (I subbed in a bit of stock)

4 pods cardamon, crushed or 1/4 tsp ground

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

5 whole star anise pods (I used 2 tsp fennel seed instead)

6 whole cloves

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

    2 carrots, coarsely chopped

large handful dried shiitake mushrooms, optional (I skipped this)

1 1/2-2 cups fresh shiitake or portobello mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini)

protein--about 1/3 cup per bowl, bite sized (I used firm tofu, fried)

2-3 cups fresh mung bean sprouts (I omitted this)

bunch fresh basil (I substituted epazote)

bunch fresh mint

1 jalapeno, thinly sliced

small bunch fresh cilantro

2 limes, cut in half and quartered

hoisin sauce, optional (omitted)

sriracha or red chili paste

tamari

*

13 oz package rice noodles

Instructions

1. Place the onion, garlic and ginger on a cookie sheet and broil under direct heat until lightly charred.

2. In a large pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the charred ingredients, the spices, sugar, salt, carrots and dried mushrooms, if using. Cover the pot and let the broth cook over medium high heat(rolling boil) for 30-45 minutes.
3. While the broth is cooking, prepare the noodles as directed on your package, rinse 'em well with cold water and set aside.
4. Prepare the herbs by giving 'em a good bath and drying them well. The fun part of eating pho is each diner gets to assemble and season their own bowls. So, you can pile "the accessories" onto one platter to be shared by the table, or arrange 'em into individual bowls for each person. Make neat but separate piles of the sprouts, basil, mint, cilantro and limes. Leave the leaves on the herbs, and let folks rip them off into their own bowls at the table.
5. Strain the broth to remove all solids, rinse out the pot and return the broth. Bring back to a soft boil and add the fresh mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Season to taste lightly with salt.

6. To serve: divide the noodles evenly between 4 deep bowls. Top with your protein choice, then fill up with broth. Let each person season their bowls to taste with freshly torn herbs, sprouts, lime juice, jalapenos, wheat-free tamari, Sriracha and hoisin sauce.  Serves at least 4.

I didn't bake these

Someone declared today Vegan Pizza Day, but I'd forgotten, largely because of the accompanying emphasis on vegan cheese, which rather grosses me out.  But I ended up participating in my own way, albeit unwittingly, and before noon at that! 

After crashing on friends' couch in Santa Monica last night, I made the long bus trek homewards this morning.  Near the bus stop where I disembark is Sasoun, an Armenian/Lebanese bakery that I've been meaning to visit for the twenty months I've lived in this neighborhood, especially after a professor of mine gave it a rave recommendation last year (also see yelp page).  But shy and lazy can be a damning combination when it comes to (not) trying out new things.  Today, though, was the day.  And actually, I think I'm riding the beginnings of a sea change in this respect. 

I got the two things that I was pretty sure were vegan.  The first was manakeesh--or, as it was spelled at the bakery, maneishe--a white pita-like bread with tangy za'atar baked onto it (it's sort of like a pizza, see?).  It's eaten in many countries; Devon says she even had a version of it in northwestern China, where there was a large Uighur population.  And maybe this varies from place to place, but I think it's typically a breakfast or street food snack. 

The photos don't do it justice.  The bread was really chewy, and there were so many sesame seeds that it was crunchy, too.

The tahini bread I got was also delicious.  Flaky, nutty, and slightly sweet, it was like a mix between a pita, a croissant, and a sesame cookie.  Dunked in coffee, it was absolutely perfect.

I have the recipes in Simply Armenian, and I intend to make both these breads myself sometime.  But if it turns out not as good, I can always just walk down the street.  :)