What's cooking? part 4

in better cooking news this week: i had been craving a ginger loaf my mum used to make when i was a kid. i finally found a recipe for it, veganized it, and it turned out FANTASTIC: moist, sweet, sticky, and good crust.

yeah kecap manis is sticky and thick, im p sure adding sugar to reg soysauce wouldnt be the same.

Proportions vary for kecap manis -- I think the last batch I made was about 3 cups soy sauce, 2 1/2 cups brown sugar, 1 cup water, a hunk of ginger (sliced), 1 star anise pod, 3-4 bay leaves and 4 cloves of garlic. I also add just a little hot chili paste, about 1/2 teaspoon. No need to boil it hard, just simmer together until it's thickened into the right consistency syrup.

thanks!

That makes a really big batch though -- for the first time, maybe make a smaller amt using those proportions -- you might like it less sweet, more garlicky, etc. I'm on my 3rd batch and I adjust it a little each time. I think I added a little piece of cinnamon stick the first time, but left it out the last time. An empty ketchup bottle with a squirt top is the perfect way to store it.

I just buy mine, all the azn grocers around here have plenty of brands.

(its v good on fried eggs)

yeah our main grocery story might sell it, but there asian section is pretty small.

I just don't cook well on electric stoves...ugh! Everything I attempt to make is shitty. I was baking juicy turkeys and roasted chicken, great pastries and now...enchiladas aren't even fit for a dog. Things I made all the time on my old gas stove are severely sub par now.

Using cast iron on electric stoves seems wrong too. That's not the problem though. Envious of all the successes on this thread, envious of my previous gas stove successes.

another mee goreng recipe i found had sambal tumis listed as the main ingredient. unfortunately, the main ingredient of ~that~ is shrimp paste. i'm not really sure what a good vegan sub for that part would be - something made from king oyster mushrooms maybe?

I can't stop braising! I cut up a turnip and a daikon and braised 'em in veg stock w/ a little Golden Mtn seasoning sauce (my faves) and mirin, and then threw some miso on that mess, and it's awesome. Also p proud that I got this random root veg in my CSA share and freestyled it so well. Having it w/some dressed greens and a steamed pork/veg bao, I have to say my dinner rules.

Yesterday I caramelized like 10lbs of onions and made a lamb shank curry, both of which were cooking for several hours. Today I realized while riding the bus to work that my jacket stank like something that had spent several hours in an enclosed space absorbing 9 pounds evaporated onion juice and various lamb / ginger / garlic / cumin aromas.

you smell delicious

Eating my leftovers from the other night: baby bok choy and fresh shiitakes with chicken over brown rice

I've been making spinach and feta gozleme all week. Really easy and totally delicious.

I loooooooooooooooooooooove anything with spinach and feta -- no idea what a gozleme is though

omg i just looked it up
looks GOOD

They are!

This week I made
lemon-crusted seitan: bland and disappointing.
” tangled thai salad”: pretty good.
banana soft serve with a pb-chocolate-coconut sauce: A+

Tonight I make” chicken” lettuce wraps.

Nothing in my kitchen, but there's a 2-day barbecue festival/competition in Tupelo tomorrow and Saturday. There are some folks around here who seriously misunderstand good barbecue, but with almost 100 teams competing, I have high hopes.

I made panko crusted mahi last night that I was really proud of for not being soggy

my chicken lettuce wraps were pretty good

tomorrow i attempt tofu satay

rounding second last day of 'use up everything in the crisper' dinner. last night was chard/mushroom/red pepper sautee with leftover brown rice & some bbq tenderloin that Mr Veg made; tonight is sausages I found in the freezer with braised kale/peppers/tomatoes/garlic (inspired by Austerity/Fluffy Bear on the Olive Garden thread today)

tomorrow afternoon: forage for a new week's worth of veggies yay, rinse, repeat

I am finding that buying an extra bunch of greens or two is great for getting me all the way through a week without having to madly scramble for new veggies at the last minute

Finally got around to doing some taste comparisons with the chili powders I got from Biad last month, since I had a little bit of boneless skinless chicken breast thawed out that didn't get used. I sliced it up and sprinkled half with the medium red chili powder (+ salt & pepper) and the other half with a combination of mild red and chipotle chili powder. Sauteed briefly in olive oil. Medium = decent flavor, no heat. Mild + chipotle = huge flavor, really delicious. Noticeable heat for me, an "I can't eat that" amount of heat for my wife. Smoked up the kitchen enough for us all to be coughing and sneezing. And now I'm eating leftover couscous with chicken and chopped tomato, cucumber and onion.

Made a yummy Beef & Guinness pie for dinner last night: should yield us at least another dinner & a couple of lunches. Love that type of big-leftover meal!

-was this the thread where I mentioned that I stuck an apple in the freezer for no reason? well, a few months later, the skin has started to shrivel. I don't know why! what is going on inside the frozen apple?

-made stir-fried udon with onions, green onions, and garlic today. glad I don't live with anybody!

sounds delish, dayo!

btw your apple is shriveling because freezers dehydrate things! even with the skin on, it's bleeding moisture out.

Cool, freeze-dried apple!

wd eat your udon, dayo

Made some ersatz colcannon – mashed potatoes with some gently cooked kale stirred into them. I had the worst mashed potatoes of my life last night (chunky AND runny at the same time and with way too much Pabst Blue Ribbon stirred into them, yikes!!). I felt the need to make things right.

Whaaaaaat. PBR in mash?

Gross

pro tip: after cooking the shit out of your spuds, return them to the pot on low heat and dry them out. maybe everyone but me already knew this, but it has been a revelation and improved my mash by about 10000%

oh and i figured out my peanut sauce problem: i kept asking everyone for "peanut sauce" and googling for "peanut sauce" recipes, but i found out what i actually meant was SATAY sauce. finally nailed it last night, but the tofu i served it with was disappointing.

satay sauce! yes, I need to have this!

1/2 c peanut butter
3/4 coconut milk
1.5 tsp curry powder (i think it could use a little more, tbh)
1 tbsp lime juice
1.5 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp neutral-flavoured oil

blend! the original recipe has garlic and soy sauce, but i left those out, bc all the other peanut sauces w/soy really grossed me out - pb and soy just taste like the worst combination in my mouth.

yuuuuummo

thank you!

How did you cook the tofu?

can of tomato/chard/chickpea cooked down w/garlics & seasonings, plus toast
yum

I make pretty good toast, y'all!

mmm toast

Toast is weird -- I can grab it straight out of the toaster and butter it with room temp butter and it's still cold before I get it to the plate! English muffins are better imo.

I was looking for an alternative to rice for a friend who was planning to come to dinner and is off carbohydrates so i roasted some cauliflower florets with a teaspoon of haldi, some fennel seeds and a bit of chilli oil for ten minutes in the oven and then put them in a food processor until they were roughly the same consistency as cous-cous. The end result was quite good, i thought.

I just fried the leftovers with some onion, garlic, coconut milk and garam malasa and use the mixture to stuff pancakes - fantastic.

that sounds awesome!

Cauliflower is fantastic as a starch substitute - steamed and mashed, grated and mixed with shredded parmesan then baked to make a pizza base/crust, grated and roasted to sub for rice/couscous

except that, y'know, it's still cauliflower.

milder than broccoli! comes in orange, purple, and/or white!

I like the green fractal cauliflower with the awesome conical shapes all over it.

Eat it? fuck no. but it's pretty.

Romanesco!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Fractal_Broccoli.jpg