Ridiculously vegan meal and teeny update/random bits

Kale chips, caraway millet, kale salad variation. Holy vegan meal.

So I've started to get my interest in cooking back. Those few weeks really sucked. They sucked for a variety of reasons, though it's not like I was super-miserable, but my cooking interest definitely waned.

Chili thing-y

Yesterday I made a sort-of "leftover use-up chili" thing. It had cubes of fried tofu, cauliflower, collards, black eyed peas, kidney beans, a couple kinds of leftover canned tomatoes and some seasonings. Nothing to write a blog about but reasonable. I think there was too much tomato. That made it weirdly tangy and the soy sauce didn't cut that enough. The collards are already bitter so mixed with a lot of tomato, it was pretty intense. Further, the whole thing lacked depth. No Fett here when I made it so I didn't have his expertise on-hand and I bet he could've fixed it. I did tell him about the dish and he said: "Eh, just put it in a wrap and it will be fine." This is good advice for many foods. We eat things as wraps and burritos all the time, most recently in cabbage leaves.

The key, I have found to making chili: curry paste. NOT curry powder. Curry paste. You can use the Thai stuff (the little Taste of Thai jar in green or red) and it works really well, especially with sweet potato or cilantro. To give credit where it is due, the post-punk kitchen (theppk.com) gave me that idea because she makes a Thai red lentil curry that is fantastic. I used a different kind of curry paste, the Indian kind (only I used the mild version for this). So give that whirl. And curry paste lasts forever in the fridge. Along these lines, I keep a jar of tamrind chutney around for mixing in rice and stuff. I don't use it much but it has a very interesting flavor and seems to keep forever.

Enough links for ya?

Kale chips: Holy crap these sucked. 

I used beautiful Tuscan kale my mom grew in her wonderful garden. What a waste. I wish I'd put it in a simple salad. I should've taken the stems/stalks out. Usually I make kale chips with the pre-washed and cut stuff. Truth be told, they turn out more like kale croutons and then quickly, kale shake. But damn they are good when tossed with a little olive oil and salt or nutrition yeast before you put them in the oven. You can find recipes for them all over the place. I'm not posting one.

I put them on the cookie sheet and at first when they came out they were great. Then after they sat for just a little bit, they softened. Ok, so I tried to eat them anyway. Well, I couldn't really macerate them right so I ended up with a wad of what felt like twine in my mouth. I felt like a goat grinding my jaws over and over. I tried to swallow it and had that panicked "Oh shit, I'm choking on a long thing that's sliding" and so I gave up. I got it down my gullet, but my heart was pounding from fear. No thanks. Kale chips should not stimulate my (edit i used autonomic but i think i meant sympathetic though it is true that i was afraid my heart would stop) nervous system that intensely. Next time: take out the spines/stems/stalks whatever you want to call them.

Right. Moving on.

Caraway millet

Well this might be a misnomer because the caraway is really subtle. I'm trying to get into millet more. Isa Chandra Moskowitz (of post-punk kitchen fame, see link above and she has videos too. She's one of the originals.) has a great cookbook called Appetite for Reduction. She has a great recipe for Ethiopian millet. The best part about it is that it is bold and deeply spiced. Millet can handle that. It's like rice but sort of sturdier. It's like quinoa in that it has a toothsome quality but it doesn't have the very distinct taste that quinoa does. It's a good backdrop or canvas. I recommend her book, by the way. I also HIGHLY recommend The Veganomicon by Isa and Terry R. Changed my life. True story.

So I wanted to use some wonderful chard from my mom (that gorgeous rainbow kind) and have a nice grain to go with the crummy chili. Here's what I did:

1. Sauteed a GORGEOUS and huge shallot from my mom's garden, probably equivalent to 3 normal ones. You could use onion or add garlic. Sautee until soft in about 1-2 Tablespoons of coconut oil. I did all this in my big cast iron pot. Not a pan but a high-sided pot.

2. Then I added a bunch of lemon-pepper seasoning from Penzey's. It's one of my guilty pleasures. It's kind of a standard Ah-muhr-ican flavor and the snob in me thinks it's for people who don't want to really cook or think about cooking. But it's salty and tangy and I like it on rice and salads and sandwichs when I myself am lazy. So I added maybe a teaspoon or more of it. Then I added caraway seeds. I'm not sure how many. It is a strong flavor and I wanted to be careful. Next time I'll add a little more but not much. I wanted it to really be aromatic but not distinctly "tasteful" of rye bread. So I added maybe 1-1.5 teaspoons. I did NOT add salt because the seasoning has salt. You should definitely salt it and I actually added some when I ate it.

If you don't have lemon-pepper, you could add lots of black pepper and maybe some lemon zest. I would not add lemon to my dish because it was in cast iron and citrus+iron is a no-no.

Currants or raisins would be good in this, it occurs to me now!

3. Chopped up the colorful stems of the chard, as I would chop up celery for salad, in half moons. Tossed those in and sauteed those. No need to waste them! I had a pretty big bunch of chard, maybe 15 big leaves? A little less?

4. Rinsed 1 cup millet and then add to the sautee and stir it around a bit. Added 2 cups of water. Next time I will substitute some of that for my homemade broth. I didn't want competing flavors when I was experimenting with caraway. I try to start relatively simple when I'm tweaking or creating a recipe/dish. If I like it, I want to know what the components "did," if that makes sense. I decrease variables until I'm ready to alter it after understanding the dish. That can be surprisingly complicated.

5. Chop up the leaves of the chard and add them and stir around.

6. Bring to a boil and then cover pot, turn down to low and simmer/steam for 20-25 minutes. Check it near the end and tip the pot to see if the water is absorbed. I had to add a little extra water but don't do that unless you have to. It's a great way to totally ruin a grain. It's kind of amazing how often I screw up cooking grains. I am notorious for ruining rice. I know I've mentioned that before. I look forward to having this conversation again.

7. Let it rest for a bit and then serve. It might be good with parsley or lemon juice at the end.


Kale salad variation

Shout-out to my friend April of The Enchanted Kitchen who served us a kale salad on July 4th that was fantastic and pushed my creativity a bit. Fett loved it too and was pleased that her version could eliminate even the small amount of Veganaise I often use as emulsifier and thickener. He has kind of a .... thing... about mayo. He's tolerant of Veganaise but will not suffer standard mayo otherwise (even his egg and tuna salad is sans mayo, with extra mustard and relish). You can make him gag if you mention the idea of a mayonnaise factory. Anyway.

1. As usual, massage your kale and pull out the hard spiny bits.

2. Cut about 2/3 or 3/4 of an avocado into small squares.

3. Juice 1 and 1/2 limes. Add avocado to the lime juice and toss around. Add a little salt.

4. Mince some mint, probably 1/2 cup before minced. I used my mom's and it is STRONG. So I would use less next time. Add mint to lime juice and avocado. Stir around and let sit a little while.

5. Meanwhile, add about 1/2 cup of roasted cashew pieces (thank you Trader Joe's for cheap cashews). I also toasted about 1/3 cup of pumpkin seeds/pepitas and threw them in because I love them in the salad.

6. I bought two kinds of mango (this large red one and this smaller yellow one). I don't know what they are called but I diced up the yellow one. Jesus Christ mangoes are a pain in the ass to cut. And they are kind of hairy around the pit-thing and the knife cut makes a weird noise when you're close to the pit. I don't like that part...it's a bit creepy to me for some reason. Anyway, chop/dice that shit up. I used the whole yellow one.

7. I tossed all that stuff up and let it sit. I tasted it right after and then about 2 hours later. Much better later. The components hadn't melded right after.

It's really tangy. It's quite minty. I would use less mint next time and add a little more salt than I added. Sorry Fett, but I think I would add Veganaise too. Just for a little more body. But, after it sits overnight, I could change my mind. The mango is great in it. I think the cashews are good but not necessary. Toasted macadamias would be good but they are about 35k per pound so I don't use those.

Have you had roasted hazelnuts? Holy shit I love them. I have been eating way too many of them. Their flavor is unique and interesting.

That trick of storing your peanut butter upside down in the fridge really works! It keeps the oil from separating!

Washing and carefully drying my lettuces and greens and then storing them with a dry paper towel really extends their life. Kind of a pain in the ass but worth it.

If you can get young spring onions or yellow lemon cucumbers from a local farmers' market, do it. Both are fantastic. I finally had a chance to go to our market and I blew about $40 on local cheese and fancy hot dogs   and local wine and veggies and fruit. We got wild black raspberries, maybe my favorite fruit.

Moving again on August 5th. Yeah, this is the third time in a year and probably the 15th time in my life? Less? More? I've moved a lot. I'm not even stressed. Packing is begun and underway. I've got mad boxes and newspapers thanks to a friend. I have some people who have volunteered to help and they will be getting the commitment call soon. Further, I'm purging things and have piles of stuff for friends with babies and kids and pregnancies. So satisfying.

Taking Punky to the gym tonight was a revelation. We had so much fun shooting baskets, throwing the tennis ball. Tomorrow we will do it again and, like a time a couple weeks ago, I will workout for some of it and he will play alone. If we can make this a regular thing, that would make me so happy. It was so much fun to share this with him.