I've wanted to make this dish forever. It seemed so simple and satisfying, and I think the only thing that's stood in my way all this time is the buying of the rice cake.
I've been watching a lot of Maangchi's Cooking videos lately, and she inspired me to just get down and do it.
I adapted her recipe slightly, but most of it is the same.
I sauteed thinly sliced tofu in sesame oil while I boiled four cups of water with some dashi soup stock base. Then I separated store-bought rice cake. I added 2 spoonfuls of hot pepper paste (gochujang) and 3 tsp of sugar to the boiling water, and threw in the rice cakes. I let the evil looking stuff boil until it began to thicken, and added chopped green onion and my fried tofu.
MMMM! Nose-running goodness!
Edie and I have been cooking together more often since she and I moved into the same neighbourhood (hooray for neighbours!).
First we made macarons (Chocolate and Prune from David Liebovitz). They were a great success, and our next mission was to make Pate a Fruits. I've personally only ever had one measley serving of the stuff, at Canoe Restaurant as a part of a dessert dish. It was delicious, and we aimed to try to veganize it.
What was interesting about this adventure was that we each used a slightly different recipe and different ingredients. Hers was to be a mango pate de fruits, while mine would be apple. Mine had juice in it, while hers did not. Hers had more pectin in it, and no straining.
God, I wish mine had required no straining. I microwaved fresh apples and pears, then smushed them through a wire sieve (which took the better part of an hour).
We both stood at the stove, adding pectin to our fruity, lemony mixtures, and stirring. We had no candy thermometers, so we guessed when the mixtures had come to the app
ropriate temperature, and then poured them into containers lined with parchment paper to set.
Next morning: they're still loose. No lovely jelly.
We both try to salvage ours by boiling them again. This time, I added agar to mine while she added gelatin to hers. We both got a great result this time! Mind you, we'd been futzing with this jelly for hours.
Some issues: I ended up with WAY TOO MUCH JELLY, and had to throw a bunch of it away. I don't know what I was thinking. No one wants more than a couple of small pieces of fruit jelly, and some people don't want even that!
Also, I sugared it the night before, and it got sweaty and had a runny, honey-like coating the next morning. That didn't prevent kind co-workers from eating it, but it felt like a bit of a fail.
So remember, Liz, for you French fruit jelly is not worth the effort!
Triple-post today. I made a few things over the holidays, but since school's started I haven't got around to posting.
I was going to an X-Mas party, and wanted to bring something interesting, low stress, and good for sharing. I thought I invented this dish, but googling proved me wrong on this, as it often does.
The process was quite similar to making Mango Chutney - I simmered a pint of blueberries, half a chopped onion, 1 1/2 cups vinegar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, a handful of raisins, a teaspoon of salt, some mustard seed, cinnamon and ground cumin together until it became chutney-like, tweaking the seasoning until I liked it. I also threw in a small chopped apple for substance about halfway through the simmering.
Verdict: not as good as its mango cousin. A little too sweet, and with a background taste that did not mesh well with the papadum I served it with. However, my host claimed she loved it, and saved the leftovers to have with her dinner the next day. Go figure.
I recently visited the Bo De Duyen outlet store on Spadina, where I picked up a bag of frozen 'meatballs'. If you never went to the restaurant while it was open,
they specialize in fake meat products like veggie "chicken drumsticks", fish balls
and nuggets. I'm not crazy about fake meats, and 
generally avoid them, but I wanted to support the place because I feel that they make some pretty great food. So off I went with 8 frozen 'meatballs' and thoughts of Ikea floating through my head. I browsed a few recipes for Swedish meatballs and noodles, and this is what came out of it. The dish is not difficult, but took a good hour from start to finish. First I browned the meatballs on all sides on the stovetop. Then I transferred them to a baking dish and baked them, covered, at 350 degrees while I did the rest.
The sauce is basically onions, a pinch of sugar, and a few tbsp of balsamic vinegar, simmered gently, until the onions are soft. About 1 3/4 cup of vegetable stock is added, with the last quarter reserved and mixed with a few tbsp of flour. After the sauce begins to boil, the flour mi
x is added and it's simmered until thick.I boiled some water for the noodles while I whisked the sauce, then cooked 3/4 of a package of egg noodles for about 10 minutes. When the sauce was thick, I removed it from the stove and added 1tbsp of sour cream and a solid squirt of hoisin sauce, then covered it to keep warm.
I tossed the noodles in the sauce, served the 'meatballs' on top and topped it all off with some Ikea Lingonberry sauce. Mmm! A little more subtle than the flavours that I'm used to, but still quite delicious.
A.k.a baby throwup, A.k.a. 'the sludge'.
This is what it ended up looking like (partially finished)
It was a delicious dish we ordered on a whim at King's noodle house. It was deep fried, covered in Hoisin sauce, terrifyingly hot and incredibly tasty.
So, I decided to try to make it. I didn't realize that it would take several hours.
It started with some onions, some veggie sausage, and some hot chili flakes, sauteed with some shredded daikon radish. In case you're wondering, there's no turnip anywhere in the cake. I was a little disappointed, having had limited experience with Turnip, and wishing to expand my horizons.
Something for next time, I guess.
So, the process was to create a thick sludge (which you can see in the bowl) made up of water and rice flour, and to introduce it into the hot pan and allow it to thicken with the onions and 'sausage'.
After that, the mixture was poured into a pot and steamed for an hour. To be truthful, it fell into the pot and splattered all over the kitchen--then I salvaged what was left and steamed it for an hour.After that, it had to set in the fridge for another hour, and after that, it was fried until crisp and coated with hoisin sauce, soy and sugar.
Verdict: the hungry boys and I ate the sludge. It was passably good, but no contest to the dish in the restaurant. For five bucks, I'll just buy it next time. And maybe a bag of turnips for later.
Ah, dumplings. I wonder why I waited so long to make you again.
Did dumplings two ways this week. Asian style dumplings yesterday and Italian 'Ravioli' style dumplings today.
I'm still using the pre-made dumpling wrappers because I don't have the time or patience right now to try making them on my own. Also, I'm moving soon (yaay!) and I'm trying to eat up everything I can to make things easier for everyone.
I filled yesterday's dumplings with minced tofu, onion, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, cayenne pepper, cumin, and garam masala. Super delicious.
I sauteed all of the above in olive oil until the onions were transl
ucent, then let it cool and spooned a teaspoon into each dumpling wrapper. I think I finally got down the folding technique for the edges, which is like a pleating. I folded the wrapper over and pinched the centre, and then started from one of the edges, pleating towards the middle and gently pressing out air bubbles. None exploded during steaming, and on
ly two let water in when I boiled the next batch.
For the Italian dumplings, I used a similar base but added broccoli, oregano, fresh basil, pesto and tomato paste, along with some hot chili powder. I have it for my lunch, with spicy olive tomato sauce. Happy Day!
Saw these on Obachan's food blog recently, and wondered how I could do up a vegan version to share. After a little cruising online, I found a recipe that was accidentally vegan, converted and tweaked it, and came up with something I liked. Mushi Pan (literally bug bread, so I read) is a lovely, quick steamed bread/cake thing. I think it's a very versatile base for any flavour, and imagine it would come in handy for when you want a 'baked' treat, but don't have an oven.I was out of my normal flour, and so I decided to use what was on hand, which was Teff flour (the flour used for Injera in Ethiopian foods--for a future experiment:).
I also wanted a green tea flavour, so I added matcha powder, thinking it would go well with the chocolate chips.
Here's the recipe for a small handful (probably three to four regular muffin sized cakes, or 5-10 minimuffin sized cakes)
1/5 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2-3/4 cup of soy milk or other nondairy milk1/4 tsp matcha powder
pinch of salt
handful of chocolate chips or chunks
Set a large pot to boil. Sift the dry ingredients, then add them to the wet ingredients and whisk.Spoon mixture into muffin cups (1/2 full), top with a handful of chocolate or raisins and place in the steamer basket over boiling water. Steam with the lid on for 10-12 minutes, et voila! I really don't know of any faster, easier dessert. This would be great if you have last minute company.
You could take out the matcha powder and add cocoa, or anything else you think might make these great. Imaging: raisin cardamom mushi pan. Chocolate red bean mushi pan. Gluten free strawberry mushi pan. The possibilities are endless.
