Veggie Tempura

Really, folks -- It's easy! Choose your veggies, and get tempura flour from the Asian market. Most large grocery stores have it now in the Asian food section too. But be patient - it takes time to prep and time to fry all this up. Mix the flour with water till you get the thin batter consistency you like, fry it in hot veggie oil till the batter is done/crispy. Drain on paper towels. To get the most authentic batter, add 2 cups tempura flour with 1 cup rice flour (but i don't often have it on hand so I skip it). I love all veggies and recommend you use whatever you have on hand. Today I've got potato and sweet potato (both steamed) and freshly sliced eggplant, mushroom, and zucchini.

Fry it up then serve over rice, or over noodles. We have soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles - YUM!!!!) Serve the noodles warm in some of the water from boiling and add in some Memmi (Japanese noodle soup base). You can also use Memmi + soba water for your tempura dipping sauce (or buy a tempura sauce at the market). Tanoshinde ne!

Korean Tofu Salad with Citrus Dressing

When I was in Korea, I had this amazing salad at the Hancook Restaurant at Seoul Tower. So I tried to recreate it. Thinly sliced firm tofu, fried in a bit of oil, then cut in triangles. Very thinly sliced green peppers (and red and yellow and orange if you like) and red onion sauteed for just a few minutes to soften them just a bit. The dressing was veggie oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar and lemon juice. Toss it all together and let it sit in the fridge to marinate as long as you want. I served it over a green salad.
Mine wasn't as good as the one I had in Korea. Their dressing was a bit sweet. Maybe I'll add agave or brown sugar next time I try to make it. I've also read about some soy+sesame+orange juice dressings -- that sounds good too. Happy cooking.... <3

Sweet Potato Muffins

I'm heading off to Korea and Japan for a work trip. Blog posts may be spotty, so I hope this will keep you satisfied for a bit.

I made this a few days ago for breakfast -- Sweet Potato MuffinS!!!!!!
It was gonna be carrot cake, but I decided to sub sweet potato for carrots and a banana for the 2 eggs. Why not go vegan when you can? It was so good and moist and sweet. I cut the sugar down in the recipe because of the sweet fruit/veg. I recommend this.

2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I like 2 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 banana
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cups chopped or mashed sweet potato (I steam mine in the microwave for 5 minutes, then dice -- 1 big one will work)
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; whisk until blended. In a separate bowl, mash banana and sugar with a wooden spoon or fork. Add oil and orange juice, then combine with flour mixture. Fold in sweet potato.
2. Divide batter among prepared liners(each about 3/4 full). Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Vegan Mango BBQ Beans & Garden Salad

Delicious Dish! And Healthy too!
Mango BBQ Beans, recipe from Appetite For Reduction.

I haven't posted about food in a while. We ate this delicious "chili" over rice and had corn bread on the side. I also left out the red pepper flakes and added just a bit of chili powder. I wanted it mild (I prefer spicy, but my family doesn't :(
This has fantastic flavor -- make it ASAP!!

As for other veggie delights... Our garden is struggling. Cucumber and zucchini just did not take off, but our lettuce and potatoes did. And you'll see we have some sad looking broccoli and a bunch of uninvited mushrooms growing in there. How is your garden doing?

Home-grown lettuce

Form the garden to the table in just minutes!

Panzanella and Sweet Potato Pancakes

More Delicious Vegetable Dishes!!

Eat this as soon as you possibly can. I actually made it twice in the last week. It's just too good.

Panzanella is a Florentine salad of bread and tomatoes popular in the summer. It includes chunks of soaked stale bread and tomatoes, sometimes also onions and basil, dressed with olive oil and vinegar. It is popular all over central Italy. I had it at a potluck last spring and searched out the recipe.

It's totally vegan. But you can add some diced fresh Mozz if you want it to be richer and a bit heavier. I like it both ways. FRESH FRESH FRESH is what this salad is.


I also made Sweet Potato Pancakes this weekend.  The best thing EVER to do with leftovers... fry them up. :)

Mash sweet potatoes, add some chopped onion, and egg/egg-substitute, some flour; fry in veggie oil till golden brown.

Tomorrow, my fashion/style/sewing report is back.
See you then,
Happy New Year,
Trista

Veggie Delights

More yummy vegetarian cuisine cooked up at my house this week.

recipe from Appetite for Reduction:
Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Apples

1 pound apples, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch chunks (2 average sized)
2 pounds sweet potatoes or yams, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon agave (optional, see note)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger, see note
Cooking spray
Preheat a 4 quart pot over low heat. Spray with cooking spray, then add apples, sweet potatoes, water and salt. Cover pot and sweat the apples and sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes, stirring often. What this means, is just to cook them slowly and let them steam. You want to coax the moisture out of them, but if you make the flame too high they’ll burn and cook unevenly.
After 20 minutes, you can turn the heat up just a bit. Add a little more water if needed. Cover and cook 20 more minutes, paying close attention so that they don’t burn, and stirring often. When they’re very tender, they’re done. Mash with a potato masher. Add the agave, cinnamon and ginger, and mash some more. Taste for salt and seasoning. Serve warm.
                                    *****

Veggie Chili aka "Tortilla Chip soup" (but we enjoy ours with rice and cornbread, not chips):
recipe from How it all Vegan--

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

3 c vegetable stock or water

28 oz diced tomatoes or 5-8 fresh tomatoes, diced and 1/4 cup water

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

tortilla chips, crushed (garnish);avocado slices (garnish)

 

In a large soup pot, saute the onions and garlic in oil on medium heat until onions are translucent.  Add the stock, tomatoes, paste, jalapenos, cumin, and chili powder.  Simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Garnish with crushed chips and avocado slices.                                    *****

I will be offline for a week most likely, due to the holidays. But I'll be sewing, styling, crafting, and cooking up a storm, so I'll lots to share with you in the new year.

Happy Holidays!!!
Love, Trista

New Vegan Cookbook

Our friend Matt Ruscigno is a dietician, and foodie, who is also vegan and an endurance athlete and trainer - check him out at TRUE LOVE Health. He worked on this awesome cookbook called Appetite for Reduction -- get it for a veggie-lover YOU love!

I made a few AMAZINGLY tasty dishes last weekend. Super YUMMY! Cook this tonight!

1. Chickpea Picatta and Caulipots:
Picatta : http://www.theppk.com/2010/09/chickpea-picatta/
Caulipots are Cauliflower Mashed potatoes - creamy even without butter or milk. Especially tasty with Picatta gravy on top! The lemon/wine/caper richness of the picatta is just insanely delicious. Enjoy!

2. Chili Verde con Papas -- basically a tomatillo stew/vegetarian chili without tomatoes -- really different. I loved it. I love the flavor of tomatillos but had never cooked them before. They seemed intimidating to me somehow, I'm not sure why.

 Bon Appetit!