Berbere, The Spice Mix I Love

Berbere (homemade)

I haven't blogged for a while. This one was started back in March and I haven't released till now. I have been busy with work(TJIJ - Thank God I still have a Job) and family that this blog is delayed.

I love spices and love meals with a lot of spices such as Indian, Indonesian, and Thai. I think that's because I grew up with spices in a spice island: Java. Recently, I found that Ethiopians also use a spice mix that I really like. After visiting Ethiopian restaurants several times, I grew to love Ethiopian food. I did try to make injera (Ethiopian bread) but I didn't like the result. However, I succeeded in making their spice called Berbere. The one I made look exactly like the picture in this wiki info. I found the recipe in the Internet and modified it to be less spicy. Whenever I use this spice in cooking, our house smells so wonderful. Our neighbors made comments that they can smell my cooking and that it smells so good they say, thanks to Berbere. DH often comes back home from work and can smell the aromatic smell before he enters the house.

I love this Ethiopian Berbere spice mix combined with garlic and onions. Ethiopians use clarified butter or ghee mixed with spices too and it is called Niter Kibbeh. I tried make it with Earth Balance once by melting it and add some spices to it. It was good but I still like using Virgin Olive Oil and/of Grapeseed oil in my cooking so I don't use Nitteh Kebeh in my Ethiopian cooking.



Toasting spices on dry mini cast-iron pan

Berbere

Adopted from www.recipezaar.com

Ingredients

2 teaspoons cumin seeds
4 whole cloves
3/4 teaspoon cardamom seed
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
1/4 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
4 small dried red chilies
1 teaspoon dried gingerroot powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika or smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

1. In a small frying pan, on medium-low heat, toast the cumin, whole cloves, cardamom, peppercorns, allspice, fenugreek, and coriander for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
3. Discard the stems from the chiles.
4. In a spice grinder (a coffee grinder for spices only) or with a mortar and pestle, finely grind together the toasted spices and the chiles.
5. Mix in the remaining ingredients.
6. Store Berebere refrigerated in a well-sealed jar or a tightly closed plastic bag.

The original recipe uses 8 dried red chilies which make it fiery hot. Therefore, I reduced it to half. If you don't like spicy hot food, you can reduce it even more. This is a dry spice mix and not a paste. There are berbere spice paste for sale in the Internet. I haven't really bought any so I can't recommend one.

The reason that I like the dry spice mix instead of the paste is that I can use the dry spice on popcorn. It's quite delicious to drizzle this dry spice mix on freshly made popped corn.

Below is a simple recipe of a vegetable stew spiced with Berbere. In the picture above, it's the one on the right hand side. I served this stew with Indian style lemon rice and chana masala. The stew is good with brown rice, too. Or, if you can buy or made fresh injera, that will be the way to enjoy this stew.

Spicy Vegetable Stew with Berbere
Serves 4

1.5 cups peeled and chopped carrots
1.5 cups peeled and chopped sweet potato
1.5 cups yellow squash
1.5 cups chopped fingerling potato
1.5 cups chopped zuchinni
1 peeled large onions, chopped finely
6 cloves peeled fresh garlic, minced.
1 cup tomato sauce
vegetable broth (1.5 to 2 cups)
1 Tbsp. Berbere
1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp Olive or Grapeseed oil


Direction:

1. Cut all the vegetables about 1-inch cube (as pictured).
2. Sautee onions and garlic in oil on a medium heat in a 2-quarts sauce pan.
3. After onions is translucent, add berbere spice mix and stir for a minute until aromatic.
4. Add all the vegetables in to the pan and mix. Stir for 2 minutes.
5. Add the tomato sauce and vegetable broth enough to cover the vegetables and no more.
6. Add salt and simmer for 20 minutes or untill all the vegetables are soft.

Pictured above are roasted vegetables with Berbere, boiled fingerling potatoes, and new Trader Joe's Vegan Stuffed Chick'n with blackbean and corn. Roasted vegetables with Berbere is so good and easy. I usually use about 1 Tbsp dry Berbere mixed with 2 - 3 Tbsp olive oil and salt. I coat onions, zucchini, yellow squash, and garlic with this mix and roast them in 425-450 F oven. Any other vegetable that is good for roasting will be good with Berbere.

El Misti Peruvian Restaurant with Vegan Options

I was browsing the Internet one day and found this Peruvian restaurant in Anaheim (Southern California) that serves vegetarian/vegan dishes: El Misti. Although they serve meat and seafood, they have an on-line menu which contains a vegetarian section with vegan options. I was surprised that they understand what vegan means. Wow! Since I haven't had a good vegan Peruvian dishes lately (I usually make my own, see my blog about veganized Yuca ala Huancaina, here), I decided to have a try.

The outside of the restaurant looks like a plain small restaurant in a plain shopping mall.


Apparently, it is a mom and pop restaurant owned by a couple Peruvian. In my opinion, usually this kind of restaurant serve better home cooked meals than fancy ones. The husband, Juan, helps by talking to customers and waiting tables. He is very friendly and welcoming. His wife, Hilda, is the Chef and she is a very talented one, really. Juan told us that he is a vegetarian and his son was a vegan. His son was the one who told his wife how to cook vegetarian and vegan. Therefore, they have a large vegetarian section in their menu.

The food here is absolutely delicious. I came with my husband and a friend who is moving back to Germany and it was our goodbye dinner for her. It was our friend's first experience of Peruvian food so it was a real adventure for her. Especially, when we ordered a picther of Chicha Morada (traditional Peruvian beverage made of purple corn, pineapple, and hint of citrus) and she tried it for the first time. She never had anything like it and she liked it. The articles in the Internet mentioned that Chicha Morada has a lot of antioxidant and can lower blood pressure. Who would have known when we drank this juice that was so yummy. You can read a blog about Chicha Morada, here.



The starter is always a basket of soft warm bread with Aji (green hot sauce made with garlic, oil, spices, and huacatay , pronounced wah-kah-tye (peruvian mint) instead of cilantro).



The secret of this restaurant really is in the sauce. This green spicy sauce is so good that it's good on everything, I bet. Our friend really loves this green aji sauce. Juan told us that it's huacatay that we like and he brought us to the back of his restaurant where he has huacatay bushes growing. Huacatay is a black mint that is used a lot in Peruvian cooking. Hhhhmmm, I wonder if I can find that in an ethnic market somewhere. If I can, I will be able to make it at home.

Our next course was veggie tamale wrapped in a banana leave.


I thought the tamal was a bit dry and not much filling in it. The pickled onions and radishes on the side was great with it though. We shared this dish since we ordered 3 main courses. Forewarn, this restaurant serves HUGE portions. Since the price is not low, we really could have shared a main course for 2. However, since we wanted to try everything, each of us ordered a main course dinner.

My husband's dinner was Veggie Cau Cau (pronounced cow cow). The fuzziness of this picture came from the steam because it was still really hot when it came. It smelled and tasted absolutely like the picture, real yum. I wish there is a technology to taste and smell blogged pictures.

It's a stew made with soy protein, potato, peas, and carrots in a mild yellow pepper sauce with a hint of huacatay (again, that Peruvian black mint). It came with that refreshing pickled onions and radishes.

I opted out the soy and quinoa stir fry.
This dish had lots of veggies in it. There was really a pile of quinoa underneath it. This was very very good. Here, in this picture, you can see the healthy quinoa underneath the pile of goodness:


Our friend chose Soy Chicken and Rice (Arroz con Pollo): soy chicken drumsticks cooked in vegetables and rice with cilantro spinach and premium dark larger. I thought that there were more rice than the soy chicken. Our friend said that the soy chicken tasted very good.I tasted a bit of the dark green rice and it was really good. The vegan option will probably come with lentils instead of salad and without the cheese sauce.

If you live in SoCal, I highly recommend this restaurant. The other dish that we ordered in the past and didn't mention here was the Lomo Saltado with soy beef or Soy Beef Stir Fry. I thought that it was absolutely delicious. Hilda really did a great job in serving vegetarians and/or vegans with her specialties. I thank her and Juan for providing an ethnic Peruvian vegetarian/vegan in her non-vegetarian restaurants. Sometimes, I am really tired of eating boring American vegan dishes like vegan chili or vegan shepherd pie, you know.

El Misti Picanteria Arequipeña
3070 W Lincoln Ave, Suite D
Anaheim, CA 92801

Telephone: (714) 995-5944
FAX: (714) 995-3254

Email:	elmisti@elmisticuisine.com
	info@elmisticuisine.com

Revisiting Vegan Tiramisu

After our visit to That's Amore vegan Italian restaurant(previous blog), I kept thinking about making Tiramisu. I took out my favorite cookbook: Nonna's Italian Kitchen by Bryanna Clark Grogan and whipped up my favorite dessert.

This time I took clear plastic cocktail cups that people use in parties and layered my Tiramisu in them . I was thinking that I can give away this dessert without asking for any container or glass back. I gave some to my mom and friends. They absolutely loved it. This works great. What do you think? Afterward, the consumer can just pitch the empty cup into a recycling bin.


I baked the Vegan Genoise cake(page 222) in 2 9-inches round cake pans so the cake will be a bit thinner. Then, I cut small and medium circles of cake using the cup as a guide.



I ended up with a few circles of cake and some crumbs. None was wasted. I used the crumbs on top, too.



For more details about vegan tiramisu, you can visit my blog about it here. I used real wine glasses at that time. The only thing I did different this time was that I used a different custard recipe. It's still Bryanna's recipe from Nonna's Italian Kitchen and called Zabaglione (page 218). Last time I made it with Cashew Pastry Creme (page 219). Zabaglione usually is made with egg yolks, cream and sugar. For Bryanna's vegan version, I used Bird's Custard Powder to make it custard-like.

I also like this brand of instant espresso for tiramisu. It's easy to make and thought it tastes good:

I absolutely love Vegan Tiramisu. If I have to choose between a chocolate cake, vegan cheesecake, vegan ice cream, gelato, and vegan tiramisu as my Valentine's Dinner Dessert, my number one choice will be Vegan Tiramisu.

Vegan Hainan 'Chicken' Rice

I veganized Hainan Chicken Rice dish( a Malaysian chicken and rice dish). Unlike other vegetarians who don't like mock meats, I like them and don't mind them at all. I cook dishes with mock meats sometimes. I still order mock meats in vegetarian restaurants, too. Maybe because I ate meat for the 35 years of my life? Who knows? If I became a vegetarian when I was a teenager, it maybe a different story now. That's my theory.

I used to eat Hainan Chicken Rice dish when I was eating meat and growing up in an Asian country. With the help of VegeFarm Vegan Chicken Breast (the 5th product on the list) that I found in a nearby HFS, I was able to veganize it. It needs some additional tricks to make it delicious: kombu broth, dried shiitake mushrooms, and tamari or soy sauce. These items add umami or an essence of deliciousness to this dish.

To begin with, the 'chicken breast' is simmered in a gingery and garlicky kombu broth with the shiitake mushrooms for 45 minutes. Then, I took out the 'breast' and mushrooms and let them rest. Next, I made the rice by using the broth the 'chicken' is simmered in (that's why it's called 'chicken' rice). Traditionally, white long grain rice is use but I used brown jasmine rice instead. Although, brown basmati rice will do. Malaysian uses pandan leaves in their rice and also some coconut milk with the chicken broth. This kind of rice is called nasi lemak. However, I didn't have pandan leaves and opted out to make a lesser fat rice dish. Therefore, I used lemon grass that I have in my garden and no coconut milk. While making the rice, I prepared the chili dipping sauce by combining lime juice, Asian style chili sauce, minced garlic, sugar/agave nectar, and some more of the cooking broth.

In both pictures above, in plating the dish for each person/consumer, the rice and 'chicken' are accompanied by sliced cucumber, sliced tomatoes, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, left over broth, chili dipping sauce, and hoisin sauce. Traditionally, the warm rice is molded into a rice bowl and inverted over on the serving plate. Since it is a dry dish, sliced 'chicken' can be dipped into the condiments or the broth. The other way to eat it is that the broth and condiments can be poured over both the 'chicken' and rice. Either way is good.

I made kombu/shiitake broth ahead of time and usually freeze this kind of broth as I use it a lot in my cooking. I use kombu/shiitake broth in making miso soup and other kind of soups, too. Kombu/shiitake broth is healthy and has a lot of umami in it. It is easy to make:

6 cups water
1 dried kombu (5 by 6 inches)
6-8 dried shiitake mushrooms

Simmer the mixture above for 30 minutes. Strain broth. Discard kombu and reserve shiitake mushrooms for other cooking use.

The recipe below only serves 2 people but it can be doubled.

Vegan Hainan 'Chicken' Rice
Serve 2

Ingredients for 'Chicken':

1 VegeFarm Vegan Poultry-Free Chicken Breast or any vegan chicken breast(see sources below)
5 stalks green onion (white parts only, reserve the green parts), chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger, chopped finely
3 Tbsp. garlic, chopped finely
1 Tbsp. Tamari or soy sauce
5 cups Kombu/shiitake broth (recipe above)
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 1/2 tsp. roasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. vegetarian chicken broth powder such as Chiknish
1 tsp. salt

Condiments/Garnishes:
1 Cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 Tomato, sliced
Cilantro sprigs
Fried Shallots(brambang goreng)
Vegetarian Hoisin sauce

To prepare 'Chicken':

1. Put all ingredients above (except garnishes and the green part of green onions) in a medium size pot.
2. Heat it with a medium high heat until broth started to boil. Then, lower it to simmer.
3. Let it simmer for 45-50 minutes, covered.
4. Take out the 'chicken' breast and the shiitake mushroom, and let them rest on a plate. Strain and reserve broth(about 4 cups left) to cook 'chicken' rice below.

Ingredients for 'Chicken' Rice:
1 1/2 cups brown jasmine rice, washed, rinsed, and drained
3 cups of cooking broth for 'chicken' (if coconut milk is used, replace part of broth with coconut milk, about 1/2 cup)
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. roasted sesame oil
1 stalk fresh lemon grass, cut in pieces or 2 or 3 pandan leaves
more salt, if need

To prepare 'Chicken' Rice:

1. Heat sesame oil in a medium pot over a medium high heat.
2. Saute minced garlic for a few seconds until fragrant.
3. Add rice into the pot and stir for about 3-4 minutes in oil and garlic.
4. Add cooking broth and pandan/lemon grass.
5. Taste for more salt as needed.
6. Cover and cook for 45 minutes until broth is absorbed and rice is cooked. The optional way is to use a rice cooker (put sauteed rice, broth, and pandan/lemon grass in a rice cooker).

Ingredients for chili dipping sauce:
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. 'Chicken' broth (from reserved cooking broth above)
2 Tsp. sugar/agave nectar
4 Tsp. Chili garlic sauce (Asian style like Sriracha)
1/2 Tsp. minced fresh garlic
1/4 Tsp. salt

To Prepare for Chili dipping sauce:
Combine ingredients above . Pour sauce into small condiment dishes for each individual serving.

To Serve:

1. Saute the 'Chicken' breast and cooked shiitake mushroom on a small frying pan until a bit brown (a few minutes). Slice 'chicken' horizonally with a sharp knife.
2. Mold brown rice in a rice bowl and invert it over to a serving plate. Sprinkle fried onions on top.
3. Heat reserve broth. Add chopped green onions (the green parts).
4. Arrange garnish and sliced 'chicken' on the serving plate with the rice for each person. Serve with condiments individually: broth, chili dipping sauce, and hoisin sauce.
5. This dish can be served warm or in a room temperature.

I served sauteed kale, mushrooms, and onions with this dish.

Other on-line sources for vegan chicken breast: Vegieworld, Follow Your Heart and Gardein.

Vegan Pizzas for Super Bowl? That's Amore!

The above pizza is topped with vegan pepperoni, artichoke heart, black olives, and mushrooms.

After being absent from my blog for a long time, I can't resist to blog this one. Last week, we heard that there is a new restaurant in town, a vegan Italian restaurant. Oh Boy! Local vegans can rejoice! I thought of pizzas right away. How nice would it be to have a place where we can order pizzas with vegan mozzarella cheese that melts? Well, people, that kind of restaurant is here at Cerritos, CA (ironically, it was formerly known as Dairy Valley), about 20 miles from where we live: That's Amore! That's the name of this new vegan Italian restaurant.

I can make my own vegan pizzas at home but hhmmm..... I think pizzas that are made in a restaurant on a stone-based oven that can be heated up to 550 - 600 F are better, in my opinion, than homemade ones. Besides, sometimes, I just want to go out and/or call for pizzas to go just like everybody else.

Unfortunately, this restaurant has no website yet. You can visit reviews of this restaurant at VegParadise , Yelp, quarrygirl, and happycow. After reading these reviews, we drove, salivated, enjoyed, and walked out with full bellies. We opted out to try their vegan Italian dishes first: DH had Eggplant Parmigiana dish and I opted out the 'Chicken' (soy chicken) Parmigiana one. Both of us basically ate every bite on our plates. Then, we ate some vegan cannolis for desserts. Our other choices are vegan gelatos and sorbets. It was really hard to decide but we know we'll be back. We also brought home 2 pizzas (pictured here) to enjoy while we were watching the Super Bowl. This is really the first time I can order pizzas to go with vegan cheese on it and that I can reheat at home or work for lunch.

Above is the Veggie Pesto Pizza which is very light, creamy, and topped with lots of veggies.

The crust is light, tasty, and thin (thicker crust can be ordered). I saw the chef really flung the pizza dough with his hands, round and round, in their kitchen just like in a classic and traditional pizza kitchen. The white mozzarella cheese was hot, melted, and bubbly when it came out of the oven. There are more to try at this restaurant including pastas with vegan sausages, vegan meat balls, vegan bechamel sauce (for alfredo style), and vegan pink sauce (bechamel and red sauce combined).

The owner of the restaurant, Marina, and I were discussing about adding Vegan Tiramisu on their dessert menu. I shared my experience in making this dish that I really love. I even blogged it here back in May 2008. I was hoping that she is inspired with my tips and she can develop her own Tiramisu to serve her happy vegan customers.

Here is the restaurant info:

That's Amore!
13349 Artesia Blvd., Cerritos, CA 90703
Phone: 562-926-2112 and 562-926-8920
Hours: Monday to Saturday: 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Sunday: 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The atmoshpere of this restaurant is light, airy, and happy. I love the yellow and blue combination of their wall colors. We were so amused when we heard the 'Theme of The Godfather' music was played on the background. We both were chuckling and visualizing Italian mafias coming out of their back door with guns. But no mafias here, just fiercely melted vegan cheeses. Marina was informing us that she planned to have Karaoke nights in this restaurant. Oh boy, what a farce addition to that place! I told her that we have Italian Crooners Karaoke CD that we can bring to her party. Can't wait!

Vegan Sushi Party!

Yet, another vegan sushi party! This is my 3rd post about vegan sushi. You can tell that I love vegan sushi and like to have a sushi party. It's a lot of fun to let your guests roll their own sushi and choose the filling they want to put in it. I don't have to prepare too much before hand and can enjoy the company. This time, I include an option for those who don't like seaweed or nori. I served 3 types of vegan sushi(with or without nori): maki sushi, temaki sushi, and inari sushi .

I piled up the filling ingredients on a tray: cucumber, carrots, crispy sauteed soy ham, seasoned tofu, red or yellow bell pepper. I didn't have an avocado which would be great in a sushi. You can actually be creative in what kind of filling you want to use. I prepared the sushi rice in a separate large bowl. Guests can create their own sushi, any style they like.

Rolled Sushi or Maki sushi wrapped with nori. Guests can roll their own sushi like these above.


Soy sheet wrapped sushi (temaki). Guest can hand roll their own temaki or rolled sushi with the soy wrapper. This is for those who detest nori or seaweed. I learned about soy wrappers for sushi from Julie a while back. Check this out: Sushi Party soy wrappers

Nori wrapped sushi (temaki). Guest can roll their own temaki with nori, too.


I prepared these before hand. This is actually my favorite sushi style (no nori). I added some green peas and corn in the filling. For a vegan inari sushi recipe, you can check Bryanna's blog, here.

I made my sushi rice combined with quinoa. For recipes and previous blogs, you can click here and here.

If you have never had sushi party, you should try it. You can invite your friends who love Japanese food, friends who detest nori, and friends who love to gather for a fun and feast event!

Vegan Potato Salad with Mustard and Fresh Baby Dill Weed

Store-bought potato salad or any potato salad served in a picnic or a party is a 'no-no' dish for us. Generally, potato salad recipes contain mayonnaise (eggs and dairy). Therefore, I have not made potato salad in the last 12 years. I could have made one with vegan mayonnaise but DH doesn't like mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise (home made or store-bought). I had been racking my brain for a potato salad recipe that will satisfy both our palates. Alas, I came up with this recipe. It is very mustardy and a bit spicy but that's what we both like. It also has fresh baby dill weed and salty vegan bacon in it. This salad is a bit sweet, too(agave nectar). It's a definitely a bold and flavorful potato salad and not the general lame potato salad made with mayonnaise.

Vegan Potato Salad with Mustard and Fresh Baby Dill Weed
Serve 6-8

3 lbs. Fingerling potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes
2 ribs celery, diced small
3 green onions, diced
1/2 medium red onion, diced small
1/2 pkg. Smart Bacon (Lightlife), cooked and crumbled
3 Tbsp. Fresh Baby Dill Weed(I really prefer fresh dill weed in this recipe), chopped

Dressings:
1/3 cup olive oil
4 Tbsp. Organic Apple Cider vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. Agave Nectar
1 1/2 Tbsp. Organic Grained Dijon Mustard or Spicy Grained Dijon Mustard (or smooth Dijon mustard) My favorite brand is Roland Organic Grained Dijon Mustard
1 tsp. salt
Fresh ground black pepper (1/4 - 1/2 tsp)

1. Prepare veggie bacon as instructed on the box. Let them cool and hardened. Then, crumble or cut them into small pieces.
2. Boil potatoes (unpeeled) for 30 minutes. Drain and let them cool for 10 minutes, then, peel them. Cut them up in bite pieces. Let them cool some more while preparing dressing.
3. Measure apple cider vinegar into a bowl. Using a whisk or hand held blender, pour olive oil into the vinegar while whisking or blending this mixture. Oil and vinegar will combine into a nice and creamy looking dressing.
4. Add agave nectar, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Mix them really well with the whisk. You can adjust the sweet, spicy, sour, and salty taste.
5. Put all salad ingredients in a big bowl. Add dressing and combine well.
6. Let salad sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving. Serve it cold or at a room temperature.

VEGAN COMFORT MEALS

There have been some stress in our household lately. We got some not-so good news from direct family members who are dealing with health issues and major surgeries. A friend of mine suggested that I made some comfort meals. So I did. These are not my recipes but I will direct you to the sources I used (cookbooks or websites).


Above are Crispy Beer-Battered Seitans (upper middle) from Yellow Rose Recipes cookbook by Joanna Vaught, my new vegan cookbook. On top of it is Bryanna's Southern Biscuit Gravy (from her newsletters). On the right of it are Jalapeno Poppers made with Bryanna's Vegan Sharp Chedda (from her newsletter). I grilled some zucchini and yellow squash and fingerling potatoes to eat them with.

Above is our vegan barbecue meal. I made vegan Barbecued Seitan Ribs (top right under the corn bread) from FatfreeVegan (SusanV.). I also made barbecued super firm tofu (underneath ribs). I made vegan Baked Mac and Cheese from Yellow Rose Recipe cookbook using Bryanna's Vegan Sharp Chedda Cheeze (from her newsletter). I also barbecued corn-on-the-cobs topped with Earth Balance and made a new recipe of corn bread I tried from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

My favorite was the vegan macaroni and cheeze. I think this was the best vegan mac and cheeze I ever made. The combination of a great recipe from Yellow Rose Recipe and Bryanna's cheeze did it. I don't really like store-bought vegan cheese. However, I love Bryanna's cheeze that I can make at home. I was also surprised by the corn bread recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking. It was delicious.




There are all kind of recipes of Jalapeño poppers which are also known as Dragon Eggs (because it is fiery hot) or Armadillo Eggs. It usually is stuffed with cream cheese and other kind of cheese and spices. This one is vegan. I used Bryanna's Soft Vegan Sharp Chedda Cheeze mixed with chopped parsley and chives. Then, I used the same beer batter for the crispy seitan above (from Yellow Rose Recipes cookbook) to coat them with. It was crispy and somewhat spicy and hot. I used rubber gloves to remove the seeds and white membranes from inside the jalapeño before I stuffed it with the soft chedda mixture.


Dessert was not left out in vegan comfort meals. This time I made Fall Fruit Crisp from The Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook. I used organic honeycrisp apple and blueberries I bought from a nearby farmers market for the filling. Then, I mixed them with raisins, spices, and brown sugar. For the crisp layer, I mixed a combination of rolled oats, whole wheat pastry flour, spices, Earth Balance, and maple syrup. It was served warm and topped with vegan vanilla ice cream.

How to Make Vegan Fish or Mock Fish - Vegan Unagi Donburi

If you've ever been to Chinese Buddhist vegetarian restaurants and ordered dishes with 'fish' in it, you probably thought about how the mock fish was made. Below is a recipe that reveals the secret of Chinese Buddhist vegetarian fish. They use fresh or frozen yuba (which you may found it in the frozen or refridgerated sections of an Asian market) that is chopped into small flakes and then seasoned and wrapped in a nori sheet (sometimes a yuba sheet is added on the outside of the nori for a crispy skin). Then, it is steamed, cooled, and sliced into a fillet. Most Chinese Buddhist restaurants deep fry the yuba and nori wrapped 'fish' and then top it with flavored constarch thickened sauce.

Fresh or frozen yuba pockets (pictured) are hard to find in certain parts of this country (or your country). I found it in a nearby Asian market. But it is easier to find dry yuba sheets or sticks in Asian markets near you, probably? You'll have to do a few extra steps with yuba sticks because it is harder to soften them.

2 lbs fresh or thawed yuba pockets OR 2 pkgs dried yuba (6 oz. dried each) - see how to prepare below3 tsp sugar

6 tsp vegetarian bouillon mix powder

Note: I used Harvest 2000 Vegetarian Bouillon Mix chicken flavor or Bill's Best Chiknish1/2 tsp salt (use 1 tsp if using chiknish since it is not salty)
1-2 tsp kelp granules or more, depending on how 'seafoody' you want it to be
6 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
4-6 nori sheets

Glue mixture:
2 Tbsp Cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp water

Preparing with dry yuba sheets or sticks:Soak dry yuba in a lot of warm water in 2 large bowl. Make sure the water covers the yuba. Let it sit over night or at least 6 hours.
If they are not soft enough, boil a large amount of water in a large pot, simmer soaked yuba about 5 - 8 minutes. The idea is to make the yuba soft. After soaking, a few sections of the yuba are still hard. Simmering them for a few minutes will help.

Let them cool and then squeeze the water out as much as you can, then proceed to the next step below.

Preparing 'fish' mixture (with fresh or dryyuba):
Chop the yuba with a knife or put the yuba (soaked yuba) in a food processor and process about 5 seconds only. Do not process too long. The idea is to chop them to small flakes.
Squeeze the water out of the yuba (especially if using dried yuba sticks). You may use a piece of cloth or drain the yuba in a colander and squeeze the water out using your hands. Transfer the yuba to a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients, excepts the nori and glue. Mix really well.

'Fish Fillet' :
Layer a piece of nori on a cutting board. Brush lightly with the cornstarch and water mixture (glue mixture). Scoop about 1 1/2 cup of the 'fish' mixture on the bottom half of the nori sheet. Press it down with your fingers or a spoon. You need to press and squeeze the filling tightly so it won't fall apart after it is steamed and cooked. I found out that if you wet your hands, the mixture will less likely to stick on your fingers or you can use a saran wrap.

Then, fold the other half of the nori over and make sure there is a 1/2 inch overlap to cover the fish (see picture). Seal the fish using cornstarch and water mixture that is spread over the 1/2 inch overlap and press and squeeze the 'fish' mixture tight together as much as you can. Repeat with the rest of the mixture for each nori sheet.

Steaming 'Fish Fillet' :
To prevent sticking to your steamer, put a few of cabbage leaves or lettuce leaves on your steamer, arrange fillet on top of the leaves (see picture). I have used Chinese bamboo steamers without leaves and it works nicely (didn't stick). Steam for 20 minutes. Let the fillet throughly cool before transferring it out of the steamer. Put them in the refridgerator to cool off some more for a few hours before cooking it. They freeze well.

Cooking Tips:
It is best to use the 'fish' for cooking after it is refridgerated for a few hours or frozen and then thawed.

JAPANESE VEGAN UNAGI DONBURI ('Eel' On Rice Bowl, pictured above)

Also, featured in Dimensión Vegana in Spanish Language with Video.

I used to order Unagi Donburi when I visited Japanese restaurants before I became a vegetarian. I sometimes missed the 'sea' flavor of Unagi. I was able to re-create this dish after I discovered how to make my own vegan fish. It is best to eat this dish accompanied by vegetable miso soup and vegan kimchi. Since the unagi sauce is so sweet, the saltiness of the miso soup balance it out. I also serve it with hot Genmai Cha (Japanese green tea with roasted brown rice). I am now back to eating Japanese food again.

1 recipe 'fish fillet' above
Note: For Unagi, I added 1/4 cup of reconstituted chopped wakame seaweed when making the 'fish fillet'. This will add more 'sea' flavor to the fillets. This is optional, of course.
vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. Toasted Sesame seeds
Dash of roasted sesame oil

4 cups steamed Japanese rice (short grain rice, white or brown)

Sauce:
1/3 cup Japanese soy sauce
1/3 cup Mirin (Sweet Style Japanese Mirin)
1/3 cup vegetarian Kombu Dashi or vegetable broth
2-3 Tbsp sugar, depending how sweet you like it or use agave syrup


Prepare the sauce:
Put the sauce ingredients together in a small pan. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Set it aside. I only use a small amount of sauce for each fillet. It is a matter of preference. Some people likes lots of sauce on their donburi. If you do, you can double the recipe.
Preparing the unagi:Heat a non-stick frying pan, then add 1/2 to 1 tsp vegetable oil. Pan fry 'fish fillet' in batches,2 fillets each time. Make sure both sides are crispy. Turn down the heat to low, pour 1/3 of sauce over fillets. Let the sauce cover the fillet and immediately take it off the heat. You don't want the sauce to crystalized in the pan. The longer you cook the sauce in the pan the thicker it will be. Repeat for the rest of the fillets.

Divide rice into 4 or 6 bowls. Transfer and divide the fillets and sauce on top of the rice. Sprinkle with dash of roasted sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds on top.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Secrets of Vegan Travellers

Hearst Castle Roman Pool

I went on a short vacation this week to Cambria/San Simeon, along the California Coast Hwy, to Hearst Castle. After becoming vegetarians/vegans, DH and I have a challenge regarding what to eat while we travel because we live in a non-vegan world. This issue didn't stop us from going on vacations and trips. My secrets are the Internet, Happycow.net, and a GPS system.

Before a trip, I usually visit Happycow.net to see what restaurants are available in the area. If there is no vegan restaurant in this site, I search the Internet to find restaurants with vegan or vegetarian options. Then, I either print a page or two and/or enter the addresses into my Garmin nuvi 260. This GPS tool was a xmas gift from DH last year. I thought it was the best gift I ever received from him (on top of the kitchen tools he gave me). If there is such a thing as a Vegan Garmin, it will be perfect. But there is none, so I entered all the vegan restaurants I found into my Garmin.

Talking about secrets, I want to let you know about Mary's Secret Garden, a 100% Organic Vegan Bistro, in a California beach town called Ventura. This is the last place we visited during our trip but it was the highlight of it all so I will start from here and then go backward.

We visited this bistro TWICE in 2 days and splurged on vegan dishes. It was indeed a VEGAN HEAVEN. For someone like me who cook ALL THE TIME, it was nice to have someone else cooked for me, for a change. It was a real treat for me!

This bistro is small but homey. It looks like an old 50s house that was converted to a bistro. I found this restaurant at Happycow.net a year ago and we went to visit it then but I didn't let the secret out till now. It's too bad that I live 1.5 hours away -without traffic and 3 hours away-with 101 Hwy traffic from it. That's the only issue I have with this bistro.

Other than that, the vegan dishes are so delicious, healthy, gourmet, colorful, and organic. If you read its reviews at Happycow.net, you'll find that lots of visitors complained about it being pricey. It's true that it is pricey but have you looked at the price of fresh organic ingredients in your nearby organic market or a farmers market? Eating organic is not cheap. That's the fact.
I know so because I shop organic, too.

We definitely were very satisfied with what were served to us. Every dish was a gourmet meal and made personally by Chef Mary (except the cakes, her friends made them). Half of the menu is vegan raw and the other half is vegan cooked dishes. She also provides 'specials' all the time so you don't have to eat the same thing all the time (or if you want to eat the same thing you'll find that in their menu). I met Chef Mary and talked to her. She was very nice, helpful, and humble. Our waitress, Rose, had a lot of recommendations for us which some we followed and some we didn't but she was very accommodating.

During our first visit DH ordered Mushroom Bakin Burger with a side of raw slaw. DH doesn't like veganaise or any other vegan mayonnaise so he asked for mustard on the side:

This dish has a lot of umami in it. All of them were yummy, including the raw slaw.

I ordered Blueberries/Pineapple/Coconut smoothie (one of the specials) and Vegan Shrymp Pad Thai. I thought the smoothie was very colorful and delicious.

My Vegan Shrymp Pad Thai was right on! It was spicy, peanutty, and flavorful. Mary suggested that I squeezed all the limes all over it to enjoy it more. She was right.

At our next visit, the next day, we ordered a raw appetizer, Vegan Mock Salmon Raw Sushi. The picture speaks for itself. It was very refreshing and tasty.DH ordered Middle Eastern Platter served with warmed whole wheat pita bread (on the menu) and opted for both Stuffed Grape Leaves and Falafels. Mary made everything on this plate. The Stuffed Grape Leaves were stuffed with rice and garbanzo beans. The hummus had herbs in it and was quite delicious. The taboulleh was a raw one. I was intriqued with the grains in the taboulleh but was told that they were HEMP SEEDS. Rose showed me the Organic Nutiva Hemp Seeds that they sell and use. I bought a package and am going to use it in my taboulleh, the next time I make it. Hemp seeds have a lot of omega oils in it and are definitely nutritious.
I ordered Vegan Chicken Cilantro Salad. I am curious about the cilantro dressing and wanted to save room for a dessert:

This salad and the dressing was delicious. It was all homemade and gourmet but the vegan chicken was not, I think.

We split this Vegan Heaven Coconut Cream Chocolate Cake. This finished off our trip on a good note: I definitely know that all my vegan friends will be drooling over this cake.

The last few days before we visited Mary's bistro we had just adequate vegetarian dishes. Most of them are dishes we ate at non-vegan restaurants with vegan options. We visited Sojourner Cafe in Santa Barbara.

I had Tempeh Reuben and DH had Tempeh Taco Salad. You can ask for veganized items in this restaurant. Their dishes were good but they were nothing real special(compared to Mary's). They were just good and adequate food.

We also found a Southeast Asian cafe in Cambria that offered vegetarian dishes, called Wild Ginger . This cafe is owned by a Singaporean Chef. This one is not in Happycow.net yet. There are a few vegetarian dishes in their menu. I had the Curried Butternut Squash-Sweet Corn Bisque that was spicy and coconutty (it has coconut milk in it). DH had Indian Vegetable Samosa. We both opted for the Sezhuan Tofu with rice. Surprisingly, it was spicy and flavorful. For desserts, we opted for their home made sorbets (available flavors are pomelo, kiwi strawberry, lime, lychee, mango, pomegranate).

I picked lychee and DH got the lime one. I was very surprised of how good it was. I could taste the lychee very strongly. Yum! I may make this at home. We definitely were satisfied with what we found in Cambria. We had another dinner at Morro Bay at a California Fusion Mexican restaurant called Taco Temple. If you ask to hold the sour cream and cheese, this restaurant provides vegetarian burritos and tostadas that can be veganized. Their black beans and rice are vegetarian. What I like was that everything tasted so fresh with lots of veggies.

Well, looks like my vacation is over. This means that I am going back to my kitchen and will start cooking again!