polenta & beans

I cooked a black bean chili today. But recently I have been little bit tired of "brown rice", so I picked broiled polenta instead of brown rice...... very good!





serves 2 - 3

chili
3 cups cooked black turtle beans
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup canned whole tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, minced
salt to taste
2 tablespoons or more, fresh coriander, chopped

In a large pot, heat the oil, saute garlic and onion over medium heat, until onion become translucent. Add cumin, paprika, and pepper, and saute until fragrant.Add tomatoes and beans ( some bean-liquid ), stirring to blend. Add the salt and simmer, stirring, until mixture is thickened and beans are tender, about an hour. Serve, garnished with chopped coriander.


polenta/broiled (from the natural gourmet institute for food and health)

2 cups cornmeal
5-6 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Toast cornmeal in a skillet over medium high heat, stirring constantly until it has a nut like fragrance. Remove cornmeal from pan and let cool to room temperature. In a 3quart sauce pan mix cornmeal, salt and 4cups water, whisking until smooth. Over high flame, bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thick.Add the remaining water, alittle at a time, stirring well to mix thoroughly. cover pot and simmer 20 minutes, stirring often. Turn off the heat and let stand 15minutes with lid. Poor cooked polenta into a wet cooking sheet. let cool to room temperature , or until polenta is firm( it is better put polenta in the refrigerator, over night )Cut polenta in 3 inches square ( or desire shape and size) place on baking sheet and brush top side with olive oil. Broil until golden and crisp. Flip over, brush olive oil and broil until golden and crisp.

marmalade cake

The end of this March my friend of highschool classmate sent me her marmalade in the Ziploc bag by EMS( Express Mail service). This was made from natsu orange(extremely sour!!) in her garden. It was excellent marmalade, such a full of fresh orange taste and nice bitterness, and clear orange color .... I am looking forward to having her marmalade next year again, please send me.
I love marmalade. I reminded the marmalade cake my mother made,when I was young. I wanted to have one so I baked it.




for 6inches x 10inches baking pan

3 cups flour (1 1/2 cup white and 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour )
1 tablespoon baking powder(aluminum-free)
1 1/2 teaspoon egg replacer
1/2 cup Earth Balance, margarine
1 cup sugar,Florida Crysatals, or less ( I used 2/3 cup)
7 tablespoons soy milk,or more or less, depends on your flour combination ratio
1 cup home made marmalade, if you use commercial one reduce the amount.


Combine the flour, baking powder, and egg replacer, and shift.
In a bowl, put the margarine and sugar, use stand mixer to mix until creamy, add 4 table spoons of soy milk, continue to whisk until airely.
Add flour mixture to the creamy mixture, mix until wet sand like texture. Add remaining soy milk 1table spoon at a time to form a dough that gathers into a ball.
Put dough in the plastic bag and chill for 1hour.

preheat oven 350F

Divide the dough in half. Take one of them, roll out on the lightly floured surface to fit your baking pan, and replace on the bottom of the pan. Take another dough and roll out, 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 1/2 wide to make long strips. Pour the marmalade over the first dough in the pan and spread evenly. Over the marmalade, use long strips to weave a basket pattern. Bake 30 minutes or cake cake tester come out clear.

for marmalade
This is the simplest way, because use whole orange.
I used 2 minneola orange, cut quarter lengthwise, and cut into thin slices. Soak in the water (double amount of sliced orange ) and let stand 3 hours, put on the heat and simmer 30 minutes, add sugar ( 50% of orange weight) and keep simmering until liquid reduced and become nice consistency.

tempeh, cashew, celery, & green pepper

serves 1-2

Heat the sesame oil in a wok/skillet over high heat and simply stir-fly tempeh and vegetables. Make sure put minced ginger first into a wok.

1/2 package of tempeh, sit in salt water (1/2teaspoon salt+1cup water) for 1hour,cut into 1/2inch square
2 celery, cut into 1/2inch square
1 green pepper, cut into 1/2inch square
1/3 cup cashew nuts, roasted
1/2inch peace of ginger, minced
salt, pepper to taste

pasta salad

Spring is around the corner though ... wind is still cold. We can't say "good bye..." to our winter clothes: glove, hat and scarf. Today was cold but nice sunny day. For my lunch I felt like having a festive pasta salad.




what did I put in this salad?
broccoli, red onion, caper, black olive, roasted red pepper, sun dried tomato flake, mint leave. For dressing I mixed, vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mastered, salt, and black pepper.

potato au gratine

I got this potato gratine recipe from my friend, in my 20's. This is my favorite potato dish and I have cooked often ever since. Now one of the essential ingredients - gruyere cheese - was removed from the original recipe, it does not matter, still it is delicious! I love this very much.

serves 1-2,

bechamel sauce

I table spoon Earth Balance (margarine)
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup soy milk
1 clove garlic,finely minced
1/8 teaspoon or more to taste salt
black pepper to taste

1 large, ~12ounces, potato

first prepare the bechamel sauce. Heat the margarine in a heavy saucepan over low heat and add flour, stirring thoroughly until flour is cooked,but not burned.
Remove from heat, and add soy milk, inced garlic. Put sauce pan back to the low heat, stirring quickly and continuously, until the sauce thickens and bubbles.Add the salt and black pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to 400F

Wash and peal the potato and slice into thin slices, no thicker than 1/8 inch.
Add potato slices into the sauce, and mix well the potato and the sauce.
Transfer the potato into a baking dish (8 inches diameter). The potato layer should no thicker than 1/2 inch. So if you want to double this recipe, you should use larger baking dish. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until potato is cooked.

chinese cabbage salad

Chinese cabbage(hakusai)is a queen of the winter vegetable in Japan. Surprisingly I have never eaten raw chinese cabbage until this winter. I have never tried or never thought about hakusai salad. So this winter I ate a lot of raw chinese cabbage with variety of dressing and enjoyed it's crunchiness and sweetness.

I would like to post chinese cabbage salad with two different type of dressing.







salad 1

chinese cabbage, cut into 1/4 inch wide
carrot, julienned
Bryanna's tofu "feta",crumbled(Vegan Feast Kitchen: Bryanna Clark)
toasted sesame seeds
hot sesame oil


dressing
1/4 cup brown rice vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon agave nectar
combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Place chinese cabbage, carrot, tofu "feta", in a bowl. Add 1-2 teaspoons or more to taste, dressing over the salad, sprinkle hot sesame oil and sesame seeds, and toss gently.






salad 2
chinese cabbage,cut into 1/4inch wide
carrot, julienned
scallion, finely chopped

sesame sauce
5 table spoons toasted sesame seeds
1 table spoon miso
3 table spoons brown rice vinegar
1 tablespoon agave nectar

Place sesame seeds into suribach (earthenwear mortar) and grind with surikogi(wooden pestle)very well until sesame seeds release the oil. Add miso, vinegar, and agave nectar mix well to make a creamy sauce.

Place chinese cabbage and carrot in a bowl. Add 1-2 table spoons, or more to taste, sesame sauce and toss gently, sprinkle chopped scallion.

gyoza - dumplings

When I make dumplings sometime filling is not enough, so skins are left, or vice versa. But this time I did perfectly made 54 gyoza and nothing left. Wow Iam feeling good.

 

make 54 gyoza

1package (54sheets) gyoza skins
4-5 cabbage leaves
1bunch Japanese chives(nira)
1ounce (10pieces) dried shiitake, soaked in water
1/2 pack soft tofu, drained
2teaspoons sesame oil
1teaspoon ginger juice

dipping sauce:
shoyu
rice vinegar
hot sesame oil


Very coarsely chopped cabbage and place them in a bowl sprinkle salt and set aside 5- 8minutes or until cabbage start releasing the liquid. This method I learned from my friend, and it make gyoza's filling very tasty.

Put tofu in the food processor and make a puree,transfer to a large bowl.
Squeeze cabbage with hands to take out the liquid, and finely minced in the food processor, add to tofu. Drained shiitake put in the food processor to process until finely minced. add to tofu cabbage. Cut Japanese chives finely by a knife.( I think food processor does not good for this vegetable, I prefer using a knife.) combine tofu, cabbage, dried shiitake, japanese chives (nira), sesame oil, and ginger juice. Mix well with a wood spoon or hands.

Place a large spoonful of mixture on top of a skin.( You may need to adjust the amount of filling to make 54 gyoza) Wet edge of wrapper with fingertips, make pleats on one side, fold over and seal closed. Continue with remaining mixture.

In a well seasoned skillet heat oil. Place five gyoza in one row and five more in another row ( there are two rows gyoza (five gyoza ) in the skillet) Cook gyoza over high heat 4-5minutes or until bottoms are brown and crispy. Add water 1/4 cup immediately cover skillet and steam over medium heat for 3 - 4 minutes, until gyoza are cooked through. Serve with dipping sauce.