gluten – Page 7 – morestomach

bánh xèo – vietnamese crepe

Published on October 20, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach12 Comments

scenes from a weekend:
i spent the better part of the weekend
running around
like a squirrel collecting nuts for the winter.
i stockpiled the freezer
with dumplings/gyozas/wontons
for the coming winter.
i baked bread for the week’s breakfast
(acorn squash + hazelnut loaf,
adapted from this recipe)
and made soup for the week’s lunch
(roasted chicken noodle).
all in addition to
doing both CSA runs
during the city’s running festival,
getting an oil change,
AND
most importantly,
Date Night.
we saw the Skeleton Twins
have you seen it?
i loved it.

the final day we made bánh xèo,
a dish that, for me, signifies
the close of summer,
as we put away warm weather kitchen toys,
dust off cold weather kitchen toys.
it wasn’t a particularly warm day,
sunday,
but the sun was out,
the game was on,
and we had somehow managed to
do all our chores in two days.

how was your weekend?

bánh xèo

*note: we used a mix. dw mentioned something about making the batter from scratch, rice flour + turmeric + a bunch of other starches and i nixed that notion. it’s a special kind of flour, used in special proportions and frankly, my interest in making things from scratch doesn’t extend going to those lengths. i’m not loyal to any brand, at least not yet. we used two bottles of beer + some water. in this instance, it was instinctive: we gauged how thin the batter was based on our experience when making with my family during summer cookouts. you want the batter to be loose, not thick like pancake, but not straight water either. it was hit or miss for us the first few we made then we got our groove.

batter:
1 bag of bánh xèo mix
2 bottles of beer (whatever you have, i used an IPA) if you want to nix the beer, water is fine
approx 1/4 – 1/2 cup water
3 green onions/scallions, chopped and added to the batter

mix the bánh xèo mix with beer (or water) and stir until fully incorporated. add in the scallions. set aside.

filling:
1 lb pork belly, sliced thin
1 pound shrimp, deveined and tails off
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 bag of bean sprouts, rinsed
1/2 cup of chive blossoms, cut 3″ long

oil, i used a mix of canola + coconut

to serve: nuoc mam cham, or soy sauce + lettuce and whatever herbs you like, ie: mint, basil, cilantro

have your mise en place together, everything in a line in order of succession:
1. oil
2. onions
3. sliced pork belly
4. shrimp
5. batter
6. mix of bean sprouts + chive blossoms

heat a non-stick pan coated with a light layer of oil on medium-high.
add in a few onions and 4-6 pieces of sliced pork belly. allow the onions to sweat a smidge.
add in 2-3 shrimp.
using a ladle, pour 1 ladle full of batter into the pan. swirl the pan to coat it evenly, but thinly.
grab a handful of bean sprouts/chive blossom and pile it on one side of the pan.
lid the pan for about 1 minute (if you don’t have a lid, use a foil)
remove lid and allow the bánh xèo to cook through, get crispy around the edges, about 4-5 minutes.
carefully, fold the bánh xèo in half, like omelette.

serve hot.

BAM!

blueberry swirl muffins – dairy free

Published on August 18, 2014August 27, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach18 Comments

these muffins.
they’re the personification of
Baked Goodness.
and i’m not a superlative girl,
so forgive me for
doing what some food bloggers
are guilty of:
extolling the virtues
of said food item with
an over abundance of
enthusiasm
and eye roll inducing
saccharine drivel.

instead,
let’s just focus on
how i treat these treats
like they’re both
a breakfast item
AND
dessert.

it’s like starting
and ending
my day correctly,
which,
let’s be honest here,
is the best kind of amazing.
superlatives for the win.

Blueberry Swirl Muffins – dairy free
adapted from Honestly Yum, who adapted it from The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook

makes ~16 muffins

Ingredients
2 cups blueberries, divided
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, warm/liquid
1 container (6oz) plain vegan yogurt, i used almond dream
1/4 cup almond milk
zest & juice of 1 lemon

Streusel Topping
1 1/2 TBL sugar
1 1/2 TBL brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 TBL warm coconut oil

in a small bowl make the streusel topping by combining everything and mix evenly. set aside.
in a small sauce pan reduce 1 cup of blueberries, mashing with a fork and stirring. you want the berries to break down, the sauce to be thick. strain through a sieve if you’re not keen on the skin/pulp. set aside and cool to room temp.
line muffin tin with silicone/paper liners.

preheat oven 425F.

in a mixing bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, lemon zest and salt. in another bowl whisk eggs + sugar until thick and then add in the coconut oil, yogurt, almond milk and lemon juice. now combine the liquid to dry ingredients, with the remaining blueberries. throw in an extra handful if you’re feeling sassy. (i felt sassy). the mixture will be all sorts of fug, but try not to overmix.

fill muffin cups a little over 3/4 way up, these will expand/rise. (HonestyYum filled it up all the way but i didn’t want any overfilling accidents and having to clean it up. that would’ve been a superlative pain in the ass.) spoon about a teaspoon, more or less, of the reduced blueberry sauce on top of each muffin. use a toothpick or some stick-like kitchen tool and swirl the sauce into the batter. finally, top with streusel topping, amount at your discretion.

i was able to eek out 16 muffins with just enough sauce & steusel.

bake 17 minutes

remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes and then remove from pans to cool completely.

will keep for a week, covered, in fridge.

BAM!

other blueberry recipes:
blueberry clafoutis
blueberry jam danishes
blueberry breakfast cookies
blueberry pie smoothie

around 1 year ago:
vietnamese pickled carrots + daikon
vietnamese vermicelli bowl

ultimate white cake

Published on March 4, 2014March 5, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach29 Comments

when she was a girl, and still growing, ravenous, whenever there had been a cake – a sponge cake, dusted with sugar, which mrs. hill had conjured up out of eggs and flour and creamy butter — sarah would never even herself look at it, because she knew that it was not for her… so sarah would stare instead at the carpet underneath her feet, or the rippled yellow curtains in the parlour, and would do her best not to breathe, not to inhale the scent of vanilla or lemon or almonds; even to glance at the cake was an impossible agony.

and for months, she realized, james had hardly looked at her at all.
~Longbourn by Jo Baker

this book
just read it
i will freely admit
to feeling anger towards
elizabeth
even jane
and mr. darcy
the book is written from
the perspective of the servants
in Pride & Prejudice
and our hero & heroine
are not painted in the most
forgiving light

anyway
just read it
you’re welcome

chocolate kissed white cake (dairy free)
inspiration attire
adapted from garlic girl

*note: one of my hires is expecting a wee lass. we’re having a shower for her today and this was one of my contributions to the fete. i’m not for superlatives but i will say that this was one of the easier white cakes i’ve dealt with, the last one being nuria’s wedding cake which was a chiffon cake. that was a more involved cake and i need something quick to fall back on. this just might be that cake that i turn to.

5 large egg whites, room temp
1 cup soy milk cream, room temp, i used organic valley
345 grams cake flour, sifted
350 grams sugar
1 TBL + 1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks soy margarine cut in cubes, room temp, i used earth balance

preheat oven 350F

prep two 8″ round pans, grease/flour/whatever

in a glass measuring cup mix the egg whites with 1/4 cup of the soy creamer. set aside

in mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. add in the butter and remaining soy creamer and mix until moistened. in increments of 3 add in the egg/soy creamer mixture to the batter, scraping down the sides continuously. beat on medium until batter is fully incorporated

divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans.

bake for 25-35 minutes. i checked on them at 30 minutes and kept them in there for another 5 minutes. the cakes do rise to the very brim of the pan (my pans are 8×2″). allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, the cakes will pull from the sides just slightly. invert onto wire racks and cool completely. cover with plastic wrap, can be left out at room temp for 2 days, in fridge for 5 days, or frozen for up to 2 months.

vegan cream cheese frosting

12 oz tofutti cream cheese, room temp
1 stick of vegan margarine, i used earth balance
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
optional: coloring gel. i used a dab of wilton’s pink

in a standard mixer, beat the cream cheese and margarine until fluffy and incorporated. gradually add the powdered sugar, scraping down the sides often. use your best judgement on consistency. you can add more or less powdered sugar depending on how warm your house is, or how comfortable you are with thicker frosting.

chocolate glaze

6oz of good chocolate, at least 70% cacao
half stick of margarine

place ingredients in a heat safe bowl over a pot of simmering water. be sure that not a drop of water gets into the bowl. it’ll make the chocolate seize and that shit’s just ugly. mix well. mixture will be shiny and smooth.

to assemble

i made this a 4 layer cake, so dw halved the two layers for me into equal 1″ layers. stack the layers accordingly, with frosting between. crumb coat, leave in fridge for 30 minutes. do final coat of frosting as smooth as you can. finally, pour the chocolate glaze over top, do this slowly, and smooth out the top so that it spills artfully over the sides. believe me when i tell you that it’s not as easy as it sounds, just be patient.

BAM!

another of my cakes: minty snow cake

how to make bouillon cubes

Published on October 10, 2013October 10, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach18 Comments

how does one celebrate the
End of Summer?
how does one encapsulate the very essence
of pre-dawn july light
or
capture the juicy moment
of the first berries picked
in the unfurling, but delicious heat of august?
personally, i don’t know
it’s an impossible
exercise to bottle it all up,
like sand slipping from a loose hand

and so, like the ant
in the fable i set to task
the job of making tomato paste
and the most concentrated soup stock
for the coming cooler months
for meals that call for hearty stews
and soups
beyond just the benefits of gelatin
and how incredibly inexpensive it is,
this particular exercise
isn’t futile,
instead it’s one that
perfectly secures for the
times during darkness
when grace is elusive
and you’re clutching for something comforting
these bouillon cubes could save your life
or at the very least,
nourish your spirit,
coddle your soul

homemade bouillon cubes
as inspired by the musician, who cooks

like most things that i do, i don’t have exact measurements. and so, my notes:

this past summer we participated in a poultry csa. whether we roasted, grilled, stewed, whatever the chicken we kept the bones and skin. what ended up going into the pot was about 2 months worth of bones and whatever wasn’t consumed: neck bones etc. i also freeze carrot ends and celery fronds, they went in, along with a few new scrubbed carrots, with skin on.

veggie scraps are optional. i just didn’t want to waste the scraps, and i needed to clear up the freezer space.

i also threw in a handful of peppercorns, a very generous sprinkle of salt, and 2 bay leaves.

fill up the pot with cold water. bring to a brisk boil, lower temp and forget about the thing for about 10 hours, or until the stock has reduced significantly, at your discretion. it really came down to what time of night it was, how much energy i had to strain it etc.

fish out the bones and vegs. discard. strain liquid through cheesecloth (we used a dw’s old, but very clean cotton tshirt) in fine mesh sieve into a smaller pot. at this point, you can continue to reduce the liquid down some more. i did. in the original recipe post i read the liquid was reduced down to about 1 1/2 cups. that would’ve been nice but i was getting dang tired of the thing.

when it reached, i would say about, 10 cups of stock left in the pot, i brought it to fast boil. i added in about 3oz of agaragar to the pot, stirring to ensure it’s all thoroughly incorporated into the liquid. (it’s important that the liquid is hot in order to activate the agaragar. trust me) in lieu of agaragar, flavorless gelatin can be used, 1:1 ratio. i also want to add, next time around i’d probably add in 4oz instead. while the end result still firmed up just fine, 4oz would’ve made for easier handling.

pour liquid into a big casserole dish, in our case, the biggest one we had. allow to cool to room temp and then fridge it. due to the natural collagen imparted from the chicken bones in the stock, along with the agaragar, the liquid will gel-ify. when it’s thoroughly cold cut into cubes, lay out on wax or parchment paper on a cookie sheet and freeze. when fully frozen, put into freezer bags. keep in freezer and use as needed.

i’d say about 1 cube for 1/2 – 1 cup of water, it’s at your discretion. it’s your kitchen. i realize that this isn’t much of a recipe, it’s more of a guideline of what i did, the amount of time and energy i had and the results may vary from kitchen to kitchen. but the moral of the story is: homemade stock is good, having it on hand is great, but if you have just a normal sized freezer, the real estate space is limited and reducing it down into cubes into ONE gallon sized freezer bag instead of 5 16oz containers is a win in my book.

other buoillon cube makers:
nourished kitchen – homemade bouillon: portable soup
just cook it – stock cube
101 cookbooks – homemade vegetable bouillon paste
al’s kitchen – homemade vegetable cubes

Blueberry Breakfast Cookies

Published on September 9, 2013September 9, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach14 Comments

last week i read a book that made me pause,
look up and ask dw the most random questions,
prompted by the story,
but mainly because i wanted to hear his voice
and i wanted to know his answer
(fyi: no it’s not romantical to be boba fett,
even if skies are crossed on your behalf)
(and i also made dw croon love will tear us apart,
because i’m not familiar with the song
and it seemed SO IMPORTANT that the main protagonist loved it so much)
it’s been 3 days since i finished the book
and i’m still thinking about it
(it’s like i’m 15 again)
he always thinks about my questions,
treating each with the same reverence
for someone who likes to ask silly questions
it means so much that he doesn’t make me feel irreverent

one of the things i love so much about dw
is that he is game for anything
it’s never “do we have to?”
it’s always “sure, LET’S DO IT!”
during one of our early conversations,
it may have been our 4th date,
i mentioned to him that i was giving up meat for Lent
then i offhandedly said that if he
wanted to hang out during mealtimes
it’d be a good idea for him to give it up for 40 days
cus you know,
it’d be hard for me to watch him nibble on a steak
while i noshed on cauliflower
i didn’t seriously think he’d do it,
nor did i think he had to,
and most importantly, it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker
for me if he didn’t want to partake
but without blinking an eye
or skipping a beat
he said OK
and that was that

Blueberry Breakfast Cookies
*note: i am a stickler for breakfast. i’m not always good at eating breakfast but i know the importance of it. every sunday i try to make something for the week so to keep myself accountable i’m starting this Breakfast Series. i won’t be able to do it every week, and likely, there’ll be some weeks that are repeats but i’m hopeful that i’ll come up with delicious but wholesome treats for us to eat during the early hours of the day.
**note: blueberry season is over, sadly. early in the summer we went berry picking to make jam and well 22lbs is a lot of berries. we still have a bag left in the freezer from that adventure. you’ve been warned: there might be a few more blueberry treats coming up. any seasonal fruit will do in these cookies.

1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup tahini
2 tbl lemon juice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup of fresh blueberries

Pre-heat oven to 400F

in food processor, combine dry ingredients and pulse a few times. add in the tahini, pulse until combined. add the lemon juice and maple syrup. the dough should feel moist and pinch together.

divide the dough into 4 equal parts, then divide each part in two, shape into flattened rounds. dot the top with a few blueberries, as many as you’d like.

place on baking sheet.

bake for 14 minutes

cool on sheet. will keep in tightly covered container at room temp for a few days, after which, put in fridge.