vegan – Page 12 – morestomach

vietnamese pickled carrots + daikon

Published on August 20, 2013August 20, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach11 Comments

if you know me at all
you know that i can’t make coffee
to save my life
or dw’s
i laugh when i think i
used to argue,
vehemently,
with nuria about my coffee making skills
to be fair, she’s a coffee
aficionado
i think she’s been drinking the
stuff since being weened
off the boob

anyway,
i’m not a fussy person
i don’t require a fancy contraption
to brew my cup
nor do i need the best
java
i’ve tried measuring the
amount of grounds to water,
it’s usually too strong,
still
and um. honestly
i’ve been going with the
is the coffee looking super
dark & sludgy? method

all this to tell you:
i’m capable of putting
crap in my body,
that i can consume
sub-par tasting stuff
like a champ
and that not everything i make
comes out golden
or perfect

when i started this space i
promised myself that i would show
the good stuff
the bad stuff
and the ok stuff
today it’s the ok stuff
pickled carrots & daikon
is yet another condiment
that’s added to banh mi
to vermicelli noodle bowls
to summer rolls
i made this for a catering
thing i did last month,
my first!,
i used it to accent
banh mi bruschetta

it came out ok
not the best
certainly, not the worst
just not right
which is ok
consumable
edible
thank goodness i only
have 3 more jars of the stuff left

again, i adapted this recipe.

2 ingredient chocolate mousse

Published on August 8, 2013January 31, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach24 Comments

last week we had a breakdown,
and then we had chocolate mousse.
this was a treat that dw whipped up
so quickly that he literally got a blister on his finger.
the mousse made sense,
we like our dessert after supper,
and we had the ingredients already
(all two of them)
the breakdown, though,
well,
that didn’t make sense.
we can attribute it to
wedding dementia
and other introverted stuff
that i suffer from
and the thought of
more than a handful of people at the wedding
that SET ME OFF

i’m not proud of my behavior
i can be such a petulant asshole sometimes
brusque
dismissive
unreasonable
you know, all that stuff

like a trooper dw not only
gave me space for 24 hours
but he gave me this,
a reminder of sorts
that with just two ingredients
something wonderful can be created,
just like when two people love each other
as much as dw & i love each other
everything else is just
chump change

2 ingredient Chocolate Mousse
from Cafe Fernando who got the recipe from Herve This & Heston Blumenthal
*note: for the love of gawd, don’t go skimpy on the chocolate, buy the good quality kind, with a minimum of 70% cacao. regular chocolate chips won’t work, we learned that the hard way. also, use a hand mixer, you don’t want a blister on your finger. last, if you want, play with some flavorings. the latest play was 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper added and topped with grey sea salt. divine.

265g good quality bittersweet chocolate (like scharffen berger) (minimum 70% cacao solids), hand chopped
1 cup water

important step:
fill a large mixing bowl with ice & cold water. think like you’re gonna shock-stop veggies from cooking to retain its pretty color. have a smaller mixing bowl, one that fits in this bowl, on hand as well.

in a small sauce pan, mix the chocolate + water over medium heat until well incorporated.

pour chocolate mixture into the smaller mixing bowl, place it in the bigger ice water bowl and start mixing with hand mixer, or risking blisters, by hand. the mixture will start to thicken. don’t get overzealous, apparently it will get grainy, which would then require you to re-heat the mixture and start again.

divide into 4 ramekins. best served immediately but if not, keep in fridge, well covered. take out 20 minutes prior to consumption to take the cold edge off.

green tomato & mint chutney

Published on July 29, 2013July 31, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach14 Comments

it’d be an apt description to say that
i’m a Pragmatic Person
capable of viewing varying perspectives
down to earth
realistic
sensible
i pay bills every month
my grocery lists are documented based on
the locations of the ingredients in the store –
for efficiency.
i forgo the cute heels
for the more utilitarian flats
when going to the mall

but the thing is,
it’s all a farce
i’m really a friggin mess
i daydream,
my head is usually in the clouds
sometimes i make up stories
and i say them out loud,
the more far fetched the more likely
i’ll share it with ~~people~~ dw
i never allocate time or funds for
dry cleaning
and yet my closet is riddled with
chiffon, silks, and other lovely frocks
that shrink within 5 feet of a washer/dryer.
i spend chunks of my day
wondering why i can’t be a hobbit
living in the Shire,
reading under a tree by day
and drinking ale at night

and so with a practical mind
last Saturday i went to the market
to pick up our CSA stash
i mentally prepared the week’s meals,
calculating portions,
pantry availability,
that kind of thing
and then i saw green tomatoes,
the first of the season
and everything was forgotten
i nixed the beets that would’ve been two meals,
what with the ruby orbs AND leafy tops

by itself, it’s not an impractical purchase
green tomatoes are Summer,
and as such, should be sampled at least once
but we were in the midst of a heat wave
and i don’t know about you,
turning on the stove to dodge oil splatters
to fry up these little beasts is
So Impractical

but i didn’t want them languishing on the counter,
eventually to rot,
or worse,
attracting those blasted fruit flies.
into a pot they went,
with skins,
simmered with mint
and this
and that
and then this chutney was born

beyond spreading it on toast, maybe,
or at best, on pork tenderloin,
(like how we did for dinner the other night)
i’m not sure what else we could do with
this condiment
practical and impractical indeed!

Green Tomato + Mint Chutney
note: if i ever make this again, which let’s face it, i will when it appears again next summer, during a heatwave i’m sure, i would cut back to just one cup of sugar. it was just a smidge too sweet for my liking.

ingredients:
1 ¼ lb green tomatoes (washed & chopped)
1 jalapeno sliced, deseeded
½ cup herbs such as mint (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 inch piece ginger (chopped)
½ cup apple cider vinegar
2 TBL soy sauce
2 cups organic sugar

method:
in a food processor add the tomatoes, jalapeno, mint, &
ginger.

pulse until desired consistency.

pour mixture into sauce pan and add remaining ingredients.

simmer on gentle boil until it’s reduced, about 45 minutes.

yields: 1 pint/ 16oz / 2 cups

strawberry sweet biscuit

Published on June 7, 2013June 12, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach18 Comments

if you’re anything like me,
you didn’t grow up wondering where the
foods you ate came from,
and the exotic fruits you had for dessert
came from a can.
now that i think on it,
i didn’t have my first strawberry until
i was older,
like, a teenager older.
fresh strawberries are expensive
and were usually bypassed
on grocery trips.

now i know where these gems come from,
now i know the labor
it takes to harvest them
and now i understand their price tag
and why it was always
more important to buy the rice
and fish sauce
and tofu
and vegetables.

much like asparagus season,
strawberry season is fleeting.
dw took me strawberry picking the first
year we met
we missed it last year
so we made a point to go
this year.

he is too good to me,
he squats and stoops to pick me
the best berries,
while i hold an umbrella over him,
taking pictures and
~~judging others~~
~~pretending to harvest~~
resisting eating the fruit as we
worked our row.

it’s not possible to eat all
the berries we picked,
most have been washed
& packed into the freezer
destined for smoothies
or coulis
or ice cream
but i set aside a few handfuls
for fresh snacking
and for this,
a kindof strawberry shortcake.

what’s your favorite spring fruit?

strawberry sweet biscuits
adapted from whole grain vegan baking by celine steen & tamasin noyes
copyright Fair Winds Press

3/8 cup (or 6 TBL) coconut milk
1 cup (120g) organic pastry flour
1/2 cup (45g) oat flour
1/2 cup (70g) spelt flour
1 TBL baking powder
generous pinch of salt
1/2 cup organic sugar, + more for sprinkling
1/3 cup ( 74g) cold coconut oil
fresh strawberries

preheat oven 400F
in food processor mix together dry ingredients
add in the coconut oil, pulse until mixture looks like little peas
add 1 TBL at a time of the coconut milk into processor until mixture pulls from sides of bowl
move dough onto lightly floured surface
knead until comes together, roll or pat down into rectangle, 1/2″ thick
cut dough with desired sized cutters
pat scraps together & cut until all dough is used
transfer biscuits to baking sheet, 2″ apart
brush with coconut milk & sprinkle with sugar
bake for 16 – 18 minutes
allow to cool
serve with strawberries
*note: i served my biscuits with sweetened tofutti cream cheese

additional info:
pink paper basket handmade via the elli blog