I compost. I don't like throwing all that good food waste into the landfill. And even though I don't have a reason to compost, I have this fantasy of being able to grow the food that I prepare and eat on a regular basis. It's not practical with the job I have, but at least the thought is there. And composting is fun.
Sometimes I like to add a bit of heat to my dishes. If I'm making Sonoran Quinoa cakes, or Tofu Chili Tacos, I like to have this tomatillo sauce ready on the side. It's great with rice and beans, or mock chicken fajitas, and other delicious dishes you can think of.
The other day, I went into full on cooking for the week mode — making several dishes and some sauces all at the same time. Earlier this year, I had picked up a salad spinner at a local thrift store for like $2.50. The parsley and cilantro I had bought were a bit on the dirty side, so they got a nice bath in cold water, and then, I thought, wow, it’s going to take a bit to dry these, and I needed them quick. I was ready to process the Falafel mixture in the food processor. Then, I spied the salad spinner. Guess what got spun? First the Cilantro, and then the parsley. If I were using them together, I would have spun them together, but I needed cilantro for chutney.
Curry: A tale of cooks & conquerors by Lizzie Collingham is my current quest to further culinary knowledge. I’ve read a fourth of the book and learned more history then I was taught in high school about other countries. But I grew up in the West, in America, and here it is about cowboys and cows, not curries, vegetables, and Persian overlords.
This is not a recipe book, it is one person’s view of how curries evolved in India through the influence of other cultures. And it is an academic, not popular, view.
Marinades can make all the difference in the way food tastes. A good Vinaigrette adds the necessary acids to balance flavors of vegetables and fruits. Mastering salad dressings will help in making you seem like a rock star chef to your friends and family.
Finding the delicate balance between sweet and sour is the challenge in making a good vinaigrette. Too much acidity, and it overwhelms the food, not enough, and it will fall flat.
I have stepped into the grand adventure of teaching myself how to cook the cuisine of the subcontinent India. It is not an easy task, and involves hours of research, reading, and learning techniques in the kitchen. Mostly it is a language barrier.
During the research process, I have discovered that terminology is specific to region. Names of ingredients and processes are different, but mean the same thing. And that can be terribly confusing for someone trying to learn how to cook new foods.
The prime example is the backbone of India cuisine, Masala. But what is it, and how do you define it? Wikipedia says “any spice mixture.” And that can mean either a dry spice mix, or a cooked spice mix. But how is it determined? Almost every website I read has a different kind of description for the same thing. Masala can be a wet or dry spice mix. chaat is a dry mixture, punjabi is a wet mixture. However, more identification of regions is necessary for my American head to wrap around. I am trying to learn something on my own, that most Indian cooks know instinctively, through language and region.
The weather is turning cooler and the cooking mind turns to comfort food: soups. I love lentils in stews and soups. This recipe that I developed is one of my favorites so far. You can also find it in my cookbook Delectable Vegan Soups.
Enjoy this soup on a cold winter's day with warm tortillas or crusty bread.
Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world today. It can cost as much as $300.00 U.S dollars an ounce. This is because the part of the plant that is used must be hand-harvested.
Saffron is harvested from the three stigmas of the Crocus Sativus flower. The flower has to be hand picked, the stigma removed, and then separated. There is no machine that will do this job. Only human hands are capable of picking the threads without damaging them.
What’s in the name? Saffron is from the Arabic word zafaran which means ‘yellow’. The French culinary term safrané means ‘coloured using saffron’. The colouring properties of Saffron have been prized as much as its unique flavor.
Where does Saffron come from? It spread out from Ancient Persia, down through the Mediterranean peninsula, and up into China, and throughout India, where it was quickly adopted for dying Buddhist monk robes and anointing deities.
Tofu bacon has had me excited for awhile. I was scared to try it. I really did not understand what made it smokey, or so crunchy.? I turned to my friend, the internet. and found only a few references and recipes. It doesn’t seem to be as popular as you might think.
So I combined two or three good ideas and here’s what I came up with.
There is a large variety of legumes (beans) in the world, over 4,000 have been categorized. To further complicate matters, there are fresh beans, classified as vegetables, and then there are pulses (legumes). I’ll leave it to wikepedia, and other sources to sort this all out for you, while we continue on to how to process legumes, the dried bean.
In my kitchen, I’ve learned to appreciate more then just the pinto bean, which is one of the most highly consumed beans in the southwest. There are black or turtle beans, fava or broad beans, chickpeas and garbanzos. I’m working on incorporating anasazi beans, and white beans. These form the basis of our protein diet, since my partner is gluten-free and cannot consume wheat for protein.
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