Monthly Archives: June 2012

Jun 11 2012
2 Comments
Dining Out

Adventures in Dining Out: Noon-O-Kabab

Noon-O-Kabab has been one of my favorite Chicago restaurants for several years. It’s a Persian restaurant in the Albany Park neighborhood. It’s grown in size and even has a separate location a few doors down for carry-out orders. My usual order at Noon-O-Kabab was their excellent Lamb Shank, cooked and seasoned to perfection. Other favorites were their rib eye and seasoned ground sirloin. Obviously, I had to find something new to try when I went there for dinner recently.

I’m usually disappointed when I figure out what my limited choices are at a restaurant, but I knew Noon-O-Kabab wouldn’t let me down. They have a handful of vegetarian and vegan options, plus several vegan-friendly appetizers. I chose the Adass Polo: a mix of lentils, raisins, caramelized onions, saffron and Persian barberry served with Persian white rice.

You guys, this was excellent. The rice alone is worth the trip, and you can rest easy knowing that they don’t use butter in their cooking. The mix of lentils with raisins and saffron and the barberry gives the dish an sweet and somewhat tangy mix of flavors. It was served with grilled tomato, onion, and bell pepper. I’m looking forward to trying to make this in my own kitchen.

All my dining experiences at Noon-O-Kabab have been pleasant and there are a few servers who have been there since I first went there years ago. The food is always fresh, the restaurant is casual but cozy, and the demographic of the diners is always diverse. As the restaurant has grown, the quality of the food has remained high.

I’m looking forward to trying out another vegan dish next time I go to Noon-O-Kabab. If you’re in the Chicago area, try it out! –Melissa

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Jun 10 2012
5 Comments
Desserts, Snacks

Cantaloupe Bowl of Berries!

Summer is here and local fruits are ripe and gorgeous. There aren’t any words for how delicious this was so I’ll let the visuals speak for themselves.

Enjoy your summer bounty!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jun 09 2012
1 Comment
Cooking, Recipes

Sweet & Spicy Tofu

This recipe is so easy that I considered putting it in the Lazy Vegan bucket, but the end result is so delicious and potentially impressive that it’s more of a Secret Weapon Vegan Recipe. It involves few ingredients, few steps, minimal labor, and doesn’t take a lot of time. The “sauce” can be applied to any veggie or protein, so it’s also versatile.

This dish is inspired by how my Mom used to bake chicken when we were growing up. She would buy a bunch of drumsticks, coat them with plum sauce, and just bake. Again… so easy, yet really tasty!

Sweet & Spicy Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu
1 tbsp plum sauce
1 stem green onion
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce or crushed red pepper (optional; add more or less for desired blandness/spicyness)

I got the plum sauce and chili garlic sauce from your everyday grocery store. I would recommend Lee Kum Kee brand for the plum sauce. My market didn’t have it and Dynasty brand worked just fine. I used a block of tofu from a package of fried tofu, bought at the Asian market. I cut the block into strips, but you can cut it into any shape you would like.

I coated the tofu strips with the plum sauce and chili garlic sauce. Add as much as you’d like! I heated up some oil in a pan and quickly chopped the green onion. Then I threw the coated tofu into the pan. I would have preferred to bake instead of fry, but I was really hungry and too lazy to wait for the oven to heat up. Beware: this is a messy fry. If you bake, make sure you get as much liquid as you can out of the tofu.

About two minutes after I put the tofu in the pan, I got a handful of the meaty green onion pieces and added it to the pan. I let it all fry for another minute, flipped the tofu, and then let it fry for another minute after that. Yeah. This only took about five minutes. Keep in mind that I started out with tofu that was pre-fried and already dried out. (Sidenote: my niece came into the kitchen to find out what smelled so good while this was frying.)

I topped the tofu with the rest of the green onion bits. The sugar in the plum sauce gives this a nice coating. I ate this with some rice and steamed broccoli and was very, very happy! –Melissa

Jun 08 2012
3 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes

Vegan Rainbow Bake!

I was feeling adventurous today so we made something a little different. I picked my ingredients based on an inexplicable urge to eat more colorful foods: orange sweet potato, indigo blue potato, and vivid green Brussel’s sprouts.

This is what we used:

1 sweet potato, cut into bite sized pieces

8 small blue potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1 lb Brussel’s sprouts, cleaned and cut in half

1 tbsp fresh chili paste

2 tbsp capers (optional)

juice from 1 lemon

1/3 cup of veganaise

I put the vegenaise, capers, lemon juice, and chili paste into a bowl and mixed it.

Then I added the potatoes and sprouts and mixed them until everything was evenly coated with veganaise sauce.

I put everything onto a foil lined baking sheet and baked it 45 minutes at 350F/175C.

It came out moist and flavorful and crisp and caramelized around the edges.

We will probably do this again: the spicy lemony sauce went well with the herbal flavors in the sprouts, the creamy sweetness of the sweet potato and the starchy comfort of he blue potato. It was filling and full of vitamins and minerals.

 

This is Christie, signing off!

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Jun 07 2012
4 Comments
Thoughts

Milk : It does a body bad.

In a discussion with a fellow student at BJJ, they admitted that they knew that consuming meat was not in line with what they thought was right. They also stated that in addition to meat, they’d be fine saying goodbye to cheese. But what made me cock an eyebrow was when they said ‘But milk? There’s no way I could go without it.’

I would encourage them to try for a few reasons (read : I’ll try to keep this quick and non-preachy).

1) Milk comes from pregnant, nursing cows. Outside of the moral and ethical implications of this happening at large dairy farms, there are direct physical consequences. First, your getting hormones from a pregnant cow. That includes estrogen that would otherwise make you grow fabled soy-mewbs as some media outlets would lead you to believe. Also, the mother cow produces proteins that are there to encourage and strengthen a bond between it and its offspring (ie – introduce addiction). Humans and other breast/teat feeding species do the same, but by drinking cow milk you’re getting addicted to cow boobies. And you’re growing cow boobies. Weird.

2) Milk increases bone loss and osteoporosis and other bad juju. Calcium is awesome when it comes to making and strengthening bones. Acid is not good for your bones. Most milk products weigh in on the acidic side of the pH chart. Large quantities over a long period of time good bones does not make. At all. The science lies in how your body sacrifices minerals like calcium to help neutralize the acidity. More than bones, an acidic environment is a great place for skin problems, allergies and GI problems to root and thrive. A plant based diet, on the other hand, will help keep your body riding the alkaline wave your body craves.

3) Milk is mucous forming. Now, I like to hawk loogies and snore like a diesel engine as much as the next person, but excess mucous isn’t really my bag. For one, it can introduce respiratory issues. What’s more is it can affect sleep and increase ones susceptibility to seasonal allergies. The bottom line is that by eliminating dairy, you can breathe easier than if you eat a block of cheddar and chase it with a gallon of 2% before bed. Don’t do that, by the way.

There are scads of other reasons not to eat dairy. To me, hormones, acidity, and mucous clock in as top factors in deterring me from consuming dairy. I hope you learned something through this post, and if it’s all old hat to you, hopefully it will help aggregate conversation with someone you know who refuses to give up the moo juice.

Peace, my vegans.

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Jun 07 2012
10 Comments
Main Dishes

Saag with Sweet Potato

Brent and I really love Indian food. We make several versions of Americanized favorites including saag. Typically saag is a spinach based sauce flavored with cilantro, chili and turmeric and usually includes chunks of potato, mushroom, and/or paneer. Paneer is a bland home-made cheese so we use tofu that we’ve marinated in lime juice instead. Today, however, we’re using cubes of sweet potato because we had a random sweet potato floating around the apartment (I just had a funny mental image). We put the following into the blender for a creamy base:

1 box of MoriNu soft silken tofu (If you’ve got a soy allergy, soak 1/2 cup of cashews overnight, drain them and add to your blender. This actually tastes marginally better but adds a lot of fat)

1 thumb sized piece of turmeric or 1 tsp powdered turmeric

5-7 cloves of garlic

a generous pinch of cinnamon

1 onion, diced

1 jalapeño pepper or generous spoon of chili paste

1 tablespoon of coconut sugar

This mixture was blended until creamy. Then I added the following greens in the following order, blending thoroughly between:

1 bunch cilantro (stems and leaves)

1 bunch of Swiss chard or mustard greens

1 bunch of spinach

The cilantro goes in first because the stems need to get cut finely. The stems have a lot of flavor. Swiss chard will make a milder saag, mustard greens will make it spicier. Spinach is just a wondrous vegetable. EAT IT!!! Frozen greens work fine for this recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I transferred the contents of the blender to my big pan and rinsed out the blender with almond milk (use soy if you’ve got a nut allergy) and put the milk into the pan. I started to heat it and added 1 sweet potato cut into bite sized pieces. A carton of water packed tofu or a few handfuls of mushrooms are great veggies to add to your saag.

Heat the saag through and stir frequently until the potato is cooked. It should be thick and make giant messy bubbles if unattended (hence the stirring).

This will take about half an hour. Add water, salt, spices, and pepper as needed. I also use a garam masala spice mix  that an Indian colleague brought me from his home Hyderabad instead of pepper. Cracked black pepper is better for most tastes. It looks like sewage but tastes like awesome!

We served this with quinoa that we prepared in the microwave with several green cardamom pods. I love saag and know it’s not for everyone. It’s very herbal and spicy and is too vegetal for some. That being said, We ate the whole pan and all the quinoa too… I’ve got a blood donation coming up and I need the iron and vitamin K!

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Jun 06 2012
3 Comments
Recipes, Thoughts

Candied Kumquats

I’ve had two experiences with kumquats. The first was in a French restaurant. The kumquats were on a stick and coated in syrup. They were a sweet delight and totally different from anything I had tasted before. Until I was told they were kumquats, I thought they were some sort of mini orange-cherry hybrid. My second experience was with a raw kumquat. Ew. I was disturbed. Let’s leave it at that.

I saw some kumquats at the store so I thought I would try them again. I didn’t try eating them raw. I decided to candy some of them.

Candied Kumquats
15 or so kumquats, quartered and pitted — I saw some recipes where the pits were left in, but the seeds are bitter so I would take them out
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (I used turbinado)
vanilla bean or a splash of vanilla extract (optional)

 

In a small pot, bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring so that the sugar melts. Add the kumquats and vanilla. Bring back to a boil and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Let it cool. Here’s the finished product:

I’m still not entirely sure what to do with this. I put some in chia seed pudding. It’s an acquired taste, but it was good. There are savory uses for candied kumquats as well. All I know is that I can’t eat them raw.

I don’t know why I’m so desperate to love kumquats, but I am. I need ideas! Share, share!! –Melissa

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Jun 05 2012
5 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes

Vegan Breakfast Burritos!

I like breakfast. I also like burritos. Whoever thought of the breakfast burrito is on my “AWESOME” list. The word “burrito” means, “little donkey”. I like to make my burritos about the size of a small donkey. Do you see where I’m going with this?

We had some more chili tortillas and decided, “what the heck.” We made a tofu scramble. I prefer silken tofu but otherwise this recipe is pretty standard.
1 box of soft silken tofu

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 pinch of sun dried tomato flakes

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 pinch paprika

1 pinch turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

Stir that up in your non-stick skillet until it’s hot and awesome. More importantly…

We cooked up some black beans. What breakfast burrito would be right without beans? We used the following:

1 onion, diced

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of dry black beans, soaked overnight in an excess of water OR 1 can of beans, drained

salt and chili to taste

We heated the onions until they started to turn translucent. Then we added the beans and a jalapeño and just waited until they were hot and tender.

The beans and scramble made their way into the tortilla along with some salsa and cilantro. This was one of the better breakfasts we’ve had in a while. It was savory, spicy and loaded with delicious garlic and cilantro. We forgot the Daiya but neither of us missed it.

This breakfast is loaded with balanced protein to keep you going and a good serving of carbs to get your started. There’s virtually no fat and no cholesterol which is great because the fiber will help you digest all the other deliciousness for a strong body. Happy breakfast!

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Jun 04 2012
9 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Rice Cooker Cuisine: Arroz con Gandules

Arroz gon gandules has always been an exotic dish to me. I imagined that in order to cook it well, you needed someone’s abuela to teach you. Therefore, I never tried making it. Ever. Until yesterday. I found myself craving it and also wanting to cook something that was easy to bring for lunch and reheat at work.

Ingredients:
4oz dried gandules
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 packet Sazon Con Culantro Achiote
3 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 tomato, diced and crushed
olive oil
salt and pepper

I went to the store looking for frozen green gandules but settled for dry non-green ones. I took the beans beans and left them to soak for about 6.5 hours. I literally left them: I left the house and wore myself out doing stuff, so believe me when I say that the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was slave over a stove. So, I decided to use a rice cooker.

In a perfect world, I would have boiled the beans a little bit at this point. But, I didn’t. And things still turned out OK. Here’s what I did do: I rinsed and drained the beans and added them along with the rice and the seasoning packet to the rice cooker pot. Then, I heated up the onions, garlic, and tomato in a pan with some olive oil. I first let the garlic and onion heat up. Then I added the tomato, crushing them with my hand before while adding them to the pan. When the tomato was soft, the onion was translucent, and there was some nice liquid in the pan, I added all the pan contents to the pot with the rice and beans.

Now, here is where I get really scientific. I added enough water to the pot to hit the 3 cup line. This doesn’t mean three cups of water. I don’t know what it means. You’ll have to ask my rice cooker. My rice cooker doesn’t talk. I’m sorry! I mixed the ingredients and then turned on the rice cooker.

Here’s what it looked like about 10-15 minutes in. Now, even though my intent was to let this dish cook itself without me having to supervise, I should have stirred things every 7-10 minutes to prevent sticking. Of course, I kind of enjoy sticky rice, so it ended up OK. After the rice cooker declared things finished, I stirred up the rice again and pressed the cook button again. It went for at least another 5 minutes. Here’s how it looked:

I was worried my rice would be too mushy. It ended up perfect. I was worried my beans wouldn’t cook all the way through. They weren’t as soft as I would have hoped, but they turned out okay. Boiling the beans beforehand would have helped. I’m actually surprised that this didn’t turn into a soupy mess.

I’m really happy with how this turned out and I know my next attempt at making it will be even better! Things I will do next time is throw in some minced fresh cilantro, more garlic, more salt, maybe some spice, and some chopped olives. Yummm….

Not bad for a “lazy” dish! –Melissa

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Jun 03 2012
7 Comments
Snacks

Mango Daquiri with Thai Basil

Brent and I were feeling adventurous this weekend and a generous tree gave me a couple of free mangoes on my way home from work on Friday so I decided to make some daquiris. We combined the following in the blender:

flesh from 2 large mango, skin and seed discarded

juice from 1 lime

several sprigs of basil, leaves only

1/2 to 1 cup of rum (optional)

coconut water as needed

We blended it all up, adding coconut water until we liked the texture and then were ready for an afternoon of watching summer storms and laughing together.

We used Thai basil. It’s got a cinnamon sweet flavor and added a lot to this drink. Regular basil or no basil would be fine too but I love my greens! Mango is definitely a nutritional powerhouse and is great for your digestion as well as being a great source for vitamins and minerals.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off.

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