Mmm Yucateca

If you are coming here from my personal blog, you already know that today was quite a swell day, but enough personal crap, let's get to the food!

I took a day off from my day job to learn some Yucatecan cuisine, as well as eat some of this deliciousness. We made Sopa de Lima, Enchiladas con Mole, and X'nipek.

Sopa de Lima, translating to "Lime soup", is really more lemony. In the Yucatan they do their lemons and limes "al revés", and lemons are "limas" and limes are "limones". I didn't get to sample any of this because they made it with chicken broth, but one could just as easily make it veg.

Vegan Sopa de Lima
veggie boullion (enough to make about 6 cups)
a white onion
2 green bell peppers
3 or 4 plum tomatoes
corn tortillas
3 lemons, 2 limes
well done baked tofu

First, before you even get started on the broth, you want to cut the corn tortillas in strips and fry them in a skillet until they are golden and crunchy, then let them dry on some paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Having done that, whether you make your own baked tofu, or bought some, the tofu must be extra well done. This is so that in the soup it will not be spongy and soak up all the broth. Just pop in in the toaster oven or fry it up til it is a little burned, but still edible. While doing this, boil about 6 cups of water and chop up the onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Throw the veggies in the water and let simmer for about 20 minutes or so. Pour the veggies and water into another pot, but strain out the veggies using a colander or strainer. Then add your boullion. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons and 2 limes into the broth as well, reserving one lemon to slice for garnish. Simmer for a bit longer until all of the boullion is disolved, taste, and salt and pepper til it suits you.

Chop the baked tofu roughly (strips would be best) and put some in each of the bowls to be served, along with some of the tortilla strips and lemon slices. Then pour a ladlefull of brother over everything and add some fresh cilantro on top if you like.

X'Nipek
X'Nipek literally translated from Mayan means "dog's nose", perhaps from the super spicy after effect of eating this! It is also called "Pico de Gallo" in other parts of Mexico, but in the Yucatan, we keeps it real yo.

a little less than 1/2 lb of white onion
2 lbs of tomato (roma or plum tomatos work best)
one bunch of fresh cilantro
Habanero* to taste
1/4 naranja agria juice, OR
1 T grapefruit juice
1 T orange juice
2 T lime juice
salt to taste

Dice/Mince everything up super fine, in pieces no bigger than 1/4". Mix together the veggies, and then add the juice and salt.

*NOTE, when handling habaneros, PLEASE be cautious. These fiery little bastards have been the cause of many an embarassing story, or mainly painful. If using a habanero pepper (you can also substitute with habanero sauce if you're timid about handling it), either wear gloves when dicing or use a fork to hold it in place. Wash your hands THOROUGHLY with lots of soap and hot water when finished handling. These peppers don't play! As one of the top hottest peppers, if even a smidgen of the juice were to get onto a mucous membrane of your body (like if you were to touch your eyes or go to the bathroom eek!) it could mean fiery hottness. So, just please be careful.


Consider making these tasty treats for your Cinco de Mayo fiesta! Or maybe even today, mmm...

Happy Cookin'! ¡Que tenés un buen tiempo en tu concina también!

Dinner Party Tiem!

Hay guise!

Here are a few pics from my dinner party extravaganza (8 hours of cooking definately qualify as an extravaganza). Will be updated more later on.

From left to right:
Adzuki rice and bean balls, ginger tempeh sushi, picnic vegan "caviar", bowl 'o crackers, blue corn tortilla chips with salsa in the bowl in front, bruschetta, and toasted slices of baguettes I made with either Italian blend cheese or cashew cheese on top. It was most delicious!

Kitchen Gardening

WTF? Kitchen gardening? Yep yep. When it's still cold and frosty out, you can have fresh greenery at your whim. This latest "science project" of mine came out by accident. At my workplace, some green onion/scallion butts (the white part with the root that many people do not like to eat) were going to be composted, so I threw them in a jar of water, as I intended to just take them home and eat them. Being the scatterbrain that I am, I forgot to take them home, so the following evening brought 'em back to the crib and left them on the kitchen table. To my surprise, they started growing! After a few days and inches of growth, I emptied the water and put in some organic potting soil. Within a few days of having almost met certain death in a compost bucket, they were almost a foot tall! I know this isn't really cooking, but something like these little onions are nice to have on hand if you only want to use a little bit here and there. Think of it as part of your herb garden.

To recreate this, after using all but the bottom 3 inches of the scallion (the roots MUST still be intact), let them chill in some water, roots down. When some growth has ocurred, you can empty the water and spoon in some dirt around them, tapping the bottom to make sure they're snug. Just be careful to not overwater. A jar (obviously) has no holes on the bottom, so water sparingly. If you can see the water rolling around through the sides, you're good to go.

Let's hear it for recycling!

Gimme some bread, man!

It CAN be done! Bread in a toaster oven! Mind you, I recently bought mine, so I don't know if this is also possible in older models.

I kind of stole this recipe from a really great book for beginning bakers like myself. The recipe is called Honey Whole Wheat Bread, but being that I didn't want a lot of yucky unhealthy things in it, I edited for animal ingredients... except for the honey... I love honey... sorry fellow vegan-ers. You could as easily substitute it with Agave nectar.

What you will need (which I highly recommend buying as many ingredients in bulk, you will save yourself OODLES of dinero).

2 1/2 t active dry yeast
1c soymilk (unflavored)
2T honey or Agave
4T fleggs (1T ground flax meal + 3T warm water)
3c whole wheat all purpose flour
1t sea salt
3T Earth Balance

Prepare your fleggs by mixing in the flax meal with the water and set aside. It will become gelatinous-y, similar to the consistency of an egg white, after sitting for awhile. Next you want to add the yeast to the milk, ensuring that it is evenly mixed in. Let that mixture sit in a not so drafty spot in your kitchen for about 5 minutes, or until it looks foamy. This is called the sponge, and after chatting with one of my co-workers who also bakes, said this step isn't necessary, that he just mixes everything together. But this is what worked for me, so I would recommend it.

Next add your sweetener, fleggs mixture, Earth Balance, and salt. Whisk this all together.

Add the flour to this mixture, knead, and then transfer it to a bowl that has been lightly rubbed with olive oil to rise. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it chill for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Here is the fun part, where you can get out a lot of pent up aggressions! Punch down your risen dough and begin to roll it into a loaf. You want to take your ball of dough and flatten it a bit so that it is a roundish flatish shape. Then take the bottom third and roll it up into the rest of itself. Keep repeating this until it is shaped like a log of sorts. Put your loafy shape into an oiled 5x9 bread pan, cover with a clean dish towel, and allow it to rise for another 45 min to 1 hour.

Here is the tricky part. How to bake bread in a toaster oven without scorching the top? This was my dilemma, and has been what has prevented me from attempting bread-making in the past. The original recipe needs the oven to be at 375 degrees F for 35-40min. With a toaster oven you have the problem of temperature differentiations from the front to the back of the oven. To prevent the top from being singed, I changed the heat to 350 degrees, and decided to bake it longer. So, after dusting the top of your loaf with some extra flour, pop that puppy in the oven, towards the back, set on 350 degrees F. Because the areas of the oven are different temperatures, you will need to flip your loaf around (180 degrees) every 15 minutes to ensure that it is being evenly heated. Bake for about 40-45 min, but keep an eye on it as many toaster ovens are different. The loaf will be done when it sounds hollow when tapping on the top.

Allow loaf to cool, and enjoy! This recipe will give you a nice sandwich bread that is really tasty with some peanut butter or avocado schmeared on top... or both! Not that I've ever done that...

Hopefully I will have some more step-by step photos, but for now enjoy a peek at what your loaf will look like! Happy baking!

Spinach Mini Pizza

I whipped this up one night after a long day of work, and all I wanted was something hot and not too time consuming. From the fridge: spinach pesto, rice cheese, crimini mushrooms. From the pantry: whole wheat pita, red pepper flakes, "pizza seasoning" (a blend of oregano, basil, and other pizza-y things).

Spread the pesto on the pita. NOTE: I don't recommend using pocket pitas, just a plain one will do. Add your toppings, cheese, and spices. Toast, and voila!

You could also do this with a variation of spreads and toppings. What I like about pitas is that they're the perfect size for one person, and make a pretty nice pizza crust when you don't want to spend money on frozen ones.

Breakfast of Champions!

This is one of the more simple fixes for when you NEED to eat something before leaving the house. Just take a piece of your favorite bread (until I perfect my own, right now I love Sami's Bakery Low Carb Bread, 7 Grain Bread, or Monk Bread), toast it to desired toastiness. Spread a thick layer of your favorite hummus, and top with slices of avocado. This is good to eat if you're running low on time, but need something substantial to tide you over until much later. Lots of good protein too, and much less calories than spreading on butter. Mmm!