spring rolls

Happy Spring! Rolls! Green onions are in season! Cucumbers are not quite in season but the one we used came from a farmer's green house so that almost counts as in season... And of course, bean sprouts are always in season.

For this recipe, I tried to imitate my favorite spring roll ever from a Thai restaurant near my parent's house in Wisconsin. I will have to go back there sometime so I can perfect the flavors. I did manage to capture the main idea - a watery, sweet refreshment for the warming weather.

Serving Size: 10 spring rolls

Spring Roll Ingredients:
10 rice paper sheets
2 c. bean sprouts
1 c. green onions, diced
1 cucumber, sliced thin legthwise
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 lb. tofu, marinated in plum sauce

"Plum" Sauce Ingredients:
8 prunes, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. white wine
2 T. braggs amino liquids or soy sauce or tamari
1 T. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 T. honey
1/2 T. peanut oil
1/2 t. frozen minced ginger
a pinch of red pepper flakes

Dipping Sauce Ingredients:
1/4 c. braggs amino liquids or soy sauce or tamari
2 T. rice vinegar
1/2 t. garlic powder
a pinch of red pepper flakes

Cut your tofu into strips about 1/4" x 1/4" x 1". In a dry frying pan (no oil), cook your tofu strips on low-medium heat. Flip the tofu strips and cook until all sides are golden. Dry frying removes a lot of moisture from the tofu which helps it to better soak up your "plum" sauce marinade.

In a blender or food processor, add all of you "plum" sauce ingredients and blend until uniform. Put the "plum" sauce and cooked tofu strips in a plastic bag and let it marinated for a several hours in the refrigerator.

After the tofu strips have marinated and you have prepped the veggies, you can start assembling the spring rolls. Dip a sheet of rice paper in warm water for 5-10 seconds or whatever the packaging says. Lay the wet rice paper on a plate. Across the center spread a line of spouts, sliced cucumbers, shredded carrots, diced green onions, and marinated tofu.

At the ends of the filling line, tuck in the sides of the rice paper. Pull one of the long sides of the rice paper over the filling line. Tightly tuck it under the filling line and roll. If I just totally confused you, check out this video on You Tube: "Viatnamese Spring Roll"

Now the only thing left is to mix together the dipping sauce ingredients and sprinkle your plate with green onions.

Side Note:
If you aren't serving a party or large family, you can store the ingredients separately and the prepare on demand or you can store pre-made rolls.

mung bean sprouts

Bean sprouts used in spring rolls and stir-fries are germinated from mung beans. And guess what, you can sprout them in your very own home! The home sprouting process is very rewarding. You can witness so much growth and change as these little guys pop out of their shells. It serves as a reminder that stagnant dried beans are actually bursting with life.

Yield: 4 cups (unpacked)

Ingredients:
2 margarine tubs
1/3 c. dry mung beans
cool water

I made a sprouting container by drilling many small drainage holes in the bottom of a margarine tub. I also drilled a few breathing holes on the side. A second margarine tub should be left as is so that you can stack the containers and hold water.

For the most part I followed the sprouting outline on Sprout People.

Soak the mung beans overnight in cool water in the margarine tub without holes. In the morning transfer them into the margarine tub with drainage. Rinse with cool water. Drain thoroughly. Store on a wire rack in a shady spot with plenty of air circulation. Place a weight (like a mason jar filled with water) on top of the beans. The weight makes the sprouts grow a little fatter.

For the next 3 days, rinse the beans/sprouts with cool water every 12 hours. You can remove the weight while you are rinsing but be sure that you do not disturb the order of the sprouts. Rinse with a trickle of water or a kitchen sprayer for a minute or so. Just try to be gentle. Undisturbed sprouts will create a net of pressure which will help them grow straighter and fatter.

On the 4th day, place the margarine tub with drainage inside the margarine tub without drainage. Gently fill the stacked containers with cool water. Allow the sprouts to soak for 15 minutes. Remove the margarine tub with drainage and allow the sprouts to thoroughly drain. Then let the sprouts grow for 24 hours without anymore rinses.

Finally, you can remove the tightly packed sprouts from the margarine tub. Eat them immediately or store them in the refrigerator.

Side Note:
I personally think that it is a good idea to use beans that sold are specifically for sprouting. Sprouting beans have fewer non-germinating duds. People say that non-germinating duds can be a problem because they can spoil while other beans are sprouting. Dud spoilage could potentially spoil your whole batch which, as a beginner, does not sound fun. You can usually buy sprouting beans from a health food store.

roasted parsnip fries with creamy curry dip

Today was the tail end of a heavy snow/rain storm. The farmers at the farmer's market seemed pretty elated with the precipitation even though it meant they had to sell their produce in bad weather. We were pretty happy too since they showed up despite the bad weather. We were able to purchase some local produce including parsnips!


The farmer that we bought the parsnips from recommended roasting them like steak fries so when we got home, that's what we did! We were brainstorming a dip for the fries, and we remembered a delicious curry dip with pub fries that we had at local restaurant a few weeks ago. Since it was still storming outside, we decided to entertain ourselves by making the curry powder from scratch, but you could just as well use a store bought curry powder.


Serving Size: snack for 4

Roasted Parsnip Fries Ingredients:
1/2 lb parsnips
2 T. canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. cumin, ground
1 t. coriander, ground

Creamy Curry Dip Ingredients
3/4 c. (6 o.z.) yogurt
1/4 c. water
1 T. frozen turmeric, minced (or 1 t. ground turmeric)
1 t. frozen ginger, minced
1/2 t. cumin, dry roasted, ground
1/2 t. cardamom, dry roasted, ground
1/2 t. coriander, dry roasted, ground
1/2 t. dark brown mustard, dry roasted, ground
1/4 t. cayenne pepper, dry roasted, ground

Cut the parsnips into quarters or eighths and put them in a large bowl. Coat them in oil and spices. Roast the parsnips at 425 for 30 minutes in a preheated oven, flipping them halfway through.

If using pre-made curry powder, just add 1-2 tablespoons to the yogurt, along with 1 T. of canola oil. If attempting to make the curry powder from scratch, grind and dry roast all of the spices. You can use ground turmeric, but I bought a tiny piece of fresh turmeric root and wanted to try it out. If using frozen minced turmeric or ginger (a great way to keep these ready for use), cook them in 1/4 c. water in the microwave or on the stove until the water is all or almost all gone. Add 1 T. oil, the dry roasted spices, and finally, the yogurt!

seth ellis chocolates

Organic, fair trade, fancy pants chocolates by Seth Ellis a local chocolatier who sells at the Boulder Farmers' Market!! Sure makes a person appreciate our luxurious world!

mini quiches filled with sunchoke and carrot

The farmer's market started up again! The pickings are still slim but the promise of the coming season is in the air. The best new addition of local seasonal produce in our lives is mixed braising greens (spinach, kale, chard, etc).

With our in-season greens, sunchokes and carrots we made mini quiches. They are perfect morsels for packing in a lunch. Plus, the mini quiches offer more crust per serving --- which is how we like it.

Serving Size: 12 mini quiches

Crust Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
2/3 c. canola oil
1/3 c. cold water

Quiche Filling Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 c. whole milk
2 c. greens, chopped finely
1/2 c. sharp cheddar cheese, diced
1/2 c. sunchokes, diced
1/2 c. carrots, diced
1/2 c. onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. canola oil
salt

Butter a muffin pan. In a bowl, mix together the crust ingredients until they come together. On a floured counter, roll out the dough 1/4" thick. Cut out circles with a bowl about 5" in diameter. Gather the edges and place in the muffin pan.

In a frying pan, saute the carrots and sunchokes with canola oil and a pinch of salt. After 5 minutes or so add the onions and saute the mixture until the onions are translucent. Add garlic and greens. Cook until the greens have softened. Allow to cool. Add cheese and disperse the mixture to each muffin compartment.

In a small bowl whisk together the milk and eggs. Cover the filling in each muffin tin with the egg/milk mixture. Put the muffin pan in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until a knife come out clean.

borscht soup

Beets are one of the few vegetables we can find pretty much year round in our cool climate zone. They are so hardy and yet they somehow manage to be nutritious and beautiful too!

Serving Size: 3

Ingredients:
3 small beets, diced (1 c.)
3 c. water
1 T. sugar
1 t. salt
1 t. "better than bouillon" vegetable base
1/8 cabbage, diced (1 1/2 c.)
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. dill
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1 t. all-purpose flour

Add the beets, water, sugar, salt and vegetable base to a medium pot and bring to a boil. Boil until the beets are tender, about 20 minutes. Puree the tender beets with an immersion blender.

Add the cabbage, lemon juice and dill to the pot. Allow to simmer until the cabbage is tender and has absorbed the red beet juice, about 20 minutes.

Take the pot off the heat. Remove some hot liquid with a measuring cup. Mix the flour, yogurt and hot liquid thoroughly. Add the creamy mixture to the soup and serve!

Side Notes:
The main ingredient of real Polish borsht is kwas which is fermented beets. Since we did not feel like fermenting our beets, we just added lemon juice. Honestly, if you were being a purist, kwas is all you would really need to have borsht. The dill and yogurt are fluffy additions. Also, if you were any other person making a creamy borsht, you would add sour cream not yogurt. We prefer to use plain yogurt only because it is so versatile.

vegetarian baked beans with cornbread

When I think of baked beans I usually think of cans, cowboys, and family gatherings. Now I also think of slow cooking at home.

Serving Size: 8

Vegetarian Baked Bean Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. navy beans, dry
4 c. water
2 c. tomato sauce
1/2 c. sorgham molasses
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. canola oil
1 T. liquid aminos (or tamari or soy sauce)
1 t. brown mustard seed, ground
1 t. black pepper
1 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Cornbread Ingredients:
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. plain soy milk
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. canola oil

To start the baked beans, soak the navy beans for a few hours. Then cook the soaked beans until they are just starting to get tender. Drain and rinse the beans.

In a large pot or crock-pot, saute the onion, ground mustard seed, black pepper, salt and cayenne in canola oil until the onions are translucent. Add remaining ingredients. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 hours or until the beans are really tender and flavorful.

Mix the dry cornbread ingredients together. Mix the wet cornbread ingredient together. Stir wet and dry ingredients together. Bake in a greased cast iron skillet or a 9x9 pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


Side Note:
We used sorghum molasses instead of regular molasses because for us sweet sorghum can be grown more locally than sugar cane.

sun dried tomato hummus with homemade pitas

H-U-M-M-U-S! Hummus! You can find it at Middle Eastern restaurants, vegetarian friendly sandwich shops, potlucks, and the supermarket. There are many variations to the basic recipe - sun dried tomato, roasted garlic, roasted red pepper, cracked pepper, eggplant, etc, etc.

Serving Size: 12 pitas with hummus

Hummus Ingredients:
2.5 c. cooked (1 c. dry) garbanzo beans
1/4 c. sun dried tomatoes (reconstituted in the lemon juice)
1/3 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. tahini
1/4 t. cumin
1/8 t. cayenne
1/3 . olive oil
3 cloves garlic
salt and black pepper to taste

Pita Ingredients:
all-purpose flour (3 c.)
salt
instant yeast
olive oil
water

Blend all of the hummus ingredients, in a food processor. When parsley is in season, throw that in as well. Adjust seasonings and consistency as desired. Top with paprika and olive oil.

To make the pitas, we followed a recipe in "The Bread Bible" which I totally recommend. The basic gist is that you mix the pita ingredients, knead the dough, let it rise, divide it into 12 balls, flatten the balls into 1/4" disks, and bake for 3 minutes at 475 degrees.

corned seitan and cabbage

Growing up, my mom made corned beef and cabbage every year for St. Patrick's Day. Corned beef is one of the few meats that I miss since becoming a vegetarian. Well, at least I can still celebrate St. Patrick's Day with some corned seitan and cabbage!

Serving Size: 6

Ingredients:
1/2 "corned beef" seitan from Everyday Dish, sliced
1/2 cabbage head, wedged or sliced in long strips
3 red potatoes, cubed
2 carrots, julienned
1/2 yellow onion, wedged
1 can of beer
remaining seitan cooking liquid
1 bay leaf
salt to taste

I followed the recipe on Everyday Dish for no-knead "corned beef" seitan. To achieve a tougher, less spongy seitan, Everyday Dish has you wrap the seitan in cheesecloth so that during the boiling process it cannot expand much. Overall, I was pleased with the results of their recipe.

As you finish with the Everyday Dish recipe, remove the seitan from the cooking liquid. Reserve the cooking liquid. Slice the seitan into strips 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick and 1 - 1.5 inches wide. If you want, you can make the seitan the day before and keep it in the fridge overnight.

In a large pot or crock, alternately layer pieces of cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and onion, adding salt to each layer. Add in a bay leaf and a can of beer, any kind. Add some or all of the reserved seitan cooking liquid. Bring the veggies to a boil and simmer for about an hour, until the cabbage and potatoes are soft. Drain the extra cooking liquid. It can be frozen and used later to make more seitan, or for a soup base. Add the seitan strips to the veggies, mix up, and serve.

Cooking the seitan separately like this prevents it from expanding and getting more spongy. Next time I might try cooking the veggies while simmering the seitan in the cheesecloth.

Side Note:
The "corn" in "corned beef" refers to large grains of salt used to cure the beef. More info straight from Wikipedia: corned beef was never consumed in Ireland, but was picked up as a substitute for bacon by Irish immigrants in New York City from their Jewish neighbors. [source]

tempeh sauerkraut sandwich

This is an old standby of ours. It is quick, easy and totally satisfying. It is sort of like a tempeh reuben but without the cheese or thousand island dressing since we do not regularly have those items in our house.

Serving Size: 1

Ingredients:
2 oz. tempeh
2 T. canola oil
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. paprika
1/8 t. dill
rye bread
tahini
sauerkraut

Slice tempeh lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips. In a small frying pan over medium heat, heat the canola oil. Add the tempeh strips and sprinkle each side of the strips with salt, paprika and dill. Cook until both sides are golden.

Toast the rye bread. Slather on some tahini. Top the tahini with as much sauerkraut as you see fit. Add the golden tempeh strips and proceed to feast!