Vegan Cupcakes

There were more..... I think 128 in total...

Those on the left are really banana bread.... my personal favorite.

I've been excited about vegan baking lately. Especially since I've discovered a cheap trick to avoid buying expensive egg replacers. I borrowed this recipe idea from CHOW, who borrowed it from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World' (Moskowitz and Romero)- What a fun title :P

I wanted to make something special to contribute to our friend T's 30th birthday surprise party, that his lovely wife G organized in a large warehouse, complete with DJs and almost 160 guests. Congrats G on an awesome party no one will ever forget, least of all T. 

1 cup soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a cupcake tin, or I used these reusable, yet disposable individual tins.

2. Stir the vinegar into the soy milk and set aside for a few minutes. This causes the milk to curdle a bit, and is the magic to eggless baking (and a lot cheaper than buying egg replacer). 

3. Add the sugar and oil to the milk mixture. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. I never used to understand why this was an important separation, but cocoa powder is much finer than regular flour, and doesn't absorb so much liquid, so unless you mix dry together before wet, you're going to have a heck of a time de-clumping those little bits of cocoa powder that stick together.

4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients well.

5. Pour into the lined cupcake tins, half full (or half empty, your call)

6. Bake about 18 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. (after my 6th batch I had it down to an exact with my stopwatch, but every oven is different.)

The icing or frosting (whatever you like to call it) can be made in a lot of different ways. Since I was making quite a lot, I made two crucial decisions.... Not to ice the cupcakes until they'd arrived at their final destination (unless you consider tummy.... toilet.... am I taking this too far?) The second was to spare myself the hassle of covering them completely. Most people I've met that are not ::ahem:: American, don't like sugar overload, so just a dallop will do ya....

Therefore, this is the rough version of what I did with the icing: 

3 dl vegan margerine, softened

about 3 cups of confectioners (powdered) sugar

a tsp (tlk in Finnish abbreviation) of soy milk (or vanilla soy milk)

You can of course play with this, add cocoa powder, coloring, or follow a vegan butter cream recipe like this one, from CHOW.

I also made some of the cupcakes without cocoa, for those weirdos that don't like chocolate, and even a few cupcakes that I made with a vegan banana bread recipe. (I'll post that recipe in just a bit and add the link). 

That's me and Seyhan, making sure the crowd gets their fill. 
(Picture by Kevin Pollard)

Thai 'Son-in-Law' Eggs

I have been oggling this recipe for a while in my 'Travels with Thai Food'. The boiled eggs are fried in vegetable oil, halved, and topped with a garlic-y tamarind sauce that contains minced mock chicken. Fish sauce brings the flavors together.

This dish takes the name 'son-in-law eggs' because it is considered one of the few things an unskilled cook or husband could make on the spot if the in-laws visited unexpectedly.

Sauce
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/4 cup minced chicken (mock chicken in my case)
1 tbs tamarind concentrate plus 3/4 cup water
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs fish sauce
1 small yellow onion
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small red chilli
1/2 tbs ground coriander

Eggs
8 hardboiled eggs
vegetable oil for frying

1. Sautee onion, garlic, chilli, and coriander on high heat until golden.
2. Add the sugar and tamarind and turn the heat down to medium low to lightly caramelize, approximately 3 minutes.
3. Add the water, fish sauce and chicken (mock chicken does not need to be pre cooked, real chicken does)
4. Heat vegetable oil in a deep wok or pan to high. Drop in the hard boiled, peeled eggs, careful not to splash the oil. Allow to fry until deep golden on the outside. Remove with a slotted spoon. Cool on a paper towel.
5. Cut hardboiled eggs in half, spoon heated sauce mixture over top. Garnish with extra diced chilli if desired.

Individual 'Chicken' Potpies

Not that I can't always MAKE time to cook, but sometimes it's nice to have a good meal in a short amount of time without a mess, so you can just relax and do other things besides cook. (Like...?) Chicken pot pie is comfort food to me because of the buttery crust and the memories of fall and family and all the goodness inside.

I used a soy product and chicken and mushroom stock for the filling, along with an assortment of vegetables, and butter in the crust, so this recipe is unfortunately not vegan. But this recipe is still easily vegan-ized by using vegan margerine and alternative spices so don't turn the channel yet...

Once I made a batch of about 8 of these in individual, reusable muffin tins, I ate it for dinner for a night or two and froze the rest for an occassion that I wanted a hot lunch but no mess, or if I wanted to just take a bath while these suckers were in the oven.

Zucchini Bread

Now that I've been making the transition into a vegan diet, baking is posing a new challenge. Most of my friends will attest to the fact that I do not back down from a challenge. Learn Finnish? Bring it on. Learn German in Finnish? Ok, then. Make an entire buffet spread for my moving out party that is vegan and everyone will love? Done and done.

The menu of this particular party included homemade pita chips, a lentil and carrot curry dip, this zucchini bread adapted from Hell Yeah It's Vegan (I used less sugar but more oil), peanut butter and cocoa squares (I would have taken a picture if these weren't eaten so fast!), amongst other basics (veggies and fruit, etc).

Most people did not realize there was zucchini in this bread. People knew they liked it and kept asking me what it was, but were shocked to hear that there were vegetables inside. Something good for you? Ok, there is a lot of sugar in this recipe, so I won't go calling it 'health food', but it's a nice treat this time of year. Doesn't come close to my mom's zucchini bread (she makes dozens of mini loaves to give away every year and everyone loves it), but at least this version is vegan!

I still had quite a bit leftover, however, and ate the rest for breakfast with a little plain soy yogurt and fruit. But afterwards I got lots of ideas how to reuse leftover zucchini bread.... toasted with agave syrup drizzled ontop....layered in a cake..... with raisins....

Autumn Abundance Fiesta Pasta

Lately some really colorful seasonal vegetables have been abundantly harvested and affordable in larger quantities. I have been on a bell pepper kick right now, along with zucchini and tomatoes. With a little leftover pasta, I pan fried some red onion, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, whole, sliced carrots (leftover from the julienne vegetables of sushi making) chick peas and capers. I tossed all this together with a little olive oil, oregano, and red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and this really hit the spot. Fresh, a lot of nutrients from different vegetables, and filling. In this one-serving dish, I used a little leftover pasta from the night before, and it was just enough to fool me into thinking I was having a big meal, when most of what I was eating was vegetables. It didn't weigh me down at all and I felt great afterwards ;)

Sushi Ideas Revisited

I recently used up the rest of my sushi rice with the intention of feasting with friends after frisbee :) Well as it turns out there were lots of other fun things to do that night, a birthday party, a block party, etc etc, so we decided to postpone yet another feast night. Which means of course, that I have to use up the sushi rice and eat all the sushi by myself. How sad (zing!).

Since I'm also in a phase of transition into a vegan diet, I wanted to use up what I had left of the eggs (and I finally did this morning when I made migas, mmmm) and other non-vegan ingredients in my fridge. So I made some combinations of sushi fillings that were both vegan and me-gan. For more detailed instructions on making sushi, check out my original sushi post from my successful first attempt.

Some combinations:
egg omelet with cream cheese
carrot and tuna with mayo and wasabi
tofu and shitake mushroom
marinated and pan seared tofu and zucchini
bell peppers and zucchini

I liked the egg omelet and tuna the best (unfortunately they're not vegan), but I realized if I'm going to make vegan sushi, I'm going to have to do more with the marinating, or use some less conventional ingredients.

Ideas I was thinking of include:
asparagus
tempura vegetables
tempeh
bean sprouts

What else would you use?

Mac 'N' Cheese

So a planned fondue night never happened. Too many people out of town or sick or.... well it doesn't matter. But the fact is, that I had so much cheese in my fridge from a long over due 'fondue fundue' night, that I wanted to find a new way to use it.

After a long summer of over indulgence and laziness, debauchery, rowdiness, long nights out admiring the midnight sun, music, frisbess golf, beaching it, boozing it, too little exercise, excess in all the wrong places, basking in the unadulterated bliss that is living in a flat without roomates, without responsibility and basically reverting back to my freshman in college days (sans dorm living and video games), it is time that I say enough is enough.

The nights are cooling, and in mid-August in Helsinki, it is apparent that fall is soon upon us. In Helsinki that means, back to school, classes, student parties, more gigs for me at the Fair Center, rain, darkness, and did I mention, cold weather? Some of these aspects are fresh and exciting. The start of a new season means the start of a new impetus for change. Change in direction, change in possibilities, change in dress, change in seasonal foods (Brussels sprouts are coming soon!) and change in diet.

I've recently decided to try a vegan diet for some time. I won't be surprised if it doesn't last very long. I know this doesn't sound like I have a lot of faith and commitment to this, but the truth is that I've gone vegan several times and never with the intent on permanence. I believe in many facets of a vegan lifestyle and greatly admire those that choose to adhere to these rather strict principles, but I know myself well enough to know that this is just not something that ultimately fulfills my need to champion a cause. If I champion a cause it is in self discovery, and I've already discovered that the vegan thing doesn't stick to me very long.

However, I've chosen, and with that in mind, it's time to purge my refrigerator (also for my impending and dangerously close move). I won't throw food out just because of my recent decision. Worse than indulgence and excess is wastefulness, in my opinion. Cheese is something I love to indulge in. I love cheese of all kinds, smelly, sharp, soft, curded, peppered, holey... you name it. But let's face it, it's not exactly health food. It is, however, comfort food. And with that in mind, to ease the sense of failure after a fizzled fondue party, I indulged in some television and Mac N Cheese making.

2 cups dry macaroni or other small pasta (I used spirals)
1/3 cup butter
1 onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons of plain flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons of prepared yellow mustard
2 cups grated cheese (I used a 50/50 mixture of guyere and swiss, though many recipes suggest cheddar if it is available)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1.) Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente (this means 'slightly undercooked' for those of you not familiar with Italian ;) Drain and set aside.
2.) Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
3.) Stir in the flour gradually, mixing well.
4.) Take off the heat and stir in the milk gradually. Return to heat and stir as it thickens, several minutes.
5.) Lower the heat and stir in 3/4s of the cheese, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.
6.) Mix the pasta and cheese sauce well. Spoon into a buttered, oven safe dish. Top with remaining cheese and bread crumbs (I also sprinkled some paprika on)
7.) Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Bagel Favorites

I wanted to share some pictures of my favorite bagel topping combinations. As I am now making bagels all the time, I'm sure I'll be posting more of these bagel topping posts and I'd love to hear some feedback about your favorites as well :)

Sunflower seed bagel, hummus, lettuce, cucumber, tomato slices and bean sprouts.

Lox and shmear: kirjolohi, cream cheese, 1 slice tomato each, diced red onion, capers...

The Accidental Hedonist has a few notes on the perfect lox and capers bagel. He has an air of haughty, self-proclaimed expertise on this subject, especially when taste buds are rather subjective. But nevertheless, he provides some good culinary advice if trying this for the first time.

Pasta with Chantrelle, Thyme and Leek Cream Sauce

Chantrelles are abundant in Finland this time of the year. I'm visually attracted to these mushrooms for their yellow hue and trumpet shape. So pretty! But I also like the earthy taste they take on when cooked. Raw, they really do not have much taste at all. Some good parings with chantrelles are leeks, tomatoes, goat cheese, salmon, thyme and the list goes on. You can see a long list of recipe ideas for chantrelles here.

Pizza Dough

Better than delivery, making your own pizza is rewarding because it saves you money and you can personalize it as much as you want. Making the pizza dough is rather easy if you are familiar with making bread. Pizza dough flour is available rather easily, but regular flour would be just fine. To be honest I don't know what the difference with the pizza dough flour. But I've used both and never noticed the difference.

Sweet and Sour Pickled Vegetable Salad

I've long wanted to figure out the whole pickling deal. I don't know why it really took me so long. I guess it just sounded complicated. It sounded like a lot of mason jar sterilizing, large bubbling vats, and endless storage space (or friends to give this stuff away to). Friends I have, storage space and patience for mason jar sterlizing....? maybe not. BUT browsing through my terrific Thai cookbook I realized that many recipes call for pickled vegetables, and it's not hard to do in the slightest!

Different recipes also call for different types of pickling. The pickling I've done here requires a large amount of sugar, which is why the salad is called 'sweet and sour'. The sour comes from the rice wine vinegar. The flavor combination really works here. And it's another fun way to incorporate the ever healthy bean sprouts into a recipe.

This recipes makes about 2 large lunch meal salads, or 4 small side salads.

The prep time of this recipe is 2.5 hours, because of the time you will allow the vegetables to pickle in the brine. Besides that, the work involved will take you no more than 10 minutes.

Pickled vegetables:

1 carrot, julienne

1/2 cucumber, julienne

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

Salad:

1 cup Chinese cabbage, chopped

1 cup bean sprouts, washed

2 scallions, diced

1/2 large red chilli, sliced on the diagonal

2 tbs soy sauce

juice of 1 lime

2 tbs crushed peanuts or cashews

1.) Start by making the brine for the pickled vegetables. This requires that you boil the water, vinegar and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and cool the mixture.

2.) Pour the brine over the jullienne vegetables in a large jar or bowl and let marinate (or pickle) for at least 2 hours. I left mine in the fridge so they would be nice and cold with my salad.

3.) Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the salad ingredients.

4.) Drain the pickled vegetables, reserving the liquid. Add the vegetables to the salad.

5.) To make the dressing, add the soy sauce, lime juice and 1/4 cup (125ml/4 fl oz) of the pickling brine.

6.) Sprinkle with the nuts and serve.

Grilled Polenta with Blue Cheese Cream Sauce, Spinach and White Beans

The best polenta is made slowly over a double boiler, but if you're strapped for options and for time, most will never be able to tell the difference between instant and the slow cooked. While most recipes call for water and a little bit of parmesan cheese, I use vegetable broth and a 'lot bit' of parmesan cheese. If you don't have time to make polenta and let it cool before making this dish, you may skip the grilling of the polenta squares, and serve it soft on a plate, with the vegetables and sauce.

My favorite part of this recipe though is the sauce made of blue cheese and rosemary. This makes the dish rich and delicious and this recipe has made the ranks of my comfort food, up there with pizza, mac 'n cheese, and fried eggs :)

Serves: 4

Takes about 30-40 minutes (depending on the polenta cooling time)

1 cup instant polenta

4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup of grated parmesan

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic

100 grams, of fresh or frozen spinach

1 can northern or white beans, drained and  rinsed

5 ounces good quality blue cheese

1/2 cup cream

2 tsp rosemary

salt and pepper

olive oil

flour for dusting

1.) Start by making the polenta in advance, according to the directions on the type of polenta you've bought. Typically there is a 1:4 polenta to liquid ratio, and I like to get the broth boiling and slowly pour in the polenta whilst stirring. If possible, I also try to keep a lid partially on, because boiling polenta that hasn't thickened yet has a tendency to spatter.

2.) Once the polenta has thickened, spread it evenly onto a baking sheet, or in my case, a buttered cake tin.  Allow to cool in this shape so that it will be easier to cut, and later, grill.

3.) In a skillet, heat oil to medium and add the garlic and onions and fry until soft, which should only take a few minutes.

4.) Add the beans and the spinach. Or if using frozen spinach you can add that first and allow to thaw before adding the beans. Heat through, or until spinach has wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5.) Meanwhile, in another saucepan, crumble the cheese and add the cream and rosemary until cheese has melted. Season and remove from heat.

6.) With the polenta, cut squares or triangles and dip them into the flour, if you have semolina flour it's better because of the nice golden hue. Shake off the excess flour and grill the polenta in a small bit of olive oil until golden on either side.

7.) Serve the grilled polenta with the spinach and beans piled on and a generous portion of sauce.

I realize I haven't been labeling servings per recipe, nor cooking time. It's true that sometimes I make very small recipe versions, which renders only 2, or even 1 serving. I live alone and like to cook every day. (I also don't have a microwave, so reheating dishes often takes as much heating and energy as the initial cooking.) As much as I love leftovers, I don't love them the 3rd or 4th day, so I tend to reduce recipes to half. From now on, I'll do my best to make this more apparent!

Other things I realize I often do is switch between metric or European measurements and American measurements. Though I know think in terms of Celcius and kilometers, I still haven't figured out how the heck to cook with deciliters and grams, ounces, etc. Furthermore, I don't even own a measuring cup! My calculations are based on my Muumi coffee mugs, which I believe to hold about 3 deciliters (a little more than a cup) and that's what I 'measure' with. (don't be mad at me). Cooking is not a science, it is an art!

Stir Fried Garlic Bean Sprouts and Shrimp

I'm glad to have a few new ways to eat bean sprouts, other than in a salad and on a delicious hummus and sunflower seed bagel. This made a super easy side dish, but could also be paired with rice or egg noodles to make a main dish. If using pre-cooked shrimp, this is a fast and easy recipe that everyone will eat right up.

2 tbs vegetable oil
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 1/2 cups of cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp, if using large shrimp, you may want to coarsley chop them
1 1/2 cups of bean sprouts, washed and drained
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 large scallions, diced
1 tsp white pepper

1.) Heat the oil in a large wok or skillet. Add the garlic and fry briefly until golden.
2.) Add the shrimp and heat through or cook if the shrimp are still raw.
3.) Add the fish sauce, sugar, and scallions and cook for a few more minutes until the scallions are softened.
4.) Add the bean sprouts and white pepper, toss, remove from heat and serve immediately.

Kua Curry with Shrimp Dumplings and Pineapple

For a special lunch, this light spicy, sweet seafood dish is a treat. :)

The dumplings look harder than they are. And the sauce combines the red curry paste you've stashed in your fridge from last time, or bought premade so no sweat (until after the spices set in)

Dumplings

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tbs coriander

1 clove garlic

2 tsp ginger

200 grams white fish filets (I used siika, frozen)

1 cup cooked shrimp, peeled, and deveined (again, I used frozen mini shrimp)

1/4 coconut cream

1 egg

1 tbs fish sauce

Curry

3 tbs Red Curry Paste

1 cup coconut milk

2 tbs palm sugar (or regular sugar is fine)

2 tbs fish sauce

2 cups pineapple chunks

basil

4 Kaffir lime leaves

1.) For the dumplings, create a paste with all of the herbs and spices in a pestle and mortar.

2.) If using frozen fish, like me, lightly steam the fish for about 8 minutes until soften and then grind this also in the pestle and mortar. Remove any obvious bones first if possible.

3.) Do the same with the shrimp. First steam them if necessary, when cooked and peeled and ready, grind also in a pestle and mortar or chop finely.

4.) In a mixing bowl, mix fish, shrimp, spices, a small amount of coconut cream at a time, egg, and fish sauce. If this mixture does not hold together in a ball after held in your fist, add a little bit of flour to the mixture.

5.) Combined the curry ingredients  and simmer for 5 minutes until fragrant, saving the pineapple chunks and basil til the end.

6.) Add the dumplings gently adn cook thoroughly in the boiling curry sauce for about 10 minutes to ensure the fish is cooked through. Add the basil and pineapple.

7.) Serve with jasmine rise.

Stuffed Mushroom Salad

I had about 10 button mushrooms left in the fridge, a smidgen of pesto left, and I finally remembered this salad that I've been wanting to make for a long time. Usually salads are something I throw together at the last minute to accompany a meal, and this one requires slightly more thought, but it doesn't have to. In the original recipe, raw mushrooms were stuffed with pesto. In mine, I decided it might be nice to bake the mushrooms after being stuffed to let the oils and herbs marinate and soften the mushrooms. This serves 2 if you're working with leftovers, like me. Feel free to up the anti if you've got guests because this is a simple yet delicious and impressive salad.

10 buttom mushrooms

1/2 cup basil pesto

50 grams oakleaf or butter lettuce

50 grams arugula (rukola)

10 black olives, pitted and halved

about 5 or 6 large sundried tomatoes, diced

tablespoon of torn fresh basil

parmesan shavings (garnish)

2 tbs olive oil

2 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1.) Heat the oven to 170C. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms gently, leaving the caps intact. Spoon the pesto into the caps. Bake 15 minutes or until soft and brown. Let cool.

2.) Whisk together ingredients for the dressing. Set aside or in the fridge.

3.) Mix the lettuce and arugula on separate plates, top with the mushrooms, basil, olives, sundried tomatoes and parmesan.

4.) Drizzle the dressing to serve.

Vegetarian Reubens

Sloppy goodness! This is a delicious invention, born to the United States of Jewish (German or Lithuanian) immigrants. So shall I claim it as American or German or Lithuanian? Doesn't matter, but surprisingly this sandwich is not well known in Europe.

I made some rye bread for the purpose of these sandwiches, but that's about all I made by hand for this recipe. Otherwise, it's incredibly easy! Since this recipe omits the corned beef, you can double bulk up on the sauer kraut if you like. If you don't like sauer kraut, maybe you should try another one of my sandwhich recipes.

For one sandwhich:

2 slices of rye bread, dark rye or Jewish rye

1-2 slice(s) of Swiss or Edam cheese

4 tbs prepared sauer kraut

dill pickle slices

1 tbs mayo

1 tbs ketchup

butter for frying

1.) Pile the cheese, sauer kraut, pickles, and mayo and ketchup between the two slices of bread.

2.) Either with the bread buttered in advance, or some butter in a hot skillet, gently fry the sandwich on either side until it's golden and the cheese has melted.

3.) Enjoy. Simple as that. (Have a few napkins handy!)

Penang 'Duck' Curry

Another from 'Travels with Thai Food', I was so excited browsing this book looking for ways to use all these fresh green beans when I found this recipe and thought to myself, I have a can of mock duck in my pantry that I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use. This is it.

I used again a paste of Penang Red Curry Paste (the small tub I bought from the Asian market lasts a long time). This was so quick and easy but looked elegant and tasted divine. This serves 2 but it could have easily been increased by using more green beans and grapes (1 can of 'duck' is a lot for just 2 servings in the end- then again I'm not much of a 'meat' eater)

1 cup coconut milk

3 tbs red curry paste

2 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs sugar (or palm sugar if you have it)

1 can mock duck (or a whole Chinese roast duck, knock yourself out)

1 large fresh red chilli

1/4 cup crushed cashews

6 Kaffir lime leaves

250 grams green beans, trimmed and washed

basil

1/2 cup seedless red grapes, halved with stems removed

1.) Mix the coconut milk and curry paste in a wok or frying pan and heat on high.

2.) Add the fish sauce, lime leaves and sugar, cook for another few minutes.

3.) Add the duck, chilli and green beans and heat through.

4.) Add the grapes and basil just moments before serving. They are best not overcooked.

5.) Sprinkle the cashews over the duck and serve with jasmine rice.

Soft Pretzels

I love soft pretzels: at a baseball game, the movies, the mall, on a warm summers day, or any other of these special occasions that a soft pretzels invokes in my memories. They're good covered in sugar and cinnamon, rolled with raisins, sesame or poppyseeds, or jalopeno peppers, garlic, and a number of other 'flavors' that are now popularized by places like 'Auntie Annes'. But the real classic is just plain kosher salted.

And I like mine with plain yellow mustard on them, and later, with spicy dijon. I remember when being in Berlin's Weinachtmakt, trying the 'real thing' for the first time. When I kindly asked 'senf, bitte' (mustard, please?) the kioskee looked at me with a look of either language barrier confusion or just plain horror that I would adulterate such a pure and honest to goodness German basic with something meant for 'Weisswurst' with 'Kraut', not for 'Bretzeln'! It didn't matter, I paid for my Brezel and then walked from Kiosk to Kiosk looking for one that would loan me a squirt or two of mustard. When I finally took that first bite: euphoria.

What people usually don't realize about pretzels, is that the only 'real' pretzel is the 'Laugenbrezel', or the pretzel that's been given a bath in lye before being baked. It's said that the pretzel was invented this way by accident, when a baker dropped the pretzel into the bucket of lye water used for cleaning utensiles. In any case, I won't be using sodium hydroxide (lye) but rather sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) which is much more readily available :)

1 1/2 cups of warm water

1 tbs sugar

1 package active dry yeast (about 7g in packages in the US, but if you're buying packages in Europe they come in packages of 11 grams, so don't use the entire thing)

5 cups of flour (approximately, will depend on how absorbant your flour is)

half a stick of softened butter (2 ounces or 60 grams)

2 tsp kosher salt

5 cups of water

1/3 cup of baking soda

1 egg yolk beaten with a tbs water

vegetable oil or butter for greasing the pan

kosher salt for sprinkling (I used karkea suola)

1.) Combine water, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl and stir briefly. Let it stand for about 10 minutes to proof the yeast, or until the yeast is frothy.

2.) Add the butter and flour, slowly, half cup at a time until well incorporated and the dough pulls away from the bowl. The dough should be soft, but no longer sticky. Knead for about 5 minutes (I use my bare hands the good old fashioned way, but if you have a stand mixer the dough hook will save you the wrist action)

3.) Remove the dough from the bowl, clean out the bowl, lightly grease it with vegetable oil, and put the ball of dough back into the bowl and lightly cover it with a clean dish towel or plastic wrap. Allow it to rise to double its size in a warm place, about 50 minutes depending on how warm the place and how active the yeast)

4.) Preheat the oven to 230C (450F). Prepare the greased pans and start the 5 cups of water with the baking soda boiling on the stove.

5.) Cut the dough into 12 equal sized pieces. One by one, roll the pieces out like a snake on a well floured surface to about 2 feet (about half a meter). Taking the ends of the 'snake' pull the dough into a 'U' shape and then cross the ends over one another and press them into the bottom of the 'U' to get a traditional pretzel shape.

6.) One by one, drop the pretzels gently into the boiling soda water. They should be left for approximately 30 seconds each and removed with a large, flat spatula, preferably one with slotted holes to allow the water to drain off. Place boiled pretzels on to the greased baking sheets. You'll notice that the bagels grow in the boiling water. If you think this is too big or too small for your preferences, readjust the size of the preboiled pretzels accordingly.

7.) Brush the boiled pretzels with the egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the salt. Bake the pretzels for about 15 minutes or until a nice brown color has emerged.

8.) Cool about 5 minutes before eating (I know it'll be worth the wait).

'Chicken' Salad Sandwich

Chicken salad is something I've missed since being a vegetarian. I don't know why, particularly, because as a child, chicken was repetitive and mayo repulsive (in my humble 10 year old opinion). Maybe it brings back memories of summers spent with family and friends. In particular I remember a chicken salad recipe by the great D family that included red grapes. Since then the D's have introduced lots of novel ideas into the lives of many a grateful Marylander, and we're blessed to have them in our lives. At the time, however, such novel ideas about fruit in savory lunch salads was exotic.

And why do I have such vivid memories of one day in Bluff Point eating this salad? I think small food experiences like this, and many others along the way, have really expanded my appreciation for food. (The D's also make notoriously good wild rice, chocolate mousse, Irish soda bread, and brie with figs, mmmmm....) In any case, I had a craving, and ran out to get some soy substitute. The same brand that makes textured soy that resembles beef makes a white version that resembles chicken. Every chick gets to fake it every once in a while, right?

I don't have the original D family recipe here, but I deliver a recipe that worked well enough for me :)

2 cups dry 'soijasuikaleet'
2 cups chicken broth
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1/4 cup diced scallions, green parts included
3/4 cup mayonaise
1 tbs dijon mustard
2 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste
parsley, dill or tarragon (optional)
1/2 cup halved red grapes (optional but recommendable!)

1.) Boil the chicken broth, add the soy and stir, or continue boiling, until the water has been absorbed by the soy. Since textured soy brands vary quite often, I might even suggest adding the boiling hot broth slowly to the soy until the soy has absorbed as much liquid as possible (since some will have less absorbency than others). Since the soy I used comes in larger strips, after absorbing the hot liquid, I allow it to cool and then dice into smaller pieces for this.
2.) Add the rest of the ingredients and the soy 'chicken' in a bowl.
3.) Eat this by the spoonful or on a sandwhich, however you like.

Spicy Tofu

This is called spicy tofu for a reason, but the flavors of mushroom, celery, and garlic all come together perfectly. I hesitantly tried and modified this recipe from 'Simply Delicious Vegetarian' by Carla Bardi. This cookbook is not my favorite, but I bought it from the discount shelves of Barnes & Noble for $5 and figured I'd eventually give a few of these recipes a shot. Happy to have tried this one, though I reduced the liquids called for quite a bit and added mushroom soy sauce (which is thicker than regular soy sauce) for extra flavor.

1 floret of dried black flower mushroom, soaked for 15 minutes in hot water, drained, water reserved, and diced finely

1 block tofu, cubed

2 tbs peanut oil

2 stalks celery, finely diced

3 cloves garlic

2 red chilli peppers, sliced on the diagonal

1 vegetable bullion cube

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs mushroom soy sauce

1 tbs toasted sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tbs water

1 tsp cornstarch

ground pepper

1.) Dry fry the cubes of tofu in an un-oiled skillet, tossing gently every few minutes, for about 10 minutes, until the tofu is golden on all sides. This removes a lot of moisture and firms up the tofu for better texture.

2.) Meanwhile, soak the black mushrooms in hot water.

3.) Heat peanut and sesame oil in a skillet. Add the peppers, garlic and celery and cook for several minutes to soften.

4.) Add the soy sauce, mushroom soy sauce, half cup of the drained mushroom soaking water, vegetable bullion cube and sugar to the skillet and continue to stir.

5.) Add the tofu and mix well, adding water if needed.

6.) Mix the cold water and cornstarch together in a cup and mix slowly into the skillet, stirring constantly. This will thicken the mixture and give it a nice glazed look.

7.) Season with pepper and sprinkle with diced black mushrooms.

Serve with rice, bok choy, or other grains and vegetables for a complete and completely delicious meal.

Wilted Bok Choy with Cashews

This has got to be the fastest vegetable to cook besides, say, spinach or zucchini blossoms. Literally, I feel a little silly even writing up a 'recipe' for this delicious side dish because it's just that easy.

I use about a head of baby bok choy per serving. With a little bit of toasted sesame oil heating in a skillet, add the bok choy leaves, halved, to the oil. Dash about 1 tbs of soy sauce per head, a sprinkle or two of red pepper flakes and in moments, the bok choy is tender. Be careful not to over cook! Mushy bok choy is about as appetizing as soggy broccoli. Chop a handful of roasted cashews and sprinkle over bok choy just before serving. Enjoy!

Dry Red Curry of Tofu, Green Beens and Baby Corn

If you've got the pre-made curry sauce, this recipe is a no brainer. If not, see the recipe on Penang Duck for the list of ingredients.

2 tbs vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, diced

1 tbs ginger, diced

1 block of tofu, drained and cubed

large bunch of green beans, washed and trimmed

1 punnet of baby corn, quartered

2 tbs sugar

2 tbs fish sauce

handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

1.) Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet or wok on medium low temperature. Add the garlic and slowly fry until golden.
2.) Add the curry paste and stir until well combined. Add a few tbs of water if needed, as moisture will evaporate as it is cooked.
3.) Turn up the heat and add the tofu, and allow to cook for several minutes.
4.) Add the green beans, baby corn, fish sauce, and sugar, and stir fry for a few minutes longer.
5.) Add the basil right before serving.

Corn and Polenta Pancakes with Salsa Crudi

Incredibly easy to make, just like other pancakes really. This is a modified version from one of my favorite cookbooks 'Homestyle Vegetarian' by Murdoch Books. I usually make it for breakfast, but then I have something left over and will eat it again for lunch or dinner the next day. These pancakes stave off hunger for hours, so it's a perfect breakfast before a long bike ride or a hike, or just a long afternoon of shopping the fleamarkets. This recipe serves 4.

Salsa

2 tomatoes, diced

1 cup frozen soy beans, blanched

2 tbs chopped fresh basil

4'' piece of cucumber, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

1/2 tbs olive oil

Add all the ingredients of the salsa together and allow marinade itself in the juices, vinegar and oil.

Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 cup polenta

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup corn kernels, frozen or canned

olive oil (for frying)

1.) Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2.) Slowly mix in the milk until the batter is a thick but pour-able consistency.
3.) Add the corn kernels and mix well.
4.) Heat a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and pour about 2 tbs of the batter into the skillet per pancake. Depending on the size of the skillet, you can fry about 2-3 pancakes at a time.
5.) Flip the pancakes after about 2 minutes, or when the underside becomes golden brown. Cook another 2 minutes. Add olive oil when necessary, using all of the batter.

Veggie Burritos

I make burritos like this whenever I have a few tortilla shells and a few fresh bell peppers. The other ingredients are things I always have in the pantry: kidney beans, textured soy, beef bullion and spices. The recipe can be modified to what you have on hand, but I use 'Soya Rouhe' (or soy grains) to make a 'beefy' consistency.

1 cup textured soy

1 cup boiling water

1 cube beef bullion (lihaliemi)

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 tsb chilli powder (or more if you like it spicy)

1 tbs paprika (optional)

1/2 cup pre-cooked, drained beans (kidney or black beans work well)

4 flour tortilla shells

2-3 tbs tomato paste

white cheese, like Manchego or Jack (optional)

1.) Preheat the oven to 175C.

2.) Bring to a boil the water, add the buillion cube and dissolve. Add the soy and combine well. Allow the soy to soak and absorb all the water. Adding water or soy as needed until the consistency is like that of cooked ground beef.

3.) Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the peppers and some chopped garlic and onion if you like. Heat through until soft, but not brown. Add the spices.

4.) Add the vegetables, 1 tbs tomato paste and beans to the soy mixture. Mix well, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

5.) Roll 1/4 of the mixture into each tortilla shell and place in a greased casserole dish.

6.) Mix the remaining 2 tbs tomato paste with 2 tbs water and drizzle or brush the tops of the burritos with this sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese if using.

7.) Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes.

Serve with salsa and avocados, sweet potato hash, or anything else that you like. Remember, this can be modified and customized to your preferences. Sometimes I like to throw in some frozen corn, extra garlic, cilantro, or whatever extra stuff I have around.

Sweet Potato and Tofu Curry

I was excited about my new cookbook 'Travels with Thai Food' (Brierty & Fear, 2007) that it didn't matter that it was 11pm. I was hungry, I had ingredients in my fridge and inspiration. I was bored? No no, inspired, yes.  Anyway, cooking at night's always a problem for my photo taking, but too bad, because there wasn't going to be any leftovers to foto the next day. This was going straight in mah belleh! Mmmmmmm..... Spic-ay!

The recipes in 'Travels with Thai Food' include customized curries for each curry recipe, though I've found very little variation in many of the pastes that are used for the base of the curries. The basic ingredients for many of these pastes are (in varying proportions): chillies, galangal (have yet to find out what this really is), ginger, lemongrass, lime zest, coriander, onion, garlic, white pepper, cumin, and depending on the other ingredients, something like nutmet, basil, tamarind, keffir lime and so on.

So since using a pestle and mortar to grind up a paste, of which you end up using only a few table spoons for each curry, I bought a pre-made red Panang Thai curry from the Asian market and tweek it with a few of my own spices later if necessary. This saves me a lot of time. I know with the right technique, using a pestle and mortar isn't so laborious, but to me, it often feels like it.

Here I'll list the Red Curry Paste ingredients for anyone interested, but I do admit I took a rather big, and recommendable shortcut:
10 dried chillies, deseeded and soaked in water until soft
salt
1 tbs chopped galangal
2 tbs chopped lemongrass
1 tsp lime zest
2 coriander roots scraped
2 tbs chopped onion
4 tbs chopped garlic
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Curry
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 tbs vegetable oil
salt and pepper
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbs sugar (palm sugar if you have it)
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs finely diced ginger
half block of tofu, cubed (I dry mine out in a dry non stick skillet on low heat for 10 minutes before using)
basil
4 keffir lime leaves (I buy mine semi-dried and keep them in the fridge for weeks)
half red chilli, in slivers for garnish
1/4 cup cashews crushed for garnish

1.) Preheat the oven to 200C. Prepare the paste if you are making yourself.
2.) Toss the sweet potato in the salt pepper and olive oil and spread evenly on a lined baking sheet. Bake the sweet potato for abotu 45 minutes or until goldenbrown and soft.
3.) Combine the coconut milk and 3 tbs red paste in a hot skillet or wok and mix well. Add the sugar, soy sauce, ginger and tofu and begin to cook about 5 minutes.
4.) Bring the mixture to a boil and add the basil and lime leaves. Then add the sweet potato, toss and remove from heat.

5.) Serve garnished with the fresh chilli and cashews.

Buttermilk (Disco) Biscuits

These have got to be the most simple biscuits one can ever make. Also, some of the most delicious because of how buttery and soft they are. They're not yeasted, so there's no rising time involved. The only slightly 'work' part to it is rolling out the (slightly sticky) dough and cutting out the circles (with a cup, for example). But you don't even have to do that, you could just roll up balls and flatten them on the surface of your baking sheet.

Best part was that I made a ton and froze some unbaked. This I did by laying them flat on a baking sheet and putting the whole sheet in the freezer. When the unbaked biscuits were frozen, I took them off the sheet and bagged them and put them back in the freezer. (Bagging them before they're frozen will result in them all sticking together into one big biscuit)

Then, when you have a craving for the biscuits, just turn up the oven to 200C and pop them in there, still frozen. No need to preheat the oven. Just wait about 15 minutes and you'll have freshly baked biscuits without without any mess or prep. This is especially convenient for making a special breakfast. I used these when my family was in town the other week and whipped up some vegetarian gravy to pour over them. I also love to make eggs benedict when there's the occassion. I would never make the hollandaise sauce for myself, but with company it's soo nice. So I think the buttermilk biscuits are the best thing to serve eggs benedict on.

To the recipe finally?

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, chilled and cubed
1 cup buttermilk, chilled (in Finland this is known as Piima and is a common drink option in lunch cafeterias, as well as homemade beer and other milk)

1.) First mix the dry ingredients.
2.) Mix in the butter, with your hands if you like, it goes faster that way. Work fast so that the butter doesn't melt. Mix until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
3.) Into a small well in the center of the mixture, pour in the buttermilk and mix in just enough that the dough all holds together.
4.) Roll out onto a lightly floured surface into about 1'' thick.
5.) Using a wide cup or cutter, cut out rounds of about 3'' in diameter (or however big you want your biscuits, but remember they will rise quite a lot!) Re-roll and re-use the scrap dough and make as many biscuits as you can.
6.) Bake in a preheated oven 200C for 15-20 minutes (or freeze some if you like). They should be tall and golden by then.

Eggs Benedict

This is the favorite breakfast of someone very special to me. And once you've gotten the hang of it, it's not too difficult to whip it up. There is a certain technique to keeping the egg together, but I'll try to describe it as best as I can, and maybe one of these days I'll get around to a video post.

I think two eggs makes a reasonable serving for eggs benedict, and use three yolks to make the hollandaise sauce. The sauce is good for about two, so the poached eggs will be altogether 4 for two servings. If you're going to make the effort you might as well go all out. Heck, if you're having more guests you can easily make more servings, once you've got the set-up just right.

I especially love the Chesapeake version of this with fresh crabmeat and Old Bay on them, but alas it's not so available in Finland, so I'll do without. Next time I poach eggs I'd like to try to Eggs Florentine, but ok, enough eggs for now.

4 eggs

3 egg yolks (whites removed and reserved)

2 tbs white vinegar

a pinch of salt

3 tbs lemon juice

3 tbs butter

white pepper (optional)

Old Bay (optoinal)

parsley flakes (optional)

1.) Start a pot of water to boil, not filling it to the top. Add about 2 tablespoons (tbs) of white vinegar or lemon juice and salt to the water. Turn the boil down to a simmer. You'll want the water boiling ever so slightly, lest the bubbles disturb the lovely shape of the poached eggs.

2.) Start a second pot of water ready for a double boiler. Add the butter to the top bowl and melt over the double boiler.

2.) Separate the yolks of 3 eggs. You can reserve the whites for something else, freeze them. Sometimes I even poach just the whites and use the yolks for the hollandaise, to be ever so slightly more health conscious. But let's face it, one of the best things of a poached egg is the over easy yolk in the center.

3.) Then, crack one egg to start into a small dish, like a rammekin or a souffle cup.

4.) Make a small whirlpool with a slotted spoon in the simmering water. Bring the rammekin as close to the water as possible, and slide the egg into the water gently. The whirlpool effect of the water should keep the egg in a round shape. Allow the egg to simmer approximately 2 minutes. If there is room in the pot, it is possible to poach 2 eggs at one time, but be careful not to break the eggs while they are poaching.

5.) Meanwhile, add the egg yolks to the melted butter on the double boiler. Stir continuously until mixed. Add the lemon juice and seasonings, and continue stirring until the mixture thickens and the mixture becomes more opaque. If you stop stirring at some point, take the bowl off the double boiler to avoid the yolk hardening and making a lumpy hollandaise.

6.) After 2 minutes of poaching the egg, lift out of the water with a slotted spoon and allow as much water as possible to drain off of the egg.

7.) Serve poached eggs on toast or a butter milk biscuit and top with hollandaise sauce. This may also be good with slender asparagus stalks, fresh spinach, or a number of other ingredients.