Seeing Red...Hungarian Red

I've never really eaten Hungarian food before.  Not because I don't want to, but because I rarely come across anything that is Hungarian...or at least I'm not aware of it if I do.   So, when I came across the recipe in Appetite for Reduction for "Mushroom and Cannellini Paprikas," I decided that it was time to expand my horizons.

That and I kept hearing Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal saying "Paprikash" in that strange accent while they were shopping in a Sharper Image-esque store during "When Harry Met Sally."

Anyone remember that scene?

It really doesn't take much to encourage me to try a new food, obviously.

Anyways, I set out on my Hungarian kitchen pilgrimage and decided to go all out and follow Isa's directions, because, let's all be real here, she knows what she's doing when it comes to Vegan food.  And she recommended pairing the Paprikas with "Scarlet Barley."

If you've been keeping track with my blog, I rarely endeavor to make more than one dish/meal.   Mostly because this stresses me out and ups the likelihood that I spill or overseason or burn or *insert anything that could go wrong in a kitchen*.

There were a few issues with the barley, mostly including the grating of beets.  For those of you who have never done this feat, be forewarned that if you are near the scene of a crime when you are grating said beets, you will need quite a significant and reliable alibi, because I honestly looked like I had slaughtered a cow afterwards.

And I stained my white shirt.

Why I chose to wear a white shirt whilst grating beets is a whole other issue, but don't do it.

Anyways, the Mushroom and Cannellini Paprikas was pretty simple.  We used normal Paprika since I could not find smoked paprika and therefore threw in a little Liquid Smoke.  I also think we had a bad batch of mushrooms because the end result had a strange flavor.  

All in all, this was...interesting.  I'm not a huge dill person, so the superfluous usage of this herb may have been to blame, but I also felt like this dish needed something creamy.  Like sour cream?  Never EVER felt that way about anything before, so that was strange.  I think this may be an acquired taste, but it sure was colorful!

If any of you have a stellar Hungarian recipe that I need to try, please let me know, I'd love to dabble a bit more.

Here's the recipe for the "Mushroom and Cannellini Paprikas" from Appetite for Reduction:

1 small onion, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
Several pinches of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp fresh chopped thyme
1 (16 oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1. Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onions in liquid until lightly browned, about 7 minutes (since we're on E2 still, we used broth or water). Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, pepper and salt, cook until lots of moisture has been released, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the wine, broth, smoked paprika, and thyme. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a low boil. Boil for about 3 minutes. Lower the heat and add the beans. Cook to heat through, about 5 more minutes. Use a strong fork to lightly mash some of the beans, to thicken the sauce. Taste for salt and serve.

And here's the recipe for "Scarlet Barley" also from AFR:

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 beet, grated
Juice of half of lemon
Fresh dill for garnish (optional)
 


Directions:

1. Preheat a pot over medium heat. Saute the garlic in a liquid for about 1 minute (since we're on E2 still, we use broth or water). Add several pinches of pepper and the bay leaf. Add the barley and broth, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir and lower the heat to low. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. When most of the broth has absorbed, mix in the grated beet. Cook for another 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you need to add a little more liquid, feel free to so the barley doesn’t stick to the pan. It will soak in while continuing to cook, don’t worry.
3. After about 45 minutes of cooking, turn off the heat and mix in the lemon juice. Taste for salt and season as desired. Cover and let sit for another 10 minutes.
4. Remove bay leave and serve. Garnish with fresh dill.

Frozen veggies=fast dinner.

I generally avoid the frozen food section. Except for instances like this. Frozen fruits and veggies especially make me nervous. Idunno. Something deep within me starts to bristle at the idea of freezing these nutritious things and I think to myself "They couldn't possibly still be healthy/taste good/have been good in the first place..."

I assume hope I'm wrong, but I've yet to see any real concrete evidence that frozen veggies are as good for you as fresh ones.

But I was rushed last week.

And the idea of buying a pack of pre-cut mixed Asian veggies was really too good to pass up.

So I bought a frozen Asian veggie mixed bag.

This meal took about 10 minutes (not including rice cooking time - I used long-grain brown rice...Matt loathes this rice). This was a life saver for me this past week from hell, but I'm not sure I'll try it again. I like peanut sauce, but this was too sweet. I had to load on the Rooster Sauce to try and combat it. I did however like how many different kinds of vegetables I was able to eat in this one meal.

Here's a pic of it all cooking up.

And here's a pic of the finished product:

Here's the recipe from Supermarket Vegan.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon low sodium soy or tamari sauce
1/2 tablespooon cornstarch
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch, or more, cayenne pepper (optional)...we used a lot more than a pinch
1/2 tablespoon peanut oil
1/2 tablespoon toasted (dark) sesame oil
1 16-ounce bag frozen Asian-style mixed vegetables, slightly undercooked
according to package directions, drained
3 cups hot cooked white or brown rice

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together the water, peanut butter, soy sauce, cornstarch, garlic, ginger, and cayenne (if using) until thoroughly blended; set aside.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat both the oils over medium-high heat. Add the mixed vegetables and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the peanut butter mixture. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Serve at once, over the rice.

I finally cooked with tofu chunks.

Just like the title said, I decided to try a recipe that highlighted tofu as the main character. In order to do this though, I needed to make sure the flavors in the dish were incredibly strong because the texture of tofu sort of gives me the willies.

During one of my 30 second wanderings in the grocery store (I follow a list for like 95% of the trip, then give myself a few short spurts to wander and see if anything calls out to me), I decided to buy some Thai Cock Sauce. I love spicy and this sauce is like, one of the best spicy sauces ever, and I wanted to make a Thai dish...so there. I had like 500 reason to buy it, right? Quick question though: is that Cock Sauce (is that the real name??) the same as Thai red curry paste? I assumed it was...

And then I decided to make "Spicy Thai Tofu Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil" from Supermarket Vegan.

We had a few meltdowns with this one.

Matt put the tofu in the freezer.

Now I know that there is a way to defrost tofu that is even better than squeezing out all the liquid, but I couldn't remember what that was. So day after day I kept forgetting to take it out of the freezer. When I did, it took 48 hours for it to thaw in the fridge. Then I put it out on the counter for like 5 hours and there were STILL ice chunks. Not going to freeze it next time.

Also, I was lazy and bought the pre chunkified tofu. This probably cost $.50 more, but in reality made my life more difficult because it's more complicated to squeeze liquid from a whole bunch of chunks than from just one chunk.

This probably makes no sense.

I'm still sick.

The tofu was one thing, but the other thing was that I was missing key ingredients for this recipe. I didn't have any cilantro. I also didn't have any bean sprouts. Therefore, the only thing produced from this recipe was flavored tofu chunks. And not many at that. So I had to scramble and ended up making whole wheat Jasmine Rice (not as good as regular Jasmine Rice, if you were wondering...) and serving the tofu on top of that.

All in all, the sauce was awesome. This didn't make enough food. Tofu is still not my favorite texture.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 pound extra-firm tofu, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
Juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste, or to taste
4 to 6 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Bean sprouts (optional)

Directions

Place the tofu on a deep-sided plate or shallow bowl. Top with a second plate and weight with a heavy can. Let stand a minimum of 15 minutes (preferably 1 hour). Drain excess water. Cut the tofu into 3/4-inch cubes and season with salt and pepper.

In a wok or a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook, stirring often, until crispy and golden, 5 to 7 minutes, adding the garlic the last minute or so of cooking. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, stir together the lime juice, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, brown sugar, curry paste, salt, and pepper. Let stand a few minutes to allow the sugar to dissolve. Stir in the scallions and let stand another few minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Add the warm tofu mixture and toss well to combine. Let cool to room temperature. Add the remaining ingredients, except the bean sprouts, and toss well to combine. Serve at room temperature over the bean sprouts (if using), or cover and refrigerate a minumum of 2 hours or up to 1 day and serve chilled, or return to room temperature.

The Spinach is WILTY!

As I was planning my grocery list last week, I realized that I was cooking a lot of dishes that had the main event be a starch - like a pasta or rice dish. I've never really been a big fan of salads and I don't generally tend to like to have the GREEN part of the meal be the focus, but due to budget issues and a little nostalgia for the South, I decided to try this recipe from Donna Klein's "Supermarket Vegan" cookbook.

The recipe was titled "Southern-Style Wilted Spinach with Peanuts over Brown Rice."

This.was.a.maz.ing.

Seriously.

I don't think I've ever cooked anything so delicious before. Everyone must go home and try this.

Here's what I did wrong:
-I put the rice in water and started to heat it up, but then realized I needed to head out to yoga, so I then turned the stove off and left the rice in the water for oh...about 2 hours. When I got back from yoga, I started cooking the rice and probably didn't let it cook long enough because I was starving.
-The jalapeno was seriously hot this time, but that may be because the seeds were not ommitted. Still good. But if you DON'T like things makeyousweatspicy, maybe take out the seeds or only use half.

Verdict: I may start making this every week. I could not get enough. MAKE IT NOW!

Southern-Style Wilted Spinach with Peanuts over Brown Rice
-Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1/4 cup salted peanuts, chopped
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 jalapeno chili, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 (10-ounce) bag fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (optional)
3 cups hot cooked brown rice

Directions:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the peanuts and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly toasted and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately remove peanuts from the skillet and transfer to a small holding plate; set aside.

Add the oil, onion, and chili to the skillet; cook over medium heat, stirring, until the vegetables are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add the broth, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and half the spinach; cook, tossing often with a wide spatula, 1 minute. Add the remaining spinach and cook, tossing often, until spinach is just wilted, 1 to 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and add the cherry tomatoes (if using) and half the reserved peanuts, tossing well to combine. Serve at once, over the rice, sprinkled evenly with the remaining peanuts.


Make this. now.

Wok n Woll Wednesday...I'm embarassed by that pun.

I think Wednesdays suck. That might be because I'm a glass half empty kind of gal, but really Wednesday is not halfway to the weekend, it's only halfway through the week. One way I've been learning to deal with this most terrible of days (only second to Tuesdays, they are even worse than Mondays), is to institute a WOK WEDNESDAY!

Image credit: Google Image search


I love my wok. I'm not sure I'm using it to its fullest capabilities, but it's a nice way to change up the cooking routine. I found my wok at a yard sale in Alabama and believe I paid $3.00 for it. Funny thing is, there were about 5 other woks that were up for grabs at the sale. This leads me to conclude one of two things 1) woks are useless or 2) the world doesn't know how to wok. I'm going to go with 2 (myself included). I might invest in a how-to book in terms of my wok because at this point, all I cook in it is fried rice. But man that fried rice is good...

A great thing about fried rice is that it basically allows you to empty out your refrigerator of any leftovers. When Wednesday hits, I'm pretty much through my cooking for the week so this allows me to use up those leftover tidbits (did someone say leftover asparagus bottoms?).

Now, I have to warn you. I don't usually work from nothing when I cook. I'm a rule follower, I like recipes (even though I have a hard time following them). Fried rice is the one exception (that and Matt claims authority in the fried rice department).

I started off cooking some brown rice (about 1 1/4 cup uncooked) and put it in 2 cups of boiling water that had been salted and jazzed up with a little Earth Balance (I'd say about a teaspoon). After the rice had cooked for about 45 minutes, the fun began.

Start by putting a little oil (olive for those of us who aren't so classy, grapeseed or oil of a worm that was in love with a fruit ihavenoideawhyoilissocomplicated) in the bottom of a decently smoking hot wok. Then add your veggies. Yesterday, we used asparagus, broccoli, onion, garlic, tomato, celery, green onions, serrano pepper...I am sure I'm leaving something out. Some authorities say you need to add everything separately, paying special attention to the veggies that take longer to cook, but we are rebels, so we put it all in at one time. Then when everything is just about cooked, you add the rice. Now for the most important part: seasoning. I loves me some terriyaki sauce so I always use a healthy dose of that stuff (along with cilantro, cayenne pepper, seasoning salt, and soy...it was a leeeetle bit too salty yesterday), but really you can add anything you want.

I really love water chesnuts and wish they had been in the cupboard, but alas, there was none.

So, here's the finished product. Ignore the GIGANTIC fork in the background. No, I don't eat with it, that's how I get the cover of my pot off when it's hot because it's broken. What can I say, innovation is a gift...

Anyone out there have some other great recipes that utilize a wok?