chile rellenos

one of my all time favourite foods. i actually did most of the work last night with grilling and peeling the chiles, but didn't feel like frying. so i left them in the freezer for tonight, which is a great trick for making chile rellenos anyway. even if you're planning on eating the chiles that night, throw them in the freezer for twenty minutes after stuffing. they hold their shape much better and are much easier to work with when battering and frying. it takes a lot of the pressure off when making that surgical incision to deseed the peppers as you can cover up any mangling. here's the play by play for assembly:blacken chiles over flame. i used a grill topper on my range, i used to use a steamer basket or you can just put them right on there, or you can use a barbeque, or broil them. after they're completely blackened put them into a paper bag to steam out of their skins. this makes me think of how the rhino got his skin, i wonder if the peppers are itchy?
after about 10 minutes (or longer) take out the peppers and peel off their skin. then make a small incision on the side near the top and carefully scoop out the seeds (the one on the right is perfect, the one on the left suffered overmuch, but this will be fixed by our freezing trick). you can trickle some water into the incision to get all the seeds out.
stuff the chiles with whatever you like (i like just cheese) then close up the incision and wrap in plastic wrap to keep them closed. throw them in the freezer for 20 minutes before cooking. if you're going leave them there longer you'll need to defrost them a bit before battering and frying. some people recommend closing them up with a wooden skewer threaded through but this always ends up mangling the pepper more when i do it.
the batter is deliciously simple. you take an egg. you separate it. you beat up the white (to stiff peaks), then you beat up the yoke (with a little salt, pepper, cayenne), then you beat them back together, done! dip the peppers in flour, then in the batter, then in hot oil. fry until golden brown on all sides. everything else was leftovers.

farmer's market haul

wowza. i've never been to the evanston farmer's market before. it was awesome. almost as big as the green city market with amazing selection. also, it's amazing the difference a week makes with what's available. i picked up some thyme (with flowers, so cute), tarragon, catnip, strawberries, kohlrabi, onions, carrots, beets, daikon, bok choy, and morels! i've never seen morels at a market before. $48 a pound sounds like a lot, but they weigh next to nothing - that's five bucks worth in the picture.

sopes

little corn masa boats. filled here with caramelized peppers and onions, a sort of pickled cole slaw, tomato, and avocado. refried beans on the side. very yummy. i love south american food for all the toppings. i love toppings. people ask me all the time what's the deal with fake burgers. why eat a fake burger if you don't like to eat meat? i say it has very little to do with the burger, it's all about the toppings.
the pickled cabage salad is an el salvodorean dish called curtido de repollo. i got the recipe from the international vegetarian union. the recipe makes a lot, though. i have two pint mason jars of the stuff now. i used napa cabbage cause it was in my fridge, and yes i am finally running out of fresh veg, but i think i can catch the evanston farmer's market if i get off my butt in the next 15 minutes.
for the sopes:
reconstitute instant masa powder (most common brand i see everywhere is maseca) with appropriate amount of water (back of package). i like rick bayless' take from mexico one plate at a time, to cut in a little wheat flour (not much, small handful ~3 tbs. for the 1 cup of masa i used) and baking powder (~ 1 tsp.) he also says the dough should be the consistency of soft cookie dough. take a small ball of the dough, flatten it, and pinch up the sides. fry in oil until golden brown. add toppings!
the peppers and onions were just sliced into strips and fried in oil with a chopped and soaked pasilla pepper (i had no fresh chiles) and cumin seed ground coarsely in a mortar.
the beans were out of a can, but i added onion, garlic, and chipotle.
i think i will use up all leftovers tonight and make chile rellenos, my favourite.

mapo tofu

i dropped my camera on the floor last night while cooking so i have no final picture (that's why they have wrist straps i guess). instead here's someone who really loves her veggies.
on to mapo tofu: this dish was definitely different from the typical stir fry that i make. i looked around for a bunch of recipes online and picked and chose aspects from a couple of them to make something that sounded good to me. i went to my local asian grocery to find doubanjiang, or chinese broad bean chile paste, and then to my favourite store, the spice house, for szechwan peppercorns. the grocery had a japanese version of the chile paste which had soybeans as well as broad beans; close enough for a first time i think, and i didn't feel like trekking out to the super h mart (super asian mega mart).
a couple things that interested me about the recipe: silken tofu? i had no idea it was made with soft tofu until i'd read five or ten recipes. normally i like my tofu extra firm - pressed, seasoned, and baked so it's nice and chewy. i compromised by using the firm (not extra firm) tofu and not pressing it. also, a couple of recipes recommended par-boiling the tofu - more curiousness, but it did firm it up quite a bit. lastly, szechwan peppercorns were illegal to import from 1968-2005. i assumed this was for illicit reasons until i read that it was just some crop disease... the department of agriculture takes the fun out of everything. anyway, here's what i used:

• 1 19 oz. package firm tofu cut into 1 in. cubes
• 3 tbs. szechwan peppercorns, separated
• 1 cup morningstar crumbles (or any fake meat), optional
• 2 dried thai red chiles, seeds discarded, minced fine
  
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger, minced fine
• 2 tbs. soy sauce
• 1 tbs. black bean garlic sauce
• 3 tbs. doubanjiang
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup rice wine
• slurry made up of 2 tsp. corn starch and 2 tbs. water
• enough oil to stir fry
• 1 scallion, sliced, to garnish

boil enough water to submerge the tofu and par-boil for five minutes, remove and drain. over high heat in a dry wok toast 2 tbs. szechwan peppercorns. remove and grind fine in a mortar. add enough oil to coat wok and remaining peppercorns. cook until hissing and popping, remove and discard. add fake meat if using (be careful, oil may spatter) and dry chiles; fry about a minute, add ginger and toss and stir until very fragrant. add black bean sauce, doubanjiang, and soy sauce. stir fry for 30 seconds, then add wine, water and tofu. stir well, reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. add slurry, stir until thickened and garnish with scallion and ground szechwan peppercorns. serve with white rice.
not nearly as spicy as i anticipated, but my fire burns hot. nice lasting heat with a very interesting flavour. no tortoises were harmed in the making of this recipe.

bachelor chow

risotto to me is the ultimate bachelor food: one pot, rice, cheese, and you just have to stand there and cook it. all would be complete if the risotto was eaten right out of the pot with the spoon used to stir it, but i did manage some small trappings of domestication. this was about middle of the road tastewise; the rice was cooked right, and that's most of it, otherwise just emptying the fridge out.
on a different note, i'm excited about chinese food now. i've been reading a bit online and flipping through madhur jaffrey's world of the east vegetarian cooking which is a pan-asian cornucopia of really interesting recipes. they're not organized by origin, but the recipes all seem very authentic, that is not oversimplified for a western audience. online i found a couple of pages describing the techniques of szechwan cuisine, and i really like the idea of dry-braising and dry-stewing which is, if i understand it right, to cook something in liquid over high heat letting the liquid burn away completely, or concentrate down to a sauce. so i've got some mung beans sprouting, and my quest for today is to find some broad bean chili paste and szechwan peppercorns. i really want to try and make mapo dofu, or 'pock-marked lady's bean curd.'

behold my ignorance

and the eight great traditions of chinese cuisine.

asparagus stir fry

i'm hit and miss with chinese food. you can cut up pretty much any assortment of vegetables and throw them in a wok, but for anyone who's ever seen the opening scene of eat, drink, man, woman (warning: very not vegetarian if you're squeamish) or watched iron chef chinese chen kenichi cook knows there's some serious art and technique behind chinese cookery.
problem is, every chinese restaurant i've been to in chicago has the same menu: fried rice, egg foo yung, etc. it's not bad food, just all the same, plus the nagging suspicion that there might be fish sauce in everything.
it is my goal for the day to learn more about the different cuisines within china (szechwan v. cantonese, are there more?)
for me, this dish turned out pretty good. i have black bean sauce and kung pao sauce and even a vegetarian oyster sauce i got from food fight vegan grocery (it's made from mushrooms), but they're all a bit overpowering. instead, i made the sauce with the reserved soaking liquid from the mushrooms reduced down with corn starch added. pretty tasty with chile sauce and rice. a combination of white and green asparagus would have been much more attractive, but this is what i had in the fridge.

• 2 small carrots, cut on the bias
• 1 large celery stalk, cut on the bias
• 2 scallions, cut on the bias, white and green parts separated
• 6 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 2o min. and sliced (removing the woody core), liquid reserved
• 6 asparagus spears, cut into 1 in. pieces, tips separated
• thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 small green chiles, sliced thin
• 1-2 tbs. light oil (peanut/canola/vegetable)
• 1 tbs corn starch
• 1-2 tbs soy sauce to taste
  
• cilantro for garnish

first, put the reserved soaking liquid from the mushrooms on the stove to reduce. when you have about a half cup, let it cool, and when it's body temp or less add the corn starch, whisk and set aside. get a wok on full whack (heh) and when it's smoking away add the oil, then the white part of the scallions, the carrots, celery, and chiles. stir and toss vigorously for about a minute, then add asparagus stems and the mushrooms. stir and toss for another minute, then add the ginger, garlic, and asparagus tips. stir and toss for about thirty seconds until very fragrant, then add soy sauce, toss, then add mushroom liquor/corn starch mixture and toss to coat. the liquid should thicken immediately and you should be left with just a little bit of sauce clinging to all the veg. kill the heat and sprinkle in the green part of the scallions. serve with white rice and garnish with cilantro. i was cooking for one again, but had leftovers.