Main Dish Sauté - Thanksgiving 2017

This is what we enjoyed today as a main dish for our Thanksgiving meal. Everyone really liked it. I'm sorry to say I don't have exact measurements to give you, but I will try my best to tell you what went into the dish. This is one of those check-the-pantry-and-see-what-you-end-up-with dishes. Turned out wonderfully!

Thanksgiving Main Dish Sauté

Mix the following together in a bowl: 

about 2 cups cooked Kidney Beans, rinsed & drained, mashed some (or another dark bean)

1 can young Jackfruit in salty brine, drained & mashed

about 10 dried Shiitake Mushrooms, rehydrated in hot water, drained & chopped                  

    (save broth from soaking mushrooms for this recipe later)

about 10 halves Sun-Dried Tomatoes, rehydrated in hot water, drained & chopped

about 1/4 cup Gari (fermented cassava root, dried & granulated), or 1/4 cup rolled oats

about 1 Tablespoon Tamari/Soy Sauce 

1 teaspoon Porcini Mushroom powder (can be optional)

about 2 Tablespoons Dried Minced Onion

2 Tablespoons coconut oil (or similar)

2 cloves garlic, minced
(about 1/2 teaspoon sage would be lovely here, but I was out! )

Add in as much broth from the shiitake mushrooms as you need to make it somewhat dry, but still moist, as if you could make burgers/patties from it. If it's too dry, use a vegetable broth or water (be careful not to make this dish too salty). If it's too wet, opt to use more oats (or even breadcrumbs if not gluten free, or another starchy food that soaks up liquid). 

To a large skillet, add coconut oil, on medium heat. Add in garlic, minced. Sauté for a couple of minutes, then add the bean mixture to the pan and heat through, turning frequently, about 10 minutes until hot. 

Since we ate this a few hours later, I let the mixture cool and then put it into a loaf pan and refrigerated it until we went to my parent's home. I then reheated it in their oven while other things were baking. I didn't try to get it out in one loaf. Instead we spooned it onto our plates from the baking pan. 

Our menu for today's meal:

Vegan Main Dish Sauté (recipe above)

Homegrown creamed corn, baked

Shelled edamame 

Roasted garlic (one whole bulb per person!)

Roasted Roots (potatoes, onions, carrots), my chef son's specialty dish

Pumpkin spice cake with black walnuts

Spicy Peanut-Free Sauce for Tofu, Pasta or Potatoes

This is a sauce recipe that I've used for quite a few meals. Mostly I've used it for a pasta and tofu dish similar to a much loved dish Pad Thai.

This makes a peanut-free version using almonds. But I have sometimes been short of the amount of almonds I need, so the recipe below shows the variation I used today. You can use mostly almonds and then make up the difference with other nuts or seeds. No big deal.

(By all means, if you use peanuts/peanut butter in your home, feel free to go ahead and use that instead. The recipe will still be delicious. Whatever nut or seed butter you use, please use unsalted varieties without other added ingredients. I like using whole nuts and seeds for a fresh, more raw sauce.)

If you have some tofu, bell pepper, some pasta, maybe some snow peas, you can make a great meal with this. The tofu can be cubed, then baked or broiled.

This recipe makes enough to dress a pound of pasta with veggies, etc on the side.

Spicy Peanut-Free Sauce

2/3 cup whole raw almonds OR 1/3 cup almond butter, unsalted (or other nut/seed butter)      
(I used a combination of almonds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds)
2 Tablespoons brown rice syrup (or 1 1/2 Tablespoon maple syrup)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce (can be soy-free with coconut aminos instead)
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar (can use apple cider vinegar)
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 Tablespoon tahini or sesame seeds
1 fresh garlic clove or 1/2 teaspoon dried granulated garlic
1 Tablespoon fresh minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon chili paste (or a mildly spicy curry paste) OR 1/4 teaspoon or less crushed red pepper
2 Tablespoons water, pasta water or vegetable broth

Throw this all into a good blender. Blend until smooth, only takes a couple of minutes. After you take this out of the blender, place the sauce into a bowl, then rinse the blender with about 1/4 cup of water and add it to the sauce. Don't forget this step! Otherwise it will be way too salty and extra thick. Mix together in bowl. Now it's ready to add to a pasta or potatoes or just about anything. You can even use it as a dip. This may taste a little salty on its own, but after you put it on pasta, etc, it should even out.
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Sweet Garlic Soy Sauce

I cannot take credit for this. I have had this recipe for a long time and do not know where it came from. If anyone knows of the original inventor of this recipe, please let me know. It is so good!

Sweet Garlic Soy Sauce

Whisk together in a small saucepan:
2 tablespoons arrowroot
1/4 cup water

Then add:
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup shiitake mushroom broth* or water

Put on stove to heat until boiling, keeping a close watch. Then simmer, stirring occasionally until mixture thickens.

Stir in:
1 clove garlic, crushed first, then minced

Turn off heat and let thicken further. Serve any temperature. Can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator in a glass jar. Goes well with nori rolls and spring rolls.

*Note: I routinely rehydrate shiitake mushrooms when I make spring rolls or nori rolls, so I often have this broth freshly made. One time I decided to use it for this and it added so much flavor that I kept it in the recipe.

Marinated Tofu

This is an old recipe I've had around for awhile. Someone recently asked me about it and I realized I'd never posted it here. You will need to use water packed tofu for this, as silken does not work well in this kind of recipe. Silken tofu works better in sauces and blended recipes.

For those of you who have been longtime readers of this blog, you will remember my "Making Tofu in an African Village" blog post.* This is the kind of tofu that is used in this recipe. You will find it in your grocery store packed in water in rectangular tubs. Simply drain and rinse, then slice or cube for this recipe.

This dish can be made as a marinade, in the sense that you prepare your tofu ahead of time and soak it in the marinade ingredients, then cook later. Or it can be done quickly right in the pan. Either way, the trick is to watch your pan closely toward the end of cooking so as not to burn it, as you carefully reduce the liquid until it is evaporated, but still leaves all the flavor and seasoning in the tofu.

Another way to possibly improve the flavor, would be to try another method. You could marinate the tofu, after freezing overnight and thawing the tofu separately. This method tends to get good results, as the tofu can further soak up the marinade this way. This applies to other dishes as well. Tofu will be more chewy and "meaty" this way.

Marinated Tofu

1/4 cup soy sauce (or tamari, or nama shoyu or liquid aminos)
1/2 cup water (or more to cover to marinate)
1 clove garlic, minced (or about 1/4 teaspoon dried garlic, or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely minced (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)

1 pound water-packed tofu, extra firm & non-gmo preferred, sliced or cubed
Optional: 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

Combine marinade ingredients (all except the tofu). Marinate tofu for a few hours or more. Or you can simply put the ingredients directly in a large skillet on the stove top and cook on a simmer, until all the liquid has evaporated, watching closely so as not to burn. Or you can broil the tofu in the oven, flipping over part way into cooking, until "golden."

I tend to make this recipe minus the optional mushrooms, and on the stove top the quick way. My preferred cut is to slice them a bit on the thick side, so they'll stay together better. I use a metal spatula to turn them if needed. Serve on a sandwich (can use instead of tempeh on Reuben sandwiches), over brown rice, chopped into a stir fry, or in spring rolls, sushi, etc. The ideas are limitless! Yummy by itself as a "steak" along with the rest of your meal. Our children love this. =)

Optional: A great idea is to saute up some sliced onions in a bit of oil (I use a little coconut oil) before or after cooking the tofu in the same skillet. No need to rinse the pan between.

*- I just realized I've been writing this blog for more than 5 years. How cool is that? And yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! Here's to another 20 years, Honey!

Lasagna Bake

I've been trying some gluten free products lately. Some good, some ok and some I should stay away from if I'm going to continue my emphasis on whole foods and avoid overly processed foods.

Recently I tried some wide noodles made from potato. This was my first try at cooking these and I decided to try them using a recipe on the back. I've also been using some tofu again now and then. Seeing as how I needed to make it vegan (it called for cheese and eggs), I made some changes.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. It's made like the no-boil recipes for lasagna. You might be able to substitute other gluten-free noodles for this recipe, although you'll have to experiment and find what works for you. Please read the recipe thoroughly before gathering all your ingredients.

"Tastes Like Lasagna" Bake

1 recipe "stedda ricotta"
1 Tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tablespoons water
1-10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 cups tomato sauce (like spaghetti sauce)
1-9 oz. package gluten-free wide potato noodles
1/2 cup water

In a bowl mix together the "stedda ricotta", ground flax seed (already mixed with water), spinach, oregano, salt and pepper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

At this point have all of your ingredients ready. You should have the spinach/"ricotta" mix (divided in half), nutritional yeast, tomato sauce (divided in half), dry noodles (also divided in half), and 1/2 cup water ready. I used a 9"x 13" pan, you can use a smaller pan for a taller finished product if you like. Oil your pan now (I used coconut oil and a little olive oil together).

Layer in this fashion, spreading evenly after each addition:
1/2 spinach/"ricotta" mix
1/2 dry noodles
1/2 tomato sauce
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 spinach/"ricotta" mix
1/2 dry noodles
1/2 tomato sauce
Pour the 1/2 cup water around the edges.

The recipe says to cover tightly with foil. Since I don't use foil, I covered it with a cookie sheet instead. Bake for one hour or until bubbly. Let stand for a few minutes before cutting.

Enjoy. Pass the crushed red pepper, please! =)

Miso Soup

Sometimes when I want something light and warm I think of miso soup. Since I don't use bouillon, but I like brothy type soups, this hits the spot.  Remember that for each serving, you'll need to multiply accordingly (ex: 4 servings for 4 people = 4 times recipe).

Wakame is a sea vegetable sold in dried form. Scallions are also called green onions. Try adding any or all of the following: finely shredded carrots, minced celery, finely sliced cabbage, or sliced shiitake mushrooms. I skip the tofu. I tend to use more water than called for and may soak the wakame in another bowl. Children love to watch it "bloom."

I like the American Miso Company Miso Master brand of miso. They use only organic ingredients. I usually have one dark (saltier) and one light (sweeter) in my fridge. When I made this soup I used the red miso. This is their recipe from the insert inside the container. Look around on their website for more recipes that use miso, sea vegetables, and other Japanese items.

Miso Soup

For each serving, simmer:
1/2 teaspoon chopped scallion
1/2 teaspoon wakame
several pieces of cubed tofu
1 cup water or stock

Dissolve in another bowl:
2 teaspoons miso in small amount of water

Remove soup from heat and add in the miso. Do not boil miso.

Enjoy.

Sweet and Sour Ginger Marinade for Mushrooms

I recently made this as a marinade for mushrooms. I wanted something raw or nearly raw to prepare mushrooms. It's as if you cooked them, without the cooking. Great flavor!

Sweet and Sour Ginger Marinade

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup shoyu (soy sauce)
1/4 cup honey

4 cloves fresh garlic, sliced thin or minced (about 1 Tablespoon)

1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme (1/2 teaspoon dried)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Put everything in a jar and shake well. Can use as a salad dressing or use to marinate vegetables, mushrooms or tofu. Makes about 1 1/4 cup.

To marinate mushrooms or vegetables, put into a jar (with tight fitting canning jar lid and ring)together and marinate for 24 hours, turning and shaking every few hours for best flavor. Great right out of the jar.

I was able to pack in a full pound of trimmed and cleaned mushrooms into a quart jar with a recipe's worth of marinade. It took a little waiting for the mushrooms to start absorbing the marinade before I could get them all in, but they finally all went in. I cut them into quarters before marinading. Use leftover marinade as salad dressing.

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Salad

Another recipe from the "American Vegetarian Cookbook" to accompany the recipe posted for "Stedda" Ricotta.

1-2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3/4 -1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 -1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard, or 1 teaspoon vegan mayonnaise
6 cups or more fresh spinach, well washed
1/4 cup slivered sun-dried tomatoes (see my note)
1/4 - 1/2 cup or more "Stedda" Ricotta

(My note: Rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes with some warm water for a few minutes while you continue with recipe. If they are oil-packed, then you don't need to do this step. Just remove as much oil as you can or use less oil in the recipe.)

Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk. Thoroughly dry the spinach and break into bite-size pieces (if you like) into the salad bowl. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and the "Stedda" Ricotta. Toss well. This is nice with slivered almonds on top as a garnish.

Photo (March 2024) using fresh picked local spinach from our friends at Avodah Sustainable Acres: https://www.facebook.com/AvodahSustainableAcres. So good! 

Stedda Ricotta

I am sharing a recipe for a ricotta cheese substitute. It is from the "American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit For Life Kitchen" by Marilyn Diamond. I have used this for a salad recipe (from the same book), which I will share forthcoming.

So for now, make this and it'll be ready for the salad in the next post. Or you can use it for any recipe calling for ricotta cheese. And no, it doesn't call for miso, soy sauce, or nutritional yeast. Very simple to make.

"Stedda" Ricotta

1 pound firm tofu (I like the water packed kind for this)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt or ground rock salt

Original instructions in the book:
Place three-fourths of the tofu and the remaining ingredients in a blender. Blend until thick and smooth. Mash the remaining tofu into the blended mixture.

(My note: Where you want a more "pudding" like texture for your recipe, the above instructions will serve you well. If you like a chunkier texture, then use my method below for your dish.)

My method:
Mash all the ingredients in a flat bottomed bowl or container with a potato masher (aka: "avocado masher"). Be careful when mashing to start at one side of the tofu block working your through. You have just mixed it pretty well, by the time you are done mashing. Now just chill it. I like it this way. =)

One Great Way To Cook Tempeh

Ever since my first taste of the Tempeh Reuben sandwich at the Mustard Seed Cafe, I have wanted to create it in my kitchen. I use this recipe and everyone loves it.

Tempeh is made from soy by itself or often with other grains and vegetables. If you've never had tempeh, you should try this. For those of you who used to eat meat, tempeh definitely has a "meatier" texture than say, tofu, but more crumbly than chewy seitan. Tempeh is also great crumbled for chili.

Tasty Broiled Tempeh


tempeh
mild oil
soy sauce (I use Braggs Liquid Aminos)
garlic powder
ground coriander

Since tempeh comes in flat rectangular cakes, the way to get 4 square slices for sandwiches is to lay the tempeh on the cutting board, slicing horizonally as if to slice a piece of bread into 2 even thinner slices. Now that they are laying on top of each other, simply cut the two rectangles in half (like this: ==). Or you can slice them on a bias (slant) into "fingers" for non-sandwich recipes or for wraps.

Oil a cookie sheet liberally with mild oil. After slicing the tempeh as desired, place cut side up, on oiled cookie sheet, spray/sprinkle with soy sauce, then garlic powder and coriander. Place under a hot broiler until slightly browned. Using tongs (because it could fall apart on you if you use a fork), turn once, spray/sprinkle soy sauce again and brown on second side. Now it's ready for your recipe.

My favorite tempeh recipe:
Tempeh Reubens

rye bread/pumpernickel/whole wheat bread (toasted if desired)
hot cooked tempeh (see above recipe)
warm sauerkraut
creamy salad dressing (thousand island dressing variation)
vegan swiss "cheese" on top (optional)

Layer sandwich makings in order given and top with another slice of bread on top. Alternatively, you can use a wrap instead and eat burrito style. Yummy!

Making Tofu in an African Village

There is a woman who sells "soya" to us here in Ghana. We call them spicy tofu kebabs. She has been coming to our house to sell soya for a while now. I realized that I will miss her kebabs one day, so I asked her to show me how to make it myself. Although I don't have all the steps learned yet, I thought I would show you our family field trip to learn the art of making tofu - Ghana style.

(captions underneath each photo will explain the steps)

Here's the woman (with my daughter, Francesca, on her back) taking her soybeans, which have been soaking for 3 hours, out of one container and putting them in another.

She cleans, sorts, and drains them all at the same time this way.

Here we are walking to the grinder about 15 minutes away.

She carries them on her head to the grinder

(daughter on my back and son in the foreground to the left - photo taken by my husband).

The grinder with his machine. Up to the left you see the wires he touches together to start and stop the motor.

While the soybeans are getting ground, he adds water to make it go through easier. This is the first pass through. By the time it's finished it will have gone through about four times. She says this greatly depends on the grinder. Sometimes it only takes one time through.

The final product of the grinding process. The soybeans are now like a thick paste with added water.

Back at her house again, she has put them into her very large bowl. You can see better the consistency of the ground beans.

She stirs the ground soybeans with her hand as she adds water.

She fills it to the brim with water. The final amount shown here.

Close up (looks like a foamy "ocean," as my son put it).




One of her kettles she will use to squeeze out the milk from the bowl. She will eventually get two kettles full from this amount of soybeans.

She fills a large cotton sack with the ground soybean and water mixture, scooping it from the large bowl into the sack, on the edge of her kettle.

This next step proved to me how strong this woman is - here she squeezes the milk from the mixture through the fabric to get all the milk out.

She squeezes and squeezes, twists and squeezes some more...

...and when she can't get anymore from the soybean and water mix bowl, then she adds more water from another bowl to get even more out. I think I now know what the phrase "milking it for all it's worth" means now!

Her setup inside her house during this step. Front center is her original bowl of soybean and water mixture. She is squeezing the milk into her cooking kettle. The black bowl beside her holds more water to get more out of the sack. The smaller bowl diagonally opposite to her kettle is holding the dry pulp (okara) that is left after this step.

This step is time consuming. I liked getting photos of her hands at work.

Her kettle on the fire. She has a tripod type setup for support.

Another view.

She uses Epsom salts for the coagulant.

Mixing the coagulant with water.

Since putting the kettle on the fire, the milk has been cooking. During this entire time, we were asking questions and taking photos (I took over 100 total). Our children were playing in the courtyard that she shares with other close neighbors. My daughter here exploring. If you look closely, you can see in the background that she has a small version of her large kettle on a square brazier or cooker (uses charcoal). She has separated some milk out to make soy milk with it. All of this larger kettle and another will go into making the soybean curd (tofu). She makes this everyday for her family this way. She let us taste it - warm and sweetened with a little sugar - very delicious, like hot cocoa without the chocolate.

Her kettle has been cooking away for a while. Now it it is starting to foam up. This is what it looks like right before she adds the coagulant and water mixture.



She pours in the coagulant.



Another view.

One of the kettles that "settled down" after this step.

After about a minute on the fire after she adds the coagulant, a neighbor will help her take it off the fire. They use cloth threaded through the small handles and then carry it off careful not to touch the hot kettle.

Here the "meat" as she called it, rising to the top and the liquid is underneath. You can see it has pulled away from the sides of the kettle.

She scooped out one side to show how it looks (curds and whey).

Here are both kettles with another bowl waiting to help with the next step.

She scoops out some of the liquid to move it out of the way. She is putting it into the white bucket (pail) to the left in the photo.

The setup for this step. Similar to the squeezing out the milk earlier, she now is pressing the curds in another large cotton flour sack. This time it is for the final pressing of the tofu. She scoops from one kettle and then the other to combine them in her sack.

Auntie Akua hard at work.

Scooping some of the liquid from the bowl that has come through the sack.

She twists it closed.

She lets it rest a minute. It is very hot and steaming.

She is almost finished!

She presses more liquid out with a bowl so she won't burn her hands. That's a lot of tofu!

She positions it on her homemade press. The press is 2 cement blocks in the ground with a plastic tarp-like sack underneath the tofu. The tofu in a flour sack...

...a flat piece of wood on top to even out the weights she will place on top.

Placing two large stones on the flat piece of wood...

...and another to complete it.

The tofu will be pressed this way for two hours. From the start of the soak time for the soybeans until now it has been about 6 to 6 1/2 hours total.

Here my daughter plays with her youngest daughter in the courtyard.

Her family (with my daughter) with 4 of her 5 children in the doorway of her home. She provides for them as a single mother. Making tofu is what she does for a living.

I took all of the photos except the ones I'm in. My husband took this photo of us together. I felt a little like a journalist that day. Camera, pen and paper in hand taking notes. We really enjoyed it. She was very patient with us.



Later she brought me some of the finished tofu. I took photos of it for you to see the final outcome of her hard work. It is very firm and dense. Perfect for using in kebabs on the grill.

This is a photo of the "soya" as we buy it from her, ready made.

The steps you don't see are the preparation of the kebabs. She freezes the tofu, cubes it, then fries it in oil. She then skewers it and adds her seasoning. The seasoning consists of peanut powder (groundnut) from which the oil has been removed, roasted corn (maize) flour, and chili pepper and other seasonings from northern Ghana she tells us. She also adds small pieces of red onion between each piece of tofu. They are very good and spicy.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour. Makes me more thankful for those kebabs! =)