Vegan Mofo: Black Eyed Pea Stew and Battered Okra

Hey guys! Its day 3 of Mofo and so far I made something Southern, something Latino, and today I continue my journey of soulfood with a dish from Carribean Vegan, the Black Eyed Pea Stew. The author, Taymer Mason, specifically mentions that this is a good dish for recovering from a cold because its hearty and nearly fat-free. Since I'm recovering from a cold, that really spoke to me. Its even extra perfect because I have a special love for black-eyed peas. Who wouldn't love a bean that is tasty, renowned for bringing good luck, and much faster to cook from scratch than your average bean? In this stew its also souped up with some carrots, tomato, and bajan seasoning- a must for cooking from this cookbook that I will demonstrate in a later post.

On the side I decided to have something fatty after all- battered okra. I know some people are totally icked out by Okra but ever since I discovered its wondrous properties in gumbo I'm all about it. For this I soaked it for a minute in soymilk, then dredged in a mixture of cornmeal, flour, salt and pepper and garlic powder. Then I fried it in a couple inches of oil. (I was kind of thinking about hush puppies.) Worked like a charm!

All in all, a totally soulful and satisfying Wednesday supper. Now it would only be more delicious if I could eat it alongside the Presidential Debate tonight in the US, but alas, I will have to enjoy that event with my morning coffee here in Gerrrrrmany.

Song of the Day: Portugal, the Man- So American

Sauteed Veggie Sandwich, Cupcakes, Eggplant Accras

Ahh, the ex-pat life. Where one day offers exhilarating discoveries (OMG Markthalle Neun has a vegan milkshake stand!) and the next day has you sobbing over ridiculously trivial challenges (OMG I can't understand my yoga teacher... wie sagt mann "Downward Facing Dog" auf Deutsch?!)

Now that I am really kind of a Berliner, by marriage and passport, I am feeling the pressure to get my sh*t together and stop being intimidated away from things like dentists and the metric system. Its time to face the German music (just not Wagner, please) and make a grown-up life for myself here.

However, one area where I am pleasantly caught up is in the kitchen. I know where to buy agar agar and miso, where to find vegan tamales, and how to navigate the baking aisle. I am even a regular at several farmer's markets. Thus, after a day of blustering through phone conversations or awkward interactions with librarians, I can still come home and enjoy something that reinforces that, to a very small extent, I know what I'm doing.

Above, for example, is a new sandwich creation. You know the magic sandwich, right? With the margarine+ nooch+ herb crust and various fillings? Well, above is a new take, with quick-sauteed spinach, mushrooms and peppers with a bit of balsamic as a filling. Totally takes lunch to another level. (Plus, hot sandwiches are crucial for your winter arsenal.)

 And clearly enough time in the kitchen leads to cupcakes. These ones were vanilla on vanilla, with fig filling and baby apricots on top.

I also recently acquired Taymer from Vegan in the Sun's cookbook, Carribean Vegan. It is totally jam-packed with things you will want to make, like jerk seasoning and Trinidadian doubles, but I had to start out with the eggplant accras- a riff on the little fried fish balls that are popular in that region, except with eggplant to sub for the fish. Taymer herself calls them her signature dish, and you can find the recipe on her website, here.  I made these for me and S. the other night and we dipped them in a little ketchup with lemon... it was like, restaurant quality. I highly recommend. They could be a great appetizer, but they would also be great for dinner with a side salad.

I'm definitely looking forward to making more from that cookbook, and continuing to reassert myself in the kitchen (before reasserting myself all over the rest of this country!!!)


Song of the Day: Dinosaur Jr. - Start Chopping

Rhubarb Crumble and Caribbean Curry

Carnival of Culture in Berlin

I have been all over the place as of late! The end of school (at least, the attendance mandatory portion of it), moving and weddings have kept me incredibly busy. But there is always time for food, even if I've been doing more eating than cooking lately.

I recently moved back to Berlin, just in time for 3 great things: summer, THE WORLD CUP, and the Carnival of Culture! The first two are still kind of on their way, but the Carnival of Culture was a few weekends ago and it was awesome!

When it was described to me I was a little turned off- a few days of the different cultures of Berlin parading their unique aspects sounded a little colonial to me. But it was awesome! And it definitely wasn't just a situation where the Germanz just sat and watched. As dancers, clubs, children, and hula hoopers paraded by, it was clear that everyone was involved and having a great time. And the days preceding the big parade in Kreutzberg were filled with awesome food and lots of live music- from big professional performances to ad-hoc drummers circles and gatherings of singers and dancers around accordians and guitars. The food ranged from Moroccan tagine wraps and Mexican burritos to French Crepes and American funnel cake (ha!). Yet another example of the uniqueness and spirit of Berlin.


Also arriving in Berlin with the advent of summer: tons of fresh rhubarb! I've never made anything with the fruit before (which looks a lot like a hot pink celery stalk) but I decided to give it a shot for a simple desert, rhubarb and strawberry crumble.


The process was simple. I chopped up a bunch (maybe three whole) rhubarbs and a small carton of strawberries. Although there is some contention over whether or not to peel rhubarbs, I ended up doing it because upon chopping them, I noticed a tough, stringy outer layer that was easy to remove. The fruits were then tossed with the juice and zest of one lemon, about 1/2 cup of sugar, and a teaspoon arrowroot powder. I topped it with a mixture of margarine, sugar, flour, a teaspoon baking powder, and oats (+ a pinch of salt) and then cooked it at about 375 for maybe 40 minutes, or until it was browned on top. Couldn't have been simpler or more delicious. The rhubarb adds a great tartness to the super-sweet strawberries, and the whole concoction was just crying out for some vanilla or coconut ice cream on top.


I also made an awesome curry to test out this new Caribbean curry powder I found at bio market down the street. From what I can tell, the addition of star anise and mango powder is what made it more Caribbean than Indian. I intended to add in some plantains and scotch bonnets, but ended up making a milder curry using carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and smoked tofu. It was awesome, and a new chapter in my book "Trying to get S. to eat sweet potatoes in things other than latkes".


Now that I'm relatively settled (at least for the next month) I'm looking forward to more cooking with local specialties! And maybe coming up with some good snack foods for the World Cup!

Song of the Day: Scissor Sisters- I don't feel like dancing

Jerk Tofu, Mashed Plantains, Garlicky Kale

Lately it seems to me that I exclusively make and eat food from other cultures. This bothers me since there is obviously such a rich culinary tradition in the U.S. and plenty of things I haven't tried (and God forbid I disavow my southern heritage!). But the fact of the matter is, almost every other country is more veggie-friendly than us. (With the exception of maybe cream-soaked France.) My daily diet rarely consists of what I would consider 'merican food- its more like hummus and pita, beans and rice, pad thai, ect. And I have a sneaking suspicion that if you cut me I would bleed curry sauce. With the variety of vegetarian delicacies available, I hardly ever get around to mac and cheese, or shephard's pie, no matter how many good vegan versions there are. But when you want people to get excited about vegan food, there shouldn't be the sense that you have to use exotic ingredients or spices at every meal.

But of course it should come as no surprise that when I got to choose dinner for last night I stuck again to another culture and chose Jerk Tofu with various other carribean accoutrements. The set-up got me thinking about how I might make a dinner of a main item and 3 sides that my parents would adore, that was totally familiar and U.S. American. I may even tackle the V'Con chickpea cutlets everyone is so enamored of...

Anyways, for the Jerk tofu recipe I used Nava Atlas' recipe, subbing tofu for seitan because I was having a hard time tracking down seitan yesterday. (Alas- most big supermarkets around here are just getting Earth Balance so seitan is a real long-shot.) The recipe was easy, produced enough for 5 people with multiple servings, and was generally tasty.(As evinced by my meat-devotee boyfriend finishing all his tofu.) My only quibble was that for a sauce so sweet, a little more heat would have enhanced it. I'm not sure if I want to start subjecting my family to scotch bonnet peppers, but maybe adding 1 roasted anaheim pepper into the mix would have enhanced things. But, overall, this recipe was pretty amazing.

As for the sides, rice and beans is a no-brainer. The plantains and kale were only slightly more time consuming, and went great with the Jerk Tofu. For the Mashed Plaintains just slice 4 or 5 ripe (ie, not green) plaintains lengthwise, and fry them until soft and brown in a few knobs of Earth Balance and brown sugar (use some olive oil if you need to). I usually use a cast-iron skillet for this. Then, take them into a bowl and mash them (or use a ricer if you have one) with some soymilk, a pinch of salt, and more EB. Return them to the skillet and fry as a flat sort of pancake for about five more minutes, flip over, and put back in the bowl. The result is a sticky, starchy side that compliments the kale well.

For the Garlicky Kale, first rinse and cut or tear into pieces a good amount of kale, or half a bag of the pre-rinsed stuff. Dice 2-3 large cloves of garlic and let sit for a few minutes to make it extra healthy. Then, in a spaghetti pot or other large covered pot, heat 2 T olive oil on medium low-medium heat and add in your garlic. When its sizzling and fragrant, add in your kale, and using tongs quickly toss to coat with the oil and garlic. Next, sprinkle in some H2O (like 1/4 c.) and put the cover on. Let sit for about 5 minutes and serve.

*Extra Extra* The Times has an article about the environmental and economic cost of meat production by non-vegetarian Mark Bittman. Check it out here.