Protein Experiment: Tempeh

Tempeh, or tempe in Indonesian, is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. (...) Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamin. It has a firm texture and strong flavor. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue.
(from Wikipedia)

Tonight was not my first experiment with tempeh. A month or two ago I made a shepherd's pie with tempeh from a recipe in the Veganomicon which was DELICIOUS, but since it was not my own recipe I didn't share it here. Today, however, I got brave and decided to make something up with tempeh, and the menfolk was in the mood for burritos, so that was the direction I took it. This did require bravery, because even though the package will tell you that tempeh is totally delicious plain (they say you can sprinkle it in salad!) this is completely untrue. I tried some straight out of the package, and it is AWFUL eaten plain. With the right seasoning, though, it has an excellent nutty flavor. The particular variety I purchased was a 3-grain tempeh, so it had other things in it besides soy (wheat, and something else, not sure what).

I know all of you are smart enough to know how to make a silly burrito, so I'm not going to bother with listing the tortillas and nonsense like that. Instead, I'll just share how I cooked the tempeh filling.

Tempeh Burrito Filling

1 8oz pkg of tempeh
1 tbsp olive oil
4-6 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup frozen corn
1 cup vegetable broth
onion powder
chipotle chile powder
salt

Sautee the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in the olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add the tempeh and cook another 5 minutes or so. Add tomato and vegetable broth. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 'til about 3/4 of the broth has reduced out. Add corn and seasonings, and continue cooking until remainder of broth has evaporated and all ingredients are heated through.

Living With Carnivores

In my case, it's just one carnivore, but I like to appease him sometimes with tasty dinners. As much as I'd like to just make piles of vegetables all the time, I do often make split meals, half with meat, and half without. The best way to do that without making yourself crazy is to make carbon-copies of your dish, just change out your proteins. Tonight, for example, I made sesame garlic tofu/steak with peas. All I did was get two pans, cook up the oil and garlic at the same time in each, and just tossed tofu in one and steak in the other. Voila. I know, not very exciting, but it works, and that's what's really important. I find often that I end up doing twice as many dishes because I live with a carnivore, but unfortunately I don't have a brilliant solution for that problem yet.

Just for fun (though I'm sure you're all smart enough to figure this out on your own) here's the recipe for tonight's dinner:

Sesame Garlic tofu/steak with peas.
(yields about 3-4 servings of tofu, 1 serving of steak)
-1 lb tofu
-1 serving steak (~6 oz? I'm not sure...)
-1 1/2 cups frozen green peas
-3 tbsp sesame oil
-3 tbsp minced garlic
-3 tsp sesame seeds
-salt, to taste
-soy sauce (optional)

Heat 2 tbsp oil in one large pan, 1 in small pan. Apply garlic in the same fashion. Sautee garlic for about 5 minutes, then add tofu to the large pan. When tofu is just beginning to get a nice brown color to it, add steak to small pan and salt each. Continue to cook each about 3 minutes, then add peas. Continue to cook on medium heat until heated through. Serve over brown rice with sesame seeds as garnish. Season with soy sauce if preferred.

Sushi for dummies

Counterintuitive maybe, impossible no. Making sushi is not as hard as you think, or at least not as hard as I thought before I tried. I'm trying not to jump into advertisey, "persuasive-essay" crap like telling you about how great it is for bonding with your "special someone," but seriously it is. My fiancee and I have made sushi together several times, and it's always an adventure. Usually one of us picks out fillings while the other is in charge of construction, and then we trade. We make a little bit of a mess, but we celebrate our labors with a delicious snack so it all works out in the end.

Here's what you need to get started:
nori for wrapping
sushi rice
bamboo sushi mat
plastic wrap

Items 2 and 4 should be at every grocery store, but if you have trouble finding the mat and/or nori, an international grocer should have them. Here in St Louis, I go to Jay's. Your bag of sushi rice should have instructions for preparation -- just follow those. I know, I know, I'm a lazy cook who just follows the instructions on the bag, but I can't memorize everything.

The real kicker, for me, is that I'm not confident/knowledgeable enough to make sushi with raw fish, so I have to find alternatives (of which there are many). I've made many a delicious sushi roll at home, and not one has used raw fish.

Suggestions for delicious (and low-budget) fillings:
cream cheese
mayo
goat cheese (don't knock it till you try it)
lemon/lime juice
cucumber
carrot
avocado
bell pepper
crab meat (or k-rab, if you're broke like me)
smoked salmon
salad shrimp
unagi (or eel, for the less sushiphilic -- you can often find it precooked in eel sauce, which is what I go for)

The rule here, really, is that if you like something, try it. As far as preparation goes, practice is the most important thing. I recommend wrapping your bamboo mat in plastic wrap before you start, to keep it clean.

Put the nori down shiny-side down so the fillings go on the rough side. Spread the rice over all but a small strip of the nori at one end, and spread it THINLY. The mistake we made with our first bunch of rolls is to think that you have to have a completely opaque layer of rice across the nori. It's ok if you can see through the layer of rice a bit, and little empty patches are not the end of the world. Too much rice creates a gigantic, rather bland roll. Also, the rice spreads easiest with your fingers, rather than a wooden spoon. Keep your fingers damp but not wet, so the rice doesn't stick to you too much.

Spread your toppings in a line on the end of the nori OPPOSITE the empty strip. These you can be generous with, since that's where the flavor comes from. Roll starting from the toppings end -- I've tried both toward me and away from me, and haven't noticed much of a difference as far as one being easier than the other. Move to a cutting board, and cut with a VERY sharp damp knife. If the knife is too dry or too dull, you'll make a giant mess. Repeat and eat!

Here are some rolls I have made, including one or two I made up:
philly roll, aka JB (or Japanese Bagel) roll -- a classic!
~smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado
vegetable roll, or salad roll
~cucumber, carrot, avocado, mayo, lemon juice
eel and cucumber roll
~exactly what it sounds like
kitty roll
~k-rab, cream cheese, red bell pepper
tiny roll -- so called because we ran out of rice, but wanted to make one more roll. This has a thin layer of goat cheese instead of rice, and it's super delicious.
~chevre with honey, smoked salmon, avocado
tea sandwich roll
cucumber, cream cheese, dill

Now go! Adventure! And share it with someone! This is not a project to be undertaken alone -- I mean really, where's the fun in that?

Let's give it up for Lent!

You are all free to groan now at my bad pun.

I know Lent actually started three days ago, but even though I missed putting up an Ash Wednesday post, I wanted to talk about Lent, and the abstinence that many of us put ourselves through in honor of it. Christian or not, choosing to eliminate a bad or distracting influence in life in favor of contemplation and prayer can't help but yield positive results.

For example, I am a pescetarian today because last year I gave up meat for Lent. More specifically, I forced myself to destroy the mental barrier I had created between my idea of "meat" and what that meat started out as. I intentionally thought about what meat was and why I wanted to eat it, and came to the conclusion that my soul would rest easier if I didn't participate in that part of my diet anymore. I discovered that I only ate meat due to the pleasure it gave me -- frankly, steak and bacon are delicious. But they come from living things, and I decided that I don't need to take a life and cause suffering just so I can enjoy an animal's flavor. I don't have the dedication on that front that a vegetarian or vegan has, but I'm doing what I'm comfortable with.

This year's choice was less benevolent, more self-serving. I'm giving up sweets. I put on some after-holiday pudge, and I discovered in high school that the easiest way to drop excess weight and feel a whole lot healthier is to quit eating sugar. Back then I dropped about 30 pounds. I don't have nearly that much to lose now, maybe 10 at most, but I'm also trying to convert my cravings into contemplations, which is what Lent is supposed to be about. Pray instead of snacking, plan instead of dessert. It's about furthering myself through abstinence. I really don't think it matters if you're celebrating the resurrection or just trying to make yourself a stronger, better person. Last year's Lent was 40 days that changed my whole outlook, and my life, so there must be something to it.

What I had for lunch today

Yes, that's right, I'm back. If you missed me and thought I surely must be dead, well it's quite the contrary, but not for lack of trying. Despite my illustrious pretensions of foodiness, in the real world I work in retail. And, as we all know, in the retail world the holidays are a big black hole that suck you into them sometime in November and spit you back out sometime around now, once the after-Christmas sales are over.

What that being said, I will stop boring you with my real-world life, and tell you what I'm eating for lunch today. This recipe, like so many others, is an excuse for me to showcase an exciting new item I discovered today. That item is goat's milk cheddar. I love goat cheese, of any sort, so when I was at Trader Joe's today, poking around the cheese section, I couldn't resist this. It was like the old Reese's commercials...only with goats and cheddar, instead of peanut butter and chocolate. Point is, it's delicious. Try it. And if you don't know what to do with it, make one of these:

Veggie Wrap

1 tortilla, of whatever variety you like (I had plain boring flour)
1 roma tomato, thinly sliced
~1/2 a haas avocado, also sliced
assorted greens (lettuce, spinach, whatever makes you happy. I used green leaf lettuce)
1 sandwich-shaped slice of goat's milk cheddar, cut in half rectanglewise (as opposed to trianglewise -- sandwich fans, you know what I mean)
mayo to taste

This part is really hard, so focus: put the ingredients on the tortilla. Wrap it like a burrito. Eat.

Try the goat cheddar! You won't regret it, I promise. If you find it in any other grocery stores, let me know.

Stir Fried Eel with Green Beans

Too tired for elaboration. Have a tasty dinner recipe. (PS eel is one of my favorite fishes in the universe, 2nd only to white tuna sashimi.)

Stir Fried Eel with Green Beans
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 SMALL red onion (or 1/4 medium red onion)
1 yellow onion
6-8 baby bella mushrooms
1/2 lb frozen green beans
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 lb eel (precooked in eel sauce)

Heat oils in large pan. Add onions and mushrooms, sautee until onions are translucent and mushrooms tender. Add green beans, sauces, brown sugar and salt. Cook until green beans reach desired texture, then add eel and continue cooking until heated through. Serve over basmati rice.

Ta-da! Dinner was easy tonight. This recipe serves 3-4, I made it for 2 with lunch for us both tomorrow.

Grocery note: eel can be found at any international food store. Go straight to the frozen section -- unless you live in a super-cool place near the ocean, this is where you will find it.

Shameless Self-Promotion

This post has nothing to do with food. Instead, I wanted to share with you that I've started up a shop to sell my paintings. Visit mtaylo59.etsy.com to see what I have listed :)