Plants: Succulent, Cilantro, and a Cactus

Plant update:  4 surviving, 2 dying.

The shiso plant I bought earlier is dying of consumption by caterpillars, and the chives plant is dying of unknown causes.  They do not look like they are going to be able to make the trip to college with me.

In order to give my remaining succulent some company, I bought another succulent, cilantro, and a cactus with one of my many Target Gift Cards.  I'll have to see how they fare.  However, I hear that succulents and cacti are extremely hard to kill.  I just hope that the cilantro lasts long enough for me to eat with some instant ramen noodles!

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

I first tried these delicious Chinese Scallion Pancakes sometime in my early childhood.  After having them again at a friend's Dumpling party for which I made animal cracker cupcakes, I decided to try to make them on my own.  It's a really simple recipe that tastes so deliciously fried.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes:

Makes 1 pancake

Ingredients:

1 cup flour 

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup chopped scallions

canola oil for frying

Directions:

Mix together water and flour.  Knead dough until soft.  Let dough sit in bowl for at least 30 minutes.

Roll dough flat with a rolling pin.  I rolled on wax paper for easy cleanup.  Sprinkle on scallions and a drizzle of oil.  Knead again, making sure to press in escaping scallions.  Roll flat, into a circular pancake shape.

Coat the bottom of a frying pan with a thin layer of oil.  Place thin pancake into pan and sprinkle on some salt.  Fry on first side for about 3 minutes, flip and continue frying for another 2 minutes.  I then removed the pancake from the frying pan and let some of the oil drain out on a paper towel.  Enjoy!

Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish, and Artichokes

This delicious recipe is what I made for dinner a couple of weekends ago as part of the Daring Kitchen challenge dishes. The Daring Kitchen is a society of bakers and cooks that agree to make a special challenge dish determined monthly and post about their struggles and successes on their blogs. I heard about the Daring Kitchen when I was reading different cookbook reviews, and thought it sounded like a lot of fun.

The August Daring Cooks Challenge is Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish, and artichokes from José Andrés’s TV show called Made in Spain.

Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish, and Artichokes

serves 4

Ingredients:

4 artichoke bottoms (I got mine from a can)
12 mushrooms (button or Portobello)
1 bay leaf
1 glass of white wine

Sofregit (see recipe below)
2 cuttlefish
2 cups of rice (short grain preferred)
4 ½ cups water
Saffron Threads OR 1/4 teaspoon tumeric

Sofregit - (a well cooked and fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and onions; it would also work well as a spaghetti sauce)

Ingredients:

5 large tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 bay leaf
Salt
Cumin
Dried Oregano

Directions:

Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft. Taste and salt if necessary.

Make the Sofregit before you start preparing the cuttlefish.

It was really a challenge for me to figure out how to cut up and prepare the two cuttlefish I purchased from my nearest Japanese supermarket, but luckily my sister’s Cooking Mama Nintendo DS videogaming expertise helped me out. After pouring over dozens of online squid cleaning tutorials, my sister simply tells me to:

1. pull off the head,
2. pull out the backbone,
3. cut off the top fin

4. peel off the skin

5. cut flesh/prepare as deisred

because that's how we do it in Cooking Mama!

Now I have a lot more respect for Cooking Mama! It’s more than just a fun game for kids; it can teach you how to cook!

Back to the recipe:

Cut the cuttlefish in little strips. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish in the pan. Cut artichokes in eights. Clean the mushrooms and cut them in fourths. Add a bay leaf, artichokes, and mushrooms to the pan. Sauté until artichokes turn golden. Add white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed. Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.

Add water/fish stock and bring it to boil. Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat. Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”) Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Allioli - (Spicy Garlic Sauce – A really great non-butter garlic bread spread!)

I actually made this sauce before I started cooking the cuttlefish. It takes a while longer than one might think if you do it by hand with a mortar and pestle; however, some people have made this using a food processor and that seems to work, too!

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt
Fresh lemon juice
1 cup of olive oil

Directions:
Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt. Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.) Add the lemon juice to the garlic.

Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle. Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go. Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

To plate this dish, give a generous helping of rice with extra sofregit and Allioli sauce on the side!

Keryn's Kale Chips

Today Keryn showed me a recipe for tasty Kale Chips! They're crunchy, salty, delicious, and nutritious!

Keryn's Kale Chips:

Ingredients:

1 head of Kale

Sea Salt

Olive Oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250°F. Wash Kale.

Remove leaves from stem and place on large baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle on sea salt. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil on hands and mix into the salted kale. Put baking sheet in oven and bake for 40 minutes or until crispy.

Mushi Manju (Steamed Japanese Pastries)

I made Mushi Manju with my grandmother with our secret family recipe. While I can't give away the recipe on my blog, I wanted to share the manju-making technique.

Make walnut sized balls of azuki bean (sweet red bean that you can find canned or in pouches in a local asian market or cook yourself).
Mix together manju ingredients. (Secret recipe, but at least I have a picture)
I also have my first instructional video that shows my manju making technique!

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

No doubt you've heard me mention the cupcake cookbook titled Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World in several of my past posts, from the green tea cupcakes to a classic chocolate cupcake, and several others yet to come. I highly recommend buying this cupcake cookbook, even if you are not vegan because it has some truly great recipes and ideas mixed in with other mediocre ones.

The chocolate cupcake and green tea cupcake recipes are definite keepers, while the golden vanilla cupcake and carrot cake cupcake recipes still need some tweaking. I haven't had a chance to work through all these recipes yet, but the first few chapters about exciting cupcake ingredients like agave syrup and experimentation with different soy, rice, and almond milks is a reason in itself to buy this book. The chocolate tofu mousse recipe is another one of those odd gems that you find in this book. Some people will love it and others will hate it, but it's one of those recipes that you can tell people about for years to come.

If you need any further urging to go out and buy this cookbook, just take a look at any one of the amazing visuals that accompany most cupcake recipes. Cupcakes in these pictures look so delicious that you'll instantly forget any vegan labels and feast your eyes on the mouthwatering delights before your eyes.

This is a must have cookbook for all cupcake bakers.

Green Tea Poppy Seed Cupcakes

This recipe is another variation on the green tea cupcakes I made earlier. I didn't bother with frosting since I'm trying what I can to perfect the cake part of the recipe to add to my list of favorites. This time, I used a slightly different recipe, modeled after the tangerine-almond cupcakes. Unfortunately I didn't have any soda on hand; I'd like to try green tea cupcakes with either 7-up, Sprite, or Ginger Ale.

Green Tea Poppy Seed Cupcakes
Makes 11 cupcakes

Ingredients:

¾ cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup soy yogurt
1/3 cup soymilk
3 teaspoons matcha powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, stir together sugar, yogurt, and soymilk. Add matcha powder and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in two batches, mixing well after each addition. Fold in poppy seeds.

Fill cupcake liners ¾ full, and bake for 20 minutes.