#vgnmf17

[vegansneedsauce]

#VeganMoFo Day 11: The Kitchen Tour: The Movie

I literally filmed myself giving you a tour of the kitchen. I did not plan to put myself on camera, and I had to find a video-editing app for my phone to stitch the intro in, then I played with some of the settings. (Just be glad I didn’t make like ten 30-second clips and add goofy transitions between each one!)

[digitalkim]

One final shot for #vgnmf17 #veganmofo17 Curried chickpea wrap with spinach

[vegansneedsauce]

#VeganMoFo Day 31: SpooOoOOooOOoOoky Baked Jack-o’-Lantern

I don’t really DO Halloween, but I had a notion on how to zhush up something I like to make so it’s Halloween-y: I baked a whole red kabocha squash (which has a tasty tender skin you can eat, but looks suitably pumpkin-esque) with the guts scooped out a small hole in the top, then filled it with black forbidden rice and carved out a jack-o’-lantern face.

The rice was cooked with ⅓ coconut milk along with water, cinnamon sticks, a bay leaf, and a pinch of salt, so it smelled sweet and spicy and tasted almost as good. Stuffed in a baked squash, I could slice it up for a beautiful plate of black rice and orange squash. This isn’t a meal on its own, though, not really: to go with the squash and rice, I went with a Thai inspiration and made tofu paht prik king, a nice simple stir-fry with red curry paste and green beans. Yum.

(If I’d had a slightly bigger squash and bought or made green curry paste instead, I’d have put the curry in the bottom of the squash so it’d leak out of the jack-o’-lantern mouth like vomit. I KNOW, ADORABLE. BUT ONLY ON HALLOWEEN.)

And that’s it for VeganMoFo. *sniff* If you like what I’ve been doing here, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my weekly weirdo newsletter. I don’t know how often I’ll keep blogging like this, but I’ll definitely keep cooking. Hope you do, too.

[vegansneedsauce]

#VeganMoFo Day 30: This Might Not Look Like YOUR Thanksgiving Prep…

...but my traditions are a little different. Look, Thanksgiving is one of the more problematic holidays, but it’s also become one of my favorites. As a kid, I wasn’t a huge fan of the menu: turkey is bland, mashed potatoes and gravy are fine, and I would’ve eaten my weight in pumpkin pie and whipped cream, but everything else? No, thanks. So as an adult, and adult who decided she wanted to HOST Thanksgiving after moving away from family, I moved away from all that autumnal Americana and treated it as an excuse to cook my ass off and make stuff I wouldn’t otherwise bother making. The menu became a creative exercise; the cooking, bonding and fun with my mom and others.

A key part of our tradition has become figuring out where we want to cook every year. We’ve dabbled in Mediterranean-inspired fare, done a full day of cooking and eating Japanese food, one thing after another; there’s been Indian food, soul food-inspired, and Italian. We don’t claim any deep knowledge of these cuisines, but we enjoy learning about the flavors, ingredients, and techniques--especially if they’re already vegan (or vegan-friendly). We try new things but make use of local, seasonal produce. We have an overflowing list of things to incorporate into our cooking for the next year, and recipes we shortlisted that didn’t make the final cut to try later on. But mostly, we enjoy the process--then we enjoy the food. It’s a good time.

This year, my mom and I both thought we’d like to try making tamales, which has always seemed like an intimidating project. Tamales on their own don’t make a complete meal, however, so we’d like to create a Mexican-inspired menu that isn’t comprised of the usual suspects (tacos, enchiladas, etc.). To that end, I picked up a new cookbook: Decolonize Your Diet, which takes a health-focused, culture-honoring approach to the traditional cuisine of the authors’ families.

While I’m still contemplating the menu -- I think we’ll be a small group this year (though if you’re reading this and you’re in or near the Bay Area and in want of a plate of food this holiday, drop me a line) -- I figured I’d take this opportunity to try at least one recipe from this super interesting cookbook. I might not make it for Thanksgiving, but it’s still trying something new, in the spirit of how I celebrate that day.

What I made was their cauliflower ceviche with homemade blue corn mini-baked tostadas. It was kind of like a cross between a salsa and a tabbouleh, served almost like a personal nacho chip with avocado (this is a terrible description, but it was tasty).

I’ve made corn tortillas many times in my handy tortilla press, and I have a stash of blue corn masa harina with which to make many more. I imagine, whatever my menu includes, I’ll have that opportunity. And I’m grateful for it.

[digitalkim]

Use up what’s in the fridge chili. #vgnmf17 #veganmofo17 (at Northwest Washington, Washington, District of Columbia)

[vegansneedsauce]

#VeganMoFo Day 29: Supper’s Destiny Is to Take Root Among the Stars

Not sure how you’d quantify “historical figure,” but to my mind, any person who is (1) influential and (2) no longer living fits, so my choice is the late sci-fi/fantasy author Octavia E. Butler.

I have no idea what she liked to eat. I’m not a scholar of her works, just a fan. Parable of the Sower is among my favorite books; its fictional religion, Earthseed, resonated with me while the dystopian future it comes out of feels disturbingly real and plausible. And while I doubt she’d actually be keen on eating something lifted from her writing, it was the place I was able to find inspiration: “The destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars.”

My interpretation of this as a meal: homemade five seed sourdough bread with roasted root vegetable soup (geddit? seed to root?? oh fine), with a garden saute to make it a meal. Simple, maybe, but healthy and garden-to-table -- well, if I had a garden -- something Lauren Olamina might’ve had in her Earthseed community.

[vegansneedsauce]

#VeganMoFo Day 28: For Brunch, I’d Rather Be In Mendocino

I’m having a hard time right now, in life. I frequently daydream about things I’d like to be doing with time and money I don’t have. A common imaginary trip? Mendocino, California--particularly the Stanford Inn. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting it a few times now, and it is my happy place. Cozy rooms. Beautiful scenery. Charming town. Relaxing amenities. And, oh, the food. Vegan everything, especially the breakfasts.

While I can’t make it up to Mendocino right now, I can try to recreate one of their signature breakfasts: Grilled polenta, braised greens, and cashew sauce. Plus a side of tempeh.

For the tempeh and greens, I made a quick marinade with lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, and a splash of liquid smoke, diluted a bit with water. I used half in a pan with shredded cabbage and baby spinach (what I had on hand) and the other half in a skillet with sliced tempeh and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. Cashew sauce was based on the “savory” recipe from The Kitchn. And the polenta I cooked ahead of time, then poured into a square baking pan to cool and solidify into something I could slice and pan-fry. (It was not perfect, though. Damn slices didn’t brown well and broke up when I flipped ‘em. Oh well. Next time, I’ll leave it to the professionals.)

[vegansneedsauce]

#VeganMoFo Day 27: Recreating & Overcomplicating A Gross Childhood Favorite

I loved mac and cheese -- from the blue box or nothin’ -- with cut up hot dog and peas as a kid. Because my palate was garbage. Though I have revisited mac and cheese since going vegan -- so many variations, so little time -- I never bothered with veggie dogs because blech. Processed bland crap. Hard pass.

For today’s prompt, I thought, I’d get as close as possible to that thing I made on lazy days off, but homemade. Even the cheese powder, FFS. The Homemade Vegan Pantry has a serviceable cheese powder recipe with finely ground cashews that’s combined with nondairy milk and simmered quickly for a suitably runny, salty sauce; Super Fun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook has a “smoky dogs” veggie dog recipe, which is rather like the steamed seitan and beany snausages I make all the time. 

I made a half recipe of veggie dogs, then sliced up and pan-fried one of them to put on top of my mac and cheese (with peas). It was just like childhood, only not.