Category: Savory

lunch or dinner mains

Tajine with Eggplant, Chickpeas, and Olives

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Allow me to introduce this highly-anticipated and newly-inducted member of my household: an Emile Henry olive green ceramic 3.5 liter tajine. This baby can hold enough food for 10-12 servings, is microwave and dishwasher-safe, and no amount of heat will make it lose its beautiful glossy color.

I’ve wanted a tajine ever since I took a cooking class at a riad in Marrakech, where we made a lamb and okra tajine (preparing okra was not the most painless choice, as anyone who’s ever shaved tough hairs off of a few dozen little okra will know, but the results were delicious). The colorful painted tajines found rather cheaply and ubiquitously in Arabic markets are exclusively decorative, however, as the painted surfaces are not treated. Traditional tajine cookware, somewhat disappointingly, is generally plain brown ceramic–so imagine my excitement at finding such an elegant, beautifully finished tajine that’s capable of feeding an entire table of people.

The tajine’s conical shape captures condensation and recirculates moisture, making it an ideal vessel in which to slow-cook meats, fish, and vegetables. Moist, tender results are ensured, so you don’t have to worry about checking every 20 minutes to see if the stew is too dry. If you want to make this dish but don’t own a tajine, cooking in a dutch oven will produce comparable results (though less fun and a lot less aesthetically pleasing).

This dish is really perfect for a dinner party–it can easily serve a modest group, is extremely low-maintenance (essentially, you throw all the ingredients inside with spices and some water and it prepares itself), and as far as presentation goes, well that’s self-evident. No one can help being impressed when a giant covered platter is placed in front of them and dramatically unveiled amidst billows of fragrant steam.

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A tajine is, in all honesty, best suited to meats like beef, mutton, or poultry, where slow stewing in low heat over a long period of time will break down the toughness in the flesh. Most vegetables cannot hold up to such stewing and will simply collapse into unappetizing mush. Chickpeas, on the other hand, are perfect for a tajine, and the addition of tender eggplant stewed with spices is filling and delicious. Olives are used often in classic tajines to add a salty-briny balance and colorful garnish.

One large sliced eggplant is enough to feed many people, but even better would be baby eggplants, if those are available to you. Also, the addition to the tajine of a couple of tomatoes, quartered, would do no harm.

I finish my tajine with a squeeze of lemon, but this dish would benefit from Moroccan preserved lemons, which contribute a bright and powerful distinctively pickled flavor. You can find a recipe for preserved lemons in the NYT Diner’s Journal.

A last note: tajines are generally considered whole meals in and of themselves, served in the dish they are cooked in. Although you may be tempted, there’s no need for couscous here (which is an entirely different dish). Instead, make the Moroccan bread khobz to go along with the tajine (which is exceedingly simple to make; see here), or buy some crusty rolls.

tajine

Tajine with Eggplant, Chickpeas, and Olives

serves 4-6

  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 4 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large eggplant, sliced longways into quarters, sixths, or eighths, depending on size (OR: 10-12 baby eggplants)
  • 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
  • 1/2 cup olives (green, purple or an assortment as preferred)
  • sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp ginger, powdered
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • pinch saffron
  • pinch paprika
  • 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
  • 1 small bunch parsley, chopped
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 cup water
  1. Place the eggplant slices on a plate lined with paper towels and salt generously. After 30 minutes, dab away exuded water.
  2. Place the sliced onions and crushed garlic in the bottom of a tajine (or dutch oven) at least 32 cm in diameter. Drizzle oil over onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until softened. 
  3. Arrange the eggplant slices evenly in the tajine and drizzle generously with oil. Cook 5-6 minutes or until browned on one side.
  4. Add salt, ginger, turmeric, paprika, saffron, and black pepper, then 1 cup hot water and chickpeas. Heat to a simmer, then lower heat if necessary to maintain simmer and cover. Cook 35-40 minutes or until eggplant is soft and chickpeas tender.
  5. Add the olives and half of the chopped cilantro and parsley. Reduce if there is too much liquid.
  6. Before serving, drizzle the juice of half a lemon over the top and add the rest of the fresh cilantro and parsley. Serve with Moroccan bread.

Quinoa Cakes with Sweet Potato, Wild Rice, and Cranberries

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I love making quinoa cakes because they’re so easy to turn into something that seems a little fabulous—a couple of them on a plate with a little bit of greens and some sauce (see my previous post on mushroom mousse sauce) makes such a tasty, satisfying, and energizing meal. My roommate even eats these for breakfast, and they easily keep her from feeling tired or hungry until lunchtime.

Quinoa cakes are endlessly versatile, of course, but I like this combination of sweet potato chunks, wild rice, and dried cranberries in particular because they add a variety of color and texture to an otherwise drab-looking cake (quinoa cakes taste better than they look), and because the sweetness of the cranberries with the fall flavors of sweet potato and sage are so appealing together. These cakes are baked rather than fried, so everything is quite healthy and nutritious as well—always a plus.

Quinoa Cakes with Sweet Potato, Wild Rice, and Cranberries

  • 1 medium sweet potato
  • 1 cup wild rice
  • 2 cups quinoa
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • 1 egg
  • Sea salt
  • Fresh sage, chopped
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  1. Peel the sweet potato, boil until fork-tender but not mushy, and dice.
  2. Meanwhile, cook the wild rice and the quinoa, separately. Let cool a bit.
  3. Combine the cooked quinoa and wild rice in a large bowl. Stir in the egg, then add the diced cooked sweet potato, cranberries, salt, pepper, and sage. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so the mixture is easier to shape.
  4. Form small patties about the size of your palm. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until firm and dry on the outside but still moist in the center. Alternatively, bake in muffin cups and add 5-8 minutes to your baking time.
  5. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chilaquiles

On grocery trips I always end up overestimating how much food I need to buy. This stems in part from my own family’s propensity to buy in bulk (does a family of four really need a second 48-ounce container of minced garlic? “It was on sale,” comes the response) but also from me frequently choosing to shop when I’m ravenously hungry. Yes, I know that is a recipe for frozen pizza and muffin assortments, but I generally hate shopping and therefore put it off until I open the fridge and realize that I have a choice between eating lasagna noodles with soy sauce, or trudging down to the grocery store.

After one of these overloaded produce runs, my refrigerator initially looks rosy and full-cheeked, but after a week or two it begins to resemble something brown and wilty, being full of uneaten goods quickly ripening past their prime. Corn tortillas are especially bad for this, and somehow my brain still insists on getting two packs at once: “They’re only 49 cents, might as well round it out and make it a dollar.” The same reasoning explains why I always end up with ten avocados at the same time: “Ten for $2? What can I lose?” I lose a bunch of mushy avocados and stale tortillas to the compost bin.

The advantage of having a roommate who’s lived in Mexico is learning what to do with old tortillas. Before this I had no idea that there were delicious ways to dispose of even the warped, tough, hardened corn tortillas that have been sitting on top of my microwave since last week.

One way to do it is chilaquiles, which is basically a dish of old corn tortillas fried with onion and peppers, and frequently mixed with salsa or mole sauce and queso. It’s a breakfast dish, so eggs are commonly in there as well. My roommate and I like to use fresh diced tomatoes instead of the salsa, or just leave it at the onions and peppers, which makes everything crispier.

Making chilaquiles is very simple: first you tear or break up some old corn tortillas into pieces. Slice an onion thickly, then slice one or two poblano peppers lengthwise into strips (or, barring that, a green bell pepper). If desired, cut some tomatoes into thin wedges. Then fry the onion and pepper for a few minutes in vegetable oil until softened, and add the tortilla pieces. Stir to avoid burning but let the tortilla get crispy and brown.  Add the tomatoes last and cook just until soft. Sprinkle a liberal pinch of salt over everything and some ground pepper. Serve very crunchy and hot with a big spoon of sour cream.

That’s it! And don’t you think it’s a better way to get rid of old tortillas than the compost bin…

 

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Peppers

 

Thanksgiving anticipation has finally set in around these parts, evidenced by the cheerful potpourri of round and colorful pumpkins inhabiting my kitchen. Accompanying them are boxes of cornbread, baskets of onions, mounds of garlic, heaps of potatoes, and–better yet–the potato’s prettier and sweeter sister.

I like to make mashed sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, because their vibrant orange color feels so much more festive than traditional dullish white spuds. The sweetness of sweet potatoes, on the other hand, can be overwhelming for me, so chipotle peppers in adobe sauce add a balancing smokey heat and nice bits of earthy color. You can find chipotle peppers with adobe sauce canned in most larger grocery stores.

The idea for this dish originally came to me from Mark Bittman, I believe, though the actual recipe has been lost to internet archives of years past. The dish really requires no recipe at all–just boil and mash your sweet potatoes, add butter or garlic or nutmeg or whatever else you prefer, and then the chopped chipotle pepper with adobe sauce. For new or especially exacting makers of this dish, measurements (which, admittedly, do sometimes come in handy) are included in the recipe below.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Peppers

  • 4 medium-large sweet potatoes
  • 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
  • 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 3-4 chipotle peppers, plus adobe sauce (from can)
  1. Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Boil in a large pot until completely fork-tender. Strain and put back in the pot.
  2. Cube the butter and add to the pot.Grate the nutmeg into the pot, and add the sea salt. Mash together and beat if desired.
  3. Chop the chipotle peppers finely. Add to the pot with plenty of adobe sauce.
  4. Stir until smooth. Serve warm.

Eggless Salad

I’m not usually one for the veggie-versions dishes, by which I mean classic dishes heavy on animal protein reinvented without meat or animal products. I say, if you aren’t going to eat it, don’t eat it. No tofu-dogs or seitan burritos for me, thanks. I’ll go with black-bean burgers and quesadillas instead–meatless food that is designed to be delicious on its own, not as a substitute for something else.

That especially goes for tofu. Tofu is oft-maligned for being tasteless and rubbery, but that’s when it’s cooked badly, like at a barbecue; or added where it’s not appropriate, like on a green salad or on pizza. In Asian cooking, on the other hand, tofu is used to its full advantage. It’s divine in red-hot, oily mapo tofu; perfect garnished with seaweed as a light Japanese appetizer. So generally I steer clear of dull west-coast “tofu salads” and their ilk, in preference for meals where tofu has a star role.

Ok, then . . . what exactly am I posting here? This eggless salad commits two sins: 1) it is egg salad without eggs; 2) it is tofu smothered in American condiments–i.e. where tofu does not belong. But–BUT–here I make an exception. Forget about the last two paragraphs. This is one tasty salad, tofu/egg substitutes notwithstanding.

Egg salad is undoubtedly one of my favorite sandwich fillings, but it is pretty heavy stuff. This egg-less salad may not have the heft for a proper sandwich, but it is a perfect light side dish with all the rich flavor and texture of the egg version. I first encountered this salad at Whole Foods this summer, and the recipe that follows is an approximation of theirs, copied and refashioned with some simplifications from their ingredient list. It’s a very close approximation.

The bulk of this salad is tofu (which needs to be firm in order to hold up in the mix) and roasted red pepper, with green onions for flavor and celery for crunch. Turmeric adds more flavor and a nice yellow color that is reminiscent of a real egg salad. The quantities of all of these ingredients are given but should obviously be adjusted according to taste.

Eggless Salad

(based on the salad found at Whole Foods) makes enough for 2-4

  • 1/2 block firm tofu, cut into small cubes
  • 1 red/yellow/orange bell pepper
  • 1 stalk celery, sliced thinly across the width into “C”s
  • green onions, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp mayonnaise (substitute vegan mayonnaise if desired)
  • lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • sea salt
  • ground black pepper
  1. Quarter the bell pepper and remove stem and seeds. Grill or scorch over a flame or in the oven until skin is blistered and slightly blackened, and pepper is tender throughout. Let cool, then rub off blackened skin and slice into strips.
  2. Mix pepper strips, cubed tofu, celery, and sliced scallions in a mixing bowl. Add mustard, mayonnaise, and lemon juice, and mix gently until completely coated. Add turmeric, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine.
  3. Refrigerate overnight to intensify yellow color. Serve cold or room temperature.

Semmel Knödel

 

Although modern Germany is impressively vegetarian-friendly, the traditional cuisine is decidedly not. Classic German fare is much like rural America’s diet; that is, a strictly meat and potatoes affair, with cheese and butter thrown in for good measure.

So, a classic-style German eatery, though it may have charming wooden tables, perfectly browned bretzeln (pretzels), home brewed beer, and pork loins galore, presents somewhat of a challenge for vegetarians such as myself.  Unless we are content with salads (I’m not) in such cases we have to search the menu for filling side dishes. Semmel knödeln, or hearty bread dumplings seasoned with fresh herbs, fit the bill. These little babies saved me several times from exiting the restaurant with a grumbling belly, which in turn saved my dining companions from an undesirable change of mood.

In German supermarkets you can buy pre-prepared dumplings shrink-wrapped in plastic for a few euros. Just boil for ten minutes, unwrap, and eat. Unfortunately the results are, as is often the case with shrink-wrapped things, rather disappointing. Unless you like gummy balls of bread with the approximate density of dying stars, tumbling all the way down your throat like sticky little bowling balls. But I don’t think you do.

Fortunately, making semmel knödeln from day-old bread is hardly more work than scissoring open a plastic package, and requires exactly no special ingredients. Assuming you do, actually, cook, I’ll bet you have all the ingredients on hand at this very moment. And, like the most convenient spur-of-the-moment dishes, you can throw in wilting things you find at the back of the refrigerator and everything will still taste great.

To make your homemade dumplings stand out from the usual bunch you will need fresh herbs, especially parsley and dill, though rosemary and thyme would be quite nice as well. The dusty grey stuff you get in spice racks is useless (go ahead, just throw it out now). I give the bread cubes a little fry in butter with the chopped onions for some added flavor and texture (the crunchy golden crouton-bits that you’ll get in the cooked dumpling are divine), and I also add in chopped mushrooms for flavor and a bit more substance. Don’t cook all the herbs in right away, because they’ll wilt and lose color; save a bit fresh to throw in at the end to keep a green pop in the finished dumpling.

And, if you have leftover dumplings the next morning (make enough to have leftover dumplings!) give them a turn in a hot pan with a smear of butter for a terrific brunch treat.

Semmel Knödel (German Bread Dumplings)

Makes 10-12 dumplings

  • 1 loaf of day old crusty bread, cut into cubes
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 1 cup mushrooms, finely diced
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1/2 bunch (1/2 cup) fresh parsley, chopped
  • small handful (2-3 Tbsp) fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups whole milk
  • 2 eggs
  • ground black pepper
  • sea salt
  • about 2/3 cup flour, or as needed
  1. The evening before, cut your bread into cubes and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet to dry out overnight.
  2. To start the dumplings, melt the butter in a large saucepan and saute the onions and mushrooms together on medium heat until the juices run out, about five minutes. (Add a touch of olive oil if the butter threatens to burn.) Add most of the parsley and dill, and the bread cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring regularly, until onions are translucent and the mushrooms and bread cubes are browned. Remove to a large mixing bowl and let cool.
  3. Heat the milk and pour it slowly over the bread mixture. Do this in several pours, allowing the bread to absorb the milk before adding more. You may not need all the milk; do not add so much that a puddle forms in the bowl.
  4. When the bread-milk mixture is cool, add the remaining fresh parsley and dill (saving a bit for garnish, if desired), eggs, and bread crumbs. Mix well (use your hands!).
  5. Flour your hands and sprinkle in the flour tablespoon by tablespoon, mixing it in, until a sticky dough forms.
  6. If the dough is too wet to hold its shape, add more bread crumbs or flour. If it is too dry and stiff, mix in a bit more milk. Work in small additions until you achieve the right consistency.
  7. Flour your hands again and take pieces of the dough in small palmfuls, shaping them into dumplings.
  8. Boil water in a dutch oven. Salt the water generously. Add the dumplings and bring back to a soft boil, then cook about 10 minutes longer.
  9. Cut a dumpling in half to check for doneness. If the center is still doughy, add back to the pot and cook a minute or two longer.
  10. When done, remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon onto paper towels. Serve sprinkled with ground sea salt, black pepper, and fresh parsley.

NOTE: Leftover dumplings are fantastic for breakfast sliced up and fried in butter!

Rfissa

My non-veg/flexitarian readers are in for a treat today. This is a recipe I’ve been saving up since my trip to Morocco, faithfully recorded all this time in the back of my recipe book. Although after that trip I reverted back to vegetarianism, since then I’ve made this dish twice for others. Just because it was so darn good.

Rfissa is Moroccan chicken with lentils, cooked in a saucy mixture of fragrant spices and served over torn pieces of chewy Moroccan-style crepes. Because the chicken cooks for a fair bit of time, using dark meat is a must, preferably free-range chicken. That is, the best quality chicken you can find.

Although the chicken will be succulent and the thin pasty an interesting textural contrast, the broth-like sauce is arguably what makes this dish memorable. This sauce is so good that the recipe makes altogether too much of it, and while some of it goes onto the platter with the chicken the majority is reserved in a bowl on the side, then ladled over the dish periodically to keep everything moist and warm and flavorful. Obviously the seasoning is something you will want to pay close attention to–the best is to have your favorite blend of Ras el haout, the Moroccan spice mix, which is made from a highly personal combination of a dozen or dozens of spices. If you don’t have this fragrant North African kitchen staple, go with a mixture of cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, chilies, or any spices you prefer. Ground ginger, turmeric, and saffron, however, is absolutely necessary.

The lovely torn pastry bed on which the chicken and lentils have made their home is called msemmen, squarish flaky and chewy semolina crepes ubiquitous in Morocco. Msemmen are made and fried fresh on the street and can be bought for a few cents a pop. They are beautiful in the morning with butter and honey, or just eaten plain and piping hot. The semolina granules mixed into the dough gives it a textural, hearty feel, and the layered dough makes for a flaky golden pasty with steam pockets that brown on the griddle into irregular little spots.

I love the raggedy approach of tearing up a pile of msemmen by hand on which to serve the chicken–alternately, you could cut the pieces neatly into strips, but that’s not nearly as fun. If you don’t live in Morocco, where freshly-made msemmen can be found everywhere and all the time, and you don’t feel up to making them yourself, you can use day-old bread pieces.

Rfissa (Moroccan Chicken with Lentils)

For Chicken and Lentils:

serves 5-6

  • 2-3 lbs. free-range dark-meat chicken pieces or whole chicken
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1-2 white onions, sliced
  • 1/2 Tbsp Ras el hanout (Moroccan spice mix)–or, cumin/cardamom/your favorite spices
  • 1/2 Tbsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 pinch saffron
  • big pinch sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • bunch cilantro, chopped
  • bunch parsley, chopped
  • 1 cup dry green lentils
  • 1 cup water
  • 1-2 Tbsp butter (optional)
  • msemmen (Moroccan square-shaped pastry dough–recipe follows)
  1. In a large pot, place chicken, water, olive oil, sliced onions, spices, parsley, and cilantro (reserve some parsley and cilantro for garnish at end). Simmer for 10 minutes on medium heat, then turn chicken over and simmer 10 minutes more.
  2. Add the lentils and additional 1 cup water. Add butter for flavor, if desired. Cover and simmer until lentils are done and chicken is tender, about 30 minutes. There should be a lot of sauce; if not, add water and adjust seasoning accordingly.
  3. To serve, tear msemmen into small pieces (if cold, toast and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve), then heap onto a large platter or shallow bowl. Top with the chicken and lentils, reserving excess sauce in a side bowl. Garnish with parsley and cilantro. In Morocco, everyone eats with their right hand or a spoon from a shared platter and ladles the extra sauce on as they eat.

For Msemmen (Moroccan semolina pasty dough):

*Msemmen recipe from moroccanfood.about.com; makes about 20 msemen

  • 3 1/2 cups flour (440 g)
  • 1/2 cup fine semolina (90g)
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (approx. 1/3 liter)

For folding and cooking the msemmen:

  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup fine semolina
  • 1/4 cup very soft unsalted butter
  1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  2. Add 1 1/2 cups of warm water, and mix to form a dough. Add more water if necessary to make a dough that is soft and easy to knead, but not sticky. If the dough is too sticky to handle, add a little flour one tablespoon at a time.
  3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes, (or knead the dough in a stand mixer with dough hook for 5 minutes), until the dough is very smooth and elastic.
  4. Proceed with folding and cooking the dough. See How to Fold and Make Msemen [an easy guide to folding msemmen to get the flaky-on-the-outside/chewy-on-the-inside texture].

Soba

The deliciously cold Japanese buckwheat noodles called soba are best on the hottest, most humid, most unforgivingly sweltering days of summer. Imagine such a day, and raise the temperature by ten degrees. Ten degrees Celsius. This is what Japanese summers are like.

The Japanese carry small square towels, like handkerchiefs, which are used in the summer to dab sweat away from the face. Among ex-pats these are known as “sweat rags.” When I first moved to southern Japan in 2007, I balked at the idea of carrying such an item, thinking it distasteful. After two days of August I discovered that life without sweat rags was notably more distasteful . . . and quickly ran to the hyaku en store (like a dollar store but with everything you ever wanted inside) to purchase several, trying to sweat as discreetly as possible until the tags were off.

Hence Japanese cuisine has a number of delightfully refreshing cold noodle dishes to enjoy during the summer season, soba being my favorite among them. Soba are thin, unlike thick udon noodles, and are greyish in color. They are shorter than spaghetti noodles and packages you buy at the store are tied cutely in little self-serve bundles.

clockwise from upper left: tsuyu, ponzu, nanami togarashi, soba

Preparing and serving a cold soba dish is very simple. You will first cook and wash the noodles (notes below), and serve the chilled, bare noodles on a plate in small bundles. For authenticity, you would serve them in a square flat basket, but draining the soba well before serving on a plate is fine too. To accompany the noodles you will provide each guest with a bowl of sauce and some garnish. The sauce is called tsuyu, made of dashi broth, sweetened soy sauce, and mirin. Garnishes can include chopped green onion, nori flakes (bits of the sushi seaweed wrap), wasabi, nanami tohgarashi (7-flavor pepper), fresh ginger, and toasted sesame seeds. A splash of citrus-y ponzu sauce is very nice as well.

 

When I lived in southern Japan I would sometimes come home for lunch, and often I made soba as a quick and refreshing meal before the hot, drowsy afternoons at school. I sprinkled green onions and cut up a slice of soft tofu on the soba and sprinkled with pepper. A perfect pick-up lunch. In restaurants soba is often served with tempura, which is shown in these pictures (see my old blog post on tempura).

The process of cooking soba noodles is a bit different from Italian pasta. Don’t salt the water, and don’t boil the water vigorously once the noodles are in. The soba will cook very quickly, in only five or six minutes. When you taste that the noodles are cooked through but still firm, drain the water and rinse immediately with cold running water. Put the noodles back into the pot and fill with cold water, washing the noodles to rid them of excess starch (don’t break them though!). Drain and fill again until the water runs clear and the noodles are cold. This post on soba from the Just Hungry blog gives an excellent description of how to cook soba. It also gives a recipe for making tsuyu, the sauce. I made my soba from a gift package from Japan that included the noodles, sauce, and seasoning, so I don’t include a recipe for tsuyu here. It is quite simple to make, though.

Writing about Japanese noodles makes me think of other wonderful varieties…somen, udon, ramen…all noodles, but the outcomes are very different! That will have to be saved for another blog post.

Cold Soba Noodles

serves 4

  • 200 g soba noodles (2 packaged bundles)
  • 2 cups tsuyu (see above link to Just Hungry blog for homemade recipe)
  • one green onion, chopped finely
  • one sheet of nori, cut or torn into small pieces
  • 2 tsp nanami tohgarashi, or seven-flavor pepper (alternately, use black or chili pepper)
  • optional: splash of ponzu sauce or yuzu zest (difficult to find outside of Japan), 2 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1 tsp wasabi, 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
  1. Cook the soba noodles in gently boiling water for five to six minutes, until just cooked and still firm.
  2. Immediately drain and rinse in cold running water. Plunge into a bath of cold water and wash noodles by mixing them around with your hands. Rinse and wash until water runs clear and noodles are cold. Drain.
  3. When fully drained, form small bundles of noodles by twisting sections around your fingers and serve in a zaru basket or on a plate.
  4. Ladle 1/2 cup tsuyu into small individual bowls for dipping. Top with green onion, nori, pepper, and additional ingredients as desired.
  5. Using chopsticks, dip noodles into sauce and enjoy. Can also be accompanied by sliced soft tofu or tempura.

German Potato Salad

Although almost 20% of U.S. citizens can cite some German descent (myself included, with one quarter “Franzen” stock!), making this ethnic group our population’s largest, nowadays  German cuisine does not enjoy widespread popularity in the same way as Italian, Chinese, or French cuisines. This European country that otherwise bestowed kindergartens and Christmas trees upon our own fledgling nation has received disproportionately little recognition for its eats, beyond a few morsels still in popular rotation: sauerkraut, bratwurst, hot dogs (frankfurters), crumb cake (streusel). It’s true that my mother, as a newly-arrived Vietnamese immigrant in the 1970s, survived largely on Braunschweiger and saltines to sustain her at the University of Milwaukee–but then that’s Wisconsin.

(Beer, of course, is another matter–the lager-style beer most familiar to us in the United States is a German invention, as opposed to, say, English ales. German-founded beer breweries in the U.S. include Busch, Coors, Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, Stroh, and Anheuser. Not to be un-American, but I will reassure you that the beer in Germany is much, much, much better than our fine national breweries.)

Traditionally, though, even if most Americans don’t eat German food they certainly tend to eat like Germans; that is, in a meat-and-potatoes kind of way. German plates are meat-heavy and otherwise laden with cheese and butter and other rich animal parts. Sausage in particular has long been at the level of a fine art. Despite this meat culture, I was somewhat surprised (impressed) in Germany to be finding vegetarians right and left, perhaps because I was so used to not meeting them in France. But Germany has embraced the environmental movement, and vegetarianism to benefit the planet is a popular concern. On campus at the University of Mainz, our favorite lunchtime spot was the vegan house with the black cat mural and an overgrown ping pong table in the backyard, which served copious plates of vegetable curry/spaghetti and meat-less-balls/hummus with turnip sticks for less than 3 euros a pop.

The weather being still fairly chilly in the Rhineland in early May, we grabbed the nice days to barbecue in the park. I always feel rather left out at barbecues, however, refusing to eat nasty soy molds of tofudogs and “gardenburgers” (and how many grilled eggplants can you eat in one summer?), so I tend to take full advantage of the accompaniments, and the more carbohydrates, the better. Pasta salad, I’m there. Deviled eggs, done and done! But if there’s one thing I learned at German bbqs (besides that I miss bratwurst. . . but don’t tell anyone that), it’s that they make excellent kartoffelsalat–I mean, potato salad. Sure, the regular mayonnaise versions are common, but I prefer recipes from southern Germany, which bind the potato in a dressing of hot broth, vinegar, and oil. You actually feel like you’re eating potato, and I like the tang from the vinegar and mustard.

The recipe below just combines simple ingredients to make a dressing for the potatoes. As with any dressing, quantities should be adjusted to taste, and don’t drown the potatoes in liquid–add the dressing little by little to gauge the necessary amount. You may not use all of it, depending on how much the potatoes absorb. Potato salads are perfect for picnics because it is better to make them ahead of time and let the flavors sit and mingle before eating.

German Potato Salad

  • 2 lb. red potatoes
  • 3/4 cup mushroom broth
  • 1 green onion stalk, chopped
  • 1/2 cup apple vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • sea salt
  • fresh ground black pepper
  1. Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Add a handful of salt and juice from half a lemon to the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and boil until tender. A knife should be able to easily pierce the thickest part of the potato, but don’t cook them so long they become mushy.
  2. While potatoes are cooking, whisk vinegar, oil, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper together.
  3. Drain and rinse potatoes in cold water. Chop into thick slices and place in a large bowl. Add hot broth and green onion. Add vinaigrette little by little, avoiding too much standing liquid in the bowl.
  4. Let stand 1-2 hours. Add fresh parsley. Serve hot or cold.

 

Vietnamese Curry Noodle Soup

Not everyone eats lamb or roast ham for Easter Sunday.

This delicious Vietnamese-style coconut curry concoction was my family’s Easter dinner, as you can see from the tablecloth. It’s based on a similar vegetable coconut curry dish from Tank Noodles, the best Vietnamese restaurant on Argyle St. in Chicago.

(Why do we even celebrate Easter? Three reasons: 1, Easter egg hunt; 2, Easter dinner; 3, peanut butter eggs.)

What makes Tank’s curry great is the powdery, purply chunks of taro root, and my mother one-upped them by adding kabocha, a Japanese squash unparalled in texture and flavor, and silky fried tofu. The flavors of the curry and coconut broth will remind you easily of Thai cooking, but the fresh herb and vegetable garnishes are, of course, all Vietnamese.

Noodles in the soup make this a full, satisfying meal. The broth should not drown out the vegetables and noodles; ladle just enough into each bowl to cover the noodles.

Vietnamese Curry Noodle Soup

  • 10-12 oz. medium or firm tofu
  • 2 Tbsp white onion, diced
  • vegetable oil for frying tofu, plus 1 Tbsp for onions
  • 2 carrots peeled and cut on the angle into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 zucchini, striped and cut on the angle into 1-inch pieces
  • button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
  • 1-2 taro roots, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 kabocha (Japanese squash), peeled and seeded, cut into 1 -inch cubes. (To peel easily, cut squash in half, remove center, microwave covered for 2 minutes, let stand until cool then peel and cut into cubes. Squash should be firm.)
  • 3 cans vegetable broth
  • 1 can coconut cream
  • 2-3 Tbsp of curry powder (or to taste)
  • 2-3 bay leaves
  • salt
  • 4-8 cups water
  • 1 package Vietnamese rice noodles (16 oz.)
  • cilantro
  • fresh mint leaves
  • green leaf lettuce, sliced into strips
  • bean sprouts
  1. Slice block of tofu into big square slices ½ inch thick. Deep fry these slices until golden brown. Cool and cut into 2 x ½ inch strips.
  2. Sauté white onions and mushrooms. Stir in carrots and taro, cook 4-5 minutes. Add vegetable broth, curry powder, coconut cream, salt, and bay leaves, then bring to a boil, cook 4-5 minutes, add kabocha and zucchini, cook additional minute or so. Squash will cook quickly so don’t add it too early.
  3.  When the vegetables are tender but still firm, add the fried tofu. Reduce to a simmer. Taste and add more broth or water as needed. Remove bay leaves.
  4. Cook rice noodles according to package directions.
  5. To serve, put noodles in bowls and ladle soup and vegetables over top. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with fresh herbs, lettuce, and bean sprouts.