Tag Archives: rice

Vegan Mofo 2015 Day 21: Stranded on an island aka an overview of koji

September 21, 2015

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What 3 foods would you bring on a deserted island? It was in fact a tough question. We are always asked if we could bring only one book, 10 albums, and so on, but never which foods. This would be hard since I love variety, and I wouldn’t have anything to do on a island. Yes, there would be a lot of things to do to just simply survive, but surely that couldn’t take all day? So I thought about what could give me the biggest bang for my buck.

I thought that there would probably be some produce on the island like leafy greens, roots, and fruit. So I thought, about what I could bring for starches and proteins, and thought rice and beans. Complete protein, okay doing good. But what about the third item, then it hit me- KOJI! So what the heck is koji? It is a strain of bacteria (it’s scientific name is Aspergillus oryzae) that is purposly grown on rice and soy beans to help preserve them. It is a much more complicated version of our pickles.

The earliest documentation of koji goes back to 300 BCE in the Rites of Zhou Dynasty. This bacteria is so important to Asian foods, that it was named as the “national fungus” in Japan. There is even a story book character that is the koji bacteria. So what can koji make? Soju, amazake, soy sauce, miso, douchi, gochujang, huangjiu, makgeolli, and shochu. So while all you chumps thought to bring “food” to your desert island, I am able to get crunked!

There a few kinds of koji variations. White koji is the earliest version. It was easy to cultivate and it’s enzymes worked faster than earlier koji strains. Black koji is another early strain. It is rarely used and pretty much used in Okinawa just to produce awamori. It is most known for spreading spores very easily. Workers will often get their clothes black in spores by the end of day. This is why it isn’t as popular today. Yellow koji is used often in sake production but it is extremely sensitive.

So what can I make with my three items? I made a list, which might have to altered slightly to make it work with only koji, soy beans, and rice.

Miso*
Soy Sauce*
Sake*
Rice & Soybeans
Douchi*
Natto (cooked soy beans can naturally ferment into natto)
Amazake*
Tofu
Soy Milk
Rice Vinegar*
Tofu Cheese*
Rice Noodles
Mochi
Makgeolli*

Items with the * would use the koji spores. And depending on the island I could make maekgoli (with a starchy tubar), gochujang (with spicy peppers), miso pickled foods (with local veggies), coconut aminos (if the island had coconuts), miso soup (if I could cultivate seaweed), and tofu stir-fries with local island veggies.

I personally haven’t dabbled in making foods with koji. But you want to take a dive, you can buy some cultures from Cultures for Health, they have rice koji and barley koji. Each koji culture works better for certain types of foods. South River Miso Company sells koji, but only the rice koji. I think if I am going to be stuck on an island I would have pleanty of time to hone into my craft of koji fermenting.

Posted by Jennifer in All About the Ingredient, Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2015 Tags: koji, rice, soy beans, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2015

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Buffalo Wing Collard Greens

June 30, 2015

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The process of buying our new townhouse is going really well. Our inspection went well, and the owners pretty much agreed to all the repairs we asked for. We got the house for much less than asking price. Jon has been amazing and has been filling out all our paperwork on time. We had a bump in the road, we needed to pay all 20% of our down payment (we originally only had 18%) to get the house due to various bullshit. But we were able to get that money fast and resolve that last minute problem.

Overall the experience isn’t so bad, but man, I can’t stand being in this apartment anymore. It is hard to find the motivation to clean, do laundry, cook, or do anything knowing, yeah it will be ending pretty soon. I won’t need to cook in a small kitchen anymore. Gone will be the days of putting the cutting board on the toaster get it out of the way. No more having to wait around for the laundry to finish so you don’t hog the machine.

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I think the thing I am most happy about saying goodbye to is the odor battles going on in the hallway. Anyone who lives in an apartment complex will know what I am talking about. If someone is cooking bacon in a nearby apartment, you can usually smell it in the hallway. If someone smokes in the complex, you usually know because the entrance always smells like cigarettes. You know, those things.

Well, there is a smoker in our building, and he smokes really close to the doorway, probably closer than legally what he should. I know this bothers everyone in the apartment. We hear people slam their windows shut as soon as we all smell tobacco. The annoying thing is that our neighbors seem to think they can get rid of the smell by using air fresheners. Ugh. So then our hallway smells like tobacco and perfume. One lady has even left a glad scent stick in the hallway. FYI, my husband and I can’t stand the smell of artificial air fresheners or candles.

I don’t make the problem any better. I cook lots of stinky foods. My kimchi and curries leak into the hallways too. I know your brain is exploding from all these contradicting smells.

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I’ve been trying to keep busy. I started doing the Summer Shape Up 2015 program on The Fitnessista. It is a great distraction, it gives me clear defined goals and workout routines. So that is pretty cool. It is also giving ideas for food, which although they aren’t vegan they might inspire a vegan version. For example these oat bars are AMAZING and I made a tofu srirachi salad wraps.

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This recipe wasn’t suggested for the Summer Shape Up program. This has been stewing in my head for awhile. I love making greens and beans with a sauce and a grain. It is super simple and super easy. I also love Frank’s Hot Sauce, which is the hot sauce to use in buffalo wings. So I wanted to make a creamy sauce that tasted like ranch dressing mixed with hot sauce. It was a perfect combo.

I loved this recipe so much I think I made it each time I brought home collard greens from my CSA. The spring batch is done for the season so I guess I have to wait until the fall to make this recipe again. Bummer right? I always served this with some rice, but you can do whatever you want. You can save some collard greens whole to wrap the greens and beans into. Or you can make wraps with flour tortillas. Whatever floats your boats really. I also made a good dish by using black eyed peas instead of chickpeas as well.

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe Tags: buffalo sauce, buffalo wings, chickpeas, collard greens, franks hot sauce, greens and beans, rice

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My Vegan Restaurant: Honeygrow Cherry Hill, NJ

May 5, 2015

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Honeygrow

1588 Kings Hwy N, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
More locations in Radmor, Philadelphia, Bala Cynwyd, PA
Upcoming Locations: Hoboken NJ, Newark & Wilmington DE
website | facebook | instagram | twitter

Working at a restaurant, I know the frustrations between customer and cashier. There is a lot of space for confusion. Sometimes the person ordering is misinformed, sometimes it is the cashier. You wouldn’t believe how many times people order the wrong thing and blame the cashier, or have the situation totally opposite. Which is why I am totally in love with this new emerging chain named Honeygrow.

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I knew of the name Honeygrow because it was on my list of potential places to check out in Philly. At the time it was a cool idea since my husband was still fairly omnivorous, and I was always seeking very veg-friendly restaurants. But on my way to work I noticed how a local shopping center had totally turned around once Whole Foods opened up. One of the shops was a new branch from Honeygrow. I eagerly watched for the shop to open since it would be a great stop for dinner on late nights. Once the store was opened, I excitedly went in, not know really what it would be like.

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What makes Honeygrow so different is how automated it is. Basically they cut out the cashier, so there is no confusion if I said “egg noodles” or “rice noodles.” And it is pretty easy to navigate, stir-fry, salad or other. Then the menu gives you options all along the way, giving some premade options, or letting you choose veggies, protein, sauce, and noodle. This means that you have full control of your dietary restriction. All items are labeled clearly if they are vegan or gluten-free and there are lots of workers around to help with questions.

What else is really cool is that while waiting I could make out a general system that was going on with the line chefs. It looked like there was one guy who would prep the veggies, then got passed to a person who did the grains, then to someone who did the proteins and frying. This down the line system really makes it fairly fool proof to mess up what you ordered. And since there is such a large volume of custom orders you have less mess-up from habit. For example if you order a veggie burger with no cheese, sometimes you will get it with cheese on top not because the chef is trying to be an asshole. Sometimes it is just one of those things where if you are making 50 veggies burgers in a day, you just get accustomed to adding the cheese. Having a checklist of ingredients instead of set menu items minimizes forming bad habits like that.

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So for the first day I tried to keep it simple. I got my husband and I the vegan set menu item, the red coconut curry. It has tofu, red onion, red bell pepper, carrots, and rice noodles tossed in their red coconut curry. The item is listed as “spicy” but that is deceiving. It has a light kick, so if you like spicy, grab some sriracha. But the dish was delicious, and both my husband and I were wanting more.

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We went back a second time for take out, this time we tried to make custom orders. We stuck to the veggies, tofu, and rice noodles option, but switched around the sauces. I got my husband the sour cherry BBQ, which wasn’t vegan (I think because it has honey, but I forgot to ask a worker) which he said was pretty tasty, but wished it was spicier. I got the sesame garlic topping, which was delicious. It made the dish taste like chinese takeout only not as greasy and with fresher ingredients.

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When Alexa came to visit I knew we had to check the place out in person, see what it would be like to eat there. The second trip I tried their lemon-miso-tahini with rice, which was amazing. The rice is a mix of black and brown rice, which gave a nice chewy texture. I think the rice probably would of paired better with sesame garlic sauce in the end though. Alexa tried out the egg noodles (as a vegetarian friendly option) with the coconut curry and got her seal of approval.

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Pros:

Easy to customize orders and hard to mess up. Making it ideal for dietary restrictions.
I also find that the wait isn’t very long regardless how busy it is, and probably have to do with their line system.
Ingredients are super fresh, so fresh you can taste it
Everything is pretty much well cooked, tofu firm, spinach not over cooked etc.
Multiple locations, so you have more chances to give the place a try
The Kitchen is peanut free, making it great for people with allergies.

Cons:

It is always busy. I mean ALWAYS. I keep trying to come during off hours and they are still packed.
Seating is alright, since it is so busy you might find yourself eating at the stool and bench, which isn’t very comfy. This complaint may be exclusive the the Cherry Hill location.
~~Cross contamination is a big possibility. It doesn’t seem to be any special woks just for meat, gluten, etc. Some people might be freaked out by this.~~ The company contacted me about cross contamination and wrote this back: “We use a separate wok and equipment for rice noodle requests and the wok is thoroughly cleaned/burned between each stir fry to avoid cross contamination for vegetarians and vegans – we also change gloves when noted vegetarian or vegan. When a guest states that they are gluten free, we make a point to change gloves, aprons, clean and sanitize the ladles, and burn the wok. Lastly, there is a separate wok that is used whenever an allergy is extremely sever and it is needed.”

Pro OR Con: It isn’t vegan exclusive. This can make it great for eating out with stubborn relatives, but stinks that you can’t expose people to delicious vegan options. But because they have so many vegan options means it gives a friendly enviroment for people who are interested in cutting back on animal products. Take what you will from this concept.

Posted by Jennifer in Food Review, Reviews, Tour NJ, Tour Pennsylvania, Traveling, Vegan Pitstop Tags: fusion, honey grow, honeygrow, my vegan restaurant, noodles, omni, omni restaurant, rice, stir-fry, Tour NJ, Tour PA, vegan, vegan pitstops

Dolsot Bibimbap – Korean Rice Bowls

February 16, 2015

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I’ve probably passed by hundreds of bibimbap recipes on blogs. And can you blame people? Bibimbap is super easy to make. It is also the father of the “vegan bowl.” Think about it- the grain (rice), the veggies, greens (spinach, kimchi), protein (traditionally egg or meat), and a sauce (gochujang). An authentic bibimbap uses up various “namul,” or veggie side dishes. Plop on some rice, dress with side dishes, give a protein, and plop on some gochujang. Your dinner is done.

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But if you actually go to a Korean restaurant and order a bowl, you might not have the beautiful bowls you can find on google. You might get a bowl where all the veggies and protein are all sautéed together. This is an easier method when making the dish at home. Though the traditional style is a great way to use up leftovers from a big Korean style dinner.

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But one of the secrets I will teach you is how to make bibimbap in a dolsot. Dolsot is the Korean word for a stone pot, and many styles are available online. I personally use my nabe, a Japanese styled hot pot, which is sized for one serving. The biggest difference between the two styles is that a dolsots come with a tray to carry it with so you don’t burn yourself. If you use a stone pot, you will get a yummy crispiness to bottom of the rice. It is easy to burn and takes practice, so be patient.

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The beauty of bibimbap is that is simply translates into mixed rice. So it is flexible with ingredients. Don’t want seitan? No problem, use tofu or beans. Don’t like carrots? Just skip them. Don’t want gochujang? You can use miso or doenjang. The key is to use fresh and cheap ingredients.

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe Tags: bibimbap, gochujang, Korea, korean, Korean Food, rice, seitan

Korean Style Vegan Burgers

September 23, 2014

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I am in love with a new Korean drama- Master’s Sun. It has one of my favorite actresses Gong Hyo-jin. She is an amazing actress, who can play a shy, kind-of hearted girl or a hard-ass gang master. Most Korean shows have various elements that make it hard for a Westerner to watch. They are usually a little sexist, slow moving, drawn out, and the girl AWAYS gets with the asshole guy. Master’s Sun probably will have the lead actress get with the asshole guy, but they set it up in a way that makes it understandable (and funny). The show is quite polished and well written. Heck, I even got my husband to say he would watch it with me.

The story is of Gong-shil, who sees ghosts. She found that being able to see ghosts has prevented her from leading a normal life, and finds herself as a maintenance woman at an apartment complex. One day she bumps into Joong Won, a rich and snobby business owner. Whenever she touches him, the ghosts disappear. It is a really good show, and I recommend checking it out on Hulu.

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Okay, enough gushing about the show and start gushing about these burgers! I had adzuki beans sitting in my cupboard for months now. I wasn’t sure WHY I had them, but they were sitting there, stewing in my mind for ideas. I finally thought burgers would be the best. And I figured I would make them with some gochujang paste for a kick.

I tried to keep it to ingredients that you would find in a Korean kitchen. Some might be a stretch but they are pretty accessible to Westerners. I was afraid that the burgers would fall apart, but they are actually more sturdy than the burgers I based the recipe on! I am guessing it was the mix of seaweed and short-grained rice.

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe, Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2014 Tags: adzuki beans, burger, gochujang, kimchi, korean, Korean Food, red beans, rice, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2014, wakame