Fermentation of Veggies at Esalen

A few months ago I was at church, and by church I mean I was driving home from my noon corporate yoga gig in my 2011 black Prius, listening to Terry Gross interview someone on Fresh Air.  That interview is my connection to source, my lecture on humanity, my rebirth in faith of my fellow wo/man.  On this particular day I was listening to Terry interview Sandor Ellix Katz on his new book The Art of Fermentation. It was actually an interview she extended over two days covering topics such as beer, kraut, pickles and yogurt.  It was a beautiful seed that would sit in my mind for the winter.  

Fermentation was really the thread that brought the different aspects of my Esalen course together.  Bees add an enzyme to nectar and transform it to honey.  Yeasts break down the coatings on grains and emit carbon dioxide causing the bread to rise.  In cheese we carefully manage the curdling and spoiling of milk to perfect parameters that make it healthy, lasting and tasty.  

For vegetable preservation we add salt, extracting the water from the vegetable and promoting the growth of inhibiting breakdown by submerging in its juices creating an anaerobic environment.  In all of these situations we are carefully managing the "spoiling" process to promote the growth of one organism and inhibit the growth of others.  Anyway, after I left Esalen and went on a pilgrimage to restaurants in the Carmel/Monterrey/Big Sur area looking for products from Charlie's Farm.  I discovered a shop/school/cafe called Happy Girl Kitchen.  They were making this particular dream real with kombucha kits in the fridge, a fermented beet drink for sale on the counters, a whole group of ladies taking a course in the community kitchen.  There I found Katz's bible of a book on fermentation and spent the $40 to add it to my growing library of homestead information.

Charlie brought us produce from his hilltop farm,  kale and cabbage.  I was fascinated by his bags, hadn't seen these before.

Interesting equipment I had not seen before, pickle presses!

Organic cabbage from Charlie's Farm

Liam mentioned a few cutting techniques I used immediately at a shift in the kitchen

Loading the cabbage up into the press with lots of squeezing and sprinkling of salt.

Here's some cucumbers submerged in their juices after about a day and a half.

Here's the cabbage and carrots after a day and a half, no water added, juiced there own extruded juices.

We sampled our cabbage and cucumebers after 3 days, but really they need 6-12 weeks to cure.

This product isn't fermented, but we used a dehydrator to make some kale chips and also some fruit leathers I forgot to photograph.

When I left for Esalen I had a big jar full of apple skins and cores that I had submerged in water in the attempts to make apple cider vinegar.  Well, as many other things were melting down at this time, the sweet mash had become infiltrated with small flies and I could see little magot larvae swimming in the juice...into the composter!  I have recently begun this project again, having asked my teacher Liam for advice.  I am using a jug with a small opening so I can push the plles down and force them under the liquid.  We'll see!  Takes two months to complete the process.  I also recently began a batch of sauerkraut in the way taught to me by Liam, it also takes about two months to finish.

Vegetable Fried Rice and Golden Potatoes

This is my go to dinner when I have a bunch of leftover rice in the fridge.  It's so simple, and you can use whatever sort of veggies you have on hand.  This time I used purple onion, green onion, cabbage, swiss chard and cilantro.  But first I started my potatoes as they would take longer.  I cubed 3 or 4 golden potatoes and cooked them in several tablespoons of hot olive oil.  After a few minutes I added 2 cloves of crushed garlic.  I cooked this on medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally so they wouldn't get stuck to the pan.  Once they started getting golden, I transferred the potatoes to a smaller pan and continued to cook over low heat.  Next I sautéed to onion in some oil, and after a few minutes added the rest of my chopped veggies.  I sprinkled some soy sauce in the pot and mixed it in with the veggies.  Once the veggies were getting soft I added one beaten egg to the pot and mixed it up once it was cooked, breaking the egg up a bit.  Lastly I added the leftover rice and stirred it all together until hot.  I have left all quantities out on purpose, this is a go with how it feels recipe!

Kombucha Tea: Soda Pop for Hipsters

The Kombucha Display at the local Whole Foods, so many wonderful flavors, I love Guava!

A number of years back in my freelance yoga training I began to see the magically marketed GT Dave's Kombucha bottles in the hands of glowing yogis.  I began to treat myself at the local food co-op after classes taught in OB...and soon at Whole Foods...Sprouts....and now even at Von's, corner stores in San Francisco, at the Ashram gift shop.  You can learn about Kombucha on the internet, but basically it is similar to yogurt in that you have a starter liquid, milk in the case of yogurt and tea in the case of kombucha.  You add to this starter liquid some finished product, yogurt into the milk cultured with probiotic organisms, brewed kombucha tea with mushroom skoby into fresh tea.  Then there is a waiting period, over night for yogurt, 5-15 days for kombucha.  You reserve some of the finished product to begin a new batch, an on-going cycle in the kitchen.  Now what is the mushroom skoby?  It is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast that forms a gelatinous patty that resembles a mushroom.  When added to sweetened tea and fermented the resulting liquid contains vinegar, B vitamins, other chemical compounds and a small amount of alcohol, making the drink effervescence.  Many other compounds are produced in this process such as organic acids, active enzymes, amino acids, and polyphenols.  Finished kombucha may contain any of the following components:
Acetic Acid
Butyric Acid
B-Vitamins
Ethanol
Gluconic Acid
Lactic Acid
Malic Acid
Oxalic Acid
Usnic Acid

It's pretty mixed news as to whether this stuff is good for you or not as you can read in this article from the NY Times.  It's the latte for Generation Namaste of which I am a reluctant card carrying  member, and I'm hooked.  But it's not cheap, sometimes I'll be lucky and find 2 for $5, but typically it's priced about $3.50, and with recent scandals over alcohol content, it just doesn't have the fizz and buzz of a few years back.  This change in formula and high price has cause my consumption to decline recently.  So in the theme of my life lately, making things from scratch, I have been contemplating brewing my own.  On Etsy you can easily find the skoby, or mother mushroom, used to brew this probiotic tea.  I choose a seller that listed the product as organic and that included educational support and great return policy if you have problems.  It came today and I'll post my results of my first batch as I proceed through he process.

A more oficial photo from the G.T. webpage.

Chili Relleno Burrito

I have been experimenting a lot this year with Chile Relleno.  The smoky flavor and crispy coating is satisfying and exotic.  Traditionally they are typically stuffed with cheese or ground meat and at fancy establishments I've seen some beautiful seafood stuffed chilies.  In my quest for health I've been playing with different vegan stuffings.  I've tried polenta, mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.  These Burritos feature a Chile stuffed with slowly cooked mushrooms and onions.  Fantastic.

Two Roasted Chiles

1-2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 Onion diced

Spices, salt and pepper

1 cup of mushrooms sliced

1 clove garlic crushed or diced

1 egg, seperated

flour

Oil for frying

Please read my article on Roast Chilies to begin.  Poblano Chilies are great for a nice sized Relleno.  For the filling heat a pan (I prefer cast iron) add some butter and then the diced onions add cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring so they don't burn.  Now add some spices such as cumin, cayenne, oregano, salt and pepper.  Next add the mushroom and garlic, cooking until soft and tender.  Cool this filling and then spoon it into the center of your chilies.  Begin to heat your oil for frying, about one inch deep in a medium sized pan.  Beat the egg white and 1/2 teaspoon of salt until stiff peaks form then gently fold in the egg yolk.  Lightly coat the chilies in flour then coat the chilies in the egg batter and gently place in the simmering oil.  Cook about 4-5 minutes until golden and then gently turn over and fry the second side.  Sometimes they are more triangle shaped and you might cook them a bit on the other sides.  Remove from the oil and place on paper towels to absorb oil.  For these burritos I served the Chilies on a grilled flour tortilla over a bed of spinach and a sprinkling of grated parmesan on top.

Cauliflower Quinoa Fritters

It's the New Year and I decided to join in a cultural phenomenon that I don't understand...black eyed peas.  Once I cooked up a batch I was considering options for the rest of the meal and I figured why not just take the southern concept all the way!  To be a southern meal I thought you needed a little something fried and a little something pork.  For the pork I made Kale with Turkey Bacon.  This month on Smitten Kitchen, my favorite food blog, she  presents some Cauliflower Feta Fritters, so this was my base, but I changed it considerably by adding quinoa instead of feta cheese and didn't bother with making any topping or sauce.  They were delicious with a wondeful chewy texture.

1/2 a large cauliflower chopped into smallish pieces
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup quinoa, I used rainbow variety
1 cup of water
1 egg
teaspoon of salt
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
oil for frying, I used sunflower

I first got my quinoa started by heating a small pot and slightly roasting the dry quinoa for a few minutes.  I then added one cup of water and simmered uncovered for about 10 minutes, or until all the water was absorbed.  Once the quinoa was started I began to cook the cauliflower and 1/2 cup of water in a smaller pot over low heat until cauliflower was soft, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When finished we want to cool the quinoa, I spread it out on a plate.  The cauliflower I first drained in a strainer and then poured over several layers of paper towels and gave it a few good squeezes, getting all the water out.  I then put the cauliflower in the freezer so it would cool off.  Once the cauliflower has cooled (and won't cook our egg when combined) I whisked together an egg, salt and crushed garlic.  I added the cauliflower to the egg and mashed it up with a potato masher, breaking up the big chunks.  I then stirred the quinoa into the cauliflower mash.  In a separate bowl I mixed together the flour, salt, pepper and baking powder then added this mixture to the cauliflower batter and gently mixed them together.  In the meantime in a pan I heated about a cup of sunflower oil and once hot I began to spoon the batter into the shallow oil.  They formed the best shape when I formed a tight ball of dough and gently placed it into the oil.  Cook a few minutes till golden, then gently flip and fry the second side a few minutes until golden.  Remove from oil and place on layers of paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Beet and Cashew Cheese Stack

4 Medium-Large Beets

1 cup Raw Cashews soaked 2 hours, will yield about 1 1/2 cups soaked cashews

Tabelspoon Olive Oil

Big handful fresh Basil

1/4 cup Water

Salt and Pepper

You need to find some good sized beets for this recipe, I happened to use golden beets because the red beets available were very small.  This would make for a beautiful Christmas dish with red beets the way the green colored cashew cheese layers between, but it was also lovely with the golden beets.  The beets were gently boiled until soft, about 40 minutes, and then peeled and cooled (I put them in the freezer for ten minutes).  They are then sliced into three or four horizontal sections.  Gently slice your bottom slice so your beet stands up well.

To make your Cashew Cheese, combine the rest of the ingredients, soaked and strained Cashews, olive oil, Basil, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender adding the water gradually to cut the consistency you like, you may use more or less water. 

To assemble salad lay down a small bed of lettuce, I'd choose something delicate like arugula or spinach, and place the bottom layer of your beet in the center.  Put a spoonful of cheese on top, a layer of beet on top of that, continuing until you've reassembled your beet.

I'll post a photo asap

Mung Bean Coconut Soup

While playing on Pinterest I found this beautiful recipe for Green Lentil Soup and used it as a base for this Mung Bean Soup.  I used more Indian spices and think of my soup as an Indian version of a French recipe.  I would normally do the spices in the beginning, but do agree with this recipe that by adding the spices in separate after the soup has cooked awhile gives it lots of flavor.  I also used canned coconut cream instead of milk (because I ran out and that's all the store was carrying on a Sunday morning) and that made the soup wonderfully rich and creamy.

6 cups Vegetable Stock
1 1/2 cups Sprouted Mung Beans
Ghee
1/2 Onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/4 teaspoon each of cumin seed, cumin powder, turmeric, salt and pepper
2 Garlic Cloves
Can of Coconut Cream or Coconut Milk
2 hands full of Spinach

In a pot bring to boil the stock and beans, if you have sprouted the beans it only needs to cook a little while, but if you are using dry beans you must first cook them 35-45 minutes to soften them.  Once you've got the broth and beans simmering (or after awhile if you are making dry beans) in a separate pan heat a tablespoon of Ghee or some other type of oil and add your mustard seed until they begin to pop.  Then add the onions and after a minute the rest of your spices and sauté, stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes.  Add your garlic, minced or pressed, and continue to sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally until cartelized, about ten minutes.  Add this onion mixture to the soup as well as the can of coconut and simmer 5 minutes.  Add the spinach just before serving and season with salt and pepper to taste.

I'll post a photo ASAP.

Kitchari, the perfect food

Kitchari comes from India and means mixture, usually of rice with daal or mung bean and spices.  It is nourishing and also cleansing.  The mixture is very easily digested and provides a plant based complete protein.  It has been used in India in the tradition of Ayurveda as a cleansing or fasting food.  For a period of time only Kitchari is eaten and the body is provided time to cleanse the digestive system and eliminate systemic toxins. Ayurveda believes that all healing begins with the digestive tract, and kitchari can give it a much-needed rest from constantly processing different foods while providing essential nutrients. The blend of rice and mung beans offers an array of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Its mixture of spices is believed to kindle the digestive fire, the Ayurvedic description for your innate digestive power, which can be weakened by poor food combinations.  Kitchari can be prepared in many different ways with many different varieties of ingredients.  And if I didn't convince you, try this, this, or this!

Brown Rice and Mung Bean turned yellow by Turmeric

1/2 cup mung beans soaked 2-8 hours
1/2 cup brown basmati rice rinsed
Ghee
1/2 onion chopped
1 clove garlic
Mustard Seed
Coriander Powder
Cumin Seed and Powder
Turmeric Powder
Water

Heat a tablespoon of ghee and add a teaspoon of mustard seeds, simmering until they begin to pop.  Then add onions, the rest of your spices, 1/2 teaspoon of each and garlic and sauté on medium for a few minutes.  Add beans and rice and sauté another 2-3 minutes.  Add about 6-8 cups of water and bring to a boil then reduce heat and cook covered for 45 minutes.  Salt and Pepper to taste when you are done.

Enough for three days!

What I Brought to Thanksgiving 2012

Holiday Salad

1/2 Red Cabbage sliced thin

Green Lettuce like herbal blend or arugula in equal proportion to cabbage

4 ounces Sunflower Seed Sprouts

2 cups Walnuts

2 pomegranate

2 stalks of celery diced
6 ounces diced candied pineapple

1 shallot diced

1 garlic clove dices

juice of 1 lemon

apple cider vinegar

olive oil

salt and pepper

Jalapeno Chile Relleno

Jalapenos

Jack Cheese

Flour

Egg

frying oil

To make this recipe you need to first roast your chiles.  After they have been roasted, cooled, peeled and seeded, you can stuff each with a small slice of jack cheese.  Now you prepare your eggs by beating the whites until stiff peaks form then gently folding in the egg yolks.  You get your oil hot and ready for frying, about 1 1/2 inches deep.  You take the chiles and gently coat them in flour, dip them in the egg until coated and drop into the oil.  Fry for 2-4 minutes on one side until golden and then flip to cook on the other side 1-3 minutes.  Dry over paper towels to absorb the oil.

Oatmeal Stuffed Apple

Hers, with Walnuts

His, without!

Simple, but takes a little time.  I served them with a steak knife to make them easy to cut. The apple is so sweet, you could leave out the maple syrup and cut back on those calories.

1 cup oatmeal
2 cups water
Salt
Maple syrup
Raisins
Walnuts
2 Apples

Preheat the oven to 375* and put a small pot over medium flame.  Put oatmeal and water and pinch of salt in pot and cooked over medium low for ten minutes stirring occasionally.  Carefully cut the center out of an apple keeping the bottom of the apple intact so that the apple makes a small bowel. Place 6-10 raisins on the bottom of the apple and cover to half way with oatmeal. Drizzle in a small amount of maple syrup and fill the rest of the apple with oatmeal to overflowing.  I placed the two apples in a small cast iron skillet and set that in the oven at 375* for 15-20 minutes.  About half the oatmeal was leftover and I got it hot just before serving by placing it in the oven for a few minutes.  I nestled each apple over a scoop of oatmeal and garnished with a drizzle of maple syrup and some walnuts.

Layered Tortilla

I saw a photo for something like this, and thought it would be great for a party if much taller than I made and with more layers of different fillings like beans, guacamole and roasted chilies. But for just my husband and I, two layers of tortillas was more than enough, half was leftover.  I prepared three fillings, spinach, tomato and mushroom.

2 whole wheat tortillas
1 1/2 cups frozen spinach
1 1/2 cups mushrooms
2 cups tomatoes
2 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2 tabelspoons of Goat cheese
1/2 Avocado
Red Wine
Oregano
Butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

In a pot I heated a little oil and added the frozen spinach and cooked over low heat stirring occasionally until thawed.

In a small cast iron skillet I heated a little butter and added a diced shallot and after a few minutes added two diced cloves of garlic. Next I added about 6 chopped mushrooms and a dash of red wine and a teaspoon of dried oregano.  I sautéed for another few minutes and then set aside.

I the same oiled skillet I added a tabelspoon of olive oil and sautéed a diced clove of garlic and two cups of diced tomatoes for about 4 minutes then set aside.

I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and set my first tortilla in the center.  I spread the spinach evenly over this tortilla and placed the second tortilla on top.  I spread the tomatoes evenly over this tortilla and then sprinkled the mushrooms on top, the diced avocado, goat cheese, salt and pepper.  I baked this in the oven at 350* for about 15 minutes.

Corn Fritters

Corn Fritters reheated Sunday for Brunch and served with poached egg and bread fresh from the farmers market

My Corn Fritters ready for sampling!

I found this lovely recipe on the internet while researching vegetarian food options for a Spanish Tapas party: corn-fritters-with-spicy-honey.  I made some adjustments to the recipe based on what I had available, and the results were delicious!  I did not make the dipping sauce in the link, but instead served the fritters with a little glob of mexican cream and put on the table our collection of hot sauces...Yum!

Roasted Corn fresh from the cob

3 ears of corn
1/4 cup rice milk
1 egg
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
2 green onions
2 tbsp cilantro
1 1/2 cup corn bread mix
tsp salt
tsp sugar
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp pepper

I roasted three ears of sweet white corn in the oven at 400* for 15 minutes then let them cool.  Once cool I cut the corn kernels off the cobs.  I mixed together an egg and 1/4 cup of rice milk and added this to the corn and blended it all together in my blender.  While the corn was cooking I diced up one shallot, two cloves of garlic, two green onions and 2 tablespoons of cilantro and set this aside in a big mixing bowel.  Next I mixed together the dry ingredients.  I hade a great organic corn bread mix so I used 1 1/2 cups for the base and added to it a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar, a dash of coriander and black pepper.  Now in to the mixing bowel of diced greens I poured the corn blend and the dry ingredients and gently folded it all together with a spatula.  In a small pot I heated 1/2 cup grapeseed oil and 3/4 cup of sesame seed oil and spooned the corn batter in to the hot oil.  I fried them 3-5 minutes and flipped once golden and fried another 3 minutes on the second side.  I set them to cool on paper towels, flipping occasionally as they cooled to degrease.

The batter ready for the frier

The first fritters in the oil

A few more minutes on the second side

A delicious Vegan Dinner

Fresh Juice...Get Some!

I love fresh juice.  I bought my juicer one day at Costco with my mom.  It was after college and I was living at home and starting to get interested in health.  It probably cost about $100 and ten years later it still works great.  When it breaks I will upgrade to a stainless steel model.  Although the simple taste of a juice with one or two ingredients is amazing, I usually blend quite a few things together, directed by what I have available.  I try to use mostly vegetable with only a little fruit for sweetness.










Here is a list of things I throw in the juicer:

Celery

Cucumbers

Carrots

Beets and their Greens

Kale, Spinach...

Lemons and Limes

Ginger

Jicama
Apples
Pears