Reibekuchen

I am always looking for new ways to use up potatoes.  Usually I will just boil them in salt water (Salzkartoffeln), which is surprisingly good.  I also mash them up to make mashed potatoes or fry them up with some sausage and onions.  Nothing particularly creative.  Today, though, I thought I would make Reibekuchen.  Reiben means "to rub", so the potatoes are grated (along with the onions), and Kuchen means cakes.  They have a lot of names in different cultures, like "latkes" in Jewish culture.  They are quite common in the Rheinland region where my family comes from.

I wanted to find the best way to make them and didn't want to do a research project.  I looked at a few recipes on a German recipe app and went from there.  I knew that a big decision was going to be how to handle the moisture.  Too moist and the oil cools and you end up with fried, oily mush.  Too dry and the pancakes come out, well, dry.

I ended up with the last of the potatoes putting them in a sieve.  The excess liquid drained away, but the mix still had enough liquid to keep the pancakes moist.

I oversalted a bit, but they still came out fine.  I get confused sometimes between an EL (eating spoon or tablespoon) and TL (teaspoon)

A quart cup of sour cream is a nice addition

Don't use extra virgin olive oil.  Extra virgin olive oil is lousy for stir frying, as it has a low smoke point and all the nice aroma and flavor components boil away.  Stick with basic olive oil or some other veggie oil.

Reibekuchen

2 lb potatoes (I used Yukon Gold).
1 onion
3 tablespoons AP flour
2 eggs
1.5 Tbs salt
white pepper to taste
olive oil, non-EVOO

1) Grate potatoes and onions
2) Add the rest of the ingredient except the oil and mix
3) Allow to sit 15 minutes
4) Add to a sieve for a couple of minutes
5) Add oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat over medium high.  Adjust heat as necessary to brown the pancakes relatively quickly without blackening them.
6)  Drain on paper towels.  They should be nicely browned on the outside and gooey in the middle.

Trini Cincinnati Chili

I've joked around with my wife about how I was going to open a food cart devoted to vegetarian Cincinnati chili and I would make a whole range of varieties, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.  Well, I thought I'd start with Trini style.  I think this cuisine can provide some great, unique flavors.

The first ingredient has to be green seasoning (Green Seasoning).  This is classic Trini ingredient, a lot like herbal curry.  I have a ton in my freezer, so I am ready to go.

One trick that I use over and over with Trini cooking is caramelizing some sugar.  It takes some patience and skill, but it is cool and adds some nice flavor.  You could probably replace with brown sugar if you aren't adventurous.

Trini food tends to be really hot and I'd love to toss in a bunch of scotch bonnets, but my wife would kill me.  My chili powder is already hot, so I just left it out.

In Trinidad they tend to use pigeon peas instead of lentils, so I made this switch.

I switched out some coconut milk for broth.  One can might be too much, but might as well use it all up.  I thought this would be a good Caribbean touch for extra creaminess.

The vinegar switched out with lime juice and hot sauce

I was vacillating about adding the tomato sauce, but ended up it in.  The flavor was a bit flat without it.

 The final dish was good, but very different from Cincinnati chili.  It was sweeter from the sugar and the coconut milk which I tried to balance with salt, acid, and Pickapeppa sauce.  Cincinnati chili is fairly sweet as well.  The chili powder was pretty mild, but the green seasoning came through nicely.  The pigeon peas had a nice crunch to them.

I'll have to spend some time thinking about what improvements I might make.  I might try a Jamaican version next with jerk seasoning and calalloo and use that result to reflect back on this recipe.

Here is the recipe::


Trini Cincinnati Chili

1.5 Tbsp Pickapeppa sauce or Worchestershire sauce
1.5 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup green seasoning
1/2 tsp thyme
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 lb dried pigeon peas (toovar or toor dal)
1 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 cups veggie broth
1 can coconut milk (about 1 3/4 cups)
8 oz tomato sauce
1 Tbsp hot sauce

1)  Rinse the pigeon peas with water to remove any dust.  I will fill a pan with peas and water, rub the peas with my fingers, drain, and repeat until the water stays relatively clear.
2) Mix sugar with teaspoon of water and add to a pan
3) Heat until the sugar melts.  The water will evaporate and the sugar will melt and start to turn brown.  You don't want it black.
4) Quickly add the broth and dissolve the sugar.
5) Add the rest of the ingredients except for the hot sauce and lime juice
6) Simmer unit the peas are soft
7) Mix in the hot sauce and lime juice.
8) Served over pasta with shredded cheese, red beans, and onions.

Updating recipes

I wanted to give a heads up that I will be revisiting my posts as I go along.  I've realized over the years that frequently people will post/publish a recipe they have made once and never revisit it.  If it didn't come out the second time, you never hear about it.  You have no indication whether the recipe is reproducible or not.  I will go back and revisit these recipes and tell you, oops, I left out something or, shit, this totally didn't work out the second time and offer some reasons why and what to do to make the recipe better.  I can also toss in some pictures, which would be nice.

Basic Thai/Vietnamese stir fry

A big trend lately is Thai/Vietnamese restaurants.  They are all over and provide a food broadly between Indian and Chinese, with some of the spices of Indian cuisine and the sauces of Chinese.  Like most restaurants, I've been generally pretty disappointed with them.  They lack much complexity or flavor, though frequently the springs rolls are pretty yummy.

This recipe is a versatile base for whatever you want to cook up.  Toss in some snow peas, green beans, carrots, napa cabbage, whatever.

I loosely based this on a recipe I found in Mai Pham's "The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking".  The recipes are a bit hit or miss.  I jacked up the amount of sauce, as everyone loves sauce.  Her recipes tend to be a bit dry.

The basil is added with the heat off to preserve the delicate aroma of the basil.  If you heat basil too much, it kills the flavor.  When you preserve the basil flavor, the dish is oh so good.

Key ingredients that I keep around the house more or less constantly:

Fish sauce (nam pla in Thai, nuoc mam in Vietnamese):  They soy sauce of SE Asia.  Very delicious, but make sure not to throw it directly into a hot pan or oil.  It will stink terribly.  It's made basically by stuffing a barrel full of fish, filling it from brine, and letting it age for a while.  Doesn't sound very appetizing, but neither does sausage making, but it still tastes great.  Buy some without any MSG or other artificial ingredients.  Squid brand is a safe bet.  Soy sauce is an OK replacement.

Fresh chili paste (Sambal Oelek):  Basically, ground chilis, vinegar, salt, and maybe garlic.  Super delicious, but hot.  Not fermented, like chinese chili paste.  Good fresh on top of anything or yummy stir fried.  Huy Fong (the makers of Sriracha) make a tasty variety that is widely available.  Pretty flipping hot, so be careful with it.

Quorn: great veggie replacement for meat.  Tastes like a chicken crossed with a mushroom.  Kroger seems to have 2 for 1 deals once in a while on this.  Much better than a lot of the meat replacements, which tend toward execrable.

Basil: key in this recipe.  Thai or regular work fine.

Oyster sauce: great source of umami.  Not fishy like fish sauce.  They have mushruoom oyster sauce without oysters as well.  Seems to taste fine.

 I seem to recall adding Recaito to this, but I can't remember anymore.  I would have been about a tablespoon.  The cilantro/pepper flavor would be appropriate.

Basic Thai Stir Fry:

1 lb Quorn or chicken
2 Tbsp cooking oil (canola, etc)
1/2 - 2 Tbsp chili paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
 1-2 shallots, chopped
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup broth (veggie or chicken)
1 chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped basil, Thai or Western
Optional: lemongrass (add with sauce), snow peas, other veggies in place of pepper.  Precook them so that they are ready to go when you add them.

1) Heat oil over medium heat (if you heat it too hot, the chili paste might gas you).
2) Add garlic, shallots, and chili paste and cook ~30 seconds
3) Add onions and fry a couple of minutes, until softened.
4) Add protein and fry until cooked.  You might need to dial up the heat.
5) Deglaze the pan with the broth.
6) Add the rest of the sauces and heat through
7) Turn off the heat, mix in the basil.
8) Serve over white rice.

Black Beans and Millet

I bought some millet a couple of months back, but haven't seen too many recipes using it, so I decided to construct my own based on a beans and rice recipe.

Millet is one of those super-grains that was more or less forgotten in America until recent times, a bit like quinoa.  As agriculture moved to greater yields over the years, older crops like millet got forgotten.  Industrialized nations moved to corn, wheat, and rice, giving the biggest bang for the buck.  Only in less developed regions, like Africa, India, and South America did the traditional crops linger.  Millet is an ancient grain and they find records of it from archaeological sites 10,000 years old.  It is gluten free and you can bake flatbreads from it, supposedly.  With some protein, you can bake it into more traditional breads.

I started pretty basic in the recipe, but added more components to give it more complexity.  One great ingredient to have around the house is chipotle chlilis.  Frequently you can find them canned en adobo in the Mexican section of the grocery.  I just frozen them and scoop out a chili when I want some.  One is enough to flavor a whole dish.  I really like the recaito, cumin, chipotle chili, and Mexican oregano blend in the dish.

You'll want to pay attention to the moisture level and the cooking of the millet.  My experience was that millet took about 30 minutes to cook.  It is a bit gummy and chewy until it is done.

Save the extra bean broth.  It is a great addition to stews and a good basis for cooking.  Add it along with broth to add additional flavor and nutrition.

Mexican oregano is great stuff.  It is like super-oregano, bursting with aroma and flavor.  Traditional oregano is a fine replacement.  Make sure to crumble it with your hands before addition to release the flavor.  The flavor components are oil-soluble, so it is good to added directly to the stir fry.

You can soak the beans overnight in salt water to speed the cooking.  You can probably get away with canned beans in place of the dried, but you will need to replace the bean broth with additional veggie broth.

Black Beans and Millet

 1/2 lb dried black beans
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup millet
2 cups broth (veggie or chicken)
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chili (jalapeno or serrano), chopped
1/4 cup recaito
1 tsp ground cumin
1 chipotle chili

1) Cover beans with water to the depth of 2 inches (the length of a small eating spoon)
2) Add 1 bay leaf, 1/2 tsp Mexican oregano, and 1/4 tsp baking soda
3) Simmer covered until beans are cooked (~1h)
4) Drain, reserving broth.  Remove bay leaf.
5) Bring 1 cup millet and 2 cups broth to a boil, simmer ~30 minutes, until millet is mostly cooked.  Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

6) Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat
7) Fry garlic, onion, and 1/2 tsp oregano until the onion has softened, ~ 10 minutes.
8) Add recaito, chili, and cumin and fry 5 minutes
9) Add millet, beans, 1/2 cup of bean broth, and chipotle chili.
10) Simmer until cooked through.  Add additional bean broth to keep moist.
11) Splash with 1 Tbsp olive oil, add salt to taste (I added around 1/2 Tbsp), and serve.

Minty green sauce

One of my go to Middle Eastern cookbooks is Faye Levy's "Feast from the Mideast":

http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Mideast-Sun-Drenched-Dishes-Cookbooks/dp/0060093617

It's got a lot of really good basic recipes and is very vegetarian friendly.  I made a fish dish yesterday out of it that turned out great, but what really was the clincher was the sauce that went on it.  It is a classic Middle Eastern recipe - lemon juice, herbs, and olive oil.  Fresh and delicious.  It would be fantastic on just about anything - veggie burger, falafel, kebabs, etc.  It is super easy to make, too.

I left out the optional olives, as I hate olives, but love olive oil.

Mint can be cheaply obtained from Asian or Indian groceries.  I bought an enormous mound for $2, enough to make this recipe 4x over.

Parsley is a great herb that Americans just don't appreciate.  I have probably harped on this before, but it tastes great and really makes a dish.  It's more assertive than cilantro and is about the same price.

I usually keep two kinds of olive oil around the house.  One is cheap and is for stir frying.  The other is more expensive and used for sauces and dressing.  Heating oil drives off much of the flavor components and expensive oil burns at a lower temperature.  In this recipe, I used good California oil.  I like California oil because there is a good chance that it isn't counterfit.  A lot of oil from Italy is either not olive oil or is bulk crap from another country.  California oil producers need to keep their quality high in order to compete on the world market, so there is no motivation to make crap.

I have changed the proportions in the recipe a bit.

Minty Green Sauce

2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley.
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup diced onion
4 Tbsp good quality olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
pepper

1) Puree vegetables in food processor until uniform
2) Add in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.  Mix and serve over whatever you want.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

This is one of my mother-in-laws recipes and a favorite of my wife's as a kid during the colder months.  My mother-in-law made mini muffins, but I only have a regular size tin, so I make regular size ones.  I think this might be a bit of an improvement, as the muffins get a bit more of a crunchy outside due to being in the oven longer.  It is a basic recipe, but good.  I might try substituting mashed sweet potatoes or another mashed squash for the pumpkin.  Pumpkin is, after all, a squash.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1) Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just mixed.
2) Add to greased muffin tin or to cupcake cups.
3) Bake at 350 for ~30 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.