Tempura

Gluten free vegan - there's a challenge. If the recipe calls for wheat flour, it doesn't get a second look from me. But in the fine print of all the tempura recipes I read, it says, don't stir this batter too long or you will activate the gluten in the flour and the batter will be too sticky. That means that here is a recipe that lends itself to gluten free flours. Yahoo.

I love the crunch and versatility of tempura. It's a technique that uniquely modifies a vegetable. Tempura provides texture and a certain mystic to a meal. It's just plain fun to eat tempura. Even a wary child will be intrigued.

Warning: Deep frying requires your full attention. Hot oil and a batter are a spitting, popping combination. Be careful and mindful. Keep the small children out of the kitchen. If you are dipping vegetables like bell peppers, that have a skin on them, score the skin before you batter or it may blister and explode in the hot oil. Wear an apron. Safety goggles aren't out of the question. But a helmet is going a little too far.

Tempura (mushrooms, spinach and sweet potato) and rice

Tempura 
 (deep fried vegetables)
1 cup flour (for gluten free, use brown rice flour or chickpea flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
and very important
1 cup ICE cold water


Vegetables
(such as: sweet potato, mushrooms, spinach, kale, eggplant, carrot, green beans, potato, okra, pumpkin, snow peas)
Peanut oil 
(traditionally sesame oil is used, you can also use canola or vegetable oil)

Prepare the vegetables. Wash and cut into bite size pieces. Dry. 

Heat the oil. It is ready when batter dropped into the oil turns golden brown. (325 - 350 degrees F)

Mix the batter last so you are working with cold batter. 

When oil is hot, dip the vegetables into the batter to coat lightly, then carefully put into the hot oil to fry. They will be ready in 2-3 minutes.Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and rain on paper towel. 

Serve hot with a soy or plum dipping sauce, or just give your vegetables a splash of lemon. 

Serve with a green salad and a bowl of steaming hot rice. 

Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup

The days have been warm and windy in my Southern California city, still, when the sun goes down at 4:45pm, I'm thinking about soup. Light sends messages via the neurotransmitters in my brain, telling me that the winter blues are eminent, best find soup and fast.  

Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup

"Beautiful soup, so rich and green
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful soup!
Beautiful soup! Who cares for fish
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
Pennyworth of beautiful soup?"Lewis Carroll, ‘Alice in Wonderland’

Lewis Carroll was eating green soup - I think golden soup will make me happier today. I'll serve a green salad with a citrus dressing on the side. It will be cheery and fresh. It will wake me up for a lovely evening of reading or a movie or even a few chores. 

Chop three to four sweet potatoes to measure 4 cups.

Leave the skin on for extra nutrition.
The skin will disappear in the blend later.
(sneaky nutritional cook)

Boil in 4 cups salted water until soft.

Measure 4 cups cauliflower florets - one
medium head cauliflower.

Spread out on a parchment paper
lined cookie sheet and roast
at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes -
until they are slightly browned and
smelling sweet.

 Chop one small sweet onion and 3 cloves of garlic and saute until transparent.

Let everything cool.
Combine all ingredients, reserving some cauliflower florets for garnish, blend until smooth.

I garnished mine with smokey paprika and parsley. You might try turmeric.

This soup is loaded with Vitamins A, C, K, B6, Manganese and protein. It will surely drive the winter blues away. 

Dicots and Monocots

Dicots and Monocots came to my attention when I was researching the weeds in my yard. Then the terms kept popping up, like when you want to buy a new car and you begin to see that car everywhere. Today I'm cooking from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen  by Donna Klein and the recipe calls for sweet potatoes. I went to google and asked the difference between a yam and a sweet potato and learned that they are not related. Not even cousins. Follow the link above and you can read more, but here is the dicot, monocot explanation I found there:

 "Although yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms (flowering plants), they are not related botanically. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family. Sweet Potatoes, often called ‘yams’, are a dicot (a plant having two embryonic seed leaves) and are from the Convolvulacea or morning glory family."

There you have it. If you study further you will learn that the way a dicot reproduces is different than the way a monocot reproduces. Intrigued? I recommend A Rum Affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud by Karl Sabbagh and The Secret Life Of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird.

On to dinner. Beautiful, flavorful, delicious.

Caribbean-Style Baked Sweet Potatoes

with Chili Black Beans

4 servings

4 (8 ounce) sweet potatoes - I had to use yams - that's all my market offered

3/4 cup rinsed and drained canned black beans

3/4 cup vegetarian refried pinto beans

3/4 cup salsa or picante sauce

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced

4 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper

Pierce each potato with a fork and place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake until tender (45-60 minutes)

In a small saucepan, combine the black beans, refried beans, salsa, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often. Stir in the scallions and remove from heat. Cover and keep warm.

To serve: slit the tops of the sweet potatoes, making an X, carefully press to "burst" the baked goodness through the top.  Top with bean mixture, garnish with cilantro.

A green salad completes the meal.