Bulgogi - no soy sauce -

Bulgogi was something I used to dream of and think of fondly feeling I could never recreate it without the magic of soy sauce.  Like MOST recipes I found a beyond suitable representation of my favorite and I couldn't be more happy with this one.

There is a sweet bulgogi (often served on beef) and a hot bulgogi (often served on pork).  I love both but prefer the super hot!

For the sweet bulgogi you cut all the pepper(s) in half (or even further if cooking for the heat tolerant impaired) the amount below and double the sugar of the amount below.

For Hot bulgogi you will need:
1 to 2 lb (mine is usually 1.5 beef) of London broil beef or equivalent of pork loin cut sliced thinly 1/8th inch.  I get mine from Afton field farm and I let it half thaw so it is really easy to cut, if you let it thaw fully it will wiggle and squish away from your blade's edge.
1 tsp Cayenne
1/2 tsp Serrano
1 tsp Paprika  (Getting good paprika is a pain - it should smell Earthy and taste like a round light warmth - not just be red)
1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes OR an equally high heat pepper flake I use - Thai Orange.
A handful of garlic cloves, 6 med. cloves approx.  Crushed using a press.
1 TBSP - 1/4 Cup vegan sugar
1/2 tsp - 1 TBSP any honey you like (I use a really light colored honey for the hot bulgogi and a dark honey for the sweet bulgogi)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Optional:
1/2 inch knuckle of Fresh Ginger if you want.  I don't usually, but it is really tasty with it as well.
Top with toasted golden flax seed or sesame.
Top with spring onion, green onion sliced thinly or chives.

All of these peppers I grow and process into either powder or flake form. But if you have a flavorful and reliable spice resource then use those.

 

Preparation:
When making bulgogi the most important bit is that the meat is sliced thinly (against the grain) this does several things it coats the meat in the spices thoroughly, the meat will curl a bit as it cooks and hold little spicy pockets of garlic, peppers and sugar lastly it cooks it very very quickly and it should be very tender (not overcooked) and made after all other foods for the meal are finished or on their way to being done.

If it looks like way too much pepper, it is perfect.

I cook this, like many things, in a dry (but well seasoned) cast iron pan.  The meat goes directly into a warm-hot pan - it will stick a little but it will release juices from the meat and free up.  Quickly press or add chopped garlic to meat and toss.  Add all peppers and salt, stir in and lastly add sugar and stir making sure all is coated.  If at any point you find this frustrating, or don't have a cast iron pan you can use a spoonful of sunflower oil, safflower oil to the pan to aid in cooking.

 

It is done once the salt and sugar have dissolved, coat with juices and pepper in the pan and serve with your choice of goodness.

This is usually served with rice and wrapped in a fat green leafy vegetable like a romaine or butter lettuce.  I like it with sweet potatoes or squash in the winter.  Hot and spicy meals make the winter get scared away at least for a moment.  Num.

Bird Nests : cookies for Marni.

I made these to work on my obviously cookie deficient blog.
They are vegan and I recommend them highly to ANYONE who likes chocolate and coconut.

Preheat oven to 425.

The dry bits:

• 1 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 Cup unbleached white flour
• 1/4 Cup  Oat flour (rolled oats tossed into a food processor and pulverized)
• 1/4 Cup Baking Cocoa
• 1/2 Cup vegan sugar
• 1/4 Cup sugar in the raw or demerara sugar
• 3/4 Cup coconut
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp or hefty pinch cinnamon

Blend or finger sift everything together well!

The wet bits:

• 2/3 Cup - 3/4 Scant Cup olive oil  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I add it to the olive oil to carry it throughout the mixture)
• 1/2 Cup warm {tap hot} water (this is added in small amounts after everything is well blended to bind everything together tightly)

After the mixture is blended with spoon or hands and the texture changes from grainy to like a sand castle building texture.  Just so it can hold its form enough.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.  Then make tiny 1 inch balls and press your thumb into their tops just to give them a little well for collecting your filling.  In the nest you can put a chocolate chip.  A filbert or macadamia nut.  I added a little dash more of coconut since that is what I had on hand.  Then pop into the oven.  These bake for no more than 5 minutes!   Once the shine from them is gone and the coconut is lightly toasted.  I made this with a mom in mind, so it's a time saver.  The recipe will make 48 tiny cookies.  Perfect for tiny hands. 

These will keep well for at least a week.  You can measure out all of the dry ingredients and put it into a mason jar with a masking tape labeled - Bird Nests.  Good gift for family and friends.  Jar them and give with a little instruction card  for the wet ingredients needed and oven temp and timing stuck on the lid.

Bunny tails

A friend of mine requested more dessert entries for their Jer-Bear to eat, so here it is!  Bunny Tails made to order.

For those who make candy this is better because you don't need a friggin' thermometer to make it and nearly anyone can have them.  Allergies? simply change ingredients depending.  Diabetic?  Use a sugarless jam or preserves in place of the ultra sweet gooey ingredient and agave for the binder.

These are dates, peanut butter, honey and coconut.

You can make these out of :

A nut butter: Peanut, sunflower (which is exquisite but since it is thinner it needs to be combine with a little bit of another nut butter to help hold it's shape), almond butter, cashew butter but the best is anything ground FRESH.

A paste like dried fruit the larger the better: Dates, prunes, figs, raisins, currants... the gooy-er the better.

A sweet binder to aid in spreading and chopping:  Honey, Agave, Maple syrup a jam, preserves sugarless if you like or need.

A powder coating of: Coconut, ground nuts, cocoa powder/nibs.

The ratio is:

• 1 heaping cup dates (or what you are using) approximately 10 -12 dates.
• 1/2 Cup heaping peanut or other butter
• drizzle of honey

Spread on a cutting surface.  Chip chop chip.  Hip hop hip. Dice slice dice.  And mix the spread bits into one another.  Sprinkle with coconut or whatever OUTER covering to be contained within the little candy balls.  Then blend again.   With very slightly damp hands roll little balls out and set aside.  In a shallow dish have your coconut or whatever your outside layer will be.  Roll the little balls into it and voila.  Again you've done it, you've made something that costs a million dollhairs in the grocery store and all of 3 -5 bucks out of things you gathered in your home.  They keep in the fridge for a long time.  I haven't timed because nothing this tasty ever has time to go bad.  These are AWESOME for after school snacks, when you can't catch a moment to eat they're in the fridge awaiting you or when you want a sweet fix but don't want to house some nasty crap.

For adults these pair AMAZINGLY with a spicy, fruity soft tannin wine.  I'm writing this entry drunk in fact.

For kids this pairs well with milks. Like PB&Js.

Turmeric Cauliflower

This is a FAVORITE.  I'm from the Midwest and the South (14 years in one and 5+ in the other) so I'm used to being loaded up with fat plates of fried crap.  And it is good crap because what isn't good fried?  NOTHING.  My favorite of the fried crap was fried cauliflower.  Every good Southern home has its secret recipe which is a battle of who has more secret MSG making power than the next.  And yes, it's so tasty, but then after the meal you want to die, you blame it on eating too much... you blame it on the food being "too good" or "too rich" and it was.  It was so good you want to die.  Well the issues with fried are that it violently breaks down protein into a hodge-podge of things, including MSG-like compounds or as we call it - the SPICE.  We always say it with contempt after a bad meal, and even our friends have taken to calling MSG containing meals SPICED.  Just don't confuse this with real spices that have nothing to do with MSG.  The second isssue is that most things fried are also battered. Wheat has protein and frying it results in, yep, the SPICE.  Egg is incredibly protein rich and using that in conjunction with flour yields, yep, - super the SPICE.  Then the grandmas and aunts and moms with their secret ingredients are usually upping that spice quotient without even realizing it by using any number of protein breakers like lemon into the batter, Taco Bell fire sauce (in my opinion, Taco Bell is one of the WORST offenders of using flavor enhancers to cover their heavily modified and very low grade food to make everyone feel as though you NEED it) and other additions.

To escape the South and keep the flavor, fresh turmeric does a fine job.

This is a VERY simple recipe.

Beforehand it looks like a non-event.

But just wait until you see it and smell it coming out of the oven...
Preheat oven to 400-425

• 1 head of cauliflower (trim off the 'stump' and leaves, cut large florets into slices)
• 1 inch chunk of fresh turmeric more or less depending on how much cauliflower (I just grate it no peeling or chopping)   Turmeric will give you "cheetos" fingers and can stain things so grate over a plate or work surface made to take this kind of thing.
• 4 cloves garlic grated
• 2 TBSP olive oil or more as needed
• pinch of salt
• ground pepper or some hot pepper seeds

Toss to combine, and bake.  At 20 minutes it will start to become tender.  Take it out, toss to coat everything once more and put back in to get the tenderness you desire.  At most 30 minutes.

Fresh Turmeric Root

The upsides of this dish is that Turmeric is well known for its health benefits and is a very subtle, savory flavor that pairs well with dark flavored things like beans, lentils, grains.  It is what gives Curry is color.  It also is used to ease joint pain and inflammation.  Curcumin, the thing that gives Turmeric is color, has antioxidant; anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, stomach-soothing, and liver-and heart-protecting effects. This will take that would-be fried cauliflower and kick it in the teeth.  I'm swearing off the fried stuff and going for this.

So simple Banana muffins.

No eggs?  No problem.  Eggs are often thought of as a must-have for baking.  This is because they are an excellent rising agent (I almost typed eggcellent, would you have ever forgiven me?).  Along with eggs, baking soda, honey, and yeast help as well.  So one part the egg does that yeast and baking soda don't do is also help bind the ingredients together.  For that bananas are wonderful, however they do not really aid in rising so along with them you'll need baking soda like in most egg baking as well.

You can also use bananas and/or applesauce in a pinch for recipes that require eggs when you are out.  Or a bit more oil than you'd like to use in a recipe?  Swap some or all of it out for applesauce.  If you want it to have LESS banana flavor use slightly greener bananas.  The less ripe the banana the less banana flavor, but they'll still bind like a champ.  I recommend if your plan is to stay away from the bad stuff (MSG, broken proteins or amines), then using just spotty bananas will suffice for banana flavored things.  It has really good flavor without too much of the bad stuff (blackened bananas are bad for you. sigh. I love them - but nature is right, rotten isn't good for me or you).

Banana anything is usually good but often not amazing.  Whenever folks would cook for me as a vegetarian they'd usually serve up a banana something for dessert.  And it was generally decent tasting but nothing to rave on about.  Bananas cooked in rum or over a campfire might send me, but alas no muffin did that.  It was always. "yum" in the tiniest print.  I think there are two fruits that go extraordinarily well with bananas: strawberries and blueberries, but they get to fight over who wins.  You win by eating them.  These muffins can be made with fresh or frozen blueberries OR fresh or frozen strawberries.  These have blueberry.  See the bounty!

So on with it.  Banana muffin time. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• 1 and 1/2 Cup whole wheat flour (as usual, you may use the flour you favor or do a combo)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice (this is my favorite spice in this recipe and I feel makes it less ordinary)
• 1 Cup slightly heaping blueberries (or strawberries)
• 2 lightly spotted bananas
• 3/4 Cup olive oil (you can get away with less and always add up to the 3/4 to make sure the flour combines)
• 3/4 Cup vegan sugar ( or sneak less in there until the family noticeably gets irritated with you)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Yield is approx. 1 dozen

I had forgotten salt when making these on a whim, it was not missed -so I left it out.  I do find this recipe to be a tad sweet for me, Jason would not have me change it for the world so your family may also like it as is. I plan on probably sneaking less in next time as the bananas and the blueberries are quite sweet and don't rely as heavily on the sugar as other fruits may - like cranberries.

Combine dry ingredients except sugar (sugar always goes with wet ingredients).  Add the 1 Cup auxiliary fruit and toss to coat in flour.  Chop bananas in a separate mixing bowl until small bits, cover in the oil, sugar and vanilla.  Beat senseless until nearly fluffy like eggs or butter would be and once well combined scrape into the dry ingredients and combine well until no dry flour remains. I use a 1/4 Cup scoop to pour into paper lined muffin tin.  Cook for 20-30 minutes. My oven in Portland, Oregon took 28 minutes the longest of all my muffins your oven in Istanbul may take longer.  The tops should have golden brown kisses and start to crack with fault lines and when pressed spring back just so.  Then perfection.