Videos from my cooking demo in Madison, WI.
Soy Milk Mayo
1/3 cup Soy Milk
3/4 tsp cider or distilled vinegar
2/3 cup canola oil
Salt, to taste
Seasonings, to taste
In the blending container, add the soy milk and vinegar, and mix with an immersion blender. Add the canola oil, and make a plunging motion with it to get all the ingredients emulsified.
Fat Free Chickpea Dressing
1 16-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 ½ TB sweet white miso (chickpea miso is fine too)
4 TB nutritional yeast
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder (I prefer granulated onion powder, but use whatever you like)
2 tsp cheap yellow mustard
¼ cup lemon juice OR 2 TB cider vinegar
Salt, to taste
3 cups water, reserved
In the jar of a blender, combine the chickpeas, miso, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, lemon juice, mustard, and salt. Add about 1 ½ cups of the reserved water, and blend on high. Continue adding water as needed, until the chickpeas are all ground to a puree.
If you'd like to email me (either in a text email, or to send a voice recording that you want me to play on the next episode), send an email to altveg at me dot com.
Showing posts with label easy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label easy. Show all posts
30 June 2013
26 April 2013
Flash Gaajar Halva
The traditional version of this recipe involves large quantities of dairy, huge tubs of sugar, and ages of time spent in boiling, reducing, and stirring, along with plenty of anxiety about not burning the whole mess. This version takes about ten minutes or so. My friends Anjali and Rehmah were at my house, eating lunch. Someone mentioned sweets of some sort, and Rehmah instantly got a craving for some kind of sweet. I didn't have much else in the house, so I knocked this version out very quickly, both to calm Rehmah's cravings, and to make sure that Anjali got to taste some too (as she was about to head out for a hot date that night).
The name was not my idea. It was Rehmah's.
For the record, you had a Pakistani lady (Rehmah) and a Punjabi lady (Anjali) who loved how the dish turned out. That's how I knew it was a keeper.
1 pound carrots, grated
1 TB neutral flavoured oil (peanut, canola, corn)
2 cardamom pods, crushed
3 TB granulated sugar
1 1/2 TB cornstarch
2 cups coconut milk
In a pot, combine the carrots, oil, and cardamom. Sautee the carrots over high heat, until they are softened. While the carrots cook, whisk together the cornstarch and the coconut milk.
Once the carrots are softened, add the sugar, and stir it through. The sugar will melt rather quickly, and get caramelised. The carrots will turn a slightly darker colour too. This is what you want to happen, so don't worry when it happens.
Once the sugar is caramelised and lightly browned, add the coconut milk and cornstarch mixture. Bring the liquid to a full rushing boil, and continue to boil for one minute with constant stirring. Turn off the heat, and allow to cool down to room temperature before serving.
31 March 2013
Yeast Belgian Waffles
2 cups all purpose flour
3 TB cornstarch
1 cup water, microwaved for 1 minute
3/4 cups soy OR almond OR coconut milk, microwaved for 1 minute
1/2 packet (2 tsp) yeast
3 TB sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp salt
SET ASIDE
1 TB vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
In a bowl, combine the water, almond milk, and sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved. If the liquid is body heat, whisk in the yeast. If it's too hot, add the canola oil, and then add the yeast. Either way, get the yeast dissolved. Then, add the flour, cornstarch, canola oil, and salt. Let set covered with plastic wrap for 1 hour, in a warm place (or over a bowl of warm water, if you don't have a warm place). The dough will have doubled in size. If the dough is not doubled in size, let it hang out a bit longer, until it is.
Once the dough is doubled in volume, heat your waffle iron. When the iron is hot, spray it with cooking spray, or brush on some oil. Then, dissolve the baking powder in the vanilla extract. Beat the slurry through the dough. Then, ladle on however much waffle batter your waffle iron needs. Mine needs about 3/4 cup. This will rise a lot, so don't overfill.
Bake on medium heat, if your waffle iron lets you set the heat. Serve piping hot.
These are very easy to split in half, and slather generously with jam, peanut butter, melted chocolate, or whatever combination you can come up with. Eat it like a sandwich. This way, the crispy part on the outside remains crispy, while the pillowy fluffy part inside gets soaked in delicious sweetness.
17 January 2013
Greens Mixed Rice
Kalantha saadam (literally "mixed rice") is a delicious group of South Indian dishes, that include lemon rice, tomato rice, coconut rice, and tamarind rice. This one isn't quite so common, but I still found it to be delicious. If you're looking to develop your own type of kalantha saadam, here are some considerations:
1) The rice should be separate and fluffy. It's why I frequently call for basmati rice in these specific recipes.
2) The dish itself should end up dry. Even in the case of tomato rice, where you have a fair bit of wet ingredients (i.e., fresh tomato), you still want to cook the spice mix down until the liquid evaporates enough to make the rice stay fluffy, dry, and separate. Mushy or wet kalantha saadam is an embarrassment. If it ever happens to you, add a bunch of other vegetables, and call it something else.
3) Nuts are always appreciated. No exceptions (unless you have some kind of horrible allergy).
4) Curry leaves are nice to have, but aren't strictly required. If you can't find it, leave it out.
5) You're focusing on the /rice/ and anything else that is with it is a condiment. That is, the bulk of the dish should be rice. The spice blend is a seasoning.
6) These are all my own opinions. If you show this to another Indian, they'll likely nod along to a couple of points, and then scream and rage with fury at the rest. This is the beauty of the food of my country. It's varied in the extreme, while still being delicious. Everyone who cooks (and frequently, even those who eat) will have strong opinions on how it should be done. That is OK.
This is a picture of what it looks like. (Please click the small picture to see the bigger version.) Notice how the rice dominates the whole thing.This is good. This is but my own version; where you can substitute, I have made notes. In this version, I skipped the nuts, but I added a large handful of curry leaves, and a few heaping tablespoons of dried fenugreek leaves. You may also add dill, cilantro, parsley, basil, or any other fresh herbs you like.
4 cups cooked rice
1 bunch collard greens (you can also use kale, any fresh herbs of your liking, or spinach. if using spinach, don't microwave. I used collard greens, curry leaves, and fenugreek leaves)
1/3 cup water
1 onion
1 TB canola oil (peanut, or other vegetable oils are fine too)
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp urad daal
1/2 tsp cumin seed
3 tsp sesame seed (optional)
1/4 cup roasted nuts (optional)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric
Chop the greens (but not the herbs) roughly. In a large microwave safe container, add the water and the greens. Microwave for 6 minutes, until lightly wilted.
While the greens cook, chop the onion, and gather your spices. Heat up your wok over high heat. Add the oil, and let it get hot. Add the mustard seeds, and let them pop. Add the urad daal, cumin seeds, and sesame seeds. Let the cumin and sesame seeds pop. You might want to use your lid, because they will violently pop all over the place. Once the popping subsides, add your onions, and drop down the heat to medium (so the onions don't burn).
When the greens are wilted, chop as finely as you can with the chopping blade of your food processor. Don't add the water from the steaming unless you absolutely need it. Because they've wilted down, you should be able to fit the entire bunch of collard greens along with any herbs you like into a 7-cup food processor (which is the kind I have). This will make short work of the greens. Chop until finely processed.
Crank up the heat of the wok to as high as it'll go. Add the greens, some turmeric powder, red pepper flakes, and the roasted nuts. Toss to combine with the spices, and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, and toss the greens with the cooked rice.
Serve piping hot, with any vegetable side that you like.
1) The rice should be separate and fluffy. It's why I frequently call for basmati rice in these specific recipes.
2) The dish itself should end up dry. Even in the case of tomato rice, where you have a fair bit of wet ingredients (i.e., fresh tomato), you still want to cook the spice mix down until the liquid evaporates enough to make the rice stay fluffy, dry, and separate. Mushy or wet kalantha saadam is an embarrassment. If it ever happens to you, add a bunch of other vegetables, and call it something else.
3) Nuts are always appreciated. No exceptions (unless you have some kind of horrible allergy).
4) Curry leaves are nice to have, but aren't strictly required. If you can't find it, leave it out.
5) You're focusing on the /rice/ and anything else that is with it is a condiment. That is, the bulk of the dish should be rice. The spice blend is a seasoning.
6) These are all my own opinions. If you show this to another Indian, they'll likely nod along to a couple of points, and then scream and rage with fury at the rest. This is the beauty of the food of my country. It's varied in the extreme, while still being delicious. Everyone who cooks (and frequently, even those who eat) will have strong opinions on how it should be done. That is OK.
This is a picture of what it looks like. (Please click the small picture to see the bigger version.) Notice how the rice dominates the whole thing.This is good. This is but my own version; where you can substitute, I have made notes. In this version, I skipped the nuts, but I added a large handful of curry leaves, and a few heaping tablespoons of dried fenugreek leaves. You may also add dill, cilantro, parsley, basil, or any other fresh herbs you like.
4 cups cooked rice
1 bunch collard greens (you can also use kale, any fresh herbs of your liking, or spinach. if using spinach, don't microwave. I used collard greens, curry leaves, and fenugreek leaves)
1/3 cup water
1 onion
1 TB canola oil (peanut, or other vegetable oils are fine too)
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp urad daal
1/2 tsp cumin seed
3 tsp sesame seed (optional)
1/4 cup roasted nuts (optional)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric
Chop the greens (but not the herbs) roughly. In a large microwave safe container, add the water and the greens. Microwave for 6 minutes, until lightly wilted.
While the greens cook, chop the onion, and gather your spices. Heat up your wok over high heat. Add the oil, and let it get hot. Add the mustard seeds, and let them pop. Add the urad daal, cumin seeds, and sesame seeds. Let the cumin and sesame seeds pop. You might want to use your lid, because they will violently pop all over the place. Once the popping subsides, add your onions, and drop down the heat to medium (so the onions don't burn).
When the greens are wilted, chop as finely as you can with the chopping blade of your food processor. Don't add the water from the steaming unless you absolutely need it. Because they've wilted down, you should be able to fit the entire bunch of collard greens along with any herbs you like into a 7-cup food processor (which is the kind I have). This will make short work of the greens. Chop until finely processed.
Crank up the heat of the wok to as high as it'll go. Add the greens, some turmeric powder, red pepper flakes, and the roasted nuts. Toss to combine with the spices, and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, and toss the greens with the cooked rice.
Serve piping hot, with any vegetable side that you like.
10 July 2012
Adai
2 parts toor daal
1 part barley
1 part brown rice
1 part mung beans
1 part masoor daal
3 dried mulato chiles
3 dried ancho chiles
3 dried pasilla chiles
2 dried chile de arbol
1 TB fenugreek seed
1/3 part urad daal
Soak overnight. Using the soaking liquid, grind to an absolute paste along with 1 part grated ginger, a generous sprinkle of salt, and 1 part curry leaves loosely measured. Fry off in your favorite pancake skillet and eat with great gusto.
1 part barley
1 part brown rice
1 part mung beans
1 part masoor daal
3 dried mulato chiles
3 dried ancho chiles
3 dried pasilla chiles
2 dried chile de arbol
1 TB fenugreek seed
1/3 part urad daal
Soak overnight. Using the soaking liquid, grind to an absolute paste along with 1 part grated ginger, a generous sprinkle of salt, and 1 part curry leaves loosely measured. Fry off in your favorite pancake skillet and eat with great gusto.
13 June 2012
Beans & Rice: Switching it up
I saw a complaint from someone who was trying to eat cheaply, while eating healthy, so s/he was going heavy on the beans and rice thing, and starting to get bored. It's a fair enough critique of eating very cheaply: things can sometimes get repetitive or tedious, and you don't know quite how to break out of your rut. There are a couple of things you can get started doing, so that you can add interest to your beans and rice meals, while still keeping on a tight budget. This person said that they'd been able to get enough money to add a couple of spices to their beans and rice, and were able to splurge on adding animal products (which, frankly, are way more expensive than vegetables that will give more bulk and interest to the meal), so I'm allowing myself the addition of a few vegetables into this mix, to keep things interesting.
First, you really need to familiarise yourself with a basic daal tarka. I don't mean the complex ones involving multiple layers of spices, and all kind of vegetables. I'm talking your basic, starter edition.
2 cups of dried beans, soaked and cooked (buying dried beans will drop down the cost considerably from the cost of tinned; if you don't have the time for soaking and boiling, use red lentils, split peas, or brown lentils, which will cook up just as quickly.)
1 TB canola or other vegetable oil (don't substitute olive oil; its smoke point is way too small to allow the popping of spices)
1/2 tsp cumin seed (do not substitute powdered)
1/2 tsp coriander seed, lightly crushed (do not substitute powdered)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (if you can't find turmeric powder, use 1 tsp of curry powder)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups water (either the cooking liquid from the beans, or fresh water if you threw them out already)
In a pot, add the oil, and heat it over highest heat. When the oil is hot enough that a bit of smoke escapes the surface, you're ready to add the spices. Add the coriander seed, wait about 30 seconds, and add the cumin seeds. These seeds will pop like mad. This is OK. When the popping has subsided, add the onion, and stir well to combine in the fat and spices. Add the turmeric powder after the onion cooks for about two minutes (still on highest heat). Once the onions are softened (not browned), add the cooked beans, the water, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary.
Why did I start in on this? I wanted to start somewhere, so that we're all on the same page when I discuss the variations. Because, you see, the variations are endless.
If you're not able to afford a lot of different things, buy one or two of each veg at the store, which won't amount to much money, and do some of the following.
- When you add the onions, augment it with one carrot, one chopped jalapeno (or other chile) of your choice. I remember when I was really broke one time, and wanted some chile peppers in my daal, and I went to the store. I bought 3. They cost about $1.50/lb, because they were out of season. The 3 chiles came to a few cents. I just needed one or two for each day, and I couldn't afford a full pound at the time. The cashier gave me an odd look, but let me get what I wanted.
- Instead of the chile pepper, substitute a red, green, or yellow pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. It'll give the lovely spiciness of a chile peppers while adding a fair bit more bulk and colour.
- If you see it on sale, add a couple of ears of corn to the pot after you add the beans.
- If you have it, add 2 chopped plantains (skin and all) to the cooked onions, right after the onions are tender. All of a sudden, you'll have a potato-like vegetable added in, while still giving you a lot more nutrition than a plain white potato will give you. The plantain skin, when stove-roasted, gives a very interesting and tasty texture that I really hope you'll try.
- If you can find it, add 3 chopped chayotes to the cooked onions, and sautee them until they're soft.
- Before adding the cumin and coriander seed, add about 1 tsp of black or white mustard seeds to the hot fat, and slam on the lid. The mustard seeds will pop like mad, smell amazing, and add a whole different dimension to the dish.
- After popping the cumin and coriander, add 1 tsp of either white or black sesame seeds. Again, you'll boost the iron content, and add lots of taste. This is such a family favourite that my mother adds sesame seeds to her popping spices quite frequently.
- Add any kind of dark leafy green that you can find at the store, from spinach, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, radish greens, escarole, endive, watercress, etc.
- If you're using large beans (kidney, black turtle, white, adzuki, chickpeas, etc), drain them after cooking, and dry roast them. There's a recipe in the book, but the basic concept is to just pop the spices, add some cooked and drained beans, add turmeric, salt, and chiles, then toss them around in the pan until they're roasted on the outside, and creamy on the inside. The beans get a completely different texture and flavour. Everything takes on a much different feeling.
- If you're using the large beans, and brown rice, try a brown rice & beans salad. Add chopped raw onions, some canned, frozen, or fresh corn, a diced tomato, diced cucumber, diced bell pepper, some shredded carrot, the juice of one lime, some salt, cumin powder, cilantro, and some salt and pepper. The beauty of the salad is that during those hot summer months, you can eat it cold, and add pretty close to whatever vegetable you like in the mix, and still keep things interesting. In fact, you could even toss that salad with a bunch of lettuce leaves to bulk it out a bit, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil, and you're ready to eat!
- Mash cooked beans and rice together, along with sauteed onion, garlic, a bit of carrot, and seasoning of your choice, then press into flat patties to bake at 350 for like 20 minutes or so. Eat over a green salad.
The sky is the limit when it comes to beans and rice, especially when you start pulling from other cultures, like Jamaican Rice & Peas, or Costa Rican Gallopinto, or North Indian daals, or Louisiana Red Beans & Rice. There are hundreds of other varieties, especially when you expand your budget to include different spices, spice blends, etc, different kinds of interesting vegetables (just buy one or two if you're broke), different beans, and different rice.
First, you really need to familiarise yourself with a basic daal tarka. I don't mean the complex ones involving multiple layers of spices, and all kind of vegetables. I'm talking your basic, starter edition.
2 cups of dried beans, soaked and cooked (buying dried beans will drop down the cost considerably from the cost of tinned; if you don't have the time for soaking and boiling, use red lentils, split peas, or brown lentils, which will cook up just as quickly.)
1 TB canola or other vegetable oil (don't substitute olive oil; its smoke point is way too small to allow the popping of spices)
1/2 tsp cumin seed (do not substitute powdered)
1/2 tsp coriander seed, lightly crushed (do not substitute powdered)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (if you can't find turmeric powder, use 1 tsp of curry powder)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups water (either the cooking liquid from the beans, or fresh water if you threw them out already)
In a pot, add the oil, and heat it over highest heat. When the oil is hot enough that a bit of smoke escapes the surface, you're ready to add the spices. Add the coriander seed, wait about 30 seconds, and add the cumin seeds. These seeds will pop like mad. This is OK. When the popping has subsided, add the onion, and stir well to combine in the fat and spices. Add the turmeric powder after the onion cooks for about two minutes (still on highest heat). Once the onions are softened (not browned), add the cooked beans, the water, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary.
Why did I start in on this? I wanted to start somewhere, so that we're all on the same page when I discuss the variations. Because, you see, the variations are endless.
If you're not able to afford a lot of different things, buy one or two of each veg at the store, which won't amount to much money, and do some of the following.
- When you add the onions, augment it with one carrot, one chopped jalapeno (or other chile) of your choice. I remember when I was really broke one time, and wanted some chile peppers in my daal, and I went to the store. I bought 3. They cost about $1.50/lb, because they were out of season. The 3 chiles came to a few cents. I just needed one or two for each day, and I couldn't afford a full pound at the time. The cashier gave me an odd look, but let me get what I wanted.
- Instead of the chile pepper, substitute a red, green, or yellow pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. It'll give the lovely spiciness of a chile peppers while adding a fair bit more bulk and colour.
- If you see it on sale, add a couple of ears of corn to the pot after you add the beans.
- If you have it, add 2 chopped plantains (skin and all) to the cooked onions, right after the onions are tender. All of a sudden, you'll have a potato-like vegetable added in, while still giving you a lot more nutrition than a plain white potato will give you. The plantain skin, when stove-roasted, gives a very interesting and tasty texture that I really hope you'll try.
- If you can find it, add 3 chopped chayotes to the cooked onions, and sautee them until they're soft.
- Before adding the cumin and coriander seed, add about 1 tsp of black or white mustard seeds to the hot fat, and slam on the lid. The mustard seeds will pop like mad, smell amazing, and add a whole different dimension to the dish.
- After popping the cumin and coriander, add 1 tsp of either white or black sesame seeds. Again, you'll boost the iron content, and add lots of taste. This is such a family favourite that my mother adds sesame seeds to her popping spices quite frequently.
- Add any kind of dark leafy green that you can find at the store, from spinach, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, radish greens, escarole, endive, watercress, etc.
- If you're using large beans (kidney, black turtle, white, adzuki, chickpeas, etc), drain them after cooking, and dry roast them. There's a recipe in the book, but the basic concept is to just pop the spices, add some cooked and drained beans, add turmeric, salt, and chiles, then toss them around in the pan until they're roasted on the outside, and creamy on the inside. The beans get a completely different texture and flavour. Everything takes on a much different feeling.
- If you're using the large beans, and brown rice, try a brown rice & beans salad. Add chopped raw onions, some canned, frozen, or fresh corn, a diced tomato, diced cucumber, diced bell pepper, some shredded carrot, the juice of one lime, some salt, cumin powder, cilantro, and some salt and pepper. The beauty of the salad is that during those hot summer months, you can eat it cold, and add pretty close to whatever vegetable you like in the mix, and still keep things interesting. In fact, you could even toss that salad with a bunch of lettuce leaves to bulk it out a bit, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil, and you're ready to eat!
- Mash cooked beans and rice together, along with sauteed onion, garlic, a bit of carrot, and seasoning of your choice, then press into flat patties to bake at 350 for like 20 minutes or so. Eat over a green salad.
The sky is the limit when it comes to beans and rice, especially when you start pulling from other cultures, like Jamaican Rice & Peas, or Costa Rican Gallopinto, or North Indian daals, or Louisiana Red Beans & Rice. There are hundreds of other varieties, especially when you expand your budget to include different spices, spice blends, etc, different kinds of interesting vegetables (just buy one or two if you're broke), different beans, and different rice.
01 June 2012
Chickpea flour pancakes
This morning was a little rushed, so I did a batch of mini Besan Puda. The recipe from Manjula's Kitchen is what I used as inspiration. I added lots of garlic (chickpeas love garlic), grated potato, and grated carrot. I used the smallest holes on the grater so that the veggies cook quickly.
31 May 2012
Leftover pilaf
I'm home, and looking to get dinner knocked out fast. In with some onions and garlic, some frozen peas, frozen corn, leftover chickpeas I had from earlier this week, some cashews, leftover coconut rice, some steamed quinoa I had use somewhere else, extra hot chili powder, some curry powder, and a dash of gingelly oil. It very good, for being a bunch of odds and ends I had lying around.
26 January 2012
Set up big pressure cooker for small cooking.
In the body of the pressure cooker is lentils with enough water to cover them. The first bowl in the stack has barley, and its cooking liquid. Atop that, I set the little trivet that came with the pressure cooker. Atop /that/ are some red potatoes, with a scant 2 cm of water in. There'll be plenty of steam in the cooker, so I need not even bother with it, but I don't want the potatoes sticking to my bowl. I then put the lid and weight on the whole mess, set it over high heat, and set my timer for 40 minutes. (Next time, I'll go with shorter time, because the potatoes got overcooked). Then I walked away, and heard the pressure cooker get to full pressure at like 6 minutes or so. Then, I dropped down the heat to low, and let the timer run out. I did a quick release. Honestly, if I just did like 20 minutes, I could have still done a quick release with no problems. I was just stupidly nervous. Boo.
My friend Christy Morgan, of Blissful Chef fame, is maintaining an ongoing pressure cooker party on her blog. Please check out this link for more info on cooking other stuff in pressure cookers! She's got lots of creative ideas for cooking in my style: whole ingredients, lots of produce, and minimising premade stuff. Check it out!
07 February 2009
Beet salad of doom.
It's the first time I've eaten beets and enjoyed it.
3 lb beets
1 lb carrots
1/2 lb daikon or red radish
1/2 lb granny smith apples
Peel the beets with a peeler. Grate everything up, either in your food processor, or using a box grater.
Dressing:
Handful of raw soaked almonds
1 TB white miso (optional)
Glass of orange juice, reserved
1 TB lemon or lime juice
Handful of fresh green chiles, stems removed. Omit if you don't like heat.
Salt, to taste
1 TB Rice wine or apple cider vinegar
Knob of ginger
In a blender or food processor, combine the almonds, miso, lemon/lime juice, green chilis, ginger, and vinegar. Grind until the almonds and chiles are chopped up. Then, crank the blender or food processor on full speed, drizzling in the orange juice in a steady stream, until everything is the thickness you want for it to be. Remember that you want this to cling to the vegetables. Then, when it's like you want it, remove it from the blender, and add salt to taste.
Toss the vegetables together with the dressing, and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes. The beets will turn everything into a brilliant pink/red, and the flavours will meld together beautifully. You'll get a little sweetness from the orange juice, carrots, and the apples. You get some tartness from the apples and lemon juice. The ginger provides a lovely counterpoint to the hotness of the chiles and the sharpness of the daikon. It's a wonderful salad, even in the cold weather, because the flavours just marry so well together.
You could use peanut butter or any other nuts you have in place of almonds. All it'll do is change the flavour in interesting ways.
Other vegetables you can add (and grate):
Courgettes
Cabbage
Red onions
Scallions
Jicama
Chayote
Mango
Green papaya
If you decide to add some tomato, do so just before serving, so that the tomatoes don't leech out too much water, and make the salad into a mess. Feel free to roll this up into rice wrappers, and make spring rolls. The juicy dressing makes it so that you don't need a dipping sauce. Why not use it to stuff some Romaine lettuce leaves, and eat it like a taco? This would also be a stellar and interesting sushi filling.
If you are allergic to nuts, feel free to use coconut instead. If you don't have a blender or food processor, just do an emulsion with a bit of peanut butter or almond butter or whatever instead. If you don't like orange juice, try pineapple, or mango juice. You just need a little counterpoint to the heaviness of the salad, and the slight sweetness does the job.
In any case, I'm trying to get at the most important thing: There is no excuse not to make this salad. Go make it. If it got me to eat some beets, it's a miracle.
3 lb beets
1 lb carrots
1/2 lb daikon or red radish
1/2 lb granny smith apples
Peel the beets with a peeler. Grate everything up, either in your food processor, or using a box grater.
Dressing:
Handful of raw soaked almonds
1 TB white miso (optional)
Glass of orange juice, reserved
1 TB lemon or lime juice
Handful of fresh green chiles, stems removed. Omit if you don't like heat.
Salt, to taste
1 TB Rice wine or apple cider vinegar
Knob of ginger
In a blender or food processor, combine the almonds, miso, lemon/lime juice, green chilis, ginger, and vinegar. Grind until the almonds and chiles are chopped up. Then, crank the blender or food processor on full speed, drizzling in the orange juice in a steady stream, until everything is the thickness you want for it to be. Remember that you want this to cling to the vegetables. Then, when it's like you want it, remove it from the blender, and add salt to taste.
Toss the vegetables together with the dressing, and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes. The beets will turn everything into a brilliant pink/red, and the flavours will meld together beautifully. You'll get a little sweetness from the orange juice, carrots, and the apples. You get some tartness from the apples and lemon juice. The ginger provides a lovely counterpoint to the hotness of the chiles and the sharpness of the daikon. It's a wonderful salad, even in the cold weather, because the flavours just marry so well together.
You could use peanut butter or any other nuts you have in place of almonds. All it'll do is change the flavour in interesting ways.
Other vegetables you can add (and grate):
Courgettes
Cabbage
Red onions
Scallions
Jicama
Chayote
Mango
Green papaya
If you decide to add some tomato, do so just before serving, so that the tomatoes don't leech out too much water, and make the salad into a mess. Feel free to roll this up into rice wrappers, and make spring rolls. The juicy dressing makes it so that you don't need a dipping sauce. Why not use it to stuff some Romaine lettuce leaves, and eat it like a taco? This would also be a stellar and interesting sushi filling.
If you are allergic to nuts, feel free to use coconut instead. If you don't have a blender or food processor, just do an emulsion with a bit of peanut butter or almond butter or whatever instead. If you don't like orange juice, try pineapple, or mango juice. You just need a little counterpoint to the heaviness of the salad, and the slight sweetness does the job.
In any case, I'm trying to get at the most important thing: There is no excuse not to make this salad. Go make it. If it got me to eat some beets, it's a miracle.
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