Hearty Home-Cooked Convenience

When I do our grocery shopping, I usually forget how much it wears me out, and that any remaining energy has to be spent putting away all my recently acquired edible treasures - instead of actually eating them.

Even if I make sure to fill my belly before I go to the store ("Never shop on an empty stomach!"), I'm running on empty by the end of the day. I usually go with a friend, and she buys these family-size bags of potato chips every time, and I'm always tempted to buy one, even though I know that I will not have the fortitude to stop partway through.

So today before I left, I put a pound of black-eyed peas (plus water and seasonings) into a clay pot and placed it in the oven, set it to 375° F and left, hoping nothing terrible would happen before my return.

I came home to a mouth-watering aroma, and a Japanese donabe full of perfectly cooked beans. I took one into the bedroom to show The Dude: "Look what I MADE while I was SHOPPING!"

At first he was like, "What the heck is that?" because I usually just buy beans and add them to my collection, rather than bother to soak and cook them. (I've recently changed my mind about the soaking issue after reading some articles on the subject, but I didn't waste his time explaining that - just yours!)

"Eat it!" I urged him, and he raised his eyebrows as he did.

"This is good! I wouldn't mind a bowl of those..."

"I think we've still got some mushrooms in broth. Want me to heat those up and add them in?"

I like to buy several packs of pre-sliced mushrooms, and instead of putting them away in the fridge when I come home, I pop them into the crockpot. They can cook almost indefinitely, but if I catch them at the right time the next day, I get a huge batch of delicious mushrooms plus a fantastic broth to keep them in (if I leave them too long the broth evaporates and all I'm left with is tasty mushrooms, alas...).

Guys. This meal was super tasty, super hearty, super cheap, and INSANELY convenient. Hands-on time in total was about a third of the time it took me to tell you about it. A fifth, if you include the hoops I jumped through to upload the accursed photo!

Rice, Rice, Baby

I've been gluten-free since I came back from South Korea in 2011. There are so many alternative grains available for reasonable prices at my local ethnic markets that I've never felt at a loss for options. Of course, rice is king in most ethnic shops around here (Asian, Indian and Latin prevail in California's Central Valley).

Even when I've gone out to eat, there has been a wealth of dishes I've found I can order without making alterations or requesting substitutions. As you might have expected, many of them include rice.

My favorite dish at my favorite restaurant is Kimchi Fried Rice. Even if I feel like eating something else (usually Pad Thai or Phở), I order the KFR to eat as a side, and take the rest home to enjoy later.

Maybe it's the ADHD fidgets, but for whatever reason, I've never skimped on carbs and have never noticed a problem. I certainly never expected to go on a low-carb diet! Living without rice would definitely throw off my groove.

But I've had three kids now, and I need to get stronger if I want to keep up with them. I've recently started working out, as well as following a companion "clean eating" plan. I figured I might as well do the eating plan almost as a checklist for food I don't usually get enough of (lean protein, first and foremost). Starchy vegetables and grains are part of a single category, and the plan only allows for three ridiculously small portions in a day. I'd rather have a side of mashed sweet potato or the occasional quick open-faced sandwich than a half-cup serving of cooked rice any day; so, for now, rice is out.

Kimchi Fried Rice is out.

Or is it?

The Gluten-Free and Paleo blog world is currently singing the praise of Riced Cauliflower, and now I'm no exception. I've made it in my food processor, but these days I'm so busy I just pick up a pack every time I travel to Trader Joe's in the big city, and keep it in the freezer for those days when I need to whip up a quick, rice-based favorite. I'll bet you can guess what I used it for today!

I needed to check off all 6 of my vegetable portions, as well as 6 protein portions, and even four out of four servings of healthy fats... so I made this entire dish for myself and let my husband scrounge around in the fridge. (One of those days... you know.) Since the recipe is so flexible, I'm not even going to bother with measurements. Assuming I can focus through the storm of needy baby cries and wiggles I'm dealing with at the moment, I will simply recount the ingredients and the method.

Kimchi Fried Rice...d Cauliflower

Heat large cast iron skillet over medium-low heat. When desired temp is reached, swirl some sesame oil in there. If planning to use a higher heat, use a more suitable oil and reserve the sesame oil as a finishing drizzle.

Add riced cauliflower and stir till oil appears to coat individual chunks, then let the cauliflower sit and caramelize a little bit while you turn your attention to mincing fresh garlic.

Stir the cauliflower again, then push it into a ring around the outer edge of the pan, using the hotter center to soften the garlic. When that's done, stir it all up, make a ring again, and toast some sesame seeds in the center.

While that's happening, start cutting up cabbage kimchi into bite-sized pieces. Go back to the pan to stir the seeds into the cauliflower, then make a ring again, this time to soften the kimchi in the center of the pan.

While that's going, measure out the desired amount of cooked chicken. I use chunks I've pulled off of a rotisserie chicken from Costco and stored in a zip-lock bag. These were more accurately described as strips, actually, so I cut them into bite-sized chunks.

Stir the kimchi into the cauliflower, make a ring, fill it with chicken. While the chicken warms up, chop up green onions. I actually buy a few bundles at the store and pot them in soil in my kitchen, then cut off the longest shoots with scissors, and use those scissors to cut slices of green onion right over my dish as it's cooking. I have no patience for chopping. Next, crack eggs into a bowl and scramble them. The chopsticks I'm sure you used to pull kimchi out of the jar should work fine for this. ;)

Stir the chicken and green onions into the mix, make a ring, add a little more sesame oil, and pour the scrambled eggs into the center. Let it cook till it's gelled almost all the way to the top, scramble it in the center of the pan, then stir the whole dish together. Once I'd dumped it all into a Phở bowl and washed a spoon, I seasoned it with a sprinkle of seaweed-based rice seasoning mix - mostly so it would look more interesting in the photo, and partly because you can never get enough seaweed in your diet.

I ate half of it hot, then the other half cold, after dealing with children (you know how it is), and of course it was better hot, but it was still pretty decent cold. My favorite restaurant cooks their KFR with bean sprouts, but I don't keep those on hand because they always go bad before I use them - so the crunchiness of the cauliflower was kind of a nice homage to those. I miss the springiness and the stickiness of real rice, but I'm full and happy and feeling well-nourished. 9 out of 10, will make again.

"Onward... To Waffles!"

Pancakes (and flatbreads) are one thing, but waffles... Waffles have an appeal alllll their own. 

I joke that The Nug is going to grow up spending the night at friends' houses, saying, "Where's the kimchi?!" when he's offered pancakes in the morning. This is because, to him, a "pancake" is the sourdough flatbread I make 3+ times a week, and often fill with leftover veggies or chopped kimchi.

It's nice to have a) a food that begs me to make something out of it on a regular basis, and b) a food that I can prepare quickly without having to think about it. 

[For those of you just joining me on this journey, my sourdough starter is made of alternative flours: usually chickpea flour (also known by the names besan, gram flour, garbanzo bean flour and many more) or dhokla flour (which contains some chickpea flour itself, can also go by the name of handva/handvar flour, is originally intended for an Indian soured bread-like product, and is composed of a  ratio of starches to proteins similar to that in all-purpose flour). Lately, I've been combining my chickpea and dhokla flours just to get rid of the old stuff. Dhokla is rougher, like cornmeal, and chickpea flour is stickier, like glue, regardless of whether it's from whole, roasted or hulled chickpeas - but my recipes generally work the same way no matter what flour I'm using. To make a starter, simply combine equal parts water and flour. Add more of each every twelve hours or as you see bubbles appear and grow. When stirring, incorporate lots of air, and in three days it should be ready to cook.]

However easy pancakes are, it's always worth it to go to the extra trouble for waffles! If you're not on a low-fat diet, that is. One thing I've learned from Martha Stewart is that a good waffle takes twice as much fat as your basic pancake. Especially when working with gluten free flours, you need that fat for the waffle to willingly come off the iron when it's done.

So here's how I made my sourdough waffles (which my husband confirms is the tastiest sourdough concoction ever to emerge from my kitchen):

Heat your waffle iron. Do not grease it (you don't want the oil plasticizing before you're ready to actually cook the batter)!

With a wooden spoon, scoop out as much starter as you want to use. I keep mine pretty thick, adding much less water than flour at most feedings (I don't measure, I just put in enough to get the texture I've learned to look for to suit my taste). 

Plop it into a glass vessel with a pouring spout, like the Pyrex 1qt measuring cup I used. The Pampered Chef makes some tapered ones in different sizes which I really love. 

Feed your starter, stir it with the wooden spoon, and put it in a warm place to incubate quickly, or in the fridge so you won't have to feed it again for several days. (I never do this unless I'm out of flour, because I'm likely to forget it!)

Add your fat of choice. Mine is ghee (which is technically a dairy product but has no casein, whey or lactose), but I'll occasionally use coconut oil or olive oil instead. Maybe enough to equal a quarter of the amount of starter? You should be able to see shiny flecks of fat once you've mixed it, even if it was fully liquid before you poured it in. I probably put in a third last time, and it was a tad too much, methinks.

Add in a similar amount of eggs. I used tiny Banty eggs, so for me that was four this time. With storebought Grade A Large eggs, it probably would have been two.

When your iron is ready, add desired amount of sea salt to batter, and pour it on the heating surface! Maybe because mine is ancient, I've noticed that my gluten-free concoctions have a tendency to split down the middle when I open up the waffle iron. I combat this a) with enough fat in the batter and none on the cooking surface, and b) by allowing my waffle to cook for two minutes, or till bubbles appear, on medium heat over the bottom surface before I close the iron and allow the top, which is hotter, to begin cooking. Another minute or two, till the rising steam clouds slow to tiny trails, and the waffle lifts easily off of the iron!

Waffles have traditionally been made with batter soured overnight, so this is not much of a stretch from what we've come to know and love. The finished product is suitable for sweet and savory applications; I served my husband's topped with a "jam" of raw mashed fig, and ate mine plain, but considered a mug of bone broth and a side of - you guessed it - kimchi!

Cornless Corn Bread

I may have done it! I tried cooking this on the stove-top, like a big pancake, because I'm lazy, but it didn't like the idea of flipping over, so I got stir-fried bread batter. But it was so tasty I figured I'd better try again. I didn't use any measurements either time, but I did write down an estimate. Quick breads are pretty forgiving, though, right?

I have been fermenting a flour mix I found at India Bazaar called "dhokla flour" - so I call it my "sourdhokla starter." I tried making it into a sourdough bread loaf, and boy, does that recipe need some work. It made great crumbs for the top of my Thanksgiving Day butternut squash casserole, though! 

The starter does not end up smelling or tasting very sour, but it bubbles beautifully - especially when I leave it in the oven with the light on overnight. When I get up in the morning and see it thriving, I can't wait to feed it or use it in pancakes or devise a new recipe for it. So it keeps me eating, which is good...

Besides not being very sour, it is not very fine. The texture of the flour is very course - like cornmeal - and the fermentation process does little to break it down. Which is why it's perfect for Cornless Cornbread!

This recipe came together the way it did partly just because of what I had on hand or problems I anticipated needing to solve. The Nug had abandoned a bowl of pumpkin puree, so I dumped that into my mixing bowl. The starter has proven in the past to do very poorly with holding together, so I made a gel out of psyllium husks and water... And so on.

So here's what I did to produce the bread you see pictured above: 

Preheat oven. (I set mine at 375•F, but there is no reason to believe the old gal actually baked my bread at anything resembling that temperature...)

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine 1tsp psyllium husk with a couple tablespoons water; set aside (roughly five minutes).

In a medium to large mixing bowl, plop in a few heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin puree (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup), add a capful of unfiltered apple cider, a glob of ghee (about 1/8 to 1/4 cup), plenty of starter (1 to 1-1/2 cups), 2 eggs, the psyllium gel, and enough full-fat coconut milk to achieve a batter-like texture (somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup).

Grease the vessel in which you are to bake your Cornless Cornbread. I used a Pyrex I found in the cupboard, but I'm thinking next time I'll use my Pampered Chef fluted stoneware so the middle isn't too gooey.

Add salt, baking powder and baking soda. I have no clue how much of these I used. I shook the salt shaker seven times, dusted the surface of the batter with a few shakes of baking powder and tossed in a pinch or two of baking soda. Sorry I can't be more helpful there...

Mix it up, pour in the batter, bake the stuff. Mine went forty minutes and a toothpick came out clean, but I wish I'd done at least five minutes more. 

Regardless, it was a great way to start the day (and an unpleasant surprise for my mom, who was not expecting a sour taste)!

You Had Me at "Pigeon Peas"

The Nug knows "pizza." I know, the best-laid plans...

I've been fermenting a flour I found at India Bazaar called "Dhokla Flour." It's actually a blend of flours and might go by the name of "Handva Flour," depending if your local Indian grocer caters to those with a background in the north or the south. In this case, the blend is 64% rice,16% chickpeas, 10% pigeon peas, and 10% lentils (probably the split and skinned version of the lentils known as "udad" or "urid"). It is somewhat coarse, like cornmeal, and has cultured beautifully in the last few days. 

The "Gluten Free Girl and the Chef" blog recommends a ratio of 60% starch to 40% whole grain for an all-purpose flour mix. Noticing the similarities (64% rice to 36% beans, peas and lentils) I thought, "Hey, two pounds for $2.69? Might want to see what I can do with this!"

I tried a recipe for coconut steamed buns the night I bought it, but they were much too dense to enjoy without some ghee and spices to liven them up (ghee is technically a dairy product, but is produced in such a way that it eliminates the top three allergens: lactose, casein and whey). I think I've got to play with the recipe a bit. 

I like the fermented version of this flour so much better! All the little granules that made it seem like cornmeal at first (and that made the steamed buns so dense) soak up the moisture and soften, losing their individual identity and working together to form a cohesive, pillowy batter with a mildly tangy aroma.

Traditional dhokla is a fermented food, but it's achieved using curd or yogurt; so until I find a recipe that doesn't involve dairy, find a non-dairy yogurt cheap enough to experiment with, or feel comfortable enough approximating without dairy on my own, I will have to find other uses for my sourdhokla starter. Get it? Sourdough, sourdhokla? =D

Enter the pizza my son begged me to make today. I took a scoop of starter, a little extra besan (chickpea flour), an egg, a drizzle of soy sauce, and a pinch of baking soda and mixed them up while my wok heated to pancake-cooking level. Yes, wok. It's a Green Pan I got on clearance with Kohl's Cash and I love it so much I use it for everything! 

I brushed a little ghee onto the nonstick surface, poured all the batter into the pan, smoothed it into a circle with the wooden spoon I'd used to mix it, grated some aged sheep's milk cheese (Pecorino Romano) into a bowl, and added fresh-ground black pepper to that. By that time, my pizza crust was ready to be cooked on the other side; once I'd flipped it, I ladled pasta sauce on and then topped it with the cheese and pepper (to those who can't eat byproducts of sheep and goats, I apologize - if it's cow-free, it's good enough for me!), and then I covered it with the lid of my bamboo steamer for something under a minute - just long enough to melt the cheese. 

It's not that this "pizza" would fool anyone besides my toddler - but it was another successful experiment in cooking that filled me up at mealtime and satisfied the Nug, so I thought I might as well share!

I Got the Moves Like Jaggery

The most commonly used sweetener in our house right now is jaggery. I used to buy it in powder form, but when the local Indian grocer ran out, I started buying it in "fresh," cake-like form. (Actually, a visitor to our home reportedly bit into one, thinking it was a cookie! Uh, yeah, a cookie made entirely of evaporated cane juice...)

Fresh jaggery was a lot harder to use at first. The powder was easy to swap 1:1 for brown or even granulated sugar - assuming we were okay with a more "earthy" tasting finished product (generally, we were). The cakes of jaggery were a bit perplexing. If you've ever bought a cone of chancaca, panela, piloncillo, raspadura, atado dulce, empanizao, papelon or panocha at a Latin market, you know the struggle. The stuff can be hard as a rock!

I started out trying to grate the necessary amount from each cake. This was effective, but not at all efficient (and quite humorous to the cashier when I told him upon my next trip to the Indian market)! The blender was a complete disaster. The shaved ice contraption was shot down before we even gave it a try. I found that one cake was just about right for a batch of rice cooker oatmeal, so I would just plop it in with the rest of the ingredients and let it melt as they cooked.

Remembering this as I prepared to make an experimental batch of brownies for The Dude's birthday, I measured out the proper amounts of coconut oil and fresh jaggery (two cakes) and set them to mingle in a non-stick pan over low heat while I assembled the rest of the recipe.

BAD PLAN.

It melted into a delightful, earthy, caramel-y substance... but then what?! Long story short, I ended up with a "baked good" not at all resembling the thing we like to call "brownies," you and I.

Only later did I remember that The Dude and I had already found the answer to this dilemma. Apparently, the traditional method is to crush the cakes, grinding them as finely as desired using a mortar and pestle. Another handy tip is to soften them in the microwave for a few seconds first. We have yet to acquire a mortar and pestle or to repair our broken microwave, so we made do with a rolling pin and a zip-locking sandwich bag. This method obliterates the bag, but is in all other ways a perfectly reasonable solution. I have no idea how it could have slipped my mind just in time for The Great Brownie Catastrophe of 2014...!

Luckily, I remembered before I attempted to bake the official birthday brownies. Taking what I'd learned from the first batch, I made a few adjustments and ended up with a recipe I described on Facebook as a "gluten-free, dairy-free, low-fat, low-glycemic, super-fudgy pumpkin coconut pecan brownie."

It may not be a One-Bowl Meal, but here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 350•F. 

Beat 2 eggs in large bowl. Add 1t vanilla extract, 6T pumpkin puree, and 3T coconut oil (should be melted or at least soft - I left mine on the stove while it preheated and took the opportunity to chop 1/2c each of pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips). Beat well. 

Crush 3/4c to 1c worth of fresh jaggery; mix in another bowl with 21g desiccated coconut, 42g besan, 42g mung bean starch, 1/4c cocoa powder, and the aforementioned pecans and chocolate chips. Add dry ingredients to liquids, stir till smooth.

Grease 8x8 glass pan with coconut oil left over from measuring spoon; pour batter in, top with another 1/2c chocolate chips. Bake 15-20 minutes; cool at least 5.

NOTES 

1. The chocolate chips I use are from Costco; they are not made with milk-derived ingredients, and are ethically sourced. You can easily make this recipe healthier by leaving the second 1/2c off the top, and substituting nuts, coconuts or nothing at all!

2. Desiccated coconut is available at Asian and Indian grocers. It is like unsweetened, shredded coconut, but is dehydrated to a much greater degree and will therefore absorb much more moisture - kind of like coconut flour. If you use the shredded coconut, you may need to reduce - or even halve - the amount of pumpkin used. 

3. Besan is a flour of many names. The ones I'm familiar with include gram (not to be confused with graham), chickpea and garbanzo bean. The Indian word for split chickpea is "chana dal," so you might also run into that. It's available in different grinds, and there is a darker version known as "black." Mine is a pretty standard one, not a super coarse or fine grind, and relatively yellow in color.

4. Mung bean starch is not the same as mung (or "moong") bean flour. The flour is coarse, with dark flecks. The starch is a fine white powder just like corn starch, arrowroot, etc. I buy mine at an Asian market run by a Hmong family, but I've used it to make Korean recipes, and the language on the package looks like a mix of Thai and Chinese, so I have high hopes that it is readily available. I love this starch for GF all-purpose flour mixes!

5. Jaggery is made from either cane sugar or palm; I'm pretty sure the stuff I'm using is from cane sugar. If you can't find it, try any of the Latin alternatives mentioned above. It is lower-glycemic than most other sugar came products, as it contains more of the plant's original vitamins and minerals. It imparts less sweetness per unit than its refined counterparts, so bear in mind that while this brownie is rich and chocolatey, it is not nearly as sweet as one might expect on looking at it. 

6. This brownie crumbles, as there are no gums or binders other than eggs. If you need to transport it without it falling apart, you may want to add a bit of psyllium husk (I get mine at Trader Joe's) to the liquid bowl before attending to the dry ingredients.

And Sometimes We Microwave

I've been living off of the drive-thru these days. An old mountain biking injury has caught up with me, and I'm on bed rest. In the morning, The Dude piles our family into the car; I take him to work, get breakfast burritos for him and The Nug (and hash browns for myself, if I'm too hungry to wait for something better), and then pick up my neighbor and run her on errands while The Nug naps in the back of the car. At some point, I usually hit up the Starbucks drive-thru for soy milk and oatmeal. Then I don't eat again till The Dude gets home and makes something for me. This is how I avoid standing and walking at home, so that I can avoid exerting myself except in cases where I'm needed by The Nug. 

I've run out of disposable income, though, so some standing and walking a bit today was inevitable; enter the microwave.

Here we have corn tortillas (this particular brand has no gums or preservatives added) spread with garlic hummus, sprinkled with brown rice and Pecorino Romano (aged sheep's milk cheese - like Parmesan, but not from cows), seasoned with dried basil and cumin, and microwaved for 20-30 seconds apiece. Garnished with prepared spring greens mix and mild kimchi. Coconut water and pumpkin spice tea on the side (prepared several days ago and also microwaved, that last one) - still harder on my body than drive-thru, and a mess if I let The Nug try to feed himself, but the only thing easier would have been microwaved vegetable juice (once I heat it, I call it "tomato soup") and I will probably have that later anyway, so... I'll take it. Sitting down. ;)