August Updates- New Vegan Recipes

It's been a rough 24 hours. Frank and I lost a dear friend yesterday. Halim was an amazing person and a great friend to us. When we first came to Malaysia Haza and Halim showed us around their village in Kedah as well as other parts of Malaysia. We've spent two Hari Raya's (Eid) with them and consider them family. Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to him. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I can't imagine how one could lose a spouse and be able to continue on in this world. Amazing how strong Haza is.

I wasn't even sure I was going to post anything today, I didn't last week. I've been busy searching for our next adventure (aka new job) because soon our contract will expire. I'd like it to renew, but the way the govt is moving in this country we would know only after everyone has picked up and left. So, I'm not taking chances and have been looking around for a few interesting locations to go. However, I decided to post a few pics from the last two weeks anyways because I got some inquiries about a recipe I made and posted on FB. Apparently it was a hit and I'll start off with that one first.

Sorry for the short blog this week, hopefully some of these pics will inspire.

Golden Nuggets
I was watching Mary's Test Kitchen: The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner episode and she was making a new kind of soy milk. I got a bit inspired because I am always trying to make my homemade soy milk taste less like soy beans and more like anything else but that. And when I make soy milk I always have the leftover okara that I don't know what to do with. I tried making Mary's okara fish cakes, but even when it's vegan I can't stand the taste of seafood. In China when I would eat veggies sometimes they were in the same bowl as other meats. The taste never bothered me unless it was seafood. So, I looked at this okara stuff and was like the heck man! Now, the first few times okara came out, it was from the raw soy beans. Once I put them in the oven (after they were strained from the soy mixture) they ended up tasting fine (no weird beany flavor). I baked them for maybe 10 minutes- at least long enough to remove the excess moisture. This time the soy milk recipe called for the beans to boiled first, which left the okara cooked and without beany aftertaste-isms. So, now I have a lot of this not too bad tasting okara stuff and still didn't know what to do with it... UNTIL! Mary's recipe from Miyoko. Dudes, I kid you not this was the best! The patties themselves were fun to make, ingredients may be hard to find but any substitution would really work (like instead of okara just use some chopped veggies), and the flavor wasn't half bad. Now the recipe is a lot, so I halved it. I highly recommend this recipe. I think these will now be made weekly. Not only can I freeze them and pop them in the oven when I want something to eat, Frank suggested I made them into bigger patties to have as a chik burger! Awesome!

Nacho Mac N Cheese
A recipe from Vegan Junk Food on nacho cheese sauce, I've been making like crazy. However, I've modified it. Paprika is hard to find but apparently not Mexican spice, thus a swap was made. And the cheese sauce is waaaaaaaaaaaay to liquidy for my taste so I added 3 tbsp of tapioca starch and cooked it down until it was thick. This went great with my mac n cheese. I added some chopped onions, garlic, chives, and I think I threw in some flax seed flour for the added health benefits, oh, as well as broccoli and potatoes in some dishes.








Homemade Tomato Soup
Raw. Vegan. Not Gross had this recipe: Oven Roasted Tomato Soup and it looked so good I had to make it. Like all tomato soups I make there's a hint of tomato sauce taste-like-thing, which made me think mac noodles would be good in this. But I ate it as is and it was yummmmmmy!

Salads
I've used my nacho sauce on some salads this week. Added beans and potatoes, others I used a frozen veggie pattie I made a few weeks ago. Alls yum.

Chickpea Salad
In the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen I found a recipe that calls for the two things I have a lot of: chickpeas and tahini. This recipe was amazing! Frank said it tasted like peanuts... can't please everyone. Now it does call for parsley and I don't have that, so I used whatever seasoning looked green (chives, Italian spices, etc).
Chickpeas with Parsley-Tahini SauceThis addictive appetizer—rather like an un-mashed hummus—is terrific with pita bread, crackers, or served in butter lettuce or radicchio leaves. Ready in just about five minutes using canned chickpeas, you simply can’t beat its convenience when unexpected guests drop by.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

2 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons sesame tahini
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped Juice of ½ large lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pita bread, crackers, or whole butter lettuce and/or radicchio leaves (optional)

In a medium bowl, toss the chickpeas, parsley, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper until well combined. Serve at room temperature, or refrigerate for at least 1 hour and serve chilled, accompanied by the pita bread, crackers, or lettuce leaves, if desired.

 Advance Preparation The mixture can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to two days.

PER SERVING

Calories 186 · Protein 9g · Total Fat 6g ·
Saturated Fat 1g · Cholesterol 0mg · Carbohydrate 26g .
Dietary Fiber 1g · Sodium 11mg

Groats!
You all know my groats obsession. I had to order more. Stay tuned!

Shake it Off!

Berries were in season THUS a berry delicious shake!

Dates with Almond Butter

I kept hearing people eat almond butter with dates and thought strange ('_')". I had made some almond butter with some maple syrup and thought to give it a try. Almost gave myself a tummy ache with all the dates  I ate!  (o=_=o)'

Out to eat!

Our vegetarian spot is still closed. So we subbed it with other foods. 

Japanese onigiri and friends

Indian Vegetarian Banana Leaf

Chinese Malay

At School!

There were a lot of parties last week. Some schools had what I would like to call a cookie day. So every kid brought some cookies in and the entire school just shared each others cookies. They also wore their finest new clothing and had some lunch to go with their party. I posted only one pic of the cookies below because they were adorable! Another school had a food party that I was privy to. All the food is below though I didn't eat it all.  

In Malaysia mysterious green desserts are a cultural necessity 

 

Coconut Matcha Ice Cream
I forgot to post pics of the coconut matcha ice cream I made myself, however I got the pics of the one I made my teachers. Take coconut milk, vanilla extra, probably a cup of powdered sugar, and 2 tbsp of matcha powder. Whisk it with an electric mixer until taste and consistency is desirable and freeze. If you remember, every two hours or so mix it up. However, when you use coconut milk the fat helps keep the ice cream texture creamy (so the mixing may or may not be necessary). I think the students like it more than my teachers. I wasn't trying to make it too strong even thought I like it strong.

Well, that's been the last two weeks. I'll try to get more pics and recipe up for the next few weeks, but it's getting close to the time we might have to leave Malaysia. Hoping for the best. 

Take care.