Zen Stew

When the cold weather comes, the amount of soup that flows through the Evolution Kitchen can be enormous. As the first snow hits us here in the high plains, I wanted a hearty soup that soothes the stomach and the soul. This simple Asian-influenced soup fit the bill.

Zen Stew

Ingredients

2 oz of dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms

1 c water

1 c vegetable broth

½ c red onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, thinly sliced

1 c brown rice, cooked

4 oz tofu, sliced into ½-inch cubes

1 scallion, thinly sliced

3 bunches of spinach, trimmed and coarsely chopped

1/3 c miso paste

½ c warm water

Steps

1. If using dried mushrooms, soak them in boiling water for 30 minutes. For both dried and fresh, remove hard stems and slice the caps in thin strips.

2. In a large saucepan, heat 1 cup of water and broth, and the mushrooms, onion, carrot, cooked rice, and tofu. Bring to a low boil and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from heat, add the scallion and stir in the spinach. Cover the saucepan for a few minutes until the spinach wilts.

3. Mix the miso with the ½ cup of warm water and stir until all lumps are gone. Stir this into the soup. Serve hot.

Spicy "Beef" Noodles

This recipe began life without the quotes around the word Beef, but I have since adapted it to a vegetarian version. You can use most any kind of meat substitute, such as tofu, tempeh, seiten, or just leave it out altogether. In this rendition, I used those Smart Strips, fake chicken pieces that are quite tasty and versatile in many recipes.

I also used a gluten-free fusilli pasta. These pastas have come a long way from when they first came out. I can hardly tell the difference sometimes, and the rice flour-based pasta we get from OrgraN and Tinkyada are wonderful.

But the star of this dish is the chili oil. A good chili oil will go a long way to improving any dish. Chili oil readily available in most Asian markets or any well-stocked super market; just go to the international aisle. The one we get I cannot read because it is in Chinese, but it has a picture of a grumpy looking Oriental woman. I encourage all to stock their fridge with some chili oil. You can jazz up most anything with a little dab of this tasty fire: rice, tofu, vegetables, even meat.

Spicy "Beef" Noodles

Ingredients

½ lb fusilli pasta

3 T olive oil, separate

1 package Smart Strips

1 onion, halved lengthwise and cut into thin wedges

3 c broccoli florets

3 T soy sauce

1 T chili oil

ground pepper

3 medium tomatoes, cut into 1-inch wedges

Steps

1. Cook the pasta according to the directions until just tender (not much more, as it will cook more later).

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 T oil in a large skillet and brown the chicken strips, about 5 minutes. Remove strips to a plate, add the remaining 1 T of oil and heat. When hot, add the onions and cook until it just turns brown, about 4 minutes.

3. Add the broccoli and cook until it is bright green, about 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, chili oil, and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, about 3 more minutes.

4. Add reserved chicken strips and tomatoes. Stir well and heat about another minute to heat through. Serve hot with a sprinkling of parsley or cilantro.

Summer Rolls

I don't eat much raw food, but these little summer rolls are to die for. These were extra sweet by using home-grown carrots, freshly harvested. These are the kind of carrots that are so good and organic that you don't even have to peel them. And the fresh mint in this dish really brings it to life. This was my first experience with rice paper wrappers. Don't be intimated by them; once you get the hang of it, it is really quite easy and fun to do.

Summer Rolls

Ingredients

Miso Sauce:

¼ c white miso paste

2 scallions, chopped

2 T lemon juice

1 T lime juice

1 T rice wine vinegar

1 T dark sesame oil

1 T brown sugar

1/8 t chili powder

¼ c olive oil

Summer Rolls:

4 medium carrots, shredded

1 small zucchini, peeled and julienned

½ c parsley leaves

¼ c fresh mint

2 scallions, chopped

15 rice paper wrappers

Steps

1. Miso Sauce: puree all the ingredients in a food processor and chill.

2. Summer rolls: Combine carrots, zucchini, parsley, mint, and scallions in a bowl.

3. Dip 1 rice paper in warm water for 30 seconds, or until soft. Place the paper on a towel. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the vegetables onto the bottom third of the rice paper. Roll up part way, then fold in the sides, and continue rolling. Repeat this for all rice papers. Cover and chill the rolls.

4. Serve rolls cold or room temperature with miso sauce.

Bok Choy

Today's exotic ingredient is Bok Choy.

Bok Choy? What the heck is that, you ask? As you can guess from the name, bok choy comes from China, which is why it is sometimes called Chinese Cabbage. To me, it tastes like a blend of cabbage and celery.

It is certainly not a staple in most American households, but bok choy is becoming more and more common in the markets. We can get it any time at Whole Foods. There are over 20 varieties of this plant, but we typically find only two here in the states. One simply called bok choy and another called "baby" bok choy. These are actually two different varieties, and not a juvenile and an adult version of the same thing. We prefer the "baby" variety because it can be cooked whole and has better texture and taste.

Presented here is a simple dish with bok choy. Unlike most Americanized Chinese food, this dish is not swimming in a sauce. In fact, there really is no sauce. It is a mix of bok choy and red kidney beans. Any moisture comes from the bok choy as it cooks. You can spice it up as much as you like in the end; I like to splash on some tamari and about ½ teaspoon of hot chili oil.

Chinese Beans and Greens

Ingredients

1 T sesame oil
1 T fresh ginger root, grated
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 ½ lbs bok choy
1 c cooked red kidney beans
tamari and hot chili oil to taste

Steps

1. In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil. Saute the giner and garlic briefly.

2. Stir in the bok choy and stir fry for 1 minute.

3. Add the beans. Cover and cook until the greens are crisp tender and the beans are heated through.

4. Season with tamari and chili oil to taste. Serve hot over rice.

Soya Wadi

Today's exotic ingredient is Soya Wadi. Wadi are chunks of TVP, or textured vegetable protein. Honestly, they look like dog food in their dried state, but when cooked they look like, uh, wet dog food. But don't let their appearance fool you; they absorb whatever flavor the cooking broth offers, and they take on a texture reminiscent of meatballs or chunks of meat. This makes them perfect for stews and stir fries.

Wadi is popular in Northern Indian cuisine, which explains why I have only found these in Indian markets. But as always, Amazon comes through, and you can order some here: Textured Vegetable Protein Chunks, 1 lb.

They may be strange and hard to find, but they are yet another good source of protein for vegetarians, and they can be a remarkable meat substitute when refactoring old recipes to meatless versions.

I find cooking them at high pressure for 8-10 minutes in a pressure cooker with a flavored broth to be the best way to cook them. Otherwise, you will have to simmer them in a pot for 15 minutes or so. I believe they can also be thrown into a crock pot, but I have no experience with cooking them that way.

Despite wadi's Indian character, I use them in all sorts of cooking. Today, I will present them in a Thai dish. I generally like Thai food, but many dishes contain meat and/or fish sauce. Therefore, I have to make many substitutions to get them "Evolved". Soya wadi makes a good substitute for pork, which was the original centerpiece of this dish.

Coconut Curried Wadi and Mango

To prepare the soya wadi, boil or pressure cook 1 cup of soya wadi in a cup of beef or chicken broth for 10 minutes.

Ingredients

1 c prepared soya wadi
1 T oil
1 t curry powder
1 c snow peas
1 t red curry paste
1/3 c coconut milk
1 mango, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
2 T shredded coconut

Steps

1. Put the wadi into a bowl and sprinkle the curry over it and blend well.

2. In another bowl, mix the coconut milk and red curry paste.

3. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the wadi and snow peas and stir fry for 3 minutes.

4. Add the coconut milk mixture to the pan and simmer. Stir in mango and cook for another minute.

5. Serve over hot rice, and sprinkle with the shredded coconut.

Do You Like Cowboy Leg?

There is this fellow named Jon Rahoi who travels around the world for business and pleasure. One of his hobbies is collecting evidence of Manglish, or mangled English. For example, a special garbage bin in the ladies room with the English sign "Special Reclamation Orifice for Pernicious Garbage".

I think Jon really doesn't have to go overseas to get this stuff; a quick trip to Walmart would probably give him enough material to last a long time.

The following example is totally hilarious. Try to force yourself through the whole thing. It's really quite hysterical. This is from a restaurant in Mainland China, apparently a very good restaurant, but they can't seem to find a good English translator:

http://www.rahoi.com/2006/03/may-i-take-your-order/

As my wife says, these are literal translations. Very literal. For example, cowboy meat simply means veal. You know-- a boy cow, as opposed to a man cow. And if you want to know how the word f*ck fits into all this, there is a Chinese character that means "dried" that has the same pronunciation as the character for the Chinese version of f*ck. They just picked the wrong word. What kind of dictionary were they using, anyway?

Hot Sichuan Green Beans

Growing up in Taiwan, my wife ate this quite often. Green beans over there are a little thicker than what we get here, and they typically grew up to 18 inches long. These long beans were a mainstay at the dinner table, and they were usually prepared in this simple fashion, but without the red pepper flakes.


Hot Sichuan Green Beans

Ingredients:

1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut in 2-3 inch pieces
2 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
2 t sugar
¼ t red pepper flakes
1 T oil
2 T garlic, minced
2 T fresh ginger, grated

Steps:

1. In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, and white pepper. Set aside.

2. Set a 10-12 inch skillet over high heat. When it is hot, add the beans and ¼ cup water. Cover and cook, stirring once or twice, until beans are slightly crunchy to bite, about 4 minutes. Remove the cover and cook the remaining water away.

3. Add the oil, garlic, and ginger to the skillet. Stir fry until garlic and green beans are slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir soy sauce mixture into the pan and bring to a boil. Cook and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated, another 2 or 3 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Seasoned Baked Tofu

For years there has been considerable debate about the health benefits versus the health concerns of soy products. When there is hype on both sides of the fence, it's best to just sit on top of the fence and enjoy soy in moderation. Most meat and milk consumers have no nutritional need for soy. But for vegetarians the protein, calcium, omega-3's, and other nutrients in soy make it a very desirable part of the diet.

The most convenient soy product is tofu, also known as bean curd. It's relatively inexpensive and easy to work with. Tofu is essentially a "cheese" by-product from making soy milk, and it comes in varying degrees of firmness. But many folks simply don't like tofu; it has a somewhat mild but odd taste and a gelatinous consistency. These people have never had Evolution Kitchen's "Seasoned Baked Tofu"!

You shouldn't eat tofu unadulterated. Just like unseasoned, boiled chicken, un-enhanced tofu is completely boring. The secret is to marinate before cooking. Marinating replaces the yucky packaging water with tastier broth, and cooking firms up the consistency.

This tofu recipe creates an Oriental-influenced tofu dish that can be used in other dishes. You can make sandwiches out of it, cut it up in a stir fry, fill dumplings with it, or just eat it by itself, hot or cold. The tofu is simmered in a wonderful broth, then it is baked to firm it up to a usable consistency.

Here you see what it looks like simmering. It may appear we emptied the vacuum cleaner bag into the skillet, but those little floating bits are the garlic, ginger, and star anise petals. These are the magic ingredients. If you are going to do any Oriental cooking, you have to get some star anise. You probably won't find it in your local Safeway, but I admit I never looked there. We get ours at Chinese markets. I suppose you could substitute some anise seed, or Chinese Five-Spice Powder (star anise is one of the five spices).

Seasoned Baked Tofu

Ingredients:

1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

1 ¼ c water

¼ c soy sauce

1 T fresh ginger root, grated

5 cloves garlic, chopped

4 star anise, broken into petals

½ t crushed red pepper flakes

1 ½ t sesame oil

2 t sesame seeds

Steps:

1. Cut the tofu lengthwise in ½ inch slabs.

2. In a 10-inch skillet, combine the water, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, star anise, and red pepper flakes. Arrange the tofu slabs in the marinade in one layer. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low, and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 450º. Brush the sesame oil on the bottom of a large, shallow baking dish. When the tofu slabs are ready, carefully remove them from the marinade, brush off any bits of garlic, ginger and star anise, and set in the baking dish. Flip over so both sides have oil on them. Sprinkle with 1 t sesame seeds. Bake uncovered 15-20 minutes, until the tops are caramel brown. Flip over and sprinkle remaining seeds. Bake for another 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the baking dish and set on a rack. The tofu will firm up as it cools.

The final product is much more attractive than while in the simmering stage:

The Death of the Chinese Restaurant

Believe it or not, I don't really like Chinese food. My wife doesn't either. "Wait a minute! Ain't she Chinese?" you might ask. Technically, she is Taiwanese, but we won't pick nits.

Let me clarify my initial statement: We don't like what Americans pass off as Chinese food. According to my wife, who should know, that food is not what is eaten by over 1 billion people on the other side of the globe.

Be aware that I am generalizing here, as I am sure there are decent Chinese restaurants around. But most of the restaurants follow this same pattern:

1. You all sit down with clear plastic-coated tables, where your bare arms will stick if left motionless for too long.
   
2. Everybody reads the menu and chuckles at the comical dish names, like "Happy Smile Yum Yum Platter", "Fragrant Fungus Sinew Pot", and "General Tso's Left Ventricle".
   
3. While waiting for the food, everyone discusses the Chinese zodiac chart on their paper place mats (I'm a "snake", if you're interested). You all realize that you are zodiacally incompatible with your spouses.
   
4. A tray the size of a satellite dish comes out with a dozen or so bowls, plates, and tea pots. The table is woefully undersized for it all to fit, so everyone helps to rearrange everything. (Tip: You won't need the little wire holder with the soy sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. Set that on the table next to you. Ignore the annoyed stares from the people eating at said table.)
   
5. You dish out a portion of food, and then fumble awkwardly with the chopsticks. Food goes everywhere except in your mouth. You all have a good laugh, deride the silly things, and replace with forks.
6. After the meal, your bill comes with individually-wrapped, tasteless cookies with little strips of paper containing words of wisdom, lottery numbers, or Mandarin lessons. These are good for about 2 minutes of entertainment.
   
7. Ten minutes after leaving the restaurant, you're already searching for something else to eat, like a 20-oz steak or an all-you-can eat pasta bar.

This is the quintessential Chinese restaurant experience that you can "enjoy" just about anywhere. Except in China.

"But wait a minute! Aren't those restaurants run by *Chinese* people? They sure look Chinese." Yes, they are Chinese. You can tell when they talk to other Chinese-looking customers, and you don't know that they are saying. Translated loosely, they are usually saying: "Yuck, look at what these Americans will eat! Come sit over here and I'll serve you some real food."

You see, the Chinese are cunning business people. In order for them to succeed in the U.S. they need to serve what Americans want to eat. They know that if they deviate from the expected pattern, we will complain: "Hey! Where are my chopsticks that I will eventually throw down in futility?" and "Waiter, we need some fortune cookies so we can add the phrase 'in bed' to each and have a good, juvenile laugh. Go get some, chop chop!" (Tip: Although you may think you are clever by saying "chop chop", that is actually unknown gibberish to the Chinese. Please don't embarrass yourself.)

So what's wrong with the food? For one thing, every dish is the same thing: some kind of stew-like concoction poured over rice. The rice keeps the sauce from running off the plate and onto your arm, which is stuck to the table. It doesn't matter if the meal contains beef, pickled herring, pine needles, or gummy bears; it will all taste like the sauce. Every dish is served with copious amounts of sauce. Enough sauce to bathe in. These sauces are delivered daily to the restaurants in 50 gallon drums labeled "Yum Sauce #1" and "Yum Sauce #2". The swankier places also order "Yum Sauce #3 Deluxe".

And I'm sorry to say that the Chinese fortune cookie is as Chinese as french fries are French. These little morsels of philosophy were invented in California based on a traditional Japanese cracker. Chinese fortune cookies could be the only product in the world that is not made in China!

So what do we do about this? We must demand that Chinese restaurants actually serve Chinese food, not platters of stereotypes. Until they do, they should turn in their fish tanks and close down. We gave the world our great cuisines of pizza and hamburgers and Kentucky fried chicken, so now it's China's turn to share their food heritage.

Let your voice be heard! Sign my petition (the comments section)!

Until that happens, as a service to our dear readers out there who deserve good, authentic Chinese food, we will post articles of real dishes from the Orient. Not often, though. Frankly I can't stand the stuff (just kidding).

Stay tuned, and practice those chopstick skills. 1,330,044,544 people can't be using the wrong utensils.