Brooklyn Pad Thai

From Vegan With A Vengeance

need:

1 lb rice noodles (we think slightly less)
peanut oil
1 lb tofu, drained and pressed, cut small
1 medium red onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T finely minced lemongrass (we didn't have this)
2 C bean sprouts
8 scallion, sliced into 1-inch lengths
2 small dried red chiles, crumbled
1/2 chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
lime wedges for their beauty. oh yea, and flavor.

for the sauce:

6 T tamari
6 T sugar (we used brown)
2 T tomato paste
2 T hot sauce/asian hot chile sauce
1/4 C rice wine vinegar (we used rice vinegar with a splash of rice wine--to hedge our bets)
3 T tamarind concentrate (we made this from tamarind paste. just mush it up in a little bit of water, making sure to remove the seeds and skins) or lime juice

prepare noodles according to package. then mix together all ingredients for the sauce. i guess you could heat the sauce slightly, to get rid of the tomato paste chunks, i just took my time pressing them out with the back of my spoon, so colin did most of the work.

preheat that good ol' large skillet or wok, med-high to high heat. add peanut oil and fry the tofu until crispy. remove from pan and set aside. The book says this will take 5 minutes. Admittedly, i'm a bad tofu-presser, but i usually fry tofu for more like 15, even 20 minutes. so maybe start one side and then go do the sauce, then they'll be ready to flip? something like that? also, a splash of soy sauce at the very end of the frying will a) give the tofu a nice brown color and b) create a satisfying sizzle.

Now for the fun part. Clean the pan, etc, etc, preheat, add oil, and add half the red onion. The recipe is put together in two parts--so we'll use half of everything, then repeat. stir fry for 30 seconds. add half the garlic and half the lemongrass, stir-fry for another 30 seconds (really, these numbers are in the book!). Add half the sauce, and when it starts to bubble (almost immediately), add half the cooked noodles. cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly (tongs work well here), then add half the tofu, bean sprouts, scallions, chiles, and peanuts. stir for another 30 seconds, then transfer to plates, add cilantro and lime wedge. Then repeat with the remaining ingredients.

It says to serve 4, but seems more like 5 or 6, depending on what side dishes you're rocking.

Banana Compote

I think that the term "compote" is misused in this case, but it sounded better than "mush". Here's what we did:

For a small bowl's worth, use two bananas. Better if they are on the riper side, but not too brown.

Cut up bananas, put in small pot. Add about a half cup of water, and crank the heat. You want it to get to a simmer, stirring as needed. Add water as needed if it looks too thick or starts sticking or burning. A splash of vanilla (2 T? 3?) and a few shakes of cinnamon can do it some good, although vanilla alone is great, too. Stir it up, mash the bananas a bit more, and take off heat when it reaches the desired thickness.

An easy pancake topping, for those times when you don't want to mess with fruit in the batter or nobody can agree on one fruit.

Samosa Recipe

from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook:

The Dough:

2.5 cups flour (we did all-purpose)
1/2 t salt
1 cup yogurt
extra flour, yog as needed (we added ~3T extra of yogs, since our dough was flaky after kneading)

1) Put flour and salt in a bowl, mix.
2) Add yogurt, mix in with a spoon or fingers, then use your hands to knead dough for about 5 minutes. Add flour if it's sticking to you or the bowl. In the end it'll be soft, but firm, and will hold together (you can pick it up by a corner and it won't fall apart).
3) Cover and refridgerate until you need it.

The Filling:

2 large potatoes
1 pat butter or some oil for frying
1 cup minced onion
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 T freshly grated ginger
1 t mustard seeds
1 t coriander
3/4 t salt
1.5 cups uncooked green peas (we bought frozen and thawed in the fridge)
2 T lemon juice
cayenne, to taste (mmm, three dashes worked for me).

1) Peel potatoes, chop into small bits so they'll boil quickly. Boil until very soft, drain, and mash in a good sized bowl.
2) Fry onion, garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, coriander, and salt. Oops, i mean "saute". Medium heat, about 8 minutes, until onions are soft. oh yea, throw some cayenne in here if you're going to.
3) Add fried goodness to the potatoes, along with the other ingredients (peas and lemon juice), mix well (but Moosewood sez try not to smash the peas).
4) Let cool for ~ 15 minutes.

Assembly: (see here for photos)

1) Preheat oven to 425. Oil a cookie sheet

2) Along with your filling and dough, grab a fork and a small bowl of water. You're set.

3) Roll small balls of dough in your palms. Smaller than a ping pong, probably, but it depends on your duogh consistency. The goal is ~5 inch circles when rolled out with a rolling pin or empty bottle.

4) Place 1.5 T of filling in center of dough circle. Brush water along the outer edge of the dough circle, then pinch opposite inner sides together (wet to wet), to make a filled semi-circle shape. Lay on its side, use the fork to reinforce the seal.

5) Put the samosas on the baking sheet, brush oil on the side facing up (we just poured oil onto a small plate, and pressed both sides of each samosa down into it before placing on the cookie sheet). Bake for 15 minutes at 425, then flip the samosas over, turn the oven down to 375, and bake for 10 minutes more. ** Don't overbake! The samosas will get crispier as they cool, so don't worry if they look a bit soft when the 25 minutes are up. We kept them in 5-8 minutes longer and the edges especially were too hard.

6) MMMM. They won't last long! I'd even make the filling alone as a potato side dish to another meal, i thought it was great.

Step by Step Samosa Assembly

Okay, we're not that mean. If you just want the recipe minus the pictures, head back to the main blog and click on "samosas" (vs. "here"). Or, i guess, if you want the recipe up to the assembly point. We're not picture crazy enough to assume you wanted close-ups of simmering apples.

Otay. Start with your filling and dough. You'll also need a fork and a small bowl of water handy.

1) Grab a small hunk of dough, and roll into a 5-inch circle.

2) Place about 1.5 T of filling into the center of your dough circle. It may not look like a lot, but wait until you do a few before you start adding more--each time i tried to eyeball it i ended up with a broken samosa skin.












3) Wet the outer edge of your dough circle with water. This'll help it stick closed. Then fold the edges together, to make a filled semi-circle. If you made bigger dough circles, you could experiment with pinching all the ends together like a stork's bundle. I've seen it like that in restaurants.









4) To create a fancy seal for your pockets of flavorful-goodness, press the fork around the newly-created lip of the samosa. Don't be afraid to press hard, some of our indents came undone.


5) Place samosas on an oiled cookie sheet. Brush oil on the side facing up (or, just put oil on a plate, and dunk each side a little before putting them on the sheet. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 375, flip the samosas, and bake for 10 more minutes.

**As per the granola class, things coated with oil will get crispier as they cool! When the samosas seemed to have too much give to them, we left them in for almost 10 extra minutes, and by the time we ate them, they were a bit (okay, a lot) on the crunchy side). So the lesson is, trust Moosewood, trust Rose, and don't overcrisp your sams.












6) Serve warm!















Yay! This really didn't take too long to put together, but it is nice to have some reading nearby while you're waiting for the potatoes to boil, or samosas to bake, etc.

Moosewood's Falafel

two 15oz cans chickpeas (or 4 cups if you wanna soak em and cook em yourself)
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 t cumin
1 t tumeric
1 t salt
1/2 cup minced onion
1/4 cup packed minced parsley
1/4 cup water
1 T lemon juice
few dashes cayenne pepper
1/3 cup flour
oil for frying

1) rinse and drain chickpeas
2) combine all ingredients except flour in food processor/good blender/big bowl to blend/mix by hand until it's a homogenous paste.
3) add flour and stir to combine well.
4) heat a pan, add some oil and wait for it to get hot. then add falafel balls--maybe tablespoons, maybe whatever size you can ball up in the crook of your palm. flatten then out a bit, so it resembles a thick pancake. saute on each side about 10 minutes, until crisp and browned. add oil as needed to coat bottom of pan.

if they seem oily to you when you're done, pat down with or just let sit on some paper towels.