Half-Assed Homemaker

When one talks in the past tense about pets that some consider food, people always ask what happened to them. Some even bluntly say "did you eat them?" Since I haven't blogged in foreversville, I owe myself a post. It's a cute story

I adopted the birds from The Princess of Poultry and the Duke of Dairy, a lovely couple living on a hillside in Oakland. They had a number of chickens and wanted to adopt some more (of different breeds.) They ordered the minimum sized order of chicks from the hatchery, kept the number they wanted and offered the rest for adoption in exchange for their cost ($7/hatchling).

As I was preparing to move to Boston, I realized that bringing the hens across the country and keeping them a harsh climate wasn't so nice. I contacted the aforementioned royalty and asked if they knew of a loving home for my two laying hens, including their own. They offered to give them a home in their roost. After polite questioning from me, they told me that all of their hens live out the rest of their days at their home rather than becoming food.

They were so nice when I came to deliver the ladies, almost to the point of consoling. They offered to provide updates or photos upon request. They even offered to let me take them back tend them again, wherever or whenever I chose to do so. 

I miss those chickens, I miss their sounds, their beautiful plumage, their curious ways and the comforting eggs.

The fishy nori and chewy tofu come together in a dish that has not yet received a clever name. My friend Daisie suggested that naming meatless food with meat-inspired names is strange (and makes people think vegans are crazy). I am refraining from such naming for a while to see if it makes any impact on me.

1 one pound block of firm tofu
1 sheet nori
soy sauce
sesame seeds

Freeze the block of tofu (I didn't remove it from the package) overnight and then defrost completely. This will make the texture chewier. Drain the water, squeeze most of the water from the tofu, it's spongier now. Cut it in half (crosswise) and drizzle on some soy sauce and let it marinate for a little bit.

Cut a sheet of nori in half (longwise) and wrap each half around each half of the tofu block. Repeat. With a sharp knife, slice the wrapped tofu.

Spread some oil on a hot skillet, just a thin layer. Place some of the slices on the skillet, sprinkle with sesame seeds and let them grill. Leave them alone so they develop a nice crust. Turn and cook the other side. Cook them in batches so you don't crowd the pan and reapply oil when the pan looks dry.

Serve as finger food or as part of a meal with veggies and rice or noodles. Pictured here are soba noodles, kale and raw ribbons of carrot and green onions. I have also heard of them cooked in a curry.

I made a very good chili today. It's more like a stew but it's spicy and has black beans so I can imagine it being called chili (except by purists). No need to use these ingredients exactly but since it came out so good, I had to post the recipe.

1 onion (diced)
3 red potatos (diced)
1/2 or a whole green bell pepper (chopped)
1 stalk celery (finely chopped)
2 carrots (finely chopped)

1 each dried jalapeño, dried mild chili, roasted dried chili (ground)
black pepper (ground)
cumin seed (ground)
black beans and the water they were cooked in.
1 can tomatoes (well drained of their juice)

salt to taste (see note below)

Saute the onions in the pressure cooker pot in some oil. Add the rest of the vegetables along with the tomatoes, the chilies, black pepper, the black bean water the cumin (I used some from a jar that my housemate had). Pour black bean water to a depth 2/3 that of the other food. Turn up the heat, cook on high pressure for 10 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit for a while. When you open the pressure cooker, remove a few cups of it, blend it smooth (with a handful of tortilla chip crumbs) and reintegrate it to thicken the sauce. Add the black beans.

It goes well with quinoa.

As for the tomato, I used the drained juice in a batch of tomato sauce so if you don't have some drained tomatoes around try using a chopped fresh tomato or any tomato product, even a scoop of salsa. Using the tomato juice would make it sweeter than I would want it.

A Note about Salt
I spend way too much time seeking canned tomatoes without salt added so I can control the salt content. That is also one of the reasons I buy dry black beans instead of cans. So you will need to add less or no salt depending on your ingredients.

There is something about the rich broth of home-boiled beans that goes very well with soba noodles and soy sauce (and the beans, of course). I also add any combination of ribbons of carrots, celery, grilled tofu and dress with green onions and sesame seeds.

I want to try black soy beans instead. I promised myself I'd get through my dry black beans stockpile before buying some.

It's a bit too early to be writing again about corncakes since I've made them once and haven't even eaten all of them but I am giddy with the possibilities. If you think the ideas for Mole and breakfast corncakes were cute, there were many combinations that didn't make it because it seemed like a can of worms was opening.

I, of course, want to try different toppings. I also want to try different types of flour. Not only different types of wheat flour but flour from different grains and different kinds of corn product (stone ground, slaked, whole).

After years of searching for my favorites, I will open a booth at the San Jose Japantown farmer's market and serve them on banana leaves.

I have been inspired to make Arepas since my trip to Colombia but until I get my hands on some Arepa flour (or pre-cooked masa harina) I have been keeping busy making other things with standard cornmeal. This recipe is basically a pancake with topping applied before it's flipped. You can do the same with fruit on pancakes.

Topping Ingredients:
finely diced onion
drained black beans
cilantro Leaves
ground dried chili (or in season, chopped fresh chili)
salt and ground black pepper to taste
splash of lime juice

Batter, Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or any flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Batter, Wet Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds
3/4 cup plus 3 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon Agave nectar, Maple Syrup or Honey

Combine topping ingredients in reasonable proportions, set aside. Mix the ground flax seed with the 3 tablespoons water, stir and let sit. In a separate container, combine the dry ingredients. Add the water and sweetener to the soaked flax seeds, stir. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stir to combine. Add more water if batter is too thick to spoon onto griddle.

Pour 1/4 -1/3 cup of batter onto a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Let cook for 30 seconds and then spoon on a heaping tablespoon of the topping onto the pancake. When the edges looked cooked, flip the pancake and cook for 2-3 minutes. Vary these steps with your favorite pancake technique if applicable.

Store cooked corncakes on a plate in a warm oven.

Eat corncake with a knife and fork or top with your favorite raw toppings or salsa, fold slightly and eat like a taco.

Topping Variations: try any combination of the following and the original ingredients
finely chopped bell pepper
cooked mushrooms
salted and rinsed zucchini
cilantro leaves

Mole Style: I haven't tried this but I can not wait
toasted pumpkin seeds
toasted sesame seeds
toasted nuts
shaved bitter chocolate
ground roasted dried chili (or chipotle)
ground dried chili (or chopped fresh chili)

Breakfast Corncakes:
Make a topping of fruit and nuts and then dress with buttery spread, maple syrup, honey or agave nectar.

Greens-guilt is something that strikes me from time to time. If I ever find myself hungry but also feeling like I haven't had many greens lately I call it greens guilt. Most of the time I enjoy greens but every now and then I'll slip them in because I feel I should. Here we are, named in honor of my recent New England surroundings.

Black Bean Chowda

Tear washed spinach leaves into some black beans simmering in their water. Grind in some black pepper and a squirt of Braags or soy sauce. When hot remove from heat and add some tortilla chip crumbs. They can be stale, something like this is the best use for them. Let the chips and beans absorb some water as it cools to a comfortable temperature. The chips should provide salt as would canned beans so you probably won't need to add any. Enjoy.

Labels: black beans, braags, chips, chowda, chowder, spinach

The transition from residence in California to living in the United States has been rough indeed but sometimes you feel a sense of ownership over the ground beneath you. After a summer of homelessness, I have never looked more like a hobo than this morning. I packed some groceries in my day pack which is normal enough but what got amused nods from fellow cyclists was the set of pillows strapped to the pack.