Kimchee, vegan & with Gochujang

My love for kimchee has all begun since 2020, after I discovered K-dramas. I love how they eat Kimchee with everything and so I started making my own. 

There are multiple recipes on the internet on how to make vegan kimchee, and this recipe of mine is derived from all those - this one uses Gochugaru, the chilli flakes. 

Now that am in India, I noticed it is much easier to get access to Korean food items, and a friend got some Gochujang for us from Korea town near Ananthapur. I had to make kimchee with that, and the taste is totally different and yummier. 

Gochujang is also pre-fermented , so it acts like a starter to ferment the cabbages. Plus, since we are in warmer temparatures in India, the kimchee, as it is sitting on the counter, has fermented much quicker. I also choose to use the normal cabbage available in the grocery store for this recipe. But am sure it would taste better with the Napa cabbage too.

Here are all the references I used for this recipe - 

1. FoodbyJonister - Kimchee
2. FoodietakesFlight - This post has fermentation tips too.

Vegan Kimchi

Ever since I started watching Korean dramas during the pandemic and drooling at all the yummy food they lay out on the tables (almost every day has key scenes around food and people are around books most of the times, and I LOVE this!), I have developed this interest for Kimchi, and I have been making Kimchi fried rice and Kimchi ramen almost every week. This has now reached comfort food status for me. I had already been eating curd with a little Kimchi with it at night, so now I have three uses for Kimchi.

Buying Kimchi from the stores was not an option, especially during the COVID19 pandemic, because I did not have the time and bandwidth to stop at the aisles, look for a vegan Kimchi, look for its ingredients to ensure it is all natural etc. Also, store-bought Kimchi turned out to be too expensive for the frequency and quantities I was cooking these dishes. Hence the search for the perfect Kimchi recipe.

Notes -

1. Authenticity - I do not claim that this is the authentic version of Kimchi, I have developed this recipe after reading on multiple food blogs, and wanted a Vegan option. This recipe has worked for me for a while now, doesn't go bad, is spicy enough for our palette and refrigerates well for at least 2 months (that is the maximum one batch of Kimchi has stayed in my fridge).

Peanut butter cookies, eggless

Original recipe link - Flavor Mosaic's Best old-fashioned eggless peanut butter cookies

Soup-ey Ramen

Recipe for a soupy ramen after all the K-drama watching and drooling at the yummy food!

I didn't want to eat Maggi and the seasoning from instant noodles , hence this recipe.

Suggested replacements -
1. Replace Kimchi and sambal with chilli sauce
2. Add miso paste/powder for flavor along with the water in step 3. 

Spanish Tortilla, eggless

Rasam, quick & easy

Boil water, add finely chopped tomatoes, garlic, green chilli to this. Bring mixture to a boil. Add cooked toor Dal and mix well. Add rasam powder, turmeric, salt and bring the whole thing to a boil. 

Check salt by tasting, adjust it, and boil a little. 

Temper with ghee + mustard + Curry leaves + hing and pour over rasam

Serve hot with coriander as garnish. 

Chilli Garlic Noodles

Green chilli - 2, chopped fine

Garlic - 5-6 cloves, chopped fine

Onion - 1/2

Green peppers - 1/2 ; use other colored peppers too, if available

Carrots - 1

Tomatoes - 1

Source of protein - shelled Edamame or Lima beans or sprouts

Cabbage - 1/4, if using

Spring Onion - a bunch , use only whites for cooking

Noodles - 2 cakes; cooked per instructions

Chilli sauce - 2 Tbsp

Soy sauce - 1/4 C

Greens from the spring Onion - For garnishing

Lime juice - from 1/2 lime

Method

1. Chop all the Vegetables length wise

2. Heat the oil, saute the garlic and green chillis together.

3. Now saute the rest of the onions, and the vegetables, till cooked

4. Add the chilli and soy sauces and mix well. Add salt to taste.

5. Mix this vegetable mixture with the cooked noodles. 

6. Top with garnishing , sprinkle lime juice and serve hot 

Berry Crumble

I love a good crumble, the goodness of butter and toasted flour, the sweetness of the berries underneath and the overall package of decadence, though it can all be healthy... I was reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and saw a recipe for Crumble, and bingo. What I thought was a complicated dessert was actually a very simple one.

The recipe mentioned in the book uses white flour, and more sugar. I used this recipe, developed from various sources on the internet and this worked.

I ate the crumble a day after it was baked. The tartness in the raspberries was all gone, and it was delicious.

When I do this next, I'll not be using Raspberries or blackberries, though. Both these berries have seeds in them, which change the texture of the crumble. May be just Blueberries, apple or strawberries from the next time.

Nimmakaya Karam Pachadi

This easy to make, instant pachadi can be paired with white rice, or with rice and plain dal.

Ingredients

Chana dal - 2 spoons

Urad dal - 2 spoons

Mustard seeds - 2 spoons

Coriander - 1 spoon

Cumin - 1 spoon

Red chilli - 6-7

Cooking oil - 4 spoons

Hing - 1 spoon

Mustard seeds - 1 spoon

Salt - to taste

Lemon juice - 1/4 C

Instructions

Dry roast all the ingredients in Set #1 together and keep aside. Once it cools down, grind them to a coarse powder.

Heat the oil, and add mustard seeds. Remove off heat and add hing. 

Once the oil cools down, add it to the ground powder. Mix salt.

Add lemon juice and store in the refrigerator. 

Check taste and adjust the juice and salt accordingly. 

Creamy radish, leek and potato soup

Ingredients
Radish, a bunch, sliced thin
Leek - 2 stalks, chopped
Potato - 1 large, diced
Herbs - I used some fresh thyme
Chilli powder- I used a large spoon of chipotle powder
Salt, to taste
Lemon - juice of one lemon, or per taste
Olive oil - 1 tbsp.

Method
Saute the veggies together with the herbs and salt in a shallow pan. Cook them with a closed lid.
Puree the veggies once they get cold.
Add enough water to bring a soupy consistency and bring this mixture to a boil.
Before serving, add the lemon juice, lots and serve hot.

Cauliflower & Peas Soup

A quick soup for a winter-y evening

Serves 4; all measurements to be taken per taste, if not mentioned
Ingredients
Cauliflower - cut into florets, along with some leaves and white portion of the stalk
Peas - 1 C
Leek - 1 stalk, optional
Harissa powder
Thick yogurt - as much as you want the soup's consistency should be
Herbs - I used sage
Chilli powder - I used chipotle chilli powder
Olive oil - 1 Tbsp
Garlic cloves - minced, as many as you think you need

Method
In a pan, roast the cauliflower and peas together along with garlic, herbs and chilli powder till the veggies are cooked. If using leek, add it towards the end to preserve the flavor.
After the cooked veggies cool, puree them. (I've noticed that a hand blender is the best for soup purees)
Some of this puree can be saved as base for the next day in the fridge.
In the same pan, add the yogurt and puree, whisk them well and heat till it boils. Adjust the herbs and salt as required. Serve hot, with garlic bread

Quick & Easy Allam Pachadi

I love allam pachadi - ginger chutney/pickle, and stock up on what Mom makes.
But when in a hurry and when the stocks run low, one has to pick up a new recipe. Here is something that worked for me.

Ingredients:
For the Chutney
Set 1:
Ginger root - 2 inch piece, peeled and diced
Onion - 1, medium sized, chopped
Garlic cloves - 5-6, medium sized ones, chopped

Set 2:
Chana Dal - 1 Tbsp
Urad Dal - 1 Tbsp
Roasted Bengalgram Dal - 1 Tbsp
Green chilli - 4-5, or per taste
Red chilli - 5-6, or per taste

Cooking oil - 3 Tbsp, divided into two parts

For the tempering:
Cooking oil - 1 Tbsp
Curry leaves - a few
Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
Asafoetida or Hing - a pinch; optional

Instructions
Split the oil into two and roast ingredients in each set together on a medium flame for up to 5 min. You can choose to do them one after the other to reuse the same pan. The onion should be translucent to indicate that Set 1 is roasted enough. The green and red chillis should be roasted and emit aroma to indicate Set 2 is roasted enough. 

Once the ingredients cool, grind them together in a mixer.

Heat the oil for tempering and add the ingredients for tempering. Once the mustard seeds splutter, remove the pan from the flame and add the asafoetida, if using.

Serve with idlis, dosa or pesarattu.

This will stay good for a couple of days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Curry Powder

A curry powder to go with shallow fries... (Apologies for the weird formatting, am posting this from the phone, lest I forget the recipe, as has been the case off late)

Peanuts - 1 Cup
Coriander seeds - 1/2 Cup
Cumin seeds - 1/4 Cup
Red chilli - 5-6 (I use the Byadigi variety)
Sesame seeds - 1/8 Cup
Garlic - 8-10 cloves

Dry roast all ingredients. I roasted peanuts separately and deskinned them and garlic separately and kept aside. The rest of the ingredients can be roasted together.

Let these cool and grind them together.

This powder can be stored in the refrigerator for at least a week.

I shallow fried Kandola(aa kakarakaya)and added this as masala.I also intend to use this as curry masala for another stir fry with coconut milk ala Thai style later this week.

Masala Chick Peas Sundal

Hey there! Those 2 visitors of mine, that still have hope that I might've posted something new :-)

So, I've done some introspection and realized that the reason for me not blogging is the pressure on getting hits and hence the need to shoot great pics, and socialize this on various sites. In all this time that I haven't blogged, I realized that I search my blog for various recipes that I wanted to make one more time! That was the eureka moment for me! I wasn't enjoying food photography, and I was pressurized into taking good food shots! So...

The Meal Algorithm V2.0 will not attempt at any of those above items! Am not going to be bothered about the various sites and my photo getting listed there. In fact, I might not even shoot with my SLR anymore. Phone camera, Insta with tags for me to be able to search them, Tweet at the same time to let interested folks know, and last and least, if you are interested, you can subscribe to the feed which will send you the post as soon as I post it.
This means that I only have to write down the ingredient list, shoot with my phone camera and post it on this blog and Insta. I should be good and done! Lets see how long it lasts! :)

Do one of these, and you'll be notified everytime I post a recipe - Subscribe to the RSS feed, follow me on Instagram or Twitter.

Veg Thai Red Curry with Brown Rice

Yet another Thai recipe! Well, its no news that I love Thai food, right? :) So does the husband, so it’s a hit in our house anytime I make it, in any format.

I am aware of the fact that the husband likes Thai food only because it looks very much like the South Indian food, especially the Thai Red curry, which is why I make quite some stuff with Thai Red Curry paste as the base. Check out my Thai Red Curry Poha recipe here.

Street-style Chinese noodles

Its not news to readers of this blog that I do not cook Chinese. But the husband does.

I don’t like Chinese food, even the one odd Manchurians. I, obviously didn’t try Chinese food during my stay in Hong Kong, thanks to the Oyster sauce they add always. The only place where I enjoyed Chinese food that I can think of so far was in InChin Bamboo Garden in Redmond, Washington, and that probably was because it was very spicy and Indian-ized.

How to make healthy Bisibele-Bath with Poha

Bisibele-bath is almost a staple in South-Indian households, especially Kannada kitchens, I feel. There is something about this sambar-rice that we all love, and the fact that it is healthy also, adds to the allure.

For a while now, I’ve been experimenting with poha, how to make various South Indian main course items with this lighter version, so that I still get to eat the comfort food, but with less carbs.

Summer Pea Pasta

One of those days when I was eating salads on a daily basis, I felt this immense carb-craving. I craved pasta, and I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

I had bookmarked this awesome recipe from one of the earlier BBC Goodfood magazines, and knew I had to make this.

Thai curry flavored Poha

Yeah, I know how it sounds. Thai curry and Poha in the same sentence. :)
But it is a great combination, indeed. Veg Thai curry paste is nothing but a great mix of ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin and onions and of course, some specific Thai herbs like basil and Kafir lime leaves. Essentially, its like your regular South Indian sambar powder ;-)



So when I had some Thai curry paste left over in the fridge, and I had to eat a healthy , yet quick meal, I resorted to this quick meal, something I made in less than 15 min, since I had the curry paste ready in the fridge.

Weekend Herb Blogging : Instant Oats & Spinach idli

I might not be really South Indian in my dinner preferences (if you ignore the constant craving for coconut oil), but when it comes to breakfast, idli is an ever-favourite.

I remember how I craved and dreamt about idlis during my stay in Hong Kong and heaved a sigh of relief once I spotted a Udupi hotel (and chitchatted with a waiter in Tulu and beamed with happiness talking about it with Dad, but that’s another long story) , which then became our weekend breakfast spot for as long as we were there! And only after spotting Idlis and Sonamasuri rice did I extend my trip to a month … such is the love for idlis!