Chow Vegan

Penzeys Spices

November 15, 2009 By chow 4 Comments

I needed to pick up some spices and stopped by Penzeys Spices in downtown Menlo Park the other day. It’s their only location in all of Northern California and luckily, not too far away from me.

Penzeys is to cooks, what a candy store is to kids. It’s a visual and olfactory treat to step through the door. You can open sample jars and get a good whiff of each spice. Everything smells incredible and oh so fresh. And the variety of some spices is just astounding.

Who knew there was so many different kinds of cinnamon? I thought there was just the one kind (the one in the supermarket labeled brown cinnamon) but no, they have four different ones there. I got the Vietnamese Cinnamon-Extra Fancy, it smelled so strongly of cinnamon, it made me want to run home and bake something. And you know, I’m no baker.

I also got a free jar of Bangkok Blend (sweet peppers, garlic, ginger, black pepper, galangal, hot peppers, lemon grass, basil and cilantro) from the peel-off free gift coupon on their catalog cover. It was my choice of 1 of 3 turkey seasonings, the other two were Poultry Seasoning or Bicentennial Rub. No turkey here, so I’m thinking of trying it out on an unsuspecting block of tofu.

Fuyu Persimmon Salad

November 12, 2009 By chow 9 Comments

With persimmons all over the farmers market, I just had to get some. There’s two types: Fuyu is the squat, round, firm, eat-whenever kind and the Hachiya is the soft, pointy end, eat-only-if-ripe-or-you’ll-be-really-sorry kind.

I went with the Fuyu for it’s crispness and because I was going to use it in a salad. Cutting the persimmon crosswise made such a nice round colorful disc, I thought it would be fun if the salad was stacked instead of in a giant heap.

Fuyu Persimmon Salad
Serves 2 as part of a meal

1 head baby romaine lettuce
1 Fuyu persimmon
1/2 avocado
Handful of dried cranberries and/or pomegranate seeds

Dressing
2 tablespoons Vegenaise or other vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon white vine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Set aside. Peel the persimmon and cut crosswise into thin rounds. Slice the avocado crosswise.

Tear the lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Place in a mixing bowl, add dressing to taste and toss.

To plate, place one persimmon round in center of a serving plate. Pile lettuce on top, avocado next and then another persimmon round and repeat, ending with a few avocado slices on top of a persimmon.

Sprinkle the dried fruit around. Spoon extra dressing around the plate in a line. Serve immediately.

Curried Pineapple Rice

November 8, 2009 By chow 10 Comments

Looking through my stash of cookbook recipes, I found one that I haven’t made in a long, long time. Curried Pineapple Rice. I remember how good the dish was but not why I stopped making it. Too lazy? Got tired of it? Misplaced the recipe? I don’t know.

So I made it again. Still tasty and now super easy to make using a fuzzy logic rice cooker. I barely consider it cooking, it’s more like gather and toss into the pot. Can’t get any easier than that.

A variation on rice pilaf with Polynesian flavors, the original recipe is from Pacific Flavors by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison. Over the years, I’ve modified it a bit. Since I’m using the rice cooker, I left out the sauté in butter part and made it a bit healthier.

Curried Pineapple Rice
Makes about 5 cups
Adapted from the recipe in Pacific Flavors by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison

4 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in water until soft, cut off stems and dice
1 1/2 cups white basmati rice (using the measuring cup that came with the rice cooker)
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel
Juice from 1/2 lime
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, minced
2 stalks green onion, chopped
1/2 – 3/4 cup fresh pineapple, diced
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted (optional)

Cooking directions is for use with a rice cooker with a 5.5 cups capacity. Using the inner pot of the rice cooker, rinse the rice well in several changes of water until the water is clear. Add water to the marked level on the pot according to the rice cooker’s directions.

Add the rest of the ingredients except for the green onion, pineapple and almonds. Select the setting to cook white rice and press start.

When the rice cooker beeps that it’s done, stir in the green onions and pineapple. Turn it off and serve or leave on the “warm” setting until ready to serve. Top with toasted almonds if using.

For a fancy presentation, serve the rice in a pineapple boat.