Keep It Simple Foods » Vegetarian

Chinese home cookin’

Jennifer — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:28:11 +0000

My favorite foods are simple, comfort foods no matter what nationality the dish. Last week, after long and exhausting days of discovering Beijing, all I wanted to do was sit down to a relaxing meal to regain my energy and rest my aching feet. I was lucky enough to find two such meals at a couple of hole-in-the wall restaurants located near the Sleepy Inn hostel. There were no english menus- as we were pretty far off the tourist path- and no english-speaking wait staff. The primary method used to communicate included a lot of pointing to pictures on the menu (if available) or simply saying “i’m a vegetarian” and letting the server decide what to bring. As a result we tasted a variety of vegetarian dishes featuring grilled eggplant, cauliflower, spicy tofu, rice and stir-fried green veggies. The food was warm, comforting and perfectly simple consisting of a two to three main dishes served family style with rice and hot tea or cold beer. It reminded me a lot of the simple meals I used to eat growing up. These dinners ranged from 11 RMB to 20 RMB (approx $2 to $3) in price.

The Book Worm

Jennifer — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:27:07 +0000

After several days in the bustling city of Beijing, I was in need of some quiet, relaxing down time. My friend took me to The Book Worm, a western-style coffee shop/lounge/library in the Chao Yang district of Beijing where all the servers speak english and you can get typical american, brit and aussie fare. The atmosphere has a chill vibe- low lighting, customers reading or working on laptops while sipping lattes, indie rock music playing softly in the background, and floor to ceiling bookshelves on nearly every wall. For me, the experience was comparable to coming home after being away for a long time. Though it had been a few days, it was like walking into my house for the first time and suddenly realizing what I smell like to others-catching that first whiff that kind of defines who I am and how others perceive me. I found myself thinking, so this is what we are like. Let’s just say it was a bit of a homecoming.
I ordered 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream for 10 RMB (about a buck 50), sat back, relaxed and relished being in my tiny, yet spacious western oasis in the sweltering, cramped city of Beijing. It was good to be “home.”

Chinese Mall Food

Jennifer — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:08:18 +0000

Monday was a scorcher with temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees in Beijing! It was much too hot to do any outdoor sightseeing. The very thought of standing on steamy pavement in a long, crowded line with the blazing sun beating down on my back made me want to pass out from heat exhaustion. I decided that indoor shopping was the only reasonable option.

A friend of mine took me to the Yashow Market where we found excellent deals on clothes, fabrics, tea, knick knacks and other souvenirs. For those of you who like to bargain shop without too much haggling, this is the place to go. Vendors definitely compete for your attention without being too aggressive. Yashow offers 5 stories (maybe more) of a wide variety of vendors so you can literally shop till you drop.

Needless to say, I worked up quite an appetite in the process so I headed upstairs to the food court area. The entire top floor of the market is filled with food vendors and is basically a giant shmorgasboard of Chinese food-dumplings, noodles, sauces, meats,and veggies. It was perfect for me because I like to taste as many dishes as possible in one sitting. I ended up going with spicy cucumbers marinated in a vinegar dressing, vegetarian stir fried egg noodles with baby bok choy, a pancake type thing made of egg and vegetables and a warm cabbage filled dough pocket (not sure of the name). Everything was very tasty. Surprisingly, the dishes were fairly oily and salty (ideal hangover food and one of my all time favorite flavor combos) and though this was basically the equivalent of mall food, it was nothing like the stuff you get in the US. This food was simple, made fresh and authentic. There were no bright orange deep fried gelatinous balls posing as chicken or baby corns swimming in sugary brown sauce. This was the real deal. American-Chinese food pales in comparison-get on board America!

Tips for the Veggie in China

Jennifer — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:59:33 +0000

Thanks to one of my well-traveled friends, I am able to arm you with a few necessary phrases for finding and ordering vegetarian fare.

我吃素食－ Wo chi (pronounced kind of like chir) su shi (pronounced kind of like sue shir). This literally means, “I eat vegetarian food,” but it’s equivalent to saying, “I’m a vegetarian.”

素餐 – Sucan (sue tsan – kind of roll the t and s together) – vegetarian meal

素食餐館－ sushi canguan – vegetarian restaurant.

If you can learn to identify the characters for 素食 sushi (pronounced sort of like sue shir), you may be able to find vegetarian restaurants.

“Vegetarian food” is pronounced the same way as “fast food.” But people don’t appear to be confused by this, so you should be fine.

Jet lagged vegetarian

Jennifer — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:48:52 +0000

So, I made it to China in one piece! I’ve been here for about two days now but, unfortunately, after the 14 hr flight and 12 hr time difference (and let’s not forget the sweltering heat!) I am still pretty jet lagged. I slept most of the first day which meant that I didn’t really spend any time exploring my food options. Instead, I lived off these guys (and I don’t even want to think about the gross airplane food I endured before that!).
By yesterday morning I had had enough super sweet choco crunchy peanuty gooeyness to last a life time. So I ventured to the nearby supermarket for some of this.

Sadly, Skippy brand peanut butter was the only brand I could find. I spent several hours in the supermarket checking out the goods. I was alone, which for me is always somewhat of a nerve wracking experience. I’m painfully shy in unfamiliar situations. Of course, it didn’t help that I don’t speak the language and stand out like a sore thumb. At the same time, it was a comical experience- the mere fact that I’m “western” seems to be a red flag that I don’t speak Chinese and am in need of assistance (or maybe it was the confused expression on my face?)- and than goodness for that! Several very kind ladies in the supermarket bravely ventured to help me even though they didn’t speak any English. Very sweet. It’s amazing how well we communicated!
Anyway, the supermarket wasn’t so different than any upscale grocery-large wine and seafood departments, lots of produce and organic goods-to me it was remarkably similar to stores I’ve patroned in France. Of course products varied widely and there was one thing that really stood out- live turtles in the seafood dept! Yes, you could buy fresh, live turtles to cook at home! Fish too, but the turtles were the most impressive.

Needless to say my diet of peanut butter, apples, and meal bars got old very fast. Luckily, I was able to meet up with a friend who took me out to Tianchumiaoxiang Vegetarian Restaurant. It’s a veggie friendly resto near Tsinghua University so the area is very young, stylish and ecclectic. We started with cold, fruit tea and watermelon cubes (complimentary). Then, we ordered a variety of tofu dishes to sample. One was the equivalent of kungpao chicken and the tofu came out crispy fried and well seasoned-just like fried chicken. It was delicious and not too spicey. We also had another sweet and sour style dish and a tofu soup that had a silky smooth texture, sort of like the Chinese version of chicken and dumplins. It reminded me of a great chinese food restaurant in DC called Charlie Chiang’s, near GWU University. Anyway, it was incredibly delicious and just what I needed! The menu was very reasonably priced and the service was great. Most dishes were around 30 yuan (about $5). The total for two (including drinks and 3 dishes with rice) came out to about 120 yuan or slightly less than $20.
I’ve posted pictures of our meal below.

Pan roasted broccoli

Jennifer — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:04:01 +0000

This is my favorite way to eat broccoli (haven’t tried grilling it yet so that’s next on my list!). Simply rinse and chop a head of broccoli. Next, place it in a mixing bowl with rough chopped garlic (for a more intense garlic flavor go with finely chopped). Add a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and a few dashes of ground coriander. Toss until well coated and transfer to a roasting pan. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes- until edges are crispy and brown. Serve as a side dish to accompany fish or in a salad.

Spinach, Mushroom and Black Bean Quesadillas

Jennifer — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:27:43 +0000

These are my new favorites as of late. They are an easy, comforting go-to meal that take no time to make and are actually pretty healthy. Remember, you can always load up on veggies and reduce cheese in recipes like this to make them as low fat as you like.

Ingredients:(makes 1 serving and takes about 10 min)
2 organic flour tortillas (I get mine from Whole Foods, you could also use whole wheat)
handful of baby spinach
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1/4 chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup black beans (I used canned, drained beans but you could use any kind you like)
extra virgin olive oil
small pat of butter (melted)
handful of shredded cheese (I prefer a mexican blend) (optional)
cumin, sriracha sauce, red pepper flakes, salt, onion powder (optional)

Directions:
In a small pot on the stove top, heat a few 2 tblsps evoo with the diced onions and cook until translucent. Add in black beans and mushrooms and cook for about 2 min. At this point, add in the spices. I used a dash of cumin, onion powder, salt and red pepper flakes. I also stirred in a very small spoonful of sriracha. Season to taste. Next, add in spinach, turn pot down to med low heat and cover with a lid while the spinach wilts. Stir occasionally until cooked and then promptly remove from heat. While veggies are cooking, heat a medium to large size pan on the stove top (this is a prep step to toasting the tortillas). Get the pan nice and hot. Brush the tortillas with butter and then toast them one at a time in the skillet. It only takes about 2 minutes per side. Set the cooked tortillas aside on a plate (use the same plate you plan to eat off to save cookware). Reduce skillet heat to medium. Place one tortilla back into the skillet and top with veggie mixture and a sprinkling of cheese. Place the remaining tortilla on top. Let it warm for about 30 seconds and then use a spatula to flip it onto the other side to warm for another 30 seconds. Remove tortilla from skillet onto dinner plate. Use a small pizza wheel to cut the quesadilla into four quadrants. Serve with fresh salsa, sour cream, guac and jalepeno slices!

New York Pizza in a D.C. Kitchen

Jennifer — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:20:39 +0000

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I decided to make pizza. If there’s one thing I love, it’s pizza! Especially homemade pizza with all my favorite toppings. Typically, we pick-up a pre-made crust (cooked or dough from the fridge section) and just put what we want on top. [As you all know by now, I'm not a baker and messing with fussy pizza dough is not something I'm eager to check off my list.] But, when we got to Whole Foods, pre-made crust cupboard was bare. The only thing I finally did find was frozen pizza dough. I was skeptical. Frozen dough (”fro do”) does not sound appetizing. But it proclaimed to be “NY style” so I went for it.

When I got home, I noticed that the dough needed to be thawed for SIX HOURS and I only had 2 hours tops! Oh no! So, I did the only thing I could think of. I cranked up the oven and set out the dough on top of the stove so that heat from the oven would thaw it quickly and gently. It worked! It only took about an hour.

Then, I hand tossed that bad boy and loaded it up.

The result was delicious! Cooked to perfection.

The crust was nice and thin. That’s a NY style slice!

Roasted Winter Veggies

Jennifer — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:12:10 +0000

The icy, wintery air outside gives me cravings for hearty, soothing meals that warm the soul. Some of my favorite winter treats are also the simplest to make. Roasted winter vegetables require little prep time and even less money before sitting down to a hot, comforting dinner. They are also an easy side dish to serve at dinner parties with several guests.

Ingredients:
Your favorite winter veggies (turnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, onion, etc)
evoo
salt and pepper
cayenne pepper and coriander seed and red pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prep veggies by chopping them into manageable pieces (bite sized). Place veggies in a med bowl and toss with evoo. Spread on baking sheet and sprinkle with seasonings (feel free to use whatever you like). Bake for approximately 30 min or until tender. Serve.

For a recent dinner party I hosted, I made an all vegetarian meal pairing the roasted winter veggies with cooked collard greens and brussel sprouts. The plate was balanced with flavor and texture, as colorful as a rainbow. I got a lot of compliments on this very simple, very inexpensive dish.

Vegetable Pot Pie

Jessica — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:41:12 +0000

One of my favorite indulgences is a beautiful pot pie. I only make one several times a year, but it is just a quintessential winter dish. It’s warm, comforting and perfect for a cold night. Since I am now a vegetarian, I needed to bulk up this pot pie with lots of vegetables. If you want to add protein, I can definitely see lentils or small blocks of tofu in this dish. But, it also tastes fantastic on its own.

Use your favorite root vegetables or other frozen vegetables that you may have on hand. I used sweet potatoes and a small red potato, but I also think that butternut squash and parsnips would also work well.

Vegetable Pot Pie

2 pillsbury pie crusts (or your favorite)
4 cups of a combination of diced sweet potatoes, red creamer potatoes, and carrots
2 cups of a combination of chopped broccoli (nuked in microwave), corn, and peas
1 cup of onion, diced
2 cups of vegetable broth (enough to cover the vegetables)
1 tablespoon of coconut milk
herbs de provence
black pepper
3 tablespoons of whole wheat pastry flour

Preheat oven to 420 degrees.

Saute onion over medium heat with about 1 tablespoon of EVOO until translucent. Add potato and carrot mixture and about 1/4 teaspoon of herbs de provence and cook until tender. Add about 3 tablespoons of flour and mix through.

Once flour is mixed through, add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, bring down to low heat (add frozen veggies) and simmer until mixture is thick. When simmering, mix through the frozen veggies. You may need to add a little more flour to thicken the broth to your liking. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roll out 1 pie crust and place over a preferably glass pie dish. Add mixture to pie crust and take the other pie crust and place over the mixture, cutting off any excess crust that hangs over the dish. Seal the edges and then bake in the oven until crust is golden brown. About 15 – 20 minutes.

We served the pot pie with sauteed brussel sprouts (a little apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, salt, and EVOO). Although the pot pie isn’t the prettiest dish, it sure tasted good!

On a side note, my fiance also discovered that the brussel sprouts stalk is like a medieval weapon. Rest assured, no brussel or woman was hurt in this representation