Where do you stand on no-fat-added cooking? If you’re a vegan who reads cookbooks and keeps up with blogs, you’re likely familiar with the concept of “steam-frying” in particular. I first became acquainted with it years ago, via Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Almost-No-Fat Cookbooks and Vegan Feast blog. Isa covered it in Appetite for Reduction, released December 2010. The vegan cook who seems to be getting the most attention for no-fat-added cooking lately is Lindsay, of Happy Herbivore, with her eponymous cookbooks – but the methods are nothing new.
Basically, steam-frying proponents say that instead of starting with a little oil in your pan (and then adding the onion or other vegetables or proteins), you should save yourself the fat and use a little water for “frying”. (It’s not “frying”, at all, of course – frying by definition means using fat.) The water sizzles and steams the food. Over high heat, it will evaporate quickly, but you just need to add a splash of water to keep it going. (And be sure to work that thin spatula, ‘cuz stuff sticks!)
Can you guess my position on steam-frying?
Probably: I have long been a staunch opponent. ”I will use less fat”, I concede, “perhaps one tablespoon instead of three. And I’ll even measure it so I know I’m not cheating. But I will not “steam-fry” my food!” As a classically-inclined cook, I took the idea of doing without a little oil in the pan as an almost personal affront. Oil is necessary for caramelization, even cooking, and crispiness… AKA, deliciousness! I love fat, flavor, richness, lusciousness – and I love my big fat body, too!
But here’s the thing: I had never actually tried true steam-frying before today. And when I did, I made something truly tasty.
My first steam-fried red curry with onions, garlic, bell pepper, tempeh, potato, and spinach.
I was shocked. Dumbfounded. Speechless. How does this taste good? It’s wrong! After all, one of my culinary adages has long been the following: everything good starts with a fried onion.
Now I’m eating my hat and admitting the truth: I managed to make something delicious with no added oil.
I should point out, however, that this dish was by no means fat-free: it contained a scant half-cup of coconut milk, which contains 17 grams of fat. The tempeh has 11 grams per serving. Put these together in the amount that I ate, and I got 14 grams before we even started thinking about added oil (which would contribute another 7 grams if I stuck to one tablespoon).
(HEY! MAYBE THAT’S WHY IT TASTED SO GOOD! The tempeh and the little bit of coconut milk saved the day! I shall have to try this steam-frying business with a lower-fat dish.)
Still, I’m glad I saved myself the 7 grams and attendant calories. I love fat, but honestly, I didn’t miss it. And that’s the point, right?
Here’s what I did:
- In a large skillet I heated about 1/3 cup water on high.
- Once it was simmering, I added onion: I started with half a small organic red onion, diced, and half a small organic white onion, diced.
- Then a large organic garlic clove, thinly sliced, and half a large organic red bell pepper, chopped.
- Stir-fried these in the water til the water evaporated, then added a little more water, then permitted to evaporate again.
- In the meanwhile, mixed about 1.5 tablespoons of red curry paste in some hot water, added 1.5 tbsp organic, fair-trade sugar, 2 tbsp organic lime juice, 1.5 tbsp organic tamari, and about 1/2 cup organic coconut milk.
- Poured over the onion sauce and let it simmer violently.
- Crumbled a block of organic tempeh over, heated through, folding with my spatula often.
- Added slices of cooked organic potato, mixed and heated through.
- Added handfuls of organic spinach and steamed gently.
- Served!
In conclusion: steam-frying may be an awesome power to wield, but it must be employed thoughtfully. At best, it will save you some fat/calories without detracting from the overall finished flavor, but it won’t give you the crispy/caramelly flavor and texture you expect on onions/veg/proteins. Use in moderation. :-)
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what up, internet pals. There’s a bonsai tree at the entrance of my new neighborhood. Every time I see it I imagine it saying, “what up. welcome back. You live here now.” It helps the sting of a thrown-together, last-minute, surprise move to a new neighborhood with new lifeways and new opportunities.
Honestly, though, I’m liking it. At first the noise was ***overwhelming*** – big blended multi-generational family to one side, always comin’ and goin’, lots of kids under ten (once even playing in OUR front yard) screamin’ they little heads off, uncles (there are six) washing & fixin’ cars with the doors open and the music blasting; work-from-home carpenter to the other side – but in the past days (rain) things have gotten a little quieter. The house is absolutely gorgeous and I adore the owners so I hope the noise doesn’t become an issue. Y’all know I’m sensitive – especially to high-pitched kiddo voices. We shall see.
Right now it feels like a blessing to be in a stable place with stable allies. I want to grab all of it up in my arms – the gas range, the arch between the dining room and the living, the kitchen nook window seats, the running hot water – and hug it. The beginning of this month hurt so much that I am grateful just to not be hurting anymore. Bonus that it’s so beautiful. I need to motivate myself to unpack the rest of these boxes so I can have housewarming/RuPaul parties.
Crack the Plates update: where is Crack the Plates? Had we not been forced to move, Crack the Plates would have had a first delivery two days ago on the 17th. But we did, of course – and I am still adjusting to the new space. So the first Crack the Plates delivery will be Tuesday January 31. Two weeks later than I had hoped to resume, yes, but this way I’ll be able to do it right. I’m excited. More in the upcoming weekly e-mail.
RuPaul’s Drag Race is starting back up on the 30th, which means we’ll have to have our very first Ru-ha on Wednesday February 1. Mark those calendars, y’all!
what I ate: It’s true that I haven’t been updating the main page of the blog since the move, but I have been trying to keep up here with a daily food log. I’m doing my best. I don’t expect many people will be interested in what I’m eating, but if you’re cravin’ content, feel free to visit. I’ve got a small number of folks keeping an eye on it regularly to help me with accountability, but I’d love comments from anyone. Just don’t be mean.
spencer’s market: this week my new favorite thing is spencer’s market, a weekly vegan deals site. I like them because so far they’ve actually featured interesting things. So much of deal sites – Groupon, Scoutmob – is crap, just crap. Especially Scoutmob, as they move ever further past the perimeter and feature junk like “free cheese pizza” and every meaty-meat-meat entree under the sun. (Seriously, EAT VEGETABLES AND WRITE ABOUT THEM.) If you’re vegan, vegetarian, or interested in vegan/vegetarian foods or yummy stuff in general, you should probably sign up for Spencer’s Market. BONUS: They do not e-mail you. So far they haven’t sent me a single e-mail except to confirm orders I’ve placed. They don’t even pester you with announcements about that week’s deal. Is there a downside? Doesn’t look like it. So sign up here!
finally, THIS: A CROW SLEDDING.
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Happy new year, folks. Hope day three is pleasant for you. Here in Atlanta it began with surprisingly low temperatures, even a little snow! (Nothing stuck.) I’m sitting at my new desk with a cup of dancong aria, belly full of oatmeal, happy to be inside. Soon I’ll write about my unofficial new year’s resolutions, but I need to start by covering that other major holiday – Christmas.
My Christmas was crummy. I travelled 936 miles by car (one way) from Atlanta to Poughkeepsie, NY, only to arrive with a fever, chills, and what would develop into a painful chest cold. I spent the first two days confined to bed, taking lots of tea and alternating between chills & a burning fever. (From Friday night til early Monday it stayed in the 101 range.) It was the worst and I cried some. As a friend said, it’s hard to be sick – it’s even harder to be sick away from home.
And I was mad about it, since I’m so wary of germs. No, I don’t keep hand sanitizer in my purse or wash with toxic triclosan (Ever – I believe in good germs, and that stuff’s just all kinds of messed-up), but I’m careful about avoiding sick people, taking care of myself when I start to feel down, not touching just anything (especially in public), and washing my hands thoroughly and often with real, normal, totally adequate soap. When they finally win I question my strategy/integrity/sanity.
Thankfully Nate took expert care of me. I know it wasn’t easy for him and I really appreciate all he did. And there were a handful of outings: Monday night to Karma Road in New Paltz for a ginger-juice and a giant salad; Tuesday’s bright spot was lunch with Mark at Gomen Kudasai. Wednesday: back in the car for the 936 mile trip back.
Since the most recent holidays left much to be desired, I’m going way back in this post to post-Thanksgiving, or my three-year anniversary with Nate. It’s holiday themed since we went to Rock City for the Enchanted Garden of Lights. I’ll also share some pictures from later in December when we went to the light show at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. And finally, I can’t resist telling you about Gomen Kudasai. What a wonder!
Anytime we head towards north Georgia we stop in Kennesaw at Loving Hut for their burgers. Neither of us are into veggie burgers – we probably eat a half dozen per year, or less – but there’s just something about these Loving Hut burgers. Anticipation provokes an illness we call Burger Madness, which is usually accompanied by screeching, moaning, clutching our sides in agony, rolling of the eyes, tearing at our hair… you know, apocalyptic stuff. Thankfully, just one bite heals Burger Madness:
Burger Madness sated.
Vacations are about eating, so a few hours later, once landed in Chattanooga, we headed over to Sluggo’s Vegetarian Cafe. This is the “north” location – the “south” is in Pensacola, Florida. Friend Hillary told me about this place (and all the other wonders of vegan Chattanooga). We couldn’t have done it without her!
Cozy, tree-house for grown-ups interior.
The attitude is casual and service, pretty laissez-faire. Order at the counter, serve yourself drinks, grab a board game or book from the rolling cart to the right. Bus your table if you want (or move some former patron’s stuff for a better seat).
Our first night there I was feeling a little down from the holidays (SEE ABOVE!) so I ordered a big salad. I’m pretty sure this is just the chef: romaine, lots of veggies, shredded house cashew cheese, shredded house seitan, tahini dressing.
Oh, and a side of one of the “vegetables” of the day – mac and cheeze.
Nate was feeling more extravagant and had the panhandle tofu: very thin slices of pressed, seasoned tofu wrapped in nori and topped with dill sauce and capers. Served with a lovely little coleslaw, cheezy grits, salad, and unsweetened cornbread.
I’m only a little ashamed to admit that we ate at Sluggo’s all weekend. There are several places in Chattanooga that offer vegan choices, even full vegan menus, but Sluggo’s is the only vegan cafe. And heck, the food was so good that we didn’t feel the need to go elsewhere. The “spicy cheeky ‘wings’” pictured above is something we ordered every time.
Nate has this thing about seitan wings. Whenever we end up at a vegetarian place that serves a version of “wings” (which when you think about it, is so totally freaking disgusting – who eats a bird’s wings?! Seriously, a BIRD’S WINGS? Horrifying) he has to order them. Up til recently the front runner has been Chicago Diner, but a year or two ago they changed the formula and they’re not even as good as they used to be. Sluggo’s blows Chicago Diner out of the water, crafting a vegan wing that even I find delicious. The texture is perfect, the buffalo sauce is ideal, the house ranch concoction the perfect accompaniment. Every single other vegetarian restaurant making wings should just give up and make a pilgrimage to Sluggo’s to learn from the masters.
Another saladish-type thing for me. Spinach, rice, a contemptibly-small amount of breaded-and-fried-tofu, peanut sauce. Nothing special but very tasty.
Nate’s lunchtime “Berliner” – seitan on rye with kraut, russian dressing, onions, you know, that sort of thing. Very sweet baked beans. Standard yummy salad. He wasn’t digging the sandwich so we traded and I lost my mind. It transported me back to a sunny summer day outside a little hole sandwich shop I went to possibly once with my mom, where she ordered “philly” “cheesesteak”-style sandwiches. Sluggo’s was better, of course, not least because it’s cruelty-free, but I just like I love catching a whiff of a scent that takes me back to a particular place in a particular time with certain individuals doing certain things, so I enjoy food’s evocative abilities.
The menu:
The Pecan Dusted Seitan was also a tastebud wayback machine, but as this post is getting long already I’ll spare you the narrative. Just order it when you go to Sluggo’s, okay? If you get nothing else, get the seitan.
Ok, so why love Sluggo’s so much? I have eaten at places like this all over the country, from San Francisco to Chicago to New York and yes, even here in beloved Atlanta. Let’s face it: in search of flavors of a bygone era, vegans eat a lot of junk. Heartburn-inducing wings, crap May-Wah meat analogs, Daiya on everything, giant grinders, milkshakes, disco fries, etc. It’s the kind of gross activity you might feel free to indulge on vacation but pretty much no other time. And let’s be real here, it doesn’t make you feel great.
Sluggo’s wins because they do absolutely everything on their simple little menu right. The dishes harmonize and leave you feeling happy and light. Everything tastes fresh and made-on-the-spot: they didn’t mix gallons of the noodle sauce that morning, they made it just now. The nut cheese, the seitan, the sauces, the dressings – all of it is homemade. It takes time, but when a plate is presented at your table you feel like you’re in someone’s home. If Isa Moskowitz opened a restaurant (which she is doing!), I expect she’d serve food like Sluggo’s.
After lunch, Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is a 145-foot underground waterfall located within Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga.
A surprisingly decent picture for a cell-phone camera:
I dunno, do you see Cthulhu?
After Ruby Falls, some caffeine at the totally lovely Pasha Tea & Coffee house at the base of Lookout Mountain. If I lived in Chattanooga this would be my hangout. CASE IN POINT: only place I’ve ever been with agave in a syrup dispenser AND stevia (!!) in the sugar jar.
Next, Rock City for the Enchanted Garden of Lights. Derisively, wikipedia calls Rock City a “roadside attraction” – but it’s just a park, really. A park you have to pay to get into. It’s at the top of Lookout Mountain and it’s basically this meandering path through a bunch of natural (natural!) rock formations and gardens. In wintertime the ownership transforms it into a little lit paradise.
Call me corny/stupid/whateverthehellyoulike, but I’m really into this sort of thing. If you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of a big kid in a grown-up body, and anytime I’m able to unabashedly run around acting silly, I’m in my element.
Nate looking handsome near the entrance.
You know, an elf. Some mushrooms.
Stuff like this: giant, house-sized light displays.
Nate became inordinately irritated with these footmen and American flags at the entrance of the Fairyland Caverns. What the hell does America have to do with Fairyland Caverns, he huffed: “the statues are from Germany.”
Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village are caves with German sculptures enhanced by blacklight. Creepy.
A sweet shot of the demons.
Another.
A couple weeks later we went to ANOTHER garden light show, this one at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Same deal, a lot smaller, entirely illuminated by LEDs. Here’s Nate posing with Santa Mantis (my insistence).
Some creatures with santa shoes and hats.
Magical.
And now, New York! On my first day out I immediately noticed a little flock of white geese. For better or worse I am attuned to auspiciousness and definitely considered this little scene lucky. We headed towards New Paltz where we met Mark and Maresa at Lagusta’s shop. Sadly (not for her!), Lagusta was in Hawaii. Grabbing the last haselnusse bar and a Maresa cupcake eased the sting a bit. :-)
Lunch at Gomen Kudasai with Nate and Mark. Here, goma onigiri (brown rice ball).
Ume onigiri, with umeboshi plum paste.
Our sweet little table.
Our fascinating lunch partner.
Nate’s chilled natto udon. I was so proud of him. Few vegans have eaten, much less enjoyed natto. I’ve got a good one. :-)
My kitsune udon. Very sweet, I mixed in a bit of kimchee. My only complaint with Japanese food is that I am a heat hound and there’s not much of a place for it. Lagusta, correct me?
Absolutely perfect little kabocha yokan. I tried to ascertain if it was made with agar-agar but the person who brought out it out wouldn’t say, just insisting it was vegan. :-) So is agar.
Dining at Gomen Kudasai was a great help to my spirits. Mark always provokes such thoughtful conversation and the food was tops. It seemed as good as anything we could have gotten in New York City, yet in the pleasant pastoral town of New Paltz. Owner Youko was especially kind to us – she referred to us as “special guests from Georgia” and served every course even though lunch is typically casual. She even presented us with small pottery vessels made by her father (“they lack lids!”) as going-away gifts. Y’all got a good thing, New Paltzers. Keep ‘em in business.
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