of the otherwise ever-worsening workweek.
that's real talk, neighbors.
i only have the one day to doo-doo all i've got to,
and i have sooo much i should probably be doing;
but,
i make a pointed effort to activate some quality time in the kitchen,
meditating on some makey hottness,
baking up some tasty sweet treats,
and getting molto busy on that dinnertime jauns.
yup.
i just think that there's so much delicious stuff out there,
more than fancy flesh cuts off of dead animals, by a huge margin,
and i'm ALL about that expert vegan just be dopeness.
y'know?
i'm sayin',
i'm up in the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress,
in front of the stovetop, stirring and boiling and frying up all the
incredible edible excellence, without meat, or dairy, or laziness.
i'm inventing, i'm improvising, and i'm thematically theatrical in my
exploration of fantastic new foodstuffs from places i may
or may not have ever been to.
i'm using my hands and my brains and my pots and pans to create
a meal that indulges and exalts my heroically gargantuan love affair
with cooking, and with eating, all the foods that i can fit in my face.
word.
last week,
my homeboy the cucch mentioned that my red bean and red rice
was capable of being improved by adding coconut milk,
to make it like he had it back in belize.
uh-huh.
i'm not one to shy away from that sort of thing,
and i'm absolutely compelled to blow up a bomb plateful of
expert interactive participation on some spicy stuff......
so,
this week,
it's belizean barbarian breads and beans for me.
check the don't-stop-belize'ing-type teleport:
empanadas, y'all,
with three different fillings,
and corresponding identifying X's and +'s and I's....
XIX- that's tomato and onion and finely minced tempeh,
soaked and hydrated and boiled and seasoned, into a luscious chili-style
pot of dissolve on your tongue-style goodness,
and daiya mozzerella-ish chee', with caramelized shallots.
I+I- those ones have got black beans, and underchee' and scallions,
in addition to the daiya, which adds a lot of moisture and fat to the interior of each,
so they stay juicy within while they get firm and crisp on the skin.
XXX- the big papa 'panadas have even MORE...
tempeh chili, underchee', overchee', and cilantro, too.
i refrigerated 'em for a few hours, and let the dough relax,
but,
i brushed 'em with earth balance before baking,
and that really elevated the fork-crimped crusts all the way to eleven.
seriously.
next to them, there's cilantro lime salsa, for dippin'.
it adds a little bite, and a lot of tang, and i'm glad it's there.
i'd hate to miss out on the extras. kids.
i'm not a big fan of missing out on MORE.
that's real.
but,
that's not all, y'all.
sauteed shallots, and garlic, in coconut oil, wilted and just beginning to brown?
yeah,
that's when you throw in all those small red beans and let 'em cook for a few.
only then do you add the coconut milk, and the rice, and lazy risotto that whole pot
into a slow cooked full-fat especially elite turbo-flavorful beans and rice explosion.
daaaaaaaamn.
that was good enough to be a whole meal just by itself.
however,
too much is the right amount,
and the information about belize on the internet says that stew chicken
is the numero uno accompaniment to those ricey delights.
so i invented the vegan stew chicken breast meat blocks, from scratch.
uh-huh.
half a cup of red lentils, boiled with three cloves of garlic, in veggie broth,
with a splash of soy, and lots of g.p.o.p., black pepper, and olive oil, too,
until they're a messy mush of brownish blops-
that's when wheat gluten becomes very necessary to the equation.
a cup of that, and a splash of agave, and a lot of kneading,
followed by a long period of rest,
just so the skins form a little firmly as the air dries 'em up.
duders,
that sh!t is the truth.
a quarter inch of olive oil on medium-ish heat,
with a little flour roux'd right in it,
and a gentle sear on both sides of those semi-seitan sexies,
before adding in the onions and garlic to soften,
and you're doo-dooing the freakiest of freaky-diki doo-doos.
mmmhmmmm.
then the sauce gets added, the fire gets lessened to the down low,
and the long slow cooking stew-pot hot fire can really reach fruition.
paprika by the punch, a healthy pinch of thyme, a shakey-shake-up of cayenne,
a cup of vegetable broth, a tablespoon of chili-garlic paste,
a generous shake of whole cumin seeds, a bay leaf or two,
g.p.o.p., black pepper, salt, a squeeze or two of lemon juice, to taste.
and then,
well you'll just have to check the dang teleport:
all the juice and onions have thickened into a pasty hot orange pulp,
the protein is perfectly prepared,
the
and the newest addition to my elite vegan arsenal
is vetted and confirmed as expert.
yeah!!!
plus,
coconut oil fried, lightly salted, coconut palm sugar-caramelized,
lime-zested cilantro garnished plantains?!!
wordimus prime, friends.
i'm not about to halfway activate some special world cuisine culinary cuteness.
i'm all in it, and all out waging war on weak-sauce wednesdays.
plus,
we enjoyed a virgin daiquiri, as well-
that's right.
you know how it goes:
it's okay not to drink.
in fact, it's more than okay.
check the teleport:
crema-de-coco syrup, sweetened key lime juice,
frozen red raspberries,
crushed ice,
and orange vanilla seltzer water,
with lemon and lime garnishes.
expert recognize expert, duders.
that's just the way it is.
and perfectly paired tropical drinkies are SO refreshing when washing down
a big bite of hot hot heat and spicy caliente cook-ups.
i cook because i can;
because i love food, and i love ingredients,
and i want all the exquisite simplicity and superfancy complications
of a wondrous warrior-poetic kinetic kitchen battlefield masterwork maneuver.
i want it,
i need it,
i've got to have it,
and so, i cook.
i do it vegan, because the easy way is for whinging weasely waterbabies;
and i do it as hard as i can, because anything less is not enough.
on the real?
if you aren't getting expert,
you're just getting in the way;
never quiet, never soft.....
No comments:
Post a Comment