Good to Go Easy Seaweed and Bean salad along with product reviews for Indian Market's Priya Dosa Mix and MTR Sambar(soup) Curry Paste + "The Good Bean" dried chickpeas + Daiya Cheddar Cheese

Apologies for my lapse in weekly posts, I have been overwhelmed with end of year at work and having exams and class projects. I will do my best to make up for that by posting more consistently, possibly about:

• A bread machine gluten free recipe that rose! (this one isn't soy free however, I want to play around with using other types of non-dairy milk)
• San Diego Night Market visit
• Executing the book recipes on a bi-weekly basis (minimum)

It's been a huge morale damper to have my clients and teammates on furlough this week. In food related news, I have yet to come across any food (or other) deals for San Diegans who are furloughed except for popcorn at AMC movie theaters (not required to purchase a movie ticket). D.C. has a whole slew of places offering free meals, cupcakes, sandwiches, burgers...where's the San Diego love? We have so many military bases here!

GOOD TO GO -EASY SEAWEED-BEAN SALAD

Combo of beans and rice, something so satisfying.

School doesn't have a microwave that's easily accessible...if I heat it before I leave work it will get too cold by the time I am hungry (did not bother looking for the lunch-bag thermos type kit yet). Enter the tasty meal that does not require heating. The Seaweed Bean Salad uses Hijiki Seaweed (found it at Marukai market and love it because it doesn't have a strong ocean flavor...recall it from July with sprouted lentils?) Good source of iron (40% of daily value according to the nutrition label!), top it off with some citrus or strawberries for dessert to help absorb that non-heme iron. The recipe makes four servings at a time:

INGREDIENTS:
40 g  of dried hijiki, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and then drained)
1 large avocado (1/4 per serving) or 2 small (1/2 per serving) sliced
1 cup dried Adzuki Beans (soak overnight and cook until tender 45mins-1 hour, or give a can of rinsed kidney beans a try or pinto beans)
1 fresh lime's juice
Fresh rice 1 cup cooked

Mix ingredients together and for best taste let it marinate for a few hours. For individual portions-make up 3/4 cup combination of rice and beans, 1/4 of the seaweed, 1/4 of the avocado and 1/4 of the lime juice.


Because it's been so busy I have started stocking time-saving foodstuffs. Here's what I have tested over the last few weeks: 

WHAT: Priya Dosas Mix
WHERE I GOT IT: Namaste Market, Mira Mesa
RESULTS: Although I have a crepe pan that worked well, I should have watched this video to know that the batter needs to have more liquid (than what the package called for), use a ladle to spread it and know that it's ready to turn when the edges curl up! My dosas turned out very thick and the batter itself seemed very salty (sodium listed at 120 mg for a single dosa, but since mine were so thick, it was probably heaps more!)

WHAT: MTR Sambar Curry Paste
WHERE I GOT IT: Namaste Market, Mira Mesa
RESULTS: I'm used to a more salty/savory sambar from Annapurna restaurant. However given that I paired this with the salty Priya dosas, the sour spicy flavor worked very well. It also paired well with something a little sweet (roasted sweet potatoes)

WHAT: The Good Bean snack pouches (dried chickpea)
WHERE I GOT IT: Marshalls, Mira Mesa, check out the manufacturer's website
RESULTS: I bought the chili lime and cracked pepper flavors. It's nice to find a snack that has 6 g protein that I can take to class or could travel well for a hike. Given it was at Marshall's, I probably won't see it again (and not at $1.89 per pouch). The website lists them at $2.88 when you buy a multi-pack and free shipping over $25 order. They are a Berkeley, CA business. If you have nut allergies they also have no-nut snack bars!

WHAT:Daiya Cheddar Cheese shreds (dairy free, soy free)
WHERE I GOT IT: Fresh and Easy, Mira Mesa,
RESULTS: I had only seen the mozarella flavor before (which to me tastes nothing like real mozarella, but adds a nice buttery, salty flavor-worked great in my salmon-potato patties). This tasted exactly like mozarella to me though.

What new projects are you working on for fall?

Vegetarian Summer Series #4: 6 ingredient Hijiki (seaweed) and sprouted mung bean salad

The damp, warm weather persists. The heating and cooling at work is STILL on the mend (have a fix-it ticket in). Downing coconut ice cream, red bean popsicles or Naked juice popsicles every day after work to feel refreshed. So the salad and/or minimal cooking recipes continue! Give sprouting a try, it's not as crazy/weird as I thought and once it soaks and drains, it just sits and grows on its own! No babysitting-don't need to shake/stir, check water levels or anything.

This post is for Ann since she says she feels lost going to an Asian market (I still don't know what most things are at the market, but if its label translated in English sometimes, I may just buy it and look up a recipe when I get home...like the agar agar still sitting for the last 3+ months)

I threw together some panty ingredients to make a very easy salad. For planning ahead, you need half an hour to soak the dried hijiki seaweed. I picked this up at a local Japanese market. There are three in the Convoy area of San Diego, Marukai, Mitsuwa and Nijiya-

• Be a Marukai member for $10 per year to get things on sale or $1 per shopping trip to get the sale prices and get a fun monthly sales leaflet that gives the history of Japanese foods/drinks.
• Marukai carries free range Shelton's chicken and free range eggs. I think the other meat may be all natural.
•  Marukai also has it two stores in the same plaza-one sells home goods and Hawaiian products, and the other one has $1.50 items.  
• Nijiya has a lot of organic options and I found some awesome black tea flavored with banana--possibly not natural but yummy.

Speaking of Japanese places, I finally tried Niban, just off the 805 freeway and Clairemont Mesa, in the Wal-mart shopping center. It's a order at the register, then sit place. With tip, dinner was only $8. I gave the vegetarian sukiyaki a try and it was a very generous portion -it did come with rice (which texture could have been better, a bit mushy) and had a nice flavor, also included miso soup and a salad--am sure this doesn't fit gluten free diets nor soy free though due to soy sauce, miso and tofu. I make my occasional exceptions since my sensitivities are not so extreme.

You also need 2-3 days if you are sprouting your own beans (grab a soup pot with a lid, a tea towel and do as described for red lentils last week). Short on time? Pick up sprouted legumes at the health food store or I'm sure the  more fully developed mung bean sprouts you can pick up at any grocery store would also work (those white ones you throw in stir fried or sukiyaki or they come with pad thai! Yeah you know, they must be used in about 3 days or they get limp. I don't really have storage tips other than don't rinse until right before you need them and cook them panfried or in a soup if you can't use them raw after 3 days)

Salad:

The seaweed is already in nice small pieces.

1.3 oz of dried hijiki-yields about 1 cup of plump seaweed after soaking half an hour
3/4 cup of dried mung beans (un-sprouted): which yields about 2 cups sprouted

Dressing:
2 tbsp Braggs Amino (or soy sauce or coconut aminos, whatever suits your diet, more or less to taste)
1 tsp honey (or other sweetener)
1tbsp sesame oil
ground pepper to taste

1. After draining the hijiki, toss it with the sprouted mung beans and dressing.

2. Can chill for best taste. Eat, savoring the crunch and slight sweetness of mung beans and savory,slick seaweed.

Idea: add some chopped cucumber for additional crunchiness.

Do you have any new favorite apps? I have an Android phone started using Ibotta a month ago and finally made my first coupon purchase of Silk coconut milk.

Keep it Light with Sesame: Konnyaku-chicken Soup and single serving salad dressing

As the temperature rises, the appetite seems to go down. And maybe you've popped your t-shirt in the freezer before putting it on for bed? No? I saw it in a magazine. Well, it's a very temporary relief only. There are some old stand-by food remedies: refreshing trip to the ice cream store (TCBY's cookie dough blast), an Otter Pop from your freezer (was your favorite Alexander the Grape as well?),  or even the opposite, a spicy bowl of Korean soup (instant soup powder from the market,add your own veggies, clear noodles and tofu) to sweat it out.

Sweet interpretation by Rich Werner  I found thru Google...his recent stuff looks really fun. I did a little poking around, looks like he's made a book and he illustrated Plants vs. Zombies.

 In terms of new solutions, the other week I had a great ginger-lemonade on vacation made by the Guest Chef at Wilbur Hot Springs. Just subtly sweet and slightly fizzy, it quenched my thirst as good as Gatorade without the fake coloring!

With the heat (or something else), my appetite for meat based protein is dwindling. I've been feeling like I need to do a detox soon but I keep going on these vacations. I'm not quite ready having bought items that need to be used. So these last two weeks I've kept it light using low or no meat sesame based recipes. The first uses a jiggly-low calorie, vegan gluten free "noodle" made from a block of konnyaku. What is konnyaku? Luckily many other people have written about it, this one was my favorite and provides tips for preparing it (rinse it off thoroughly and blanch to get rid of the funky smell). I didn't blanch mine and it came out ok. You buy it at Japanese markets. Marukai in San Diego has been having it on sale once a month for about 70-90 cents per package. Nice filler if you're looking to cut down on carbs for the later in the day meals and also get a fun texture in your soups, stews or stir fries.

Apparently there are some desserts you can make if you buy powdered konnyaku-it's like a jello! I have yet to find the powder so I haven't tried it yet.

The second recipe is just something nice and quick to throw together. Once you make it you won't really need to see the recipe for it-for it's so few ingredients and mostly to taste.

Konnyaku Chicken Soup (adapted from the konnyaku package)

2 cups of broth
2 tsp sesame oil
1.5 tbsp coconut aminos (if you do soy can use Braggs Amino or soy sauce if you do gluten)
3 slices of ginger
1.2 lbs chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 package of bunapi mushrooms
3 ounces of pea shoots (about 2 cups chopped)
1/2 cup green tops of onions, chopped
1 package of konnyaku (white or gray), rinsed and sliced into fat noodles (see picture)
1 tbsp honey

1. Heat 2 tsp of sesame oil in a wok pan on high. When oil shimmers add in the mushrooms and onion. Saute 3-5 minutes or until some browning has occured

2. Add in the chicken and 1 cup of broth. Cook 17 minutes. Add more broth during cooking as needed.

3. Add the sprouts and konnyaku. Add the honey. Stir and cook 3 minutes.

4. Check to make sure the chicken is no longer pink when cut into. Enjoy your soup!

Sesame-Vinegar Dressing for single serving

1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
freshly ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
1/4 tsp honey

Stir ingredients together in a teeny bowl and then toss over your favorite salad fixings.

I put mine over a lettuce mix, hard-boiled egg whites, sun-dried tomato pieces and raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds). I liked these textures/flavors together the best out of other combinations I tried this week. If you eat fish, you can add some bonito flakes (aka "sawdust" as Dad calls it, made from tuna) for a nice smoky flavor on the salad. I guess just like canned or fresh tuna, something not to consume in excess because of mercury. If you want to know more about how it's made and get an egg-rice breakfast dish recipe, them check out this What's this Food episode! And I just learned you're supposed to use the package a week after opening the bonito flakes.


What kind of food do you turn to in hot weather?