Thursday, October 30, 2008

Foul Moudammas

My roomie, Bursha, made a big pot of foul (pronounced 'fool') moudammas (fava beans) tonight. She explained some finer points of preparing her dish... while foul moudammas can be served hot or cold, stew-like or hummus-like, Busha took the warmed, stewed pita filling route. Bushra says she likes this dish because it's one of her home comfort foods, and it's a dish that's eaten by the rich and the poor alike.

There are many ways to season the beans as well, but she recreated her mom's familiar Sudanese seasoning (which I think mimics the Egyptian canned version).

I can sorta guess her recipe...

1/2 t cumin (the apparent Egyptian or Sudanese twist?)
1 medium onion
1 T minced garlic
1 T olive oil
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 can of fava beans/foul moudammas from the Middle Eastern grocer near you
4 oz of feta cheese
salt to taste
Serve with pita and plain egg omelette.
Feeds 2-3 as a meal. Or makes a nice party nosh recipe for 8-12.

Toast the ground cumin in a dry pot/pan... brown onions and garlic in the cumin and olive oil. Add in fava beans, tomatoes, and feta. Heat high then simmer for 20 min. Mash up the beans and feta chunks in the pot with a jam jar or potato masher till chunky, not smooth. Serve in a wide-mouthed bowl to dip with Arabic bread (we used a little pita but I'd even satisfy my love of rice with this one). We used a little egg omelette to lighten the bean stew and fill us up for a late night power snack. But Bushra promises that reheated, day-old foul moudammas is even tastier!

 

 
Posted by Picasa


p.s. i did cheat and repost this from my personal blog.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

out in the burbs

After church, a carload of some of us young ladies headed out to dinner and dessert...

The first stop was Big Fresh Cafe in Framingham. It's an organic place that focuses on local products - for eating organic and fresh, the menu is priced pretty reasonably. I had the Stir Fry Big Fresh Special, "Organic tofu in a delicious satay sauce, served on brown rice with teriyaki vegetables & collard greens." The presentation was pretty and I added a bit of Bragg Liquid Aminos as a seemingly lower-sodium soy sauce alternative. (I don't know the specs for sure, yet.)



But apparently I didn't get the memo that dinner was really supposed to be a snack, since everyone was saving room for ice cream at North End Treats.

We were surprised to find out that the store had much more than ice cream. Frozen yogurt with mix-ins, Richardson's ice cream, and gelati made up the frozen treat section. Sandwiches, pizzas, and pastries using recipes from Bova's 24-hour Bakery in the North End are sold here, too. Lois had an amazing hazelnut gelato, Evelyn had her first cannoli with chocolate chip-dipped ends, and Pam and I shared an amazing peanut butter cup bar.





Sunday, October 05, 2008

Jo-Jo Tai Pei

Do four Taiwanese eateries within a half-mile radius make a neighborhood a Taiwan-town?

The original two Taiwanese store fronts in Allston Village were Infusions Tea Spa (tapioca pearl tea and tea-time snack haven) and its next door neighbor - Yi Soon Bakery. Then Super 88 welcomed a Wisteria in the food court after the Newbury Street location split into two (the Super 88 in Allston and the East Cambridge sit-down). More recently Jo-Jo Tai Pei moved across the street from the bakery.

I've been there twice and both times have been quite tasty. The first time Sandra and Jack brought me there for the "special pork chop over rice" ($6.99), Taiwanese stir-fried noodles ($6.99), "famous spicy beef noodle soup" ($8.99), and "bow bin" shaved ice (small $4.99).

The pork chop plate really felt like a good value. The chop was season, fried, and enormous. Sides included a tea egg, Chinese broccoli, and some pickled turnip (?) - I never touch it, so I'm never sure. I love the "garnish" of stewed fatty pork belly pieces.





The stir fried noodles were simple, not overly oily, and perfectly seasoned with just enough garlic and onion flavor.



The beef noodles, while pricier than I'd like to pay for, were delicious. The spiciness level was decent and the texture of the noodles was dense enough to give a little chew.



The shaved ice was tasty. Of all the sweet toppings I love the tapioca pearls and boiled peanuts the best. While I do enjoy the sweet beans, my brain never gets used to eating sweetened boiled mung beans.



I followed Jerry and Scott there a second time for the "crispy smelly bean curd" ($5.99), oyster pancake ($5.99), cold dan-dan peanut noodles ($6.99), and large bow bin ($6.99).

It was my first stinky tofu experience. The whole restaurant could smell something was up once our order was fired up. A few Asian and non-Asian patrons asked each other "What is that smell?" For all it's pungency, the flavor and texture were pretty mellow. The pieces of tofu are bite-sized, so it's easy to throw a few down the gullet and act like a season stinky-tofu eater. The oyster pancake was good, but not as amazing as Myers+Chang's version. The dan-dan noodles were tasty - and easy enough to take out for a picnic dish. I enjoy them more than Thai Peanut noodle salad because they use a thicker (almost Soba-like) noodle.

I look forward to going back to search for one of my holy grail, childhood food memory dishes - the Jo-Jo Special Mini Steamed Bun. It's a thicker dough version of a soup-on-the-inside dumpling that's been pan seared. The ones I remember from my elementary school days in a South Bay Taiwanese noodle shop were pan fried on both sides, but the Jo-Jo version online appears to be close enough. I'll find out one of these days.

Summer Bounty

I just borrowed Lois's camera battery charger and rescued a few pictures that were trapped on my camera since June.

This picture was the first Stone Soup Farm delivery that included the flower share. L-R: cucumber, kale, Japanese eggplant, fennel, wild flowers, cilantro, onions, and sugar snap peas.



I also really enjoyed the few weeks we had fresh heirloom tomatoes and edamame pods. The tomatoes were so lovely and flavorful, and the edamame was nice after quickly boiling them and eating them with sea salt and fresh squeezed lime juice. Too bad I didn't have battery life to take those pics!

Friday, October 03, 2008

Vegan Coconut Gelatain



I needed something to do with my hands while listening/watching the vice presidential debate last night. What to do? Make Vegan Coconut Gelatin. What makes this gelatin vegan? Well, apparently the real jiggly-making substance is made from *******. My gelatin is made from seaweed - my family has always called it agar-agar (Malay word for jelly). It's not as "jiggly" as Jell-O, but it's still soft and is just slightly sweet. We'd eat it in multi-layered colors or piled high with canned fruit cocktail.

There are plenty of recipes online, but I took my inspiration by tweaking a recipe in my copy of The Spice Merchant's Daughter by Christina Arokiasamy.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups boiling water
1/3 c agave syrup (Available at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods - or substitute 1/2 cup sugar)
1 can (14 oz) Light Coconut Milk (I used Trader Joe's)
1 ts vanilla extract
***
21 grams of powdered Agar-Agar (I used three 7 gram pouches - it's a scant 1/4 cup)
1/4 cups hot water
***
(Optional) food coloring

Assembly Required

Step 1. Bring water to a gentle boil, add in agave, coconut milk, and vanilla. Return to a boil and take off heat.

Step 2. Dissolve agar-agar in the 1/4 cup of hot water making a smooth paste.

Step 3. Slowly whisk your hot coconut milk mixture into the dissolved agar-agar paste.

Step 4. Pour into a large 13" x 9" Pyrex, bundt, or other molds you have on hand. Let the mixture cool on a counter. As it cools, it will start to set.

Step 5. Cover the cooled agar-agar in its mold and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Cube them into little parallelepipeds(?). Serve with fresh fruit, canned fruit cocktail, or use it as a base in a shaved-ice dessert.