Zesty & Spicy

If you like food, we'll get along *^_^*

  • Recipes
  • #FoodieLife
  • Urban Gardening

The Green Soup

October 11, 2015 by Ariel 2 Comments

GreenSoup03

This is a nice example of simple who met amazing.

For you, an humble green soup made with fresh, seasonal ingredients and a dash of love.  I hope the creamy taste and texture of the end result will comfort you while you’re cuddled up in a warm blanket looking outside at the colour of the leaves dancing in front of your eyes.

Fall, a time for cuddles and great soups.

…

Read More »

Filed Under: Gluten Free, Popular Diets, Recipes, Soup, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: avocado oil, baby spinach, broccoli, coconut milk, cuddles, easy, fall, garlic, green, healthy, leek, leeks, miso, quick, recipe, soup, spinach, vegan, vegetarian, water

Basic Burmese Tofu (Chickpea tofu)

March 15, 2015 by Ariel 1 Comment

Burmese tofu was such a revelation…

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

On my quest to become 80% vegetarian (i’m saying 80% because I love food too much and I can conceive cutting so many things from my diet), I’m searching for protein alternatives that aren’t made of soy.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE regular soy tofu but researches shows that it can be bad for you health.  Even worst, it’s also bad for the planet and as new obsessed gardener, I take these things to heart.  If you are curious to learn a little bit more about the whole soy problematic, I found this very well written and informative post from Wellness Mama and I have to admit that I’m hoping that it will maybe change some of your culinary habits.  After all, we only have one planet, let’s take care of it as much as we can *^_^*

Now, what is Burmese tofu?

It is a “tofu” that is made of besam flour (Garbanzo Bean flour) aka chickpea flour.  It has more in common with polenta because of the way it is made but also because of the soft texture of the end product.  Don’t worry, you can still use it as you would do for regular soy based, tofu.  Fried, grilled, in soups or in salads, you wont be missing ideas once you taste it… well, I hope so *^_^*

This is not an original recipe, only my own twist on this Burmese cuisine classic.  One thing I learned from all my failed attempts at making the best batch of burmese tofu is that it’s all about the ginger powder!  Ginger will absolutely “neutralize” the rough chickpea after taste and leave you with a silky smooth tasting tofu.  Also, the longer you cook and stir it, the firmer it will end up.  So take it as a mini work out and don’t cheap out on the stirring time!

You can keep your Burmese tofu in the fridge, in a plastic bag, wrapped in absorbing paper.  Once every 2-3 days, change the absorbing paper to avoid a quit mild formation.  I usually keep my tofu for 2 weeks in the fridge.

Hope you like this recipe *^_^*

Basic Burmese Tofu (Chickpea tofu)
 
Print
Cook time
20 mins
Total time
20 mins
 
Author: ZestyandSpicy.com
Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of chickpea flour
  • 3 cups of COLD water
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • ½ teaspoon of turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon of garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon of ginger powder
  • 2 teaspoons of sunflower oil (or any oil that doesn't have a strong taste)
Instructions
  1. - Take a medium sauce pan on the stove, add inside all the dry ingredients. On the side, prepare a square 8x8 (or any other shape mood you want your tofu to have in the end) lined with absorbing paper (scott towel type)
  2. - Open the heat on Medium/High. ½ cup at the time, add the cool water and whisk every time to make sure there isn't any clumps of flour of spices left.
  3. - Never stop stirring/whisking the mixture.
  4. - Once you start feeling it thickening, and there is barely any foam left, the mixture will be silky looking and you might start breaking a sweat. Set 10 to 15 minutes on the time watch and keep stirring vigorously, making sure to often scrape off the sides of the pan to bring everything back to the middle and avoiding too much "drying" and firming up on the sides. If you find that it's boiling too much, reduce the heat of the water to medium.
  5. - When the full 10 to 15 minutes is done, the texture should be much thicker and almost gelatinous. Pour inside a flat bottom dish, lined with absorbent paper towel and leave in the fridge till it harden
  6. - Cut in the desire shapes and make your favourite recipe with it! Place the left over in a plastic bag, each piece of tofu wrapped in absorbing paper.
  7. - Replace the absorbing paper every 2-3 days.
3.2.2885

 

Filed Under: Burmese, Gluten Free, Recipes, Tofu, Vegetarian Tagged With: Burmese, Chickpea Flour, Chickpeas, dairy free, easy, Garbazo Bean Flour, garlic powder, ginger powder, gluten free, Onion Powder, quick, recipe, Soy Free, Sunflower Oil, tofu, tofu alternative, tumeric, turmeric, water

Cauliflower & Watercress Soup (Vegan)

December 2, 2013 by Ariel 2 Comments

Vegan_Cauliflower_and_Watercress_soup01

I’ve been asked to post more vegetarian and vegan recipes on twitter….  I wont lie, I sometime find it constraining to create vegan approved recipes but I try to look at it as a challenge.  Now since I love challenges, this is actually pretty fun and this vegan cauliflower & watercress soup is of the deliciousness that I have been able to create up to date 🙂

In this recipe, I used a Lipton onion soup pouch because I find that it’s adding a fun new dimension to the taste but you really don’t have to add it in there 🙂  What really makes this coup special is the grounded fenugreek seeds because they are giving you the impression of chicken broth without any being in there 🙂

Anyways, enough chatting and more tasting! …I hope you’ll enjoy this healthy recipe 🙂

…

Read More »

Filed Under: Recipes, Soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: ariel rebel, arielrebel, cauliflower, comforting, fresh, garlic, lipton onion soup mix, recipe, silk soy milk, soup, soy milk, unsweetened, vegan, vegetarian, water, watercress

Fish Broth #01

July 27, 2013 by Ariel 1 Comment

FishBroth_01

I knew I did good to keep all those shrimps shells in my freezer from past recipes.  I had two medium bags full so I thought this could be the right time to use them.   What’s fun and so easy about making your own broth is that you can make it with pretty much everything: shells, bones, even the head and the tail of the fish you previously cooked.  Keep everything in the freezer and you’ll be happy you did once you try this recipe or create your own.  Homemade broth is so much better than the store version because you are 100%  sure of everything in it, you’ll be able to customize it and control the salt quantities.

Ok this one is going in to the kitchen basics section because even if it’s sort of a recipe, I find making broth is part of the basic of cooking.  There is so many different ways to make broth, like I’ve said, and this is why I wrote this one as #01.

Now be adventurous and try to customize your broth by adding different ingredients.  You can modify it to  better match the final recipe you have in mind and this could be the difference between a good meal and an awesome one.   I created this broth for a fish soup/dinner I made few weeks ago when I had some friends over.  The soup came out amazing and it’s in big part because of this broth.  The recipe will be on the blog shortly so stay tuned and enjoy this one 🙂

This recipe will give you one full regular size masson jar and a bit more that you will be able to keep in the fridge.  Since the recipe is custom, I don’t suggest you try to can it but maybe with a pressure canner it would become safe enough for shelf storage but I haven’t tried.  I kept my masson jar in the fridge and almost used the entire thing when I made my soup….

Read More »

Filed Under: Recipes, Seafood, Shrimps Tagged With: broth, easy, fish, Jalapenos, recipe, silver thyme, simple, thyme, water, yellow

Basic Wonton Wrappers Dough Recipe

March 5, 2013 by Ariel 12 Comments

Ahhhh wonton wrappers… I am sincerely in deep deep love with my homemade wrappers.  I always have some in my freezer.

….Ok let me explain this first sentence without looking like a retard…lol

It’s just that, this dough is amazing!!  You can bake it, fry it, steam it, boil it and every ways it makes something delicious!  From pasta to chips, passing by spring rolls and pie cups, you can create so many goodies so this is why I’m in love with my homemade wonton wrappers.  Oh and let’s not forget that they are super healthy too!  Only a few calories by wrappers makes them a wise choice in a lot of recipes (no worries, I’ll be posting a few now that this recipe is live).

Nobody never really show me how to make wonton wrappers but after reading and searching online, it’s pretty much like I had special teachers showing me the recipe and technique that was going to change my kitchen forever.  If you’re not already making your own, just give it a try and see how amazing they are.  Don’t hesitate to make the taste test with the store bought version and you’ll see.  On my side, it was a revelation 🙂  Everything is always better when it’s homemade 🙂

…

Read More »

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: basic, chinese, classic, dough, egg, flour, heathy, recipe, salt, vegetarian, versatile, water, wonton, wrappers

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Photography tale of an urban gardener…

Spring gardening in isolation

Winter gardening, years later.

Winter gardening…

my food gawker gallery my food gawker gallery my food gawker gallery

Copyright © 2011-2017 · ZestyandSpicy.com