Bao Buns

Bao buns, tofu filling, quick pickle vegetables and sprouted seeds

I have been perfecting my bao buns ever since going to Red Panda in Exeter (a great little deli takeaway specialising in magical bao buns including a delicious vegan tofu bao and exciting toppings).  This is a super easy recipe if you already make bread and even though it is time consuming it is so worth it.  As this recipe involves making a dough leave plenty of time to make this dish. 

Making the tofu filling - fragrant broth of soya sauce, star anise, garlic and ginger

Adding the tofu to the mixture

Rolling out the bao dough into circles (the black bits are black sesame seeds)

Adding the circles to the bamboo steamer

The  bao buns after being steamed

Bao Bun

(creates 8 bao bun)

60g self-raising flour (you can use wholemeal or white but bear in mind that wholemeal flour will change how the bao look)
300g plain flour
230ml luke warm water
1 tbsp fast action yeast
2 tbsp oil (usually use rapeseed oil)
1 tsp salt

Quick Pickle Veggies

1 turnip
1 large carrot
1 tsp sea salt
cup of rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 slices ginger (cut into slivers)

Tofu Filling

Pack of extra firm smoked tofu (I use a variety called Taifun Smoked Tofu with almonds and sesame seeds)
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped and crushed)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine
2 to 3 tsp five spice powder
Vegan oyster sauce  to taste or add a little more soy sauce

Instructions

Start off by making the quick pickle veggies which should be left for at least 2 hours or over night.

Quick Pickle Veggies

I used carrot and turnip but you can use cucumber and onion too.

1. Peel the carrot and turnip 
2. Cut the carrot and turnip into 3 to 4 cm matchsticks 
3.  Put into large bowl with salt and toss together and let the veggies stand for at least 1/2 hour
4. Drain off the water and pat dry
5. In a bowl place the veggies and ginger. 
6. Mix the sugar into the vinegar and stir until the sugar is melted
7. Pour over the veggies until covered
8. Leave for at least 2 hours You can leave longer and put in a jam jar as the flavour will improve as time goes by

Bao Buns

1. Mix the flours and the sesame seeds together and add the salt and oil in a mixing bowl 

2. Measure out the water in a measuring jug and add your fast-action dried yeast and sugar and mix around. Leave for about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate.
3. Mix the water and yeast to the bowl and mix the ingredients together.  Knead together for 5 minutes.  If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle some more flour into the mix and continue kneading.
4. Cover the dough with a tea towel and leave to rise for at least 2 hours.
5. After the dough rises, divide it into 8 pieces.  Roll into balls and roll out into circles about 12 to 14 cms in diameter.  You can cut out the dough with a cookie cutter for perfect circles but I find that you do not need to.
6. When you are ready with your filling (see below) cut out enough greaseproof/wax paper so you rest each of the buns on the paper and place inside the buns. So if you are making 8 bao then cut out 16 pieces of the paper. Fold each of the bao in half like a taco and place the paper in the middle (this will stop the bao from sticking shut) and then place on a piece of greaseproof/wax paper. Arrange in a bamboo steamer ensuring that the bao do not touch one another.
7. I normally have a wok with boiling water in to place my steamer in.  That way I can cook 4 bao in a 2 tier steamer quite easily.  If you do not have a bamboo steamer then you can use a metal colander but ensure that your have a cover for the colander that gives the bao some room. 
8. Steam for about 15 minutes.
9. The bao should be ready to serve with a filling and the pickle and sprouting seeds.

Filling

1. Once you have your bao already to steam start on your filling.
2. Heat the oil in a sauce pan over a medium heat and add the onion to sweat for about 7 or 8 minutes.  Turn down the heat if the onions are frying too vigorously. Add the garlic towards the end of the 7 to 8 minutes.
3. Add soy sauce, rice wine, five spice powder and a little water and cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Take your pack of tofu and slice into 1/2 cm slices.  Then divide each slice into 3.  I usually slice at an angle.
5. Add to the saucepan and ensure that the tofu is coated in the mixture

It is all ready to plate up.  Take your steamed bao bun and place about 2 to 3 pieces of the tofu into the bun with about a couple of teaspoons of the sauce.  Top with the pickled vegetables and sprouting seeds (radish in this particular dish).

Bao buns with tofu, pickled vegetables and sprouted seeds

Bao buns with tofu, pickled vegetables and sprouted seeds

Soundtrack: Phantom Rhythm by Gong Gong Gong

Shungiku

I like to grow new edibles each year on my allotment so the result of my experiment this year is edible chrysanthemum.  I grew it from seed from the collection by James Wong; the great ethnobotanist that always has fascinating facts about plants.  Seems that these seeds no longer are available via the James Wong collection but you can get them at Nicky's Nursery. These chrysanthemum greens or shungiku in Japan or tong hao in China are used all over Asia including Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan.  In Japan they are mostly used in winter hot pot dishes such as nabemono (nabe meaning pot and mono meaning stuff), particularly the sukiyaki. The taste is bitter, astringent and floral and it definitely a vegetable to have a little of and as an accompaniment to other parts to the dish. 

Shungiku or Edible Chrysanthemum

I also wanted to use by radishes that I had growing ... had this French breakfast variety growing on my allotment that would be just perfect for the dish I had planned.

Radishes growing

Though I would have liked to have tried a nabemono dish I thought that if I made the shungiku into an accompaniment dish I could always have a taste of the shungiku without ruining a complete dish in case I did not like it. So I found this dish on The Spruce Eats website (https://www.thespruceeats.com/japanese-udon-noodle-soup-3377950) which is currently one of my go to sites for great vegan recipes.  I just swapped out the Chinese broccoli with some broccoli and asparagus that I had spare; also left out the vegetarian mushroom sauce.  It was still a great dish with some extra firm tofu and spring onions on top.

Udon noodle soup with assorted veggies and tofu

Vegan Japanese Udon Noodle Soup

I served the shungiku alongside making this goma-ae (Chrysanthemum Greens with sesame dressing).  Find the recipe here - https://japan.recipetineats.com/chrysanthemum-leaves-goma-ae-sweet-sesame-dressing/#wprm-recipe-container-2730 .  I think I made the mistake of not putting in the sugar into this dish as I found it too bitter and astringent.  Perhaps I was just not used to this particular taste.  Good to try!

Goma-ae (Chrysanthemum Greens with sesame dressing)

Goma-ae (Chrysanthemum Greens with sesame dressing)

Vegan Udon Noodle Soup

Soundtrack: ' You You' by Julien Dyne from the 'Teal' album - https://juliendyne.bandcamp.com/album/teal

A Taste of Ghana

Red red stew with rice

Catching up on a few old recipes that I have been trying out and had not had any chance to write up.  One of those is Zoe Adjonyoh of Zoe's Ghana Kitchen red red; a super spicy stew with unusual ingredient of gari or cassava root that has been grated, and left to ferment. It is then  dried and ground to flour. I bought the gari from a local store that specialises in Indian food (the owner is from Kerala) but also sells all sorts of produce from West Africa. Now I managed to find this in a quite big town in the south west of England so I am sure that gari can be found all over the country in the big towns and cities.  If you cannot find gari you might be able to find cassava instead and make gari yourself. It turns out you can; found this great step by step guide from Obaapa Kitchen... see below. That is going to be a food adventure for another day. 

I had the pleasure of seeing Zoe demonstrate this great dish along with some fried plantain with kelewele spice mix at the Abergavenny food festival.  Since then I have been cooking this quite regularly.  You can find the recipe for red red on the BBC website.  I found that you can be quite fast and loose with the recipe; making it with tinned tomatoes only and using garam masala instead of curry powder (I don't ever have curry powder because I try to use the whole spices instead so making a Ghanaian 'curry' powder has to be my next step).  My version was still tasty; if you like hot food you will love this recipe.

Zoe Adjohyoh at Abergavenny Food Festival 2018

Jollof rice, red red stew from Abergavenny food festival (Zoe's Ghana Kitchen)

In the BBC recipe for red red they used vegetable oil instead of palm oil; probably because palm oil has such a bad reputation for destroying habitats.  Palm oil is used in much West African food and seems to be a key ingredient for this particular dish.   I got the recipe from Zoe Adjonyoh's book Zoe's Ghana Kitchen which suggested using sustainable palm oil or carotene oil ... so if you can use sustainable palm oil or carotene oil then this will make this dish a touch better and live up to it's name.

Most of the ingredients.... with lots of chillies

Sauteing the onion, ginger, chilli in the palm oil and adding the curry and chilli powder

Adding the tomatoes, tomato puree and black eyed beans and cooking for 45 minutes

The final dish of red red with sprinkling of gari on top. Served with basmati rice

Soundtrack: Estre by Guy One - https://guyone.bandcamp.com/album/everything-you-do-you-do-for-yourself

Banana Blossom Fish

Banana blossom vegan 'fish' with paprika potatoes and little gem lettuce

Since becoming vegan I have really missed my fish so I was really interested in trying a few recipes that emulated the taste of fish.... I know it is not going to be the same but anything approximating the taste would be welcome.

Some extensive searching brought me to Sauce Stach:

Sauce Stache is a great youtube channel that mostly creates vegan classics of meat and fish dishes.  Check out the channel just for the amazing watermelon ham - cannot wait to try that one.

So this recipe is a type of mash-up of several recipes that have been circulating around the internet.  Now reading around banana blossom seemed to be the best ingredient to create that flaky fish texture and a neutral enough taste to be able to augment with those sea tastes that some of us vegans long for. Pleased with the result but could have had more sea taste for me (possibly try to leave in marinade over night).  The texture is extraordinary very reminiscent of a flaky white fish.  The recipe still needs a little tweaking but still amazing results.

Drained banana flowers

Marinading the banana flowers

Beer batter

Frying the banana blossom

Banana blossom fish

Ingredients

Can of banana blossoms* (drained)

Neutral oil to fry the fish (I used rapeseed oil)

Marinade for banana blossoms

2 sheets of kombu

4/5 dried shitake mushrooms

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning** 

Juice of half lemon/lime

Flour Mixture

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp crushed nori

Batter

1/2 cup plain flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pinch turmeric

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup beer with more on standby if needed.

1. Marinade the banana blossoms in the kombu, dried mushrooms, soy sauce, lemon or lime juice and seasoning for at least 2 hours (longer if you can).

2. Place the beer in the fridge to cool and the measured out flour in the freezer ... apparently using chilled beer and flour make for a lighter batter

3. Mix the dry flour mixture together

4. In a large saucepan add oil to 4 to 5 cm depth (trying to be a little frugal with my oil) and heat to about 180C.

5. Drain the banana blossoms from the marinade and arrange for about 4 portions. You may need to gather bits of the blossoms together to create the portions.

6. Now to the batter; whisk the salt into the chilled flour along with the turmeric.  Pour in the beer and whisk together for a thickish batter. Add more beer if too thick.

7. Immediately after the batter has been created start coating the banana blossom segments in the dry flour mixture and then into the batter.

8. Place into the saucepan of hot oil and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.  As I put so little oil in I turned it over and cooked the underside for another 3 to 4 minutes.  Once all golden on the outside scoop out and place on kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.  Repeat for each  banana blossom segment.  One can makes about 4 segments.

9. Serve with a crisp salad and chips or paprika potatoes (essentially roasted potatoes with paprika) 

* Many supermarkets sell these now but can also get in many health food stores in the UK - I got mine from the excellent independent Natural Life.  Failing that you could try asian supermarkets or online - there are many vegan stores online that sell banana blossoms. 

** Old Bay seasoning is a little difficult to find in the UK so try and mix up your own version following this list of ingredients from The Spruce Eats website

Soundtrack: I Gotta Find Somebody - The Vel-vets - a real good Northern soul classic

Chickpeas, Rosemary and Pasta

Oh, it is such a long time since I have made this dish - too long.  This is a great store cupboard essential during the winter and into the spring to go with any dried pasta that you have going.  It is quick, easy and so, so comforting.

Chickpeas, rosemary, tomato puree and pasta

This is a dish that I found many years ago... so long ago that I cannot remember where I got the recipe from... the nearest recipe I can find is this by Pasta Grannies (the book and videos are fantastic by the way - find from https://www.pastagrannies.com/)

I always end up cooking far too much but it is so good. See below for the recipe.

chickpeas, tomato paste, rosemary and garlic cooking

Adding the pasta

Pasta with chickpeas

Ingredients

2 cups/ 150g cooked chickpeas
2/3 sprigs rosemary
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 clove garlic (finely chopped and crushed)
Olive oil
Short pasta like penne or fusilli (about 75 g per person)

Instructions

1. In a large frying pan gentle fry the crushed garlic, and add the cooked chickpeas and rosemary. Cook for about 2 minutes.
2. Add the tomato paste and a little water if the dish if a little dry.  What you are trying to do is allow the rosemary to impart it's aromatics to the surrounding sauce. So normally cook for around 10 to 15 minutes.
3. In a large pan fill up with water and add salt (not table salt).   It should be a handful of kosher or course salt like Claire Saffitz from Bon Appetit suggests - see this great article on how much salt to use).
4. Bring to the boil and add your pasta keeping the lid off the pan.  The pasta should cook in a rolling boil.
5. Dependent on the past used cook for 8 to 12 minutes.
6. Check your sauce and add a ladle full of the pasta water if needed.
7. Now if you have a blender take the rosemary out and blitz the mixture keeping some whole chickpeas aside from blending.  You may need to add some pasta water to keep the sauce loose.  Remember that the consistency should be thicker than a soup.
8. Return to the pan and warm through for a few minutes.
9. Drain the pasta and add to the frying pan.  Coat the pasta in the sauce and season with a little pepper. It is now ready to serve.

Rhubarb Crumble

"The best of all merchandise coming to Samarkand was from China: especially silks, satins, musk, rubies, diamonds, pearls, and rhubarb..."  

 Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo's report of his embassy in 1403–05 to Timur in Samarkand

I'm lucky!  I have an allotment but no rhubarb patch (surprising since I love it so much) but I do have friendly allotment neighbour who struggles with the glut of rhubarb; so I become the happy recipient of an armful of freshly cut rhubarb. Rhubarb - the quintessential British ingredient that other nations think of a medicinal.  Are we the only nation that have taken this prehistoric looking plant and turned it into a pudding?  I remember the ethnobotanist James Wong talking about rhubarb being from China, and brought to the west by traders like Marco Polo but popularised by the Victorians as a dessert (before that it had been used as a laxative). 

Cooked rhubarb crumble

This just happens to be my favourite dessert... this and apple and whortleberry crumble and gooseberry crumble.. can you see a pattern here.  Crumble is that go to dessert that so matches any glut of fruit.  We have to all bow down to the wonderful cook who created this wonderfully simple dish back in the 1940s as a way of 'making-do' with the paucity of ingredients.  

Felicity Cloake from the Guardian provided the definitive recipe for rhubarb crumble.... the only difference being that I swapped out the almonds pieces for hazelnuts... that was a great addition to the crumble topping.