Tag Archives: quinoa

Tempeh and Eggplant Ragu with Quinoa

Recipe trying to imitate: Eggplant Ragu from Granville Cafe

Upon hearing a phrase “fermented soy beans,” we Japanese are probably the only people who would go “Mmmmm…. Now THAT sounds delicious” and even truely mean it. But why not? They have given us critical foundation for traditional Japanese flavors that we simply should not live without – Soy sauce is made of fermented soy beans, for instance, and so is miso. And let’s not forget that dreaded but addictive natto. Mmmmmm.

So as you can imagine, I think quite highly of fermented soy beans and believe anything that comes from them, even if it is originated outside of Japan like tempeh, cannot be not awesome. But all these make it kind of ironic that my favorite tempeh recipe couldn’t be farther away from any Asian flavor. Continue reading →

Marinated Kale and Avocado Salad

Recipe adapted from: The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book (by Mike Snyder with Nancy Faass, MSW, MPH and Lorena Novak Bull, RD)

I’m a Trader Joe’s kind of gal but there are two reasons I go to Whole Foods Market for. One is a bunch of organic carrots that still have green top (I discovered carrots greens a while ago and it is utterly, utterly delicious) and the other is dinosaur kale. Strongly flavored and textured kale is my favorite out of all dark leafy greens and I do love common, curly kind. But some recipes like this one call for crinkly dinosaur kale which is a bit softer and milder.

The only problem is that I seem to be able to get them only at Whole Foods. Even my trusted Asian and Middle Eastern markets that usually carry every obscure vegetable don’t seem to have this type of kale regularly. Suppose I could just include Whole Foods in my weekly grocery shopping route to spend every Saturday afternoon driving around the valley to get what I need for the following week. I would, for this salad. But I had the strategy last year. Continue reading →

Curried Quinoa Salad

Recipe adapted from: Simple Vegetarian Pleasures (by Jeanne Lemlin)

Originally, this recipe was for a rice salad, but I took liberty to make slight modifications as the recipe is so versatile with many of ingredients interchangeable. The curry-flavored dressing is simple but genius – It is so accommodating that whatever the tweaks you may try, it will most likely tie everything together nicely. I made a few variations depending on what I had in freezer/refrigerator at the time, and this is my favorite combination so far.

Please note that there will be a bit of planning involved, as you are supposed to leave it for 1-8 hours for flavors to be mixed and develop after you have combined all the ingredients. For this reason, it has become one of my lunch staples when I don’t have any left-over from the night before. Continue reading →