Having adopted a quasi-vegetarian lifestyle, I can finally join in: man, you meat eaters suck!
Ahem. Speaking of my quasi-vegetarianism ... what's the deal with soy sauce?
I've found that eating vegetarian in practice means eating lots and lots of Mexican (rice and beans) and Chinese (rice and veggies) food. When it comes to the latter, the standard practice seems to be frying some veggies in a wok, dumping them over rice, and dousing the whole mess with soy sauce.
Am I the only one, though, who's vaguely grossed out by soy sauce? Isn't it basically salty water? Yet it's everywhere in Chinese cuisine and Chinese restaurants.
So, I ask you, Grist's large and extraordinarily food-literate audience: what kind of alternative flavoring options are available for your standard Chinese food? Why is soy sauce so ubiquitous? Is there some context in which it's not gross? What am I missing?
Soy sauce: discuss.
(Yes, yes, we'll return to our coverage of depressing events momentarily.)
Martha Stewart blisters meat industry in Thanksgiving show
A tasting of four meatless “turkeys” for the holiday table
Gourmet’s conscience, Gopnik on cookbooks, and other tasty morsels
Comments
View as Flat
wiscidea Posted 8:39 am
05 Mar 2007
You wrote...
"I've found that eating vegetarian in practice means eating lots and lots of Mexican (rice and beans) and Chinese (rice and veggies) food."
I'll careen right off topic -- since I overdosed on Chinese food years ago when I was working toward reducing my consumption of meat and really don't appreciate soy sauce as much as some folks, way too salty -- and answer a different question. What's with the Mexican and Chinese food?
Not only should you be expanding your South Western menu beyong just beans and rice, but you might want to consider Italian or Indian food.
Regarding Italian food, wife makes a mean tomato sauce without any meat in it. In fact, I can no longer eat a tomato sauce containing meat. The stuff containing meat is dreadful once you learn to cook with a proper balance of herbs and spices. (Same regarding chilli.) She also makes an excellent sauce containing tomato, eggplant, and fresh lemon juice. If you don't care for tomato products, there is always PESTO! We made so much of it in 2004, we are still pulling it out of the freezer for a quick meal... especially pesto on a pizza crust, topped with mushrooms, olives, and carmelized onions, a little feta cheese. MMMMMmmmmmmm.
Anyway... now that I think about it, why DO I still eat meat?
Forward!
Permalink
Kate Sheppard Posted 8:49 am
05 Mar 2007
Then again, the things I can cook tend to fall under three basic categories -- pasta, vaguely Asiatic, and curry. So variety isn't my strong point.
Kate Sheppard
Permalink
Janis Mara Posted 8:58 am
05 Mar 2007
Well first of all, soy sauce is my friend, big time! I realize it may be unrealistic to try to sell you on it, but actually, it's not as salty as salt, if you know what I mean. Less concentrated, that is.
Here is a thought: consider the humble potato. In fact, don't just consider it. Cut it into three pieces and then put thin slices of garlic against the skin, wrap up in aluminum foil and bake.
When it's done, glop some sour cream and a splash of soy sauce on top. Ohhhhhhh it's so good! Cheap and easy, too!
Permalink
Kif Scheuer Posted 9:36 am
05 Mar 2007
Some of our favorites;
Vietnamese sweet chile sauce - kind of like a jelly with a kick
Chalula (sp?) tobasco sauce - liberally applied to all things southwestern
Kejap Manis (sweet ketchup) a gooey sweet soy sauce from indonesia. Our favorite simple recipe is browning some tempeh then dousing it in kejap manis until it carmelizes - sticky sweet goodness!
Tamarind paste - look to thai recipes for uses
Sriracha (rooster) hot sauce, also vietnamese, very different from tobasco in flavor
coconut milk - not a sauce but a great flavor for veggies, especially green beans, cauliflower or potatoes
We have found more veggie friendly options outside of chinese - in vietnamese, thai, indonesian and indian cooking.
Speaking of indian - this is the absolute bible of indian vegetarian cooking Until I used this cookbook everything I made tasted more hippie than indian.
Permalink
SMLowry Posted 9:41 am
05 Mar 2007
Re: soy sauce. It's not my favorite either, but a little does add decent flavor to certain sauces and soups -- a little, not a quarter cup. Also there's Bragg's aminos that you add before eating (don't cook it), that I like better and it's real good for you. But really, experiment with other sauces, with lots of garlic and olive oil, and pesto is good as already has been suggested. There's lots of different kinds in addition to the wonderful basil pesto (which I, too, make and freeze for garden remembrances in the winter). Anyway, there's sundried tomato pesto, parsley pesto, cilantro pesto, artichoke pesto . . . you get the idea.
Permalink
ryanmaloney Posted 10:09 am
05 Mar 2007
The reality of course is that we don't put it on everything, that we have other sauces too, it's just ketchup is kinda what we're known for. And the chinese food shouldn't be smothered in soy sauce either - if soy sauce is the only liquid they add then that's a lot of salt intake. Usually there is some other vegetable oil, with soy sauce as flavoring.
Some other Asian sauces besides soy sauce to look at:
Oyster Sauce - thick and can be salty on its own, but if you're steaming vegetables save some of the hot water to mix with and make a nice broth to pour over the vegetables.
Teriyaki sauce, as mentioned before. (Trader Joes I think has a GREAT teriyaki called "Veri-Veri-Teriyaki", made by "Soy Veh!", which specializes in Kosher-Asian foods.)
Hoisin Sauce (AKA Plum Sauce) - this is the sauce that is supposed to come with MuShu Pork or chicken, and is a sweet-tangy thick sauce.
Tonkatsu Sauce - real similar to our BBQ sauce.
Seasame Oil - there are two kinds, the normal one and Black seasame oil.
Note I've left out anything spicy - I can't take any heat so I don't know about them.
Also, there is a lot of vegetarian asian food that isn't just stir-fry. Look for recipes for Okonomiyaki (just leave out the meat and bonito) and Korean Tofu soups (use veg. stock instead of beef). Both are also good ways to use left-overs.
Ryan Maloney
Permalink
Robert Delfs Posted 12:23 pm
05 Mar 2007
First off, dumping soy sauce over food is wrong and vulgar in any Chinese cuisine. And never put soy sauce on rice. Never, ever.
Soy sauce should be used sparingly in the kitchen, as a vehicle for salt and MSG (see below). One of the few occasions in Chinese cuisine when soy (along with vinegar, chile pepper sauces, etc.) is used as an table condiment (but, again, sparingly) is with dianxin (aka "dim sum") - dumplings and other mostly steamed foods, often eaten for breakfast or brunch, in the southeastern coastal cuisines.
Historically, the Chinese preference for salt in the form of soy sauce salt was partly due to tax policies. The gabelle, or salt tax, was a major source of government revenues in China from the Han dynasty (220 BC) on. Salt diluted in soy sauce was less expensive than sea salt or rock salt, and made it was easier to minimize consumption of an expensive commodity.
There are many different kinds of soy sauce, all fermentation products. You should be aware (but not alarmed) that all contain significant quantities of monosodium glutamate, or MSG. Japanese chemists discovered MSG as an active ingredient in soy sauce (and also in kelp/seaweed broth) early in the 20th Century, thereby laying the foundation for the Ajinomoto corporate empire. MSG is the basis for umami, the fifth basic "taste" which can be detected by specialized cells on the surface of your tongue - the others are bitter, salty, sour and sweet.
One of my all-time favorite experiences in life was going to an excellent Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong with a very uptight American woman who repeatedly insisted that I make it clear to the chef and all members of his family that she absolutely could not tolerate even a microgram of MSG in her food, etc. etc. etc. I sighingly complied with her pointless request, and then watched as she proceeded to dump half a bottle of soy sauce over her bowl of rice and consuming it.
Imagine, if you will, taking someone to a restaurant like the French Laundry or Alain Ducasse and having to watch your guest drown their meal with ketchup or A1 steak sauce. Imagine, if you will, different approaches to the problem of killing someone while seated at a white cloth covered table in full view of dozens of restaurant staff and other diners.
For the record, Chinese soy sauce has about 1000 mg of MSG per 100 grams, versus 1400-1900 mg in 100 g of Vegemite or Marmite, which are also soy fermentation products. There is also 1200 mg of MSG in 100 g. of Parmesan cheese (pesto, anyone?), 300 mg in 100 g of fresh green peas and 140 mg in the same quantity of tomatoes.
If you're convinced MSG is bad for you, and if you intend to make a big scene about it every time you go to a Chinese restaurant (at any rate, with me), then do be consistent. No soy sauce on anything, ever, nor Parmesan cheese on anything, ever, either. And it's probably best if you avoid those MSG-laden peas and tomatoes.
Most Chinese do eat less meat than Westerners do, but vegetarian cooking isn't that common in China. (Myself, I finally gave up vegetarianism when I moved to Taiwan in 1970 to study Chinese.) But interesting alternative vegetarian versions of most of the main regional cuisines were developed by and for Buddhists, and are well worth a try.
First, however, I'd advise you to get a good Chinese cookbook. Mine, The Good Food of Szechuan - definitely not vegetarian in orientation - is long out of print, but used copies pop up on Amazon and elsewhere from time to time. It will tell you what to do (and what not to do) with a bottle of soy sauce.
Lastly, I'd urge you to lighten up on the beans and rice (let's not even think about the veggies over rice drowned in soy sauce ever again) and explore some of the wonderful different cous cous, tabbouli, raw or lightly cooked vegetables served with cucumber and yoghurt raita or hummous, and the wonderful worlds of composed raw vegetable salads.
Robert Delfs
Permalink
David Roberts Posted 12:29 pm
05 Mar 2007
www.grist.org
Permalink
Tom Philpott Posted 12:48 pm
05 Mar 2007
Try this: Get yourself a good, heavy mortar and pestle ($20 or so.) Pound a clove or 2 of garlic to a paste. Add some coarsely chopped fresh ginger, some coarsely chopped fresh or dried hot chile pepper, both to taste, and a few black peppercorns. Pound the hell out of it until it becomes a coarse paste. Work in a little soy sauce with the pestle -- not too much, just a splash or two. And then do the same with a little rice wine vinegar, and a little sesame oil. And then, if you like, some honey or sugar. When you've mixed it up, you'll have a little sauce. Taste. It should be great--sweet, slightly salty, spicy, garlicly, pungent. If it needs a little salt boost, add some more soy sauce. You probably won't even taste the soy, but it will be adding this special little oomph, without which you would not be eating Chinese.
When everything's done cooking in the stir fry, stir that little sauce into the veggies and toss until coated (the pan will still be hot, but the heat will be off.) Taste your veggies. If they taste a little undersalted--they probably will--throw in a little more soy.
If you still don't like it, switch to Italian, like the poster above says. Instead of soy sauce, you'll be drenching everything in olive oil.
By the way, you've got to pay up for good soy sauce. Kikkoman will kick a man. Japanese tamari -- which is just pure soy sauce, no wheat -- is more delicate and less salty-tasting than most soys. (Not to diss Chinese soy sauce; just not an expert on various brands.)
My favorite tamari brand is called Nama Shoyu. It's unpasteurized, organic, and delicious.
Victual Reality
Permalink
Tom Philpott Posted 12:57 pm
05 Mar 2007
Victual Reality
Permalink
blacksheep Posted 1:01 pm
05 Mar 2007
It is actually fairly easy to make a thai curry that is really good...
you can buy thai curry paste (green or red - I've never seen yellow paste) and coconut milk.
stir fry your favorite veggies with a small amount of the curry paste (experiment to get it to the right spiciness for you) and then add in the coconut milk and throw over rice, rice noodles, or soba noodles.... i prefer soba noodles myself.
a nice variation of the curry is to add something sweet and lightly cooked ... lightly steamed mango or pear are my favorites.
---
Indian curry is also a staple for me... I basically make two kinds on a regular basis...the regular curry, with olive oil, garlic, curry powder, extra turmeric and cumin, veggies, tofu.... or the sweet variety, which adds cinnamon, nuts (almonds, walnuts...) and dried fruit (raisins, dried cranberries, dried apples).... you can also add clove to this, sparingly. and ginger is a good addition to either variation.
---
Another idea for fast, different, and decent vegetarian meals is coopting the box meal. There's tons of yummy chinese, indian, and italian (i.e. rissoto), etc. box meals that you can add some stir fried veggies and tofu or tempeh to. If/When I have kids, they will definately have a warped idea of what macaroni and cheese is (i add real cheese and sauteed veggies, garlic, onions, and tempeh)........
Permalink
greenlagirl Posted 2:53 pm
05 Mar 2007
Others've said it more eloquently, but the basic issue is that if you find yourself dousing everything with soy sauce, you are clearly trying to satisfy yourself with food that's not yummy on its own rights. Vegetarian food can be v. v. yummy -- You just need to find good recipes.
In any case -- Welcome to the veggie club! (though I still eat some seafood) --
http://greenlagirl.com/
Permalink
Green Granny Posted 3:58 pm
05 Mar 2007
I've been hooked on cooking Indian food for 30 years now -- and this is one of the best cook books around,in part, because it explains how to use the spices and make them work together and how to experiment yourself. It demystifies Indian cooking.
Madhur Jaffrey's various cook books are also great sources for international (not just Indian) vegetarian recipes.
You don't have to eat soy sauce to be a happy vegeatrian. I can't even remember the last time I used soy sauce.
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Ghandi
Permalink
kothmia Posted 10:44 pm
05 Mar 2007
If you're dealing with a fake soy sauce, it's no wonder you hate it. The real stuff has complexities that the fake stuff can't even begin to get near. Real = not bad. Fake = icky.
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 11:14 pm
05 Mar 2007
Over here, on this little-known island city-state called Manhattan, the convention is for a Chinese restaurant to provide along with a take-out main meal, a zip-loc envelope containing two packets of soy sauce, two packets of mustard, two packets of duck sauce, and one fortune cookie.
The duck sauce gets tossed immediately.
The soy sauce and the mustard get used, sooner or later, depending on how good, or not so, the food is.
The fortune cookie one likes to have awaiting one, but it is not as though one could not live without it: "Depressing times will soon pass"; "Your friends do not notice your many virtues"; "You have winning ways"; "Love will come from where you do not expect it." (Woof!)
Fortunately, my miserable unappreciative friends are not usually present, and I can order a complimentary treat: when I am ordering for two, I get the sesame-cold-noodles for my husband, and a can of diet Coke for me.
Is that urban luxury, or what?!
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
Permalink
willa Posted 11:40 pm
05 Mar 2007
I second the recommendation for Veri Veri Teriyaki. In spite of the silly name, it's quite tasty.
You can get Indian sauces in jars at the supermarket. Totally cheating, of course, but whatever. I really like the tomato-based ones, and find you can just heat some Quorn chicken tenders and/or veggies and/or tofu in a jar of sauce, serve it over rice, and call it a meal.
This isn't relevant to Asian cuisine, but there's also a jarred sauce called sofrito that my supermarket has in the Spanish/Mexican food aisle (I just gloss over the cognitive dissonance of having those two lumped together...). It's also a tomato-based sauce, with with onions and garlic and bell peppers and spices. I cooked some basmati rice with it the other night (substituting the sofrito for some of the water) and it made a good, if totally cheating and inauthentic, "Spanish rice". We then made burritos with the rice and some refried beans, guacamole, and a little shredded cheese. Sorta like Taco Bell's seven-layer burrito, but with food that didn't come out of a caulk gun. :)
Permalink
kmp Posted 2:03 am
06 Mar 2007
I'm not a big fan of straight-up soy sauce myself, generally find it way too salty, and if I have to buy it, I always buy the low-sodium variety.
I tend to favor Asian stir-fry dishes with more of a honey/garlic/ginger/sesame flavor, or I go for a straight peanut sauce. Sometimes I'm lazy, and buy prepared sauces, sometimes I'm inventive, and throw together whatever is in the house.
Last night's "vegetarian" dinner was sort of a Bizarro World fettucine alfredo, except I did not have cream in the house.. so I made it with organic butternut squash soup as a base, sprouted wheat organic fettucine from Trader Joe's, organic sharp cheddar from grass-fed cows, a little grated Romano, some organic fresh oregano in the sauce, and then topped it with Lady Moon organic cherry tomatoes, salt & pepper.
My boyfriend was quite skeptical but managed to polish off two helpings... I found it a wee bit sweet (like most of my cooking, I think it would have been improved with just a dash of Tabasco) but pretty yummy for a completely invented recipe.
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 2:22 am
06 Mar 2007
Another AWOL type, rather away for a longer period, actually, is our Patrick a` Beijing, about whom I am rather worried, actually. We would expect him to have much to tell us on the subject of this thread, for example.
And then, another long-at-sea albatross, too long out of touch, Robert Delfs, has written this interesting conclusion to a very interesting message:
<<
Lastly, I'd urge you to lighten up on the beans and rice (let's not even think about the veggies over rice drowned in soy sauce ever again) and explore some of the wonderful different cous cous, tabbouli, raw or lightly cooked vegetables served with cucumber and yoghurt raita or hummous, and the wonderful worlds of composed raw vegetable salads.
>>
Drowning is rarely good: nightmare time; Virginia Woolf time. And soy sauce, while definitely not "gross," pace that sensationalist DR, is not at all well adapted to drowning.
I am glad that Robert recommended the cuisines of the Middle East and North Africa, which are my favorites. Really, this is all a sophisticated, general Mediterranean cuisine, brought together by the Roman empire, and perfected in the Eastern Roman capital, Constantinople. No doubt the Turks, riding in from Central Asia, had some suggestions of their own, maybe including yogurt (or was that an Arab invention?), when they were not amassing pyramids of heads outside city gates. But what we call "Turkish cuisine" is in fact basically Eastern Roman (aka Byzantine) cuisine, as elaborated afterwards, after The Fall, AD 1453, during the course of the polyethnic Ottoman Empire.
On Turkish nationalism: the most recent winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Orhan Pamuk, who lives more or less under the gun, has much to say, in his recent memoir/ethnography, "Istanbul."
P.S.: Little Dog's food starts with a base of whole-wheat couscous.
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
Permalink
blacksheep Posted 2:26 am
06 Mar 2007
On a separate note, i recently discovered that this single-sauce issue is not just a vegetarian problem. i was talking to a friend and her husband not long ago, and they both expressed exasperation with their diet, consisting basically of spagetti with red sauce (with meat) - every night!!! sometimes they used chicken instead, with a tomato-only red sauce...
If you are in this rut, good cookbooks definately help. also, starting a food coop (a small group of people who take turns cooking and delivering dinners to each other - or, with neighbors, this could be simplified by eliminating the delivery)is a good way to get exposed to different things, and it also motivates you on your cooking night to try something new and spectacular!
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 2:31 am
06 Mar 2007
Sorry, that Bizarro World fettucine adventure does not sound very interesting.
That your boyfriend was able to overcome his skepticism for two helpings perhaps tells us more about him than about the recipe. No doubt you had had him running up and down the Catskills all day, or rowing up to Plattsburgh; poor lad!
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
Permalink
kmp Posted 2:58 am
06 Mar 2007
Yes, Canis, as you rightly point out, I noticed the lack of Patrick's response to this thread as well.. normally you cannot even think the word "chinese" without a response from our friend Patrick. Hopefully he, like the rest of us from time to time, is simply busy with "real" life, and perhaps does not have the time to read 17 comments on soy sauce. :)
As for my fettucine adventure.. I admit, I was skeptical myself, but it was actually pretty tasty. Not something that will likely become a staple in our house, but yummier than expected. And my boyfriend was ice climbing in the Catskills all day on Saturday, so maybe that had something to do with his enthusiasm.
I forgot, originally, to echo Robert's vote for more Middle Eastern types of food. Although I am quite in love with Indian food, I tend to get chicken dishes (especially vindaloo!) when I go to Indian restaraunts.. but find myself unconsciously vegetarian at a Middle Eastern restaraunt. The hummus, grape leaves, tabouli, the tomato/cucumber/feta salads.. now I'm hungry.
Permalink
Tod Posted 3:56 am
06 Mar 2007
On everything.
"Because the world doesn't matter if you don't have the strength to go ahead and choose something that's really true." - Julio Cortazar
http://www.todbrilliant.com
Permalink
Truly Scrumptious Posted 4:46 am
06 Mar 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seattleveggiefamilies/?ygui ...
:)
Permalink
Dawn Pillsbury Posted 7:50 am
06 Mar 2007
If you're going to restrict yourself to the realm of eating things without faces, may I suggest you add mushrooms to your shopping list? Portabellos/brown button mushrooms (same species) have 30 percent protein and absorb marinades magnificently. I also highly recommend king oyster mushrooms, as well as all other oyster mushrooms.
But be careful in your shopping - most grocery stores sell mushrooms that have been stored improperly. If the mushroom is at all slimey or dried-out, don't eat it.
I do hope you're also buying local and organic veggies. Fresh and non-chemical-laden produce is the foundation of good cooking. It doesn't matter how many fancy cookbooks you buy if you're shopping at a big chain grocery store.
I'll also nth the tamari option. I buy organic, low-salt tamari. Delicious and excellent for cooking.
And do remember that most cuisines have veggie possibilities - very few are totally meat-centric (and you hardly see Inuit restaurants anymore and Filipino cooking is proably too spicy for you anyway). Mmm... Ethiopian...
Permalink
Dawn Pillsbury Posted 7:55 am
06 Mar 2007
Whatever you call it, I find that, unlike salt, it's best to add the Sriracha toward the end of the cooking process. Adding it earlier makes the flavors muddy, IME. Of course adding it right before eating makes the vinegar flavor stand out more, but one probably won't add enough to taste that much.
Permalink
reirei Posted 10:21 am
06 Mar 2007
Permalink
Mike Frew Posted 11:32 am
06 Mar 2007
google "sustainable soy" and who appears at the top of the list? cargill.
there's something about a "roundtable on sustainable soy" but anyone know of decent online resources?
Permalink
Robert Delfs Posted 1:20 pm
06 Mar 2007
This is not a popular argument in most green circles in the US (not to mention Europe), of course, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Incidentally, GM soy currently makes up about 85% of the US crop, as well as most of the crop in Argentina, the world's biggest producer after the US
Robert Delfs
Permalink
aklorax Posted 2:29 pm
06 Mar 2007
Permalink
meander Posted 3:14 pm
06 Mar 2007
I may be in the minority here in that I don't like Lord Krishna's cuisine. Something about it bothers me. My recommendations for Indian cookbooks are Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking (covers all of India) and Chandra Padmanabhan's Dakshin (South India only). For Thai cooking, I have had great results using Thai Vegetarian Cooking by Vatcharin Bhumichitr.
Permalink
alirae5 Posted 1:57 am
07 Mar 2007
Permalink
Pandu Posted 3:58 am
07 Mar 2007
My wife does most of her cooking using Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. As I recall, it won "Best Cookbook of the Year" not in a vegetarian category (is there one?) but overall. There is also a Best of Lord Krishna's Cuisine.
For American-style food, she uses The Peaceful Cook, by Harriet Kofalk. The recipes are simple, tasty, and healthy. Most vegetarian recipies rely heavily on onions and/or garlic, but this author doesn't use them at all. The same is true of Lord Krishna's Cuisine. Eliminating onions and garlic is a good way to help one experience the tastes of other vegetables.
Here's the Peaceful Cook: http://www.amazon.com/Peaceful-Cook-More-Than-Cookbook/dp ..._
I would also like to second the recommendation of Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Ingredients says, "Bragg's formulated soy protein is from Certified Non-GMO Healthy Soybeans and purified water only. It is not fremented and contains no alcohol, no preservatives, no additives, no chemicals or coloring agents."
Permalink
earthbiscuit Posted 4:04 am
07 Mar 2007
http://www.bragg.com/products/liquidaminos.html
Permalink
Delay And Deny Posted 4:06 am
07 Mar 2007
Example: I was shopping at Top Food yesterday and found a great deal on beef brisket. It even came with a little spice pack.
The Texeme Construct offers international text memetics construction and textcasting services.
Permalink
mihan Posted 4:58 am
07 Mar 2007
On soy sauce, I don't know what the big deal is. I grew up eating it (it's the only way I'd eat rice when I was little). In addition to more traditional uses, I also use it in place of the also-divine fish sauce when I'm cooking for vegetarians.
It's salty, it's funky... what more do you want?
When I was in the Peace Corps, we had to substitute the inferior "Arome Maggi" for soy sauce, and I was thrilled to get back to real soy sauce.
Here are two of my favorite recipes with soy sauce in them. The first is a little fussy and definitely company-fare, the second is insanely easy and a lunchtime staple for me.
"Stuffed" Tofu
Modified from Sundays at Moosewood. Serves 3--5 people with rice (3 if everyone's really hungry, 5 if you add the spinach).
1 lb. firm tofu, cut in vertical strips or slices (if it came in a tub, keep the tub to marinate the tofu in)
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. sherry or Mirin (see note)
1 tsp. molasses
1/2 c. vegetable stock or mushroom soaking liquid (if you use dried mushrooms)
a generous pinch Chinese five-spice powder (or mixture of cinnamon, cloves, and anise)
(a dash of hot sauce)
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. oil (preferably peanut)
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
about 9 scallions, finely chopped
(a couple cloves of garlic, minced)
1/6 to 1/3 lb. fresh shiitake mushrooms (depending how rich you are feeling) or equivalent dried and soaked mushrooms
(a bunch of spinach, washed well)
Drain and slice tofu, return to the tub.
Combine soy sauce, sherry or Mirin, molasses, stock, five spice powder, and hot sauce (if using). Pour over tofu in tub. Let marinate for a while (I often do this the night before and marinate it in the fridge). If you don't have time, that's okay, too.
Mix cornstarch and water, add sesame oil. Set aside.
Heat peanut oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add ginger and scallion (and garlic, if using). Cook until fragrant. Add mushrooms and marinade from tofu, cook until done. Add tofu and spinach (if using), cook until hot. Stir in cornstarch mixture until cooked (just a minute or so). Add salt and pepper (or more hot sauce) to taste. Serve over rice.
NOTE: Mirin is a sweetened wine used in Japanese cooking. I keep some in the refrigerator pretty much just for these two recipes and a salad dressing recipe.
Peanut Noodles
From nowhere in particular. This is very versatile and I usually make it with broccoli and tofu. I like it best cold, which makes it a great lunch. This will make 4 or 5 servings.
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil (or tahini)
1 to 2 Tbsp. Mirin or 1 to 2 tsp. sugar
hot sauce to taste
3 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
(1 clove garlic, pressed)
(1 tsp. minced ginger)
1/2 lb. noodles (I just use thin spaghetti)
1/2 to 1 lb. tofu or a package of bean sprouts
one stalk broccoli, cut up (including stem---peel off the fibrous outer part and cut up the sweet, tender inner stem)
Mix first eight ingredients (I just put everything in a measuring cup and whisk it). Boil noodles. If using broccoli, add broccoli to water just before noodles are done. Drain noodles (and broccoli) and rinse with cold water. Mix everything up. Serve or put in tupperware containers for lunch for the rest of the week.
NOTE: You can make this with just noodles (no tofu or veggies); use a whole pound of pasta.
Permalink
radrerun Posted 7:21 am
07 Mar 2007
Permalink
Robert Delfs Posted 10:35 am
07 Mar 2007
Kick up the fresh garlic and ginger a bit, use some sesame paste (or tahini) and sesame oil, make sure it's quality peanut butter (or, better yet, finely chop roasted peanuts yourself) add some hot chile sauce, and you've got it. The original street vendors' version also uses a few TBL of broth (but no meat) from hongshao niurou, a stew of water buffalo haunch cooked with garlic, chilis, and hot bean paste (doubanjiang), but this veggie version will be fine.
Robert Delfs
Permalink
GreenEngineer Posted 3:31 pm
07 Mar 2007
Except that if they rely solely on roundup, the weeds develop a resistance, and you wind up using much larger quantities. The tilling breaks that resistance cycle by destroying weeds mechanically, regardless of their level of resistance.
Permalink
Robert Delfs Posted 8:07 pm
07 Mar 2007
Glyphosate resistant weeds have appeared in the US, Australia and elsewhere. Resistance is a serious problem, but it has not been established that "round-up ready" crops are responsible.
In case anybody is confused about this, the glyphosate is <bold>not</bold> carried in the genetically modified round-up ready plant - it is applied directly to the field. Most glyphosate applications do not involve genetically modified crops. Mainly because of its extraordinary safety and short persistance, glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world. It has been in extensive use for over 30 years.
As with any useful herbicide or pesticide, it is important that farmers understand the proper means of glyphosate delivery and application. As GreenEngineer points out, this means not relying solely on round-up, maintaining stands of untreated weeds and wild plants that are protected from exposure to glyphosate, and occasionally alternating glyphosate applications with tillage and/or other herbicides to avoid build-up of resistant strains.
Robert Delfs
Permalink
willa Posted 11:33 pm
07 Mar 2007
Canis, I have been reading, just not commenting much thanks to being really busy with other stuff (though still spending more time online than would be optimal). Also, after global warming brought us unseasonably warm weather for a couple of weeks, now we're back to not making it above 30 all week, which means much more time at the barn, changing horses' blankets three times a day, breaking the ice on their water four or five times a day.
I'm going to go make some spring rolls now, though. I bought the wrappers, because I have no idea how to make them, and intend to fill them with red pepper, watercress, and tofu, or maybe tempeh, or maybe some of each. I bought some peanut dipping sauce, so I'll have to report back on its edibility. I'm making these, btw, as hors d'oevres to serve at a party my friend is having--for her horse's 30th birthday! Call me crazy....
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 12:21 am
08 Mar 2007
Thanks also for introducing Sriracha, which I shall look for.
Mihan, your recipes sound like works of art, and products of love. For us, the list of ingredients here and there might involve a bit of research, but it is hardly impossible.
What is the relation, if there is any, between your "peanut noodles," and what is now given away here by Chinese restaurants as "free gift," which is actually a course in itself, and a tasty and fattening one, called "cold sesame noodles"? The latter are thicker noodles than your spaghetti; the garlic is very subtle, if it is there at all; vegetables such as broccoli would indeed be a welcome addition, but they are never present; at least I am fairly the sharp spice must be ginger, though it would not have occurred to me until I saw your recipe.
Willa, best wishes with your spring rolls. Talk about a labor of love: something you have not made before, and for a party!
Happy Birthday to the horse. 30 horse years convert to how much in our years?
I thought of you when Barbaro's vets finally had to put him to sleep. Apparently he had as peaceful a departure as any of us might wish for ourselves.
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
Permalink
willa Posted 1:12 am
08 Mar 2007
Poor Barbaro, not even four years old...but he was only kept alive as long as he was for the potential earnings had he gotten well enough to breed. If he'd been my horse he would have been euthanized on the spot based on what I know about the injury. Of course, if he'd been my horse no one would have gotten on him until he was at least three, no one would have asked him to do any hard work until he was at least four, and he would never have come anywhere near a racetrack. That's my personal bias, though.
Anyhow, I'm going to stop hijacking the thread and go make the damn spring rolls now...
Permalink
emellgee Posted 1:44 am
08 Mar 2007
Permalink
mihan Posted 11:21 pm
08 Mar 2007
The recipe is from nowhere in particular; I took several versions of the dish and tweaked it to my own taste.
(Any given dish has many different recipes for it.)
For me the key is the hot and the sour. Most recipes I've seen for this dish don't have enough of either. Taste-testers have said that this version is "somehow tastier" than others, and I think it's the vinegar.
Permalink