Food Adventures in Hong Kong

I spent the past two weeks on the other side of the world visiting friends in Hong Kong, snapping photos and exploring as much as I could everyday.  To be honest I wasn't as strict of a vegan as I normally am, but over all, Hong Kong is pretty vegan friendly.  Here are a few of my favorite vegan meals that I had while I was there!

I had this pasta dish at a restaurant called Jungle Juice.  The name of the place made me laugh because when I think of Jungle Juice I imagine a giant vat of juice, beer, and what ever other liquor college kids have on hand to toss in the mix.  This place, however,  had absolutely nothing to do with college or drinking.  I had the Pumpkin and green bean in light curry over spaghetti and a giant bottle of water to wash it all down.  It was the only vegan dish on the menu, but that didn't stop it form being yummy in my tummy!

One afternoon I met up with my friend Naoto for lunch.  He took me to a Chinese restaurant for Dim Sum.  He order some dishes with meat for him and his brother in law, but stuck mainly to vegan fare.  These were the Vegetable Dumplings.

Pan Fried Turnip Cake with some sort of spicy dipping sauce.

Chinese Steamed Kale with Soy sauce.  Simple and fresh!

  

I can't remember what this was exactly, but I do remember that it was sweet and may have been squash.  It was served along side of sugar and was super yummy!

For dessert, we had the Black Sesame Roll

and Pan Fried Water Chestnut Cake. This had to be my favorite thing I at in all my adventures in Hong Kong.  It was sweet, mapely, and crunchy all at the same time!  Delicious!

I went to various markets over my two weeks in Hong Kong I saw some pretty disgusting un-vegan things but I also tasted some of the best fruit that has ever passed my lips.  The mangos were like candy and I have never had kiwi that was as perfect as it was there. I also was lucky enough to see and taste some fruit that I had never seen or heard of before.

Yellow Pomegranate 

Dragon Fruit

This visit to a local noodle shop was one of the craziest experiences of my trip.  When my friend Hugo and I walked we were directed to share a table with two other people.  I was handed a menu that was almost entirely in Chinese.  It had a few words on it in English such as, beef ball, fish ball, soy bean cake and chive.  I looked up at the Chinese waitress and shrugged my shoulders and said, "Ummmm.... I'm not sure what to order.  I just need something with no meat." She proceeded to get obviously annoyed with me and shouted something at me in Chinese. I gestured with my hands as best I could and said "No meat..." At this point the waitress became incredibly angry and she slammed another menu in front of me that was only in Chinese.  She pointed at the menu yelling at me. So I said, " well that is helpful... I'll have chive, soybean cake and NO MEAT!"  Hugo was stumped too and quickly ordered something as best he could as well. She ripped the menu away from me  and stomped off with our orders.  I wish I could tell you exactly what this is and where I ate it, but all I know is that it was a bowl of meat free noodles with tofu and chives. 

The food we got that afternoon at the crazy noodle shop was one of the best meals I had while visiting Hong Kong even though I had no idea what it was I ordered.  Plus it was SUPER cheap!

One evening Chloe took her brother Hugo and I out to the vegan Chinese restaurant Pure Veggie House. We ordered a huge spread of cruelty free food.  We started the meal out with Dim Sum.  This was the Steamed Vegetable Ball.  I like the idea of these little guys and can image that they are really good when done right.  The outside was made out of steamed rice flour but the inside was filled with veggies that didn't have much flavor. 

The Vegetable Dumplings were okay.  They had a little too much oil and were filled with the same exact filling at the vegetable ball, so the inside again did not have much flavor.

The Vegetable Soup Dumpling was good.  It was a salty, vegetabley, stuffed noodle.

The Turnip Pastry was my favorite of the Dim Sum adventure.  It was flaky and delicate on the outside and had a creamy, gooey, turnipy inside... YUM!

We ordered a few dishes to share as a main, but we were pretty stuffed after all that Dim Sum.  This was the Sweet and Sour Konak.  This dish was a bit to greasy for me.  It tasted a bit like fried fried.  I don't know how else to explain it.  It was just too much frying and not enough freshness for me.

The Eggplant and Seitan was my favorite main.  There was very little seitan incorporated in it and although it had a bit too much oil (as Chinese food tends to have) it had plenty of veggies to soak it all up.

The Vegetable Fried Rice was good, but not the best I've ever had.  I did like the addition of pine nuts though.

  

We order a few different things for dessert including a soy pudding which I did not take a picture of.  It wasn't very tasty, it fact I think it was just warmed up silken tofu.  It would have not made a very pretty picture.  This dessert pictured was the Sesame Roll.  It was my second time trying this dessert and I have to say, I LIKE it!

 

The Red Bean Pudding was my favorite among the desserts.  It was mildly sweet, perfecctly cold and had a nice hint of coconut in the mix.  Yum!

One of my last dining experiences was at another local noodle shop.  This time the experience was a little less fun.  After a long day visiting the Big Buddha, we hopped off the subway at Central and stumbled into the first noodle stop that we could find.  It was a tiny little place, I don't think it even had a name.  When we walked in a woman eating at a nearby table shouted something at us and we quickly figured out by her gestures that she meant to close the sliding glass door behind us. Once we sat down at a table that already had someone eating at it the same woman that yelled at us previously reluctantly got up to take our order.  This time the menu was in English and Chinese, so it made it a little easier to order.  I got the Vegetarian  Dumpling Noodle Soup. The noodles we soggy, the broth was flavorless as were the dumplings.  So, I covered it with chili and it seemed to do the trick.  

My trip to Hong Kong was an amazing experience.  I was very lucky to have been able to spend two weeks with some pretty amazing people and share some delicious meals with them as well.  I cannot wait to go back to show Jared everything that I now know about this unique, bustling, and silly city!

Much Needed Healthful Meals

After road tripping to North Carolina, Jared and I found that many places are not quite as vegan friendly as Chicago is, and we were desperately in need of some healthy and delicious vegan food.  

I only had a few days to cook before my trip to Hong Kong, so I decided to make a couple dishes that would leave my lovie with plenty of leftovers.  

On Friday I made Tortilla Soup.  This simple delicious soup was filled with onion, jalapenos, poblano pepper, garlic, tomatoes, tortilla chips, cumin, pinto beans, corn and cilantro.  It was tangy and spicy and was just what we needed after a week of food on the run.

Sunday, I spent the day packing up my suitcase for my trip to Hong Kong, but I was sure to give myself plenty of time to cook one last healthful meal before leaving the country for two weeks.  I made Potato-Spinach Curry and served it over brown rice.  This curry was quick and easy to make.  Plus I got to toast my own mustard seeds, which is always fun! It was a simple recipe made up of, mustard seeds, onion, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, tomatoes, curry powder, cumin, salt, vegetable broth, potatoes, spinach and lime juice.  This meal was perfectly yummy! In fact, I thought it was just as good as how my favorite Indian restaurant prepares it.  

Olivia's 4th Birthday Vegan Cupcakes

 My sister Heather asked me to make cupcakes for Olivia's 4th birthday. I took this as quite the compliment considering no one else in my little family is vegan.  

I made Pineapple Right-Side up Cupcakes and Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. 

 

 I had a double chocolate cupcake and thought it was pretty delicious, but Olivia and Riley selected the pineapple variety, mainly because they had a cherry on top.  They each  polished off two of these little guys without once worrying if they were vegan or not.  

 I enjoyed watching Olivia as she ate her vegan birthday cupcakes, maybe even more than she did eating them. 

A few things I have made this month

I have been a terrible blogger lately and haven't written about my kitchen escapades in over a month.  So, I decided to write one giant entry about a few things that I have cooked up over the past few weeks.

One rain stormy night I made Mango BBQ Beans.  These kidney beans were cooked with garlic, onion, mango, tomato sauce, vegetable broth, red pepper flakes, allspice, liquid smoke and agave nectar.  I served these sugary and spicy little guys over smooth and citrusy Mashed Yuca with Cilantro & Lime.  This was a the perfect meal to curl up with my Lovie and watch the thunderstorm roll in with.  

This is Buffalo Tempeh and Mac & Trees.  I had high expectations for this recipe and I really wanted it to be more delicious than it was.  The sauce was spectacular but over all it was to many flavors happening at once for me.

On a night that healthy eating was on my mind I made Miso Udon Stir-fry with Greens & Beans.  It was a light yet flavorful pasta made with broccoli, udon noodles, garlic, Swiss chard, green onions, azuki beans, miso paste and sesame seeds.  I doused mine in Sriracha before I scarfed it down.

The Chipotle Lentil Burgers and OMG Oven Baked Onion Rings were Jared's favorite meal of the month.  In fact, he is probably still day dreaming of these tasty little burgers.  They may sound unhealthy, but with only 1.5 grams of fat and 130 calories, they were far from that.  In place of beef we had red onion, zucchini, garlic, cilantro, lentils, bread crumbs, chipotles, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, salt and paprika.  We slapped them on top of some flat bread with onion, veganaise and called it a day.

When I made Curried Chickpeas & Greens I was not in the mood to be eating healthy so I was pretty sure that this would be terrible on my taste buds.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this dish was quite yummy.  It consisted of mustards seeds, onion, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes curry, cumin, coriander, garam masala, salt, crushed tomatoes, kale and chickpeas.  The flavors worked beautifully together and my taste buds didn't suffer one bit!

Cinco de Mayo 2011

Cinco De Mayo is one my favorite days of the year for cooking, but this year since I had class on the 5th I was forced to cook on the 4th.  Jared, Jake, Christina and Gracie all happened to be over around dinner time, so we decided to make it and impromptu family dinner.

Christina made mojitos with basil, mint, and strawberries.  Most of them were mixed with Bacardi, but this is the non-alcoholic version she mixed up for me. 

I fried up some plantains that were lightly dusted with bread crumbs and black pepper and topped off with salt.

This is the Pico De Gallo I made with tomatoes, jalapeno, garlic, red onion, cilantro and lots and lots of fresh lime juice.

I love to make Chipotle Adobo Sauce with Black Beans.  It's super simple to make and incredibly tasteful.  It's made with olive oil, red onion, garlic, chipotle pepper and adobo sauce.

Christina also made this simple salad with a lime juice vinaigrette.

It was fun throwing together a Cinco de Mayo feast.  Everything was summery and delicious!  

Easter 2011

It's been a long time since Easter, but since I spent so much time cooking for for this holiday I thought a belated Blog about it was better than nothing.  This year, Jared and I prepared  Almond Feta Cheese with Herbed oil, White Bean Salad, Potato and Mushroom Sauerkraut Pierogi,  and Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes.

The Feta Cheese took 3 days to make and it was time well spent.  I soaked the almonds for 12 hours before pureeing them in the food processor with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and garlic.  Once everything was nice and smooth I poured the mixture into a piece of cheese cloth and squeezed out as much liquid as I could before setting it in a strainer and placing it in the fridge. The next day I took it out, opened up the cheese cloth and baked the cheese in the oven until it was fairly firm.  Then I stuck it in the fridge over night so it would get nice and cold.  The herb oil was made by my wonderful roommate Christina,  she quickly cooked olive oil, rosemary and thyme together for a few minutes before drizzling it on top of the cheese.

My dear friend Sarah gave me the recipe for this delicious white bean salad that was full of grape tomatoes, celery, red onion, red pepper, parsley and of course white beans all tossed together in a simple red wine vinaigrette. 

The pierogi were another time consuming task, but having Jared as my sous chef made everything much quicker.  Once the fillings and dough was made, we made over 30 of these bad boys in under an hour!  The next day we fried them up with some onions and we were in pierogi heaven.

These cupcakes are now a family request.  Red velvet cake with vegan cream cheese frosting piled high topped with chopped pecans, simply delicious.

Here are Jared and I's vegan Easter plates.  We had much more than just what we brought with us.  There was also asparagus, green beans, rye bread and of course horseradish and vegan sour cream to eat with the pierogi.

In my personal opinion, vegan Easter was quite tasteful!

Unfried Rice and Hoison-Mustard Tofu

After many evenings of soup for dinner, I got a craving for something that is super unhealthy and incredibly NOT vegan, Chinese Fried Rice.  With this sinful side dish on my mind I turned to my favorite cookbook and found a recipe for Unfried Rice.  Although I was skeptical that this dish wouldn't satisfy my junk food craving I decided to give it a shot.  I also made some Hoison-Mustard Tofu to eat along with it.

The rice was made of brown rice, sesame oil, shallots, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and green onion.  This was the perfect recipe to clean out the fridge with, so I added steamed broccoli, cauliflower and peas to bulk it up a bit.  This dish was much, much, healthier without sacrificing one bit of flavor. Who needs unhealthy when healthy tastes so good?

As far as the Hoison-Mustard Tofu went, I made it almost exactly the same as I did the last time.  The major difference was the brand of tofu I bought.  This time I tried out  a local Chicago company Phoenix Bean Tofu.  I was completely sold on this brand it was dense and chewy without having to press it!  I am quite sure I will be sticking with this kind in the future.