Our Favorite Pop Corn

By Anni | May 29, 2009 – 17:12

This is how we love our pop corn: with a fiery heat from chili powder, a nice acidic bite from the amchoor, a bit of smokey paprika, a dash of nutritional yeast, and a pinch of salt. These flavors just combine so very well that a bowl of pop corn never lasts very long around here.

popcorn

The amount of chili can of course be scaled up or down, to suit everyone’s tastes. The seasoning recipe makes just about enough to season 1 dl of unpopped corn kernels, or less if we want a more intense flavor.

Basic Pop Corn:

  • 3/4 to 1 dl pop corn kernels
  • 1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons canola oil

We heat the oil in a cooking pot on high heat and add one corn kernel to see if it’s hot enough – when the kernel pops, it’s time to add the rest. Then we cover the pot, shake it a little, and let the kernels pop. When the popping slows down, we remove the pot from heat, pour the pop corn in a serving bowl, and toss in the seasoning.

The Seasoning:

  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon amchoor (dried mango powder, also known as amchur)
  • 1/3 teaspoon hot chili powder
  • 1/3 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon salt

We just stir all the ingredients together with a fork – the amchoor powder tends to get a bit lumpy, so it’s important to be thorough with this.

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Tofu Chocolate Mousse

By Anni | May 19, 2009 – 19:38

Tofu chocolate mousse has recently been embraced by a number of mainstream culinary authorities, but for many vegans it’s been basic fare for years – either as a pie filling, cake topping, or simply as a decadent dessert. This is my latest twist on the classic, with a dash of espresso and whole cane sugar to make things interesting. We were impatient and only refrigerated the mousse for one hour, and thus the first spoonful felt almost too intense, almost as if the coffee and caramelly whole sugar undertones were competing with chocolate. But with every spoonful the flavor grew rounder and fuller – and after a night in the fridge the chocolate had taken over, while all the other flavors subtly backed it up.

tofu_mousse

The cherry chocolate I used for decoration was a nice addition, and I’m thinking fresh cherries might work as well – although they’d have to be very ripe and sweet not to be overshadowed by the flavor of the mousse itself. I’d actually added a dash of cinnamon in my coffee before brewing it, and while not really noticeable, it might have added a hint of depth to the flavors.

The Chocolate Mousse (serves 4):

  • 350 grams (one package Mori-Nu) firm silken tofu
  • 3 tablespoons very strong and cold coffee (stove-top espresso with a bit of cinnamon)
  • 3 tablespoons whole cane sugar
  • 1 and 1/2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
  • 150 grams nice semi-sweet chocolate
  • chocolate shavings for decoration, optional

I mixed the tofu, coffee and sugars with our immersion blender until very very smooth, absolutely no lumps were visible. Meanwhile, Heikki melted the chocolate in a water bath. Then he ladled the chocolate in the tofu bowl and I whisked away until thoroughly combined.

We poured this mixture in 4 ramekins and refrigerated for an hour, and I decorated two portions with cherry chocolate shavings, which added a a bit of textural contrast as well. The two remaining ramekins were saved for the next day and were even better.

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Caraway Bread

By Heikki | May 16, 2009 – 19:58

It’s been way too long since I’ve blogged about anything. I’ve been quite busy, but things are a lot less hectic now, and I can focus on important things, like making pickles and baking bread. I had always thought caraway as a spice to use with rye sourdough bread, but this bread demonstrated me how well it goes with a lighter bread as well. I got the idea for this recipe from a little book about bread baking we checked out from the library – it’s called Leivo itse hyvää leipää and is written by Birgitta Rasmusson and Cecilia Lundin.

Caraway Bread

This is a very simple method for bread baking – no need to worry too much about kneading or shaping. This bread keeps well for a few days, stored in a paper bag that is wrapped in a kitchen towel.

This is what we used:

  • 3 dl wheat bran
  • 1 1/2 dl spelt flour
  • 2 dl white wheat flour
  • 3 dl whole wheat flour
  • 1 tablespoon caraway seeds, crushed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 dl water, warmed to about 37 °C
  • 2 tablespoons muscovado sugar
  • 25 g fresh yeast
  • for decoration: about 2 teaspoons caraway seeds

I started by mixing the bran, the flours, salt, and the crushed caraway seeds in a bowl. Then I mixed the sugar with the water, and stirred with a fork until the sugar was diluted. Now I diluted the yeast into the water, crumbling it first with my fingers and then stirring with a fork. I poured the liquid into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and mixed it quickly into a dough. We spread the dough on a baking parchment placed on a baking sheet, and flattened with our hands until it was an evenly-shaped square, about 30cm x 30cm. Then we let it raise for 40 minutes.

The oven was set to 225 degrees Celsius. Before putting the bread in the oven, I sprayed it with some water and sprinkled caraway seeds over the top. I baked the bread for 15 minutes on the middle rack of our oven. Now the bread had browned just a little bit on the top, and I removed it from the oven and put it on a wooden rack to cool. Once it had cooled enough that I could touch it, I cut it into squares. We immediately enjoyed it with some soup.

Caraway Bread Closeup

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Herbed Tofu Salad with New Cabbage

By Anni | May 13, 2009 – 20:43

We’ve been eating a lot of cabbage all through the winter, and the arrival of Hungarian new crop cabbage has been a real celebration for us. It’s so soft and green and sweet, perfect to be used in stir-fries and salads of any kind – an indulgence while we wait for the local cabbage crop. I prefer lightly dressed salads with a salty ingredient or two – olives, sundried tomatoes, capers, soy-toasted nuts and seeds, or nicely spiced tofu – so that the vegetables’ own characters don’t get lost in the mix. Pan-frying tofu and then soaking it with a spicy sauce is an easy way to make it really flavorful without the advance planning required when marinating.

tofu_salad

This makes enough tofu for 4, so we have plenty of leftovers – they are very munchable and a nice addition to many meals.

The Herbed Tofu (serves 4):

  • 500 g tofu
  • 2 and 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon each: smoked paprika, thyme, sage, tarragon
  • 1 teaspoon brown rice vinegar
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 cloves garlic, pressed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

I first pressed the tofu – sliced it, wrapped in cheesecloth, placed a cutting board and a pile of cookbooks over it, and let sit for 15 minutes. Then I cut it into small-ish cubes (about the size of the tip of my thumb), heated the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat, and fried the tofu cubes until slightly browned on most sides. This takes about 10 minutes, and while the tofu was frying, I had plenty of time to mix together the seasonings (tamari through garlic).

When the tofu was nice and golden brown, I poured the seasoning mixture in the pan, and stirred it to coat all the tofu cubes. I kept on stirring until the liquid was absorbed and started to get brown, and removed the pan from heat. I let the tofu come to room temperature before adding it to the salad base.

The Salad Base (serves 2):

  • 1 small head of new cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced
  • a bunch of arugula, chopped
  • 6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
  • a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1-2 tablespoons gomasio (Japanese sesame salt), or salt to taste
  • 1 teaspoon agave syrup
  • plenty of black pepper
  • fresh basil

I just tossed everything together in a large bowl, added about half of the tofu, and sprinkled with some fresh basil.

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Sweet Almond Rolls

By Anni | May 6, 2009 – 08:44

The most typically Finnish pastry is pulla, a yeasted sweet bread that comes in various shapes: small round buns, swirly cinnamon rolls, and braided loaves and knots. The dough has plenty of cardamom in it and the rolls are often topped with slivered almonds or pearl sugar for some sweet crunch. The smell of cardamom and yeast that fills our apartment when the dough is rising instantly takes me back to childhood – that is the fragrance of a true home in my mind. This time I decided to fill my rolls with almonds and walnuts instead of the usual cinnamon, but the shape is traditional – it resembles an ear, and accordingly the Finnish word for cinnamon rolls literally means “a slap on the ear” (korvapuusti).

almond_rolls

I added a few pinches of saffron in the dough for a yellow hue. Saffron is usually only used on special occasions, in Christmas and Easter baking, and I have to admit that I actually prefer my pulla without the taste of saffron.

I placed the dough in the fridge after the first rising, and let it come to room temperature on the next day before shaping the rolls. I think that the slow second rising really made a difference, since this was definitely one of the best pulla batches I’ve ever baked – the dough was soft and pliable, very easy to work with and nice and tender after baking.

The Pulla Dough (makes 12 almond rolls):

  • 3 dl warm soy milk
  • 25 grams fresh yeast
  • 3 and 1/3 dl wheat flour
  • 3 dl whole spelt flour
  • 1 dl raw cane sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
  • 50 grams coconut oil, warmed until liquid
  • 1/2 dl canola oil
  • (a few pinches of saffron threads, finely ground – optional)

I heated the soy milk to 37 degrees Celsius, as warm as my hand. Then I diluted the yeast and the sugar in the water, and then added the salt, saffron, and cardamom. Now, I poured in the wheat flour, and stirred briskly with a wooden fork for about 3 minutes. I added the coconut oil and the spelt flour, and kneaded for a few minutes.

Now I added the canola oil and kneaded it in the dough, then placed it on the working surface and kept on kneading until the dough was smooth and didn’t stick to my hands any more. I let it rise, covered and in a warm, draftless place (which in this case was our oven) for a few hours, until it had just about tripled in size, then shaped it back to a round log again and returned in the bowl, covered the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it slowly rise in the fridge overnight.

In the morning I removed the bowl from the fridge and let the dough come to room temperature for a few hours. Then I rolled it out with a rolling pin into a rectangular sheet a bit less than one centimeter thick.

The Filling:

  • 3/4 dl or 5 tablespoons almonds
  • 3/4 dl or 5 tablespoons walnuts
  • 1/2 dl muscovado (whole cane) sugar, packed
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
  • 50 grams margarine, softened

I just mixed the almonds, the walnuts, and the sugars in our mini food processor until they were coarsely ground together. I spread the margarine on the dough sheet and sprinkled with the filling mixture.

The Shaping of the Rolls:

Now I rolled up the dough sheet tightly into a log, starting from the longer side:

almond_rolls_rolling

I used an unserrated knife and sloping cuts to cut it into triangular pieces, like so:

almond_rolls_cutting

I placed the rolls on a baking sheet, the wider side downwards, and pressed down the centers with my fingers, so that the cut sides bulged out:

almond_rolls_shaping

Now I placed the baking sheets in a warm place, covered them with a kitchen towel, and set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Now the dough got to have a third rising for about 40 minutes, until the rolls had almost doubled in size.

The Topping:

  • 1/2 dl water
  • 1 tablespoon plain soy yoghurt
  • 1 tablespoon syrup of choice
  • pearl sugar and chopped almonds

I whisked the water, soy yoghurt and syrup together, and just before baking I brushed the rolls with the mixture, and sprinkled with almonds and pearl sugar.

Finally, I baked the rolls on the middle rack of our oven for 10 minutes, until nicely browned over the top.

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