another, better, healthier dubu-jorim?! (Korean spicy braised tofu)

Korean spicy braised tofu (dubu jorim) is one of my favorite quick vegan weeknight tofu recipes! I can easily gobble up an entire batch of this with rice, noodles, or even served over a bed of roasted cauliflower!

I love the spicy braised tofu recipe that I posted a few years ago! However, that 3T dark soy sauce is a lot of sodium, and the teaspoon of chili is not enough to really call it a “spicy” dish.

Maangchi’s version is very, very similar to the recipe I posted in 2020 by JinJoo at kimchimari. The small changes you’ll see here are reflective of the way my own version of this dish has changed over time. While I do like JinJoo’s addition of mirin, I think 3T soy sauce vs. 1T soy sauce changes the sauce dramatically. I also love that Maangchi’s recipe calls for three times as much chili! This one will definitely wake you up.

Try both and see which one you like better! I’ll also include my adaptation, and her original. If you haven’t visited Maangchi, go give her some love while you pan-fry your tofu!

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my version of Maangchi’s spicy braised tofu dubu-jorim 두부조림

1 package of tofu
oil to fry (a few T)

half a small onion or a quarter of a larger onion
1 clove minced garlic
a few handfuls of scallions, chives, or Chinese garlic chives

sauce:
1T light soy sauce
(optional splash of mirin/rice wine)
1/2t. coarse kosher salt, less if fine salt (the original 1t. salt is far too much)
1/2 t. sugar (the original calls for 1t. sugar and that tastes great!)
1T. gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes) (use about half this amount if you’re using the more common and spicier dried chilis like Japones or chile de àrbol)
1/2 c. water

optional toppings: drizzle of sesame oil, sprinkling of sesame seeds, chopped green onions/chives to taste

1. fry chunks or slices of tofu on a medium-high heat until crispy. you can pan-fry, air-fry (convection oven,) whatever you want.
2. remove tofu, and in the same pan (if you pan-fried them) add a bit more oil and your finely chopped onions.
3. when they grow golden, add your garlic, stir-fry 1 minute, and then add the sauce to the pan.
4. simmer until the sauce looks more like sauce than water, then re-add tofu.
5. braise tofu in the sauce for a few minutes. serve with some of the optional toppings, pour over rice or noodles, pack in your lunchbox, or just eat it with a fork straight out of the pan!
   
   recipe barely adapted by friedsig from Maangchi’s spicy braised tofu dubu-jorim 두부조림

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original recipe: Maangchi’s spicy braised tofu dubu-jorim 두부조림

Ingredients

• 1 package of tofu (18 ounces: 510 grams)
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ cup minced onion
• 2 green onions, chopped

For the sauce, mix in a small bowl:

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
• ½ cup water

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This isn’t one of those complicated, hours-long Korean recipes like gamjatang (pork neckbone soup) – it’s quick, simple, hearty, vegetarian goodness! Definitely a “rotation” recipe here. Check out the rotation tag for more recipes I make again and again, or more Korean recipes that I have tried! I also have more amazing tofu recipes to share with you, like the four different versions of mapo tofu that I have tried, my favorite cold and spicy summertime snack liangban tofu, and takeout-style crispy vegan kung pao tofu!

epis (haitian green sauce)

Love Puerto Rican sofrito / recaito, Trini green seasoning, or “Caribbean green seasoning”? If you haven’t tried them, do you like pesto? Picture a pesto with other herbs instead of basil, a tiny hit of bouillon instead of parmesan, and so much garlic and onions! If you’ve ever eaten Haitian food, you have probably thought, “Wow, this is delicious… it has some special flavor I can’t put my finger on,” it might have been the homemade epis.

Like many Caribbean dishes, its origins are with African food, and indigenous (Taino) Caribbean food. If you love Caribbean food, you have to try this.

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Thank you so much to HaitianCooking.com for this recipe!

10 sprigs of parsley
1 onion
2 celery stalks
2 cups culantro (substitute cilantro if you can’t find it!)
2 green bell peppers
3 scallion stalks
2 chicken bouillon cubes
5 sprigs of thyme
3 Heads of garlic
2 tbs of Lime juice or 1 lime
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs of vinegar

blend. that’s it! you’re done! keeps for a week in the fridge, but then you should freeze the remainder. you can freeze it in a ziploc and break off pieces to use, or freeze in ice cube trays and transfer the frozen cubes to ziploc bags, jars, or other freezer-safe containers.

recipe by HaitianCooking.com

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The comments are full of opinions about cilanto vs. culantro. If you have access to culantro/chadon beni/recao, it seems people tend to feel that is more traditionally Haitian than cilantro. However, in watching YouTube recipes, it seemed like for every one person saying cilantro was a crime in epis, there was someone else saying their Haitian mom or grandmother used cilantro.

I love the small regional and familiar differences with recipes like this. If I had access to culantro, I would have used it. However, my local shop had only cilantro and parsley, and I went with it.

As always with my recipes, don’t take my word as gospel truth. I have no claim to know what is authentic Haitian food. I’m happy to share what I cook, along with my opinions. They are just that: opinions. If you’re Haitian, I would love to hear how your family makes epis!

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I’m still not sure if I like this better than sofrito. I think right now I’m on the fence. The tomato paste (I know not everyone uses it!) adds something special to sofrito. I can say with absolute certainty that this epis is incredible when used as a marinade for chicken, or rubbed onto a fish filet before pan-frying. However, my absolute favorite use for epis and sofrito is with beans. I challenge you to find a more perfect way to add depth of flavor to black bean soup. I saute onions and garlic first, then add the epis to cook out the raw flavor, and then add the broth and beans. This is a particularly good recipe for people who tend to find fresh herbs going south before they can be used. This ensures you always have a hit of fresh-tasting cilantro for whatever you plan to cook! I always have a batch of sofrito or epis in my freezer for a quick batch of black beans!

My only caution is that the temptation is huge to use this raw as a sauce on the side, but please be aware how much raw garlic and onion is in this. I’m not going to say *not* to use it raw, but you may be breathing fire for a while….

herbs de Provence (herb blend)

This classic Provençal (French) seasoning blend is packed with flavor. Another salt-free seasoning you’ll use on everything!

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1 T rosemary
1 T savory
1 T lavender flowers (cut in half if you use lavender leaves – i dried some from my garden)
1 T thyme
1 T basil
1 T marjoram
1 T parsley
1/2 T fennelseed
1/2 T tarragon
1/2 T oregano
1/2 t bay leaves

it’s okay to leave out any ingredients you don’t have

combine, store in a sealed, air-tight container. (all ingredients must be dried completely or they will mold.) best used within a year.

adapted from a recipe from Mariposa at allrecipes

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Whether you have hypertension, or just want to cut back on salt, a salt-free seasoning blend is an amazing way to impart flavor to your food. Healthy food has a bad reputation for being bland & flavorless. If anything, I think the opposite is true; salt and sugar often take the place of real flavor in processed food. If you have access to fresh ingredients – lemon zest and juice, fresh herbs, homemade fruit vinegars, fermented veggies – there’s little need for heavy, strong flavors. Regardless of what you have, something simple like herbs de Provence can add something special to anything you prepare.

Need some inspiration? Sprinkle some on your roasted potatoes or chicken, in the batter of anything you fry, in a simple pan sauce or homemade salad dressing or yogurt dipping sauce or aioli, on any salad (especially a cold summery bean salad or chicken salad,) in ratatouille, in a tomato sauce or cream sauce for pasta, in marinated olives or cheese, or just sprinkled on some fresh garden tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil. I especially like herbs de Provence on vegan food; your vegan pasta or chickpea salad game will never be the same! Lately, I have been roasting bags of frozen broccoli with a little olive oil and a healthy dusting of herbs de Provence. It’s such a great lazy weeknight snack!

I still use my salt-free ‘ranch’ / Capitol Hill seasoning blend multiple times a week, because everything is better with garlic. (It really makes the best garlic bread in the world.) If you’re using bland ingredients, like veggies from Walmart, maybe you want to go big, like some ras-el-hanout or a heavily roasted Sri Lankan black curry powder. But especially when working with delicate ingredients like potatoes or tomatoes fresh from the farmers market, this herbs de Provence really hits the spot.

What’s your favorite way to use herbs de Provence?

fennel crackers

No waiting hours for bread to rise. No yeast. No ten minute long knead. Just a quick cracker to serve with your favorite summer foods, like baba ghanouj (vegan eggplant dip) or roasted tomato dip.

Original recipe by Meeta of The Bhukkad Bawarchi

WHAT I’LL TRY NEXT TIME:

3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c. rye flour, or other wholemeal flour
1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes
2 t. sesame seeds
1/2 t. nigella seeds
1 t. whole fennel seeds, crushed coarsely
1/2 t. black pepper
2 T. olive oil
~1/4 c. water
2 t. lime juice

Combine all the dry ingredients. Add the olive oil and lemon juice slowly. Drizzle in water slowly as you knead, adding as much water as you need, which may vary. Mix just long enough to bring the dough together, then wrap with cling film and refrigerate for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 450F. Roll out the dough a bit thinner than you think you should, and cut into strips, rounds, use cookie cutters, whatever you want. (Strips are easy and low-hassle to cut with a knife.) You can brush them with olive oil and sprinkle coarse salt on top if you’re fancy. Bake until golden brown – around 9 or 10 minutes for me, but check often after minute 7.

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WHAT I MADE:

3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c. rye flour
1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
2 t. sesame seeds
1/4 t. nigella seeds
1 t. whole fennel seeds, crushed coarsely
1/2 t. black pepper
2 T. olive oil
~1/4 c. water
2 t. lime or lemon juice

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THE ORIGINAL RECIPE, BY Meeta of The Bhukkad Bawarchi

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder
• 2 tsp. sesame seeds
• 3 tsp fennel (saunf) seeds, coarsely grounded
• ½ tsp. black pepper, coarsely grounded
• 2 tbsp. Olive oil
• ½ cup warm water + 2 tsp. of lemon juice
• Olive oil for brushing

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Nice simple cracker. Took less than an hour to finish baking a batch. Good with cherry tomato, thyme, and garlic confit. The spices and seeds in the crackers are infinitely adaptable. I’m sure they’d be great with dehydrated onions, poppy seeds, flaxseeds, or any of your favorites. Personally I think nigella seeds are just perfect in crackers. This may be the start of a cracker phase…

moong dal tadka (indian lentils)

this dal can be made more easily by someone with limited ingredients.

please check out hebbar’s kitchen for the full recipe with photo step-by-step!

https://hebbarskitchen.com/moong-dal-recipe-moong-dal-tadka/

• 2 tbsp oil
• ▢ 1 inch ginger (finely chopped)
• ▢ ½ onion (finely chopped)
• ▢ 1 green chilli (slit) (I wouldn’t include this if I was cooking it for a picky eater)
• ▢ 1 tomato (finely chopped)
• ▢ ¼ tsp turmeric / haldi
• ▢ ½ tsp kashmiri red chilli powder / lal mirch powder
• ▢ 1 tsp salt
• ▢ ¾ cup moong dal
• ▢ 3 cup water

for tempering / tadka:

• ▢ 1 tbsp ghee / clarified butter
• ▢ 1 tsp cumin / jeera
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic (crushed)
• ▢ 1 inch ginger (julienne)
• ▢ 1 dried kashmiri red chilli
• ▢ ¼ tsp kashmiri red chilli powder / lal mirch powder
• ▢ ¼ tsp garam masala
• ▢ pinch of hing / asafoetida
• ▢ few curry leaves
  
• ▢ 2 tbsp coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• ▢ 1 tbsp lemon juice

• in an instant pot (or regular pot) heat 2 tbsp oil and saute ½ onion.
• also saute 1 inch ginger and 1 green chilli.
• additionally saute 1 tomato till it turns soft and mushy.
• add in ¼ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp salt and saute.
• now add ¾ cup washed moong-dal and 3 cup water.
• mix well making sure everything is combined well.
• cover and cook until dal is soft.
• now prepare the tadka and pour the tadka over dal along with 2 tbsp coriander leaves and 1 tbsp lemon juice.
• finally, mix the moong dal tadka and serve with hot rice / roti.
  
  recipe by hebbars kitchen – check out their blog for a fantastic visual recipe!

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This is not as flavorful as my favorite Gujarati dal – not coconutty like Khandeshi dal, or heavy like dal makhani – but the tadka has some good flavor. I’ll make it again. It will probably be my go-to dal recipe when I am cooking in a kitchen without many ingredients, and the dal I will recommend for picky eaters or those who are new to Indian food and aren’t ready for fenugreek, coconut, or tamarind. (Might want to cut the chili by quite a bit for a picky eater, especially if it sits overnight and the slit chili infuses itself into your leftovers!) It’s quite flavorful from the tadka, and I had absolutely no problem eating an entire batch of this over not even 24 hours. (Sorry, potluck dal…. you just lost your place in my rotation.)

Thanks again to hebbars kitchen for a great recipe. Check out all their wonderful dal recipes – or check out mine!

haupia (vegan hawaiian coconut milk pudding)

Creamy vegan dessert? I didn’t believe it, either. I’ve had a lot of vegan desserts, and they have ranged from absolutely delicious (chocolate chip cookie dough bites!!!) to totally…. uh… acceptable (looking at you, vegan sweet potato julius)

I thought deeply creamy, rich, indulgent vegan desserts were a fantasy. I mean, sure, I have made wiggly little coconut and red bean desserts, which are very similar, but they contained a can of dairy milk. Vegan desserts can have amazing flavor and texture, but creamy is usually reserved for dairy. This, however, is fully vegan and fully rich. We’re talking “you can’t finish a whole batch of this even if you try” style indulgent.

I mostly followed the instructions from Onolicious Hawai’i – but learned in a video by born-and-raised-in-Hawaii Relle of Keeping it Relle that haupia made with pasteurized/cooked/canned coconut milk tends to create a more pudding-like rather than “Jell-o jiggler” consistency. Other recipes adjust for this by calling for one extra tablespoon of starch. I’ll try this next time, and report back.

Thanks to Hawaiian acquaintances a2 and Lyrakil for the suggestion and encouragement to cook this.

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• 1 can (full-fat, not light) coconut milk
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch 
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

1. Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Mix till the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the whole can of coconut milk and sugar. Whisk together, and keep whisking until it’s just about to boil.
3. Slowly pour in the cornstarch/water mixture while whisking.
4. Turn the heat to low, and keep cooking for 10-15 minutes. You’ll want to stay at the stove at this whole time, and whisk pretty frequently. You’ll know the haupia is ready when it gets much thicker (almost “gluey”) and starts to pull away from the side of the saucepan when you whisk.
5. Pour into a greased (or parchment paper lined) 8×8 pan. Let cool at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then cool in the fridge for 1-2 hours until set. Cut into squares and enjoy chilled
   
   
   recipe created by Onolicious Hawai’i – please visit for gorgeous photos, and more info! also check out Keeping it Relle‘s version

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Yes, yes, and yes. Simple, fast, doesn’t make a huge mess, not super labor-intensive, and 100% vegan. Would it be absolutely sacrilege to add some minced candied ginger, or a bit of nutmeg? I plan to make this again and again, especially for vegan friends, experimenting with a bit more corn starch for a wiggly jiggly result that’s more true to the authentic Hawaiian style. Very tasty and well worth the minimal effort!

Coconut not your jam? If you’re into vegan or raw desserts, you might enjoy a raw banana cream pie, raw vegan brownie bites (which are extra-tasty mixed into vegan pudding,) or my favorite raw vegan dessert of all time, chocolate chip cookie dough bites!

vellapayar / lobia curry (keralite black-eyed peas)

Black-eyed peas are affordable, healthy, and cook faster than some other dried beans and peas. Food from Kerala (a state in India) is super flavorful and delicious. As soon as I tasted this, I knew I’d make it again and again.

It’s the opposite of bland. Delicious and flavorful! Spices are more expensive here than in Kerala, and my budget is limited, so I’ll experiment with cutting the spices. I’ll post the original recipe from Dassana’s Veg Recipes of India, and my version.

• MY THRIFTIER VERSION:

1 c black-eyed peas & pinch of salt

2.5 c water

Pressure cook in Instant Pot for 20 minutes on high pressure. Natural release.

(If you don’t have a pressure cooker, just simmer in water until soft.)

▢ 0.75 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
▢ ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
▢ 1 inch of cinnamon
▢ 2 green cardamom
▢ 4 cloves
▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper – slightly crushed
▢ 1 dried red chili
▢ ⅓ cup sliced pearl onions, shallots, or onions
▢ 8 curry leaves
▢ 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
▢ 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
▢ ½ cup chopped tomatoes
▢ ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
▢ 1 teaspoon coriander powder
▢ ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder, optional
▢ 1.5 cups water or add as required
▢ salt as required

In large skillet or dutch oven, cook coconut oil over low heat. Add mustard seeds, cook until they splutter. Add cumin seeds, cook until they splutter. Add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and chili, cook for 2 seconds. Add onions, cook til soft. Add curry leaves, ginger, and garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add black pepper and tomatoes, cook for a few seconds. Add the powdered spices and cook until tomatoes soften. Add the water, cooked black-eyed peas, salt to taste, and simmer for 15 minutes or until delicious.

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• ORIGINAL AUTHENTIC RECIPE:

1 c black-eyed peas

2.5 c water

Pressure cook for 10-12 whistles.

• ▢ 3 tablespoon coconut oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ▢ 2 pieces each of 1 inch cinnamon
• ▢ 2 green cardamoms
• ▢ 4 cloves
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper – slightly crushed
• ▢ 1 dried red chili
• ▢ ⅓ cup sliced pearl onions shallots or onions
• ▢ 8 to 10 curry leaves
• ▢ 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• ▢ 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• ▢ 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coconut
• ▢ ½ cup chopped tomatoes
• ▢ 2 green chilies – slit
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon red chili powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder, optional
• ▢ 1.5 cups water or add as required
• ▢ salt as required
• ▢ 1 teaspoon coconut oil to be added later
• ▢ 3 to 4 curry leaves to be added later
  recipe by Dassana at Veg Recipes of India – check out her blog for beautiful photos and more detailed instructions!

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Easily killed an entire pot of this in 2 days and already want more. It’s delicious! Serve it with rice or flatbreads like hoppers or naan. Would be delicious with veggies as well, like kaddu ki subji (Indian sweet and sour squash) or hyderabadi baghara baingan (indian sesame peanut eggplant) or baingan musasalam / mughlai baingan masala (indian eggplant and tomato) or a kadai mushroom masala. (These vegetable recipes are from other parts of India, not Kerala – so check out a Keralite food blog like samagni if you want to cook a fully authentic Keralite meal!)

a better miso butter onion (sorry, Yotam Ottolenghi!)

The photo of Yotam Ottolenghi’s miso butter onions (printed in TASTE, from his new book Ottolenghi Flavor) is extremely compelling. Just the slightest bit of char, visible umami flavor, and a visibly softer onion than one can achieve with high-heat roasting. Who wouldn’t want to try them?

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The recipe is simple, yet the technique is surprisingly finicky for a three-ingredient side dish.

Preheat the oven to 500F (yes, 500F.)

Melt butter into a baking dish, and whisk in miso and warm water.

Nestle some small onion halves into the baking dish.

Roast for 35 minutes, flip, and continue roasting for another 45 or 50 minutes, basting every ten minutes.

(Check out Taste, or Ottolenghi’s book, for more detailed instructions.)

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Are the onions tasty? Sure. Miso adds umami, butter adds fat, onions cooked until soft add sweetness. If you like miso and you like onions, of course you’ll like this.

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Here’s why I think it’s not worth it.

First of all, your oven is on for a MINIMUM of an hour and a half, longer if, like me, you have an ancient oven that takes a while to heat up.

Onions are a very affordable and humble primary ingredient for a side dish, and this would be a very accessible recipe if it wasn’t for this finicky technique. Who has time to baste onions every ten minutes? Who can afford to leave their oven on for two hours just to roast some onions?

Also, is your favorite onion texture “mush”? Predictably, braising onions gives them the same consistency as an onion simmered in a pot of chicken broth for six hours. That is, “soft” is an understatement. These onions could be spread on toast if you wanted to. (Actually, that doesn’t sound half bad.) It eliminates much of the bite and flavor of an onion, making them maybe ideal for someone who’s horrified by a caramelized or roasted or raw onion, someone looking for a way to conceal an allium. If you like the flavor and texture of an onion, this is, let’s say, not an ideal way to highlight either.

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—-> My alteration, with apologies to Yotam Ottolenghi? Cut some small onions into chunks, then toss in melted butter and miso paste, then roast onions on a baking sheet. No simmering them in water until they’re mush. Just roast them as you would garlic. Will the texture be identical? No, instead of insipid mush, they’ll become a slightly savory version of the onions you probably already roast along with your sheet pan of veggies or chicken. Hell, toss a bunch of chicken parts and chunks of potatoes and garlic in the same miso butter, and make a whole meal out of it!

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Onions are a smart side dish for folks like me who love flavor but have a limited food budget. The flavors are on point here, but the technique is unnecessarily complicated. I’ll recommend this exact recipe and technique IF you’re already planning to keep your oven on 500F for several hours. Otherwise, just roast onion chunks in miso butter, and ditch the constant basting. They’ll be done in less than half the time, and you may just prefer the texture, too.

pulp crisp: a savory okara / dòuzhā / biji pancake made with leftovers!

Making soy milk, oat milk, rice milk, nut milk, or tofu, and looking for something to do with the leftover pulp? Soy pulp, also known as okara in Japanese, biji in Korean, and dòuzhā in Chinese, can be used in almost any recipe you can think of! Hide it in a stir-fry, mush it into morning porridge, or tuck it into breads, cookies, or cakes! How you use it might depend on whether your pulp is just pure soybean, grains, nuts, or some combination. The pure pulp is fairly flavorless compared with, say, a grain-based milk made with dried fruits and nuts – which means the possibilities for cooking with it are endless!

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Yes, I got an $8 used soymilk machine about three months ago – and it’s become a part of my daily life in a way I was never expecting. Homemade nut and grain milk is sweeter and creamier than milk. I drink it every morning. Tastes nothing like the soymilk from the store! Stay tuned for a mega-post chronicling months of experiments with different combinations of grains, beans, nuts, fruits, and seeds!

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So far, this is one of my favorite “waste not” recipes using okara! Ever since I began my grain and nut milk obsession a few months ago, I have been combing the internet for ways to use the leftover soy pulp. This recipe is ridiculously easy. If you use enough soy milk or water, you’ll be really surprised by the crepe-like texture. These pancakes will keep you full way longer than a “typical” pancake due to all the protein.

My recipe is modified from The Foodie Baker's version in one huge way that really changes the texture and flavor. Curious?

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SAVORY OKARA PANCAKE modified from The Foodie Baker

50 grams fresh okara

50 grams rice flour (all-purpose flour is fine, too)

100 ml soy milk or water

2 pinches salt

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

2 spring onion finely chopped (optional)

your favorite spices (optional – black pepper is recommended – a pinch of Chinese five-spice is great in this!)

neutral oil, to fry (like canola, vegetable, etc.)

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note: If you don’t have a scale, it’s important to note that depending on how much soy milk you squeezed out of your pulp, 50g okara might be a quarter-cup, or a half-cup. If you’re very lazy, like me, and your hands get tired after a few squeezes, use a little less okara. If yours is very fluffy, use a little more. Or – and this has been true for me so far – just eyeball it, because the amount doesn’t matter too much! 50g flour is probably about a third of a cup. 100ml is about a half-cup. You can eyeball these amounts – it really doesn’t matter that much.

Mix everything together, with whatever spoon or whisk you like, or your hands. Pour batter into preheated oiled skillet and fry like a pancake. Eat with your favorite dipping sauce. I loved a chili oil/black vinegar sauce, but anything from soy sauce to plain yogurt would be good. Or serve with eggs – soy-cured eggs would be amazing with these – or leftover veggies!

original recipe by the foodie baker and modified by friedsig

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The original recipe calls for egg, which makes more of a typical American-style pancake. I could really taste the egg in it, which would be great for someone who loves that hard cooked egg / French toast flavor! However, if you prefer a crispy dosa-style pancake like I do, you’ll much prefer the eggless version. Obviously, vegans will prefer it without egg. I love eggs, and much prefer a soft cooked egg wrapped in one of these crispy pancakes, rather than the egg overcooking inside the pancake.

Experiment with this! I bet this would be amazing with a ton of sugar and cinnamon if that’s your jam. I’m on a savory kick lately, though. I have loved these strongly seasoned with a Chinese five-spice blend, with a homemade Sri Lankan curry powder, with a basic blend of garlic powder and black pepper, and just plain with sesame oil and salt.

The edges get quite crispy and crunchy, so I have named these “pulp crisps” because my “okara” is usually some blend of peanuts, Chinese red dates, millet or oats, black soybeans, rice…. not just pure soy okara.

If you’re curious about my journey with this soymilk machine, fear not! Recipes are coming.

fagiolini con pomodoro, aglio, e basilico (green beans with tomato)

SUPER healthy, vegan, fast, easy, affordable. No fancy techniques here – and yet, the best green beans I’ve had in as long as I can remember. This is the kind of simple recipe you want to use when you have delicious, fresh ingredients, and you want the flavor of the ingredients to be the star of the dish.

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I got this recipe from the Lopez Island Kitchen Gardens, but this is actually a Marcella Hazan recipe from her 1986 book Marcella’s Italian Kitchen.

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“The proportions Hazan recommends are one pound of fresh ripe tomatoes, a pound-and-a-half of green beans, a half-cup olive (ed: oil), two teaspoons of chopped garlic, salt, pepper and one cup of fresh basil leaves.  For pasta sauce, increase the tomatoes to a pound-and-a-half and the garlic to three teaspoons.

In a skillet large enough to hold everything, sauté the garlic in the olive oil until it’s golden, add the peeled, roughly chopped tomatoes, and cook at high heat for about five minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium, add salt and pepper to taste and the beans, whole or sliced and cook until the beans are tender.  If, when the beans are done, there’s still some watery tomato juice in the skillet, remove the beans and turn up the heat to reduce the extra liquid.  When the sauce has reduced, return the beans to the skillet, add the basil and serve either as a side dish or on pasta.”

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recipe created by Marcella Hazan, from her 1986 book Marcella’s Italian Kitchen, discovered thanks to the Lopez Island Kitchen Gardens

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I got some musica pole beans and a huge tomato from the farmer’s market. Never tried those flat green beans before, and was worried about how thick and fibrous they seemed when raw, but this recipe was beyond delicious. This would work just as well with round green beans as thick flat green beans.

For (cough) some of us (Americans), it can be hard to get used to cooking with delicious, fresh ingredients, because we are accustomed to cooking with the flavorless veggies we can actually afford. We use the most flavorful techniques, like sprucing up a $2 head of broccoli with cheese or a ton of lemon, so that they are edible.

This is the polar opposite. You’re not creating a sauce or a tadka to camouflage the flavorless veg. You’re creating a symphony of flavors where the lead singer (I hate this metaphor) is the green bean (why would a symphony have a lead singer?)

I really can’t speak highly enough of this recipe. This tastes nothing like what you’re picturing, with bits of flavorless green bean floating in a tomato-paste-based tomato sauce from a jar. This tastes so sweet and fresh and perfect. You’ll eat the whole thing. If you are fortunate enough to have the space for a garden, this recipe is extremely affordable, too!

Just make sure you’re using garden (or farmers market) ingredients for this one. If you’re using industrially produced tomatoes and beans, or if it’s off-season, can I recommend Sichuan blistered green beans or green bean salad with olive and sun-dried tomato?