sel et sucre

Tag: sesame seeds

  • Roasted Cabbage with Soy-Glazed Shiitake Mushrooms

    roasted cabbage with soy-glazed mushrooms

    The past three months in Buenos Aires have been an exciting time for me – getting adjusted to a new city, learning Spanish, and settling into a new food routine (an amazing verduleria down the street for fresh, great quality vegetables when I feel like cooking and a cheap empanada place for when I don’t). But I’m taking a little break now from Argentina to check out Montevideo for a month. As I was preparing to leave, one of the main things I focused on was cleaning out my kitchen, and this recipe was great for the half head of cabbage rolling around in my refrigerator and the dried shiitake mushrooms sitting in the back of my cabinet. I’m already a big cabbage fan, but roasting cabbage just might be my new favorite preparation. As with most vegetables, roasting draws out the natural sweetness of cabbage and makes it easy to eat a lot of without even thinking about how healthy it is. I brushed the cabbage with sesame oil to pair with the Asian flavors of the shiitake mushrooms which are cooked in their soaking water along with soy sauce and sugar, boiling down to a flavor-packed glaze. Not a bad way to use up the last of some basics on my kitchen – now it’s time for me to start stocking up my new place.

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  • Roasted Broccoli and Sun-dried Tomato Salad

    roasted broccoli and sun-dried tomato salad 1

    I’ve long been a proponent of roasting vegetables – it’s an easy way to enhance their flavor without even needing to add anything (other than a little olive oil and a pinch of salt). But I don’t think I’ve posted any recipes before with roasted broccoli. It’s a great focal point for a salad like this, where the concentrated flavors are well-complemented by the intense umami of sun-dried tomatoes. A simple balsamic honey reduction adds sweetness. Hard-boiled eggs add a great additional texture and help to balance the other strong flavors (although I think this salad would still be quite good as a vegan version without them). I can never resist putting nuts, seeds, and dried fruit on my salads, and this is no exception, with almonds, sesame seeds, and raisins rounding things out here. All together, the ingredients make for a sophisticated and delicious salad, with more than enough components to make it a satisfying meal.

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  • Black Bean Kimchi Quinoa Salad

    black bean kimchi quinoa salad

    Okay, I know I just posted about quinoa bibimbap, and yet here I am posting another recipe using both quinoa and kimchi. But this recipe doesn’t follow traditional Korean flavors; instead, there’s great fusion going on here with the incorporation of black beans and zucchini. In fact, you could take this recipe even further from your usual Asian flavors by seasoning it with a more traditional salad dressing instead of the mix of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar I use here. The black beans and zucchini are a surprisingly good match for the fermented flavors of the kimchi, and the overall effect is a great meal option that’s healthy but not boring.

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  • Quinoa Bibimbap

    quinoa bibimbap

    On Monday, I posted a great recipe for when you don’t have the time or energy to cook something elaborate. By contrast, here’s a complex recipe – for when you do feel like dedicating some time to the kitchen. Bibimbap is a classic Korean dish with a rice base and various vegetables as toppings. There are a lot of components here, but you can make this easier on yourself by preparing some ahead of time or omitting some. Or you can get creative and add different components using whatever you have on hand (bell peppers and zucchini, for example, are commonly used).

    quinoa bibimbap

    I stayed mostly traditional with the components here, with two main differences from the bibimbap you may have encountered before. For one, I omitted bulgogi (Korean barbecued beef) for a vegetarian version – you can add it back in, if you’re a meat-lover, or conversely, go a step further, and omit the fried egg and kimchi (or use a vegan kimchi) for a vegan version. For another, intead of rice, I used quinoa, mixed with chia seeds, as a substitute. Quinoa is a favorite of mine – a lot healthier than rice with a bit of a nutty flavor – and the inclusion of chia seeds helps to create a nice, sticky texture (while adding even more health benefits). Of course, using rice will also work just fine. However you customize this recipe, it’s a fun kitchen experiment and a tasty way to eat fresh veggies.

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  • Spiced Cauliflower

    spiced cauliflower

    I think my priorities might be a little skewed. When I was packing for Buenos Aires, I made an effort to get my possessions down to a bare minimum, to pack only what I really needed. But I decided that, along with a basic wardrobe, laptop computer, and camera, what I really needed to bring along was as many spices as possible. I’d heard that some were hard to find, and I didn’t want to deal with the start-up cost of buying new spices (plus they’re light!). Some people made fun of me for the decision, but when I picked up a head of cauliflower and saw this recipe, I knew I’d made the right decision. For many of the main ingredients, it was just a matter of reaching into my already well-stocked cabinet, and the resulting dish is spicy and immensely flavorful, reminiscent of (though I’m sure not authentic) Indian food. And not only did it taste great hot out of the pan, it was equally tasty eaten cold the next day.

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  • Korean Cold Noodles and Vegetables

    korean cold noodles and vegetables

    I haven’t even finished posting recipes for food I cooked during the last heatwave, and DC is already in the grip of a new one. Yesterday, it reached 100 degrees for the sixth time this year, and we may very well have the seventh time today. This, after only having five 100-degree days in 2011 and four in 2010 – and 17 total in the entirety of 1993 to 2009. Weather, like food, is something I feel passionately nerdy about. And they go all so well together. Even in this time of air conditioning, I find myself gravitating towards weather-appropriate recipes. Although this recipe does involve using (a single burner on) the stove for the noodles, these refreshing cold noodles and vegetables, tossed in an amazingly flavorful sauce is another perfect dish for hot days. And in addition to being delicious, this plate packs a powerful visual punch. The vegetables are easily adaptable to whatever you happen to have around, and you can even omit the noodles, if you want – I had a simple meal of broccoli in this sauce one night, and it was still delicious. The original recipe calls for the Korean herb perilla, but I wasn’t able to find any (and admittedly, in this heat, I didn’t feel like exerting myself much in searching), and it was just fine without it. If you can find it, feel free to add it in. Hopefully, this recipe can help you stay nice and cool, however you decide to adapt it.

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  • Cucumber Sesame Salad

    cucumber sesame salad

    My life has been crazy lately, an absolute whirlwind of activity. All exciting events in various ways, but I’ve barely had a chance to catch my breath. As a matter of fact, I am writing this from an airport terminal as I wait to board a flight to Istanbul (where I’ll be presenting at a conference – and getting ideas for new cooking projects, of course). It can be hard, amidst a flurry of events, to keep cooking, to eat well (both in terms of health and taste). So that’s why I’m posting a simple recipe today, one you can throw together in a matter of minutes. And one that’s quite tasty, to boot. This Asian-inspired cucumber salad can work as a quick lunch (especially if served over greens) or a side and would work amazingly at a picnic. Black sesame seeds add crunch, flavor, and great visual effect. Even when your life feels overwhelming, you should find a little time for this salad.

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  • Crab and Avocado Salad

    crab and avocado salad

    I’m constantly looking at new recipes. I keep a list of all the ones I hope to one day cook, and some recipes, I get to in a couple days or weeks. But some recipes linger on the list for months or even years. Recipes that I added even though they seemed complicated, recipes that I keep skipping over because they feel outside my skill range, some even that I’ve tried and failed in the past. My most satisfying cooking moments are always when I manage to successfully tackle one of those recipes (like my char siu bao). This crab and avocado salad has been sitting on my recipes list for three years. Serving a whole avocado, crusted with spices and stuffed with crab salad, seemed beyond my grasp, the technique of getting the crab inside the avocado too confusing, the variety of spices for crusting too extravagant. But recently, I found myself with crab and avocado in my grocery cart, and I knew I had to make this. It all fell together as I put my own twist on the recipe, adding in Asian flavors with soy sauce, sesame oil, and masago, using my own variety of seeds and spices, and just having fun making it. Afterwards, cutting into my creation, I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment. Another recipe conquered.

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