Well, not without a little failure on the front end.
Tonight for dinner I decided to make Garlicky Mushroom Turnovers from Real Vegetarian Thai, a cookbook we got for Christmas. I started with the dough for the turnovers, which is where something went terribly wrong. Instead of all-purpose flour I used chapati flour, something we've substituted for both whole-wheat and white flour in the past and had great results with. I don't know if it was a different brand than we usually use or if it caused the measurements to be off or what, but I could not get the dough to come together to save my life. It just resisted turning into anything but stiff, sticky, stubborn clumps. Even after beating in an egg to bind it together (it worked so well on the cookies), and adding more warm water, it just turned into...wet, stubborn clumps. Realizing that this dinner was not at all on the right track, I did what I am loathe to do and I just threw it out. I started over with a batch of our favorite pizza crust/flatbread recipe and decided on a kind of calzonified turnover. From here on out, I was on a better roll. (No pun intended, hahaha!)
The filling includes garlic-cilantro paste, which is just what it sounds like. Specifically, eight cloves of garlic and about a tablespoon of chopped cilantro, along with 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper--all whirled in the Cuisinart or mashed with a mortar and pestle. Fry it up in a tablespoon of oil (I used sesame) until fragrant and cooked. Add 8 oz of chopped mushrooms (I used a couple of handfuls of dried mixed mushrooms we got from Costco, reconsituted and also minced in the Cuisinart) and fry until those are cooked. I also added about 1/3 onion, minced, in lieu of the shallots called for because we don't have any because we've decided they just aren't worth it when onions are so much cheaper and shelf-stable and easy to come by. The next ingredient is 4 ounces of firm tofu, pressed dry and chopped tiny. Let me just say that this is the first time I've successfully cooked with tofu. The last time I tried it (which was also the first time), I was a brand-new 13-year-old vegetarian and I fried it up in A-1 steak sauce. Don't ask me why that seemed like an appropriate way to kick off the new lifestyle. By the end I was gagging it down and for a long time, just the mere mention of it made me shudder. However, like so many other good things in life, Matt convinced me to give it another try. Since I've happily eaten in in Eggless Egg Salad and a variety of stir-fry since, I thought I could try my hand at it one more time.
After frying the tofu until it turns golden and mixing it well with the rest of the filling, you pour on a sauce made of 1 tablespoon water, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix it all up and let it sit.
We rolled out the pizza crust into six little circles, plopped on the filling and folded them over into little half-moons. Then we baked them at 400 degrees for twenty minutes.
They were wonderful--rich and tasty and the crusts were doughy and delicious. The book also
gives a recipe for a sweet and sour chili sauce involving 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar, several hot chilies, and a little salt. I don't know if I'd use quite that much sugar next time, and instead of cooking it down and reducing it I took the impatient way out and thickened with cornstarch, but it was great. We'd definitely make this whole thing over again, and it's on its way into the permanent rotation.
Tonight for dinner I decided to make Garlicky Mushroom Turnovers from Real Vegetarian Thai, a cookbook we got for Christmas. I started with the dough for the turnovers, which is where something went terribly wrong. Instead of all-purpose flour I used chapati flour, something we've substituted for both whole-wheat and white flour in the past and had great results with. I don't know if it was a different brand than we usually use or if it caused the measurements to be off or what, but I could not get the dough to come together to save my life. It just resisted turning into anything but stiff, sticky, stubborn clumps. Even after beating in an egg to bind it together (it worked so well on the cookies), and adding more warm water, it just turned into...wet, stubborn clumps. Realizing that this dinner was not at all on the right track, I did what I am loathe to do and I just threw it out. I started over with a batch of our favorite pizza crust/flatbread recipe and decided on a kind of calzonified turnover. From here on out, I was on a better roll. (No pun intended, hahaha!)
The filling includes garlic-cilantro paste, which is just what it sounds like. Specifically, eight cloves of garlic and about a tablespoon of chopped cilantro, along with 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper--all whirled in the Cuisinart or mashed with a mortar and pestle. Fry it up in a tablespoon of oil (I used sesame) until fragrant and cooked. Add 8 oz of chopped mushrooms (I used a couple of handfuls of dried mixed mushrooms we got from Costco, reconsituted and also minced in the Cuisinart) and fry until those are cooked. I also added about 1/3 onion, minced, in lieu of the shallots called for because we don't have any because we've decided they just aren't worth it when onions are so much cheaper and shelf-stable and easy to come by. The next ingredient is 4 ounces of firm tofu, pressed dry and chopped tiny. Let me just say that this is the first time I've successfully cooked with tofu. The last time I tried it (which was also the first time), I was a brand-new 13-year-old vegetarian and I fried it up in A-1 steak sauce. Don't ask me why that seemed like an appropriate way to kick off the new lifestyle. By the end I was gagging it down and for a long time, just the mere mention of it made me shudder. However, like so many other good things in life, Matt convinced me to give it another try. Since I've happily eaten in in Eggless Egg Salad and a variety of stir-fry since, I thought I could try my hand at it one more time.
After frying the tofu until it turns golden and mixing it well with the rest of the filling, you pour on a sauce made of 1 tablespoon water, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix it all up and let it sit.
We rolled out the pizza crust into six little circles, plopped on the filling and folded them over into little half-moons. Then we baked them at 400 degrees for twenty minutes.
They were wonderful--rich and tasty and the crusts were doughy and delicious. The book also
gives a recipe for a sweet and sour chili sauce involving 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar, several hot chilies, and a little salt. I don't know if I'd use quite that much sugar next time, and instead of cooking it down and reducing it I took the impatient way out and thickened with cornstarch, but it was great. We'd definitely make this whole thing over again, and it's on its way into the permanent rotation.
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