5.31.09 | loving hut

i woke up on sunday to overcast weather and a mad craving for asian noodle soup. loving hut in alhambra had been on my to-do list for quite some time after hearing great things from my cousin and reading quarry girl's post. so once steve returned from his weekly hodgeball game with the boys, we quickly set out for a late lunch.

perhaps it was the fact that we were both starving, but it was seriously one of the best vegan meals we have ever had!!! here's what we ordered:

sea of love $7.95
this was an appetizer of enoki mushrooms, vegan ham, and ginger wrapped in seaweed and deep fried...the end result meant to resemble squid. the dish came with sweet thousand island style dipping sauce...overall really good!

golden rolls and teriyaki vermicelli $7.95
typical vietnamese noodle bowl served with egg rolls, teriyaki "meat", vegetables and special sauce. another great dish and the best fake teriyaki beef we have ever had.

royal noodle (bue hue) $6.95
with the exception of pho, which i hate, i love me some good asian noodles in savory broth. no vegan dish has ever come close to replacing my old favorite daikokuya....until now!! while the noodles and tofu were not the absolute best I've had, the broth and shredded protein really hit the spot. after adding some mint and siracha to the soup I was in heaven...so freakin good!!

tofu cheesecake
often times i find that vegan crust tastes like a nutra grain bar....in otherwords gross! luckily that wasn't the case with this dessert...simply light, creamy and delicious!

rose capuccino
the prettiest cup of coffee I have ever seen...check out a pic here. a bit too sweet for my taste, but still pretty good.

bonus points for reasonable prices, no msg and presentation...yes, we will certainly be back soon!!!

5.29.09 | baja-style grilled tempeh tacos

i've been meaning to experiment more with tempeh, and when i came across a coupon I decided it was time to stock up and try this recipe from veganomicon.

baja-style grilled tempeh tacos (veganomicon)
the preparation started the night before by making the taco slaw and the chile-beer marinade for the tempeh. i settled on dos exuis lager especial for the marinade and substituted cayenne for chili powder.

the next day I prepared the lime crema with wild wood organic unsweetened plain probiotic soyogurt and fried my marinated tempeh pieces in some peanut oil. the plastic reusable wild wood container was the perfect size for storing and chilling the lime crema in the fridge. While the recipe instructions say to fry the tempeh prior to cutting into thin slices, I found that slicing prior to frying resulted in tastier individual pieces. steve and i heated some corn tortillas and set up our assembly line...slaw, tempeh and crema.

the tacos were good, but not great. the stars of the recipe are definitely the marinade and the lime crema. i added some diced avocado salad which rounded out the tacos really well, but i found the slaw to be too sour from the vinegar. i also missed the beer-battered filling from typical baja fish tacos. i'm thinking that some firm tofu, marinated in the same mixture and beer-battered, would produce better and tastier results, although not as healthy : /. i will try to experiment with this some more and hopefully come up with a better recipe.

5.24.09 | seared tuna tacos

steve decided that he wanted to prepare a meal for me all on his own and i thought that seared tuna would be a good and easy introduction to gourmet cooking. and so i handed over my trusted tuna taco recipe, we picked up some nice sashimi grade ahi tuna steaks at trader joe's and he got to cookin!

aside from a minor scare which involved taco shells going up in flames in my toaster oven and lots of smoke, screaming and barking (my dog), all turned out really well!! in fact, we got a nice laugh out of it after all was said and done :)

seared ahi tuna tacos with avocado salsa (recipe available at the food network)

we used one 6.5 ounce steak and halved the recipe, which made enough filling for two tacos each. i highly recommend using white corn taco shells instead of the traditional yellow variety.

romaine lettuce with agave-mustard dressing (veganomicon)

The original recipe called for maple syrup, which i was out of, but agave nectar worked just fine.

quickie pickled radishes (recipe available at cooking with amy)

i was supposed to stay out of the kitchen, but couldn't help myself and instead grabbed some radishes from my garden and quickly googled a recipe. this couldn't have been easier to make! i think next time i will cut back on the sugar and add some hot chili, but definitely a great basic recipe to start with.

5.23.09 | sushi night

after a nice lunch in echo park, Steve and I made our way to little tokyo market place to get all the goods for our japanese dinner.

baby mixed greens with miso tahini dressing (veganomicon)

because i use low-sodium miso paste, i decided to add some soy sauce to-taste and a bit of lemon juice to add depth to the dressing. it was so good and easy to make. we poured the dressing over some baby mixed greens from trader joe's, but i imagine that it would also be great as a dip with crudités.

steamed asari (manila) clams (recipe available at rasa malaysia)

i had previously made this recipe without the mirin and really enjoyed it. this time i decided to follow the recipe and was really disappointed at how sweet the broth turned out. i will definitely be sticking to just sake in the future. i find that nigori sake adds just the right amount of sweetness to compliment the savory clams.

spicy tempeh rolls (recipe available at the post punk kitchen)

i luckily already had some sushi rice and tempeh at home, so we just picked up a few ingredients and a couple of bamboo rolling mats at a japanese discount store. the seasoned rice vinegar from trader joe's worked out perfectly for the rice and didn't require adding the additional sugar the recipe called for. we chopped up our scallions into the filling and layered lots of avocado on top...yum!! We made a second roll with some bbq unagi sauce, tempeh and avocado...our version of a caterpillar roll. we didn't bother roasting the nori sheets for both rolls and they turned out just fine. in lieu of wasabi, we added chili oil to our soy sauce for dipping.

the rolls turned out surprisingly well for being our first attempt at sushi. they were a bit on the big side and had a bit too much rice...but I think that can definitely be perfected with more practice. the tempeh I had at home had flax seeds in it which i thought overpowered the other flavors, so i think the plain variety would work best. i would definitely like to play around some more with the fillings and perhaps incorporate tempura in the future....the possibilities are endless!!!