Wednesday, June 4, 2008

"the ride was so rough i almost threw down"

Im back! Since the last time I wrote Ive suffered a busted finger and computer crashes but I think that i have enough time write now to knock out a few things.

First:

About two months ago I picked up an awesome marble mortar and pestle for $10. Since then Ive enjoyed wonderful self-pride of grinding cumin, pepper and countless other spices. Its the kind of pride I imagine a parent has seeing their children achieve greatness. Except without the horrors of giving birth and raising a child. Maybe it more like the process of making a child, without having the child. You know what Im saying...

Anyway with the mortar and pestle Ive started to combine different spices together including:

Glazed Tempeh Sammichs

1T cumin seed
4 T sugar
2 t rosemary
2 t basil
1/2 t oregano
1 block of tempeh ( I think that it equals to about 1/4 if you get it in bulk)
Standard sandwich supplies. Keri and I used kaiser rolls, alfalfa sprouts, red lettuce, cucumbers, garlic hummus and most important thing in a vegan sandwich...veganaise.

The first step combine all the spices. If you are lucky enough to be able to grind your spices with mortar and pestel do it. Or if you have to use some sort of electronic grinder, do it. Do it like a chump I guess. Grind so that everything is as fine as the sugar.

Then slice the tempeh into three smaller blocks and then slice those threw the middle so that there are now six thin pieces of tempeh.

Next dump the spice mix onto a plate and heat some vegetable or canola oil. Then moisten the tempeh with a little water (or if you want to add a little more flavor try a vegan egg replacer) before placing the tempeh pieces into the the spice mix so that they are covered and popping them into the oil. Each side should take about three minute depending on the oil and when done should be set aside to cool and drip off any extra oil. After cooling the piece should have a light glazed look to them, this will let you know if they cooked right. If they arent glazed try adding more sugar or turning down the heat on the stove the next time.

But once all the pieces are done you can reheat them or just eat them how they are on your sandwich!

The spice mix also works great on fries/potatoes.

Thats all for now because my computer has already crashed twice. But the future does hold updates now that I have two hands to type with updates like:

lemon poppy dressing
raw (hard) cider and a bicycle powered apple crusher!
more spices
my special sauce