Dessert Bowl

The other night I went out with some friends for a hot pot (more on that later). After stuffing ourselves to the point of exhaustion, the waiter showed up with the free dessert we weren't expecting. Oh no, I thought, have I met my match? A meal I can't finish? Dessert arriving when I'm already stuffed to the gills? Luckily, the dessert bowl, as it was titled, was light and refreshing and allowed me to retain my hard-earned title of Meal Slayer.

The bowl contained some tiny pieces of lychee, pineapple and guava. The white thing in the picture that looks like half of an egg is actually a bland, mildly-sweet piece of jello (I don't care for using brand names, but calling it panna cotta, though technically correct, seems inaccurate given the Asian context). All of this is floating in a vaguely fruity simple syrup. The entire portion was gone in less than five bites.

This dessert bowl is far from groundbreaking. As one fellow diner put it, "it's not interesting enough to hold my attention," but maybe he was just trying to save face when he didn't finish his. Still, I appreciate the effort, and not just because dessert soup is a novelty to my western palate. Sometimes a meal just doesn't isn't over until something sweet has crossed my tongue. I'm sure this is a learned response after years of dessert indulgence. There are nights, however, when I over do it with the main course, especially when faced with a buffet, and the thought of ordering dessert makes me grab my gut and moan. So for the evening in question, this sweet finisher was spot-on.

Best Cookie in Town?

I took a walk down Huay Keow while waiting for my visa photos to developed and passed by a sign for Double C Coffee & Cookie. It's a very typical coffee and dessert place designed to attract Farang like myself. Most days I would have kept walking since these places charge twice as much as the more Thai-focused cafés, but then I read their claim. "The best cookie in town," they say. I take my superlatives very seriously, so I couldn't resist putting them to the test while grabbing some espresso.

First, the atmosphere. It's inside of a large modernist shopping complex that is exactly the type of building some activists don't want to see in Chiang Mai. Somewhat at odds with this is the interior of the café, which looks like my grandma found a sale on Laura Ashley's Dorm Collection at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Ottomans, wicker, and teddy bears, oh my!

I bought a chocolate almond cookie, above right, and there was a promotion that day that gave me a free caramel pecan cookie, above left, with my coffee. Were they the best in town? I haven't had many cookies in town yet, so I can't say, but I'm willing to bet not. They didn't even rank in the top 10 cookies of my life thus far. Then again, maybe these just aren't the cookies for me. I prefer a big, thick, moist, buttery cookie, and these were the dry, crumbly variety. The chocolate cookie didn't taste much like chocolate. I was happy to have the free cookie, however, because it was the better of the two. The taste harkened back to the Pecan Sandies of my youth, only with the happy addition of caramelized sugar swirls. One pro was that the cookie I did pay for was pretty cheap at only 10 Baht, compared to the 50 Baht beverage.

Will I stop by again? Probably not, unless the caffeine monkey on my back strikes again when I'm in the area. Should you stop by? If you like teddy bears and crunchy cookies, absolutely, but only if you find yourself on Huay Keow west of Canal Rd. Don't go out of your way as these places are a dime a dozen.

Raw Jungle

Even though I've just arrived in Chiang Mai, I managed to score an invitation to a raw food potluck happening last weekend in a house in the jungle. It's just as exotic as it sounds. I don't have a kitchen yet so I just grabbed a bunch of tropical fruit at a street market. Luckily there were others in attendance who not only have kitchens but put them to use and made some lovely raw food for me to sample.

What a lovely spread! Clockwise from top left we have vegetables for dipping, apple, a green salad, two bowls of cut fruit, spicy fruit salad, tomatoes stuffed with olive tapenade, guacamole, sum tam, sauerkraut, and pesto dip. Not pictured: kim chi and a lovely cashew date cake. My favorite was the sum tam, but I'm a sucker for spicy food.

Big bowl of yum

This fresh, vegetable-heavy meal was a welcome respite from all of the greasy street food I've been eating. Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop eating the greasy food before I blog about it.

Thai in Chicago

Transition time! Your Chicago Saucy Chef is packing up her knife roll for an extended trip to Southeast Asia. I'll be spending most of my time in Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai to be exact, with various trips to surrounding areas. As a precursor to my east-meets-west(erner) adventures, I'd like to spend a couple paragraphs fawning over my absolute favorite restaurant in Chicago. Appropriately, it's a Northern Thai place. I've heard from people who should know that this Thai food is on the "very" side of authentic. I guess I'll find out for myself soon. To the left is Red Curry, which they do very well, just like everything else.

Sticky Rice is on N Western Ave just north of Irving Park Rd in the North Center. Basically right next door is a mysterious dark restaurant called Thai Kitchen, but that isn't it, so don't be fooled. Let your eyes go where they're drawn: the bright yellow facade of Sticky Rice, the new best thing that's ever happened to your mouth.

Insider Tips:

-The menu is more than a little imposing. Don't be scared, everything is delicious so feel free to close your eyes and point.

-There is a very confusing section on the back of the menu called Vegetarian Dishes that has only a few entries with no descriptions. Ignore this. If you want to go veg, you can order almost anything with tofu or mock-duck seitan instead of meat. They know what vegan is, so if this is your concern, let them know you don't want egg and they'll be down.

- Try to get at least one noodle dish, one rice dish and one curry. How can you eat so much, you ask? Go with a lot of people and share everything family style. In fact, do this at every restaurant, everywhere. Why not?

-Order an appetizer, any appetizer. The Thai Spring Rolls are practically archetypal. The Crab Rangoon are hand folded to look like little crabs, OMGsocute. The Crispy Banana Skins make me sing that song, "Simply the best..." The Quail are yummy and make you feel like a giant sucking on chickens proffered by Lilliputians.

-The Pineapple Curry is not on the menu but is delicious. It comes in a hollowed-out pineapple and is best ordered spicy with shrimp. Don't forget to scrape the insides of the fruit for leftover goodness when it's all gone!

-Curry Noodle with Tofu is banished to the Vegetarian section, but don't miss out on it! It's similar to Pad See Ewe but better and comes with egg and brocolini. Just trust me, it's amazing.

-Order a fresh young coconut to drink. It will cool your mouth when the spice starts to make steam shoot out of your ears. After you drink it, scrape out the meat and eat it with chile sauce.

-Sometimes they have bamboo caterpillars. This is a popular snack food sold deep fried by street vendors in many parts of Asia. Order them if the thought doesn't gross you out. They come with a sprinkling of cilantro and shredded carrot and taste just like anything deep fried: crispy, greasy and delicious.

Catepillers! Bonus points if you can eat them with chop sticks.

What really sets Sticky Rice apart from the rest is how fresh the food is. Don't you hate ordering Pad Thai at a new place and receiving a greasy pile of noodles with sauce from a can and limp, sorry excuses for vegetables that obviously used to be frozen? None of that here. The kitchen is fast, but this isn't the Asian fast food that has unfortunately become the norm in America.

I could go on and on about this place, so let me stop here and try to gain focus. Why is it the best? For every reason that makes a restaurant good. It's cheap. You can eat for less than $10 if you get the veg dishes. It's open late. Some nights as late as 11pm. The service is friendly, if a little frantic during peak hours. I've never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated. It's BYOB with no corkage fee. The portions are big but not too big. The atmosphere is adorable, with rotating Thai tchotchke adorning the walls and display cases. The specials are excellent, like Stingray Shu Chee.

Just go there. Thank me later.

Black Bean Burgers

Now that we're all aware how to prepare legumes, let's freaking cook some already.

On the left, we have a black bean burger atop a brown rice flatbread with parsley sauce, red chard, sliced calabazita verde (Mexican zucchini) and julienne onion. Below are the recipes for the burger and sauce. The flatbread is inspired by something we used to make at Great Taste Café. I've been baking flatbreads like crazy lately, experimenting to make it softer, fluffier, tastier. I'll publish the recipe here as soon as I perfect it.

Black Bean Burgers

1 C raw black beans

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 Tbs cumin

2 Tbs dried oregano

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp turmeric

Cook and mash the beans. Make sure they are fully drained before you mash them so that your burgers are not watery and do not fall apart. Dice the onion and garlic. Mix all the ingredients together with salt and pepper to taste.

Divide the burger mix into 6 to 9 equal portions (depending on how big your buns are). Fry the patties in oil in a hot pan. If you want a sturdier product, mix in one egg or 2 Tbl tapioca starch before cooking. These are vegan without the egg! Forget about firing up the grill. These are too fragile unless you want to cook them hobo-style inside of an aluminum foil pouch.

Parsley Sauce

1 bunch parsley

1/4 onion

2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

2 Tbs ketchup

2 Tbs dijon mustard

2 Tbs agave nectar

1 Tbs Sriracha hot sauce (or more)

1 Tbs mustard seeds

Toast the mustard seeds in a dry pan on high heat until they start to brown. With one knife cut, remove most of the stems from the parsley. Put the leaves in a food processor with all the other ingredients and a pinch of salt. Please don't bother to measure, just pour away. Process everything together until it takes on a pesto-like consistency. The addition of ketchup and mustard ensures this sauce won't clash with standard burger condiments.

The Peoples' Pancake

Whenever I find myself making breakfast for a group of people, I like to turn out these easy crowd-pleasers. The best part is, they're vegan and gluten-free, so almost anyone can eat them. Berries were on sale at my local grocer that morning, so I treated my friends to homemade blackberry syrup.

Vegan Banana Pancakes

2 brown bananas

1/4 C soy milk

1/2 C brown rice flour

1/4 C sorghum flour

1/4 C tapioca starch

pinch baking powder

pinch salt

Mush the bananas in a bowl. Add the soy milk and mix. Sift the dry ingredients together and mix with the banana/milk mixture.

Spoon the batter on a griddle or hot pan with a little canola oil or margarine (I like Earth Balance Buttery Spread because its non-hydrogenated).

I never measure the ingredients when I make these, so all of the amounts above are estimates. If you like thicker pancakes and the batter looks a little thin, add more brown rice flour, or if you want it thinner, add more soy milk.

Berry Syrup

1 pint berries, cleaned

1/3 C sugar or agave nectar

juice of half lemon or lime

Put all ingredients in a small pot with enough water to cover. Simmer for at least 15 minutes, or until the fruit starts to separate from the seeds. Strain the syrup to remove most of the seeds. I like to leave a few seeds in for a pleasant, but not overwhelming, crunch. If the fruit needs help separating form the fruit, you can pulse the liquid in a blender or use an emersion blender to quickly zap the syrup before straining.

Here's an action-shot of the pancakes sharing space on my plate with a veggie omelet. For the advanced move, try spreading nut butter on the pancakes before drizzling with syrup. My favorite is almond butter!

Photos courtesy of Robin Petré.

Beans, Beans, the Wonderful Fruit

Indulging my urge to cook can sometimes be easier than giving in to my need to grocery shop. Whenever my cupboard is bear, I look to the dried legumes filling the jars on the back of the shelf to feed me. It wasn't until recently that I realized these delicious little dried fruits hold an air of mystery to some! When a friend asked me how long she needed to cook canned chickpeas, I knew I needed to set the record straight with an educational, bean-tastic blog post.

Legume? That's a funny word.

I'll spare you the wiki details, but legumes are actually considered fruit. The easiest way to identify them is the seam down the middle. You know how a peanut will break cleanly in half? That's because it's not a nut, it's a legume! Or think about the way pea pods open, and the peas inside even break into halves when you remove the shell: legumes. Technically a bean is a legume, but a legume isn't necessarily a bean, just like a square is a rectangle, etc. But many people use the words "bean" and "legume" interchangeably, so don't be a snob if someone gets it wrong.

Nutrition

As most savvy vegans know, legumes can supply much-needed protein to a meat-free diet. To make sure you're eating a complete protein (that is, protein which includes all of the essential amino acids in the proportion that a human diet needs), be sure to pair your legumes with brown rice. Even the soy bean isn't a complete protein, so put your teriyaki tofu over brown fried rice. Brown rice is heartier than white rice and more difficult to digest, so make sure you're chewing your food very well to avoid a stomach ache.

Preparation

Legumes that come in cans are pre-cooked. The only preparation you have to do is making them as hot (or cold) as you would like for your particular recipe. This convenience is the advantage of canned legumes; they are ready to put directly in your mouth. Otherwise, compared to dried legumes, they are slightly more expensive and less nutritious due to the sodium content of most canned food. Rinse beans in water to remove some of that salt.

Dried legumes require three steps before consumption: rinse, soak, cook.

1. Rinse Your Legumes

If you buy your legumes from the bulk section of your local food store, chances are, they are dirty. As in dusty, touched by many hands, and possibly containing a few foreign objects or rotten beans. Even if you bought a bag of pre-packaged legumes, they were probably in a bulk bin at some point. Measure your legumes and rinse them well with water, then drain. Be sure to pick through them to remove anything strange, such as a rogue black bean that has turned partially green in the style of gross potato chips everywhere.

2.a) Long Soak

If you have the foresight, soak your legumes the night before. Put them in a container with enough water to cover by at least 3 inches and let sit overnight. There's no need to refrigerate. By the next day they should have soaked up some of the water and increased in size. Drain and discard the water.

2.b)Short Soak

Forgot to soak? That's OK. This short soak is less energy efficient, but it will do in a pinch. Put rinsed legumes in a pot with enough water to cover by at least 3 inches. Turn the heat on full blast and wait for a rolling boil. Stir the once, turn off the heat, and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Wait 2 hours or until the pot returns to room temperature. Drain and discard the water.

3. Cook Them Legumes

Cover with water and set the legumes on high heat. Add salt to the water, about 1 tablespoon per cup of dried legumes. Boil the legumes for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. A kidney bean is much larger than a lentil, and therefore takes much longer to cook. I always taste to legumes to check doneness. A properly cooked bean should be soft with a creamy texture inside and not at all grainy or crunchy.

This may the point in your recipe where you add flavoring. I suggest sauteing the aromatic ingredients first (like garlic, onion, gharam masala and chile), then adding legumes and liquid (like lentils and vegetable stock) and cooking until everything is soft and delicious. Look, you just made Indian dahl!

Make Boring Beans Yummy

Legumes can be a little plain if eaten alone. Experiment with recipes and flavors. Black beans fit with onion and cilantro, kidney beans go great in chili, and garbanzos are delicious with tomato and spices, chana masala style. Blend legumes and flavorings in a food processor for dips like hummous. The possibilities are many if you get creative and hungry. Tonight I'm making black bean veggie burgers, check back soon for the recipe!