Passover 2014 - Exploring Old Traditions...

My Delicious Seder Passover Feast!

My husband and I are not Jewish, not by a long shot, and we are not particularly religious. My husband was raised in a pretty lax house of mixed faith - Catholic/Christian - then grew up to be an Atheist. I grew up in a somewhat stricter Christian environment that included Biblical Stories, Sunday School, and regular visits to church. In high school I began to reconsider what it was I believed and found that I was more inclined to a Buddhist style of faith, and living. I still adhere to the principals of Buddhism today, although I would say I follow it more as a philosophy then a strict religion. I’d say I’m more spiritual then religious - and as a spiritual person I still from time to time feel sentimental about the traditions I grew up with. Easter for example is a holiday I always liked, because it meant the beginning of Spring, and time shared with family. Passover is a holiday I never celebrated, but I’ve always had an interest in Judaism, and thus an interest in Passover as well. Normally I work on Passover - at least that’s been the case these past 4 years - this year, however I found myself surprisingly free of any obligations and so I decided to take the opportunity to celebrate Passover for the first time, with a delicious Seder meal.

I know enough about Passover to know that it last eight days - and normally takes place in April, just before Easter. I know it’s celebrated as the commemoration of Jewish liberation by God from slavery in ancient Egypt, and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses.  It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in The Bible. I’ve always preferred the Old Testament to the New - better stories if you ask me, - and the Exodus is certainly an interesting story. 10 Plagues, death of the first born, the struggle for freedom and then finally obtaining that freedom. It’s a good story, and freedom - no matter what your faith - is a pretty universal concept. Everyone desires freedom from something or someone. Freedom is something worth celebrating in my opinion, and what better way to do so then with a nice meal, and some old school traditions?

Simple Vegetable Matzo Ball Soup 

Since I have no understanding of what’s acceptable to cook/eat for Passover I looked to my copy of Nava Atlas’s “Vegan Holiday Kitchen” for some inspiration. From her lovely book I picked several dishes to make that sounded interesting to me, and I have to say I was quite happy with the results.

Since Matzo is a traditional food eaten at Passover, we decided to start our meal with the Simple Vegetable Soup with Vegan Matzo Balls. I really enjoyed making this soup, it was relatively quick and easy, and something about the process made me feel really good. I felt connected to a time and a place, and a tradition - so much so that I thought a lot about the Exodus as I worked to prepare the soup. Now, I’ve never eaten a Matzo anything in my life, so I wasn’t sure how I’d actually like the soup in the end - especially since I always hear that Matzo is somewhat bland - but I was really blown away by this soup. It was so flavorful. In fact it reminded me very much of the Chicken Noodle Soup my Oma used to make when I was a child - minus the Matzo of course. It’s a simple mix of carrot, celery, onion, dill, potato, and then of course the matzo balls.  The balls are made using matzo meal, and quinoa flakes, as well as water, oil and salt. I really loved the way the balls broke up into the soup, and the contrast of the flavorful broth with the soft squishy matzo.

In fact I loved this soup so much I can’t believe I’ve never eaten it before, and I know I’ll probably make this soup again and again, whether it’s Passover or not.

Spinach, Leek, and Potato Matzo Gratin 

Originally I was also going to serve a salad along with our meal but in the end I decided to skip it only because I was tired, and didn’t feel like going through the extra trouble of roasting beets - which were a component of the salad I’d planned to make.

An Inside Shot of the Gratin 

For our main course I made the Spinach, Leek, and Potato Matzo Gratin. Which I thought was very good, but honestly it was a pain in the ass to make. First you cook the potatoes and then peel them! Do you know how difficult that is? Ugh! Then you need to soak the matzo to make them pliable, you have to cook the leek and spinach. There’s a lot of steps and when I opened my box of Matzo a lot of them were broken. So you’ll have to excuse the poor picture, and bad presentation but given it’s my first time making anything of this sort I think I deserve a break, right?

Now, I didn’t end up using the optional vegan cheese or the pine nuts in this Gratin - simply because I didn’t have either, - and I thought it could have used more salt and pepper but like I said I enjoyed it. It might not have been my favorite meal in the world but there was something hearty and comforting about It that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. As my husband said “It’s like a Jewish lasagna!” and I suppose he’s right. FYI - we ate the leftovers today with extra salt, and pepper, and a drizzle of Sriracha and man oh man did that really kick this dish up a notch! I’ve no idea if Sriracha is aloud on Passover, but if you’re not strict then give it a try it’s delicious!

Sauteed Asparagus and Broccolini 

As a side to accompany the Gratin I made the Sauteed Asparagus and Broccolini which was a pretty simple mix. Asparagus, Broccolini, and Yellow Bell Pepper are sauteed in oil, then lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Olives are added for a really nice, simple touch.

Passover Fruit Crisp 

For dessert I decided to go with the Passover Fruit Crisp, because, well - I love a good fruit crisp, and this one was different. Thinly sliced apples and pears mixed with maple syrup and cinnamon and topped with quinoa flakes. Not my favorite crisp ever, but pretty darn good nonetheless. Of course I think it’s a travesty to eat a fruit crisp without ice cream and so I made a batch of homemade Sticky Date Ice Cream with Butterscotch Sauce from Hannah Kaminsky’s book “Vegan A La Mode” I don’t know if ice cream is aloud on Passover but it was mostly made with coconut milk and dates. Dates are pretty old world - and aloud as far as I understand - so maybe it wasn’t a terrible choice.

Passover Fruit Crisp with Sticky Date Ice Cream

And that about wraps it up. I have to say I really enjoyed our little celebration. I enjoyed the feeling of enacting long standing traditions, and enjoyed cooking, trying, and sharing new - to me - foods. We didn’t read from the Hebrew Bible or drink wine or bless the matzo, or any of that other stuff but who knows, maybe next year, because we’ll definitely do it all over again next year.

I hope everyone out there who celebrates Passover had a nice time!

St. Patrick's Day, A Celebration of Irish Food!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope everyone’s day is filled with good luck, and good cheer, great food and great beer. Today is the first year in three years that I haven’t actually had to work on St. Patrick’s day, that feels pretty special to me, and yet - funnily enough, this year is also the one year I don’t feel like doing anything! Ha. Every year there’s something I want to do and can’t, this year I can do whatever I want but there’s nothing to do - oh well, I could use a little relaxation anyway.

But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t up to the challenge of cooking an Irish theme meal, I do it every year regardless of how busy I am or how I’m feeling, in fact some of you may remember that last year I spent the entire week prior to St. Patrick’s Day Veganizing Irish Classics. Man that was fun, if only I’d had the time to do it again this year. Instead I opted for a simpler affair.

For Breakfast I made two different versions of Irish Soda Bread - because what’s St Paddy’s without Soda Bread? The reason I made two is simply because I couldn’t decide which recipe I wanted to make more, and since my husband loves Soda Bread I knew it would all get eaten regardless.

The first recipe I tried was Alicia C. Simpson’s Irish Soda Bread Recipe from her book “Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations.” I’ll admit I was kind of skeptical about this recipe, yet still intrigued enough to make it. Sour Cream in a Soda Bread? That sounded like blasphomy to me, but since I had a carton of vegan sour cream sitting in my fridge, begging to get used I thought “why not?” The end result really blew me out of the water, I mean Wow! Normally I make Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Soda Bread which I love dearly - it’s my favorite soda bread - but this one, man, I hate to say it but I think Alicia might have Colleen beat with this recipe. I just love the subtle hint of sour that the sour cream lends to the bread, mixed with the sweetness of sugar, and savory salt and soda, plus the dried fruit - it just works. I used the suggested mix of raisins and cranberries, which I think was a great idea.

However, the recipe states to cook this all as one loaf, and man does it make a heck of a lot of dough! I think next time I make this I’ll divide the dough in half and make two smaller more manageable loaves, but damn was this a fantastic breakfast. Moist, and delicious, especially spread with a little Earth Balance.

The Next Irish Soda Bread I made was from Mark Reinfeld’s book “The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe.” This loaf is more traditional in the respect that it’s low on Sugar and High on baking Soda. It also only uses raisins - no other dried fruit, and vegan buttermilk made with soy milk mixed with lemon juice. Reinfeld also leaves out the caraway - which he claims is an American invention - and uses whole grain spelt flour. This is a dense and hearty loaf, that’s more savory then sweet. Definitely delicious but in my opinion it doesn’t hold a candle to either Colleen, or Alicia’s versions. Of course if you prefer savory over sweet then this is exactly the loaf for you.

To wash down my Soda Bread this morning I made a batch of Alicia C. Simpson’s Irish Cream Liqueur which is a mixture of Coconut Milk, Irish Whiskey, vanilla extract and agave. After making the cream I used it to make her Irish Cream Latte which is a simple - yet tasty - mix of espresso, almond milk, and her homemade Irish Cream Liqueur. Quite satisfying, even though I’ve never been particularly fond of coffee liqueurs before.

For Dinner I decided to go with something simple, and so I went back to Mark Reinfeld and his “Taste of Europe.” From it I decided to make the Irish Stew, and the Parsnip Colcannon. I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical of the colcannon recipe. As much as I love a good vegan colcannon these days, and as much as I like a good parsnip the thought of including parsnips in colcannon seemed crazy to me. Of course, I have a lot of trust in cook book authors - especially those I rank among my favorites - and so I was willing to go against my instincts and make the dish as directed.

Lucky that I did, because holy guacamole guys! This colcannon is amazing, in fact it may just be the bed damn colcannon I’ve ever eaten. I love that the parsnips lend a subtle sweetness and snappy bite to the otherwise bland potato. They cream just as well as a potato does, and I love how simple the whole recipe is. Steam potatoes, parsnips and garlic. Mash with almond or soy milk, add finely chopped kale and parsley, salt, pepper, red pepper bam done! For something so simple there is so much flavor here!

Now, I was also a tad skeptical about the Irish Stew, mainly because it looked too simple. I thought briefly about going with a more complicated dish but then decided simplicity is what I wanted. Though I enjoy cooking, and don’t mind being in the kitchen for over an hour, today I wanted something I could just kind of throw in a pot and forget about. This recipe is actually very similar to the Seitan and Guinness Stew I made for Paddy’s Day last year, except mine has more ingredients. Of course I was tempted to ‘add’ to this stew but followed the directions as noted, taking the suggestion at the bottom of the page to add in a cup of diced carrots or ‘other’ vegetables as desired. I added a cups worth of carrots and parsnips - because I had extra, and then added some peas because who doesn’t love peas in a stew? But the peas were my only creative tweak. In the end I was mighty amazed by how good this stew turned out. For such a simple recipe it again packs a powerful punch of flavor. I used homemade seitan for it - which I think makes a huge difference, and home-grown Rosemary too.

On a still somewhat cold, not-quite-spring day, this was the perfect warming, comforting meal. Irish food has a reputation for being bland, but I think this is a grievous misconception. If you know what you’re doing Irish food is some of the most soul-satisfying and comforting fare around. It’s stick to your ribs good, and it always cheers me up. Especially on long cold nights.

However you choose to spend St. Paddy’s Day I hope you have a good time! Now go eat some potatoes and cabbage and blast some Pogues and Flogging Molly! Oh, and if you’re interested in more Irish recipes or perhaps a little Irish History then check out some of my posts from previous years!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Memories of Ireland Potato and Leek Soup 

Irish Style Seitan In Mustard Cream Sauce with Wild Rice and Crispy Cabbage

Irish Tea Time Seed Cake

Irish Seitan and Guinness Stew with Champ

Cream of Parsnip Soup

Irish Dingle Pies

Boxty Potato Pancakes

Guinness Fondue

Vegan Mofo #24 - Taymer’s Caribbean Green Split Pea Soup, and Everyday Vegan Ham...

Vegan Mofo #24 - Taymer’s Caribbean Green Split Pea Soup, and Everyday Vegan Ham

The Region - The Caribbean
The Book - Caribbean Vegan
The Author - Taymer Mason
The Recipe - Caribbean Green Split Pea Soup
Page # 78 Every Day Vegan Ham is on Page #100
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - About 1 hour and 20 minutes - not including split pea soak time

Originally this was not a dish I had planned to make for Mofo, however last week on a cool autumn afternoon that continued to threaten storms and rain a hearty soup seemed like just the ticket. I had been eying this particular soup recipe for some time, though had neglected to make it because I never seem to have any luck with split peas. I don’t know why, but no matter how long I soak my peas for they never want to get soft if I use them in a soup, cooked in a pot on the stove. A slow cooker is fine, or if I cook them entirely alone for over an hour at a boil that seems to work, but cooked at a simmer on the stove in less then an hour - it never works. Since this particular soup is eventually blended anyway I thought it might work out alright in the end, pus it served a dual purpose because in making this recipe I need to also make 2 other recipes from the book, the Bajan Seasoning which I mentioned last week, and the Everyday Vegan Ham. I was particularly excited about the Ham.

I have made a vegan seitan ham only once before, and I wasn’t overly impressed, for me the flavor just wasn’t strong enough, so I was really excited to try Taymer’s take on it. Especially since - as everyone knows - you can’t have a truly good split pea soup without vegan ham. Well, no I suppose that’s not entirely true, I have made great - fantastic really - split pea soups without vegan ham, but using vegan ham just makes it more traditional I suppose, and thus more comforting on a cool day.

Growing up split pea soup was my favorite soup that my Oma made. She would make it each time my brother or I got sick, and sometimes she would make it just because. That along with her chicken noodle soup were my favorites, and even though I’ve made several split pea soups - or attempted to - since going vegan I’ve never really been able to find one that comes close to my Oma’s. Until now that is. If you take the heat out of Taymer’s split pea soup I swear it tastes every bit as good - if not better - then my Oma’s version. In fact the similarity is uncanny.

Vegan Ham

For her version Taymer uses onion, shallot, celery, garlic, olive oil, split peas, Bajan seasoning, water, thyme, basil, scotch bonnet pepper, nutritional yeast, seasoning salt, onion powder, chili powder, black pepper, liquid smoke, salt, and the Vegan ham. I followed her recipe exactly except I used a more liberal amount of liquid smoke, and cut back on the scotch bonnet pepper. I also didn’t puree the entire soup as I like my soups a little chunky. Of course that old problem of some of the peas not getting soft enough happened once more even after soaking for 10 hours, but the soup was so good I didn’t mind much. My husband and I ate two heaping bowls a piece and garnished them with some extra Bajan seasoning for good measure. A delicious meal for sure.

But now, you’re probably wondering about the ham am I right? Well it was beyond amazing! Truly the flavor was so good, so spot on, and really reminiscent of what I remember actual ham to be like. For her recipe Taymer uses vital wheat gluten, salt, black pepper, paprika, ground cloves, water, maple syrup, pineapple juice, canola oil, liquid smoke, tomato paste and garlic. I really think that what sets her ham recipe apart is the maple syrup, pineapple juice and the liberal amount of liquid smoke. Most sausage or ham recipes call for liquid smoke to get that smokey flavor but they normally call for a couple of tsp where as Taymer calls for a full Tbsp. It really makes the difference. Not to mention that delicate yet pungent flavor of cloves that really makes the flavors in this vegan ham pop. So, so good! Delicious in the soup, great on it’s own, I can’t wait to try it in something else.

Vegan Mofo #21 - Terry’s Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos...

Vegan Mofo #21 - Terry’s Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos  

The Region - Mexico
The Book - Vegan Eats World
The Author - Terry Hope Romero
The Recipe - Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos
Page # 105
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - About 1 hour and 30 minutes, or longer depending on how long you wish to marinate the Jackfruit for.

From India we move back to Mexico with Terry Hope Romero’s Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos. Jackfruit incase you haven’t heard is the new culinary darling of the vegan community. Over the past year and a half or so I’ve seen it pop up more and more in the blogesphere, magazines, and cook books. Literally everyone it seems is jumping on the jackfruit bandwagon. So what’s the big deal about Jackfruit? Well, texture and appearance really. When cooked and shredded Jackfruit bares an uncanny resemblance to pulled pork or shredded chicken, and texturally it’s got that juicy chewy texture. Taste wise canned Jackfruit isn’t anything to write home about, in fact it’s rather bland but the great thing about it is that similar to tofu it soaks up whatever you decide to marinate it in.

Jackfruit in Sauce on the Stove

As awesome as all that sounded it took me a really long time to get around to trying jackfruit for myself. This is because virtually all jackfruit recipes call for Canned jackfruit packed in water or brine, and the only jackfruit I could ever find in my local grocery was packed in syrup. This is a no-no especially for a savory recipe. It wasn’t until I went to Super H Mart that I found jackfruit packed in brine, but now I’ve found another source even closer to my house. So with several cans of jackfruit on hand I decided to give Terry’s delicious looking carnita’s taco recipe a try.

Originally I was a bit hesitant to include this recipe in Mofo because I didn’t think taco’s were ‘traditional’ enough, at this point they seem almost American. However after a little research I discovered that Tacos actually are a traditionally Mexican dish. They’ve been around since before the Europeans arrived, and the first documentation of a taco appeared in the writings of a Spanish Conquistador who discovered an indigenous population of Mexico eating tacos comprised of small fish. As it turns out a taco can pretty well be made of anything as long as it includes a corn tortilla rolled around some kind of filling.. As for Carnitas, well they’re basically taco’s but instead of using a ‘ground meat’ as non-vegan tacos do they use shredded fried meat simmered in sauce. Traditionally a Mexican carnita uses pork but I’ll stick to the jackfruit thank you very much.

Terry’s recipe is pretty ingenious. She uses ancho chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic sea salt, pineapple juice, water, tomato paste, chipotle peppers, onion powder, soy sauce, lime juice, molasses, liquid smoke, and bay leaves, to make her delicious sweet, smokey sauce. 20 oz of Jackfruit are then simmered in it for about an hour, before being fried in small batches. Personally after letting the jackfruit marinate, and after simmering for an hour I decided to skip the frying step because I was tried, hungry and didn’t feel like dirtying another pan - next time!

The filling is then scooped into corn tortillas - I used Terry’s home-made corn tortillas from Viva Vegan! As I always do now. - and garnished with pickled red onions - I used plain raw red onions - shredded green cabbage, tomatoes, and avocados. She also suggests drizzling her cashew yogurt sauce over the carnitas but I didn’t have the ingredients to make it and it wasn’t necessary anyway.

These tacos were super delicious, with great texture, and they were super filing. I’ll definitely make them again my only complaint is that I thought the sauce recipe made far more sauce then was needed for only 20 oz of Jackfruit. I think next time I’ll use 40 oz of Jackfruit because my mixture was extra saucy.

Vegan Mofo #1 - Jessie’s Ddukbokki (Spicy Rice Cakes)...

Welcome everyone to the Official start of Vegan Mofo! Are you as excited as I am? Well then, lets get cooking! 

Ddukbokki with a Generous side of Steamed
Broccoli in the Background

Vegan Mofo #1 - Jessie’s Ddukbokki (Spicy Rice Cakes)

The Region - Korea
The Book - VegNews Magazine August 2013 Edition
The Author - Jessie Miner
The Recipe - Ddukbokki (Spicy Rice Cakes)
Page #75
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 40 minutes. Active time is only about 15 minutes out of those 40.

Even though I initially picked up the latest copy of VegNews for the promise of glorious, mouth-wateringly delicious burgers I found myself instantly drawn to and inspired by Jessie Miner’s article entitled Seoul Food. As I’ve mentioned before Asian Cuisine ranks at the top of world foods that I am most taken by. Asian food is in my blood, if you grow up in Vancouver you undoubtably grow up eating Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian-fusion or South East Asian dishes. Food like this is just a way of life in Vancouver, there’s no getting around it or getting past it. So this type of cuisine is really near and dear to my heart. Even still, I have little to no experience with Korean food and that’s why I found this article so interesting and inspiring. My Korean restaurant experience is limited to a few trips to Korean BBQ houses in Vancouver before I was vegan, and virtually no interaction with Korean Cuisine since moving to the U.S. I have zero experience in cooking Korean food, but this article - and the delicious photo that accompanied it - changed all of that forever.

From everything I’ve heard Seoul is a beautiful, lively, and fun city. South Korea in general just sounds like an amazing place, and it’s a country that I’ve long been interested in visiting. Since I can’t exactly get on a plane and fly to Seoul right now, I thought, why not go for the next best thing and bring Korea to my kitchen? Of course to cook the two Korean recipes offered in Jessie’s article you need a few staple Korean ingredients, and so I was inspired to seek out the Amazing Super H Mart to stalk up.

As much as I love noodles - and as excited as I was to try the Japchae also featured in the article- I was most taken with the Ddukbokki. Just the idea of these strange cylindrical noodle like rice cakes was so compelling, I had to try it right away, and I was not disappointed.

Of course if you’re interested in history, Ddukbokki used to be a popular Korean snack-food that you could by from street vendors. Originally it was only the rice cakes simmered in sauce, then some people started including meat and egg into it, and it was considered a more savory dish. After the Korean War however Ddukbokki changed, and became a spicy dish made with gochujang a spicy fermented paste made from chili peppers. You can get all kinds of Ddukbokki now, ones with meat, ones with whole boiled eggs, some with fish cakes, and some that are more veg heavy, however most of the time the sauce is made with anchovies even if there’s no visible meat. My Korean friend C says that Ddukbokki has become the kind of dish where you basically throw in whatever you have around the house. A real hodgepodge.

This particular hodgepodge of Ddukbokki uses Korean Rice Cakes (garaeddeok), gochujang, sugar, soy sauce, rice cooking wine, salt, gochugaru - which is coarsely ground Korean red pepper flakes - water, green cabbage, onion, baked tofu, scallions and sesame seeds. The rice cakes get soaked for thirty minutes and while that’s happening you can whip together the rest in one big pan. Everything gets simmered for roughly 5 minutes, and then you add the rice cakes and simmer for 10 more, then bam, you have dinner. It’s super easy, and so, so delicious. I mean it really might not sound like much but you will not believe the taste!

Now, if you don’t have - or can’t find - the gochujang you could use a mixture of 1 Tbsp Spicy Garlic Chili Paste - The Chinese variety is most common - plus 1 Tbsp of Red Miso. It will not be the exact same taste, but I think it makes a good substitution for anyone who doesn’t have access to a Korean market. Whether you use gochujang or my miso suggestion you should definitely pick up a copy of the August VegNews and give this dish a try!

Review: Super H Mart in Niles...

So it’s no secret that I like Asian cuisine right? I mean, I grew up in Vancouver for Buddha’s sake, where Asian food isn’t just a ‘take-out’ idea on a lazy Friday night but a way of life. I spent years of my youth wandering around Chinatown, perusing the local markets, boutique and shops, and meditating in the Sun Yat-Sen classical Chinese Garden. T & T Market was one of my favorite places to shop, and grabbing some sushi or tempura in one of Vancouver’s - or the lower mainland in general - abundant Japanese restaurants was usually a thrice weekly occurrence. I loved the Richmond Night Market, hung out in Bubble Tea shops and ventured into offbeat Japanese bookstores. Thanks to my best friend from childhood I also have a nice collection of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese pop music in my music library.

Black Fungus, Jackfruit, Sugar Cane, Black Tapioca Pearls

These are all things I miss from home. When it comes to Asian Cuisine and Asian culture Chicago just doesn’t compare. However I just discovered the coolest place, and it goes a long way in making me feel a little less homesick, and a little less like a fish out of water. If you don’t know what I’m talking about I’m talking about The Super H Mart in Niles!

Okay, seriously, how have I never heard of this place before? It’s not terribly far from where I live - roughly 40 minutes - and it is so worth the traffic to get there!  So Super H Mart is a predominantly Korean Grocery, though they also sell Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese staples. They have everything from fresh produce - a lot of awesome Asian produce like fresh lychee, longan, lotus root, jackfruit, all kinds of radishes, choy’s and other Asian greens. - to Fresh noodles, to dried noodles, to spices, seasonings, fermented pastes, buckets of soy sauce, gallon jars of kimchi, multiple types of tofu, rice, beans, canned goods, snacks, desserts, and unfortunately meats, but I ignored that section.

Fresh Udon. Dried Sweet Potato Noodles and Purple
Sweet PotatoeNoodles

So how did I find this magical paradise in the suburbs? Well Monday evening I picked up a copy of the August issue of VegNews magazine and was instantly captivated by two recipes.one for Japchae which is a Korean Noodle dish, and one for Ddukbokki which is a dish of cabbage, onion and rice cakes. Now as much as I love Asian cuisine I don’t have a lot of experience with Korean food. When I was growing up in Vancouver the dominant Asian cultures were Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanise, with much smaller pockets of cultural influence from Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and other South East Asian countries. So my experience with Korean food is limited to eating in a few restaurants in my pre-vegan days, and some Korean-Fusion style food I’ve eaten since going vegan. Yet something about these two dishes just called to me and I knew I had to make them, but where was I going to find Dangmyeon - translucent noodles made of sweet potato - Garaeddeok - the rice cakes - Gochugaru - coarse ground Korean chili flakes, and Gochujang - A spicy fermented soybean and chili paste. The flakes and the paste I figured I could do without if need be but the noodles and the rice cakes were a must. So I Googled it, and Super H Mart is what I found. How many ways can I express my joy and excitement over this discovery?

Dragonfruit !!!

I was particularly taken with the produce department and I like that they sold some organic produce which I was not expecting. I could have spent an hour in just this department but the thing I was most excited for was finally finding my beloved Dragonfruit. Dragonfruit is something I was introduced to last year when I went home to visit my family. I loved it so much that I was determined to find it when I got back to Chicago but there were no dragonfruits to be found in my area. Occasionally the Whole Foods has them in stock but they go for $7 a fruit, and they’re usually small and questionable looking. - By which I mean they always seem to look as though they’ve seen better days. Well, Super H Mart is selling Dragonfruit for half the price of WF and so my husband and I got some. I also picked up some Chinese broccoli to make soup, and some lotus root because I have many recipes for it but have never seen it for sale anywhere in my area. I wanted to buy so many more things but my fridge was fully stocked already and so there was no sense in buying produce just for buying’s sake. Next I checked out the tofu options, of which there were many. Super H Mart also makes their own fresh tofu but they only had soft tofu in stock and I didn’t need any of that so I took a pass and bought some packaged non-GMO baked tofu, as well as some fresh bean curd. Did you get that? FRESH BEAN CURD! How cool is that? Bean Curd is also something I got turned onto when I was in Vancouver last year as several Asian Vegan restaurants I tried used it in place of tofu or meat. Really loved the texture though I guess it’s not a common item here in Chicagoland.

Black Sesame Seeds, Korean Chili Flakes,  Bean Curd
Baked Five Spice Tofu. Mochi, and Brown Rice cakes 

My next favorite place in the store was the fresh noodle isle. There were literally shelves upon shelves, and bunkers upon bunkers of fresh packages noodles. From Udon, to Ramen, to buckwheat, to shiitake, to a whole host of other noodles that I couldn’t pronounce or determine what they might be. Interestingly enough as much as I love a good pasta dish I’m not a freak when it comes to spaghetti or penne or any of the other Italian pastas, but put me in a room with a wall of Udon and watch out!  I couldn’t resist.

Red Bean Filled, Sesame Covered Mochi!!!

Also mixed in with the noodles were bags of picked vegetables and one of my all time favorite snacks - Mochi! I don’t mean the hard mochi you get in the healthfood store that comes in a brick that you need to cut and coook. I’m talking about fresh, chewy, stretchy, cold mochi balls filled with sweet red bean paste. Red bean paste is literally my favorite thing in Asian cuisine ever, honestly you put red bean paste in something and I’m head over heals. Though mochi is something I could take or leave when you fill it with red bean paste I go nuts for it. I bought several flavors of this little treat, including pineapple, plain, guava, green tea, and my personal favorite brown and black sesame. It was also in this section that I found the rice cakes or Garaeddeok that I was looking for. They had them sliced into rounds, or in cylinders and they came in brown rice or white rice. I chose the brown rice rounds.

Noodles again

Next it was off to the dried noodle isle where there were just as many bags and packages of noodles as there were fresh ones in the refrigerated section. Since I can’t read Korean it took me some time in locating the Dangmyeon but I eventually did. I grabbed two bags of the stuff, one of thin noodles and one of really wide noodles. Then I also grabbed a package of thin noodles made from purple sweet potatoes because, well... how awesome is that? They also had an entire isle of seaweed and some of the packages were almost as tall as I was. My husband came over with a package of Nori that was literally wider then both of us put together. I don’t even know where I’d start with using a sheet of nori that big or why it’s necessary but it was awesome.

Then I headed off to the seasoning isle where I found the fermented soybean chili paste, the Korean chili flakes, and Zhenjiang which is a Chinese black vinegar that I’ve been looking for and couldn’t find. I also grabbed a jar of black sesame seeds since I ran out last month.

Better shot of the Rice Cakes

Next it was time to scout the rice and bean section and oh my, if I had more room in my pantry and more money in my wallet I would have gone nuts. My husband and I love rice, and four pound bags of black rice for a fraction of the price Whole Foods sells it for was hard to pass up. They also had a variety of glutenous rice, white rice, brown rice, red rice, and wild rices that were intriguing, as well as dried black soybeans - only seen canned before. Though I enjoyed looking in this section I didn’t buy anything. I did however pick up two bags of dried Black Fungus or Chinese Black Mushrooms as they’re also known, as well as a bag of Tapioca pearls to make Bubble tea. After that it was time to go but not before stumbling upon something I’ve been looking for, for a long time. Canned Jackfruit. Jackfruit is the ‘new’ meat alternative for a lot of vegetarians and vegans. It’s popularity is growing ever more because of it’s meat-like texture and lack of flavor making it very adaptable to any recipe. Unfortunately for me all the markets near my house only carry jackfruit in syrup not in water or brine and so they don’t do me any good. For all of the jackfruit recipes I see water or brine packed jackfruit is called for and now I’ve finally found it. They only had 4 cans left on the shelf and I took them all. My husband also couldn’t pass up a can of sugar cane, which is something he really likes.

Then it was time to check out, and all that only came to $56! Wow, what a steal. I know I’ll be making regular excursions to Super H Mart now that I know about it, and if you love Asian food as much as I do I highly recommend you take a trip out there. Trust me when I saw it’s SO worth it. Oh and incase you’re interested they also have a bakery, a food court, a massage place, and electronics area, appliances, makeup and some other cultural items.

I can't wait to get cooking! Check it out guys, seriously!

Super H Mart 
801 Civic Center Dr  Niles, IL
Phone # 847-581-1212