Faux-Curry and Genuine Stir-fry

After almost a month of local eating, we are still discovering new tastes and directions in cooking. I think we must have been missing eating the "exotic" tastes Indian and Chinese cooking. This probably has something to do with not eating out for almost a month. So, I set out to create a faux-curry, something that sounds pretty hard without spices like cumin, turmeric, coriander (not yet!), ginger, cloves, cardamom, etc. etc. etc.

The result was this:

















Let me try to remember all that was in it:

potatoes (yukon gold fingerlings)
edamame
beet greens and stems
onion
garlic
butter
almond butter (with honey)
tomato sauce
cayenne pepper
cilantro (frozen in cubes)
salt
served over wheat berries cooked like rice

I guess it was kind of a spicy chunky stew/stirfry/sauce, or, just maybe, a curry. I give full credit to the almond butter-cilantro-tomato combo. And the garlic and cayenne probably didn't hurt.

The wheat berries were good too, although they were much more chewy that rice. Actually, I burned some of them and these crispy wheat berries taste really good with milk as cereal. One day I'll make a cereal or granola mix with crispy baked wheat berries, popcorn, and almonds.

Then, the next night, Julie made a delicious edamame-corn-and more stir-fry served over breaded, fried eggplant that tasted like it had soy sauce on it!

















I had never made a successful stir-fry, or even known that there was a specific technique(s) associated with it. At the beginning of this month, I was afraid I might be eating the same omelet or vegetable stew, day after day. I was wrong. I think I like vegan cooking and local cooking for the same reason--the more limited selection forces you to be creative.

Red Herring Local Day Recap

The Local food day at the Red Herring Vegetarian Restaurant was a big success. Many thanks to Chad and Lisa who made the idea a reality, and to Amy who did some great last minute publicity for the event. (Channel 3 news WCIA showed up and did a story on the event).

For us, the best part was eating food that wasn't made by us! In the picture is the basil stir-fry, cornbread, and mashed sweet potatoes with green beans, all local.* There were also two local soups, butternut squash and potato leek.

The other best part, was seeing labels for all of dishes, which showed where every ingredients came from. How great is that? Full traceability. Some people don't want to know what is in their hot dog or chicken nuggets. Give me all the nitty gritty details! Here are pictures of the ingredients' places of origin:

(click for larger versions)









Wouldn't it be great if all restaurants did this? Each dish would be a story of soil, water, sun, farmers, trucks, trains, or ships, distance, freezers, cans, microorganisms, and so on.

*the corn for the cornmeal was grown in ohio but milled in illinois. see the ingredients lists for the rest of the exceptions.