My New Favorite Snack

I’m not really sure what I did at the last Philly food blogger potluck, thanks to running around and pouring myself stiff drinks. I do know that all the food was good, and that I almost – yes, almost – didn’t sample my favorite dish of the night.

When my boyfriend yelled across the table, “You gotta try these. They’re…uh…something like...uh…kielbasa.” (If it weren’t for the fact that my Dad reads this blog, a bad Polish sausage joke would have followed that last sentence. You can thank my Dad.) Yeah, I didn’t rush over to sample the kielbasa.

What the confused boy meant to say was patra, or maybe colocasia. Patra are Indian rolls made with colocasia leaves (elephant ears, or taro leaves), and a spicy batter.

It wasn’t until the house was almost empty, and Tushar from PhillyFoodGuys started to pack up the leftover patra he brought, that I sampled one. I was in love.

I cleaned him out, and left him with nothing to take home (this is how I usually treat men). I ate them for a midnight snack, I ate them for breakfast, and then I went to International Foods and Spices in West Philly to stock up that very day.

You can make these at home, that is, if you can find patra leaves in ethnic markets. You can, also, find patra rolls in the frozen food section of Indian markets. They’re good right out of the box, but better if you do as Tushar says. He told me to heat up some oil with whole spices, sauté the slices, and then squeeze lots of lemon on top. Top with chutney, or leave plain.

I was trying my hardest at the end of the night to take in all the info, but under social situations (bourbon) my memory is worse than an amnesiac’s. Other than star anise, I missed what spices Tushar recommended to sauté the patra with. I went with whole cardamom, whole cumin, and whole cloves because that’s what I had on hand, but I’m sure star anise, mustard seed, and coriander seed would be nice, as well.

I hope you all got/get a chance to sample these. Had I sampled them earlier, you wouldn’t have gotten a chance.

Hey All You Vegans...

I just went through and tagged all my vegan recipes, and labeled the vegan recipes in the sidebar and recipe index with (V) to denote that they are vegan.

Why did I just get around to this? Because I’m not vegan, so don’t really think about it. But I know some of you who read this blog are vegan.

I’m surprised to see that a lot of my recipes are vegan. I’m also surprised to see that this last recipe, key lime-coconut cupcakes, is the first vegan dessert recipe on this blog. I'm sure there are also other recipes that could easily be made vegan, so check them out.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Key Lime-Coconut Cupcakes

I don’t own what is probably the most popular vegan cookbook out there – Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Neither do I own Moskowitz’s Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I like to think that it's not that I'm slow or cheap, but that I was just waiting for the big kahuna – Veganomicon: the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

Ok, I'm cheap. I was waiting for someone (Santa) to give me one of Moskowitz’s cookbooks.

The first recipe I made out of Veganomicon was mini key lime-coconut cupcakes for the last Philly food blogger meetup. Can’t find key lime-coconut cupcakes in the index of your Veganomicon? That’s because it’s not there.

I knew I was making non-vegan mini key lime bars, but wanted a vegan counterpart. When I saw the coconut-lemon bundt cake recipe in Veganomicon, I immediately thought of banana-lime bread with lime glaze that I used to make that also used coconut. Bingo! Substitute lime for lemon, put the batter in a mini-cupcake pan, and slap a lime glaze on those suckers!

I liked these guys a lot. They were sweet, but not cloying. If you want cloying, just add a lime and cream cheese-like frosting. Cloying is good, too.

Key Lime-Coconut Cupcakes

1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
⅔ cup vegetable oil
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
¼ cup rice or soy milk
¼ cup lime juice, (key lime or regular)
3 tablespoons grated lime zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup shredded coconut, (sweetened or unsweetened)

Key Lime-Rum Glaze

¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon rum
3 tablespoons lime juice, (key lime or regular)

• For the cake, combine sugar, oil, coconut milk, rice milk, lime juice and zest, and vanilla in a large bowl.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients in batches, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the coconut.
• Pour the batter into a greased mini-cupcake pan, and bake for 18 minutes in a pre-heated 350° oven, or until the cake is done. Let cool.
• To make the glaze, combine brown sugar, rum, and lime juice in a small pan over low heat, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes until a thin syrup develops. Brush tops of cupcakes with glaze.

Lies, All Lies

I was planning to write a Wilmington restaurant review this weekend. Next in line was Corner Market, a sandwich and gourmet grocery shop downtown. But, guess what? They closed this week, and are no longer in business.

These pictures were taken almost two months ago to the date. The place was so bare, I almost turned around and walked out, but when I’m determined to do something (check out Corner Market, in this instance), I do it. I actually asked if they were going out of business before placing my order. They acted like I was on crack. They even came up with a highly unbelievable story that a party had just been in the day before and cleaned the place out. Right.

I don’t understand why businesses try to cover up the fact that they’re going out of business? FoodSource, an upscale food market, also blatantly lied to me when I asked them if they were going out of business. Just admit it, and put your goods on sale!

Things at Corner Market just didn’t seem right, so I’ve been holding on to the review and the pictures, checking back when I’m downtown to see if the place ever re-stocked after the “party.” Nope. Things just got barer.

Anyway, the sandwich I ordered (goat cheese, pine nut, and honey) was a little sloppy, but not that bad. Goat cheese and honey is a classic, yummy pairing. But who cares? They’re closed.

Chili con Chocolate

Four new (to me) cookbooks arrived under my Christmas tree. I hope to cook at least one dish from each book before I put them on the shelf. First up is David Lebovitz’s oldie but goodie, The Great Book of Chocolate.

It took every ounce of will not to choose a sweet recipe, but I’m desserted-out from the holidays (polygraph arm just jumped), so it wasn’t too hard to choose the chili con chocolate recipe.

As I somewhat followed the recipe (see notes below), and tasted the chili during the hour-long simmer before the chocolate is added, I thought, “This chili is nothing special.” Once the chocolate was added, though, the chili transformed into something darker and richer, but still a hearty tomato-based chili that will please traditionalists.

Time wasn’t on my side, so I used canned beans. Tempeh replaced beef, and ancho chili replaced red chili. Dill didn’t make it into the pot.

Chili con Chocolate
Adapted from The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz

2 1-pound cans kidney and/or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon salt
8 ounces tempeh, crumbled
1 to 2 teaspoons cayenne
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
black pepper
1 dried ancho chili, reconstituted and diced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
4 cups water
3 ounces Ibarra Mexican sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (if can't find, use chocolate and a dash of cinnamon)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

• Heat oil in a large pot. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, jalapenos, and salt, and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.
• Add tempeh, cayenne, oregano, cocoa, cumin, black pepper, and ancho chili, and cook for a few minutes to release flavors.
• Add the crushed tomatoes, beans, and water, and simmer for 1 hour uncovered, or until thick. Stir in the chocolate and vinegar.

Divan

At this point, it was too late to move to the bar.

I’ve been wanting to try Divan Turkish Kitchen and Bar simply because their building on the corner of Carpenter and 22^nd smacks me up side the head every time I turn on to 22^nd to head into Center City. Oh, yeah, there’s a Turkish restaurant down this way!

With a New Year’s Eve party two blocks from Divan, the time had come to check things out.

As we stumbled to find the entrance, we could hear lively music and could see the shadow of a belly dancer twirling on the other side of the curtains.

Oh, god! Belly dancers scare me, yet, if I were a belly dancer, you better believe I'd be shakin' my shit over your plate. Right as we walked in, though, the dancer exited. Phew!

We had reservations for seating at the bar, because that’s what happens when you make reservations at 5:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. The bar was full, but a tiny two-top plunked in the middle of the narrow, dimly lit room’s walkway next to the waiter’s station, and inches from a larger table against the wall was open. We took it.

I was very uncomfortable sitting at, basically, another party’s table. If the table beside us had left before we did, we would have had to have gotten up. And a mere eighteen inches on the other side, the server’s non-stop asses bumped into each other at the server’s station for the entire evening.

I was distracted and grumpy about the seating situation. It didn’t help that an accordion player started playing directly behind me, and a tip jar was passed around before we had even ordered drinks. Half a drink later, I settled down.

For variety, we went with an assortment of appetizers and a dessert:All appetizers come wearing one outfit - shredded lettuce, tomato slices, and herb sprinkles. (I'm getting a new camera soon. I hope it deals with low light situations better.)

Imam bayildi - Whole baby eggplant stuffed with sautéed onion, garlic, tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, parsley, and dill. The eggplant was very tender, but cold from sitting in the fridge. A bland, unexciting dish.

Falafel with humus and tahini sauce – The falafel were a little too crispy on the outside, but the inside was very soft. As a vegetarian that gets humus at every turn, I'm disenchanted with this bean dip, in general, but Divan's not-ultra-creamy-but-not-chunky humus texture is more my style. The tahini sauce was sweet, not bitter, and that's what I love. More tahini sauce, please

Mucver – Oven-baked zucchini pancake with yogurt. So soft, you don’t need teeth!

Ispanakli borek – Spinach pie. Our server must have misheard our order, because we ordered another spinach appetizer. Oh, well. Or, damn. This was my least favorite appetizer. The dough was rubbery and lifeless – how I’d expect it to act after sitting a day in a take-home container.

Turkish cigar borek - Thinly rolled dough stuffed with feta and parsley. This was my favorite appetizer. Warm feta…mmm.

Firin sutlac – Baked rice pudding. With baked in the name, I expected this dessert to be warm. It was fridge-temperature. This dessert is more of a thick custard, and does not have individual rice grains. The top was very thick, as custards sitting around are apt to develop.

Highlights of the night were the Turkish cigar borek and the tahini sauce. Most memorable from the evening was sitting on top of a clapping and singing table of patrons with server’s asses in my face.

Our experience at Divan was hit or miss, and the seating arrangements are atrocious when the house is full.

Divan Turkish Kitchen and Bar, 918 S. 22nd St., Philadelphia, PA, 19146
215-545-5790
Open Noon-11 p.m., 365 days a year

The Road Not Taken

My life could be very different right now. I could be living in Austin, Texas.

Back in the mid-‘90s, I had a love affair with Austin. I visited a few times, stayed with friends, rode my bike along the urban Barton Creek Green Belt, traipsed the city, ate at loads of veggie-friendly restaurants, and decided that I’d like to move to this warm climate city (warm climate was a prerequisite).

I went back out there, found an apartment, put down a deposit, and came back to the east coast to pack.

I chickened out and ended up staying on the east coast. Why am I such a big loser? I had no job prospectives in Austin, and rent in Austin (thanks to their ‘90s dot-com boom) was 3-4 times what I was paying back home (I had ridiculously cheap rent).

It’s been about ten years since I’ve been to Austin, but I went last week – ‘cause it really is a great city!

My favorite restaurant from my previous visits is Thai Noodle House, which is tucked behind a 7-11 on the main drag near the University of Texas campus. I went back to see if I could find the dish I loved so much – a cold noodle dish with a tangy sauce. Ten years is a long time to hold on to the memory of a dish you’ve only eaten five or six times, and the dish I chose didn’t seem to match my memory. Oh well. Maybe it’s not me. Apparently the shop has switched owners, and not everyone is happy about it. Our meal was good.

I’ve had Indian in Austin, but never at The Clay Pit. This place has to be the largest Indian restaurant I’ve ever been to. And the busiest. We went on a Thursday night during UT winter break, and it was packed. The food is dubbed contemporary Indian, since it incorporates non-traditional ingredients like salmon and mussels. The Northern Indian food at the Clay Pit is solid.

El Soy y La Luna is a funky Tex-Mex joint in the artsy, indie SoCo area. The menu is extensive, and they even serve breakfast all day. I went with the black bean taco and the soy chorizo taco from the a la carte menu. One thing I love and remember from previous visits to Austin is the abundance of soy chorizo at restaurants. Austin is very veggie-friendly!

I’ve been on a “where’s a veggie hot dog” quest for many years, and the quest is surprisingly difficult. So far in my travels, the Midwest is a veggie hot dog hot spot. Dog Almighty in South Austin serves beef, turkey, and veggie hot dogs with a long list of toppings. Anything on the menu can be made vegetarian. (Did I mention that Austin is veggie-friendly?) I had The Classic with chili, onions, cheese, and mustard, and The Pflueger Dog with kraut, onions, and mustard. The dogs and buns were grilled to perfection. Almighty Dog made my day. Will someone in Philly take this idea and make it happen?

I’m back in Wilmington/Philly now. Back to my life that actually happened. Austin is great, but I’ve got a Philly love affair going on now – despite that it's cold as fuck here.