Scary? Smelly? Delicious... Kimchi!

I love fermented cabbage. A couple of year back I’d never have though I’d come with such a claim, but somewhere along the way I was enlightened. It is true, fermented vegetables can seem scary at first. The smell can be pungent, to say the least. My little brother still leaves the room when I open a jar. But if you just give it one honest try (or a few), you might see beyond the initial funky whiff and like me find a new love in your life. Apart from being delicious, fermented foods in general are also really good for you. If you want to learn more about that and why it is so, check out this post.

Fermenting vegetables, cabbage in particular, is popular in many cuisines. Historically this is a result of fermenting being such a great way to preserve food. The Germans have their sauerkraut, and the Koreans their own spicy version, namely kimchi. Until recently kimchi hasn’t been a part of my life. Why? Mainly because the only kimchi you can buy at a regular grocery store is packed in super tiny jars and usually insanely expensive. Also I thought the process of making it was way to0 complex. Turns out that this is not true at all! It’s actually as easy as giving your cabbage some love by massaging, then adding some spices, stuffing it in a jar and waiting. Give it a try; it’s worth it!

Note: If you use the full amount of chili you will have a spicy kimchi. Reduce the amount for a milder version.

Makes enough kimchi to fill a 1 l/1 quart jar

400 g Savoy or Napa cabbage 

2 tbsp. salt (iodide free!)

15 g fresh ginger, peeled

2-3 cloves of garlic

¼ small red onion

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tbsp. mirin (Japanese sweet wine) or sugar

1 tbsp. Japanese soy sauce

1 tbsp. water

1 tbsp. chili flakes

1 small apple, no need to peel it.

Chop the cabbage into medium-sized pieces, about 3x3 cm/1”x1”. Place in a large bowl and add the salt. Start massaging the cabbage until it starts wilting and softening. Leave for about 2 hours, massaging again after about 1 has passed.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a blender to a smooth paste. When the cabbage is done wilting, add the paste and continue massaging until every piece is covered. Leave for 1 hour and massage again. Press the cabbage into your glass jar, making sure to pack it well. Leave about 3 cm/1 inch of room at the top. Screw the lid on, but not to tight since you want the gas that builds up to be able to escape. Another alternative is to open the jar once a day and release the gas. Leave to ferment in a dark place anything from 2 days to 2 weeks. The cabbage is going to be good immediately, but the longer you leave it the more it will ferment. Once you’re happy with the fermenting, put the jar in the fridge. Your kimchi will keep for a good while!

Fermentation Education

I have a new hobby. This new hobby leaves my fridge full of jars, and it is not uncommon to see some of them cozied up by the warm pipes in the apartment or hidden under a paper bag in the corner of my room. I’ve gotten hooked on fermentation. Currently I have a crowd of two kinds of sauerkraut, kimchi (recipe coming!), yoghurt and sour oats in different mason jars hanging out in the fridge. It’s a party.

So what’s the deal with fermented foods? Well, simply put they are healthy, delicious and a good method of preservation. Basically a fermented food is a food in which microorganisms have been allowed to feast on the sugars and carbs, commonly producing some kind of acid. You probably eat way more fermented foods than you think. Some examples are vinegar, olives, kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, tempeh, yoghurt, cheese, bread, wine, beer, coffee, tea and chocolate. So fermentation is a commonly used method to say the least. The making of all of the products I just mentioned use different kinds of microorganisms, some bacteria and some yeast, and fermentation is used for different purposes and at different points of production. I’m going to focus on products using so called LABs, that is lactic acid-producing bacteria.

LABs are a kind of bacteria that can produce lactic acid (obviously) from sugar. In the process, they also produce carbon dioxide. LABs are naturally present on vegetables as they can be found in the soil. Therefore they are the ones used for fermenting vegetables. Given the right environment, these bacteria will thrive. They like hanging out without oxygen, that is anaerobically, and can live in solutions with high salt-concentrations. So in a salty environment they go about producing their lactic acid and thereby creating conditions that they themselves love, but that most other pathogenic microorganism can’t live in. And this is historically the point of fermentation. People needed a way to preserve their food. The use of LABs was pretty perfect. They prevent microorganism that would spoil from settling down and at the same time make the food more nutritious. This is why the method used for fermentation today is essentially the same as back in the day; it’s foolproof.

Fermenting vegetables is not only a way to preserve them, even though that might have been the main purpose before. The bacteria work other kinds of magic on the food, which in some ways actually makes it even healthier than in its raw state. At this point it is important to differentiate between cooked fermented foods and uncooked ones. Both are good for you, and have several benefits over their unfermented counterparts. The difference is that the uncooked fermented foods are considered probiotic, as the bacteria are still alive. Examples are fermented vegetables (if you buy them in the store, it will be the ones kept in the fridge) and yoghurt with living cultures. It is not completely understood why probiotic foods are so great, but the benefits of them have been showed time and time again. Recall the post about the bacteria in your gut (or read it here!). The gut microbiota affects our health in so many ways, including improving out immune system. By eating probiotic foods with healthy, good bacteria, you’re helping improve that microbiota. The bacteria in the probiotic food will fill any empty spots that pathogens might otherwise decide to settle down on. The good bacteria will then help outcompete the bad ones, partly by producing antimicrobial substances, but also by lowering the pH. This is why probiotic, living fermented foods gives you a healthy gut and can improve your immune system. It has also been showed that they can help against diarrhea, hepatic disease, inflammation, arthritis, allergies, eczema, hypertension, high blood lipid-levels and certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer. I’d say those small guys have a pretty impressive resume.

There are other perks of fermenting your food. In the process of converting sugar to lactic acid, the bacteria partially digest or break down the food. Consider this: our digestive system takes 10% of our energy, and uses it to take up nutrients, vitamins and minerals from the food we eat. What if we could make this process a bit easier? You know how birds chew their food before giving it to their babies? Essentially that is what the bacteria are doing for us. They both start breaking down the food, but also produce enzymes that will make it easier for the body to digest it. Fermenting food makes it easier and less energy consuming for the body to absorb all the healthy nutrients. Put in fancy words, it increases the bioavailabilty of the food. But the kindness of the bacteria doesn’t end there. They can also synthesize certain vitamins that weren’t present in the food to start with. To sum it up, fermenting something can actually make it healthier and more nutritious than it was to start with!

You can of course buy fermented foods, but it is so easy to make them yourself! You can make your own yoghurt (see recipehere!), sour oats (check this out) and maybe my favorite, fermented vegetables. It is, as mentioned earlier, quite foolproof. The good bacteria ensure that no bad bacteria will grow and spoil the food. The process is super simple. Mix vegetables with salt or brine, stuff them in a jar and let that jar sit. The only things you really have to think about are getting the salt concentration right, and using salt without iodine. Give it a google and you’ll find loads of good recipes. I also have a great and really easy recipe for kimchi on the way; it’ll be up on the blog shortly! If you do choose to buy fermented vegetables instead of making them yourself, make sure to buy the kind that is refrigerated in the store. The canned versions that are kept at room temperature do not contain live cultures. You still get some of the benefits from fermenting from these, but why not go for all of them!

Microorganisms can be so great. Lactic acid bacteria are gallant enough not only to keep our food fresh but also to make it better than medicine. I want to end with a quote by Dr Michael McCann from conference at the International Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Immunology Georgetown University Medical Center in 1999:

“Probiotics will be to medicine in the twenty-first century as antibiotics and microbiology were in the twentieth century."

For a sunnier morning

There is something that can make even the greyest morning a bit sunnier, metaphorically speaking (even though I wish I’d actually found something that could change the weather). That is having a delicious and healthy breakfast waiting for you in the fridge, ready to kick-start your day in the best possible way. It makes life so much easier, and gives you time to take it easy, or maybe even sleep a few extra minutes. Chia pudding is one such great breakfast that can be made ahead of time to be enjoyed the next morning. Here is a new favorite version of mine, with banana and cinnamon.

The base of this recipe is the chia seeds, liquid and oats. Start with this and you can flavor it with pretty much anything you want. Oats are not essential, but I think they make the pudding a bit creamier. I usually just use water, mostly because I’m a bit cheap and think it works out great, but if you want to make it a bit more luxurious and creamy make it with your favorite vegan milk. I can promise you it’ll be good anyhow, but this might just make it even better.

Enough to make 1 person’s morning a bit sunnier

2 tbsp. chia seeds

1 tbsp. rolled oats

1 ¾ dl water or vegan milk

½-1 tsp. cinnamon (depending on how much you love cinnamon)

1 banana

1 tbsp. sunflower seeds

2 chopped dates

For serving: Roasted coconut and vegan milk

Mash half the banana, save the other half for serving the following morning. Mix the mashed banana with the rest of the ingredients. Let sit for about 10 minutes, and then give it a stir. Cover and keep in the fridge until the following morning. Slice the second half of the banana over the top, sprinkle with some cinnamon and roasted coconut and serve with some vegan milk! Easy as can be!

A darn good Reuben sandwich, my way

I remember the first time I came to New York. I’d just graduated high school and we’d just finished our Vegan Vegan!-project. I was not vegan at the time, but ate almost only vegetarian. That first visit New York was amazing, what a wonderful city! But according to my mom, the experience wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Stage Deli. So there I found myself with a pastrami sandwich in front of me, meat piled high, and I’m not going to lie, it was delicious!

For those of you unaware of the sandwich culture at classic NY delis, this is pretty much how a sandwich is built up: two slices of bread, a mayonnaise-based sauce of some kind, many slices of cheese and a mountain of meat, twice, if not three times, as thick as the bread. To sum it up, they are not very vegan. But what is it really that makes pastrami sandwiches so good, the actual meat or the combination of a smoky protein, a creamy sauce, a soft inside and a crispy outside? I think it’s the latter, meaning it may well be made vegan! So here is my version of what I think is a darn good Reuben sandwich!

A traditional Reuben is made up of rye bread, pastrami, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing and best of all, sauerkraut. I replace the pastrami with tempeh marinated in pastrami spices. You could use a firm tofu, if you can’t get ahold of tempeh. If you can find smoked tofu, take that, it’s going to be great! As for the dressing, I made a chili almond aioli in place of the Russian dressing, which is otherwise mayonnaise-based. The recipe for the aioli is inspired by the wonderful chef Molly Katzen, one of my many kitchen heroes and a big source of inspiration! It makes more than what’s needed, but it keeps in the fridge and is amazingly delicious!

Vegan Reuben

Makes you two delicious sandwiches

4 slices of good rye bread 

Dijon mustard

Pastrami tempeh (see recipe below)

Chili almond aioli (see recipe below)

2-3 dl sauerkraut

Optional: Some roasted fennel or caraway seeds

There are two ways to make this: grilled or not grilled. If you’re not grilling it, toast the bread first!

Spread mustard on two of the bread slices and a nice thick layer of aioli on the other two. Press out all the liquid from the sauerkraut. Put the tempeh on the mustard slice and cover it in sauerkraut. Sprinkle with the spice seeds if you’re using them and then place the aioli slice on top. 

If you’re grilling your sandwiches, heat a pan with a tiny bit of oil. Place the sandwiches in the pan and press down on them with a plate or a lid or anything you can find that works. Turn them over once they’ve gotten crispy on the first side and press down on them again. When they’re heated through and both sides are nice and crispy, cut them over the diagonal and enjoy immediately.

Tempeh pastrami

Enough for 2 sandwiches

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. smoked paprika

½ tsp. ground coriander

½ tsp. chili flakes

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 small clove of garlic, grated

1 tbsp. oil

125 g tempeh

Mix all the ingredients but the tempeh in a bowl. Slice the tempeh in ½ cm-slices and mix it with the marinade, making sure all surfaces are covered. Cover and let marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours (worst case scenario, if you’re really rushed, you can leave it for shorter).

Heat a pan to medium-high heat. Fry the tempeh slices until nicely browned on both sides. You probably don’t have to add any oil to the pan as the marinade contains so much.

Chili Almond Aioli

65 g almonds

1 small clove of garlic

½ tsp. salt

3 tbsp. olive or canola oil (make sure it’s a tasty one)

1 tbsp. lemon juice

½ tbsp. vinegar

3-4 tbsp. water

1-2 tbsp. minced onion, red or shallots

Chili sauce to taste, depending on the kind you use (I used about 1 tbsp. sriracha)

½ tsp. sugar

Blanch the almonds in boiling water to remove the skins. Heat a pan to medium heat and gently toast the almonds until lightly golden. Let cool slightly.

Place almonds, garlic and salt in a high-speed blender. Mix to a sandy, floury mixture. Add oil, vinegar and lemon juice. Blend until completely emulsified, that is, until the oil is completely incorporated and the mixture is homogenous. Stop to scrape down the sides occasionally. Once smooth, add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time and mix between every addition. Once the aioli has reached you desired consistency, add the sugar, minced garlic and chili sauce, stir to mix. Taste for salt, lemon and chili.

A vision of sweet potatoes and chickpeas

I have to tell you, I get visions. It can happen at any given moment, whatever I’m doing and wherever I am. Out of the blue, I can get a vision. And what are they about? Well, food of course. Suddenly, before my inner eye I see a dish I simply have to make. Because of this this peculiarity of mine I have a long list of dishes I want to make, and it just gets longer and longer. This particular dish came to me in one such vision. One day it just occurred to me that sweet potato burgers with chunks of chickpeas, jalapeno and scallions in them would be delicious. And my vision turned out to be true (they aren’t always, I have to tell you).

I do not blend the chickpeas to a smooth paste in this recipe, but leave them roughly chopped. This gives you something to chew on, unlike many other veggie burgers that can be way too puree-like. Also, by not mixing the scallions and jalapenos the burgers don’t only turn out a lot prettier, but it also separates all the flavors. With each bite small fireworks of flavors explode in your mouth. The sweet potato works great to bind it all together, both physically and flavor-wise.

Serve the burgers with good chutney, something spicy and sweet, and a citrusy salad with a bit of lime. Or at least that’s what I would do. I would also have some quinoa cooked with bay leaves and a cinnamon stick on the side. But that’s just me.

4 medium-sized burgers (enough for 2 people)

250 g sweet potato (1 medium-sized potato)

1 clove of garlic

½ jalapeno

A small bunch of cilantro

2 spring onions

150 g cooked chickpeas

½ tbsp. sesame oil

3 tbsp. chickpea flour (or quinoa, oat, buckwheat. If you use regular flour, use half the amount)

Salt and pepper to taste

Turn the oven to 175°C/350°F. Put the whole potato in the oven and roast it until it is soft when you put a knife through it. This takes about 40-50 minutes.

Chop the chickpeas roughly, either by hand or by pulsing them in a mixer. You don’t want any whole peas, but you don’t want it to turn into mush. Put them in a bowl with chopped cilantro, chopped jalapeno and finely sliced spring onions.

When the potato is done, take it out of the oven and peel it as soon as it’s cooled enough to be handled. Mix the potato with the garlic, flour and sesame oil, either in a blender or with an immersion blender, to a puree. Taste this mixture for salt and pepper and the mix it with the rest of the ingredients.

Heat a pan to medium heat and add a lug of oil. Make sure it’s a good pan to which the burgers won’t stick, either a trustworthy cast-iron or a non-stick pan. Make burgers and fry them for about 3 minutes on each side, or until nicely browned.

Serve in the fashion you prefer, or as recommended above.

My vegan pantry

Moving to New York meant having my life change in many ways. This was kind of the point, mixing things up, trying something new, living a new life and walking new streets. One of the hardest things I had to adapt to was not having the well-stuffed pantry of my parents’ kitchen. Back home the cupboards were always overflowing, and you could find pretty much anything if you just searched deep enough. When I got here I had to start from zero. My first roommate did not care much for cooking, to say the least. The oven in the apartment didn’t work and the only things to be found in the fridge were beer and milk. Before I moved in, that is. Thankfully my new roommates love to cook too and together we’re starting to build ourselves a decently stuffed pantry. This humbling experience has taught me what truly value having, and now I thought I would share this with you.

Here is a list of the things I find essential to have at home. If you’re new to being a vegan, it may feel like you have to replace everything you have in your cupboards. This really isn’t the case. By trying a few new recipes every now and you’ll slowly but surely get a wide and wonderful variety of vegan foods at your fingertips.

I don’t want you to think you can’t be a good vegan without having these foods at home. This is simply a guided tour through my pantry, which shows you what I think is good to have and what I base most of my recipes on. The most important thing to have around, according to me, is a lot of spices. The more the better as changing the spices is the easiest way to make a world of different dishes from the same basic staples. I’ve listed the one’s I find most important though.

In the fridge

Your favorite kind of vegan milk

Fermented vegetables – just because it’s so healthy and easy when you don’t care to make a salad

Some kind of hummus – this is really the perfect snack: spread it on bread or a cracker, use it as a dip or just eat it with a spoon (I’ve done that…). It’s stuffed with good protein and usually keeps at least a week.

Vegan yoghurt – maybe not necessary, but a nice way to give your breakfasts a bit of variation. Read about how to make it here!

Miso paste – not the most common thing to have at home, but it adds a wonderful umami flavor to anything you put it in.

Dijon mustard – good in salad dressings, sauces, sandwiches and many other things.

Your favorite homemade salad dressing – so that making a good salad is easy as can be. My current favorite is this Miso-Almonddressing.

Maple syrup – OK, I know I’m lucky to live so close to the enchanted land of maple syrup and it’s not too expensive here. Other syrups and sweeteners work too, but if you can get your hands on some…

In the pantry

Dried lentils – I like to have both red and small green (Puy), as the red are great for thicker stews and green hold their shape wonderfully when cooked

Nut or seed butter

Grains – it’s nice to have a few kinds around so that you don’t always have to have the same thing. I like quinoa, buckwheat/kasha, pearled barley and other ancient grains.

Pasta – everyone loves pasta, there’s really not much to say

Coconut milk – great if you want to make a creamy sauce or a fast curry

Whole, canned tomatoes – I prefer the whole kind because I want to think these have to be made from nicer tomatoes than the crushed ones and that they taste more.

Dried fruit – perfect to make your breakfast oatmeal a bit more fun but I also love adding dried foods to savory Middle-eastern dishes. Dried fruit is also great to snack on when you want something sweet. Choose your favorites, such as raisins, cranberries, figs, apricots and dates. For raisins and apricots especially: make sure they’re organic!

Nuts and seeds – packed with energy and great for everything from cooking to snacking and baking. I always have almonds around, cashews are great for mixing into creamy sauces, and pumpkin seeds are great. The list of good nuts can be made long.

Chia seeds – they aren’t only good for making chia pudding, but also as an egg replacement in baking.

Nutritional yeast – if omnivores think everything improves with cheese on top, well here you have you new vegan best friend.

Vinegar – I like to have both balsamic and apple cider, as they have such different personalities.

Coconut oil – I try to use it as little as possible, but for baking it’s irreplaceable.

Neutral cooking oil – canola is great, grape seed works as well. Choose the kind that is grown closest to you it my tip.

Olive oil – a drizzle here and a lug there. Need I say more?

Soy sauce – I like tamari, but any Japanese kind will do. Chinese are good too, but if I had to choose one, I’d go for the Japanese one.

Oats – I like having both steel-cut and regular rolled, but if you have to choose one, go for rolled.

On the spice shelf

Cinnamon

Cardamom

Cumin – I like buying whole seeds, as you can grind them up or leave them whole, and they are easier to roast, which brings out the flavor wonderfully. But ground works too.

Ground coriander

Sweet paprika

Smoked paprika – no need for bacon to get that smoky taste

Red pepper flakes

Nutmeg

Dried thyme

Dried oregano

Turmeric

Fennel seeds

Garam masala or curry

Bay leaves

Black pepper

Sea salt

Other fun spices you might consider buying

Ground ginger, allspice, ground cloves, caraway seeds, nigella/onion seeds, whole coriander seeds, mustard seeds, green cardamom pods.

In the freezer

Home-cooked beans, a few varieties

Leftovers to take out when you don’t want to cook

Berries – for smoothies, oatmeal, baking and more

Overripe bananas – when a banana gets too ripe, freeze it! They are great for making banana pancakes, adding to smoothies, or anything else where you mix or mash the banana.

Frozen spinach or kale – to add some extra greens to your smoothies and other dishes

Bread – I love bread, and probably eat way too much of it

Homemade vegetable stock – if you’re feeling ambitious, it’s really great

Tempeh – if you can get ahold of it, it is a great thing to have around and add to stir-fries, stews or any dish that needs some extra protein

My dream pantry contains many more things, in fact my dream pantry would probably mean having a door to my own grocery store and market in the kitchen. But if I have to choose, these are probably the essentials.