D.C. is hot. Hot and humid (for the record, it is definitely both the heat and the humidity). Cooking is not that fun when you could accidentally touch a hot stove and barely notice. So I've been doing a lot of green salads, grain and bean salads, and things like salad rolls that are mostly raw, can be made ahead, and are made to eat cold.
Here are my tips on good salad rolls:
1) Pass on the cilantro. It's a vile weed that takes up space where basil is meant to be. Leave it for its best and highest use, which is soil remediation, because it takes up arsenic. Yeah, think about *that* for a minute.
2) Season your vegetables. I shred cabbage with carrots and season them with sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and a little garlic. Sometimes I add finely chopped scallions, and sometimes I cut those in thin strips and add them separately for more color.
3) Make them pretty. I use purple cabbage and make sure to add some green stuff - basil, scallions, and sometimes spinach as well. Shred them finely or else the whole thing will look messy.
4) Have a good vegetable/noodle ratio. A lot of salad rolls just taste like rice noodles inside of rice paper. I mean, I like peanut sauce a lot, even on a sub-par vehicle, but we can all do better than that. That said, the noodles help keep everything from falling all over the place, so don't expect them to hold together if there aren't enough noodles. Along those lines, don't overfill them or they'll be a mess to eat and won't stay rolled up.
5) Some kind of sauce is obviously important. I prefer peanut, and use peanut butter, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, lime juice, coconut milk, and a little chile oil. But there are really good vinegar/chili sauce recipes out there if that's your thing.
6) Saute your tofu with a little soy sauce, even if it's hot out and you don't feel like it. It adds flavor and texture. Or use seitan. Just put something in that adds a little more substance.
Yay!! New posts! I am goign to try to make these for my sister's birthday dinner tonight. Also debating starting a blog on what to do with the stuff in my CSA box. Right now, just so much lettuce!
ReplyDeletePS I love cilantro and am using it :)
I ate lentils and rice with veganaise last night, and I thought of our summer in D.C. so I thought I would check the blog. Nice call on the seasoning the veggies in the salad rolls; I haven't done that yet. Also those wontons look pretty amazing. I definitely need to add more finger food to my repetoire.
ReplyDeleteLast but not least, I need to throw a shout out to my friend Cilantro. Poor Cilantro, don't listen to Tarah.
cilantro IS a vile weed, and i'm pretty sure hatred of it is genetic. And i hate it. I'm glad to hear that it has a use other than ruining so many great dishes for me, and also now i have another reason to hate it. arsenic, nuff said. Thanks for the recipe/tips, I think salad rolls are my near-future! hope things cool down in DC, or at least that you become accustomed to the disgusting heat. seriously, sundresses. that is the only thing i wear in upstate NY in the summer.
ReplyDeletegood to know cilantro take up arsenic since I've been putting it in everything lately. mint serves as a darn fine alternative though. also, if one has a toaster oven, baking the tofu in it is a good way to avoid a hot stove on a balmy D.C. day.
ReplyDeleteI knew people would jump to cilantro's rescue. Good food doesn't need defending, ladies :)
ReplyDeleteClaire - good idea on the toaster oven tofu. If only I had one...