Monday, April 26, 2010

Mochi and Miso! Oh My!

My co-worker Pam loaned me her copy of Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source. It's appears to be a totally vegan cookbook, but author Terry Walters doesn't like labels. As far as I can tell, she only mentions the words "vegan" and "vegetarian" once in the intro where she explains that she doesn't like to name her diet.

And that's fine, but I prefer to shout my veganism from the rooftops. Vegan pride and all. I'm of the believe that the more vegans who proudly proclaim our compassionate lifestyle, the more accepted we shall be. Then again, I guess a book like Clean Food, a seasonal cookbook of simple meals prepared with seasonal, whole foods, may also appeal to non-vegans. And that's kinda sneaky. I like sneaky.

Nevertheless, I won't hold it against Walters for not making a big deal of the vegan thing. After all, she is the driving force behind these delicious Mochi Dumplings, a recipe listed in the book's Spring section:

Mochi may just be one of my favorite foods. It starts as a hard brown square of tightly pressed brown rice, but after a few minutes in the oven, it poofs up leaving a hollow inside that's perfect for stuffing stir-fried cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and ginger. And I love mochi's chewy factor. The recipe also includes instructions for a simple dipping sauce of sesame oil, rice vinegar, and tamari.

I served my dumplings with a steamy bowl of Miso Soup:

Just my standard miso — one cubed square of Fumara Savory Baked Tofu (tastes like Chinese five-spice powder), a sliced carrot, a little napa cabbage, some green onion, a teaspoon of miso, and a generous squirt of sriracha.

I could be wrong, but I think this meal may have been totally, accidentally macrobiotic.

By the way, don't forget to enter the Etre the Cow book giveaway here.

21 comments:

dreaminitvegan said...

Mochi is a cool food. I really need to check out that cookbook. I get the whole thing about not having labels but when you say you are vegan people know what you mean. If I were to say I eat clean food they would be like "what"?

Anonymous said...

Ugh, I still can't find mochi around here. But those look awesome!

Lindsay I-F said...

this post stole my heart

vegiebug said...

I've never heard of mochi, but it sounds amazing! i love a good food discovery :D

Jennifer Galatioto said...

I eat a lot of vegan food and did so growing up. A lot of the Sicilian-American diet is vegan because it was peasant food. I get why she doesn't want to single it out as vegan. Some people won't even try something if its vegan because they think its gross. I was at an opening and my girl who is vegan made these awesome cookies. So delicious! A person walked in and said, "No, thanks, they are vegan." So she is smart to not label it. Go Vegans!

Dianne said...

that miso soup looks amazing! So much more flavorful than the standard tofu and scallions.

Leslie Richman said...

Mochi looks fun to work with. Yummy soup too!

Keri - I Eat Trees said...

Yum, both look awesome. I don't understand why people have such an aversion to vegan food. I've had people refuse my cookies or cakes just because they knew they were vegan! I just want to be like, "Wait, don't eat that banana!! It's vegan!" I don't know what they think we do to food that's so disgusting..

Anonymous said...

That cookbook sounds yummy! I'm with you- shouting veganism from rooftops, mountain tops, muffin tops...

Lolly said...

Your dumplings look absolutely yummy. I will have to add this cookbook to my evergrowing list of books I want to add to my collection!

Thanks for sharing and I love your blog!

~Lolly

Jessica said...

Sharing cookbooks is a great idea! I'm always happy when my aunt clips a veg recipe from the newspaper for me. These dumplings look scrumptious, I think I'll have to look for some mochi.

Anonymous said...

First of all - I love Miso-it's in my Top 10 Comfort Food List, and the Mochi look absolutely divine! The book looks great, too, I will be checking it out.

Okay, I finally have a nice little digital camera, and have begun some serious posting in my blogspot! -

http://vegan-vittle-eater.blogspot.com/

I'm only warming up, but soon the vegan recipes will arrive, photos and all.
It's good to be back in your corner of Veganville, Bianca!
Keep us drooling....

Happy Older Hippie Woman! said...

Hmmm, I accidentally hit Anonymous, I'm anything but!
~Carol

Gina said...

Those mochi dumplings are genious!!! I love that idea, I only discovered mochi since reading the Kind Diet, and I love it too!

Sarah said...

I got that book from a library a few weeks ago - it looks really great!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

I've never had savoury mochi!

Heather @ Side of Sneakers said...

I laughed when I read this- that cookbook is literally sitting next to me on the couch and I just saw that recipe, but I wasn't sure what mochi was. Now I need to go find it ;)

Anonymous said...

I'm a sixteen year old vegetarian going on Vegan because of you. I'm obsessed with your blog and look forward to you new posts everyday. Thank you so much

The Blissful Chef said...

This is my favorite cookbook right now because it is vegan macrobiotic without saying it and uses high quality ingredients and no refined sugar (hard to find in vegan cookbooks). If you like this cookbook you'll love my recipes! Check out my blog at http://theblissfulchef.com/blog

Love your blog! Are you on Twitter? I'm always posting your blogs on there to spread the love :)

Pam said...

These look wonderful! Truth be told, I bought the cookbook because I love books that are seasonal. The vegan twist was a nice surprise, proving, yet again, that fresh food is good food!

Megan said...

This looks amazing. I love mochi-- gonna have to try that!