Oden for Vegetarians

Oden is a traditional Japanese one pot dish that combines vegetables with meat and seafood cooked in a soy sauce broth. I have been looking for a way to come up with a vegetarian version without much success– until now. In addition to making it veggie, I also wanted it to be tasty and interesting without relying on too many hard to find specialty ingredients. The appeal of this dish is the wide variety of textures as well as flavors that comes to you all in one bowl. After a series of fairly mediocre attempts, I’ve finally hit upon the right combination of flavors and textures. I’m sure this recipe will continue to evolve.

Dashi stock is super easy to make from scratch. I think that Just Hungry has the best advice for vegetarian dashi variations. The only required ingredient is kombu, dried kelp. Other variations include dried bonito (tuna) flakes, ginger and dried shitakes. Instant dashi powder works just fine, too. You can find it in Asian markets. I know Mom’s House Chinese Food Market in Amherst carries it (they don’t have a website).

You can vary the stuff you put in it to suit your tastes and what you have around. I think you could use most vegetables, you’d just have to vary the timing of when to add them (probably not tomatoes, though). If you do want to throw in some meat or fish in, hey go for it. I do suggest frying the tofu. I also suggest seeking out the mochi, a japanese style rice cake that bakes up puffy and chewy. Most health food stores carry the Grainaissance brand in the refrigerated section (make sure you don’t accidentally buy the cinnamon raisin variety!)

I realize this recipe is full of multi-tasking, but that’s just the kind of cook I am. Please break this down into one thing at a time if you need/want to.

Vegetarian Oden

The stuff
1 lb block of firm tofu
rice flour or cornstarch to coat the tofu
neutral vegetable oil to fry the tofu (canola, corn, or peanut)
1 lb of red or yellow potatoes, peeled and diced ½”
2 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
1 ½ to 2 cups of broccoli, stems peeled and diced ¼”, crown cut into ½” florets
8-10 button or crimini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 package of mochi, about 6 oz., preferably a savory flavored variety, cut into one inch square

The Broth
4 1/2 cups of dashi
5-6 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes
6 tblspoons of good soy sauce or tamari
4 tbs of sake or 1/3 cup of white wine
4 tablespoons of mirin
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

The mustard dipping sauce
1 tsp or so of wasabi powder
4 tbs or so of dijon mustard
1 tsp black sesame seeds (optional)
or
japanese mustard sauce -the kind they use at japanese steakhouses, another thing to look for in Asisan markets and there are many recipes out there

Start by making your dashi, either by soaking your kombu or from instant powder.

Take your tofu out of the packaging, wrap in a clean dish towel for about 20 minutes (to remove excess moisture)

Meanwhile, combine the potato, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1/2 cup of dashi and a little more water to cover the potatoes in a big soup pot. Cook over med-hi heat until tender. Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon, keeping any leftover liquid in the pot.

While the potatoes are cooking, coat the tofu in flour and fry in oil in a small pan. Drain on paper towels.

Heat the oven to 450. If you are making the mustard sauce in this recipe, mix wasabi powder with a little water to form a paste. Set it aside.

Add the rest of the cooking liquid ingredients to the pot (include the soaking water from the mushrooms). Bring to a boil and then lower heat and keep at a simmer for 20 minutes. Then add all of the vegetables except for the broccoli florets. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Put your squares of mochi on a cookie sheet and put in the oven. Add the broccoli florets to the broth. Simmer your soup and bake your mochi for another 10 minutes. Take the mochi out of the oven, they should be puffy brown and crisp. Turn the heat off of the soup and fish the dried mushrooms out of the broth. Squeeze the water out of them with tongs backinto thre soup and slice very thin (discard any stems that are too touch). Return slices to the soup.

Stir dijon mustard and sesame seeds into the wasabi powder.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls, place a couple of pieces of tofu and a couple of poieces of mochi on a small plate with a little dish of the mustard sauce. Take one piece of tofu or mochi at a time, let it sit in the soup for half a minute and then take out and dip in the mustard sauce to eat. Alternate with spoonfuls of soup. I like to use chop sticks to eat the tofu/mochi and eat the veggies out of the soup.

Frittata For Two

A frittata is a hearty omelette that is generally cooked first on the stovetop and then finished in under the broiler. It is one large, flat egg cake, rather than the french style rolled or folded omelette. It’s fast, the whole thing comes together in 20 minutes or less.

It’s another one of those concept recipes: follow a few basic principles and you can vary the flavors with whatever you have on hand or want to use. It’s also easy to multiply if you need to make more servings. Frittatas are good for a make ahead dish because they are just as good at room temperature as they are hot. You can slice them up into any sized wedges or squares for serving.

The only “special” equipment you need is an oven/broiler safe skillet. Mine is cast iron. 10 inches is a good size for a frittata for two. If you don’t have a skillet that you can put under the broiler, I’ve included a variation on the technique that will get around that problem.

Note that the handle completely lacks any plastic or wood.

Really you can put anything in a frittata, veggies, cheeses, grains, whatever you’ve got. It’s a terrific way to use up those small amounts of leftovers that you didn’t want to throw out, but that aren’t really enough for another meal. If you’ve got ingredients that are already cooked, it will come together that much faster. Instead of actually cooking these ingredients in the first step, you can just heat them up and then proceed.

Whatever you put in them, you just don’t need all that much of it. If you put in to0 much stuff, it will be more like “eggs in vegetables and cheese, etc.” instead of “cheese and veggies etc in eggs”.

How much is enough?

The photo above illustrates the approximate proportions to be used with 5 eggs:

• 1 cup or so of filling
  In this recipe that’s 1/2 cup broccoli and cauliflower and 1/2 cup mushrooms (about 5 average sized). Since everything is raw, it will all shrink a bit as it cooks, so I’ve used a very generous measurement of a cup. If you were going to use a leafy green, such as spinach, it works best if it’s a) already cooked or frozen and thawed, b) been squeezed to remove excess water prior to measuring and cooking.

• 2-3 tablespoons of onions/garlic/fresh herbs
  In this example, it’s just minced onion.

• 1/3 cup of grated cheese (packed)
  In this example, it’s smoked gouda–you can skip the cheese and go for a little more of the other filling of you’d like.

These measurements are not super precise. You can have a little more or a little less and your frittata will still turn out fine.

Broccoli Cauliflower Mushroom Frittata for Two (Printer Friendly PDF)

This serves two in my house (my husband usually has a pretty good appetite). Depending on what else you serve with it, it may serve another person or two. Double it and you can serve 4-6 for sure.

1/2 cup combined of broccoli and cauliflower, chopped small (frozen and thawed is just fine, by the way)

1/2 cup crimini mushrooms (about 5 average sized)

3 tablespoons of minced onions

1/3 cup of grated cheese (cheddar, gouda, havarti, etc.)

5 large eggs

2-3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

oilve oil

salt and pepper

Adjust your oven rack to the middle position in your oven. Turn on your broiler.

Crack the eggs in a bowl. Beat lightly until yolks and whites are mixed. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the grated cheese (not the Parmesan).

Heat your skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until everything has just started to brown, about 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium. If the pan seems very dry, add another teaspoon or so of olive oil.

Broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms and onions cooked until everything just starts to brown.

Pour the egg mixture into the skillet right over the vegetables. Cook stirring constantly until the eggs start to set up a bit, about 30 seconds.

Sprinkle Parmesan over the top if you’re using it. Then put the skillet under your preheated broiler. (Do not walk away during this time. Keep checking it every 30 seconds or so until it’s done. Trust me, it’s better this way.) Broil until the top just starts to brown, 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot, warm or at room temperature. It’s fine to let it rest while you make some toast.

Variation if you don’t have a broiler safe skillet:

Prepare the egg mixture and cook the filling ingredients as directed. Place the filling ingredients in a lightly oiled broiler safe pan of your choice. Pour the egg mixture over the filling, sprinkle with Parmesan and broil as directed.

Finished Frittata

Kasha with Mushrooms and Onions

Kasha is buckwheat that has been hulled and roasted (NOT to be confused with Kashi which does have buckwheat in it, but also has wheat in it). It’s a tasty grain that cooks up quickly. It’s good on it’s own, but cooking it with herbs, onions etc make it even better.

Caramelized onions add flavor to kasha and most anything else

The traditional way to cook kasha is to mix the grains with egg before cooking. This helps the grains cook up separately. You can skip the egg if you want, it will still taste good, but it will be a bit mushy.

Kasha mixed with egg-you can see how the egg coats the grains

Kasha with Mushrooms and Onions

Makes 6-8 servings and can easily be halved

2 large onions (yellow, red or white or a mix), cut in half and sliced into thin half moons

10 oz of mushrooms (crimini are better than white button) washed and sliced

2 cups kasha

2 eggs

4 cups of water or stock

olive oil

salt and pepper

Beat the eggs slightly in a bowl. Stir in the kasha until thoroughly combined. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet on med high. Add the onions and cook stirring occasionally until caramelized about 15 minutes. Remove the onions with a slotted spoon to a bowl and set aside. Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet and then add the mushrooms. Cook stirring occasionally until brown, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and remove mushrooms with slotted spoon and put in the bowl with the onions. Keep the skillet on the medium heat. Put the kasha and egg mixture into the skillet. Cook stirring constantly about three minutes until the egg looks dry and the kasha smells toasty. Stir in the 4 cups of water or stock, breaking up any clumps. Cook stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the onions and mushrooms and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot or warm.

Finished kasha with mushrooms and onions

More photos here. I like to eat this with Roasted Roots and Squash, pictured above.