The Conclusion: Creamy Cabbage and Carrot Soup

With this entry what I believe future historians will term the "Cabbaga Saga" comes to an end. Technically, this was not the last thing I ate from those cabbages but I felt that "I made dal normally and threw in some cabbage" would not be a very interesting blog entry. The impetus for this soup was the fact that I took several unopened packages of sour cream home that had accompanied some nachos at my friend's birthday party. Upon waking up and realizing I had no idea what to do with that sour cream, I looked through Mark Bittmans' book and settled on something from the creamy soups section.

Creamy Cabbage and Carrot Soup

oil

1 onion, minced

2 cups carrots, chopped

2 cups cabbage, chopped

salt

1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

3 1/3 cups vegetable stock

1/3 cup sour cream
Heat the oil in a pot over medium. When hot, add the vegetables. Season with the salt and chipotle. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, then add the stock and cook for another 15 minutes. Let cool and puree and put it in the blender. Stir in the sour cream and serve.

Serves 2

This is a nice unoffensive soup, but it's a little too boring for a main dish. So the serves 2 is a little misleading, it would be a great appitizer soup course before another course – or a breather in between more spicy dishes.

The Story Continues... Kimchi Tofu Soup

My last post here was a bit of a cliffhanger because I didn't mention what dish I used the kimchi in (I realize I am using a very expansive definition of the word "cliffhanger"). Well, now all will be revealed (unless you read the title of this post)! As I used Mark Bittman's recipe for kimchi, I thought I'd troll through the index to find recipes that used kimchi.

Kimchi Tofu Soup

dark sesame oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup kimchi

1/2 block tofu, cubed (or crumbled if soft tofu)

2 teaspoons chili paste

4 cups water or stock

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/3 cup white rice

Put the sesame oil in a medium saucepan over medium/high heat. Add the onions when it's hot and cook for a miute. Add the kimchi, tofu and chili paste for a few seconds then add the water, vinegar and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Tone down the heat a bit till it's simmering, then add the rice and cook for 15-20 minutes.

The soup was a nice mix of sour and savoury but, like the kimchi, not spicy enough. I'm going to be making it again this week and I'm going to use soft tofu and more chili paste. Maybe even a couple of my pickled chilies, we'll see if they're still good after I accidentially put them into the freezer.

"Korean mothers doubtless could thank kimchi for preserving the virtue of many of their daughters..."

As we speak there is cabbage rotting in my kitchen. Which is, I guess, my way of saying that I decided to make kimchi with some of my cabbage surplus (almost gone, but still have a bunch more cabbage). Now, let me stipulate that many of the ingredients I wanted were not at my disposal. For example, this awesome looking raddish would've be great to put in the kimchi:

Alas, it was not to be. Still, I was able to – more or less – follow Mark Bittman's recipe.

Cabbage Kimchi

1/2 head cabbage (about 1 lb), seperated into leaves

1/4 cup of salt

1/2 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons sugar
Layer the cabbage leaves in a colander, putting salt in between each layer. Lit sit over a bolw for at least a few hours. When the cabbage is wilted, rinse and dry. Chop the cabbage and add it and all other ingredients to a jar. Let sit.

So my first problem was that my red pepper flakes were weaksauce. I ended up putting in a bunch of cayenne instead but it still wasn't hot enough. Maybe I should've chopped up some chili peppers. So how was the final version after it fermented for a few days. Well it was pretty pungent, a bit sour and complex but not spicy enough. I don't know if I even get to call it kimchi, maybe I should say pickled cabbage instead. My landlady was touring the place so I had to open a bunch of windows to get rid of the smell before the visitors came. Still, I'm glad I have it in a jar, so I can use it for other meals. In fact, I've already used it in another meal... that you'll hear about next time on The Frugal Veggie!

PS– The quote is from a book called Korea: The First War We Lost. I remembered the phrase dimly but couldn't remember where it was from or the exact wording. So I typed in virtue+kimchi+korean+war into Google Books and it popped up the result. What an era we live in!

Silky cabbage with quinoa

My parents are away in the Yukon so I took some vegetables out of their fridge so they wouldn't go bad. Now I have an abundance of cabbage. I was going to make dal with cabbage but then realized I wouldn't have anything to write for my three or four loyal readers. So I was flipping through Mark Bittman's book and stumbled across one of his subrecipes: Quinoa with silky cabbage. Quinoa (pronouced keen-wah) is a crunchy protein rich grain. More accurately it's psuedocereal as it's the seeds of a leafy plant rather than a grain. I'm not it's biggest fan, but I'm always eager to add more quinoa to my diet. I didn't stick much to the recipe, but it was a good basis.

Silky Cabbage with Quinoa

1/4 head Napa cabbage, slice into rings

pinch of cayenne

sesame and neutral oil

1/2 cup quinoa

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 cup stock

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

2 chilies, minced

Put the cabbge in a large covered pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring infrequently, for about 15 minutes. Add the oil and cayenne and cook for a few more minutes. Turn the head up to medium-high and add the quinoa and soy sauce. After a few minutes add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the garlic, ginger and chilies stir a final time – cover – and turn the heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes. If the quinoa isn't quite done or if there's too much stock left, turn the heat up and cook for a few more minutes.

Serves 2.