Tag: fermentation

by Veggie Sutra

Stuffed Pita Sandwiches with Sauerkraut

Sunday has been an absolute scorcher here in Northern California!  After a rather gentle spring with a gradual and smooth increase in temps, we are back to the yo-yo weather that tormented us last year. What is one to do but hunker down indoors with windows and doors closed and blinds drawn, trying to keep as cool and still as possible.  To this end, I kept lunch a simple affair with minimal need for heat.

 

 

Back in March when the weather was a lot cooler, and we were in the throes of beginning the Veggie Sutra series on Brassicas, I turned to the humble cabbage for a warming, and hearty sauerkraut soup. Surely, cabbage, the most iconic of brassicas, is worth featuring more than once in our Brassicas series.

So here goes:  The recipe today also uses cabbage in the form of sauerkraut.   Before our current obsession with brassicas, we did a whole series on fermentation, and as part of that I had posted a fool-proof recipe for making sauerkraut.   But if you still find it daunting to make sauerkraut, you can find home-made sauerkraut in farmers markets and health food stores.  Sauerkraut has become a staple at our place and just to complete the picture, apart from eating them by the spoonfuls and using them in soups and sandwiches, we also make yummy salads with sauerkraut, like this Steamed Broccoli Salad with Sauerkraut.

 

 

As an aside, people who follow the blog regularly know my fancy for using fresh herbs from the garden in spring and summer.  Today’s sandwich uses a spread made with fresh basil from the garden.  But if you don’t want to make the spread, you could also simply stuff the sandwich with a handful of herbs – basil, mint, cilantro, parsley, or whatever you have growing in the pot.

 

Recipe for Stuffed Pita Sandwiches with Sauerkraut

[Printable Recipe]

Serves 2 people with 2 half pockets each

Ingredients:

  • 2 whole wheat pita bread cut in to halves
  • Sun-dried tomato with Fresh Basil Spread (recipe below) (Alternately use your favorite store bought spread)
  • 2 store-bought veggie burgers like Trader Joes Quinoa Veggie Burgers, cooked as per package instructions
  • About 4 Tbsp Shredded pepper jack cheese (optional)
  • About 8 Tbsp sauerkraut (recipe here)
  • 2 handfuls of spinach, arugula or any summer greens
  • For the Sun-dried tomato with Fresh Basil Spread:
    • 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil with a fair amount of the oil
    • 1/4 cup soft cheese
    • A big handful of fresh basil leaves, washed
    • More olive oil if needed

Method:

  • Make the Sun-dried tomato with Fresh Basil spread:  In a food processor, process all the ingredients until smooth, adding oil as needed. Scrape and store in an airtight container. Alternately use a store bought spread like hummus (for a vegan sandwich) or a cheese spread or pesto.
  • Assemble the sandwich
    • Open up the pita pocket half and spread generously with the spread that you are using
    • Cut the cooked burger in half and stuff half in to each pita pocket
    • Sprinkle with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese (omit for a vegan sandwich)
    • (Optional) Pop the sandwich in to a toaster oven for a few minutes now for the cheese to melt and to warm up the pita bread.  If it is a warm day, you may skip this step.
    • Fill with about 2 Tbsp of sauerkraut and some of the greens
    • Serve with an ice-cold drink

 

 

You can get pretty creative with sauerkraut sandwiches and include any fresh summer vegetables you may have on hand like sliced cucumbers, avocado, radishes, and/or a variety of herbs.  We were pretty satisfied with this simple sandwich plus some ice-cold sparkling water with lemon and salt.

by Veggie Sutra

Vegan Sauerkraut Soup

Spring is here in California!   Golden yellow poppies, the gorgeous state flower, are blooming everywhere and wildflowers are having a wild season this year due to the heavy winter rains after years of drought.   Meanwhile my leg is still healing and I have barely ventured for a walk in to my neighborhood to enjoy the burst of color in everyone’s gardens.  V has promised to take me on a drive this coming weekend.  Keeping fingers crossed for a sunny weekend, as it has started raining again.

On the kitchen front, this year has been about keeping recipes simple, and ingredient lists minimal – a direct influence of our awesome trip to Italy over the holidays.  V and I learnt to appreciate and relish each ingredient for its quality and freshness.  Keeping this in mind, we continue on with Veggie Sutra’s series on brassicas.   This time, the series features the humble cabbage, the most iconic of all cruciferous vegetables.

 

 

Sauerkraut, or sour cabbage or fermented cabbage is itself very simple to make, and a fermented staple in many parts of the world. Cabbage.  Salt.  Time.  That’s all it takes.  In our earlier series on Fermentation, we posted a foolproof recipe for making sauerkraut.   The recipe was inspired by the basic technique for fermenting any vegetable from Sandor Katz’s “The Art of Fermentation“.

Sauerkraut has become a staple in our kitchen, just like lemon pickle is a staple in any South Indian kitchen.  Aside from eating it as a side at any meal, you can stuff a sandwich with sauerkraut or even make a warm steamed broccoli salad which will totally hit the spot in this gloomy, rainy weather.   And so will the warm chunky sauerkraut soup we made last weekend.

 

 

Sauerkraut soup is popular in eastern European cuisine.  Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia and even Germany, each have their versions of sauerkraut or cabbage soup. All of them, as far as I have seen, call for adding some meat to the soup, and some heavy cream at the end (presumably to dull the sourness).  I have left the meat and the cream out to create a totally vegan version of the recipe, but feel free to add cream or coconut cream at the end.

Recipe for Vegan Sauerkraut Soup

[Printable Recipe]

Inspired by the traditional Polish recipe for “Kapusniak” gleaned from various websites

Serves 5 generously

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 medium potatoes cut in to large cubes
  • 4 medium carrots cut in to large pieces
  • 2 cups tightly packed sauerkraut (home-made or store-bought), juice reserved

Method:

  • Heat the oil in a pot and add the cumin seeds
  • When the cumin seeds are fragrant, add the onion and saute until translucent on medium heat
  • Add the minced garlic and sauce for a minute
  • Add the potatoes, and carrots and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil
  • Lower the heat, close with a lid and simmer for around 7 to 10 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are cooked
  • Add the sauerkraut and some of the reserved juice (depending on how salty/sour you want it to be)
  • Add some more water if the soup is too thick
  • Close with a lid and again simmer for around 5 minutes and turn off the heat
  • (Optionally add heavy cream or coconut cream to the soup at the end if you do not like it too sour).

 

 

 

Sauerkraut soup with some crusty bread is all you need for a hearty, healthy meal.   Heating the sauerkraut will destroy some of its probiotic benefits, but all the other wonderful nutritional benefits remain. So, ladle in to a bowl and slurp it up!

by Veggie Sutra

Multi-colored Turmeric Sauerkraut

Veggie Sutra is back after a hiatus of over a month!   Life has a way of throwing unexpected curve balls at us while we are busy making other plans, if I may filch the famous quote.  At the end though, every event is a chance to learn and grow.   V and I got a nice reminder that it is important not to accumulate stuff and to always value people and experiences over stuff.

And as always, we strive every day to eat good, healthy, clean food with each other and in the company of friends and family.  Looking back at Veggie Sutra archives from a year back, we were deep in to the fermentation series and did a post on making a South Indian-style fermented lemon pickle, which turned out to be very popular.   This year, we go to another part of the world for a fermented staple, sauerkraut!

Multi-colored sauerkraut

I had limited success with sauerkraut in the beginning, but since then have mastered making basic sauerkraut both with red and green cabbage.

But first – what is sauerkraut and why?  Sauerkraut is basically fermented cabbage.  Fermented foods offer rich probiotic enzymes which are beneficial to our digestive system.  Fermenting also makes nutrients more bio-available to the body.  The Wikipedia article on sauerkraut has a long list of other scientifically-proven benefits.

Sauerkraut with black peppers

So, here is the recipe for basic sauerkraut with some interesting variations at the end.  The basic steps outlined in the post on making lemon pickle still apply.  To recap from the post on lemon pickle:  In its simplest form, fermenting vegetables just involves submerging vegetables in salty liquid and leaving it alone to let the wild bacteria do its work.  Sandor Katz, in his excellent book The Art of Fermentation, which is regarded as the bible of fermented foods, lists the following steps:

  1. Chop or grate vegetables
  2. Salt the vegetables (and squeeze with clean hands for some vegetables to release liquid)
  3. Pack the vegetables in a jar tightly
  4. Wait
Really, it is that simple!  
Recipe for making basic sauerkraut and Variations with turmeric and pepper
Ingredients:
  • 1 medium green cabbage and 1 medium red cabbage, washed and dried (I had around 4.5 lbs total)
  • 3 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 1 Tbsp whole black peppers (optional)
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
  • 2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Equipment:
  • 2 Wide Mouth Ball Jar, 32-Ounce.  I used 2 40 oz jars that I specifically purchased for making sauerkraut.   Alternately you can use a crock with lid or ceramic jar with lid
  • Sharp 10″ chef knife and clean cutting board
  • 2 Pyrex glass mixing bowls
Massage salt in to the cabbage until limp and juicy
Method:
  • Save a couple of the outer leaves of the cabbage, and shred the remaining cabbage using a sharp chef’s knife in to fine strips
  • Store the red and green cabbage separately 
  • Take about half the green cabbage in one large pyrex bowl, add 3/4 Tbsp salt and massage with hands for 5-10 minutes (depending on how tender your cabbage is) until cabbage is limp and has released a lot of briny liquid
  • Do the same with the red cabbage in another bowl.  Red cabbage tends to be crisper than green cabbage and may need more massaging up to 15 mins
  • Layer the red and green cabbage in to one jar tamping down with your fist or with a flat spoon or potato masher as you go.  The salty brine should start submerging the cabbage 
  • When you have reached within the top 1 inch of the bottle, stop and use the saved outer leaf to cover the top and press down
  • Repeat with the other jar
  • Weigh the cabbage down with a smaller bottle that will fit in the mouth so the liquid covers up to the top of the bottle, or just keep pressing down every day until the cabbage is fully submerged in the liquid
  • After 2 weeks, do a quick taste test and refrigerate if it has fermented to your liking.  If not allow it to ferment some more.  Sauerkraut should be sour, pungent and very crisp.
Optional variations:
  • Black Pepper:  Use a mortar and pestle to coarsely crush around 1 Tbsp of whole black peppers.  After each layer of cabbage, sprinkle some crushed black peppers.  Allow it to ferment.  We love the peppery taste combined with the sour taste
  • Turmeric and red pepper flakes: After massaging each batch of cabbage with salt, add about 1/4th tsp of turmeric and 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes and mix.   Then follow steps above to layer in to glass jars.  Allow it to ferment.  I am trying out turmeric for the first time and am not sure if the antibacterial properties of turmeric will prevent lacto-fermentation, but V says the bacterial will always win in the end!  Will keep you guys posted!
Turmeric sauerkraut

We eat sauerkraut as a side with any meal (usually breakfast) or use it as a filling in a sandwich   We also add it to salads, like our broccoli salad, or to scrambled eggs or tofu. Some cuisines also make a warm soup with sauerkraut.  Do note that cooking sauerkraut will reduce the probiotic benefits, although other benefits remain.  
by Veggie Sutra

Pretty in Pink – A Cool Summer Lunch Menu

It has been a scorching, smoky weekend in Northern California leaving me with no desire to cook over a fire.  A simple, cooling lunch that can be put together without turning on the stove or oven is what I was looking for.

My inspiration came from a book I am currently reading called Lunch at the Shop by Peter Miller.  It is about the simple, elegant mid day meals that he and his coworkers prepared in the backroom of his book shop without access to an oven or stove.  The trick (I gathered) is to have some precooked foods like rice, lentils and beans available in the fridge, and basic ingredients like olive oil, lemons and dried herbs in the pantry.  Add fresh seasonal produce to this, and a gourmet meal will come together in no time!

Sugar-free “ice cream” with pluot jam topping

And so it came together – a pretty-in-pink healthy, cooling summer lunch complete with dessert!   Here is the menu:

  1. Lunch-sized chopped salad with cooling vegetables
  2. Strawberry-mint shrub sparkler
  3. Sugar-free “ice cream” with pluot jam topping
Strawberry Mint Shrub Sparkler

Before I get to the super-simple recipes, a confession!  The sauerkraut I started 2 weeks back did not turn out well.   There is a guy in our wonderful year-round farmer’s market who sells this amazingly tasty sauerkraut.  Mine was a 2-year old’s doodle compared to his Monet!  I think I know where I went wrong, so I will try again, undaunted!

A summer salad

(1) Recipe for A Chopped Summer Salad with a simple lemon dressing

[Printable Recipe]

Inspired by ideas from Lunch at the Shop by Peter Miller.

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 long Persian cucumber or 3-4 small ones, seeded and chopped 
  • 1 cup of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in to 2
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 1 cup of chopped red cabbage
  • 1 avocado sliced in to wedges or cubed
  • Dressing:
    • 3 Tbsp lemon juice
    • 4 Tbsp olive oil
    • pinch sea salt
    • pinch black pepper
    • 1 Tbsp finely chopped basil leaves or cilantro leaves
  • Some toasted nuts (almonds, walnuts) or seeds (sunflower, pumpkin) to garnish (optional)
Method:
  • Whisk together all the dressing ingredients except herbs.  Mix in the herbs and set aside
  • Combine in a bowl all the chopped vegetables 
  • Pour the dressing over it and toss to coat evenly, garnish with nuts if desired and serve
Notes:
1) Use any summer vegetables you have at hand and don’t be limited to the ones I used.  Bell pepper (red or green), greens of any kind, cooked (or canned) beans, lentils or chickpeas, grated carrots or beets, cooked wild rice or quinoa, and radishes are some choices.
2) You can use balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice in the dressing if you wish and also make the dressing more interesting by adding grated ginger or dried oregano.
3) Did you know that both cucumber and red onion are cooling vegetables?  So is lemon juice.

Strawberry Mint Shrub

Back in May, with the advent of an early summer here in California, I made a Ginger-Mint Shrub as part of the Veggie Sutra’s Fermentation Series.  V and I loved it so much that it has become our go-to summer drink.  That was my first attempt at making shrubs and therefore I followed the original recipe by Mary Karlin in Mastering Fermentation by the book, so to speak.   This time I substituted the ginger with strawberries.   After all, what’s more summery than strawberries?  

(2) Recipe for A Strawberry-Mint Shrub Sparkler
Adapted from Mastering Fermentation by Mary Karlin
Makes enough for around 6 people
Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup chopped very ripe strawberries, smashed slightly
  • 1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves + a couple of sprigs of fresh mint
  • 3/4 cup raw organic apple cider vinegar (use one with live mother cultures like Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar)
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime/lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup raw unrefined cane sugar
  • 1 bottle of sparkling water
  • A few ice cubes if you like
  • Plus about 2 weeks of patience!
Method:
I am going to be lazy here and ask you to refer to my post on Ginger-Mint Shrub.  It turned out very well, and the original recipe has step-by-step photos as well.  Just substitute strawberries for ginger. Other interesting combinations to try: Apricot-Mint or Apricot-Basil, Peach-Mint, and Mango-Mint (use fresh mango).
Banana-Date Ice Cream with Pluot Jam Topping
This year, the California-grown stone fruits that we get at our farmer’s market have been extra-sweet, apparently a consolation prize for the persisting four-year drought.  I could not resist making a batch of summer fruit jam, even though V and I are abstaining from eating any added sugar these days.  Well, I usually give away most of the jam I make, so I don’t feel so bad!  I used some of the jam to top a sugar-free dessert giving it a pretty pink look as well a sweet and tart finish. 
(3) Recipe for a Sugar-free “ice cream” topped with home-made pluot jam
Makes generous portions for 2
Ingredients:
  • For “Ice Cream” 
    • 2 overripe bananas which have been frozen ahead of time, thawed slightly to peel and chop
    • 1/2 cup pitted and chopped dates
    • Up to 1/4 cup creamy coconut milk as needed
  • For topping
    • Some toasted pine nuts and raisins
    • Home-made pluot (or any summer fruit) jam (I used this recipe, with a slight variation of spices)
Method:
  • In a powerful blender or food processor, add the banana and dates.  Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides every now and then, and adding a little bit of the coconut milk at a time if needed
  • Scrape into a container with a lid, and freeze for around 6 hours
  • Scoop the “ice cream” into serving cups, top with pine nuts, raisins and a spoonful of jam and serve
Here is that pretty Pluot Jam
Summer is my least favorite time of the year, except for the abundant variety of produce that is available.  Which reminds me, I need to get more canning and freezing done before it is too late to save any produce for winter!   What are your favorite summer produce to save for winter and how do you do it?
by Veggie Sutra

Revisiting Fermentation: Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Words to live by!  I felt quite happy that I had saved all the mason jars and glass bottles over time from store-bought honey, sauces and so on.  I ‘reused’ them to start off a few things to ferment in my kitchen.

Sauerkraut and Kefir

New York Times has made a short, visually appealing, wonderful documentary on Sandor Katz, the fermentation guru, aptly named “Sandorkraut: A Pickle Maker“.  After watching him digging with his bare hands in to a vat of sauerkraut, I was somehow moved to start my own batch.

Before this in Veggie Sutra’s fermentation series, I have attempted various fermented recipes, like shrubs, fermented salsa, South Indian lemon pickles, idlis, kefir and so on.  However, the most basic of fermented stuff, sauerkraut, the traditional fermented staple of Europe, had not make my list.  (It could have been because we have an excellent sauerkraut vendor in our local farmer’s market!)

Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

The sauerkraut recipe in Katz’s book, Wild Fermentation, was really simple.  All I did was to cut up a whole medium-sized red cabbage, massage it with salt to release juices, and pound it into in to a small bottle using my wooden buttermilk churner.   I promise to share notes after a few days when I have tasted it to see how it has turned out.  I also made a bottle of chopped cucumber pickle in approximately the same manner.  And a bottle of kefir is bubbling away in a corner as well.

Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

In other fermentation news in our home, V has become a huge fan of my shrubs.  He loved the Ginger-Mint Shrub and the Ginger-Chili shrub.  Last weekend, I started off a huge batch of Strawberry-Mint shrub, strawberries being so abundant now.  The shrub is right now in the last stages of fermentation.  I will post the recipe in a week if V approves of it!   But doesn’t it look delicious already?

Strawberry-Mint Shrub

Do visit Veggie Sutra’s Fermentation Series for all the recipes we have tried before.  However, to learn the basics of fermentation, get your hands on Sandor Katz’s The Art of Fermentation.  He is the guru and his is the go-to book for all things fermented.

Strawberry Mint Shrub

Don’t miss out on the amazing health benefits of fermentation.  And if you are already enjoying delicious fermented stuff regularly, do share your experiences!

by Veggie Sutra

A fermented drink: Soda with Ginger-Mint Shrub

On Mother’s Day, I want to mention how supportive amma has been of this blog.  She has often contributed the recipes featured here such as the Lemon Pickle in the fermentation series and the sweet Cashew barfi treat she made for our anniversary.  Also with a keen eye for aesthetics, she has often arranged the food for the photos.   In this and many other ways, we are blessed to have such a beautiful and wonderful mother.

It was a very lazy day today.  After initially planning to take amma out for a Mother’s Day lunch, we changed our minds and decided to eat at home.  The spicy spinach rice I made was complemented well by today’s featured item for the fermentation series, a soda with home-made ginger-mint shrub.

Soda with Ginger-Mint Shrub

Mary Karlin says in her beautiful book, Mastering Fermentation, that shrubs are sweet-sour syrups that date back to colonial America and can be used to make cocktails.  The recipe for the ginger-mint shrub I made came from the same book.  V and I can’t get enough of ginger and with fresh mint growing like weed in our garden, I just fell in to this recipe.  As with any fermented stuff, one has to be patient and give enough time for the bacteria and yeast to do their thing.   However the intense flavors that the fermentation brings out from the mint and ginger makes it totally worth the wait.

Soda with Ginger-Mint Shrub

Recipe for Soda with Ginger-Mint Shrub
From Mastering Fermentation by Mary Karlin

[Printable Recipe]

Makes enough for around 6 people
Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh ginger
  • 1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves + a couple of sprigs of fresh mint
  • 3/4 cup raw organic apple cider vinegar (use one with live mother cultures like Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar)
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime/lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup raw unrefined cane sugar
  • 1 bottle of sparkling water
  • A few ice cubes if you like
  • Plus about 2 weeks of patience!
Method:
Step 1 – Infusing the apple cider vinegar with flavor
  • In a wide-mouthed mason jar, combine the ginger and mint leaves and massage them with fingers to release juices and fragrance
  • Add the apple cider vinegar, close the jar and shake thoroughly
  • Remove the lid and loosely cover the jar with a cheese cloth and leave it untouched overnight for about 12 hours
Step 1 for Making Shrub: Ginger and Mint leaves in Apple Cider Vinegar

Step 2 – Fermenting at room temperature

  • After 12 hours, screw the lid on tightly and shake thoroughly
  • Leave it to ferment at room temperature for 7 days, shaking the jar vigorously every day
  • After 7 days, strain out the ginger and mint, pressing with the back of a spoon or fingers to get the last bit of flavor from the ginger and mint
Step 2 for Making Shrub: Strain out the ginger and mint and add fresh mint sprigs

Step 3 – Fermenting in the refrigerator

  • Stir the lemon juice and sugar into the strained liquid until the sugar dissolves
  • Add the fresh mint sprigs, close with a lid and shake vigorously for 10 seconds
  • Refrigerate for 7 days, shaking the jar every day
  • After 7 days, the shrub is ready to use and will last up to 4 months in the refrigerator
Step 4 – Making the soda
  • Mix 2 Tbsp of shrub with about 6 oz of sparkling water, add ice cubes if desired and enjoy (adjust the proportions of the shrub to sparkling water to your liking after a sip)
Soda with Ginger-Mint Shrub
The ginger-mint shrub soda is a refreshing burst of flavors on the tongue with an intense aroma.  Sweet and sour, gingery and minty, V thought it would also be great for an upset stomach.  He is probably right, what with all the probiotics from the fermentation, plus the ginger, plus the mint!!   In any case, it is a super-refreshing drink.   So start a batch now as warm days are approaching.  I plan to try to make shrub in a few other flavors as well, such as Strawberry-Lemon shrub.  Will keep you posted!
by Veggie Sutra

Vegan Enchiladas with Spicy Fermented Tomato Salsa

Things that are fermenting in our kitchen now:  A jar of kefir, a bottle of ginger-mint shrub (watch for recipe in 2 weeks), a second bottle of spicy tomato salsa and a jar of kombucha.  So the bacteria, yeast and SCOBY are quite busy in the kitchen hopefully creating delicious stuff.

Brunch with vegan enchiladas, sliced avocado and strawberry banana smoothie

The salsa that I started fermenting last week turned out quite nicely and I ended up using it for a special weekend brunch, menu as follows:

  • Vegan enchiladas with spicy fermented tomato salsa and cashew sauce
  • Sliced avocado
  • Strawberry Banana Smoothie with Homemade Almond Milk and Date Sugar

Vegan Enchiladas with Sweet Potato, topped with Fermented Salsa

Fermented salsa is more pungent and deeply flavorful compared to fresh salsa and also contains a ton of additional nutrients, a byproduct of the lacto-fermentation process.   (Just to clarify, lacto-fermentation has nothing to do with milk or lactose, it simply refers to the process by which a certain class of bacteria, that are naturally present on the surface of most plants, convert sugars into lactic acid).  In his wonderful book, Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, Sandor Katz, the fermentation guru, talks about fermenting all kinds of vegetables with this method (a basic example is sauerkraut).

Fermented Salsa – Day 7

While some recipe sources call for whey to kick off the fermentation of vegetables, it is not really necessary as vegetables will ferment naturally.  However, it is important to add salt to prevent the growth of undesired bacteria.

So here’s the recipe for Fermented Tomato Salsa, loosely adapted from Mastering Fermentation: Recipes for Making and Cooking with Fermented Foods by Mary Karlin.
[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium tomatoes, diced (do not use canned)
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 5-6 Thai green chilies or Serrano chilies, chopped fine (adjust based on how spicy you like it, or alternately use 1/2 medium bell pepper diced)
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped fine
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Pinch brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp raw organic apple cider vinegar (use one with live mother cultures like Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar)
  • 4 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

Method:

  • In a tall bottle, combine the tomato, red onion, garlic, cilantro, green chilies (or bell pepper), salt, and brown sugar
  • Add the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar, close with a lid and shake
  • Let sit at room temperature for 3 days.  Even day give the bottle a good shake or stir well with a spoon
  • After 3 days, add the cumin powder, coriander powder and black pepper.   Stir well and taste the salsa.  If it has fermented to your liking, then refrigerate immediately and use when needed.  If not, leave it at room temperature for up to 3 more days and continue shaking and tasting every day
  • Refrigerate and enjoy

Notes on the salsa:

  • Make sure the cutting board and knife are clean and dry before starting.  Also wash all the vegetables you are using and dry with a clean kitchen towel before chopping.  
  • Check the salsa every day.  If you see mold forming on top, discard and start again, maybe using a bit more salt.  This did not happen to me but is a possibility.
  • As I noted in an earlier post, I am not a big fan of having specialized gadgets but a Serrated Tomato Knife makes life a lot easier when dicing tomatoes.
  • Since V and I like it spicy, I used spicy Thai green chilies but feel free to omit altogether and just use bell pepper or jalapeno pepper for a milder taste.
  • The fermentation produces a lot of delicious pungent liquid which can be strained and used in other recipes, for eg. in the enchiladas below.

Vegan enchiladas with sweet potato filling, topped with fermented salsa

V and I were gobbling the salsa by the spoonfuls, it was that addictive!  But I had enough left over on Sunday for making vegan enchiladas topped with the spicy fermented salsa.  Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:
For filling: 
  • 1/2 cup black, red or pinto beans, rinsed and soaked overnight (optionally, add a tbsp of raw apple cider vinegar when soaking)
  • 2 small or 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 bell pepper diced
  • 1 cup shredded greens of any kind (I used collard greens from the garden)
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 Tbsp of fermented salsa juice
  • Salt to taste
For enchiladas
  • Store bought corn tortillas, around 6 to 10
  • 2-3 Tbsp vegetable oil for shallow frying
For serving:
  • About 1 cup fermented salsa
  • About 4 Tbsp cashew-cilantro sauce (process 1/4 cup soaked cashews, few sprigs chopped cilantro, salt to taste, a tablespoon of lemon juice, a pinch chili pepper with enough olive oil or water to consistency and taste)
Method:
Make the filling:
  • Drain the soaking liquid.  Boil enough water in a pot, add the beans and bring it back to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer until the beans are soft and set aside
  • Cook the sweet potato until soft and set aside
  • Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and add the onion
  • When onion becomes a bit translucent, add the bell pepper and garlic and cook for around 5-7 mins until fragrant.
  • Add the greens, cover and let it wilt, around 3 mins  
  • Add the cooked beans and sweet potato and the spices, salsa juice and salt
  • Cover and cook for around 5 mins on low heat and switch off
Assemble the enchiladas:
  • Preheat the oven to 350F
  • Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry all the corn tortillas until slightly crisp on the edges and well cooked and set aside
  • In a large casserole dish, start assembling the enchiladas: Spoon about 2-3 Tbsp of the filling in to each tortilla, roll and place in the casserole dish and repeat until the dish is full
  • Spoon some salsa juice over the tortillas especially on the crisp edges
  • Bake for 15 mins
Assembling the vegan enchiladas
Serve the enchiladas:
  • Spoon fermented salsa on to the enchiladas and top with cashew sauce before serving
Vegan Enchiladas with Sweet Potato topped with Fermented Salsa
V and I really enjoyed the Sunday brunch, the highlight being the tasty fermented salsa.  In fact we just about finished the whole bottle in a day.  I am not sure if it is traditional to ferment salsa (do comment if you know), but it certainly makes it very addictive!
by Veggie Sutra

Fermented salsa recipe coming soon!

The problem with living in the Bay Area is that it is hard to pick a place for a day trip as there are so many amazingly beautiful places within driving distance.  And on a lovely spring day such as yesterday, the world is your oyster.

For my mother-daughter day out with amma, I had originally planned to do the coastal drive in Monterey with a lunch stop in Santa Cruz, but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to drive inland towards Mount Diablo, carrying a picnic lunch.  At 3849 ft, Mount Diablo is one of the tallest visible peaks around the Bay Area, offers a great panoramic view from the top and is assessible by car.   V and I have hiked up to the top several times, but I took amma by car and it was a fun day!

Well, goofing off is not the only reason I haven’t posted anything over the weekend.  It is also because one of us (won’t point fingers) spilled all of the kombucha that was fermenting quite nicely.  Well, no use crying over spilled ‘booch’.  I have started over again, undaunted!  In the meantime, I have also started to ferment a batch of basic salsa.

Salsa fermenting on the kitchen counter

Fermented salsa is a very easy, fast way to preserve tomatoes if you have a large crop.  And you can use it in a variety of recipes as I will share in the next post along with the salsa recipe!  

by Veggie Sutra

Fermented Lemon Pickle, South Indian Style

We got our first April showers here in Northern California!!!   I am thrilled to bits but I am sure my plants are even more ecstatic as I have pretty much stopped watering the garden to be a good citizen during the drought.  What’s more, there is snow in Yosemite, which means the waterfalls will be flowing.  Here we go hiking again!

Fermented Lemon Pickle, South Indian Style

Continuing on with the fermentation series here, lemons from the garden have been undergoing the lacto-fermentation process on my kitchen counter for the last ten days.  Today evening, I couldn’t wait any longer and asked amma to make the pickle for which they were being prepped!

Lemons fermenting on the counter – Day 10

Fermenting vegetables (and sometimes fruits) is a part of every culture as way to preserve seasonal vegetables, increase their nutritional potency and add a ton of flavor to food.  Even geographies with warm climes year-round like India did a lot of preserving.

Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Moroccan preserved lemons, Chinese pickles, Indian pickles, Japanese umeboshi are all examples of fermented vegetables and fruits, but there is a catch.  In his book, The Art of Fermentation,  Sandor Ellix Katz warns us that while it would not be inaccurate to refer to fermented vegetables as pickled, all pickles are not fermented.

For eg. “Dill pickles” that are commonly found on the store shelves in the US are just vegetables preserved in vinegar as are the Indian pickles found in the ethnic Indian grocery stores.  Even some of the home-made Indian pickles are not fermented at all, just cooked in oil and spices.  It is important to know this difference as there are a lot of health benefits of fermentation.  Katz coined a new word “Kraut-chi” for fermented vegetables for a lack of a proper word in the English language.

Fermented Lemon Pickle, South Indian Style

In its simplest form, fermenting vegetables just involves submerging vegetables in salty liquid and leaving it alone to let the wild bacteria do its work.  Katz, again in his excellent book The Art of Fermentation,  which I regard as the bible of fermented foods, lists the following steps:

  1. Chop or grate vegetables
  2. Salt the vegetables (and squeeze with clean hands for some vegetables to release liquid)
  3. Pack the vegetables in a jar tightly
  4. Wait
Amma’s fermented lemon pickle follows the same steps as above, and adds a final step which involves pickling with oil and spices.  Again Katz in his book observes correctly that Indian pickling is not an unified tradition – each state, each region, each sub-culture, and even each family has its prized pickling method.  Most will add heated mustard or sesame oil, some may not.  Some will leave it out in the sun, but some will just leave it in a cool place inside.  Some will add lemon juice, some will not.  Most of them will use a ceramic crock, called “jaadi” in Tamil for fermenting.  (If I asked three of my aunts how they made lemon pickle, I would get 3 different recipes and probably some family folklore to boot!)
Fermented Lemon Pickle, South Indian Style
A variety of vegetables are pickled in India, with lemon/lime being universal all over India.  I found that the lemons growing in my backyard are called Eureka lemons.  They are medium-sized, smaller than an orange, very juicy and not at all sweet (unlike Meyer lemons).
Here’s amma’s South-Indian style fermented Eureka lemon pickle recipe.  In Southern India, this type of pickle is a pantry staple through the year and just a small piece is consumed every day as a side with rice and yogurt.
Recipe for Fermented Lemon Pickle, South-Indian Style
Ingredients:
  • 2-3 medium-sized lemons
  • 3 tsp of salt
  • 4 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 4 tsp red chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • A pinch asafoetida (optional)
  • A pinch roasted powdered fenugreek seeds (optional)
Method:
Fermenting the lemons:
  • Have a clean dry glass or ceramic jar ready (avoid metal or plastic).  Also, have a dry plate and knife ready
  • Wash the lemons and dry thoroughly
  • Chop in to 1/2″ pieces on a plate so that you do not lose any of the juice and start filling the jar as you chop
  • Sprinkle a bit of salt each time you fill the jar
  • When the jar is full, close the lid and give it a shake
  • Leave it on the kitchen counter to ferment for a week or more (longer the better).  Every now and then pick up the bottle and give it a good shake.  By the end of a week most of the lemon will be submerged in liquid
Making the pickle:
  • Heat the sesame oil in a pan until almost smoking
  • Add the mustard seeds and when they start popping switch off the heat
  • Add the turmeric and red chili powder (and asafoetida and fenugreek seed powder if using)
  • Allow the foaming to subside and give it a stir
  • Add the fermented lemons and mix well
  • Scoop it up in to a clean dry glass jar.

If you avoid getting moisture on it by using a clean dry spoon every time, the pickle can be stored outside even for up to a year.  Alternately store it in the refrigerator.  The pickle will only taste better as it ages.

Fermented Lemon Pickle, South Indian Style
There is still a lot to be explored in the world of fermentation and I hope Veggie Sutra readers are not bored!  I know V wants me to move on to home-made granola (and I also remember my young cousin requesting me for a recipe), but that has to wait at least until I have made a batch of sauerkraut at home, and have mastered kombucha and shrub!   Requests from readers will be duly added to the queue!