Vegan Rugelach

Wow I haven't updated in quite a long while. School was crazy! I'm so glad classes and finals are over. Now I can devote all my time into my hobbies. HOrray hoorah. It seems like there's never enough time for anything.

Mixed Fruit Rugelach
I used to work in a Jewish Bakery and I would snack on those all day. Too bad it's not vegan and that place closed down due unsatisfactory scoring in the health inspection. I would know hahaha, but thank goodness I left before that happened.

Rugelach is a very popular Jewish cookie. They normally contain nuts or some kind of jam. The most popular rugelach that we had in the Jewish bakery were the chocolate and the cinnamon raisin. This is a really simple recipe. Nothing special. No crazy drizzle or excess amount of sugar especially for the holidays.



Yields 24-32 Mini Rugelach/ 12-18 Large Rugelach (2129 cal Total)
Dough
1 Cup/ 120g All Purpose Flour
3 oz/ 85g Vegan Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
2 oz/57g Vegan Butter, Room Temperature
1/4 tsp Salt

Filling
2 oz/ 57g Raisins
2 oz/ 57 g Dried Cranberries
2 oz/ 57 g Deglet Noor Pitted Dates, Chopped
1/3 Tsp Cinnamon, Grounded
3 Tbsp Soymilk, Warm (you can use any vegan milk)

• For the dough part, sift the flour and salt together.
• Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and cut in the cream cheese and butter.
• Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
  
• Meanwhile mix the cinnamon with the soymilk and soak the dried fruits in the soymilk mixture. You don't want the fruits to burn while they are baking.
• After the chilling is finished.
  
• Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  
• Take the dough and roll it out to be a 8" x 16" rectangle. *
  
• Then spread the mixture evenly across the dough and tightly roll up the dough.
• Wet a knife and cut the rolled up rope of dough to however big you want the rugelach to be.
• If there is any leftover liquid from the filling, brush it ontop of the rugelach and bake it for 35-40 minutes or until the top turns into a light golden brown.
  

*If you want to make mini rugelach, you get less spirals in the cookies. Just divide the dough in half and roll each piece to a 4" x 16" rectangle.

Steamed Spring Roll
Normally the ones at YumCha is fried but it's healthier to steam but the taste is very different.
This recipe is very similar to the tofu skin wrap.


Yields 21 Spring rolls

Water
21 Spring roll Wrapper
15 Dried Shiitaki mushroom
2 Bunch of Rice Vermecille Noodle
1 10 oz Baby Corn, Canned
1 10 oz Braised Bamboo Shoot, Sliced into Matchsticks
20g Woodear Fungus
Soy Sauce
Salt

• Soak the shiitaki mushroom, rice vermecille noodles and woodear three separate bowls of warm water.
  
• Rinse the canned baby corn and bamboo shoot to get rid of the perservatives in the can.
  
• Slice the shiitaki mushroom into thin slices and cut the rice vermecille noodles into 2" and snip and hard spot in the woodear. Then roughly chop the woodear fungus.
• Cut the baby corns into quarters.
• In a saucepan cook the mushroom and woodear fungus until it's almost 3/4th done then add in the baby corn and bamboo shoot and cook it until they are warm.
• Toss in the vermecille noodles and cook for about 2 more minutes. Then flavor with soy sauce and salt.
  
• * Soak a spring roll wrapper in warm water to soften it.
  
• Place the spring roll wrapper on a flat surface and place the filling horizontally in the middle towards the bottom of the wrapper.
• Fold the left and right side of the wrapper towards the middle and then roll the wrapper tightly starting at the bottom where the filling is.
• Repeat this process 20 more times, start the steps where the * asterisk is.
• Place the spring rolls in to a steamer or a wok with some water and steam it for 15 minutes.
  

Soy Yogurt Cheese


I personally think it taste better than sour cream and cream cheese. Just follow these few simple step to make your own yogurt cheese from regular soy yogurt. You can make your own soy yogurt by going here. You can use this soy yogurt cheese for almost anything

Yogurt
Colander
Cheesecloth or Coffee Filters.

• Line your colander with a cheesecloth or enough coffee filters to fit the whole colander. (Just wet the coffee filter to make it easier to handle.)
• Pour the cheesecloth over the muslin and let it strain the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

*note: if you want a more tangy yogurt cheese do not use commercial soy yogurt, make your own. The longer you ferment the yogurt, the tangier and sourer the yogurt becomes.

Macau Almond Cookies

They are also known as Macau Almond cake. This brand makes their almond cookie mainly out of almond, oil and mung bean starch. This company is a well known bakery in Macau famous for their almond cookies. They are absolutely delicious. I have odd cravings to make southeast Asian food. Delicious. I love kueh!

Thai food anyone?

Curry Kabocha with Yu Choy and Tofu



It's a rip off of the Epicurious shrimp curry with yu choy and kabocha

Instead of the shrimp I used some extra firm silken tofu.

As for the fish paste, I used FatFree Vegan's No Fish Fish Sauce.

Note: If you can't find kaffir leaves, even in the Asian market but you can use lime leaves, lemon leaves or 1 tablespoons for every 6 kaffir leaves.

Normally you can find lemongrass in your local Asian market but you can use a substitute of 1 zest of a whole lemon is 2 stalk of lemongrass.

I found the thai basil a bit overwhelming since Thai basil is very pungent in comparison to the regular basil you may find in the regular supermarket.

The choy sum has so many names for the Cantonese, it's called yu choy, yow choy or flowering rape.


Tofu Mushroom Side Dish


Recipe

1 Clove of Garlic, Minced
1/2 Yellow Onion, Chopped
8 oz Mushroom (Cremini or White)
6 oz Firm Silk Tofu, 1/2 Inch Cubed
1 Scallion, Finely Chopped
Oil

• Heat the oil on medium-high heat and cook the garlic to release the aroma for about 10 seconds, make sure not to burn them.
• Then add in the onions and cook it for a few minutes then add the mushrooms. Add enough salt to the vegetable to salt to your preference. This will allow the vegetable to release any water.
  
• When the onions are almost thoroughly cooked add the tofu and the scallions and cook it until the onions are soft and the mushrooms are cooked.

Chocolate Banana Muffin


It's not very banana-y tasting so I dont know whether to post this recipe or not.