Rice Milk Tapioca Pudding

You don't realize how hard it is to find a pudding recipe made with rice milk until you try searching for it. The majority of hits on a web search comes up with rice pudding, which is something I definitely did not want to make. The heavy vanilla and butter taste came through in this recipe which beats the artificial colors and flavors out of box pudding any day.

If you wanted to make vanilla pudding without eggs, simply omit the tapioca pearls.

Ingredients

2 c organic rice milk
1 c tapioca pearls, soaked in water
1/2 c organic granulated sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions

1. If you're using a non-instant tapioca, like Reese's tapioca, start a day ahead by soaking the tapioca in two cups of water. Drain with a strainer. Set aside until ready to use.

2. In a small bowl, combine sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Set aside.

3. In a medium saucepan, bring rice milk to a boil. Gradually add some milk to the cornstarch-sugar mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the cornstarch mixture back into the milk and cook until the liquid thickens.

4. Add one cup of tapioca pearls and cook until translucent. Whisk to keep the tapioca from burning. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla extract. 

5. Let cool. Enjoy warm or chill in individual serving bowls.

Homemade Catsup, Ketchup, that red condiment..

One of my new years' resolutions for my pantry was to not buy something I could readily make with ingredients on hand. Fortunately for me, I don't own a deep fryer.. so I can still buy those sweet Maui onion chips. The downside to making these condiments from scratch is not knowing its shelf life. The condiments that I used to buy from Trader Joe's stay fresh for an epic long time in the refrigerator.

I have this stored in a lidded 2-cup glass container. It is spicier than most store bought ketchups because of the chili flakes, but it is quite tasty. I made this batch to be the base for a cocktail sauce for a shrimp appetizer.

Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients

One 12 oz can of organic tomato paste
6 oz filtered water
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp dry ground mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp garlic powder
a couple pinches of ground clove and ground allspice
one pinch of ground chili flakes (the kind that is used with asian cuisine)

Directions

1. Start by whisking the water and brown sugar together, making sure that the sugar dissolves completely before adding the rest of the ingredients.

2. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Estimated shelf life: up to a month.

Homemade: How to Make Rice Milk from Scratch

I started this recipe with the idea of making rice milk from scratch. How hard could it be? It's just water and rice together.. right? Well, it turns out that ratios are everything and what came out of this experiment looks a lot like I just puréed plain rice congee in a food prep and added a touch of sugar and some flavoring. I got onto this idea since commercially available rice milk has all these other things in it that shouldn't be there, such as expeller pressed safflower oil and/or sunflower oil and/or canola oil, and tricalcium phosphate.

The sugar content in a quart of plain rice milk (Costco has 24 grams, Trader Joe's has 40 grams) is a bit high, considering that there are roughly 4 grams of sugar per teaspoon. The average cup of plain, unsweetened rice milk should be around 50 calories; but as a beverage, it has to compete with cow's milk and other "milk" products, so with all the fillers, it is now 160 calories per cup. Sugar is added and that fakes the brain out into thinking it is getting something good. I started this batch with 2 tbsp organic sugar, which comes out to just over 60 calories per cup. 

This particular batch yielded 3 quarts of not-quite rice milk. I wasn't terribly keen on using an exact measurement of water in the cooking phase.

Onto the recipe...

Ingredients

1 c jasmine rice (white or brown, doesn't matter)
2 qt filtered water
sweetener, to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract or almond extract (optional)
pinch of sea salt, to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Start off by putting the rice into a large pot and rinsing the rice a few times. Strain out this liquid and cover the rice with filtered water. Cover and let sit up to 12 hours or overnight.

2. Strain out the water and add two quarts of filtered water to the rice. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 40 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat and let cool. 

2a. (optional) Add any additional flavorings or seasonings.

3. Process in batches in a blender or 7-cup food prep machine. Strain liquid through a mesh
strainer into a serving receptacle of your choice. I am using a 2-liter glass carafe, which I have partly filled with two cups of filtered water to help dilute the rice slurry.

Seriously, I thought I was going to make rice milk. I hadn't counted on the rice totally disintegrating. This is much harder to get the proper consistency for drinking than it is to make almond milk or soy milk from scratch.

[Update: 2014-03-29, this recipe needs work! Do not use. Unless you want a gallon of some very slushy rice goo...]

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

This is the only time of the year when beef brisket goes on sale for St. Patrick's Day. Depending on where you shop, this cut of beef can be as low as $2/lb in the Pacific Northwest and is already seasoned. This fake food holiday is celebrated in the US because of two things: alcohol and food. I mean really, what other holidays do we have where we aren't consuming these two items. Anyhow. The average cut is about three pounds and while this may seem like a lot of food for a single person, a lot of it will turn into very tasty sandwiches.

Corned beef, all sliced up after resting for 10 mins

Ingredients

3 lb beef brisket, brined
1 packet of pickling spices
3 organic carrots, cut into thirds
3 organic celery stalks, cut into thirds
1 bay leaf
1 small onion, quartered
2-3 tbsp red wine
1 green cabbage, cored and cut into wedges

Directions

1. In the bowl of the slow cooker, place brisket fat-side down, add carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, and pickling spices. Cover and set cooker to 8 hours on LOW.

2. An hour before the timer is done, add the cabbage wedges to the top of the stewing corned beef and replace lid. Let it cook until the cabbage leaves are fork-tender.

3. Remove brisket from slow cooker and let rest on a plate for 10 minutes before carving.

Corned beef, cabbage, carrots
and a side of garlic sourdough bread

Quick Pickled Sliced Jalapenos

This recipe is easy to make and the stinky cloud of jalapenos dissipates quickly if you open the window or turn the fan on. I first had these on top of Indian fry bread at a local event just recently and they were pretty darn good. I also found that if you hold the jalapeno by the stem, it's much easier to slice into rings. This batch made 1.5 pints because I used more than 10 green jalapenos.

Makes: 1 pint

Ingredients

3/4 c water
3/4 c distilled white vinegar
3 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1 tbsp sea salt
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp dried oregano
10 large jalapeno peppers, sliced into rings

Directions

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine water, vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, and oregano and bring to a boil.

2. Stir in peppers and remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes before packing into clean glass jars. Use tongs to pack the peppers in, then pour the pickling liquid on top.

3. Refrigerate until needed.