My Mom’s Kohi Kanten – Coffee Pudding (Vegan – and about $.10 per serving!)

Kanten…so many reasons I love it:

1. it’s a naturally ZERO calorie food. That’s right. I said, ZERO!
2. it’s filling and yet not wiggly-jiggly (unlike gelatin);
3. even the laziest prep yields yummilicious results; and
4. I grew up eating it!

Below is a picture of agar agar in stick form.

At any Asian market you can find premixed packets of almond kanten for less than 2 or 3 dollars – really tasty with even the least interesting fruit cocktail. Growing up, we had that all the time. Perfect summertime dessert. Nice and cool! But avoid buying agar agar at Whole Foods. I have seen the Eden versions for almost 6 dollars!!! You should be able to buy the stick agar agar for $2.00 or less per 10 grams (.35 oz). the urban vegan recommends buying the stick format and sticking the sticks into the food processor to make flakes.* I’m used to the stick forms, but, I think this is a great tip for people accustomed to the flake format. Also, people can get quite glamorous with agar agar (also known as kanten in Japanese). I am stockpiling ideas for what do with it. And coffee kanten is a classic (kohi = coffee in Japanese). So here it is!

Mom’s Kohi Kanten

• 2 cups of boiling coffee – sweeten to taste (pennies);
• 5 grams of powdered agar agar (about 1/2 of a stick of agar agar – about $.50 worth); and
• coconut milk – this is optional (about 10 teaspoons – roughly 1/4th of a 13 oz can – $1.59 = $.40 cents worth).

Dissolve the agar agar in the boiling hot coffee in a saucepot. Mix mix mix. Add your sweetener. Mix. Pour the piping hot mixture into a pie plate. Alright, just cover and chill it for about 2 hours. Done. It’s traditional to cut it into squares (as you see above). Splash on a teaspoon of coconut milk per serving. If you have them around, put a roasted coffee bean on top. Makes eight~ ten servings, depending on the size (less than $.10 per serving – half of that if you do not use the coconut milk of course). Be sure to have this with some lovely tea!

(you can also cool it into cute little cups for individual servings)

* the urban vegan’s post is actually VERY helpful for gaining a good understanding of agar agar. Read it and let the erudition flow!

P.S. I don’t really follow diet news, so, maybe someone can tell me if there are any standards for what is “low-carb”? My very casual research shows me that the FDA hasn’t made a decision yet, but, I’m guessing that might not be the latest info.

Update: VegCookingBlog, thanks for linking to this post! My stats are blowing up !!!! I’ve also written a post on making Mango Kanten.

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Housekeeping notes:

(1) I’ve added a “Tips” page to the blog to park handy things I learn about (and/or blog about). For example, last week, limes went on sale – 10 for a dollar. So…I’m not going to use ten in a given week…and they don’t last forever…but they can last longer if you slice them and freeze them. Like so:

Might be better to peel skin off – haven’t tried it that way yet. Works grrrrreat in iced tea. (This is a tip contributed by my mom.)

(2) Not sure why, but Feedburner sent off an old post (from April ’07) on May 10. It wasn’t my doing! I’ll try to find out why that happened.

Spinach Frittata. Egg in a Nest. Oven Fried Red Potatoes. Miscellaneous Breakfast Joy

When I made a spinach frittata recently, I let someone, who shall remain nameless, have a “bite.” Somehow, upon my return to the pan, hoping to enjoy the last two tablespoons, the rest of it had disappeared! The explanation: “well, it was so good…” Oh, a little flattery gets you everywhere. Who says crime doesn’t pay!

Spinach (and Bean Salad) Frittata:

• 2 eggs;
• 2 egg whites;
• 2 whopping cups of organic spinach from Costco;*
• 4 tablespoons of bean salad, drained;**
• 4 tablespoons of Kraft Parmesan grated cheese; and
• black pepper, to taste.

Feeds one very very hungry person (me). Plus one interloper. OK, so, I sliced the spinach leaves into a loose chiffonade. While the cast iron skillet heated up to a nice medium high, I beat the eggs together with the spinach, bean salad, cheese, and black pepper. Threw some vegetable oil on there. Then I put it all in the skillet. And then tried to flip it, in parts. That was pretty much it. Probably took me all of 4 or 5 minutes of prep. Might have taken 10 minutes to cook. The bean salad adds sweetness, a nice chewiness, and a great tang that stands up to the spinach nicely.

Egg in the Nest

Also made Egg in the Nest recently, with the help of this lid:

Began like so:

Ended like so:

Now you know when I say you might want to avoid using raisin bread to make Egg in the Nest…well, I lived through the hardship of over-carmelization – so you can learn from my pain…

Red Potato Oven Fries

You buy a sack of potatoes. You have the very best intentions. But how quickly can any human get through a 5lb bag (especially if rice = = primary starch)? The potatoes looked wilted and lame after waiting around with nothing to do for too darn long. I resuscitated them overnight with a dash of vinegar. Vinegar prevents the potatoes from browning. I don’t have the “before.” Just know and trust that the potatoes were less than photogenic.

After:

The next day, I drained and dried them, slathered them in olive oil and a pre-packaged Italian-style herb mix before baking them at 375F for about 1/2 hr. Easy as pie. Freezes and microwaves beautifully. Lovely to have for breakfast, especially with eggs and some fine coffee.

After roasting, then freezing:

*Links you to a 2004 industry article regarding the synergy between Costco’s membership base and the organic agriculture market.

**Since the first time I made it, I find myself making it every few weeks. This last rendition boasted some canned corn.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

Only for people who want a high fiber, high protein, insanely delicious and cheap snack. Or if you want to get major props. Because people will like them. They will disappear like nobody’s business. And they are way more exciting than popcorn! Since I have that 2kg bag of dried chickpeas, I thought I should find a way to enjoy them. Many, many, many, many, many people love roasted, spicy chickpeas. “Addictive” is the perfect word to describe them. I had no idea. But now I know, and I can never be the same. I encourage you to go forth and seek chickpeas!

Roasted Spicy Chickpeas

• 1 lb cooked chickpeas(about $.30 cents worth of dried, cooked chickpeas – 1/2 lb or less) ;
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (likely any type of oil would suffice – pennies); and
• 2 ~ 2 & 1/2tablespoons of seasoning (I used a mixture of Pappy’s and dried cilantro (coriander) – pennies).

Um…but…it’s complicated…first you have to turn on the oven, to about 400…then you have to mix the cooked chickpeas (which you have patted dry) with spices and olive oil…then you pour the beans in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Whew! It’s a lot to think about, but, you can do it! When’s the last time a 3-step recipe yielded you insanely gratifying results?

P.S. Even before roasting, as seen below, they tasted pretty good! But the popular vote was to try roasting…and a good thing was rendered into the hallowed dimensions of fabulousness.

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Other DWTS recipes involving chickpeas (both very inexpensive to prepare – less than $1.00 per serving):

Chana Masala (Chole) and
Madras Chicken Curry.