In my dreams...Add some extra greatness!

A Vegan Restaurant

Eat Drink Montclair wrote: "How about we add some extra greatness to Montclair? I have heard rumors of a vegetarian or vegan restaurant that used to be in Montclair, but then it had to move to Parsippany for lack of patronage. I think that day has come to pass. The vegetarian community here is pretty well sized. Just find a spot smack dab in the middle of our 10+ yoga studios and you’re golden. In my dreams, Sacred Chow will open their second spot here in Montclair, as they are my favorite place in the city. I’m still dreaming about that Brownie Sundae with fudge and sprinkles from the other night.

If you can make ________, you can just as easily make ________.

I was sitting next to a gentleman, while flying from La Guardia to Midway in Chicago, who professed an inability to cook. He said that it baffled him how people could make all kinds of interesting things, and all he could ever do was make a pizza. I asked him, "You mean the kind that comes frozen, right?" with a wink. He admitted to using the premade ingredients, but made put everything together on his own. I said, "You do realise that the leap from pizza to casserole is a very short one, right?"

It was like a lightbulb had turned on!

The thing is that we sometimes underestimate our own abilities, because we never saw how what we already know can be reconfigured into new things. In future, I will endeavour to try to relate the recipes I write to things that most people should be familiar with. "If you can make pasta, you can make quinoa." And then, "If you can make a salad, you can make a pilaf." And finally, "If you can microwave a baked potato, you can steam veggies very easily."

If I didn't have that conversation, I wouldn't have thought of phrasing my recipes in such a way, so that they are indeed more accessible. So, let me make those recipes for you, so that you see what I mean.

If You Can Make Pasta, Make Quinoa

2 cups of quinoa, rinsed well, and drained

12 cups of water

A good bit of salt

In a large stock pot, add the water, and enough salt that the water tastes like sea water. Quinoa is often thought of as bland, because it isn't salted enough. Don't worry though. We're going to rinse off the quinoa once it's cooked. While the water comes to a boil, wash the quinoa several times in plenty of cold water, to remove the surface stuff that's not good to eat. Drain the washed quinoa well.

When the water is rolling and boiling, drop in the quinoa, and let it cook for 12 minutes. If you have a crappy stove, as I have had to work with on many occasions, you may need as much as 20 minutes Essentially, you want the quinoa to be cooked through, and go from a tiny little seed that's completely opaque to one that is translucent and where you can see the little swirly thing inside of it. You don't want any white dots in the middle of the thing. The white dot means it's still undercooked.

When it's done, drain off the liquid, and rinse it under cold running water to stop the cooking and get rid of the excess surface starch.

... You Can Steam Veggies

Take 1 pound of vegetables of your choice. Prep them however you like. If this is one of those store bought packs of fresh veggies, I won't tell anyone. In a casserole dish, put in about 1 inch of water. Add the prepped veggies. Cover with some kind of cover, and microwave on high for 5 minutes. They'll be done to perfection.

... You Can Make a Pilaf

Making a salad is essentially a process of taking a bunch of ingredients, combining them with a bit of fat, some herbs and spices, and tossing them together. A pilaf is more or less the same thing, only involving spices rather than just herbs.

1 portion of the cooked quinoa

2 TB oil

3 cloves of garlic

1 TB curry powder, garam masala, or your favourite herb or spice blend

1 handful of nuts

1 portion of steamed veggies

Salt and black pepper to taste

In a small pot, sautee the garlic in the oil over medium heat, and add the spices, nuts, and salt . Cook until the spices are fragrant and lovely. It should take about three to five minutes. Pour the spices and nuts to the cooked quinoa and the steamed veggies. Add pepper to taste, and toss through to combine all the ingredients together. Adjust seasoning to your taste, and serve hot.

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The point that I'm trying to get across is that if you break down more complex recipes into smaller, more familiar steps, it starts to gel in your mind, and become way easier to work with.

Sometimes you have to look for it.

I learned a long time back that not everyone is going to express love to me in the way that I want or need. It's a hard lesson to learn, but an important one. Sometimes, I need to look for the way that the person is expressing the love, find it, nurture that spark, and add my own spark to it.

Sacred Chow – 100% vegan

Sacred Chow – 100% vegan

227 Sullivan St.
New York, NY 10012

On the recommendation from a good friend we decided to go with Sacred Chow’s Sunflower Lentil Paté and then ordered a handful of Tapas. Ethan and I loved everything we had. We’re pretty big fans of Sacred Chow and think they deserve much more recognition among the vegan restaurants in NYC. Anyhow ;) … here we have a picture (taken from Sacred Chow’s website – our pic was too blurry) of their Sunflower Lentil Paté.

So, so, so, so good. Creamy, light and bursting with flavor. The texture was thicker than I expected, unlike other paté that I’ve had before. It was delicious!

Next up are the tapas! In order of appearance: Shredded Tofu Spa Salad, Sautéed Shiitake Mushroom with South Indian Dip (THIS WAS AMAZING!!), Root Vegetable Latkes with Indonesian Date Butter, Dijon Marinated Raw Kale, and Roasted Black Olive Seitan (SOOO GOOD!).

Did we get dessert?! You know us too well! ;) We got the Chocolate Truffle Cake with strawberry ganache & pralines. Very, very good. We also had the Sinner Bar – coconut caramel dipped in chocolate but for some reason I don’t have a pic of that one. You can sort of see in there, in the background of the cake pic. I think Ethan fell in love with the Sinner Bar. He was a little protective of it. ;)

We had actually been to Sacred Chow a few weeks prior when we were in the city for a vegan wedding party (yay!). Naturally we “snapped” a few pics of our brunch. Oh my heaven… the brunch menu at Sacred Chow is mind blowing. I ordered the Better Than Biscuits & Gravy. One of THE best breakfast meals I’ve ever had. Ethan was delighted with his meal as well. He had……….

somewhere in the digital mess, is a picture of an amazing Sweet Potato Hash. RUMMAGE RUMMAGE RUMMAGE. Gonna have to get back to you soon.

Sacred Chow all Gussied up: Gr8 review 2!

December 4, 2011

Sacred Chow

I've been in New York the past few days, enjoying the beautiful weather and trying lots of new restaurants!

This weekend I ate at Sacred Chow for lunch. It was my first visit and I had heard so much about their Orange Blackstrap Molasses BBQ Seitan. You can order it as an appetizer or as a hero with a side of carrot and cabbage slaw and a half sour pickle. I opted for the latter. It's served with sauteed onions and steamed kale on a whole wheat baguette. The sauce is stellar and the sandwich is incredibly filling. And I love half sour pickles, they taste like salty cucumbers, still incredibly crisp and fresh.

The space is fairly small so it's best to visit during off peak hours. They also have a great tapas menu, fresh juices and a killer dessert list. Next time, I must save room for their Brownie Sundae!