Sequestration Meal #508

 

The Light N' Fluffy macaroni dumplings came back! And thus, I could finally make kugel! Specifically, I could make this vegan spinach noodle kugel from Zardyplants. Alongside it, I had some Italian green beans with tomatoes (recipe from Dinner Mom) and buttered carrots (recipe from Cookery for 1 or 2 (1978), veganized with some non-dairy butter).

Out of this whole meal, my favorite thing was the carrots, which may be a bit disappointing on some level but hey, those were some amazing carrots. The kugel was really cool to make, because I thought it had too much of the tofu sauce in it, but once it cooked up the noodles absorbed most of it. But I think the sauce needed a lot more flavor. The good news is that I am confident I can give it more flavor, and it was a pretty easy technique overall. The green beans were a recipe I've had before, and they were pretty good--they're easy and more exciting than plain green beans.

When/if I make a savory kugel again, I will probably add ramen seasoning; I seem to add ramen seasoning to just about every bland thing and it works, probably because of MSG. I also have a bit of MSG on hand so I could experiment with that to test my theory. I also think it could use some fat, probably in the form of vegan butter. I need to learn more about traditional kugels to know what would work. But as it was, I added some seasoned salt and I enjoyed it just fine.

Part of the reason I made kugel, a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish food, was to spend some time thinking about what we might be able to do to counteract a resurgence of classical antisemitism, particularly in the U.S. And I'm not sure yet, but my lens on lots of things involves food, so I started here. It may not do much of anything, but in these maddening days when I often feel powerless to do anything, starting is better than not doing anything at all.