Little Dishes #4

 

Here we have a clearing-the-fridge special: Jammy onion and miso beans (recipe from Wandering Chickpea), stir fried cauliflower leaves (recipe inspired by V for Veggy using vegan butter and white shoyu sauce) nestled in with sticky gochujang cauliflower florets (recipe from Table for Two), yachaejeon (Korean vegetable pancakes), and Calrose rice.

The beans used up the end of my miso paste and some kale given to me by a neighbor. They aren't really considered an Asian-style recipe, but the flavors are great with the other things here. I would definitely make the beans again to have with all sorts of things! They're delicious. But I did cut the oil down to just 2 tablespoons, and even that was probably more than was needed. A full 1/4 cup of oil for one can of beans is just way too rich for me. I took my time with the caramelizing of the onions, and that likely makes a difference, too.

When I buy cauliflower now, I try to buy the ones with the most leaves still attached. This one had about 1/4 cup more than I usually get out of a cauliflower, so that was fun! I am so glad I learned you can eat cauliflower leaves. Free vegetables, anyone? You can put them in soup and things, too, and I briefly considered putting them in my veggie pancake instead.

The sticky cauliflower was fine, but it made me long for the end of summer so I could roast the florets instead. Oh, well. Summer will end eventually. On a positive note, I got a letter from my electric company this week praising me for using less energy than even the average for the most energy efficient households in my area, so I know the way I manage things in different seasons helps. But still, I am so over summer. I'll be roasting veggies October-March, I can already tell.

I don't think I cooked the pancake on quite high enough heat or for quite long enough, and I should have made two medium sized pancakes rather than one huge one to cut up because it would have flipped more easily, but it was fine, and used some of my Korean pancake mix (which is part of the pantry utilization quest). My veggies are zucchini (given to me by a neighbor), red bell pepper, and red onion.

I could theoretically have had brown rice this time, but I was absolutely craving white Calrose rice, and sometimes you have to listen to your inner voice.