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pea soup with smoked porter

February 22, 2012 by themuffinmyth

Some time ago ago I picked up a cold beer in a frosty mug on my kitchen counter and took a big gulp and immediately thought, oh man, this isn’t my beer. Except it was. Only Paul had accidentally bought a smoked beer instead of the pale ale I normally buy. My next thought, mere seconds after resolving the smokey taste in my mouth, was, hot dang! I want to make a soup with smoked beer in it! I think it may have been a limited release, or possibly my local liquor store only had a limited amount of it, but I never saw that particular beer again. I kept my eyes peeled, though, and at another liquor store in another part of town eventually found a bottle of smoked porter.

I mulled over what kind of soup I wanted to make with smoked beer in it and settled on a pea soup. I thought the beer, brewed with smoked hops, could replace that smoky flavour which normally comes from adding ham to pea soup. I scoured the city for split peas (okay, I probably checked the three grocery stores which are within a five minute walk from my apartment) and came up empty handed. All I could find was dried whole peas. That’s fine, whole dried peas just need to be soaked overnight (or have a quick hot soak) first, but, unlike split peas, they would need to be blended in order to have a soup with the same texture. But, I have no blendy things.

Then my friend Amy went out of town on a business trip and asked me to feed her cat while she was away. I was sitting in her apartment chilling with her cat one day when I remembered a conversation about hummus Amy and I had the last time I was over. It went something like, “………hummus…….immersion blender……” and I can’t remember much else. There was wine involved. So, I did what any of you would do in this situation: I snooped through her kitchen cupboards (and *only* her kitchen cupboards, not her bathroom or bedroom cupboards, because *that* would be wrong) found her hand blender, and stuffed it into my bag.

That, friends, is how this soup came to be. 

Let’s talk about the ingredients in this soup. Peas. Dried, green ones. What’s the difference between split peas and whole dried peas? Split peas have had their skins removed and they naturally split in half during the drying process. You could easily swap in split peas here and just skip the pre-soak. Dried peas are a member of the legume family (like beans, lentils, etc) and are a great source of fiber, protein, and many vitamins and minerals (more info in the footnotes of this post). Dried peas were a staple food for getting through the winter in the days of yore. And yesteryear.

Beer. I did a little research on the health benefits of drinking beer and what I found is that when consumed in moderation, beer can have a number of health benefits similar as to drinking red wine. You can read up on it here. Using a beer made with smoked hops adds a lot of flavour to the broth. The beer I used was a porter, which created a deep, rich, brown coloured broth. If you find a lighter smoked beer (I think the original one I drank was a smoked ale and was much lighter than the porter) your soup will turn out a different colour. If you can’t find smoked beer you could still use beer in the broth to pump up the flavour profile, or leave it out if you’re not keen on boozing up your soup (the alcohol will mostly cook off and you are left with flavour, not booze) then you can leave out the beer and replace it with extra broth. You’ll change the taste, though.

Some fun facts: In Sweden pea soup is traditionally had for dinner on Thursdays. This is a throwback to when the dominant religion in the country was Catholic and pea soup along with ham, mustard, and then pancakes and cream were eaten for dinner on Thursdays to help sustain workers through the fast on Fridays. I also read that Trappist monks used to drink beer to help sustain them through fasting at Lent, referring to it as ‘liquid bread’. Today is the first day of Lent, tomorrow is Thursday. Beer! Peas! Soup!

Pea Soup with Smoked Porter Recipe:

You’ll need to plan ahead a little for making this soup, especially if you’re using whole dried peas as they need to be soaked overnight, and there is a long simmering time to tenderize them. Don’t discard the soaking water, it has all kinds of great nutrients in it that would be lost otherwise. Use it in your soup!

Makes a big pot of soup. Would easily serve 6 people, maybe more.

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2 cups dried green peas soaked in 6 cups of water for at least 6 hours or more

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 medium onions, diced (about 2 cups diced)

1 large carrot, diced finely (about 1 cup diced)

2-4 cloves garlic, finely diced (I used 4)

2 bay leaves

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

2 cups (500ml) smoked beer

6 cups (1.5L) vegetable broth

salt and pepper

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In a large pot heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, and saute for about 5 minutes, until they are just barely starting to brown. Add garlic and carrots, and saute about 5 minutes more, until carrots are beginning to soften. Add bay leaves, thyme, oregano, and hot pepper flakes, stir to combine and saute for 1 minute.

Pour in the beer, and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes, until the beer has slightly reduced.

Add the peas and their soaking water, along with 6 cups of vegetable broth. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally, for about 90 minutes, or until the peas are tender.

Remove the pot from the heat and remove the bay leaves. Blend the soup with your immersion blender, or in batches in your blender. Return to the heat and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low, and taste the soup. Season with salt and pepper as required. You can add a little more broth or water if the soup is thicker than you want, it will thicken slightly as it cools.

Serve piping hot with some nice crusty bread or crackers. Garnish with fresh parsley, a drizzle of good olive oil, or a blob of yoghurt in the middle.

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Know what you’re eating: what’s good about this? Dried peas are low in fat, high in dietary fiber, and are a good source of protein , manganese, folate, vitamin B1, potassium, and phosphorous. The high fiber content in dried peas is thought to be helpful in lowering cholesterol and stabilizing blood sugar levels. Plus all that protein (1 cup of dried peas contains 32% of the recommended daily intake of protein) and a good selection of vitamins and minerals? Pass the peas! (source)

Do ahead: This soup will last up to 5 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge, or you can portion it off in single servings and stash it in the freezer for a couple of months.

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in beans, lunch, mains, soup, vegan | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

lemony roasted broccoli and tempeh with quinoa

February 17, 2012 by themuffinmyth

I grew up in a part of the world that doesn’t really get real winters. Don’t get me wrong, Vancouver winters are nasty in that can’t-get-warm-cause-you’re-always-soaking-wet kind of way, and I do not miss the rain even a little bit, but relatively speaking, they’re mild. Now I live in a part of the world that gets real winters. By all accounts, we’ve had a pretty mild one, and I did manage to commute to work on my bicycle until one day earlier this month when it was -15 C and dumping snow when I admitted defeat and bought a one month transit pass. I really agonized over the decision, totally worried that if I bought the pass the very next day things would clear up and it would be a waste of money. Lucky for me, it’s continued to dump snow and the temperatures have been frigid. Sorry, rest of Stockholm, I think it’s my fault. But fear not, my pass expires on the 3rd of March, and I intend to get back on my bike right then. I expect the weather will adjust accordingly.

Naturally, since I’m now spending my commute sitting on my ass and reading or playing scrabble on my phone rather than biking 40 minutes each way, I’ve decided that all I want to eat is something warm with cheese melted on it. Salads? No! Too cold! I want cheese! And cookies! Feeeeeed me!!!

So, what I’m saying is, I’m feeling a little doughy. Let’s get back to basics, shall we? Let’s whip up a batch of something fast. Something jam-packed with goodness. Something that’s good when it’s warm but equally good when you get home from work all tired and the best you can do is eat it straight out of the container in the fridge. Let’s make this!

Broccoli and tempeh get a lemony olive oil bath. We add some lemon zest too. Heck, let’s throw those spent lemon halves on the tray and roast them too. They’ll make for a pretty garnish – Ina Garten says a plate should always look like what’s in it, and who am I to argue with Ina? While the broccoli and tempeh are roasting we’ll boil up some quinoa in a nice veggie broth. And we’ll toast some sunflower seeds. And then we’ll toss everything together in that pretty bowl we always forget we have, and we’ve got our meal. Just like that. Or we’ve got packed lunches for a few days. Just saying.

I’ve largely broken up with soy, but it still makes a guest appearance in my meals from time to time. We’re like casual lovers now instead of fully committed. I love tempeh. Think of tofu as the white bread of the soy world, and tempeh as it’s way cooler whole grain cousin. Tempeh is whole soy beans which are cooked and then fermented using a special bacteria (what? they use bacteria in cheese making too) which penetrates the beans and binds them together into a delish, firm, cake with an incredible nutty flavour. It’s generally got significantly less fat, more protein, and a higher fiber content than tofu. Tempeh is tough to find in Stockholm but I have found it here from time to time, and when I do I always buy a bunch and keep it in the freezer. The tempeh pictured in this post is actually some I bought in Vancouver, froze, and lugged back to Stockholm with me. Yep, I’m that person.

One year ago: Carrot Ginger Muffins

Lemony Roasted Broccoli and Tempeh With Quinoa Recipe: 

I’m calling for just one lemon in this recipe, to be juiced and zested and tossed with the broccoli and tempeh before roasting. But not all lemons are created equal, nor are all taste buds. If your lemon isn’t all that juicy, you may want to use two. I juiced and zested one one lemon prior to roasting, and once I tossed everything together with the quinoa and tasted it, I decided I wanted more lemon flavour and ended up adding the juice of one more lemon and another glug of olive oil. Along the same lines, I didn’t add any salt to the dish until the very end. If your broth is very salty you may need none at all, or just a little. Taste, and decide.

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side.

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1 large head broccoli

1 250g package of tempeh

1 cup quinoa

2 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

juice and rind of 1 lemon (or more – see head notes)

3 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

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Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F.

Combine quinoa and vegetable broth in a large saucepan and set, covered, over high heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork when it has absorbed all of the liquid.

Meanwhile, chop broccoli into small florets and chop the stem into chunks about the same size. Dice tempeh into 2.5cm / 1 inch cubes. Toss broccoli and tempeh onto a large baking sheet, then pour lemon juice, olive oil, and sprinkle lemon zest over top. Use your hands to mix everything together so you know it’s well coated. Pop into the oven for about 15 – 20 minutes, until tempeh and broccoli are both starting to brown just a bit. Stir once part way through.

Place the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat and toast until just browned. Careful not to burn them!

In a large bowl combine quinoa, broccoli and tempeh, and sunflower seeds. Give everything a good toss and then decide if you need to add any more seasonings. Salt? Pepper? More lemon juice?

Serve.

Know what you’re eating: what’s good about this? You already knew broccoli is good for you, right? It is a great source of vitamin C, dietary fiber, and high broccoli consumption is thought to be beneficial in the prevention of heart disease and some cancers. Tempeh is a good source of protein, is high in dietary fiber, and the fermentation process makes digestion easier and nutrients like zinc, calcium, and iron are more bio available than in non-fermented soy products. Quinoa not only has a very high protein content (about 18%), but it also contains a complete set of essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. It’s a great source of dietary fiber, phosphorous, and is high in magnesium and iron. Sunflower seeds are rich in linoleic acid, vitamin E, B vitamins, and are a source of dietary fiber. They’re fatty though, people, so remember to moderate.

Do ahead: this salad can be stored for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Makes great packed lunches!

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in gluten free, grains, lunch, mains, salads, sides, tofu, vegan, veggies | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

spicy kohlrabi salad

February 12, 2012 by themuffinmyth

One of the things I learned about myself while traveling through Thailand is that I am a lot more squeamish than I thought I was. We planned our trip quite a while in advance so I had a good number of months to contemplate my food attitude on this trip. I knew full well that fish sauce and shrimp paste were going to be in much of what I ate, as surely as salt and pepper would be here. Over my nearly 2o years as a vegetarian that is something I would generally be quite picky about at home, but what could I do about it in a place like Thailand but just accept it would be there. I also didn’t want to limit my experience of the place through food by worrying about whether there was something in it that I normally go out of my way not to eat, so I decided I would adopt a ‘just don’t ask’ policy, which in the end I did, more or less, stick to. *But*. I did, several times, take just one or two bites of something and feel overwhelmed by a ‘fishy’ taste and not be able to continue eating at all. Prior to the trip I had been examining my vegetarian in general, wondering if it continued to be the right way for me to eat. That’s a big discussion that I’ll leave for another time and another place, but suffice it to say I thought long and hard about it and in the end I’ve accepted that I am who I am: a squeamish vegetarian.

I love the classic Thai spicy green papaya salad. I shared one with Paul at the start of our trip, bought from a cart on the side of a dusty road in Koh Chang. We got one at a market in Koh Samui which I had one bite of and deemed too fishy. We also learned to make it in our vegetarian cooking class in Chiang Mai. I knew we’d never be able to find a green papaya once we got home, but our instructor said we could substitute cucumber. My thoughts immediately turned to kohlrabi instead, which is something we almost always include in our salads at home. And hey, ripe papayas, which are rich in carotenoids, are waaaaaaay more nutritious than unripe, so eat your fruit ripe and give this kohlrabi version a try!

Kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family. It has a moist texture, and a flavour similar to broccoli stalks. When young, kohlrabi is tender enough to eat raw, which is how we most often eat it. Try a thick slice sprinkled with salt – that’s always our treat to munch on while we’re making salads.

Traditionally a shreddie peeler thingy (pictured above – pretty sure that’s not the actual term for it) is used to shred the papaya and carrot for this salad. We picked one up in Thailand and it’s fun to use, but for this salad I also used the fine shredder on my mandoline, which was super efficient for shredding the peeled kohlrabi. Probably most of you don’t have a shreddie peeler thingy at home, so you could use a mandoline, a box grater, the shredder on your food processor, or you could chop the veggies into thin little matchsticks with a nice sharp knife.

In Thailand this salad comes together with a mortar and pestle. We brought a nice one home, so I made the kohlrabi salad the way I learned in Thai cooking class. The veggies and spicy peppers and sauces and peanuts all go in, and bash bash, bang bang, you have a salad. Of course tossing everything together in a bowl is perfectly acceptable if you don’t have a mortar big enough to hold all this stuff.

This salad is bright and spicy. Peanuts add a nice crunch and a bit of protein. None of the ingredients are hard to find, in fact, many you may have as pantry staples. The chopping does take a bit of time, but if you use a shredder for the carrot and kohlrabi, or do your chopping in advance, this salad can still come together quite quickly.

Spicy Kohlrabi Salad Recipe:

Adapted from May Kaidee’s

Depending on how spicy you like things, you may want to be conservativce with the chilies here. I used red and green Spanish chilies, which are definitely not as hot as the chilies we had in Thailand, and the amounts, half of each, are scaled up accordingly. Paul likes most things to be burning hot and he added some dried chilies we brought back with us to his salad.

Serves 2-4 as a side.

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1 small tomatoe, finely chopped

1/2 red chili pepper, seeded and deveined, finely diced

1/2 green chili pepper, seeded and deveined, finely diced

1 clove garlic, finey chopped

3 Tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

juice of 1 lime

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp dark soy sauce

1/2 Tbsp raw sugar

1 medium large kohlrabi, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup shredded)

1 large carrot, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup shredded)

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In large motar or large bowl add all ingredients except the carrot and kohlrabi. Give it a bit of a bash around with your pestle or a large wooden spoon. Add shredded vegetables and toss everything together so it is well coated. Serve with extra peanuts sprinkled on top.

Know what you’re eating: what’s good about this? Kohlrabi is rich in potassium and vitamin C. Carrots are an excellent source of beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C, and the antioxidant carotenoid lycopene (good for your prostates, fellas!). Peanuts, consumed in moderation, are a good source of energy and protein. They are a good source of vitamin E, and are rich in several B vitamin complexes.

Do ahead: This salad should be eaten the same day as it is made as the vegetables will start to wilt.

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in salads, soup, Uncategorized, vegan, veggies | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Thailand – Bangkok

February 9, 2012 by themuffinmyth

Bangkok was the last stop on our Thai adventure, and the shortest. We arrived there really, really tired after a late night, an early morning, and a ridiculous day of travel. Paul is an extremely organized traveler and had printed us both out a packet with confirmations of every flight and hotel reservation for the entirety of our trip. Upon landing in Bangkok I flipped through my packet and realized that the confirmation sent to us by the hotel didn’t include any contact info, so we had a hotel name, but no phone number or street address. We started asking around about how to get there, and after rejecting one private taxi company that was clearly trying to scam us, ended up in a taxi with a driver who said he knew the hotel. What we didn’t know at the time was that there were two hotels in the same area of town with very similar names. The taxi driver dropped us off a little ways away from a hotel with a sign that looked to be what we were going for – the Lampu House. As we got closer to the hotel we started to have a bit of a sinking feeling; this was the Lampu Tree House. Oh dear. The reception at the wrong hotel was really lovely – I guess this happens quite a bit – and provided us with a map upon which they clearly labeled the correct hotel and wrote the address down in Thai. We walked for about 10 minutes, and then, hot, disoriented, and tired, negotiated a fare for a short ride in a tuk tuk. We were very clear with the driver; we want the Lampu House NOT the Lampu Tree House. Yes, yes, no Lampu Tree House, laugh laugh, chuckle chuckle. A minute later Paul looked at me and said, I think he’s taking us back to the Lampu Tree House. Indeed, he pulled up in the very spot we had been let out of our taxi about a half an hour previously. No, we told him, wrong hotel. We want the Lampu House. This is the Lampu Tree House. Confused, he drove off and after barely glancing at our map, consulted with some other tuk tuk drivers parked on the side of the road. This time he took a different route and approached the Lampu Tree House, from the other side of the canal. He stopped and pointed at it. No! Wrong hotel. Finally he took the map and looked at it, clearly frustrated, and then took off again. He dropped us off somewhere, we had no idea where really, and we started asking around again. To credit the driver he was one of the few tuk tuk drivers in Bangkok who didn’t seem to be trying to scam us, and he did indeed get us quite close to the Lampu House on the third go around. Another lesson learned – check that the confirmation has contact info on it BEFORE you arrive. Noted. 

We settled into our hotel, (which, by the way, was a great budget option and in a perfect location for starting or finishing a trip) and contemplated what to do next. There is no doubt there are a lot of things one could do in Bangkok. We, however, did not do many of them. We were tired. Our tummies were, once again, upset. We were facing a very long trip back to Sweden (including a 13 hour layover in Beijing) and we frankly just wanted to mellow out.

So, we wandered. We haggled for scarves. We looked at really interesting street food, but, with 15 hours of air travel  coming up, we decided not to risk it. We sat and had drinks and watched Bangkok buzz around us. We had two really good meals at the same restaurant, savoring the last supper of genuine Thai food.

We did the worlds fastest tour around the grand palace, fighting crowds, hot and sweaty in our rented clothes (our shorts and short sleeves were not allowed in the grand palace compound) snapped the requisite photos and then got the heck out of there. Then, we bought a day pass for the river ferries with the idea of hopping on and off and exploring various parts of town. We explored *one* additional part of town, not the one we were looking for, but an interesting wander nonetheless. 

In some places remnants of the flooding (which I believe never actually reached Bangkok) were in evidence. 

What struck me about Bangkok was the juxtaposition of rich and poor. Shanty towns around the corner from sparkling high rises. Luxury hotels across the river from apartments with the roof falling through.


There is no doubt that Bangkok is a vibrant city with lots to see and do. I regret a little that we gave it only one day, and am also glad we gave it only one day, if that makes any sense. I think we learned a lot on our trip to Thailand, particularly about the kind of travelers we want to be, and I hope to return one day a little wiser and do things a little differently. But it was well and truly a fabulous trip. On to the next adventure!

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in travel | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

cranberry walnut granola

February 5, 2012 by themuffinmyth

When I woke up this morning it was -20 C. We always sleep with our bedroom window open a crack – it was freezing in our room! I dragged myself out from under the warmth of our duvet and went directly to the kitchen. Together we hammered out our packed lunches for the week; Paul was on sandwich duty, I was on fruit salads and bran muffins. All done by 10am. Then, Paul headed out for a 35km run, and I stayed in the warmth of the kitchen to test out some recipes. Whatever floats your boat, right?

Today happens to be my friend Kimmie’s birthday, and a milestone birthday at that. And my friend Kimmie *loves* home made granola. He makes awesome granola and often generously gifts his friends, including me, with a batch. Though I am very, very far away right now, I thought the least I could do was provide a virtual birthday present. So here ya go, buddy, happy 30th. I made you some granola.

Speaking of birthday presents, the beautiful blue bowl pictured here was a birthday gift from my friend Isia. Thank you!

Granola is, like muffins, one of those things that people often choose thinking they are making a healthier choice. The reality is that most store-bought granola is laden with sugar and fat and you may as well be eating cake. If you make your own, though, you can control what goes in it. You can make your favourite granola! And it’s easy! And fast!

Let’s talk about all the good stuff in this granola. Oats, and especially oat bran, are rich in indigestible carbohydrates called beta-glutens which help to lower blood cholesterol levels. Oats are also host to a number of phenolic compounds which have antioxidant properties. Walnuts are jam packed with omega-3 polyunsaturated linolenic acid. Coconut oil is making a well deserved comeback as a healthy oil. Yes, the fat is about 90 % saturated, but it’s a natural fat and natural fats, consumed in moderation, are always a better choice. This granola is sweetened with honey, which means it’s free from refined sugars. Skim milk powder boosts the protein content, and also creates a creamy flavour.  Lastly, cranberries are full of phenolic compounds, some of which are antimicrobial and antioxidants.

One year ago: Pumpkin Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Cranberry Walnut Granola Recipe:

Adapted from Inquiring Chef

Think of this granola recipe as a suggestion, and mix it up according to your personal preference. I’ve used coconut, walnuts, and cranberries here, but I’m dreaming of dried cherries and bits of dark chocolate or cocoa nibs.

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4 cups rolled oats

1 cup oat bran

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

3/4 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup honey

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup skim milk powder

1 cup dried cranberries

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Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine oats, oat bran, walnuts, and coconut.

In a small saucepan combine the coconut oil and honey and set over medium heat until just melted. Whisk in skim milk powder, salt, and vanilla extract.

Pour the oil mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine. Clean hands work well to mix and ensure all of the oat bits are coated. Divide mixture between the two prepared trays, and pop them into the oven.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, stirring granola every 5 minutes and rotating the pans once. Granola will be just golden brown when it is finished, and will still be soft. Remove from the oven, combine both trays into one, and stir the dried cranberries in. If you like your granola to be particularly clumpy, use a spatula to press it down into a smooth brick. Allow it to cool completely, then use your spatula again to break it up.

Do ahead: Store into an airtight container for up to one week at room temperature, or keep it in the freezer for longer storage.

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in breakfast recipes, grains | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments »

Thailand – Koh Samui

February 1, 2012 by themuffinmyth

It was all well and good to spend some time in the city and have cultural experiences and whatnot, but frankly, we were ready to get back to the beach. We flew from Chiang Mai down to Koh Samui and settled in for a week of doing not all that much. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about heading to Samui, Thailand’s biggest island, with a reputation for being a bit of a party island, and, a friend told me *after* we had booked non-refundable flights and hotels, that the weather in Samui is often unreliable at this time of year and it’s over run by American tourists and blah blah blah. Oh well, off we go.


I didn’t check the weather forecast for Samui until after we had already arrived there, and yes, it was terrible. But, it was fine. Each day the predicted rain got pushed back another day, and each day we had glorious sunshine and clear skies. Our first stop was Bophut, also known as the Fisherman’s Village, where we stayed in a fabulous little bungalow right on the beach with the friendliest staff perhaps of all time. We stayed there for 4 days during which we passed the time with lying on the beach, throwing a frisbee, playing cards. I finished one book and started another. We drank beer. We bought and ate fresh cut up fruit from a guy paddling down the beach in a canoe. It was, pretty much, the life. In the evenings we’d hop on our (smallest and most precarious) rental scooter and head into the Fisherman’s Village where there was a huge array of restaurants and bars. We’d take in a few happy hour specials and then figure out where to eat. Although I thought there was nothing all that special about the food we had in Samui – don’t get me wrong, it was good, it just wasn’t mind blowing – I did stumble on what was definitely my favourite dessert of the entire trip: home made coconut ice cream, served in a half of a fresh coconut, topped with fresh coconut curls, coconut jelly, and coconut milk. Hot dang, I was in coconut heaven. Down the street was a western style ice cream shop which was serving up cones for 140 Bhat PER SCOOP, and this guy was whipping up that concoction from a push cart on the side of the road, two for 80 Bhat? It was not a hard decision. That was the thing about Samui, there were a lot of tourists and a lot of tourists means tourist food and tourist prices. But there were still amazing little gems if you kept your eyes peeled for them, and so we did.

A few days in we booked a day trip to the Ang Thong national marine park, a stunning archipelago made up of 42 islands. We enjoyed a day of island hopping, snorkeling, kayaking, picnicking on the beach, swimming, and a hike up and down the steepest stairs I’ve ever been on (I have a recurring dream about being forced to walk up or down really precariously steep stairs, and this was like my nightmare brought to life) to see the spectacular salt water ‘Emerald Lake’ which was the inspiration for the book and movie, The Beach. At one point we overheard a tour guide telling someone that normally visibility from the viewpoint was about 40% and this day it was at 60%. We were so lucky.

We had only been able to book our beach front bungalow for 4 nights and so rather than switch to a non beach front bungalow (which really would have been no big deal, in retrospect) we had booked a hotel on a different part of the island. So we moved from quaint little Bophut to Chaweng, the biggest and busiest beach on the island. Again I approached this move with trepidation, and again it ended up being totally fine. We stayed in a resort at the far end of the beach away from the hubub, which meant that we could walk *to* the hubub if we wanted to, but we could also get away from it. It was a good place.

We rented another bike here, the last of our trip, and definitely the best, and spent some time bombing around the island. We drove pretty much all the way around it, stopping to look at phallic rock formations and big Buddhas and to throw our frisbee on a nicely deserted stretch of beach. We hung out in a real fisherman’s village and had overpriced happy hour cocktails at a beach front bar while looking out at women and ratty looking children de-tangling stinky fishing nets on the beach, and felt acutely aware of worlds colliding.

As these things tend to go, the worst thing about our hotel in Chaweng – a compulsory and hideously over priced New Years Eve gala dinner- brought us together with the best thing about our hotel in Chaweng – a certifiably mad French-Australian named Jean-Noel who was single-handedly responsible for one of the funnest New Years Eve celebrations I can remember. There were lanterns lit, firecrackers set off, beaches danced on, beverages consumed from buckets, and beyond that (or maybe because of that?) things get a little fuzzy and are probably best left unsaid. It was a seriously good time.

Our last day in Samui, the first day of the new year, the skies finally opened up. It was in many ways a welcome respite from the heat and the sun and the perfect excuse to nurse our aching heads with a mellow day. We faced an early and stupidly long travel day the next day to get ourselves back to Bangkok, with no one to blame but ourselves (note for the future – leaving it to the last minute to try and book a way off of the busiest island in Thailand on the busiest travel week of the year is a terrible idea. Live and learn.). Naturally we prepared for it by going out with our new friend for round two,which saw us saying goodbye to Samui very early, and very tired, after a very good week.

One year ago: They Brought Me Flours

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in travel | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments »

home made bagels

January 26, 2012 by themuffinmyth

Let’s make some bagels, can we? Yes we can! For starters, today is my birthday, and on my birthday we can do anything we want. We can eat cake for breakfast and bagels for lunch and because it’s my birthday the calories don’t count. Please remember that I have an actual degree in nutrition, so if I say it, it must be true. Bagels for everyone!

Also, it’s pretty easy to make your own bagels at home and you will impress yourselves and everyone who you hand a fresh home made bagel to. These bad boys have been on my culinary bucket list for eons, and I really don’t know why I thought that making them was so intimidating. Maybe because you have to boil them which means that there are, like, *two* steps to the bagel cooking process. But you’ve boiled things before, right? Pasta? Potatoes? Eggs? Boiling bagels is no big deal. 

I won’t lie, you need to set aside some time for bagel making, and, since they are best if they’ve been left to cure in the fridge overnight, you need to plan a little in advance. But, like boiling things, we plan ahead all the time, right? Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? Making bagels!

I got over my bagel baking fear when I saw that three of my favourite spaces on the internet had each posted a bagel recipe, all from the same source. Here, here, and here. Give them a read, they’ve got some good info. What I have posted here is the same recipe with some personal tips. The most important thing is for you to read the recipe from start to finish before you start. That way you’ll know you’re supposed to let the bagels sit on the counter for 20 minutes before you put them in the fridge, and you won’t be pulling chilled bagels out of the fridge in a mad panic and hoping you haven’t effed them up too badly (don’t worry, you won’t have). So go ahead, give it a good read, and then go get your bagel on. Happy birthday to me!

One year ago: Savoy Slaw

Home Made Bagels Recipe:

Recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

A note about flour – this recipe recommends high gluten bread flour. If you live in Canada your All Purpose flour has a much higher gluten content than does AP flour in other parts of the world, so you’re good to go. If you live in the US or in Europe the gluten content in AP flour is generally much lower and I would suggest getting a higher gluten flour or bread flour. If you’re in Sweden look for Special Vetemjöl, which has a higher gluten content than regular vetemjöl, or look for a bag of Manitoba Cream, which is a high gluten bread flour from Canada (what what!).

If you’re going to top your bagels with seeds or anything else you may want to consider adding an egg wash. I didn’t, and I lost a good amount of the seeds off of the tops. Next time I think I will try gluing the toppings down.

If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this is a good place to use it. If you don’t, you’re going to get a nice forearm workout, this dough is stiff! But tough it out, the results will be well worth the effort.

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For the sponge:

1 tsp instant yeast

4 cups high gluten or bread flour

2 1/2 cups room temperature water

For the dough:

1/2 tsp instant yeast

3 3/4 cups high gluten or bread flour, divided

2 3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp honey, molasses, or malt syrup (I used honey)

For finishing:

1 Tbsp baking soda

oil for the trays

desired bagel toppings

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To make the sponge, in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and water into a wet, shaggy dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand for 2 hours. The sponge should have about doubled in size and the surface should be covered in bubbles when it is ready.

In the same bowl add from the dough ingredients the yeast, 3 cups of flour, honey, and salt. Mix well. Now you’re going to knead in the remaining 3/4 cups of flour, a bit at a time. If you’ve got a mixer, run it on low with the dough hook and add the flour about 1/4 cup at a time, kneading well between additions. If you’re kneading by hand, you’ll want to knead it in a bit at a time, and don’t give up! We want to knead this dough for about 6 minutes by machine, or 10 by hand. The kneaded dough should feel soft and silky, and be pliable but not sticky.

Divide the dough into 16 even pieces – I weighed my dough with my kitchen scale, divided the number by 16, and then weighed the bits to ensure they were even. My dough bits were around 115 – 120g each. Form each piece of dough into a smooth ball and set it on the counter top. Cover the balls with a clean, slightly damp kitchen towel, and let rest for about 20 minutes.

Prepare your baking trays. Line two trays with parchment paper, and brush the parchment lightly with oil. When you are ready to start forming your bagels, take a dough ball and holding it with both hands, push your thumbs through the center. Work your hands around the dough with your thumbs on the inside and your fingers on the outside, widening the hole evenly. Place the formed bagel on the prepared tray, and repeat, ensuring you leave about 5cm between bagels. When all of the bagels are formed, brush them very lightly with oil and then cover lightly with plastic wrap (I used plastic shopping bags, two on each tray) and let them rest on the counter top for 20 minutes.

Now you’re ready to ‘retard’ your bagels. They should go into the fridge for at least 2 hours, but you can leave them for up to 48 hours. I left mine in the fridge over night.

Bagel baking time! Preheat your oven to 250 C / 500F. Fill your biggest, widest pot with water, and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling add 1 Tbsp of baking soda to the water. Now add bagels to the pot a few at a time. My largest pot was wide enough to accommodate 4 bagels at a time. Boil for 1 minute on each side (or, as I did, 2 minutes on each side for chewier bagels), then remove from the water with a slotted spoon and replace on the same oiled parchment lined tray that they came from. Repeat with all bagels. If you’re going to add toppings (I used a blend of sesame seeds and coarse salt) add them immediately when the bagels are removed from the water.

Place trays of boiled bagels into the preheated oven. Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the trays both 180 degrees AND up to down if you’re baking more than one tray at a time. Bake for another 5 minutes. I needed to bake my bagels for an additional ten minutes (rotating again after 5 min) before they were browned to my satisfaction.

Remove bagels from the oven and cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in baked goods, breads, breakfast recipes, how to..., lunch | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments »

tom yam soup

January 21, 2012 by themuffinmyth

Tom Yam soup. I’ve always seen this soup referred to as Tom Yum, but our instructor and recipe booklet both call it Tom Yam, so that’s what I’m going with. If you find yourself in Chiang Mai and are looking for a great cooking class, let me suggest May Kaidee’s Thai vegetarian cooking class. The original May Kaidee restaurant and cooking school is in Bangkok; her sister, our instructor, opened a second branch in Chiang Mai about five years ago.

What really amazed me about our Thai cooking class was that no dish we made took much longer than five minutes to put together. I had always assumed that the bold and bright flavours of Thai cuisine would require long cooking times and a lengthy ingredient list; how wrong I was. Of course, we had chopped all of the vegetables we would be using in advance which made things very speedy. But couldn’t we do that at home too?

In my home salads are dinner on Monday and Wednesday nights. On Monday as I was chopping vegetables for the salads I kept a Tupperware container on the counter beside the cutting board and when I was chopping a vegetable I thought I’d also like for my soup, I chopped a bit extra and tossed it in. Snow peas, carrot, red and green onion, cauliflower, tomato, and red pepper all went in my veggie container. When we made this soup in Thailand we also included fresh baby corn sliced lengthwise, kale, and these fabulous crunchy brown mushrooms our instructor said were called ‘mouse ears’.

On Tuesday I made myself this soup for dinner. Armed with my container of pre-chopped veggies it did indeed come together in a matter of minutes, and it tasted every bit as good as I remember it being in Thailand. All I had to do is dice up some tofu, measure the sauces and spices, and throw it all together in a pot.

On the ingredients let me say this: we brought a good amount of them back from Thailand, but you should be able to find most things in your grocery store or Asian food store. Here in Stockholm there is a small Asian food store in our neighbourhood and there I can find fresh lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, and galangal (Thai ginger). In this particular soup I ended up using (frozen) fresh lemon grass because we had bought some for another dish and had it in the freezer. The lime leaves and galangal I used were dried, schlepped back from Thailand. This recipe also calls for chili paste in oil – we bought a vegetarian version in a Thai market, but it’s a common enough ingredient that you should be able to find a jar of it wherever you are. If you want to make your own, Jessica has posted a recipe which I intend to try when our jar runs out (assuming I’ve acquired a food processor by that time).

This fast and easy soup is going to become a regular menu item in our home; we’re already planning to make it for dinner again tomorrow night. I hope you give it a try!

Tom Yam Soup Recipe:

Recipe adapted from May Kaidee’s vegetarian cooking school

The recipe below is for one large or two smaller servings of soup. You can easily double or triple the recipe and make a big pot of soup for a crowd.

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2 cups water

2 kaffir lime leaves, torn

2 half inch pieces of lemon grass, bashed a bit with the back of a knife

Chili for personal flavour (I used a dried chili, but fresh is better)

1-2 cups of chopped mixed vegetables of your choice, including 1/4 cup each chopped tomato and onion

1/4 cup cubed tofu

1/2 Tbsp dark soy sauce

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp raw brown sugar

1 tsp Tom Yam chili paste (chili paste in oil)

1 Tbsp each chopped spring onion and cilantro leaves

1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice

1 Tbsp milk, or coconut milk for a vegan soup

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Bring water to a boil in a medium pot. Add lime leaves, galangal, lemon grass, and chili. If you are using dried spices boil for a couple of minutes, otherwise proceed to the next step right away.

Add chopped mixed vegetables and tofu. Stir a few times, and watch that the mixture comes back up to a boil.

Once boiling add soy sauces, sugar, and chili paste, and mix well.

Turn off the heat once the vegetables are tender. Add green onions, cilantro, lime juice, and milk or coconut milk. Serve immediately.

If you want to make Tom Kha soup, follow the same recipe but slightly reduce the water and increase coconut milk to 1/2 cup, or to taste, at the end.

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in soup, tofu, travel, vegan | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments »

Thailand – Chiang Mai

January 19, 2012 by themuffinmyth


Chiang Mai was, hands down, my favourite part of the trip. Much of Thailand’s trekking industry is based out of Chiang Mai, and a short trek was high up on my must do list, as was a Thai cooking class. I definitely did not want to rent a motorcycle in busy city traffic. As it turned out, after learning a little bit more about trekking and what it means for the welfare of elephants and tribal communities, we decided against it. If I go back to Chiang Mai, which I really hope to do some day, I will instead visit to this amazing sounding (and highly recommended) elephant rescue organization, which was unfortunately fully booked for the time we were in the area.

Instead of trekking what did we do? We rented a motorcycle. I know, exactly what I didn’t want to do. But you know what? Totally my favourite part. With our motorcycle and a map and Paul’s brave driving and mad navigation skills, we went bombing around Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas. We went temple hopping, looked at ancient ruins, took sketchy single lane roads that looked like maybe they would lead somewhere interesting. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t. One time we ended up on a dirt road so steep I had to jump off the back of the bike in order for it to get up to the top of the hill – that road lead us nowhere. We got to see the big glitzy temples jam packed with tourists, and we saw quiet, lovely, peaceful, organic temples with absolutely no one around. We’d stop when we saw something interesting, wander around for a bit, take a few pictures, then get back on the bike and move on. It was perfect.

We spent one lovely day in a Thai cooking class. We ended up taking a class run by a vegetarian restaurant just around the corner from our guest house. We started in the restaurant in the morning prepping some of the ingredients and chopping vegetables for the dishes we would be making. After the prep was done we were loaded into the back of a songthaew and headed off to a large market where we shopped for some more ingredients and had a market tour. After the market we continued on our way, about 15km out of town, and ended up at our instructor’s house in a farming area, where they had set up a cooking classroom in their back yard under a shady pavilion. We learned 12 dishes in all, some of which I’ll be sharing here shortly.

After our cooking class we decided to hit up some of the markets closer to our guest house and load up on ingredients to pack home. Wandering the markets was a definite highlight for me on this trip. The sights, the sounds, the smells, it was all so different from anything I’d ever experienced before. We stumbled upon a spice vendor who had all kinds of weird and wonderful things and Paul insisted on getting pretty well one of everything. We got dried chilies, powders, pastes, sauces. They had it, we bought it. It became quickly clear we were going to run out of space in our luggage so we did the only logical thing we could think of: we bought more luggage.

We found new luggage where one can find pretty much anything in Chiang Mai – at the night bazaar. The night bazaar was crazy. Frantic. Fabulous. We went three nights in a row. I loved it. I loved it so much, in fact, that I don’t have one single picture of it. I think I did take my camera on the first night but it was just too jammed with people that stopping to take my beast of a camera out wasn’t an option. A friend had asked me to get her a pashmina if I saw one, and so I got badly addicted to haggling with scarf sellers. I’d walk away from a stall all incensed because the seller would refuse to give me three for 100 Bhat. Then I’d give my head a shake and realize I was haggling over pennies. Plus, I was repeatedly the ‘first customer of the night’ and got offered a ‘very special price’, so really it was no big deal. I picked up some really fabulous art – oil paintings by a great artist I felt really good about buying from. And I continuously got ripped off on knock off designer sunglasses – I think I went through three pairs on the trip. We discovered a kitchen supply store and got some loot to go with our spices, including a big deep mortar and pestle. We filled our new luggage so full with sauces and spices and scarves and kitchen gadgets that when we checked in at the Chiang Mai airport it was literally bursting at the seams and we had to get it wrapped in plastic to make sure everything would make it.

We took in some Muay Thai kickboxing, which was beautiful and savage. We saw eight fights, seven of which ended in knockouts. And a couple of the contestants were, like, out, for a good chunk of time. No fakesies. I don’t have any pictures of that either. We rode in tuk tuks. Lots of them. We got suckered into buying roses from little children and then wandered the evening streets and left them on spirit houses. We sat on quite possibly the most uncomfortable bar stools of all time. We ate. We ate. And we ate.

I have a lot to say about the food in Chiang Mai and a recipe to share, but that, I think, belongs in a post of its own – this one is getting looooong. I’ll be back with that post in a flash. Promise!

One year ago: Tipico and not so Tipico

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in travel | Tagged , , | 6 Comments »

Thailand – Koh Chang

January 12, 2012 by themuffinmyth


Thailand, Thailand, Thailand . . .  where to begin, but at the beginning? 12 hours before we were due to leave we got a call letting us know that our flight to Bangkok had been cancelled, but we were assured our return flight was a-okay. So we can’t get there, but we can get home? Thanks? After a few hours of stress new flights were sorted and we were on hour way about 12 hours later than we were due to have gone. We had taken a gamble on booking a domestic flight which left only a few hours after we would have arrived, so that flight had to be cancelled and re-booked at our expense. In all, over two and a half weeks of traveling we had a total of ten flights; seven of which were cancelled or significantly delayed. ‘Tis the season, I suppose. In any case, after a cancellation, a delay, and another delay we finally made it to our first destination.

Koh Chang was, in my opinion, unremarkable. I realized too late that there are in fact *two* islands in Thailand called Koh Chang, and the one that had been recommended to us was not the one we ended up on.  It was nice enough, warm, pleasant beach, but nothing special. It was a resort town. It could have been anywhere. It was, also, the location of a good chunk of our travel troubles… I had my first motorcycle driving lesson. About thirty seconds later I crashed a motorcycle into a ditch for the first time, leaving both me and the bike pretty scratched up. This became a big source of stress as the rental place had Paul’s passport, and I’d read all kinds of horror stories about tourists having to pay huge amounts of money to get their passports back for the most minor damage on rental bikes, and I was worried that my stupidity was going to ruin our entire trip. Later that night I tripped and fell on a dirt road and scraped the heck out of the leg that wasn’t already scraped up from the motorcycle incident. The next morning I woke up sick. Really sick. Unable to leave our bungalow and can’t even keep water down for the better part of a day and a half kind of sick. Later that night Paul joined in on the fun, and in the middle of the night as we were lying in bed enjoying a brief respite from our competition for the bathroom, we heard a rustling in our bungalow. At first we thought we were hearing things, delirious from our sickness. Paul thought he saw something run across the floor, but convinced himself he must be hallucinating. Then the rustling got louder. We got up and turned on the light and as we did so our garbage can gave a frantic shake. Bloody hell. We moved all of the food and garbage in our room outside onto the balcony and told ourselves that if it could get in, it could get out, and went back to bed. Not the most restful of nights.

The next morning Paul got up and went for a 90 minute run in the heat. I dragged my ass to the nearest restaurant and had a fresh coconut (I figured I needed the electrolytes) and some dry toast. Everybody deals with being sick differently, I suppose. We took it pretty easy for the rest of the time in Koh Chang, having some beach naps, going to see a waterfall, cruising around to different parts of the island on the motorcycle. That night we took our tender tummies out for pizza, and on that let me say this: I believe firmly in eating the food of a place, food is such a huge part of the travel experience for me. I eat tapas in Spain, casados in Costa Rica, Thai food in Thailand, and I have always looked scornfully at the western tourists going out for pizza (or whatever) when they should be eating the local cuisine. Folks, I will judge no more. Although we were only violently ill the one time, our stomachs never really settled on this trip. We ate plenty of Thai food in venues ranging  from swanky restaurants to holes in the wall to sketchy looking street food. And then we’d need to give our upset stomachs a break, so we’d look for something safe and neutral, something we knew would go down easy and stay down. I won’t tell you how many times we had pizza on this trip, but I will tell you it was quite a few. Like I said, I will judge no more.

Our last morning on Koh Chang and it is time to return the rented bike. This moment had been keeping me up at night. We took it back to the family shop and of course they spotted the damage right away. A flurry of conversation in Thai and a few questions for us, then flipping through a catalog to check on the prices of the damaged parts. The fine? 300 Bhat (around $9). Ohmygodtherelief! Phew! Bike returned, Paul’s passport secured, and we are on our way. Next up: Chiang Mai.

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012

Posted in travel | Tagged , , | 6 Comments »

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