Kechk Stew

I've been playing around more with Kechk lately, making stews and soups and random stuff.  I quite like it.  It's easy to digest, and seems to make meat easier to digest too.  

To make the kechk stew, I do the usual fry the onions, brown the meat (or forget it if you are going vegetarian), add the vegi and some salt and pepper, don't forget the garlic, stir some more.  Mix a few Tbs of kechk powder into some water, add it to the stew with more water, boil it down till everything's cooked through.  Add more kechk a bit before serving to thicken it, cook ten minutes then serve.  

Adding the kechk twice means that I can get both the flavour and the texture I like.  Kechk is a fantastic thickener, and I am eager to try it in gravy next time we have a roast.

The only issue I have with kechk stew is that there is no possible way to photograph it that displays how incredibly delicious it is.  

Kechk is traditionally not vegan friendly, however there is a recipe in Wild Fermentation that explains how you could make a vegan version of this.

Emergency Ricotta Recipe

I needed ricotta cheese for a recipe (a pasta recipe) but I was feeling too lazy to go to the store.  The I remembered that there is a really easy way to make ricotta style cheese at home using milk and vinegar.

Ricotta cheese, salted and ready to use

Traditionally ricotta cheese is made from the leftover liquid (whey) from making hard cheese.  They take the whey, add vinegar, and basically get a second cheese out of the milk.  Very economical and when I get around to making hard cheese, I can't wait to try it.

Ricotta hanging
to drain off the whey
from the curds.

However, these days, the word ricotta is more flexible, referring more to taste and texture rather than a specific method.  Think of it like the word cheddar.  Cheddar use to refer to a very specific method of making cheese that required a special way of cutting the curds.  Nowadays there are no end of products on the market called cheddar, some of them have no milk in them whatsoever. It's amazing how words change over time.

Emergency Ricotta is simple to make and a great introduction to cheese making.  Most recipes measure milk by the gallon, but since I only needed a small amount of ricotta for my pasta dish, I used a much smaller amount.  Feel free to scale up the recipe if you like.

Before we dive in, a word about vinegar.  I like using natural vinegar for this, however, different vinegars have different acid levels.  Start with one Tablespoon and then add a few drops later on if your milk doesn't curdle.

Also, I'm going to be terribly naughty here and not give you exact temperatures or timing.  In a hurry, I don't have time to deal with finding my thermometer and getting all fiddly with temperature.  Just give me the qualities we need, and let me get on with it.

Besides, people have been making cheese for a few thousand years now, without thermometers.  Then you come to the fact that milk varies from cow to cow and season to season, so the temperature may change from one batch to another.  Getting too precise is counterproductive in the home environment, especially when it's something as simple as making cheese.

If you are one of those people who find security and comfort in the scientific approach to the kitchen, the book Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll has just the right balance of precision without getting too bogged down in the rules to prevent you experimenting.  That's where I originally found the inspiration for this recipe.

Emergency Ricotta

1 litre whole milk or even half and half.  Raw (where legal) and pasteurized works well.  Make certain it's not ultra-pasteurized as that won't work at all.  Skim, 1 percent, and 2 percent milk probably won't give good results, as they've been chemically altered, but in an emergency, use what you have.

1Tbs apple cider vinegar, or other natural (not white) vinegar.  Failing that, lemon juice works great.  Even extra sour Kombucha will do the trick.

Generous pinch of salt.

• In a saucepan combine the vinegar and milk.  Stir well.  Heat up until just below the boiling point when the curds separate and are clearly distinct from the whey, stirring frequently to prevent the bottom burning. Try to avoid letting it come to a boil.
• As the milk heats up the vinegar will curdle it.  That's exactly what we want to happen.  As it heats up you will get to the point when there are white milk curds and the liquid they float in is basically clear.  That's what we want and that's where to move onto the next step.
• If you get to just below the boiling point - where you have to struggle to keep it from boiling - but still no separation, it's time to add more acid.  Add a few drops, maybe four or five drops, of vinegar to the milk, stir it in well, wait a minute and see if it separates.  If not, repeat 'till it does.
• Take the milk (well, curds and whey at this stage) off the heat and let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.   
• While it's sitting, get a bowl, a colander and some loosely woven cloth like, oh, I don't know, cheesecloth.   Line the colander with the cloth and put it so it drains into the bowl.  You will also need some string in a bit.
• When the milk has set, pour into the colander so that the curds stay in the cloth and the whey drains into the bowl.  Use that bit of string to tie up the cloth into a little bag.  Hang the bag over the bowl (picture above) so that it can drip into the bowl.  Leave it there for at least 20 min, I usually do an hour.  The longer you hang it, the more firm/dry the cheese will be.
• Take the cheese and put it in a large bowl.  Add a generous pinch of salt and mix it in well.  
• Store in fridge, keeps about a week to 10 days.

cheese curds after draining

See, I told you this was easy.

You can keep the whey in the fridge for a few days, and use it to replace the water in bread baking, or any number of creative ways.  Even as a low fat milk substitute - though it is very watery.  The whey has a lot of nutrition still in it, so adding some to boiling veg, or stews is a good way to take advantage of it.  Keep in mind, this in not a live culture whey so it won't kickstart fermented foods.

Was it affordable?  In that I didn't spend the gas and time to go to the store just for one item, yes.  I also used up some milk that would expire soon... however, I was planning on making yoghurt from it, so it felt more like robbing Peter to pay Paul.  As for actual price - I don't know what the going price of ricotta is these days.  The milk was organic so it was about $4 and made 1 and 1/4 cup ricotta.

Update on affordability:  I went to the shop today and saw that regular commercial made ricotta cheese is $5 for the same amount I made in this recipe.  However, their cheese included many ingredients that I don't stock in my home... I like the stuff I made better, and in the end, it did work out cheaper.

Allergies:  You can make this with many different kinds of milk, including cow, goat, sheep, and a few others.  I haven't tried it with milk substitute like rice or almond, but I don't imagine it would work with that.  There aren't any shops in town that sell goat or sheep's milk ricotta so this is a great recipe for those who can't eat cows milk, but would like to have some cheesiness in their life.

Transitional: This is a great first step to being more self sufficient and less dependent on big industry.  For years they tell us that cheese is far too difficult or expensive to make and we must rely on big business to provide it to us.  Making cheese at home - and you don't have to do it all the time, I know I don't. - gives you the opportunity to understand what goes into making your food and empowers you to know that if you need cheese for a pasta recipe, you aren't 100% dependent on the big corporations to provide it.  Eventually you can work towards meeting the cow or goat that gave you the lovely white liquid... and that's when things get really exciting.

Bento: Chicken Karaage (Japanese fried Chicken)

Last weeks bento was cabbage kimpira and leftover karaage chicken.  Simple meal, but super-yummy.  I used an extra cabbage leave to separate the chicken from the rice.  The little chicken sauce dish is closed before the main bento lid goes on so that the sauce doesn't spill.

When I make karaage chicken, I often use pickled ginger instead of fresh (the bright red julian ginger, but sushi pickled ginger will do in a pinch).  That way I can add the ginger liquid to the marinade and I get the bright red colour from the ginger.  I wonder how they make ginger into delicious bright red slivers.

This is a traditional style wooden bento box.  The main thing about this box is that it allows the food to breath, which in my opinion keeps the rice much nicer.  As with all bento boxes, allow the food to cool completely before closing the lid (and heat up any leftovers before putting them in the box to extend their keeping power).  It seems weird to heat then cool, but have a read of this bento safety post by Just Bento.  She's fantastic and has a blog full of yummy recipes.

The only problem with this wooden box is that I don't have an elastic to fit it, so I fall back on the Japanese tradition to tie it up tightly with a colourful cloth.

Tea, bento, an orange for snack,
and chopsticks in a cute cat container.

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Check out some amazing bentos people made on What's for Lunch Wednesday.  I love browsing through the site for lunch ideas.

How to make butter: regular and live culture butter recipe

Organic cream was on sale, so I made two kinds of butter, regular and cultured.  They were both delicious.  What's more, they were so easy, I don't think I will ever buy the flavourless butter bricks from the shop again.

A litre of cream makes about a pound of butter.  You can use a proper butter churn if you like - it makes things much easier - or you can use a water-tight container and shake the heck out of it (enlist helpers).  Either way, it takes about half an hour to an hour..  

How to make butter at home: just churning method

Cream, whipping cream or heavy cream (not half and half or cereal cream)

salt - no-iodine (optional, but recommended)

You will also need something to agitate the cream.  This could be a churn like the one in the photo, which is basically a tall, narrow container, with a lid that has a hole in the top, and a handle with a cross on the bottom.   The handle goes up and down, and the cross agitates the cream.  

Another option is to use a water tight container and shake the heck out of it.  You will need something inside the container to agitate it.  According to my families oral tradition, a tiny particle of butter, about half a centimetre cubed will do it.  But I used a small wooden spoon.  

I tried both methods and I liked the churn better.  The problem with the shaking method is that there is a point when the cream transforms into thick whipping cream and won't slosh around on it's own.  It took a lot of force to keep agitating it at that stage, whereas the churn took very little extra effort.

Basically, the method:

• Put your cream in the vessel so that it does not fill more than half way (it needs room to slosh around).  Either shake or churn it until it becomes butter.



the yellow lumpiness is butter,
the thin white milk like liquid is the buttermilk.

• you will go through several stages from sloshy cream, to thicker cream, to whipped cream, to extra-thick whipped cream, to suddenly thick, pale yellow, clumps and white thin liquid.  That's the butter stage.
• Expect this to take more than half an hour.  
• There are some people who do this with an electric mixer.  Sure, it's a bit quicker, but it's very hard on the motor, so I don't recommend it.
• Pour off the buttermilk and keep it for baking or pancakes or whatever.  
• Put the butter in a large bowl.  Now we wash the butter.  This feels weird the first time you do it, but trust me.  Add about a cup of COLD water to the bowl with the butter.  



Washing the butter

• Take a wooden spoon and push all the butter to one side of the bowl.  Cut into the butter with the spoon and move a small amount of butter through the water and to the other side of the bowl.  Repeat till all the butter is on the other side.  Now drain the water, and add fresh Cold water to the bowl.  Cut the butter like before.  As you do this, you will notice the water turns milky.  That milkiness is the milk that was trapped inside of the butter.  Do this, changing the water frequently, until the water is clear.  Do Not Skimp on this step!  Doing this properly will make all the difference to taste and shelf life of the finished butter.  It takes at least three changes of water, sometimes up to 10.
• Now that the butter is washed, drain off any remaining liquid from the bowl.  Give the butter a squeeze (with the spoon against the side of the bowl, or with clean hands) to press out any extra liquid that got trapped in it.
• Time to salt the butter.  Salting the butter adds flavour and drastically increases shelf life.  Unsalted butter starts to go rancid in less than a week, salted butter can last in the fridge for several weeks.  I use about 3/4 tsp of sea salt per pound of butter, but you can use just a pinch, or up to two teaspoons.  Stir the salt into the butter so that it's evenly distributed throughout.
• In the days before refrigeration, they would use a lot more salt... sometimes they would take blocks of butter and coat them in salt to extend the shelf life.  But since we have a fridge, we don't need that much salt.
• The butter is ready to put in your butter dish, or if you have a mold or butter press, let's do that.

This is the one I found:

I press the butter into it, firmly, then open the mold and pop the butter out.  Sometimes the butter is soft, so I need to chill the butter before opening the mold.  The mold has gaps in it that allow any excess liquid seep out of the butter as it's compressed into the mold.

• Keep at room temp, in the fridge, or freeze.  The colder it is, the longer it will keep.

Cultured Butter:

This is butter that is made with fermented milk.  I used a room temperature yoghurt culture called Fil Mjolk to culture the cream before churning it.  Cultured butter has a slightly sour flavour to it, but in a light and refreshing good way.  It's brimming with probiotic goodness and keeps a little longer than your regular butter.  It can be used the same way as normal butter for cooking, eating, baking, whatever.

So far as I can tell, this only works with Fil Mjolk or Piima - however, there may be other cultures that will make yummy butter.  If you find out what they are, please let me know.

Cream

Starter culture like Fil Mjolk or Piima

salt (optional, but a good idea)

• The day (or two) before you want to make butter, culture the cream as per normal.  I use the Fil Mjolk, so I'll describe my method.  When you make it, follow the instructions that come with your culture.
• Add 1 Tbs of culture per cup of cream (4 cups in a litre).  Stir it well into the cream and cover with a cloth.  Leave at room temperature for 10 to 20 hours until the cream has set into a firm yoghurt-like consistency.  
• Place the cultured cream into the fridge for at least 6 hours.
• Remove starter for your next batch, then put the rest of the cultured cream into your butter churn and follow the instructions as per making regular butter above (churn, wash, salt, press, store)

Affordable?: Very much so.  A pound of, regular, store bought butter costs about $5 in the shop, which is the same price as a litre of organic cream.  The organic cream is often on sale when it nears the expiry date, so I usually wait till it's $1 to $3 a litre (which makes a pound of butter) and buy the lot.  The butter freezes well, so I can make loads when the cream is on sale.

Healthy?:  Yep.  There is a lot of evidence that butter is one of the healthiest fats for you and your brain.  But besides that, this way you can control how much salt is in the butter, and if you buy organic and/or cream from grass fed cows, it's even healthier.  

If you make cultured butter, then there are even more health benefits.  The butter will include live bacteria very much like you find in yoghurt, only more of it.  These probiotics are a vital component for gut health - and make the butter taste better.

Transition:  The idea of transitioning from a place where we are dependent on large business to provide for us, back to a place where we have control of our own basic needs is an awesome concept.  I've had a small amount of interaction with our local Transition group, and I think this is exactly the kind of activity that "reduces our oil dependence" and helps obtain "ecological sustainability" - the catch phrases are theirs not mine, thus the quotes.  The cream I bought was produced on the same island where I live.  This method for making butter takes pure human power, and does not need petroleum based anything.  

Bento: spicy tuna and whatever was in the fridge

This is one of those last minute, I didn't have a chance to go shopping, bento lunches.

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Here we can see spicy tuna and cucumber rolls, as well as cucumber and cheese rolls, in the top container, and for the bottom, I have cucumber salad, with a side of homemade kimchi and a bit of a soy-free chocolate bar.

Inside the red onigiri container are toasted almonds and raisins for high energy pick-me-ups.

As you can see, the little yellow divider has red pickled ginger and a little fish shaped container of sauce.  This isn't soy sauce, it's soy sub made from rice.  You can buy the empty containers from places like jlist and fill them up with whatever sauce you like.  It's perfect for lunches on the go.