Shiitake Mushroom Pasta (Vegan, No Cashews or Coconut!)

Author: Lori Rasmussen, My Quiet Kitchen

IN PROGRESS

• 226 g dry pasta of choice
• 300 ml water
• 35 g raw sunflower seeds – see Notes
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled – mince 4 cloves and leave one whole
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons arrowroot or corn starch
• 2 Tablespoons vegan butter
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 284 g shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce – or tamari
• 120 ml dry white wine – a crisp and tart variety like Sauvignon Blanc
• black pepper, to taste
• squeeze of lemon juice

Cook Mode

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Instructions 

• Cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions, then drain.
• In a high-speed blender combine the water, sunflower seeds, 1 whole clove of garlic, and salt. Blend on high until completely smooth. Add the starch, and blend for another 30 to 45 seconds. Set aside.
• Preheat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the butter and olive oil, and swirl the pan to coat. Cook the shallots and shiitake mushrooms for about 5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and soy sauce, and cook for a few more minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and no longer sizzling. Add the wine and bring to a simmer. Cook for several minutes or until the wine has reduced by about half.
• Pour the blended sunflower cream sauce into the pan, and season with black pepper. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until thickened and creamy. Add a squeeze of lemon juice, stir well, and taste for seasoning. Add more lemon, salt, and pepper as desired. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a splash of water.
• Toss the cooked pasta in the shiitake cream sauce and serve hot.

Notes

Blender: If not using a high-speed blender, you may want to soak the seeds in hot water for 1-2 hours before blending. You can also use a nut milk bag to strain the sauce before adding to the pan.

Subs and Variations

• Gluten-free: Use your favorite gluten-free pasta and certified GF tamari instead of soy sauce.
• Sunflower seeds: If you’re fine with nuts, feel free to use ⅓ cup cashews instead of the seeds, and omit the starch.
• With greens: Add your favorite greens while sauteing the mushrooms – try spinach, kale, or small broccoli florets. 
• Make it an entree: For extra protein and to make the dish more filling, add cooked white beans or lentils, seitan, or baked tofu. 

Store leftover pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freezing is not recommended. 

IN PROGRESS

23 March this photo tour with Go2Know.

IN PROGRESS

An InterNations activity.

Der Tagesspiegel calls him “Berlin’s Wildlife God”, and he draws a crowd, even when it is bitterly cold like today, with his boundless knowledge and cheerful enthusiasm. Brimming over with information he wants to convey and always worth listening to.

Only negative: the usual club of moronic, incessant yackers who can’t even keep their mouths shut while the guide speaks. Unfortunately, they are everywhere.

We saw many birds (for this time of year) but due to bad light conditions (and the cold) I did not get any even half-way decent photos. However, I now know where there is a hawk’s nest (we observed a male hawk flying too and fro, renovating it), and will definitely go back when conditions are more favourable.

S-Bf Grünau – Tuschkastensiedlung – Preußensiedlung – Altglienicke – Trudelturm – Landschaftspark und ehemal. Flugfeld Johannisthal – Fernsehstudios – S-Bf Adlershof

Led by Eckehard Heiber.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the walk early.

For the first time this winter, the problems I had last winter tolerating the cold returned. My face and bones hurt, and I felt like my bone marrow was freezing over and that I was falling asleep every time we stood still.

And it was not even that cold – only around zero C, but Yasmin, who had to leave the walk for the same reason, drew my attention to the weather stats (which I have never particularly noticed before), and they said “RealFeel” -7C and, perhaps more importantly, humidity 97%. According to Yasmin, that is very high and most likely what got the better of us.

You live and learn. I thought I was turning into an obligate hibernator, but back home, at my preferred indoor temperature of around +19C, I have no urge to go to sleep at all. It is all very strange.

I had been looking forward to seeing the former airfield at Johannisthal again, but that will have to wait.

I guess I should check the humidity tomorrow before venturing out on the bird-watching walk with “Berlin’s wildlife god”, Derk Ehlert, pre pandemic an annual event normally not to be missed. How annoying to have to take things like that into consideration.

I have to mention once again the usual club of incessant yackers who can’t even keep their mouths shut while the guide speaks. I find that both rude and annoying and it always reminds me that perhaps I would be better off doing my own research and just walking by myself.

Anyway, since not only standing still, but also taking my gloves off for any purpose or reason seemed counter-intuitive, I did not take many photos.

IN PROGRESS

• 2 large red onions, halved and very finely sliced
• 100 g chickpea flour, aka gram flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• Pinch salt, to taste
• 1 tsp garlic powder (which I never have available, so I will use either black fermented garlic or one fresh, crushed garlic clove)
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 90 ml water
• Oil for frying, enough to fry tablespoon-size bhajis

• Mix all the dry ingredients well
• Add water and mix to a thick batter
• Add the onion mixture and mix well till all the onion slices are coated by the batter
• Heat the oil on medium heat in a pan big enough to fry three or four bhajis at a time, turning them till they are crispy and browned. This should take a couple of minutes.

Serve with your favourite chutney and/or raita

IN PROGRESS

Two things Berlin seems incapable of getting right:

One is the traffic. The other one is garbage disposal.

The traffic first. In Berlin, the car is king. Cyclists are second-class citizens, and pedestrians third-class citizens.

Nobody is taught basic traffic rules, and very few observe them, and in any case, nobody is expected to observe them. There is no traffic police, and the staff in the few police cars one sees tootling around do not seem to be there for the traffic.

Bike paths are not respected by neither pedestrians nor cars, and pavements are not respected by anybody. Cars park on bike paths and pavements (even police cars when they stop for coffee); cyclists cycle on pavements, that are now also plagued by e-rollers hurtling along at breakneck speed, terrorising everybody including children and dogs. Still, the police observe and do nothing.

It gets worse: Instead of simply teaching and expecting its precious drivers to keep their much-worshipped cars away from cyclists and bike paths, like in normal countries, Berlin prefers to put up barriers in order to force drivers to stay on the road where they belong. These barriers are getting larger and larger and more and more ugly and are in many places completely dominating, and ruining, the look of the streets of Berlin. As if Berlin needs to look more unattractive than it already does.

Photos illustrating the “beatification” of Berlin thanks to braindead drivers to come.

In Revaler Straße, the barriers between street and bike paths are a little more discreet – a kind of oblong boulders that are slippery as ice – as I learned the hard way, and I am sure I am not the only one, and I would be surprised if they don’t cause accidents among cyclists as well.

But that is of course OK as long as the kings-of-the-road drivers and their beloved, stinky, noisy scrap-heaps are unharmed.

I fell and damaged my face and right hand. Four days later, one side of my face, already badly scratched from the meeting with the asphalt, is turning green and yellow, and my hand likewise. Ligaments in my thumb are so badly damaged that whether or not I have surgery, that hand will never be the same again.

More, including photos, to come.

The other thing is garbage disposal. This country has the most stupid systems in the so-called western world, with doors to garbage rooms and lids to containers very difficult to open. Where I live, people shorter and less strong than me, for example, have real difficulties using them, and half the time, I also have to give up opening the door to our garbage room, and simply leave the garbage bag outside. As if Berlin is not in many ways ugly enough already.

And the containers are never emptied often enough and therefore often overflowing, making Berlin look like a city in a third-world country.

• 20 g dried white “jumbo” beans, soaked and cooked as per usual
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil or ghee or ghee
• 4 red onions, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons roasted, ground cumin
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers, finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 100 g corn kernels (frozen or fresh)
• 2 medium potatoes (finely diced)
• 2 teaspoons adobo seasoning (optional)
• 2,5 dl water or vegetable broth
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 40 g cashew nuts or pumpkin seeds (optional)
• 5 g cilantro (finely minced)

• Blend the cashews or pumpkin seeds with 50 ml water until very smooth. Set aside.
• Add oil to a large saucepan or over medium heat. Add the garlic, saute for a few seconds, then add the onions. Add salt and ground black pepper and mix.
• Add the rosemary, oregano, cumin and jalapeno peppers. Saute for a couple of minutes.
• Add the corn kernels, mix them in, then add the potatoes. Mix thoroughly.
• Add the beans and adobo seasoning, if using.
• Add water and give it all a good stir. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer ten minutes or until potatoes are tender.
• Use the back of the ladle to mash some of the potatoes and beans. This will help thicken the chili.
• Stir in the cashew cream id using. It makes the chili creamier, but can be omitted.
• Garnish with fresh, chopped cilantro and serve hot. You can also squeeze on some lemon juice or lime juice for a bright flavor.

Following an urge to see the sea – such as it is – the Baltic Sea is an inner water, if you ask me, but the North Sea is a little bit too far away for a daytrip.

Warnemünde is very easy to reach, via Rostock and several direct trains daily, and a nice, cozy town to visit and walk around in, and the beach is kind of OK too :-). But the North Sea it ain’t.

There was occasional drizzly rain on this day, which also became increasingly foggy.