Teff Polenta

Super freaking good.  If you don’t have a double boiler, use a metal bowl on top of a saucepan (and have hot pads ready to handle it). Don’t know what teff is? Go ahead, GTS.

You’ll need:
1 cup teff (whole grains, not flour)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
4 cups water, milk, or water and milk

You’ll do:
In a small bowl, combine teff, 1/2 cup water, and salt.

Bring the 4 cups liquid mixture to a boil in the top of a double boiler.  (You can speed this process by bringing your water to a boil in an electric kettle first.)  Gradually stir in the teff mixture.  Return to a boil, continually stirring, for 3-5 minutes.  Lower heat and cover; cook for 25-30 minutes and stir frequently.  It gets thick.

If desired, add 1/2 cup nutritional yeast in the last 15 minutes of cooking.  Or 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, whatever.

Spoon into bowls for immediate eating or pour into a lightly oiled cake tin and chill.  Cut the chilled polenta cake into wedges and eat cold, heat up, or grill over a hot grill pan.

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Sauerkraut Among Us

So.  Do you like sauerkraut?  I mean — have you given homemade sauerkraut a chance in your adult life?

I was reintroduced to the stuff when I lived with a roommate in Boston who was, according to a friend, “like a Level 10 vegan.”  Vegan roommate, an excellent cook, used to pack red cabbage in jars and let them ferment in a cabinet, adding the finished product to sandwiches and rice dinners and other things.  It was good sauerkraut, not creepy like the unmonitored vats at a hot dog stand, and I could see that it was very easy to make.  (It is easy on the level of doing your own laundry.)

Not long after I found a terrific fanzine called Wild Fermentation that teaches one how to make their own sauerkraut.  It also teaches one how to make cheese, or tempeh, or tej or yogurt or pickles and other fermented foods.  It has since been turned into a book but you can still find the stunningly simple recipe for sauerkraut here. Thank you, Sandor Ellix Katz, a.k.a. Sandor Kraut, for making your passion so accessible to us.

Lazy Man’s Oatmeal

… a.k.a. “Stone Cold Breakfast”

NEEDED:
1 cups water
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flax seeds
Traveling container, such as tupperware
A coffee grinder

THE NIGHT BEFORE:
Grind the flax seeds in the coffee grinder. Combine oats, flax, and water in container. Stir or seal ‘n’ shake. Set on countertop.

THE MORNING AFTER:
Add milky substance and reseal. Put container in your bag and leave the house. Don’t forget to bring a spoon!

Serves 1