Explore Caribbean Food with The Evil Jerk Cart Lady

 Well I started Evil Jerk Cart because my family's from the Caribbean and there's no Caribbean food in the city.

So I used to make it when I was homesick, and then I started making it for parties, and then I kind of figured 'well, let me see if I can take it to the street and see if anybody's interested.'

It's been great. I've been doing it for 5 months. It's nice to share my culture with everyone...the food...and just enjoy the San Francisco street culture.

Food and Wine Maven: And tell us what you have today...you have the jerk chicken?
EvilJerkCart: Yes, I have jerk chicken. I always have coconut rice and peas. I have an Ital vegan stew. There are always vegan options. I also have some eschoviche fish, which is like a fried tilapia with seasonings, onions, peppers, and some scotch bonnets so it has a nice kick to it.

Food and Wine Maven: Thank you so much!
EvilJerkCart: Sure.

Superbowl Party Hors d'Oeuvres

I'm not sure whether it's even socially acceptable to use the phrase "hors d'oeuvres" when speaking of the holiday when "Americans eat more chips, popcorn, pretzels and snack nuts than on any other day  of the year," according to Penn State researchers in Encyclopedia of American Holidays and National Days.

I'm willing to bet that my Superbowl hors d'oeuvres are fancier than most football game spreads. One year, I toiled over the stove poaching quail eggs to top individual portions of Israeli shakshuka served in porcelain Chinese soup spoons. Never again.

I've also made angel hair pasta with mini meatballs, also individually portioned in those porcelain spoons, with parmesan crisp decorations from The French Laundry Cookbook. This one is easy for anyone to assemble and can be cooked in bulk unlike the poached quail eggs.

One of my favorite standbys has become the curried deviled egg. My sister shared this recipe with me after a successful party debut and I have found it to be successful as well. I follow the Epicurious recipe but I omit the olives, increase the curry, use green onions/chives, splash in some tabasco and mustard, and top it with a mango chutney from Sukhi's.

Last year, I was inspired by the "Hearts of Palm with Purée of Marrow Beans" recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook, which takes forever (3-4 hrs) to make for only a few people. I reconfigured the reccipe to take about an hour for 40 people. I created palm hearts filled and topped with a tuscan-herbed bean & cream cheese spread. These were a hit and I plan to make them again this year with mascarpone instead of vegan cream cheese and boost the flavors a bit (perhaps with some fried bacon). Here's how I made them last year: I took Trader Joe's tuscan white bean spread and mixed it with a vegan cream cheese to thicken it (just keep additing it until the mixture is thick enough to stand on its own like cake frosting). After adding herbs and spices to taste, including white pepper, I piped the filling into the center of the palm hearts as well as on top (just like cupcake frosting). I experimented by sprinkling the "frosting" with bits of crispy fried onion, which tasted fine but not special. I refrigerated them so that the filling remained thick and did not drip out.

This year, I'm planning to make very thin corn muffins (like thick blini) using Ridgecut Girstmills' stone ground cornbread mix (wonderful texture and sweet corn taste), topped with a bit of crème fraîche and salsa. I also hope to find a use for the amazing paneer that Cowgirls Creamery makes...any ideas?

We'll see what else I conjure up this year!

You don't have to be vegan to love vegan food

While filling up on holiday party treats, Food Maven Tania L. from Berkeley really surprised me with her outstanding mini chocolate cupcakes - and it wasn't just the googley eyes on top (an homage to Stephen Colbert's googley-eyed clams?).

I was surprised how delicious vegan cupcakes could be and how superior they were to the conventional cupcakes in our local specialty bakeries like Kara's and Sprinkles.

Tania's cupakes were made according to the recipe
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule by Moskowitz & Romero who have also written the vegan cookie bible: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats. At the end of this post, you'll find the recipe for these cupcakes and the chocolate mousse topping/frosting.

If you're considering going vegan this year, now's the time for Philadelphians. To help you fulfill your new year's resolution, the Pennsylvania chapter of Friends of Animals is hosting a free program this January to help up to 30 people pledge to go vegan for one month. Participants in the “Vegan Pledge” will be paired with a vegan mentor, will be started off with a vegan care package, and will be invited to five meetings in Philadelphia. At the meetings, participants will be given cooking and shopping lessons, receive information about veganism, and will have lunches together where they will sample various vegan foods. "Philadelphians who want to dedicate 2010 to the animals, the environment, or their health have a great opportunity to do that," says Leila Fusfeld from FOA Philly. The program is already more than half-full, but there is room for about a dozen more. To register or find out more information about the Vegan Pledge, e-mail leila@foaphilly.org.


Happy 2010 everyone!

Chocolate Cupcakes
(From Moskawitz & Romero, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspooon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350; line muffin pan.
2. Whisk soymilk and vinegar in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour through salt.
4. Add sugar, oil, and extracts to soymilk; beat until foamy.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet in two batches, and beat until only a few small lumps remain.
6. Pour into liners, 3/4 full, and bake 18-20 minutes. (For mini cupcakes, baking time is closer to 12 minutes.)

Chocolate Mousse for topping
(From Moskawitz & Romero recipes in VegNews)

12 ounces extra-firm silken tofu (e.g. Mori-Nu brand)
1/4 cup plain soymilk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use 62% Scharffen Berger)

1. Crumble tofu in food processor or blender with everything but chocolate, and blend until perfectly smooth. May need to scrape down sides a few times.
2. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. If using the microwave, heat in 30 seconds increments, mixing in between.
3. Add melted chocolate to tofu mixture, and blend until perfectly smooth.
4. Taste and adjust accordingly -- depending on the chocolate, you may want to add more maple syrup.
4. Chill for 1 hour for a firm mousse. You can serve on its own, or use a pastry bag to top the cupcakes.

Note: It's easier to pipe this mousse through a pastry bag if it hasn't been chilled for a full hour. The quality of the chocolate also matters -- I like it very dark, and find that a high quality chocolate (like Scharffen Berger) produces a *much* better result than generic chocolate chips.