It’s no secret that I can’t cook. Well, it’s not that I can’t cook, it’s that I usually don’t. I am perpetually in awe of people who on a regular basis go to the trouble of creating amazing meals and desserts from scratch. To me, you people are like superheroes… it amazes me that in the same time that I can waste sitting around doing nothing, you kitchen folk can whip out a casserole or a cake likes it’s nothing. That’s pure magic.

Me? I generally can’t be bothered. I do enjoy cooking when I actually get around to doing it, but when I do it’s a big deal. Geez, what a production just to get vegetables cleaned and chopped! I’d much rather just enjoy the fruits of someone elses more talented labor. I’m blown away whenever someone feeds me something they’ve made, as I know that even the simplest things take so much time & effort to create. Many of you out there spend a lot of your time in the kitchen cooking up awesome dinners and incredible desserts for the people who matter to you, and for that you deserve mad respect. Cooking with care & love is just about one of the greatest (and sexiest) things you could ever do for someone, so in case no one’s thanked you for it lately, allow me: THANKS! I could not be a Foodeater without you Foodmakers.

You know where this is heading, right? You guessed it- I cooked! While it is a rare occurance that I bust out and cook up an entire feast, it does actually happen once in a blue moon. This latest cooking adventure took place because of a wonderful offer I took advantage of courtesy of Basu’s Homestyle, a new Indian food service here in Los Angeles. Basu’s make delicious traditional masala’s (sauces) that you can use to create an amazing Indian meal in very little time. As of this writing, Los Angelenos can try Basu’s yummy offerings at the Whole Foods hot bar on Santa Monica & Fairfax (and they plan to expand to more locations in the near future). Mr. Meaner over at Quarrygirl.com did an excellent write up of the prepped Indian goodies by Basu’s that you can now get at Whole Foods, including: basil vindaloo with peas and mushrooms, tofu apple masala, vegan curried beef with basil vindaloo, channa dal and peanut masala with roasted red potatoes. Oh man, it all looks so good.

While I haven’t tried the ready-made options at Whole Foods yet, I was lucky enough to take Basu’s Homestyle up on their generous free taste-test of their masalas and other goodies. At first figured I’d just serve the sauces over rice but they gave me so much great stuff (Masala Sauce, Peanut Masala Sauce, Chana Dal, Tamarind Chutney and Saffron Rice) that I was immediately inspired to cook a real meal with it.

I used the regular Masala Sauce in a simple red potato and cauliflower dish, both really good choices for letting the flavor of the masala come through. This stuff was so good… I really didn’t expect to get such complex and authentic flavors from something that I’d just poured out of a plastic bag. One bite and I realized that the Basu’s Homestyle website wasn’t lying when they talked about spending a lot of time experimenting to bring their authentic homecooking to the public… this really is the best Indian food I’ve ever had that didn’t come directly from an awesome Indian food restaurant. This isn’t some Americanized style “Tasty Bite”, 100 year shelf life nonsense- it’s the real deal, top-notch high quality deliciousness.

My favorite out of everything was the Peanut Masala Sauce which I served over tofu which I’d pan fried with a little bit of garlic, curry, coriander and lime juice. Amazing. I could eat this peanut sauce by the spoonful. I’ve never had a peanut based sauce with Indian food before, so it was an interesting combo of flavors you’d expect from Indian cuisine, like curry and cumin, but along with what to me tasted like a Thai twist, probably because I associate peanut sauce with Thai food. It went perfect with the tofu, but I really can’t imagine this sauce not going well with anything you might put it on. It’s thick, rich and delicious- eat it on tofu like I did, roast some vegetables with it, or just pour some over rice and you’re good to go. Mmmmmmm, I’m also imagining this stuff as a dressing on an Indonesian style gado-gado salad… the possibilities are limitless.

The Saffron Rice they gave me was fantastic on it’s own and didn’t need me to do anything to it other than heat it up (which I did in a steamer). I’ve had saffron rice at other places before where you can tell that the saffron is either from an artificial flavor, or is so subtle that you can barely taste it. Restaurants skimp on real saffron because it’s ridiculously expensive. Not Basu’s though, I just barely got the bag open before I was overcome with the dreamy, flowery fragrance of saffron. The rice was perfectly (pre-)cooked and the yummy combo of basmati and saffron is excellent just on it’s own. What I did was spoon some of the Tamarind Chutney over it and then I was really in heaven. The chutney is so good, a most wonderful dip for naan bread, papadams, samosas, or heck, just to dip your fingers in and go for it. I couldn’t stop myself from doing just that.

I also went out on a limb and made something from scratch, my attempt at a vegan dill raita (Indian yogurt sauce). I made it with lots of dill, roasted cumin, cucumbers and tomatoes. It would have been absolutely awesome had the yogurt I used not been too sweet. I used the plain soy yogurt from Wildwood Foods but unfortunately I didn’t taste it first. Despite being the ‘plain’ variety it was way too sweet, and raita should be much more sour than that. I tried souring it up a bit with a little lemon juice, but then it just tasted sweet and lemony. All the other flavors were spot on so it wasn’t a total failure, but next time I try to make raita I’ll make sure to pick a plain yogurt that hasn’t been sneakily sweetened (or maybe mix in some vegan sour cream?).

I still haven’t tried the Chana Dal yet (that’s a lentil curry for you honkies) because I was overwhelmed by how much food I ended up with, so I’m excited for that future meal yet to come.

The moral of this story is that if you live in the area, you need to get your butts down to the Whole Foods in WeHo to try the stuff they have from Basu’s A.S.A.P. The meals they’re serving over there look way tastier than my meager attempts here do, and you don’t have to go to a sit-down restaurant in order to get it. I don’t know if they sell the products they gave me individually to the public, but if they don’t yet I’m sure they will soon. Anything that can help an amateur like myself in the kitchen to create an entire Indian dinner with very little fuss is worth waiting for. In the meantime my tip of the day is that you should first go to Whole Foods and stuff your face with Basu’s Indian delicacies… then, go visit the Basu’s Homestyle website because last I checked, they’re still looking for taste-testers. That might change at any time so I suggest taking them up on this amazing offer while the getting’s still good.

Basu’s HomeStyle Indian Cuisine
(available in the hot bar at:)
Whole Foods
7871 Santa Monica Blvd. (at Fairfax Ave.)
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 848-4200
www.basushomestyle.com

Just a quick Sunday post because it’s such a lovely day. I woke up too late to visit the Hollywood Farmers Market with as much time to linger as I would have liked, so I went to the closer Studio City Farmers Market instead.

The Studio City market does not have the awesome vegan soul food from Taste of Life like the larger Hollywood market, but it does have the delicious Corn Maiden tamales. This was my breakfast:

Corn is my crack. I love it any which way: sweet, savory, hot, spicy, baked, fried, whole, ground… you name it. I am not by any means a tamale connoisseur, my only qualification of expertise is my desire to eat them. Corn Maiden makes all kinds of delicious tamales and there’s always a few different vegetarian and vegan options, all rather tasty. Today I had one made with vegetables, potatoes and balsamic vinegar and the another made with sweet white corn. They came with a spicy tomato salsa and a mild tomatillo salsa. I had the savory tamale with a bit of each salsa and enjoyed the sweet one plain. A perfect combo.

Here’s a look at my market haul:

The packaged stuff is from Dave’s Gourmet Korean Food which is only available at local farmers markets (I haven’t seen them at the Hollywood market yet). Everything they sell is vegan, made by a master Korean herbalist who combines ingredients for maximum nutritional goodness. Next time you see their stand at a farmers market you should go check it out, they’ll usually let you generously sample everything.

The top container is Dave’s special tempeh, made from soy and brown rice by some fancy process of chef wizardry involving first pulverizing it, then grilling it and cutting it into strips. It’s got a very unique texture and mild flavor, I like to eat it with Dave’s kim-chi (not seen here because I’ve still got a jar in the fridge from my last visit).

The next container holds marvelously marinated lotus roots; pretty to look at, tasty to eat, and also said to be an aphrodisiac. I also got the mixed vegetable BiBimBop. I haven’t tried it yet but it’s calling my name from the other room. From what I can identify there’s pickled cucumbers, burdock root, bean sprouts and carrots, along with a couple of white rooty looking veggies I’m not sure about, all on top of cabbage.

I also picked up some little persimmons, red peppers, an Asian pear, asparagus, ginger and the most adorable little purple eggplants on the planet. Off to the side are a pair of delicata squash. Looks like I’m set for while :)

There are those who hate on L.A something fierce. I’m willing to bet that none of them have ever visited the Hollywood Farmers Market on a fine mid-winter day like today (sunny and warm, crisp blue skies and just the tiniest hint of a breeze).

The Hollywood Farmers Market rules for so many reasons, so don’t even get me started. Just go if you haven’t already. And ride the metro… it’s right there and you won’t find parking any closer, or cheaper. You might even run into a celebrity. Like Gwen Stefani.

Instead of my usual soul food lunch at the farmers market, today I ventured out and tried the Korean food stand instead. The nice lady there makes these delicious vegan vegetable pancakes.

The plate came with noodles, rice and kim chee. It was all great, though my pancakes were a little bit under cooked on the inside. If I get these again I’ll ask for them well-done and crispy. I also want to try her tasty looking tofu, which looks like it’s nice and spicy with Korean goodness.

And here’s the bounty I came home with. From left to right: mandarin oranges, purple cauliflower (oh joy!), artichokes, fuji apples, arugula, watercress, mint, sage, cherimoya, rainbow chard. The lemons are not from the farmers market but they insisted on being in the picture. What was I going to do, argue with a lemon?

All of this, along with the lunch and a round trip on the metro = under $30.
Wearing sandals and a t-shirt in January while sampling strawberries = priceless.

Update October 2008: Leda’s has closed shop and is now catering only :(
Read on and see what you missed!
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When my aunt brought out her homemade honey cake on the first evening of Rosh Hashana I asked if it had been made with eggs. My uncle replied that of course she had used eggs, or else it wouldn’t taste good, that no cake could taste good without eggs. I took that as a challenge to prove him wrong.

For the second night of Rosh Hashana I busted out with 2 dozen mini vegan cupcakes from Leda’s Bake Shop and proceeded to rock my egg eating family’s world.

I got two flavors, the velvet cake (their version of red velvet cake without the artificial red) and peanut butter-vanilla. Both were fabulous and moist and rich and delicious. I like the tiny little size, about two hearty bites worth each, which allows you to try out a couple of flavors without filling up or pigging out. Unless of course you keep all 24 of them for yourself. I had read many raving reviews about Leda’s and am very pleased to report back that it’s definitely all that, and then some. They also have vegan scones, brownies and cookies. Quite an indulgence.

A delight indeed. I got this pre-made lunch at Whole Foods, unsure as to whether it would actually be good, or kinda dry and tasteless like some of these ready made meals often tend to be. I was pleasantly surprised to find it not only juicy and fresh, but also totally yummy.

The “Asian Mex Delight” is made by Foodology, a local company that supplies natural prepared foods to markets. It’s a spinach tortilla wrapped around organic edamame, black beans, corn jicama, green and red bell peppers, red onions and comes served with a tasty mild salsa. Pretty simple in theory but awesome in the execution. It makes for a delicious and hearty lunch… filling but not too heavy. Good stuff for when you’re too lazy to make anything but not too lazy to roll into Whole Foods to pick up something quick.