WKED labs in Hell's Kitchen

So many valuable lessons learned from the WKED experiments in Hell's Kitchen.  Results of experiments varied in a wide-range.

Success?  Failure?? 

Theme?

No milk

No egg

No white sugar

No additives

1. WKED soy milk bar.  

 

1lb of soy beans = soy milk + okara 

Let's see what can be made from these... 

2.  WKED Bakery - organic whole wheat bread soy milk from the soy milk bar.  

 Organic roasted chestnuts for $0.99 at the 99 cents store?  Is it expensive or cheap?  First of all, is this really organic?

The first attempt...

Excess water in dough? mmm

 Two flavors - "chest nuts" and "rosemary and olive oil" 

Rating? 2 out of 5 for being over-baked and a lack of yeast.

OK!

The second attempt...

 

 Rating? 3.5 out of 5 for not enough moisture, probably lack of soy milk. Nice flavor and soft texture.  It was perfect with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Yummy!

3. WKED Bakely - Organic cookie with Okara and Chestnut

 

Rating? 3.5 out of 5 for rough texture.  Need to invest in a food processor for further improvement.  Flavor of baked soy beans is nice.

4. WKED natto shop - 1lb of soy beans transformed to Natto (fermented soy beans)

 

Rating? 2 out of 5.  It did not get enough stickiness because of weak temperature control.

mmm...

 

Long, long, long way to go... 

Whole Wheat Pasta & Tofu. Hard lessons learned.

Simply inspired by Jamie Oliver's Dream School...

Experiment 1: Pasta-making with organic whole wheat flour

It is not vegetarian as an egg is one of the ingredients. Does anyone know how to make vegan pasta?

No pasta machine available in the kitchen? Just use a can of spray to stretch a dough.

Looks like Udon?

Ravioli with caper and asparagus?

Result

Next!

Experiment 2: Tofu-making with $2 per lb soy beans in Korea town.

Cheap! ... So, I thought.

2lbs of soy beans ended up with

6 cups of Okara

4 cups of soy milk

1 pot of Tofu looking substance

Result

Hard lessons learned today:

1. Do not bite more than you can chew: Processing 2lbs soy beans was too much for the small kitchen.

2. Quality rather than quantify: DON'T PLS USE CHEAP SOY BEANS! Cheap soy beans leave too much bitterness in Tofu. You can tell from aroma while cooking - Use organic beans for Tofu-making as Tofu-making reveals true quality of beans used.

...Have a nice day!

Recession Special! $2.25 Soy Beans

Another "Recession Special" mission completed!  The Project experienced a major cut in funding due to exercising an early termination option on the contract with the Corporate client.  "I don't see any major issues associated with our decision." Maki, a self-proclaimed CFO commented confidently.  "We have a right strategy in place.  Most importantly, our alliances with veggies are so strong, we are confident that we will get through this period of challenge and expect to see surging profits by the end of the fiscal year."

So, let's enjoy the ride.  Shall we?

Let's see how much $2.25 soy beans can do for the Project.  

       

"1 lb of Soy Bean" for only $2.25 was transformed to:

"One cup of soy milk"

Soy milk.  Sweet flavor with a bit of bitterness.  Great for  making  creamy soup.

Soy milk shot with cinnamon and brown sugar

A pot of Heavenly "Tofu"

Mmm.. great with hot sake

Tofu with soy sauce, citrus juice, green onion , and ginger

Lots of "Okara"! = the edible meal-like residue left after the production of tofu

Good for multiple-use such as making cookies,  soy pattie, etc.

Shots from Tofu making process:

Let's not forget about 99 cents bean sprouts.  Removed the tails of bean sprouts and marinated with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. (no, waste!)  Mix it with any veggie spread - it will give really nice crunchiness.  It's great to be alive.

These guys will enrich the fridge for the next several days... Great job, soy beans!!!  

Day 29 Recession Special Continues - Recession Soba Noodle and Congee

Weight: 172.0 lbs (- 0.8 lbs)

A veggie coffin in the project's freezer which keeps abandoned veggies skins, roots, and stems. Let's revive them - Please be soup stock! An aging tangerine orange with skin on joined them for its cause.

Let's see how they draw their own conclusion.

Sunday brunch - Recession special soba noodle!

A dipping sauce for the recession soba: Re-cycle soup from from Day 28. Add chopped cilantro. Bean sprouts in the soup nicely tender and obedient by now.

Simply cheap soba noodle - price reduced at the Japanese grocery

Condiments for Soba - to be added to the soba dipping sauce as you wish: "Employ aging work force" and "A stimulus package" from Day 28. Pieces of Cilantro leave and Cilantro roots with ginger. Please enjoy the liberty of enjoying different flavors.

How to eat this?: dip the soba noodle in the dipping sauce. Add the condiments as necessary to enjoy the different flavors. It's not that difficult.

If there is leftover dipping sauce, please use it to make rice risotto. All the flavors from the condiments come together to make this risotto heavenly.

Day 28 Recession Special! 99 cents Bean Sprouts

Weight: $170.8 lbs (-2.0 bls)

A bag of bean sprouts for 99 cents...what would you do with 99 cents?

How about facial? Aromatherapy with steams from bean sprouts?

Try what you can do with 99 cents bean sprouts for the economic recovery.

Recession rice: Boil bean sprouts. Use the same water used for boiling the sprouts to cook brown rice. Add a bit of soy sauce, sake, and your creative soup and cook. Once the rice is cooked, mix boiled sprouts.

Employ aging work force: Boiled Bok choy and Chinese veggies at their 50's - defrosted from the freezer.

A stimulus package: Kick-ass dipping sauce for the rice and green veggies: Sesame oil, grounded sesame seeds, sliced shallots, green hot pepper, green onion, red pepper, sake. (Try pairing with 99 cents Tofu.)

Reduce redundancy: In the same pan used for the stimulus package, stir-fly bean sprouts. Balsamic vinaigrette and black pepper.

Re-cycle: Veggie soup stock with bean sprouts. Re-cycle onion oil - heat up at the max heat and pour into the soup prior to serving. Enjoy the sizzling sound and its aroma.

What is your cost-cutting strategy in the kitchen? Can you share your idea with the Project?