Rahel Ethiopian Vegan Restaurant
Jane and I really love Ethiopian food. We first encountered it way back when we were dating. As much as we love it, we don't really get much of it. "Little Ethiopia" is a 20 minute drive from our home. (Like everything else in Los Angeles, regardless of how long it will actually take you to get there, your destination is always only 20 minutes away.) Which means it's only a weekend option for us.
Over the years, we've frequented a few of the restaurants in "Little Ethiopia," but we'd never noticed a 100% vegan restaurant. When we were omnivores, that would have never registered.
Anyway, Jane's been craving Ethiopian, so Sunday afternoon I googled vegan Ethiopian. Rahel Ethiopian is listed as the only 100% vegan Ethiopian restaurant in all of LA. Off we went. It was wonderful. The cuisine is made up of spicy vegetable dishes (meat dishes too, but not at Rahel), mostly in a thick stew format called wat. The wat is served atop injera, a large flatbread made out of fermented teff flour. Traditionally, Ethiopians eat with their right hands and use pieces of injera to pick up bites of entrées and side dishes. No utensils are used, which can make for an entertaining meal if you're the slightest bit clumsy. It's probably not your best choice for a first date, but as a long married couple, it can be a fun excursion!
We shared the Hudade Special Combo for two. And it was was excellent. The plate looked beautiful. There were two little piles of each of the items in the special, which makes sharing easy. We have no idea which was which, but they all tasted good. Something resembled tuna salad, and there was a tomato salad, which was a little awkward to pick up with the inerja, but mostly they were spicy, hearty stews. By the end of the meal, we were completely stuffed and were each wearing a little bit of our meal.
The service is slow, but friendly. Our time in the restaurant with no appetizers or dessert was over 75 minutes. So don't go if you're pressed for time. Otherwise... we can't recommend it highly enough. Jane's trying to get me to go back next weekend!
They're open 11am -11 pm every day. 1047 South Fairfax. 323-937-8401.
If you don't live around here, but do have access to this cuisine, we recommend you give it a try! And if you don't know where to find Ethiopian cuisine, we've got a few Restaurant Review sites on our Resources page which can be modified to search for type of cuisine. Go, try something new!
A Lone Vegan In A Sea Of Butter And Cream
Daring Bakers Challenge was Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake from Baking From My Home To Yours
The recipe seemed fairly straightforward, a run of the mill white cake like any other white cake; we didn't have to stand on our heads while whipping the ingredients together! (This is not meant to sound nasty towards any of the other challengers -- some of the recipes are very difficult and some are rather easy.) Morven from Food Art and Random Thoughts, the baker who issued this month's challenge, promised a delicious end-result, and who am I to argue with that? So, overall, it looked like an easy challenge. After last month's nine+ hour project, that was a welcome idea. But as usual, it wasn't geared for a vegan diet, so there were substitutions to be made. I used Earth Balance margarine in place of the butter, almond milk in place of the buttermilk, and Ener-G egg replacer in place of the eggs.
One good thing about being vegan is that you can taste your batters as you're going along without any fear of salmonella! The batter tasted okay, but something wasn't quite right. I attribute that to the Earth Balance. I was a huge fan of butter in my pre-vegan baking days. I really don't think anything else tastes quite as good, but I don't consume butter anymore, so... The cake didn't rise as high as I would have expected, but others Daring Baker's also indicated their cakes didn't rise, so I wasn't too concerned. It looked and smelled delicious.
Out of the oven and on to the racks... everything looked and felt normal, but when I sneaked off a tiny piece of the cake to try, it didn't taste right. Lane agreed, but didn't think it was bad and suggested I carry on. But this was going to be a birthday cake for someone special, so into the trash it went.
Attempt number two came out a little better; I incorporated some almond meal in place of some of the flour, which gave the cake a nice flavor. Typically, I would be concerned that the almond meal would make the cake more dense, but this cake is dense already, so I didn't think there would be any harm in trying this. I often do that in my cookie recipes. I love the taste of the nuts, and there's the added benefit of injecting some nutritional value to something decadent!
The recipe called for a buttercream-meringue frosting. Alas. The other option afforded us was whipped cream. So, back to the internet I went in search of vegan buttercream meringue, no luck there. I was kind of relieved not to have to make the buttercream-meringue as Morven (the host) injured herself making it. After last month's near trip to the emergency room, I didn't want to have any medical disasters to have to blog about!!!
Surprisingly, there were many recipes for vegan buttercream out there, all basically the same: an equal amount of vegan margarine and powdered sugar, plus a tiny bit of liquid... soy milk, usually. So, that's what I went with, assuming that if there were that many sites lauding the same basic recipe, it had to be good. WRONG! It was horrible. It had a chemical taste to it. Trying for a quick fix, I added some almond extract which actually helped.
So, I didn't like it. Everyone else was polite and said they did, but no one asked for seconds, and most people didn't finish their slices which is generally not a good sign. Lane's busy chomping down his second slice as I write this, so it wasn't a total waste. But I won't be making this cake again. There are some really amazing results out there. My absolute favorite was prepared by Sakya.
Overall, I'm left wondering if the Daring Baker's is the right group for me. The bakers are all wonderful and the group is supportive and fun. And I love the idea of baking something a whole slew of "my friends" are baking as well. There's a great sense of camaraderie in belonging to this group. But I'm a lone little vegan in a sea of butter and cream. We'll see what next months challenge brings!
Cheers! Jane
Drawing A Line In The Sand
Tonight Vegan Soapbox poses the question many of us are challenged with as vegans... Where do you draw the line? What will you not eat?
Eccentric Vegan writes:
It’s simple to me. If you don’t need to kill or harm another sentient being, then you shouldn’t kill or harm another sentient being.
I’ve never considered myself to be an animal rights activist. But the more I learn the more appalled I am at the barbarism that we perpetrate as a species. (Read about the Baby Seal Hunt which has "opened" today in Canada.)
I find myself compelled to watch videos like Earthlings, even though I really don't want to see some of these images. As I wander through the grocery store, sometimes I'll look at the packages of boneless, skinless, chicken pieces and think how hard it is to reconcile those pieces with any chicken, never mind the abused animals these pieces actually represent. And I'm sure where I draw my line...
I used to draw the line at four-legged animals, fish and fowl seemed much less intelligent, and therefore it was okay to eat them. Then I went vegan (motivated by a desire for better health and a better earth), so I now draw my line at plants. Although in reality I can't imagine voluntarily eating insects, although I suspect they're in my salad on occasion!
After being vegan for nine months, I know I will NEVER eat animal flesh again. I will not consume dairy products, nor will I eat eggs. I have seen and read too much to allow myself to participate in the needless brutality that is perpetrated against these animals. I am not a barbarian. I will not eat as one. It's my choice to eat vegan.
Trader Joe’s Chicken-Less Strips
Hi everyone. It's Jane writing tonight. Lane and I realized that he's hogging all the spotlight, so tonight I'm getting the byline. To tell the truth, we often collaborate on these posts. I tend to spend time in the morning researching what we'll write about (time permitting), and put together an outline, and then Lane will flesh it out.
Things were hectic around here today, so I just threw something together for dinner. As I rummaged around the fridge I found the Trader Joe's Chicken-less Strips I'd purchased in the recent past (sorry, the box got trashed, so no image). There are always onions on hand in our house, and I had asparagus spears and orange pepper. Perfect. I could make a dinner out of that. Plus we always have salad with any dinner I make.
I chopped the veggies, added a little olive oil to the pan, and sauteed my onions. When they were translucent I threw in the peppers, and after they'd cooked together for a bit in went the chicken-less strips and the asparagus. For some reason (could it be that I didn't read the package?), I thought the strips were seasoned. Imagine my surprise when I tasted the concoction brewing in my frying pan. It definitely needed something. And I had moments until everything was done. Thankfully, my pantry is fully stocked. I threw in a few pinches of sea salt, a squeeze of lemon juice and about a half teaspoon of ground ginger. It came together quite well.
Lane and I would definitely recommend this product. It has good mouth feel and seems to be very versatile. Best of all, it cooks up in moments. It took me under 15 minutes to throw tonight's dinner together. Next time I think I might try throwing the chicken-less strips in a light broth, or even pasta.
These strips might even compete with the prepared Gardein chicken products we get at Whole Foods, specifically the Vegan Chicken Sonoma Salad and Vegan Chicken Curry Salad. The "chicken" in the salads is cubed, and this "chicken" is sliced, but otherwise, the taste and texture seem to be the same to us. Since Gardein doesn't advertise where their products are sold, I'm wondering if this is a private label version packaged for Trader Joe's? Anyway, we'll be keeping this stuff on hand.
Food For Vegetarian Thought
As many of you already know, Jane and I became vegan because of her family medical history (cancer, heart disease, diabetes....). We don't consider ourselves animal rights activists, although we believe that cruelty to animals (and humans) should have no place on this earth. Our focus in this blog is about food, and why it makes sense to eat vegan. Occasionally, something comes to our attention, like Earthlings, which needs to be shared. But for the most part, our focus is the vegan diet.
When we set out on our vegan journey we struggled a bit. The new eating regimen required more effort than the old, eating out posed all sorts of challenges, and we weren't sure how we would define veganism for ourselves. But we were up for that challenge. Our health was more important. We also both thought that if, over time, our bloodwork didn't support the great health benefits touted by the book that inspired us: Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes
Today, we stumbled across a blog post at All's Well That Ends Vegan:
Even "dairy cows" from organic and small farms end up at these slaughterhouses
No one seems to be talking about this much either. What an opportunity to tell the public that no matter what "treatment" the animals receive on the "farm", they all end up on the same trucks, for the same torturous journey on the road, to the same slaughterhouses, to the same horrific end. People who call themselves vegetarians, but eat dairy products, especially seem to be missing this point. Ugh.
And just in case you didn't already know, the trip to the slaughterhouse for those "happy cows" (and any other animal off to the slaughterhouse) is inhumane. Often, the animals are driven for hundreds of miles. They are exposed to the elements, crammed together, and not given any food or water on this trip [because who wants to deal with additional waste product?]. They're scared, uncomfortable, hungry and thirsty, and have no room to move around. To put that in perspective: we complain about flying!
So, for us, that was the end of the image of they idyllic family farm. I'm pretty sure that I can safely say Jane and I will be vegan for the rest of our lives. We might still step off the path and consume the occasional slice of real pizza (accompanied by a side order of guilt), because the rest of our lives will hopefully be a long time, and we LOVED pizza. But after having had our eyes opened to the atrocities we perpetuate as a species, we can never go back, we're vegans!
Honey Used For The Treatment of Wounds
As I mentioned in my post on Agave Nectar the other day, Jane and I allow the use of honey in our definition of what it means to be vegan.
Many vegans, however, are not opposed to using insect products, because they do not believe insects are conscious of pain. Moreover, even if insects were conscious of pain, it's not clear that the production of honey involves any more pain for insects than the production of most vegetables, since the harvesting and transportation of all vegetables involves many 'collateral' insect deaths.
-- from Vegan Action
Today I found an article on MSNBCs website, dated December 26, 2007 indicating that honey is being used in topical antibiotics, specifically in bandages and wound dressings. Using honey to treat wounds is something that goes back to ancient times. The science behind the usage of honey is rather interesting. Honey produces hydrogen peroxide when combined with the fluid which drains from a wound (isn't nature amazing!). It also draws the pus and fluid from the wound, thereby speeding the healing process.
What's got everyone buzzing (sorry) is that a particular type of honey found in New Zealand, Manuka honey, seems to be able to prevent the development of multiple-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in open wounds. MRSA is a bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections in humans (from wikipedia). This is particularly exciting since MRSA is one of those resistant superbugs we hear so much about.
Currently the bandages, produced by Derma Sciences under the label Medihoney, are available in hospitals in the US and Canada. The Derma Sciences dressings will be available in drug stores in the next six months, with adhesive strips following closely, if all goes according to plan. Similar products have been popular in Europe, Australia and New Zealand for the last decade.
As for whether these bandages/dressings meet your criteria for being vegan, that is up to you. Better to be forewarned... If you abstain from the consumption of honey, you should be aware that your bandages and wound dressings may not fit your definition of vegan.
Native Foods
Jane's mom is here for a visit, so we took a quick trip down to Palm Desert (a resort town in the California desert) this weekend. The weather was excellent there. (Unfortunately, it was in the 90's here this weekend too, so we could have just stayed home!) But we enjoyed the usual tourist treats: swimming at the hotel pool, gambling at one of the Indian casinos, and we visited the Living Desert, a zoo and arboretum.
Jane and I haven't made up our minds how we feel about zoos. On one hand, most of the zoos we've frequented in the last decade or so have been involved in significant animal conservation, and the animal habitats are carefully designed. On the other hand, it's not the animals native habitat, and the aviaries are particularly troubling to us. But this is fodder for another post. So back to Palm Desert...
As vegans, we know that eating on the road can often be challenging. We've learned to 
Native Foods close to the hotel we were staying at. We'd heard lots of great things about Native Foods, but aren't close to any of their locations. So we knew we would be stopping there on this trip.
We loved it! Our meals were fantastic. Jane and her mom shared the Baja Surf Tacos. They were quite tasty. The black beans were a little bland, but were much improved with the home-made hot sauce (warning: it's HOT).
I ordered the Portobello Sausage Burger. The sausage was sliced seitan. It was one of the best vegan burgers I've ever had. The service was good, friendly and solicitous. The prices were right and the food was delicious. It's not fine dining, but the restaurant has a nice ambiance and outdoor eating.
We didn't have any dessert or additional sides. Jane later regretted that as she'd split a lunch with her mom and our dinner at the casino left a lot to be desired, especially from the vegan perspective!
The rest of our meals on this trip were unremarkable. Thankfully, the hotel room had a mini fridge so we were able to stock up on some vegan snacks. But we really could have used a Starbuck's Vegan Brownie, or some other vegan dessert!!!
Agave Nectar – A Vegan Sweetener Panacea?
Jane and I are trying to be good vegans. We carefully read labels at the grocery store and avoid all known animal products. We surf the net, read other vegan blogs, and often visit the sites we've chosen to link to as our Vegan Resources. Occasionally, we find something is vegan that we didn't know about previously. And, there are a few issues that are gray in the vegan community, which always merit further reading.
One of these issues is the use of sweeteners. Some eschew refined sugar as most refined sugars are processed using bone char. We choose to follow Vegan Outreach on this topic and allow refined sugar in our diet. However, refined sugar is generally considered unhealthy, and not an environmentally friendly product, so we try to consume alternative sweeteners as well. Jane hates the taste of maple syrup, so that's out. Honey is also often debated as to whether or not it is vegan. We allow honey in our diet, and use Vegan Action to define our approach on this topic. There's also brown rice syrup (which we have in the cupboard, but haven't tried yet), and agave nectar, which we enjoy, but is a little pricey.
Today, as I was surfing, I stumbled across this article in the Chicago Tribune which suggests that agave nectar may not be all that healthy after all. One doctor likes it and says that it doesn't impact blood sugar as much as other sugars, which makes it an ideal sweetener for diabetics. This doctor also says agave nectar contains a bacteria which helps fight colon cancer. Another doctor states that agave nectar is almost all fructose which impacts blood fructose, and that is worse than impacting blood sugar. This doctor claims that fructose interferes with healthy metabolism.
The most alarming information I gleaned from this article, is that the Food and Drug Administration notes that "in the past, agave products may have been 'economically adulterated or misbranded by adding corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup [HFCS].' Chronic shortages of the plant make this a real concern."
The article ends with this warning:
If you use agave:
• Botulism spores can be found in bottled sweeteners originally derived from natural products. Treat it like honey; don't give it to children under age 1.
• Avoid it if you're pregnant; some believe it can cause miscarriages.
• Seek out an agave product that is organic and carries the official USDA seal.
• The FDA says there is no current need for regulatory action but would like to know if there is any literature or other information that shows agave causes adverse effects.
Oi! It seems like in the world of sweeteners, there is no ideal product.
Anthony Bourdain is NOT a Vegan
Well, it's obvious that Anthony Bourdain is not a vegan, at least if you ever had the misfortune to watch his show, which we did once or twice in our pre-vegan life. But Jane and I both found Mr. Bourdain to be a bit too pretentious. It's one thing to be sure of yourself, it's another to be waaay sure of your cool.
Anyway, thanks to a post on FoodEater's blog, I found Hezbollah Tofu, a blogging response to Mr. Bourdain's snide (and much quoted) comment:
"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food."
- Anthony Bourdain, "Kitchen Confidential," p. 70
Their (Hezbollah Tofu) goal? To "fork" Bourdain for charity. They plan on creating veganized versions of Mr. Bourdain's "masturbatory, blood-oozing recipes" compiling these recipes and selling them, all proceeds will be donated to vegan outreach organizations in the name of Mr. Bourdain. What an excellent idea.So we challenge you to take up the call and send your recipes in to them at: hezbollahtofu@gmail.com.
As for my response to Mr. Bourdain... Not all vegans are militant, nor are we necessarily "an irritant to any chef worth a damn" as is evidenced by all the new vegan cookbooks out there, and the proliferation of vegan restaurants, at least in many urban centers.
Most people understand that our choice to be vegan, is simply that, our choice. If you factor in the benefits our way of eating has to impacts on the environment and the sustainability of life on earth, there really is no other way to eat. And if my opinion is of no consequence, here's a quote from arguably one of the most intelligent human beings to ever walk the earth, Albert Einstein:
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
The Veggie Grill
Last night we picked up Jane's mom at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). She's visiting with us for a little over a week. En route home, we figured we'd stop for a quick bite to eat. You know, they just don't feed you on the airlines any longer, at least not on domestic flights.
I had been poking around the internet and found an interesting sounding restaurant, The Veggie Grill, near the airport. So off we went. Wow! This place is FANTASTIC! It's primarily a soup/salad/sandwich type of place. You walk in, look at the menu on the wall, walk up to the counter to place your order and they call your number when your food is ready. So, you know it's not haute cuisine. But let me tell you how really great it is...
It's so good that Jane's mom, who is not vegan, couldn't believe she wasn't eating chicken. We all shared our sandwiches. She had the Chickin' Marinara, I had the V-Burger, and Jane ordered the Island Getaway.
(Please excuse the poor quality photographs, we left our camera at home, so these images were taken using my phone.)
The Chickin’ Marinara Jane’s mom ordered actually reminded us of the chicken parmigiana we used to eat once upon a time when we lived in New York. (OK, we know it probably wouldn’t stand up next to the real thing, but we don’t eat the real thing any longer, and this was a more than reasonable facsimile!) The standard side is a side of cole slaw, which Jane’s mom said was good, but not remarkable (we neglected to ask if this was vegan, so we assumed they used real mayonnaise and passed on it).
Jane's Island Getaway sandwich was perhaps the least tasty of the three, but don't let that stop you from ordering it -- it was also delicious. It consists of coconut-milk battered tempeh with a glazed pineapple topping. Yum. Instead of the cole slaw, Jane ordered the steaming kale. As I mentioned previously, the three of us shared everything. I don't think Jane's mom really cared for the Kale that much. But she loved the pineapple topping.
I opted for the V-Burger to which I added a grilled portobello mushroom. And, instead of cole slaw, I opted for the sweetheart (sweet potato) fries. I would happily eat the burger again, but I don’t think the mushroom added anything to this meal. The sweetheart fries, were yummy, as expected.
The Chickin’ Marinara was really the winner though. It was tender and crispy and the marinara and peppers were just right. Jane’s mom heads out on an early flight and she and I joked around about hanging out at the airport when she leaves, long enough so that we can stop by Veggie Grill for lunch.
They have a location in Irvine, CA and this one in El Segundo, CA. If you’re in the area and aren’t looking for a sit down dinner with ambiance, this place is really worth checking out! They’re open from 11am to 10pm every day.
For additional restaurant reviews see our Vegan Resources page.
