Melora Johnson's Muse

It is time to embrace cooking substitutions!

This past Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day and that’s a traditional time for Irish Soda Bread. I was a little overwhelmed with everything going on to prepare for working from home, but I still wanted to make a special meal. I did a quick search for Irish Soda buns, which would bake faster. I found a great recipe from the New York Times cooking blog at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014602-soda-bread-buns, but of course I didn’t have exactly what I needed so here come the substitutions.

This is a great recipe because it already uses some stuff that you might have on hand, and you can substitute for other things. I didn’t have yeast on hand so this was a perfect recipe for me because the leavening is a combination of baking soda, baking powder, and egg.

I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour, so I used some whole wheat flour – it was fine. I didn’t have caraway seeds and I didn’t want them, so I left them out. I did have some older dried currants, a little out dated but they were fine too. Raisins would be great, or chopped dates, or whatever you like and have on hand. I had unsalted butter but if you just have regular butter or shortening or coconut oil – it’s all okay! Even vegetable oil can be mixed in instead.

Embrace substitutions.

If you don’t have buttermilk, substitute milk and vinegar or lemon juice. The ratio is 1 cup of milk to a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice then let it sour for fifteen minutes or so.

My recipe went like this.

Irish Soda Bread Buns

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cups whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• ¾ teaspoon of baking soda
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup dried currants

1. Preheat oven to 375 and lightly grease a large baking sheet.
2. Whisk together the fours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
3. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender or a couple knives.
4. Stir the currants in.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk. (If you’re using oil instead of butter, put it in here.)
6. Stir wet ingredients into dry.
7. Turn out onto a floured surface and, with floured hands shape into eight portions.
8. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until firm.
9. Enjoy!

Unstuffed Egg Roll

Ingredients

• 1 small head of cabbage, chopped
• 1/4 cup of onion chopped
• 6 to 9 baby carrots or 1 large, shredded
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

1. Warm the olive oil in the pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and saute a few minutes.
3. Add the carrot and saute until soft.
4. Add the cabbage and cook for 5 minutes, stir, cook another five minutes.
5. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil, stir and cook another five minutes.

Working with what I had on hand, I improvised this today based on the “Paleo Egg Roll in a Bowl” recipe from http://www.ancestral-nutrition.com. That recipe used 1 tablespoon coconut oil and 1/3 cup coconut aminos, which I didn’t have. You can also substitute a bag of shredded cabbage and carrots for a faster product.