Nghia's Culinary Arts

Dairy-Free Pickle Eggnog

Happy Holidays! As a lactose-intolerant person, I rarely get to drink eggnog. This one is for all my fellow lactose-intolerant homies. I loosely based this on a recipe by Alton Brown.

Here’s what you’ll need:

4 Egg Yolks
4 Egg Whites
1/3 Cup of Sugar
2 and 1/2 Cups of Oat Milk or Milk Substitute
1 Cup of Silken Tofu
1/2 Cup of Sweet Pickles
1/2 Cup of Pickle Juice
1 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.

Beaten Egg Yolks and Sugar — Beat Egg Yolks

Chop pickles into small pieces and add to food processor. Add pickle juice, silken tofu and 1/2 cup of oat milk to the food processor. Puree the mixture until there are no visible pickle chunks.

Combine and stir the pickle tofu mixture, 2 cups of oat milk, vanilla extract, nutmeg and beaten egg mixture.

Beat egg whites while gradually adding in 1 tablespoon of sugar. Continue beating until it forms stiff peaks. Whisk in the egg whites into the other mixture.

Chill the eggnog in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.

Serve with a selection of pickles.

The original eggnog recipe called for 1 cup of heavy cream. Silken tofu combined with milk works as a heavy cream substitute.

Sadly, you could not taste the pickles in the eggnog. It just tastes like regular eggnog. I have to rate this at 8/10 as it tastes perfectly normal and delicious. You definitely want to drink it all as soon as possible. The eggnog had separated the next day and was nowhere near as good!

One possible improvement is to remove the pickles. Their flavors did not come through in the eggnog and can likely be omitted from the recipe. I’m curious about adding cayenne pepper to the mixture and would like to try it next time.

I’ve only recently discovered the joys of pickles, so I want to incorporate them somehow in a recipe. At the same time, Christmas was coming up, so I wanted to do something Christmas themed. It made sense to do both at the same.

Instant Mashed Popotoes Under Rice

Working with instant foods makes me feel like I’m a college student again.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For Mashed Popotoes:

1 Cup of Frozen Peas
1 Cup of Frozen Corn
2 Packages of Instant Noodles (This recipe used Indomie Mi Goreng)
1 Packet of Instant Loaded Mashed Potatoes

For Grilled Eggplant:

1 Eggplant
2 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon of Garlic Salt

Miscellaneous:

Bacon
Pre-made Gravy (I had leftovers)
Cooked White Rice
Bread Crumbs
Furikake

In a large pot, add the frozen peas and corn into 4 cups of water. Heat to a boil.

While waiting for the water to boil, skin and slice eggplant.

Skin Eggplant

Slice into thick pieces

Mix together soy sauce, olive oil and garlic salt in a small bowl. Dip and marinate the slices of eggplant in the mixture.

Soy Sauce Mix

Dip Eggplant in Mix

Fry bacon and eggplant in an air fryer for 12 minutes at 320 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the water is boiling, add instant noodles and seasoning packets.

Instant Noodles

Soft Noods

Allow the instant noodles to soften. Add instant mashed potatoes and mix thoroughly. Continue to mix until the instant noodles and mashed potatoes thicken.

Instant Mashed Potatoes

Instant Mashed Popotoes

Mixture

Spread the mixture on a plate and create an indentation. Add rice into a bowl and put onto the indentation. Plate eggplant and bacon.

Plating

More Plating

Cover rice in gravy and garnish with furikake.

Bonus Recipe

If you have some of the mixture left, refrigerate it. Shape into a flat oval shape. Cover in breadcrumbs.

Bread Popotoes

Cover in oil and fry in air fryer at 320 degrees for 25 minutes.

I’m not sure why I made this. I bought a bunch of random instant stuff and had the bright idea to combine them. Adding rice and gravy on top of everything also was somewhat of a mistake. I ended up really tired and full after eating this.

Overall, I would rate it at 8/10. I gave myself too much and it just had far too many carbs. But it did not taste bad. I think the best part of the dish was the air fried eggplant. The slightly charred soy sauce flavor was great. I ended making it separately and just eating it with rice the next day.

Ghost Pepper and Blueberry Soy-Cheesecake

I think I’m onto something here. Take notes everyone.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the crust:

2 Cups of Graham Cracker Crumbs (Roughly 11 Crackers)
1/4 Cup of Maple Syrup
1/4 Teaspoon of Almond Extract

For the filling:

1 Pound of Firm Tofu
1 Tablespoon of Peanut Butter
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
1/3 Can of Lemon Flavored White Claw
1/2 Teaspoon of Almond Extract
1/3 Cup of Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Flour Dissolved in 1 Tablespoon of Oat Milk

For the sauce:

3 Tablespoons of Blueberry Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
3 Tablespoons of Lemon Flavored White Claw
1/3 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Instant Espresso Coffee

Prepare graham cracker crumbs. If using full crackers, put in a Ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Graham Crackers

Graham Cracker Crumbs

In a large bowl, mix the crumbs, maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract. Continue to mix until all the crumbs are moistened. Firmly press the mixture into a greased pie pan and bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.

Mix Ingredients

Press into pan

Using a food processor, add all of the ingredients for the filling and puree into a homogeneous mixture.

Add ingredients for the sauce into a small pot. Mix continuously as low heat until the sugar and instant coffee are fully dissolved.

Ghost Pepper and Blueberry Hot Sauce

Instant Espresso Coffee

Sauce

Pour the filling over the baked crust. Then, pour the sauce over the filling and mix roughly using a toothpick or fork.

Cheesecake Filling

Filling roughly mixed with sauce

Bake the cheesecake for another 35 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and chill in a refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Chill

Cut

I recently bought a bunch of hot sauces from https://heatonist.com/. I didn’t like this sauce with any meat. I heard someone describe the flavor as somewhat tart. Since the sauce is tart, it seemed like a good idea to add it to cheese cake.

Honestly, the cheesecake was good. The peanut butter and tofu filling had a smooth and nutty flavor. It was not particularly overpowering and did well to lower the intensity of the hot sauce. Despite the ingredients added, I think this dessert was well balanced. The only improvement is that I had accidentally used 1/3 cup of maple syrup instead of 1/4. My crust ended up too sticky. However, it was hardly a detriment. All in all, a strong 8/10.