All sorts of endangered species, from wildlife to rare flowers, have people to defend them and extol their virtues. Vegetables do, too, and one of their most articulate advocates is a writer named Baba S. Khalsa.
He has written an impressive book called ”Great Vegetables from the Great Chefs” (Chronicle Books, $19.95). Khalsa came to Chicago recently to promote it and act as commentator at a sold-out dinner at Gordon restaurant that featured vegetable dishes prepared by a half-dozen chefs.
He looks ahead and sees vegetable cookery as ”the next major trend in restaurants around the country.”
”Already,” he says, ”more and more restaurants offer them in more and more different ways.”
He looks back and sees dramatic change. ”When I became a vegetarian in 1969,” he recalls, ”the only places in Los Angeles (his home) to get good vegetables were hippie restaurants with names like Zap!, The Source, Help!
They did a reasonable, if uninspired, job of providing stick-to-the-ribs dishes that had the feel of meat in the stomach. There was no attempt to cook with elan, finesse.
”By the mid-`70s, I was tired of bulgur and mung beans and curried vegetable stews. I read that a restaurant called Michael`s had opened in Santa Monica and was doing some interesting things with vegetables as garnish.
”I called Michael McCarty, told him I was a vegetarian and asked if he would serve me the vegetables that had been written about without the meat. He said, `Sure,` and I was introduced to very fresh, lightly cooked, subtly seasoned regular and baby vegetables.
”It was the beginning of an explosion. Soon Trumps and the West Beach Cafe and Spago had opened, and by the early `80s there were more places serving great vegetable dishes than I could eat at. In my travels (as a salesman of school supplies), I found it was happening everywhere. There was a network of restaurants across the country I could plug into.”
He did articles on the subject for several publications and gradually realized that there was a book to be written on the subject and that he wanted to write it.
Four years` research
His nationwide research began in earnest in 1984 and went on for more than four years. Working without an advance to draw on and within the limitations of his work-travel schedule, he visited restaurants anonymously. Only after several satisfying meals would he ask to interview the chef. By the time the manuscript was complete, he had included interviews with 60 chefs and restaurateurs and culled out about 110 recipes spanning menu possibilities, quite literally, from soup to nuts.
But the interviews, intimate and wide-ranging, make the book considerably more than a collection of vegetable recipes.
”I see this book as something that belongs in a culinary time capsule,” he said over a delicious vegetable lunch at Jackie`s Restaurant. (Jackie Shen was among the seven Chicago-area chefs included in the book.) ”I think these are the people who have brought American cuisine to world-class status.”
Khalsa, who refers to himself as a ”99 percent” vegetarian because he eats dairy products and eggs if they are an integral part of a dish, decided early on that his book should concern itself with vegetables, not the vegetarian way of life.
”The term `vegetarian` still puts people off,” he says, ”and I wanted the widest possible audience for this book. It isn`t a tract.”
The chefs Khasla interviewed cook in what the trade calls ”fine dining establishments.” Therefore could the current popularity of vegetables be an elitist fad?
”The big difference,” he says, ”is that years ago chefs used to put vegetables on the plate as garnish; now they are being eaten.” He cites Robert Del Grande of Houston`s Cafe Annie, who told Khalsa he now creates a new dish by designing the vegetable presentation, then decides what meat or poultry to use.
”I see a trickle-down effect,” he continues. ”When you see the increased use of fresh vegetables in fast-food restaurants and the big displays in supermarkets, you realize this is touching every stratum of society. The cause may be health concerns, but the demand for more variety and fresher products is being driven by what people see and eat in the restaurants. I think it`s irreversible.”
Start with 1st course
For people who want to explore this new largess as customers or as restaurant cooks seeking to update their menus, Khalsa recommends starting with the appetizer category. ”This is the place on the menu where a restaurant has the most flexibility and takes the least risk. Probably a number of items are already vegetarian or could be made so easily.
”It`s harder to make your main course selections all vegetables,” he acknowledges. ”I know of only one mainstream, upscale restaurant in the country that is all-vegetarian, Green`s in San Francisco.
”I think there are a lot of closet vegetarians out there,” Khalsa says, who would do more with vegetables ”if they knew what to do.”
To begin, he suggests cooks consult books about ethnic cuisines where the focus is on grains and vegetables. He sees the recipes in his book as an introduction to how good vegetables can taste and how versatile they can be and confidently expects it will ”expand the horizons” of professional and home cooks.
From his interviews, he feels confident, too, that chefs working in America are open to queries from other chefs and eager to share their discoveries.
”It`s not just cooking with vegetables and grains,” he concludes.
”There`s more finesse now. The chefs are better and their food is more refined. They have gained confidence in their use of herbs and spices and are developing a new subtlety. The vegetables themselves are better and there are more and better sources of supply. The great thing about American cooking is that all the cross-cultural blending results in combinations that are deeper
(in flavor, texture and taste) than what they came from.”
(He acknowledges, however, that some cooks have taken their experiments too far with items such as beet ice cream and deep-fried herbs, but expects
”the fringe stuff will filter out.”)
Here is one of the recipes that chef Jackie Shen of Jackie`s restaurant prepared for Khalsa while he was in Chicago:
JACKIE SHEN`S BUDDHIST FEAST
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
5 ounces fresh or canned bamboo shoots, see note
5 ounces fresh or canned water chestnuts (reserve water if canned)
2 ounces dried tree ear mushrooms
1 teaspoon Chinese sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 bunch fresh watercress
1 bunch golden needles (lily buds)
4 ounces dried tofu (bean curd), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 package (8 ounces) fresh tofu (bean curd), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 green onion, sliced into shreds
3 tablespoons soy sauce
Steamed rice
1. Slice bamboo shoots and water chestnuts (reserve water if canned). Soak tree ear mushroom pieces in warm water to soften.
2. Heat a wok or skillet. Add sesame and vegetable oils. As soon as the oils begin to smoke, add the garlic. Stir until garlic is browned but not burned, about 1 minute. Add bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and watercress. Stir and toss for 1 minute.
3. Drain mushrooms and add them to the wok along with golden needles. Stir for about 2 minutes.
4. Add dry bean curd pieces and cook an additional 2 minutes, then add fresh bean curd and green onions and cook a minute longer. Add soy sauce and 1 1/2 tablespoons each of the reserved bamboo shoot and water chestnut water (or 3 tablespoons tap water). Cook until liquid begins to simmer. Serve with steamed rice.
Note: Fresh bamboos shoots, water chestnuts, tree ears, lily buds, dried bean curd and fresh bean curd are available at Asian markets such as the Oriental Food Market, 2801 W. Howard St.
