North Carolina

Yummy and Healthy Kati Roll

Rajen D. (original recipe)

I've visited North Carolina. I have family there. They were "Star Them," as opposed to me, "Star Us," with the caveat that I went to see Episode I in the theater in high school and it was the most exciting thing that could possibly happen theatrically, and we watched it, and we walked out, and we were puzzled, "That was a terrible movie, wasn't it?" When I was a little kid I fell off the swings and got the wind knocked out of me, and then this. So I watched that trilogy and then I kinda stopped closely following more recent installments including Episodes VII and VIII because I tried to quit cinema but it didn't really take. But I am still "Star Us" and maybe older people understand what that means.

I grew up on a VHS of Episode IV, I can't remember a time before I watched it, and I vividly remember the moment my friend told me, "You know there are two more movies?"

The fun part about being "Star Us" or "Star Them" is when you date someone familiar with the other side, they can teach you all about it and you can ask stupid questions and she can make up answers.

Ingredients

• Oil

• 1 1/2 tsp. fresh Ginger, chopped

• 1 clove Garlic, chopped

• 5 Cherry tomatoes, diced

• 2 Shiitake mushroom, fresh or dried, chopped

• 1/8 tsp. ground Turmeric

• 1/8 tsp. Garam masala

• 1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper

• 1/8 tsp. ground Cumin

• 1/4 tsp. ground Coriander

• Pinch of salt

• 3/4 cu. Chicken substitute, thawed, cubed

• 4 x 1/4 cu. Just Egg

• Sprinkle of Nutritional yeast

• 4 Tortillas

• 1 medium Carrot, chopped

• 1/4 Cucumber, chopped

• Cilantro

• 1 Lime, cut into wedges

Preparation

If using dried mushrooms, rehydrate for 30 minutes in a bowl of warm water. Mix the carrot, cucumber, and a lot of cilantro in a bowl.

Warm a pan with oil. Over medium heat, saute ginger and garlic for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and mushrooms and cook another 2 minutes. Then add chicken substitute and spices and cook, stirring frequently, for 8 minutes.

Warm another clean pan with oil over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup Just Egg and sprinkle with nutritional yeast. Allow to cook about 1 minute, then (this part is weird) cover the eggs with a tortilla. Press down on the tortilla to bond it to the Just Egg and allow to cook for 1 minute. Then flip the tortilla-egg so that the egg is on top of the tortilla and warm 30-60 seconds longer before transferring to plate. Spoon 1/4 of chicken mixture and some fresh vegetable mixture into near the middle of tortilla. Squeeze some lime juice and roll up like a burrito.

Discussion

This was really good. Rehydrated mushrooms can be pretty intense but fresh shiitake are said to be in short supply right now. Using fresh would mellow out the mushroom intensity but it pretty much held up with the other flavors anyway. It reminded me of something I can't quite place.

Rajen has an interesting relatable story. He traveled to India as a young child and the food was crazy spicy for him. I had the exact same experience. I remember eating a piece of bread in someone's home and almost going through the roof. I think I survived on raita. I always wanted to go back as an adult, now with a reasonable spice tolerance. I've heard a lot has changed.

Minnesota

North Carolina Home of the Venus Flytrap, the most awesome plant

Tennessee