Kimchi fritters and adventures with cashew "goat cheese"

These fried kimchi nuggets started life as mini-pancakes, but I decided the fritter label was a better fit, since they're crispy, golden-brown, and greasy. I'm all for lots of greens, and think eating raw is pretty cool, but I'll never stop loving all that is deep-fried. My cabbage kimchi was developing some "character" as it matured, and it was mixed here with a batter consisting of: equal parts water and all-purpose flour, 2 tbsp. rice flour, and 2 tbsp. egg replacer (basically just potato starch).

This photo looks kind of like some deformed sea creature, with the billowing tail and all, but it's actually a vegan "goat cheese" from a recipe in the April Vegetarian Times. I've never eaten real goat cheese, but it seems like a perennial favorite with foodie types. Soaked and ground cashews and lemon juice are the main tastes, and it's a fun recipe. Working with cheesecloth was a little clumsier than I expected, but I managed to come up with a nice log of very creamy cashew "cheese."

I ate some in sandwiches and some in soup, and also made these delicious proto-jalapeno poppers - just stuffed and baked, forgoing the mess of battering and frying. The peppers were roasted long enough to cut back on the spiciness, but kept a fairly firm form. Really good, and the cashew cheese browns nicely.

Finally, stuffed baked potatoes. Here I mixed about a half cup of cashew cheese with the insides of two medium sized baked potatoes, adding some sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, and rosemary. These were super-easy and made me wonder why I don't make stuffed potatoes more often.