Catching Up

Still catching up here ;) I find that when I haven't posted in a long time it's because I have been revisiting old favourites in my recipe book/s and where's the novelty in that! For interest of those who still like to know what vegans eat (yes, there's a blog about that, I know!), here are a few of my recent ventures in the kitchen.

JAMBALAYA
See my post about this HERE. I keep varying the recipe, of course, but that's just the way jambalaya is!



Sometimes I use chickpeas in this dish, sometimes tofu, sometimes homemade seitan - and of course the veggies keep changing according to what's available!

TUSCAN BEANS WITH TOMATOES
I originally posted the recipe HERE. This is something we keep going back to because it has the virtue of freezing well. This time we had it with polenta and a salad.



BABY BOK CHOY


I don't suppose you will find this 'recipe' on this blog, but you will find something similar to do with cabbage or greens or whatever. What I did with these lovely little things was to steam them lightly with some chopped ginger root, garlic and chilies. They were to go with a baked millet dish (which is not my recipe to give, I'm sorry to say), which has all kinds of lovely tastes in it. It's a bit of a clash of ethnicities, but the flavours were superb together!



A couple of days later we had the millet with a mint tabouleh and steamed sweet potatoes and carrots.







UNFRIED RICE
And finally, to end with rice as I began, easily one of our favourite quick meals is unfried rice - steamed vegetables, of course, with lovely brown rice. This one has wakame in it too as well as a sprinkling of oven-roasted soybeans - but like everyone else we vary this each time we make it.



And they say it's hard to cook vegan - HAH!

New Cookbook Just Out!

I have the delightful job of alerting you all to a new cookbook by Erin, aka Zenpawn. I have long been a fan of Erin's blog
and have delighted in the wonderful meals he has presented for us. Now, I found this morning, he has gone 'all the way' and
published an e-cookbook - very very nutritious, very very economical of fat and calories (indeed, the ones I have read all through seem to use the teeniest amount of fat for the pan only), very very big on a variety of flavours and super-duper delicious!

I have just downloaded my own copy (very modest price) and just can't decide where to start! It's great. The illustrations are beautiful, the recipes clear and simple (with fewer ingredients than most) and all nutritional information is given.

You can find the story behind the cookbook here:

http://www.zenpawn.com/vegblog/2007/06/03/vegan-done-light

and the link to where it can be purchased HERE:

http://www.zenpawn.com/vegblog/store.html

Way to go, Erin!

WARM BEET SALAD, BROCCOLI WITH TEMPEH, KALE WITH RAISINS

One thing I've been doing while shamelessly neglecting this blog is eating lots and lots of greens. Anything green!

WARM BEET SALAD



I love beets and I also love beet greens, lightly steamed, but they are available as tender baby greens for only a short while. The other day they had some lovely little organic beets with their pretty leaves still attached, so we bought a bunch - and wished we'd bought more!

I cooked them in their skins, because the skins slip off so easily once they're done, then sliced them through while still warm and put them in a fatless 'vinaigrette' of vinegar, mustard, horseradish, pinch of sugar. Then I roughly sliced and cooked the greens until just done (although they look a little overdone in the photo, I think). The greens were then tossed with the beets (I made enough dressing to coat the greens too) and served the dish warm. You could make this ahead of time, but it's best, in my opinion, either warm or at room temperature rather than chilled.

My husband is wild for this dish - so guess who is getting up early for the next market day!


BROCCOLI WITH TEMPEH

Broccoli goes beautifully in stir-'fried' dishes, and when teamed with tempeh needs little more than some nice fluffy brown rice to complete the meal.



I like to 'marinate' the tempeh, cut into little strips, in a little low-sodium soy sauce, a spoonful of minced ginger, another spoonful of minced garlic and one of minced chilies (I use sambal oelek, an Indonesian chilie sauce/paste sometimes made in California, but I doubt it matters much). Then I cut the broccoli into florets (saving the stems for another use another day) while I steam 'saute' a small sliced onion in some water to which I have added a couple of slices of ginger root (cut into tiny matchsticks) and a couple of large cloves of garlic (finely chopped) and one or two hot chilies (minced). The trick to getting broccoli to taste its best is not to overcook it, so must before it is 'ready' I throw in that tempeh along with its marinade, heat the tempeh through, then get the whole thing out into a heated serving dish before the broccoli starts to lose its crispness. Lovely!

KALE WITH RAISINS



When I can get kale, I buy a couple of bunches and we have it over a couple of days. The rest of the time I just pine for it! Preparation is a cinch - remove the tough stems and slice thinly (or keep them for stock), then slice the leaves at about quarter-inch intervals. It is much quicker and easier if you face them all the same way and then rolle them lengthways into a long cigar shape.



Kale is indeed a favourite of ours, and we especially like it when it is lightly steamed with a little sliced onion and a handful of raisins - The raisins puff up beautifully, and their sweetness adds a pleasant surprise when encountered in the occasional forkful (which is why we use only a small handful - to keep up the surprised factor). A squeeze of lemon over the finished dish makes it perfection!

Potato Stew Stuffed In Acorn Squash

POTATO STEW STUFFED IN ACORN SQUASH

I have to share this one with you, although the recipe is not mine to give :( It is another from my marvellous co-host on my Vegan World Cuisine group, posted just yesterday. You can find it HERE

I had two 'baby' golden acorn squashes, so I cut the tops of those so that I could save the dear little caps, scooped them out and baked them until they were done. Meanwhile I made Linda's beautiful potato stew, using 'baby' red potatoes and subbing jalapeno for the dried chili she has in her recipe. The rest, as you can see from the pic below, is onion (I used half a medium red onion), red bell pepper, sweet corn, and of course garlic. Cooking the potatoes, etc., in soymilk gives a nice creamy texture and some powdered ginger a nice extra bite. I topped mine with a little cilantro and served with green beans. I should add that I made it, of course, without frying in even a little bit of oil :) Excellent!

The 'extra' stew that didn't fit into the little squashes disappeared very quickly, thanks to my delighted husband.

This is certainly one to remember!

Wakame Broccoli, Tofu and Broccoli Stir'Fry'

WAKAME BROCCOLI

Dunno if anyone else is as mad for wakame as I am, but I like to add it to all kinds of things. This week we've been eating our way through some broccoli we got from our organic grocer. After a stir'fried' (read steamed) dish the other day, we needed a change. So, short of putting it in lasagna (a great recipe but one for which I didn't have the energy or time today), I decided to steam it up with lots of minced garlic, ditto minced ginger root, a little red bell pepper and a hefty pinch of crushed chilies while I was reheating some pre-cooked and frozen components of our lunch today: chickpea curry and three-grain medley. While I made a salad - our favourite spinach, cranberry, pear and cranberry concoction with a raspberry balasamic dressing - I soaked some wakame, so that by the time the broccoli was just about done I could stir it in. It went very well, I'm pleased to admit :)

This evening we have concert tickets, so it's a quick meal of soup (cabbage and tomato) with some rye bread I made this morning. Simple things, simple things.

And here's the

TOFU AND BROCCOLI STIR'FRY'



I used what I had on hand, and as you see there was a mix of vegetables (not out of a package, although that might work too) as well as the broccoli - and the tofu which had marinated in a little low-sodium soysauce, minced ginger and minced garlic and not added until the end. Instead of frying, of course, I simply steamed the veggies in a little water. We had it all with brown rice.

Nigerian Chickpea Stew With Peanut Sauce

This is a great dish that was posted by my wonderful co-host, Linda, on my Vegan World Cuisine group (http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=10159&pst=688573)on Care2. You can find the recipe on the "West Africa Mains and Sides" thread.:
Nigerian chickpea stew with peanut sauce. The recipe can easily be adapted to non-fat cooking by sauteeing the onions, etc., in stock or water. No big deal. There is 1-1/2 Tbsp peanut butter in the sauce, but spread over 6 servings that's a very small amount. I went for it! The photo, however, was taken before I remembered to sprinkle the top with spirulina. That adds a great extra taste.

Today we had it for the second time (will power exerted not to eat it all up on three consecutive meals!), and because we were late home from town we simply made some couscous rather than rice, which was ready by the time the stew was reheated.

To go with it, the dh made a light salad of baby spinach, a little onion, celery, sliced pear and craisins, which we dressed with a mix of rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, a tsp of minced ginger (out of a jar) and a tsp of mirin.

CHICKPEA CURRY (CROCKPOT STYLE)

We had this for lunch yesterday. It's a favourite here, in some version or other, simple like this one or perhaps with a different bean (red kidney beans are nice, although I prefer chickpeas) and/or with the addition of some chopped vegetables. It should serve 4.

CHICKPEA CURRY (CROCKPOT STYLE)

1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
2 or 3 red thai chilies, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1-1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
14 oz diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp garam masala, or to taste
salt to taste
cayenne to taste - if needed

Steam-saute onions, ginger, and garlic for 5 minutes in a little water in a skillet. Place onion mixture and all other ingredients except for garam masala, salt and cayenne in a crock pot. Cook on low for 6-9 hours - or on high for a comparatively less time (3-4 hours, depending on the age of your crockpot).

Before serving, add salt to taste along with the garam masala. If you require more ‘heat’, this is a good time to stir in a little cayenne. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with brown basmati rice, vegetable dishes, and other accompaniments.