Sushi Rice Salad, Avocado Carrot Sushi Rolls, Miso Soup

WARM SUSHI RICE SALAD

When I saw a recipe for Sushi Rice Salad I was unimpressed, but just perhaps it could be interesting (I thought) if I tweaked it a bit and, after all, I did have some left-over sushi rice in the refrigerator . . . .

It was sensational!

I hadn't been able to use all the rice I'd cooked for sushi, and, ever frugal about such things, I'd stuck it in the refrigerator for another day. It was therefore already seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt. I carefully separated it out with a fork (it hadn't clumped together as much as I'd have thought) and put it with a tsp or two of water on low at the back of the stove to heat through. (Next time, though, I'll do it 'properly' and cook the rice fresh and keep it warm until the rest of the 'salad' is made.

I used about half a pound of asparagus, cut in thin rounds, which I stirred around in a skillet in the tiniest bit of oil for around three minutes tops. (I rather like young raw asparagus, the the recipe had said to lightly cook it so I did.) It needs to be still quite firm, I think. The avocado was diced and the seaweed chopped into small pieces. The real trick was a wonderful dressing of wasabi, tamari, miso, lemon juice and zest, and chopped pickled ginger.

With the dressing in a bowl large enough to contain all ingredients with room to toss them, I added the asparagus and avocado, mixed well, then added the warmed rice and tossed it all together carefully. The topping was some lightly toasted sesame seeds.

I found the recipe in Bill Jones, Chef's Salad (2003), which I should add is not a vegetarian cookbook but has lots of good recipes suitable for vegetarians and vegans (and others could be adapted).

I'll be making this 'salad' again and again. Wonderful!



AVOCADO AND CARROT SUSHI ROLLS

Just for the record, I am continuing with practicing the fine art of rolling my own sushi - so quick once I got the hang of it. I'm working on getting the shape right, sort of squared off, now. These are still rather rounded, and tasted none the worse for that. It's simply strips of avocado and matchsticks of carrot together. These are of course served with wasabi, tamari and pickled ginger. I'm likely to be showing you more and more of these pretty things, so bear with me!

And finally a simple soup:



MISO SOUP WITH TOFU, MUSHROOMS AND SPINACH

I had found some miso soup cubes that were vegan (not easy to get cubes or powder without the bonito) and wanted to give them a try. One cube for two of us worked fine, and I added some miso paste too - brown miso, as it happened. After heating the broth with a couple of 'coins' of fresh ginger, a shake of chili flakes and the sliced mushrooms ( mushrooms therefore a little less raw but still good and firm), I added the miso (which I dissolved in a couple or so tablespoons of the broth first), careful not to let it boil. Silken tofu went into the bowls with some shredded baby spinach (just a handful) and a little finely sliced green onion. Next time (which just happens to be this evening, I think) I shall probably add more tofu and also some noodles.

The thing about these kinds of soups is that they are most forgiving. Japanese style is, of course, a little at variance with my own method, but I was working for taste and enjoyment here rather than trying to copy a cuisine. Well, that's my line and I'm sticking to it :)

Aparagus & Tomato Pasta, Three Thai Dishes

ASPARAGUS & TOMATO SHELL PASTA

There has been some lovely asparagus in the market lately, both the green kind and the purple. Being a little conservative for colour for this dish, I chose the green and teamed it with some lovely little grape tomatoes, basil, and green onions to mix with baby shell pasta. It was so good.

The recipe is just about what I've said above:

Shell pasta for two persons (I use about 100-120 grams or 3-4 ounces)
1 slice of onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb. fresh asparagus, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1/2 lb. grape tomatoes, halved
pinch of crushed chiles - or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
half a bunch of fresh basil, lightly chopped
2 green/spring onions, chopped
basil sprigs for garnish

While the pasta water is coming to the boil and the pasta is cooking (according to package instructions), put the onion and garlic in a little water in a skillet (large enough to contain all the ingredients in the recipe) and cook until soft.

Add the asparagus, tomatoes and chopped basil with the seasonings and stir over medium-high heat until the tomato skins start to look as if they are loosening up a little. Stop there. Don't overcook. If the pasta is not ready, remove the vegetables from the heat until the pasta is done.

Drain the pasta and add to the vegetables in the skillet, toss them together and return to the heat if necessary for a moment or two to make sure everything is heated through. Remove from heat, stir in the green onions and transfer the pasta to a warmed serving dish. Garnish.

It doesn't get much simpler than that :)


THREE THAI DISHES



I've also been playing around at making more Thai food - we both love it! This one in the photo above is EGGPLANT WITH BASIL. I usually like to add a little cubed tofu to this dish as well as the red bell pepper.

And this one . . .



. . . is a SWEET POTATO AND POTATO COCONUT CURRY. Tofu goes nicely in this one too.

And then there was the day I made (dah-dah dah-dah!) . . .



TOM YUM SOUP! This was my first time of making it, and I think I got a little carried away, putting in enough vegetables and tofu to make it into something approaching a stew rather than a soup. That is, however, easily corrected.

These dishes are keepers here. Actually, we love Thai spices and like to flavour all kinds of things with them. My problem, however, is being able to get fresh kaffir lime leaves (although I keep a good supply of dried ones up the cupboard) and fresh lemon grass, not to mention fresh Thai basil, which is so important to the taste. It's a bore to have to substitute other things :(

Now that spring is here I'm looking to more and more lovely vegetables to put into my stir 'fries' and curries. I remind myself that they have snow out west!

Zucchini-Lemon Soup. Thai Curries

ZUCCHINI-LEMON SOUP

This is a very forgiving recipe, and you can adjust the amount of zucchini used according to your appetite and to the desired thickness of the finished product. Although I have included tofu in this recipe, I often make it without tofu altogether and it is delicious that way too.

3/4 lb zucchini squash, sliced but not peeled
1 or two slices onion, chopped, or to taste (less rather than more, in this case)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
zest of half a lemon
4 cups water or low-sodium vegetable stock
crushed chilies to taste
juice of half a lemon
half a pack of soft tofu, roughly cubed


Put all except the lemon juice and the tofu into a soup pot and cook until the zucchini is just done.

Blend the soup with a wand blender but preferably in a blender jug along with the lemon juice and the tofu. The soup should be creamy and a lovely fresh pale green colour. You may need to add a little water to get it to the consistency you wish.

Return soup to the soup pot and reheat gently. Serve garnished as you will - I used cilantro for the soup in the photo because we like the taste and it also goes very well with the lemon.

Variation: you may wish to use fresh or dried herbs along with the zucchini etc. in the soup pot. Italian herbs go well, but be careful not to overwhelm the fresh taste of the zucchini and lemon.

And now for a change of pace :)

THAI CURRIES



Wanting some Thai curry (yes yes, the whole thing with - gasp - coconut milk and all!) I decided to make my own for the first time in ages. The impetus was seeing some lovely fresh Thai basil and some fresh kaffir lime leaves along with lemon grass at our local asian shop. I also picked up some of their tofu - a real treat when we can get it. Stopping at another shop, I got a small jar (yes, I know it's cheating) of Thai
yellow curry paste - the kind without fish paste of creatures of any kind in it. It's good to make your own paste, but this was to be a relatively quick meal and I didn't think I'd have the time. I found organic light coconut milk at my health food store, so all was set.

No real recipe here, except to shred a few kaffir lime leaves, grate some ginger, peel and finely chop the lemon grass, chop a little onion and garlic, and defrost and chop some Thai red chlies which I always have in the freezer. This all went into a large pan with some cubed eggplant, a diced potato, and (a little later so that it didn't get overcooked) a red bell pepper - and of course the Thai basil and enough of the Thai curry paste to make it just right (which in our lexicon means HOT).



By the time the rice was ready, so was the curry!

We've had variations on this over the last week - including one with sweet potato and green snap peas - and it's been lovely every time. I do so love Thai food.

Red River Raw Borscht, Cauliflower Salad, Tomato Plate, Kale and Apple Salad

If you've been reading this blog at all, you know that my dh and I love beets - hot, cold, pickled, in soup, in salads, however they come and the redder the better. Recently I made a raw beet salad - and was absolutely amazed at how good it was. And I have tried a few raw soups with similar success. But raw borscht??? I didn't think so. I did, however find a recipe for a raw borscht with garlic and dill and a cup of soaked-overnight almonds (which would have 'creamed' it), and, of course, cabbage and beets in Brigitte Mars's Rawsome! and thought, well, it can be done. So I turned to my previous variations on conventional cooked borscht, thought of some amendements, and within minutes had a raw version chilling in the refrigerator. My dh pronounced it excellent, and I must say I enjoyed it thoroughly too.

RED RIVER RAW BORSCHT

3/4 pound red beets, peeled and chopped
1 large clove garlic
two large handfuls of fresh spinach (I'd have preferred beet greens, but it's early in the year for that)
1-1/4 cups cranberries (I used some I'd frozen earlier)
zest, juice and chopped flesh of 1 orange (blood orange, if you have it)
4 sundried tomatoes, soaked and chopped (soaking liquid reserved)
large handful dulse, lightly rinsed, chopped (other sea vegetable would be good, but I was keeping with red.)
1-1/2 tsp miso
2 or 3 dashes cayenne (optional, but it gives it a nice extra zip)
enough water to blend the ingredients and to reach the desired consistency

Set a few cranberries aside for garnish, if you wish, and put the rest of the ingredients with the soaking liquid from the dried tomatoes and a cup or more of water into a blender. Puree well, adding more water as needed. Add any extra water to bring to your preferred thickness. Taste for seasoning and adjust. Regrigerate until needed, for a cold soup, or serve at room temperature.

Garnish with cranberries and, if you like, fresh herbs, etc. Serve chilled with freshly ground black pepper.

And - oh yes, the name of the soup? My very first taste of borscht was in the late '40s and came from the kitchen of a lady who had migrated to Manitoba from the Ukraine. The soup was strong (not, I imagine, vegetarian!), chunky, full of many wonderful things, and was like no soup I'd ever eaten before. I loved it! This soup is named in honour of that long-ago hospitality. Thank you, Mrs B.


And now for some raw vegetable dishes we've been enjoying - nothing tricky, nothing fiddly, but all fresh and delicious!




CAULIFLOWER SALAD

This was pretty simple and almost embarrassingly easy, but it was good enough to pass on for a quick and easy dish to add to any array of salads or to have alone with some chunky French bread if you prefer. The addition of the sea vegetable adds a dimension I wouldn't have believed. Lovely :)

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets
2 or 3 green/spring onions, cut across into chunky rounds
handful of dulse, lightly rinsed and chopped into small pieces
a couple of handfuls of 'baby' carrots
1 or 2 tsp Bragg's Aminos / All-Purpose Soy Seasoning, or low-sodium soy (not strictly raw)
Zest and juice of one lime

Whisk the last two ingredients together and pour over the vegetables. Toss to lightly flavour all the vegetables with citrus and the soy. Serve with more lime wedges if you wish.


And sometimes the simplest methods sometimes escape me when I'm hassled for time. This is one of those. Tomatoes are great, just sliced and passed at the table, of course. When I'm thinking ahead even half an hour (an hour if I can), however, I like to increase the flavour a little this way (not a great photo or a very classy presentation, but you get the idea):



TOMATO PLATE

1 large tomato or as many as you wish to serve, thinly sliced
2 thin slices of onion, separated into rings or half-rings
sea salt
large handful cilantro, roughly chopped
1 lime
freshly ground black pepper
ground cummin to sprinkle to taste

At least half an hour before serving, sprinkle the tomatoes in a bowl with a little salt, layering with the onion and, if you wish, a little of the chopped cilantro. Squeeze a little lime juice over the lot.

Give the tomato mixture a couple of gentle turns in the bowl during the next half hour or so (being careful not to break up the tomato slices).

Arrange the slices of tomato and onion on a plate, add freshly ground black pepper and a sprinkle or two of ground cummin and the rest of the cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

Everyone knows how much I love eating kale. It's full of good things, including loads of calcium, but it's also so good in flavour. There are different kinds of kale, but this lovely green curly kale is what is available to me now. I'm always making salads from it these days, and I just vary the ingredients and the seasonings to make it a little different each time.



KALE AND APPLE SALAD

1 head of kale
1 or 2 slices of onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 sweet red apple
small handful of raisins
raw cider vinegar, to taste
tsp raw agave syrup
Squeeze of lemon or lime juice to taste
sprinkle of Braggs Aminos, to taste (optional) - or you could use low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
dash or two of cayenne (optional)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Strip the leaves only from the kale stems, wash, and tear into small pieces and place in a large bowl. 'Massage' these with your hands, deliberately bruising and wilting the leaves for a few minutes, until they take up less volume in the bowl and have turned darker green (as if lightly cooked). Don't worry about overdoing this - this pseudo-cooked texture is nice - taste a little as you go along!

Chop the onion, garlic and add to the kale when it is ready. If you're not going to serve immediately, chop/slice the apple just before adding the dressing - to avoid having the cut apple go brown - or sprinkle it with a little lemon juice meanwhile while it waits. Add the raisins.

Mix together the cider vinegar, agave syrup, lemon or lime juice, Braggs or soy sauce with the cayenne, if using.

Pour this dressing over the rest of the ingredients and toss. Serve in your favourite salad bowl (if you're not already using it!) with other salads or as a first course.

You'd be amazed at how lively we feel with eating so much raw food (although we're not 100 per cent raw - and our condiments are not yet completely raw) - and it certainly saves a lot of time in the kitchen! Next acquisition will be a dehydrator - than watch out!!!!!

SUNSET SOUP (Raw)

This soup I invented because I didn't want to serve even the very delicious Raw Tomato Soup twice in a row. I had seen in Brigitte Mars' book Rawsome! a recipe for Carrot-Ginger Soup which needed carrots, some left chopped, not pureed, white miso, grated ginger, garlic and water. I figured I could branch off from that and brought out a few more ingredients (and skipped the garlic for this one), fiddled with proportions, kept tasting and came up with:

SUNSET SOUP (Raw)

1 orange
1 cup chopped raw carrots
1 cup chopped raw butternut squash
3/4 cup raw cranberries (ok, I'd frozen mine from a while ago, but they were still raw)
1 Tbsp grated ginger root
1-1/2 to 2 cups water (This is approximate. Fiddle around until it's the right consistency for you.)
1 Tbsp white miso
1 Tbsp Braggs amino/all-purpose seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt (if needed) to taste

Zest the orange, remove the white pith with a sharp knife and discard, slice and chop the orange flesh, removing seeds as you go.
Put all ingredients (including the orange zest, unless you want to reserve a few strands for garnish) into your blender and puree, adding more water if needed to get to the right consistency for you.

Garnish if you like with some of the orange zest - and a few dried cranberries would be pretty, I think.

Enjoy!

RAW TOMATO SOUP

Okay, here we go, guys! It's letting me upload one photo (only one, it seems, although I tried for another for a 'soup show' item, as it were). So this keeps me happy for now - Yesssssssss!!!!!

RAW TOMATO SOUP

NOTE: not all my condiments are strictly raw - eg. the soy sauce and nutritional yeast, but I see them used in raw cookbooks.
I adapted this from recipe from a Tomato Soup in Kate Wood's _Eat Smart Eat Raw_ book.

6 tomatoes
1-1/2 sticks of celery
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp dried basil
2-1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp low sodium soy
a handful of parsley
juice and zest of half a lemon (or more to taste)
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
4 rehydrated sundried tomatoes
and as much water as I needed to make it work
fresh black pepper to taste
more salt, if you like, to taste

GARNISH: Well, maybe a little parsley and a twist of lemon? I also rehydrated a little wakame for garnish (that's the funny dark green circle of love around the lemon and lemon zest) - love any excuse for using sea vegetables! - but you can skip these if you like.

Chop what needs to be chopped and dump everything except the garnish in the blender, puree and chill. Garnish and serve. Delish!

Sardinian Cauliflower Soup With Tomatoes And Pasta

I've never been to Sardinia, but if the cuisine is anywhere as good as this soup suggests, then I would probably eat myself into bliss. I know I loved the food in another not-so-far-away island, Sicily - but that was in my pre-veggie days (I still ate f*sh back then).

Anyway, this soup, I am told, is typical of Sardinia. I found the original recipe, which I have modified, in Donna Klein's wonderful Vegan Italiano - or I should say my husband did. He loves this soup!

We first made it from a head of cauliflower, lots of garlic, crushed red pepper flakes (or live chilies), Since we don't use oil in cooking (get enough of that from the fruits, grains, beans and veggies we live on), it all goes into the pot along with around four or five cups of water or vegetable broth and cooks until the cauliflower is done - in pre-cut florets, that's around 10 minutes. At that point the soup is pureed, tasted for seasonings (some lovely fresh-ground pepper comes into its own here), and returned to the pot along with that pasta to be heated through. But wait, there's more!

The next time we made it we added 14 ounces stewed canned tomatoes (half of one of those big cans that I'd opened for something else!) and some fresh chopped basil to the puree. At the end we added cooked pasta (some brown rice elbow macaroni) to make it into an even heartier soup. Deeeeeee-lish!!! (The little bits on top are vegan bakon bits.)

SWEET POTATO AND LENTIL SOUP

SWEET POTATO AND LENTIL SOUP
(Serves 4)

This is a great soup because it uses very few and simple ingredients and is ready in a little more than twenty minutes. It can be kept in the refrigerator for about three days or it can be frozen. You can add spices of your choice or leave it pretty well as is. We leave it as is usually :) OR add a little crushed chili flakes to the pot while cooking OR stir in a little garam masala at the end.

1 small onion, chopped
5 oz (ca. 300 g) sweet potato, chopped (OK, that's about 1 small-medium, right?)
1 cup red lentils
3 cups veg stock (your own, preferably, or cheat)

In a large pot/saucepan, heat a little stock or water and add the onion and stir over medium for a couple of minutes until it is soft.

Add the sweet potato, lentils and stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until sweet potato is soft (the lentils only take about 15 - 20 minutes, so this timing depends on the sweet potato).

Blend in batches (either in a blender or using a stick blender/wand) until mixture is smooth, and return to the saucepan to reheat before serving.

You may find you need to add more stock or water - this can be VERY thick :)

It’s a great combo of flavours to which, as I say above, you can add your own for variety.

CALDO VERDE (Portuguese Kale & Potato Soup)

This has to be one of the simplest and most comforting of soups. It has everything - potatoes (which we all love), lovely dark greens, onions and garlic (the inseparable duo, in my book), and as much or as little hot chilies as you like. It's ready in the time it takes to cook the potatoes plus a little extra for the kale.


CALDO VERDE (Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup)

1 large onion, chopped
5 large cloves garlic, minced
pinch of crushed chilies (or to taste - we like it HOT!)
4 medium potatoes - abt. a pound - cubed (I leave skin on)
4 or 5 cups low sodium vegetable stock (or mix of water and stock)
1 small carrot, very finely chopped
6 ounces kale, washed, tough stems removed
1 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
Dash of tabasco
salt and pepper if needed
Garnish - your choice (parsley, green onion, etc.)

Use a large pan. Over medium-high heat, ‘saute’ the onion in a little water until translucent. add garlic and chilies and cook a minute or two longer.

Add potatoes and carrots to soup pot and add the water or water and stock. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer until potatoes are soft.

Mash the potatoes very very slightly (just crushing them, not turning them into mashed potatoes!).

Roll the washed and de-stemmed kale up into tight bundles and slice as thinly as you can with a sharp knife.

Add kale to soup pot and add in the reduced sodium soy sauce. Bring back to the boil, then lower heat to simmer to cook the kale. When the kale soft, add tabasco and freshly ground pepper and taste for seasoning, correcting if needed. (Note, depending on the size and shape of your pan and the heat you use to cook the soup, you may need to add a little more liquid to bring it to the desired consistency.)

Garnish, if you like, and serve.

We had it tonight - didn't bother with garnish - accompanied by some homemade rye breads: a pumpernickel style sourdough which is improving each time I make it and an almost all-rye rye sourdough, which was imperfect in shape but deliciously dense and flavourful. I'm working on that one some more.

BUTTERNUT TOMATO SOUP

Here's a lovely soup adapted from Barnard and Kramer's _How It All Vegan_. We had it yesterday - absolutely delicious. We made this in this size, thinking it would be good for the two of us, but we have enough left for another day.

BUTTERNUT TOMATO SOUP

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, finely minced
1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled & cubed
1/2 cup water
14-ounces canned tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup soy milk
2 green onions, finely chopped for Garnish

‘Saute’ the garlic and ginger in a little water on medium heat until the garlic is softened. Add the wuash, tomatoes, water, pepper and salt (if using) and simmer for 20 minutes or until the squash is cooked through.
Blend half the vegetables with the milk in a blender, return to the soup and simmer another 5 minutes.
Garnish and serve.

GREENS SOUP

GREENS SOUP

1 medium onion, chopped
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1 potato (about 6 ounces), scrubbed and diced
1/2 cup red lentils, picked and rinsed
2 bay leaves
4 cups water
1 zucchini (about 7 ounces), diced
1-1/2 - 2 cups fresh broccoli, chopped small
1 - 10 ounce pack frozen spinach, defrosted
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, put the onion, celery, potato and lentils with the water and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.(You need to do this because the soup will later be blended.) The potatoes and and vegetables and lentils will be softish.

Add the zucchini, broccoli, spinach, basil, cayenne, cumin and salt/pepper (if used) and return to the boil, lower heat and simmer covered for another 10 minutes or until the broccoli and spinach are cooked.

In batches, blend the soup in a blender until smooth. Return to the pan, reheat gently and adjust water content if needed (it may have become very thick). Taste for seasoning. Garnish as you please - as you see, I put aside a couple of spoonsful of the cooked veggies before blending so that I could add them to the soup as garnish. Frankly, I don't think it helps much except to advertise (to those who didn't see you make it) what's in the soup :) Accompany with breads of your choice - we chose our stand-by homemade sourdough last evening.

Slow Week, But Lots Of 'Tries'

This is a slow week for this blog, mainly because we are caught up in something else right now. But we have been trying new recipes - just not actually created anything new to pass on.

What you might like to try, though, is a lovely soup from Barnard's La Dolce Vegan - Curried Ginger Butternut Squah Soup - which takes all the usual suspects plus potato and butternut squash, with some fresh grated ginger - a humungous two inches of it, which I loved when I saw it - to give it that certain zip and flavour. It was perfect the way it was - with maybe a little more (okay, quite a little) garam masala than called for (but I'd used my own mix not her recipe for that, so that could be the reason). Very highly recommended.


Still working at cooking fat free (not had to cheat yet), my dh tried out a Red Lentil Curry by Jennifer Raymond (again!) from Neal Barnard's Turn Off The Fat Genes. It was lovely, so much so indeed that I think we ate rather more of it than our fair share. Fortunately it is low in calories.


We also collaborated in an adaptation of a Barnard & Kramer banana bread - it's wonderful, with three bananas for ultimate banana flavour and lots of chopped dates. You can find that one in How It All Vegan. It's terribly decadent in taste, but we cheated the original recipe a bit by switching the oil for another half a banana (why not!). We couldn't see any difference from the way it had turned out when we had made it before using oil, so why add such stuff in there! It's a 'good any time of day' bread/cake or what you will! Once we even followed one of their options and added carob chips to the recipe, but it was much more of a dessert then than we had in mind. Delicious though. A bread worth cultivating, I'd say.

Meanwhile, I have today made a very nice cornbread, but that story will have to wait for another time!

MUSHROOM BISQUE

This is a lovely soup which we have had twice now - and it is so simple to make. It is an adaptatiion of one in Leah Leneman's The Tofu Cookbook (1992,1998). I can't think how I overlooked it for so long!

MUSHROOM BISQUE

1 medium onion, finely chopped
3/4 lb. mushrooms, finely chopped
1 Tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2-1/2 cups (20 fl. oz.) water
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb (1 cup) soft tofu
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

'Saute' the onion and mushrooms in a little water with the paprika and cayenne, bring to a boil and lower to simmer. Cover and cook until the vegetables soften - about 10 minutes. (Don't let this boil dry.)

Add the water, salt (if using) and pepper. Stir. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for another 3 minutes.

Now your soup is almost ready. Put the tofu and lemon juice in a blender amd zap it into creamy mix, which you will now stir into the mushroom mixture. Heat very gently, not permitting it to come to the boil.


Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed. Serve immediately. Wonderful!

[NOTE: You could of course use vegetable stock in place of the water, but I decided not to do that for fear of overpowering the flavour of the mushrooms. I used just plain button mushrooms, but I plan to experiment with a mix for next time.]

Serves 4.

CARROT AND ROASTED PEPPER SOUP

While I was still using up those jarred red peppers (they did go a long way - good value!), I made this soup a few days ago. It was surprisingly good - and I'm not a big fan of carrots. The recipe is adapted from one by Jennifer Raymond in Neal Barnard’s Eat Right, Live Longer, changed for a quick and easy version with a little more zip.

CARROT AND ROASTED PEPPER SOUP

1/2 yellow cooking onion, chopped
3/4 pound peeled baby carrots, chopped
2 cups water
3 or 4 roasted red peppers from a jar
2 cups low-fat soymilk
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
dash cayenne
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste

Cook the onions and carrots in a saucepan with the water until carrots are done (15-20 minutes, depending on how large the pieces of carrot are).

In batches, put the contents of this saucepan into a blender with the roasted peppers and a little of the soymilk so that it blends easily.

Return the blended carrots, onions and pepper puree to the pan along with the rest of the soymilk if not all used in blending. If soup looks too thick (depends on how much cooking liquid you had left in that pan), add a little water to get it to the desired consistency, but soup should be thick and creamy still.

Add the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, cayenne, pepper and salt, stir well, reheat and serve.

Serves 4.

CHEEZY CAULIFLOWER SOUP

I usually make this soup in large quantities in the slow cooker, but it works just as well on top of the stove, of course. The tofu can be added or not, as a matter of choice. This particular batch I made on top of the stove and we enjoyed big bowls of it last evening.

Cheezy Cauliflower Soup (two ways of cooking)

1/2 cauliflower, chopped
1/2 brown cooking onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large stalk celery, strung and chopped
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped, or 1 Tbsp dried
1 potato, chopped (around 5 ounces weight)
4 cups water or vegetable stock
1 pkg soft silken tofu (optional)
1 Tbsp Braggs liquid
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
pinch cayenne
1 Tbsp vegan worcestershire-style sauce
pepper and salt to taste
Garnish: chopped parsley and/or celery leaves, chopped chives, vegan bakon bits, etc.

Bring the water or stock to the boil. Add the cauliflower, onion, garlic, celery, parsley and potato, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and continue to cook on simmer until the vegetables are soft. Depending on how small you chopped the vegetables, this could be 10 to 20 minutes. Test a piece of potato to see.

NOTE: For the slow cooker version, place the ingredients as above into your slow cooker or crockpot on high for around 3 hours. Return the blended vegetables to the crockpot still set on high and reheat with the rest of the ingredients for around 20 minutes or until JUST hot.

When done, remove a couple of scoops of the vegetables from the soup and set aside. Blend the rest of the vegetables and stock in batches in a blender. If you use the tofu, add it to the blender along with the soup. (You could of course use a blender wand instead, leaving some vegetables unblended for texture.)

Return the blended soup to the pan, add the vegetables you set aside, set over medium-high heat, and take this opportunity to add a little more water or stock to bring the soup to the desired consistency. This will be depend on your pan and the stove heat - more liquid may have evaporated in the cooking than you prefer. Also, if you choose to use the tofu, the consistency will have changed. Soup should be creamy in substance.

While bringing the soup back to the boil, add the Braggs, nutritional yeast, cayenne, worcestershire sauce, pepper and salt, and stir well. Taste for seasoning and adjust if neeeded.

Garnish and serve with your favourite bread, quickbread or biscuits.

CURRIED PARSNIP SOUP

CURRIED PARSNIP SOUP

A lovely soup for gusty March days - or any time!

This is a HOT AND SPICY* (see below) soup with the strong tang of lemon, which is wonderful if you love, as we do, the tastes of Indian spices (in the garam masala and cayenne) and lemon. Both of these can be adjusted to suit tastes. It owes its existence to several sources, but it is a staple here now and keep avolving a little each time it is made.

1 medium onion, chopped
2 large parsnips, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 - 1 Tbsp garam masala (to taste - try a little at a time)*
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste)*
1 rounded Tbsp wholewheat flour
4 cups vegetable stock (homemade, if you have it handy)
grated zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon (OR a little less, depending on size and juiciness of lemon - taste as you go)
freshly ground black pepper
salt? - probably not needed
Garnish: strips of lemon zest and/or chopped cilantro/coriander leaves.

* RE 'HOT AND SPICY' - NOTE ADDED TO ORIGINAL POST 18 MARCH : We like our spicy food, and by that I mean that we have eaten our way around parts of Asia and gobbled the chilies that are sliced, as if they were bell peppers, and strewn profusely on top of some of the already spiced dishes. By 'hot and spicy' I mean BEWARE. Please add your garam masala and cayenne or whatever very carefully, tasting as you go. If you use commercial garam masala mixes, some can be very hot - some less so - and in this they are not unlike commercial 'curry powders' - that is to say they are unreliable in the degree of heat (and btw flavour) you can expect from one brand or type to the next. So, I repeat, if you use these please add them a bit at a time until you get the degree of heat just right.

METHOD:
In a large pan, heat a very little water to cook the onions, parsnips and garlic until softish, stirring for about five minutes. Vegetables should be a little soft but not turning brown. Add the spices and stir well, sprinkle on the flour and stir very well for half a minute and then immediately add the stock, lemon juice and the zest. Taste to establish the degree of sourness you require from the lemon - you can always add more later.

Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 or 20 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked.

Take out a couple of spoonfulls of those vegetables and set aside. You will add them to the finished soup later for texture and interest. (If you prefer a pureed soup, however, you can skip this part and puree the lot. Both are good.)

Either pour the soup into a blender and puree, OR use a magic wand to puree in the pan (watch for splatters if you choose the latter method - there is no magic to avoid burns and stains.). Soup should be lovely and smooth. (As you see above, I chose not to leave chunky bits in mine this time, but to puree the lot. Equally good.)

Re-heat the soup together with those chunkier vegetables you set aside and bring the volume of soup up to 4 cups by adding a little water, if needed.

Taste again for seasoning (Okay? It should not need salt unless you used a salt-free stock)


Serve in heated bowls, add a grind of black pepper and garnish, and cut a nice thick slice of your favourite bread. The one you see here is my homemade wholewheat sourdough, but a slightly sweet quickbread works beautifully too. Very nice and comforting!

YELLOW SPLIT-PEA SOUP

[NOTE: This recipe has been edited, Saturday 12 April 2008, since a recent comment indicates the warnings about it being spicy and that the chiles could be omitted were overlooked. Additionally, I have made a note that the cloves could be reduced in number. This is a soup, as is conventional, made from DRIED split peas and I have made that clearer below. Also, I have emphasized that the soup IS a thick one and that you will undoubtedly need to add more liquid as it goes along (depending on your pan, your heat) and perhaps some at the end to thin it out to a consistency coincidental with your personal taste.]
-----
This is a great soup for gusty March evenings.



Rarely a week goes by, except on the hottest of summer days, that we don’t have this soup at least once. Sometimes we serve it with dumplings (added in the last 20 minutes before serving), sometimes with crusty bread. As usual, you’ll note it is a bit on the SPICY side - that’s to our taste. You can be more conventional and OMIT the chiles if you prefer and cut down on the cloves. But for us, that extra zing is what for us sets our version ahead of the rest :)

We made a big pot of this and had some last night. (The soup has the virtue of freezing well.)

YELLOW SPLIT-PEA SOUP

8 cups vegetable stock (homemade if you have it)
1 cup carrots, grated (a couple of carrots, depending on size)
2 large ribs of celery, very finely diced
1/2 brown cooking onion, very finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dried yellow split peas
3 bay leaves
7-10 whole cloves (or to taste)
a few grinds black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced (or use a tsp dried)
crushed chiles to taste (we use 1/2 - 1 tsp, depending on our mood)
1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke
Garnish: minced parsley

Put all ingredients in your soup pot, bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 50 - 60 minutes or until the lentils are cooked. Check from time to time to stir and make sure the soup doesn’t stick on the bottom of the pan. Add more liquid if needed - and yes, you will need to do this (I always do or it becomes more like a dhal than a soup).

When soup seems done to your satisfaction, taste for seasoning. Remove bay leaves before serving, Garnish with parsley.

We had ours yesterday with some lovely home-made quick bread.

TOMATO CABBAGE SOUP

I make this soup fat-free (although die-hards are welcome to sautee the onions in a couple of Tbsp of oil if they must) and simmer for a bit longer than the stipulated time, since I think the longer these things cook the nicer they are. But for a Quick Fix soup, the time stated here is the one to follow.

TOMATO CABBAAGE SOUP (QUICK AND EASY FIX)

This recipe is easy and can be quickly made - It’s slightly adapted from Sarah Kramer’s _La Dolce Vegan_.

1 small red onion, minced
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp paprika, or to taste (we added a little more)
1 -14 oz can diced tomatoes
2-1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups cabbage, very finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground black pepper or to taste
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp maple syrup
salt, if you use it, to taste

Put all ingredients, except for the vinegar and maple syrup, into a soup pan and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat so that the soup ingredients simmer gently. After around 20 minutes, Stir in the vinegar and syrup. Salt if you like.

There ya go - a tasty, nutritious, easy soup that will serve a couple of hungry people or twice as many for a first course only.

Serve with a nice hunk of homemade wholewheat sourdough bread.

Can be kept in the fridge for a few days, but not recommended for freezing :( Definitely a keeper!!

CABBAGE & POTATO SOUP

I made this for our evening meal - it is deliciously creamy without being sinful! We like that :)

CREAMY CABBAGE AND POTATO SOUP
(Low Fat)

Serves 4, but can easily be doubled.

2 cups good vegetable stock, homemade preferred
1 cup cabbage, shredded
8 oz. potato, peeled and diced
1/2 cup chopped leeks (a mild onion also works well - I’ve tried both)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce (read the label - no anchovies)
1/4 tsp caraway seeds
1-1/2 cups soymilk (I used light soymilk, but you could go all out and use regular)
1-1/2 Tbsp cornstarch and enough water to dissolve
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste if needed (much will depend on your veg stock)
dash tabasco sauce (if you dislike it, skip it, but it gives a lovely little tang)
Garnish: a little fresh chopped chive or parsley or herb of choice.

Heat the stock over medium-high heat and add the vegetables. Reduce heat and simmer until tender.

Add the Dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, caraway seeds, stir well and simmer a few more minutes to blend all flavours. The result may be thick, so watch that it doesn’t burn or catch on the bottom of the pan.

Remove soup from heat. Take half the soup from the pan and puree in a blender with some of the soymilk. Return puree to pan and stir well with the remaining soup. Add the remaining soymilk and the cornstarch mix. Bring the soup back to the simmer and stir carefully until heated through and thickened by the cornstarch. Taste and add the tabasco and salt (if used) and pepper and give one last stir for luck!

Garnish and serve.

BORSCHT (Russian Beet and Cabbage Soup)

It is the long simmering which makes this simple recipe especially good. It can also be served chilled, of course. Although borscht (of which this is a version) is not usually pureed, this makes it extra special and suitable for family or dinner party fare. Surprisingly, this also freezes well.

BORSCHT (Russian Beet and Cabbage Soup)

750 g (1-1/2 lb) raw beet/beetroot, peeled and diced OR same of cooked*
1 small cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 small carrot, chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 onions, chopped
1.5 litres (2-1/2 pints or 6 US cups) vegetable stock (homemade if you
have it)
sea salt to taste (depending on the salitiness of your stock)
freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 Tbsp vinegar (taste carefully as you add it)
vegan yoghurt or vegan sour 'creme' for garnish
grated cucumber for garnish

Put all the vegetables in a large pan and add the stock. Bring to the
boil and simmer for 2 hours. (You could also do this in a crockpot or slow
cooker.)

Put the soup in a blender in batches, season with salt and pepper and
add a Tbsp of vinegar, then another half Tbsp depending on your taste. Reheat
gently, garnish with the 'creme' and grated cucumber. Serves 6.

*If you are lazy like me, you may want to boil beets up one day - to use
for another dish - and reserve the amount of beets needed for this soup.
In that case, I like to boil the beets in their skins and then plunge them into
cold water. That way the skins just slip off - far less trouble and less
mess. Then you can add the cooked beets to the other ingredients as above.
The soup is good either way.

Enjoy!