It has been a Vegan Yum Yum week at our house. On Tuesday, I opted for the Tamarind Seitan kabobs and last night was all about Banh Mi sandwiches made with Smokey Miso Tofu. I don't tinker with this recipe, as it is so good that it is already perfect. I do recommend using parchment paper just for easier clean up. Also, do be sure that you press your tofu. Here are some pictures of my set up. Notice that the weight is a metal bowl full of bags of dried beans. Trust me that you want a weight that can't really break. My favorite glass bowl that I used to make bread dough and my favorite iron skillet are weights I used in the past, and they both broke (the handle on the skillet broke off--I still use it. The bowl, unfortunately, did not make it). The bread for this was my version of Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Here's my recipe. My modifications are that I don't use any white AP flour and I add oil and sugar. 1/2 T of each for a standard baguette isn't going to hurt you :) You can leave the oil and sugar out if you must, but know that the texture of the bread will be rougher. The oil and sugar make it a softer loaf. I'm sure there's a science to this, but I just know the bread doesn't tear up the roof of my mouth this way. In a mixing bowl: 3 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour (King Arthur, Bob's Red Mill, Kroger brand, Gold Medal) 2 Tablespoons of Vital Wheat Gluten 1 Tablespoon of instant yeast In a measuring cup: 2 cups of water (this should be warmish. You are going for a long rise time, so you don't have to be too picky as long as you don't have HOT water and kill your yeast) 1/2 Tablespoon of salt 1 Tablespoon of sugar 1 Tablespoon of olive oil Stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Pour this in the bowl with your dry ingredients. Stir until all of the flour is taken up. It is a wet, shaggy dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. I let mine go for a good four hours. Once your dough is ready to go, line your French loaf pan with parchment paper. Dust the top of your dough with flour and punch it down. I just karate chop it down the center to separate the two dough balls. One goes in each side of my lined baguette pan. I cover with a towel and let it rise again while the oven preheats to 425. Let it rise a good 30 minutes. Bake for 25 minutes and then remove to cool while you cook your tofu (also at 425, handily enough). The crowning touch is a good slaw. Chop up about two cups of green cabbage, two carrots (I just ribbon it with my peeler), and a good cup or so of julienne cut peppers. I used those little tri-color sweet peppers that come in a bag (which also skewer and grill well to go with your Tamarind Kabobs because you know you're going to make that one, too). The dressing is simply 1 Tablespoon of lime juice, 1 Tablespoon of good quality Tamari (you can use soy sauce if that's what you have), and a bit of garlic chili paste. That's it. Toss it together and cram it in your sandwich. To build these, I generally slice a baguette in half, then I split each of those halves across. I pull out a good bit of the interior and save those for raggedy croutons or bread crumbs for some other dish later. I also feed some to Trey, who says to me all the time that I don't bake bread nearly often enough. Enjoy! I highly recommend you get the VYY app if you have an iPhone or iPad. It's a great resources when you know you want something vegan and something yummy.
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I realized last week that even though I tend to bake probably once a week, I haven't really shared baked goods here. I had to visit the office last week, so before I took off for Michigan, I made a batch of muffins. The idea was that I'd take one for the road, and Dani would have some here at the house while I was gone. I did eat one before I left, and thankfully I put 1/2 of the batch in the freezer because they got forgotten. It's not that they weren't good; we were just crazy busy!
I adapted this recipe, which I had made as a loaf before. I will definitely make these again, and so I everyone can have them, I made these gluten-free! Pumpkin Muffins Makes 12 muffins
Mix the dry. Add the wet. Stir it just until mixed. Load up your muffin tin. Baker for 35 minutes or so (they should pass the toothpick test). Enjoy! So, we just got back from our most recent pilgrimage to New Orleans. We visited some old stand bys like Palace Cafe and Muriels, but we tried some new places this time, too. The first dinner we had was at Lost Love Lounge, which is in the Bywater or the Marigny depending on who is telling you were it is. They have a kitchen in the back, and I had remembered reading about it in the Underground New Orleans book we bought a couple of years ago. And it was super close to the B&B we were staying at, so within an hour of touch down we were there for drinks and dinner. One of us ordered their vegetarian Pho, as it was raining, and the other ordered the Fried Tamarind Tofu. Both were great, as were the kimchi dumplings we had as a starter. We left determined to make the tofu dish at home (OK, I left determined to make it and D left determined to try it out when I did). I've lightened this up considerably, as the original is batter dipped and fried. Dani declared it better than the restaurant version because my version is heavier on the tamarind. Tofu Tamarind Noodle Bowl
Serves four--inspired by Lost Love Lounge, NOLA
I used to make green chile stew and red posole with pork butt. I then later used Butler soy curls, which I do love, as a meat stand in or pinto beans, but a few months ago I had some black beans in the freezer and I decided that this is my new favorite. It's sort of a combination of my pork heavy green chile stew and my posole. It's a great way to use up leftover tomatillo sauce. If you don't have that hiding out in your fridge or freezer, you could use canned green enchilada sauce or a good bottled green tomatillo salsa, I reckon. Green Posole Serves at least 4-6 3 Poblano peppers, diced 1-2 Jalapenos, diced (seeded) 5-6 cloves garlic 1 large onion, diced 1 teaspoon cumin seed 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon smoked bittersweet paprika (optional, chili powder is fine, but just not smokey) 3 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed (2 cans) 3 cups posole (2 cans, drained and rinsed) 3 cups water or vegetable stock 2 cups tomatillo sauce (homemade or canned/jarred) I used homemade, but Herdez brand is good, and you could get two small cans of that. Use what you like. Fixin's: This soup is awesome with some cilantro and shredded cabbage on top, as well as with a slice of lime. Corn chips (I oven baked some tortillas dusted with salt, pepper, and chili powder for about 12 minutes at 425) are excellent crumbled up in the soup, and of course, avocado is always welcome to the party. Other fun add ins to the bowl include sliced radishes, and if you're in the mood for cheese, go for it. Process (stove top): Heat a large soup pot with a bit of oil (you can certainly broth-fry the veggies if you can't have oil). Add the onion, peppers, garlic and seasoning and saute a few minutes until the onion is starting to soften and the pot is fragrant. Throw in the hominy and beans, stir, then add the liquids and bring to a simmer. Let the flavors marry by simmering, covered, for at least 45 minutes. Notes: I did the whole dish in about an hour from dried beans to finished soup using my pressure cooker. The black beans went in for 30 minutes, they were drained and set aside. Using the brown function, I sauteed the vegetables and then combined everything and put the pressure back on for 30 minutes on the soup setting. If you haven't considered a GoWise or Fagor all in one (see my "Kitchen Love" page for the one I have), I recommend it. I have yet to use the slow cooker function, but I've made this and Pigeon Peas and Coconut Rice this week in my wonder pot.
This recipe is adapted from the Sunset Vegetarian Cooking book that someone gave me in a box of odds and ends over 20 years ago. I am happy to see that you can still purchase copies, as mine is missing the first few pages, which included this recipe. There's also an almond mushroom pate that I posted about on Two Fat Sisters awhile back that's from this cookbook and a mushroom-cashew stuffed bun that I love to make. I'm pretty sure this was my first vegetarian cookbook.
On to the Hummus. This recipe likely came about before tahini was readily available, as it uses whole sesame seeds that are toasted before being blended with the chickpeas. I find the taste of commercial tahini to be rather bitter, and sesame seeds are so nice to have around for topping rolls, putting in stir fries, using in baking. I use a Vitamix, so I just peel and seed the lemon before chunking it in the blender. If you don't have a high powered blender, you might just use the juice. Hummus Yield is approximately 1.5 cups 1.5 cups of cooked chickpeas, drained (but save the liquid). This is equivalent to a 14 ounce can 1 lemon (or lime), juiced if you don't have a high powered blender 1/4 cup sesame seeds (raw) 1 teaspoon cumin seed (or sub ground cumin if that's what you have) 1 teaspoon salt 1-2 cloves of garlic 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 3 Tablespoons of the reserved chickpea liquid Paprika (optional, but nice on top, especially smoked paprika) Toast the sesame seeds and cumin seeds in a dry frying pan until toasty and fragrant. Dump this in your blender with the garlic cloves and let the blender grind that up (see the second picture above). Add all of the remaining ingredients and start blending. You might find that scraping down the sides of the blender helps to get it all ground without making it soupy. I like mine thick enough that it will stand on a spatula (picture three). The last picture has a sprinkling of smoked bittersweet paprika on top. Enjoy! I love pearl onions, red wine, and mushrooms together. I've often made seitan bourguignon, but last Sunday I decided to go with the green French lentils I had left instead of resorting to a meat analogue. I was not disappointed.
Lentil & Mushroom Bourguignon Serves 4-6 1/2 cup lentils, rinsed and sorted (I used French green, but regular brown would be fine, just not as firm) Put these in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Cook these, covered, with a bay leaf for about 20-25 minutes. 1 cup diced onion 1/2 cup diced celery 1/2 cup diced carrot 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup red wine (I used an old vine cab, but use what you've got as long as it's not too sweet) 1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock (use broth cubes or powder if you don't have stock) 2 Tablespoons of tomato paste (optional, but adds depth) 3/4 pound (1.5 boxes) of baby bello or button mushrooms, sliced 1 bag of pearl onions 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme salt and pepper Saute the onion, celery, and carrots together for about five minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute until they have a bit of color and some of the liquid is released (about five minutes). Add the garlic, thyme, and the cooked lentils (the water should be mostly cooked out, so just dump them in the pan. The juice adds flavor here). Take the bay leaf out so you don't have to search for it later. Make a "hole" in the center of the pan by pushing the vegetables to the sides of the pan. Put in the tomato paste and stir it around, breaking it up and getting some heat to it. Stir in the wine (NOTE: if you have a gas stove, turn the heat off unless you want to run the risk of a flare up. Add wine and then turn the pan back on). Cook for a minute or two to reduce the wine a bit, then add the stock and pearl onions. Cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes or so, giving the pearl onions time to soak up some sauce and everything to come together. Taste for seasoning after 30 minutes and adjust as necessary. Normally, I would serve this over mashed potatoes, but I've recently developed a love of the Hasselback potato. Pouring the chunky stew over the potato ensures that it gets in those crannies and you want a knife to cut chunks of potatoes off as you eat. This provides a more substantial feel to the meal, and the crispy bits on the potato add some interest (plus you saved calories from the fat and plant-based milk that you would put in your mash. To cook the potatoes, I just prepped them and rubbed with a tiny bit of olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and shoved them in a 425 degree oven for about 45 minutes or so. My neighbor Stacy gave me a challenge--to make one of her favorite soups healthier. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about the recipe, and perhaps even more skeptical that a vegan version would be good, but I wound up with a recipe that I think will become a regular meal around here. I'll let her post a comment here about whether it was successful for her, as I just dropped off a taster.
The original recipe went like this: 2 cans of butter beans 1 lb. bulk sausage (cooked and drained) 1 can of diced tomatoes with their juice 1 can of cream of celery soup 1/4 cup of milk a couple of handfuls of kale So, two challenges here--the sausage and the cream of celery soup. I believe that pretty much anything savory needs onion and garlic (I could never be a Hare Krishna). So, my solution to the cream of celery was to roast together celery, onions, and garlic and then puree that. The sausage is swapped out with well-seasoned TVP. Here's the redo: Stacy's Veganized Butter Bean Soup Serves 4-6 2 cans of butter beans, drain and rinse 1 can of diced tomatoes and their juice 1 1/2-2 cups of unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used homemade almond) 1 1/2 cups of frozen chopped kale, thawed Combine in a baking dish: 1 Tablespoon of olive oil 3 stalks of celery, cut in chunks 1 medium onion, rough chop (you can see the size in the picture above) 3 cloves of garlic, sliced in big chunks Salt and pepper Toss and roast at 425 for 30 minutes or until fairly soft and starting to show some color. Puree in a food processor or blender. In a heat proof bowl stir together the dry ingredients below, then add the hot water. Let sit until the water is absorbed, then fluff with a fork. This and the puree can be made the night before or on a weekend so you can pull them out and throw the soup together quickly. 1 cup of TVP 1 teaspoon of paprika 1/4 t. smoked bittersweet or sweet paprika 1 Tablespoon of no-chicken broth powder 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper 1 teaspoon of ground sage 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, well crushed black pepper a few dashes of liquid smoke 1 cup of boiling water When you are ready to get cooking, put the TVP "sausage" in a nonstick skillet with a bit of oil, just to keep things moving. Once that's heated up a bit, throw in the celery puree, stirring it to distribute it. Add your beans and kale, the tomatoes, and almond milk. I actually just refilled the tomato can with almond milk (hence my inexact measure above). Heat through. Stacy recommended crusty bread and hot sauce, and I second those recommendations. The fat could be cut more if you dry roast the vegetables (no oil) but I didn't want to completely cut the fat, as I was already making a gamble with the TVP. I have a bag of dried cannellini beans so my next batch will probably swap out three cups of those. I would imagine that Cranberry/Borlotti beans would be awesome in here, too. I hope more folks will ask for recipe renovations! I had great fun with this one, and Dani and I were thanking Stacy for the idea with every bite. I love eggplant, so I often just buy it with no clear plan. That's what happened last week, and I wasn't in the mood for Eggplant Parmesan or Roasted Eggplant Pizza, so I was not sure what I was going to do with it. Pair an eggplant with my current obsession with Almond Milk Béchamel, and a vegan version of Moussaka made sense. Apparently, there are a lot of varieties of this dish, and sometimes the variations are based on the locality. So, since I don't really care for nutmeg in my béchamel, I didn't use it. Feel free to if that's your thing. This version is sort of a marriage of my mom's zucchini lasagne and a moussaka and all made vegan. Grilled Eggplant Moussaka Serves 4 1 cup of dry TVP (texturized vegetable protein), or 4 servings of veggie crumbles thawed (Morningstar, Gimme Lean, etc) 1 teaspoon of bittersweet smoked paprika 1 teaspoon of salt 1 teaspoon of garlic powder 1 teaspoon of onion powder 1 cup of boiling water Stir together and let sit until the TVP absorbs the water Brown one diced onion and two (2) minced garlic cloves in a nonstick skillet. Add the seasoned, reconstituted TVP and cook together for a few minutes. To this, add two (2) Tablespoons of tomato paste ad two (2) Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Finally, add one can (14 ounces) of diced tomatoes (fire-roasted if you can get them). Taste for seasoning. To prepare the eggplant, I simply rubbed the slices of one regular Italian eggplant with olive oil and salt and pepper and then grilled them on my grill pan. If you don't have a grill or grill pan, you could simply brown the eggplant in a skillet to get some sear on it ad cook it through.
The béchamel is basically the same as in my Seitan Divan. I toasted two (2) Tablespoons of flour in my skillet, added one (1) Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and then whisked in 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk. I then seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I will confess I also did some nutritional yeast for the savory almost cheese like flavor, but if you don't care for Nooch, feel free to leave it out. This would be where you put in the nutmeg if you want to use it. Cook until creamy. To assemble, lightly grease or spray a casserole dish and put in enough of the TVP sauce mix to cover the bottom, then a layer of eggplant, a layer of sauce, and so on until you're out of both. I wound up with two layers of eggplant and three layers of sauce. Top with the béchamel ad bake at 375 for 30 minutes or util bubbly. You can brown the béchamel under the broiler, I suspect, if you want more browning and blistering. Notes: This could be easily made gluten-free by simply swapping out the flour in the béchamel with a gluten free flour. Also, I used balsamic vinegar here to avoid using wine just because I didn't have a bottle open and didn't want to open one, but feel free to swap out some red wine for the vinegar. I often use balsamic in place for red wine in tomato sauces. One of the biggest challenges for me as a plant-based eater is lunch. On days where there are leftovers from the night before, lunch is usually the leftovers as i always cook for four, even though there are just two of us. I'm a pretty left-over friendly person the first time, and when something is really good, I welcome the opportunity to eat it the next day.
But I digress. Sandwiches and wraps can be especially hard for the newly vegan or veganish. After all, we tend to think of sandwich meat and sandwich slices of cheese--everything is sliced to go on the sandwich to the point that the meat and dairy industry have shaped their foods to fit on a slice of bread. So, it can take some invention to figure out how to do sandwiches that are not animal centric. If you're ovo-lacto and eat eggs and/or cheese, it is not quite as difficult. But even then, how many variations on grilled cheese can you eat? Enter today's lunch. This recipe is inspired by Giada De Laurentis' Tuna and White Bean salad, which I used to make fairly often when I still ate fish. Here, the artichoke hearts stand in for the tuna. I was working from memory here, which is why I didn't do the full 1/3 cup of capers. Artichoke and White Bean Salad Serves 4 (mileage may vary); approximately 1 cup per serving 1 can of quartered artichoke hearts in brine 1 can of white kidney beans 2 cloves of minced garlic 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (substitute 1/4 t. ground cumin in that's what you have) 1/2 cup minced onion 1/2 cup minced celery (the leaves are nice to leave in) Parsley (I had dried, so I put in a heaping Tablespoon) Zest and juice of one large lemon 1 Tablespoon of good extra virgin olive oil 1 Tablespoon of capers (optional, but I love capers. Sliced green olives would be good here, too, if you are into that kind of thing) Drain and rinse the white beans. Put them in a bowl. Drain the liquid from the artichoke hearts and add the hearts to the bowl. I like to paste the garlic, salt, and cumin seed together. To do this, simply mince all of it together, then take the flat side of your knife and press the mix between the blade and your cutting board. This helps break up the garlic and the flavor of the salt and cumin gets in the garlic juice which means better distribution in the bowl. Add that to the bowl, and then add all of the other ingredients. Stir, taste, and add more salt and fresh ground black pepper if you like. I scooped a cup of this onto a flat out bread and went to town. Note that tomatoes are optional and I would not recommend you stir them into the salad for storage because they get wimpy and water things down. I went through a pretty major Bisquick phase when I first started cooking for myself. I remember being very impressed with the Bisquick recipe for Turkey Divan back when I was eating meat regularly. I happened to have some homemade almond milk on hand as well as some broccoli that needed to be eaten, so I decided to give it a shot in vegan form. I went on a research trip around the web and discovered that this little dish has a history. In the 1950s, apparently a New York restaurant (since gone) by the name of Divan Parisienne wanted to come up with a dish that sounded and looked elegant. The resulting concoction was a hit, and it soon became a star in home kitchens with the substitutions of canned cream of chicken or mushroom soup standing in for the mornay sauce and cheese subbing for the almonds. So, not only does this recipe veganize the classic, but it takes us back to a more whole foods version that may actually be more traditional than the versions made from canned goods. Note that I do not blanch the broccoli, but if you wanted to, go for it. Seitan Divan Serves 4 For the Seitan: 3/4 cups vital wheat gluten flour 1/4 cup Garbanzo bean flour (AKA chickpea four or Besan) 1 Tablespoon No chicken broth powder 1 teaspoon soy sauce Up to 1 cup of filtered water Stir everything but the water together. Start adding the water, putting in about 1/2 a cup. I find that this recipe needs a different amount of water than the recipe calls for (the original link is above), and this might have to do with the brand of vital wheat gluten flour and other factors. You want a slightly wet dough, but not so soft that you can't knead it to develop the gluten. Knead it fairly well, until you see it is forming strings. I tend to punch it in the bowl to get a cohesive mass as possible without layers caused in the kneading process. In a standard loaf pan, put 1 1/2 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of no-chicken broth, and 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce. Place your flat oval of kneaded seitan in the broth mixture, cover the pan with foil and bake for one hour at 325. At the end of an hour, uncover, flip the loaf, and bake covered for another hour. Remove and let cool (you can make this the day before). The second picture above shows the cooled loaf. I know it doesn't look glamorous. That's ok. You're going to pretty it up with almonds in a bit. What I did to cut this into four serving was to slice it down the middle and then I set the flat ends on the board and sliced down through the two halves, forming four cutlets. If you don't want to do this, you could always make four cutlets instead of a loaf, but I like the firmness of the loaf for applications like this. Save the broth in the loaf pan, as you'll want to add it to your béchamel. Combine 1/4 cup of flour of your choice with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, salt and pepper. Dredge the seitan cutlets in this flour mixture. In a non-stick skillet brown those pieces. Your goal here is to add a bit of texture on the outside, as well as some seasoning. This also helps to dry the seitan out a bit--it is going to bake on top of broccoli that will release a bit of moisture and under your béchamel. So, you want to dry it a bit--that's my theory, at any rate. I'm sure it would be fine if you skipped this step. Take your broccoli and cut into florets. Spray or lightly oil a casserole dish and place broccoli in the bottom. I tossed mine with a little salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon each of onion and garlic powder. Place the sliced seitan on top. In the same skillet you browned the seitan in, put in 2 Tablespoons of flour and 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to make a quick roux. The pan is probably still hot, so it won't take much time at all for the flour to toast and for you to pull the roux together. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of almond milk and add to that the reserved seitan cooking liquid. Whisk this into the roux and cook until thickened like white gravy. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, yet another 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of dried parsley. Taste for seasoning. One it tastes good to you, pour this over the seitan and broccoli.
Scatter sliced almonds on top, cover the pan with foil, and bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake another five minutes to ensure the almonds have a bit of crunch, if that's your thing. Variations: You could use cheese here, and there are plenty of vegans who whip out the Daiya for this one. Gluten intolerant? I would think that Soy Curls would work well here. I would reconstitute those, squeeze out the excess water and toss them with some of the No Chicken broth powder or seasoned salt before putting them in the casserole dish. Tofu cutlets would probably work fine, as would Tempeh cutlets that are browned prior to assembly. In a hurry or scared to make your own seitan? I would think this would work great with those store bought "Chik" patties or with Gardein chicken style cutlets. If you are wanting this quicker than the process above, use store bought unsweetened plant milk (I'd go almond, just because you have almonds on top, but that's me), Chik patties, and frozen broccoli instead of fresh. |
Who's dishing?Angel lives in Camden, Arkansas where she writes stuff and sometimes sends it out to other people to read. She used to grade papers, but not anymore. Check out her main site to see what she's up to lately. Archives
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