18 posts tagged “vegan”
Things keep happening in the real world, keeping me from Voxing as usual.
On Friday, I tried to get my credentials verified for when I go out into the adult world. Its a nerve wracking process, and will probably take a few months to complete. After which the even more nerve-wracking visa-job-moving process will begin. Let the fun begin.
Received Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads in the mail. Did not receive Freud's New Lectures. Made a transitional rye hearth bread. Did not make slides for case conference on Thursday.
Had our first American car-wash experience. Tis fun! I can't wait to go back.
Took some shots with the new 55-200mm lens, which we found at Circuit City closing sale at half the price. (Made me feel a bit like a grave robber.)
You knew the pics were coming, didn't you? :)
We paired the bread with a hearty vegetable-quinoa-bean soup. The soup is basically a mish-mash of several web-recipes, but it is really good.
Soup recipe
A baking sheet full of roasted veggies. I used one red onion, two zucchini, a carrot, and one orange pepper, tossed with 1 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted in a 400 degree post-bread-baking oven for 30 minutes.
1/2 cup pinto beans, soaked for a few hours in warm water
1/4 cup quinoa, washed well in warm water (removes the bitterness)
1 tbsp Better than Buillion veggie base (or one buillion cube)
1 cup packed washed baby spinach leaves
1 tsp garam masala
1 cup diced canned tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh herbs (I used sage and oregano)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil in a presure cooker/heavy pot. Add the quinoa and stir around for a couple of minutes, until toasted. Then add the roasted veggies, beans, tomatoes, veggie base, salt and pepper, and about 6 cups of water. Bring the whole mess to a boil and then simmer, covered, until the beans are tender. (In a pressure cooker this will take about twenty minutes, or two whistles.)
During the last few minutes, add the baby spinach, garam masala and fresh herbs. Serve with warm bread and maybe some cheese. Enjoy.
I'd like to send one of the pictures above to this month's Click over at Jugalbandi, themed Wood (includes paper, cane). Which one do you like best?
*Edited to add: I'm sending the first picture to Click-wood. Thanks! Not very happy with it, but too lazy to try more.
The sourdough experiments continue. My strategy now is to approach bread recipes just like I do non-baked goods. Pick what you like and modify what you don't. Seems to working so far. :)
The bread has a crisp, crackly crust and a big, holey crumb. While it has a good sourdough flavor, I prefer the whole wheat flour-rye combination more than white flour-rye. We paired the bread with a winter-worthy roasted squash and corn soup.
The soup recipe is a (big) modification of this one. You will need:
1 large butternut squash, chopped into approximately 4 cup big chunks and 2 cups small dice
1 large sprig rosemary
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 inch piece fresh ginger
1 tbsp orange/lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp olive oil
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
- To a soup pot, add the large chunks of squash, rosemary, ginger and bring it to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer until squash is very tender.
- Toss the diced squash and corn with olive oil and maple syrup and spread it on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until they are nice and golden.
- Puree the squash in the pot, then add half of the roasted veggies, the zest and the garam masala. Simmer for another five minutes.
- Ladle into bowls, top with some more roasted veggies, and serve.
Lets just say I'm drooling at the thought of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The Norwich Sourdough goes to Susan for the weekly YeastSpotting.
Ever since I read the word this morning, I can't help but keep on saying it, with the exclamation mark at the end. :) How can something with such a fun name not taste good?
From wikipedia:
A filling such as jam, fruit, potato, cottage cheese or farmer cheese, cooked ground meat, cooked chicken and even chopped mushrooms, bean sprouts, cabbage and onions (for a Chinese eggroll-type blintz) is rolled or enveloped into a pre-fried blintz and then the blintz is lightly re-fried, sauteed or baked. Such a blintz is also called nalysnyky in that form (Ukrainian: налисники) or blinchiki (Russian: блинчики).
Of course, my vegan blintzes inspired from the Veganomicon are nothing like the original. The crepes have no yeast or egg, and I decided to duck tradition completely and use chickpea flour instead of wheat, resulting in crepes that are more like the Indian pooda. In fact, these blintzes bear an uncanny resemblance to my mom's moong lentil flour poodas, which she stuffs with scrambled cottage cheese. I did a potato-spinach-cheese stuffing, but you can use any combination of veggies you like.
Ingredients:
For the crepes:
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
vegetable oil/spray for cooking
For the stuffing:
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
2 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
1 lb frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup shredded cheese/tofu
salt and pepper to taste
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, paprika and cilantro. Pour in the oil and then the water, whisking constantly to get a thin batter. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
- Heat a griddle/ crepe pan. Spray with oil. Add about 1/4 cup batter at a time, tilting the pan to spread it out in a circle. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until the crepes are a golden yellow. Repeat. You will get about 6 crepes from this recipe.
- In a skillet, heat a tbsp of oil. Add the cumin and caraway and let them sizzle. Then add the veggies and cheese and cook for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- On each crepe, put about 1/6th of the filling in the center. Pat it down into an oblongish shape, and roll the crepe into a packet, tucking in the ends. You will end up with blintzes that look like envelopes. Place them seam side down on the plate as you roll them.
- Back to the griddle. Heat it, spray with oil, and place the blintzes seam side down, 2-3 at a time. Cook them on one side for a couple of minutes, flip and cook the other side.
- Serve hot with ketchup/salsa/chutney.
If you like savory crepes, you will Love these little babies. The chickpea flour (available as gram flour/besan in Indian stores) gives them a great flavor and that pretty yellow color, and its actually good for you. Blinchiki!
(In which in-laws are successfully duped into thinking that tofu tastes as good as paneer)
Talking to my American friends, Palak paneer is the most ordered dish in the local Indian restaurant, next only to chicken tikka masala. It is also one of the easier restaurant dishes to recreate at home.
Ingredients:
1 lb spinach ( I used frozen)
1 block tofu, pressed and cubed, or paneer, fresh Indian cottage cheese, or Mexican queso fresco
* taste-wise, paneer or fresh Mexican cottage cheese are the best bets. For vegans and those of us who always have spare blocks of tofu sprouting to life in the fridge, tofu is a fine substitute. To help the tofu absorb maximum flavor from the gravy, press it under a couple of cans upto an hour ahead or freeze overnight and thaw.
1 onion, chopped (optional)
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped (optional, but good)
1 cup tomatoes, chopped (canned are fine)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp green chilli-ginger paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala (optional)
salt to taste
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion and saute for a good while until well browned, almost caramelized. Add the garlic towards the end and let it soften. Now push the onion and garlic towards the edges of the pan and add the other tbsp of oil in the center. Let it heat up, and add the cumin, coriander, red chilli powder and turmeric.
Let them sizzle for a bit and then add the ginger-green chili paste and the tomatoes. Salt and cook the masala for five-seven minutes, until the tomatoes break down and the whole thing turns into a sauce. Then add the spinach and a cupful or two of water, bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer.
While the gravy simmers, get the tofu ready. I like to have it as dry as possible so that it can absorb the spicy goodness. Other than pressing/freezing, microwaving the cubes for a couple of minutes also seems to work.
If you like your gravy non-chunky, take a hand blender to the spinach after it has simmered for ten minutes. Or you can leave it as is. Add the tofu, simmer for another ten minutes, sprinkle on the garam masala and serve.
Everybody likes palak paneer with flatbreads, but it also tastes great with plain boiled rice and an onion-y salad. Enjoy!
So I have this twitter pal who likes to talk about all the great food his mom and wife feed him every morning. As if that didn't hurt enough, he even posts pictures!
When he mentioned okra gravy, or Vendakkai puzhikuzhambu (I can't pronounce it either), I just had to get his recipe. His mom and wife painstakingly recited the recipe. Painstaking, because nothing is ever measured in a traditional Indian recipe, and trying to quantify pinches and handfuls is not easy. I know, I've been there. He typed it all out and added some comments and links, but there's no credit in that, is there? :)
Grind together to form a paste:
I cup coconut, fresh/frozen/dried
1 tbsp roasted yellow split peas/ roasted peanuts
3-4 chopped shallots
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/4 cup diced tomato
1 cup water
Other ingredients:
1 tbsp tamarind pulp/paste (or use double the quantity of lime juice)
1 lb okra, chopped into 1 inch pieces( I used frozen)
10 shallots, quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 tsp each yellow split peas and split white lentils
1 tsp mustard seeds
a few curry leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp sambhar powder
1/2 tsp powdered fenugreek seeds
1/8 tsp asfoetida
1 tsp jaggery/brown sugar
What to do:
Heat the oil in a wide saute pan. Lightly fry mustard seeds, the lentils and curry leaves.
Add the okra pieces and salt and fry lightly till they change color. (This step is important, as it will stop the okra from getting slimy when you add the water).
Add chopped shallots and garlic & saute until the shallots are soft.
Add the tomatoes & cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the paste, sambhar powder, and salt to taste. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the tamarind paste and jaggery/sugar. Bring to a boil.
Add fenugreek and asfoetida before switching off the heat. Serve with rice or flatbreads.
I did not follow the recipe exactly. We made it without the shallots, garlic, fenugreek seeds, or lentils (houseguest dietary constrictions). It was still utterly delicious. Thanks for a great recipe, Mom and Mrs. Scanman!
Yesterday at work, a psychologist in the department stopped me to ask, 'Excuse me, but are you Indian?' Now I know that's a perfectly reasonable question, but it never ceases to amuse me. I can't get my egomaniacal head around the fact that there might be people who can't recognize my nationality, or just don't want to assume. Anyway, I said yes, and she offered me a bagful of yard-long beans that grow in her backyard.
You can make this quick stir fry with french beans, or any other beans that you have growing around. :)
Ingredients:
2 cups beans, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tbsp oil
1 dried red chilli
1 tbsp grated coconut (fresh/frozen/dried)
1 tbsp mustard seeds/cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp lime juice
- Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add the cumin/mustard seeds, red chilli, turmeric, and coconut, in that order. Saute for a few seconds and add the beans. Season with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat to medium-low, cover and cook for five-eight minutes, stirring the beans around once or twice. Add the lime juice in the end and serve. If the beans get too dry/start to stick during cooking, sprinkle a spoonful of water.
We had these with flatbreads, but they are great with rice/served on toast.
With the in-laws' visit, my cooking creativity has been put to the test. Mother-in-law does not eat rice or root vegetables, including carrots, radishes, turnips, onion, garlic or potatoes. Father-in-law eats only two kinds of lentils, and sister-in-law will not eat yogurt or anything with unfamiliar ingredients (that includes pasta). So its been interesting to come up with a dinner that everyone can enjoy.
Ingredients:
1.5 cups long-grain rice
3 cups water
1 tbsp oil
1/8 tsp asfoetida
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 dried red chilli
2 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
6-7 curry leaves, fresh or dried
1 tsp split black gram
1 tsp bengal gram
2 tbsp tamarind pulp (or use 4 tsp lime juice)
1 tbsp cashews, toasted/fried
1 tbsp raisins
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
a handful of cilantro, chopped
- Wash and soak the rice in the water. After half and hour, cook the rice. Bring the soaked mixture to a boil, then lower heat to simmer and cover. Watch until all the water is absorbed. Let the rice cool.
- Heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the lentils and saute for a few seconds. Then add asfoetida, red chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves, coriander powder, and peanuts in that order.
- Saute for a few minutes and then add tamarind pulp and water. Add salt and sugar and bring the mixture to a boil.
Turn off the heat.
- Add the mixture to the rice and mix well. Garnish with cashews, raisins and cilantro and serve.
Its Sunday morning. I have had a cup of tea, set my bread dough for the final rise, made a chickpea curry, read NYT online and even done 50 questions from the PRITE papers. What else to do but take a food survey? I found it on Singing Horse's blog who found it on Liz's blog. This is technically vegan, but easily adaptible, so go ahead and have fun! Don't forget to link back to Liz's blog.
Roasted squash
Tea
Back home, my German Shepherd loved melons. If we bought melons, he could sniff them out from outside and would not rest until allowed to demolish one.
Summer squash.
Nothing.
Roasted tomato soup.
My mom! :)
p.s. All spacing snafus courtesy the fact that Vox and Firefox don't play well together.
Fall might be here, but its still summer in our farmer's market. We came home with a trunk full of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, chilli peppers, zucchini, along with delicious local apples. I just had to make soup. Everything in this soup, except from the olive oil, came from the local market.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 zucchini, diced
1 mild hot banana pepper, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 large tomatoes, chopped (I used orange tomatoes)
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp honey/sugar/agave nectar
2 oz of your favorite crumbly cheese (optional)
- Heat the oil in a dutch oven.
- Add zucchini and peppers and saute for about five minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and saute for a couple of minutes. Our tomatoes were incredible juicy, so I didn't add any water/stock. If needed, add half a cup of water and bring to a boil.
- Add salt, pepper, oregano and sugar. Cover and simmer for five minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Garnish with basil and cheese and serve warm.
This was quite possibly the quickest soup I've ever made. According to A, it was also the most delicious. :)
I lurve dry cooked dal. Two of my favorites are dry split black gram (urad) and dry split moong (or mung). Moong dal cooked this way can be served for brunch, tossed with onions, tomatoes and fresh herbs, maybe on toast or wrapped in crepes. It can also be paired with flatbreads and yogurt for dinner.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup dry split moong dal (or urad)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 1/4 cup water ( 2 1/2 cup for urad)
- 1 tbsp ginger green chilli paste
- 1 medium onion, chopped (optional)
- 1/8 tsp asfoetida (optional)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro/mint/parsley
Method:
- Wash and soak the dal in the water for 15-30 minutes. Then drain the water into a container. Do not discard the soaking water, its full of water soluble vitamins and other good stuff.
- Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet.
- Add cumin and asfoetida. Let them sizzle.
- Add onion and saute until softened. Add ginger-green chilli paste, red chilli powder, and turmeric and saute for a few seconds.
- Add the dal and saute for 5-6 minutes, until the dal starts to look toasty.
- Nuke the soaking water for 3-4 minutes until hot.
- Add the hot water and salt to the dal and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, lower the heat to simmer and cover.
- Let the dal cook until all the water is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the lemon juice, garam masala and herbs right before serving.
- You can also add another tbsp of oil/butter at this point.
I like dry dal so much that I can have it for brunch, lunch or dinner. Try it if you like dal, you won't be disappointed.
