Curried Chick Peas and Dahl

From PETA's website. You can find the original recipe here. 


I didn't have any orange juice concentrate, so I skipped that, and used less tomato just because I had some sauce left over from the stuffed peppers I made last night (recipe here). I added a bunch of other veggies I had in the fridge, like green beans, carrots and bell peppers, the last two mostly for the color. A *very* modified recipe, but it gives me the chance to link to PETA.  :)


The millet I made as homework for my Vegan Mastery Program. First time ever, and I overcooked it, but loved it nonetheless. 


Beautiful pottery, isn't it? It's by Adriana Serdán (website).

Vegan MoFo 2010: Amaya's Egoless Egg-Free Salad

I've saved the best to last. This recipe, from (do I even have to say it?) Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, is my all-time favorite from this book. Whenever I bring this dish to parties, it is an immediate success, and always elicits the same response: "I don't know what it is, but it's delicious!" I use okara (soy pulp) instead of tofu, and find that I like it better with twice as much veggie mayonnaise (recipe in this book, too) and vinegar.

And whatever is left over makes a good snack, on toast:

Enjoy!

Vegan MoFo 2010: the versatility of potato peels

I love eating potatoes because I know that shortly after I will eat potato peels, a dish that takes me back to my childhood! You just have to save the peels from when youre using peeled potatoes for other dishes. They will keep in the fridge for about 7-10 days, provided they are in an airtight container, so you can just save them up until you hae the right amount. (I remember my mom loving them so much that she cooked the peels of just one potato!)

Potato peels with swiss chard

1 Tbsp         olive oil

1 C              red onion, not too thinly sliced

1 Tbsp         garlic, minced

2 C              potato peels

2 C              swiss chard, sliced. Separate the stems from the leaves.

1 C              mushrooms, sliced

1 T              cooked lentils, plus 1 C lentil broth

                  Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a large pan. Sauté onion and garlic over medium het until onion is tender, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the potato peels and chard stems, and reduce the heat; cover and leave 5-10 minutes (add some water to avoid sticking). Add the chard and cook 5 more minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook another 5 minutes. Add the cooked lentils and broth. Stir, cover and leave a couple minutes. Turn off the heat. Serve on blue organic corn tortillas, with your favorite hot chile sauce (I like chile de arbol in oil).

Potato peels with poblano peppers

A more traditional version uses, in tha same quantities as above: olive oil, onion, garlic. Instead of chard, mushrooms and lentils, use 3 poblano peppers, deseeded and cut in strips.

Potato peels with epazote  

The most traditional recipe of all only uses garlic, potato peels and epazote. Just fry in some oil and enjoy with tortillas. 


So now you know: when you peel and cook potatoes, don't throw away the "scraps"!

Vegan MoFo: Second Oven Odyssey: Chocolate Baking

Yumm, what an evening that was! 


I baked these delicious Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles (I got to this recipe courtesy of MadCapCupcake) with slight variations: I used brown sugar (piloncillo) instead of refined, and doubled the amount of cayenne.

And also, this delish Easy Chocolate Cake, from Coleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Joy of Vegan Baking for my darling's bday (thanks to my friend Lee). Some variations, too, with not so fortunate results, but I'll keep trying. 

I mainly wanted to lower the amount of sugar, and used Stevia instead, but checked only one website for conversions (1 C sugar = 1/2 tsp Stevia) and it turned out to be waaaaaay too little Stevia, so the thing was not sweet at all, and it lacked the volume that the sugar would've added. I also used wholewheat flour, and that gives it a funky texture, which I loved. However, the results were aided considerably by the supersweet, supercreamy frosting for World Vegan Fusion Cuisine Big Momma Freedom's Chocolate Cake, which I made using the tofu (can't wait to try it with avocado!).

A parting close-up of the snickerdoodles:

Vegan MoFo 2010: Oven Odyssey Part 2

The second recipe was The Good Shepherd's Pie, again from my guru book Vegan World Fusion Cuisine. They recommend serving it with Avalon's Magic Mushroom Gravy and Shanti's Sour Cream. 

 I have to say this needs work. There are way too many flavors going on (the sage was overpowering, I added dry from when I used to have it in the garden). The coconut milk in the potato mix was an unnecessary waste (it is quite a luxury here), and I think I will use good old soy milk next time. 

Tofu mix

Maybe I need to pack the tofu mix a little more tightly so it won't crumble as easily. Although the instructions don't mention the crumbling directly, it IS implied by the fact that one of the options they give is to put the potato layer at the bottom so that individual pieces may be more easily served. 

Gravy in the making.

And now to the the gravy, which is a true delicacy. It is very rich and not quite as greasy as other gravies. I find the quantity to be too little, so I'll just make twice as much next time.


The Sour Cream is delicious, too. I don't really need it, but my darling loved it and complimented it specifically.


All in all, a light dish which, once perfected, can become one of my favorites. 

Vegan MoFo 2010: Oven Odyssey Part 1

I was determined to lose my fear of ovens, fire and anything related to gas, so I went shopping and got myself really motivated to make two yummy recipes I'd had my eye on. 


The first one was this Macarona bil Béchamel, or Macaroni with Bechamel Sauce and Mushroom Filling, which you can find in the amazing Alf Hana blog. (Thank you, ladies, this blog is incredible and a great source of info for lovers of Egyptian cuisine who are also vegan.)


My attempt was quite successful. Take a look: 

Bechamel sauce is supposed to be quite greasy, but I'd still like to experiment a bit more to get it lighter. And next time I make it I am going to add lentils to the mushroom mix, so this can be a complete meal.


Yay!!!

Vegan MoFo 2010: Ye Olde Chinese Stir-Frye Disastre

It must’ve been my mood that day. The noodles overcooked in a matter of seconds (they’ve always been patient before!), the flavor was inexplicably bland, and the parsnip went bitter upon reheating. What up???

Maybe it was these weird veggies that grow with price tags on them...

But at least it looked all right!

Vegan MoFo 2010: Vegetable Curry with Chickpea Patties

From the Spanish-language edition of The Gluten Wheat and Dairy Free Cookbook (2004, Parragon), by Nicola Graimes.

Wow, the most exhausting one, so far. Very long list of ingredients, in a weird order that kept losing me. I’m not used to weighing things (many ingredients were in grams instead of cups), so it took longer to calculate how much was needed of everything. But I have to learn, and luckily I have a scale, which was in working order, poor thing.

The patties came out with all sorts of different consistencies, as the batter thickened, and I really do not love fried things, so I’m seriously considering chucking them and just adding plain old chickpeas (which are sitting in my fridge, thank you very much). 

But after all this whining, I have to say the colors are the most divine thing, so I am very happy.

One more close up! 

Vegan MoFo 2010: Tofu Stroganoff (English)

Notice that I have a new bowl...

A delicious thing from Monica Noviello's Aunque usted no lo crea es tofu.

I would normally not cook something like this because of the carnivore-evoking name, but I loved the result. The red wine gives it a yummy taste (which can also vary depending on the tofu you use. I used the fine herbs tofu made by the very person who wrote the recipe book). It looks a bit ugly, like something out of a can for my kitties, but one must not be fooled. This was very nice, approved by my omnivore boyfriend.

Vegan MoFo 2010: One Love Spicy Thai Noodles

So far, one of my favorites. This gem is also from Blossoming Lotus Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, by Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi.

20 minutes prep/ 20 minutes cooking/ 2 servings

6 C              Filtered water

8 oz            Udon, soba or rice noodles

2 Tbl           Toasted sesame oil

1 1/2 C         Broccoli flowerettes, in 1/2” pieces

2 tsp           Garlic, minced

1 1/2 C         Red bell pepper, julienned (1 medium pepper)

1/4 C           Water for sauté

1 small         Lime leaf, sliced thin (optional)

1/4 C           Green onion, diced

3 Tbl           Shoyu, or to taste

1 1/2 Tbl      Cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp         Cayenne pepper

Sea salt, to taste

Black pepper, ground to taste

Black sesame seeds, for garnish

Loving preparation

1. Bring 6 C of filtered water to boil in a 3 qt pot. Add noodles, reduce heat to simmer and cook until pasta is slightly al dente. Rice noodles cook in minute ir less; udon or soba approximately 5 minutes. Drain, rinse well in cold water and place in a large bowl with a small amount of oil to prevent sticking. (I used precooked, frozen udon that can be bought at the “oriental markets” that this city is lucky to have. So no need to cook them; just left them out all day to defrost... and it was so cold that they DID take all day to defrost.)
2. While pasta is cooking, add oil, garlic and broccoli to a medium size sauté pan and cook over medium high heat for 3 minutes stirring frequently, adding more water if necessary, to prevent sticking to the pan. Add to pasta with remaining ingredients and gently mix well. Top with black sesame seeds.

Variations

• Add 1/2 C coconut milk with 1 Tbl peanut butter to above when combining all ingredients together.
• Top with chopped peanuts, toasted coconut and a dash of crushed red pepper flakes.
• As a main course bowl, add 4 oz of grilled tempeh cubes. (I used tofu, cut in cubes.)

My notes

I didn’t have broccoli, so I used 3 C mushrooms cut in 4, 1 C carrots and 2 red bell peppers. No green onion, either, but I can imagine that it lifts the flavors, so will make a point of having some the next time I make this dish. It has been by far my favorite recipe, and my boyfriend’s too (did I mention that already???).

Lovely close-up, for your enjoyment.

Vegan MoFo: Indian Dinner!

Again, from Blossoming Lotus Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, by Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi, come not one, not two, but THREE yummy Indian recipes, made over the course of two days. 

Mahatma’s Mung Dahl

20 minutes prep/ 35 minutes cooking/ 4-5 servings

6 C          Filtered water or vegetable stock

1 C          Mung beans, sorted & rinsed well (I used regular lentils)

1             Medium Onion diced

1             Medium carrot, cubed

1/2 C       Celery, thinly sliced

1 Tbl       Garlic, minced

1 Tbl       Ginger, peeled & minced

1 Tbl       Jalapeño, seeded & minced

1 Tbl      Cumin seed, toasted

1 tsp      Cumin powder, toasted

1/2 tsp   Curry powder

1/4 tsp   Black pepper, ground to taste

Pinch     Cayenne pepper

2 Tbl      Cilantro, minced

1/3 C     Shoyu, to taste

Loving preparation

1.   Rinse beans and place in medium sized pot with 6 C of water or stock on medium high heat (Note: Mexico City tends to ask for more liquid, but I think I overdid it when I used 71/2 C). Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger and jalapeño, cook on medium high heat until beans are soft, approximately 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To toast cumin seeds and powder, place on pan, turn heat to high and cook until seeds turn golden brown, stirring constantly. (I did not toast the cumin powder because... I forgot!)

2.   Add shoyu and remaining ingredients, except cilantro, and cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.   Add cilantro, remove from heat and enjoy.

My notes:

I found it a bit too cumin-y, so I’ll have to remember to use less next time. And the regular brownish lentils found most commonly in Mexico City give it a pretty ugly color. Must either find these mung beans somewhere, or use pink lentils. Also, the altitude in Mexico City tends to soak up liquids, but I overcompensated when I added 7 1/2 cups of stock. So I used some of the lentils’ liquid to cook some potatoes, yum! (I love carbs, can you tell?)

Padma Baba's Spelt Chapatti

35 minutes prep/ 20 minutes cooking/ 4 servings

1 1/2 C    Spelt flour

1/2 C       Buckwheat flour

1 tsp        Sea salt, or to taste

2/3 C       Warm filtered water

2 tsp        Olive oil

Loving preparation

1. Place flours and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Slowly add water, stirring constantly, until dough is thick. Add oil and knead dough on a clean, dry surface for a few minutes, adding small amounts of flour as needed. Return to bowl, cover with a clean cloth and allow to sit in a warm, dry place for 30 minutes.

1.   Lightly oil a skillet or griddle on high heat. Divide the dough into 4 equal balls. Flatten to form 6” circles. Place them on a skillet and cook until each side is golden brown and spotted, flipping occasionally to ensure uniform cooking, approximately 5-8 minutes per chapatti. Add additional oil if necessary to prevent sticking.

Variations & note

· Buckwheat flour may be replaced with spelt or other flours to create a variety of flavors.

· Consistency will vary depending upon flour variety used.

PacMan un-chapatti

My notes

Well, this was fun and interesting, if a bit of a failure. Ambiciously enough, I used only whole wheat flour and that resulted in very heavy and dark un-chappati things with weird shapes.

(Only one of them was light enough to allow the hot air to puff it up.) 

Rising nicely!

It was all so disappointing that I decided to go for a second batch, using 1 1/2 C regular wheat flour and 1/2 C whole wheat. Muuuuuuuuuuch better. All of them puffed up, and the color was closer to the real thing. The texture was less, well, wholewheatish and the flavor really shows off the quality of your ingredients. (Ten points for the Spanish olive oil; no points for the old flour from the freezer). 


And they warm up nicely even a couple days after they were made. I just put them in the electric oven or heated them directly over the flame of my gas stove. 

      Hindi's Bindi Masala

15 minutes prep/ 20 minutes cooking/ 2 servings

1 Tbl          Sesame oil

1/2 tsp         Cumin seeds

3/4 C          Onion, chopped

1 Tbl           Garlic, minced

1 Tbl           Ginger, peeled & minced

2-3              Medium tomatoes, chopped (2 cups)

1/2 C           Filtered water or vegetable stock

3 C              Okra with stem and tip removed

1 Tbl           Shoyu

1 Tbl           Cilantro, minced

1/2 tsp          Sea salt

1/2 tsp          Turmeric

1/4 tsp         Coriander powder

1/4 tsp         Crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp         Garam masala

Pinch          Cayenne pepper (optional)

Loving preparation

1. Place oil in a large sauté pan on medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add onion, garlic and ginger, cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes and filtered water and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add okra and cook until okra is soft with some firmness, approximately 8 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.

Variations

Replace okra with zucchini or yam.

My notes

This was very spicy-hot.

I used zucchini and it was yummy.

All in all, I loved trying this out and getting all messy! 

Vegan MoFo: Mushroom and Barley Soup

Mushroom and Barley soup

(English)

Ok, no credit from my part here. This was entirely my mom’s doing. It’s been mega cold in Mexico lately, and we all want warm, hearty soups. This recipe comes from the Thanksgiving 1991 (!!) edition of Bon Appétit magazine. NOT vegan to start with but my omnivore mom veganized it all by herself, and not even for me, but for herself. Go, mom!

8 servings

1 lb         mushrooms

1/4 C       olive oil

1             onion, chopped

1             leek (white and pale green parts only), chopped

8 C          veggie broth

1 lb         white potatoes (about 2 large), peeled, diced

1             carrot, peeled, chopped

1/2 C       pearl barley

3             bay leaves

1. Separate mushroom stems from caps. Slice caps and set aside. Chop stems (Mom says this entire part she ignored and went ahead and sliced the mushrooms whole). 
2. Place olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and leek (and mushroom stems, if you’re going to follow the recipe) and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. 
3. Mix in veggie broth, potatoes, carrot, barley and bay leaves. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Uncover soup, add mushrooms caps (or sliced, unseparated mushrooms, if you’re not following the recipe) and continue simmering until vegetables are very tender, about 25 minutes. 
4. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper and serve. A splash of sherry can be added to really warm the body. 

Vegan MoFo: Stuffed peppers (Chiles rellenos)

(English)

Ok, so I said Soy mince can be used to stuff poblano peppers. Never made them before, and I didn’t have a recipe, just my memory and common sense. They actually turned out quite nice, so here they are!

Ingredients

2 medium sized poblano peppers

2 cups water or vegetable stock

5 tomatoes

1/2 onion

1 clove of garlic

1 sprig fresh cilantro

salt

1 cup soy mince

Props: two wooden toothpicks per pepper

Optional: To remove the skin from the peppers, place them in a very hot oven (I use electric, still afraid of the gas one) until they get serious blisters, about 15-20 minutes. You may need to turn them every so often. The smell of the charring peppers is divine, if somewhat harsh on the eyeballs (must be my Aztec blood speaking... legend has it that the prehispanics used to punish kids by locking them up in a room with burning peppers so their eyes would sting.) Then drop them in a pan with ice-cold water. The skin will peel right off. Be careful not to remove the stem.

For the sauce: Blend water or vegetable stock, tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro and salt on high for as long as it takes to really puree the tomatoes (I didn’t do it long enough, so that’s why my sauce turned out a bit marinara-ish). Heat some oil in a pan and bring the sauce to a boil, then cook on low until it turns a nice red hue.

To fill: Cut open a side of each pepper, and carefully remove the seeds only. Trying to take out the veins will only result in a very beat up pepper, so please be gentle. (Vicious as they may seem, moist poblano peppers are very fragile!) 

Beat-up pepper and gently treated pepper

Spoon in some of the soy mince. Don’t overfill, as the peppers are hard to handle. Secure with one or two toothpicks (alas, I totally forgot about this step, so  have no idea how easy or hard it is). Place in the pan with sauce; cover and let simmer until the filling has heated through.

Carefully transfer to a serving platter or individual plates and serve with either tortillas or rice... or both!

And for g*d’s sakes, don’t rub your eyes without having washed your hands... it stings baaaaaad!)

The beauty of okara

According to thefreedictionary.com: okara or soy pulp is a white or yellowish pulp consisting of insoluble parts of the soybean which remain in the filter sack when pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk.

I drink lots of homemade soymilk, so there’s plenty of okara around the house. It freezes well for months. In the fridge it lasts a week at most.

Soy mince

Since my first entry was huge, I chose a short one now. This time around I made my own version of "Tofu mince", from a recipe book called Believe it or Not, it's Tofu, by Mexican naturopath Mónica Noviello. 

Ingredients:

3 squares tofu, dried and crushed. BUT, I used 2 cups okara (see previous entry)

4 chopped tomatoes

1 finely chopped large onion

2 chopped serrano peppers (optional)

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chopped olives (I used peas)

1/3 cup raisins (I used chopped prunes)

1 tsp finely chopped parsley

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbs cooking oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a pan, heat the oil and fry the onion until it is transparent. Add tomato, cook one minute longer and add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes.

Can be used to stuff peppers (chiles rellenos), or eaten as a main course with a side dish of yummy brown rice.