Carrot-Mung bean salad

Ok, so I’m back, after a couple months of getting used to 2011, having guests and experiencing general mayhem.

For my bday I got Robin Robertson’s Vegan Planet from my friend Lee.  I made this salad based on the ingredients I had at home, so the red bell pepper was green instead, the peanut oil morphed into sesame oil, the Granny Smith apple became some less tart variety (because, for some odd reason, supermarkets only carry imported Granny Smith apples here), and the black mustard seeds were regular mustard-toned mustard seeds, and some steamed broccoli florets jumped into the bowl.

The instructions, I believe, omit the obvious step of cooking the mung beans, but that was rather cute. Frying the mustard seeds is rather a classy touch, which makes this a very aromatic salad. And I added cooked brown rice  at the end to make this a more substantial one-dish meal. It was delish! And I’m glad I had the vision to make double the amount, because fiancée and I just wolfed it down.

Seems to me this will be one of those dishes adored by non-vegans.

Quite a success! 

Ensalada de zanahoria y frijol mungo

Bueno, pues ye regresé de un par de meses de acostumbrarme al 2011, recibir visitas y experimentar cierto desorden generalizado.

De mi cumple, mi amiga Lee me envió Vegan Planet de Robin Robertson. Preparé esta ensalada con los ingredientes que tenía en casa, así que el pimiento rojo se volvió verde,  el aceite de cacahuate se convirtió en aceite de ajonjolí, las manzanas Granny Smith se volvieron una variedad menos ácida (porqu, por alguna extraña razón, en los supermercados de aquí sólo se encuentran Granny Smiths importadas), las semillas de mostaza negras fueron semillas de mostaza normalitas color mostaza, y unos floretes de brócoli al vapor saltaron al recipiente.

Me parece que las instrucciones se saltaron el paso de cocinar los frijoles, pero eso estuvo lindo. Freír las semillas de mostaza le dio un toque muy elegante al asunto e hizo de ésta una ensalada de los más aromática. Le agregué arroz integral cocido al final para hacer más sustanciosa esta comida de un solo platillo. ¡Quedó deliciosa! Y me da gusto haber tenido la visión de preparar dos tantos de la receta, pues mi amorcito y yo nos la devoramos con singular alegría.

Me parece que éste es de esos platillos que van a adorar los no veganos.

¡Un exitazo!

Potato and fresh fava bean salad

A couple days ago I made this delicious salad with fresh fava beans, potatoes, lettuce, celery, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh and dried basil, black pepper, red chile flakes, olive oil (from the sun-dried tomatoes) and apple vinegar. Fresh and tasty. If you want more of a warm salad, you can make it while the potatoes and fava beans are still hot, and skip the lettuce (unless you like wilted lettuce, that is...).

Ensalada de habas frescas con papas

Hace unos días hice esta deliciosa ensalada de habas frescas con papas, lechuga, apio, jitomate deshidratado, albahaca fresca y seca, pimienta, hojuelas de chile, aceite de oliva (en el que venían los jitomates) y vinagre de manzana. Fresco y rico a la vez. Si la quieres más tibia, puedes prepararla mientras las papas y las habas siguen calientitas, y omitir la lechuga (a menos de que te guste la lechuga entristecida...).

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).

Leche de soya (¡y okara!)

Mis queridos maestros de cocina vegetariana y vegana, Pavol y Oscar, de Sukabumi, comida consciente, me dieron amable permiso de ligar esta entrada a su página, donde tienen la receta que yo uso. Píquenle aquí para experimentar la transformación de la soya más sublime que hayan conocido. ¡Salud!

La famosísima okara, de cerquitita.

Garbanzo and cilantro croquettes

I got the recipe from my friend Lee's Vegaloca blog. You can see her original recipe here. I made some modifications mostly because I didn't have all the ingredients. Firstly, and very importantly, I didn't use black eyed peas, but garbanzos soaked overnight and cooked this morning. I had no carrots, so I used some zucchini instead. I found that the garbanzos absorbed moisture, so I only added half the flour called for in Lee's recipe. I fried the first batch; for the following batches, I just added a little bit of oil and cooked them that way. 


The spunky taste combination of cilantro and onion is amazing. As I may have mentioned before, I'm a ketchup fiend, and this time was no exception. Yum, Lee, this was a great idea!!! 


(I may very well eat some of the uncooked leftovers raw with some lime juice and finely diced chili peppers!)