Entries Tagged 'Sides' ↓

There are two popular types of yellow dal–the heavily-spiced, tomato-y Indian version and the subtle, lemon-y Middle Eastern variety. At home, we tend toward making the Middle Eastern version–especially since our favorite Middle Eastern place Al Noor went out of business.

With the soup in mind, I need something else to round the meal out. Traditionally, this would be falafel or hummus & pita, but I’d just made hummus two nights ago and require substantial motivation to bust out the falafel. I was hankering, instead, for something more like pakora. I didn’t have any chickpea flour on hand, though, so I had to rethink things a bit. I came up with lightly breaded spinach-potato dumplings–to be eaten in the dal. Traditional? Nope. Delicious? Indubitably.

Middle Eastern Yellow Dal

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 cups yellow lentils OR yellow split peas (not quite the same, but either will work; yellow lentils can be tough to find)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
• juice from 1/2 lemon (or more, to taste)
• 9 cups of water
• olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

As you can see from the ingredients, this is a pretty simple recipe. I’ve of the school that a dal should generally be simple, letting the flavor of lentils or split peas really come through.  All you want to do is accent this flavor, not cook on top of it.

In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. When the onions are soft, add in the lentils/peas, stirring well. Let the lentils/peas cook for a few minutes, then add in the water. I like to add the water piecemeal–just enough to cover everything–and cover. This allows you to control exactly how thick or thin your dal is, but also requires a little babysitting. You can probably just add all of the water, cover, and occupy yourself with something else for a good 2 hours. Lentils/split peas take a while to cook.

When the lentils/peas finally get soft and are breaking apart, add in the spices and lemon. Cook for another 15 minutes or so.

Breaded Spinach-Potato Dumplings

• 3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
• 1/2 lb spinach
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tbsp cornmeal/corn flour
• 2 tbsp almond meal
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander seed
• safflower oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium-sized saucepan, boil the potatoes until they are soft–almost as soft as if you were making mashed potatoes. If you are using fresh spinach, steam it until it’s soft, then cut it into shreds. If you’re using frozen, you can boil it for a few minutes in the same water you used for the potatoes. I used frozen, but almost always prefer fresh. In a large bowl, mash up the potatoes with the spinach. Stir in the flour. You want the mixture to be thick enough to form balls. Add more flour if needed.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients. Form spinach-potato mixture into balls, roll in the oil, roll in the breading, then place on a baking sheet. This should make around 18 – 20 dumplings.

Bake 20 minutes to a side, or until nicely browned and somewhat crisp.

Serve in the soup:

Perusing Chow Vegan, we stumbled on this post about chili fries. This seemed like just the thing on an unseasonably warm fall day.

Unlike Chow Vegan, we love beans, so we pressure-cooked some up and made our own chili. We followed the recipe for Spicy Baked Potato Chips, but cut the taters into fry shapes and left out the cayenne, since the chili had enough kick on its own.

We topped it with Follow Your Heart cheddar which, while helping to scratch the cheese part of the chili cheese fry itch, wasn’t ideal. Don’t get me wrong–these were awesome–we just don’t eat a lot of processed stuff and these types of cheeses always feel really processed to me. A homemade nacho cheese probably would have been a better choice, but we’ve been a little nooched out lately and most faux-cheese recipes are centered around the nooch.

Cheese aside, the awesome thing about these is that, though they felt like a total indulgence, they’re actually not bad for you. The fries (a bit of a misnomer here) are actually baked (using a high heat oil–safflower) and the chili was made from scratch with canned tomatoes, freshly cooked black beans, carrots and celery from our garden, and onions from a local farm. Once you get over the psychosomatic “I destroyed myself” feeling, you realize you actually feel pretty good after eating this. Huzzah!

For me, cooking is largely a creative endeavor, like making art–something steeped in inspiration and which doesn’t like being bossed around. For the first few weeks, the MoFo was just a great way to push myself a little harder, a context for creation. But in the last few days, it’s become harder–for better or worse. Maybe now is the most important time–when it’s no longer easy and I have to start making real decisions, instead of being blown by the winds of whimsy.

It was in this state that I approached last night’s meal: Seitan Bread Bake, Roasted Acorn Squash Soup, and Scalloped Potatoes. With the additional caveat: I must not produce any more leftovers that Amy won’t eat (it gets a little old eating pot pie for lunch every day for a week). So, I wanted to craft a meal that catered to all of Amy’s cravings.

(I’m feeling a bit loquacious today–feel free to skip to THE ACTION)

Mulling over how to put all of this together without creating a hodgepodge of crap, I took inspiration from this really attractive meal at The Airy Way. It reminded me of two things that I often really like in a meal: lots of different, small portions and a nice mix of complex recipes with simple ones.

We usually approach a soup as a meal, but every once in a while I get a wild hare to do an appetizer-type soup. We had a few acorn squash to use up, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity for Roasted Acorn (and Garlic!) Soup. Riding out the Autumn trend (which happened to be saddled to the Amy’s-Craving trend), it seemed like a good night to take another stab at Faux Gratin Potatoes. We’ve been a little nooched out of late, so we decided that a simpler, cleaner Scalloped Potato might be a nice change.

The surprise champeen of the dinner, to my surprise, was the Seitan Bread Bake. We had tomatoes and bread to use up and Amy mentioned this sort of tomato and bread bake that a friend’s dad used to make. My interest was piqued. Of course, we also nad seitan to use up (there’s a theme here). The original recipe used basil, but we have a mess of pesto in the freezer right now–this, I firmly believe, was the crucial element. I don’t have words for how awesome this stuff tastes. You could prepare it faster than I could describe it.

In any case, here’s THE ACTION:

Roasted Acorn Squash (and Garlic!) Soup

• 2 small acorn squash, cut in half and degutted
• 1 HEAD of garlic
• 1/2 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
• 3 cups veggie stock
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice the acorn squash in half, remove the guts, then place on an oiled cooking sheet. Slice off the top of the head of garlic, place in foil, and douse with olive oil. Bake the squash for 45 minutes and the garlic for 30 minutes (i.e. just put garlic in 15 minutes after the squash).

Meanwhile, sautee the onion in oil or Earth Balance in a medium-sized pot over medium heat, untill soft. When the squash and garlic are done, remove them from the oven and give them at least 10 minutes to cool. Spoon and knife the squash and garlic, respectively, into the pot with the onion. Add in the stock, stir well, then blend with an immersion blender. If you’re using a standard blender, you can put all the ingredients directly in the blender, then transfer to the pot. Blend until very smooth. Add the cumin, then salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a swirl of Rooster Sauce.

Scalloped Potatoes

• 4 medium – large potatoes, cut into thin disks (peel, if using brown taters)
• 1/2 medium-sized white onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 cup cooked white beans, drained
• 1/2 cup ground cashews
• 1/2 cup milk-like product
• tsp ground mustard seed
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Earth Balance
• salt and pepper, to taste
• bread crumbs (optional)

This is very much like the Al-Faux-Do sauce, but with white beans and a bit more lemon. It’s a bit thicker and, despite the lemon, a tinch less sharp (and even less so after baking).

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare the potatoes. Sautee the onion and garlic in the Earth Balance over medium heat. Once they’re soft, add them to the blender along with the other ingredients (except the potatoes) and blend until smooth.

Put the potatoes in an oven-safe casserole dish and pour the the sauce over them, mixing very thoroughly. The more shallow you stack the potatoes, the faster they’ll and the more bread crumbs you can fit on top. Your call.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and add bread crumbs (if you’re using them). Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Check the potatoes with a fork–if they’re nice and soft, you’re done. Otherwise, cook for an additional 5 minutes and check again. Repeat as necessary.

Seitan Bread Bake

• 2 thick pieces of bread, cut into large cubes (we used our homemade bread; use 3 pieces if using sandwich bread)
• 1 large seitan cutlet (or two smaller ones), cut into large cubes
• 3 small tomatoes (or 1 large tomato–use your judgment), cut into pieces
• 3 cubes frozen pesto (~1/2 cup) OR fresh garlic and basil, minced
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 425. Place the bread, seitan, and tomatoes in an oiled oven-safe casserole dish or cooking sheet with a little depth (there will be a fair amount of oil and tomato juice–so you don’t want a totally flat sheet). Mix them up, so everything is fairly evenly distributed. Douse generously with olive oil, then spread pesto on top (if you’re thawing, you’ll probably need a little olive oil to the pest when warming). Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil, stir everything thoroughly, and bake for another 15 minutes, until bread and seitan are somewhat firm. Prepare your tastebuds. Fantastic!

So this is actually a recipe for Hoppin’ John, but it’s so frighteningly real, you’ll jump back with terror.

I should note in advance that I’ve never actually had non-vegan Hoppin’ John. I do know, however, that it’s usually made with ham. This version uses homemade fakin’ to reproduce (with frightening accuracy) that “hammy” quality. But in a good way. Not the gross way.

Jumpin’ John

• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium-sized tomato, diced
• 1 rib of celery, diced
• 1 medium-sized green bell pepper, diced (optional)
• 4 cups cooked–or 2 cans–of black-eyed peas
• 4 strips of fakin, cut into smallish pieces
• 1 cup long grain brown rice (I used brown basmati)
• 2 cups veggie stock
• 2 tsp thyme (or 4 large sprigs)
• 1.5 tsp paprika
• 1/2 – 1 tbsp liquid smoke
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

First things first, let’s start that brown rice in the veggie stock–pour the rice and stock into a medium saucepan and heat on high until boiling. Reduce heat and cover. Brown rices take 4-eva.

Now, with that out of the way, let us, you and I, sautee the onion, celery, and green pepper (if using) in a medium to large-ish pot, over medium heat. Wonderful. In the meantime, I think it would be splendid to fry up some fakin. Don’t you? Yes! Let’s.

I had leftover fakin from Tofu MarkMuffins, which doesn’t save terribly well anyway (it starts to get crumbly within a week or so, unless you freeze it). Additionally, you will most likely have a fair amount of tofu fakin crumblins. These perform like a true champeen in this dish. You will also likely have leftover fakin juice, which will work like a sweatshop laborer to make this dish as tasty as possible. In this event, you will not need the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke.

Barring the use of homemade fakin, you might find it convenient and/or enjoyable to use a store-bought variety. In this event you will most like want to “ham” things up by adding the afore-mentioned soy sauce and Liquid Smoke.

But I digress. The fakin should be in small pieces and should be fried lightly in a frying pan over medium heat, in the cooking oil of your choice. You just want it cooked, not crispy. This isn’t Bone-Crunching John.

While the fakin is cooking and once the onions are soft, add in the diced tomato, then the spices, mixing well. Now add in the black-eyed peas.

When the fakin is done, add it to the mix.

When the rice is done, add that too.

Salt and pepper to your smallest of heart’s content.

Conquistadors enjoyed this rice for its simplicity and savoriness!

This particular version has pinto and kidney beans for protein power!

Spanish Rice

• 2 cups brown rice
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seed and chopped
• cooking oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 dash cayenne

In a large pot, sautee the onion and peppers over a medium heat, until tender. Stir in the herbs and spices. Stir in the rice, cooking for about 5 minutes. Add in the veggie stock and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat, simmering until rice is tender and stock has all boiled off–about 45 minutes.

Serve after genocide and/or before seeking out el dorado.

For the first 25 years of my life, I thought orzo was okra. Now, in recent years I’ve warmed up to the idea of a vegetable that has fur, but it’s not hard to understand why I would have assiduously avoided this miraculous beast. But fear not, dear readers! Those dark days are past! Orzo, we now all know, is not furry. It’s got all the carbaliciousness of pasta, in a fun rice form. And it only takes about 5 minutes to cook. Forsooth!

This recipe is the platonic form from which all other orzo recipes arise. Also, I think you’d be better off as just friends.

Orzo

• 2 cups orzo
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 3 – 4 handfuls of mushrooms, halved or quartered, depending on size
• 6 stalks kale, deboned and chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 can (2 cups) of cooked chick peas
• olive oil
• vegan buttery spread
• 1/3 cup nu yeast
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, diced
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

In a large frying pan, sautee then onion and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil over a medium heat. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat (at a medium pace, using a medium for guidance), melt the butter, adding the orzo when the butter has melted completely. When the orzo starts to brown, add in the veggie stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover.

Once the onions start to brown and the mushrooms are tender, add in the herbs, spices, and kale, mixing well. Add in the chick peas. The orzo should have been done eons ago, since it only takes about 5 minutes. You can now safely add it to the mix in the frying pan. Once it’s mixed in, add the nuyeast and salt and pepper to taste. Stir! Serve! Enjoy! Love it like you would a sibling. A sibling that you really like. To eat.