Recent Eats

Here are a few recent eats, unrelated to the Eat World extravaganza.













Recently I've been trying to add more side dishes to our meals.  In the past I've been mostly a one dish kind of gal with the occasional canned veggie or potato on the side, so we're trying to mix it up a bit.

This was a quick dinner that was quite tasty!  This dinner included a baked potato covered in salsa, margarine, nutritional yeast and ground pepper, roasted nuts, wilted spinach with Thai peanut sauce, and oranges.  The Thai peanut sauce was the real "wower" of this meal!  I highly recommend checking the link out and trying it.

 This was a lunch dish all packed up for work!   The sun was shining and I was wishing for Spring and a luscious garden, so I quenched my desires through my taste buds :)  This pasta salad contained an assortment of vinegars:  red wine, rice and apple cider, I think, some agave and a few other things.  I tossed in some onion, carrot, spinach and roasted red bell pepper.  For the wrap, I was inspired by this recipe for a Creamy Avocado and White Bead Bean Wrap.  Our wrap also included spinach, cabbage, and roasted nuts.

Two pics to view the toppings and see it all stacked up!







Oh man, these patties were awesome!  If you don't mind something that goes squish when you bite in, make them!  We mostly used this recipe for Bean patties and Spicy Guacamole on top of grilled homemade buns and served with French Fries.  I really do love greasy french fries!  And yes, the buns were a wee bit small, but we didn't mind!

Shanghai Tofu (China) and Potatoes with Creamy Tomato Sauce (Colombia)

Back to the food, finally!  You may have noticed that we're not too worried about sticking with one culture at a time.  To me, it's kind of exciting to mix dishes from different cultures and see how they can compliment one another.

It seems that Colombian food is a good choice for mixing cultures, since the food is already a mixture of tastes (see Colombian Cuisine).  Like in many parts of the world, the food will also depend on the region of Colombia.  Sad for veggies on vacation: "Colombia is not a paradise for vegetarians as the Colombian diet includes a lot of meat." (see South America: Colombian Food) And how about this quote from a description of Fritanga (a heaping pile of meat): "Guaranteed to sate any carnivore and send any vegan into therapy..." (see Traditional Colombian Food).  But for those of us making our own food here at home, no problem!  Just a few tweaks here and there.  On the South America: Colombian Food page you can find a wonderful list for common dishes served in Colombia.   For the vegan side of things they have huge quantities of tropical fruit and coffee, of course!

Since China is quite big, here's a bit about Shanghai:  Shanghai's cuisine is mostly a combination of the surrounding areas, being a relatively new city (see Shanghai Cuisine).  Sugar is a very common ingredient, especially in combination with soy sauce, and more is used in Shanghai dishes than in any other city in China.  Speaking of soy sauce, Shanghai chefs are known for their use of heavy and highly flavored sauces (see Shanghai Food).  Alcohol is also commonly used, like in "drunken" meat dishes.  On a vegan note, smelly tofu is a popular local treat in the street.  

 

Potatoes with Creamy Tomato Sauce or Papas Chorreadas (Colombia)
  (adapted from Extending the Table)
2 T. margerine
6 green onions
1/2 an onion, diced
28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 c. soy milk
1 t. cilantro
1/4 t. oregano
pinch of cumin
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup cheezy sauce - more if you like! (we used a recipe from Vegan Vittles)
8 large potatoes, cut into four pieces and boiled

In a skillet, over medium heat, melt the margarine.  Add and fry onions (green and red) and tomatoes.  Stir frequently and cook for about 5 minutes.  Lower heat and add everthing except for the "cheese" sauce and potatoes.  Cover, while cooking over low heat, stirring often.  Meanwhile, fix your "cheese" sauce.
After 5-10 minutes, add the "cheese" and heat everything together for about 5 minutes or so.  Pour sauce over potatoes and serve.


Shanghai Tofu or Hongshao Zhurou (China)
  (adapted from Extending the Table)
2 pkgs Firm Tofu  (more if you like, the sauce is supposed to cover 4 lbs of meat)
3/4 c. soy sauce
3 T. agave nectar
2 T. lime juice
1 in. ginger root, sliced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2-3 anise stars
2 c. water

Bring everything, minus tofu, to a boil.  Add tofu, cover and simmer over low heat for 1 or 2 hours.  Be sure to turn the tofu periodically to help it absorb flavor more evenly.  Remove cover, increase heat and cook 15-20 min., until only about 1 cup of liquid remains.  Slice and serve.

Both of these dishes were extremely tasty and will be served again!  Adam suggested cutting the tofu up ahead of time to absorb more flavors.  The taste was very much like a ham baste and the tofu was juicy!  The potato dish was saucy, creamy and wonderful! 

More about the food and Recipes:
Colombian Food Recipes
South America: Colombian Food
Recipes Wiki: Colombian Cuisine
Shanghai Food

Onion Lentil Snack and Potato Curry (Bangladesh)

First of all I have some great news.  Know that fantastic Peanut Soup I talked about a few days ago?  Well, I have permission to post the recipe!  So, head on back to that entry and make some fantastic Peanut Soup (compliments of the Mennonite Central Committee who publish the fantastic line of World Community Cookbooks)!

Staples in Bangladesh include rice and lentils (dal or daal), especially red lentils (according to Bangladeshi Recipes).  Bangladeshi Recipes, also, states that these are commonly used:  mung beans, ripe coconut, mustard oil and paste.  Fish are a major source of protein.  From Wikipedia: "As a large percentage of the land (over 80% on some occasions) can be under water, either intentionally because of farming practices or due to severe climatological, topographical or geographical conditions, not surprisingly fish features as the major source of protein in the Bangladeshi diet. There is also a saying which goes, "Mach-e-Bhat-e-Bangali" (Fish and rice make a Bengali)."  Beef is also very common.  You might find this 'common to region' information interesting (also from Wikipedia):
South - sea fish and coconut milk
Dhaka - fried rice and lot of meat (biriani)
West and NW - Vegetable curries, heavily spiced food and river fish
NE - lake fish, fruit, and pickles
Most important spices: ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric and chili.
For sweet dishes: cardomom and cinnamon. 

This meal:  I really enjoyed the Potato Curry.  The book recommends serving crisp, brown onions on top, which was a fantastic suggestion!  I would not recommend serving it on rice, however.  It was too dry for that.  I think, like the book recommends, that it would be a good idea to serve it with a juicier dish (which you could serve on rice if you wanted).  I wasn't a huge fan of the Onion Lentil snack, but I haven't really developed a taste for lentils.  Perhaps I will work to develop a lentil treat I like ;)

Potato Curry or Alu Torkari
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 med. onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
12-14 oz. tomatoes
1 t. garam masala
1 t. tumeric
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1 T. dry parsley
1 T. lemon juice (we used lime because we are out of lemon)
4 potatoes, cubed
1/4-1/3 c. water

Fry the thinly sliced onion in oil until brown and crisp, then set aside.  Fry onion and garlic until soft (about 3 min.).  Add tomatoes and spices and fry until tomatoes are soft (3-5 min.).  Add everything else, cover loosely and simmer.  Be sure to stir ovvasionally and continue until sauce is thick and potatoes are tender.  Garnish with onions.

For more food from Bangladesh, try these sites:
BangaliNet
Bangladesh.com
Bangladeshi Food and Recipes
Bangladeshi Recipes
Khanapinaa
Sify Food - Indian Food

Brazilian Tofu-Chicken, Peanut Vegetable Soup (Bolivia) and Stovetop Muffins (Botswana)

Well, despite my lack of posting them we've been doing a lot of world tasting this week!  So, I thought I would throw a bunch in together.  Once again, my inspiration came from Extending the Table, which I am cooking my way through (along with the challenge).  I may have mentioned, but I am trying to work my way through the alphabet.  Because I am finding so many tasty things I may revisit certain letters, but my goal is to not visit a country until I've reached that letter, every letter previous is fair game.  Sound like fun?  Well, you should try it out yourself!  Feel free to click the link on the side to visit Crafty Kook's entry on the event.

According to the book, this is a typical way to prepare meat in northeast Brazil.  In Northeastern kitchens cumin, coriander, and colorau (red powder that adds color) are essential.  According to Wikipedia colorau is another name for annatto.  Annatto comes from the achiote trees found in tropical regions in the Americas, "used to produce a red food coloring and also as a flavoring.  Its scent is described as "slightly peppery with a hint of nutmeg" and flavor as "slightly sweet and peppery"."

Brazilian Tofu (Chicken)
2 1/2 lbs. tofu     
1 onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
16-20 oz. diced tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
3 potatoes
2 carrots
1-2 t. gr. ginger
1-2 T. tamari
1-2 t. lime juice
2 T. ground cumin
1 T. coriander
3 t. paprika
gr. pepper to taste
water

Heat a bit of oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) over medium heat.  Add onion and saute for 3-5 min. You want the onion to become soft, but not brown yet.  Add garlic and saute about 1 min.  Add tofu and sprinkle with ginger, ground pepper, tamari, and lime juice to taste (the above are approximations on what I used).  Saute until tofu has browned to your liking (7-10 min).  Remove all from pan and set aside.

Add more oil to the pan and saute tomatoes and green pepper for 5-7 min.  Add tofu, potatoes, carrots and all spices.  Pour in water just until covering (see above picture). Bring to a boil and cook on low until everything is tender, 30-45 min (this will depend on how big your potato and carrot pieces are).  Serve over rice.  Below you will also see this served with a tasty slice of Tomato Basil Bread from Baker Creek!

Peanut Vegetable Soup or Sopa de Mani (Bolivia)
I wish I could post this recipe.  It has been one of our favorite dishes, but the only thing I changed was to substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth.  The peanuts created a wonderful, thick and somewhat creamy texture.  We were extremely impressed with how much of a difference they made without the addition of milk or something else to thicken.  I have contacted the company to see if I can post this recipe.  But, just in case, I would recommend trying to locate a copy of this book.  It is traditionally garnished with french fries, so we did!  This is a standard dish served at Bolivian celebrations.  I found another version here.  If you try it, add more peanuts than it suggests (you won't regret it)!

Thanks to the publishers of Extending the Table, I am able to post this wonderful recipe:
2 c. raw peanuts
8 c. broth or water
1 onion,diced
4 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, diced
1/4 c. uncooked rice
1 can peas


Grind peanuts until very fine.  Put broth/water, peanuts, onion, potatoes, and carrot in a large pot and cook for 30 min.  I recommend bringing it to a boil and then allowing it to simmer.  Then add rice and peas and cook for 15 min.  Garnish with parsley and french fries (traditionally made a bit shorter and thinner than North American fries).  I do not think you will be disappointed!

Stove-Top Muffins or Diphaphata (Botswana)
I do not have a picture of the stove-top muffins.  These are very similar to English muffins except extremely dense.  We're talking 4 c. of flour to 1 cup of liquid dense. If you want to try it, it was basically like this recipe.  I decided to have some fun with flours I had on hand: spelt, wheat, garbanzo bean and sorghum.  Those made for an interesting taste as you can imagine.  Me?  I think I'll stick to English Muffins.  Speaking of, I just made some for the first time yesterday and will post results soon!

Vegetable Seitan Stew - Argentina

Oh baby!  Today I made an awesome trip down to Baker Creek with Bobbie, her kids and friend Tim.  If you haven't made the trip and are ever in the area, you're in for a treat.  I really would have been in a lot of trouble if I hadn't spent hours last night narrowing down lists to focus my spending.  All heirloom seeds, vegan baked goods and treats, it's amazing!  When I stepped into the bakery and asked if the bread contained any egg or dairy, the lady informed me that she was vegan and made sure that there was "no bad stuff" in it.  How cool is that?  I was quite impressed.  (Forgot to mention!  I bought some tomato basil and it was absolutely fantastic!  We will have to make some when we get back to baking breads!)  I promise to list my purchases at some later point and track my gardening progress (if anyone's interested).

On to the food:  It's been quite a few days since we made this, I've just been offline trying to narrow down my blog time (has anyone else become obsessed with this stuff?).  Liking it is not a problem, but I can spend hours checking new entries on my favorite blogs and visiting every new blog I can find.  And now that I'm writing my own, man, I just have to watch out!  I do plan to continue listing information and links, but tonight it's just the food.  And, though late, there will be a Weekly Intrigue list posted, hopefully tomorrow.

Vegetable Seitan Stew
           (adapted from Extending the Table - Vegetable Beef Stew
  - the original calls for pumpkin or winter squash, but we had none on hand
3 T. olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
18-20 oz. tomatoes (or 2-3 fresh)
1 large green pepper
1 1/2 t. parsley
2-3 cups chunky seitan (depending on how "meaty" you want it) -I used the Veganomicon recipe
17 oz. corn
3-4 potatoes
1/4 c. pumpkin  (calls for 2 c. pumpkin or squash)
2 T. rice
stock or water (enough to cover everything) - for this I used 1/2 c. seitan broth and 3-4 cups water
pepper to taste

In a large pot saute garlic until it starts to brown.  Add and saute onion, tomato and green pepper.   Add pepper and parsley, then set aside.  Brown seitan (I like to sprinkle garlic powder and fresh gr. pepper over it).  Add everything else, cover and bring to a boil.  Once it has started to boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 30 min. or until everything is tender.  Feel free to add more liquid if you like.  It is a stew, though, so chunky is good!

Grilled Avocado Sandwich

This is something for those quick dinner nights, when you're missing grilled cheese or want something a little greasy ;)  On the side I served up mashed potatoes (after boiling, peels were left on, I threw in some margarine and soymilk and mashed it up - leaving chunks of course!) and cauliflower poppers (from vegweb).  The gravy on the mashed potatoes was actually a packet we had from a Christmas gift.  We mixed in a little nutritional yeast with it to thicken and to help downplay the saltiness.

 

The sandwich is super easy.  Spread margarine on one side of two slices of bread (these will be the top and bottom of the sandwich, margarine side out).  Spread avocado on one slice of bread (for these we used 1/3 of a whole avocado), topped with minced garlic (or powdered/granulated) and a couple of tomato slices.  Add anything else you might want!  Warm up your skillet and toss these babies on.  They're done in no time!  

Another option: instead of spreading margarine on the bread slices, you can just add oil or margarine to the skillet.  But I've always preferred it this way ;)

Black Bean Burgers and the big crumble

onight I made black bean burgers and fries.  I don't remember the last time we tried making black bean burgers, but I remember knowing I wanted to try a different recipe next time (we weren't very impressed).  For tonight's version I looked at a few sites, narrowed down from a search earlier this week (during a meals planning session) - Black  Bean Burgers 1, Black Bean Burgers 2 and Black Bean Burgers 3.  The flavor was pretty darn good, if I do say so (the boys agreed), but they were falling apart a little.  What could have helped?  Maybe chopping things a little finer or putting everything through the food processor.  Maybe less of the "chunky" ingredients.  Or perhaps letting the pan heat a little longer.  If anyone has suggestions from their perfected bb burgers please let me know!  The spice amounts are guesses from what I threw in, so use more or less depending on your tastes.

Black Bean Burgers
 3 c. black beans
   (cooked; or 1 1/2-2 cans)
3/4 c. mushrooms
1 onion
3/4 c. oats
   (I should have processed these a little)
2 tsp. garlic granules 
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. tamari
1/2 tsp. jalapeno pepper flakes

Mash beans, mix in all other ingredients, then fry 'em up in some olive oil.

French Fry Spices:  garlic, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper.
I threw on more paprika then planned and these were actually quite spicy due to the amount of paprika and pepper, a wonderful surprise :)

Want a free cookbook? (and more)

This could be yours:

To get your copy head over to Vegan Family Style! Even if you have a copy of this book this blog is worth a visit. I just stopped by in the midst of my hitting familiar and new blogs adventure and am very glad I did! Recent entries include: raw desert, orange pudding cupcakes and green smoothies.

It's wild. I've been to so many blogs the last couple of years and sampled many recipes, but I just didn't really interact. Crossing that line still feels a little strange. But believe me, I'm quite anxious to get involved in the online vegan world. I haven't had many vegan friends and it seems wonderful to have this whole community available.

So, next up my first hat! I'm pretty psyched because I'm not great about finish projects unless it is some sort of assignment, like for work, school or perhaps a gift. I started knitting recently (actually this was a second go at knitting) and I finally completed something! Now I'm ready to begin a new project or two.

Eats and Drink of the day:

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast cookies (VCIVCJ)

First attempt from VCIYCJ! I'm very excited about this book. Just flipping through, every pic is absolutely amazing. Today I had to try something. We had a couple of very ripe bananas, so that was a start. I chose the recipe for Banana Oatmeal Breakfast cookies. Going
with the things we already had: I substituted pecans for walnuts. I didn't have quite enough oats, but threw in some pumpkin seeds. We didn't have dried cranberries, but I look forward to trying it with these next time! Despite the changes they still seemed wonderful and I'm excited to try the rest! This recipe already uses brown rice syrup and agave, so there was no need for a sugar substitute.

Falafel Reubens

With toppings minus thousand island.










After toasting with mixed green salad.







Chickpea Cutlets (VWAV) and gravy, roasted brussel sprouts and roasted potatoes

A tasty dinner with Chickpea cutlets covered in shiitake gravy, roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes. The brussel sprouts were seasoned with oil, garlic and salt. The potatoes were seasoned with oil, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, rosemary, coriander, oregano and lemon juice. Thanks to the lemon juice and coriander combo these were slightly tangy and delicious!

Brews in Review

Well, Adam has been working at a local liquor store for the past 6 months or so. He just recently got a job at the library and will no longer be there, so we are taking advantage of the discount while we still can :) Tonight he brought home a 6 pack of Tripple (New Belguim) and one tall pint plus 6 oz. of Deep Enders Dark Porter (Anderson Valley).

Tripple wasn't bad. I don't really have a lot to say about this one, it was decent. I will say that New Belguim Brewing Co. is known to be a very sustainable crew, so that's a good thing. Not to mention they put out a fine line of beers.

Now the Deep Enders Dark Porter. Oh, this was wonderful. This beer had a wonderful clean, smooth dark malty taste. The maltiness was not overwhelming, but just enough to add a little sweet tang. Another great thing about these guys? Solar powered! I highly recommend this beer! Lucky for us, Adam will be able to get a 12 pack of these babies for $22 :) Those will definitely last us awhile!

Chimichangas and a little Christmas

What a happy day! I came home to packages waiting inside. Luckily, Adam's and mine came on the same day, so we were able to open all of our Christmas at once.

Two new cookbooks! Oh my, these were probably my top two picks on my current want list:
Vegan Brunch AND Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar! (Click the links for sample recipes if you don't have a copy yet!)


That's not all! Also, the next installment of Northlanders (trade paperback) and 3 David Bowie albums!


Also, I visited the Thrift Store for the Blind today and made out with some goods:
Twin Peaks Soundtrack, a little hanger for ties (perfect for Adam and his new job), small flower pot, spatula for outdoor grilling, a gardening book, and skirt book.


I love thrifty finds!

Today I figured out how to add links to text (obviously a blog novice). If anyone has happened here because you wondered, "Who the hell is this chick that just posted on my blog?" Well, it was me. I've hunted the net for recipes for years and followed many blogs. Just recently I started my own and decided to start communicating...hopefully not creepy, haha.

We've been eating a lot of chimi's lately. I originally got the idea for mashing potatoes and beans together from a vegan cookbook I once had. Each time is a slightly different variation.

Black Bean Potato Chimichangas

3 med potatoes (chopped and cooked)
2 c. black beans (cooked)
2 avocados
3 garlic cloves
2 Tbl tamari
1/3 c. water or veg. broth
1-3 hot peppers or 1-2 tsp. dried pepper flakes (jalapeno are a great choice)
8 tortillas (burrito size)

Filling:
Mash together potatoes, beans and avocados in a large pot or bowl. Add everything else and mix thoroughly.

To form chimichangas:
Start with a single tortilla and fold two sides in toward the center:


Add a scoop (1/8) of mixture to one end and roll up.


Next, add safflower oil to a pan and start frying. I usually add 1/4 to 1/2 in. and flip over to conserve oil. But feel free to deep fry (more traditional).

Then, voila! Top with salsa or whatever else you might like.



If you love chimichangas like I do, there's also a tasty looking recipe over at Vegan Thyme!