Food Delicious Vegetarian Cooking

You don't have to let it sit that long. Just an hour or so will do.

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/cook-eggplant-to-perfection.aspx

 

I'm trying to get into the habit of preparing things from scratch. My current transition to veganism has taken advantage of way too much prepared food.

One of my recent forays into vegan cuisine was this wonderful soup that's both incredibly delicious and simple to make:

Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk Soup

Ingredients:
• 4 cups vegetable stock or water
• 2 1/4 lb orange-flesh sweet potatoes (about 2-3 large ones), peeled and diced (about 6 cups)
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger root
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup of coconut milk (canned, non-light version)
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• A few sprigs of cilantro (for garnish)

Directions:
Pour the stock or water into a soup pot on high heat. Add the sweet potatoes, turmeric, and salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for about 8-10 minutes, until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside. (Do not drain!)

Heat the oil in a medium skillet on medium-high. Add the coriander, cumin, and cinnamon, and sauté for about 30 seconds, until fragrant but not browning. Add the onions and sauté for about 7 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic (and a splash of water if needed to prevent sticking), stir, and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes, until onions are translucent and soft.

Transfer onion mixture into the soup pot and stir in the coconut milk and cayenne. Remove from heat and puree with a hand blender (or transfer to a food processor or blender to puree then return to pot) until smooth. Reheat if necessary before serving.

Source: Get It Ripe by Jae Steele

 

I make a similar soup using cauliflower, (instead of sweet potatoes) bell peppers and fresh hot peppers (which are in season right now in most parts of the country.) I only puree about half of it, because I like it chunky.

Lindy

 

Cauliflower would certainly be good, as it too does well being curried. I'll have to try that soon. Thanks!

Though, I should note that when I made the soup, I was short one sweet potato (they weren't that big), so I added two carrots, knowing that root vegetables in general mix well in this kind of soup. So I just might want to try a sweet potato/cauliflower blend. I also have bird's eye chilis to use up, so there's that too.

 

Nice article. I never use regular eggplant. I use Asian eggplant.

Roast about 3-4 of them over and open flame on the stove.
Peel the charred skin. Take off as much as possible you can leave small flecks.
Cut off the stem.
Pull the eggplant apart like it was pulled pork.
Add 4 cloves of raw pressed garlic.
Add about 3 tablespoons of white or rice vinegar.
Pinch of salt to bring out other flavors.
Serve.

I eat it with white rice and stir fry veggies. It makes a good accompaniment to something that is salty from fish sauce or soy sauce.

 

I'm not sure if this is the best recipe for this kind of thing, but it's easy and delicious. I'm pretty sure you could substitute any nut for this. Cashews would be delightful.

This is vegan, and I tried this over the vegan stuffing left over from what my SO made for our holiday dinner.

So good.....

Almond Gravy

INGREDIENTS
2 cloves garlic
1 cup raw almonds
1 1/4 cups water
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp kuzu root [I used cornstarch]
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp sage

DIRECTIONS
1. Chop up garlic in food processor or blender.
2. Add the almonds and process into fine crumbs.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and process until relatively smooth.
4. Transfer to a sauce pot over medium heat.
5. Stir often until thickened, about 5 minutes. [It thickened pretty quickly for me.]

 

Most of the recipes I have seen for vegan sauces call for cashews, so nice to see one with almonds. I am planning on making some cheeze sauce using cashews and nutritional yeast.

 

It's also rich in magnesium, which is something many North Americans don't get enough of.

One of the recipes I came across for the almond gravy calls for nutritional yeast. I don't have any, so I found a simpler recipe.

 

I just picked some up today. It definitely has a savory flavor that I like. There is a local vegan sauce called Yumm sauce where the dominant flavor is nutritional yeast, and having had that sauce is one of the reasons I am interested in making cheeze sauce.

 

On the topic of cheese: have you checked out Daiya?

 

I looked for it at the hippie co-op, but they didn't have any. I'm not interested if it's pricey. I can do without.

 

Tonight's dinner:

Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms

1/2 sweet onion
2 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
1 stalk celery
2 oz. cashews
1 tsp. nutritional yeast
stems from mushrooms
several white/cremini mushrooms-number needed will vary on size; you could use this to stuff a larger portobello or large white buttons or smaller creminis

Process ingredients together in food processor. Fill mushrooms. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. Serve over spinach.