20 May 2009

Oat chorizo and guacomole

I suspect that every good sausage recipe can be made vegan relatively easily. To test this hypothesis, I took a chorizo recipe from here and made it with oats instead:

Fry

4 minced cloves garlic, and
chopped oregano

in olive oil. When they brown, add

1 cup water,
1/4 cup soy sauce,
2 teaspoons chili powder,
1 teaspoon paprika,
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves,
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper,
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, and
1 teaspoon salt.

If you're wary of excess spice, trade chili powder for paprika. Bring this mixture to a boil, then add

1 cup quick oats

and cook until thickened. Remove from heat, and fry it into

1 sliced onion and
1 can of beans.

The guacamole recipe comes from here and is already fine on its own, though as usual, I don't follow it exactly. For the record, here's my rendition:

2 ripe avocados,
1 finely diced onion,
1/2 diced hot pepper,
1/2 bunch chopped fresh cilantro,
1 tablespoon lemon juice,
1/2 teaspoon salt,
dash of freshly ground black pepper, and
a diced tomato.

Serve both of these with rice and tortillas.

16 May 2009

Hash Browns

6 potatoes. Cleaned. Baked in oven the night before at 450 for an hour.

1/3 cup of oil and potatoes on cookie sheet, into 450F oven for about 20 min, flipped over after about 10-15 min. Salted and Peppered.

Also fine using spray oils instead. If you make a sheet of each then mix, you get a nice overall effect.

10 May 2009

Tofu Bhurji


This is a vegan analog of Paneer Bhurji, which is based on cheese rather than tofu. I found that this dish assembles very quickly once the heat is applied, so it helps to prepare all of the ingredients beforehand.


Heat oil in a wok, and fry

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed.

Once the seeds are browned, add

3 cloves minced garlic and
1" piece of peeled, minced ginger.

Fry these briefly, and then add

2 sliced onions,
1/2 of a chili pepper (diced).

Once the onions brown, add

1 teaspoon salt,
1/2 to 1 teaspoon garam masala,
1/4 teaspoon tumeric,
1/4 teaspoon chili powder and
1/2 teaspoon monosodium glutamate (optional).

Stir briskly, and cook until onions become transparent. Then add

2 diced tomatoes.

Cook until the tomato skins begin to pull back. To this, add

12 oz. grated extra firm tofu and
minced fresh cilantro.

Mix thoroughly and cook until heated through.

06 May 2009

Broccoli, noodles, and thick sauce

This recipe is overdone. Beware.

There are three parts:

The sauce:
Start by pressure-cooking

1/2 dry soybeans
1 T olive oil

for 20 minutes. While this is cooking, carmelize

1 sliced onion
1 teaspoon salt

in a greased saucepan. When the soybeans finish, drain them, and grind in a blender with enough water to make 2 cups for at least 3 minutes. Once ground, add to the now-carmelized onions. Reduce the heat, and simmer for at least 7 minutes. During this time, rinse out the blender and grind

3/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup walnuts
enough water to make 3 cups

until smooth, at least 2 minutes. After the soybeans and onions have finished cooking, add the mixture to the blender, and continue to blend for at least another 2 minutes. At this point, you can set the sauce aside (it doesn't need any further cooking), or put it back in the saucepan and cook for a few minutes more.

The broccoli:

This is the easy part: pare

1 bunch broccoli rabe

and fry at high heat in olive oil.

The pasta:

Combine

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina flour.

Cut in enough water to make an elastic pasta dough. Knead for at least 5 minutes, then set aside for at least 10. Divide the dough into four equal portions. Roll each out into a thin strip about 4 inches wide, and as long as possible. Slice along the short direction into strips about 1/8 inch wide. Peel each strip off the board carefully with the point of a knife, stretch to about twice the original length and drop into boiling water. The pasta cooks in about 2 minutes, so it is most practical to cook it in batches.