Kimberly Steele's Blog, page 16

Daily Vegan Lunch for 23 August, 2013: Korean Sprout Soup

I sprouted my own soybean sprouts and had success the very first time using Maangchi’s perfect tutorial:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups soybean sprouts

4 cups water

1 vegan broth cube

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon konbu powder (ground up konbu seaweed squares, I use my coffee grinder)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 green onion, chopped

Salt, to taste

Bring water, konbu powder, and broth cube to a boil in a large pot. Add sprouts, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil. Stir and take the heat down to medium. Allow it to simmer 20 minutes until the soup becomes fragrant. Add salt if needed. Add green onion shortly before serving.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 22 August, 2013: Phyllo Quiche

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 a package of phyllo dough (about 20 sheets)

2 cups onion, chopped

2 teaspoons oil for frying

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 package firm tofu (2 cups) drained and crumbled

1/2 cup flour, any kind

1 teaspoon agar powder or arrowroot

1 cup soy or other plant-based milk

1 tablespoon oil

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 cup baco bits

DIRECTIONS:

Fry onion and garlic in a pan on medium-high heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Set aside. Combine tofu, flour, agar or arrowroot, soy milk, 1 tablespoon oil, nutritional yeast, salt, and nutmeg in a blender. Blend until very smooth.

Combine tofu mixture with fried onions/garlic and baco bits. Stir well.

Oil a large casserole dish. Lay about 10 phyllo leaves in casserole dish. Spread the tofu filling evenly across the phyllo. Cover with 10 more leaves of phyllo. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 21 August, 2013: Spicy Korean Potato Daikon Soup

There are certain recipes I know I will revisit long after my Daily Vegan Lunch project is finished. This is one of them!

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups water

1 teaspoon konbu powder (ground up konbu squares, I use a coffe grinder)

1 tablespoon Korean red pepper paste a.k.a. gochujang

3 tablespoons miso (I used shiro miso)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 potato, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes

3 shiitake mushrooms, soaked, stems cut off

1.5 cups onion, chopped

1 zucchini, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes

1/2 a medium sized daikon radish, cut into 1/2 inch slices

Sesame seeds for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Fry the onion and garlic in sesame oil in the bottom of a large soup pot on medium heat until onion begins to go translucent, about 3 – 5 minutes. Add zucchini, cook 2 more minutes. Add water, konbu powder, red pepper paste, and miso. Stir to blend. Add remaining ingredients, which include potato, mushrooms, and daikon. Bring the pot to a boil on high heat. As soon as it boils, turn the heat down to medium-high and cook until potatoes are fork tender.

Garnish with sesame seeds.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 20 August, 2013: Carrot & Black Bean Burrito

For one burrito

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups cooked black beans, rinsed and drained if from a can

1 teaspoon taco seasoning (generic blend of cumin, onion, and chili powder)

1/2 carrot, shredded or julienned

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon vegan sour cream (optional)

1/2 an onion

1 teaspoon oil

1 large tortilla

DIRECTIONS:

Sprinkle taco seasoning over beans. Fork smash the black beans in a bowl and stir until the taco seasoning is evenly distributed. In a separate small bowl, put carrot shreds in water and microwave them for 1 minute and drain. Alternately, you can leave them raw.

In a small pan, cook onions in oil on medium-high heat until they begin to go translucent.

Microwave tortilla for 20 seconds to soften it. Put smashed beans, drained carrot, vegan sour cream, and onion in the middle of the tortilla, wrap & eat.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 19 August, 2013: Seaweed-Wrapped Mushroom Cutlet a.k.a. Vegetarian Unagi

Modified from Japanese Cooking: Contemporary and Traditional by Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner

I had the honor of meeting Miyoko Schinner at this year’s Naperville Veggie Fest. She is the amazing author of several cookbooks, including the mind-blowing bestseller Artisan Vegan Cheese. She is on the verge of opening her own restaurant in the San Francisco area.

These seaweed and shiitake cutlets are billed as Vegetarian Eel over Rice in Miyoko Schinner’s book (highly, highly recommended). I don’t find them similar to any kind of dead animal food, including eel. Unfortunately, I have eaten eel in my life. Eating an eel is disgusting and wrong and doesn’t even taste very good. In the past I have noticed that if there is a dead fish sushi tray being passed around, the eel (unagi) is the last item to disappear. Probably because it looks gray/black and nasty and it has a pronounced fish smell if it is not very, very fresh. I also find the idea of eating a squid or an octupus revolting not because even though the taste is much better than eel, I will never again kill and eat such magnificent, intelligent creatures.

These cutlets have all the salty-sweet greatness of Japanese restaurant food without the grotesque aspect of eating a beautiful sea creature. They are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The saltiness is balanced with a sweet tare sauce. How lovely it is to taste the flavors of the sea without resorting to violence against the wonderful animals who live there.

Makes 4 cutlets

INGREDIENTS:

10 dried shiitake, soaked in water for 20 minutes and drained

1/3 cup wakame seaweed, soaked in water 20 minutes and drained

1 cup yuba (tofu skins, available in most Asian grocery stores) soaked in water 20 minutes and drained

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

1 teaspoon sugar or 1/2 teaspoon agave nectar

3 tablespoons mochiko (glutinous rice flour)

2 tablespoons oil

TARE SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons sugar or 2 tablespoons agave nectar

1/2 teaspoon konbu powder (make konbu powder by grinding konbu squares in a coffee grinder or blender)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

White or brown rice, to serve

4 sheets of nori

DIRECTIONS:

Make tare sauce by combining sauce ingredients in a small bowl, set aside.

Cut any hard stems out of soaked shittake mushrooms. Place reconstituted shiitake and wakame in a food processor and process until they are chunky. Add the yuba to the processor last and continue processing until all ingredients are minced but not yet a paste. Scoop the mixture out of the blender and add mochiko. Season it with soy sauce, cooking wine, and sugar or agave nectar, taste testing it until it is right.

Divide the mixture into four equal portions and divide the portions onto nori sheets, folding up the corners to make a square packet/cutlet. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan until it is near smoking hot. Fry the cutlets on medium-high heat in the oil. Turn the heat down to medium and flip them. Drizzle the cutlets with a tablespoon of tare sauce as you fry them for extra flavor.

Serve over rice with more tare sauce.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 18 August, 2013: Stewed Daikon, Spinach, and Eda Mame

INGREDIENTS FOR TWO SERVINGS:

1 medium sized daikon radish, peeled and sliced

2 cups water

1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1.5 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon of homemade konbu powder (grind up konbu squares to powder in a coffee grinder or blender)

1.5 cups edamame, thawed

4 cups spinach leaves

DIRECTIONS:

Peel and cut daikon into 3/4 inch thick slices. Mix water, wine, soy sauce, sugar, and konbu powder. Bring water/soy sauce mixture to a boil in a small pot on the stovetop and add daikon, turn down to a simmer for 25 minutes. I used my rice cooker to stew the daikon on the white rice setting.

Steam spinach by putting it in the microwave for 1 minute to wilt or put it in a shallow pan on the stovetop with a teaspoon of water to do the same thing. Prepare eda mame according to package directions — I usually microwave them from frozen in the shell for 2 – 3 minutes and then wait to they cool, shell them, and add them to whatever I am making.

Serve daikon with steamed spinach and eda mame in a bowl or sided plate and spoon broth over the top.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 17 August, 2013: Plantains and Black Beans

Plantains a.k.a. plantanos, where have you been all my life??? Plantains are used very commonly in Cuban and South American cuisine. I always used to pass these by in the grocery store because they look like overlarge freaky overripe bananas. This time I didn’t pass them by, in fact, I asked a nice woman who was feeling the yellow & black plantains how to go about picking good ones. She says to look for ones that are firm and with no soft spots. Once she showed me, I picked out 3 medium sized ones, took them home, peeled and sliced, and pan fried them. ZOMG plantains are delicious!! They taste like a less sweet banana crossed with a sweet potato. They were divine with a side of black beans mixed with homemade blender salsa. So simple yet so delicious. THANK YOU nice woman at the grocery store!

Moral of the story… don’t knock it until you try it!

INGREDIENTS:

3 plantains/plantanos

1 – 3 teaspoons oil

1.5 cups cooked black beans

1/2 cup homemade blender salsa

DIRECTIONS:

Peel the plantains by cutting off the end and peeling as you would a banana, discard skins. Chop plantains into oblong slices. Heat 1 – 3 teaspoons of oil in a pan to medium-high heat. Wait until oil spreads easily and then drop plantain pieces into pan. Fry them until brown and then flip, about 1 – 2 minutes per side.

Mix 1 part salsa to 3 parts cooked black beans in a bowl. Heat in microwave until warm and stir.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 16 August, 2013: Pine Nut Mushroom Pasta

Makes 2 servings

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons pine nuts

9 button mushrooms, cleaned and cut in half

2 teaspoons plus 1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 cups fresh spinach leaves

1/4 cup red bell pepper, cut into small ribbons

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

5 cups cooked spaghetti, cappellini, or linguine

Roast pine nuts in a dry pan on medium heat, allowing them to brown slightly. Once they are lightly browned, take them off the heat and set them aside. In a separate pan, bring 1 teaspoon of oil to medium-high heat in a pan until it spreads easily, then allow mushrooms to sit as they sauté. Don’t toss them around — allow them to brown and then flip them to the other side, about 1 – 2 minutes each side. Add spinach leaves, red bell pepper, and fresh garlic to the mushroom pan and stir until the spinach wilts, about 30 seconds.

Add the pine nuts to the mushroom pan and take the pan off heat.

In a large bowl, combine cooked spaghetti and mushroom/pine nut/spinach mixture and 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional). Salt to taste.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 15 August 2013: ToFoo Yung

This is adapted from Louise Hagler’s classic Tofu Cookery.   I had zero time so this photo was taken at work.

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons oil

1 13.5 ounce block silken firm tofu

1 cup water chestnuts

2 – 2.5 cups mung or soybean sprouts

1.5 cups green onion, chopped

6 white mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Soy sauce or salt to taste

GRAVY INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups vegetable broth

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 Tablespoon agave nectar

1.5 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch

Makes about 9 patties or 4 servings

DIRECTIONS:

In a pan on medium heat, fry the mushrooms in 2 teaspoons oil until browned and juicy, about 2 minutes, then add the soybean sprouts and water chestnuts and stir until the sprouts soften up a little, about 2 more minutes. Add the green onion, stir, and remove from heat. Mash the tofu, flour, and baking powder in a bowl with a fork. If you use silken tofu, there is no need to use the blender. You can also use regular firm tofu for this recipe.

Combine the tofu mixture with the sprout mixture. Add soy sauce by the tablespoon or salt by the half-teaspoon until it tastes good — no worries about salmonella because there are no eggs!

Oil a cookie sheet or use lightly oiled parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Drop the mixture by large spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.

Make the gravy by combining cold veggie broth with all other ingredients. Bring to a simmer on medium heat and stir until thickened. Alternately, heat gravy in the microwave on full power for 1 minute at a time, stirring in between minutes, until thickened.

Serve patties with rice or noodles and generous spoonfuls of gravy.

Daily Vegan Lunch for 14 August, 2013: Mushroom Toast

I like buying button mushrooms because here in Illinois they are grown locally. Supposedly mushroom toast is very popular in Britain as a breakfast dish. I’m not sure they add garlic when they serve it for breakfast.

Makes 2 toasts

INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon oil

8 cleaned white button mushrooms, cut in half or left whole if they are small

1.5 Tablespoons vegan cream cheese

1 cup vegetable broth, plus a few additional tablespoons of vegetable broth if needed

1 clove garlic

Salt to taste

2 slices of toast, 2 halves of a bagel, or 2 baguette slices

In a small pan, add oil to pan and heat on medium high until the oil spreads thinly over the surface of the pan with a spoon. Add the mushrooms to the pan and let them sit to sauté on each side until browned, about 1 minute each side. You don’t want to toss them around too much because if you do, they don’t brown.

Make a well in the center of the mushrooms and add garlic. Let the garlic sauté for 30 – 45 seconds.

You might want to start the toaster now.

Add the broth and cream cheese to the mushroom and garlic pan. (Remember my recipe for easy vegan cream cheese is 2 cups soaked cashews blended with enough water to make them into cream in a food processor with a pinch of salt and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice.) Stir until the cream cheese is melted and add salt to taste. Serve ladled on toast.