Corn Curry!

This came together haphazardly but ended up being really delicious! The base is sautéed garlic, onion and tomato with cumin seeds, ginger, garam masala, coriander, turmeric and chili powder.
To that I added sweet and white potatoes and tofu, followed later by some corn and lentils and finished off closer to the end with brussels sprouts and broccoli. The sweetness of he corn really worked with the spiciness of the curry.

Muttar Tofu Pasta with Veggie Sausage

Grabbed some lovely ingredients today after strawberry picking in Brampton. Garlic scapes and Ontario peas. I sautéed the scapes in oil with onion, garam masala, ginger, cayenne and allspice and then added cubed tofu and one spicy veggie snausage. I threw in some tomato purée, porcini powder and red wine and green peas and simmered for 30 or so minutes, adding water occasionally to keep it loose. Great over pasta!

Almond Cream Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts (Vegan)

Why do I feel like I posted this already? Because I ate it over a month ago. Sorry!

Sometimes I get a craving for something super creamy. 
Being lactose intolerant and sharing the occasional leftover with vegan friends means I have to look to uncommon places for that satisfying sauciness.  Frankly, I was surprised to learn that this is an actual pasta sauce (I thought it was just something I dreamed up out of low pantry supplies and lack of motivation to go outside).
It ends up tasting somewhere between an alfredo and a white cheese sauce, and this depends on how much nutritional yeast (if any) you use.
The sauce is pretty easy: 
Take a cup of toasted almonds (skin on or off) and grind them in a blender until they're a fine crumb. Add one or two cloves of chopped garlic and pulse together.  
To this add 1-2 cups of water and continue to blend until smooth.  Pour the mixture into a pan and simmer. At this point you can add lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, or up to 1/4 c. nutritional yeast to taste, as well as salt, pepper or nutmeg.
Simmer the sauce until it's the desired thickness and serve over pasta.
On the side, I served roasted brussels sprouts. They were halved and tossed with curry paste, vinegar or citrus juice, some sugar or maple syrup optional garlic and a little olive oil and roasted at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  They're a dream of crispy chippy leaves and soft insides.
Yum!

Blueberry Banana Muffins

These were originally supposed to be a way to clean the freezer of all of the happily laid up fruits of the past few months. Ontario wild blueberries from last season, those lovely sweet brown bananas that you forget to eat during the work week and get thrown into the freezer for banana ice cream or smoothies.

I based the recipe on the ppk's vegan banana cake, (http://www.theppk.com/2007/10/banana-bread/) and took a cue from the comments in how to adjust the baking time for muffins. These worked beautifully, although the batter seemed very dry. Next time I would add nuts or perhaps almond flour.

Vegan Sicilian Lemon Cake

Arriving at Fiesta Farms for my Saturday groceries, I spied a nobbly, oversize lemonish creature with a carnival mask sticker.  What else to do but stick it in my bag and try to make it feel at home.  
T'was a Sicilian Lemon, and I turned it into a vegan cake. 
This recipe was disgustingly easy.  I took the lemon rind and juice and combined it with enough water to make a cup, then added it to 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar and a tsp of baking soda.
Afterwards I added a tsp of vanilla, a tsp of vinegar and 5 tsp of oil and baked at 350 for 25 minutes.  Lemon heaven!  Love, Chococat :)

Middle Eastern Style Tomato Chickpeas

Chickpea in the city

I love saucy chickpeas and beans.  From late night munchies at local middle eastern joint Ghazale to the delicious, saucy broad beans I had for breakfast in Istanbul, to my grandmother's Pasta e fagioli.
This dish was my attempt to finally capture the essence of the oily, long stewed beans you dip crusty bread into, or savour over rice.  I think I nailed it.

I took an onion, half a carrot and red/green/yellow pepper and sauteed them in a healthy glug of olive oil with some fennel and cumin seeds and some cayenne until they were soft and fragrant.  
Then I added in half a jar of loose tomato puree (conserva to my fellow wops) and two cloves of chopped garlic.  Following that, I patiently boiled the bejeezus out of the mixture for probably half an hour on medium high heat until it started to thicken and get slightly dark. I removed half of the mixture and pureed it with my stick blender and returned it to the pot, then added about two cups of chickpeas.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper and cooked it a little longer, and voila!  Delicieux!  

     Fall can be dreary, so here's some inspiration: during trying times, with lots of illness in the family my elderly grandmother still found time to garden this spring, and to share some of the bounty with me when I visited.  She grew, shucked and froze 27(!) little packets of her own beans for the winter.  That is one self-sufficient lady! <3

Amazebowls (Vegan Rainbow Lunch Bowl)

I took way too long to take the above picture, but I finally gave this purple Kale the glamour shot treatment.
I made this bowl to deal with double-shift lunches.  I cooked up enough yums for three days, including tofu, broccoli, spiced onion and kale, chickpeas, black rice and fresh corn.  I made a 'fresh' type saucy gravy of Korean miso or Denjoeng, tahini, apple juice, vinegar, coconut milk and strawberry puree. Kiss my ass hotdog truck!

Panzanella!

I love Panzanella in the summer.  I'm not certain, but I think that the name either comes from the Italian word pane (bread) or panzo (belly/stomach). This simple bread salad is very refreshing during hot days, and is one of those dishes that gets even better if you make it in advance.
This dish uses up stale bread nicely as well. 
For two servings: 
1/2 loaf of stale crusty bread (no wonderbread, yo.)
1/2 a cucumber, chopped
1-2 med. tomatoes, chopped, with juices (or 1/2 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes halved).
A thin slice of onion, chopped finely
One clove of garlic chopped finely
1/4 block of tofu, cubed (optional)
a few torn leaves of basil
1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil/wine vinegar total (in whatever proportion you like)
s & p to taste.
Roughly tear the bread into chunks.  If it's very very stale, soak it in water for a minute, then squeeze most of the water out gently and put it into a med. bowl
add vegetables and tofu and basil to the bowl
pour dressing over, tossing well (pressing down if necessary to get the bread to absorb all the juices)
add salt and pepper to taste
allow the salad to sit, refrigerated, for at least 30 min before serving.  This is great after it has chilled overnight as well.
Enjoy the shit out of this mofo.
 

Quickles! Quick Daikon Pickles

I love Guu Izakaya, a Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant in Toronto.  Last time I went, I had a mixed pickle appetizer that reminded me how much I love pickled Daikon.  (In Banh Mi, especially).  These pickles are dead easy to make.  All it took was:
1 med Daikon, cut into 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices.
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup of vinegar (rice vinegar is preferable, but white vinegar is what I used this time)
1/4 tsp salt

Toss the sliced Daikon with the salt in a bowl, and allow it to  sit for 20 minutes or so.  This pulls a lot of the water out of the daikon.
Rinse the daikon and squeeze the excess water out of it, then place it in a jar with a lid.
Add the vinegar and sugar to the jar, and adjust either to taste.
At this point, I added several drops of food colouring to the vinegar solution, because the pickles I have in Japanese restaurants often have a vibrant pink colour.  If I had had a beet, I would have added a slice of it to the jar and it would probably have achieved a nicer, more natural result.
The shape of the cells in the Daikon really stand out when you add something coloured to the liquid.
Enjoy!

Vegan Coconut Caramels

Last weekend I went to Montreal, where I tasted delicious American made coconut caramels.  Looking at the ingredient list, I was convinced that I could make these myself.  There were only 4 ingredients: Cane sugar, brown rice syrup, coconut milk, and sea salt!
So, with the help of DicedTomato, and some minor adaptations, Caramels were made!  
I'm not super happy with their firmness (this might have happened because I don't have a candy thermometer) but goddamn, are they delicious.
What's in them?
1 cup of cane sugar
1/2 cup of brown rice syrup
less than 1/2 cup of Earth Balance (salted, otherwise add a little salt)
1 cup of coconut milk 
a pinch of sea salt

First I simmered the sugar and the syrup on medium/medium-high heat, not stirring, for about 10 minutes.  It got darker, reduced by a small bit, and when I swirled it, I could no longer hear any sugar granules.
In another pot, I warmed the coconut milk and melted the Earth Balance.  Then I removed the sugar from the heat and added the coconut milk mixture, stirring it in quickly and well.  Then the pot went back on the stove and bubbled away for probably another 15-20 minutes, while I stirred it frequently.  Because I have no candy thermometer, I tested it for doneness by dropping a small amount in a bowl of very cold water.  If it dissolves in the water, or forms a string, it's not ready yet.  When it starts to form itself into a soft ball that holds up when you touch it, it's about ready.
Following DicedTomato's instructions would probably be a better idea if you have access to a candy thermometer.

I then poured the mixture into a lined, greased baking tin (if you have a silicone baking tin, you can skip the lining probably and just grease it) topped it lightly with kosher salt, and let it set overnight.  This morning I still found it a bit too soft to cut, so I put it in the freezer for a few minutes, and then used a sharp knife to make rectangles.  Oh man, I like these.  Next time I will try coating them with chocolate (maybe making a little ball or square).
yaay!

Vegan Rice Flour Thumbrint Cookies!

This is a slightly adapted, well-loved jam cookie recipe. As I prepare to move, I try to eat up everything in the pantry so I don't have to move it.  This is how I ended up with rice flour cookies.
These cookies are dead easy to make.  They're made of just under 1 cup of rice flour which is combined with just under 1/2 cup of margarine that's been creamed with 1/4 cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla.
They're allowed to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes, then rolled into 15-20 small balls and pressed flat, with a small dollop of jam in a thumbprint in the middle.
Bake these beauties at 350 degrees for 15-30 minutes (they're done when they start to go slightly brown, and how long it takes depends on how large you made them).  Enjoy!

Vegan Millionaire's Shortbread!

Caution: chopped chocolate is dangerously delicious!

Keep stirring!

Almost there!

Here we go!

This dessert was a delicious pain in the butt.
Okay, I exaggerate.  It wasn't so bad, but I am certain that it's not very good for you.  It's full of sugar and Earth Balance margarine, and Soy Creamer (which I will never buy again because it is terrifying).
Still, if you want to make an oldschool dessert, or get that 'you're frigging kidding it's vegan?!' reaction, this is a great dessert to make.
I have no pictures of the final product because, frankly, I'm embarrassed at how it looked.  The thick, set chocolate got hard in the refrigerator and shattered when I tried to cut into it, leading to broken, dusty shapes a co-worker called 'parallelograms'.  If I were to make this again, I'd probably them just after they'd set in the refrigerator instead of waiting until the next day.
The process is basically this:  make shortbread by combining 1/2 cup of Earth Balance or other vegan margarine, 1/4 cup of sugar, and just under two cups of flour (I mixed regular flour with 1/4 cup of rice flour). Press this stuff into a small baking pan lined with wax paper.
Bake at 400 degrees until golden (just keep an eye on it, it could be 15 minutes or closer to 40, depending on the thickness and your oven).  Take it out and let it cool. 
Then:
Combine another 1/2 cup of Earth Balance with 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1.5 cups of vegan cream in a heavy-bottomed pot.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium and allow the mixture to thicken and get dark.  It will take awhile, and you have to stir vigilantly the entire time.  My friend Edie and I took shifts on this one.
When it's thick, amber coloured and greatly reduced, remove it from the heat and continue to stir for a minute or so.  Then pour the guk over the shortbread and gently spread it. 
Refrigerate until set.
Then:
Melt just under 2 cups (about 20g) of chopped chocolate in a double boiler.  When it's melted, pour it over the set cookie and caramel, and spread evenly.
Let them shits cool again.
When it appears fully set, gently lift it out of the container by the edges of the wax paper and try to cut it into squares.  This is where I failed, so I wish you better luck.
Also: you'd better share this or you and your tight-ass jeans will be sorry!

"It's so hot" Vegan Carrot Cake

Since it's 40 degrees with the humidity...I decided to bake. I chose the photo on the left even thought there were better ones because it seems to express the hazy Toronto heat of the past few days.

I had some beautiful dark purple and pale yellow carrots and decided to make a vegan carrot cake. With a whole handful of substitutions and omissions, I roughly followed a recipe from Group Recipes. The bones of it are located here, but I skipped the ginger and swapped the apple juice for orange and omitted the nuts and glaze and opted instead to top the whole thing with sugar.

Now for a complaint. Why is it that I have to create a google search half a mile long to get a vegan recipe without egg replacer, flaxseed meal or some other weird thing? Just give me the basics, PLEASE!

Stay cool,

liz

Japanese Cold Noodles - Hiyashi Chuuka

These noodles are awesome. They travel well, (I took them on a picnic to the island) are a filling and healthy meal, and they're dead simple.

Cook one serving of chinese-style noodles (the kind that come on in 4 or 6 pack bricks) al dente, then rinse thoroughly and drain.

Chop any combination of vegetables, tofu, fake meat, or real meat and place on top. Essentials are thinly shaved cucumber (done with a peeler) and tomato.

Add a squirt of mustard to the side of the dish.

Assemble a sauce of 1-2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 2 tbsp stock or water, 1-2 tsp sesame oil, 1tbsp tahini or ground sesame seeds, and 1 tbsp vinegar (all ingredients can be adjusted to taste). Add some pickled or thinly shredded ginger, and assemble right before eating. Nom!!

Mushroom Risotto

I finally made risotto! You'd think that since my parents are both Italian, I would have made this before, but I've never eaten it with my family. It was delicious, and very easy to make.
I soaked dried shitake in boiling water for a few minutes, then sauteed onion in olive oil. I added the rice and sauteed it until the oil was mostly absorbed and the rice translucent, then I added the mushrooms and their liquid. After that, I added vegetable stock one ladle at a time, stirring constantly. Once the stock was absorbed, I added another ladleful and stirred it in. I repeated this for about 20 minutes, until I had used up all of the stock. Amazingly creamy, and delicious!

Pate a Fruits

Edie and I have been cooking together more often since she and I moved into the same neighbourhood (hooray for neighbours!).
First we made macarons (Chocolate and Prune from David Liebovitz). They were a great success, and our next mission was to make Pate a Fruits. I've personally only ever had one measley serving of the stuff, at Canoe Restaurant as a part of a dessert dish. It was delicious, and we aimed to try to veganize it.
What was interesting about this adventure was that we each used a slightly different recipe and different ingredients. Hers was to be a mango pate de fruits, while mine would be apple. Mine had juice in it, while hers did not. Hers had more pectin in it, and no straining.
God, I wish mine had required no straining. I microwaved fresh apples and pears, then smushed them through a wire sieve (which took the better part of an hour).
We both stood at the stove, adding pectin to our fruity, lemony mixtures, and stirring. We had no candy thermometers, so we guessed when the mixtures had come to the appropriate temperature, and then poured them into containers lined with parchment paper to set.
Next morning: they're still loose. No lovely jelly.
We both try to salvage ours by boiling them again. This time, I added agar to mine while she added gelatin to hers. We both got a great result this time! Mind you, we'd been futzing with this jelly for hours.
Some issues: I ended up with WAY TOO MUCH JELLY, and had to throw a bunch of it away. I don't know what I was thinking. No one wants more than a couple of small pieces of fruit jelly, and some people don't want even that!
Also, I sugared it the night before, and it got sweaty and had a runny, honey-like coating the next morning. That didn't prevent kind co-workers from eating it, but it felt like a bit of a fail.
So remember, Liz, for you French fruit jelly is not worth the effort!

Blueberry Chutney

Triple-post today. I made a few things over the holidays, but since school's started I haven't got around to posting.
I was going to an X-Mas party, and wanted to bring something interesting, low stress, and good for sharing. I thought I invented this dish, but googling proved me wrong on this, as it often does.
The process was quite similar to making Mango Chutney - I simmered a pint of blueberries, half a chopped onion, 1 1/2 cups vinegar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, a handful of raisins, a teaspoon of salt, some mustard seed, cinnamon and ground cumin together until it became chutney-like, tweaking the seasoning until I liked it. I also threw in a small chopped apple for substance about halfway through the simmering.
Verdict: not as good as its mango cousin. A little too sweet, and with a background taste that did not mesh well with the papadum I served it with. However, my host claimed she loved it, and saved the leftovers to have with her dinner the next day. Go figure.

Painfully Messy Indonesian Turnip Cake

A.k.a baby throwup, A.k.a. 'the sludge'.

This is what it ended up looking like (partially finished)

It was a delicious dish we ordered on a whim at King's noodle house. It was deep fried, covered in Hoisin sauce, terrifyingly hot and incredibly tasty.

So, I decided to try to make it. I didn't realize that it would take several hours.

It started with some onions, some veggie sausage, and some hot chili flakes, sauteed with some shredded daikon radish. In case you're wondering, there's no turnip anywhere in the cake. I was a little disappointed, having had limited experience with Turnip, and wishing to expand my horizons.

Something for next time, I guess.
So, the process was to create a thick sludge (which you can see in the bowl) made up of water and rice flour, and to introduce it into the hot pan and allow it to thicken with the onions and 'sausage'.

After that, the mixture was poured into a pot and steamed for an hour. To be truthful, it fell into the pot and splattered all over the kitchen--then I salvaged what was left and steamed it for an hour.
After that, it had to set in the fridge for another hour, and after that, it was fried until crisp and coated with hoisin sauce, soy and sugar.

Verdict: the hungry boys and I ate the sludge. It was passably good, but no contest to the dish in the restaurant. For five bucks, I'll just buy it next time. And maybe a bag of turnips for later.

Dumplings!

Ah, dumplings. I wonder why I waited so long to make you again.
Did dumplings two ways this week. Asian style dumplings yesterday and Italian 'Ravioli' style dumplings today.
I'm still using the pre-made dumpling wrappers because I don't have the time or patience right now to try making them on my own. Also, I'm moving soon (yaay!) and I'm trying to eat up everything I can to make things easier for everyone.

I filled yesterday's dumplings with minced tofu, onion, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, cayenne pepper, cumin, and garam masala. Super delicious.
I sauteed all of the above in olive oil until the onions were translucent, then let it cool and spooned a teaspoon into each dumpling wrapper. I think I finally got down the folding technique for the edges, which is like a pleating. I folded the wrapper over and pinched the centre, and then started from one of the edges, pleating towards the middle and gently pressing out air bubbles. None exploded during steaming, and only two let water in when I boiled the next batch.
For the Italian dumplings, I used a similar base but added broccoli, oregano, fresh basil, pesto and tomato paste, along with some hot chili powder. I have it for my lunch, with spicy olive tomato sauce. Happy Day!

Mushi Pan!

Saw these on Obachan's food blog recently, and wondered how I could do up a vegan version to share. After a little cruising online, I found a recipe that was accidentally vegan, converted and tweaked it, and came up with something I liked. Mushi Pan (literally bug bread, so I read) is a lovely, quick steamed bread/cake thing. I think it's a very versatile base for any flavour, and imagine it would come in handy for when you want a 'baked' treat, but don't have an oven.
I was out of my normal flour, and so I decided to use what was on hand, which was Teff flour (the flour used for Injera in Ethiopian foods--for a future experiment:).
I also wanted a green tea flavour, so I added matcha powder, thinking it would go well with the chocolate chips.
Here's the recipe for a small handful (probably three to four regular muffin sized cakes, or 5-10 minimuffin sized cakes)
1/5 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2-3/4 cup of soy milk or other nondairy milk
1/4 tsp matcha powder
pinch of salt
handful of chocolate chips or chunks

Set a large pot to boil. Sift the dry ingredients, then add them to the wet ingredients and whisk.
Spoon mixture into muffin cups (1/2 full), top with a handful of chocolate or raisins and place in the steamer basket over boiling water. Steam with the lid on for 10-12 minutes, et voila! I really don't know of any faster, easier dessert. This would be great if you have last minute company.
You could take out the matcha powder and add cocoa, or anything else you think might make these great. Imaging: raisin cardamom mushi pan. Chocolate red bean mushi pan. Gluten free strawberry mushi pan. The possibilities are endless.