various

Impromptu lunch with eggplant (nasu) roasted in a Japanese store-bought onion dressing; pinto beans and mushrooms simmered in sauteed onion, garlic, curry powder, Asian chili sauce, and cilantro; steamed kale.

Quick dinner with black beans and cornmeal (just mixed with water) from a neighbor, carrots, pickled red peppers, and a wasabi-seaweed sprinkle (I think it's vegan!)  Rounded out with mujicha (barley tea) and toast.



Tofu Scramble

After reading much talk of tofu scrambles, I finally tried it.  I used Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's recipe in The Vegan Table as a guide, and used what I had on hand.

Basically, you take some extra-firm tofu (not silken), drained and pressed.  It crumbles easily into a bowl.  Then saute whatever garlic, onion, and veggies you like, and add some turmeric for a yellow color (like scrambled eggs.)  I wanted an iron-rich meal, so I cooked it in my cast-iron skillet with chickpeas, mushrooms, tomato sauce, cilantro.  And I think I just squirted in some yellow mustard instead of turmeric powder.  Hot from the skillet, it was amazingly delicious and nourishing.

Strawberry Broccoli Salad

My friend Shannon gave me this recipe after she realized it was vegan.  I plan to make it soon.  Looks so healthy:

 

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh cauliflower (I just added more broccoli)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
5 fresh strawberries, sliced
1/4 slivered almonds (they taste best toasted - yum!)
1/4 cup raspberry vinaigrette (I made my own with balsamic vinegar, all-fruit raspberry jam, salt, pepper, and garlic, but you can use any recipe you like or store bought)

Mix everything together in a large bowl. Eat right away or cover and chill for a couple hours before serving for best flavor.

road food

These are some "omiyage" (souvenir) foods I picked up on the road trip to Nagano.

Clockwise from top: pepper-infused nori (seaweed), sweet giant red beans, pickled & seasoned (in miso?) cucumbers, green mountain herb, seasoned hijiki (a sea vegetable). 

Center: mushroom-miso-veggie mix.

Good vegan snackin'!

Amazake Bars

Yummy and warm.  And I shared them with a bunch of my neighbors.

I bought this amazake at a farmer's market.  It looks a bit like a block of tofu, but it's made of fermented rice (so there's a sake taste to it.)  You can blend it in warm water for the traditional drink, or use it in desserts and smoothies.  It has a bit of alcohol, so I'm not sure why the Wikipedia article says it's used for babyfood!  Anyway, the taste is unusual, and Nene (pictured above) wants me to try more foods from her home country.

I found a few amazake dessert recipes online, and got my inspiration from Swell Vegan's Cardamom-Peach Amazake Scones.

I used my basic bar recipe, using pureed winter squash and amazake & warm water (all blended together) as my puree.  My puree was a little over 2 cups, so these were really moist.  The spices were 1 tsp. each of cardamom and ginger, and a pinch of ground cloves.  I also added a splash of almond extract and some chopped dried apricots.

playing with Garam Masala

I ordered several packs of garam masala (a spice mix) after seeing it listed in recipes.  This brand is from Pakistan.  I had a lot of pinto beans that I'd soaked and cooked, so decided to make garam masala pintos.

I sauteed onion, garlic, garam masala (maybe 1/4 c.), some cayenne pepper in oil until soft.  Then I added about 3 cups pinto beans, 1/2 bag "stew vegetables" cooked from frozen (pearl onion, celery, carrot, potato.)  I simmered that for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This is my Cuisinart immersion blender.  I use it a lot, especially for soups and curries!  I love it.  I pureed the whole pot with this blender.  Then I added some mixed veggies (cooked from frozen: corn, peas, carrots, green beans), which remained whole.

Since the finished product just looked like brown mush, I dressed it up fusion-style with Ragu spaghetti sauce on the side, and fresh basil on top.  The garam masala mix tastes like seasoning on Kentucky Fried Chicken mashed potatoes (that black peppery taste.)  Garam masala does have black pepper, but also other pepper, clove, mace, nutmeg, cardamom, etc.  So the KFC taste was a bit shocking, especially after watching You Tube videos of farming & slaughterhouse practices from KFC suppliers.  But I still enjoyed the dish.

Basic Curry

Dal with jasmine rice and experimental Tom-Yam marinated tofu

In a large pot, saute onions and garlic in water or oil until soft.

Add things like curry powder, ginger, masala spice mixes, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cayenne pepper....

Cook a little more, adding water or oil as needed.
Maybe add some tomatoes or tomato paste.

Add vegetable broth or water, then more veggies and/or pre-cooked/canned beans.

If adding dry lentils, bring to a boil before simmering.

Simmer 40  minutes or so, stirring occasionally.  Or transfer to slow cooker and cook on low however long you need to.  Salt to taste.  Serve with rice, quinoa, or other grain.  Or vegan naan bread!