vegan cooking

this dish is dedicated to a friend of mine, chewy.

my mom makes the BEST enchiladas. so greasy, so delicious! whether it was green chile and chicken or red sauce and cheese, enchilada night was always a special one in our household. it’s still a special night in mine these days, however, instead of chicken and cheese, i use much fresher and healthier ingredients. it takes about 10 minutes to put together and is sooo satisfying.

you’ll need:

1 package of corn tortillas (i ended up using 9 regular sized yellow corn tortillas in a large glass baking dish)
1 can of TJ’s mexican red sauce (NOT the enchilada sauce - that stuff has chicken fat and broth in it!)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen or fresh yellow corn kernels
1 small can of tomato paste
3-4 stalks of fresh green onions
1/2 a bunch of fresh cilantro
3-4 cloves fresh garlic
spices to taste - cayenne, cumin, paprika, oregano

garnish - vegan sour cream, hot sauce, black olive slices

preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

chop the onions, cilantro, and garlic, and mix in a large bowl with beans, corn, spices, and tomato paste until well incorporated. pour about half of the bottle of red sauce into a shallow dish, along with an equal amount of water. lightly brush a layer of this along the bottom of your baking dish. one by one, dip the tortillas in the sauce and water until covered, then place in the pan and fill with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of the bean filling. it helps if you close them up with toothpicks or skewers, but if you place them in the pan correctly they hold each other together. i find it helpful to sort of crease the tortillas along the spots that i want them to fold.

when you’ve filled your pan, pour the rest of the bottle of sauce over the whole thing (along with any leftover sauce & water). distribute it as evenly as you can with a spoon or brush.

just let it bake for about 30-35 minutes, and that’s it! seriously! they’re done when the edges are a little crispy (but not burnt).

serve with a dollop (i love that word. dollop!) of vegan sour cream and hot sauce. i usually put some sliced olives in there too, but i’m out right now. damnit.

mmm. makes great leftovers, too!

i love me some pad thai. i love stir-fry and red curry in anything, but it’s hard to find a thai or indian restaurant that understands what “vegan” means. no matter how much i’ve tried to communicate “no eggs, no fish oil,” there’s almost always something left in there. oh well, no matter - i’ve taught myself through trial and error how to make a yummy coconut curry stir-fry that makes yummy healthy leftovers for days.

you’ll need:
1 package of tempeh (tofu works okay in this recipe but takes longer to cook because you’re not cooking at super high heat)
1 package of fresh or frozen veggies of your choice - i like TJ’s organic blend and i usually add peas and corn to it
1/2 can light coconut milk
fresh ginger
fresh garlic
green onions
rice noodles (or carbohydrate of your choice, e.g. brown rice)
unsalted peanuts (optional)
red curry paste (optional - if you like insane heat)
toasted sesame oil (optional - has a very strong flavor!)
cooking oil (grapeseed is my fave but sesame cooking oil is good for this, just watch to make sure you don’t overcook it)

note the omission of curry powder.

curry powder sucks.

i bought a bottle of it once, long ago, and was very unimpressed with it. it wasn’t hot at all! it was practically all turmeric, and hell, i have turmeric in my spice collection! so i looked at the back of the bottle. turmeric, garlic, onion, cayenne, cloves, nutmeg, paprika…well jeez, i have almost all of these individually, so i might as well buy the others, like coriander, and make it to my liking.

the thing i’ve found cooking over the last few years is that some of my best recipes come out of experimentation, especially this one - i just pulled it out of the air and made what smelled and tasted good to me. and now i make it all the time! but the key to being able to experiment is having the right equipment. i get asked all the time by people just learning to cook, “how do you come up with what to make for dinner every night?” i always answer, “shop for fresh produce several times a week and keep a stocked pantry.” if you always have certain things on hand (a wide variety of spices, canned tomatoes, canned beans, soups, vegetable broth, nuts, rice, noodles, etc.), it’s easy to mix this with that and come up with something fantastic. of course it’s also easy to go overboard and buy too much food, but if you plan out your meals well in advance (you sort of have to do this anyway if you’re vegan), then you won’t end up wasting anything. it saves you money in the long run, too. anyway, back to cooking!

i know this looks like a ton of spices - and it is - but they’re all very versatile and you’ll use them in other recipes, so it’s worth it. you can stick with curry powder if you want, but remember: curry powder sucks.

i also like to have a jar of red curry paste on hand, but keep in mind this is EXTREMELY hot. once while making coconut soup i added twice the recommended amount, thinking that the recipe was made for wusses and i could totally handle it. big mistake. i had to add twice the amount of everything else to make up for it! seriously, use maybe a teaspoon of this stuff at the most.

from here, dice your garlic and onions and peel and dice your ginger. i find that the tempeh takes up a lot more flavor if you use fresh ingredients, but you can use dry spices if necessary. heat a tablespoon or so of your oil to medium and sautee the garlic, onions and ginger until they’re sweated a bit. at this point, add the tempeh and get ready to start spicin’. go heavy on the turmeric, and lighter on everything else - i like to go a little overboard with the cayenne, but that’s me. paprika, nutmeg (freshly ground is best but we can’t all be alton brown), coriander, cloves…just add them bit by bit until it smells right. this usually is a LOT, so don’t worry if you feel like you’re adding too much. you can always balance it out with the other spices. this is a good point to add your red curry paste, too. be careful. stir it around so it gets well-incorporated and try not to get any on your fingers. (rubbing your eyes for any reason is not a good idea in the near future.) stir-fry until the tempeh is browned.

meanwhile, cook your pasta in a separate pot to your liking. i like TJ’s Rice Sticks, but this stuff is great over rice, too.

at this point, you might want to add another tablespoon of oil, and then add your veggies. be careful if they’re frozen, and add them on top of the tempeh so that they don’t splatter too much in the oil.

cook the veggies and tempeh until heated throughout and slightly browned, stirring often. i usually add a little more of each spice just to make sure the veggies are coated too. at this point, turn the heat down to low and add the coconut milk. let it cook down for 5-10 minutes, and stir often.

i used to hate all things coconut. that was before i tasted real coconut. the stuff you’re used to in cheap trail mixes and smoothies is uber-sweetened and usually enhanced with artificial flavor - it’s horrific what the food industry has done to that tropical treasure. try a fresh coconut (have fun getting it open) and you’ll see what i mean. coconut milk is very high in saturated fat, so i like to buy the light to save a little calorie-wise. i really like Thai Kitchen’s organic lite - it’s much creamier than other brands i’ve found. save the other half of the can for smoothies, or coconut soup. if you don’t chug it immediately, that is.

nom nom nom

when it’s reduced to the consistency you want it, turn off the heat and make sure your pasta’s the firmness you want it. drain it. you can toss it with a little toasted sesame oil here, but beware the intense flavor.

serve veggies and tempeh over pasta and add peanuts. i like it with a little sweet-hot chili sauce or soy sauce, but it’s got a lot of flavor on its own too. this stuff’s even better the next day. it makes about 3 or 4 servings.

you can leave out the coconut milk if you’re really watching your calories, and it’s still delish. if you want to cook this with tofu, i suggest medium to extra firm, depending on your preference. just make sure you give it plenty of time to cook before adding the veggies. it’s versatile, too - you can add thai chiles (if you’re INSANE), mushrooms (blecch), sesame seeds, lemongrass, even TJ’s thai lime & chile cashews or peanuts as a topping! enjoy!

i’ve been really busy lately what with the end of the school semester and working more hours, so i haven’t had much time to cook. here are a couple of quick and easy recipes that i’ve come up with through trial and error (and more error, then more trial) in the kitch’.

Uh-oh, Spaghetti-abcs

i adored spaghettiOs as a kid. i couldn’t stand anything chef boyardee - it had to be the original pasta in cheese sauce. occasionally the Garfield or Where’s Waldo? shapes were acceptable. i think it started at my babysitter’s house. ah, Maria was the best. she’d serve everything with chocolate milk. spaghettios, spanish rice, pan dulce…man i miss that lady. anyway, i know they’re ridiculously high in sodium and devoid of nutritional content, but i still pine for that mild and delicious childhood comfort food. i’ve made a recipe of my own that comes pretty close to the original, and it’s pretty easy to make. enjoy!

you’ll need:
2 cups of tomato juice - i prefer lakewood organics because it’s about the only one i can find that has absolutely no salt added to it. trust me, you don’t want one with salt added in this recipe. it’d be too much.
about 1/2 a block of FYH vegan cheddar cheese
1 cup of vegetable broth
1/2 cup of small pasta - i like Eden’s multigrain alphabet pasta. if loving little pasta letters makes me immature, so be it
1/2 cup (to taste) plain soymilk
1-2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced

in a large saucepan, heat the oil to medium-low and sautee the garlic until just sweated. meanwhile, slice or shred the cheese into manageable pieces. (it’ll melt either way.) when the garlic’s nice and glisten-y, add the tomato sauce and cheese and turn the heat up to medium-high. make sure to stir it often so the cheese melts and doesn’t scorch at all.

in another saucepan, heat a cup of water and one cup of vegetable broth to boiling. i like to get these little single-use containers because if i get a quart of it i’ll never use it all before it goes bad.

good stuff.

nice action shot, huh? man i need to clean my stove.

stir the pasta often and only cook it until barely tender. at this point you can add some soymilk to your soup to make it a little creamier. i like plain unsweetened soymilk for this because it doesn’t overpower anything or drive the calorie count too high.

when the pasta’s tender, drain it (but don’t rinse!) and add it to the soup. reduce heat a little and simmer just a little more if you want, or serve right away with crackers and veggies. mmmm, spaghetti-abcs.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…

one thing that i hear a lot of vegans whine for is ranch dressing. i never was a huge fan of the stuff until some Oregonian cousins of mine introduced me to dipping pizza in it, of all things. if you’ve never tried this, you probably think it’s gross, but just fyi you also HAVEN’T LIVED. it’s the only way i’ll eat pizza now. i make french bread pizzas all the time, and i have to have my vegan ranch to go with it. it’s really easy to make, and you’ll want to always have some of this stuff in your ‘fridge for dipping veggies and just about everything else.

you’ll need:
a few plops (this is very scientific) of vegan sour cream
1 or 2 tbs apple cider vinegar
spices to taste:
dill (essential)
garlic or garlic salt
“salad herbs” mix (usually dill, garlic, onion, chives, etc)

from here, place the sour cream (i use toffutti non-hydrogenated but any brand works well, or make your own) in a bowl and add vinegar little by little, stirring to make sure you don’t add too much. if the stuff gets too liquid, it won’t have the right consistency and will taste too tangy. best to start with little amounts of it and add more or less of either vinegar or sour cream until you’ve got the taste you want. add dill, and go heavy with it! do the same with garlic - i like to use both garlic powder and garlic salt. if you use just garlic salt it’ll be wayyyy too salty, whereas you need just a pinch of it anyway. if you’ve got both around, go for it. if not, just use garlic and add a dash of sea salt to taste.

and that’s it! serve however you want. i like to make it in a recloseable container to save my leftovers (assuming you have any). it goes great with Follow Your Heart’s friday night deep dish special.