Portobello Feijoada

 

OK, so it is beginning to seem like I say, "I don't really like soup," and then eat lots of soup. Well, I guess I should say that I don't really like most soups; however, both of the soups I have made from Viva Vegan have been freakin' fantastic. See the amazing awesomeness that was Guatita here. 

For my next jump into stew/soup making madness, I decided to try the Potobello Feijoada, a bean, seitan and mushroom-laced mountain of tasty. I served it up with sliced oranges and super-steamed (because I wasn't paying attention) kale w/sesame seeds and a sprinkle of lime juice.

Potobello Mushroom Feijoada

Ingredients
-. 2 cans black beans, rinsed w/1 1/2 c. of water
- 1 pkg. (or 2 c.) seitan, diced/sliced
- 1/4 c. olive oil
- 4 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 jalapeno, diced (not a part of the original, but I added it)
- 1/3 c. veggie broth
- 1/2 lb. portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tsp. liquid smoke
- 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 c. veggie broth

Make it:

1. Put beans and water in small/medium saucepan and simmer until heated and soft (I did this for about 15 minutes or so while I prepped other ingredients and started the soup)
2. Put olive oil and garlic in a large pot and fry for 30 seconds. Add diced jalapeno and sautee for about 5 more minutes.
3. Add 1/2 c. of broth to de-glaze, stirring and bringing to a simmer. Stir in mushrooms, seitan, cumin, liquid smoke, thyme and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. In blender, put about 1/2 to 3/4 the amount of beans in the blender w/liquid (I added too much, you would probably want like 1/4 c. here) and puree the beans.
5. Add the remaining beans from the saucepan to the soup. Add the 2 c. of veggie broth and then the pureed bean mixture. Partially cover and bring to a quick simmer.
6. Lower heat, keep partially covered, and simmer until mixture thickens, about 30-40 minutes. Let sit for 15 minutes to allow flavors to meld (and soup to cool!) before eating.

Here is another picture of my bowl of soup up close:

Delicious as is- however, I think it would be even tastier had I not pureed the beans with as much water as I did. Mental note for next time, taken.

What I ate: Super Tasty Viva Vegan-Inspired Edition

I could also have titled this post "Oh snap- time to use up the rest of my aji amarillo paste.....Next day: Oh snap, I am out of aji amarillo paste." Yes, I say "Oh snap" when I am thinking of marinades and pepper pastes. Now that I have been in possession of Viva Vegan for quite sometime, making marinades/sauces/beans with these kinds of flavor profiles seems to come together pretty quickly. This meal was surprisingly simple, nice and spicy, and healthy as well.

Tofu with Aji Amarillo Marinade:

Ingredients:
-1 pkg. extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed for about 30 minutes, cut into pieces
- 2 tbs. of aji amarillo paste (it was a little more, since I was at the end of the jar)
- small palm (1 1/2 tsp-ish) roasted cumin (or regular would be fine)
- small palm (1 1/2 tsp-ish) Mexican oregano, crushed in palm
- 4-5 shakes of Tamari (um, maybe 2 tsp. worth)
- 2 tbs. olive or peanut oil (all out of peanut, so alas, I used olive)
-  juice of one small lime
- 1/2 c. veggie broth

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Whisk ingredients together and put tofu in to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
3. Line a baking dish w/aluminum foil (not necessary, but I find it saves a sticky mess)
4. Put about 1-2 tsp. olive oil in bottom of dish and then add tofu. Pour marinade on top and put in the oven.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or so, until tofu turns golden brown

Ok, so you may be saying, "What else do I see in the picture?" I had about 5 leftover sliced portobello mushrooms that I threw in w/the tofu to cook. Nothing spectacular, but useful!

I served this alongside of (*gasp*) plain brown rice and steamed kale. I squeezed a little lime juice and S&P over the sides and it was good to go.

Aji amarillo is definitely my favorite pepper paste/condiment/marinade maker. I am sad that I am all out....normally, I would rush to the store to get some; however, with the massive snow storm we are expected to get in the next 2 days, I will probably hold off for a week.

Kale Chips and Chile-Glazed Tempeh

I just realized how long it has been since I have posted anything. A while. I started my adjunct jobs at two local institutions of higher learning, with a whopping 5 classes this semester. I also started a part-time slightly-more-than-minimum-wage job so, in the event that I when I get into a PhD program, I may actually be able to move.

Toledo being the place that it is, there aren't a whole lot of jobs available that don't involve retail, so I was glad to find this one. Anyways, today is Friday- my ONE DAY OFF for the week. :)

Accordingly, I went to the gym, checked the Aggie Fund mailbox, uploaded material for my online courses, did some shopping, and cooked a tasty (and quick) dinner: chile-sauce glazed tempeh and kale chips. Hurray! As in, "Hurray, it was effn' delicioso!"

Recipe, ahoy:

Kale Chips
1. Preheat the oven (or toaster oven) to 350F.
2. Take a large bunch of curly kale (really, how much you make depends on how large your pan is, you don't want the kale to overlap)
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the kale with the following ingredients (depending on how much you want to make, your measurements may be different. You want everything coated, but there shouldn't be any saucy-ness at the bottom of the bowl):

--1 tbs. olive oil
--2 tbs. ACV (apple cider vinegar)
--1/4 tsp. Paprika
--1/8-1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper

4. Cook until crispy (again, depending on amount), about 20-25 minutes.

For the Tempeh:

Chile Marinade:

--1/4 c. orange juice
--1/4 c. vegetable stock
--2 Tbs. Peanut oil
--1 Tbs. Tamari soy sauce
--1 heaping Tbs. Aji Amarillo paste
--1 tsp. Aji Panca paste (optional)
--2 tsp. Mexican oregano
--2 heaping tsp. roasted cumin (or regular cumin)

1. Slice the tempeh into 10-12 slices. Steam for 10 minutes (this helps the tempeh absorb the marinade).
2. Put the tempeh in the marinade and let marinade for at least 15 minutes at room temperature.
3. When ready, heat 2 tbs. olive oil in large cast iron skillet over medium/medium-high heat. Add tempeh and cook for 4-5 minutes each side, adding tsp. of remaining marinade as tempeh is cooking.
4. Heat remainder of marinade over low heat and pour over cooked tempeh.

I love, love, love kale chips! I could eat them everyday. The two flavors really don't match together; however, I will eat kale chips with anything.

Guatita: AKA Holy.Shit.Yum.

So, as any readers of this blog know, Viva Vegan! is my absolute favorite cookbook (perhaps not coincidently, the first vegan cookbook I ever bought). Anyways, when I bought it this summer, I couldn't wait to make this recipe for a creamy, potato/peanut butter/chickpea or seitan (heh, I used both in mine!) stew. Alas, who wants stew when it's 90 degrees out?!?! However, it is now cold:) This means it's stew time!

This stew is really, really tasty, and pretty easy to make! And, as a bonus, it makes a lot, so you get to eat lots of leftovers! I really loved it, and apparently, I am not the only one:)

This is the stew before I added the peanut butter, lime juice and unsweetened soy milk (as you can see: potato, chickpea, tomato, seitan, red pepper, veggie broth, and some spices--super simple!):

And here is the delicious finished product (and yeah, I know--all of my food pics look the same with weird lighting and such--it may be my new goal to learn to take better pictures). I served it with a quickly made brown rice w/garlic and lime juice:

As I am looking at these pictures, I am realizing it is a great time to eat...so off to amazing guatita leftovers I go!

Aji Amarillo Sauce

 So, after some rather depressing news yesterday (an article I submitted didn't get accepted for publication), I went home and made some much needed comforting food.

I bought this jar of aji amarillo paste at the local Mexican grocery to make a recipe. Well, it was just sitting there, and I had a feeling it would be tasty in other things too, I just didn't know what. After perusing teh internets for a while, I took some ideas from many different sauces--meant to go with aji de gallina (a creamy, spicy chicken dish) and veganized the heck outta it.

Here's what's in my version of the sauce:

--1 piece whole wheat sprouted bread soaked in almond milk with some sugar (don't eat condensed milk and didn't have any soy creamer, it worked fine)
--1/2 jar of aji amarillo paste
--2 tsp. aji panca (same pepper, just dried then pasted)
--2 cloves minced garlic
--1-2 tsp. lemon juice (all out of limes, they would have been better probably)
--pinch of Mexican oregano and tumeric
--splash or two of veggie broth

1. Put ingredients in blender (all but the veggie broth)
2. Mix around and such until everything is dissolved.
3. Add veggie broth until sauce is desired consistency.

I put this over some Gardein cutlets. It would have worked with tofu, seitan or even maybe tempeh. I also made my favorite lime and garlic rice (just add lime juice, garlic, and olive oil to brown rice and cook it normally). I served it up with some tostones, and it was delicious! Aji amarillo is different than other spicy sauces you may be used to. It's hotter than a jalapeno, but has a different flavor. It starts off somewhat fruity and finishes hot.

Yum!

The night was finished off by checking out some bands at a local pub. They were both great! I really enjoyed the all-female group, Frankie Rose and The Outs--super great!
The first was was great too, except the bassist kept giving me the weird eye. But I was handed a free cd without prompting so, oh well:)

My First Shot at Vegan Peruvian Cuisine

Since I have had Viva Vegan, I haven't really stepped outside of food I already loved (beans, rice, enchiladas, tacos.....). But, I really wanted to try some different types of food that I hadn't eaten before, so I decided to work on some Peruvian-inspired dishes.

The local Mexican grocery was really, really helpful in this regard: super cheap aji panca and aji amarillo:) I can't say enough about this place, if only they made vegan pastries (the fresh pastries always look delicious, but I know they are completely full of milk, eggs, butter and probably lard, so I stay away)!

Anyways, I have been ridiculously busy prepping for my weekly five courses I teach, along with working on PhD applications in my spare time, so cooking during the week generally amounts to a large batch of rice and beans that I can eat at room temperature or warmed up all week. I had gotten caught up on things pretty well last week, so I decided to take Saturday afternoon and make a full-fledged Peruvian-inspired vegan meal. And it was delicious!!!

The salad was improvised: green lima beans instead of limas blancas (couldn't find any) and grape tomatoes. But, the aji panca was good--it added flavor but not really spice. The salad ended up fresh and delicious.

And, this was my first time making empanada dough, and it was a huge success:) The empanadas are stuffed w/VV's recipe for olive, raisin and shredded seitan empanadas, with a little aji panca for some more Peruvian flavor. I finished it with pan-fried sweet plantains (a couple are a little overcooked--note to self: do not walk away to check the score on the football game and leave your plantains in the pan!). I loved everything about this dinner. I have another plantain, and will probably fry it up sometime this week as a delicious snack:)

I also tried another recipe from the book, for lomo saltado (I used this smoked tofu I picked up instead of seitan). So, I picked up this smoked tofu from a local store, opened it and thought it smelled like a Slim Jim or something atrocious like that, so I figured putting it in the spicy marinade for this dish would work well. And it did! I think I have more veggies in here than I should (I used up a pepper that was about to go bad and some soon-to-be-icky mushrooms), but this was really good! I had never tried aji amarillo before, and I really, really like the spicy flavor it has. I will definitely be using this a lot in the future.

If I had known that french fries would be so good in a stir-fry, I would have been whipping stuff like this up a long time ago!

In the last week, I also attempted a blueberry pie for my wonderful boyfriend. This did not turn out so well. It was my first time w/pie dough, and it ended up a little dry, while the filling ended up a little runny. It tasted pretty good; however, it looked horrible.....so no pictures. I, as the proprietress of this blog, reserve the right to not show any photos of food I made that was not good.

I have the feeling I won't be making anything spectacular this week. I am thinking, yep, that's right, plain old rice and beans.

Chili Black Beans and Yellow Rice

Yeah, so its 10 pm and I am about to eat dinner. Why so late? I was busily concocting my lecture for one of my intro classes on politics and education for next week, and well, lost track of time (meaning--starting working on the food too late!).

Rice and beans is probably my favorite food. Seriously. And, since becoming well-versed in Viva Vegan, I can make Latin-style rice and beans at the drop of a hat (or the drop of a pre-soaked and cooked bean).

Here's the recipe:

Yellow Garlic Rice (modified from Viva Vegan):

1 c. rice (i used brown, white is more authentic)
1 3/4 c. water
1-2 tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. Earth Balance
5-6 cloves garlic, crushed
3 big pinches of saffron (you could use annato if saffron is too expensive--here a bag is like $1.99 at the Mexican grocery)
1/2 tsp. Tumeric

I put these all in a rice cooker and let it do its thing. If you are cooking the rice in a pot, fry up the garlic in the olive oil before adding everything else and cooking rice according to instructions on the bag/box.

I also made extra, and will be using the rest to make another batch of rice and beans on Sunday night to eat during my ever-so-hectic week!

Chili-Style Black Beans

1-2 cans black beans or 2 cups cooked beans
1/4 c. water, stock or bean liquid if cooking from dry
1-2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbs. olive oil
1 hot pepper, diced
handful (tsp? tbs?) cumin
handful (tsp? tbs?) Mexican oregano (rubbed in hands to release flavor)
1 can diced tomatoes (mine were chili-flavored, hence the name)
1-2 chipotle in adobo, diced plus a little sauce

1. Fry the garlic in the oil for about 30 seconds, until fragrant
2. Add the diced hot pepper and saute for about 2-3 minutes
3. Add the cumin and oregano and a pinch of cayenne if ya want, and fry for 1 minute
4. Add the tomatoes and chipotles and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring.
5. Add the beans and liquid
6. Simmer until more than half of the liquid is absorbed.

Combine the cooked rice and cooked beans in a pan, stirring around and letting the flavors meld (tip: add the rice to the beans a little at a time to achieve your desired rice-to-beans ratio. If you have extras--eat it with something else!). Also, this tastes better once the flavors have had a chance to sit together for a while, so leftovers are delicious! I notice that this makes for a moist rice and beans, if you want yours drier, either cook the beans longer, and/or add a little less liquid to pre-cooked beans.

Muy delicioso!

My New Tortilla Press is Very Useful:)

So, I finally bought a tortilla press at San Marcos, the local Mexican grocery. And man, oh man, am I glad I did!! I knew I was going to make a big Mexican-style feast for my roomie and I (and I did)--but I was so excited when I got it that I made tofu asado tacos that night:)

First of all, it's super easy to use. Follow the directions on the bag of masa (yes, I made corn tortillas, I have yet to make flautas with it, but I will surely post pics when I do).

First, take the divided ball of masa dough and place it on the back half of the tortilla press (and make sure to line both sides w/folded plastic wrap):

Then, press!

I used these tortillas to make tofu asado tacos. I took the tempeh asado recipe from Viva Vegan! and used pressed tofu instead:

Tofu Asado: 

--1/3 c.veggie broth
--3 tbs. lime juice
--1 tbs. tamari
--2 tbs. peanut oil
--2-3 cloves crushed garlic
--1/2 tsp. cumin
--1/2 tsp. Mexican oregano

Marinate for at least 15 minutes, then grill, pan fry or bake (I baked them in the toaster oven in extra sauce...)

Assemble the tacos w/what ever you want. I used some of the refried beans (again, a Viva Vegan!) recipe, sliced tomato and they were super good!

Yep, that's my cellphone next to the tacos. I was carrying everything from the kitchen into the living room in one trip and forgot to take it off of the plate before snapping the picture.

So, onwards to the enchilada awesomeness........

As I said above, I made the refried beans the night before (and they are excellent heated up!) You could, of course, always buy canned as well.

The enchiladas had a red chile sauce and Latin-style shredded seitan filling (recipe here).

Red Chile Sauce:
--mix of chiles (I used about 4 ancho chiles and 3 guajillo chiles) pan toasted for a minute and soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes;
--2 tbs. peanut oil
--2 cloves garlic, chopped
--1 small onion, diced (my roomie is allergic I left them out and put in some scallions)
--dried oregano and cumin
--1 can diced tomatoes
--2 c. veggie broth

1. Combine the oil, garlic and onion (if using) in saucepann and heat over medium heat for about a minute;
2. Stir in spices and coat, then pour in chiles, tomato sauce or diced tomatoes, veggie broth and simmer;
3. Put in a blender and blend.
4. Return to saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes.

To Assemble:
 (have an assembly line ready to go: shallow pan with sauce, filling, pan you are going to cook the enchiladas in)
1. Put some sauce in a shallow pan as well as the pan you are going to bake your enchiladas in;
2. Take a tortilla and dredge in the sauce;
3. Fill the tortilla w/2-4 tbs. of filling (depending on how large your tortillas are) and roll them tightly;
4. Continue with other tortillas until they are all done.
5. Pour on chile sauce over the top, making sure to really coat everything (about 1 to 1 1/2 c.).

To Bake:
1. Preheat oven to 350F;
2. Wrap pan tightly in aluminum foil and bake for about 20-25 minutes;
3. Uncover and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

For the Rice:

--1 1/2 c. brown rice;
--3 c. water
--3-4 cloves minced garlic
--1/2 tsp. tumeric
--saffron (I just tossed some in, since it is soooooo cheap at San Marcos!)
--1 tsp. peanut oil
--1 tsp. Earth Balance or other butter substitute.

I made mine in the rice cooker; however, you could make it in a pan and just follow the directions on the bag of rice.

Right before serving, chop up some scallions and throw them in! 

I served mine with refried black beans and yellow garlic rice w/scallions:

Fresh before the oven!

Ready to eat!

Un Poco de Todo....Parte Dos

Considering I have finally gotten a laptop, here are a few pics and brief descriptions of Latin-style inspired things I have made in the period between my first post and the last post:

Quick Red Bean Posole topped w/Curdito marinated in red wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar and Crunchy Corn Tortillas:

Anatto-tinted Corn and Black Bean Empanadas w/Curdito and Guacamole:

Sauteed Peppers and Latin Style Shredded Seitan Sopes topped w/Pine Nut Crema and Scallions, served w/Curdito and Guasacaca (thick avocado spread/salsa):

I was in a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE Viva Vegan! style food kick this summer. Since this time, I have mostly eaten very simple meals (mostly due to having less than $20 to spend each week on groceries). I am thinking about making some vegan Latin food later this week or next week (mole enchiladas perhaps). Since, I have missed eating food like this. A.LOT.