Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Couscous

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]

While I didn’t use a tagine for this recipe, it could actually be cooked in one easily enough (I don’t have one, or it would have been), I used my slow cooker for this, (you all know how much I love my slow cooker!) but if you don’t have one, it could just as easily be done in a big pot on your stove top at a low temperature.

Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Couscous

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium carrots, chopped roughly
1 medium butternut pumpkin peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
2 potatoes peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes
1 medium leek, chopped
4 large mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon chili flakes
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup couscous, prepared as directed on packaging
Chopped walnuts and raisins for garnish

Method:

1. Turn your slow cooker to LOW heat, add olive oil, leek, carrots, potato, pumpkin, mushrooms, prunes, walnuts, chickpeas, tomatoes, cinnamon stick, cumin, coriander, paprika, chilli flakes and vegetable stock. Stir well, cover and cook for 6 – 8 hours.

2. Prepare the couscous according the directions on the packaging.

3. Before serving, stir parsley into stew and season to taste with salt and pepper, remove the cinnamon stick and serve over hot cooked couscous. Garnish with parsley and a few chopped walnuts and maybe a handful of raisins for some extra sweetness.

NOTE: Almonds are more traditionally used in Moroccan cooking so you could substitute the walnuts for almonds if you like. If you don’t have prunes, raisins would work equally well.

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Vegan Lentil and Barley Soup

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]My love affair with my slow cooker continues! Today’s recipe: Lentil and Barley Soup! Jam packed with veggies and lovely and spicy, this one is definitely going to become one of my stand by recipes, especially once winter comes. Serve with some crusty bread rolls.

Lentil and Barley Soup in the Slow Cooker

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs minced ginger
1 small red chili finely chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 cup brown lentils
2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
5 cups water
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tbs tomato paste
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Turn the slow cooker to high, add the oil, garlic, chili and leek, cook for 10 minutes with the lid on.

2. Turn the slow cooker on low and add the rest of your ingredients, stir well and cover. Cook on medium for 8 hours.

3. Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Serve!

Garnish with fresh coriander or parsley! YUM!

Note: The longer you leave this recipe, the more stew-like it becomes. The first night we ate it as a clear soup as pictured and reheated it the following night as a stew – delicious!

Mock Mince Vegan Bolognese

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]Based on a recommendation from T over at Blog-of-Nathan, I bought some Planet Organic Vegetarian Mince last week. I’m not usually one for mock meat products, I use them every so often but they aren’t really a staple in my vegan diet, but I stumbled across the box when we were checking out the new organic grocery in town so I thought I would buy it and give it a go. I didn’t actually take photos of the progress of this recipe because to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting it to be that good. Well, boy was I surprised! Lucky it was good, because I made a GIANT batch of the stuff. I’ve got masses of the stuff stored in the freezer now, but I don’t know if it was last very long because I’m pretty sure I’m going to eat the whole lot in a matter of days.. this bolognese is just that good! Beware, the amounts below make a massive quantity. Use your discretion for a smaller batch.

Mock Mince Vegan Bolognese

Ingredients:
1tbs olive oil
1 Leek, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small red chili, finely chopped
1 carrots, chopped
250g button mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
4 large cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 packet planet organic vegetarian mince
Fresh basil
Pasta of your choice

Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the garlic, chili, leek, carrot and mushrooms and cook for 5 – 10 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Add the red wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs, sugar, salt and pepper, mix well and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add the vegetarian mince, straight from the box, mix well, and simmer for a further 10 minutes (minimum, after this stage you can leave the pot cooking for as long as you wish, the longer you leave it, the more delicious it will be!). 5 minutes before serving, add the fresh basil. Serve with pasta of your choice.

Vegan Nut Roast

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]This was my first attempt at a nut roast, before today I hadn’t even eaten one before but decided that I would give it a go for Christmas. I served it with mashed potatoes, glazed carrots with sesame seeds, fresh bread rolls and home made stuffing (recipe to come). Luckily I loved it, because I’m going to be eating it the leftovers for a whole week! I really need to get a smaller loaf tin! It was considerably more crumbly than I expected, but delicious all the same!

Vegan Nut Roast:

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
1 carrot finely chopped
1 leek finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 small red chili finely chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 vegetable stock cube
1/2 cup non diary butter melted
200g cashews finely ground
100g walnuts chopped roughly
100g pinenuts
400g firm tofu chopped into 1/2 centimeter cubes
100g button mushrooms chopped finely
1 can brown lentils drained
2 tbs fresh basil chopped finely
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
2 tbs tomato paste
Orgran egg replacer (equiv 3 eggs)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1.Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Heat the oil in a medium pan on medium heat, add the leeks, garlic, chili and carrots and cook for 5 minutes to soften the vegetables, add the wine, vegetable stock and additional stock cube and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

3. In a large bowl combine nuts, mushrooms, tofu, lentils and herbs. Mix thoroughly. Add the wet ingredients (melted butter, egg replacer mix and tomato paste) and mix well to combine. Finally add the garlic and leek mixture from the pan and mix it all through so that your ingredients are evenly mixed through.

4. Pour the mixture into a loaf tin lined with baking paper and bake the roast for 40 minutes. Depending on the size of your pan it may take longer to cook. It is done when a knife to the centre of the roast comes out clean. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes before upending onto a plate to serve.

Vegan Lentil Bolognese

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]I’ve decided that this week is going to be slow cooker week in the foodie household, starting with Vegan Lentil Bolognese.. and oh wow, this recipe was good! And I don’t just mean that in the being polite to the cook kind of way, I mean that in the oh my goodness I need another bowl even though I’m so full I can barely move kind of way. Bolognese was always one of my favourites when I was a kid and it’s one of those dishes that I have really missed as a vegetarian (that and the Hainanese Chicken Rice I used to love to eat when I was in Singapore – Anyone got a good vegan substitute for that recipe?). Well, I will no longer be pining for the bolognese of my past because I’ve definitely found a replacement for this particular comfort food.

The inspiration for this recipe came from “Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker” but I’ve modified it quite a bit.

Note: Although I used fettuccine in this recipe I actually prefer to use a shell pasta, that way the lentils are cupped in the pasta and more evenly distributed throughout the meal.. with fettuccine or other long pasta then you are likely to end up with a pile of lentils on your plate at the end.

Vegan Lentil Bolognese

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1 medium leek, minced
2 carrots, minced
2 celery rib, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red chili, minced
1 800g can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup dried brown lentils, picked over and rinsed
2 tablespoons tomato paste dissolved in 1 cup of hot water
Pinch of mixed spice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Fettuccine or other pasta of your choice
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese or soy Parmesan to serve

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the leek, carrot, celery, chili and garlic. Cover, and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the wine and simmer for 2 minutes.

2. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the slowcooker. Add the tomatoes, lentils, tomato paste mixture, mixed spice and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours (couldn’t be easier!!!)

3. When ready to serve, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally. Drain well.

4. Just prior to serving, stir the parsley into the sauce. Place the cooked pasta in a serving bowl, top with the bolognese and serve immediately with the cheese (or not, it’s just as good without it!).

Tomorrow I’m pulling out the slow cooker again but I’m not sure yet whether I’ll make White Bean Cassoulet, Minestrone, or Irish Stew, they are all on the menu for the coming week.. any requests?

Vegan Lentil Cottage Pie

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]This is an old favourite of mine that I’ve been making for years. It’s not very pretty, but it sure is delicious!
Note: This recipe is fine to make and eat right away but is INCREDIBLE when made 24 hours before hand and left in the fridge overnight to let the flavors really mesh.

Lentil Cottage Pie

Ingredients:
800g potatoes
40g vegan butter
1 medium onion leek, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
100g button mushrooms, quartered
415g can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup dry red wine
2/3 cup red lentils
2 medium carrots, chopped finely
1 small red chili, chopped finely
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Boil, steam or microwave potatoes until tender. Drain and mash in a large bowl with half the butter.

Melt remaining butter in medium saucepan. Cook leek and garlic, stirring until leek is soft. Add mushrooms and chili, cook for 2 minutes. Add undrained tomatoes, vegetable stock, water, tomato paste, wine, lentils and carrot. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add peas, parsley, salt and pepper, cook, uncovered for 20 minutes. Stand pie for 10 minutes before serving.
NOTE: If you’re not concerned about keeping this dish vegan, you can stir 1/2 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese into the potato mash.

Yum!

Vietnamese Pancakes rolled with Vegetables (vegan)

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]The cookbook calls this one Vietnamese Pizza, but it’s about as far from pizza as you can get while still having vegetables on a doughy base! It was good though, and the Vietnamese dipping sauce was a very nice surprise. We will most certainly be using that one again. The pancakes are savory, chewy and a little bit crispy. Rolling them out was a bit fiddly but I suspect that will get easier with time.

Pancakes Rolled with Vegetables
Served with Picked radish and carrot and Vietnamese dipping Sauce
(The Asian Vegan Kitchen)

Ingredients:

2  cups rice flour
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion leek sliced
2 cloves garlic sliced
50g Daikon radish, julienned
1 carrot julienned
1 cup bean sprouts
4 tablespoons chives, chopped
Vegetable oil for drizzling

Method:
In a bowl, mix the rice flour, cornstarch, and turmeric with the coconut milk. Add the salt and baking powder and stir until smooth. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Heat the oil in the saucepan and saute the onion leek and garlic briefly. Add the daikon and carrot, stir over high heat for a minute, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. reserve the oil.

Heat a frying pan and grease it with a little oil. Pour in a quarter of the rice-flour batter and spread it out to make an even layer. Take a quarter of each of the sauteed vegetables, bean sprouts and chives and spread over the batter. drizzle a little oil around the edges of the pancake and cook for 3 – 4 minutes, until the underside is golden brown.

Fold in half and slide onto a serving plate. Repeat with the remaining batter and vegetables. Serve with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce or Pickled Radish and Carrot (or both!).

Pickled Radish and Carrot:

Ingredients:
100g white radish
1 carrot
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon castor sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon water

Method:

(this dish can be made with julienned cucumber, sliced chilies, water spinach stem or garlic cloves)
Slice the radish and carrot in julienne strips, in a bowl, mix the salt, sugar, vinegar and water and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the radish and carrot and leave to start for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients:

3 Dried shiitake Mushrooms
3 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons castor sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method:

place your mushrooms in a pan with water, boil for 10 minutes, then, saving the water, puree the mushrooms in a blender. In the saucepan, combine the dashi with the soy sauce and the mushroom puree and bring to the boil. turn down the heat and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes. Add all the other ingredients and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Serve at room temperature. (we added a bunch of chilies to this one.. we love it hot!)

(the mushroom water can be frozen and used as a stock).

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry (vegan)

There was some contention in the foodie household this evening about this recipe. I loved this dish, it was a lovely, light, tropical meal (perfect for summer!), but the bare-chested chef felt it was a little too sweet. I do generally have quite a sweet tooth so I guess that is why I liked it so much, but I think even if you don’t have too much of a sweet tooth it is still a really great dish, there is such great contrast between the sweetness of the fruit and the spicyness of the chili and the crunch of nuts.. I have to say that I am really loving quinoa at the moment, and the great thing about cheffy not liking it is that I get it for lunch tomorrow!!!

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry
(Veganomicon)

Ingredients:
Quinoa:
1 cup quinoa, well rinsed and drained
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

Stir-fry:
4 ounces cashews, raw and unsalted
3 tablespoons peanut oil
2 scallions, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, minced
1 hot red chile, sliced into very thin rounds
1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled and minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, rolled and sliced in thin shreds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
10 ounces fresh pineapple, cut into bite sized chunks
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons vegetable stock
1 tablespoon mirin
Lime wedges for garnish

Method:

For the quinoa: Combine the quinoa, juice, water and soy sauce in a medium sized pot. Cover, place over high heat, and bring to a boil. Stir a few times, lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 12 – 14 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa appears plumped and slightly translucent. Uncover, fluff and let cool.

For the stir-fry: Use a large frypan or wok. Have all your ingredients pre-chopped and in reach. Place the cashews in the dry pan and heat over low heat, stirring them, until lightly toasted (4 to 5 minutes).

Remove the cashews from the pan, raise the heat to medium and add the peanut oil, scallions and garlic, when the garlic starts to sizzle, add the sliced chili and ginger.

Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, then add the bell pepper and peas. Stir-fry for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the bell pepper is softened and the peas are bright green.

Add the basil and mint, and stir for another minute before adding the pineapple and quinoa.

Combine the soy sauce, vegetable stock and miri. Pour over the quinoa mixture. Stir until the mixture is coated. Continue to stir-fry for 10 minutes (it helps to use two spoons/spatulas to scoop the quinoa around). Serve with lime wedges.

Potato & Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce

This is one of my favourite vegan meals. The photos aren’t pretty and it probably doesn’t look very appetising with my amateur photos but believe me when I tell you it is delicious! It was the first recipe we tried from Veganomicon and it is one of the reasons why we fell in love with this cookbook. No vegan kitchen is complete without this book!!

Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce
(Veganomicon)
Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

Enchilada Chile Sauce:

2 tablespoons grapeseed or olive oil
1 onion, diced (as with all our cooking we substituted the onion for leek)
3 large green chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped coarsely
2 – 3 teaspoons chile powder (we made our own by grinding up Ancho chillies and Chipotle chillies)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon marjoram or mexican oregano
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons salt

Potato and Kale Filling:

1 pound waxy potatoes
1/2 pound kale washed, trimmed and chopped finely (NB: we used savoy cabbage because we couldn’t find kale)
3 tablespoons grapeseed or olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup toasted pepitas
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 – 14 corn tortillas

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375F and have ready a shallow casserole dish (we usually need two for this recipe).

Prepare the enchilada sauce first: In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, saute the onions in oil for 4 to 7 minutes, until softened. Add the remaining sauce ingredients, bring to a simmer and remove from the heat. Puree with a blender until the mixture is smooth and even

Prepare the filling: Peel and dice the potatoes, then boil them until tender. Drain and set aside. Cook the oil and minced garlic over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally until the garlic is slightly browned. Add the kale, sprinke with salt and raise the heat to medium stirring constantly to cover the kale with oil and garlic.

Partially cover the pot to steam the kale until it has wilted – 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the lid and mix in the potatoes, vegetable stock, lime juice, pumpkin seeds and salt. Use the back of a wooden spoon to mash some of the potatoes. Cook for another 3 – 4 minutes.

Ladle a small amount of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the casserole dish. Heat a corn tortilla (30 seconds in a fry pan) dip the tortilla in the enchilada sauce so that it is covered in the sauce.

Place the soaked tortilla on a plate and place some potato mixture inside. Roll it up and put it in the casserole dish. Repeat with each of the enchiladas until you have lined them all up in the dish. Cover with enchilada sauce (saving some for topping) and cover with foil, place the casserole dish in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Top individual servings with the remainder of the enchilada sauce once cooked.

Home-made Vegan Gnocchi with Tomato Chili Pasta Sauce

Another vegan recipe from us today.. home made gnocchi, a la bare-chested chef, with tomato chili pasta sauce. The gnocchi can take some time but if you make a heap you can freeze it and then it will only take a few minutes the next time you want some gnocchi goodness for dinner, the tomato pasta sauce is easy and fast and oh so delicious!

Ingredients:
(serves 6)

For the gnocchi:
10 medium sized sebago potatoes (or any floury/baking potato)
120g linseed/flaxseed (ground – we did this at home in a coffee bean grinder)
150g plain flour

For the pasta sauce:
2 450g can of tomatoes
2 clove of garlic
5 chilis
fresh basil

Method:

Pasta Sauce – combine tomatoes, minced garlic, chili and basil in a pan, simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Gnocchi – Boil potatoes then place in the oven on a low heat for approximately 10 minutes (just until they are dry), remove potato skins and push cooked potatoes through a sieve (note: mashing etc will change the consistency of the potato). Add ground linseed/flaxseed and flour, mix to form a dough. On a floured work area, roll dough into long thin straws. Cut dough into 2cm nubs and press with a fork to shape.

To cook the gnocchi place them into a pot of boiling water (we season the water by placing a sachet in the pot – cheesecloth filled with bay leaves, peppercorns and all spice – along with white balsamic vinegar and salt), once the gnocchi raises to the top of the pan leave it for a further 1 1/2 minutes before removing. Toss the gnocchi in olive oil and serve.