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!

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Mama Ogg’s Ethiopian Lentils and Vegetables

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]I’m very pleased to welcome Mama Ogg as our first guest blogger on Vegan Chickie. You can check out Mama Ogg’s food blog HERE. Mama Ogg was also the inspiration behind the wonderful vegetable ‘stoo‘ recipe which appeared on my blog last year.

Without further ado, here it is:

Mama Ogg’s Ethiopian Lentils & Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 small onion, diced
1 tsp each ginger powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 cup red lentils
water
1/2 large sweet potato, cut into small dice
3-4 medium potatoes, cut into small dice
1 tsp ginger powder,
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 green cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 zucchini, cut into small dice (optional)
4-5 shallots, snipped

Method:

1. In a large pot saute onion til transparent, add spices and fry for a minute or two. Add lentils and 3-4 cups of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes, checking the water level occasionally.

2. In the meantime, in a separate frypan saute the root vegetables until they brown. Add spices and fry for a minute or two, then add a little bit of water until it’s about 1cm deep. You want to steam the vegetables but cook the sauce off by the end of the dish, so start with a little bit of water and add more if necessary. Cover and simmer gently until the vegetables are almost tender, checking on the water level occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick. Then add the cabbage, zucchini and shallots and stir to coat thoroughly in divine-smelling yellow sauce. Add a bit more water if necessary (only enough to dampen the mix and make sure it doesn’t stick) then cover and simmer for five minutes until vegetables are cooked through but still vibrant.

3. Serve with rice.

Note: Mama Ogg just told me that today she used the leftovers as the filling in samosas with great success. The recipe tastes even better after a night in the fridge.

**If you have a great vegan recipe that you would like to showcase, and would like to be a guest blogger on Vegan Chickie let us know! We’d love to share it (and you!) with the world!

Ginger-Scented Vegetable Pot Stickers (vegan)

This is another of my favourite recipes, it is pretty well known that I am a bit of a dumpling fiend, I just can’t get enough of the stuff! My love of all things dumpling suffered in our move to Sydney; we are yet to find a dumpling house quite like the Camy Shanghai Dumpling house in Melbourne but in the meantime we have these delicious little pot stickers to keep me satisfied. The recipe comes from Vegan Planet, and calls for pre-made wonton or dumpling wrappers, but I have included the ingredients etc to make your own because that is how we do it. It’s pretty easy, and doesn’t add much more time to the recipe, just make sure you make the dough first and then wrap it and leave it to sit while you process the rest of your ingredients (or grate them on the microplane like we do) otherwise your timing will get confused.. anyway, without any further ado…

Ginger-Scented Vegetable Pot Stickers
(Vegan Planet)

Ingredients:

For the dumpling dough:
2 cups plain flour
1 cup boiling water

For the pot stickers:
1 cup minced wombok
1 cup drained and crumbled extra firm tofu
1/4 cup finely shredded carrots
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon tamari or other soy sauce
1 cup water

Method:

For the dough: In a bowl combine the flour and boiling water, stir with chopsticks until lumps appear.

Knead the dough for approximately ten minutes (you may need to wait for a while for the dough to be cool enough to knead) then wrap in cling wrap and set aside for 30 mins to an hour.

After an hour, roll the dough out on a floured surface and using cookie cutters cut out dumpling wrappers.

For the pot stickers: In a food processor, combine the wombok, tofu, carrots, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Process until well combined.

Place 1 wonton wrapper on a work surface and spoon 1 tablespoon of the filling mixture on the lower third of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper over the filling to form a semicircle. Moisten the edge of the wrapper with water to seal. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

Heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil in a large nonstick pan over medium high heat (wait until the oil is HOT!) Place the dumplings in the pan and cook until golden, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the tamari and the water, cover, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

Uncover and cook until the water evaporates, 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve hot, with dumpling sauce (preferably the spicy kind!)

NB: You might need to do that last step in two batches depending on the size of your pan.