It’s a Vegan World: Kofta

It's a Vegan World is being hosted this month by Erbe in cucina and is focused on India. For this event, I wanted to try something new, while at the same time, I wanted familiar flavors. I was also feeling pretty creative. So, I started with the Baked Soybean Koftas from Chef In You, took a lot of liberties with the recipe (most of them intentional!), and served it with a tomato-soy cream gravy that I’ve made before. These were great. I served them with rice and some samosas that I bought at the grocery store, but they’d be terrific with some chapati or other bread as D. from Chef In You recommends.
Potato-bean Kofta with Tomato-cream Gravy

For the kofta:
1 large or 2 small potatoes (about 12 ounces)
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 or 2 serrano peppers, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
1 19-ounce can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon (packed) cilantro leaves
juice of half a lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup or more of tvp

For the tomato-cream gravy:
1 teaspoon oil
1-2 serrano peppers, minced
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
8 ounces tomato sauce
8 ounces soy creamer
salt to taste

Cook potatoes however you like, leaving the skin on. (I microwaved them.) Cut into chunks and set aside.

Heat oil in a medium pan and sauté onion until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, serrano peppers and ginger and sauté another 2 minutes.

Place potatoes, onions, beans, cilantro, lemon and salt in food processor and combine. Move to a bowl, stir in flour, and set aside in the refrigerator to firm up.

Heat oven to 400. Put tvp in a shallow dish. Divide kofta mixture into 12 portions and roll each in tvp. Place in an oiled baking pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Heat oil for tomato sauce in a small saucepan. Sauté minced peppers, fenugreek and fennel seeds for 2 minutes. Add chili powder and garam masala and sauté for another 1 minute. Add tomato sauce and soy creamer and heat through. Add salt to taste.

To serve, place two kofta in each bowl and cover with the tomato sauce.

Serves 6.

Perfectly Easy Seitan

A few months after I first quit eating meat, I was lunching on a purchased vegetarian pocket sandwich when I bit into something I thought was pork. I suspiciously picked it up between my fingers and started shredding it with my other hand. It had little bubbles in it; no meat has bubbles. I gingerly tasted it again. It was like bread, but meaty. I read the ingredients on my sandwich package and deduced that wheat gluten was involved somehow, but exactly how was a mystery. It was quite a while before I found out that I had been eating seitan.

Seitan is a great ingredient to create vegetarian versions of traditional meaty dishes. It’s almost pure protein, but not very nutritious otherwise, so if I’m using it as a meat replacement, I usually use half seitan and half vegetables. Seitan is so filling, though, that a pound of it will serve six.

I used to be able to buy seitan at a couple of stores near me, but it’s gotten hard to find. No matter, it’s easy to make at home, and I like the flavor of my own better. I have a no-knead technique that I learned from a bread cookbook which works great with a handheld or stand mixer. Or, you can be all old-school and knead it by hand.

This recipe is a combination of two others, Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Soy and Seitan Turkey and Seitan O’Greatness from the Post Punk Kitchen forums.

Perfectly Easy Seitan

Dry ingredients:
2-1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
½ cup chickpea flour (besan)
½ cup nutritional yeast flakes
3 tablespoons vegetarian chicken broth powder
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon sage
½ teaspoon thyme
salt to taste*

Wet ingredients:
1-3/4 cups water
2 tablespoons tomato paste (I use the double concentrated kind from a tube)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (I like Braggs for this)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 325.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, briefly beat together wet ingredients with an electric mixer. Add about 1/3 of the dry mixture (about a cup) and beat on medium for 2 minutes. Set a timer and don’t cheat! Add another cup of the dry mixture and beat on low for another 2 full minutes. Add remaining ingredients and blend in with a spoon. If necessary, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time until dry ingredients are just combined.

Divide dough into two equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 6 or 7 inches long. Wrap each log tightly in aluminum foil, twisting the ends to seal.

Bake for 90 minutes.

Makes 2 pounds of seitan, about 12 servings.

*How much salt you need depends on how salty the broth powder you use is. If I use Frontier Foods broth powder, I’ll add about 3/4 teaspoon. If I use Massel Chicken-style or Better Than Bouillon, I don’t use any additional salt. To taste for salt, first pinch off a small bit of seitan dough, stretch it as thinly as you can, and fry it in a non-stick pan briefly.

My seitan is all beautiful and ready for its closeup.

Tried and Tasted – Eggless Pecan Bars

I noticed the other day that I had ninety-nine recipes saved in Delicious. That’s like having ninety-nine beers on the wall, isn’t it? It’s time to take one down and pass it around!

One of my oldest tagged recipes is the Eggless Pecan Bars from Madhuram’s Eggless Cooking. Since Madhuram‘s blog is featured this month in Tried and Tasted (hosted this month by Tasty Treats), this was the perfect time to make them. I made a few substitutions to make them vegan: Earth Balance margarine for butter, agave nectar for honey and Frangelico hazelnut liqueur for the cream.

These are incredibly rich, richer than pecan pralines even. They were also easier to make than pralines, as you don’t need to be fussy about how long you cook the topping, since there is a crust to support it. My crust did end up a little bit greasy, though. I might have used too much margarine or too little flour, so I’ll be more careful with the measurements next time.

Grilled tofu, potatoes and artichokes

I grilled six servings of food last night for the three of us, planning on having leftovers for lunch. We were so hungry, all we had left was half an artichoke and a couple of tablespoons of sauce.

The tofu was the Chipotle Barbequed Tofu from Fatfree Vegan. I prepared the sauce early in the afternoon and marinated the tofu slices in it in the refrigerator until it was time to grill. We all thought this was awesome. Next time I’ll make 9 servings so that maybe I have enough for a sandwich the next day.

When grilling vegetables that require being thoroughly cooked, like potatoes or artichokes, I find that helps to precook them partially.

Scrub potatoes and cut into 2-inch pieces. Preheat oven to 400. Toss potatoes with just enough olive oil to coat, lightly salt, and roast in a shallow pan for about 25 minutes*, turning once. The potatoes should be tender but not browned. Set aside.

Using a serrated knife, cut off the top inch or so of the artichokes. Trim all but 1 inch of the stem. If desired, trim the remaining outer leaf tips with sissors. Pull the top of the artichoke open to expose the soft leaves in the middle. In a large pot, bring an inch of water to a boil. Place artichokes top down on a steamer basket, add to pot, cover, and turn down heat to medium. Steam for 35-40 minutes* for the largest artichokes, or until you can insert a fork into the bottom of the stem with some effort. Set aside to cool.

When the artichokes have cooled, cut in half from top to bottom with a serrated knife. Use a small sharp spoon or a small knife to remove the fuzzy choke from the artichokes.

Make a sauce for the artichokes with 1 part fresh lemon juice, 1 part sour cream (such as Tofutti Sour Supreme), 1 part mayo (such as Vegenaise) and a pinch of dried tarragon or other herbs.

Prepare grill. For best results, use a grill pan and oil it lightly. Cook tofu, potatoes and artichokes over medium heat.

*If finishing the potatoes and artichokes in the kitchen, cook potatoes about 40 minutes or until lightly browned, and cook artichokes about 50 minutes (less for smaller ones) until a fork slips easily into the base of the stem.

Smoky Corn Chowder

Have you ever had this experience? You’re watching a cooking show, maybe Emeril Lagasse, and the chef prepares a lovely mirepoix of onions, celery and carrots. Your mouth starts to water as he adds garlic and peppers. You nod appreciatively as he flavors broth with herbs and combines everything with some fresh corn that he has pulsed in the food processor. Then you recoil as he pours in a pint of heavy cream and find yourself yelling “No, Emeril, no!” at the TV as he dumps in 2 pounds of peeled shrimp.

As an omnivore I used to make a shrimp chowder recipe from Southern Living that gave me this reaction, even as I was making it. Don’t get me wrong: at the time, I loved shrimp, but I just didn’t think it was necessary here. However, if I simply left out the seafood and high-fat dairy, the soup was too plain. It needed another flavor or two to round it out.

I have a peanut soup recipe that is surprisingly similar to my old chowder recipe and thought about replacing the peanut butter with additional corn, but felt something was still missing. Deborah Madison, however, had the answer for me. Her recipe for white corn chowder with a smoky swirl (in her vegetable soup cookbook) contains Spanish smoked paprika and thyme. Perfect!

Ms. Madison makes her broth from the vegetable trimmings before starting the soup proper, but I wanted something quicker, so I skipped that step and used some home made broth from my freezer. Also, since I wanted a year-round recipe, I used canned corn, but you could easily use corn cut straight from the cob. In that case, 3 cups would suffice, and you could even run a couple of cups through the food processor with some water to make “creamed” corn.

Smoky Corn Chowder

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 medium carrots, about 8 oz., diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large red bell pepper, diced

1 or 2 hot peppers, minced (optional)

1 medium potato, about 8 oz., diced

3 cups vegetable broth or water

1 15-ounce can creamed corn

1 7-ounce can whole corn, undrained

2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

salt to taste

Heat oil in a large pot. Sauté onion, carrots, celery, garlic and peppers until vegetables are tender. Add potato and remaining ingredients, through bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Taste for salt.

Serves 4

Baked Falafel

I was a teenage mall-rat. Now that’s out of the way, I can admit that the first time I had falafel was at the mall. Not only that, but I mispronounced it when I ordered. The woman behind the counter was cool; she just asked me if I wanted hot sauce or not.

I immediately wanted to make falafel at home, but I’ve always hated to fry things. In addition to the extra fat and calories, the process is time consuming and results in a messy, greasy kitchen. Getting good flavor and texture when I baked the falafel required a couple of adjustments, though. First, I had to sauté the onions and garlic, as the raw taste remained after baking. Then, I added tahini for moisture. Finally, one day on a whim, I substituted toasted wheat germ for the breadcrumbs and flour I had been using to coat the falafel.

This recipe doubles easily and freezes well. I like to have these with pita bread, lettuce, tomato, and lemon-tahini sauce (recipe follows.)

Baked Falafel

3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 15 oz. can chickpeas
1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup tahini
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 cup wheat germ, divided use

Sauté onion and garlic over medium heat until
translucent - about 5 minutes. Drain chickpeas and
reserve ¼ cup liquid (see note).

Place onion, garlic and chickpea liquid in
blender or food processor and puree. Add chickpeas,
parsley, tahini, cumin and coriander and blend until
smooth. Put chickpea mixture in a small bowl and stir
in ½ cup wheat germ. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to
firm mixture (see note).

Form chickpea mixture into 16 balls. Roll balls in remaining
wheat germ, and flatten slightly to form
patties. Spray a baking sheet with cooking-oil spray.
Place falafel patties on baking sheet and spray the
tops lightly with more cooking oil spray. Bake at 375
for 20 minutes, turning over after 10 minutes.

Serves 4

Note: if you are using a food processor, you can omit
the chickpea liquid and skip the refrigeration step.

Lemon-tahini sauce

juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons tahini (I prefer raw, not roasted)
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/8 teaspoon cumin
pinch of salt
water as needed

Whisk together lemon juice, tahini, spices and salt. The mixture will get outrageously thick. Add water to thin to desired consistency (I use about 3 tablespoons.)

Oven-dried Tomatoes

I got this recipe from my friend Melissa of The Papaya Chronicles, but I’ve changed it somewhat. She, in turn, got it from a cookbook by Alton Brown, but changed the recipe for her tastes. The biggest change I made was to scoop the seeds and surrounding goop from the tomatoes so that I could turn up the oven and bake them in just a fraction of the time. If you do leave the seeds in, turn your oven down as low as it will go so that the tomatoes don’t stew and fall apart. In that case, it will take about 12 hours to make them, instead of the 3-4 hours it takes with this version.

These taste like tomato candy. I had them as a side dish with grilled seitan gyros and put the rest in the freezer to top a pizza later.

Oven-dried Tomatoes

2 pounds roma tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 scant teaspoon salt
about 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried herbs or 2 tablespoons fresh (oregano, thyme, basil, chives, rosemary, tarragon, or whatever sounds good to you)

Slice tomatoes in half crosswise. Using a small spoon, scoop out the seeds and surrounding liquid and discard. In a medium bowl, toss the tomato halves with olive oil, using just as much as you need to coat the tomatoes. Add remaining ingredients, tossing as you go.

Turn on oven to 250*. Arrange tomatoes in a single layer, cut side up, on a jelly-roll pan. Bake for 3-4 hours.

*If you have a convection oven, use the convection setting and don’t turn the temperature down. They won’t cook any faster, but the texture will be especially nice. There is no need to preheat the oven.

Morning Glory Muffins

Not only are these muffins perfect for breakfast, they’re perfect to take with you as you head out the door for adventures. They’re dense and moist and will keep you going for hours.

I made these from the home made baking mix that I keep on hand. If you don’t want to mix up a batch, use 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 1 cup oatmeal flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. My version is based on this one.

Morning Glory Muffins

3 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
3/4 cup water
1 4-ounce jar applesauce (from the baby-food aisle)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups baking mix
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 cups shredded carrots
1 apple, peeled, cored and shredded
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup pecan or walnut pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Oil 12 muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, beat together flax seed meal and water on high until mixture thickens slightly. Add applesauce, canola oil, and sugar and beat on high until well-combined. Add baking mix and cinnamon and beat on low until just mixed in. Stir in remaining ingredients by hand. Spoon into the muffin cups, filling to the brim. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out batter-free.