New Post for a New Path.

Ethiopian Cabbage, Carrots, and Potatoes (Atakilt Wat) and Basmati Rice

Recipe modified from Vegan Richa's Original Recipe here: 

https://www.veganricha.com/atakilt-wat-ethiopian-cabbage-potato/

It's time to heal from all the chaos of the last few years. In an effort to do something for myself and motivate myself to eat better, I signed up for and just completed the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate at the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. Woo! 

Well, it worked. Better than I anticipated. 

The importance of no added oil was mostly unknown to me before taking this course! I took it to motivate myself to eat better ... which, for me, means to eat vegan. I also didn't anticipate being so motivated to cut out processed foods. So, a mostly Whole Foods Plant-Based (WFPB) diet it is! I'm not one to do most things rigidly and I usually have most success when I make gradual change. These things I know about myself. Progress over perfection. 

So, no added oil cooking was a bit of a mystery to me. I've never cooked this way. Every salad dressing I made had oil in it. First step was to find some yummy things to make! I'll record some of my endeavors here. 

First up ... I made this recipe from Vegan Richa using no added oil. Ingredient list and method of preparation via the link above. I revised it to make it no oil by steaming the carrots and potatoes. I also sautéed the onion, ginger, garlic, and hot pepper in a non stick pan in some water. I added the spices and then added the shredded cabbage. It actually worked! 

I thought it would be best served with some vegan raita. So, maybe some plain vegan yogurt made into raita on top would be super yummy. 

 

I also made my standard basmati rice recipe sans oil as well. It worked! 

Oil-Free BASMATI RICE  

1 cup of rice to 1 1/2 cups of water

Heat dry pan and add dry rice. Toast the rice for a few seconds. 

Add water, stir, bring to a boil. 
As soon as the water is boiling, lower heat to low, cover the saucepan, and do not disturb for exactly 15 minutes. Turn heat off and boom! Rice. 

**Sometimes I add a cinnamon stick and a few whole cloves to enhance the flavor.

Vegan Protein Blueberry Banana Chocolate Smoothie

Vegan Protein Blueberry Banana Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients:
1/2 cup frozen organic wild blueberries (Whole Foods has them in the freezer section)
1 banana
1 cup nut mylk (I use 5XProtein Unsweetened Almond Milk by So Delicious Brand)
2 scoops Orgain brand vegan protein - chocolate flavor

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Yum!

Had this smoothie for breakfast and made my cabbage curry for dinner. Yummmmmm.
Cabbage curry recipe here: Sundaegirl108's Cabbage Curry

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Slowcooker / Crockpot Apple Butter!



 

Apple Butter is surprisingly easy to make! I was looking for something to do with all my CSA apples and came across this simple recipe for apple butter in a cookbook I found on a neighbor's stoop. heh. The cookbook is called Endangered Recipes: Too Good To Be Forgotten by Lari Robling and it features some classic American recipes.

 

Apple Butter Recipe:

5 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into 1 inch pieces (about 12 cups)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 - 2 teaspoons cardamom

1/2 cup apple cider

 

Put everything in crockpot for 4 hours on high, then scrape sides down and cook on low for about 10 hours more. Puree in crockpot with immersion blender. If it still needs to thicken cook an additional hour or two with lid ajar. Puree in blender afterward if you don't have an immersion blender. Voila!

Raw Tomato Sauce

Raw Tomato Sauce

Our CSA also yielded some awesome organic tomatoes this week, so I threw together a sauce for dinner. It was so yummy! (I served it over some Trader Joe's vegan meatless balls (which certainly aren't raw, but they're also yummy. heh.)

Method:
Roughly chop tomatoes and throw in blender with a large handful of fresh basil. Blend until smooth. I made enough so that I had about 3/4 of a blender full when done. You could throw any other spices into the blender to process them to make this completely raw, but I sautéed a little minced garlic in olive oil in a saucepan and then added the tomato mixture to heat it a bit. I also threw in some red pepper flake, oregano, salt & pepper to taste. :)

Vegan Summer Rolls

I finally made summer rolls! They were far easier than I thought they'd be! I thought I'd be wrestling with broken rice paper wrappers and unable to actually make a neat roll. Not shabby for my first attempt ...

The lovely filling stuffs ... some avocado, sprouts, basil, julienned orange pepper, sliced cucumber ... I also put some shredded carrots and cellophane noodles in these rolls.


To make cellophane noodles: The package should have the instructions, but all you do is drop them in boiling water, turn off the heat, let them sit for about 10 minutes, and drain.
To make summer rolls: Just dip rice paper wrapper quickly in room temperature water until it becomes pliable. Lay on a cutting board and put in some of the ingredients you've chosen to stuff them with. Roll wrapper over ingredients, tuck ends in (like a burrito), and finish rolling up.
Voila! So healthy ... so delicious! 

I like to dip these in peanut sauce or sweet and sour sauce (both of which you can buy over the counter).

Vegan Tofu-Broccoli Stir-Fry

Tofu-Broccoli Stir-Fry*
*Adapted from a recipe on p. 108 of Food Network Magazine

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Asian chile sauce (such as Sriracha)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sesame oil
4 scallions, sliced (white and green parts separated)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 one-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 head broccoli, cut into florets (or your fave veggie)
1 package firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Whisk the soy sauce, hoisin, vinegar, chile sauce, cornstarch, and 1 cup water in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat sesame oil in a large skillet (with sides) and stir-fry the white parts of the scallion, garlic, and ginger for about 30 seconds.
Throw in the broccoli, tofu, and reserved soy sauce mixture. Bring to a simmer (you might want to throw a lid on the saucepan so that the broccoli steams). Make sure to remove lid once broccoli is steamed and simmer for a bit until the sauce thickens a bit.
Serve over rice and sprinkle with remaining green parts of the scallion.
Mmm mmm mmm.

My basmati rice recipe is here.

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Easy Lemon and Garlic Kale

Ingredients:
1 bunch kale, washed, ribs removed and discarded.
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup water

Method:
Combine all ingredients except kale in a large tall pot. Bring to a simmer. Throw in kale one handful at a time. Put a lid on it to steam the kale. Stir every once in a while. Cook kale until it's bright green and tender (about 5 - 8 mins). Enjoy!

Note: I made this with the polenta and seitan casserole from Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet. Unfortunately, the casserole didn't turn out so good, so I'm not posting it just yet. I'm going to have to tweak it with some spice additions of my own. ;) I think it'll also be better with some nutritional yeast added!

Old Bay Baked Sweet Potato Fries

These are simple, but delicious! Cut sweet potatoes in wedges (I like to de-skin mine first, but do as you please) ... spray a cookie sheet with olive oil cooking spray ... throw wedges onto sheet ... coat top of wedges with more spray ... sprinkle liberally with Old Bay seasoning. Bake at 400F for about 20-30 minutes or until the amount of browning appears that you like. Enjoy!

Spicy Cauliflower Rice (low fat, low carb, vegan)

*Recipe adapted from Michaela Hickman's recipe.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
1 tsp curry powder (I use medium hot Madras curry)
2 green onions
1 tsp red pepper flake

Directions:
1. Cut cauliflower florets into small 1-2 inch pieces. Steam cauliflower for about 6 minutes or until tender.
2. While cauliflower is steaming, slice all of the green onions into small pieces.
3. Pulse cauliflower in food processor a few times until it reaches a rice-like consistency. *You might have to do this in a few small batches at a time.
4. Pour cauliflower into a bowl and sprinkle with green onions, curry, and red pepper flake. Stir to combine.
5. Enjoy!

BANDHAKOPIR DALNA (BENGALI CABBAGE CURRY)

I made this last night. It's one of my favorite cheap recipes because, if you already have the spices, you really just have to buy a head of cabbage (uber cheap at less than $3) and some ginger. I usually skip the potatoes and serve this over basmati rice with some sour cream on top. Yummmmmmmmmmm.

Ingredients:
1 lb cabbage, sliced finely
2 potatoes, cut in small cubes
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp turmeric
1 1/4 to 2 tsp green chili paste (I substitute with THAI KITCHEN brand green curry paste)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 inch ginger grated
1 tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Method:
♥ Fry cubed potatoes in hot oil in a wok until lightly browned. Remove from oil and keep aside.
♥ To the hot oil add cabbage. Sprinkle with salt.
♥ Stir and cover. Simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove cover.
♥ Add the turmeric, chili paste, cumin, coriander and ginger. Stir and fry until the spices are well blended with the cabbage.
♥ The cabbage should be nearly cooked at this stage.
♥ Add 1/2 cup water and add potatoes. Adjust salt and add sugar to taste.
♥ Simmer over medium heat until potatoes are cooked and there is practically no gravy in the pan.
♥ In a frying pan, heat butter. Add the bay leaves and garam masala. Stir fry a couple of minutes and pour over bandhakopir dalna.
♥ Stir the cabbage and remove from heat.
Recipe Source: http://festivals.iloveindia.com/durga-puja/cabbage-curry.html