Wonderful Millet Balls, Bandanas, and Other Eats

Millet ball stir fry? Why of course.  The millet balls are a recipe from Vegan Delights cookbook, which I was lucky to win through a New Year's Eve giveaway over at Mehitable Days blog. It arrived with a group of donkeys:

The millet balls where the first recipe that caught my eye--officially called Wonderful Millet Balls in the book-- and they turned out tasty, if a bit on the delicate side. They're basically 2 cups cooked millet, 1/2 cup ground almonds (I threw in some ground flax too), and 1 Tbsp flour or arrowroot powder mixed with a variety of sauteed vegetables, tamari, veggie broth and seasonings to taste and to achieve a workable consistency. 

I used finely chopped onion, shallot, garlic, celery, shitake mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots...for a total volume of about 2.5 cups of finely chopped veggies. The seasonings can be altered according to what flavor you want to give them...since I was planning a stir fry, I added some brown mustard seeds, ginger, and a little turmeric. Baked in the oven @ 400 F for about 25 minutes, they come out delicate, but sturdy up somewhat as they cool. 

Before baking:

Out of the oven:

The stir fry was green onions, celery, and shitake mushrooms in a sort of teriyaki-style sauce (1/4 cup tamari, 1/4 cup mirin, 1 tbsp turbinado sugar, a few drops of toasted sesame oil, and about 1/8 cup water---thickened with arrowroot. Because the millet balls are on the delicate side, I added them in at the very end.

Speaking of giveaways, I also won this fun pink bandana from Molly over at VeganFlower. She sent some cool stickers and some of her business cards, which are really well done. 

Thanks Molly!! I love it!

Not as wonderful as giveaway winnings or millet balls, but in other food recently... 

...seitan sausages with sun dried tomato, kalamata olives, garlic, fennel, and oregano. I wrapped them in tin foil, steamed them, then uwrapped and browned them in the oven:

....with pasta:

Actually I take back what I said just now, the following is as wonderful as giveaways and millet balls...

Vic's BBQ Seitan Steaks from The Life blog:

You can't really see the seitan with the onions and mushrooms on top, but trust me: it's good.

Also an apple cake that looked nice, but came out rubbery:

Not sure why so rubbery...it was made from 1 pound of chopped apples tossed with 2 cups unbleached flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning, and a pinch of salt, then mixed with a puree of 2 ripe bananas, 1/2 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup raw cane sugar, 1 cup oat milk and 1 tsp of vanilla, then topped with apple slices and a drizzle of maple syrup. It might be better with whole wheat flour instead.

Inspired by Shen of Shenandoah Vegan fame, who often tops desserts with a little agave syrup...

...makes it all better.

Vegan Pot Roast

I finally came out of a post MoFo-induced stupor and got these pics uploaded. It's a vegan pot roast.

Also, a mizuna salad with roasted squash and pomegranate.

I got the idea for the salad from Cadry's Kitchen blog. If you go to her site, you'll see that she has some fun cooking videos in the sidebar, and one of them talks about roasting winter squash, and some suggestions on how to use it. One of her suggestions was to put it in a salad, which I thought was a great idea. I found Cadry's site through MoFo, when she did a delightful series of posts around Deserted Island Packing Lists...(highly recommend), and thanks to Cadry for the salad idea! The dressing was just a little olive oil, whole grain mustard, and sherry vinegar.

The pot roast  is based on Jo Stepaniak's recipe in the Vegan Vittles cookbook. I've made it several times, and by now have  tweaked the recipe into my own variation by adding in a few bells and whistles, and omitting a few other things.

I like to eat it with sweet and sour red cabbage and/or lots of spicy mustard. Mr. Dandelion likes it ok as a pot roast, but prefers the leftovers broiled up with BBQ sauce.

Pot Roast Seitan, adapted from Vegan Vittles, by Jo Stepaniak

generous 1.5 cups vital wheat gluten....I usually end up using about 1 and 3/4 cups
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
generous pinch of celery seed
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegan worcestershire
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients, add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until it's all incorporated, then stop. Don't continue stiring or kneading, this will make the seitan come out rubbery. (I mean, it's a little rubbery anyway, but not to make it more so. )

Put the seitan on a work surface and shape into a rectangle. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high, add a touch of olive oil  and brown off the seitan rectangle on each side. Be sure to put it on a well-heated skillet, or it will end up sticking.  It may stick slightly anyway, but just keep sliding a spatula under the seitan as it browns to prevent it from sticking too much.

Setian Braising Liquid

1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium shallot, sliced
2 ribs celery, or 1 celery heart, chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 carrots, chopped into large chunks
pinch of oregano, or other herb/s of choice
1 bay leaf
3 cups rich veggie broth ( I used 1 cup no-beef broth, and two cups low-sodium veggie broth)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Saute the onion and shallot over medium-low until the onion begins to caramelize ~ 15 minutes, add in the bay leaf, oregano, garlic, celery, and carrot, and saute for another 5 minutes. Add in veggie broth and vinegar and increase heat to bring the broth to a simmer. When the broth is simmering, drop in the browned seitan, cover partially, turn down heat just enough so it's not boiling, but continues to simmer gently. Allow the seitan to simmer for  ~ 60 to 90 minutes, turning the seitan about halfway through.

About 30-40 minutes before serving, drizzle a selection of veggies with a little olive oil (or omit for fat free) and ladle some of the simmering broth over them, then roast them in the oven.

After you remove the seitan from the pot, you can puree the simmered broth with the simmered veggies to make a gravy (you may want to remove the bay leaf first) :

Pot roast on the table. It takes about 2 hours from stove to table, but most of it is down time.

Noodles and Chickpeas in Cinnamon Scented Broth, Or Vegan Rechta

**Post Factum:** 

This is one of a series of posts for Vegan MoFo 2010; my theme was a 'Virtual Random Road Trip', where I used random.org's random geographic location generator to select locations around the globe, I then attempted to cook a few dishes from the traditional cuisine of that place. I didn't have a lot of time between generating the locations and coming up with recipes (~ 1 day). So, lacking time to do proper research, I can't vouch for the authenticity of anything I came up with. However, they are what they are, and it was a fun theme. 

This dish is called Rechta (rish-ta), a traditional Algerian dish often served on special occasions such as weddings. The dish is described as noodles with *unmentionable* in a white sauce, but it’s not the same kind of white sauce that may come to mind (like one made with a roux and some sort of non-dairy milk). This is more like a broth than a sauce in my mind, hence I took liberties with my version of the title.

“Rechta” are the noodles, which are traditionally homemade using a combination of semolina and regular flour. Ready-made Rechta noodles exist, but they’re probably not the easiest item to find in my neck of the woods…I didn’t even try.

This dish is cooked, like couscous, in a couscoussière (kiskas in Arabic)  where the noodles are put in a steamer placed on top of a  large pot. The broth cooks underneath and the pasta steams/cooks and becomes scented with the aromas of the cooking broth/sauce.

Source: http://maher.oldamascus.com/?p=8

couscous steamer pot (couscoussière)

I don’t have a couscous steamer pot (though I'm sure an ingenious person could rig something up) nor did I make my own noodles. So needless to say, this is a bit off the mark for authenticity…I’m sure homemade noodles add a lot to the dish.

Someday, when I have lots of free time (one can always dream) and a couscous pot (I dream big), I'll try making the noodles and steaming them in the traditional manner. But in this instance, I cooked a pack of linguine and called it good.

The broth is a simple one created by simmering onions, chickpeas and spices (cinnamon, pepper, and salt). If you're in the mood for a spicy, flamboyant dish, this is not a good candidate. Think of this dish as a mild, aromatic broth, very comforting, with a gentle hint of cinnamon.


I kept wanting to add more spices to it, but I restrained myself to keep it as close to the original recipes as possible. Although not traditional in this particular recipe, I think a little cumin and orange zest would be nice additions to this too.
 
I read several different recipes: most called for turnip only, while some called for both turnip and courgette (zucchini). Some called for garlic, most didn’t. And clarified butter was generally used to saute the onion for the broth and to coat the noodles. White pepper is preferred, but I used regular black pepper.

Some recipes included a single tomato, which then was billed as “red sauce” instead of a “white sauce”…but the ones with tomato didn’t look very red or tomato-y to me, so I didn’t bother.

I cooked the chickpeas ahead of time in a slow cooker with the veggie broth and nutritional yeast…you could do that way to save time, or cook them while making the recipe. Also, I used parsnip instead of turnip.

I based the following recipe on this one and this one.

Easy Non-traditional Vegan Rechta 
(easy because no homemade noodles/non-traditional because pasta was not cooked in a couscous steamer pot (and it's vegan))

1.5 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight
2 cups water
2 cups no-chicken broth/ or rich veggie broth
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

*OR
pre-cook 1.5 cup chickpeas in a slow cooker with the 4 cups broth/water and nutritional yeast, and then add them to the pot with the simmering onion, garlic and cinnamon*

1, 4-inch stick cinnamon (or 1/2 teaspoon powdered)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large (or 2 medium) parsnip (or turnip), chopped in large chunks
1 large zucchini (or 2 medium), chopped in large chunks
6 - 8 pieces of chick'n-style seitan or tofu or similar
1 tablespoon olive oil ( or EB if you want/or other sauteeing medium of preference)
salt and pepper to taste

linguine or fettuccine pasta, cooked al dente

In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic, and cinnamon in the olive oil. When the onions become translucent, add the soaked chickpeas, nutritional yeast and the veggie broth. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 - 3 hours until the chickpeas are tender. Add the parsnip and zucchini chunks, salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

About 10 minutes before serving, brown the seitan under the broiler or however you prefer, and add it to the pot.

Ladle the broth, chickpeas, seitan and veggies over warm pasta (tossed with olive oil if desired). Transfer remaining broth to a serving bowl and allow diners to ladle more of the broth onto their plates as desired.

Bon Appétit

                                                                      ***************

Now for a little more exploring: Tassili N'Ajjer National Park

Located in the southeastern part of Algeria, deep in the Sahara Desert, this park is a conservation area for Tassili n'Ajjer mountain range. Impressive ancient rock formations and thousands of rock paintings dating back to 5000-6000 BC, indicate that this now desert region was once a fertile savanah, teaming with life. Tassili n'Ajjer National Park is also a UNESCO world heritage site.

For some views of the Tassili rock formations and rock paintings, you can have a look at this video:


Video: El MistaTour

Here are a few more rock paintings that I thought were interesting:

Source: Purdue University Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture

Women gathering grain 5000-6000 BC, Tassili N'Ajjer, Algeria.

Source: http://www.heritage-images.com

Painting of a woman planting with a pickaxe, c3500 BC

Random Roadtrip Day 1: Picante de Seitan

**Post Factum:** 

This is one of a series of posts for Vegan MoFo 2010; my theme was a 'Virtual Random Road Trip', where I used random.org's random geographic location generator to select locations around the globe, I then attempted to cook a few dishes from the traditional cuisine of that place. I didn't have a lot of time between generating the locations and coming up with recipes (~ 1 day). So, lacking time to do proper research, I can't vouch for the authenticity of anything I came up with. However, they are what they are, and it was a fun theme. 

The first day of the road trip has landed us in Bolivia, where this spicy dish would be more typically known as picante de pollo. It is a hearty dish full of flavor and very satisfying. The base of the sauce is a paste made from cumin, ground chili powder, and garlic, a combo which seems to be a prevalent flavor profile.

In perusing a few recipes, common ingredients I've come across in Bolivian cuisine include potatoes, onion, and ají peppers ( I gather there are several varieties of these peppers available in Bolivia and throughout South America. See the bottom of the post for more links/info). Some other veggies I noticed popping up regularly are  turnip, celery and tomato...not necessarily all together.

Not surprisingly, I couldn't find any ají peppers in my local shop, so I used a combination of serrano peppers and sweet long peppers. I used this recipe as a guide and came up with the following:

Picante de Seitan (Serves 4)
8 - 10 large pieces of chicken-style seitan of choice (recipe I used is below)
4 medium-sized potatoes (basically 1 potato per person), cut into 2-inch chunks
3 large carrots, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 large or 2-3 medium-sized turnips (I used 1 large rutabaga instead), cut into 2-inch chunks
1 medium onion, finely diced (~ 1 generous cup finely diced)
2 - 4  cups no-chicken broth or regular veggie broth
1 - 2 serrano peppers (depending on how spicy you want it) deseeded and chopped fine
10 small, long peppers, or 2 bell peppers of choice, cut into strips
1 cup garden peas
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper or hot paprika (to make it less spicy, use sweet paprika)
salt to taste (the original recipe called for MSG, but I skipped that part)
oil for sauteeing (or whatever you like to saute with)
parsley for garnish

Liquify the cumin, ground chili pepper, and garlic with about 1/8 cup water or broth in a blender. The end consistency should be a loose paste.  In a large pan, heat a little oil and add the cumin/chili paste to aromatize it, allow to cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.

spices and garlic

cumin/chili/garlic paste

paste aromatizing in oil

After the paste has sauteed for a couple of minutes, add in the broth, stirring it well to incorporate the paste. Then toss in the potato, carrot, and turnip chunks, bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the veggies are tender and the broth has reduced and thickened a little, ~ 30-35 minutes. Add more broth as necessary to keep veggies covered.

The potatoes should thicken the broth as it cooks, but if it gets towards the end and the broth is not thick enough for your preferences, you could always sprinkle in some arrowroot powder to get the desired consistency.

(Note: The original recipe called for cooking the carrots and turnip with the chicken, so alternately, if you're braising your own seitan, you could toss them in with that. I  chose to cook them in the spicy broth because  the seitan takes longer to cook  than the veggies, and the veggies take up loads of spicy flavor cooking in the broth.)

While the veggies are simmering, saute the peppers and seitan over medium high in a separate pan until they begin to turn golden brown. Toss in the onion and saute for another 2-3 minutes.

When the veggies are tender, toss in the browned seitan, peppers, onions, and the peas and continue to simmer for another  5 minutes.

Serve with rice (if desired) and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

veggies simmering in spicy broth

seitan and peppers saute-ing

picante de seitan

I decided to make this post extra long (feel free to tune out if you're feeling weary) and provide the chicken-style seitan recipe I used. After a long hiatus, I have been returning to braised seitan lately. For a while, I had turned exclusively to the baked variety, which I continue to like a lot. But, I find that each type has its strengths and lends itself to specific recipes. I thought the braised variety lent itself nicely in this recipe.

Chicken-style Braised Seitan (makes 1 large piece, enough for 8 - 10 slices)

For the braising broth:
6 cups no-chicken style broth or veggie broth ( I used a combo of Edwards & Sons Not Chickn' broth and Seitenbacher's veggie broth)
1 large leek, sliced into 1-inch rounds
1 large handful of parsley
2 teaspoon celery seed
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 bay leaves

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a simmer.

veggie broth mixes

seitan simmering in broth  (looks kinda gnarly)

For the seitan:
1 cup vital wheat gluten
1 cup low-sodium no-chicken broth, or regular low-sodium veggie broth
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari (you may want to adjust this depending on how much salt is in the veggie broth you use)
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Mix the wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and Old Bay in a mixing bowl. Whisk together the broth, soy sauce, and mustard and add to the wheat gluten. Mix together, adding in small amounts of wheat gluten to get a consistency that you can mold into a shape and is not too wet. Form the seitan into whatever shape/s you like and drop into the simmering braising broth. Allow to simmer for 1 hour... it can simmer for longer if you like.

pre-cooked seitan (looks kind of like a brain)

braised seitan

If you're interested, here a few links to more info about ají peppers:

Seed buyer's page, includes photos of different varieties
Online catalog that sells bottled ají peppers and other chili powder products
History of ají peppers

Tomorrow, more Bolivian eats.

Jalapeño Burgers and Avocado Fries

If I eat fried stuff, it's almost always onion rings. But last night, we gave fried avocado wedges a try. They will never take over the position of onion rings in my book, but they're fun because you dip them in salsa instead of ketchup.  I'm thinking anyone who had a penchant for fried mozzarella in another life would enjoy these.  If I make them again, I'll add a slice of onion to make an avocado/onion ring hybrid.

I used the recipe from American Vegan Kitchen. If you don't have the book but are interested, you can find a similar recipe on Tami's blog here. They are coated in a batter that is basically equal parts flour and beer, with a little lime juice; they fry up quite nicely.

I couldn't get a good shot of the inside, but here's a blurry one:

The burgers were sort of an experiment that turned out reasonably well. I baked a loaf of seitan, ground it up into mince, then sauteed it with some finely chopped mushrooms, onion, garlic, jalapeño peppers, oregano, a splash of vegan worcestershire and salt/pepper.  I tossed the mushroom/seitan mixture into a bowl and added a cup or so of  vital wheat gluten and a bit of water to get a patty-making consistency. Then, I browned them on the stove before baking them in the oven for about a half an hour.

They were soft, but held together well...if I made them again, I would add walnuts. They were fairly tasty and paired well with some vegan sour cream.

Baked seitan works especially well for making mince, I find.

seitan loaf

chunks o' seitan

seitan mince

mushroom/jalapeño/seitan patties

Now I'm off to carve these pumpkins:

See y'all Monday for  Vegan MoFo. 

Happy Halloween! 

Balsamic-Maple Glazed Vegan Sausage w/ Figs and Red Onion

At the risk of posting a dish that has the gnarly aspect of meat, I had to post about these seitan skewers we had over the weekend. They made a wonderul fall meal along with some braised fennel, fresh kale salad, and crusty bread.

I used Field Roast Italian Style sausages, which are my favorite store-bought sausages, and come in handy for quick fix meals. Any Italian-style vegan sausage that you prefer, homemade or otherwise, would be good this way, I think.

Just in case anyone is interested:

In general, I recommend browning these sausages off before you use them in whatever recipe. I definitely did that in this case, because I knew they wouldn't have enough time to get brown and nicely cooked before the onions and figs were done.

Maple/Balsamic Glazed Seitan Skewers:

(Makes 8, so serves two to four people depending on how many skewers each)

1 punnet fresh figs ( ~ 8 figs) I used  fresh Turkish figs, cut in half lengthwise

1 large red onion, cut into 1/2 inch wedges

4 Italian-style vegan saugages, cut into 2-inch peices

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Black pepper to taste

Fresh rosemary for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 F (~ 200 C). Brown off the sausage peices in the oven or a fry pan...not too dark, because they will cook a little more on the skewers. Slide the figs, onions, and sausages onto the skewers and brush with the glaze on all sides. Let the skewers cook in the oven for ~ 10-12 minutes, turning halfway though. Serve sprinkled with fresh rosemary and black pepper to taste.

Note: if you use wooden skewers, it's probably a good idea to soak them in a little water for about an hour or so before going into the oven. (To speed up the process, soak them in hot water.)  I usually do this if I'm going to use them on the BBQ, but not sure that it's strictly necessary here, as they are in the oven for a relatively short period of time...I soaked them anyway to be on the safe side.

The kale salad was fantastic...so much flavor out of a few simple ingredients. I highly recommend it. I followed this recipe from 101 Cookbooks. Of course, I omitted the pecorino cheese, and replaced it with some raddichio and sliced almonds.

Also wanted to thank Jessica, for the info on making photo collages in Picasa. I haven't entirely got the hang of it yet, but it is fun.

Roseann LaPonte

Rosanne Tobin

Cats, Squash Boats, and Gardeny Things

Meet Jada, houseplant eater, super talker, loving sweetheart, black beauty:

September was the month of the cat at our place. When the cat isolation room at the shelter gets full, the officers appeal to volunteers to take some of the iso cats into foster care...just until they get better, in order to make room for new incoming cats. It runs the gamut, but many of the cats in the isolation room are not too sick; they just have mild upper respiratory infections. It's only a matter of giving them anti-biotics for a couple of weeks until their symptoms disappear, and they can return to the shelter for adoption.

Jada was nearly fully recovered when she came to stay with us. I had to relocate all my houseplants, because she loved munching on them...I bought her some wheat grass to nibble on instead. She was with us for 2 weeks, and then went back into the adoption room of the shelter. Man, it was difficult to bring her back to the shelter that day...but she's since been adopted to a good home. (yaay Jada!)

She must have been living with a colony of ferals at one time, because her ear is tipped in the way they do ferals after they have been spayed/neutered in TNR programs. She wasn't the least bit feral herself though.

Next up, meet Lucky: long, lean, athletic, elegant, as graceful as a gazelle, and super friendly (though he looks rather nonchalant in the photo).

Lucky's situation was pretty much the same as Jada's...he just needed to finish up his meds, as his symptoms had already disappeared. He's still with us...we're planning on adopting him, but we have to wait and see; his status is still pending.

And, this is our long-time family member, Cheeky. 

Cheeky, taking time out to smell the flowers

She's a Drumcondra kitty, because she was born in the Drumcondra neighborhood of Dublin, Ireland. We picked her up as a stray kitten on the busy Drumcondra Road back in 2003, while we were living nearby at the time.

Here's a yummy Sunday dinner (apologies for the dark photo):

I was inspired to try these "squash boats" a while ago, while reading Meeps' blog: Alien's Day Out: A Vegan in Seoul, South Korea.  She totally doesn't know it (probably), but I love her blog...it's full of  crazily delicious food. She even makes oatmeal look appetizing. 

Anyway, she had posted about these stuffed squash that she ate for lunch in a department store food court. Food courts around here are full of junk, so I was struck by how healthy and delicious these seemed for food court fare.

My take on it was roasted kabocha squash stuffed with roasted cauliflower, shallots, and yam--and  then topped with pumpkin seeds, cashews, and almonds that I caramelized in maple syrup. Fresh thyme and rosemary made perfect garnishes.

We ate it with beans from the garden, some homemade seitan, and our usual salad.

Vibrant kabocha boats:

September was a good month out in the garden too, and tomatoes finally came into season...

**OK, all you people who have been harvesting tomatoes since July can stop laughing now! :D**

In spite of the cool summer, I got a pretty sizeable tomato harvest. I got 3 good pulls all about 3 lbs- worth, so ~9 lbs all together:

The dark-colored cherries are "Black Cherry" variety. They are super sweet, but skins are on the tough side. The large slicers are "Peron" tomatoes...fairly prolific and have a mild sweetness, nice and juicy too. The romas are, well, romas...extremely prolific, fairly tasty and great for drying or sauces.

I kept the tomatoes under a ventilated poly-tunnel all summer, which kept temps about 10 degrees warmer than ambient. Had I not done this, I would have ended up with multitudes of green tomatoes.

Squash harvest was not so great...I got three mini-kabochas. The cool thing is that they grew orange, knobby scabs over areas that had been munched on by some critter. You can see a big orange scabby thing on the righthand-side squash:

Still waiting on three little eggplants that I have since moved into the sun room:

I was hoping to see these peppers go from yellow to red, but who am I kidding? That's not going to happen: the intensity/warmth of the sun has diminished too much by this time of year. Instead, we'll be eating these greeny/yellow peppers soon:

Here are my autumn greens busy growing under a winter-time poly tunnel:

Dahlias and sunflowers waited until Sept to bloom too:

Next up for the garden is planting some vetch in for a cover crop and putting in some Russian Red stiffneck garlic.

Ciao for now.