Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Vegan Recipes

  • Middle Eastern Stew of Chickpeas, Potatoes, and Carrots – A Hearty Dish to Last the Week

    I aspire to make large meals and snacks every Sunday that will help last at least part of the work week, ideally for lunch, dinner and mid-day snacks.  

    Unfortunately, two problems usually arise with this strategy.  First is that I get tired during my Sunday cooking process and will not end up tackling my entire ambitious cooking plan.  Second is that even when I do make a number of items – or a few large dishes – I'll get bored eating them during the week, and sometimes they will go to waste (or the freezer).  

    I think I have found at least a partial solution to problem number two, which is in the form of a Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian recipe for Middle Eastern Stew of Chickpeas, Potatoes, and Carrots.  I don't remember why I decided to try this recipe several weeks ago – it may have been its simplicity, the excess of chickpeas cans in my cupboard, or something else entirely.  

    In any case, what I found was an easily adaptable recipe that was packed with flavor – such that when I was eating the leftovers for weekday lunches and dinners, I was actually sad when we ran out of the stew after a few servings!

    Middle Eastern Stew of Chickpeas, Potatoes and Carrots

    I altered the recipe by substituting two cans of chickpeas for the cooked, dried chickpeas; a clove or two more of garlic; and an entire can of fire-roasted, diced tomatoes.  I also didn't have dried thyme on hand, so I used dried oregano instead, which was perfect for the middle eastern flavors in the dish.  

    I otherwise followed the directions as is – browned the onions and garlic, and then simmered all the other ingredients until the flavors had melded and the vegetables had cooked.  

    Middle Eastern Stew Onions Cooking

    This is definitely a dish that can be made ahead of time for a small crowd, and doesn't require much active cooking, so great for Sunday cooking.  I'll definitely be making this tangy stew in the future, and likely pairing it with Mujaddara, another low-touch hearty dish.

    Middle Eastern Stew Completed

  • Five Minute Summer Bruschetta

    I love summer.  I mean I don't love hot weather or humidity…but I do love the fresh amazing vegetables and fruits.  Kicking off this summer's fresh vegetable season was my first attempt at bruschetta – the Italian fresh tomato dish that could not have been easier to construct.  

    My bruschetta included a slight variant of the traditional recipe in that I used parsley instead of the traditional basil.  This ingredient substitution was inspired by a version I had the day before from a North Fork, Long Island grocery store – the parsley seemed to add an unexpected lightness to the dish.

    Thankfully I was able to recreate this version with great results – tart, sweet and garlicky.  Definitely a recipe repeat that makes for a great make-ahead appetizer and can be prepared in virtually no time.

    Bruschetta

    Five Minute Bruschetta

    Ingredients:

    • 4 ripe tomatoes on the vine, chopped
    • 1 tbsp. red onion, minced
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1 tbsp. minced parsley
    • extra virgin olive oil, to taste
    • kosher or sea salt, to taste
    • pepper, to taste

    Directions:

    • Mix ingredients together, adding salt, pepper and olive oil to taste.  
    • Let sit for 15 minutes (or more), adjust seasonings as necessary, and serve with toast, chips or crackers. Can be prepared several hours or a day in advance and kept sealed in the fridge.  

  • Spicy Edamame Dip – Healthy Summer Snack

    For some unknown reason (except, perhaps, search engine optimization), the Food Network appears to be achieving more prominence in my cooking life.  I recently blogged about my first at-home soba sauce attempt, based on a Rachel Ray recipe, and maybe because it just showed up early in Google results, I also made a Trisha Yearwood spicy edamame dip a month or two back.  

    Spicy Edamame Dip Prepared

    The edamame dip is related to the soba dish in the sense that I had leftover frozen edamame after the soba attempt and I wanted to use it before too much time elapsed.  And so to the internet I went.

    I followed the recipe fairly loosely, in that I:

    • substituted frozen for fresh edamame, and the leftovers were not quite 16 oz.
    • used 1 tbsp. of lime juice instead of 4
    • halved the cayenne simply because I ran out, so threw in some red chili flakes instead
    • blended in 1/2 cup of the edamame cooking water instead of 3/4 cup

    Spicy Edamame Dip Ingredients

    My general reaction to this dip is that it was a pretty good dip base, particularly for cool, green summer party dips, but I probably need to add more herbs and citrus juice to really bring out the flavors.  It was slightly bland when I first made it, but I think more experiments could definitely make this better.

    Spicy Edamame Dip Served

  • Starting with Soba – Slowly, and Hopefully Surely

    Soba – the popular buckwheat noodle made in-house at several NYC Japanese restaurants.  Given that I love eating freshly made soba at restaurants, would I like eating boiled dried soba at home with my own sauce?  

    I attempted to answer that question by making my first bowl of soba with an improvised sauce based on a Rachel Ray recipe – not an auspicious start, to be sure.  But, I plugged along and ended up with a decent – though not great or amazing – at-home soba dish.

    Soba Noodles v2

    The recipe consisted of the following whisked ingredients, which were not much measured as guess-timated:

    • 1.5 tsp honey
    • Soy sauce
    • Red wine vinegar
    • Rice cooking wine
    • Sesame oil
    • Jalapeno, diced
    • 1/2 inch piece of ginger, minced
    • 2 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
    • 1 cup frozen edamame, microwaved
    • Sesame seeds, as garnish

    What resulted was a fairly bland sauce, on top of otherwise bland soba, but it wasn't a bad combination – just underwhelming.  I did like the texture of the boiled dried soba, and per some other online recipes, I think that tahini would be a great base for soba sauces.  So I'll be giving another soba attempt a go at some point – more to come in the coming months!

  • First Attempt as Hash Browns – My Technique Needs a Lot of Work!

    For a recent weekend breakfast we had at home, I tried my hand at making hash browns for the first time.  While I selected a Cook's Illustrated recipe, and therefore thought I was set up for success, I committed the fatal flaw of not perfectly following the recipe and ended up with a bit of a gummy mess.  

    Hashbrown Raw Potatoes Whole

    I think the problems started when I didn't squeeze enough water out of the grated potato shreds (see below).  I think the extra moisture helped turn the potatoes red/purple during cooking and forced me to increase the cooking time significantly because there was simply too much moisture and starch in the dish.

    Hashbrowns Raw Shredded

    In addition, I probably let the shredded potatoes sit too long before cooking, with CI warned could lead to browning.

    Hashbrowns Partially Cooked

    And so the potatoes cooked, cooked and cooked – the cooking time was probably double to triple what the recipe originally called for.

    Hashbrowns Cooking Flipped

    (flipped hash browns)

    I'll admit one more flaw evident from the pictures – I used a nonstick skillet instead of a cast-iron, which would have improved the cooking time dramatically as well.

    Hashbrowns Cooked

    So next time, a few modifications will be made.  First, the pan will become a cast-iron skillet.  Second, I will actually squeeze out ALL of the water from the potatoes with a kitchen towel instead of paper towels.  Third, I will probably also soak the potatoes in a bit of salt water before squeezing the water, to get rid of excess starch that can discolor the raw, starchy potatoes.  I use this final technique with the Indian potatoes I make, and have read online that that step can make a major difference.

  • Indian Roasted Cauliflower – Not as Great as My First Attempt!

    Some of you, even my most loyal of readers, may not be aware of the origination story of this blog.  

    A little over ten years ago, a move to a much more expensive city, coupled with a pay cut, necessitated that I really learn how to cook.  Around the same time that I started to get into cooking at home, I realized that after only 5 years of knitting, I had already started to forgot techniques that I had learned, new modifications I had taught myself, and whether I liked certain pattern/yarns/etc.  I decided to create a blog both to help me keep track of my successes, failures, and lessons learned and to share that information with others.  

    While this project has been largely successful for the 9 years I have been blogging – I regularly consult my blog for ideas and to jog my memory of certain projects – I recently failed to adhere to this founding principle.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I attempted to create a recipe that I had already tried, but with less great results than my initial attempt.

    Roasted Indian Cauliflower - For Serving

    (2015 roasted cauliflower, ready for serving)

    This project was an Indian-spiced, roasted cauliflower, which I initially made in 2010.  That initial 2010 attempt was fairly simple – just a few ingredients, and I sauteed the spices with the cauliflower before roasting the dish.  The 2015 version by contrast had far more ingredients, a little much oil, and I did not pre-cook the spices to get them fragrant, rather just threw everything in oven.  I'll consider this a lesson learned, and probably default to the original recipe in the future, instead of using the below attempt as my guidepost.

    Roasted Indian Caulifower - on Cooking Sheet

    (pre-roasted cauliflower with spices)

    2015 Indian Roasted Cauliflower

    Ingredients

    • 1 head cauliflower
    • 1 tsp turmeric (this was too much!)
    • 1 tsp cumin
    • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
    • 1/2 tsp minced garlic
    • 1 – 2 tbsp. olive oil (also too much!)
    • salt, to taste
    • pepper, to taste

    Directions:

    • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, and line a baking sheet with foil.
    • Chop cauliflower into bite sized pieces, discard outer leaves, and toss pieces in a large bowl with the other ingredients.
    • Place the cauliflower on the baking sheet, and spread out evenly.
    • Roast for 10 minutes, and then toss the cauliflower a bit to re-adjust placing across the baking sheet.  Place back in the oven for 5 minutes or until cauliflower is roasted to your preference.

    Roasted Indian Cauliflower - Raw

    (Raw cauliflower, tossed with spices and oil)

  • Stir-Fried Tofu with Green Beans, Chiles and Scallions

    I haven't been making as much tofu as I have in years past, but in an effort to get more protein into my diet, I've been looking into new ways to this vegetarian protein staple besides sauteing tofu cubes in a simple soy-chile sauce.  

    In the course of those searches, I found a NY Times online series about weeknight stir-frys and saved a copy of the version that included green beans, chiles and scallions.  I finally made the ripe when I was able to purchase Shaoxing rice wine, the one ingredient that wasn't in my pantry and that I couldn't find at local grocery stores.  My husband was able to pick up a bottle in Chinatown, and so away I went with preparing the recipe!

    Tofu with Green Beans and Chiles Cut Veggies

    The dish itself was very easy to construct, and definitely is the perfect amount of prep/cooking time for a weeknight meal, but there are a few tips I have for making it again.  First, I would use a nonstick pan or wok to cook the dish because when I used a cast-iron skillet, some of the tofu sides touching the pan stuck to the pan and weren't easily removable.  Second, I skipped the pre-cooking of the drained tofu slices, and I think next time, it would make sense to add that step in (perhaps while chopping the vegetables) because otherwise, even the drained and squeezed tofu slices added a lot of water to the sauce so the dish was more broth-y than I would like.  

    Tofu with Green Beans and Chiles Tofu Slices

    Finally, I added some extra soy sauce and chile-garlic sauce to the final dish because it otherwise was slightly bland (think the ratio of ginger/garlic/herbs/sauce may be slightly low for the amount of main ingredients – also the water from the tofu probably also diluted the flavors).

    Tofu with Green Beans and Chiles Cooking

    Welcome back to my diet, tofu!

  • Chickpeas with Scallions and Cilantro – Healthy but not Flavorful

    Given my obsession with making homemade hummus for parties, our kitchen has become flush with dried chickpeas.  To try something new beyond hummus and chole, I was attracted to a recently promoted New York Times recipe for Chickpeas with Mint, Scallions and Cilantro.  

    I ended up not following the recipe to a T, but rather modified it to make enough for 2 – 3 servings.  Unfortunately, even though I probably used heavier seasonings than the original recipe, I found the dish to be pretty bland.  Basically, "chickpeas with scallions and cilantro" sums up the flavors.  Maybe the mint would have made the dish interesting enough to stand on its own, but I think this probably won't be a recipe repeat in the future.

    Chickpeas with Cilantro and Scallions

    Chickpeas with Scallions and Cilantro

    Ingredients:

    • 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
    • 1 medium yellow onion, halved with 2 cloves stuck into either end
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 1.5 tbsp. olive oil
    • 2 scallions, chopped into 1/4 inch segments
    • 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
    • pinch of saffron threads

    Directions:

    • Drain chickpeas, and place in a medium pot.  Cover the chickpeas in water, with water line going one inch above the chickpeas.  Add the halved onions, bay leaves, and 1/2 tsp. salt, and bring to a boil.
    • Lower to a simmer, removing any foam that appears, and cook for 45 minutes – 1 hour, or until tender.
    • Drain chickpeas, throw away spices, and and then add olive oil and saffron to the pot, coating chickpeas in the oil.  Add scallions, cilantro, and toss to combine.  Add salt as necessary and serve while warm.

    Chickpeas with Parsley and Scallions Plated

  • Vegan Chinese Fried Rice – Recreating a Unique Restaurant Dish

    At Little Pepper, one of our favorite Sichaun restaurants in NYC, we sampled one of the most unique fried rice dishes I have ever tried.  

    Little Pepper Vegetable Fried Rice

    (Little Pepper Vegetable Fried Rice)

    The fried rice appeared to be egg-free, had a smoky flavor from apparent high-heat wok cooking, and had bok choy, an ingredient that I don't know if I have had in fried rice before.  While initially intended to be a plain dish to soak up our spicy entrees, it definitely stood out as a must-order dish in the future.

    But…I didn't stop there.  I also wanted to try to make this dish at the first opportunity, so I wrote down on my phone the ingredients I could identify in the dish, including a slightly heavier amount of cooking oil, onions, scallions, carrots, and ginger.  

    When I did finally make this dish at home, it wasn't quite up to Little Pepper standards, but it was actually pretty good.  The downsides were that I don't think I cooked the vegetables and rice at a high enough heat so didn't quite get that smoky flavor, and I should have partially cooked the carrots in particular so they wouldn't be as undercooked/raw as they were in the final dish.  In addition, the onions were more caramelized than charred, so that's another technique I want to work on in the future.

    Chinese Fried Rice Cooking

    Vegan Chinese Fried Rice

    Ingredients:

    • 2/3 cup dried basmati rice (rice I had on hand), cooked and cooked
    • 1 large carrot, diced and ideally partially steamed
    • 2 baby bok choy, roughly chopped
    • 3 tsp. garlic, minced
    • 3/4 tsp. ginger, minced
    • 1 onion, chopped
    • 2 tbsp. olive oil 
    • salt/pepper, to taste

    Chinese Fried Rice Chopped Vegetables

    Directions:

    • In a heavy bottomed pan or wok, heat oil, garlic and ginger until hot.
    • When hot, add onion and saute for 45 seconds to one minute or until fragrant.
    • Then stir in carrots for 3 – 4 minutes (skip this step if carrots are partially cooked), then add bok choy for 3 – 4 minutes.  Stir throughout, particularly if using a wok.
    • Add in cooked rice, breaking up any chunks with spatula.  When hot, add salt/pepper to taste.
    • (in initial attempt, I covered the rice and vegetable mixture to steam the contents to get the carrots more cooked in particular – led to both the caramelized onions and lack of char taste I believe)

    Chinese Fried Rice Vegetables Cooking

  • A Winter Keeper – Braised Kale

    Need a quick winter meal side, to complement otherwise hearty winter or holiday meal?  Look no further than Cook's Illustrated's simple braised winter greens recipe (or the heavily modified version that appears below).  

    Super easy to prepare, takes almost no time to cook, and is an easy way to make a heavy meal feel healthier than it ever should.  I made this dish 15 – 20 minutes before we had to leave for Thanksgiving dinner this year, and was really pleased with how great it turned out.  The kale was still just slightly bitter but had a nice salty and hearty taste.  My modified recipe appears under the picture of the completed dish below.

    Braised Kale v2

    Braised Kale

    For a side dish for approx. 4 people

    Ingredients

    • 1 tbsp. olive oil
    • 1 bunch dinosaur kale, washed and ripped into 2-inch pieces
    • 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
    • 1/2 onion, chopped
    • 1 – 2 tsp. dried red chili flakes (to taste)
    • 1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
    • 1 – 2 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice (to taste)
    • salt and pepper

    Directions

    • Heat a wok or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat with olive oil.  
    • When hot, add onion, garlic, and red chili flakes and saute for 30 seconds – 1 minute, or until fragrant.
    • Add greens, and toss with mixture in pan, and saute for 2 – 3 minutes or until greens are wilted.
    • Add water or vegetable broth, cover pot, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 5 – 10 minutes, stirring occassionnally.  If you used unsalted broth or water, add one or two pinches of salt.
    • Cook until greens are to your desired consistency, add lemon juice (starting with 1 tsp.), salt and pepper to taste.