Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Vegan Recipes

  • A Sort-Of Attempt at Roberta’s Pizza Dough

    Roberta's Pizza is a much-heralded pizza-focused restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn.  While the waits at Roberta's can be legendary, thankfully the two times I have had Roberta's pizzas have been relatively painless.  The first experience was a Roberta's lunchtime visit (wait = 15 minutes), where we tried two different pizzas.  The pizzas were good, but maybe not to the level of my other Brooklyn favorites (DiFara and Totonno's).  The second Roberta's experience was getting a Roberta's frozen or maybe refrigerated pizza at the Brooklyn Whole Foods, which despite how it sounds, was actually really delicious.  

    When the New York Times recently posted Roberta's pizza dough recipe, adapted from the Roberta's cookbook, I knew it was a must-try.  Unfortunately though, my first attempt at the pizza dough, which included some significant modifications, left a lot to be desired.

    Roberta's Pizza Dough

    The issues were mostly with the process though, than the result which was decidedly "ok."  The process was somewhat laborious because the dough was incredibly sticky and hard to work with, no matter my adding of what seemed like considerably more bread flour while working the dough.  This may have been because of my substitutions of half bread flour and half all purpose flour, for the half 00 flour and half all purpose.  In addition, I did not use a scale to accurately measure the weight of the flour, which could also have been critical.  

    The stickiness of the dough also affected my stretching of the dough after removing it from the fridge for a few days.  The dough was very hard to work with, and resulted in the somewhat odd shape pictured above.

    All in all, a recipe I will probably try again, but with the right flour and a scale!

  • Easy Weeknight Garlic and Olive Oil Pasta (Aglio e Olio) – Two Ways

    I've been trying to develop (or ressurect) more weeknight recipes to turn the tide against my current default of ordering out after a long day at work.  As part of these efforts, I've made two fairly simple pasta recipes this past month that forgo the standard can of tomatoes.  

    The first pasta meal, based on Cook's Illustrated's Aglio e Olio recipe, relies on just a handful of ingredients, and the cooking is basically sauteeing garlic, chili flakes and fresh herbs (parsley) in olive oil, boiling pasta, and tossing these components together with lemon juice, and parmesan or pecorino cheese if you wish.

    Algio e Olio in Pot

    The two critical ingredients to making this dish a standout success are the lemon juice, which definitely freshens the dish and makes the flavors more complex, and the fresh garlic to really accentuate the cooked garlic.  The modified recipe appears below the picture.

    Aglio e Olio Complete

    Aglio e Olio

    Ingredients:

    • 6 cloves garlic, minced and divided
    • 3 tbsp. olive oil, divided
    • 2 tsp. dried red chili flakes (to taste)
    • 2 tbsp. fresh parsley leaves, minced
    • 1 – 2 tsp. lemon juice
    • 1/2 lb. pasta, I've used fettucine and spaghetti
    • salt
    • black pepper
    • parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated, optional 

    Directions:

    • Bring salted water to a boil, and cook pasta according to pasta directions.  Retain 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water after draining the cooked pasta.
    • While water is being heated, heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in saucepan.  When hot, add 4 of the minced garlic cloves and saute with a pinch of salt until garlic becomes very lightly browned.  Then add parsley, chili flakes, lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp. salt, turning off heat.
    • Add sauce, remaining fresh garlic and 1 tbsp. olive oil to the cooked pasta, and starting with 1 tbsp. pasta water, combine ingredients.  If the pasta is too dry, add more pasta water 1 tsbp. at a time.
    • Add additional salt and/or parmesan or pecorino cheese to taste and serve immediately.

    —

    The second weeknight pasta recipe is a seasonal recipe to use the huge supplies of local fresh tomatoes in late summer.  

    Fresh Tomato Pasta Cutting Board

    It's basically the same recipe as above, but with slightly longer cooking time to break down fresh tomatoes into a rustic sauce.  

    Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce Cooking

    Summertime Fresh Tomato and Garlic Pasta

    Ingredients:

    • 1/4 lb. pasta (I used angel hair, and probably more pasta than I had sauce for in my first attempt)
    • 1.5 cups grape tomatoes, halved
    • 5 cloves garlic, minced
    • 2 tbsp. olive oil
    • 2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
    • 3/4 tsp. lemon juice
    • crushed red pepper
    • salt

    Directions:

    • Bring salted water to a boil, and cook pasta according to pasta directions.  Retain 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water after draining the cooked pasta.
    • While water is being heated, heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in saucepan.  When hot, add 4 of the minced garlic cloves and saute with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes or until garlic becomes fragrant
    • Then add the tomatoes, sauteeing for 12 – 15 minutes or until the tomatoes cook down into a chunky, bright sauce.
    • Add parsley, chili flakes, lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp. salt, cooking sauce for another minute.
    • Add sauce and remaining fresh garlic to the cooked pasta, and starting with 1 tbsp. pasta water, combine ingredients.  If the pasta is too dry, add more pasta water 1 tsbp. at a time.
    • Add additional salt and/or parmesan or pecorino cheese to taste and serve immediately.

    Fresh Tomato Pasta Complete

  • Not for a Lack of Trying – Just OK Gallo Pinto Again

    After trying gallo pinto, a vegetarian black bean and rice dish, at a restaurant, I attempted to make it at home.  The result was fairly good, but only when I added a fair amount of Tapatio hot sauce to the dish.  

    With some cooked black beans in my fridge recently, I tried to make gallo pinto again, but this time aimed for a version that would not suffer from a lack of condiments.

    Although I tinkered with the recipe even further to add more flavor to both the rice and beans/sofrito mixture, the result was still fairly bland.  Maybe it is was it is was, but I think gallo pinto has now been retired from my recipe repetoire.

    Gallo Pinto v2

    (black bean and sofrito mixture)

    Gallo Pinto v. 2

    Ingredients:

    • 1.25 cups dried black beans, cooked beforehand
    • 1/3 cup reserved black bean cooking liquid or water
    • 1 1/3 cup rice, cooked with one vegan boullion cube
    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 4 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
    • 1 small orange bell pepper, chopped
    • 1 bay leaf
    • chili powder, to taste (optional)
    • 4 tbsp. olive oil
    • salt and pepper

    Directions:

    • Heat olive oil in large heavy bottom pot on medium heat.  When hot, add onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent, reducing heat if garlic starts to brown.
    • Add the bell pepper and bay leaf, and saute for another 4 – 5 minutes until bell pepper has cooked but remains firm.
    • Add the beans, toss the ingredients together, and cook for another 7 – 10 minutes or at least until the beans have warmed through.
    • Add the cooked rice to the pot, stirring to break up any cooked rice clumps.  Add the reserved black bean cooking liquid or water, to make sure that the rice does not stick to the hot pot.  Cook for another 10 minutes, sauteeing every few minutes or until everything is hot and the rice and beans are flavored with the sofrito mixture.
    • Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as chili powder, and serve warm with hot sauce or other sides.

  • Simple Roasted Broccoli – Very Easy Weeknight Side Dish

    I've been recently simplifying my cooking attempts.  These new, quick meals have been inspired partly because of time and partly because I want a new set of weeknight staples to avoid ordering out.  My first new simple recipe attempt was roasted broccoli, to accompany a simple pasta-and-marinara-sauce main course. 

    Roasted Broccoli Served

    The inspiration for trying roasted broccoli, as opposed to re-using my beloved roasted cauliflower, is the amazing version that The Little Beet, a restaurant by work, produces.  The Little Beet seriously chars their vegetables, but somehow not too much to destroy the essence of the vegetable flavor.  

    My roasted broccoli attempt, while not to The Little Beet-levels, was really fantastic.  The broccoli pretty well browned (though an additional 4-5 minutes in the oven probably would have been nice), nicely salted from the parmesan, and the lemon juice really helped make the dish feel light as well.  My recipe follows the picture of the seasoned raw broccoli, ready for the oven, below.

    Raw Broccoli for Roasted

    Weeknight Roasted Broccoli

    Ingredients:

    • 2 small heads of broccoli (one bunch), chopped into large bite size pieces
    • 2 tbsp. olive oil, with additional olive oil available if desired
    • crushed red pepper flakes, optional/to taste
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
    • sea salt, to taste
    • black pepper, to taste
    • 2 tbsp. grated parmesan

    Directions:

    • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees, and line one baking sheet with aluminum foil
    • Toss broccoli with olive oil, minced garlic, few pinches of crushed red pepper flakes (to taste), and salt and pepper (to taste).  Recommend starting with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.
    • Spread broccoli on lined baking sheet, so that the broccoli makes an even layer across the sheet.
    • Place in oven, and roast for 10 minutes.  
    • Stir broccoli on pan, while ultimately retaining an even layer, and turn pan around so front of pan is now in the back of the oven.
    • Turn off oven, but keep broccoli in the oven for another 5 – 10 minutes (to desired browning).
    • Remove broccoli from oven, and place in a serving bowl.  Let sit for 5 – 10 minutes, then add lemon juice, parmesan and another 1/2 tsp. salt.
    • Let sit for another 5 – 10 minutes for flavors to blend before adjusting flavors to taste.  At this stage, you can also add more olive oil for more moisture if you prefer.  Note: if you adjust the flavors too soon after the broccoli comes out of the oven, you may over spice the broccoli, particularly with the lemon juice, because it takes a bit for the flavors to combine.
    • Serve warm or cold.

    Roasted Broccoli

  • Gallo Pinto – Very Tasty, Healthy, and Cheap Black Bean and Rice Dish

    I had gallo pinto, or the Costa Rican "spotted rooster" dish, for the first time at Bogota, a Columbian and pan-Latin American restaurant in Brooklyn.  The dish was so good that I basically licked the plate to finish it, and immediately started searching for recipes as soon as we left the restaurant.  

    I realized fairly quickly that I didn't need to look too far because not surprisingly, my copy of Madhu Jaffrey's World Vegetarian had a simple recipe.  When I finally prepared it, I made a few modifications to fit what I felt that I wanted in the dish – the recipe below incorporates those numerous changes.  

    Ultimately, it was a really satisfying dish – but only when I included some Tapatio hot sauce.  I think the hot sauce helped address what was missing in the dish – a light vinegar and spicy taste.  Without it, the dish just seemed to lack flavor despite no shortage of salt, hot peppers, and vegetables.  But given that all it took was Tapatio to make this a flavorful, spicy and filling dish, I think it can easily turn into a household staple.  And if you make the beans ahead of time – or use a can – it's even an easy post-work, weeknight dish.

    Gallo Pinto

    Gallo Pinto – Adapted from Albertina Brenes de Estrada and Ada Bassey's Recipe in World Vegetarian

    Ingredients:

    • 3/4 cups dried black beans, cooked the night before to make approx. 2 cups
    • Approx. 1 cup of black bean cooking water
    • 3/4 cup long-grain white rice, cooked to make approx. 2 cups of cooked rice
    • 1 onion, finely chopped
    • 3/4 bell pepper, chopped
    • 1 large clove garlic, minced
    • 1/2 tsp dried red chile flakes
    • 1/2 tsp chili powder
    • 3 tbsp. chopped cilantro
    • 3 tbsp. olive oil
    • salt
    • black pepper

    Directions:

    • Heat oil in a large saute pan on medium-high heat, and then add garlic, onion, bell pepper, and chile flakes.  Saute until onions are translucent.
    • Mix in the cilantro, and then add the cooked black beans.
    • When warmed (approx. 3 – 4 minutes), add the cooked rice and stir well to mix the rice and beans together.  
    • Then season the mixture with the chile powder, and salt and pepper to taste, and keep the mixture moistened by adding 1/4 cup of bean cooking liquid at a time as the rice and beans gets hot.  (I put in approx. 3/4 cup of bean cooking liquid).  
    • Serve when hot with Tapatio or other preferred hot sauce.

  • Roasted Chickpeas – Healthy, Extremely Cheap Snack, Though Perhaps Too Laborious for Party Preparation?

    While searching for Super Bowl and Downton Abbey watch party snack recipes, I came across the James Beard Foundation's website, which I never had realized had so many fantastic recipes (thanks @beardfoundation on Twitter).  I immediately "pinned" the Roasted Chickpeas recipe by Allison Tozzi Liu because of it's apparent ease and use of ingredients I almost always have in my cupboard (dried chickpeas, olive oil, smoked paprika, cayenne, cumin, and salt – yup, that's it!).  

    As I started to prepare the dish though, and began putting thought into how to prepare it simultaneously with the other dishes I was planning on making for the party, I began realizing how much work it was taking for a relatively simple snack.  Not only did I need to cook the dried chickpeas, let them cool down and dry, but I also needed to stir the chickpeas every 10 minutes while they were taking up my oven from other dishes I wanted to bake.  The chickpeas took about 50 minutes – 1 hour to roast in the oven (instead of the 40 minutes called for in the recipe).

    Roasted Chickpeas

    The chickpeas were ultimately a fine party snack – light, crunchy, salty and healthy.  But given the amount of work that went into preparing them, I think I'll probably not make this dish again.

  • Another White Bean Dip and More Lessons Learned

    With a small party coming up, some leftover dried cannelini beans in the cupboard, and lots of fresh herbs in the fridge, I naturally decided to make a white bean dip a few weekends ago.  Instead of defaulting to the white bean dip recipes I have relied on this past though, including the Giada de Laurentiis version and the Cook's Illustrated rosemary white bean spread, I decided to try to find a new version that would make use of those plentiful herbs – fresh cilantro, parsley, chives, thyme AND rosemary – in my fridge.  

    I found the David Lebovitz version online, and both the ease and flexibility of the recipe appealed to me.  However, in loosely following the recipe instructions, I failed to heed the first, and most important, piece of advice Lebovitz had for his readers – use good beans!  The leftover cannelini beans in my cupboard have been there for…I don't remember how long.  That should have been sign number one to go buy some fresh beans.  Sign number two was when the beans took at least 3 – 4 hours to cook, and still didn't have the right consistency. 

    "Oh well," I thought to myself as I drained the beans and added them to the food processor with parsley, chives, rosemary and other accompaniments.  I also added 1/4 – 1/2 cup of the bean cooking liquid to the food processor without first trying to process the beans a bit to see how much liquid the dip would need for a good, dipping consistency.  Sign number three I had a problem was when after giving the ingredients a whirl in the processor, it was clear the dip was too watery.  

    Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to still serve the bean dish with store-bought pita chips.  The dip was actually pretty tasty in terms of flavor, but the texture was too watery for my preference and the beans didn't quite taste right, even pureed.  My guests also enjoyed the dip flavor, and somehow didn't seem to mind the texture issues that I had with the dish, which I guess could be considered an inadvertent success?

    I have learned my lesson though – use good beans and puree the beans first before adding more liquid!

    White Bean Dip Liebovitz

  • Butternut Squash Pulusu – An Andhra Pradash Speciality Perfect for Winter

    When confronted with a massive 5.5 pound butternut squash that Andy bought from the farmers market, I knew I would have to get creative.  

    In addition to making the Butternut Squash Soup that the squash purchase was intended for, I decided that I would have enough leftover squash for two more dishes.  As I was thinking about potential recipes, my mind almost immediately went to trying a pulusu, or Andhra Pradash stew that incorporates a variety of flavoring ingredients, notably tamarind to achieve a signature sweet and sour flavor.  I have never made a pulusu – which my mother has described correctly as an advanced form of cooking – and I thought that given that I basically had the ingredients at home, why not try?

    Thankfully, this first attempt was a complete success.  I seemed to use just the right combination of tamarind, brown sugar and other flavoring ingredients to produce a sweet, yet slightly sour and spicy dish that was perfect for a simple dinner party one night.  I put together the recipe using my mother's suggestions, a Cook's Illustrated technique, and Saranya Mandava's ubiquitous cookbooks (this time, the newer Millenium Mixture book).  The recipe follows the picture of the completed picture below.

      Butternut Squash Pulusu

    Butternut Squash Pulusu (or Gummadikai Pulus)

    Ingredients:

    • One small butternut squash, or approx. 1 pound butternut squash, skin and seeds removed, cut into 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch square pieces
    • 2 onions, roughly chopped
    • 5 – 7 dried fenugreek seeds
    • 2 tbsp. tamarind paste
    • 2 tsp. chili powder (to taste though)
    • 1 tsp. mustard seeds
    • 3 cloves garlic
    • 2 tbsp. brown sugar
    • 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
    • salt
    • water

    Directions:

    • Place butternut squash pieces into microwave-safe dish with a few tablespoons of water, cover, and microwave for 5 minutes.  Stir, and then microwave another 5 – 8 minutes or until the butternut squash can be easily pierced with a knife.
    • As the butternut squash is cooking, heat vegetable oil in a small pot on medium heat.  When hot, add the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds.  After they become fragrant, add the garlic and saute until garlic is softened (approximately 1 minute).
    • Add the onion and cook until translucent.
    • Add the butternut squash, approx. 1 tsp. salt, 1 cup of water, and chili powder (starting with 1 tsp.), and stir mixture such that the butternut squash gets coated with the spices.
    • After a 4 – 5 minutes, add the tamarind paste, brown sugar, and water as necessary to keep the mixture as more of a stew than dry curry.
    • Cook for approximately 7 – 10 minutes or until the butternut squash is completely cooked, and the flavors have absorbed.  Add more salt and chili pepper to taste.

  • Super Simple and Flavorful Weeknight Meal – Mexican Rice Soup

    I love making soups, but they can often be a fairly time consuming affair with prepping a broth, cooking lentils or beans, and then of course cutting and cooking any vegetables or other add-ins.  Thus, when I first prepared the Vegetarian Times Mexican Rice Soup a week or two back, I was shocked at not only it's great flavor, but also the 30 – 40 minutes it took to prepare the soup.  

    Mexican Rice Soup

    I made a few modifications to fit the ingredients I had at home.  Instead of vegetable broth, I used two vegan boullion cubes; used one tomato instead of two; added 1/2 of a serrano chile; used maybe 1/2 cup of frozen corn; omitted the avocado; and used 3/8 of a cup of arborio rice.  

    I brought the broth and water to a boil and cooked the soup at high simmer through the entire process, instead of straining the broth of the solid flavoring vegetables and returning it back to the pot to re-heat.  Because I added more rice than called for in the recipe, I ultimately added another cup of water to the pot which seemed prudent because after the soup cooled, the rice soaked up a bunch of the broth.

    The result was fantastic – the lime juice, onions, and large helping of oregano flavored the soup wonderfully well, so it was both a complex flavor while still being a light, healthy-feeling soup.  I definitely look forward to making this again, and will experiment with different kinds of rice and pasta in the future as well.

  • Yes, I Turned to Cook’s Illustrated for an Indian Recipe. And, Yes, It Was Great, and a Really Wonderful Way to Eat Kale

    Not sure how I stumbled on this recipe, but I recently found the Cook's Illustrated Indian-Spiced Lentils with Kale recipe.  Given that I have been wanting to a) find better ways to eat kale and b) eat more protein-rich lentils, this seemed like the perfect winter recipe to try.  

    (And it uses some of the tin of dry mustard I purchased for the Classic Mac and Cheese, which is another bonus).

    The recipe was incredibly easy to make, though I had a few modifications and recommendations for future attempts.  First, I used masoor dal, which is a reddish lentil.  It appears that masoor dal is probably not the "red lentils" called for in the recipe though, because the lentils were incredibly mushy after only boiling for 5 minutes (instead of the 5 minutes of boiling, followed by 20 – 25 minutes of simmering called for in this recipe).  Second, I modified the recipe slightly for the amount of lentils I had on hand – 3/4 cup with 5 cups of water, instead of 1 cup of lentils to 6 cups of water.  Finally, I reduced the coriander by half and doubled the crushed red pepper to accomodate personal preferences.  (FYI for future attempts, I used curly green kale.)

    Indian Kale

    The resulting dish was really a great, one-pot, incredibly healthy meal.  The greens were very ginger-y which reduced their bitterness, and also had a lot of flavor from the spices.  This is definitely a must-try kale meal, especially for those (like me) who have trouble with the bitterness of this green superfood.