Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Vegan Recipes

  • Ultimate Hummus – Homemade Hummus is Now a Household Must

    Hummus seems to have become a party staple over the past decade, and to make sure our first holiday party conformed appropriately ( 🙂 ), I decided to make some homemade hummus for the occasion.  Like almost everything else I prepared for the party, I turned to Cook's Illustrated for a recipe.  I settled on their Ultimate Hummus recipe for hopefully a flexible hummus that would appeal to everyone at the party.

    Cooks Illustrated Ultimate Hummus

    The result was FANTASTIC as in the best hummus I think I have ever consumed.  Perfect blend of flavors, creamy texture and just a really perfect complement to the carrots, pita chips and bread that we had served it with.  

    The recipe was so good that I recently made another run at it this weekend – though this time preparing one batch instead of doubling the ingredients.  This second time (following the recipe as is), the hummus was  much more dense and harder-to-stir so I added in a fair amount of extra olive oil.  The flavors were still great and balanced though, and I think I'll be eating it through the week on top of bagels.  

    The only additional note that I'll add with this recipe is that I used the recommended Jovya brand of tahini, but did not follow the chickpea recommendation.  Instead, I just used the dried chickpeas I had on hand from the bulk section of a grocery store.

  • 2013 Holiday Party – Our First Major Party Spread

    We held our first holiday party in late December, and putting together a menu for 10 – 15 attendees with varying taste preferences was definitely a new challenge for me.  I decided to combine mostly a set of the usual suspects with a few options that seem like they could be a) made ahead of time, or b) were relatively simple to construct within a day because I was traveling for work until the night before the gathering.  The biggest challenge was to figure out the right quantity of food to prepare, especially because we didn't know if people would be showing up for dinner, a snack, dessert, etc. given that we might have other holiday parties to compete with.

    We ultimately settled on the following menu, which ended up being perfect for this set of guests for this wintery season, albeit during a temporary winter heat wave of 60 degrees! 

    2013 Holiday Party

  • An Easier (and Quicker) Way to Make Vegetable Korma

    My aunt's vegetable korma recipe is definitely a favorite dish of mine, despite my historical lack of favor for korma dishes.  My mother recently taught me a slight modification to this recipe, which makes the korma easier and quicker to construct, without a loss in flavor.  The modification is incredibly straightforward – substituting coconut milk for the shredded coconut, poppy seed and almond mixture – and I hope it will help simply your korma attempts in the future as well!

    Updated Korma

    Updated Vegetable Korma (with Coconut Milk)

    Ingredients:

    • 1 2-inch piece of cinnamon stick
    • 3 cloves (whole)
    • 2 cardamon pods (whole)
    • 2 dried bay leaves
    • 3/4 tsp. cumin seeds
    • 1/2 tsp. turmeric
    • 1/2 tsp. garam masala
    • 3 cups chopped onion
    • 1.5 tbsps. ginger-garlic paste (available at an Indian grocery store, or blend equal parts ginger and garlic to a paste at home)
    • 3 medium potatoes, cut into 1.5-inch pieces and soaked in salt water for at least 15 minutes
    • 1/2 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped into bite size pieces (approx. 1.5 – 2 cups)
    • 1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
    • 1 cup carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces, or substitute baby carrots
    • 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
    • 3/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
    • 4 – 5 green chilies (to taste)
    • 1/2 cup green peas
    • 5 tablespoons of coconut milk (canned – approximately 1/2 of a 5.46 oz. can)
    • vegetable oil
    • water
    • salt

     Directions:

    • In a large pot, heat approx. 3 tbsps. of vegetable oil on medium-high heat.  When hot, add the cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, bay leaves, and cumin.  Saute for approx. one minute or until fragrant.
    • Add the chopped onion to the pot, stirring to coat the onion with the spices.  Cover and cook until the onion is translucent.
    • Then mix in the green chilies, turmeric and ginger-garlic paste, and cook until the ginger-garlic paste is fragrant.
    • Add the potatoes, 1/4 cup water, 1 tsp. salt, and cook with the spices for 5 – 7 minutes or until the potatoes are partially cooked (can be partially pierced easily with a knife).  
    • Add the cauliflower, stirring to coat cauliflower with vegetable and spice mixture in the pot.  Cook for 4 – 5 minutes or until cauliflower is partially steamed.
    • Mix in the green beans and carrots, an additional 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water (to retain a curry-like consistency to the dish, an additional 1/2 tsp. salt, and cook for five minutes or until vegetables are approx. 3/4 cooked.
    • Mix in the green peas, the coconut milk, and the tomato.  Bring the mixture to a boil, adding up to 1/4 cup of water to ensure the dish retains a soupy consistency.
    • Finally, stir in the cilantro, up to 1/2 tsp. of garam masala if desired, additional salt to taste, and cook until the vegetables are cooked to your taste.  If you would like an additional creaminess to the dish, you can stir in a bit of plain yogurt.
    • Serve with rice or Indian breads.

  • A Baby Corn Manchurian Success!

    After previously attempting Baby Corn Manchurian – one of my favorite Indian-Chinese dishes – with somewhat limited success, I recently pushed myself to attempt the dish again because of the dearth of Indian Chinese restaurants in Brooklyn (sad, but true).  The result was really good – flavorful, spicy and salty – and also much healthier than the first attempt because I sauteed the baby corn instead of deep-frying it.  The recipe details follow the picture below – definitely a dish that will be tried again and again in my kitchen!

    Baby Corn Manchurian v2

    Baby Corn Manchurian

    Ingredients:

    • One can baby corn, drained and rinsed
    • 1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
    • 3 – 4 tbsp. soy sauce, divided
    • 1 tsp. white vinegar
    • 1 tbsp. olive oil
    • 1 onion, chopped
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1/4 green bell pepper, chopped (approx. 1/2 cup)
    • 2 green Thai chiles, sliced
    • 1 tsbp. tomato paste
    • 1 tsbp. chile garlic sauce

    Directions:

    • Marinate baby corn with ginger, 1 – 2 tbsp. soy sauce and vinegar for 15 – 20 minutes.
    • Heat olive oil on medium-high heat in a medium saucepan.  
    • When hot, add onion and garlic and saute until the onion is translucent.  Add water (or more oil) if vegetables stick to the pan.
    • Add the remaining soy sauce, tomato paste, and chili garlic paste and blend until combined and fragrant.
    • Add the baby corn plus marinade to the pan, and cook on high heat until baby corn is slightly browned.
    • Mix in the bell pepper and chile pepper, and saute until bell pepper is cooked to your preference.  Add salt if necessary to taste and serve.

  • No Knead Bread – A Future Monthly Treat?

    I finally attempted Jim Lahey's famous No Knead bread recipe, and the result was pretty close to perfect.  A moist, fluffy interior coupled with a chewy, firm crust – and the flavor was very well developed as well with the 18+ hour rise.  

    No Knead Bread

    I made a few modifications to this otherwise very simple recipe.  I used half bread flour and half all-purpose flour, and substituted a bit more active dry yeast for the instant yeast called for in the recipe (maybe 3/8 of a tsp instead of 1/4 tsp?).  I also don't know if the dough truly bounced back and doubled in size during the second 2-hour rise, but it seemed good enough to me, so I went ahead and shaped and baked it without any problems 🙂  

    I also used a Tramontina dutch oven, which I didn't realize is only supposed to be used up to 400 degrees (this recipe uses a 450 degree oven) so the enamel turned a dark color during the baking process – hopefully we are ok from having consumed the bread!  And this is yet another push to actually invest in a Le Creuset dutch oven that can handle these temperatures.  

    In any case, this is a great bread recipe that I will definitely use again in the future.  We ate the bread by itself, paired with butter and cheese, and ultimately for grilled cheeses a day later, and it held up beautifully for all of these purposes.  I think my next round of bread making will involve substituting some whole wheat flour, as well as perhaps experimenting with adding some seeds or other whole grain flour?  Looking forward to experimenting with this hopefully versatile base recipe!

    No Knead Bread Rising

  • Rajma – A New Healthy and Cheap Household Staple

    After purchasing some red kidney beans from the bulk section at the grocery store as part of my new attempts to integrate more protein-rich legumes into my diet, I decided to finally make Rajma, the north Indian red bean dish that has been on my mind to make for several years.  I ultimately decided to use the Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian Rajma recipe, though probably don't need to use a recipe in the future.  

    I soaked the beans overnight, and then cooked them for approximately 1 – 1.5 hours or until tender.  I then placed the cooked beans in a seperate dish, and used the same pot to cook a chopped onion, garlic, ginger, chiles, tomatoes and spices, which included coriander, cayenne, and cumin.  I then added the beans back to the pot with what I think was the secret ingredient – amchoor or dried mango powder.  I think the amchoor powder really helped add a complex flavor to the bean dish.  Although Jaffrey provides lemon juice as a substitute for the amchoor powder, I am not sure if the beans would have as interesting and nuanced of a flavor with that substitution.  

    Rajma Cooking

    The result was really fantastic – flavorful, complex and very filling.  These beans totally blew out of the water my previous attempts at New Orleans red beans and rice, which had placed some doubt in my mind of how good cooked bed beans could ever be.  I can definitely see rajma as a new part of our standard meal rotations.

    Rajma

  • Another Set of Attempts at Kale Salad – Still Not a Household Favorite

    Over the past few months, I've been back to experimenting with raw kale salads after having a particularly delicious kale salad made by a friend this summer.  She said her trick was to really let the lemon juice and olive oil soak into the salad before serving to remove the bitterness.  Mimicking her recipe, I started with a few variations of a salad that generally included:

    • One bunch chopped kale, usually lacinto but have used Red Russian 
    • Approx. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • Approx. 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • Finely chopped apple
    • Grated parmesan to taste
    • Homemade salad dressing:  Usually a combination of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, 1 clove chopped garlic, black pepper, and salt.  I've tried different ratios of each ingredient, and haven't found a "perfect" combination yet.

    I generally first toss the lettuce with the lemon juice and olive oil, and then let the greens sit for approximately 30 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients and serving.  I have generally found that the salad is better the next day, but unfortunately the continued bitterness of the kale makes eating the salad feel more like a chore than anything else.  Hopefully one day I will actually be able to replicate or create a raw kale salad that I look forward to eating!

    Standard Kale Salad

  • Fresh and Fast Tomato Sauce for Pasta

    Andy's parents recently experienced a late summer tomato bonanza in their garden and gave us a large bag full of fresh summer tomatoes.  We quickly realized that the best way to use these tomatoes would be to make a large batch of tomato sauce that we could hopefully freeze and use in the coming weeks as well.  

    The good news with our recipe attempt was that we produced a really wonderful, fresh and light sauce.  The bad news was that we consumed all of the sauce within a few days, so were unable to freeze and enjoy later as our original goal contemplated.  

    We used the Cooks Illustrated Quick Fresh Tomato Sauce recipe because it seemed like the simplest – and fastest – recipe we could find.  We seemed to basically double the recipe with the amount of tomatoes we used, though we ended up using about half of the basil that a double recipe would call for.  We also peeled and seeded the tomatoes using the Cooks Illustrated recommended technique for raw tomatoes.  Next time though, I think I may boil water to more easily remove the peels and perhaps skip the seeding step because it required a lot of prep time.

    The only other modification I would make is reducing the amount of oil used – I found the sauce to be a bit oily, which offset the wonderful fresh flavor from the tomatoes.

    Fresh Tomato Sauce

  • Refried Black Beans – Very Easy, Healthy and Delicious Meal Addition

    I have been making the Cook's Illustrated Mexican Rice with such frequency that I realized recently that I may not be getting enough nutrition because all I seem to be eating is rice!  To help supplement this amazing dish with a healthy side, I turned to the Vegetarian Times, and found their Refried Black Beans recipe.  

    The refried black beans definitely stand up to the Mexican rice, and are almost good enough to eat alone as well.  I've made the recipe twice – first with canned black beans, and the second with dried beans (though I think the beans may have been old, and so were relatively tough even after many hours of cooking).  The result is flavorful, smooth and filling.  The only modification I made both times I made this recipe was to include a frozen tablespoon of lemon instead of the lime juice, which seemed like a fine substitution.  The citrus definitely made a difference to make the flavors "pop" more, so I'll be sure to include lime or lemon juice in the future.

    Refried Black Beans

  • Greek Dinner Continued: Baked Okra with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Basil and Spinach and Rice Pilaf

    My Greek dinner post continues with two dishes that anchored the meal – the Diane Kochilas Greek Vegetarian cookbook Baked Okra with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Basil and Spinach and Rice Pilaf.

    This cookbook was another Brooklyn Public library check out, and unfortunately I don't think it's one that I will ultimately buy based on this test run.  Both of these dishes turned out fine, but I think they could have had more flavor and more interesting consistencies.  

    The Baked Okra dish in particular was somewhat bland, I think a result of the recommendation to cover the dish contents with a layer of 1.5 inches of water (!) to bake the dish.  Thankfully, I reduced the amount of water to just be level with the vegetables in the dish, but even then, I had to pour out a good amount of the remaining water (and probably flavor) post-baking to make the dish less soupy.  The vegetables were cooked nicely though, just lacked flavor and the consistency was perhaps a little too homogeneous.

    Greek Okra
    The Spinach and Rice Pilaf, by contrast, was fairly flavorful though I think the water to rice ratio was a little low because the rice was a little burnt at the bottom of the dish and not that evenly cooked throughout (so maybe it was the cooking temperature that could have been the problem?).  I made a few alterations to this dish:  I halved the recipe, substituted approx. 1.5 tsp. of chopped fresh oregano for the dill, and did not sprinkle feta on top.  If I make this recipe again, I would probably make a full recipe and continue to use oregano because it really helped this rice seem unique.  The pilaf is pictured in the middle of the spread below.

    Greek Dinner Full