Asparagus, Chickpea, Quinoa Salad

101 Cookbooks is a good source of recipes for me lately. Anticipating spring, I got some asparagus (Mexican) and made this quick dish.



It really does come together fast (maybe not 10 minutes). I substituted 2 C. quinoa cooked with 4 C. water for the brown rice in the original dish. It was probably too much -- 1 to 1 1/2 C. would be better.

Verdict: A-
Credits: 101 Cookbooks
Leftovers? Yes, and very good cold. May need a touch more dressing the next day since quinoa and chickpeas are absorbent.

Notes: The tahini dressing is good for other salads too. In this case, make it thin -- the quinoa will suck it up.

Pozole (or posole)

I was wishing for the food and the weather of Mexico during this horrible snowstorm and thought of this soup. This is an experimental version with tempeh, not pork.

4 dried chile guanjillo
4 cloves garlic
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. cumin
1 C. hot water

1 package tempeh cut in 1/2 cubes
1/4 C. soy sauce
1 T chili garlic sauce
2 limes

1 medium onion
1 qt. vegetable broth
2 whole cloves


1 can hominy
1 can black beans

olive oil
salt and pepper

Optional:
3 cups shredded cabbage
cilantro
avocado, white onion, scallions, cheese, fried tortilla strips (I didn't do any of these)

Marinate the tempeh in the soy sauce, chili sauce and juice of 1 lime.


Remove the stems from the dried chilies and cover with hot water and soak. When the chilies are soft, blend with garlic clove and oregano. I added the cumin, but recommend against it.

In the soup pot, fry the marinating tempeh in a little olive oil until browned a little and heated through. Set the tempeh aside.

Cut the onion in half and take the outer onion of one of the halves before chopping. Chop the rest of the onion. Put the whole cloves through the onion rib.

Soften the chopped onion in a little more olive oil. Add the chili puree and the vegetable broth. Drain the hominy and black beans and add to the soup. Add the cloved onion. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 20 or 30 minutes, occasionally skimming the foam off. Salt and pepper to taste (probably a fair amount of pepper). Add the tempeh and simmer for another 20 minutes. Stir in the juice of a lime before serving.


For the first bowl I put the raw cabbage in the bowl and ladled the soup over it. Later for leftovers, I just added the cabbage in the pot. Either way is good. Garnish with the cilantro. At Pancho's, they serve with many of the garnishes on the side.

Verdict: Yummy, B+.

Credits: Vegan Represent Forums

Leftovers? Yes and the flavor develops overnight.

Notes: Next time, I will not use the cumin, and will probably find hotter chilies. Or just use two or three and add some fresh serrano or jalepeno.

Spicy Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup

When I added sweet potatoes to my online cart at Fresh Direct, the site recommended the Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup recipe. When I prepared it, I hated the color of the broth and was considering dumping it out until I though of blending it. Now I love it!!



Verdict: A
Credits: Real Simple magazine [via Fresh Direct]
Leftovers? Yes, though you might need to thin with a little water.

Notes: Instead of the one inch dice, I just slice the sweet potato into pretty thick pieces and then after five or ten minutes to heat them (because I baked them a day or two before usually) use the hand blender to blend the whole thing. There's sesame oil in the picture but I usually don't bother.

Bloody Bowties

Fresh Direct recommended this recipe when I was shopping for beets, so I tried it. The recipe title is Shockingly Pink Pasta so I thought it would be a bright fuschia pink. It is when you first stir in a little beet sauce to a lot of light colored pasta, but by the time it is all added, it looks like blood. Now we're talking shocking!

Roast 3 medium to large beets in the oven, wrapped in foil with a little olive oil for an hour. At the same time, wrap a whole head of garlic in foil with a little olive oil and roast.

When the beets have cooled, take out of the foil and peel the skins off. They should just slip off by hand. Sometimes I have to use the paring knife. Slice into chunks. These can be stored, refrigerated for a few days and added to salads.



Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the head into the beets. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive and puree. I use my hand blender in this tupperware container. Salt and generous pepper.

Make a box of farfalle. Add the beet puree to the drained pasta. Serve with parmesan cheese.


Verdict: A
Credits: Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon [via Fresh Direct]
Leftovers? Yes, very good.

Notes: It was so good that I bought the book, Passionate Vegetarian I have also made it with raw, not roasted, garlic and it is way hot with garlic. If you are roasting the beets anyway, roast the garlic.

Lettuce Wraps

In a meal of two beef dishes, I could not make this appetizer with ground beef so I tried it with tempeh and extra vegetables. I don't know if it is as good as P.F. Chang's, but it turned out pretty tasty.

1/2 head of Boston lettuce, leaves separated and washed
4 oz. (half package) tempeh, diced small
1 T. sesame oil
1 T. peanut oil
2 carrots, peeled and diced small.
2 stalks celery, diced small
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 T fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. Garlic chili pepper sauce (I use 'A Taste of THAI') or the recipe calls for kochujang
1/4 c. rice wine (mirin)
1 T. pepper vinegar (optional)

Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet and add the tempeh. Cook for a few minutes until it starts to brown. Add the carrot, celery, and half the scallions. Cook 5-10 more minutes, the vegetables should start to soften. Add the ginger and garlic and cook another couple minutes. Add the garlic-chili sauce and the rice wine and vinegar. Cook another 3 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.

Here's the tempeh and vegetables:


Garnish with the remaining scallions and serve with the lettuce leaves.

And here's the assembled Lettuce Wrap ready for a bite. Yum!

Verdict: A-
Credits: Lettuce Bundles with Hot-&-Sweet Meat Filling Eating Well May/June 1993
Leftovers? Yes, but not as good cold.

Notes: I also tried this doubled and it worked out well. It feels like greasy bar appetizers, but it is a vegetarian delight. Don't eat the whole doubled recipe unless you are used to that much fiber. Yowsa.

Aloo Gobi

On the DVD for Bend it Like Beckham there is a special feature for making aloo gobi. The director makes it in a restaurant kitchen with her mother and aunt looking on. I love aloo gobi and making any curry, so I was inspired to try Gurinder Chadha's version. Of course, I didn't write it down so it is only my memory of her version -- with substitutions.

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into pieces
3 yukon gold potates, chopped

1 small bunch cilantro (coriander), stems and leaves chopped separately
1 can diced tomatoes with jalepeno
2 green chilies, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
1/4 C. olive oil
1 T. cumin seed
2 t. tumeric
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. hot curry powder, Calcutta Heat, Spice Islands
1 t. grated ginger
1 t. salt

In a wok, heat oil and add cumin seeds and cook for a minute or less. Add chopped onion and cook until onions are translucent. Add garlic and ginger, tomatoes,chilies and cilantro stems. Stir together. Stir in tumeric and simmer while you chop cauliflower and potatoes.

Add cauliflower and potatoes and salt, cover and simmer for ten minutes. Check and add water if sticking. Simmer another 15-20 minutes. Stir in half the chopped cilantro and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Serve, topped with remaining cilantro.

Verdict: B+
Credits: Bend it Like Beckham DVD special feature
Leftovers? Yes, and even tastier. In the DVD, Ms. Chandha praises toasted aloo gobi sandwiches. But cold curry on white toast? That's whack. I won't be trying that.

Notes: For the movie, the tagline is : "Who wants to cook aloo gobi when you can bend a ball like Beckham?" Now, I thought the movie was great, but seriously -- soccer? I have spent far more effort learning Indian cooking.

I didn't have garam masala in the house and they were out when I went to the store, so I used hot curry powder instead. Still good.