Vegan Week, Dish 9: Sauteed Eggplants with Angel Hair

Another eggplant dish (poor Tony) because I just love the stuff! Tossed with some kalamatas and capers, how can you go wrong? Just a note, I was making two dinners (the norm during Vegan Week) so I forgot the last step of adding the pasta to the pan to mix with the eggplants and by the time I realized, most of the liquid had been absorbed and it wouldn't have worked so I just served it over the pasta. I recommend you don't forget that step.

Ingredients
1 tbs olive oil
2 small eggplants or 1 large, cut into half inch cubes
1 tbs minced garlic
3 plum tomatoes, diced
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 tsp capers
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp chopped parsley
16 oz angel hair pasta, cooked according to directions on package, 1/4 cup of cooking liquid reserved
1 cup sliced kalamata olives
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1 In a pan over medium-high heat, add oil, garlic and crushed peppers. Saute till fragrant.

2 Add onions and saute until translucent.

3 Add tomatoes and saute until soft.

4 Add eggplants, toss to combine, cover and cook 10 minutes or until eggplants are tender, stirring occasionally.

5 Add olives, capers, vinegar, salt and fresh cracked pepper and combine. Cook 2-3 minutes.

6 Add pasta and pasta water, toss to combine. Turn off heat and stir parsley in.

Vegan Week, Dish 8: Vegan Chili

With loads of vegetables and beans, this is a really hearty dish. Just like my Turkey Pumpkin Chili and my Beef Pumpkin Chili, it's great for the slow cooker. I like my food spicy, as I'm sure you've noticed so I added three different kind of chili spices. Feel free to add more or less, according to your level of heat acceptance.

Ingredients
1 tbs olive oil
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 tbs minced garlic
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
28 oz can whole tomatoes, diced and juice reserved
15 oz can black beans
16 oz can kidney beans
1 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups mushroom broth
1 bay leaf

Directions
1 In a pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and add garlic, onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers and jalapenos and saute until tender. (After this step, you can transfer everything to the slow cooker, add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low 6-8 hours.)

2 Add the rest of the ingredients, including the reserved tomato juice from the can, stir and bring to a boil.

3 Reduce heat, cover and let simmer 40 minutes to an hour.
4 Garnish with black olives, cilantro and/or green onions.

Vegan Week, Dish 7: Pad See Ew

This Thai dish, when translated literally, means "Stir-Fry Soy Sauce." The dish came out really good, but was lacking that traditional Pad See Ew flavor. After doing a bit of research, I discovered what I did wrong. It's not called "Stir-Fry Soy Sauce" for nothing. I used the soy sauce I had in my pantry, but the dish needs the right soy sauces in order to get the right flavors: sweet dark soy sauce and a light soy sauce. I used a regular dark soy sauce and my old favorite, Golden Mountain, which I guess you would probably categorize in the dark soy sauce family, too. Don't make my mistake if you want the same flavors that you'd get in the restaurants. Look for "Dark Sweet Soy Sauce" and a "Light Soy Sauce", not to be mistaken with "Low Sodium Soy Sauce." The word "light" does not refer to the sodium intake, or even the color, but the taste. Light soy sauce does not taste as salty as the darker soy sauce. If you don't already have the right soy sauces and don't care to go searching for them, then I recommend adding a couple more tablespoons of sugar (more or less to taste) to obtain that bit of sweetness that the dish is supposed to have.

Ingredients
14 oz package XL flat rice noodles
3 tbs dark sweet soy sauce
1 bunch Chinese broccoli, leaves and stems separated, stems cut at an angle (about 3 cups)
10 oz package extra firm tofu, cut into strips
10 oz package soft tofu, roughly cubed for scrambling
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs light soy sauce
3 tbs mushroom sauce
2 tsp vinegar
2 fresh Thai chilies (optional)
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions
1 In a bowl, mix together the sugar, light soy sauce, mushroom sauce, vinegar and Thai chilies. Set aside.
2 Heat oil in wok on high heat and add garlic. Toss till fragrant.
3 Add extra firm tofu and dark sweet soy sauce. Stir-fry 2-3 minutes.

4 Add noodles and cook about 5 minutes, continuously folding in noodles to incorporate with the rest of the ingredients.

5 Push everything in wok to the side and add soft tofu cubes. Scramble, then toss with the rest of the ingredients.

6 Add Chinese broccoli and sauce mixture and stir fry for another 5-7 minutes, until noodles are cooked and broccoli is crisp-tender.
7 Serve immediately.

Vegan Week, Dish 6: Vegetable Curry

The coconut milk and curry paste is so wonderful together, the two ingredients alone can make this dish. That's how much I love that combination. Maybe some toasted French baguette to sop up the soup, YUM! To make it a meal, however, we'll have to add lots of vegetables. I LOVE my veggies so I may have gotten a bit carried away. Add whatever kind of vegetables you fancy. It's your dish, so make it your own.

Ingredients
4 oz can Thai red curry paste (or whatever kind you prefer)
2-13.5 oz can coconut milk
2 cups green beans
1 Idaho potato, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 small sweet onion, cut into 1/4 inch strips
Half dozen Thai eggplants, quartered
15 oz can extra small baby corn
20 oz can bamboo shoots (half), sliced into 1/4 inch strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips
2 cups Thai basil leaves
3 tbs soy sauce
2-4 lime leaves (optional), finely julienned
2 fresh Thai chili peppers (optional), cut in half at an angle
knuckle-size piece of ginger (optional), peeled and finely julienned

Directions
1 In a heated pot over medium-high heat, add coconut milk and curry paste and stir for 1-2 minutes.

2 Add bamboo shoots and potatoes and stir. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook about 5 minutes.
3 Add baby corns, eggplants and green beans. Cook about 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4 Add bell peppers, onions and soy sauce and cook about 3-5 minutes, until crisp-tender.

5 Turn off heat and add chili peppers, lime leaves and basil leaves. Stir to incorporate.

6 Serve hot over steamed rice and garnished with strips of ginger.

Vegan Week, Dish 5: Farfalle with Mushrooms and Asparagus

I don't think it can get any healthier, yet heartier, than this dish because I used vegetable broth in place of oil (well, if you use whole grain, I guess then it could be healthier). The dried shitake takes it to a whole new level so don't leave that out. I cooked the pasta in the water used to soak them, I think it gives it a little something extra.

Ingredients
12 oz farfalle
1 bunch asparagus, ends broken off and spears sliced at an angle into inch-long pieces
2 cups dried shitake mushrooms
8 oz baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
2 tb minced garlic
2 shallots, sliced
1/2 ts dried pepper flakes
1 tb chopped parsley
1-2 cups vegetable broth
salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Directions
1 Soak the shitake in enough hot water to cook the pasta. Once soft, remove shitake and set aside.

2 In the water used to soak shitake, bring to a boil and add pasta. Cook till al dente. Drain and set aside.
3 In a heated pan, over medium-high heat, add about 2 tb vegetable broth, garlic, shallots and pepper flakes (I forgot to add the pepper flakes here so I did it in the next step). Cook till fragrant.

4 Add mushrooms and cook, stirring for about 10 minutes. Keep adding broth if it evaporates, you don't want the pan to dry out and burn the mushrooms.

5 Add asparagus, salt and fresh cracked pepper. Add more broth if necesscary. Cook, stirring occasionaly for about 3-5 minutes, till asparagus are crisp-tender.

6 Remove from heat, add parsley and stir.

7 Add pasta and toss to combine.

Vegan Week, Dish 4: Basil Eggplant

This dish is adapted from another recipe from http://www.thaitable.com/. If you love eggplants like I do, you're going to love this dish! It's also quick and easy so it's an awesome dish to for a busy weeknight.

Ingredients
4 Chinese eggplants
2 cups Thai basil leaves
2 tb minced garlic
2 Thai chili peppers, finely chopped (optional)
1 1/2 tb sugar
3 tb soy sauce
2 tb oil
2 tb water

Directions
1 Slice the eggplants at an angle, alternating sides with each cut.

2 In a preheated pan over medium high heat, add oil, garlic and chili peppers and saute till fragrant .
3 Add the eggplants and stir to combine.

4 Add water, lower heat to medium, cover and let cook for about 5-8 minutes, until eggplants are almost cooked through.
5 Add sugar and soy sauce and stir. Cook for another 2-5 minutes, until eggplants are cooked through. They will become almost translucent.

6 Remove from heat, add basil and stir to incorporate.

7 Serve hot over steamed rice.

Vegan Week, Dish 3: Tofu Puffs with Peanut Cilantro Dip

I found this really delicious snack on http://www.thaitable.com/. Forget that it's tofu because the dip takes it out of this world! We've been having it every day as a snack during our vegan week. You should be able to find the packet of soy puffs at most Asian markets.

Ingredients
4 oz package soy puffs
About half cup chopped cilantro
2 tb toasted and roughly crushed unsalted peanuts
2 tb sugar
1 tb vinegar
1 ts chili garlic sauce
1/2 ts salt, or to taste

Directions
1 Cut puffs in half and bake in a preheated 350º oven for about 10 minutes on each side, just to toast them.
2 Mix the sugar, vinegar, chili garlic sauce and salt in a bowl and stir to dissolve. Add cilantro and peanuts and stir.

Happy Double V Day and Welcome to Vegan Week!

Hello Dishers and welcome to the new page. I'm trying this one out. If it works for me, I'll transfer my domain over and repost all of my pages from the other site. Until then, all of the dishers from the SOC and before will be up there at www.dishwithme.com. 

Tony and I celebrated our 2nd Double V Day yesterday. That's Valentine and Vegan. This post was supposed to go out then but we all know why that didn't happen. We had a lot of fun trying it out last year and decided to make it an annual thing. Last night I made a Butternut Bisque that I adapted from a recipe I found on a vegan app that my good friend, Gina, introduced me to. She is not a vegan but a is a huge support of my dishes and always helpful with recipe referrals. The app is called YumYum with a yellow icon with two Y's and a smiley face. Check it out, it's AWESOME! At the bottom of every recipe is a link to the actual site, www.veganyumyum.com. The actual recipe is called Delicata Squash Bisque and of course they used delicata squash but I went to several stores and could not find any so I settled on butternut. It was fantastic! Butternut is so delicious that, honestly, I could have eaten them right out of the oven. The best part about this dish is that, to my surprise, it was so easy to make. I've never made a soup that I had to blend before because I always thought it was such a hassle. I used the blender on my Magic Bullet and it was ridiculously painless. Even the cream was a breeze to make. I loved swirling it in my soup, it made me feel like a painter, haha!

The second dish, Pad Thai, came out amazing, too! I've made Pad Thai many times before but I've always used the pre-made sauce or the tamarind powder. I wanted to do it with an authentic sauce. We all know that the key ingredient in Pad Thai is the tamarind so I was shocked when I read the ingredients on the pre-made sauce and discovered that there was no tamarind in it. Say what??? So I made my own sauce. I was so confused at first, going to several different stores looking for tamarind paste. I couldn't find anything that said "Tamarind Paste" on it. I'm still pretty confused by it but I decided to use the block of compressed tamarind that has been sitting in my fridge for probably a year (maybe that IS the paste). That thing NEVER goes bad. When I made the sauce and saw how easy it was and so much more authentic tasting then the pre-made one, I wondered why the heck I didn't think of it sooner. I've only been able to find that block of tamarind (it comes wrapped in clear plastic and labeled "Tamarind") in Thai or Cambodian supermarkets so if you can't find it, do not fear. You can use the powder or the pre-made sauce and it will still taste great.

Okay, I need to get to the dishes because I just literally dozed off at my desk (head back, mouth wide open, I'm sure it wasn't pretty).


Butternut Bisque (I doubled the recipe and it made a lot)

2 butternut squash, about 6 lbs total
32 oz container vegetable broth
32 oz container mushroom broth
Vegetable oil for roasting
About 6 sprigs of thyme
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
Salt to taste

For the cream:
2 cups raw, unsalted cashews
2 cups vegetable broth, divided

1 Preheat oven to 400º F.
2 Chop off ends of squash, peel, split in half and scoop/scrape out the seeds. Wash, pat dry, place on a baking sheet and brush with oil. Bake for 30 minutes, flip and bake for another 30 minutes or until squash are fork-tender.

3 Meanwhile, place the cashews and 1 cup of vegetable broth in a blender and pulse to incorporate. Turn blender all the way while slowly drizzling in the other cup of vegetable broth. Once all the broth has been added, let the blender run for another 1-2 minutes until the sauce is very creamy. Set aside.

4 Remove squash from oven and cut into big chunks and place in pot. Add thyme, vegetable broth, mushroom broth, black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.

5 Transfer soup to the blender, working in batches if needed, and blend until smooth. Return to pot.

6 Add about a cup of the cashew cream, more or less to taste, to the soup and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7 Serve in bowls with a drizzle of the cashew cream on top.

Vegan Pad Thai

Ingredients 

16 oz medium rice noodles

2 cups bean sprouts (more for garnishing)

1/2 cup crushed roasted unsalted peanuts, more or less to taste (more for garnishing)

10 oz soft tofu, cut into small cubes

9 oz fried tofu, cut into strips

1/4 cups sliced shallots

2 tb minced garlic

1 lime

1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided, more as needed

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

2 scallions, chopped

1/2 ts salt

1 small banana blossom, shredded (optional but sooo good! See note at bottom for shredding tips.)

For the tamarind sauce:

1/4 cup packed tamarind (from the compressed package in clear plastic)

1/4 cup hot water (from the tap is fine)

1 tb sugar

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 ts Thai chili powder (less if you don't like it too spicy) 

1 Soak the noodles in hot water from the tap for about 20-30 minutes, until tender but not soft. Drain.

2 Prepare the sauce by soaking the tamarind in the hot water for about 15 minutes. Then strain, or pick the seeds and skin out with your hands. If you're straining, remember to scrape the back of the strainer since the tamarind is so thick most will stick to the back rather than fall to the bowl. After straining, you should have about 2 1/2 tb. Add the sugar, soy sauce and chili powder and mix well. 

3 Make sure you have all of your ingredients ready and by the stove before you begin. Heat the wok till piping hot. Add some of the oil, all of the garlic, shallots and fried tofu strips and saute till fragrant.

4 Add noodles and bean sprouts and stir-fry, incorporating into the other ingredients. You may need to add more oil if the noodles start to stick together.

5 Add tamarind sauce and stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes.

6 Move everything to one side of the wok, add a bit more oil in the empty space and add the soft tofu. Saute to break apart and then incorporate with the rest of the ingredients. Cook for another several minutes or until noodles are done to your preference. If noodles remain hard, add about 2 tb of water, cover and let cook for a couple of minutes.

7 Add salt, stir, taste and adjust seasoning with more soy sauce if needed. 

8 Turn off heat, add scallions, cilantro and peanuts. Stir to combine. 

9 Serve with shredded banana blossoms, extra fresh bean sprouts, lime wedges and garnished with extra peanuts and cilantro. Diners will want to sqeeze lime juice onto noodles, add banana blossoms and mix before eating.

Note: To shred banana blossoms, cut the end and peel off the petals. Discard the baby bananas (I think that's what they are). Layer petals, shred and place in cold water seasoned with a bit of vinegar. This will help it keep it's color and remove the sticky substance.