Okay, so inspired by a hijack in this pit thread, I’m opening a new recipe thread.
lezlers, please please post your brownie recipe.
Left Hand of Dorkness, please please find and post that “cheesecake” recipe.
Anyone else who has yummy vegan goodness to share, please do!
I worked with a vegan this summer and I love to bake so I would just adjust my favorite recipies. The changes I made are in bold.
PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. oil
1 egg or 1/2 a banana mushed
Mix together above ingredients. Sift and add to above:
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
Add to rest of ingredients:
1 tsp. baking soda dissolved in
1 tsp. milk **soy milk **
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chocolate chips dark chocolate or artifical chocolate chips are ok
1/2 c. nuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake approximately 10 to 12 minutes. NOTE: Careful not to overcook. Cookies will be soft and moist.
Oooh. Ludy, the Kangaroo_in_Black will love that. I will too, and I love that it can be adapted.
Thanks!
This is adapted from a recipe in Crescent Dragonwagon’s book The Passionate Vegetarian.
My husband & I are not vegetarians, much less vegans, and we love this dish.
Original recipe title was “Kasha Harvest Pilaf Platter with Winter Vegetables.”
We call it “that Dragon Lady’s roasted vegetable stuff.”
I cut out bell pepper & a bay leaf, because the bell pepper kept turning out bitter & I doubled the cauliflower.
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 medium onion, peeled & diced
1 large potato, peeled & cubed
1/2 head caulifower, broken into small florettes
1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
2 cloves garlic, minced
large handful toasted coarsely chopped nuts (we like hazelnuts best, but also use pecans, walnuts, or pistachios)
2 teaspoons mustard seeds, or 1 tsp ground mustard
1 teaspoon celery seed (or add 4 stalks chopped celery to the mixture above)
salt & pepper to taste (i usually use 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper)
dash of cayenne (I’m liberal with the cayenne because I like the kick)
olive oil
Preheat oven to 375F.
Lightly oil a baking dish. Mix the spices together & toss with the cubed vegetables (excluding the chickpeas, garlic & nuts). Drizzle liberally with olive oil & toss a bit more.
Bake, covered tightly with foil, 40 minutes. Uncover & bake another 10-20 until the vegetables are cooked through.
Toss the hot roasted vegetables with the chickpeas & garlic.
Arrange on a platter surrounding a pile of pilaf, top with the toasted nuts.
The original recipe called for making a buckwheat pilaf with cabbage, but I’ve always used Kashi Breakfast Pilaf. The chewiness & nuttiness of it go well with the roasted vegetables.
Variations: use any winter vegetables you like. I’ve added carrots & parsnips sometimes, sometimes left out the cauliflower if I didn’t have any on hand. Many changes possible while still producing a tasty result. Cabbage would probably be good.
That cheesecake recipe is in a cookbook that my mom had many years ago; I’ll see if I can find it eventually, but it may be awhile. Meanwhile, this one looks pretty close. If you substitute oil for all the margarine and replace the soy milk with water, you’d be pretty much dead on for the recipe I used to make. (I thought the sixth ingredient was vanilla extract, but this recipe reminded me that it must have been salt). Make sure you blend the ingredients very thoroughly, and don’t be tempted to substitute honey for the sugar unless you want it to be nasty. A graham-cracker crust with vegan margarine is a great base for it, and a topping of berry compote is very good (take some fresh or frozen berries and put them in a saucepan; when they’re starting to fizz, add a bit of sugar and lemon juice; when it’s starting to break down, mix a little bit of cornstarch with some cold water and whisk it in).
And for all I know, the ingredient substitutions they describe might make it a superior dessert: I certainly don’t think they’d hurt. Some of the recipes I found when looking for this one call for gelatin or cream cheese, and I’m like, what’s the point, fool?
I hope this is specific enough!
Daniel
Here is my wife’s delicious black bean soup recipe. The last sentence makes it nonvegan, but vegans can easily ignore it and instead top it with wheat germ or brewer’s yeast or some such shit ;):
Here is my “Cajun” grit cake recipe. Again, the last little bit of it makes it nonvegan, but the recipe contains a suggestion for how to veganify it, and while I’ve never tried that variation, I’m just about certain it’d work.
Cajun Grits Cakes
For all I know, Cajuns would string me up for attributing this to them. No matter, it’s filling and tasty. Y’all vegetarians could do this without the shrimp, maybe substituting veggie sausage for it instead. The recipe is adapted from the excellent Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and will easily feed 4 people.
Sauce Ingredients
2 sticks celery
1 green pepper
1 onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
Thyme, cayenne, red pepper flakes, and paprika to taste
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
½ glass wine
Chop all vegetables and saute in the oil and butter until tender. Add the remaining ingredients and turn heat to medium-low, simmering until nice and thick and good. The cayenne gives it a slow burn, whereas the pepper flakes give it immediate heat, so use a little of each.
Grit Cakes Ingredients
2 cups yellow grits/polenta
6 cups water
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Boil the water and add salt. Slowly add the grits, stirring constantly. Lower heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, for 30-45 minutes. (Yes, it’s a pain; no, there’s no shortcut that I know of if you want them to taste right. You can read a book while you stir, and drink some wine definitely). If the grits start becoming unmanageably lumpy, add a little bit of water tothem to smooth them out, but you’re wanting to end up with a very thick porridge.
Spread the grits into a 10x13” or so casserole dish, and let cool.
Frying
1 egg
1-2 cups breadcrumbs
2 or so cups oil
Cut the cooled grits into 18 or so squares. Dip each square into the eggs, and then into the breadcrumbs, until coated. Set on tray ready for frying.
Fill a cast-iron skillet with about ¾” oil. Heat the oil until a breadcrumb dropped in it sizzles. Fry the grit cakes 3 at a time until golden-brown. Drain on paper towels.
Assembly
Sauce
Grit cakes
1 lb boiled and peeled shrimp
Place 2 or 3 cakes on each plate. Top each cake with a couple shrimp, and spoon sauce liberally on top. Serve with a salad.
Daniel
Okay, I’m just gonna put all our standard vegan recipes here; this is making me realize how much of our rotation is vegan (we usually doctor it with dairy or seafood, but the nonvegan stuff is just added flavor, not the main dish).
Garlic and Pepper-encrusted Pan-Seared Bean Curd in a Ginger Peanut Aioli over Wilted Greens
Or
Tofu Kale Stuff
Use the first name if you’re trying to impress people, the second if you’re hungry. It’s not the world’s most attractive dish, but it’s pretty tasty.
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 lb tofu, cubed into bite-sized pieces
About ½ cup tamari
Water
A knob of ginger about the size of two grapes, grated
3 or 4 cloves garlic
A tablespoon, more or less, of chile pepper flakes
3 tablespoons oil (mostly olive, but a little bit of peanut and/or sesame wouldn’t go amiss)
½ cup natural peanut butter
¼ cup sesame seeds (optional)
½ cup chopped peanuts (optional)
1 bunch kale, torn into pieces
Put the 2 cups water on the stove. Once it’s boiling, add the rice, turn the heat to low, and let it cook for at least 40 minutes before you lift the lid to check on it.
Put the tofu in a microwave-safe bowl, add the tamari, and then add enough water to barely cover the tofu. Swirl it around a bit. Add the ginger, garlic, and chile flakes. Microwave the bowl for about seven minutes—this is like a quick marinade for the tofu.
Drain the tofu well and save the marinade. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium-high, then add the tofu and stir-fry it until the tofu is just starting to to turn golden. Add the sesame seeds and/or peanuts if you’re so inclined. Meanwhile, whisk the peanut butter into the marinade.
Once the tofu is starting to brown—or once the pan is getting so crusty that you’re worried it’s about to start burning—add the marinade and turn the heat down to medium. Stir it a bunch to get the crusty stuff off the bottom of the pan. Let it simmer until the sauce gets thick and lavalike.
Add the kale and stir it in well. It’ll look like the entire dish is going to be kale, but that’s because the kale’s not cooked down. Put a lid on it and let it steam for about three or four minutes. Check to see if it’s done.
Once the kale is starting to look tender, take the lid off and let it cook down again—the sauce will have become runny by virtue of having had all that kale moisture added. Once it’s looking thick and toothsome again, take it off the heat, and serve it over the rice.
Daniel
I love to cook, and knowing ingredients is part of my career, so I always try to accomodate those with unusual diets.
My favorite vegan dishes:
Rice/Potato side dish - moist cooked rice or chunks of potatoes, light oil (I use canola), and rosemary to taste
Peanut Sauce stirfry - peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes. Supply cooked ingredients in bowls and let everyone assemble their own with chicken, broccoli, snap peas, cauliflower, rice, and soy sauce on the side. This meal allows carnivores, vegans, vegetarians, nut-allergics, and picky people to eat the same food.
Last one for now. Note the fish sauce, and the alternate ingredient listed. This is one that’s made by my lovely and talented wife, taught to us by our foxy and talented friend Jac:
Wow, LHoD, thanks. Those look yummy. I see myself adding to my folder of “recipes I’ve yoinked from the SDMB” tonight.
:smack: Uh, right. Vegan. Let’s see. 1 eggplant? One mashed banana?
I dunno. What do you use if you’re vegan and you’re trying to bread-and-fry something? Surely there’s a solution, but I don’t know what it’d be.
Daniel
Sorry I missed you Motorgirl. That looks really yummy, and any time I can work the word “Dragon” into dinner, I’ve won.
Thanks.
No worries - it was easy to overlook in LHoD’s deluge of tasty-looking recipes. Thanks, LHod, you’ve given me some good meal ideas for this week!
In this instance, all you really need to do is get the breadcrumbs to stick to the grits. Anything reasonably moist would work - something viscous if you can figure out what that might be - outside of egg, I’m at a loss.
I’d try dipping the cakes very very briefly in water & then in breadcrumbs (my first choice would be milk - but that’s out). Otherwise, perhaps a bit of oil, then the breadcrumbs?
Tofu makes a good mousse as well. Food process tofu with melted chocolate. You can then use that to fill a pie crust. Don’t know measurements, sorry, though I’m sure googling “tofu mousse” will turn up something.
One of my favorite meals is tofu fried in olive oil with lots of thyme. Noodles tossed in the thyme-y oil and asparagus.
My vegan nutso ex-sister in law made really good peanut butter cookies. Never got the recipe, but once again, google is your friend. Most of the vegan recipes she used on us weren’t great, but those cookies were actually good.
Y’all are welcome–and that pilaf does look tasty! This time of year I’m always hankering after good roasty meals, and this one might be just what I need. Thanks to you as well!
Daniel
If the grit cakes are moist enough, press them lightly into the breadcrumbs to get the crumbs to adhere that way?
Back in the '70s and early '80s, my dad was a professional river guide, taking people on all-natural excursions down the Salmon, the Snake, the Colorado, et cetera. My mom often traveled with the crew and helped out in the kitchen. As a result, she collected a lot of recipes that a) are vegetarian or vegan, b) are very easy to prepare, and c) will feed a lot of people very quickly. This is one of my favorites:
Black-eyed Peas and Rice
Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
1 large clove of garlic, grated
1.5 cups brown rice
1 can* black-eyed peas
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 can water
Goddammit, I hit Return and it decided that I wanted to Submit Reply. Lemmie try this again:
Black-eyed Peas and Rice
Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
1 large clove of garlic, grated
1.5 cups brown rice
1 can* black-eyed peas
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 can water
Sautee the onions and garlic in the bottom of a large pot. (You can add the spices at this time to make their flavors stronger, if you like.) When they’re cooked to your liking, add the rest of the ingredients, cover the concoction with a lid, and leave it on medium heat for 45-60 minutes. When the rice is cooked, it’s ready to serve.
It’s very filling, and tastes great by itself or in a wrap with the toppings of your choice.