Vegan Miscellanies

Spicy Sweet Sprouted Black Beans

I had sprouted black beans that needed to be used up, and a small amount of sprouted chickpeas. There weren't enough of either to make a meal for two, so I decided to add the chickpeas into a dish that normally doesn't, and probably shouldn't, have them.

I wanted a dish with ample spice, but also a hint of sweetness. Maple baked beans came to mind. Unfortunately, I put a little too much maple syrup in and made them a bit too sweet. Note to self: stick to the black beans (or white) for this dish, and cut down on the maple syrup, but definitely keep the spice, mushroom, and red bell pepper.

So, while good, this dish wasn't quite as good as the picture would have you believe. The recipe below includes the adjustments I think necessary to make it a truly delicious dish. Just think of this as a beta version. Test, tinker, and improve.

Here you go:

• 1 1/2 cups sprouted black (or white) beans
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 2 portabellini, diced
• 1 or 2 red Thai finger chillies
• 3 oz. tomato paste
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and black pepper, to taste

1. If not already cooked, put sprouted black beans in 4 cups water with 1 clove garlic and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 14 minutes.
2. In a heavy cast iron wok or pot, saute onion, mushrooms, hot peppers, and red bell pepper on medium-high heat for a few minutes.
3. Once onions are translucent and peppers begin to soften, move these to one side and add drained beans on other side.
4. After a minute or two, mix well and keep on high heat while preparing sauce.
5. In small bowl, mix tomato paste, maple syrup, soy sauce and water.
6. Add sauce to pot, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and again.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.
8. Serve with pita or other fresh bread and a slice or two of orange.

Enjoy!

Garlicky Tofu Vegetable Stir-Fry with Rosemary Black Beans

Brunch anyone?

We recently purchased a Cuisinart Grill & Griddle. It has a flip top with a grill on one side and griddle on the other. Comes in very handy for vegan pancakes and omelettes, grilled vegetables and seitan, and even stir-fries.

Above is this morning's brunch. Garlicky Tofu Vegetable Stir-fry with Rosemary Black Beans and wholegrain baguette slices.

Garlicky Tofu Vegetable Stir-Fry:

• 1 425g package firm tofu, cubed
• 2 carrots, sliced diagonally
• 2 celery ribs and tops, sliced diagonally
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced in olive oil
• 1 inch fresh ginger, minced in olive oil
• 3-5 tbsp naturally brewed soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp curry powder
• salt, to taste
• a little water to steam vegetables

1. Place garlic and peeled fresh ginger with 3-5 tbsp olive oil in a small bowl or blender. Blend to a creamy consistency.
2. On hot griddle, place sliced vegetables.  Add a little water over them and cover with a pot lid to steam for a couple of minutes. Stir well and set aside.
3. Place cubed tofu on very hot griddle. Toss until cubes start to brown. Add soy sauce and continue to stir-fry for a couple of minutes before mixing in the creamy garlic and ginger in olive oil. Mix to cover cubes evenly.
4. Add vegetables over tofu cubes, add turmeric and curry powder and stir-fry for a few more minutes. Stir regularly so nothing gets burned.

Rosemary Black Beans:

• 1 1/2 cups sprouted black beans (1/2 cup dry)
• 1 clove garlic, whole
• 1 fresh tomato, diced
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp rosemary
• pinch of black pepper
• salt, to taste
• margarine for frying

1. Place sprouted black beans in pot with garlic clove and 3 cups water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
2. In a heavy pan or wok, place 1-2 tbsp margarine and heat until it begins to sizzle.
3. Add drained beans with the cooked garlic clove. Use spoon to squash soft garlic. Fry on high heat while dicing tomato. Add tomato and fry for a couple of minutes, or until tomato begins to disintegrate.
4. Add oregano, rosemary, black pepper and salt and fry for a couple more minutes.

Serve with a wholegrain baguette, a fresh salad, and a beverage of your choice. Enjoy!

Serves 4.

Vegetable Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

We had these raw, fresh, utterly delicious vegetable spring rolls with spicy peanut dipping sauce for dinner tonight. I know it's meant as an appetizer, but we pigged out and ate 4 rolls each. As appetizers, this recipe serves 4.

Though based on the recipe found on p44 of Vegan Planet, with the dipping sauce on p160 of the same, most of the fresh ingredients found inside these suckers are different. (I highly recommend this book, as also her blog by the same name.)

Here's what I used to make them:

• 8 sheets of rice paper (round)

    Filling:

• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• small bunch baby bok choy
• 1/4 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup sprouts (I used a mixture of alfalfa, canola, clover and daikon radish sprouts, but bean sprouts are more commonly used)
• 3.5 oz. enoki mushrooms

    Dipping sauce:

• Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce (from Vegan Planet, p160)

1. Prepare filling.
2. Dip each sheet of rice paper in warm water for a few seconds to soften. Place on plastic wrap or, as I did, directly on a plate. I prefer to put the filling in the middle of the wrapper, beginning with the baby bok choy, followed by the mushrooms, sprouts, carrots and cilantro. Fold ends over first, as with a burrito, then fold bottom edge over filling and roll up snuggly.
3. Enjoy with the dipping sauce.

Sprouted Green Lentil Soup

For quite some time we bought Mr. Goudas Eston lentils. On the back of the bag is a recipe for green lentil soup that has become somewhat of a staple in our household ever since Jihan began cooking it. She modified it somewhat, of course, and made it her own.

A practice I find rather amusing irritating is brand name plugging in back-of-the-bag or -can recipes. It's simply absurd. I am no more brand loyal than nationalistic. Unfortunately, most things we need and use are branded. I mention Mr. Goudas only to give them credit for the original recipe.

Anyway, here is our version:

• 1 lb green Eston lentils (sprouted, in this case)
• 10 cups water
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 carrots, chopped
• 3-4 celery ribs and tops, chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• salt, to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• lemon juice

1. When using sprouted green lentils the cooking time is greatly decreased. Put sprouted lentils in pot with 10 cups water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 7 minutes (vs. 30 for unsprouted lentils). Reduce to low heat.
2. Put garlic and olive oil in a large measuring cup or blender (we use measuring cup and hand blender) and mince. Note: if you blend too much you will have a garlic puree instead of minced garlic.
3. Pour minced garlic and olive oil mixture into pan and add chopped carrots and celery. Saute, on medium-high heat, until onion is translucent.
4. Add sauteed vegetables, bay leaves, canned tomatoes with juice and parsley to the lentils. Bring to boil again and simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
6. If desired (we always do), add lemon juice to taste to each serving. Enjoy!

Mjadrah: Lebanese Lentils with Rice

What you see above is Mjadrah, a Lebanese lentil and rice dish. This dish is, on its own, entirely vegan, though some people spoon yogurt over the top. We replaced yogurt with soygurt.

Jihan had this at home growing up and, after I came across an online recipe for it recently, we decided that we needed to make it.

We had 2 cups of sprouted lentils sitting in the fridge, just enough to make this wonderful dish. She didn't remember all the ingredients off-hand, so I did a little research, reading a number of versions to her until something rang a bell. Using sprouted lentils is our little innovation, as is the soygurt topping.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups small green (Eston) lentils, sprouted
• 1 cup brown basmati rice
• 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Cook rice ahead of time.
2. Pour olive oil into a deep pan and, on medium heat, fry onion until golden (take 1/2 out and leave the rest until it is a rich brown).
3. Put sprouted lentils in a medium pot and add just enough water to cover. Bring to boil and simmer for about 5 minutes, then add rice, salt, spices and half of the onion. Mix well and simmer for 2 or 3 more minutes.
4. Serve with caramelized onion and soygurt.

Serves 4

Sprouted Chickpea, Tomato, Avocado Salad

• 2 cups sprouted chickpeas
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 2 avocados, cubed
• 1/2 cup 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 to 1 tsp black pepper
• sea salt to taste

1. Put sprouted chickpeas, onion, tomatoes and avocado in a bowl.
2. Add olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper and salt.
3. Mix well and enjoy, on its own or with pita or tortilla chips.

The Joy of Sprouting (hmm, sounds like a book title)

As mentioned recently on this blog, I've begun sprouting seeds and legumes. I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. Maybe I had some notion about it being more complicated than it really is. Really, it is not complicated at all, nor does it take all that much time or energy.

Sproutpeople, for those interested in taking up sprouting, or just looking for more information or inspiration, is a very useful and informative site. For a detailed look at sprouting in a soil medium, as well as much besides, visit Tim Tyler's Sprouting.

So far I've sprouted organic, non-GMO seeds by mumm's -- Sandwich Booster (clover, alfalfa, radish, canola), Daikon Radish, and Red Clover. I've also sprouted garbanzo beans, otherwise known as chickpeas (not organic, unfortunately), and brown lentils (first batch currently underway).

Here are some pictures of my, err, operation.

I hope these pictures, as also my recipes, will inspire some of you to begin sprouting as well. So simple, yet so rewarding! For some ways sprouted chickpeas can be used, or at least how I've used them so far, see my posts on Raw Hummus and Sprouted Chickpea, Tomato, Avocado Salad. The latter is inspired by Banadura Basal, a Lebanese Tomato and Onion salad with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.