Kung Pao Oyster Mushrooms

Stir fry:

- 1/2 onion sliced in strips (not rings)

- red or yellow sweet pepper, in bite size pieces

- 6 small or 4 large King oyster mushroom stems, quartered and sliced

- 1/2 block extra firm Chinese tofu (the really chewy kind, only available at Chinese groceries, see photo), sliced into little squares

- 1/2 c dry roasted peanuts

- 2 cloves crushed garlic

- about 1 tbsp shredded ginger

+ braise mushrooms in a little soy sauce until tender, remove,

+ stir fry onions and peppers with ginger and garlic; once cooked add 2 tsp water to pan and steam for a few seconds

+ when water is evaporated add mushrooms, tofu and peanuts and warm through; reduce heat

Sauce:

(usual Chinese stuff, really)

- 1/4 c soy sauce

- 1/4 c broth

- 2 tbsp vinegar (pref Chinese black or rice vinegar)

- 2 tbsp cooking sherry

- 1 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup

- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce

- 1 tsp Chinese sesame oil

+ mix well and sift in

2 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder

+ add sauce to stir fry and stir to coat

+ add to taste

- Chinese 5 spice blend (go easy, very strong flavour)

- black pepper

- hot pepper powder, preferably Szechuan pepper

- ancho powder or paprika for colour

- smoked paprika

- any of the sauce ingredients

+ serve with cooked rice, preferably short grain brown rice

Mushroom Potato and Spinach Taco

 

This was a very successful experiment, loosely based on this recipe from Dora's Table https://www.facebook.com/drstable/posts/3587154494685706?__tn__=R*F

I used potato instead of posole. For the crema I just used cashew cream and lime, and mixed it in with the filling. Judging from colour I used a lot more chiles per peanut putter than Dora. and I garnished with toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and El Gallo habanero salsa.

Quite easy. Will do again. Have lots of peanut chili mole left over.

Lime, mushrooms, spinach and potato go together very nicely.

Mock Chicken Tinga

 

Basically, a chunky tomato sauce you might put on pasta, plus to taste, Mexican oregano and pureed canned chipotle en adobo.

(Not hard to find in Canada; Metro carries it. I think Loblaw has it too.)

Add mock chicken soy nuggets from Whole Foods near the end of cooking so as not to make them too soggy. 

 

You could use cooked chicken as a substitute for mock chicken if you like. 

 

Very easy, and if you don't mind some hot pepper, very tasty.

 

Garnish, as you see, with the traditional Mex-Mex garnishes of cilantro, onion and lime. I'm not sure about the avocado; would leave it out next time. If you don't have good tortillas handy, would work over rice.

Extra hot sauce to taste, Valentina worked well. And we added mango salsa as well. There's an odd belief, the further you get from Mexico, that Mexican food is chock-a-block with black olives. But this is a rare Mexican dish that works well with black olives.

 

Irene's Fruit Nog

 

2 slices grilled pineapple 

1 large banana 

1 cup mango

2 tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate. 

 

(Frozen is good on any or all of the ingredients)

Add all to blender, add unsweetened plant milk to almost cover, blend. 

 

Add rum and nutmeg to taste.

 

Looks a lot like and tastes a bit like egg nog.

Irene's Virtuous Cobbler

No butter, no sugar, delicious!

Fill 8x8 nonstick pan about 2/3 with fruits suitable for a tart pie. This one is apples and mangos.

Heat in saucepan 1c water, 8 chopped pitted dates, 1/4 c raisins, juice of a lemon, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp each cloves & nutmeg, pinch cardamom, 2 tbsp frozen OJ concentrate; heat to blend. Add 1/2c rolled oats. Pour liquid over fruit and mix well.

Bake at 350F for ~ 1 hr until fruit is soft. Sprinkle with pan-toasted blend of rolled oats, walnuts& shredded coconut.

Cold Day Vegan Hot and Sour Soup

It is hard to get your greens in winter in a cold country. Here's a delicious recipe to help.

  




All essential ingredients easy to find in rural North America in winter. Substitutes listed.

Basically, cook mushrooms until firm, throw everything in Instant Pot, when ready season to taste.

The idea is to eat your spinach, and the main strategy is vinegar and hot pepper.

Thanks to Karen Jennings' influence, I actually measured this time

COLD DAY HOT AND SOUR SOUP

 6 c broth
1/4 cabbage shredded
1/2 lb (225 g) mushrooms, regular or crimini
    sliced, sauteed in a little oil or soy sauce until firm and dry
      (to speed up mushroom prep: drain juices partway through cooking
            goal is to get them dry)
2 large carrots or half a huge one, shredded
300 g (about 10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 block tofu, cubed in approx 1 cm dice
    (Soyarie brand "firm" or "herb" preferred hereabouts, Farm Boy has it among others)
2 tbsp miso or 1 tbsp Better than Bouillon or 1 bouillon cube
1 tsp Sriracha (Rooster Brand or close facsimile) (subst 1/4 tsp tabasco plus 1 tsp sugar)
1/4 c rice vinegar (or subs plain vinegar)
1 c frozen corn
1 tsp finely shredded or tube ginger (if avail) (don't substitute powdered ginger in my opinion)

cook all (except miso if using) in Instant Pot (no keep warm, no quick release) 20 min.

After cooking stir in miso if using. Season to taste with black pepper, cayenne, turmeric, more vinegar. Add other chinese-friendly spices if inclined. Small amounts of sweetener can help, but avoid making a candy soup! Can thicken with corn starch if you're inclined.

Tip: I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian Beef if I can find it. There is also a Vegetarian Chicken . These are delicious but hard to find! Available in Canada by web order from well.ca . In America some of the larger grocery chains usually have it: Central Market in Texas, Woodman's in Wisconsin, are the examples I know.

Serving suggestion: Serve hot. For a special treat, sprinkle with sesame seeds, chopped scallions, and if you can find it, a little sesame oil.

King Mushroom Taco filling

A nice substitute if you're craving chicken.
====

A sweet onion, peeled and chopped
A head of garlic if you dare, peeled and mashed in a garlic press
    (2 or 3 cloves for the less garlic-minded)
4 or 5 large king oyster mushrooms (available at Chinese groceries)
2 zucchini
3 or 4 mild or slightly hot peppers (Anaheim, Hatch, poblano, even bell)
     roasted, peeled, and seeded

1 tsp chipotle en adobo, mashed
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice

2 tbsp pumpkin seed (pepita) butter or finely ground pepitas
(Canadians: pumpkin seed butter is available at Bulk Barn in bulk for some reason!)

1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp canola or olive oil

===
EITHER
4 tsp salt-free store-bought chili powder

OR
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp ancho chile powder mild chile powder blend
dash oregano (mexican if available) or Italian herb blend
===

2 cubes mock chicken bouillon or (preferably) 2 tsp Better than Bouillon No-Chicken

cilantro for garnish

==============

Heat oil on high; when quite hot add onions, garlic, chile powder and salt. Stir constantly until chili powder and salt are evenly coating onions. Turn down the heat to medium, and slow-sautee the onions until soft. (Soffrito style if you're Italian.)

Meanwhile slice the zucchini and mushrooms into thin half-disks. A mandoline slicer helps to make these thin and even.

When the onions are starting to get soft and sweet, add the mushrooms and zucchini. Stir. If you're not being too careful about salt, after the onions are coated with oil, a couple of dashes of soy sauce really help the mushrooms' flavour. Continue to slow-cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are cooked and the zucchini is getting translucent.

Clear a bit of the bottom of the pan, add 1/4 cup of broth or water and dissolve the bouillon into it. Add the other ingredients. Stir and cook another 10 minutes to blend flavours.

===

TACOS

Add the mix to a corn tortilla. Garnish with vegan sour cream, marinated red onions, avocado slices, and pickled red onion. Add habanero salsa if you dare. Makes a spectacular taco.

===

MOCK CHICKEN VERSION

You may wish to substitute mock chicken for the mushrooms or add mock chicken in addition to the mushrooms. In my experience, cooking mock chicken in a moist mixture (at least the kinds of mock chicken available in Canada) ruins the texture, so if you are doing that, sautee it in a separate small pan without any liquid just to heat through.

===

TOMATILLOS

I really liked this version. In the past I have done similar dishes with some salsa verde or tomatillos, but I'm not sure about that anymore. Consider just bottled salsa verde as a condiment. If you like that, you can add tomatillos next time.

Red Lentil Carrot Soup

I was planning the usual red lentil and lemon soup, but my hostess asked me to use a few pounds of carrots. So the lemon is out, and this is what I came up with:

Carrot red lentil soup

3 or 4 lb carrots

2 large onions

5 cloves garlic

oil for sauteeing

Better than Bouillon No Chicken or other mock chicken bouillon

fresh ginger

fresh thyme

turmeric

cumin

black pepper

salt

Cut 3 or 4 lb peeled carrots into 2 or 3 inch pieces, and boil until soft enough to mash. (Keep the boiling water and remove carrots with slotted spoon)

Meanwhile slow sautee to lightly brown 2 large onions, finely chopped, with 5 cloves pressed garlic, a little salt, and 1/2 tsp turmeric, in as little oil as you can manage.

Peel and chop ginger, about 1 tbsp.

When the carrots are out of the water, add red lentils to the water and bring back to boiling. Lentils to water ratio about 1:4. Add the ginger. Add about 1 tbsp Better than Bouillon No Chicken base or other mock chicken flavour.

Coarsely mash the carrots with a potato masher.

When lentils are soft add onions and carrots. Add 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, or more, to taste. Add about 1 tsp fresh thyme. Cook to blend flavours.

---

Makes a metric ton or so. Lots anyway, Freeze some.

Serve over grain or pasta. Quite nice.

Vegan Blackeyed Peas, Sweet Potato and Chard Gumbo

BLACKEYED PEAS, SWEET POTATO AND CHARD GUMBO WITH POLENTA

This is sort of Italian and sort of Cajun, dramatically simplified from a recipe I got online. Didn't know if I could find blackeyed peas in Ottawa, but Bulk Barn has 'em.

1 medium onion
4 cups greens, preferably swiss chard, chopped
2 cups carrots, peeled & diced, steamed or boiled until soft
1 medium sweet potato, peeled & diced, steamed or boiled until soft
2 cups blackeyed peas, cooked
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt

~ 1 tbsp olive oil
~ 3 tbs Alessi fig vinegar, or other fine vinegar
~ 1/2 tsp dried sage
~ 1 1/2 tsp Italian herb blend or mix basil, thyme & rosemary
~ 1/2 tsp cumin
~ 1/2 tsp coriander
~ 1/4 tsp cayenne

Sautee onion slowly with salt at medium heat in as little oil as you can. When it's starting to be translucent, add chopped chard and garlic, pressed or finely chopped. Continue to cook at moderate heat until yummy. Add backeyed peas carrots and sweet potato, and heat through. Add herbs, spices, vinegar to taste, amounts suggested above. Add about 1 1/2 cups water and simmer 15 minutes to blend flavours.

Original recipe called for maple syrup, but I found sweetener excessive & left it out; carrots & sweet potatoes are sweet enough.

Serve over polenta or grits. <-- IMPORTANT

Pineapple Tofu "Al Pastor"

Based on a Guero's pork al pastor recipe published in "Nuevo Tex-Mex"

Pork al pastor is a richly flavored pork stew. I am sure mexican shepherds didn't have much pineapple, but in my experience in Texas, it is always served with pineapple.

In this recipe, I mixed the pineapple in, and added miso and smoked paprika to move the recipe into a meaty direction.

Warning, steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 are time consuming. I offer workarounds for steps 1 and 2, and you can cut corners on 3, but step 4 is, well, the whole idea really. But actually, if you do it right, you can work on all four of these steps at the same time. I found myself very busy for about an hour with this recipe, but the first time you do it, it may take longer!

INGREDIENTS

1 lb extra firm tofu diced in 1/2" cubes or similar
1/2 pineapple
1 medium to large onion
1 large bell pepper or 2 small
optional: 1 zucchini, halved the long way & sliced thin

Sauce:

3 dried guajillo chiles or 2 extra tbsp ancho chile powder

2 tsp canola oil
1 tbsp ancho chile powder
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 tbsp cider vinegar or rice vinegar
2 tbsp miso (I used barley miso)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano (pref Mexican oregano)
1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon Mock chicken, or a vegan mock chicken bouillon cube
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp achiote paste (available at Mexican groceries)

1 tsp soy sauce or vegan worcestershire or similar

WHAT TO DO

1) Prepare the dried chiles if using:
    pan roast on high heat for about 1 minute per side until color changes, but not burned
    soak in hot water at least 20 minutes

2) Roast the fresh peppers (if roasting, else see 3 below):
    broil on high for 8 minutes, top up if you can balance them
    rotate, repeat for 8 minutes 2 or 3 more times until skin blisters everywhere
    place in large bowl, cover, let cool

3) sautee onions
   heat 1 tsp oil on medium high
   chop onions fairly fine
   drop an onion bit in oil when it is hot, should sizzle but not splatter
   add onions
   add 1 tbsp ancho chile powder
   stir until red color is evenly distribute
   turn heat to medium low, occasionally
   add peppers chopped if not roasted
   peel and press the garlic and add to the onions
   if you roasted the peppers, when cool enough to handle, peel, seed & chop and add
   if using zucchini add thin sliced zucchini
   slow cook until vegs are soft and a bit sweet

4) grill pineapple
   Take a half pineapple, cut off the rind. Quarter through the core. Remove core.
   Pull out remaining bits of fiber with a potato peeler or a grapefruit spoon.
   If you have a grill, slice the pineapple into thin slices and grill a few minutes on a side.
   If you are pan-grilling, lightly oil a wok, chop pineapple fine
        stir-fry on high heat
  Cook until lightly browned in some spots.

5) make sauce
   in blender, add orange juice, vinegar, miso, achiote, bouillion, spices, and chile powder if using
       blend briefly

   if using dried chiles, rinse, tear open, discard seeds & step, & tear into a few pieces, add to blender
       then puree on high setting about 1 minute. run sauce through fine sieve to catch the dry bits

 6) remove pineapples from wok
   add 1/4 c water & heat pan to deglaze
   when water is boiled off & a little syrup remains, add 1 tsp canola oil
   add tofu, 1 tbsp ancho chile powder, soy sauce & cook on high heat until heated through.
   add all other ingredients & cook sauce down a bit until it thickens

Ideally serve on warmed corn tortillas with chopped red onion & fresh cilantro, but also nice on a toothy whole grain rice.