Mesir Wat and Injera (aka Ethiopian Lentils and Flatbread)

Last month was "African" month... trying recipes from all over the continent - mainly from Western Africa (Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco).  SO delicious!

Here is a recipe for Mesir Wat, Ethiopian Lentils - sweet, spicy and delicious, served with injera, the staple flat bread.  African food is simply a revelation.

Technically speaking, injera should be used as a utensil and served with the lentils on top - eat it with your hands!  But of course, Daniel and I tried this once and then decided to use utensils.  :)

The lentils are great on plain rice, or even with naan, etc - if you'd rather buy some bread than make it.

A last note - most Ethiopian (or Eritrean) food uses a special spiced-infused-butter called Niter Kibbeh - I have made it before and it is excellent - however, to avoid the work of making it (you need to simmer whole spices in the butter for an hour) I have made a short cut - using ground spices and gently simmering them in butter for a couple minutes. 



MESIR WAT with INJERA


Time: 45 min      |      Servings:  4      |      Difficulty: Low


Ingredients

2 cups red lentils
4 cups vegetable stock
2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
3 tablespoons Earth Balance
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground fenegreek
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
Salt, to taste

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup Teff flour
1.5 cup cold water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
Oil for frying


Preparation

In a pot, heat Earth Balance over medium heat - add all ground spices.  Stir continuously until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add onions and continue cooking until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. 

Bring heat to high, add lentils and stock.  Bring to a boil and turn down head to low to simmer.  Cover and allow to cook for 30 minutes, or until lentils are fully cooking.  You don't need to stir.

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan on medium and drizzle oil (make sure the pan is well oiled; nonstick is ideal).  In a bowl, mix flours, baking powder, oil and water.  Mix until just combined - the consistency should be thinner than pancake mix so add more water if needed.

Pour a 1/2 cup into pan.  It will bubble.  You do not need to flip injera.  When the sides pop up and the top looks cooked, place aside.  Continue preparing the rest of batter this way.  Watch the heat; make sure it on medium or lower, as the bottom may burn if you don't watch.

Serve cooked lentils on top of injera and enjoy.

Grilled Smoky Tofu

Goes with everything, and IN everything! :)  Feel free to bake or fry, if a grill is not available.  This will create a caramelized glaze - wonderful!  Just be careful of burning the sauce.

GRILLED SMOKY TOFU

Time: 30 min      |       Servings: 4      |      Difficulty:  Low


Ingredients

2 packages smoked tofu, sliced or cut into strips
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (or more if you like it spicy!)
1 tablespoon preferred vegetable oil


Preparation
 
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, allow to marinate at least 15 minutes.
 
Grill on BBQ, using marinade as basting sauce - until all sides are slightly charred; about 10 minutes.

Serve and enjoy.

Shepherd's Pie

This is a recipe for Shepherd's Pie.  Shepherd's pie is easy to make, but it is a little bit long.  The end result is well worth it, however!  Enjoy!


SHEPHERD'S PIE


Time: 1 Hour 30 min     |      Servings: 6     |      Difficulty: Low


Ingredients
2 lb potatoes, preferred kind (quartered if large)
1/4 cup Earth Balance
1/2 bunch chives, chopped
1/4 cup non-dairy milk, more if needed
1/2 tablespoon Horseradish (optional)


1 lb favourite protein (I recommend seitan or tempeh), pulsed/ground
1 lb mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 onions, diced
1 large tomato, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup frozen vegetable mix, preffered kind
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
1 tablespoon vegetarian worcestire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon marmite
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried poultry seasoning
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed into 2 tablespoons cold water
2-3 tablespoons oil


PreparationPreheat oven to 500 degrees F.


Begin with placing cut potatoes in pot of water.  Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, in an dutch oven (or oven-friendly pot) heat oil on medium-high and add mushrooms and saute until they shrink and release their juices, about 10 minutes.  Add all vegetables and fry until translucent, about 10 minutes.  Add protein and continue cooking until juices begin to evaporate, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. 


Increase heat to high, and add wine to deglaze pan, if using.  Add broth, marmite, spices and tomato paste and stir to combine.  Once boiling, add cornstarch mixture and stir.  When thick and bubble turn off heat and place aside.


Potatoes should be done.  Drain and mash with Earth Balance, chives, horseradish and milk - adding salt if necessary.

Spread potatoes on top of filling, and bake in oven until the top is golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Serve and enjoy.

Easy 4 Step Seitan

Personally, there is no greater protein in the veggie world than seitan!  Why you ask?  Well, because it's high in protein, low in fat and just plain yummy.  For more information on it, check out my previous post about seitan.

Nothing beats homemade seitan.  But, I'll be honest - when the thought first occurred to me to make it, I was pretty intimated.  It sounded like something that would be long and tedious to make.  Would it even really be worth it?  All the other prepared seitan I bought at stores were well, pretty gross.  Needless to say, I was totally WRONG.  Homemade seitan is leaps and bounds better than store bought seitan.

I make triple to quadruple batches on the weekend, place 4 cutlets in 1 Ziploc bag, pour some cooking liquid in the bag and freeze it.  I use it throughout the week in all my recipes.  It's just wonderful.  There's not much else I can say other than I truly recommend you give homemade seitan a go!


Easy 4 Step Seitan

Time:  1.5 Hr      |      Servings:  8       |      Difficulty:  Low


Ingredients

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/4 cup cold vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon Marmite or Vegemite
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on a microplane grater
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)

10 cups water
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
1/4 cup soy sauce



Preparation

Okay - making seitan is as easy as 1-2-3-4.

1.  In a large bowl, mix together gluten flour and nutritional yeast.

2.  In a separate bowl, mix together veg broth, soy sauce, marmite, poultry seasoning, garlic, lemon zest and tomato paste, if using.

3.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine, knead dough for about 3 minutes until a spongy, very elastic dough is formed.  Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

4.  Roll out seitan and cut into 4 pieces.  This may be difficult - but using a sharp knife will be helpful!  Add to a pot with water, soy sauce and bouillon cubes.  Bring everything to a boil and turn down to a gentle simmer.  Simmer for 1 hour , turning occasionally.

That's it!  Enjoy in any recipe!



Suggestions:
- Seitan is lacking the amino acid lysine - to make your protein complete, eat with pulses (ie, beans, legumes)

Agave-Garlic Marinated Smoked Tofu with Peanuty Pasta Salad

Not much to say other than YUM!  I apologize for there being no picture this time.


Agave-Garlic Marinated Grilled Cutlets with Peanuty Pasta Salad

Time: 45 Min      |      Yield: 4 Servings      |      Difficulty: Low

Marinated Tofu:
1 Pack smoked tofu, sliced into 4
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 low sodium vegetable broth
3-5 cloves garlic, mashed
1 teaspoon agave syrup
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (or more if you like it super spicy)
1 tablespoon preferred vegetable oil

Pasta Salad:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon oriental sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 tablespoon hot pepper, like Serrano, or 1/4 tablespoon Sriracha
12 oz (3/4 lb) rigatoni or any short pasta on hand
1 large orange bell pepper, cut into matchstick-size strips (or grated)
1 large carrot, grated
1/2 cup very thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts
2 tablespoons lime juice (optional) or to taste

Begin with turning on BBQ to medium-high heat, and boiling salted water to cook pasta.

Mix all ingredients for marinade in a large bowl and add smoked tofu.  Let sit for about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the salad, combine all ingredients except pasta and vegetables in a bowl to make peanut sauce. Once pasta is done, allow to cool and combine all remaining ingredients.

Grill marinated tofu until well done, continuously basting in marinade, no more than 5-7 minutes each side.

Serve with Pasta Salad.

Thai Green Curry

This recipe is from scratch - so you get all that comforting satisfaction from making it. The ingredients are potentially difficult to find at a normal grocery store - but if you drop by an Asian market, all these ingredients (plus the general everyday ingredients) are super easy to find. Every single ingredient listed below I found at an Asian market with no problems, except for nutritional yeast, which I had on hand and did not look for.

This recipe is from a traditional recipe of chicken green curry, which I have veganized. It has all the foreign ingredients you'd find in an authentic recipe, plus a few uniquely vegan additions. Actually, one thing that I have always noticed (or thought to myself) is how similar fish sauce and nutritional yeast smell. I actually found more of a similarity between these two ingredients than nutritional yeast and cheese (although it's still a great cheezy addition). That's my humble observation. I have used nutritional yeast as the replacement for shrimp paste, which turned out great.

Thai Green Curry
 
Time: 1 Hour      |      Servings: 4      |      Difficulty: Low
 
Ingredients

1 block extra firm tofu, cubed
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cans coconut milk
10 cloves of garlic (yes, 10)
3 stalks lemongrass
1/2 of a purple onion, very coarsely chopped
4 Thai chilies, stems removed
2 pieces galangal, about a thumb's size each, peeled
2 cups fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
2 green bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup vegetarian fish sauce
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
10 lime leaves, preferably still on branches
1/4 cup Thai basil, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
 
2 cups white rice, cooked with 4 cups of water
 
Preparation
Begin with placing rice and water in a pot, and bringing to a boil.  Turn down heat bring down to a simmer.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes (a timer is very useful here so you can forget about it and come back to it after 20 minutes).  Turn off heat and set aside, still covered.
 
Meanwhile, remove outer leaves of lemon grass, cut off the bulb and roughly slice the light yellow body, you'll have about 1/4 - 1/3 cup.   In a food processor, pulse together lemongrass, chilies, onion, garlic, galangal, cilantro, nutritional yeast, fish sauce and 1/4 of a can of coconut milk until a thick paste is formed - you've now made a true Thai curry paste!  As lemongrass and galangal are very hard, it can take some time, up to 10 minutes, to get a real paste consistency.  Use a spatula to scrape down the sides to help it along.
 
Heat oil in a deep pan, add paste.  Cook, stirring constantly, until beautifully fragrant, about 1-3 minutes.  Add the remaining coconut milk, spices, vinegar, along with whole lime leaves (you'll take them out at the end), tofu, bell pepper and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil and maintain for about 10 minutes, and bring down to a simmer.  Stir in lime juice and Thai basil, and cook for another 20 minutes, or until desired thickness is reached.
 
Remove lime leaves.  Serve with rice, and garnish with fresh cilantro.

BBQ Baked Veg Cutlets

There's nothing more satisfying than making something from scratch; when you make something from a box, you can never have that soul-satisfying ability to say "I made that!”

This recipe uses the cutlet recipe I previously posted along with a recipe for some home-made Maple BBQ Sauce that I made up on a whim because I was feeling too lazy to go to the store and buy some. If you have an empty Heinz ketchup bottle hanging around, I highly recommend cleaning it out and pouring your BBQ sauce into it. The recipe makes about ¾ of a bottle (which is more than you will need) and this way you can pour as needed. You must wait until the BBQ is totally cool before bottling it.

Enjoy this recipe with mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, or anything else your heart desires. The picture you see here is of a cutlet with "Eazy Mac & Cheeze" - a recipe that I am still perfecting and will post as soon as it's ready! Take care!


This recipe makes 8 cutlets/servings; if 8 servings are too many, simply half the recipe. Actually, you can half almost all the recipes here if you need to (except for baked goods)!

BBQ Baked Veg Cutlets

Time: 1 Hour | Yield: 8 Servings | Difficulty: Low

For Cutlets:
2 Cups Vital Wheat Gluten
1 Block Extra Firm Tofu
¼ cup Soy Sauce
1-2 tablespoons Marmite*
1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Onion Powder
1 tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Thyme, dried
1 teaspoon Sage, dried
1 cup water, or more if needed

For Maple BBQ Sauce:
1 small (5.5 oz) can tomato paste
1 cup ketchup
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
1/3 cup red wine vinegar (add more if you like more tang)
4-5 dashes of liquid smoke*
1 tablespoon Earth Balance buttery spread
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup water


Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In food processor, add all ingredients for cutlet except gluten. Blend until the tofu becomes a thick but still pour-able paste, adding more water if necessary. Taste the paste and season more if necessary. Please note that if it tastes too strong, it’s probably perfect. Once you add the gluten, the flavours will diminish significantly. So you want to have enough oomph in the paste to withstand the addition of gluten.

In a large bowl, pour the tofu mixture and add the gluten. Mix well, and when it becomes a non-sticky dough begin to knead, flouring the counter if necessary. It will probably be so well incorporated you won’t need flour to knead it.

Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough becomes very elastic. Let sit for another 5-10 minutes.

While the cutlet mixture is resting, heat water in a sauce pan on medium and add tomato paste. Once dissolved, add all remaining ingredients for the BBQ sauce and stire until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Place aside to cool.

Cut in cutlet dough in half, and from each half make 4 cutlets, using your hands to stretch and pound them flat.

Using a sauce brush, brush bbq sauce on all cutlets, both sides, and place on a greased baking sheet. You may need two baking sheets if making all 8 cutlets. Bake in oven for 30 minutes, turning every 10-15 minutes and basting with additional BBQ sauce. Serve.




VARIATIONS:
- add molasses instead of maple syrup to BBQ sauce
- grill the cutlets after baking, if desired
- you can sub any form of pureed bean for tofu, at any time

The Ultimate Vegan Cutlet!

I humbly offer my recipe to the long traditions of cutlet recipes. What I love about this recipe is that it is the best of both worlds: it includes tofu and gluten (Seitan), meaning not only does it hold well texture-wise, it also absorbs the flavours it marinades it. Using an array of herbs and spices, this recipe transforms the generally accepted as bland tofu and gluten into powerful a culinary constituent! It is a cinch to make and I hope you find it as useful as I have.

Note:  If 8 Cutlets (Servings) are too many, this recipe can easily be halved or quartered. 

Veg Cutlet

Time: 1 Hour | Yield: 8 Servings (Cutlets) | Difficulty: Low

Ingredients:
2 Cups Vital Wheat Gluten
1 Block Extra Firm Tofu
¼ cup Soy Sauce
1-2 tablespoons Marmite*
1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Onion Powder
1 tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Thyme, dried
1 teaspoon Sage, dried
1 cup water, or more if needed
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Celsius.

In food processor, add all ingredients except gluten. Blend until the tofu becomes a thick, but still pour-able, paste. Taste the paste and season more if necessary. Please note that if it tastes too strong, it’s probably perfect. Once you add the gluten, the flavours will diminish significantly. So you want to have enough oomph in the paste to withstand the addition of gluten.

In a large bowl, pour the tofu mixture and add the gluten. Mix well, and when it becomes a dry-ish dough (not sticky to touch) begin to knead, flouring the counter if necessary.
Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough becomes very elastic. Let sit for another 5-10 minutes.

Cut in half, and from each half make 4 cutlets, using your hands to stretch and pound flat.

Coat cutlets with olive oil and place on a baking sheet.  Bake cutlets in oven, turning once, for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
VARIATIONS:
-     You can replace the tofu with 1.5 cups of any kind of pureed bean (I recommend chickpeas or navy beans); make as normal.
-     Instead of oil, you can use any sauce you prefer and bake these as normal.  Make sure to grease the baking sheet.  BBQ recipe to follow.


*Marmite can be found in most normal grocery stores. I usually find it in the baking aisle, near the spices. If you cannot find Marmite, use Vegemite - and if you cannot find that, sub the Marmite for extra soy sauce.

Easy Banana Bread

Happy belated Easter!

Ok, well this isn't a real meal (or it could be, if you have a big sweet tooth) but I had to share this recipe because it is so unbelievably delicious; not to mention super moist! Banana bread recipes are generally run-of-the-mill, but I'd like to share with you this particular one that has slowly evolved in my kitchen. That being said there is nothing too fancy about it.

Chef's Tip: I have seen many other vegan chefs use the cider/soy milk mixture to create a make-shift buttermilk, so I have used that idea here. It helps create a super moist cake.

While I know this is a vegan blog, perhaps you'd like to know what buttermilk really is. Buttermilk is not 'buttery milk' (fattening), but rather the residual milk left after a person makes butter (back in the olden days). It is actually very low in fat. It is thicker due to bacteria (almost like watered down yoghurt). Of course, in the modern age, bacteria are added to force fermentation. This is no longer a natural occurrence.


Easy Banana Bread

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar, preferably raw
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup soy milk, full fat (not fat free)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups super ripe bananas, mashed (about 4 bananas)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 - 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl (you will eventually add all ingredients to this bowl), mix together soy milk and apple cider. Let stand for at least two minutes (for soy milk to curdle) while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Once 2 minutes have passed, add bananas, maple syrup, canola oil and vanilla to the soy milk mixture and stir well to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix only until just combined (never over mix cake batter!), quickly but gently fold in walnut and pour batter into the bread loaf.

Bake for an hour, or until a knife comes out clean. Let the loaf stand for about ½ hour before serving.

Herbed Pasta Salad

Happy Sunday!

This Herbed Pasta Salad is a variation of a pasta salad in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's book "The Vegan Table". I hope you enjoy it!

Herbed Pasta Salad [Makes 6 servings].

Ingredients:
16 oz vegan penne (or similar)*
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cucumber, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
1 can artichokes, drained and chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup pine nuts

Optional: 1 block tofu, squared and fried

Preparation:

Begin with cooking pasta according to instructions.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine oil, vinegar, lemon juice, fresh herbs, salt, pepper and sugar. Blend until the herbs look finely chopped and ingredients are well incorporated.

When pasta is cooked, allow to cool and combine all ingredients (including tofu, if using). Mix thoroughly and serve.



* Dried pasta is usually Vegan, but check the ingredients just to make sure. Rice pasta is almost always Vegan.