Eggplant & Black Eyed Pea Curry

Serves 6 to 8
Total time: 1 hour || Active time: 20 minutes

January for me means there’s always a chili or a curry simmering away on the stove. There’s no farmer’s markets to speak of so of course I’m depending on lots of beans and pantry items. When your toes are so cold all the time you need something warm and filling at the ready, and the spice doesn’t hurt, either! Its fragrance warms everything up like a magic spell wafting throughout the house. In fact, this curry was so aromatic that the mailman had to knock on the door just to tell me how good it smelled. Now that’s sayin’ something.

I wanted lots of texture here and so I went with hearty ingredients. Eggplant, for one, with its great meaty seeds and velvety body. And then I used a little lentil trick that is worth its weight in gold (I mean, worth it’s weight in lentils.) Use two kinds: red lentils as a backdrop, because they just melt into the stew and provide a thick heartiness. And then brown or green lentils which stay toothsome and intact.

You can serve with basmati rice, of course, but it’s also great over mashed potatoes (maybe even cilantro or scallion mashed potatoes if you want to get a little fancy.) When peeling the eggplant, you don’t have to be too precise. A little skin left on is fine, I just find that a lot of skin is a little obtrusive and it also prevents the eggplant from breaking down. I used black eyed peas to switch things up a bit, but kidney or chickpeas are great here, too!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced medium
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 lbs eggplant, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks
1 1/2 tablespoons mild curry powder (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed or chopped fennel seed
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder (leave out if you don’t like spicy, increase if you do)
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 cup brown or green lentils
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro, chopped (extra for garnish)
5 cups vegetable broth
3 cups cooked black eyed peas, rinsed and drained (about 2 16 oz cans)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Preheat a 4-quart soup pot over medium high heat. Saute onions in oil until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and saute for another minute.

Add the eggplant, curry powder, fennel seed, salt, pepper and cayenne along with a 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth to cook the eggplant down for a minute or two.

Add lentils, cilantro and remaining vegetable broth. Cover pot and bring to a boil, keeping a close eye. Once it’s boiling, lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes, until lentils are tender and eggplant is soft. Add black eyed peas to heat through, and stir in the tomato paste and lemon juice. If you’d like a thicker curry, then leave the lid off for the last 10 minutes. For thinner then just add a little extra broth. Taste for salt and seasoning.

Let sit for 10 minutes or so for maximum flavor. Serve garnished with cilantro if you like.

Raspberry Truffle Brownies

Makes 12 brownies

If there’s a better combination than chocolate and raspberries then I don’t know it. These brownies are dense and truffle-like, with lots and lots of melt-in-your-mouth raspberry flavor from both jam and whole berries. And here’s the amazing thing…they’re low in fat, high in fiber and made with whole wheat pastry flour! But don’t let that deter you, you’d never know it.

I’ve been hard at work developing healthier dessert recipes for the upcoming Forks Over Knives cookbook! I said “healthier” not “healthy” because dessert, no matter how healthy, is an indulgence. But if we’re going to indulge (and we definitely are), why not try to make those treats as nutritious as possible? Developing these treats has been a fun challenge and I’m getting a kick out of experimenting with whole grain flours, natural sweeteners and alternative sources of fat. I also like that the recipes don’t have to be too restrictive; some fats are cool to use in moderation, like nut butters, avocado and chocolate.

But back to these brownies! Valentine’s Day is coming up and you’ll surely want to make these for the one you love. Maybe you’d like to scatter brownies on the bed instead of rose petals?

A few recipe notes:
~This is one of those rare occasions where frozen fruit actually works better than fresh, so don’t worry about raspberries being out of season. The batter is very thick and I’m pretty sure that fresh raspberries would get crushed as you tried to knead them in.
~Use a naturally sweetened fruit spread if you can find one.
~For the dry sweetener, I use Sucanat, but any sugar will do.
~To get brownies as fudgy as possible, be careful not to overbake. These really benefit from chilling in the fridge for a few hours.
~To slice brownies, use a blunt knife (a butter knife or a plastic knife) and dip in water after each slice.

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup raspberry fruit spread
1/2 cup sugar or other dry sweetener (see note)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 8 inch pan with parchment paper and lightly mist with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate in either a double boiler or the microwave. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, vigorously mix together the jam, sweetener, and apple sauce. Stir in the extracts and the melted chocolate.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix very well until a stiff dough forms. Fold in the raspberries. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. It will be very thick, you’ll probably need to use your hands to evenly spread the batter.

Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, they should still be soft and gooey. If a tester toothpick comes out clean, they’re overbaked. Remove from oven and let cool completely. These taste especially good and fudgy after being refrigerated for a few hours.

The Post Punk Kitchen 100

There’s no doubt about it, veganism landed on the moon in 2011 — it was everywhere! This list is all about the food we ate once we landed. From the cookbooks and blogs that got us into the kitchen, to the gadgets that made it fun to be there — here are 100 ingredients, recipes, chefs, restaurant, tips, cookbooks, tools and websites that made us swoon all year.

I compiled the list by asking everyone from my mom to my favorite musicians what inspired them in 2011. I also posed the question on Twitter and Facebook (of course!) so that I could get as much feedback as possible. Since this is the Post Punk Kitchen 100, naturally there are a few items from Terry and I that made it on to the list, but I tried to make it as diverse as possible, giving shoutouts to the other people that made our 2011 a delicious year. I also tried to include things that everyone could afford to do right now today as well as a few items that you can add to your bucket list. For instance, I still don’t have a $400 blender but I can certainly swing an avocado masher. And hopefully there’s a tip or trick in here that will even save you money!

The list is in no particular order, #1 isn’t necessarily any more important or better than #47 in our eyes. The main point was just to have some fun. From time to time we link to stuff you can buy on Amazon. If you purchase through those links, the credit will go to supplies for The Teal Cat Project.

If you see a mistake or if I accidentally didn’t give credit, please just let me know. And of course let us know what inspired you in 2011. Enjoy!

1) Soaked cashews
2) Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food
3) Pinterest
4) Speculoos
5) Massaged Kale Salads
6) Magic Bullet
7) Garden Tomatoes No Matter Where You Live
8) Obsessive Confection Disorder
9) Caulipots
10) FUD Nachos, Kansas City, MO
11) The Broth Bag
12) Coconut Flour
13) Caribbean Vegan by Taymer Mason
14) Vegusto Cheese
15) WholeSoy Unsweetened Plain Yogurt
16) The Gnocchi at Portobello PDX
17) Vanilla Beans
18) Avocado Masher
19) Chia Seeds
20) Salt and Pepper and Chocolate
21) Down To Earth Fertilizer
22) Vegan Slow Cooking
23) Camera+ for iPhone
24) Bunnies on Blogs
25) Dunwell Donuts
26) Dumpling Squash
27) Skittles Juice
28) Tofu Xpress
29) Vegan Cadbury Eggs
30) Cuisinart Green Gourmet Skillet
31) Loafs
32) Soy-free Vegenaise
33) Secondhand Annual Magazine Cookbook Collections
34) Vegan Big Mac At Doomie’s, LA
35) Real Thai Soy Sauce
36) Refrigerator Pickles
37) OhSheGlows Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
38) Kansha, by Elizabeth Andoh
39) The Vegan Vine
40) Silicone Crust Shield
41) Anise/Fennel Seed Mix
42) Steamed Veggies
43) 00 Flour
44) Flan at Gracias Madre, SF
45) Devilled Eggs
46) Kombu
47) Cocoa from the Grenada Chocolate Company
48) Chickpea Tofu
49) Make Your Own Mixes
50) Cast Iron Pan
51) 3 Brothers Vegan Menu, Rockville Center Long Island, NY
52) Peanut Flour
53) Quinoa Sushi
54) Sweet & Sara’s Marshmallows New Formula
55) Blendtec
56) Beer Battered Avocado Tacos at Seabirds, Southern California
57) Hand Pies
58) Chickpea Magazine
59) Frozen Ginger
60) Cultured Cashew Cheese
61) Cookie Dough Shake, Chicago Diner
62) VKRees Photography
63) Sweet Pepper Onion Quiche from Louise Hagler’s Miso Cookery
64) Lentil Taco Meat
65) Stovetop Smokers
66) Steamed Dumplings and Assorted Wheat gluten at House Of Vegetarian, NYC
67) Grilled Kale
68) Maple Extract
69) Coconut Whipped Cream
70) Falafel Nachos
71) Agar Agar powder
72) Macnocheeto Burrito from Homegrown Smoker, Portland, OR
73) Parboiled Oven Fries
74) Donut Pan
75) Vegan Cheesecake
76) Saoji Masala Tempeh (and Long-ass Recipes)
77) Chloe Coscarelli’s Pumpkin Tiramisu
78) Illustrations at The Vegan Stoner
79) Gigante Beans
80) Whole Spices
81) Dulce De Leche
82) Smoky Soy Curls from Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson
83) How To Peel Garlic In 10 Seconds
84) Beet Burgers
85) Make Your Own Candy Bars
86) Marinated Tofu Sandwich From VegNews’ Recipe Club
87) Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta
88) Grapefruit Brulee
89) WeeklyVeganMenu Blog
90) Lagusta’s Chocolate Of The Month Club
91) Partially Frozen Olive Oil
92) White Balsamic Vinegar
93) Steamed Seitan from Viva Vegan
94) Food For Lovers Queso
95) Fresh Yuba
96) Indoor Mushroom Growing Kits
97) Vegan Dad’s Hot Cross Buns
98) Cooking for someone you love
99) Buying Vegan Food on Amazon
100) iPad In the Kitchen

Thanks so much for all who participated (in order of appearance)! Troy Farmer [Raven & Crow], Lagusta Umami [Lagusta’s Luscious], Lazy Smurf [Lazy Smurf’s Guide To Life], Johanna Fateman [LeTigre], Quarrygirl [Quarrygirl], Jason Das [SuperVegan], Alan Dubinsky, Kelly Peloza [Vegan Cookie Connoisseur], Angela Liddon [OhSheGlows], Sarah Kramer [Sarah’s Place], Laura Beck [Vegansaurus], Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan [OurHenHouse], Amy Gedgaudus [Tahinitoo], Terry Hope Romero [Vegan Latina], My Mom [no website], Gabrielle Pope [Vegans on the Move], Aaron Adams [Portobello], Joanna Vaught [Yellow Rose Recipes], Mo [Mo Betta Vegan], Michelle Truty [Vegtastic Voyage]

Puffy Pillow Pancakes

Makes 6 Pancakes
Time: 30 minutes

I miss NYC the most during the holidays. Any holiday, really, but mostly on Jewish Xmas. If you’re not familiar with Jewish Xmas, it involves Chinese Food and a movie. I always celebrate with my mom, but your family member mileage may vary.

I’m not sure Jewish Xmas can really exist anywhere outside of NYC. While the rest of the country seems to shut down and sink into a comfy sleepiness, it’s a busy busy day in New York. Restaurants do some of their best business, the movie theaters are packed. You can’t truly experience it anywhere else, I guess it’s like American Mardis Gras in that way. Jewish Xmas without NYC is like Mardis Gras without Bourbon Street.

So what’s that got to do with pancakes?

Well, I started ruminating on the ghosts of Jewish Xmas past. In particular, I was trying to recall all the movies I’ve seen on December 25th throughout my entire life. My memory is painfully shabby, but I thought of one year where it was just my mom and me, and we saw Dan In Real Life starring Steve Carrel and Juliette Binoche. I don’t remember much about that movie except for one thing: the pivotal pancake scene.

Juliette Binoche was flipping these magnificent golden brown creatures on a griddle. I think she was pissed off about something, but all I could concentrate on were those puffy pillows of pancakes, perfectly golden brown, lined up like jewel cushions on display.

Ever since, I’ve been obsessing on a pancake like that. I’ve gotten the size and shape right, but often at the expense of the texture. Too doughy, or undercooked. I think my main failing was that I wanted to see air bubbles as the pancakes cooks, but when a pancake is that thick, it’s just not going to happen, and now I know that is okay.

Since there was no Chinese restaurant open, I set about finally getting these totally right: golden, almost crumpet-like in appearance, billowy and substantial but not inelegant. I used the recipe I’d been tweaking, but I got the brilliant and innovative idea to google “Thick Puffy Pancake” and realized I hadn’t been using enough baking powder. A little adjustment and voila — perfect puffs on pancakeness. The stuff of dreams! It was a true Jewish Xmas miracle.

They’re simple so don’t let these tips intimidate you. But I do want to share some lessons I’ve learned the hard way:

~ Don’t use an electric mixer for the batter. Overmixed pancakes tend to result in a dense pancake. I use a dinner fork to get everything mixed.

~ You have to let the batter rest for ten minutes or so. The vinegar and the baking powder need to react with each other and the gluten needs to settle in and rest.

~Don’t crowd the pan. Even in my big cast iron, I don’t make more than two pancakes at once.

~ Don’t use too much oil in the pan. It will result in a tough exterior. A very thin layer of oil is what you want and a spray can of organic canola oil works perfectly for this.

~ Preheat the pan for a good ten minutes. I use cast iron and put it on moderate low heat (right around 3 on my stovetop), but you will probably need to adjust a little to get the temp just right. Remember, the temp is not set in stone. Lower and raise in tiny increments as needed. Even turning the dial 1/4 inch can result in big changes.

~ Use a measuring cup (with a rounded bottom if possible) to scoop out the batter. And remember to always spray ithe cup between pancakes, to prevent sticking.

~ Once you drop the pancake in, refrain from futzing with the batter too much. But don’t be afraid to delicately nudge the batter a tiny bit with your fingers to get a more circular shape and more even cooking. But the batter should spread a tiny bit and puff up all on its own.

And now let the pancakes begin!

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup almond milk (or soy milk)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center.

Measure the milk into a measuring cup. Add vinegar and ground flax seeds, and use a fork to vigorously mix the ingredients until foamy. This will take a minute or so.

Pour the milk mixture into the center of the dry ingredients. Add the water, canola oil and vanilla and use a fork to mix until a thick, lumpy batter forms. That should take about a minute. It doesn’t need to be smooth, just make sure you get all the ingredients incorporated.

Preheat the pan over medium-low heat and let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

Lightly coat the pan in oil. Add 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake, and cook for about 4 minutes, until puffy. Flip the pancakes, adding a new coat of oil to the pan, and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Pancake should be about an inch thick, and golden brown.

Rest pancakes on a cooling rack covered with tin foil until ready to serve. To reheat, place pancakes in on a baking sheet covered with tin foil in a  300 F degree oven for 5 minutes or so.

Chocolate Bottom Macaroon Cookies

Makes 24 Cookies

Someone asked me to share this recipe because their Vegan Cookies book went missing (so they say!) I figured why not just put it here for the world?

A crispy coconutty outside and moist sweet inside. That sounds good, right? Well, what if we told you it’s also dipped in chocolate? These are irresistibly adorable, nugget sized morsels that look like they could double as the currency of magical forest creatures. A touch of almond extract really brings out the coconut. For variety, try the cocoa variation and have a double chocolate extravaganza.

3 oz extra firm silken tofu, like mori-nu (1/4 of the package)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted in the microwave or on a double boiler

Variations:
Cocoa Macaroon Cookies: Replace 1/4 cup of flour with 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa.
Chipper Macaroon Cookies: Add 1 cup mini chocolate chips to the batter
Touch of Orange Macaroon Cookies: Add 2 teaspoons orange zest to wet ingredients, leave out almond extract
Or try any combination above!

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment

Puree tofu, oil and milk in a blender or food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula to make sure you get everything. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar and extracts. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt until well incorporated. Mix in coconut until a stiff dough forms.

Drop cookies by the tablespoon onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart from each other, they don’t spread much at all. Don’t smooth the tops out, it’s cool if they have some pieces of coconut sticking out to get a little browned. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, the bottoms should be lightly browned and the tops just barely flecked with color in a few spots.

Let cool on sheets for 2 minutes or so, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. In the mean time, melt the chocolate. Line a cutting board with parchment paper (it’s fine to reuse the stuff you lined the sheets with). When cookies have cooled completely, dip the bottoms in chocolate and set chocolate side down on the parchment paper. Place in fridge to set for at least 15 minutes.

Keep stored in a tightly sealed container at room temperature. If it’s hot out, keep in the fridge so the chocolate doesn’t melt.

Hottie Black Eyed Peas With Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Apples

Serves 4 to 6
Time: 45 minutes

December has gotten pretty crazy for me (and the rest of the world), so I’m sharing some of my favorite comfort foods from Appetite For Reduction! Tell me your favorite comfort food meals in the comments and maybe it will inspire a new recipe.

It’s hard for me to imagine having black eyed peas without greens. They’re forever linked in my tastebuds thanks to my idea of what southerners eat every day, even though they probably eat portobellas and arugula, just like the rest of us. Anyway, sometimes I just don’t feel like using two pans. This dish works on so many levels because you don’t need to saute the greens in a ton of oil and you don’t need another sauce for them, everything comes together in one pot. The Bye and Bye, my favorite vegan bar in Portland, puts what I suspect is a lot of hot sauce in their black eyes peas, so that’s what inspired this flavor profile. I love to use Cholula hot sauce in these, but use your favorite medium heat hot sauce (like, don’t use Sriracha, but Tabasco would be fine.) Serve with Mashed Ginger Sweet Potatoes and Apples, for the perfect balance of spicy, savory and sweet!

Recipe notes:
~This recipe calls for shredded greens, but all i really mean is very thinly sliced. A fast and easy way to get this done, is to pile the leaves on top of each other and then roll them up. You’ll see that it’s very easy to slice them that way.

~Peas and greens are a wonderful combination for taste and nutrition. With one serving you will eat as much fiber as the average American gets in a whole day! Plus a day’s worth of vitamin A and a quarter of the iron. Combine with one serving of the Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples you’ll have 16 grams of protein and nearly one fifth of your calcium for the day. All with only 2 grams of fat and under 400 calories.

~Depending on how sweet your apples are, you may need even less agave than listed in the sweet potatoes, or perhaps even no agave at all! Taste before adding.

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch kale or collards, rough stems removed, shredded (about 1/2 pound)
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 15 oz cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup veg broth
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional, a smidge of smoked paprika would be great too)

Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Saute the onion in the oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Use a little cooking spray if needed. Add the garlic and saute a minute more. Add the greens, 1/4 cup of water and salt. Cover the pot and cook the greens down for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add black eyed peas, tomato sauce and broth and thoroughly mix. Cover pot and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add hot sauce and liquid smoke, then use a potato masher to mash some of the beans, about 1/4 of them, to thicken the sauce. Cook for about 5 more minutes uncovered. Taste for salt and seasoning. You may want to add more hot sauce, I often do, but I err on the side of caution with recipes for spicy things. Serve hot.

For the Sweet Potatoes

1 pound apples, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch chunks (2 average sized)
2 pounds sweet potatoes or yams, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon agave (optional, see note)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger, see note

Cooking spray

Preheat a 4 quart pot over low heat. Spray with cooking spray, then add apples, sweet potatoes, water and salt. Cover pot and sweat the apples and sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes, stirring often. What this means, is just to cook them slowly and let them steam. You want to coax the misture out of them, but if you make the flame too high they’ll burn and cook unevenly.

After 20 minutes, you can turn the heat up just a bit. Add a little more water if needed. Cover and cook 20 more minutes, paying close attention so that they don’t burn, and stirring often. When they’re very tender, they’re done. Mash with a potato masher. Add the agave, cinnamon and ginger, and mash some more. Taste for salt and seasoning. Serve warm.

Wild Rice Salad With Oranges & Roasted Beets

Serves 4
Time: 10 minutes once all ingredients are prepared, but more like 3 hours if not
Active time: 15 minutes

It’s been awhile since I shared a salad recipe. For some reason, cheesecake seems to get more “likes” than salad. But I wish it didn’t! This one is from Appetite For Reduction, and it’s the perfect time for it. Beets are still abundant and citrus, although imported, is in season. This recipe is a cooking lesson unto itself — you’ll learn a quick and yummy way to prepare roasted beets with no oil, how to create beautiful gems of orange segments and how to toast sesame seeds. Making it once will give you a few skills that will last a lifetime and you will never have to read the recipe again. But educational merits aside, it’s also incredibly delicious. A wonderful combo of earthy, sweet, and tangy with a little Asian flair.

And hey, if you’re just in the market for a really simple and tasty salad dressing, the vinaigrette is pretty amazing on everything!

Recipe Notes:

~For time management purposes, prepare the beets and the wild rice the night before or a few hours before so that they have ample time to cool. But if you want to make everything on the same night, it actually tastes pretty good warm, too. Though the key word is “warm,” not “hot.”

~Wild rice has an alluring earthy flavor, but the price can be not so alluring. If your budget isn’t feeling wild about it, go for a wild rice blend instead. That’s got some long grain brown rice thrown in to the mix, but you still get that wild rice taste, texture and color.

2 cups cooked wild rice, cooled
1/4 cup currants
2 cups red leaf lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
1 navel orange
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 lb roasted tin foil beets, cooled

One recipe Orange Sesame Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

First prepare the orange segments. Slice a thin layer off the top and bottom of the orange, then place the orange right side up on the cutting board and simply slice the peel downward, using a chef’s knife and following the natural curve of the orange. A little of the white part (called the “pith”) is okay, just try to get as much orange as you can. Then slice the orange widthwise and cut each piece into 3/4 inch segments.

Then toast the sesame seeds. Preheat a small, heavy bottomed pan over low/medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and stir often for about 2 minutes. They should be toasting up by then (if not, then raise the heat). Use a spatula to toss continuously for another minute or so, until they are varying shades of toasty brown. Remove from pan ASAP to prevent burning.

Pour the dressing into a large mixing bowl. Add wild rice, currants and lettuce. Using tongs, toss to coat. Add oranges and sesame seeds, and toss again. Lastly, fold in the beets. Serve.

Sesame Orange Vinaigrette

Serves 4

This dressing is heavenly; fruity, toasty, spicy and tangy. Toasted sesame oil is kind of a godsend for dressings because it has so much flavor and a little goes a long way.

Make sure your sesame oil is labeled “toasted sesame oil.” Toasting the seeds brings out a lot of bold flavor, where regular sesame oil might just fall flat. It’s usually found in the oil section of the supermarket, although sometimes it can be found in the Asian aisle.

3/4 cup fresh orange juice (from 2 to 3 naval oranges)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce, like Sriracha
1 teaspoon microplaned or finely minced ginger

Vigorously mix together all ingredients. Just mix them right into a measuring cup so as not to make too many dishes. If you’re using it for a grain salad, you can also mix it directly into the large mixing bowl that you will use to prepare your salad. Keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container until ready to use.

Roasted Potato & Fennel Soup

Serves 6 to 8
Time: 45 minutes

Comfort is an entire experience. It’s not just about taste, but texture, aroma and even the cooking experience can be comforting. That’s where roasting comes in!

Roasting gets you so much flavor and complexity with embarrassingly little effort. The kitchen becomes all warm and toasty and rich aromas waft through the entire house. Of course the scent of roasting potatoes make you feel as snuggly as a kitten making muffins on a pillow, but the fennel adds an alluring licorice note in the air, making the experience just slightly more intriguing. It’s also got a great creamy texture, making this soup thick and velvetty.

Because everything is roasted, there’s not much else you need to do to make it fabulous. No sauteeing, no spices; the oven gives you all the flavor you need. Once cooked, all you’ll need to do is puree. Lifechanging!

2 lbs yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
Olive oil for drizzling
2 fennel bulbs (reserve the fronds)(those are the frilly green leaves)
1 large onion, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 teaspoon salt, divided
Fresh black pepper
2 cups warm vegetable broth
2 cups unsweetened warm soy or almond milk

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place sliced potatoes on one baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil (1 tablespoon should do, but 2 tablespoons is ideal for browning.) Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and add add several dashes fresh black pepper. Toss with your hands to coat completely. Roast potatoes for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the fennel and onions. Slice the fennel bulbs from top to base, in 1/2 inch slices. Place on the other baking sheet with the sliced onions and toss with olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to coat, just like you did with the potatoes.

When the potatoes have roasted for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and use a spatula to flip them. Return to the oven on the upper rack, and place the fennel and onions on the middle rack.

Roast for 10 minutes, then remove the fennel and onions, flip, and roast an additional 5 to 10 minutes. At this point, the potatoes should be tender and the fennel and onions should be caramelized.

Reserve a few pieces of fennel for garnish. If using a food processor, place potatoes and fennel in the workbowl along with warmed milk and broth. Pulse a few times, so that it’s creamy but still chunky. Don’t over-puree or potatoes will turn gummy. Thin further with water, if needed.

You can serve immediately, or transfer to a pot to warm a little more and let the flavors meld.

You can also use a submersion blender by transferring all ingredients to a 4 quart pot and blending so that it’s creamy but still chunky, thinning with water as needed.

Taste for salt and pepper, ladle into bowls, garnish with reserved roasted fennel slices and fennel fronds, and serve!

Olive Oil Bread

Makes one 16 inch loaf

There’s no greater comfort than the aroma of freshly baked bread. I believe that is a scientifically proven fact.

I’m no master artisan bread baker — not by a long shot! But I can pull off a few loaves, and this is one of my favorites. It’s not passed down through generations or anything fun like that. In fact, it’s just something I got off AllRecipes or some such useful website a handful of years ago and tweaked until I got my idea of the perfect bread for soup.

I love a lot of things about it: for one, the ease. I started having pain in my left hand a few years ago and so I don’t want anything that I have to knead by hand. This works just perfectly in a standing mixer using a dough hook. Also, the ingredients are super simple; things that anyone who wants freshly baked bread should have around at all times. The olive oil provides a subtle sweet aroma that just makes it smell and taste even more warm and inviting.

But what I really love is the texture! It’s got an almost biscuit-like quality. I love to rip into a chewy crust as much as the next guy, but sometimes with soup I prefer a crisper bite. When lightly toasted, it makes a fabulous crouton. I love to drizzle with just a tiny bit of olive oil and place atop my bowl o’ soup.

And even though I’m a self-admitted non-master artisan bread baker, I do have a few tips for the home baker!

For one, temperature is important to activate the yeast. Things should be on the warm side – that includes the equipment. If it’s very cold in my kitchen I make sure to warm my mixer bowl up either by a brief stint in the oven, or running under hot water. Same goes for the bowl that the bread rises in. I use a glass bowl, so I can even microwave it for 30 seconds to get it warm. Note: Not hot, just warm!

I also set the bread to rise where ever is warmest. If I’m doing a lot of cooking and baking and my oven is still warm, then often just leaving it on top of the stove will do. But sometimes I place it in my bedroom to rise, because it gets the most sun. An added bonus…your room will smell like bread!

And I have a few tips for forming the loaf. After the first rise, I don’t punch the dough down and knead again. Instead, I gently lift the dough out onto a clean surface and I form a long oval loaf shape. Then I roll the bread out like a rolling pin, shaping as I go to keep the ends round, until it reaches the desired shape.

I think this is a great recipe to start off with if you’re new to bread baking! If you do it often enough, you can just be making the bread in the background, letting it knead away while you multitask on something else. It just becomes second nature after awhile. The most important thing is to get started, don’t be intimidated and try it once. Perhaps before you know it you’ll just become the kind of person that bakes their own bread.

Oh and one last thing: I’ve had great success replacing a cup of the AP flour with spelt, so try that if you’re looking for a heartier loaf.

3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons )
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for the bowl and drizzling)
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Add water and sugar to the workbowl of a standing mixer fit with a dough hook. Sprinkle in the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes.

Mix in the olive oil.

Add 1 cup of the flour along with the salt. Mix on low until well incorporated, and then turn the speed up to medium and mix for 3 minutes.

Add another 1/2 cup of flour and mix well, starting on low and then switching to medium speed. Then add another 1/2 cup of flour, again starting on low and switching to medium. Knead on medium for about 5 minutes. You may occasionally have to get in there with your hands if the dough starts climbing up the hook. It should become smooth and elastic and slightly sticky. At this point, incorporate flour by the table spoon, until it is no longer sticky. When it starts to seem dry, stop adding flour. This could be anywhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup. Knead again on medium until it is smooth.

Meanwhile, drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil into a large bowl. The dough will double in size, so make sure you have enough room. Form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl, tossing it around to coat with oil. Cover the top in plastic wrap and put in a warm place. Let dough rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.

Now gently remove the dough from the bowl and place on a clean, dry surface. I don’t ever have to flour the surface, but if it seems sticky or the surface is very warm, you may need to. Gently form the dough into a long oval. Now roll out and form a loaf that is roughly 14 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Score it across the top in three diagonal slices, drizzle with a little olive oil and let rise for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375 F.

Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 F and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Use tongs to check the bottom, if it seems to be browning too much, then transfer the bread directly to the oven rack for the remaining baking time.

It’s sometimes tough to know if the bread is baked perfectly, but the outside should be golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing in. If the inside is a little undercooked, no worries, just note that for next time. Sometimes there is trial and error involved when baking a new bread.

Slice and serve! Wrap up any remaining bread (as if!) with plastic wrap to keep fresh.

Bestest Pesto

Makes 2 cups
Time: 20 minutes

I guess the sauce that speaks to my heart and runs through my veins more than anything is pesto. I love it on sandwiches, in soups, on scrambled tofu and stir-fries. I would eat it in a house and I would eat it with a mouse. I would even eat it with Václav Klaus (the president of the Czech Republic, duh.)

And I don’t discriminate with ingredients for my pesto, either. So long as it’s fresh and green, it’s fair game. I like to use all manner of nuts- pistachios, cashews, brazil nuts, no one comes out alive.

But when I want to feel my Brooklyn roots, I go classic: basil, pine nuts, olive oil. Still, even those simple flavors aren’t safe from my whims. This is the recipe for exactly the pesto that I crave — classic ingredients with a few minor adjustments.

Half the pinenuts are replaced with walnuts; a combo which started out as a cost saving measure, but now I just prefer the flavor and texture. Of course I always toast ‘em first to bring out the flavor. I keep it mostly basil, but a little bit of cilantro brightens things up, and some thyme because I’m Isa and I love thyme.

A splash of lemon heightens the flavors and provides some tang, and just a little nooch gives some craeminess and cheeziness. I replace half of the oil in a traditional pesto with some water, and it’s none the worse for it. I actually prefer it this way because it’s not greasy.

The pesto makes enough for a pound of pasta. You can, of course, serve it a million ways, but since this is Comfort Food Month on my blog, I’m going to share my favorite!

I’ve spoken about my love for Louise Hagler’s Tofu Cookery before. And so of course her Tofu Balls have a place on my ideal pasta comfort plate. I make sure to add an extra huge pinch of oregano to them to provide a little herbal flavor contrast with the pesto. And another love is roasted cauliflower. When roasted, cauliflower develops an amazingly complex and nutty flavor that reminds me a little of a campfire. Maybe a campfire on prescription painkillers. It’s really really good. To roast cauliflower: 425 F oven, big pieces of cauli tossed with a little olive oil, salt and fresh black pepper. Large rimmed baking sheet, roast for about 20 minutes, flipping once. Voila!

And so, yeah, there it is, my soul bared in the form of a pesto pasta. And I even plan on doing a post about homemade pasta soon if you feel like going totally overboard this winter.

1/4 cup walnut halves
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
2 1/2 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Fresh black pepper (to finish)

First toast the nuts. I will let you in on my secret hybrid nut toasting method. Preheat a large heavy bottomed skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-low heat. First toast the walnuts for about 5 minutes, tossing them often. Then add the pinenuts for an additional 5. They should turn a few shades darker and smell warm and toasty.

Transfer toasted nuts to a food processor. Add the garlic and pulse everything into fine crumbs. Add the basil, cilantro, thyme, salt, nutritional yeast and water and puree until relatively smooth, scraping down the sides at least once to make sure you get everything. Stream in the olive oil and blend until well combined. Last but not least, blend in the lemon juice.

I serve it over warm pasta (don’t rinse, it needs the starch to stick), and finish it off with some fresh black pepper.

Cashew Queso

Makes 2 cups
Time: 45 minutes

If ooey, gooey, cheeziness is your idea of comfort, I’ve got just what the doctor ordered. Yes, the doctor ordered nachos. Don’t ask me! It’s some kind of experimental alternative medicine or something.

Whether you take your queso with a lot of crunch over nachos, or prefer it in a doughy burrito, this recipe will satisfy all of your needs for creamy, melty, oozy, spicy, tangy, cheezy bliss. The cashew base makes it rich and smooth, and cooking it with a little starch brings the texture even closer to melted cheese, especially as it sets. Miso adds a lot of umami depth and satisfying saltiness. And of course there’s the usual queso suspects: onion, pepper, garlic and jalapeno. Some cumin, ancho powder and lemon seal the deal.

But the magic doesn’t end there! Not to get all infomercial on you, but this queso can also double as a grilled cheese filling. Let it cool completely, then spread over bread and toast each side in a pan with a little olive oil. Two comfort foods for the price of one. And one last thing ladies and gentlemen, it’s is completely gluten-free. Order now.

Recipe notes:
~If you prefer a chunky queso, double the vegetable ingredients (except for the garlic) and set half aside before the pureeing step.
~This reheats really well! Gently reheat in a small pot, drizzling in a little water and whisking often until it returns to its original creamy state.
~The nutritional yeast is totally optional, I love it both with and without. It adds a little extra cheezy kick, but if you aren’t a fan or don’t have any on hand, the queso will not suffer for it.
~White miso is my favorite, but since it’s such a small quantity, any miso will do here.

1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours or overnight
2 cups veg broth
2 tablespoons white miso (see recipe note)
2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot

1 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (keeps seeds if you want more heat)
3 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ancho pepper (or any mild ground red chili)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Drain the cashews. In a blender or food processor, puree them with vegetable broth, miso and cornstarch until very smooth. This could take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes depending on your device. Rub between your fingers to test; slight graininess is okay, but try to get it as smooth as possible.

In the meantime, preheat a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Saute onion, red pepper, and jalapeno in oil with a pinch of salt until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about a minute more.

Transfer vegetables to the blender where the cashew mixture is. Add cumin, ancho, nutritional yeast and salt. Blend again until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender with a spatula to make sure you get everything.

Transfer mixture back to the pot. Whisking often, turn heat up to medium until the queso comes to a slow rolling boil. Lower heat so that it doesn’t burn and cook for about 20 minutes. Whisk often and check to see that it’s thickening, if it’s not, then turn the heat up a bit. It should become nicely thickened but velvetty and pourable.

Stir in the lemon juice at the end. If the queso seems too thick, drizzle in a little water and whisk to desired consistency. Taste for salt, spices and lemon juice and adjust as you like.

Serve hot!

Dilly Stew With Rosemary Dumplings

Serves 6 to 8
Time: 1 hour

I’m dedicating this month to comfort food recipes to help get you (and me) through the winter. Try as I might to traipse around in a hoodie all year round, I have to come to terms with the reality: winter is here. And that means lots of time warming up indoors. Maybe someday I’ll have a fireplace, but for now the heat of the stove gets me through.

So let’s kick things off with a comfort classic! You can think of it as a play on vegan chicken and dumplings or just take it for what it is — a soul-satisfying, thick and hearty stew with chunky potatoes and carrot, creamy white beans, all laced through and through with dilly yumminess. The dumplings soak up all that goodness on the outside, while staying deliciously doughy in the center.

The funnest part is spooning in the squashy squishy dumpling dough only to reveal beautifully firm and plump dumplings when you lift the lid minutes later. Makes you feel like a kitchen god. Or maybe that’s the cabin fever setting in.

Recipe Notes:
~If your baby carrots are the plump kind, then slice them in half on a diagonal. If they’re thin, don’t bother. And if you’d like to use adult-sized carrots, peel and slice them in 1/4 inch diagonal pieces.

~I use a Le Creuset Dutch oven for this. You don’t need to use cast iron, but the wider the pot the better, because you need lots of surface area to make the roux and cook the biscuits later. If you don’t have a wide pot, then using a large, deep pan will work, too.

For the stew:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 medium sized sweet onion (like Vidalia or Walla Walla), quartered and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups vegetable broth, at room temperature
2 stalks celery, tops removed, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 pounds potato, in 3/4 inch chunks (peel if they’re russets)
1 cup baby carrots (see note)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
Fresh black pepper
1 15 oz can navy beans, rinsed and drained (about 1 1/2 cups)

For the dumplings:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoons dried rosemary, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or soy)
2 tablespoons olive oil

First we’re going to make a roux, but it has a little less fat than a traditional roux, which means it doesn’t get as goopy. If you’d like a more traditional roux, just add extra oil.

Preheat a large, heavy bottom pot over medium-low heat.

Add the oil and sprinkle in the flour. Use a wooden spatula to toss the flour in the oil, and stir pretty consistently for 3 to 4 minutes, until the flour is clumpy and toasty.

Add the onion and salt, and toss to coat the onions completely in the flour mixture. As the onions release moisture, they will coat more and more. Cook this way for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and stir for 30 more seconds or so.

Stream in the vegetable broth, whisking constantly to prevent clumping. Add the celery, potatoes, carrot, dill, thyme, paprika and black pepper, then turn the heat up and cover to bring to a boil. Keep a close eye and stir often, so that it doesn’t clump or boil over.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the stew is nicely thickened and the potatoes and carrots are tender.

In the meantime, prepare the dumplings.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the rosemary. Make a well in the center and add the milk and olive oil. Use a wooden spoon to mix together until a wet dough forms.

When the stew is ready, mix in the beans and plop dough right on top of the stew in spoonfuls. You should get about 14 dumplings. Cover the pot tightly and cook for about 14 more minutes. The dumplings should be nice and firm. Use your ladle to dunk them into the stew to coat.

Ladle stew into bowls, topped with dumplings. And serve!

Seitan Roast Stuffed With Shiitakes And Leeks

Serves 6 to 8
Active time: 1 hour || Total time: 2 hours

I know. I’m posting a roast recipe on the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving. I’m sure everyone already has their menus planned and I’m late to the party. But this roast almost drove me to the brink of madness Call of Cthulu style, so I had to defeat it! And defeat it I did.

After about 20 years and twice as many tries I’ve got a fabulous centerpiece stuffed roast that I’m proud to show off to the neighbors. Succulent seitan stuffed with herbed meaty shiitakes and leeks. The seitan is mixed with pureed pinto beans to give it great, juicy texture and even a hint of pink color. It’s really similar to my sausage recipes which I used as a base recipe. The stuffing is coated with bread crumbs, which keep it perfectly packed into the roast when you slice it, instead of falling out all over the place. It all comes together when baked in a familiar tinfoil wrapping.

I don’t know what took me so long to get it right. Maybe someday I’ll be ready to talk about it. But right now, let’s get roasting!

There are a few recipe notes before you begin:

~For best results, use a salty homemade vegetable broth. Salt is integral to the flavor of the seitan, so if your broth isn’t seasoned then add a teaspoon or so of salt to it.

~This makes enough for 6 hungry people. If it’s not Thanksgiving or another holiday, and people are not totally stuffing their faces, it serves at least 8.

For the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 oz shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (rough ends removed)
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into thin half moons
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For the roast
3 cloves garlic
3/4 cup cooked pinto beans, rinsed and drained (fresh or canned)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed or finely chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed between your fingers
1 teaspoon dried sage, crushed between your fingers
Several dashes fresh black pepper

First prepare the filling:
Preheat a large pan, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Saute the mushrooms and leeks in oil until soft, about 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, garlic and thyme. Cook for about 2 more minutes, stirring often.

Sprinkle in the breadcrumbs and toss to coat. Cook the mixture, stirring very often, until the breadcrumbs are toasty and the mixture is relatively dry. This should take about 5 minutes, and the breadcrumbs should turn a few shades darker.

Drizzle in the broth and lemon juice and toss to coat until moist. If it still seems dry drizzle in a little extra olive oil. Set aside until ready to use.

Prepare the roast:
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a food processor, pulse the garlic until well chopped. Add the beans, broth, olive oil and soy sauce and puree until mostly smooth (a few pieces of bean are okay, but they should be no bigger than a pea.)

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, herbs and spices. Make a well in the center and add the bean mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts coming together to form a ball of dough. Knead until everything is well incorporated.

Now we’re going to roll out the seitan and form the roast. Place two pieces of tin foil (about 18 inches long) horizontally in front of you. The sheet further from you should overlap the closer sheet by about 6 inches. This way you have enough foil to wrap around the whole roast.

On a separate surface, use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten the seitan into a roughly 12 x 10 rectangle. If any pieces rip, don’t worry about it, just use a pinch of dough from the ends to repair any holes.

Place the filling in the lower 1/3 of the seitan rectangle, leaving about 2 inches of space at both ends. Make sure the filling is compact, use your hands to form it into a nice, tight bundle.

Now roll! Roll the bottom part of the seitan up and over the filling. Keep rolling until in it’s in a log shape. Now pinch together the seam and pinch together the sides to seal. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it will snap into shape when baking.

Place the roll in the center of the tinfoil and roll up like a tootsie roll, making sure the ends are tightly wrapped. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for an hour*. Rotate the roll every 20 minutes for even cooking.

* I may update the time in this recipe because I’ve gotten a few comments that said it took up to 90 minutes to cook completely! So for now I would say just do a test my poking the roll with tongs. It should feel very very firm. If it doesn’t, then bake further.

Remove from oven and let cool. Unwrap, slice and serve! (See recipe notes for keeping moist and reheating.)

Carefree Curry Burgers

Makes 6 burgers
Active time: 15 minutes || Total time: 2 hours (1 hour chill time, 30 min bake time)

I simmer up a big old pot of curry at least once a week and when I get tired of eating my lunch out of a bowl, burgers to the rescue!

Leftover curry makes the perfect base for these Carefree Curry Burgers, and with the magic of a food processor they come together ridiculously easily. Brown rice adds some “chew” to the texture and chickpea flour gives it a crunchy exterior and toasty flavor. They’re baked, not fried, so that gives you some downtime and makes them even healthier. And if your curry is gluten-free then so are the burgers.

I have never had a burger fail using this formula. Chana Masala, Korma, eggplant curry, aloo saag…you get the picture! The key is that the curry has to have some chunky beans or vegetables. A smooth dahl won’t work because the mixture shouldn’t be soupy. So choose thick, jam-packed stew as your base and you can’t go wrong!

Actually, while we’re at it, here’s a little secret…almost any stew can be made into a burger following these parameters. Make a chili burger by replace the extra curry powder with chili powder. No matter what stew you’re turning into burgers, just adjust the flavorings to match the stew and you’re good to go.

You can totally make these burgers and simply serve with ketchup and pickles. If you’re feeling a little more fancy, you can fake a slaw and a chutney by drizzling some lime juice on both fresh chopped fruit and red cabbage. Then make a curried mayo for some extra kick by mixing a teapoon or two of curry powder into some vegan mayo.

2 cups cold leftover curry
1 cup cooked cold rice (brown basmati is great here)
1 cup chickpea flour, plus a little extra

Extra curry powder to taste
Salt to taste
Cooking spray

Options for serving:
Thinly sliced red cabbage, dressed with lime juice
Chopped mango or pineapple
Vegan mayo mixed with curry powder
Ketchup mixed with Sriracha hot sauce
Lettuce
Red onion
Fresh cilantro

Add the rice a food processor fit with a metal blade and pulse 5 or 6 times. Add the curry and pulse until no big chunks remain, although it shouldn’t not be completely smooth. Pea-sized chunks are okay.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the chickpea flour, a teaspoon or two of curry powder and a big pinch of salt. Mix well, using your hands as the mixture starts to come together.

The mixture should be mushy, not stiff. But if it seems soupy or very loose, add a little extra chickpea flour (by the tablespoon) until it holds together. Taste for salt and curry powder. Transfer mixture to the fridge and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

Form the mixture into 6 patties (about 1/3 cup each) and place each on the baking sheet. Spray the tops with a bit of cooking spray. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes, then flip and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes. Burgers should be golden and firm to the touch.

Alphabet Soup

Serves 4
Time: 30 minutes

Okay, I realize that the only ABC in here is “O,” but I couldn’t find a decent alphabet pasta at the supermarket (although there are quite a few online if anyone wants to split a 12 pack.)

But still! This is homemade alphabet soup, the kind Andy Warhol might make a painting of. The kind that you used to spell out your name and the name of your cats with when you were a kid. The kind my mom used to put in an omelet! Although I still haven’t found anyone else who grew up on that particular delicacy.

It’s a really really really really really really simple, tomato-based vegetable soup. It’s not especially innovative, but it does exactly what Alphabet Soup is supposed to do — it hits the spot! Everyone needs a basic recipe like this.

I love using yukon gold potatoes since they don’t need to be peeled, but if you’re using russets then peel them first — the texture will be better. Also, if you’re like me and don’t have alphabet pasta, you can use tiny shells, wheels, orzo or macaroni.

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced small
2 stalks celery, tops removed, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup baby carrots, in 1/2 inch slices
3/4 pounds yukon gold potatoes, in 1/2 inch dice
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
6 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried small pasta
1 teaspoon agave syrup
16 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup frozen peas

Preheat a 4 quart soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion and celery in the oil with a pinch of salt until soft. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds or so.

Add carrots, potatoes, thyme, tarragon, vegetable broth and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer, add pasta and cook until pasta and vegetables are soft, about 10 more minutes.

Add agave, tomato sauce and frozen peas and heat through (5 minutes or so.) Remove from heat. It tastes better the longer you let it sit, but give it at least 10 minutes. Taste for salt and seasoning, and serve.