Pea Walnut Mint Dip - with Yondu

 Super simple!!!

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/3rd cup walnuts
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• a sprig of mint leaves
• 1 TSP of Yondu
  
• 1/4 cup of water

Preparation 

Put the ingredients together in the bowl of a small food processor and blend together, voilà it's done. Finger licking good. Serve with some favorite raw veggies.

Note: the Yondu really does work wonders here!!! 

 

Recipe came from a Yondu cooking presentation, I just got rid of the olive oil... rest is the same as they did. You need to make sure you add the water in the food processor bowl, this is too heavy to process dry.

 

Dutch Fusion #WFPB Improv 003 " Snert" - Split Pea Soup

I can no longer comfortably represent that this soup has anything to do with Dutch "snert" - the traditional name for pea soup, though formally you could call it erwtensoep - "erwten" are peas. Somehow the memory of pea soup when I was a kid is what gives me the inspiration, but then my pantry has become so much more diverse over the years that I have wandered pretty far from the original. 

And, but of course, the garden variety "snert," is made with things like bacon and sausage, the old stick to your ribs kind of soup. Mine still is substantial soup, you can really make a meal out of it, salad on the side, perhaps some whole wheat bread sticks or a slice of great whole wheat sourdough bread toast and that is really all you need.

 

Here is the recipe, today I included some parsnip and some taro over and above the normal things in the recipe.

Split Pea Soup

Great basic recipe for vegan split pea soup, adapted for #WFPB by leaving out the oil.

View on allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2-4 onions, cut fine
4-6 chillis, cut fine
1 jalapeno, cut fine
3 bay leaves
3-6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups dried split peas, you can also mix & match 2 cups (1 lb) of split peas (Arvejas Partidas Verdes, or Matar Dal), and 2 cups (1 lb) of yellow split peas ( chana dal).
1 cup barley
1-1/2 tbsp liquid aminos, or some Better Than Bouillon or Marmite, etc.
8-10 cups of vegetable or mushroom bouillon (2 pints)
(Alternatively, half vegetable bouillon and half water with a whole king mushroom, cut up)
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, diced
1 tsp of panchpuran
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Optionally other root vegetables, such as parsnips, or turnips, eddo, or taro etc.
Other alternatives are to add 1 tbsp of tianjin preserved veggies, or some Braggs liquid aminos if you're using water, not veggie broth. Both of those contain some salt, so don't over do it. The goal remains to stay below the 1,500 mcg of sodium per day.

For a more chewy texture, you can include some baked seitan, or TVP.

Preparation

In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the onion, dry for for a total of 10 mins, 5 mins no stir, and 5 mins stirred while adding some 2-3 veggie stock ice cubes, then bay leaf and garlic, cook for 5 minutes on medium.
Add the peas, barley, liquid aminos and water.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cut up the veggies.
Add more water as needed for the right thickness.

Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper.
Simmer for another hour, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.

 

 

Ecuadorian #WFPB Bean Soup Improv 002 Locro de Lentejas - Lentil Soup

Locro de Lentejas (Ecuador)

Lentil soup with Cabbage

Note: Ecuadorian cuisine tends to be mild, so I left out the chilis and used only three (seeded) jalapeños, and then I split the soup in two and finished a mild version with some miso at the end, and a spicy version with some gochujang.

View on blogspot.com

 

Ingredients

1 lb whole lentils
1 lb young potatoes (the kind with the thin skin, either yukon gold or redskin), quartered or smaller, depending on the size and personal preference
one small green or savoy cabbage, quartered and sliced in 1/4" strips
1 white onion cut up in small pieces,
2-3 large red onions, sliced thin
4 green chilis, sliced thin, with seeds (optional)
2 jalapeño peppers, sliced thin (without seeds)
6 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped fine.
1-2 king mushroom cut in strips, or baked seitain cut in cubes.
1 tsp panchpuran
1 teaspoon of savory
1 teaspoon of tarragon
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
5 bay leaves
2 pints of low sodium vegetable stock
3 pints of water
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
 

Seasoning to taste with Braggs Liquid Aminos. Alternatively, dissolve one heaping tablespoon of miso paste (or, if you like spicy, gochujang) in water and add at the end and use less liquid aminos.

Anyway you finish it up, you'll have a great winter soup you can stick a fork in!

Preparation

Dry fry the onions with the peppers, panchpuran over a low flame for about 3/4 minutes until they get soft and start to brown. Add a splash of veggie broth as needed, so it does not stick to the pan.

Add garlic, the vegetable stock and the herbs & spices, the lentils and the seitan (or mushrooms) and (after about 15 mins) the potatoes. 

Let cook for another 10-15 minutes, and add the cabbage.

Let it simmer for 30 mins.

 

At the end, add some miso, or gochujang dissolved in water and the chopped cilantro.

(Notes:

1. Some people would peel the potatoes, but if you buy thin-skinned potatoes, you can easily cook them in the skin, even cut-up: you lose less nutrition that way.
2. Evidently, you can vary the herbs and spices to taste.
3. Never boil the miso, just dissolve in hot water and add it in at the end.)

2021: The 5 Year Anniversary of the UN FAO International Year of Pulses

It was May 2015 when I switched to a Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet and lo and behold, 2016 was the Year of Pulses (legumes). I can only say that my repertoire of using various legumes has gradually expanded since then, so I figured it was in order to celebrate the 5-year anniversary. It will be a small, private celebration in my kitchen, but you are invited to expand it to yours. I made up my mind this winter to get really good at various heavy soups - cold weather always inspires that and in Holland we had a good tradition of heavy bean soups in winter. The bottom line is, pulses, legumes if you will provide excellent nutrition, and in any region of the world you can learn to cook with the local varieties.

I posted the first one the other day... Dutch Bruine Bonen Soep. I always assumed that this was about red kidney beans, and Wikipedia seems to reinforce that notion, but people in the Dutch community have convinced me that pinto beans are actually closer in taste. Getting comments back from around the world made me that much more aware that whatever beans you can get vary quite a bit locally. Given that I live in Little Bangladesh in the Bronx, which is overall 60% hispanic, I have a treasure trove of pulses available to me and my cooking in general reflects it. In Spanish cultures, I find mostly beans and corn, of course, as well as some chickpeas (garbanzo). In the SE Asian community, I find lots of lentils (dal), chickpeas (gram) and other goodies.

Then, when you think you have seen it all, and choice is already overwhelming, along comes 60 minutes with a piece on heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. Here is at least a vegetarian approach. I will obviously be focusing on pure @WFPB.

 

To begin with, I am collaborating with Fatima Cabrera, who is the cook at the St. Helena's school. Her background is Ecuadorian. We will also get some input from Leobarda, who is the cook at the rectory at St. Helena's.

The first few soups we are plannig, starting with the Pinto Bean Soup listed above:

1. Dutch-inspired Pinto Bean Soup
2. Ecuadorian-inspired Locro de Lentejas
3. Dutch-inspired Split-pea soup
4. Mexican-inspired Three Sisters Posole
5. Mixed Bean Soup with Summer Savory
   

After the first five, some of which we have made before in our cooking class at St. Helena's, we are going to expand the repertoire. The theme may be expanded to include other traditions, but we will stick to soups based on various pulses, with a preference of a winter-theme - soups you can stick a fork in, so to speak.

Principles of cooking with beans

Beans can be hard to digest if you are coming from a very industrial diet (read: SAD, Standard American Diet). There are a few things to know which can make beans easier to digest. Generally speaking soaking for 6-8 hours makes life easier. In terms of the kitchen, you can shorten prep time by using an Instant Pot to pre-cook the beans, that tends to cut an hour off cooking times. For lentils and split peas, soaking and pre-cooking is generally not an issue, for they dissolve quickly. 

Soaking

If you are going to cook at night, soak in the morning, putting your beans under an inch of fresh water. You can put a sheet of kombu in your beans, that will enrich the taste and the amino acids in kombu help soften beans and make them more digestible. Add a 4-6″ strip of kombu to a pot of cooking beans. After an hour or two, the kombu will disintegrate when stirred. (Any stray pieces should be tender enough to eat, or you can remove them.) See also here, on Kitchen: Ingredient Spotligh: Dried Kombu. You can drain the soaking water, but you can cook the beans with the kombu, that adds deep flavor.

If you are cooking in the AM, soak the beans at night. So they are good and ready in the AM.

Herbs and spices, basic veggies.

Bayleaf is always good, Summer Savory adds flavor and according to kitchen lore, like Kombu, it helps with digestion. 

For the rest, it all depends on what style you are cooking in and you use the herbs and spices from that tradition. I personally cannot cook anything without onions and garlic, so my soup recipes will start with that. I like to use some fresh turmeric as well. Sometimes ginger. Carrots and celery are good companions in many soups. Then there is panchpuran (five spices), which is the quick and easy way to start any dal. You should add it in right from the start and roast it with your onions. I like chilis, jalapeños or any variety of hot peppers. Given that beans by themselves are kind of dull, it is hard to make it too spicy, but for me a soup with some subtle zing to it is the best.

Some kitchen technique

One of the challenges with beans is the need for soaking and the pre-cooking. If you have a pressure cooking solution, you can cut it short, and you can pre-cook your beans while you are preparing the veggies for the soup. I use an Instant Pot and I love it - instead of pre-cooking for an hour, I can do it in 10 minutes.

 

I look forward to seeing you around the campus! We are hoping to relaunch the cooking classes at St. Helena's in the spring.

 

 

 

Dutch #WFPB Improv 001 Bruine Bonen Soep - Kidney Bean Soup

As a kid, growing up in Holland, I used to love bruine bonen soep. We were vegetarian, so besides leaving out the oil, I guess I could have used the recipe from those days, but I have no idea what my mother really did, although I liked to hang out in the kitchen and often helped with cooking.

Meanwhile, later, after I started living on my own, I became a bit familiar with the general Dutch way of making this type of soup, with sausage and bacon. Stick to your ribs as they say. In my #WFPB version, I allow for either TVP or baked Seitan to provide some of that chewyness that sausage might provide and that works quite well. I have even had some omnivore friends asking me what kind of meat this was. I get a kick out of that.

So, since I have quite an inventory of kidney beans and pinto beans and other pulses, I figured it's soup season and I made this improvisation based on a recipe from a Dutch website. The first few times I made it with pinto beans, because I have a lot of them in the house, but I am also going to make it with red kidney beans, which at least visually seem closer to the Dutch bruine bonen (brown beans). I know that in the past I did make a version with red kidney beans also. Next time I do, I am going to try to appreciate the difference in flavor.

I ended up straying very far from the original, but the result was amazing. My neighbor who ate some of it said it was the best soup he ever had in his life. In some versions of it, I've also added barley, which is very nice and makes it even more of a complete meal. Have a salad on the side and you have a highly nutritious complete meal. These days you can even find some whole wheat bread sticks if you're looking for crunch.

Bruine Bonen Soep

Kidney Bean Soup

View on thedutchtable.com

Ingredients

2 cups of kidney beans or pinto beans, dry
1 ounce of kombu for soaking
 

1tsp summer savory for cooking the beans
1-3 bay leaves
2-3 medium sized onions, cut-up fine
2-3 shallots or other small onion
4-5 chilis and/or jalapenos, or both - cut-up fine
2 quarts of veggie broth or alt. use something like Veggie Better Than Bouillon and water. More water to taste.
1 leek, washed and sliced fine.
5-10 cloves of garlic, minced
1-3 toes of turmeric, minced or 1 tsp of turmeric powder
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 cup of celeriac root, parsnip, or turnip, or eddo.
2-3 stalks of celery, including leaves
2-3 potatoes, washed and diced,
1-2 carrots peeled & diced
2 tomatoes, or a 15- Oz can of diced tomatoes 

Optional: add in some barley for the last 30 mins.
Some Tianjin veggies
Some miso, or gochujan, or Yondu to taste.
If you want some chewyness, you could add in some baked seitan (kao fu), or ΅soy chunks/TVP. etc. Could also be mushrooms.

Garnish with parsley.

Preparation

• Soak the beans overnight (minimum 6 hours ideally).
  
• Cut up the onions fine and dry roast for 5 mins at 425F (Medium High)
• Add in the minced garlic, minced shallots and chilis, turmeric and stir fry it for another five mins, adding about 1 cup of water or veggie broth.
• Add in the drained beans and 2 pints of veggie broth. If you pre-cooked the beans in the Instant Pot, you can use the cooking water from the beans also.
  
• Let cook for 1- 1.5 hrs, until the beans are soft. Alternatively, you can cook the beans in water with the kombu in the Instant Pot. That will save time and energy (takes only 10 mins.
  
• Puree it with a stick blender or in a food processor.
  
• Add in the cut-up veggies, potato, tomato, thyme simmer low for 30 mins.
• Add more water to gain right consistency and finish the taste with miso or gochujang or similar.

Serve, enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Spicy Carrot Soup

What to do with a ton of carrots? I was given about 10 lb of organic carrots. What to do? I made this soup twice, shared some with my neighbor, froze the rest... First time I made it with the Thai red curry paste, second time with Korean Gochujang instead (I think I like that better), and next time I am going to substitute some besan with nutritional yeast and black salt for the coconut milk, because the coconut milk as too much fat. Includes link to original recipe. Depending on the amount of carrots, you can use more onion and garlic, of course, adjusting all quantities along the way.

Spicy Carrot Soup

 

View on pinchofyum.com

 

Ingredients

8–10 large carrots, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 14-ounce can coconut milk, alternatively some besan and nutritional yeast dissolved in water
1 1/2 cups veggie broth
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon red curry paste alternatively 1-2 tbsp Gochujang
salt to taste
cilantro and peanuts for topping

 

Preparation

STOVETOP INSTRUCTIONS:

Saute the onions and garlic with a little bit of oil until soft. Add the carrots, coconut milk, broth, and curry paste. Simmer until carrots are soft. Add peanut butter and stir until melted. Run through the blender until smooth; season generously with salt, top with peanuts and cilantro.

INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS:

Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot and set for 15 minutes. When done, let everything cool for a few minutes, then run the mixture through the blender until smooth; season generously with salt, top with peanuts and cilantro.

pinchofyum.com

Spicy Instant Pot Carrot Soup - Pinch of Yum

Carrot soup made with 7 ingredients: coconut milk, carrots, broth, on

Plant-Based Shopping News - restoring the Starling Avenue Triangle

Ever since I started writing about the Starling Avenue Food Shopping Triangle, things have been changing. In particular one of the three supermarkets that form the triangle, the Pioneer at 1345 Castle Hill Avenue was closed for renovations and when it was almost ready, we had the Covid lockdowns... and now they are open again and they just had their grand opening.

 

I did a quick survey of the aisles from a Whole Foods, Plant-Based perspective and I found some good stuff, so I'll post some of my findings here. I might do more some other time.

 

Massive area for fruits, veggies right when you come in. Breads on the right, was not great. (no Dave's Killer Bread, which is the only bread I buy, short of Ezekiel).

Some more pics:

 

Pretty good selection here...

    Great selection of herbs as well as things like red leaf lettuce, which I love...

And Wasa crackers, which are delicious and totally fat-free.

Tons of berries.

College in broth was on sale at 2 for $5.00 so I nearly cleaned them out.

And a good selection of grains, including Quinoa and so on...

I did not see too much whole wheat pasta, but at least they had some.

And a decent selection of herbs.

 

And, I should not forget, a whole section of Bob's Red Mill products, which is also a welcome addition. Key foods has some, but this is a pretty extensive selection!

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, that is it for now. Definitely worth a visit. In my book the Wasa bread in particular is a great find. Other crackers may be low in fat, but Wasa proves it can be done without fat altogether, and taste-wise it has always been one of my favorites, ever since it started to appear in Holland in the 1960's.

I am happy to see that the Starling Avenue Triangle is restored to its former glory, and this store is a darn sight better than the old one was.