>Tunisian Ragout…nom.

>I’ve drank quite a bit of my smoothie, but this is my morning trifecta:

Coffee, water, Green smoothie. My smoothies are usually 15-20 ounces.
You know how there are some recipes that you go back to time and again? Even if it’s not weekly, or even monthly, there are recipes that I’ll remember and go back and cook again and again..then I’ll forget about them for seven or eight months. This weekend, I giant $2 eggplant was starting me in the face. I know this isn’t a good price for an eggplant, but it was a gorgeous, perfect, 2 lb beauty. And even though I have a tendency to sometimes let eggplant go bad before I cook it, I purchased this with the best intentions. Then I proceeded to scour cookbooks. I’m doing the Veganomicon Challenge currently, so I went there first. The moukassa sounded great, but super labor intensive for something I know my husband won’t touch. He hates eggplant anyways, but maybe one day I’ll have an excuse to make that eggplant moukassa with pinenut cream. Next, I went to appetite for reduction, thinking I’d use all two pounds of eggplant to make a metric fuckton (scientific measurement!) of eggplant bacon. Except that the thought of burning eggplant really scared me and I don’t have three baking sheets. So….I resorted to my favorite eggplant recipe from the fatfree vegan. As soon as I recalled this recipe, I wondered why I’d even looked for another way to use this eggplant. I LOVE Tunisian Vegetable Ragout with Quinoa from the FatFree Vegan. It is deeeelicious. I’ve never followed Susan’s recipe exactly, but that’s because I realllllllllly love to roast the eggplant and zucchini in cumin/garlic/smoked paprika before I start cooking. It just adds pow to the recipe and I love how eggplant kind of carmelizes in the oven. It also makes this recipe less…um…fat free. I am experimenting with low oil cooking, but I have a tendency to use my dutch oven for this, and dutch ovens don’t work well for fat free cooking. They’re designed to cook things in oil (at least that’s what the pamphlet that came with mine says, and things REALLY stick to it if I don’t use oil). So yeah…this recipe isn’t the healthiest when I make it. But that’s ok, it’s packed with vegetables and flavor, and that’s what I care about. Plus, a healthy dose of olive oil is good for me sometimes 🙂

As I mentioned, I did change up the recipe. I cooked my quinoa with garlic powder, cumin and not-beef broth. I roased the zucchini& eggplant with spices. I used actual curry paste in the ragout as well as the spices that were called for; and I used more oil, and I used more vegetable broth too.

A bowl of deliciousness. I hope it keeps me full until I get home…but if not, I have some yogurt to tide me over.

>Pineapple Hoison Chickpeas & Rice, Vegan MoFo 7

>My lunch today included this yummy rice…and a chickpea cutlet, because well, chickpeas are awesome. Don’t worry, I had a salad too!

Why, yes, that is mango chutney.

I get so bored with beans and rice. I have to find ways to keep beans interesting and rice from being just plain old rice, and usually I try to avoid just dousing the rice in tamari. There’s a blog I like, called The Life, and I’ve read about his seitan marinade. Pineapple juice and hoison sauce are involved (um, yum, both of those things are awesome), and then on The Happy Herbivore I read about Teriyaki Chickpeas, which also sound interesting and delicious.
I haven’t made either of these recipes; and I’ve just scanned the ingredients in both in the past and kind of forgot about them. Last weekend; I picked up garbanzo beans at the farmer’s market and I knew I wanted to make them into something other than roasted chickpeas or hummus. I soaked and cooked them, made a marinade, then set them in the fridge and forgot about them for 4 days. (I’m awesome like that). Truth be told; I nearly threw them away, but then I sampled a chickpea and knew I couldn’t do that. I also noticed I had half a carton of Imagine No-Chicken broth in the fridge to use up; so I knew I was going to make brown rice with it. These two combined…were amazing.

Ingredients:

1 c brown basmati rice
2 c imagine no chicken broth
(prepare rice; I hope you know how; but if not, boil your liquid, stir in rice, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 40-50 minutes-long grain cooks up in about 40 minutes, short grain takes about 50.)

Chickpeas:
3 c chickpeas
1 c hoisin sauce
1/2 c pineapple juice
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 T peanut oil
1 t granulated garlic
2 t sambal olek (unless you can’t handle heat; then you can skip or reduce this)
1 T sesame seeds + 1 T for sprinkling

Combine all marinade ingredients; pour over chickpeas and marinate for at least 2 hours; the longer the better. Mine had AMAZING flavor after sitting for four days. When you’re ready to cook them, preheat the oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a slipmat. Drain the marinade off the chickpeas using a colander. DO NOT RINSE; JUST DRAIN THE EXCESS MARINADE. Pour chickpea on to pan, make sure they’re all flat on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake for 20-22 minutes. Your chickpeas will be firm but not crunchy. Mix with rice and enjoy! This is going to be breakfast this week. You know, after today, since I had biscuits.

Okay; and just to prove I ate greens…

2 cups of baby spinach, an heirloom tomato, and some Ume Plum Vinegar. NOM.

>Vegan Mofo, Day 3. Curried Chickpea Cutlets

>

I’m getting better at making sure I photograph things; but when food just isn’t pretty; I have a hard time. Oh well; I’m making progress and I have an awesome recipe to share. I’m really excited about these. I’d kind of left vital wheat gluten behind…every time I make seitan it’s gross so I stopped making it. I have two boxes of VWG though; and they’re good until next August; so I decided that over MoFo I’d give seitan another go…and I will.
On Monday, Luciana mentioned that she made chickpea cutlets with a twist; I decided I liked her twist. I like the idea of changing up the flavors in the famous chickpea cutlets to fit whatever meal you’re eating. I’m lazy with ingredients sometimes. I love spices; but when it comes to curry; I prefer paste. These came out great so I decided to share.
First, gather your ingredients.

Missing from the picture…chickpeas and tamari sauce. Oops.

1 15 oz can of chickpeas (1 1/2 c)
3 T coconut oil
3 T tamari (I always use the reduced sodium variety)
1/4 c + 2 T No Chicken Broth
1 t garlic powder
2 T Vindaloo Curry Paste
2 slices hearty bread; toasted and food processed or chopped into bread crumbs (2/3 c)
2 T pumpkin seeds
3/4 c vital wheat gluten

Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly oil a baking sheet with peanut oil.

Mash chickpeas with coconut oil. Make sure there aren’t any whole chickpeas left. Add in tamari, broth, garlic, curry paste, pumpkin seeds and combine well. Then add bread crumbs and wheat gluten. Knead for about 3-4 minutes; until strings of gluten form when you try to pull the mixture apart. Separate dough and form six equal sized patties. Flatten these as much as you can, then place them on the baking sheet. Brush the tops with peanut oil. Bake for 20 minutes; flip, then bake for 10 more minutes. Serve with mango chutney, coconut rice with toasted coconut, and garlicky greens.

>Lemon-Tamari-Parma Roasted Chickpeas

>I’m fairly certain it’s not exactly a secret that I’m madly in love with/addicted to the magical chickpea. Last week I gave myself a break from them; because I’m afraid I’ll fall out of love with them. My favorite way to eat chickpeas is to roast them. They come out firmer, you can eat them like trail mix, and they’re portable.

This is my favorite way to roast them.

First; cook 2 cups of dried beans OR just open 2 cans of beans, drain them, and make the dressing below.

Dressing:
3 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1 T tamari sauce
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t hungarian paprika
lots of black pepper
2 T parma

Combine well to make a dressing in a medium sized bowl with a lid. Add chickpeas, and combine well. Allow this mixture to “marinate” in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 and line with a silicone slip mat or parchment paper. Pour chickpeas on to baking sheet and make sure they’re in a single layer. Bake for 22 minutes; stir well, and return to the oven for 22 more minutes. At this point your chickpeas should be firm and golden, but not crunchy. I don’t like them to be too hard. Cool and store in the fridge. I keep mine in a jar that once contained Raw Coconut oil. Good for 5 days in the fridge.