Photoless recipes

I have had a couple of days of good cookings, but unfortunately a camera suffering from lack o' batteries. However, much as I love the food pornage, you don't need that all of the time when the recipes are tasty!!

So, last night I made a yummy Indian inspired curry, using kale for a supernutritionally boosted saag sauce. I'm calling it Gobi Muttar Saag, which I think is close enough to correct.


Gobi Mutter Saag

Ingredients

• 1 small onion
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1 large red chilli
• 3 cloves garlic
• 6 whole cardamom pods
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 large cauliflower, cut into bite size florets
• 1 cup peas
• 3 cups (about 1 medium bunch) young kale
• 1/2 flaked almonds
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons Nuttelex

Method

Finely chop the onion, ginger, chilli and garlic. Set to one side.

Steam the kale until bright green, then put into a food processor with flaked almonds, oil, 1/2 cup water and salt, and process until as smooth as possible.

Steam the cauliflower and set to one side.

Melt the Nuttelex in a frying pan over medium high heat. Saute the onion, ginger, chilli, garlic and cardamom pods until fragrant and the onion is softened. Add the peas and cauliflower and toss through. Add the ground coriander, ground cumin and cinnamon, and cook off for 30 seconds.

Stir together and add the kale and almond mixture to the pan, along with the other 1/2 cup water.

Cook until the liquid has reduced, leaving a thick bright green sauce.

I served this over a protein rich quinoa pilaf (1 cup quinoa cooked in a rice cooker with 2 cups vegetable stock, 6 cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick snapped in two). Was fabulously delicious and nutritious!!

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I have very fond memories of my mother's cooking - non vegan, of course, but damn fine. She taught me great food skills and started my interest in food and cookery from my helping her in the kitchen (and then taking over the kitchen, because I'm a kitchen control freak). I occasionally make a version of the green curry she used to make, and it's a lifetime dream of mine to veganise her salmon cakes that we used to have with steamed broccoli and cheesy sauce.

But my favourite comfort food that she taught me to make was cheesy tuna pasta bake. And tonight, for the first time since becoming veg*n, I found myself inspired to veganise it. And I did so quite successfully!! This recipe needs a few tweaks, but I am really happy with it, and it definitely hit all of the comfort food/mum cooking spots I was needing to have hit. So, without further ado:

Not My Mum's Tuna Bake, But Damned Close!!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups grated tempeh
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 sheet nori
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 2 tablespoons soy Dijonnaise (or soy mayo with 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Braggs
• 1 tablespoon umesu
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons Nuttelex
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons barley flour
• 1 1/2 cups hot vegetable stock
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons barley miso
• 1 1/2 cups chopped parsley
• 350g vegeroni pasta shells

Method

Grind the nori sheet and sesame seeds together until sesame seeds are powdery and the nori sheet is in small pieces.

Mix the grated tempeh, sesame seeds/nori mixture, paprika, white pepper, salt and dill in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the Dijonnaise, lemon juice, Braggs, umesu and water together. Pour into and mix with the tempeh. Set to one side.

Put the vegeroni pasta shells on to cook as per the ingredients on the packet. When cooked, drain and refresh with cold water. Set to one side.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

Melt the Nuttelex in a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat. Saute the onion until translucent and softened. Add the barley flour and stir to form a roux, and cook off for a minute.

Stir in the hot stock a little at a time, stirring continuously to ensure that there are no lumps. When the stock is finished, use the soy milk. When the sauce is smooth and coats the back of a spoon, whisk in the barley miso.

Add the tempeh mixture to the white sauce, mix through thoroughly and cook for a couple of minutes. Mix the drained pasta into the tempeh/white sauce, and add the chopped parsley. Pour into a casserole dish and smooth the top, then dap the top with little knobs of Nuttelex.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is browned and bubbly.

Ensure that you have people to share this with, and a side salad, otherwise there could be extreme overeating taking place...


Notes on this recipe - I used to hatehatehate parsley when I was a kid, and now the parsley flavour totally made this dish for me. Also, you could make the white sauce with nooch instead, but I had read somewhere that miso adds a "cheezy" flavour and so wanted to try it, and probably will continue to use it in white sauces for casseroles as it really does add a certain somethin' somethin' in the background flavour. And lastly, I could say with this recipe that I am truly over my tempeh hatin' ways, as I really enjoyed the tempeh flavour in this dish.

...Though, having said that, I do wonder if I could make this with chickpeas...Hmmmm...

And now, time for bed, methinks! Good night to all, and to all a good night!