Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian

I have mentioned my cousins before here; I have no siblings, so these two guys are like brothers. One of them very thoughtfully bought me Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian cookbook.

It’s a James Beard Foundation award-winning book, so you know it’s good, but besides the accolades, it’s a great cookbook. It has over 600 recipes, all vegetarian, and they are divided up into categories such as dried beans and peas, grains, dairy, sauces, and so on. Jaffrey also has a list of helpful resources.

Some people are really unsure about how to make healthy vegetarian food, but this book offers a huge number of tips and recipes. Nothing is too complicated to make either. I personally especially love the aubergine dishes, but most of Jaffrey’s recipes are great.

I am lucky to have received such a wonderful book as a present from an equally wonderful relative.

Hearty Barley and Black-Eyed Pea Stew

As the weather gets chillier, my mind (and my stomach) turns to heartier food. Actually, I made this dish at the very end of August, after a cold weekend in which M and I had gotten drenched in a rain-and-hailstorm. But I’ll be making it again now that it’s even colder.

This was not M’s favourite meal, but it was very healthy and filling.

You can vary this with any grain and any legume and any spice combination and any added vegetable/s; be creative.

Ingredients:
about 100 g black-eyed peas
water
about 150 g pearl barley
about 100 g spinach (fresh or frozen)
tomato purée
green curry paste
olives
soy cream or yogurt

Instructions:
1. Soak the black-eyed peas overnight in water.
2. Boil the barley in water, then leave to simmer for about an hour, checking and stirring every so often (check the instructions on the package as well).
3. Drain the black-eyed peas and then bring them to a boil in fresh water. Leave them to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.
4. Add the spinach, tomato purée, and green curry paste to the barley.
5. Slice the olives and add them.
6. Stir the black-eyed peas into the barley, then swirl in some soy cream or yogurt. Serve with another dollop of cream or yogurt.

Brownies

These are chewy and rich. Use only white sugar if you want a bit less depth of flavour. You could also ice these with any of the frostings I’ve posted recently.

Ingredients:
115 g butter, plus extra for the pan
200 g chocolate
¼ cup cocoa
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 pinch salt
2 eggs

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter and chocolate together, then mix in the cocoa, sugars, vanilla, flour and salt.
2. Whisk the eggs and blend them into the rest of the batter.
3. Grease the dish. Pour the batter in.
4. Bake at 175 C for around 20 minutes.

Chocolate and Coffee Buttercream Frosting

This recipe makes enough frosting for the cupcakes I posted in the last recipe. I used soy cream, which doesn’t harden as much as regular dairy cream, so I spread this on the cupcakes rather than piping it from an icing bag. It still looks and tastes great, though.

Ingredients:
100 g butter
2 tbsp milk or cream (cream makes it richer; I used soy cream this time)
4 tbsp cold coffee (or more if you want a stronger coffee flavour)
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup icing sugar

Instructions:
1. In a mixer, mix the butter, cream, coffee, and cocoa together until pretty smooth.
2. Add the icing sugar, about ¼ cup at a time. Mix well.
3. Taste and add more cream or vanilla if needed.
4. Frost the cupcakes (or cake) with the frosting.

Dark Chocolate and Coffee Cupcakes

I’ve been on a cupcake roll. Here’s another of my latest creations.

Ingredients:
100 g butter
½ cup cocoa
60 g chocolate
2 tbsp coffee (I used espresso for an extra strong flavour)
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup yogurt

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter, cocoa, chocolate, and water together over low heat, stirring the whole time.
2. Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda together, and then mix the dry ingredients in to the chocolate.
3. Whisk the egg and the vanilla together and then mix them and the yogurt in with the rest of the batter. Stir well.
4. Place in muffin cases. Bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes (7 minutes for mini-cupcakes).

Happy Anniversary, M!

This is the day when I met my beloved M, so excuse this digression while I brag about how wonderful she is and how lucky I am to have met her.

Like many people, I’ve had a number of relationships, some better than others. But I was never with anyone that I knew I wanted to continue to be with as long as possible. I was never with anyone so amazing, so loving, so kind, so smart, so beautiful. I’m extremely fortunate to have met someone I want to share my life with.

Thank you for being you, M. I love you!

Creamy Salmon Flan

Any fish can be used instead of the salmon, as could prawns or tofu. I used this filling in the lemony pie crust I wrote about in my last post.

Ingredients:
pie dough (see previous recipe)
200-300 g fish, prawns, or tofu
1 onion
oil
1 tbsp parsley (or basil)
1 handful chives, snipped into small pieces
1 cup cream (I used soy cream)
3 eggs
black pepper
1 tsp mustard
lemon juice

Lemony Pie Crust

This is a simple pie crust, which you can use underneath any savoury pie. I like it under a spinach quiche. You can replace the butter with oil if you want to go vegan. If you also add sugar, you can make this appropriate for a sweet pie.

Ingredients:
150 g butter
1¼ cups flour
1/8 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions:
1. Soften and cube the butter, then mix it with the flour, water, and lemon juice.
2. Put in the refrigerator for 20 or so minutes, then roll out and put in a pie dish.

Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco

I was very excited about a work-related trip to San Francisco, because I know the city is very vegetarian friendly. A friend and I made a point of trying a number of vegetarian restaurants there and we were not disappointed.

One night we treated ourselves to a more upscale meal, at the gourmet Millennium Restaurant. It’s situated in the Hotel California, the lobby of which has California-related lyrics stencilled all over it.

The meal started with bread served with a lentil spread. My friend told me he hated lentils and never ate them, so I deliberately didn’t let him find out what the spread was. He wolfed it up and said how much he enjoyed it and was shocked when he found out that it was made of lentils. I already knew I liked lentils, but this spread was indeed special.

Appetizers included fried green tomatoes and a spinach salad with smoked tofu. My main was seared tempeh served with grits, a peach sauce, and loads of tasty veg, while my friend had cornmeal-crusted zucchini/courgette (he told me how much he disliked polenta and was surprised to learn that cornmeal was polenta!). We couldn’t resist dessert. My friend had a peach cornmeal cake (since now he knew he liked cornmeal) and I had a chocolate almond cake to satisfy my chocolate-loving taste buds.

Everything tasted really fresh and delicious and it was great to be able to order anything we wanted from the menu and to know it was vegetarian, organic, and healthy. My friend and I were glad we treated ourselves and we’d definitely recommend the restaurant.

An Unusual Tomato Sauce

I often make curries with curry paste and coconut milk and I was planning to do that one recent night when I suddenly discovered I didn’t have any curry paste. I had to quickly rethink my dish. I looked in the cupboard and found that there was a jar of tomato-olive pasta sauce that M had bought while I was out of town. I decided to use that instead.

Oddly enough, it worked quite well with the coconut milk. I stir-fried courgette, cabbage, and cauliflower together, added some coconut milk and tomato sauce, and let that simmer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I made some sticky rice, to which I added the rest of the coconut milk and another tablespoonful of the tomato sauce. The meal worked out quite well and I would actually make it again. I might also use the leftover tomato sauce to marinate some tofu.

Cornbread Muffins

This makes 6 muffins, but the recipe can easily be doubled. I like to serve them warm with salad. It’s nice for guests to have these muffins when they’re over for dinner, as it’s a rather unusual sort of bread (at least where I live).

Ingredients:
¾ cup cornmeal
¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
30 g butter, softened
2 tbsp honey
1 cup yogurt

Instructions:
1. Mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
2. Add the butter, honey, and yogurt. Mix well.
3. Pour the batter into muffin cases or tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 190 C.
4. Serve with butter.

Baked Apples

This is a simple and relatively healthy dessert. Well, except for the cream, I guess. You can also add raisins and nuts, as desired.

Ingredients:
butter or oil for the dish
2 cooking apples
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
cream (soya cream is fine)
milk (soya milk is fine)

Instructions:
1. Grease and oven-safe dish. Wash and core the apples, leaving a bit at the bottom (in other words, made a hole in the middle of the apples, but not one that goes all the way through). Put the apples in the dish.
2. Put 1 tbsp brown sugar and 1 tsp vanilla in the centre of each apple. Pour cream in as well.
3. Drizzle cream on the sides of the apples and pour more cream and milk around the apples.
4. Bake for 30 minutes at 200 C.

Spicy Tofu

This is really easy and tasty. I like to add it to stir fries. For example, it goes well with aubergine, broccoli, and noodles in a peanut cream sauce.

Ingredients:
1 package tofu
2 tbsp horseradish, or to taste
1 tsp mustard powder, or to taste

Instructions:
1. Drain the tofu.
2. Coat the tofu in horseradish and mustard.
3. Bake it in the oven at 180 C for about 15 minutes, until firm and slightly golden.
4. Use the tofu in any dish you like.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This recipe makes enough frosting for the cupcakes I posted in the last recipe. You can double it for a larger number.

You can also replace the vanilla extract with mint or almond or any other flavour.

Ingredients:
100 g butter
2 tbsp milk or cream (cream makes it richer)
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup icing sugar

Instructions:
1. In a mixer, mix the butter, cream, vanilla extract, and cocoa together until pretty smooth.
2. Add the icing sugar, about ¼ cup at a time. Mix well.
3. Taste and add more cream or vanilla if needed.
4. Frost the cupcakes (or cake) with the frosting.

Banana and Chocolate Cupcakes

I went on a cupcake kick for awhile. Here is yet another of my cupcake recipes.

Ingredients:
115 g butter
½ cup sugar
1¾ cup flour
¼ cup cocoa
1 pinch salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ cup milk
3 bananas, overly ripe

Instructions:
1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Mix the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and cinnamon together. Then mix with the butter and sugar.
3. Mix in the milk and bananas.
4. Pour the batter into muffin tins.
5. Bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes. Frost if desired.