Vegetable Fried Rice

I hate to give a bad review. I am a people-pleaser to the core, and admitting that I didn't really like something - be it a recipe, a book, a movie, or whatever - just doesn't jive with me. However, I'm kind of a food snob, and I can be rather picky about what I eat. If I'm eating something and I don't love it, I'm likely not to finish it. I'd rather waste food than eat something I don't love. I know that's horrible of me, but that's the truth.

As for more horrible truth, I just have to admit that Vegetable Fried Rice {page 268} didn't really impress me. It was definitely edible, and everyone I served it to ate it and said it was just fine. It just seemed to be a little lacking.

I amped up all the seasonings, as I could tell from tasting all along that it might be a little on the bland side. Even that didn't really help though. If I made it again, I'd at least double all the seasonings, and maybe even add in more ingredients.

I guess one book cannot be expected to win them all. However, I still feel guilty for the bad review.

Apologetically,

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Black Beans and Wild Rice

I LOVE Spinach. When I was little I only liked about 5 vegetables and Spinach was one of them.

I also like recipes with little prep work hey what can I say I'm lazy and am not a fan of chopping a million things! LOL!

So the Black Beans and Wild Rice on page 255 fit the bill perfectly!

Still not sure if I picked the right rice but picked up the only thing at the store that said wild rice so here we go!

The recipe is easy to put together and takes just under an hour. I think the flavors blended together nicely but might add some Chili powder next time. No reason in particular just sounds like a nice addition :).

--Gymmie is strong to the finich cause I eats me Spinach

Lemony Rice-Stuffed Grape Leaves

Along with the spreads I greeted my guests with upon their arrival, Lemony Rice-Stuffed Grape Leaves (page 28) made an appearance. We again have something similar in Romania – which is probably why we like Mediterranean foods: we've got our own versions of the stuff. Only they're called sarmale and are made with cabbage leaves. Still, same idea: the filling involves rice and the wrapping is some manner of sweet or sour leaf. Some people prefer their sarmale sour; some sweet. Grape leaves are usually sour; and if there's lemon involved, like here, the tartness factor is amplified.

My guests were delighted by these aromatic, lemony little packets. My dad, though, told me he prefers sweet sarmale; still, he liked them all right despite not being much into anything sour, unlike myself and one of the other guests – we're sour-holics. Well, I'd say pleasantly tart rather than sour, as dolmas should be. Simple and elegant, these make a fine appetizer, side-dish, or buffet-feature. (Use basmati rice; the filling's simple so you want all that aroma.)

And, though wrapping the filling into grape leaves is somewhat time-consuming, it's entirely worth it for the “I've done that too and it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be!” feeling you get afterward. I'm only a few months into cooking, and this book has been affording me a lot of exciting firsts with, so far, no blunders to speak of. Wait, it gets more exciting presently, I'm all about jumping in headfirst.

- - Ulpia, [grape] leaf roller - -

Spanish Rice and Beans

I absolutely LOVE olives! I haven't met an olive that I didn't like! This is my first time knowingly having Kalamata Olives. The taste is slightly familiar.

I checked out the Spanish Rice and Beans on page 272 and it is a hit! The flavors melted together wonderfully! The meal comes together within an hour. slightly longer of course if you're cooking the beans from dry. But timewise they can end up being done about the same time since the rice mixture will cook the last hour of the beans.

The only thing I'd change is add more Olives. nom nom nom

--Gymmie

Mexican Green Rice and Beans

Vegans don't HAVE to eat rice and beans, most of us actually like them! The Mexican Rice and Beans (p270) looked like my kind of dish from the first glance. And it would have been--if I had followed the instructions. More on that in a sec.

As expected, the sauce is excellent. The delectable aroma filled my kitchen and I hung out there while the dish was simmering just to be near it. The recipe calls for two or three fresh roasted jalapenos. I used two; I recommend three. It's quick to put together--everything goes in the food processor, and then it goes right into the pan.

Now, as to my not following directions: When Ms. Robertson calls for "long grain white rice," use it. Brown rice is not an equal substitute. Of course I know this, and I know their cooking times are different, their textures are different, and they will perform in different ways, even in the same dish. So why did I do it? Eh. I do a lot of things I probably shouldn't. Because of my rice misstep, I wound up with mush. A different rice, and/or proper rice handling (i.e., rinsing) would have solved this problem before it became one. In a repair attempt, I separated a "handful" and made it into sort of a patty. Then I sauteed that until it was nice and brown on both sides. Mr. V claimed it reminded him of late drunken nights with his old jazz buddies, and a place they used to frequent--El Presidente. Apparently the owner would open up just for them, toss together whatever was left from the kitchen that night, and provide a hearty meal to go along with their tequila.

I doubt anything could compare to the memory of El Presidente, but the flavor of this dish is excellent. The recipe calls for kidney beans, but you could certainly substitute pintos, black beans, whatever your preference. This is great as a side, an entree, or as a burrito stuffing. Just get your rice right.

--The Divine Miss V

Rice and Pea Soup with Quick Herb Bread

The Rice and Pea Soup (p163) is an uncomplicated meal-in-a-bowl that comes together fairly quickly. As written, this recipe came out more as a risotto for me, but you could certainly increase the amount of vegetable broth to create a more soupy consistency. I was a tad disappointed at first, but then I just let the soup do its thing, and since arborio rice is used anyway, it works out nicely. This is not a big and bold soup. It's a simple and subtle dish that, though not my usual flavor type, provided a filling meal. Extra salt and fresh ground pepper really got it going for me, especially on Day Two, after everything had hung out in the fridge overnight. The only modification I made was adding a bit of Bill's Chik'nish to the base.

I served this along with the Quick Herb Bread (p399), which is true to its name in that it is quick to put together. One bowl is all you need, and the herbs are variable. You could certainly go with this recipe as written, substitute your favorites, or alter the flavor based on cuisine. It reminds me of an herb bread I make often using my bread machine, only this takes about five minutes to put together and 40 minutes to bake. Toasted, it's even better.

One ladle of soup, one slice of bread (slathered in Earth Balance of course), and a side salad made for a super hearty and satisfying meal. Overall, we all enjoyed this meal, but its subtle flavor was definitely more suited to my grandmother. I do like the idea of using arborio rice for a soup because you get a bit of creaminess without added fat. And this soup method yields a risotto-like dish, but without all that stirring!

--The Divine Miss V

Soy-Tan Dream Cutlets, Mushroom Gravy & Barley Pilaf

Whew! That title was a mouthful and it wasn't even the full titles. Be prepared for the WoT (wall of text) that follows below. If it's tl;dr (too long; didn't read), just skip to the last paragraph. :p

I love love love comfort food. I often make some sort of seitan with gravy and vegetables for a big dinner at least once a month, but sometimes two or three times a month. I'm a total sucker for this type of meal. Heavy and comforting! It was inevitable that I would then make the Soy-Tan Dream Cutlets (page 294) with Mushroom Sauce (page 546) and decided that I may as well make a side so I also made the Barley Pilaf with Carrots, Walnuts, and Golden Raisins (page 276) and a side of oven roasted broccoli and cauliflower (my own, not from the book).

As I mentioned in my Pad Thai post, seitan is another recipe that I will try from a book despite the fact that I already have my own tried and true recipes for seitan (of all variations). Because of that, I had the Soy-Tan cutlets bookmarked from day one. These were also made by The Divine Miss V in her Vietnamese Po-Boys post. Before I go any further, I need to stress to you, especially to my fellow freaks with a Tofu Xpress, DO NOT PRESS THE TOFU. It's tempting, I know, but don't. Put the gadget away. :p This is actually attempt number two since I did actually press my tofu the first time since I was on Tofu Xpress autopilot and it totally screwed things up.

The Soy-Tan Cutlets came together really quickly and easily. I doubled the recipe and removed a little bit of the tofu from a 14 oz package (the recipe for one batch calls for 6 oz) I substituted Braggs for the soy sauce since I was out and used the suggested amount of seasonings. They were pretty easy to work with, soft enough to press down into thin cutlets — a little sticky but not so much that they could not be handled. I fried them up as per the directions in the book. Now, here's where texture results may vary. My stove/range is electric and it is awful. I believe that the controls are not accurate so that when something is set as low, it's really more like medium and when set to medium it 's more like high and of course it takes forever after you adjust for the temperature to come down. As the the cutlets were frying and covered, they puffed up a lot in the pan. I make seitan of all sorts a lot so I knew that the quick expansion usually happens when there is too much heat applied too quickly. Also, I knew ahead of time how the texture is supposed to be versus what I got just by looking at the recipe. Stupid stove. When I removed them and put them on a rack to drain and cool a little they did lose a bit of puff but the interior wasn't quite like how it was supposed to be. It had quite a bit of air pockets due to the high heat (my stove's fault). It looked spongey but luckily it didn't actually feel spongey when you were eating it. Taste-wise it is seasoned perfectly to be used for other applications — not too salty and no one seasoning was overwhelming. I should also mention that with seitan, the texture is better the next day after being in the refrigerator overnight and that is also true for this (just tasted a leftover piece). The next time I make them I'll make them the day before I need them and I will fry on low heat due to my sucky stove. Update: I had a full piece reheated for lunch today and after sitting in the fridge overnight, the texture is perfect, so if you run into the same thing I did, eat it the next day.

The Mushroom Sauce was also quick to put together. With any gravy that uses vegetable stock, the stock you use is what's going to make or break the taste so use your favourite vegetable stock or bouillon cube. If you use a stock that doesn't taste good to you, the end product is going to suck. Okay back to the gravy. It is very similar to how I make my own gravy except that it uses a cornstarch slurry instead of a roux for thickening which works great especially if you are concerned about fat content. It also uses thyme as the main herb whereas I usually add in a lot of other herbs. Really it's just personal preference. Make as is the first time and adjust to your liking. If you want more of a holiday taste, throw in some sage as well. I did have a couple of minor changes. I used Braggs instead of soy sauce and also threw in some gravy browning for colour. I think the Braggs gave it a little extra taste and a little more depth. The gravy was pretty tasty and worked perfectly with the cutlets. I should mention that I also used a salted bouillon cube. With two cups of liquid and only a few spoonfuls of soy sauce, I think you need to use a salted stock or you'll really need to up the amount of soy sauce and salt.

Next up, the Barley Pilaf. We had guests in from out of town so I needed to double the recipe. One problem though, I only had 1 cup of barley but I had a ton of brown rice. So I made the doubled recipe with 1 cup barley and 1 cup brown rice. I also used some baby heirloom carrots instead of regular carrots and used dark Thompson raisins instead of golden raisins. Like the gravy, a pilaf made with vegetable stock is only as good as the stock you are using, so use your favourite stock or bouillon cube! The pilaf came together easily but needed to simmer for a bit since I had brown rice in the mix (about 50 minutes). I also put the raisins in when it was simmering since my raisins were sort of dry and hard and not super soft and plump. The pilaf was indeed a really nice change from my usual pilaf and the carrots, raisins and walnuts gave it some nice differences in texture and taste. It's also really nice with a spoon of margarine mixed into your individual portion for a little extra richness.

All in all this was a delicious dinner and everyone enjoyed it. Our houseguests weren't vegan but they also enjoyed it and finished everything on their plates. So that's 8 thumbs up in total from us 4 and another score for Team Vegan for showing folks that vegans eat very well.

— Ms. Veganorama

P.S. Time-wise this all took about 2 hours from start to finish including prep time. I probably could have shaved some time off that if I had managed my tasks a little better.

Tempeh Satay

First real post!

Here's the Tempeh Satay (page 40) served over a bed of rice and stirfried napa cabbage and bok choy (stirfried with garlic & soy sauce). I chose this as my first recipe because we had all the ingredients on hand (we are super low on groceries) and because it's been a long time since I have had satay anything.

The recipe was super easy to throw together and utilises ingredients that many of us already have on hand. The marinade was delicious blend of ingredients that all complimented each other perfectly. I also loved the addition of coconut milk to smooth it all out. Now on to the satay sauce. It was a perfectly well balanced mixture of spicy, salty, sweet, tangy and creamy. Obviously if you don't like spicy, cut down the chili and if you like spicier, double it. Both mixtures were fantastic and I had to refrain from dipping into them while I was preparing the rest of our dinner.

I followed the recipe as written but with two exceptions. I simmered the tempeh slices for only 5 minutes since usually (for me at least) 5 minutes is enough. Also I didn't have shallots on hand so I used an appropriate amount of onions. Both changes worked just fine.

For soy sauce, my preferred type is Japanese soy sauce (e.g., Kikkoman). I almost always default to that in dishes unless I need sweet soy sauce or if I'm cooking Chinese food. Then I'll use a combination of dark Chinese soy sauce and light Chinese soy sauce. Soy sauces can taste so different from each other (compare Chinese and Japanese soy sauces) so use whatever you prefer.

Oh, I should also mention what chili paste I used. One thing I'm never sure about is what type of chili paste/sauce to use in recipes. If you've ever been to an asian grocery store, you'll know that there are shelves full of red spicy sauces and many of them taste different. Anyway, the sauce I decided to use was the Vietnamese chili/garlic sauce pictured here. I tend to use that in any sort of Thai or Vietnamese dish and it worked perfectly here. The chili sauce provided just enough kick — not too much and not too little. Spiciness of course will depend on what chili paste/sauce you use.

The dish as a whole was exactly like how I remembered and definitely tasted authentic. Perfectly balanced and delicious. Not sure if you can tell by the photo but I thought the marinade was so yummy that I also drizzled some on after drizzling on the satay sauce. Both the marinade and sauce would work perfectly for other applications (e.g., seitan, tofu, vegetables, noodles, etc.)

Oh and what did the boy (also known as the Mr.) think? Well, he hates (or thinks he hates) anything with coconut milk in it so I didn't mention it. He loved it! Even after I told him there was coconut milk, he said, "I don't care, it's really good!" A comment like that from him, someone who really isn't a foodie, is awesome. He also cleaned off his plate (a full recipe's worth since I doubled the recipe) and promptly slipped into a food coma.

This dish is definitely going on our regular rotation. If you like tempeh and satay, try it!

ETA: Forgot to mention that I did not skewer and grill over a real grill since I don't have one. I simply grilled it, without skewers, on an indoor electric grill.

— Ms. Veganorama