Sunday, November 15, 2009

Collard Greens with Butternut Squash, Curried Cauliflower


Similarly to what I did last October, I hand ripped collard green leaves from the stems into roughly 1 1/2" squares. I boiled about 3/4 cup of water plus a vegan bouillon cube, then added the greens and cooked, covered, reducing the heat to a simmer. After 3 or 4 minutes, I added about 3/4 of a cup of frozen butternut squash cubes and let them steam with the greens. After a total of about 7-10 minutes (i.e., about 6 more minutes), I turned the heat off, mixed in a little salt and dried tarragon, and served.

I also prepared some cauliflower; we had only a small amount, maybe 2/3 of a cup of florets. I sauteed in some hot chili oil the cauliflower florets for a few minutes, then added a little bit of olive oil, about a quarter medium onion, diced to maybe 1/4", and a fifth of a small bell pepper, diced similarly. I sauteed for a few more minutes, then added 1/8 teaspoon or so of cumin seeds, and stirred for half a minute. I then added about 1/4 cup water and a few pinches of turmeric, just brought to a boil, then simmered, covered, for 5-8 minutes till the water was largely absorbed.

Finally, we had at the recent Spice Street tasting some smoked tempeh / tomato / asparagus skewers, and had some leftovers we brought home. I heated them and served with our meal; a carrot completed the plate.



We are lucky to have a vegan baker named Dina in town. She graduated this past year with a political science degree and wants to become a human rights lawyer, but also has many years experience in vegan baking - her Mom I believe is a long-time vegan baker. So, Dina opened Dharma Bakery, an all-vegan outfit that takes custom orders for both local pickup and anywhere delivery. Other than some Earth Balance margarine, she made a soy-free set of desserts for us, which we picked yesterday - including creamy and crunchy peanut butter cups, an amazing lemon coconut-milk based cupcake, pumpkin cookies, truffles, and more. After dinner, I heated a chocolate croissant that we had picked up and served it - wow! It was very good!

2 Comments:

At Mon Nov 16, 11:12:00 AM EST, Blogger Angel said...

Hi!
I just found your blog and I am loving it! I would like to incorporate more variety in my vegetarian cooking and I'm so glad I found your blog. I will be checking in on it regularly.
I have two questions for you.
1. Is it O.K. for me to link to the website about the vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner on the Raleigh Vegetarian Food Examiner page?:
http://www.examiner.com/x-28667-Raleigh-Vegetarian-Food-Examiner
2. Would it be alright to link to your blog on that page as well?
I would love to, especially since you are local! Thanks so much and God bless, Angel

 
At Tue Nov 17, 04:21:00 AM EST, Blogger Dilip said...

Angel, thanks for your comment! Yes, please do link in trianglevegsociety.org/thanksgiving09 . Watch for us in both the Herald-Sun and N&O on Wed., and the N&O next Wed. Do link my blog in, too, if you wish. Consider joining TVS. Good to "meet" you! --Dilip

 

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