Eggplant and Tofu Stew (No Added Fat)

I'm looking forward to our next So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show on Saturday April 4th; we'll be demonstrating appliances like a juicer, mandolin, immersion blender, and more. I'll be discussing the pressure cooker. Today's dish with my Instant Pot pressure cooker was simple, fast, tasty, and healthy - as usual! 

Ingredients

• Medium eggplant cut into 3/4" or 1" cubes
• 3/4 of a 14 ounce block of extra firm tofu cut into 5/8" pieces
• 14.5 ounce can stewed or roasted tomato (diced not whole)
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped into 1/4" or smaller pieces
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1/8 cup water
• Herbs: 1 t oregano and 1/2 t sage if dried; 1 T oregano and 1 t sage if fresh
• (optional) Medium Yukon Gold or red or yellow potato cut into 3/4" pieces
• 1/8 cup onion cut into 1/4" cubes
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper OR spicy crushed red pepper or hot sauce to taste
• Salt to taste

Process

1. Traditionally one would salt eggplant such as by generously sprinkling salt over the cut pieces in  a colander over a bowl for 1/2 to 1 1/2 hours or so and then rinsing. It would draw off excess moisture, helpful if dry cooking, and pull out some bitterness. However, eggplants have been bred to not be so bitter and I am pressure cooking, so I skipped this step as I usually do.
2. Put the eggplant, tofu, stewed tomato, garlic, garlic powder, and water into the pressure cooker.
3. If using potato, add it as well. I did use potato but in hindsight its flavor and texture was not consonant with the rest of the dish so I'd omit it.
4. If using dried herbs, add them too (otherwise add just before serving).
5. Cook under pressure for 2 minutes.
6. After the cooking is done, wait a few minutes and gently released pressure, then mix in herbs (if using fresh), onion, black or red pepper (or hot sauce), and salt.

 

Results

The dish was predictably delicious. I have been pressure cooking for some years now but still am amazed at the depth of flavor that can be achieved in minutes. We didn't care for the potato but it really didn't detract much.

Ideas for the future

I would omit the potato. I have used capers in the past for eggplant and tomato dishes - they go well together. I wonder what a little bit of roasted fennel would be like in this dish.

Seasoned Field Pea Nachos

I am excited to be discussing nachos in this weekend's So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show So Many Comfort Foods! - and we are now streaming not just to facebook but also YouTube and twitter. I have a draft of my section of the recipe document and will try to remember to link the whole document here once it is published. In it, I collected and named some references to "cheese" sauces that I have made in the past - bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce1, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce2, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce3, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce4, and bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce5.

I had leftover field peas from yesterday (by the way, I updated my pressure cooking table, available for free download at at bit.ly/DilipPressureCookingNotes, to include field peas) and decided to try a new way of making nachos with seasoned field peas.

The basic approach was to put the cooked field peas in a pan along with chunks of bell pepper, celtuce, broccoli stem (small 1/4" or smaller pieces), and spices (cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and a pinch of salt). I had intended to mix in some red onion at the end but forgot.

I also made a "cheese" sauce by blending 1/4 cup "raw" cashews, a small clove of garlic, between 1/8 and 1/4 cup water, 2T nutritional yeast, 1/2 t garlic powder, a small red bell pepper, 1 t lime juice, and a dash of salt (there was plenty leftover). I made nacho chips by taking tortillas, cutting them into triangles, and air frying them at 350°F and checking them after 3 minutes; they were almost done and another 30-45 seconds got them nicely browned (be careful as they can burn easily).

I served the chips, field peas, cheese sauce, and some salsa. On the side I had fresh tomato and broccoli. 

Results

We all loved the meal! Field peas by themselves can be bland but both yesterday and today we were quite pleased by the way I had prepared them. Nachos don't have to have black beans!

Ideas for the future

I should make nachos more often; made this way they are nutritive and tasty. I look forward to this weekend's show as my talented colleague Mark Cerkvenik is coming immediately after me and making "Pub Nachos"; his dishes always look great and I bet I'll have something to learn about new ways to make nachos.

Roasted Cauliflower and Beet (No Added Fat)

It's been a while since I made tasty roasted cauliflower and I had a head of cauliflower peeking out at me from my refrigerator. I am presenting beets at the somanycooks show this weekend and thought it would be fun to make a roasted beet and cauliflower dish. I was amazed at the the deep color - perfect for white cauliflower!


Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower separated into florets
• 2 medium beets, tops and bottoms removed and then the remainder peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed so skins loose but with skins otherwise left on
• 2T (more or less as desired for moisture level) Coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
• 1t (or more as desired) dried herbs; I used a spice grinder with a variety of Italian herbs
• 1/4 t salt
• 1t lemon juice

Process

1. I put the cauliflower, beet, and garlic on a baking tray, tossed with coconut aminos and herbs, and put in my toaster oven on its convection setting at 400°F for 15minutes; for regular ovens, I'd go with 20-25 minutes.
2. I transferred the ingredients to a metal bowl, looked for the garlic and pressed down, and mixed in the salt and lemon juice.

That's it! I served with brown rice cooked with baby lima beans and cucumber slices.

 

Results

We all enjoyed the meal, even my daughter who doesn't love beets. I was very happy with the bright color and of course taste of the main course. Other than being careful about not staining the deep beet roots (I immediately washed the cutting board in cold water and luckily had no juice coming onto my counters but I would have wiped any immediately), this was quite easy and required little effort!

Ideas for the future

This was a nice main course! Here are a few thoughts about additional ideas.

• I bet mixing red and golden beets would be attractive.
• I was originally going to air fry some seitan and mix into the dish, but my air fryer is also my toaster oven and I didn't have enough time to run it twice, though it would really only be for maybe 5-6 minutes of air frying. I should try adding seitan or maybe tempeh.
• I really like citrus and bet mixing in fresh tangerine pieces when serving would be nice - maybe along with a bit of olive and rosemary needles.
• I also like lemony beets and perhaps should try adding a lemon marinade before roasting.

Thick Golden Beet Dhal

I wanted to explore another beet recipe today and thought of embedding beets in a thick dhal. I made the dhal and beets separately in my pressure cooker.


Ingredients

• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 cups water
• 4 large leaves kale, hand stripped from the stems and then roughly hand torn into approximately 2" squares
• 1/2 cup whole or chopped spinach, fresh (washed) or frozen
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1/8 t smoked paprika
• 1/2 t salt (or to taste)
• 2 medium beet roots (I had very small ones so used 5 or 6), rinsed but not peeled
• Another 3/4 - 1 cup of water
• 1/4 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes
• 2 t lemon juice

Process

1. I put the lentils, kale and spinach, water, turmeric, cumin, and paprika into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked for 20m.
2. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then removed from the pressure cooker and mixed in the lem
3. I used a new pot for the pressure cooker and put in a trivet to keep food off the bottom and sides, then added about 3/4 - 1 cup of water, below the trivet level, and the beets atop the trivet.
4. I pressure steamed. These were very small, only about 1 1/2" in diameter, so 10 minutes of pressure steaming nicely did it. For regular sized beet roots, I'd go with 15-17 minutes and for large ones above 3 1/2" in diameter, I'd go for 25-30 minutes.
5. When the beets were done, I did a "quick release" of pressure.
6. I waited a few minutes to handle the beets, cut the very top and bottom off of each beet, then held each under cold running water and rubbed the skin off.
7. I cut the beets into approximately 3/4" cubes and mixed into the dhal, along with the onion and lemon juice.

 

Results

This came out well though I preferred the beets with beans that I had made a few days ago. The beets were so delicious - I should cook beets more often! I'm glad that they were well done and soft.

Ideas for the future

Carrot would have gone great in this dish. If I had beet greens (I actually do have some but want to have them last till this Saturday's show), they would also be good. Using red beets would add a nice contrasting color, but I definitely prefer the sweeter flavor and much less staining of golden beets. I should make beets more often; they're easy, with these tips:

• Pressure steam, like I did today, for 10-30 minutes, depending on size
• Dice into 3/4" pieces and pressure cook, submerged, for 8-10 minutes
• Boil 25-60 minutes, periodically checking for fork tenderness
• Roast whole by covering in parchment paper and then roasting for 40-60m (check tenderness as above) at 400°F
• As I described in March 2017, you can also roast beets after cutting them and mixing in some herbs (and perhaps a liquid like orange juice or soy sauce); the cook time drops depending on the size of the cubes but I really like the ease of whole beet roasting, cutting the beet once cooked
• After removing the skin with a potato peeler, you can grate raw beet onto salads
• Greens are healthy and tasty but, unlike beets which can easily keep in the refrigerator for months, the greens limp quickly so they should be removed from the roots and stored, unwashed, in a separate bag for about 3-5 days

You don't have to remove the skins until you're done cooking. The skins slip off easily once cooked, like I described here.

Golden Beet and Chickpea with Greens (No Added Fat)

I am excited about our next So Many Cooks in the Kitchen program, this one on Heart Healthy Dishes. I wasn't sure what I'd make as whole food plant-based eating is in general very heart healthy, but I decided to feature beets. I experimented today and love what I came up with. Here is what I did.

Ingredients

• Chickpeas
• EITHER 1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight then drained
• OR 3 cups cooked chickpeas, such as approximately two 14 1/2 ounce cans of prepared chickpeas
• 2 medium beets, washed, peeled, and cut into 1/2" cubes
• 4-5 large kale or chard greens OR all leaves from a bunch of beets, rinsed, stems removed, and roughly hand chopped into small fistfuls of perhaps 4" square
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped/minced into pieces smaller than 1/4"
• Just enough water to cover chickpeas (if starting with dry chickpeas)
• 1 14 1/2 ounce can of diced tomatoes (alternately, use 2 medium tomatoes diced to less than 1/2" cubes)
• 1/2 cup onion cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/2 t lemon pepper
• 1t dried oregano (I use ground mixed dried herbs)
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1/4 t salt
• 1T lemon or lime juice

Process

1. If using dry chickpeas, put chickpeas and just enough water to cover them in the Instant Pot pressure cooker
2. Put beets, garlic, greens, and diced tomato into pressure cooker and cooked for 10m
3. After the cooking is done, wait a few minutes and gently released pressure
4. If using precooked/canned chickpeas, mix them in
5. Mix in the onion, spices, and lemon juice

Serve with rice or other grain and a salad.

 

Results

My family enjoyed the meal, as did our neighbors for whom I dropped off some of the main course. I was originally going to go with a white bean but decided to use chickpea - and am glad that I did, as the flavors worked very well together. I wasn't originally going to include diced tomatoes, but they too worked out well for a touch of a contrasting flavor.

Ideas for the future

Beet greens (like I described several times in March 2007) are even more nutrient dense than the roots and I had wanted to integrate them but the beets that I had found were roots only. I'd love to make this dish with beet greens.

Robin’s Koginut Squash with RazzMatazz Grape, Purple Sweet Potato, and 'Cheese' Sauce (Almost No Added Fat)

I'm excited that this weekend is our next So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show where about a dozen of us Cooks will be presenting So Much Squash! and sharing tasty and nutritious squash recipes. The monthly whole food plant-based shows are broadcast live and then later edited and available on the Plant-Based Network.

I'm also excited that a new local regenerative farm, Union Grove Farm, contacted me and invited me to visit their operations. They are getting into high antioxidant muscadine grape production and grow a new small, seedless, thin-skinned variety, the Razzmatazz. I brought home some of their grapes and want to experiment with cooking with them.

Today, I used another locally grown item, Robin's Koginut squash, originally hybridized in collaboration with a chef. This variety has parentage of kabocha, one of my favorites, and butternut squashes (Food and Wine has a nice article about the squash). I love cooking winter squash in my Instant Pot pressure cooker; I simply rinse the squash, put 1/2 cup of water in the pressure cooker, and set the squash on a trivet so it doesn't touch the pot's sides. 8 minutes of pressure steaming should be enough but I used 10 minutes, and also cooked a purple sweet potato (also local, I believe!) along with the squash.

While the squash was cooking, I prepared a simple vegan "cheese" sauce. I blended about 1/4 cup raw cashews with about 3/4 cup water, 2T nutritional yeast, 1 T thick leftover kabocha squash and lentil soup, and 1/4 t each of onion powder and garlic powder, as well as a pinch of salt.

I served the squash with a sweet potato wedge and dollop of "cheese", and was going to pan saute some sweet onions but forgot (!). I did top with a small bunch of the Razzmatazz grapes. I served with a mixed grain and raw vegetables.

 

Results

Dinner was very good! I love the sweet and dense taste of this squash; it was the first time I'd tried it but it will be a variety I seek out now. A real testament was that my daughter, who doesn't normally like squash, really enjoyed the meal.

My family loves the grapes from this farm! Today's meal really used the grapes as a hearty garnish, and I ate the grapes as a palate cleanser. I want to work on some recipes where these cute, small, but nutrition- packed grapes are integral, and hope this week to maybe make a squash dish with grapes as part of a stuffing.

By the way, I made some "ice cream" with the Razzmatazz grapes after dinner. I put grapes, a little bit of plant milk (I used unsweetened flax milk), and that's it into my blender and blended for maybe 10 seconds till the mixture "seized up" and looked like ice cream. It was tart for my wife but my daughter and I quite liked it!

Though I don't classify this as a no-added-fat meal, it "almost" is; 1/4 cup of cashews is about 12g of fat and the sauce was enough for the three of us. In the PCRM Food for Life program, we suggest that any one dish on the plate should be no more than about 3g of fat, and this is close.

Ideas for the future

I am excited about the squash show and will use that as an excuse this week to continue to probe new squash dishes. I am also excited about connecting with this farm and enjoying their grapes. I bet I'll have a nice grape-squash recipe to demonstrate this Saturday!

"Around the Power Plate" Beans with Wheat Berries, Kale, and Peach (No Added Fat)

Today was our third show of So Many Cooks in the Kitchen, a group that I help to organize where we go kitchen-to-kitchen cooking and talking nutrition among Food for Life instructors (check out our 1-minute promo). The show was live, but a recorded livestream can be viewed. Eventually, this will be edited into approximately half hour parts and aired on Plant-Based Network for which I am on the Advisory Committee.

I presented on peaches and nectarines. Our team of about a dozen instructors put a document together with our recipes; that is available at bit.ly/soManyFruitsRefs.

I am pretty good about coming up with new recipes. I guess the fact that in more than 16 years of knowing my wife I haven't repeated a dinner for her helps. I had made some general comments in the episode document last night but then thought I should be more specific, so I created a recipe and only tried the results after I demonstrated making it. My family loved it; I suspected that this unusual combination would work.

In the Food for Life program, we recommend eating from the Power Plate of Legumes (our first SMCK show), Vegetables (our second show), Fruits, and Grains (our next show with date TBD but likely in mid-August 2020). I thought that it would be neat to make a dish that featured ingredients from each of the sections of the Power Plate. Here is what I did, demonstrating this quickly at the tail end of my cooking segment on today's show.


Ingredients

• 1/2 cup hard (or soft) wheat berries, rinsed
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups prepared beans; I recommend black beans or red kidney beans, but other kinds will work
• 1 1/2 cups kale leaves hand-torn and cut into roughly 1" squares (stems excepted; they can be composted or otherwise discarded); alternately, use a cup of Swiss Chard, stems and all, cut into 1" strips perpendicular to the stem
• 1/4 cup sweet onion cut into approximately 3/8" cubes (you can substitute yellow onion)
• 1 or 2 medium peaches or nectarines, ripe or still just firm (not very hard) but with no green, cut into approximately 1/2" - 3/4" squares
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
• (optional) 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) salt; try fleur de sel
• (optional) 1/4 lemon pepper or freshly ground black pepper

Process

1. Put the wheat berries with three times as much water in a pressure cooker (I used my Instant Pot) and cook for 30 minutes; alternately, cook for 40-50 minutes stovetop (bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover); set aside till warm or at room temperature (the wheat berries can be made in advance and refrigerated)
2. Work with the beans
• If using prepared (canned, for example) beans, mix in the greens, onion, and peaches, and warm for a few minutes until the greens cook down a bit and the fruit glistens, gently and partially caramelized
• If making beans, as I did, just add the greens, onion, and peaches to the hot beans when they are ready, and mix. Depending on how hot the beans are, the greens and fruit will be ready within a few minutes, but you can also cover and let sit for a few more minutes to cook a bit more
3. Mix in the lemon or lime juice and, if you are using it, the salt and/or pepper, as well as the room temperature or cool wheat berries
4. Serve with a garden salad or tomato wedges

Results

I served this for dinner several hours after the show. My intuition was right - the combination worked well! My whole family loved the meal; we each had seconds - and had enough to share with neighbors and keep for leftovers (I increased the quantities of ingredients by about a quarter so they would be easier to show up on camera; realistically, then, the quantities I have here would be enough for a family of five or so).

I served with just a little bit of salt and no black pepper. Salt just didn't go so well with this dish, though my wife did prefer a little salt. When I had seconds, I used some citrus fleur de sel, which was fine, but I don't think really necessary.

Ideas for the future

In today's show, I also made skillet peach/nectarine (so yummy and easy; just cook for 3-4 minutes over medium-low to medium heat, flipping once) and deglaze with lime/lemon juice mixed with cinnamon if you wish) and peach/nectarine "ice cream" (just blending frozen fruit with plant milk or a vegan creamer). I should cook with peaches/nectarines more often and not just obvious desserts. I like how the fruit contrasts with the other ingredients in this kind of savory dish and how all the ingredients differentiate themselves from each other. I also should cook with wheat berries more often; the chewy texture is inviting.

Although my family loved the dish, I think it could be improved. I knew salt wouldn't really complement the dish, but I wonder if fresh basil or celery seed (my wife doesn't like the taste of celery; I used to commonly use celery seed and should try it with her - I can't remember how she reacted to it) might work.

Another idea is to make some sort of a vegan "cheese" sauce, perhaps out of cashews. However, my whole family remarked at how creamy the dish was, so I don't think more creaminess is needed; also, the dish has no added fat and I don't see the benefit of adding creamy fat to it (on the other hand, it would be worth experimenting with vegan "cheese" chunks with skillet cooked fruit!). Maybe a small amount of chopped walnuts? I would have enjoyed some crispness in the dish.

At any rate, I should experiment with more fruit-savory dishes. I love the idea of going around the Power Plate, and should do that with main courses occasionally.

Massaged Kale Salad with Mango, Kale with Beans (No Added Fat)

Today we had our second So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show, So Many Vegetables, and I worked with kale. I made a massaged kale salad with mango, as well as a bean and kale dish. Along with tomatoes, it was our yummy dinner!