Cooking Class

It was a good time last night at the special Vegan Cooking Class presented by EarthFare for S.O.S folks. For those of you who couldn't be there, I'm posting the recipe for the Curried Lentils we all got to try last night. Enjoy!

Curried Lentils

1 med. onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 med. carrot, chopped

2 cups cauliflower, chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 cups cooked lentils

2 cups peas (frozen)

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable stock

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

In a large saucepan over med-high heat, saute the onions, garlic, carrot, and cauliflower in the oil until the onions are glassy, but haven't started to brown. Add the curry powder, cumin, turmeric, lentils, peas, salt, and vegetable stock. Stir and reduce heat to a simmer for 10-15 minutes until cauliflower is tender but still firm. Serve over rice. (when cooking the 2 cups of lentils before hand, be careful not to over cook!)

Red Lentils, Indian Style (Masoor Dhaal)

This lentil dish was one of the first dishes I made for my partner. He hates lentils, yet we're still together after 8 years. It must be that good.

Red lentils Indian style
(Masoor Dhaal with vegetables)

½ onion, chopped
3 green chiles, chopped (I used 2 fresh jalapeno peppers)
6 whole curry leaves (if you have them—if not, don’t worry!)
1.5 t ground coriander
1 t grated ginger or ginger pulp
1 t garlic pulp, or about 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Some cayenne pepper, to your spice level
1.5 t salt
2 T oil

½ C red lentils
1 potato, coarsely diced

3 T chopped fresh cilantro
Some tomatoes, chopped (however many you want. The recipe called for 3, I used 3 cherry tomatoes and that was just fine.)
3 T lemon juice

Prepare all the ingredients (up to 2 T oil), and sautee them in the 2 T oil in a large saucepan on medium heat until the onion is at least translucent.

Chop the potato and wash the red lentils. Add them to the spices along with enough water to cover the ingredients. If I had to specify, I’d say at least 2 C water, because you definitely want to make sure those lentils cook all the way through. Bring to a low boil on medium heat, or lower heat if you need to. Cook for about, I don’t know, 20 minutes, until the lentils and the potato are done.

If you want to cook your cilantro, add it now. If not, just add the chopped tomatoes and lemon juice, and then add the cilantro as a topping to your final dish. I prefer fresh, not cooked, cilantro, so I added mine once I plated it.

I served this dish with some potatoes and cauliflower Indian style, as well as some brown rice cooked with a stick of cinnamon, 2 cardamom pods, and 2 whole cloves. (Do take those out before serving, though!)

Vegan Lasagna!

I love cooking and eating! And for some reason lately, I've been really into taking pictures of my food. So I want to periodically post some recipes with photos of my favorite foods. Some of them I came up with on my own (like today's lasagna), some are from cookbooks, and some are from vegweb.com--but I'll always give a recipe! So enjoy today's recipe. Who doesn't love lasagna?

Vegan Lasagna

Ingredients
--1 box lasagna
--1 jar marinara/pasta sauce
--a bunch of sauteed veggies (optional, but awesome)

“Ricotta” Filling:
--1 block firm tofu (usu. one pound), crumbled into small ricotta-like pieces
--about ¼ - ½ block Follow Your Heart Vegan Soy Mozzarella Cheese, grated
(Follow Your Heart, available at Daily Groceries Coop, is my favorite because it actually melts

and is vegan—no casein)
--about 2-3 T Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (or other vegan cream cheese)
--about 2-3 T soy milk
--about ¼ C nutritional yeast
(the yellow flaky stuff you get in bulk, not “brewer’s yeast”)
--about ½ t – 1t each of:
garlic
basil
oregano
salt
pepper
dried or fresh parsley
--about ¼ t nutmeg

Crumble the tofu, grate the soy cheese, and mix all ingredients in a bowl. Sautee the veggies if you want veggie lasagna. I usually spice up the veggies, too. In the meantime, bring water to a boil and cook the lasagna. Rinse lasagna in cold water and set aside Lightly cover a baking dish with some pasta sauce, and place one layer of pasta in the dish. Cover pasta with the “ricotta” filling, sauteed veggies, some pasta sauce, and top with more grated Soy Mozzarella. Repeat pasta, filling, veg, sauce, cheese, etc, until you run out of ingredients! I also like to top the completed lasagna with a bunch of sauce and then some soy cheese, too. You can also use the ricotta filling to make stuffed shells, ziti, whatever you like.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-30 minutes, until sauce is bubbly. The cheese won’t necessarily be totally browned, what with it being soy cheese and all, but it will be melty. And delicious.