Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag with garlic naan

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag

Well tomorrow Nat and I are driving up to our parent's homes for a little under a week. It is our nephews naming ceremony tomorrow and as I am studying for exams nat asked if he could do a few tours to Cradle Mountain for his tour guiding company. So I am busy trying to clean out the fridge of veggies so we don't have too many nasty surprises when we get back.

The thing that I was worried about the most was the pumpkin, because I had been saving it to make some cookies to take tomorrow - but now have to find something gluten free to cook. Although it has been a little chilly lately, I still didn't feel like making pumpkin soup so I flipped through Veganomican and found the recipe for pumpkin saag. I didn't have any fresh spinach but I did have some frozen so I thought that this would be the dish of the night. I remember Jessy from happyveganface making some garlic naan a few days back and I thought that it would be a nice surprise for nat when he got home from work (he is a bread lover).

For the saag I pretty much followed the recipe - with a few additions. The dish was good - but not as flavourful as I would have liked.

I roasted and added some sweet potato with the pumpkin. I also used frozen rather than fresh spinach. I also added a little chili paste. The dish wasn't as moist as I would have liked - I think next time I will add a little vegetable stock and maybe some canned tomatoes or tomato paste. Also - if you want a spicey dish (and I think this would be good spicey) add more chili paste.
But I will definatly be making this again with those few more alterations.

Garlic Naan

What I am most excited about are these little beauties!!! Garlic Naan. I am not going to post the recipe because it is exactly like Jessy's which can be found here. It is WONDERFUL and easy though so I think you should try making it. From first bite nat commented on the wonderful garlic flavour and that it would rival indian naan (now he may have been stretching the truth a little there).

Moroccan inspired foods - pumpkin dip and tajine

**Thanks to all the well wishers - Nat is feeling much better - he had a day off yesterday and was able to relax. Last night he was barely coughing at all and not so cloggy. YAY!!**

I love the subtle flavours of Moroccan foods. The sweet spices and fruity flavours just make me enjoy the food - even if it is slightly mushy and over cooked (like last nights dinner). Yesterday I ran out of hummus - so overnight I defrosted a container of chickpeas and today I made some spicy pumpkin dip - now - I know that its not moroccan. But it does have a Moroccan spice blend in it - does that count?? So here is my Moroccan inspired day.



Spicy Pumpkin Dip
- This is another of mum's recipes - she found it in a magazine and cut it out years ago - but didn't keep anything that let me know which magazine to credit. I have changed it a little bit to reduce the fat content.

500g butternut pumpkin - cut into cubes
1 clove garlic
400g chickpeas (rinsed and drained if from a can - reserve the cooking liquid if you cooked them)
2 tbsp tahini
1 lemon - juiced
1 1/2 tsp Moroccan Spice Mix*
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (depending how hot you like your dips - I don't use much at all)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray a baking tray with cooking spray - roast for about 40mins until soft
2. Process garlic in food processor (putting it in first means it gets chopped up enough)
3. Add remaining ingredients - season with salt and ground pepper.
4. Add cooking liquid (or water) to reach desired consistency. I found that this sets a lot, so if refrigerating it - make it runnier than you want - otherwise it will be a pate rather than a dip.
5. Devour!!!

*The ingredients in my moroccan spice mix are: salt, garlic (11%), cumin, paprika (10%), sugar, onion, tumeric (6%), pepper, citric food acid, parsley, red pepper, coriander (1%)


Moroccan Bean Stew
I got the flavour inspiration for this dish from the New Internationalist cookbook - Vegetarian Main Dishes From Around the World. I changed many of the veggies to suit what was in my fridge and so got a bit confused as to when I should add each vegetable in. The result was that my eggplant turned out quite mushy. Next time I will add it later. I have adjusted the recipe so that it will not be too overdone. You could really add any veggies that you wanted to - green beans, carrots and zucchini would all work really well.

This recipe was really comforting and damn easy (I still had some black eyed peas/beans in my freezer so I thought it would be a good dish to have.

Serves 4

1 onion - chopped
1 red capsicum - chopped
1 medium sweet potato - chopped
1 medium eggplant - cubed
4 tomatoes - chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
400g black eyed peas (retain the cooking water)
400g spinach - chopped
1/4 cup sultanas (or raisins)

1. Saute the onion in oil or water until it is transparent.
2. Add red capsicum and sweet potato and a little bit of the black-eyed peas cooking water. Cook about 10 minutes.
3. Put in the tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, nutmeg, peas and eggplant and stir well. Season with salt and pepper and then place the spinach on top. Add more reserved liquid and stew until vegetables are tender (but not mushy) - about 20 mins.
4. Serve over rice or cous cous

Vegan MoFo - Soup to cure sickness

You must think that all I eat is soup. Now I think soup is one of my favourite types of food. Especially over winter - but now the weather is warming up I am more inclined to make a bean salad than a bean soup. However, Nat got home from guiding two nights ago coughing and spluttering. After a pretty restless sleep he stayed in bed for most of the day. He wasn't incredibly hungry during the day but I asked him what he thought he would like for dinner. His unequivocal answer was soup.

Now soup was not really what I felt like as it was quite a warm day (it got to 20 degrees - which isn't hot but when you have had a week or so of 13 degrees I was in tshirt and thai fishermans pants).

Anyway - I borrowed a copy of La Dolce Vegan from the library and so I sifted through the soup recipes and I came up with cauliflower and potato. I tweaked the recipe a fair bit so I will put it here.

It was really good - I had to add some more of the spices (this is just an estimate of what I added - just use your own judgement). I think I am not the biggest fan of cauliflower soup - so I don't think that what I can say about it would really do this soup justice - I mean it was really nice, but I prefer other types of soup flavours.

Nat on the other hand, was thrilled with the soup and said that it was one of the best he's had. He is wanting me to make it again very soon.

So maybe if you like milder soups and cauliflower, this is for you. I will be making this again purely because Nat was so happy with it.

Soup with Cauliflower and potatoes

1 onion - diced
2 carrots - chopped
1 stalk celery - chopped
3/4 large cauliflower head - chopped
2 medium potatoes- chopped (didn't peel because it was organic)
1 medium sweet potato - chopped (I didn't peel this as it was organic)
enough broth to just cover vegetables
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup soymilk (I used fat free)

1. Saute onion, carrot and celery in oil or broth until onion is translucent
2. Add the cauliflower, potato, sweet potato, broth, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15mins until the potatoes are cooked.
4. Stir in milk and then blend the mixture with a hand blender to the desired consistency (I love chunky soups with bits of potatoes). You can also use a blender or food processor to puree half or all of the soup.
5. Return to the heat and its ready to serve.
6. We served it with crusty homemade toast.

Vegan Mofo #10- Ultimate comfort - Pumpkin-lentil Soup and La Dolce Vegan.

**I just got La Dolce Vegan from the library (I am now in the habit of borrowing cookbooks before I buy them so I can see if it is my sort of cookbook). If you have some favourites from there I would love to hear them as there are just SO many recipes. I am rather excited about trying as many as possible. Your suggestions would be appreciated. **

Thick and spicy soup on a windy night... could it get any better?? I don't think so. I discovered this soup in winter this year and Nat and I make it at least once every couple of weeks. The recipe is an adaptation of a recipe I found on recipezaar. It is thick, it is spicy, it has protein because of the lentils - and it is easy to make a large batch so that we are guaranteed leftovers. I make this differently every time and every time it just turns out yummy. For instance, tonight I used 2 turnips and 2 potatoes (usually I just use potatoes) as the turnips needed to be used up.

Indian style pumpkin soup

1 onion - chopped
3 cloves garlic - minced
1 - 2 red chillies- chopped (or 1-2 tsp chilli paste)
2 tsp curry powder
2 cups pumpkin - chopped
2 stalks celery - (I omitted this tonight as I didn't have any)
1 sweet potato - chopped
4 potatoes (I used 2 turnips and 2 potatoes and it turned out just fine)
1 cup red lentils
1 1/2 litres vegetable stock (I used stock powder and water)

1. Saute onion, garlic and chilli in water
2. Add vegetables, stock and lentils and bring to the boil
3. Lower heat and simmer soup until vegetables are tender (about 20mins)
4. Blend the soup and serve. If its too thin, simmer until it is reduced. If it is too thick add extra stock or water.

VeganMoFo #3 - How do you cook tempeh??

Well we are already into MoFo day 3 here in Aussie!!! I have been flat out with university over the last few days. I handed an assignment in yesterday and have one more to go before my exams (its my last undergrad assignment!!!!) The last two nights I had nats mum come and stay with us which was so lovely. She is one of those people who doesn't make you feel any different when she is staying - its lovely to have her here.

Anyway - I didn't really know what to cook and so I looked in the fridge and realised that somehow I had ended up with 6 capsicums (bell peppers to my US buddies). They were on special and I got a little excited. So from there I remembered a lovely tempeh recipe that I hadn't had for ages. I had a block of tempeh in the freezer and dinner was on.

This is the only tempeh recipe that I have cooked and thought that it is worth keeping. Tempeh is rather expensive here (about $5 for a 300g block - compared to $3.30 for a 500g block of extra firm tofu) so the recipe has to be pretty good for me to feel that I want to make it again.

The photo isn't the greatest as we don't have very good lighting in our place (and it was night) but the recipe is SO good. You can find it here.

I was wondering what other peoples fav. tempeh recipes are - if you have the recipe on your blog feel free to link it - or post the link of the recipe if it is elsewhere on the net.


Happy vegan MoFo'ing - I am LOVING the influx of vegan food posts around the bloggersphere!!!

Vegan MoFo - #2 - I have an assignment due... so instead I make a stew

Ok, so my rhyme isn't the greatest. But it's true. Whenever I have assignments and tests and exams where will you find me?? In the kitchen of course!! I find cooking is the best form of procrastination as I get the most lovely hugs and kisses from nat when he comes home from work to a house that is filled with yummy smells. Speaking of smells - the worst thing about our unit is that we get to smell what the unit downstairs are cooking for breakfast or dinner (or lunch if it is a weekend). That wouldn't be so bad if they baked nice things - but they live on the SAD (Standard Australian Diet - very closely related to the Standard American Diet) and so all we smell is fried foods - be it chips, fish, beef, lamb - its aweful. This morning at 7am it smelt like fish - and this evening it smelt like they hadn't changed the oil in their deep fryer for a while - yuck!

Wow I got off track. This dish has different flavours to what I usually make. I loosely based it on a recipe I found in a magazine a while back but I added the beans and changed the spices slightly. It tasted wonderful. There are heaps of leftovers and since I am going out tomorrow night - nat is more than happy to have leftovers tomorrow night which is a good indicator of how good a recipe is (usually I get leftovers if it is not so great).

Sweet potato, corn and bean stew

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 medium zucchini, cubed
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2x 400g cans diced tomatoes, drained (reserve the liquid in case it needs moistening)
• 1 can of kidney beans, drained (or equivalent soaked and cooked)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, to taste
• 2 cups frozen corn kernels

1. Saute onion, garlic, pepper and celery in oil or water, stirring, until onion begins to brown, about 7 minutes.
2. Add the kidney beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, bay leaf, paprika, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer uncovered over medium heat for 6 minutes.
4. Add the zucchini and cook covered about 20mins.
5. Remove the bay leaf.
6. Add the oregano, thyme and hot sauce to taste.
7. Add the corn.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
9. Simmer uncovered for 10-15 mins until vegetables are tender and sauce is thick.
10. Serve over rice.

My husbands favourite meal

Nat and my dad have an "in joke" surrounding dinner and Baked Beans. They believe that all their Christmas's have come at once when they get Baked Beans for dinner. I can proudly say that the only time nat had baked beans for dinner what after driving home from a week with our parents up the north of the state and we arrived home at 6pm with nothing fresh in the fridge.

Anyway - I am not going to spend too much time posting about baked beans - I am not the most fond of them - so, aside from baked beans - I think that variations of the dish tha tI cooked tonight are Nat's favourite meal. I came up with the savoury lentil dish when I had a lot of root vegetables from the garden that dad and I planted at their house. Now I cook this dish in the pressure cooker - I just put it all in and let it work its magic. It is also easy to cook it without a pressure cooker - it would just take a bit longer though. These lentils make the perfect base for a vegan shepherds pie - although I was being lazy tonight so I just whipped up some mashed potato/sweet potato as a side dish.

The dish is so versatile - you can put any veggies you want in with the lentils (capsicum, mushrooms, silverbeet, spinach, parsnip, potato, pumpkin - anything goes really - what I put in tonight was just a result of what I had in my fridge).

Savoury Lentils - serves 4-6
2 carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 medium turnip, diced
1 medium Swede, diced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 broccoli stem, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4cup cabbage, shredded finely
1 1/2 - 2 cups brown lentils, soaked
1 vegetable stock cube
enough water or stock to cover

3tbsp tomato paste
1tsp dried basil
1tsp dried oregano
3tbsp gravox powder (I use the mushroom flavour)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In the pressure cooker, saute onion and garlic until soft, add all the vegetables and lentils and just cover with water or stock. (if not using a pressure cooker add the lentils and the firmer vegetables then continue to add the quicker cooking vegetables. Simmer until lentils and vegetables are tender. Cook for about 30+mins)
   
2. Bring to pressure and cook 10-15 mins. Turn off the stove and let the pressure come down naturally (this can take about 10+ mins).
   
3. Open the lid and add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook for a further 5 mins until peas are cooked through (but still a nice colour green).
4. Serve with rice, pasta, mashed potato or toast. This dish can be used as the base for a shepherd's pie.

Fat Free creamy mashed potato
To make creamy mashed potatos I usually use a mixture of potato and sweet potato (ratio of 2:1) and steam them until they are soft. Then I mix in some fatfree soy milk, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper and mash until soft and creamy.

Two of our favourite veggies in one dish!!

My husband and I were rudely awoken this morning (at about 5am) to hear someone trying to get into our unit with a key. When my husband went to see what was going on they sheepishly realised that they had the wrong unit. I wasn't too impressed - I mean there are only 8 units are in our block. Anyway - from there it was a busy day for both of us. My partner worked from 9am to 6pm and I had uni until 1pm and then was home writing an assignment for the afternoon. For dinner because I know that nat is SO hungry after a full day of work (and riding his bike home up a long hill). Sweet potato is one of nat's favourite vegetables and I had a few eggplants to use up (Eggplant is one of my favourite vegetables) so I was incredibly excited when I found a recipe from Ashbury's Aubergines. I followed the recipe pretty well but did alter it a little. I have put my revisions below. I served this dish with an easy chickpea and silver beet side dish.

Sweet Potato Stuffed Eggplant

Stuffed Eggplant

2 medium eggplants
2 tablespoons soy sauce
oil
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large capsicum, diced

Spicy Peanut Sauce

• oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
• 1/2 teaspoon chili paste, more to taste
• 3/4 cup natural unsalted crunchy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cups water
• salt to taste
  
  

1. Preheat oven to 175ºC. Spray a baking pan with oil.
   
2. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, brush the cut sides with soy sauce, and lay them flesh side up in the pan. Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and cover with foil. Bake until tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Steam the sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes, until just tender.
   
4. In a non-stick fry pan, sauté the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, until the onions are soft. Add the capsicum and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir, cover, and set the filling aside.
   
5. Peanut Sauce: saute onions in a saucepan for 5 minutes. Add the ginger, chili paste and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir thoroughly until the peanut butter has melted and mixed with the remaining ingredients.
6. When the eggplants are done - remove them from the oven and scoop out the centre (leaving a little flesh attached to the skin), chop the removed flesh and add it to the sweet potato mixture.
   
7. Place the sweet potato mixture in the eggplant shells and return the eggplants to the oven and cook for 15mins.
8. Remove from the oven and top with the peanut sauce and serve.

Sauteed chickpeas and silver beet

• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 400g chickpeas, (either from a can or home cooked)
• 500g fresh silver beet, washed, stems removed and chopped. (or spinach)
  
• salt and pepper to taste.

1. Saute onion and garlic with either water or oil in a non-stick pan until onion is browned, about 5 mins
2. Add chickpeas and silver beet. Cover and heat until silver beet is wilted.
3. When silver beet is done, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.