Our Veggie Kitchen

I went into the kitchen today with a plan to roast some squash. I decided I'd roast the squash and aromatics and decide from there what flavors were talking to me. The blended squash had a sweet and roasty flavor and was screaming for mustard. I sizzled some mustard and ginger in oil and blended in the last batch. This is an easy soup to make and the sweet squash with subtle hints of ginger and curry powder are perfect for a rainy fall day.



Roasted Squash Curry Soup
Roasted Veggies:
3 tbs vegetable oil
1 large butternut squash (about 3 lbs), cubed
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
Other:
15 oz can chickpeas, drained
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp amchur (dried green mango) or 1/2 small lemon, juiced
Tarka*:
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs brown mustard seed (yellow is fine too)
1 tbs ginger, roughly chopped
1 tsp curry powder

Roasted Veggies:
Add the vegetables and squash to one or two 9x13 casseroles and drizzle with vegetable oil.  Cook in an oven preheated to 400 degrees.  Bake until the the veggies begin to carmelize in places.  Remove from the oven and add the can of chickpeas to the veggies.  Blend in batches with enough water to keep the blender going.  Pour into a soup pot.

Tarka*:
Heat 1 tbs of vegetable oil in a small frying pan.  Add the mustard seed until it sizzles, then add the ginger.  Fry just until the ginger becomes aromatic.  Remove from heat and stir in the curry powder.  Add to the blender with some of the pureed soup.  Pour some water into the fry pan and swirl to get the last bits of spice.  Pour into the blender.  Blend thoroughly.

Add the salt and amchur or lemon juice to taste.  Heat to a boil, remove from heat and serve.

8 Servings:  337 cal (9g fat, 67g carbs, 8g protein)

Note:  a tarka is a cooking method used to flavor Indian dals.  At the end of cooking, spices are fried in oil, then folded into the dal.  This worked great for this recipe.  You can adjust the flavors by adding bits of the last blended batch at a time until you get the flavor you want.

As I said once before, I made 24 chicken-y seitan cutlets for Veganmofo this year. One of those meals was this stir fry. There is nothing terribly special about a stir fry. Use your favorite vegetables (or the ones you need to use up), combined with some tofu, tempeh or seitan. But the sauce really makes this weeknight workhorse shine. I love adding sherry and ginger to stir fries and I love lots of sauce. And this really hits the spot.

I Usually dust tofu or seitan in flour and pan fry it ahead of the veggies. When you add them back to the stir fried veggies and pour in the sauce, the flour turns the sauce into somewhat of a gravy. And I'd eat barbed wire if it's drizzled with gravy.



Stir Fry Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs ginger, grated
1 tsp sesame oil

2 tbs cornstarch
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sherry
1 tbs white sugar

When the stir fry is finished cooking, push the veggies & tofu/seitan/tempeh aside. Add the garlic & ginger to the center of the pan. Pour the sesame oil over the top and stir around the center of the pan. Then stir into the veggies. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour into the pan. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir and serve.

4 Servings: 123 cal (1g fat, 20g carbs, 3g protein)

This is one of my favorite stir fry sauces. It is very gingery, so if you're not a big fan, cut back on the ginger. I've cut the ginger back to 1 tbs and it is still very good, just not as potent.

This is also a great sauce for Fried Ginger Tofu



Ginger Tofu Stir Fry
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lb tofu, drained and sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 lb bok choy, leaves & stalk separated
2 carrots, sliced on the bias
1 lb broccoli florets
1 lb asparagus spears
Sauce:
2 tbs cornstarch
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sherry
1 tbs sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs ginger, grated

Combine the sauce ingredients and whisk together.

Heat the oils in a large saute pan over medium high. When the oil is hot enough to spatter, add the tofu. Let it fry for a couple minutes, until it begins to brown. Gently turn or toss and cook until the tofu is evenly browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.

If necessary, add a little more oil to the pan. Add the carrots, bok choy stalks and onion slices. Stir fry until the carrots begin to soften. Add the broccoli and asparagus. Continue to stir fry until the broccoli and asparagus begin to soften, but are not cooked through yet. Add in the tofu and roughly chopped bok choy greens. Pour in the sauce and simmer until the sauce thickens and the greens wilt.

Serve over rice or noodles.

4 Servings: 341 cal (13g fat, 37g carbs, 17g protein)

I've been hard at work this week, just not much to post. I'm working on converting some of my omni favorites. I made two batches of Italian Sausage; one was very good and one wasn't. I made my first iteration of Tex-Mex Enchilada Sauce that doesn't begin with a cup of lard. And I made Ginger Tofu.

This was my all time favorite pork dish. Big cubes, breadded and fried and smothered in a goey ginger sauce. I had General Tso's Tofu at a restaurant last week and it got me reminescing. In retrospect, this was always meant to be a sauce served with tofu. Who'd-a-thunk!



Ginger Tofu
1 lb tofu, drained and sliced into large cubes
3 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
3/4 cups vegetable broth
3 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs dry sherry
1-2 green onions, whites sliced thin, green part chopped on a bias
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp sugar
1 tbs ginger, grated

Place cubed tofu in a resealable bag with cornstarch. Toss to combine and shake off excess cornstarch. Heat oils in a saute pan on medium-high. Add tofu and brown, turning cubes as they brown. When the tofu is browned, remove from a pan.

Combine remaining ingredients and pour into the sauce pan. Bring to a boil and cook until it begins to thicken. Stir in the tofu and cook down until the sauce begins to cling to the tofu.

4 Servings: 214 cal (12g fat, 15g carbs, 9g protein)