Zsu's Vegan Pantry - The How To: Herbivore

Showing posts with label Herbivore. Show all posts

Herbivore - Shawarma

The write up for the Shawarma is on Weekly Vegan Menu.

There are three components to this dish:

The Filling

The Hummus

The Assembly

The Filling:

Use either shredded seitan (Tender Seitan is good) or a rehydrated TVP chunk or Soy Curls:

Par-boil your potatoes, peel them and dice them. Dice your onions, mince your garlic and heat a large skillet.

Add the potatoes, onions and garlic to the pan. Brown them as best as you can.

Prepare your seasonings. You will need paprika, salt and pepper.

Add them to the sauteing protein and potatoes. Keep browning them.

until a nice crust develops on the protein and the potatoes.

The Hummus:

Make your hummus by having warm chickpeas ready. If they are not warm, heat them up in simmering water.

Drain the chickpeas.

You will blend/process them with paprika (not pictures), garlic, salt, pepper, tahini and lemon juice.

Add some olive oil along with the other ingredients.

Blend until smooth. You can also use a food processor.

The Assembly:

You will need the hummus, the protein and potatoes, tomatoes, pickles, avocado and hot sauce. Not to mention the flat bread.

After heating the flat bread until warm to help facilitate rolling, layer your filling:

hummus

protein/potato

pickle

tomato

avocado

hot sauce

Using a knife to hold everything tight while you begin the roll,

roll the shawarma as tightly as you can.

Spray with some oil...

...and broil ...

...until golden and crisp.

Serve:

Sahwarma Recipe

Herbivore - Gnocchi

The write up for the Gnocchi is on Weekly Vegan Menu.

There are three components to this dish:

The Potato

The Kneading

The Boiling

The Potato

Bake your potatoes in their jackets on 400 for about an hour. Check to make sure they are fork-tender.

When ready, peel them. Try to do this as soon as you can because your potatoes need to be hot when you rice them.

Rice your potatoes using a potato ricer or a food mill. Mill the potatoes over a cookie sheet and do not touch them. They must remain nice and fluffy.

Another option is to mill them over a bowl and gently empty them onto the cookie sheet.

Put your potatoes in the fridge and let them cool completely.

The Kneading

When the potatoes are totally cool, empty them onto a kneading/cutting board.

Sprinkle flour onto the potatoes (snow on the mountains).

Begin kneading the dough. If your dough is too sticky, add more flour. Be careful - the object is to add just enough flour and not too much. You want the dough not tacky, but not dense.

Roll the dough into a large log.

Cut the log into equal parts.

Cut each equal part in half.

Sprinkle flour on your cookie sheet. This will be the 'landing' place for your gnocchi.

Roll each half into a snake by first squeezing a half to help it roll.

Roll this into a log.

Make four snakes, line them up and taking your scraper cut them into pieces. As you cut them fling them off the cutting board and onto the waiting cookie sheet.

Shake the pan to coat the gnocchi with flour so they don't stick to each other.

The Boiling

Bring a large pot to boil. When it is at a rolling boil, add the gnocchi.

When they begin to float, bring them up to a boil and keep cooking them. DO NOT remove them when they float because they are not ready yet. They need to boil for a minute or two to make them nice and light.

When ready, remove them and place them in your waiting sauce. Cook them in the sauce a bit and...

...serve.

Gnocchi Recipe

Creamy Tomato Sauce Recipe (variation at the end)

Herbivore - Creamy Tomato Sauce

The write up for the Gnocchi in Creamy Tomato Sauce is on Weekly Vegan Menu.

There are two components to this dish:

The Base

The Cream

The Base

Heat a large pot on the stove and add your onions.

Prepare your additions: oregano, basil and garlic.

After 5 minutes, your onions should be golden. Add your garlic and spices. Cook until you can smell the garlic.

Add the tomato paste.

Stir well and cook for a minute or until the paste turns a darker brown.

Add your tomatoes. I add strained tomatoes, but chopped, diced, whole (crush with your hands while adding them) or crushed works. When the sauce is done, if you like you can blend it in a blender or using a hand blender.

Simmer your sauce, partly covered over low heat for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning: add salt and fresh pepper. Wait to add sugar until after you add the cashew cream since cashews are a bit sweet.

The Cream

Place 1 c water and 1/2 c cashews in a blender.

Blend on high speed TWICE. If your blender is not as powerful, blend one more time.

Strain your cream through a nut milk bag. If you do not, you will have bits of nuts in your sauce. This makes it less pretty and more crunchy.

To get the cream out, lift up the bag, with your hand wrapped around the top of the bag, begin moving down, squeezing the milk as you go. When you get to a point that it feels like the bag will break if you keep pushing, let up and give the bag a squeeze. This will relieve the pressure on the bag, but still get a whole bunch of cream out. Repeat this until there is only pulp in the bag.

When your sauce is ready, add the cashew cream.

Stir well to incorporate. Bring back to a simmer. Cook for a minute and taste for seasoning. Need more salt? Is it bitter? Add 1 T of maple syrup a little at a time so you don't over sweeten it.