Vegan Burger Via Serious Eats

I love reading Serious Eats.  Lots of interesting articles about food, along with some great recipes or ideas for recipes. Its a must read for me.  Recently there was a recipe on Serious Eats for a vegan burger.  I have made numerous bean burgers in the past and frankly we love them.  I had to try this version.

My husbands burger, sans bun.

 Be forewarned it is a multi step process. You will have to work to get this one.

The result, well, a bit fall-apart-ish.  Gentleness is key along with the right proportion of eggplant puree.  They have rewritten the recipe to help out with this issue. 

The verdict.  It is okay.  We liked it but I have to say I like my lentil beluga rcipe better.  I will however try their recipe again when those vegetables are in season, just to really give it a fair shake.

Vegan Burger
From Serious Eats- Slightly adapted to what I had on hand

1 1/2 pounds button mushrooms, trimmed
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 whole small eggplant (about 1/2 pound)
1 small onion, chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 large celery rib, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
1 medium clove garlic, grated on a microplane grater (about 1 teaspoon)
3/4 cup dry pearl barley
1 (14-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and patted dry on paper towels
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon marmite, vegemite, or Maggi seasoning
1 cup toasted cashews, pinenuts, or a mix
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 1/2-cups panko-style bread crumbs

See the original recipe for a detailed description of how to make this burger.

1.  Cook barley.
2.  Roast eggplant and mushrooms in a 375F oven.

3.  Toast nuts and pulse in processor (not too much).
4.  Gently pulse garbanzos in same way.  You want a nice texture not a puree.
5.  Gently process mushrooms once they are roasted.
6.  Puree eggplant and set aside.  This will be added tot eh mixture once you are ready to fry.  I kept ina  seperate bowl so that each time I made them I would add it to the mixture.  We had them three times.  It makes quite a bit.
7.  Mix everything but the panko and eggplant in a large bowl.  Use this plus a little eggplant and a little panko to make a batch.  Or mix all of it together to cook them all up. 

Weight Watcher Wednesday: South Indian Vegetable Curry

I think I need to call these posts, Weight Watcher Wednesdayish.  Seems I have missed the mark a few times.  Oops.  I will blame it on the holiday Monday- threw me off a day.  But the important thing is that I am back and loving the opportunity to tell you about this beauty of a dish.  Yes, its Indian.  I know that does not appeal to a lot of you but I know it will appeal to some.  This was rich and creamy.  Full of nutrition and easy to make.  It was really easy to make since I didn't make it.  My husband did.  Yup- you heard it!  My husband actually likes to cook but I never let him.  The reason is because he acts like hes been cooking forever when he hasn't.  He throws this and that in.  And I am here to tell you that is sometimes very unappealing.  I told him he has to start with recipes and then when he gets to know which things work well together he could start major improvisation.

He took my advice and followed this recipe pretty exactly.  Except for the tomatoes- he just put extra paste in. We did not have light coconut milk on hand we used regular with water.  He omitted the cilantro and replace the chick peas with black eyed peas (which frankly were wonderful in this dish). Other than that- perfectly.  Ellie Krieger's got it going on with her fabulous, tasty and healthy recipes.

South Indian Style Vegetable Curry
Adapted from this recipe by Ellie Krieger for Fine Cooking.

2 Tbs. canola oil
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
One 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated (1 Tbs.)
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. cayenne
3 Tbs. tomato paste
2 cups lower-salt chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 cup light coconut milk
One 3-inch cinnamon stick
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small cauliflower, broken into 1-1/2-inch florets (about 4 cups)
1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
3  large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds (about 1 1/2 cups)
One 15-1/2-oz. can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
4 oz. baby spinach (about 4 lightly packed cups)
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. finely grated lime zest


 In a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven or other heavy-duty pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium (or medium low if necessary) and cook until the onion is richly browned, 5 to 7 minutes more. Add the garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, for 1 minute to blend the flavors. Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne; stir for 30 seconds to toast the spices. Add the tomato paste and stir until well blended with the aromatics, about 1 minute.

Add the broth, coconut milk, cinnamon stick, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low or low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the cauliflower, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots. Raise the heat to medium high and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.

Stir in the chickpeas, spinach, lime juice, and zest; cook until the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes more. Season to taste with salt. Serve garnished with the cilantro.

The following is based on the original recipe.  My recipe is pretty close to these counts.
Calories (kcal): 300; Fat (g): 10; Fat Calories (kcal): 90; Saturated Fat (g): 2; Protein (g): 12; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 3.5; Carbohydrates (g): 45; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 2.5; Sodium (mg): 680; Cholesterol (mg): 0; Fiber (g): 12

SEITAN... not the bad guy, the Vegan food alternative

Whoever thought of the name seitan anyway. Does anyone know where it is derived from? You can read more about it here on Wikipedia but it still does not really explain where the name came from.

Well, I will tell you this about last Sunday's dinner. While everyone enjoyed their ribs (yes, I know I could have had one), I was really enjoying my seitan "rib". It was nice, knowing that I could have more of them and the flavor was really good. So sometimes the fattening choices are not the desirable choices.

Below is an excellent recipe for Seitan that I found this past summer. I did quite a bit of playing around with seitan. This recipe that Fat Free Vegan has is pretty good. I left out the liquid smoke as it stays with me, reminding me of it's flavor over and over again. Ugh.

Seitan, Rib Style
based on this recipe at Fat Free Vegan

1 cup vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
any type of barbecue sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly spray an 8x8 baking dish with canola oil. Mix gluten, paprika, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder together. Combine soy sauce and canola oil and mix into the dry ingredients. Once combined, place on the counter and knead for about five minutes.

Place in baking pan and cut into 16 strips. Place in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for about 25 minutes.

Remove it from the oven and carefully re-cut each strip. Fry in a pan with barbeque sauce. Or you can grill it. (It's just a little too cold right now for that).