NoRooz Persian New Year Feast & Festivities

This past Friday was one of my favorite days of the whole year : NoRooz! I'm sure all you loyal readers remember some of my previous Persian New Year posts from years past. Although I am not in any way Persian, I first learned about this holiday years ago while I was dating an Iranian man for a few years. He and I eventually split up and we have long since lost touch, but my love for NoRooz has lived on with unwavering affection. I often think of that former boyfriend at this time of year and send him a NoRooz blessing through the ether. 

This year's feast was the result of pretty much two days straight of cooking and prepping and fussing in the kitchen. In other words, a totally awesome time! Usually when I host parties, my excellent friends offer to bring something or make something, but I really love to do all the cooking for NoRooz. I think of it as a New Year's gift for my loved ones!

Cheese plate

I thought of making my own aged cashew cheeses - but these days the store-bought selections are so good that I took the opportunity to save myself some time and to try two new vegan cheeses that I hadn't tried yet. I bought the Heidi Ho Pure Chevre and Treeline Cheese Herb & Garlic flavor. Both of these were great and were a total and complete hit with everyone at the party! Woo hoo! Finally there are vegan cheeses that I can proudly serve to a room full of non-vegans and hold my head up high. What a great thing.

Along with the cheeses were some fresh baguette slices, flat bread wedges, cherry tomatoes and those excellent little organic Persian cucumbers from Trader Joes. I almost never buy my produce at TJ's (all that packaging!!), but these Persian cukes are so special and so tasty, so it was a fun splurge.

Spinach & Yogurt Dip with Walnuts

There are a few dishes that one simply must make for NoRooz, but every year I also like to try at least one or two recipes that I've never tried before. This year, I was snooping around the web looking for some NoRooz inspiration when I came across this recipe. Using my own homemade soy yogurt, this was a total cinch to veganize, and the result was fantastic. I put this out alongside the cheese platter so that it could also go with the bread slices. I loved the flavor of this spread so much -- and actually, even the spinach-onion-walnut combo on its own was totally delicious. I think I might experiment with using that combo as a dumpling filling (without the yogurt), because it was so tasty. 

Ajil

Ajil is sorta like Persian Trail Mix... and actually it's usually eaten on the Tuesday night/Wednesday eve before NoRooz... but it's also very tasty and delicious, so I broke the rules and served it. Plus, I had a few kids at the party and wasn't sure how adventurous their palates would be -- but I figured that everyone can get into a good bowl of nuts and dried fruits. There are already a million good Ajil recipes online, but my mixture involved raisins, almonds, pumpkin seeds, dried chickpeas, pistachios, raisins, dried cherries, and dried mulberries. So, you see, it's pretty good! 

 Aash-e Reshteh

This soup is pretty much the main Must Have at any NoRooz celebration. It is so good!!! It's got 3 kinds of beans, lentils, beets, boat loads of fresh herbs, beets, spinach, and noodles. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to make... but mostly that's inactive... You can find my recipe here. This year we had a bigger group than usual, so I made a full batch and there was just the tiniest little bit left over. Maybe I should have made more! Everyone agreed that this was one of my best batches of this soup that I've ever made. Isn't it funny how you can make the same recipe from year to year, but sometimes one batch just doesn't "have it" and another time it can taste like the most amazing thing ever? Well, this year I got lucky!

Mini Muffin Kuku Sabzi

Kuku Sabzi is usually an omlette with loads and loads of minced herbs, walnuts, and barberries. Over the years I have tried so many different methods of veganizing this recipe... but last year I really hit the nail on the head. To tell you the truth, I had forgotten about this adaption that I tried for the first time last year... but then when I was writing up my menu and shopping list, I decided to look over some of my previous NoRooz posts for recipes and such. I learned so much from myself! Ha ha. 

These are based on the recipe for Mini Muffin Omlettes from Isa Does It, and then just shifted the seasoning to be more like Kuku Sabzi. You can read more about my recipe and method on last year's post ... which is very helpful indeed, if I do say so myself. My own post also reminded me to use my food processor to chop the herbs -- which was a huge time and space saver. Thanks, self! 

 Sabzi Polow with Amey's Most Perfect Tahdig EVER

I love love love this rice. You may have noticed at this point that many of these NoRooz Dishes feature loads of fresh herbs ~ it's one of my favorite things about this holiday. Celebrating the arrival of a new year at the Spring Equinox makes so much sense... it's just so in harmony with the cycle of nature, when every plant is busting forth with blossoms and new, tender growth. So, all the fresh herbs are also a symbol of spring greens, and are included in so many dishes. In preparation for this party, I purchased 3 bunches of parsley, 3 bunches of cilantro, two bunches of dill, two bunches of mint, 2 bunches of scallions, and 2 pounds of fresh spinach. Booya!

The Persian rice is legendary for this crispy golden crust called "tahdig," and also for the tender non-clumpy rice inside. It's basically a giant cake of rice. I used the recipe and techniques for Persian Rice from Vegan Eats World, but I subbed out her seasoning suggestions and added in fresh herbs. This year, I doubled the recipe and added in 1 cup each of minced parsley, cilantro, dill, and chives. I love that Terry's recipe includes yogurt ~ I think it adds a nice creaminess to the final result. This year I used plain coconut yogurt, because one of my guests is allergic to soy and I already had a couple other dishes featuring soy (the yogurt dip and the mini omlettes). I wasn't sure if the sweetness in the coconut yogurt would be a factor, but it totally wasn't.

As you can see, year by year I am slowing getting the hang of this thing. Can you even believe how beautiful and golden and lovely that crusty rice is? And the inside was just as light and fluffy as you could ever want it to be. Contented sigh. There was none left over, so I took that to be a very good sign.

 Shirazi Salad

Just look at those colors! This lovely salad featured those same darling little Persian cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, olives, red onion, and mint. For something different, I used a nice salad dressing recipe from Silk Road: A Vegetarian Journey - I just tweaked it a little by adding extra lime juice and extra pomegranate paste. So good!

Flipping through Silk Road reminded me of what an AMAZING cookbook that is and got me all fired up to make more recipes from it.

Irani Mint Lemonade and Dried Lime Tea

I've made both of these special drink recipes for previous NoRooz fetes, and they were both as great as ever. The Mint Lemonade recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian and involves making a hot simple syrup and then pouring it over a load of minced, fresh mint and allowing it to steep. Then, combining that with fresh lemon juice and water. I used sparkly water for extra panache. 

The Omani Lime Tea is totally particular, and not like anything else you've ever tasted... but it's also very good! Dried limes are funky little things -- they're salted and dried and you have to bust them open with a hammer! A "culinary hammer," as I like to call it. You can find the recipe we used here. 

 I say "we" because up until now, I've neglected to mention that my excellent friend came over and spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen helping me cook and prepare. Her help was so invaluable! With a pal in the kitchen, every thing is more fun and goes more smoothly, there's less stress, and I can have a more ambitious menu since I know I'll have help. Plus, what a fun way to spend time together!

In addition to these drinks, I also had some Trader Joe's Pomegranate Sparkly juice and some plain sparkly water... just in case anyone was feeling less adventurous. I have to say, both Silk Road and World Vegetarian have some very intriguing Persian drink ideas that I haven't yet tackled, but one year I'll really go all out and make a selection of unexpected drinks. Won't that be fun!?

 the Haft Sin display

One of the things that really made me fall in love with this holiday is the Haft Seen display. You can read all about it on Wikipedia here. The table features at least seven (haft) items that begin with the letter "s" (sin) in Farsi. Each item has a special symbolism for the new year ~ an apple for health, garlic for medicine, dried sumac for the color of the sunrise, vinegar for old age... and so on. I always set the display up on my mantle. Every year I enjoy the ritual of assembling all the special items and arranging them with care and thought.

 a close up

from left to right: candles, daffodils, Hafiz and Rumi, glass eggs, an apple, dried oleander fruit, a (plastic) goldfish in water, sprouted wheat, (vinegar hiding behind the sprouts), rosewater, garlic, samanu (pudding made from sprouted wheat berries), dried sumac, more Rumi (never enough Rumi!), and then off-screen: a hyacinth, more candles, and some tulips.

Every year, as a part of the party, I stand by the mantle and we go over each of the items and what they symbolize and we try to remember their names in Farsi. One of my sweet friends who comes every year is indeed Persian, and - poor thing - we always look to her as our expert on all things authenticly Persian. However, fortunately for her, these days the internet is always available to help us out!

 Sohan As-Ali

There are many tempting goodies to choose from when planning your NoRooz dessert options, but in my opinion, you should never skip over Sohan As-Ali. These were the first Persian treat that I ever learned to make and they are just amazing -- almond brittle flavored with saffron and rosewater and then topped with finely chopped pistachios. Ahhh. So many subtle and evocative flavors in one perfect little morsel. This year's batch was a bit stubborn and took for-ever to reach the right temperature... but thanks to my candy thermometer, plenty of patience, and with some familiarity with how the goop should look -- they ended up coming out just perfect. Huzzah! Here's my recipe.

  Key Lime Pie

Every year I also make a Key Lime Pie, because the day after NoRooz is my Dad's birthday, and Key Lime Pie is my dad's #1 favorite treat. I used the wonderful and flawless recipe from the PPK (also found in Vegan Pie In The Sky). This year I used the Specculos cookies from Trader Joes (instead of graham crackers) to make the crust and the crust was faboo!! Definitely a good pairing. This whole pie was completely polished off... which is always a good sign.

This year's birthday celebration for my dad was especially sweet because he was just in the hospital last week and we weren't sure if he would be well enough in time to celebrate NoRooz with us. Well, quite happily, he healed so quickly that he was even released from the hospital sooner than anticipated and has been resting and recovering quite well. I sure do love my dad and every key lime pie I get to make for him gets sweeter and sweeter every year.

Somer's Pistachio Almond Ice Cream

I took note of this recipe quite a while back and stashed it away in my brain for NoRooz. What a hit! Believe it or not, this ice cream gets its glorious green color from fresh spinach!! Flavorwise, the spinach completely disappears, but the color is fantastic. Somer's recipe called for almond butter, but for extra pistachio oomph, I made some pistachio butter in my Vitamix first and used that instead. (I also used almond milk in place of soymilk). I think this was my favorite homemade ice cream ever! Next time I make it, I'll cut back the agave nectar just a bit, and also add some rosewater and saffron to truly Persian-ify the recipe. I also doubled the amount of pistachios called for, because more nuts is always better. More nuts = better life. There's still a little bit of this left in the freezer, but I don't think it will be there for much longer! 

Nane-Charkhi

Every year, right before NoRooz, a number of Persian bloggers team up and they each post a recipe for NoRooz. That's where I found this lovely recipe for NoRooz Cookies on ZoZoBaking. The recipe was easy enough to veganize: I used 2 tsp EnerG Egg Replacer + 1 Tbsp water for the egg yolk, soy-free Earth Balance for the vegetable fat, and almond milk for the milk. I loved that the recipe was so specific with grams for each ingredient. My dough came out perfectly soft and delicious (of course I quality-tested the dough, just in case!). The author of the recipe mentioned that she used a meat grinder to press out her cookies. But since that is most definitely not a kitchen tool I keep around, I used my cookie press instead and my cookies came out looking just like hers! I was delighted. These are essentially a very light and delicately sweetened sugar cookie with a perfect hit of cardamom and topped with pistachio dust. So elegant and so delicious. There were two left but Mr. VE&T ate them today. Alas. The cookies are gone, but my memories will grow on.

we all celebrate in our own way

I've got my sprouts still growing on the mantle, and 13 days after the equinox, I'll take them down to the ocean to toss them into the sea and make room for a new year. I know that many of you are suffering through so much snowy weather that spring feels like an impossible reality... but hopefully it will be on its way to your part of the world soon. Here's to a new year of growth and discovery and compassion and laughter! 

Eide Shomah Mobarak!

Happy NoRooz! Happy Spring!

Happy NoRooz, Everyone!

Last Thursday was my most favorite adopted holiday of the year: Persian New Year, aka NoRooz. Huzzah! NoRooz is officially celebrated at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, but, in the interest of social ease, we had a big dinner party on Friday night... which was also my dad's 77th birthday!

Although you might not know it from this picture, I was very proud of myself for not making too much food. Last year I went sorta crazy and made SO MUCH food for NoRooz... it was a bit too much. This year was just about perfect!

Kuku Sabzi

Every year for NoRooz, I like to make a few recipes that are new to me... but there are also some traditional dishes that you simply must have for the holiday - one of those is definitely Kuku Sabzi. Traditionally, kuku sabzi is an eggy omlette or quiche packed full with fresh herbs. Over the years I have tried many different veganized versions, but I think this year's vegan kuku sabzi was the best yet! 

I made a double batch of the mini quiche recipe from Isa Does It, and then "kuku-sabzied" the flavors. To a double batch of batter, I added roughly 1 cup each of: minced parsley, minced cilantro, minced fresh dill, minced scallions and minced spinach. Plus, about 3/4 c chopped walnuts, and about 1/3 cup barberries (rehydrated in warm water for +/- 30 minutes). I thought they might take longer to bake, what with all those fresh herbs in the batter, but actually they only needed about 20+ minutes in the oven, and they turned out AMAZING. Plus... so easy to do ahead of time and fun finger food for the party. I will definitely make them like this again next year! 

I also discovered how super fast this whole process is if I just use my food processor to mince all the nuts and herbs. Uh... why did it possibly take me so many years of NoRooz celebrations to realize this?? 

Sabzi Polow

Another NoRooz dish that you've just gotta have is Sabzi Polow: Persian rice with fresh herbs. If you are noticing a strong theme of fresh herbs, you are catching on. I've had really great luck with the polow technique from Terry's book Vegan Eats World... I especially like the little bit of yogurt that she suggests adding to the rice, and the cooking method is really clear. I made a 1.5 batch of her rice, but subbed out her suggested seasonings and added in about 3/4 cup each of minced dill, cilantro, chives, and parsley. As you can see, I didn't get a super golden crust (even though I cooked it longer than suggested... I think I had the heat too low)... but it still had a good crunch and it was super tasty.

Persian Sweet Potato & Orange Stew with Prunes

Here's one of the dishes that was new to me this year. I'd had it in my (excessively long) list of bookmarked recipes, and I finally tried it. I thought it was NoRooz appropriate because it was full of spinach and orange juice. I even used oranges from our own tree! You guys. This was SO GOOD and was a total hit of the party. Here is the recipe, which is very highly recommended indeed!

My excellent friend and her mom came over early to help me get ready (it was fun and helpful!!). They got put to work making these Nan e Taftoon flat breads... also a new-to-me recipe off the internet. I thought they turned out pretty well, but I actually preferred the flatbread recipe that we used last year... so I"ll probably return to that one. That said, I have a deep and abiding love for nigella/kalonji seeds and pretty much any ol' flatbread with nigella seeds is a friend of mine!

Aash e Reshteh Garnish

Somehow I failed to capture a photo of the traditional NoRooz veggie soup called Aash e Reshteh, but I did photograph the special garnish that goes with the soup. The soup (recipe here), is full of beans and veggies and spinach and noodles and generally it is bursting with flavor. This year I made a 2/3 batch, which was just about perfect! The garnish is a very special part - fried onions with dried mint and turmeric. Just the smell of the garnish fills the whole house with the smell of NoRooz. I love it so.

A big, fresh and simple Shirazi Salad: cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion and a few olives. Dressed with a combo of pomegranate molasses and olive oil. MmmMmmMmm.

I also made two special drinks. Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian has a bunch of really enticing Iranian drink recipes in it... including many that I have yet to try. Using her recipe, I made a batch of Irani Mint Lemonade (sorry, no picture!). I made a small pitcher of the syrup - which used simple syrup poured over fresh mint leaves and fresh lemon juice - and then let people add as much sparkling water as they liked. I also made this Pomegranate-Lime-Mint soda with fresh pomegranate juice, fresh lime juice, fresh mint leaves, and a small amount of simple syrup ... plus a bunch of sparkly water to give it fizz and to make it lighter and less intense. They were both very tasty!

(also, check out this awesome pitcher my mom gave me! even though it looks quite Persian, it's actually from my family roots in North Carolina!)

PPK Key Lime Pie

As I mentioned, Friday was also my dad's birthday! Although it has nothing to do with NoRooz, Key Lime Pie has everything to do with my dad: he loves Key Lime Pie! After becoming a vegan, I tried many K.L.P recipes, with varying degrees of failure and success... but once I tried Isa's Latchkey Lime Pie, I didn't need to look any further. Now I make this one every year and my sweet Daddy loves it. As you probably know, my dad has had a very rough year ... and so this year's birthday celebration felt even more special than ever. I'm so glad he is still here with us to love and laugh and just be together.

Ahwazi Cookies

Here's a super-awesome new-to-me recipe!! These interesting cookies caught my eye because they looked cool and the recipe sounded amazing - cookies stuffed with dates+walnuts+tahini??? Yes, please! The recipe was a bit like one of those old-fashioned recipes "add enough flour until you have a soft dough" (I ended up using about 2.5 cups). Also, I had to look up a recipe for homemade "self-rising flour," which was easy enough. These cookies are super cute and also super delicious. We were all calling them UFO cookies, for obvious reasons. They are just barely sweet, except for the date filling, which is naturally sweet. They're a really good treat to go with tea or coffee. Loved these!

My friends Jane and JP are organic farmers and they brought along a big bowl of beautiful strawberries - their first pick of the season. So glorious and delicious!!!

Sohan As-Ali

You've got to have plenty of shirini (sweets) for NoRooz... and although I do like to mix it up, I always make a batch of my personal favorite, Sohan As-Ali. Here's my recipe. These are almond brittle candies, flavored with saffron and rosewater, and topped with pistachios. They are absolutely delicious and I look forward to them every year! I've also learned to display them on parchment paper, so that they don't stick to the serving tray (hot tip!).

And, last but not least!, my friend Jasmine and her daughter brought along a platter of these delicious coconut-rosewater candies topped with ground pistachios and cardamom. YUM. I loved these! I was feeling a bit remorseful that I hadn't made any desserts featuring the Persian favorite cardamom, and then these showed up: perfect!

We had such a wonderful evening and celebration together with family and friends. Even though I didn't grow up celebrating NoRooz, I have really fallen in love with it... and every year that we celebrate it, I feel more and more strongly connected to it. It's such a beautiful and meaningful holiday - full of symbolism and so in harmony with the natural world. I love the idea of celebrating the new year with the vernal equinox - a time of balance and a time when all of Nature is preparing to burst forth into a new cycle of growth and beauty. Happy New Year!

VeganMoFo 26: Sweet, Sweet Paprika

Today's spice is: Sweet Paprika

what a pretty package!

So, I have a lot of paprika. Four varieties to be precise: Sweet (Hungarian), Bittersweet (spanish), Hot (Hungarian), and Smoked (Spanish). Smoked Paprika has really stolen my heart lately, but Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats is a true fan of Sweet Paprika. So, today, I bring you TWO meals featuring sweet paprika - one for Mr. VE&T and one for me.

In particular, Mr. VE&T loves the flavors of Hungarian food, and often asks me to make "Hungarian food" for dinner. I have a pretty good selection of cookbooks that feature international recipes, but very few of them offer indexing by country. For instance, I wish I could just look up "Hungarian" in the index and find all the recipes that are from Hungary in the book. But no! Instead I have to slowly fish my way through, which isn't all that bad, as long as I'm in the mood. I found this Hungarian Mushroom Stew in Olive Trees and Honey, which is a great book by the way. This dish is simple and yummy (even if it does have mushrooms in it) - and the most dominant flavor is definitely paprika. This meal = Heaven On Earth, if you are Mr. VE&T: mushrooms, paprika, tomatoes, white rice. But for me, it's just pretty good.

Lentils in a Sauce*, Tomatoes with Tomato Sauce*

(both from World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey)

*actual excellent recipe names! ha!

On the other hand, this is my kind of paprika scene. Truth be told, I've already used paprika quite a few times this MoFo, as a background spice here or there. These lentils had 1 1/2 tsp of sweet paprika, yet the end result was a lovely lentil experience without paprika taking over the whole dinner. By the way, this recipe for lentils is really great and crazy easy. You just dump everything in the pot and then a little while later you have delicious lentils. Awesome! What a great dinner. :)

VeganMoFo 21: Fresh Tamarind is my BFF

Today's Spice is: Tamarind!

I brought home this beautiful organic tamarind from India, and it's so wonderful. I am in love with it and I am going to marry it. Before buying this bag, I had only ever used tamarind paste from a jar - but the flavor I got from using fresh tamarind has made me an eternal convert. It's really easy: the recipe might call for a "lemon-sized" ball of tamarind. First you soak it in some warm water, and then pour off the water and press the pulp through a sieve - to keep out the fibrous material and seeds. Mmm, tamarind is amazing! Sweet and sour and earthy and tangy all at once.

islands in the stream, that is what we are

With my magical tamarind goo, I made Sweet-and-Sour Tempeh with Peanuts, from World Vegetarian. Oh My Freaking Freakster! This was so good. I skipped deep frying the tempeh bits and instead just dry-fried them. Then they are cooked in a puree of shallots, ginger, garlic, curry leaves, hot peppers, and of course tamarind. The end result is extremely rich, dense with exciting flavors, and crazy delicious. Alongside a batch of Cabbage with Garlic & Shallots (also from World Vegetarian), and a big batch of rice, this was truly an exceptional dinner. One for the history books!

Grapes for dessert, which was perfect.

Deeelicious Dinners

Even though I don't blog everyday, I DO actually eat everyday. More than once. So, now, I've got a nice little backlog of various delicious dinners of late. Now that spring is right around the corner, I am trying to use up various goodies from my pantry and freezer, to make way for all the fresh corn and fresh tomatoes and other glorious goodies that will soon be back.

Classic Black Bean & Veggie Chili from "Appetite for Reduction," Isa's newest book. As you'll see, I've made a few things from this book now, and I really like them. The recipes are great for weeknight dinners where you want something healthy, yummy, and ready in under and hour. This really is a simple little chili recipe, but it's quite tasty, and chock full of veggies, which is perfect for me!

Although it's not pictured, I also made the Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes & Brussels Sprouts from AfR (except I used kabocha squash in place of sweet potatoes), and that one we really, really loved. Probably my new favorite chili recipe of all time. And I was probably too busy eating it to take a picture of it.

Also from Appetite for Reduction, Chickpea Piccata. I loved Isa's suggestion to serve it with mashed cauliflower-potatoes (aka Caulipots) & over arugula. What a fun dinner! It felt so fancy, but it really wasn't all that complicated. Honestly, those caulipots are sooooooo good.

Indonesian Corn Chowder & Grilled Tofu

Last summer, I took a bunch of ears of perfect raw corn and cut off all the kernels and popped them into little ziplock baggies, and then into the freezer. All so that I could put corn in my chili in February, and make a whole pot of Indonesian Corn Chowder (from Healthy Hedonist) in the first week of March. Excellent! Alongside the chowder I made some grilled tofu marinated with Indonesian shallot marinade (adapted from a tempeh recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian). Both were so delicious, and made a great combo together. So nice to have some summery flavors in the middle of winter!

I guess I've been in a soupy mood. It must be all the nice rainy days we've been having. Here you see a big bowl of classic Minestrone Soup. I sort of base my recipe off of Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, but I use the recipe for the variation where you boil all your beans and the soup takes hours to make, except that I just use pre-boiled beans out of my freezer. Easy peasy! Plus I got to use up some of my oddly VAST collection of mini pasta shapes in the cupboards. Apparently I cannot resist buying mini pasta shapes, even if I have no planned use for it.

Sambar & Chickpea Curry

Using one of the South Indian cookbooks I brought home from India with me (it's called Southern Spice), I cooked up this tasty little dinner! Honestly, this sambar wasn't my favorite sambar recipe, but obviously, even a mediocre sambar is still mighty delicious. It's not like we didn't eat it all, folks. But that Chickpea Curry was another story. Chock full of coconut and curry leaves that stuff was over the moon delicious. Sooooo good, and definitely something I will make again.

My awesome friend Gabrielle surprised me with a copy of Kansha, the recently published all-vegan Japanese cookbook. It is so beautiful, it's practically just a coffee table book. But luckily, it's a cookbook too. So, post-holidays, home from India... I finally cracked it open with some serious intent to make something. My package of udon noodles called to me from the cupboards, and I settled on Udon Noodle Soup. Isn't it lovely?

Here it is after it's all mixed up together and ready for eating! You can see that this is Mr. Vegan Eats and Treat's bowl, not mine, because of his insitence upon using a fork/spoon, and not chopsticks. I'm just fine with chopsticks, I think they're fun! This soup was great... but unfortunately not my total fave. Mr. VE&T loved it, but he's more a mushroom fan than I am. I've come a long way in healing my once-estranged relationship with mushrooms, but this was still a little heavy on the 'shrooms for my taste. Also, I accidentally overcooked my udon noodles a little, which made me grumpy! Still it was a yummy dinner, and would be probably be heaven for a mushroom lover who knows how to cook udon noodles properly!

Middle Eastern Feastern!

Foul Mudammas, Baba Ghanoush, and Eggplant Caviar & Pita Breads

Last but not least, my masterpiece of weeknight dinners! A multi-dish offering of homemade pita breads, and three different spreads. I made homemade pitas once before... and while they were totally delicious, they did not poof. This time I used the recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food - which suggested preheating the oven and the baking sheet to 500 F for 20 minutes before baking. As you can see, it worked! I got Perfect Pocket Poof. The recipe made a lot (18?), so all the pitas we didn't eat went into the freezer to maintain their freshness. I'll definitely make these again, they were fun and delicious!

Also I used up some good pantry items - a big jar of grilled eggplant chunks and a big can of fava beans to make these delicious dips: Foul Mudammas, Baba Ghanoush, and Eggplant Caviar. As it turned out - they were a perfect trio! The Foul was thick and tangy - with garlic and lemon, the Baba Ghanoush was mild and rich with tahini and smoky grilled eggplant, and the Eggplant Caviar was fresh and light with fresh herbs and grilled eggplant. The best thing to do was to stuff equal amounts of all three spreads into a pita pocket and chow down! Obviously, this was a pretty ambitious meal for a weeknight... I think we ended up eating dinner around 10:30, but we're down with that. Luckily, there was tons of food and I got two more lunches out of all this goodness. Just remembering this meal makes me wish I could eat it right now... it was an incredible dinner!

VeganMoFo: An Indonesian Feasty-Feast!

Okay! Back on the road again... After our quick flight home for Thanksgiving... it's time to get back to our Around the World in 30 Days Mofo Adventure! Onward to Indonesia!

Oh, glorious Indonesian Food!!! Indonesian food is not something I've had much of. There are a couple of very vegan-friendly spots here in town that offer Indonesian food and flavors, but it's definitely not something I've cooked before. Well, there's a first time for everything, and this definitely won't be the last time I make Indofood! Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats and I were madly, madly in love with this dinner! And, best of all, the recipes I picked out were such a great combination ... different flavors, heat levels, textures, substantial and light... it was just a perfect meal!

I used all recipes from Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian," and wasn't disappointed once! The Fried Spiced Tempeh was downright magical. Instead of deep frying, I lightly pan fried it, just like when you make tempeh bacon. In fact, it was like a wonderful, other-worldly variation of tempeh bacon. It's got this totally WOW shallot-almond-coriander marinade that is absolutely gorgeous. I am eager to put that sauce to use in 1 million other ways, because we both loved it so much. The tempehs were quite salty, so I'll probably knock the salt down a bit next time... but the other components of the meal were more mild, so when you ate it all together, the tempeh added the kick for the other dishes. Next to the tempeh is a big mound of Cabbage with Garlic & Shallots. This recipe takes about 10 minutes, but is really lovely. It's light and mild and a perfect balance to the tempeh...

... and it's especially good with a few generous spoonfuls of this red Sambal poured on top of it. This is the Sambal with Roasted Tomatoes, Shallots & Chilies. I made a half batch, and totally loved it. It's sort of an Indonesian twist on salsa. Everything is roasted under the broiler and then blended up in the blender. Quick, and full of a special depth of flavor that comes from the charred and caramelized bits all mixed together. It was so quick and easy, and added so much to the meal, definitely don't skip it!

Finally, as a special treat, I made Indonesian Boiled Peanuts. Some of you may know that I have a special affection for boiled peanuts, and when I saw this recipe, I just knew I had to make them! Plus, we actually have a vendor at the farmers market who sells raw, fresh peanuts, and I am never able to resist their allure! Unlike Southern-style boiled peanuts, this recipe calls for the peanuts to be shelled, boiled, then skinned, then boiled again. The whole thing goes rather quickly, about 1 hour, but very little of it is active time. Mostly just the peanuts boiling away... The end result, though, is a delicious, very mildly spicy, gently salted little bowl of boiled peanuts, which was gone in a flash.

Come back tomorrow, as we head further east

into our Asian leg of "Around The World in 30 Days!"

VeganMoFo: Indian Eggplant, Collards & Mango Lassi

Today we're off to amazing India!

I've been to India twice now, and the glory of Indian food is definitely one of the many great joys of traveling there. Indians are absolutely down with vegetarian food... in fact, they usually have to advertise if they offer meat, so people looking for meaty options will know where to go! Reverse-o Land! However, they are also nuts for secretly injecting ghee and curds into everything they make, so us vegans usually end up with a sore tummy every once in a while. Nonetheless, India food is definitely one of my most favorite cuisines, and it wasn't easy to pick just one meal from the countless glorious options.

So, to help me decide, I decided to stay true to my usual "eat local, eat seasonal" ethos (which hasn't always been easy during this "Around the World in 30 Days" project) - and I went with a simple meal of Smoked Eggplant, Collard Greens with Asafetida, and rice. All recipes are from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

This whole meal came together quite quickly and was really good, and plenty spicy! Yeah! In order to prepare for our first trip to India, I started loading up on the hot sauce whenever we'd go out for Mexican food... the equivalent of weight lifting for my tender taste buds. It definitely worked, and I have much more of an appetite for spicy foods now than I ever did before that trip. Both the eggplant and the collards were perfectly spicy, and they were a great compliment to each other. The collards have an earthy, just-barely-bitter quality that was a perfect balance with the sweetness of the eggplant. mmm!

Also! Vegan Mango Lassi to go along with dinner. The (soy) yogurt here was a great friend with such a spicy dinner. I don't usually let myself buy too many mangoes... but I have found a little produce shop near my house which has been selling the most incredible football-sized mangoes grown right here in California! I'm sure they're from Southern California, so they definitely aren't local, but it's not like they're flying in from Thailand either. I won't make a habit of it, but it's nice to have a tropical fruit every once in a while!

Here's an old picture of me, from my first trip to India. A lovely woman named Galesh is dressing me up in her sari... it was really a joy to meet Galesh and her family. I still think of them often!