vegan recipes: a list thread

There are four tricks to hummus. One, the proper name is hummus bi tahini. The tahini is equally important, and should be in at least a 1:6 ratio with the chick peas. Enough tahini, and olive or other oils become unnecessary. Two, the creaminess comes from the emulsion of the sesame oils from tahini with lemon juice/water. Don't add other ingredients until these have the consistency of a creamy salad dressing. Three, food processors aren't great for this, and like normal blenders are a pain to clean. Immersion blenders are the ideal tool here (as in most kitchen blending tasks). Four, the base is always the same. Other ingredients (I've tried sambal oelek, Italian gardineria or olive salad, chopped cilantro/coriander + jalepeno pepper, and Jordanian za'atar, all with good effect) can all be optionally stirred in or used as toppings. Basic hummus:

1/2 cup tahini, 1/4-1/2 cup lemon juice, water as needed: blend to a creamy emulsion, preferably with an immersion blender in a wide and tall sided storage container/serving vessel.
28 oz can chickpeas (drained), 1 large clove garlic, 1/2-1 tsp salt (less if not adding other salty ingredients): add at once, and blend in with a bit of chomping with the immersion blender.

yeah, Sanpaku, i agree that aerating the tahini first is absolutely key, as is using a good amount. i do think olive oil is a key flavor component though. one thing that bothers me in the wild is hummus pronounciation. in Hebrew there is no short "u"-sounding vowel. and i'm certain the same is true w Arabic. it's hoo-moose, not an organic component of soil. not sure why it bugs me so much

hey can we not have this thread on something called "The Cheese Board"?

Dried chickpeas are best for hummus. Questioning whether those instruction above accidentally left off taking the chickpea skins or you don't believe in it. I can't deal with using an immersion blender for hummus.

I've been binging Sauce Stache's YT channel, and its mostly applying "molecular gastronomy" techniques to making faux meat/cheese from absurd things (daikon bacon!). And if you're past the faux animal products stage, not so useful.

But it did introduce me to something I always walked past at the Asian grocer: mushroom seasoning. Basically dried shitake powder, salt, and mushroom "extract", sometimes other ingredients like E627, and it is great. I may never buy Marmite, Better than Bullion, or MSG ever again. Its found its way into two soups this week, I'm looking forward to making a faux-loaf with it this weekend, and its just plainly a better source of general purpose umani than other things I've tried over the past decade. Hooray Taiwan and the Singaporean and Vietnamese knockoffs.

that seasoning sounds interesting. what's in yer faux-loaf? did you make the daikon bacon? i've made rice paper bacon before and it was a little tricky to work with. seitan bacon is so far my fave homemade one. second is tempeh, but for some reason that has vanished from shelves recently :(

xxp I'm with you on the immersion blender in a tall sided serving vessel thing but would quibble over your ratios (half a cup of lemon juice??!!)

One, the proper name is hummus bi tahini

In Arabic, yeah. But I'm pretty sure it's just "hummus" in Hebrew. So my question for outdoor miner or whoever else is: how does the Hebrew language distinguish between chickpeas ("hummus") and hummus ("hummus"). Is it all context or what?

Questioning whether those instruction above accidentally left off taking the chickpea skins or you don't believe in it.

Yerac really dealing with the elephant in the room right there, I mean take a fucking stance.

how does the Hebrew language distinguish between chickpeas ("hummus") and hummus ("hummus"). Is it all context or what?

i would say context. like in Japanese ( i believe) the word rice (gohan) can mean either "meal" or "cooked rice". (i don't speak Japanese, but i know inflection has a lot to do with meanings, so this may not be a perfect analogy?)

Thx, guess i was wondering about situations where it could go either way. Say you're in a supermarket in Israel and you ask for "hummus" (or a can/container thereof), and the shopkeeper isn't sure whether you want chickpeas or hummus. What would be the conversation that follows? How would it go...

I always take the chickpea skins off for houmous (no idea why we spell it this way) but two days ago I forgot and it made zero difference and now I don't know what to think. A lot of effort, but it's best with homemade tahini which somehow tastes way less acrid than shop-bought stuff.

xp deflatormouse:

Never the skins. I've done the whole raw chickpeas in a pressure cooker with baking soda, followed by removing all the skins, a couple times, and it turns a 5 minute task into a two-hour task. Fine (and to be expected) in a restaurant setting, but cooking for 1-2, I can't justify the effort. Canned chickpeas (at least the Middle Eastern brands I buy) come skinned, its one of their principle advantages.

Having joked about offerings to Ọya this hurricane season, I'm planning on making some of the traditional offering akara (black eye pea fritters). That will be the next time I remove legume skins by hand.

I've done the whole raw chickpeas in a pressure cooker with baking soda, followed by removing all the skins, a couple times, and it turns a 5 minute task into a two-hour task. Fine (and to be expected) in a restaurant setting, but cooking for 1-2, I can't justify the effort.

same

it made zero difference and now I don't know what to think

blasphemy!!

srsly tho it's a much smoother and creamier consistency without the skins.
i think removing the skins is associated more with "Israeli hummus" while leaving them on results in something more like "Arab hummus" so there may be identity politics in play here, which is why i said that about Yerac's post, picking a side.

I leave the skins on mainly because laziness.

(i was joking, to be absolutely clear)

I'm sure I'd have noticed the difference if I was eating the two types side by side, but I was simply very hungry so I noticed nothing. The recipe first instructing me to remove the skins was for Turkish hummus.

Best flavour of houmous besides the original? I almost always make it with red peppers, but there was a pea version once that turned out great.

xp haha I know

Fine (and to be expected) in a restaurant setting, but cooking for 1-2, I can't justify the effort.

This makes zero sense to me. A restaurant isn't gonna have like 6 people that do nothing but peel garbanzos all day every day. used to make hummus in nice, famous vegetarian restaurant in sf before. beans were cooked in pressure cooker and industrial sized immersion blender were the tools involved

I've often thought that's why the food at Iranian restaurants seldom compares to homemade. They would have to employ like 6 people to do nothing but stalk herbs all day every day.

Instead they do the sensible/economic thing of using dried herbs wherever they can possibly get away with it

last time i went to a Persian spot and tried to order sabzi khordan off the menu the server basically said 'no, we can't be bothered'

Persian cuisine is very long-winded. even just all that pomegranate husbandry must be tiring

Deflatormouse, i asked a Israeli friend who said if you want the dip you typically ask for "hummusim" (the plural of hummus), or "gargeeray hummus" (no idea what this translates to. when i tried putting it into a translating machine how i think it may be spelled the meaning comes out "grain" ::shrug::)

wait i **cked that up. "Hummus" refers to the dip and the other two refer two just chickpeas. LOL, that makes sense now

woah you rule. thank you so much for finding this out, my curiosity is now well satisfied. hummusim makes more sense for chickpeas- idk any Hebrew really but sounds like a plural form of hummus :)

Xps seriously, why is there a tempeh shortage right now?? It’s been weeks.

According to Yotam Ottolenghi, soaking dried chickpeas overnight, draining them off and sautéing with baking soda BEFORE simmering in water, does some of chemical magic that breaks down the skins so you get a smoother consistency without having to peel

My tj's and local Sprouts has been sans tempeh for weeks. Cld be a opportunity to learn how to make, but we go from too hot in summer to freezing in winter so I just don't wanna bother with learning curve rn

Hi dere, I'm technically a vegetarian but am an accidental vegan most weeks. Anyway, Rainbow Plant Life has yet to steer me wrong, and this stew is next on my list: https://rainbowplantlife.com/vegan-west-african-peanut-stew/#wprm-recipe-container-5657

I don't actually have peanut butter but I'll probably substitute with tahini.

Made this for the second time again: https://rainbowplantlife.com/wprm_print/5540

Absolutely a keeper -- the nut butter gives it an excellent smoky taste.

That Gambian peanut stew looks amazing, and I think I might actually be able to pull it off despite my haplessness when it comes to cookery

It turned out pretty well! I'm thinking of adding actual peanuts to it next time for some added crunch.

After much inner debate about what I'm in the mood for tonight's dinner, I'm going to try this: https://www.pickuplimes.com/recipe/one-pot-creamy-mushroom-pasta-98

I forgot to pick up the chili pepper (arrgh!) but otherwise it turned out really well!

dang, looks good. and one-pots are nice. reminds me of a one-pot mac & cheese that i like to make. one thing i would do different in that recipe is saute the shrooms and try and get a bit of a sear on 'em instead of throwing them in raw. anyways. . .

Persian cuisine is very long-winded. even just all that pomegranate husbandry must be tiring

― here comes the hotstamper (jim in vancouver)

Pomegranate molasses is used more than fresh pomegranates. For a lot of recipes that call for both, like say ash'e anar, you can easily get away with using just the molasses.

I need to drop a few quarantine lbs. so I'm eliminating gluten and sugar from my diet for a bit. I did this for a few years and it led to all kinds of GI health issues, so it's not a long term solution. 'Paleo' diets are not for vegans imo. But I'm going to have to cook every single goddam thing i eat now, hooray!

The peanut stew does sound pretty nice, too bad I'm allergic to sweet potatoes.

Aw man, that sucks! Would it be possible to switch to regular potatoes? Personally, I would've preferred a less sweet version.

Or kabucha pumpkin for more flavor?

As allergies go, it's a ridiculously easy one :)
Good to know it's a tad sweet, kabocha sounds like a good substitution.

Saffron water is really nice in coconut milk and tomato base curries. I would probably tweak the spice blend in that recipe, throw in some black mustsrd seed and asafoetida, nix the curry powder, maybe substitute curry leaves if i had em. Maybe cardamom and cloves.

I almost always use either bahrat or S&B's curry powder from a jar in place of garam masala lately.

https://nataliepenny.com/

This is one of the best vegan recipe sites I've found in ages.
I made her tofu with peanut sauce and sesame greens tonight, it went exceptionally well I must say.

She seems to love cardamom so that definitely catches my attention.

holy cow @ tahini cardamom babka! thanks for link.

xp

holy cow @ tahini cardamom babka! thanks for link.

xp

Her writing is a bit of a shame, enough typos that it takes a little bit of kitchen experience to be able to decipher.

I made the tahini cardamom babka -- it did not turn out well, though I fully acknowledge that my abilities could've sunk the final product.

i tried it too! and underwhelmed. There was not nearly enough filling. The dough was just not right (i did use 1/3 spelt flour) even though i added one (1) egg to enrich it a bit. I have an old tried and true babka recipe i may go back to and make with choc/cardamom/tahini, but is no vegan. I like the matcha/pistachio idea though and have not given up with babka experiments, but something with the recipe was lacking or something

This turned out reasonably well! https://rainbowplantlife.com/fluffy-vegan-gingerbread-cake/

Although I messed a couple things up: it has a strip of uncooked batter that runs under the center line just an inch or so under the surface, I think I remember GBBO saying that trapped air was

I also tried to make up my own frosting without the vegan butter (i.e. solid fats) using olive oil and arrowroot powder -- and in the end, too much of each.

hah to finish that thought: a trapped air bubble keeps the surrounding batter from cooking.

I think I've settled on a decent, easy, and idiot proof fauxgurt recipe.

9 ounces firm tofu
1 cup cashews
1 tablespoon chia seeds

The only prep is to optionally soak the cashews overnight (but I rarely remember to do that), and to make the chia egg. Then, dump everything into a food processor.

Why firm instead of soft tofu? Do you prefer the texture?

Yeah, I wanted something creamier, but I've seen other recipes say that silken tofu works too.