Dinner time arrived last night before I had a plan. Suddenly, I was famished.
While Bob deep fried pita triangles–only 30 seconds at 375 degrees–I opened the fridge to discover we had 3 cobs of grilled corn and sweet chili aioli: approximately equal parts commercially prepared sweet chili sauce and vegan mayo (I use Walton Farms no-calorie mayo…so I can have deep fried pita triangles) with a little fresh lime juice. So I whipped this together in a couple of minutes.
Grilled Corn Dip with Sweet Chili Aioli
Grilled corn cut from 3 cobs
6 Tri-color cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters or sixths
2 tablespoons, thinly sliced green onion
1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro
Approximately 2 tablespoons sweet chili aioli or to taste (or 1 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise plus 1 tablespoon prepared sweet chili sauce and a squeeze of lime juice)
Sea salt, if needed, and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place all ingredients in a medium bowl, start together with a fork, and serve with fried pita triangles, chips, crackers, or the vegetables slices and sticks of your choice. If not serving immediately, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
This is less of a recipe and more of a mini advertisement for Nasoya brand wonton wrappers, which are vegan and available at mainstream grocery stores, and a method for using them. They are about 3-inches square, handle beautifully, taste delicious and have a lovely texture.
To make 2 appetizer servings of 3 each, or a total of 6, you only need about 3 tablespoons filling. For these I used mashed roasted butternut squash, sliced green onion, and just a drop of soy sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic, and minced ginger. Go easy on the ginger as it easily overpowers.
Simply lay the wontons out flat on a plate or baking sheet, and wet all 4 edges of the first wonton wrapper by dipping your finger in a cup of water and running it around the edges. Place about 1 teaspoon filling in the center, bring corners together at the top, and pinch the 4 seams with dampened fingers to seal. Repeat until all filling is used.
Deep fry for about 1 1/2 minutes at 375 degrees or until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and serve with duck sauce.
This delicious dip offers vegans all the delicious flavors of a summer cookout without the meat, mayo, and all the rest of the animal-based products.
Sure, there are vegan alternatives, but I have never craved the vegan meats quite as much as many of my vegan counterparts. This dip allows me to enjoy the flavors of barbecue, slaw, chips, and a poppyseed bun all rolled into one light, quick, beautiful, plant-based dip.
1-15 ounce can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups broccoli slaw (I purchase it ready made in the produce section)
3 tablespoons BBQ sauce
1/4 cup green onions
2 tablespoons smoked almonds
1 tablespoon dill or sweet pickle juice
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 teaspoon salt
1 large clove garlic
Garnishes: a few smoked almonds, 1 tablespoon sliced green onions, 1 teaspoon Everything Bagel Seasoning
Accompaniments: chips, crackers, bagel chips, sliced vegetables, etc.
Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until creamy, but textured. Spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle with almonds, green onions, and Everything Bagel Seasoning. Serve with chips, crackers, bagel chips, sliced vegetables, etc. (For the photo, I cut a flour tortilla into triangles and lightly browned them on both sides in a dry skillet over medium heat.)
Bhaji, which is very similar to pakora, only made with water, is an addicting Indian street food and you will soon see why! Not only are they scrumptious, but they are simple to prepare.
Indian has long been one of my very favorite cuisines. My traditional-ish version can be pan fried in a skillet for more of a fritter appearance, as in the photo, or deep fried for more of a free-form appearance.
Either is divine with the former being just a tiny bit trickier to cook through without over-browning one side. That is easily solved, however, by not allowing the fritter to be too thick.
Blooming Onion and Cabbage Indian Bhaji
1 small onion halved and thinly sliced 1 cup thinly sliced cabbage (I purchase it already sliced) 1 teaspoon salt 1 large clove garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon garam marsala 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup chickpea flour 1/4 cup water Approximately 4 to 6 tablespoons oil for frying Accompaniments: Your favorite chutneys, e.g. mango and cilantro-mint
Line a plate with paper towel. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients, except oil and accompaniments, with a fork until completely blended. In a large cast iron skillet, heat 2 to 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Using a tablespoon, dollop 5 similarly sized mounds of batter into oil, pressing gently on the tops to make approximately 1/2-in tall, but leave the form somewhat irregular. Cook for a couple of minutes, lowering heat if necessary, until golden brown. Flip and repeat. Remove to paper towel-lined plate and repeat process starting with heating 2 to 3 more tablespoons oil. Adjust heat as necessary during cooking process to prevent burning. Serve right away with chutneys of choice.
I love to eat like it’s happy hour even when it’s not. That is, I love appetizers. They are always the most enticing items on restaurant menus and, Even before the pandemic, I loved My own versions even more. The same goes for this brand new black bean dip with its Chinese flavors. It is sure to make any hour and every guest happy!
I recommend starting with the amounts of ingredients listed and then intensifying any of the flavors that you choose. Be careful with the ginger, as it can be overpowering and quite spicy.
1 15.5 ounce can unseasoned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
3 thinly sliced green onions, save a little for garnish
Garnish: 1 teaspoon Everything Bagel seasoning or white and black sesame seeds (Everything Bagel seasoning may seem out of place, but I love it because it contains sesame seeds along with dried garlic and onion)
Accompaniments:
Prepared vegan chili sauce and a few roasted and lightly salted cashews or peanuts
Baked Wonton Chips (recipe follows )
place everything except green onions, garnishes, and accompaniments in food processor and blend and tell smooth. Stir in green onions, reserving some for garnish, transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with reserved green onions and everything bagel seasoning. Serve with chili sauce for drizzling and Baked Wonton Chips for scooping.
Baked Wonton Chips
10 -3″ vegan wonton wrapper squares (I use Nasoya brand, halved diagonally)
Non-stick vegetable oil spray
Sea salt
Preheat oven to 350°. Place triangles of dough close together on baking sheet, spray very lightly with vegetable oil, and sprinkle with just the barest hint of sea salt. Bake for approximately 5 minutes or until golden.
I just discovered Nasoya brand vegan wonton wrappers in Harris Teeter! They are cut into perfect little squares that make the cutest cups for the Asian salad of your choice.
Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray. Layer 2 wonton wrappers on top of each other with one turned 45° to create eight points. Press into cups. Bake 10 minutes. They will crisp up as they cool.
The trick with vegan or plant-based skillet-fried cakes, fritters, and even burgers, is how to get them to hold together without a lot of breading or filler.
These rice cakes, made with leftover cooked rice, hold together beautifully with just a flax egg and cornstarch.
They are ready to devour in minutes with the topping of your choice or by themselves because they are quite tasty.
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 cup leftover cooked rice
1 green onion, green part only, thinly sliced or snipped with scissors
In a medium bowl, whisk together flaxseed meal and water. Set aside for just a few minutes until it thickens, whisking occasionally. Whisk in cornstarch, sea salt, and onion powder. Then stir in rice and green onion with a fork. Heat a skillet sprayed with non-stick spray over medium to medium high heat. Divide mixture into four even mounds, pressing into a disc about 1/4-inch thick. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side or until golden brown, adjusting heat if necessary. Serve alone or topped as desired.
Laura Theodore, aka the Jazzy Vegetarian, is hitting all the high notes and winning awards and accolades in the process. From her latest vegan cookbook, to the Jazzy Vegetarian on public television, to her podcast radio show, to her pop-up restaurant, this vibrant recording artist never misses a beat. She is everywhere: from Netflix to CBS to HBO, just to mention a few forums where she has been featured.
Her recipes are simple and straightforward; the resulting dishes colorful and flavorful. In fact, I gifted good foodie friends with one of her cookbooks, Vegan-ease this Christmas. Like me, they like to use recipes as a starting point for their own iterations, and no better place to start than with Laura’s, though her recipes are perfectly balanced as is.
When her latest cookbook, Jazzy Vegetarian’s Deliciously Vegan hit the stands, I had promised to participate in a “blog tour,” but life got in the way. So, better late than never. Today, I finally had an opportunity to return the favor to this energetic and supportive member of the vegan community, for years ago, she interviewed me on the Jazzy Vegetarian Radio when my cookbook, The Blooming Platter: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes was published.
Says Laura of her quick and easy recipe featured here, “Miso provides texture and taste to this hummus without adding any oil, keeping it a light and low-fat option for a satisfying snack.”
True confession, I added a tablespoon of oil because I love the mouthfeel of a hint of oil, but I also love Laura’s idea of using good ‘ole tap water for most of the moisture. Also, though I know the prevailing wisdom is to make a recipe as printed the first time and then adjust, I didn’t have any chickpeas on hand, it is pouring rain here, and I didn’t want to run into the grocery store. So, I made it with the edamame which I had in the fridge. Yum. And I used my food processor rather than blender.
Also, because my hummus was leaning in an Asian direction–and because I have been cooking and developing award-winning recipes for a very long time–I made a couple of other alterations: I added 2 large cloves of garlic, minced, and, over the top, I drizzled about a tablespoon of my Blooming Platter Mayo (basically, a white tangy “sauce”) and another of Asian Sweet Chili Sauce for color and zing. I think Laura would approve of my “jazzing up” my version just a little.
But, I guarantee that her unadulterated Miso-Parsley Hummus would be delicious as is:
1 can (15 to 16 ounces) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed 2 to 3 tablespoons water, plus more as needed 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (see note) 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 tablespoon mellow white miso 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Chef’s Note: For a more lemony taste, add 1 more tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.
Put all of the ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. Add a bit more water, as needed, to achieve the desired consistency.
My favorite Chex Mix recipe is whichever one I have just created. So this rich mix is my current favorite. It was created for a bourbon-loving friend’s birthday but enjoy it for any occasion or no occasion at all.
Casting around for a logic behind ingredient selection, I decided to go with other flavors associated with the Bluegrass State in addition to Bourbon: bacon and pecans. Bacos are vegan, though they’re not necessarily health food, so that choice was easy.
I was going to use Rye Chex, but you can’t find them anymore, or I couldn’t, and I even searched online, so I went with wheat. The cheese crackers and fried onions are because, well, I just love those flavors with smoky bourbon, smokier bacon, and sweet, earthy pecans.
Plus, the cheese crackers lend some color contrast. Brown Chex Mix may taste great, but it doesn’t do much in the appearance department.
The Cheerios and pretzels are for shape and texture contrast and Chex Mix just isn’t Chex Mix without both where I come from.
1 cup vegan butter
1/3 cup bourbon
2 tablespoons Liquid Aminos
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 jar Bacos (they are vegan!)
16 ounces pecan halves
4 cups Cheerios
3 cups pretzel sticks
3 cups Wheat Chex
1-6 ounce box Earth Balance Cheese Squares
1-6 ounce can fried onions
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Melt butter in oven in a large roasting pan, carefully remove from the oven, start animating ingredients, and roast for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely in store in airtight containers.
