Best Dinner in a long long long time

mmmm mmm mmmm mmm mmm mmm. This might be the best thing I have made in a while. Indonesian Yellow Rice with Indonesian Tempeh and Broccoli.



Here is the recipe for Indonesian Yellow Rice from Things Asian. I cut the original recipe in half and left out the butter. I threw all of the ingredients into my rice cooker and just let it do its thing. We actually thought we could cut the rice in half again. It still made a full pot.

Indonesian Yellow Rice
serves 5
1 1/2 cups rice, rinsed
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cups water
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh lemon grass
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon, ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Place all ingredients into rice cooker and cook according to rice cooker instructions. (See the original recipe for non-rice cooker instructions).

Indonesian Tempeh from About.com with some modifications
serves 3
1 Tbsp unrefined peanut oil
1 block of tempeh, 1/2 in cubes

1 Tbsp unrefined peanut oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 tomato, chopped (I used 2 ripe roma tomatoes)
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp brown sugar
water as needed

Steam tempeh for 20 minutes. Remove from steamer (now you can reuse the steamer to make some broccoli). Heat 1 tbsp unrefined peanut oil in a non-stick skillet. Fry tempeh till brown on all sides (turning occasionally) and then move to a paper towel.

Heat 1 tablespoons oil in a wok. Add onion and fry until the onion turns translucent. Add tomato and fry for 2-3 minutes more. Then, add the soy sauce, sugar and tempeh and mix until well coated. Add a bit of water if the sauce is too thick.

Not-Chick'n Noodle Soup

Sometimes even a vegan wants that bowl of soup that we all remember from childhood... chicken noodle. And I know, most people would think that it is impossible for a vegan have. Well, here is (in my humble opinion) the closest vegan thing to the real thing for when you really really neeed it. We now make this whenever one of us doesn't feel very good.




This recipe is on its fourth modification from the original Tofu Noodle Soup recipe by Nava Atlas. I based my version off of Eat Peace's Tofu Noodle Soup. Her version recommends (insists) on adding dill. I can't stomach adding dill to this soup. All the other versions of this recipe use tofu which doesn't feel right to me. But Eat Peace's picture looked so good, that I had to try it and modify it so I would like it.

Not-"Chicken" Noodle Soup

1 T olive oil
3 celery stalks, diced small
3-4 carrots, scrubbed and diced
4-5 cloves garlic (about 1 1/2 Tbsp), minced
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 yellow onion, small, diced
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed between your fingers
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 cup hot water
2 Not Chick'n boullion cubes*
6 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp tumeric
4 oz angel hair pasta (or capellini, or vermicelli), broken in 1 1/2" pieces
~16 oz white wave chicken style seitan, 1/4 inch dice
pinch cayenne

In a large stockpot (6 qt-ish), heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for about a minute. Add the thyme, and oregano. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to keep garlic and ginger from burning. Turn heat to medium low, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, place the boullion cubes in hot water and stir to combine.

Add the boullion/water mix and the 6 1/2 cups of water to the pot along with salt, pepper, paprika, and tumeric. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer covered for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Take the lid off, increase the heat again, and add the noodles, seitan, and pinch of cayenne. Cook about 10 minutes, until noodles are cooked. Stir, serve immediately.

This soup is really good the next day too, but you may find that the noodles have taken over. If that happens, make 2 cups of hot water and mix with a not chicken boullion cube. Add to the soup and adjust seasonings.

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* I use Butlers Not Chick'n Boullion, which you can get at Food Fight Grocery. I swear by this ingredient and wouldn't want to substitute anything else. I order about 3 boxes at a time and have them shipped to the house.
** I am normally not a huge fan of white wave seitan because it is squeaky, but it really works in this recipe. I cut the seitan really tiny which takes away the squeaky effect. It winds up tasting like the tiny chicken bits in Campbells chicken noodle soup (if any of you can remember that).

2 Buddha Bowls for the Price of One

Well there would be two recipes here if I hadn't screwed up one. This week I decided that I wanted Buddha bowls; bowls full of brown rice, kale, tofu, veggies and some sauce. I have no idea where I got the idea that this was the definition of a buddha bowl, but there ya go.

Here is a pic of the bowl, pre-sauced. You can see that it has my buddha bowl definition of ingredients; vegetables (whatever you like really - I used carrots, celery, broccoli, peppers, scallions, snow peas), tofu, kale, brown rice:



The first bowl that we made on Monday night, had a ginger soy sauce. This is the sauce I messed up. But, no fear, I'll try it again soon and post a usable sauce recipe for this. I wasn't feeling well at all when I made this, and for some reason I never tasted it until we sat down to eat. Wow was it salty. Hmm, maybe a little less soy sauce next time. 



When I made this bowl on Monday, I made enough stir fry veggies, brown rice, stir fried tofu, and sauteed kale to use the other half in Wednesday's bowl. This cut tonight's cooking down to only reheating in the microwave and making a sauce.

Tonight's bowl got a thai coconut curry sauce. It is a very light sauce (not too spicy and not too much curry flavor), and the recipe follows.



Here is a pic of the sauce cooking on the stove.

Red Coconut Curry Buddha Bowl Sauce

1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp red curry paste, make sure it is vegan
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp paprika
1 14-16 oz can coconut milk (not lite coconut milk)
1 Tbsp brown sugar

Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and then add the garlic and ginger. Saute a couple of minutes (be careful not to burn it; keep the heat medium to low). Add the curry paste, tomato paste, soy sauce, coriander, cumin, and paprika. Cook for about another 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the coconut milk and brown sugar and make sure you mix it well. Bring it to a boil and cook for about 3-5 minutes. Serve over stir fried veggies and rice.

 

Oh, And this sauce tasted amazing on the kale!  Here is a link to the original recipe that I based this on (mostly I just looked to see that ingredients they put in theirs and then mixed stuff up till it tasted like I wanted it to).