Annatto Spanish Rice

The spanish rice in this picture was made using Annatto oil. Annatto has a very mild flavor to it and adds a really nice color to the rice. This rice came out a little oilier than I'd like, so I might cut back on the margarine next time.

Annatto Spanish Rice

2 tablespoons Earth balance margarine
2 tablespoons annatto oil, see recipe below
1/2 jalepeno chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium Spanish onion, diced
1 bay leaves
1 cup long-grain white rice
Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups no-chicken stock or vegetable stocl

Melt the margarine with the annatto oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook till soft. Add the jalepeno chile and garlic, stir, and cook for 1 minute. Add the bay leaf, rice, stock, salt and pepper. Stir and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to low. Cover and simmer until the rice has absorbed the stock, 12 to 15 minutes. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Annatto Oil

1/4 cup annatto seeds *
1 cup corn oil

Add the annatto seeds to a pot and heat up the pot over medium heat. Give it a shake occasionally. The seeds will toast and start to smoke. Add the oil. Bring the oil to a simmer, remove from the heat and allow to cool. Strain the oil through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

* You can get these at your local mexican grocer or at Penzeys.com. They are also called achiote seeds.

Red Chile Seitan and Carmelized Onion Tamales

Red Chile Seitan & Carmelized Onion Tamales

I used foil instead of corn husks because foil is easy to find, and easier for first time tamale makers to use. Also, the corn husks I bought were moldy (sad). If you want to use corn husks instead, be sure to soak them in boiling water for an hour or two before using.

The sauce, filling, and batter can all be made ahead of time and then assembled before cooking.

Ingredients:
1 recipe Red Chile Sauce (you can make this ahead of time)

1 1/2 cups seitan (store bought or homemade), cut into 1/4 in pieces
1 onion, sliced and then slices cut in half
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
1/8 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil

5 ounces vegetable shortening, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups instant corn masa
1 to 2 cups no-chicken broth or vegetable stock
8 12" pieces of foil
corn oil

Directions:
Make the red chile sauce as directed in link above.

Meanwhile, make the tamale batter. In a food processor, add the shortening, salt and baking powder. Run to combine and beat the mixture to a fluffy texture. Add 1 cup masa to the food processor and run the food processor to combine. Add the other cup and run to combine. Add 1/2 cup stock while the food processor is running. Add more stock if the mixture is too crumbly. Check the lightness of the batter by checking to see if a dollop of batter floats in water. Add more stock if you need to, you want the mixture to be soft but moldable - not runny. Refrigerate the batter for an hour in a bowl well covered with plastic wrap.

To make the filling, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and sugar (the sugar will help them carmelize). Cook the onions over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are carmelized. Don't rush this. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, till fragrant. Then add the seitan and cook till the seitan starts to brown, stirring occasionally. Add about 1/2 cup of the chile sauce. The mixture should be lightly coated but not running. Allow it to cook down for a minute if runny. Remove from heat and set aside.

To finish the tamale batter, remove from the refrigerator and place the mixture in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup stock and mix on medium speed. Remixing the batter and bringing it back to the right consistency gives the tamales a better texture. When the batter looks soft and moldable but not runny, you are ready to make tamales.

Take a piece of foil and use a paper towel to lightly oil it. Take 1/3 cup batter into your hands (hands seem to work better here than any utensils I've tried) and shape it into a pancake shape and then place it on the foil. Using your hands spread the mixture out some more (but try not to get too thin on the edges) until it is about 5 in square. Add 1-2 Tbsp filling to the middle. Using one edge of the foil, roll 1/2 the batter over the top. You might need a spatula to help ease the batter off the foil. It might stick a little, but be patient and slow and it will roll over. Then use the other edge of the foil to roll over the other side of the dough. Fold up the bottom edge of the foil, fold up the top edge of the foil and then fold in the edges. Repeat with the remaining foil until you have no more batter. Note - I will try to take pictures of this part next time.

Place the tamales standing up in a steamer. Steam for 1 1/4 hours. Add more boiling water to the steamer about halfway through the cooking time. Remove the steamer basket and allow tamales to cool for about 10 minutes.

To serve, remove the tamales from the foil and drizzle with remaining chile sauce.

Red Chile Sauce

The first recipe I have to post to be able to make the yummy mexican food I've been posting is the red chile sauce. It is a base in many mexican recipes. I'm posting it separately so that I can link back to it from other recipes.

Red Chile Sauce
3 dried Guajillo chilies *
3 dried Ancho chiles*
3 dried Pasilla chiles*
4-6 cups of water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 tsp cumin
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant corn masa

Cut the tops off of the chiles and discard the tops. Shake out the seeds. Cut the chiles open with a slit down the side and shake out any remaining seeds. Rinse the chiles to remove any dust/dirt. Cut the chiles in half. Bring 4-6 cups water to a boil in a pot and turn off the heat. Put the chiles into the hot water and allow them to soak for 30 minutes.

Drain the chiles and discard the soaking liquid. Place the chiles, cumin, garlic, pepper, and 1 1/2 cups water into a blender. Puree the mixture in the blender. Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth. You may need to push the liquid through with a spatula. Put the strained liquid into a pot and add 1 1/2 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 1 hour, whisking occasionally.

Add masa with a whisk to thicken. Remove from heat.

* Feel free to substitute other dried peppers here. The peppers you use will make the spicyness level change and the flavor change ever so slightly.
* You can get dried chiles cheap at your local mexican grocery store. You can also order them online (not as cheap) from Penzeys.com.

I declare this week... Mexican Week

Day 1: Black Bean and Plaintain Tostadas

These are black beans and plantain tostadas with crema (sour cream and soy milk), tofu queso fresca, guacmole, lettuce, tomato. We made our own home fried tostadas. Served with Annatto Spanish Rice.

Day 2: 'Chicken' Seitan and Carmelized Onion Tamales


Tonight's dinner was tamales filled with seitan and carmelized onions and red chile sauce, topped with red chili sauce. Served with Leftover Annatto Spanish rice, and homemade refried beans.

Of course, what is Mexican food without Margaritas!!



One more pic, I loved how beautifully red this annatto oil came out. This oil was used to make the spanish rice:

Dandies Marshmallows at Vegan Essentials

Vegan Essentials just posted that they have about 200 bags of Dandies Marshmallows. Go!

There really are mushrooms in there!

Tonight's dinner was Swedish Tempeh Meatlessballs with steamed broccoli and maple glazed roasted butternut squash.

The meatless balls are Dan's tempeh meatless balls. The sauce is Joni's Swedish meatball sauce. The only changes I made include doubling the sauce recipe (it made a lot and I could probably have gone 1 1/2 times the recipe amt) and deglazing the mushrooms with a couple of tablespoons of white wine. The white wine added a really nice layer to the sauce. To make the dish easier to make, I made the meatlessballs, set them aside and reheated them near the end, just before serving.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I won't eat mushrooms. I'll cook with them, but I'll pick them out. My husband likes them and I don't mind the flavor. In the pic below it looks like there are no mushrooms in this dish. That was selective serving on my part. But don't worry, there really are mushrooms in this dish... 16 oz of mushrooms in fact!

Hellagood Seitan Stew

On Weds., I asked my husband what kind of soup or stew he wants Friday. I always make a soup or stew on Friday nights in the winter so that he can take leftovers in his thermos on Saturday for ski patrol. He replied that he wanted a stew. I asked, "like a chunky vegetable stew?". He said, "more like a beef stew". Well the gauntlet had been thrown. We'd never made a vegan "beef" stew that we liked much. The existing recipes we tried were always bland or just plain eww. I knew I could do better. And I did. This stew was spectacular! It smelled spectacular and tasted great... and looks scarily a little too much like beef stew.





The first part of getting this right, was getting the seitan right. I made the seitan the day before because it takes a while. To get the texture just right, I boiled it and then baked it. The seitan recipe is below.

This seitan stew recipe is adapted from an Emeril beef stew recipe.

'Beefy' Seitan Stew
Serves 6
Ingredients

1 recipe Seitan - beef style (recipe below - make a day ahead of time)
~3 tablespoons olive oil
Spice mixture ->
      1/4 tsp kosher salt
      1/8 tsp pepper
      1/4 tsp paprika
      1/4 tsp garlic powder
      1/8 tsp onion powder
      pinch cayenne
      1/8 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
      1/8 tsp dried thyme, crumbled
2 tablespoons earth balance
8 oz cremini mushrooms, quartered
1 large roughly chopped yellow onion
2-3 sliced carrots, (1-inch slices cut crosswise on a diagonal)
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
3 cloves roughly chopped garlic 
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 1/2 cups beef style vegetarian stock or vegetable stock, at room temperature**
1 cup red wine
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3 to 4 cups 1-inch dice peeled yukon gold or red potatoes
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Steamed rice

Directions

Chop the seitan into bite size pieces and season the seitan by sprinkling with the spice mixture, being sure to toss the seitan well to evenly cover with the spices. Set a non-stick skillet or non-stick dutch oven oven (preferred) over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to the pot. Add the seitan to the pot and cook until browned on all sides. Remove the seitan from the pot and set aside.

If you used a skillet above for the seitan, nows the time to pull out the big pot for the stew and heat it up. Add the margarine and 1 Tbsp oilve oil and mushrooms to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 3 minutes. Add the onions, carrots and celery and saute until onions are softened and lightly caramelized, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes.

Add the wine and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the stock, tomato paste, thyme, rosemary, allspice and browned seitan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, partially cover the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally for 40 minutes.

Add the potatoes to the stew and partially cover the pot with a lid. Continue cooking until the potatoes are very tender, about 45 minutes (to an hour). Remove the lid and discard the thyme and rosemary stems. Add the peas and parsley to the stew, stir well to combine, then remove from the heat. Serve hot with steamed rice.

** I used Edward and Sons Not-Beef boullion cubes dissolved in boiling water. This brand is so good that I buy 3-4 boxes at a time off the internet. For the stock for the stew - 2 Not-Beef boullion cubes to 4 1/2 cups boiling water.

Beefy Seitan
Adapted from The Vegan Lunchbox Pot Roast and La Dolce Vegan Beefy Seitan

2 vegetarian beef-flavored boullion cubes (See note above**)
1 tsp kosher salt - I cannot remember if I actually added this
1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup finely ground walnuts
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sage
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp marmite
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp vegan worchestershire
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Stir in the boullion cubes and 1 tsp kosher salt. Let cubes dissolve while you work on the seitan.

In a mixing bowl, mix wheat gluten, ground walnuts, nutritional yeast, onion powder, sage, and garlic powder.

Then mix ONE cup of the broth with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp tomato paste, vegan worchestershire, and marmite.

Add the liquid to the wheat gluten mixture and stir till it forms a dough. Knead until it comes together in a loaf. Cut the loaf into 2" square pieces.

Stir the other tablespoon nutritional yeast into the remaining broth. Add the gluten to this lukewarm broth and bring up to a simmer. Simmer the wheat gluten covered in the remaining broth (just barely a simmer) for 1 hour. This next part is important. Turn off the heat and let the seitan cool in its cooking liquid for 30-45 minutes.

Drain the seitan (reserve the remaining stock) and put it into a lightly oiled baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 min (this will cause it to firm up). Remove from the pan and place the seitan in a storage container with remaining broth until ready to use.

Here are some in progress pics:

Browning the seitan


Cooking the mushrooms - there are some seitan bits and spices stuck to the pan, because I learned that needed a non-stick pot for that part.


Added in the carrots, onions, celery


Simmering the stock with the vegetables and seitan (before adding potatoes)


Finally done. Looks scarily real, doesn't it?