Recipes

See also various posts tagged as containing recipes.

Veggie Burger

Ingredients

• 3 cups chopped walnuts or other nuts
• 2.5 cups breadcrumbs or crumbled, dried bread
• ½ cups grated carrots
• ⅓ cups grated cheese (something that will melt)
• ⅓ cups sunflower seeds
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp tamari
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 2 cups chopped onion

Preparation

• Mix all ingredients in food processor, stopping before smooth
• Form into patties and grill, turning halfway
• Optionally, brush with oil on grill

Greek Salad

Ingredients

• onion (preferably not a cooking onion)
• oregano
• basil
• 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp olive oil
• feta cheese
• cucumber
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 2 bell peppers
• lots of black olives (such as kalamata)

Preparation

Dice onion and place in large bowl. Add spices, vinegar, and oil; let marinate for 10 minutes. Add diced cheese, let sit for another 10 minutes. Dice cucumber, tomatoes, and peppers into large pieces, and add to bowl with olives.

Masala Chai

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 1 Tbsp ginger
• 1 stick cinammon (or 1 tsp)
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1 tsp cardamom (whole pods if possible)
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp garam masala
• milk to taste
• sugar to taste
• Ceylon tea (loose leaf if possible)

Preparation

Add ginger to water, bring to boil, add tea and spices, then reduce to a simmer. Add milk and sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat 3 times. Strain and serve.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

• ½ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup margarine
• ¼ cup soft tofu (can substitute firm if you have a blender)
• ¾ cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1½ cup flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda

Preparation

• Cream margarine and sugar.
• Blend in tofu.
• Add flour and salt, stirring well.
• Stir in baking soda.
• Add peanut butter.
• Add chocolate. This can be added as chips, or melted.

Form balls about 3 cm (1½ inches) in diameter on a cookie sheet and press down firmly with a fork (if you don’t do this, they’ll fall apart after baking). Bake for about 7 minutes at 375°F/200°C. Makes about 24 cookies.

Banana bread

Ingredients

• 6 bananas, ideally very ripe (all black)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour (all-purpose)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Preparation

• Mash bananas, add sugar and vanilla.
• Thoroughly mix dry ingredients and stir into wet.
• Immediately bake in an oven pre-heated to 350°F/180°C for about 1 hour.

Since this is best made with very black bananas, you probably want to throw any bananas you buy that get too ripe into the freezer until you have enough to make this.

Healthy Banana Cookies

Ingredients

• 3 large bananas
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 2 cups rolled oats
• ⅓ cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
• In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Stir in oats, dates, oil and vanilla. Mix well and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
• Drop teaspoonfuls on to an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown.

Two Bite Brownies

Ingredients

• 8 ounces (230 grams) sweet chocolate
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cardamon
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ¾ cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
• ½ tsp vanilla

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C
• Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler, stirring ocassionally. remove from heat & cool slightly
• Beat eggs until foamy, then add sugar, 2 tsp at a time, while beating constantly until mixture has thickened and is light in colour
• Blend in chocolate
• Mix together dry ingredients, then blend into wet and mix well
• Stir in pecans & vanilla
• Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet, or better, small muffin tins
• Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until ‘set’ (but note that these will burn easily, so be careful)

Oat Squares

Ingredients

• 4 cups oats
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup chopped almonds
• ¼ cup chocolate chips
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ⅓ cup molasses
• ½ cup vegetable oil

Preparation

• Mix the oats, brown sugar, almonds, and chocolate chips.
• Stir the molasses and oil into the dry goods.
• Grease an 8”X13” cake pan and press the above mixture into it until level.
• Bake at 350°F/180°C until golden brown.

Johnny Cash Memorial Salsa

RIP 1932-2003

Ingredients

• 3 cups peeled, chopped tomatoes
• 2¾ cups chopped, seeded bell peppers
• ¼ cup ring of fire chili peppers, seeded
• 1 cup chopped onion, minced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, loosely chopped
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1 cup cider vinegar

Home canning procedure

• Combine all ingredients in large pot; bring to boil and simmer 10 minutes, stirring as necessary.
• Pour into clean 500 mL jars with ¼ inch headspace and process for 15 minutes in a boiling water immersion canner.

Ring of fire peppers are bright red and somewhere above jalepeño and below habeñero on the capsecum scale, but are sweeter and have a lovely taste; try them if you can get them! If used within a week, there is no need to cook the salsa.

If canning, it is safe to change the ratio of hot to mild peppers; just do not add more than 3 cups peppers in total. The amount of onion may be decreased, but not increased. The amount of vinegar cannot be decreased, but the salt and spices may be altered to taste.

This recipe is slightly runny, but unfortunately you can’t juice off the liquid from the tomatoes without changing the pH. It’s also heavy on the vinegar, because like all home canning you need to either use a pressure cooker (which would make the recipe overcooked and mushy) or increase the acidity. And don’t use your fingernail to seed the hot peppers. (I did this once. It hurt.)

Important! If you’ve never canned salsa (or anything!) before, read a primer such as this one from Healthy Canning first.

Banaras Yellow Lentils with Peppered Mango Slices (Banarasi Arhar Dahl)

Ingredients (dahl)

• 1½ cups yellow and/or red lentils (toor and/or masar dahl)
• ½ teaspoon tumeric (haldi)
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 4½ cups water

Ingredients (masala)

• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil (or usli ghee)
• 1½ teaspoons cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• ¼ cups finely chopped, fresh coriander
• 1 small mango, peeled, pitted, & sliced

Preparation

• pick clean & wash the lentils, add tumeric & salt, and cook until soft
• heat oil in skillet
• when very hot, add cumin seeds, and count to 10 while stirring
• add mango slices, cook until slightly soft
• add cayenne & garam masala, cook another minute
• pour over lentils and stir in
• stir in half the coriander and serve garnished with the other half over rice or roti

This is taken from the best Indian cookbook I’ve found, Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking (Morrow Cookbooks, 1985). Use a hard green mango if you can get it, although they’re hard to find in North America outside of Indian grocery stores.

Baklava

Ingredients

• 1 lb phyllo dough
• 4 to 5 cups walnuts, chopped coarsely
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¾ lb butter

Syrup

• 2½ cups of water
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preparation

• Combine nuts, cinnamon, cloves, and sugar.
• Melt butter in a saucepan.
• Use pastry brush to brush inside of a 14”×10” pan with melted butter.
• Line bottom of pan with one piece of phyllo dough. Fold under excess phyllo.
• Alternate sides with each piece of phyllo, brushing the top of each layer with melted butter.
• Repeat five times, making five layers.
• On the 6th sheet, sprinkle evenly with nut mixture.
• Continue until all nut mixture is used and last six buttered sheets of phyllo form top crust.
• Use a sharp knife to cut into diamond shapes.
• Bake at 300ºF for about 1½ hours or until lightly brown.

Assembly

• Combine syrup ingredients. Boil syrup for about 10 minutes and then allow to cool.
• Pour cooled syrup over hot pastry.

Strawberry rhubarb pie

Crust

• 300mL all-purpose flour
• 1mL salt
• 50mL unsalted butter
• 50mL vegetable shortening
• 15mL lemon juice
• 45–70mL ice water

Filling

• 1L rhubarb, chopped
• 500mL strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 250mL sugar
• 45mL cornstarch
• 2mL cinnamon
• 1mL ground ginger
• 1mL salt

Crumble topping

• 150mL all-purpose flour
• 125mL sugar
• 1mL nutmeg
• 50mL unsalted butter, melted

Preparation

• Crust
  • Use a whisk to combine the flour with the salt. The crust must stay cold, so try to handle it as little as possible.
  • Using a pastry knife, in cubes of the butter and the shortening until the mixture is an even crumble. Make sure the butter and shortening are very cold. Stick them in the freezer if you must.
  • Add the lemon juice and ice water and incorporate until the dough just sticks together. Do not knead!
  • Shape the dough into a rough disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. I stuck mine in the freezer and kept and eye on it.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  • On a floured surface, roll out the dough to fit a 23cm pie plate.
  • Line the plate with the pastry, trim and crimp the edges. Put it back in the refrigerator.
• Filling
  • Toss the rhubarb and the strawberries with the sugar, cornstarch, spices, and salt. You will probably need a very large mixing bowl for this.
  • Once coated, line the pie shell with the fruit.
• Crumble topping
  • Whisk together the flour, sugar, nutmeg, and salt.
  • Rub in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly.
  • Sprinkle this mixture over the fruit pie.
• Baking
  • Bake the pie on a cookie tray at 200°C for 20 minutes. It might overflow a bit, so the cookie tray is there to catch spills.
  • Reduce the heat to 180°C and bake until the filling bubbles, which takes about 40 minutes. Watch your pie. If it starts to blacken on top before the underside is finished, open the oven and place a sheet of aluminum foil over top.

Makes one 23cm (9in) pie.

Pad Thai

• 8 oz snow peas, halved
• 1 lb firm tofu, diced
• 1 lb rice noodles

Boil a large pot of water, add snow peas for one minute, then remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Add tofu, let boil until all pieces are afloat, then remove and let drain. Remove pot from heat, add noodles, cover, and let stand for five minutes. Drain noodles in a colander, rinse with cold water, and set aside.

• ¼ cup tomato paste
• ¼ cup fish sauce or vegetarian oyster sauce
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp shrew bums (or mole asses, in a pinch)
• 1 Tbsp sambal oelek or Vietnamese chile-garlic paste
• ½ tsp cracked pepper

Whisk these to form a sauce.

• 4 Tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 2–3 whole dried red chiles, crushed
• 3 eggs, beaten

Heat oil in large wok, then fry tofu until lightly browned (five to ten minutes). Remove, add garlic and chiles, and sauté until also lightly browned. Add eggs, and scramble until dry and set. Add noodles, and stir for at least five minutes. At this point you will have a big mess in your wok, but don’t worry.

• 3 cups bean sprouts
• 2 bunches scallions, sliced
• ½ bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 lime
• 4 Tbsp roached peanuts, crushed

Turn up the heat and add sauce, tofu, bean sprouts, and snow peas. Stir constantly for about five minutes, add scallions and cilantro, then stir for another minute or so until entire dish is hot and steaming right through. Serve with fresh lime wedges and topped with peanuts, with extra sambal oelek and soy sauce on the side.

From the Rebar Cookbook, by the cooks from the Rebar restaurant in Victoria, BC.

Mango Salad Rolls

Marinated tofu

• 1 lb firm tofu
• ¼ cup light soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• ⅔ [two-thirds] cup vegetable stock or water
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 Tbsp minced ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp sambal oelek
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ tsp coarsely cracked pepper
• ¼ cup Thai basil, chopped

Slice tofu into strips, place in boiling water for five minutes, then drain. Combine all remaining ingredients except basil and heat for five minutes. Add basil and pour over tofu, marinating for at least an hour.

Chili lime dip

Whisk together the following:

• ¼ cup fresh lime juice
• ¼ cup fish sauce
• ½ cup water
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp sambal oelek (or Vietnamese chili-garlic sauce)

Salad rolls

• tofu, prepared as above
• 1 mango
• ½ jicama (or water chestnuts)
• 4 cups pea or bean shoots
• Thai basil
• 1 package rice paper wrappers (about 8½” diameter)

Peel the mango and cut into long, thin slices from around the pit. Julienne the jicama and store in cool water. Stem the basil and tear leaves into small pieces. Set all ingredients aside in separate bowls lined up on your workspace.

To roll, place a clean, dry kitchen towel on your work space. Fill a large bowl with very hot water and set it beside you. Submerge a rice paper round into the hot water and let it soak until soft and pliable (the hotter the water, the shorter the required soaking time). Gently lift the wrap out of the water and lay it out on the towel. Place a small horizontal mound of sprouts in the centre of the lower half of the wrapper. Top with a few jicama batons and a slice of mango. Arrange tofu on top and sprinkle with basil leaves.

Fold the sides of the wrapper inward over the filling. Life the lower edge of the wrapper up and over and roll up away from you to form a log-shaped package. Place the salad roll on a large plate and cover with a dampened kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining ingredients, keeping all the rolls under the damp towel. Serve with chili lime dip.

Hot Chocolate

Melt 200 g (7.5 oz) chocolate in 100 mL (4 oz) water over medium heat. Add ⅔ L (2¾ cups) of 3.25% milk. Bring to a boil and simmer for two minutes while stirring. Set aside in refrigerator overnight, and reheat before serving. The hot chocolate will be thick and creamy unless you skimped and used milk with 2% fat or less. May be whipped to a foamy texture if desired. Keeps about three days in the fridge.

Basic Six-Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake

From the most food-stained page in Shannon’s copy of Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home.

• 1½ cups unbleached white flour
• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup cold water or brewed coffee
• 2 Tbsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Sift together dry ingredients into an 8”×8” square or 9” diameter round baking pan. Mix wet ingredients except vinegar, pour into pan, and stir until smooth. Add vinegar, stir quickly, then immediately bake for 25 to 30 minutes. (You should see pale swirls in the batter as the baking soda and vinegar react.) Glaze when cool.

Suggested additions to make this recipe more exciting: 2 tsp pure vanilla extract, freshly ground nutmeg, freshly ground cardamom, or fresh orange or lemon zest.

Random tip of the day: if you coat your pan with margarine, then liberally dust it with flour, your cake will be able to rise easily up the sides while baking, making its top significantly more level. This will allow you to layer multiple cakes in tiers.

Piperade

This recipe is from one of our favourite cookbooks, Chocolate and Zucchini by Clotilde Dusoulier (2007), which is based on the blog of the same name.

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 medium bell peppers, cut in strips
• ground chile powder
• 4 medium tomatoes
• salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 8 large eggs

Heat olive oil in large pan; add onions, garlic, peppers, and chile powder; cover and cook over medium-low heat for 45 minutes until very soft, stirring from time to time. If the vegetables start to stick to the pan, add a spoonful of water.

Meanwhile, blanch & peel the tomatoes: bring to boil a pot with enough water to cover them, place the tomatoes in the water, and remove after about a minute with a slotted spoon. Let cool, then peel and quarter (don’t conserve the water).

When peppers and onions are very soft, add tomatoes, seaons with salt and sugar, and cook uncovered over medium heat for 20 minutes until moisture has evaporated.

Crack eggs into a bowl and mix just until yolks are broken. Pour into pan and cook over medium-high heat for a few minutes, stirring gently with a spatula, until soft curds form and the eggs are almost set. Serve while hot, with bread.

Crêpes irlandaises

Ingredients

• 4 black bananas (keep in the freezer until needed)
• 4 eggs
• 6 cups flour (ideally half wholewheat and half buckwheat, but almost anything will do)
• butter or grapeseed oil

Preparation

• Thaw bananas, place in blender with eggs and mix thoroughly.
• Pour flour into a large mixing bowl, and using an electric beater or whisk stir while adding water until as thin as the banana-egg mixture (this takes a lot of water). Combine the two in the bowl and again mix thoroughly.
• Heat a frying pan (cast iron, if possible) until so hot that a drop of water almost instantly vaporises (but not so hot that it bounces).
• Add a small quantity of oil, spread evenly, pour enough batter to thinly cover the pan, and flip as soon as no parts of the crêpe appear wet. Cook the second side for five to ten seconds, then take off heat.

When you’ve finished cooking your crêpes, arrange apple slices on the hot pan with just a little cinnamon, brown sugar, and water, cover, and let cook for perhaps five minutes for a quick apple sauce.

Serve with yogurt, maple syrup, fruit, cocoa, ganache, jam, cheese, whipped cream, or whatever else you’ve got handy.

Butter chicken

Going through some papers, Sh. and I came across the long-lost butter chicken recipe we developed for our committement ceremony in July 2010. We fed this to around 120 people, many of whom asked to see the recipe afterwards. So here it is for posterity (better late than never).

Butter chicken is to Indian cuisine what chop suey is to the Chinese or by-the-slice takeout pizza is to Italians: a dish invented by a diaspora population to suit local tastes, whose popularity in North America and the UK far outstrips more traditional fare. It’s also tasty, popular, and lends itself well to being cooked in massive quantities, so it seemed a suitable choice.

We read perhaps a dozen recipes and experimented before settling on this one, as there are as many variations on this recipe as there are curry shops in England. We replaced the usual heavy cream with coconut milk mostly because it’s just as tasty and is easier to work with (it keeps far longer and will never separate when cooking). This is prepared as often without tomatoes as with, but we prefer to use a tomato base.

Fry these spices in 3 Tbsp ghee or vegetable oil:

• 0.5 tsp cracked pepper
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 4 pods cardamon, crushed
• 0.5 tsp fresh turmeric
• 1.5 tsp whole cumin

Add the following and cook until the onions are translucent:

• 1 Tbsp coriander seeds, ground
• 1.5 cups chopped onion
• 2 tsp garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp tsp ginger, grated

Add the following and bring to boil:

• 0.5 cup ground almonds
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup coconut milk

Add fully cooked roast chicken cut into bite-sized pieces (barbequed if possible) and simmer 20 minutes. Stir in 1 cup yogurt and serve over rice or flatbread. For a vegetarian version, use grilled paneer or tofu instead of chicken.

Vegan Bananana Bread

When served with icing, will transubstantiate into Bananana Cake. (Transubstantiation may require the presence of a Catholic vegan.)

• 6 bananas, black and ripe
• 1 cup sugar or equivalent sweetener
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

Mash bananas; add sugar & vanilla. Mix dry ingredients, stir into wet, then bake in greased pan at 350°F for about an hour. (It’s also nice with some cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin seeds, or whatnot.) For icing, melt some chocolate then stir some coconut milk. This ganache should harden in about half an hour to the consistency of a truffle filling.

Orange Muffins

• 1 orange
• ¼ cup orange juice or water
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup oil
• ¾ cup molasses
• 1½ cup flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, & allspice

Wash & quarter orange, remove seeds if necessary. Put in blender with wet ingredients, then mix in bowl with dry ingredients until just moistened. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375°F. After baking, let cool on a cooling rack or sitting sideways in the muffin pan.

Brazilian Breakfast

Inspired by the Montreal restaurant Senzala.

• Cut in half a bunch of mangoes and/or avocadoes; remove their pits and place in an oven safe dish
• Break one egg into each
• Cover with grated cheese and a tomato salsa
• Broil until the egg is cooked to your taste