Vegetarian cooking

[Cal Weldon]

My favorite at the moment is a Chinese vegetable whose name I do not know which the nice folks at the store tell me is called "Hollow Vegetable"). Big, green leaves, thin hollow stems which look like straws.

Sounds like you're describing On Choy. It is most commonly used in asian style fondues (a world apart from western style) for special occasions. It's very good for the mouth and the plumbing.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Who has a good recipe for stuffed Portobellos? Something out of the ordinary, not the same old, I've done all those, looking for something new.
There must be a glut in the market, they are quite cheap now.

 

[SY]

Hint: scrape out the gills first; I use a melon baller for that.

For fun, try stuffing with a quinoa pilaf, lots of garlic, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, and parmesan. A little egg to bind everything.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Sounds great.

I've not seen Quinoa in our local markets. Is that a territorial kind of thing? I have done different rices, barleys, couscous, oats, bulgar wheat and orzo in one form or another.

 

[SY]

Oh yeah, I forgot- you live in a Third World country. Check a health food store if there are no Hispanic markets. Make sure to rinse it thoroughly before cooking. It's great stuff.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Ya, a third world country whose dollar just surpassed yours, wise guy. Hispanic? I had to look that up. Nope, no Hispanic here. I think that's more common on your other border?

Our health food stores don't seem to carry food as such, just pills and serums and the like. Sure you can buy black cherry extract and raw apple cider vinegar but I've not seen anything like grains. Unless you call flax seed a grain. That stuff is in the front window display case for some reason.

 

[pinkmouse]

I'll see your quinoa and raise it with...

Peanuts!

Whizz up a carrot in the blender 'till small but chunky, chuck in a couple of handfuls of peanuts, garlic, dash of olive oil,salt and pepper to taste, handful of grated good, strong, cheese, a couple of basil leaves and whizz again to breakup the peanuts. Add several quartered cherry tomatoes, and stuff mushrooms/peppers. Grill/roast for five minutes with lots more olive oil.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Sounds like another winner, thanks Al.

Has anyone done a coconut mushroom? My luck has not been good.

 

[jlsem]

Tamales! Something which really can't be obtained in their truly delicious form outside of certain regions of the US southwest. These might have been the Best Ever. We stuffed some of them with strips of roasted Hatch chiles (we roasted and froze over 50 pounds of those fabulous chiles during the three week season here) and queso fresco; for others, we used roasted butternut squash with chipotle and a dash of smoked red savina. Elaina's masa, but my Spanish was insufficient to get all of the subtleties of how she made it so decadently delicious.

My Mythologie: The Art of Tamales

How does a vegetarian do a tamale in its truly delicious form?

John

 

[tvparts]

I have some friends that prepare Kale as a substitute for potato chips. It's really good. Kale is under-rated.

 

[SY]

How does a vegetarian do a tamale in its truly delicious form?

John

Not a problem in the least. Our fillings:

Roasted Butternut squash and chipotle
Hatch chiles and cheese
Pumpkin and sage
Black bean, mushroom, and cheese

 

[nezbleu]

Last year I spend some time in Southern India (Karnataka state) and it definitely called for some dietary adjustments, and brought a new appreciation for a lot of their vegetarian cooking. I have always liked Indian food (as found in North America) but usually ate the chicken or lamb curry.

Breakfast in South India is usually all veg, and consists of sambar (a spicy lentil/vegetable stew, google for recipes) with idli (steamed pancakes made with fermented gram batter -- you probably don't want to try this at home), or with dosa (a similar pancake but fried instead of steamed), or with vada (pronounced wah'dah). Vada are amazing, like little savoury doughnuts, especially Ullundhu vada (see Vada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ). Everybody should eat them every day! Serve with coconut chutney (which was green, seemed to contain coconut, coriander leaf, and spices).

In general for a nice Indian veg meal, sautee some onions, add ginger and garlic, add a bunch of cut up vegetables, salt, turmeric, chili, garam masala, throw in some rice, add liquid (water, stock, juice from tomatoes, coconut milk, etc), cook until the rice is done.

And for a great Aloo Gobi recipe, go to the video store, rent "Bend It Like Beckham", skip to the added features; the director cooks a batch of Aloo Gobi while her mother and aunt supervise, in the kitchen of an Indian restaurant in London!