Vegetarian Paprikash with Dumplings for #Food of the World

For this month's #Food of the World event, we are visiting Hungary. I have heard a lot of Hungarian food, but never really tasted or made it myself. Like most other European countries, traditional Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, bread, dairy products and cheese.
Hungarians are especially passionate about their meat stews, casseroles, steaks and so on. Hungarian Goulash is very popular and I've seen it being made on TV many times and in fact a vegetarian version of it was my first choice to make for today. Goulash is a stew or a soup made with meat, paprika, caraway, vegetables and potatoes or various tiny dumplings or pasta simmered with the meat.

Other famous Hungarian stews include paprikas (a paprika stew simmered in thick creamy paprika gray) and porhoit and so on. Different kinds of noodles and dumplings, potatoes and rice are commonly served as side dishes.

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Vegetarian Lebanese Stew with Peas and Rice (Bazelle with Riz) for #Food of the World

For this month's Food of the World event, we are going to Lebanon. While browsing through the internet for vegetarian Lebanese dishes, I landed on this page with a ton of recipes to choose from. I finally narrowed the whole list down to about 10 dishes, but more than half of them were desserts and I had to resist the temptation of making those rich and creamy desserts. I have them bookmarked and will pace them out and try them in the future.

At the end, I made this vegetarian version of Lebanese Stew with Peas. Traditionally this dish is made with beef or lamb mince. I used soy granules/ TVP instead. The highlight of the dish is the Baharat spice blend that is added to the stew. It is a mix of ground spices and it adds a nice warmth and lot of flavor to the dish.

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Vegetarian Three Bean Stew with Roasted Potatoes

This winter doesn't seem to end any time soon. The temps have been hovering below freezing and it feels like a deep freezer when we step outside. I am sick of wearing all the layers and I feel bad for the kids who have to lug around their heavy book bag in addition to 3~4 layers of clothing. My son said he felt like a brick with all the layers. The weather man said it's going to be red hot over the weekend -- predicted temps are in lower 40's and he thinks that it is going to feel hot like summer.
Anyway our woes with winter will probably continue for a few more weeks. In the mean time, I made this hearty vegetarian 3 bean stew to warm me up. I tasted this dish at Medieval Times last year and it has stuck with me ever since.

Medieval Times is a place where you step back into Medieval times with epic battles, jousting tournaments along with a royal dinner. We have a location very close to our house and we had a chance to visit it last spring. My son had a great time there. I wasn't much into the battle but I enjoyed my vegetarian feast for sure.

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Pondicherry -- Pori Kuzhambu or Pathiya Kuzhambu

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 22
State: Pondicherry
Dish: Pori Kuzhambu or Pathiya Kuzhambu

Today, we are going south to Puducherry, formerly known as Pondicherry, is a Union territory in India. The French acquired Pondicherry in 1674 and held control, with occasional interruption from the Britsih and Dutch, until 1954, when it was incorporated into the Indian Union along with the rest of India.
I have a long association with Pondicherry, not directly but indirectly. I went to Aurobindo school in Hyderabad which was founded based on the principles and teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Pondicherry was the residence of Sri Aurobindo and Aurobindo ashram located there. My dad would never let me go with my school friends to Pondicherry on the yearly school excursions. But he took us all there when we went on our tour of south India.
Today's Dish: I initially wanted to make a French inspired recipe from Pondicherry and even narrowed down to a stuffed peppers with a fancy French name called Poivrons Farcis, but had to change it to this simple eggplant based rasam kind of dish. I was browsing through Cham's blog Spice Club, knowing fully well that she is the native of Pondicherry. When I found this simple rasam like dish, I made this the same dau for a simple lunch.

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Kerala -- Appam with Vegetable Stew

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 14
State: Kerala
Dish: Appam with Kerala Stew

From Karnataka, we are going a little south to the beautiful state of Kerala. Kerala is known as God's Own Country because of the beautiful beaches, backwaters, mountain ranges and breathtaking scenic views. It is one of the fastest growing tourist destination in the world.
Kerala is the first state in India to be recognized as a completely literate state. Kerala has a large number of Hindu temples and the temples have unique traditions. We visited some of the temples and hill stations when we visited Kerala years ago; some places I still remember are Cochin, Guruvayur, Trivandrum, Kottayam falls.

Cuisine: Kerala cuisine has both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Many spices like pepper, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon are cultivated in Kerala and they find a very special place in their cuisine making it richly spicy and special. Coconuts grow in abundance in Kerala and consequently all forms of coconut is widely used in Kerala dishes. Because of the long coastline, numerous rivers and backwater networks, Kerala cuisine has a lot of sea food based dishes.
Sadya is the most famous main course food of Kerala. It is a vegetarian festive meal served on a banana leaf. Sadya is served for occasions like weddings, house-warming ceremony, for birthdays and for regional festivals and most importantly for Onam.
Staple Food: Rice and Cassava.
Specialties: Malabar Biryani, Aviyal, Thoran, Puliserry, Olan, Mooru, Upperi and so on.

Today's Dish: I have tried a few dishes from Kerala in the past. Making Kerala appam has been on my to-make list for a very long time. So I finally decided to make it for this marathon. It is made with ground rice that is fermented and resulting appams are fluffy and soft. They are served with Kerala stew, chana masala or other gravy side dishes and with sweetened coconut milk.

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Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Lentil Stew)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Ethiopian Cuisine
Dish: Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Lentil Stew)

Ethiopian cuisine is very vegetarian friendly. There are a number of vegetable based and lentil based dishes that are perfect options for vegetarians and vegans. Today I have a lentil based dish called Mesir Wat. Wat is like stew and Mesir Wat loosely means lentil stew.
Red lentils aka Masoor dal is cooked until thick and creamy with berbere spice making this a very hearty and comforting dish. Addition of berbere spice makes this dish taste amazing.

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Pindi Miriyam (Andhra Style Vegetable Stew with Peppercorns)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter P
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: P for Pindi Miriyam

Letter P stands for veggies like Potlakaya (snake gourd), Palakoora (spinach). P also stands for Perugu (yogurt), Pachadi (chutney) etc.

Today's recipe Pindimiriyam is a very traditional dish made in Andhra Pradesh. It is basically a spicy, tangy pulusu or stew made with miriyam or peppercorns. It is a very filling and tasty dish that goes well with steamed rice. Recipe is from 'Cooking with Pedatha' cookbook.

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Erra Gummadikaya Pulusu (Andhra style Pumpkin Stew)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter E
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: E for Erra Gummadikaya Pulusu (Andhra Style Pumpkin Stew)

I thought E to be one of the hardest letters to find dishes for. I found the recipe with Erra Gummadikaya aka pumpkin aka thiyya gummadikaya in 'Cooking with Pedatha' cookbook. This is a very hearty stew with a variety of veggies and can easily feed a crowd.

I used pumpkin (erra gumamdikaya), eggplant (vankaya) and potato, but other veggies like bottle goud, drumsticks, sweet potato are also typically used in this preparation.

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Herbed Tempeh Stew

We came to the end of yet another week long blogging marathon, as usual it went by pretty fast. I enjoyed making and eating all the “winter special” dishes and also the awesome dishes my fellow marathoners have cooked up this whole week. Thanks to Valli for organizing the marathon and I’m already looking forward to the next one. 

For the last day of the marathon, I made this hearty stew with tempeh, veggies and herbs. I bookmarked Vaishali's Savory Herbed Tempeh Stew recipe more than a year ago and finally got to make it for the marathon. Stews are thicker and heartier than soups. This recipe is thick, creamy and delicious -- a perfect winter meal. I let my stew simmer a little longer to make it thicker.

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Vegan African Squash & Sweet Potato Stew

We have been having trouble with our electricity at home, thanks to the crummy contractor we hired to renovate our bathrooms a year ago. He messed up the internal wiring and now whenever we try to start the computer or run a vacuum, the fuse blows up. So had been away from the computer for the past 4-5 days. Hopefully we'll have it fixed (with a licensed professional this time) very soon.

Coming to today's recipe, I never thought Peanut butter based dishes could be this tasty. I was ranting and raving about this dish ever since I tried it. Peanut butter gives this stew both creaminess and slight sweetness that complement the texture and sweetness of both squash and the sweet potato.

Very simple to put together and the ingredients can be easily substituted with what you have on hand. I used butternut squash, but you can easily use any other winter squash like acorn or kabocha or even sweet pumpkin (thiyya gummadikaya). You can add cooked chickpeas or cannellini beans to add protein and make the dish more wholesome. Stew can be made as spicy as your palette can tolerate or bland-I think mine was somewhere in the middle. Served over rice or couscous, this is a very filling and comforting dish.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian times.
Ingredients:
Butternut squash – 2-3 cups, peeled and diced (½ of a medium sized squash)
Sweet Potato – 1 medium, peeled and diced
Onion – 1 medium, chopped

Other Veggies – 2 cups chopped, I used frozen mixed veggies which had cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini and carrots. Feel free to use any veggies you have on hand. Original recipe only had cauliflower.

Ginger – 1” piece, finely grated
Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
Fresh Red Chili (like fresno chili) – 2, slit
Diced tomatoes – 1 15 oz. can (or 3 fresh ripe tomatoes chopped)
Peanut butter – ¼ cup
Cinnamon – 1/8tsp
Chili powder – ½ - 1 tsp (or to taste)
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp peanut oil in a large pan, add onions and sauté till transparent.
• Add ginger & garlic and cook for 1 minute.
• Next add sweet potatoes and butternut squash along with ½ cup of water or vegetable broth. Cover and cook till the veggies are half cooked.
• Add the remaining veggies; cover and cook on medium heat till all the veggies are cooked through, about 15 minutes.
• Stir in tomatoes along with cinnamon, chili powder, salt and ½ cup of water or broth. Cover and cook till the stew thickens a little bit.
• Whisk peanut butter with 3tbsp warm water into slurry. Slowly stir in peanut butter into the stew and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
• Serve warm over rice or couscous.

Day 14 – Cholent (Vegan Jewish Stew)

First some Wiki Gyan time: Cholent (in Yiddish) or hamin (in Hebrewן‎) is a traditional Jewish stew simmered overnight, for 12 hours or more, and eaten for lunch on the Sabbath. Cholent was developed over the centuries to conform with Jewish religious laws that prohibit cooking on the Sabbath. The pot is brought to boil on Friday before the Sabbath begins, and kept on a hotplate, or placed in a slow oven or electric slow cooker until the following day.

Well I just followed the recipe from veganomicon and Isa’s version of vegan cholent was done in exactly 45minutes. This tasted awesome, very hearty & filling. Isa suggests serving it over rice or with bread, but I went with polenta. I made a few changes to the recipe to accommodate what I have in the pantry.

Recipe adapted from Veganomicon.
Ingredients:
Onion – 1 large, chopped
Potatoes – 2 large, chopped into cubes
Carrot – 1 medium, chopped
Kidney beans – 1 15oz. can or 1½ cups cooked
TVP chunks (Soy chunks like Nutrella)– 1 cup
Peas – 1 cup, fresh/ thawed if frozen
Tomato paste – 2tbsp
Tomato puree – 1 cup
Garlic – 2 cloves
Bay leaves – 2
Caraway seeds (Shah jeera) – ½tsp
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a large soup pot; add onions and sauté till they turn translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
• Add garlic, caraway seeds, salt and pepper and cook for another minute.
• Add potatoes, carrots, TVP chunks, bay leaves, tomato puree & tomato paste along with 3 cups of water. Cover and cook for about 25-30 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
• Add kidney beans & peas, cook till they are heated through. Serve hot with rice, polenta or bread. It tasted awesome reheated for lunch too.

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

First some Wiki Gyan: “Tagines in Moroccan cuisine are slow-cooked stews braised at low temperatures, resulting in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce. They are traditionally cooked in the tagine pot, whose cover has a knob-like handle at its top to facilitate removal. While simmering, the cover can be lifted off without the aid of a mitten, enabling the cook to inspect the main ingredients, add vegetables, move things around, or add additional braising liquid”.

I would love to buy one of those cute looking Tagines, but I’m not sure if I’m going to use it that often to be spending money on it. Well anyway I used by saucepot to make this delicious vegetable tagine that tasted awesome the next day after all the flavors had a chance to marry.

Recipe is adapted from vegetarian times. I changed it a little bit since I didn’t have some of the ingredients on hand. Also the recipe uses the oven to cook the vegetables, but I used the good ol’ stove as I was pressed for time. It took about 30-40 minutes to make this very filling and nutritious dish.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times
Ingredients:
Onion - 1 small, chopped
Sweet potato - 1 medium, peeled and cubed
Carrot - 1 medium, peeled and chopped
Green Beans - 1 cup, chopped (I used frozen green beans)
Broccoli - chopped into florets, about 2 cups
Chickpeas - 1 16 oz. can, drained and rinsed
Tomato puree - 1 cup
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
Ginger - 1" piece, minced
Vegetable Stock - 1 cup
Cinnamon stick - 1" piece
Ground cumin - 1tsp
Ground Coriander - 1tsp
Sweet paprika - 1tsp
Cayenne pepper - 1/2 tsp
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a large sauce pot; add onions, garlic and ginger and cinnamon stick; cook until the onions start to soften, about 5 minutes.
• Add ground cumin, coriander, paprika, salt and pepper. Saute till the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add all the veggies, cover and cook till they are slightly tender, about 6-8 minutes.
• Add tomatoes & stock, bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer until the veggies are completely tender, but not mushy; about 8-10 minutes.
• Just 5 minutes before the stew is done, add the chickpeas. Stir in chopped parsley before serving.

I served this hearty stew with whole wheat couscous for a complete wholesome dinner.

Only 5 more days left for A.W.E.D-Morocco, rush in your entries before the end of day Friday, Oct 2nd.

Pumpkin & Whole Masoor dal Sprouts Stew

I’ve never tried sprouting whole masoor dal and when I saw Indira’s(@ Mahanandi) post, I wanted to give it a try. After about 2 days of soaking/draining/rinsing & sprinkling, I had beautiful sprouts.

The recipe for this sweet & tangy sambar type stew is from my dear friend V. Her original recipe used brown chickpeas and was little liquidy, I made it more like a stew. Simple with very few ingredients, but very very tasty. It gets better as it sits.

Ingredients:
Whole Masoor dal sprouts – 2 cups
Pumpkin – 3 cups, chopped
Tamarind Paste – 2tbsp
Jaggery (or light brown sugar) – 2tsp (or per taste)
Sambar powder (home-made or store-bought) – 2tsp (or to taste)
Salt – to taste

For tadka:
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Curry leaves – 6-12
Hing – pinch

Method:

• Add 4 cups of water to sprouts; bring them to a boil, then reduce the flame and simmer until they are 3/4th cooked through, about 5-10 minutes.
  
• In the meantime, microwave pumpkin pieces with a pinch of turmeric and salt until tender (but not falling apart), about 6-8 minutes.
  
• Heat 2tsp oil in a pan, add the tadka ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter add the pumpkin & sprouts. Cook for 2 minutes.
  
• Then add tamarind, jaggery, sambar powder, salt and 1cup water (or more if you want a more sambar like consistency). Cover and simmer till it reaches desired consistency.

Enjoy with steamed rice (or with rotis).




This lentil stew is off to MLLA-13 (My Legume Love Affair event) being guest hosted this month by lovely Sunshinemom (@ Tum Yum treats). MLLA is the brainchild of Susan @ Well Seasoned Cook.

Eggplant-Chickpea Tagine

I made this for JFI-Eggplant, but couldn’t get around posting it on time. Recipe is from my "Vegetarian" cookbook (Edited by Valerie Ferguson). Recipe takes almost an hour from start to finish, but it is worth every bit of the time and effort you put into it. Spices used make this Moroccan style stew make it taste almost like an Indian dish.

Ingredients:
Eggplant – 1 medium, chopped into bite size pieces
Zucchini – 1 medium, thicky sliced
Chickpeas – 1 16oz. can, rinsed and drained
Potatoes - 2 medium, chopped
Onions – 1 large, sliced
Garlic Cloves - 2, chopped
Dry apricots - 8 (I substituted with a tablespoon sugar)
Ground Coriander - 1tbsp
Ground cinnamon – 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Turmeric - 2 tsp
Chili Sauce - 1 tbsp
Tomato paste – 1 tbsp
Passata* – 2 ½ cups (I used tomato puree instead)
Water – 2/3 cup
Salt & Pepper– to taste

Method:

• Put the eggplant and zucchini in a colander, sprinkling salt over each layer. Let stand for ½ hour. Rinse very well and pat dry with paper towels.
• Preheat the broiler. Arrange the zucchini and eggplant on a baking sheet and toss in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Broil for 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until tender and golden.
• Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy pan and cook the onion and garlic until softened. Add the spices and stir over the heat for 1 minute.
• Add the potatoes and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Pour in the passata, tomato paste and water and cook for 10 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken.
• Add the eggplant, zucchini, chili sauce and chickpeas. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cook, partially covered for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve with rice.
Note:

• Passata is a cooked tomato concentrate and you can find the recipe for making it here.
• Recipe also uses 2 cups Brown mushrooms. The dish turned out delicious even without the mushrooms.
• Also this recipe makes a big pot of stew, you can refrigerate it for upto a week without any problem.

Ratatouille: WCC - Stew

As I was looking for a “Stew recipe” for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge (WCC), I saw this colorful, full of veggies stew in my “Best Ever Vegetarian Cookbook” (edited by Nicola Graimes). Name of the dish sounded a little funny, Ratatouille, so I decided to do a little digging and this is what I found out from wikipedia.

The name of the dish appears to have derived from the French verb touiller, to stir, although the root of the first element "rat-" is a slang from the French Army meaning chunky stew. The word ratatouille has also come to be used in non-culinary contexts in English to refer to a (generally colourful) mixture of any kind. Ratatouille is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish which can be served as a meal on its own (accompanied by rice, potatoes, or simply French bread), or as a side dish.
There is a also a animated movie being made with the same name. More info and story here.

Ingredients:
Eggplant – 1, roughly chopped
Zucchini – 2, roughly chopped
Onions – 2, sliced
Green pepper – 1, chopped
Red pepper – 1, chopped
Chopped tomatoes – 1 15 oz. can
Garlic cloves – 2
Red pepper flakes – 1 tsp (or to taste)
Fresh thyme – 1 sprig (I used dried thyme)
Fresh rosemary – 1 sprig (I used dried)
Coriander seeds – 1 tsp, crushed
Basil leaves - 8, torn
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Sprinkle eggplant and zucchini pieces with salt, then put them in a colander with a plate and a weight on top to extract the bitter juices. Leave for about 30 minutes.
  
• Heat 4tbsp olive oil (recipe called for 2/3 cups oil, I reduced it to 4tbsp, you may want to use even less oil) in a large saucepan, saute onions for 6-7 minutes or until just softened, add garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
• Rinse the eggplant and zucchini pieces and pat dry with a clean dish towel. Add these to the pan along with the peppers, increase the heat and saute until the peppers are just turning brown, about 8-10 minutes.
• Add the herbs and coriander seeds, cover and cook gently for about 20-30 minutes.
  
• Add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook gently for a further 10 minutes, until the veggies are soft but not mushy.
• Remove the sprigs of rosemary and thyme herbs. Stir in the torn basil leaves and check the seasoning. Leave to cool slightly and serve warm or cold.

This recipe is adapted from The Greatest Ever Vegetarian Cookbook, Edited by Nicola Graimes.