Recipes

This is my collection of recipes which aren't in cookbooks. They're here so I don't lose them. I've also posted some to my blog, under the recipes tag.

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.

Note: if you're not using fresh spices, rub the leaves between your fingers before putting them into the bowl to bring out flavour. (That said, using dried spices in a salad is a sure way to fall out of a state of grace with the kitchen deities.)

I got this recipe from John S., my roommate in summer 1997. This page previously contained the libelous assertion that he advocated adding lettuce to this salad, but I have since been corrected. John's a fine cook and I should have known better than to think he would have done such a thing.

Cous Cous with Pecans

Ingredients
  • pecans (or walnuts)
  • 2 bell peppers
  • 2 to 3 cups cous cous
  • vegetable broth
  • 4 tomatoes
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • a good curry mix of your choice
Preparation

Put 4 to 5 cups of water on to boil, with vegetable broth. Fry the pecans with lots of oil at a high temperature. Just as they begin to blacken, add sliced peppers and turn down the heat. Wait a few minutes, then add diced tomatoes and let simmer. Put the contents of the frying pan into the water, then add the cous cous and spices, and stir well. Take this off the heat and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring well but thoroughly. You could mix in cheese at this point.

Blaise was my roommate in fall 1997, and the owner of the other cat. It never would have occurred to me to add nuts to cous cous, but I'm glad it did to him.

Hummus

Ingredients
  • ½ lb. chick peas
  • 2 large cloves of garlic
  • 6 Tbsp lemon extract
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 Tbsp tahini
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp salt
Preparation

Throw it all in a blender and purée. Many blenders have difficulty with this, so you might want to start with the liquids and add the solid stuff gradually.

This recipe grew slowly from reading several hummus recipes; you may want to play with it to find something you prefer. Other variations include adding cayenne pepper, adding chili powder, adding black pepper, and leaving out the cumin.

For those who don't know, tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds (and ideally nothing else). In a pinch, peanut butter will replace it, but it's really not the same.

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 (soy milk works fine)
  • 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. (You'll be straining this, so a tea egg is unnecessary.) Add milk and sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat 3 times. (Trust me on this.) Strain and serve.

I'm not sure how much sugar or milk to add, since I do it by a series of taste tests. You want to end up with the colour of a normal cup of tea, and the taste of sugar shouldn't predominate. Try ordering a cup of chai in a decent Indian restaurant if you've never had it before so you know what you're aiming at.

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 (or equivalent in baker's chocolate)
  • 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

Johnny Cash

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
Preparation for home canning
  • Combine all ingredients in large pot; bring to boil and simmer 10 minutes, stirring as necessary.
  • Pour into clean 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 ingredients. 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.

Suggestions: first dice the tomatoes, then let drain in a colander for 5 to 10 minutes before use in order to make the salsa much less runny. Also, you probably don't want to use your fingernail to seed the hot peppers. (I did this once. It hurt.)

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 (paani)
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, but they're hard to find in North America as most people here aren't accustomed to cooking with them.

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
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.
Syrup
  • 2½ cups of water
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 3 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Assembly
  • Combine syrup ingredients. Boil syrup for about 10 minutes and then allow to cool.
  • Pour cooled syrup over hot pastry.

Strawberry rhubarb pie

(Thanks to [lj]sfllaw for this recipe.)

Ingredients

Crust
Filling
Crumble topping

Preparation

  1. For the crust, use a whisk to combine the flour with the salt. The crust must stay cold, so please try to handle it as little as possible.
  2. 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.
  3. Add the lemon juice and ice water and incorporate until the dough just sticks together. Do not knead!
  4. 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.
  5. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  6. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to fit a 23cm pie plate.
  7. Line the plate with the pastry, trim and crimp the edges. Put it back in the refrigerator.
  8. For the 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.
  9. Once coated, line the pie shell with the fruit.
  10. For the crumble topping, whisk together the flour, sugar, nutmeg, and salt.
  11. Rub in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly.
  12. Sprinkle this mixture over the fruit pie.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.

Serves 8 to 10 people. Makes one 23cm (9in) pie.

Notes

With most vegan baking, the rising agents in the recipe are not heat-activated. This means that, unlike recipes with eggs, if you mix them and let them sit on your counter for an hour before you put them in the oven, they won't rise at all. So, don't mix them until you're ready to bake (and the oven is pre-heated).
This refers to pouring wet and dry ingredients together and stirring only until there are no dry clumps left. This should be done for anything that has to rise, from pancakes to bread.
Matt Corks <mvcorks0x40alumni0x2Euwaterloo0x2Eca>
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