sabich

It is my husband's birthday week and, in our family, the birthday person gets to pick all the week's meals. And that means that some members of the family have figured out that they can take great advantage of this tradition. Which in turn means that I mostly get to cook meals that they love, with no room for new recipes. So, the blog suffers as no new content gets made.

This week's menu choices have been, among other things, Benedict (recipe in Everyday Vegan Eats) Cajun SteaK, Twice-Baked Crispy Gluten, Chickpeas and Dumplings (another one in Everyday Vegan Eats), Mama's Bean Soup (in Everyday Vegan Eats), Corned Cabbage (another in EVE! - I told you it is our family's favorite meals), Seitan a la King,  Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce, etc. Yes, hubby loves seitan!

But I did manage to squeeze in this Israeli sandwich, which happens to be a traditional breakfast sandwich! I love to discover breakfast meals from other parts of the world because they tend to be more than just sweets or variations on bacon and eggs.

Now that I said that, I do have to clarify that the original does come with hard cooked eggs. We'll disregard that part, though.

Most cultures will take something that is leftover and transform it into a breakfast meal and this shows to be true time and time again. Take this sandwich for instance. The eggs are cooked beforehand. The hummus is made before, as well as the eggplant, being leftover from another meal. Maybe the salad is made fresh, but the rest is just from some other time, all stuffed into a fluffy pita bread.

Most of the rest of the world doesn't have roasted eggplant leftover or hummus, for that matter, although the hummus aspect is coming true in most households nowadays.

Whether you have this as a breakfast meal or for lunch or dinner, let's try to make this as pain free as possible.

Because I have omitted the eggs I wanted to replace it with something carb and protein rich and because ful medames are already a Middle Eastern breakfast staple, I figured that cooking fava beans with the eggplant made sense.

The fava beans you are looking for are these:

They are not the large fresh favas, but instead younger beans that are cooked and canned so you don't have to blanch and peel them individually.

You cook the eggplant first to soften before adding the fava beans and then continue to cook it until tender and broken down. This is a nice compromise between having leftover fried eggplant and cooking it fresh separate from the beans.

If you don't have hummus, whip up a fresh batch, otherwise use any store-bought or homemade hummus you have. 

The salad is an essential component consisting of basic ingredients such as cucumber, parsley, tomato, onion and lemon juice.

The most intriguing part of this sandwich is the mango sauce (Amba) which was originally brought to the Middle East by way of India's mango chutney. In addition to the mango sauce, there is typically tahini sauce on the sandwich (a rip on toom sauce). 

I love toom sauce (there is a cashew-based toom in Vegan Bowls and an authentic one in Aquafaba) and I love mango chutney and the easiest way to make the two is to combine them. Best of both in one sauce. I have to say that this is an amazing sauce so if you make nothing but the sauce you are still a winner. 

After all those components are done, make your sandwich and eat it, too. 

Short cuts: hummus, salad, sauce. Make the eggplant-fava bean ahead or the same day, either way it'll be delish.

Sabich - Israeli Sandwich

Serves 4

Sautee:

1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped

1/2 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/4 jalapeno chile, chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon paprika

1 (15-ounce) can fava beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup vegetable broth

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Salad:

1/2 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped or shaved

1/2 small onion, shaved or sliced thin

1/4 cup parsley, minced

Fresh lemon juice, to taste

Sauce:

6 garlic cloves

4 tablespoons tahini

3 tablespoons mango chutney

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Other:

4 pita breads

1/2 cup shaved cabbage

Hummus

1. Sautee: Combine the eggplant, tomato, onion, jalapeno, cumin and paprika in a medium saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat until the eggplant softens, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the fava beans and broth and continue to cook covered until the eggplant is tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover and cook until there is no more broth left in the pot. Season with salt and black pepper. 

2. Salad: Combine the tomato, cucumber, onion and parsley in a medium bowl. Season with lemon juice, salt and black pepper. 

3. Sauce: Add the garlic to a food processor or blender and process to mince. Add the tahini, chutney, water and lemon juice. Process until smooth. Add a little more water if needed. The sauce should be pourable but still thick. Season with salt and pepper.

4. To serve, warm the pita and split. Spread with hummus and add the bean mixture. Top with the salad, cabbage and the sauce. 

© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

PIN IT!

pantry + brazilian black bean casserole

Baked casserole dishes are a fantastic way to have dinner on the table in a descent amount of time with a lot of hands off work. This recipe has about 10 minutes on the stove before it is assembled completely and placed in the oven to finish cooking. 

This dish is Pantry + and it is whole foods, using brown rice, beans and cabbage as the base of the meal. The cabbage serves as a delicious cooling accompaniment accented with roasted corn. 

This casserole is very flavorful thanks to the Latin all-purpose seasoning called, adobo, but here we will make our own. It really is a simple matter of combining a few spices to create a different flavor dimension. 

The casserole is rich and delicious and the salad is tangy and sweet, thanks to the roasted corn. All in all, it has all the flavor components of a great tasting meal: sour, sweet, salty, and spicy.

Brazilian Black Bean Casserole:

Equipment:

large oven-safe pot

blender

mandolin

oven

Pantry Ingredients:

Red pepper flakes

Jarred tomato

Black beans

White wine vinegar

Adobo

Fresh Ingredients:

Brown rice

Onion

Ginger

Thyme

Cabbage

Bell pepper

Frozen corn

First things first, let's make the adobo seasoning:

Either just mix together, or better, yet, blend the ingredients in a small blender to break up the oregano. If you have Mexican oregano, use that, but otherwise regular will work just as well. 

Using a large Dutch oven or just an oven safe pot with a lid (or use foil to seal the pot), cook the onions in a dry pan (use a lid to cover the pot to retain the moisture) until golden. Add the adobo and the tomatoes and mix well. Use an immersion blender or transfer the mixture to a standard blender and process until broken up. 

Add the rice, thyme, beans, spice and liquid, mix well, and cook in the oven tightly sealed until the rice is tender, about 1 hour. 

In the meantime, use a mandolin to finely shred the cabbage and mix it with roasted corn (roast the corn in the oven during the last 25 minutes of cooking), bell pepper and vinegar and set aside to meld flavors. 

This is scrumptious and very healthy since there is no oil used and it is made with whole foods.
This makes about 6 to 8 servings, so leftovers are terrific.

Brazilian Black Bean Casserole (a Pantry+ recipe)
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Pantry list is HERE.

1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 (15-ounce) can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons adobo seasoning (recipe for homemade HERE)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or 1 dried red chili
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, liquid drained and reserved
Water, as needed
2 cups long grain brown rice
Sea salt

Salad:
1/2 small head cabbage, finely shredded
1 small green or red bell pepper, diced
1 cup roasted corn***
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. Heat a large dutch oven or large oven-safe pot over medium heat. Add the onion, cover and cook until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add a tablespoon of water if the onion begins to stick. Add the tomato and the adobo seasoning.  Blend using an immersion blender or transfer to a standard blender. 
2. Add the drained bean water to a 4-cup measuring cup. Add enough water to reach 3 3/4 cups. Add the water mixture to the pot. Add the rice, red pepper flakes, beans and salt. Bring to boil and cover tightly with a lid or foil. Bake in the preheated oven until the rice is tender, about 1 hour. 
3. Salad: Combine the cabbage, bell pepper, corn, vinegar and adobo in a medium bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper or adobo. Set aside until needed.
4. Serve the casserole with the salad. Leftovers reheat well.  

*** Transfer the corn to a small baking sheet. Bake in the oven during the last 25 minutes of cooking of the casserole. 



© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

autumn panzanella

It is a common custom among cultures to invent recipes that use up stale bread and it makes complete sense. There is no waste of old bread that has lost its freshness and a new recipe is developed.

Panzanella is the Italian version of using up old bread in a salad and it usually uses spring or summer vegetables.  I wanted to reinvent the salad using autumn produce because, well, tis the season.

I made use of cauliflower, carrots, chickpeas, whole grain bead (I'm working on a whole grain refrigerator dough, so I had a loaf hanging around), parsley and scallions.

You could, of course, use whatever vegetables you have lurking in the back of your fridge and no one would be the wiser. That's part of the beauty of panzanella salads.

Roast the cauliflower, chickpeas and bread in the oven and then throw it all into a large bowl. Toss with Italian dressing and you are in the money.

The question then becomes, which Italian dressing is the best for this salad? Mine, of course! Kittee Berns of Cake Maker to the Stars (with the cutest blog *ever* and the best Ethiopian cookbook *ever*) is sharing my recipe from Aquafaba [Amazon, B&N, Book Depository]. Go get it! I promise, it is worth it!

That's all there is to this one. Lunch or dinner is served. 

Autumn Panzanella
Serves 4

6 tablespoons Italian Dressing (this one from Aquafaba is amazing!), divided
1 cup cooked chickpeas
3 cups cubed bread, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
Sea salt and black pepper

4 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
2 medium carrots, julienned
4 scallions, chopped
1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped fine

1. Add 1 tablespoon dressing to a small bowl and toss with the chickpeas. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Transfer the beans to a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, stirring often. 
2. Move the beans to a quarter of the baking sheet and add the bread cubes to half of the sheet. Add the cauliflower to the remaining section and season with salt and black pepper. Continue to bake the beans and bread for another 25 minutes, until the beans are lightly crunchy, the cauliflower is golden and tender and the bread is dried out.
3. Transfer the bread to a small bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons of the dressing and set aside for 5 minutes. 
4. Add the lettuce, carrots, scallions, parsley, chickpeas, bread, cauliflower and the rest of the dressing to a large bowl. Toss well, season with salt and black pepper and serve. 




© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

PIN IT! 

warm spinach salad with barley bacon

Barley Bacon. Why not? Barley is nice and chewy when cooked and lightly crispy when cooked in some oil; it's actually a delicious bacon!

My husband asked me to make him a warm spinach salad and the other week we had a dish with barley. The chew of the barley gave me the idea to make it into bacon - as long as I could achieve a crunch on them.

I loved how these turned out! They were smoky, salty and just crunchy enough to make passing by the bowl without snagging a few a near impossibility.

A pressure cooker is really the best appliance to cook barley and barley that is whole grain is the best grain for this. Pearled barley cooks faster but isn't a whole grain and might not give that distinctive texture.

The black cardamom is the smoke (but you can use liquid smoke) and the sun-dried tomatoes offer a complexity. Once they are done cooking in the pot, it's time to cook them in a pan. I add porcini mushrooms to the pan, which brings its own set of texture and flavors. Working together, these ingredients are perfect to offer that bacon-y experience.

Of course, I had to add some other veggies to the mix! I sauteed leeks and zucchini, but cauliflower or kale would be equally delicious.

To clean your leeks, cut them in half lengthwise and slice them into 1/2-inch pieces. Fill a large bowl with water and add the leeks. Swoosh them around, breaking up the clumps, and set them aside for a few minutes. The dirt will fall to the bottom of the bowl and you can scoop out the leeks with your fingers. Water your plants with the water.

Keep the vegetables warm while you heat up your dressing and toss all the hot ingredients with the spinach.

Serve immediately with the barley and pepitas. Pepitas are extremely high in protein, are delicious and offer another satisfying crunch.

Warm Spinach Salad with Barley Bacon 

Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup hull-less barley, rinsed

2 small black cardamom or 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

2 sun-dried tomato halves

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari

1/3 cup dried porcini mushrooms

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large leek, white part, sliced in half and cut into 1/4-inch slices 

1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Sea salt and black pepper

2 bunches (about 8 cups) fresh spinach

1/4 cup toasted pepitas

1. Combine the barley, cardamom, tomato, bay leaf, water and tamari in a pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. Remove and discard the cardamom and bay. Drain the barley, reserving the tomato and the broth. Set aside.

2. Combine the mushrooms and the reserved broth from the barley in a small saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Set aside to rehydrate, about 10 more minutes. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the broth, and rinse the mushrooms lightly. Strain the mushroom/barley broth through a coffee filter or reusable tea bag. You should have about 1/4 cup. Rinse the pot and add the broth. Bring to boil and reduce by half. Add the vinegar, sugar and plenty of black pepper. 

3. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the barley. Chop the porcini mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes and add to the barley. Cook until the barley is slightly crunchy, but don’t over cook. Remove, leaving as much oil as possible in the skillet, and set aside. 

4. Add the leeks and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook until golden, about 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

5. Warm the dressing if it has cooled. Add the spinach to an extra large bowl and top with the vegetables and dressing. Toss well. If it isn’t wilting, warm the bowl slightly (stainless steel only!) on the stove while tossing the spinach. When lightly wilted, divide among 4 bowls and top equally with the barley and pepitas.  Serve.

 

© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

PIN IT!

pantry + late summer burger salad

Yes, it is nearing that time of year in the Northern Hemisphere; it is almost the end of summer. I figured that it is a good time to make a Late Summer Burger Salad, using some of the produce that is still available.

The dressing is creamy and gingery to complement the Japanese togarashi seasoning. The mini burgers are packed with veggies and legumes and provide a ton of energy to fuel your day.

For the purpose of keeping this recipe within the confines of Pantry+, I've limited the salad ingredients to just romaine lettuce, but you should add anything that you have on hand: grated carrot, purple or green cabbage, napa cabbage, radishes, other types of lettuce - basically, go wild!

This recipe uses 5 pantry ingredients (get the Pantry+ list HERE) and 6 fresh ingredients.

Late Summer Burger Salad:

Equipment:
small blender [such as a Magic Bullet]
food processor
cast iron pan

Pantry ingredients:
Cashews
Rice wine vinegar
Chickpeas
Togarashi
Panko

Fresh ingredients:
Ginger
Summer squash
Green onions
Green peas
Lettuce

After preparing the dressing, you grate the squash using the food processor. Because the food processor will be used again, there is no reason not to use it multiple times in this recipe to make things go faster.

Cooking the squash down,

...it is processed again in the machine with the rest of the burger ingredients. After forming them into mini burgers, cook them in the same skillet or use an air-fryer.

Simple and easy! In just a few steps you will have a delicious salad to munch on as you ponder what wonderful produce you will be procuring in the coming months.

Late Summer Burger Salad (a Pantry+ recipe)

Makes 3 to 4 servings

Pantry list is HERE.

1 cup raw cashew pieces

7 to 8 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar, divided

1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 medium-large yellow squash

2 garlic cloves

1 cup cooked chickpeas

5 green onions, divided

1/2 cup green peas (thawed, if frozen)

1 to 2 teaspoons togarashi

3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

All-purpose flour, as needed

Oil for pan-frying, optional

6 cups lettuce, chopped

1. Add the cashews, water, 2 tablespoons vinegar, ginger and salt to a small blender. Blend well and set aside for 10 minutes to rehydrate. Blend again until smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed. Set aside. 

2. Grate the squash using a food processor. Add the squash to a large dry cast-iron pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the moisture has reduced considerably. Add the garlic to the processor and pulse to chop. Add the chickpeas and 4 green onions and process until ground. Add the peas and pulse to break up. Add this mixture to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes to meld the flavors. Remove from the heat, add the panko and mix well. Set aside to rehydrate for 5 minutes.

3. Wipe the pan out, add a few teaspoons of oil and heat over medium heat. Form the squash mixture into 2 tablespoon patties (add a tablespoon of flour if the mixture isn’t holding together) and flatten the patties into 1/2-inch thickness. Cook the patties until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.

4. Chop the remaining green onion and add it to a bowl. Add the lettuce and the remaining tablespoon of vinegar and toss. Divide the lettuce among four bowls, add 4 patties to each bowl and top with the ginger dressing. Serve. 

© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

PIN IT!

veganmofo - seasonal + spinach salad + giveaway

#vgnmf15 Day 22 is all about seasonal produce and making such seasonal offerings into a dish.

I offer up my Spinach Salad Bowl with Fennel, Quinoa and Warm Pecan Dressing.

The seasonal produce for this dish is spinach, fennel and oranges (and pecans. Pecans count, right?). It also happens to be another recipe from my new cookbook, Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N), and I got permission to share the recipe with you!

Speaking of which, Vegan Bowls is celebrating its FIRST WEEK ANNIVERSARY! I think that means party time - don't you?! Yup, that means a blog tour and giveaways!


Vegan Street  and Here September 25
It's Got Vegan In It  September 22
Veg Kitchen  September 23
Healthy Slow Cooking  September 24
Dianne's Vegan Kitchen  September 25
Chic Vegan  September 28
Global Vegan Kitchen  September 29  (giveaway - ends October 5)
Good Good Things  October 1
Kelli's Vegan Kitchen  October 2  (giveaway - ends October 11)
The Taste Space October 6  (giveaway - ends October 20)
Glue and Glitter  October 6
The Food Duo  October 7  (giveaway - ends October 29)
Vegan Eats and Treats  October 8 (giveaway - ends October 15)
Vegan Crunk October 8
Julie Hasson  October 9  (giveaway - ends October 15) 
Heather Nicholds  October 9 (giveaway - ends October 14)

Since I am sharing a salad bowl recipe with you, why not look at the Salad Chapter of Vegan Bowls? 

You can see the entire recipe list for Vegan Bowls HERE.

Let's start with a giveaway on this blog, since I am probably the most excited! The winner will be chosen next Monday night at midnight, September 28.  Enter below for your chance to win a copy! To be eligible to win you must be following this blog via email or RSS feed (link). Contest is open to US residents only. Good luck!

Spinach Salad Bowl with Warm Pecan Dressing
SERVES 4 
This is a spin on spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. This salad is filled with shaved fennel, perfectly cooked quinoa, and candied pecans. The warm orange-pecan dressing ties all the flavors together and delivers a delicious, filling salad. (Recipe from Vegan Bowls, copyright © 2015 by Zsu Dever. Used by permission from Vegan Heritage Press, LLC.)


QUINOA
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

DRESSING
1 cup raw pecan pieces
5 tablespoons fresh orange juice, divided
2 teaspoons pure maple syrup, divided
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable broth

SALAD
8 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach (about 2 bunches, tough stems removed)
1 cup shaved fennel (about 1 small bulb) 

QUINOA: Combine the quinoa, broth, garlic, and salt in a small saucepan. Cover, bring to boil over high heat, reduce to medium- low heat, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

DRESSING: Toast the nuts in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer half of the nuts to a small blender. Add 2 tablespoons juice and 1 teaspoon maple syrup to the nuts in the skillet. Cook until the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Transfer the glazed nuts to a parchment paper and set aside to cool. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of juice, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, oil, vinegar, and broth to the blender. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and black pepper. When ready to serve, warm the dressing in the small skillet and add about half of the warm dressing to a large bowl.

SALAD: Add the spinach and fennel and toss. To serve, divide the salad and quinoa among wide bowls and serve with the remaining dressing. Alternatively, toss the salad with the quinoa and serve with the remaining dressing.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

lemon-braised tempeh salad

Braising tempeh (simmering slowly in a flavorful broth) can impart some great qualities to the tempeh, and the longer it cooks, the more flavor it imparts. The truth is, many of us don't have that kind of time, especially for lunch.

Since the tempeh is only lightly flavored (because of the quick braising time) the dressing comes to the rescue, in fact utilizing some of the braising liquid in the body of the sauce.

Cooking the potatoes just until tender is an easy feat with the addition of a steamer basket right over the braising tempeh - a trick that I love to employ since it adds a bit of the liquid's flavor without submerging the entire potato into the liquid itself, and because it saves on pots, water and energy.

I chose frisse salad, but arugula or watercress would make a delightful substitution; just keep it light, no kale or collards. The raw thinly sliced squash fits right into the spring-summer theme and a few slices of scallions and plenty of fresh cracked black pepper round things out nicely.

Lemon-braised Tempeh Salad

Serves 4

Tempeh:

½ lemon, cut into ¼-inch slices

¼ onion, sliced

2 teaspoons prepared horseradish

2 teaspoons capers

1 teaspoon dulse flakes

8 ounces tempeh, cut into ¼-inch slices on a deep bias

Water, as needed

2 medium red potatoes, cut into ¼-inch slices

Sea salt

Dressing:

6 tablespoons reserved cooking broth

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoon vegan mayo

2 pinches natural sugar

2 small garlic cloves, very finely minced

Salad:

1 head frisee

½ cup parsley leaves

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1 small summer squash, cut into thin slices

Black pepper

1. Tempeh: Place the lemon and onion on the bottom of a medium pan. Add the horseradish, capers and dulse. Layer the tempeh slices over the lemon and onion. Add just enough water to cover. Place a steamer basket over the tempeh slices and add the potato slices. Season with salt. Cover, bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender. Remove the steamer basket and the tempeh. Drain off 6 tablespoons of the cooking broth and discard the rest of the broth ingredients.  

2. Dressing: Combine the broth, lemon, oil, mayo, sugar, garlic and season with salt and black pepper in a small bowl. Whisk to combine well. Set aside.

3. Salad: Combine the frisee, parsley, scallions and squash in a medium bowl. Set aside.

4. Assembly: Add the salad mix to a bowl, top with potatoes, tempeh and dressing. Serve with lots of fresh ground black pepper.

© 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.