chile relleno! vegan!

If you've been under a boulder the past few weeks, you would not be up to date on the epic chickpea brine discovery, so I'll give a quick run-down for you.

Some clever genius has discovered that the annoying foam that our beans produce during cooking can whip up into vegan egg whites. Let that sink in. What have you missed eating or making since you've become vegan? Chances are good, they contain some sort of egg product: macaroons, angel food cake, floating islands, among other sweets that conventionally are either made completely of eggs or contain a significant amount of eggs.

While I haven't tested this using freshly cooked bean liquid, this process has been proven to work with canned or boxed chickpeas or white beans. Although I've been cooking up batches of beans using my Instant Pot, for this special occasion, I purchased a box of chickpeas. A few, actually.

I'm not sure exactly who came up with this first - - you know the type, looks at the liquid drained from beans and thinks, "hmmm, that looks like egg whites!" but I am grateful. I will try to give credit where I think it might belong. If you know of someone who also came up with this at about the same time (it's possible - two different people invented calculus at the same time while occupying two different parts of the world), I'll add them to the list.

Plant Revolution (French)
Vegan Cookery

Since my facebook page has blow up with all kinds of vegan delicacies using bean liquid, I, of course, could not be left out of the fun.

Chocolate Chip Cookies. Photo courtesy of Somer McCowen

Vedged Out: Chocolate Chip Cookies
Floral Frosting: Macaroons
Seitan is My Motor: Marshmallows

Unlike my fellow bloggers and FB friends, my mind instantly flew to making Chile Rellenos, a chile stuffed with cheese and battered in an egg-flour mixture before being fried. That's right, not being one with much of a sweet tooth, I was itching to try my hand at making a fluffy, crispy stuffed pepper, Tex-Mex style.

The recipe below is my first attempt at making the rellenos; let me tell 'ya, they kick some royal Tex-Mex butt. Some tweaking with the ratio of whipped bean brine to flour would make this even better, but for the debut, this was an amazing Chile Relleno.

CHILE RELLENO PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Chile Relleno

Serves 4

Sauce: (optional)

1 (15.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cups vegetable broth

Chiles:

4 medium to large poblano peppers

1 cup shredded vegan cheese (combination of different varieties is best)

4 (4-inch) wooden skewers

¼ cup all-purpose flour

Oil, for frying

Batter:

1 1/4 cups chickpea or white bean brine (liquid from 2 cans of beans)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1. Sauce: (Optional) Combine the tomatoes and broth in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Cook the sauce until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Blend using an immersion blender and keep warm.

2. Chiles: Cook the peppers over a flame or directly over the stove top burners, until charred well. There is no need to completely char the peppers. Transfer the peppers to a large bowl and cover with a lid. Steam the peppers for 20 minutes.

3. Peel the peppers using your hands. Do not rinse under water.  Make a slit down the side of the pepper about 2-inches long. Remove the seeds as much as possible, but leave the stem intact. Add about ¼-cup cheese inside the pepper and close the pepper using a skewer. Clean and stuff all the peppers and roll each pepper in the flour. Set aside.

4. Heat about 2-inches of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add three popcorn kernels to the oil; when the kernels pop the oil is ready.

5. Batter: Add the batter to a large bowl and using an electric hand mixer beat the brine until thick and stiff, about 4 minutes. Add the paprika, salt and black pepper. Whisk until the flour is incorporated.

6. Place a pepper into the batter and using a spoon coat the pepper on all sides. Fry the pepper in the hot oil until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes per side. Drain the pepper on paper towels and season with salt. Serve with the sauce.

© 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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greek pita with fennel and spring onion

I simply adore fennel that is shaved and sauteed until it practically melts in your mouth. Really delicious! I have a few bulbs of the vegetable in my fridge and received some spring onions in my CSA box yesterday; it was time to make good use of them.

Since I wanted something relatively easy and not have to make anything too fussy, I decided on a Greek-inspired pita sandwich. It was ready relatively fast and it was a breath of fresh air - anything with lemon and fennel will usually bring that to mind.

If you are leery of using fennel, fear not. Cut off about 1/4-inch of the base (where it is browning) and simply use a mandoline to shave the bulb into almost paper thin slices. No need to remove the core since you are cooking it until the fennel is soft. Use the mandoline to shave the onions, too, and they will cook up tender and sweet in no time.

I used Beyond Meat Grilled Strips for ease, but homemade seitan would work well, too. Even portobello mushrooms would rock this recipe; be sure to remove the gills of the mushroom first by scrapping it out with a spoon.

I made the hummus using the recipe from Everyday Vegan Eats, which Vegan Heritage Press has published right here, but I added about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika to the mixture. I also didn't bother removing the skins of the chickpeas this time and just let the machine run a bit longer for a smoother puree. Sometimes, speed and ease is of the essence.

GREEK PITA WITH FENNEL AND SPRING ONION PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Greek Pita with Fennel and Spring Onion

Serves 4 to 6

Protein:

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon fresh or dried Rosemary

12 ounces Beyond Meat strips or chopped seitan

Vegetables:

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 spring onions, shaved

1 medium fennel, shaved

Sea salt and black pepper

Pita bread

Hummus (stir in ½ teaspoon smoked paprika per 1 cup of hummus)

1. Protein: Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, and rosemary in a shallow dish. Add the protein and season with salt and black pepper  and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the protein strips only. Cook until golden on both sides, about 3 minutes. Add the marinade, including the garlic, and cook until the garlic is golden. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. Vegetables: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and fennel, cover, and cook until completely tender, about 5 to 8 minutes, stirring as needed. Season with salt and black pepper.

3. Assembly: Toast the pita, cut in half and split into pockets. Spread about 2 tablespoons of hummus in the pockets, add protein strips and a generous portion of the sauteed vegetables. Serve.

Tip: Cook the vegetables while the protein marinates. Transfer the vegetables to a container and cook the protein in the same skillet.

© 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

seitan steak sandwich

It's been a seitan steak kind of week over here. My hubby asked for a repeat of the Cajun SteaK, using my seitan SteaK recipe, but I wanted to mix things up and use the seitan in other ways.

 I made a Seitan Steak Sandwich with Creamy Mushroom Sauce. Searing the seitan and then basting it with au jus gives it a wonderful flavor. Topping it with the creamy mushroom sauce is spectacular. Serve it with a fluffy baked potato, and you've got yourself a compassionate meat-and-potatoes dinner.

I used fresh homemade almond milk for the sauce, but I am sure a store-bought vegan milk will work equally well. It is important to caramelize the mushrooms just enough to give them flavor, but not so much that they shrivel up into nothing but a pile of dried fungus.

I will be posting how I make my almond milk over the next few weeks because even though a lot of people say that it is easy and there is nothing much to it, except soaking some nuts, blending with water and then straining, I find there are a few nuances that are good to know.

On a personal note, my sister will be visiting us from Hungary this week. I haven't seen her for close to 30 years, so it should be an exciting week. I learned that she is also vegan. Imagine that! Three decades and a world apart and both of us live cruelty-free.

Because we live in San Diego, we'll be heading up to LA to dine on some kick-ass vegan food. I've not been to Crossroads, yet, and then there is Doomies, which I hear makes a great batch of vegan fried chicken. I've also heard through the grapevine that there is a vegan cheese shop in LA. I hope she'll have a good time in the states!

SEITAN STEAK PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

SEITAN STEAK SANDWICH PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Seitan SteaK Sandwich with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Serves 4

Steak:

2 teaspoons fresh cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

3 SteaK Seitan slices

¼ cup au jus (recipe below)

Mushrooms:

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup sherry

¼ cup au jus (recipe below)

1 cup nondairy milk

4 hoagie rolls, split almost completely through

1.SteaK: Combine the black pepper and salt in a small container and set aside. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the seitan, topping each pieces with 1 tablespoon of the au jus and about a quarter of the seasoning mix. Cook until golden brown, about for 3 to 5 minutes. Flip the seitan, add more au jus and more seasoning mix. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. Drizzle the seitan with 1 teaspoon oil, flip and cook until lightly charred. Drizzle another teaspoon of oil and flip. Cook until the other side is lightly charred. Transfer the seitan to a work surface and cut into slices.

2. Mushrooms: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until golden, stirring only occasionally. Add the garlic and the remaining seasoning mix. Stir and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sherry and au jus and cook until almost evaporated. Add the milk and cook until the sauce is reduced by half. Taste and adjust seasoning.

3. Assembly: Toast the split hoagies. Divide the seitan among the hoagies and top with the mushroom sauce. Server.  

Au Jus:

1 cup vegetable broth

2 tablespoons vegan steak sauce (such as A-1)

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari

¼ teaspoon dried parsley

⅛ teaspoon dried thyme

⅛ teaspoon oregano

⅛ teaspoon rosemary

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make the au jus, combine the broth, steak sauce,tamari, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and black pepper in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Whisk well to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until reduced by one-third, about 10 minutes. Keep warm until needed.

© 2012 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

"nutrition champs" cookbook + giveaway

Today I am reviewing a new cookbook by Jill Nussinow's, Nutrition CHAMPS. CHAMPS stands for Cruciferous vegetables, Herbs and spices, Alliums, Mushrooms, Peas, beans and lentils and Seeds and nuts. Jill says that these are the components of a healthy lifestyle.

Jill is a Registered Dietitian and has been teaching healthy eating for over 25 years. She is the author of The New Fast Food, a pressure cooking cookbook and The Veggie Queen. In fact, she is popularly known as the Veggie Queen.

CHAMPS is a healthy cooking cookbook, ranging from raw to pressure cooked foods, from breakfast to dessert and the book contains recipes from over 45 authors, bloggers and chefs, including Jill herself, Robin Robertson, Dreena Burton, Kathy Hester and Chef AJ, just to list a few.

The book is available as an ebook or paperback. The recipes are low-fat and most are gluten-free!

The only note of concern to some folks might be that, while there are beautiful illustrations by Emily Horstman, there are no actual photos in the book.

Jill has offered an international giveaway for the ebook, so after you make and enjoy the Pinto Bean Quinoa Burger below, enter to win the cookbook via Rafflecopter.

Pinto Bean Quinoa Burgers

This will likely work with any cooked grain or bean with slight adjustments in amounts. I developed this recipe for one of the many Barbaras in my life who wanted something tasty and easy to eat.

Makes 6 medium burgers

1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup cooked quinoa

1 1⁄2 cups cooked pinto beans

1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup onion


2 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin

Fresh herbs such as parsley, basil or cilantro

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1⁄2 teaspoon salt, if using fresh cooked, not canned, beans

2 tablespoons hemp seed, if you have it

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Put the quinoa, beans and onion in the food processor. Pulse a few times until slightly mixed. Add the garlic, cumin, herbs, yeast, and salt, if using. Pulse again, adding 1–2 tablespoons bean liquid, stock or Bragg Liquid Aminos if it needs it. Stir in hemp seeds. Form into patties. If the mixture doesn’t feel thick enough, add more quinoa and combine again.

Bake on oiled baking sheet for 10 minutes. Turn over and bake another 10 minutes. Eat, refrigerate or freeze.

©2105 Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, from Nutrition CHAMPS: The Veggie Queen's Guide to Eating and Cooking for Optimum Health Happiness, Energy and Vitality www.theveggiequeen.com

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"living candida-free" + giveaway

I have reviewed a few cookbooks over the years, but very much like the last book I reviewed, this one is not just a cookbook - it is a guide. It is a very important guide to living with candida. Candida is a yeast that lives in our bodies - in all of our bodies - but sometimes that yeast grows too big and begins to affect our health.

Symptoms of candida-related illness can range from fatigue, memory loss, brain fog, depression, problems in the bathroom, headaches, to rashes and hives. Ricki Heller, author of Living Candida-Free, details how she herself was diagnosed with candida and her ordeal over many decades to find treatment.

Ultimately, as we all know, the most effective treatment for bodily illnesses is through diet. Your diet determines the health of your immune system among other systems in the body, however, where candida is concerned, it is a  most vital part of the treatment.

Ricki Heller, with Andrea Nakayama, provides a complete three-step program to help you conquer candida  and live as candida-free as possible in this groundbreaking book, Living Candida-Free.

Candida grows in your body based on what you eat. Certain foods, such as sugar, feed the yeast and make it grow. When it grows out of control, it causes an imbalance in your body and results in noticeable and negative reactions.

Ricki covers all the nuances of treatment, offers her three step plan, details the foods that are good to eat and ones that can make the candida flare up and, most importantly, provides us with recipes of delicious food that puts you on the path of health.

You might think that this book has nothing to do with you, but, since all bodies live with candida, there is a chance that your candida is out of whack. To help determine if you are one of the folks with a candida imbalance, there is a Yeast Assessment Form in the book that helps you gauge your risk factor.

If you already know that there is a good chance that you have candida out of control, then this is definitely the book for you. Don't even wait, go and buy it right now. For the rest of us, this is an excellent book to assess just how much candida has grown in our bodies and how to treat it before it gets out of control.

Ricki Heller and Da Capo Publishing have given me permission to share one of the recipes from Living Candida-Free. Get the recipe and enter to win the book at the end of the post.

This is one book I think everyone can benefit from. More than just a cookbook, it is a guide to improved health. Contest open to US and Canada residents. Contest ends Monday, February 23.

"Conquer the hidden epidemic that is making you sick!"

Almost Instant Grain-Free Breakfast Porridge

Good for: Stage 2 and beyond (or all stages if fruit is omitted)

I came across this recipe when I first taught a course with Andrea and it was included in the recipe packet for course participants. It was definitely love at first bite! This porridge is quick and easy, and infinitely variable: use sunflower or hemp instead of the pumpkin seeds; substitute another favorite nut instead of the walnuts; include the coconut or omit it, as you wish. It’s also a great year-round breakfast as you won’t have to heat up the kitchen cooking it on the stove top.

MAKES 1 SERVING

2 tablespoons (30 ml) unsweetened coconut flakes or shredded coconut

1 tablespoon (15 ml) raw pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon (15 ml) raw whole flaxseeds

2 teaspoons (10 ml) chia seeds

1 tablespoon (15 ml) raw walnuts (about 6 walnuts)

½  teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground cinnamon

½  to ¾  cup (120 to 180 ml) very hot water

7 to 10 drops plain or vanilla pure liquid stevia

2 to 4 tablespoons (30 to 60 ml) coconut milk

(page 99), almond, or other milk of choice

½  cup (120 ml) blueberries or other fresh berries, or chopped fresh apricots

In a coffee grinder, grind the coconut, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and cinnamon. Transfer to a bowl and cover with water. Let sit for a few minutes to thicken. Add the stevia, coconut milk, and blueberries and stir well.

Note: You can make a large batch of this cereal in advance and store it in single

servings in the freezer so it’s ready to go when you need it: thaw overnight in the refrigerator and enjoy! It’s also great for traveling. Just bring single servings of the dry mixture with you in resealable plastic bags, empty into a bowl, and add hot water for a quick and delicious breakfast.

From Living Candida-Free by Ricki Heller. Reprinted with permission from Da Capo Lifelong, © 2015.

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"the vegetarian flavor bible" giveaway + karen page

I am very pleased to be a part of Karen Page's blog tour for "The Vegetarian Flavor Bible." I purchased this book based on Robin Robertson's recommendation and couldn't have been happier about its contents! 

The book contains a brief run-down of the history of food with special attention to vegetarian and vegan food, but the bulk of the book is of flavor profiles - which flavors go best together. These are tried and true flavor profiles that will make any cook into a chef!

You simply choose an ingredient, find it in the alphabetical listing and check out what other ingredients are best with it. Then you get in the kitchen and make some magic. Consider the book a road map to successful flavor combinations. 

Karen has offered to write a guest post for Zsu's Vegan Pantry and it really is the best way to show you what this book has to offer. Thank you, Karen, for such an amazing reference book for everyone!

Don't take my word for it, though. Enter to win a copy of your very own. The Rafflecopter giveaway, open to U.S. residents, is right below Karen's blog post. This is a huge, hardcover, full-color volume. Contest ends Monday, January 26. Good luck!

Around the World in 80 Dishes:
A Sampling of Flavors from Restaurants Featuring Plant-Strong Global Cuisines
by Karen Page

When I mentioned to friends who have known me as a lifelong omnivore that I had stopped eating meat and had embraced a plant-strong diet, their reactions often suggested that they felt badly for what I was missing out on.  I honestly feel no sense of deprivation whatsoever.  Instead, I’m thrilled about the new ingredients and flavor affinities I’ve been discovering through a wider range of cuisines than I ever imagined possible.

I’ve enjoyed Ethiopian cuisine since college, but I love it even more now as a fun way

of eating vegan. Because of the culture’s traditional periods of fasting and avoiding

meat, eggs, and dairy, every Ethiopian restaurant I know has a vegan combination option that includes the spongy pancakes called injera, which are used to scoop up bites of various braised legumes, greens, and other vegetables.  I love the all-vegan Bunna Café in Queens (pictured ahove), as well as the vegan combination platter at Injera restaurant in Manhattan.

Ethiopian Flavor Affinities:

berbere + garlic + onions
collard greens + garlic + ginger

Pastas and pizzas have long been vegetarian staples, but restaurants like Brooklyn’s

Paulie Gee’s (pictured, above) and Portland’s Portobello Vegan Trattoria are doing their part to make pizza a vegan staple, too. Paulie Gee’s, which is right around the corner from Kickstarter’s international headquarters is worth getting there right when it opens to avoid the otherwise ever-present lines out the door.

Paulie Gee’s Vegan Pizzas Flavor Affinities:

arugula + lemon juice + nutritional yeast + olive oil
arugula + cashew ricotta + olive oil + pickled red onions
chile + garlic + olive oiil + sea salt + spinach

Enthusiasts of Japanese cuisine welcomed Manhattan’s vegan Michelin-starred restaurant

Kajitsu, which specializes in dinnertime tasting menus showcasing seasonal ingredients

such as matsutake mushrooms (which are as prized in Japanese cuisine as white truffl es are

in Italian). Lunchtime is a great value; a composed tray might feature a main dish of ramen

noodles seasoned with three different kinds of miso, or rice topped with bamboo shoots,

alongside seasonal vegetable accents and perhaps a spring roll or yuba (tofu skin) filled with

seasoned rice. Manhattan’s popular Beyond Sushi (pictured above) creates vegan sushi from ingredients such as “mighty mushrooms” served on a six-grain blend.

.

Beyond Sushi Flavor Affinities:

barley + black rice + brown rice + pearl barley + red rice + rye berries  (six-grain blend)
cashews + enoki mushrooms + ginger + hot pepper paste + romaine

I’ve been a fan of Manhattan’s oldest Mexican restaurant, El Parador Café, for two

decades of its fifty-five years in business. (How can you not love a restaurant whose motto

is “The answer is yes. What’s your question?”) And I discovered a year or two ago that it

offers vegan salsa upon request (its standard warm salsa is not vegetarian), along with an excellent vegetarian / vegan menu. After two decades of loving one of America’s most renowned Mexican restaurants — Chicago’s Frontera Grill — and later its sister restaurant,

Topolobampo, I was surprised to discover that the latter, too, offers a veg menu. It

blew me away — especially chef Andres Padilla’s extraordinary chayote dish, the best I’ve

ever tasted.

Mexican Flavor Affinities:

acorn squash + chayote + mole verde + pumpkin seeds
avocado + cumin + lime
cilantro + corn + cumin + onions
chocolate + cinnamon + nuts + orange + vanilla

Once you know a few flavor affinities (featured at length in THE VEGETARIAN FLAVOR BIBLE), you can use them to inspire your own experimentation in the kitchen.  Enjoy the journey!

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"plant power" + giveaway

I have been such a huge fan of Nava Atlas for years and when I was asked to do a review of her new book, "Plant Power," I jumped at the chance!

Nava Atlas is the author of a long list of books ranging from "Vegan Holiday Kitchen," very apropos this time of year, to "Wild About Greens," a personal favorite. Nava is also the founder of VegKitchen.com, a place to seek out easy vegan recipes and cooking tips. 

Nava has been writing cookbooks for years, but she is also the author of nonfiction books, such as "The Literary Ladies' Guide to the Writing Life." She is truly a remarkably versatile woman. Get to know Nava through her cookbooks, books or website.

I got to know Nava a little bit better through her new cookbook, "Plant Power." Just as the name implies, recipes powered via plants are what you will discover in this cookbook. And just like the recipes on her website, you will find easy and simple recipes to feed your family and yourself.

The book itself is a gorgeous full-color hardcover book, one that will be able to withstand many years of loving use. The book is broken into two parts: Plant-Powered Living and Plant-Powered Recipes and Menus. 

The first part includes nutrition, tools, shopping and tips and tricks for the kitchen. The second part consists of the recipes! Yum! Main dishes, pastas, pizzas, tortillas, salads, breakfasts - everything to satisfy all your urges. In addition, all the recipes include nutritional information! 

I was offered the privilege of sharing a recipe from the book with you and I chose one of my favorite easy meals: tostadas. I made Nava's Black Bean Tostadas.

I was able to throw these tostadas together in less than 15 minutes and the family was happy with the tasty comfort food - I was happy with the speed and the healthfulness of the dish. 

I am giving away a copy of Nava's "Plant Power" for one lucky US winner! Contest ends Monday December 8!

Black Bean Tostadas

A tostada is a crisp tortilla piled generously with any variety of toppings, often including beans, crisp lettuce, and salsa. Good accompaniments include: baked potatoes or sweet potatoes; or fresh corn on the cob. Add a salad and/or a simple steamed veggies, you’ve got an easy weeknight meal or fun quick fare to serve company. Recipe from Plant Power: Transform Your Kitchen, Plate, and Life with More Than 150 Fresh and Flavorful Vegan Recipes by Nava Atlas. ©2014, published by HarperOne, reprinted by permission. Photos in the cookbook taken by Hannah Kaminsky. 

Serves: 4 (2 tostadas per serving)

•      8 good-quality corn tortillas

•      1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or 3 tablespoons vegetable broth or water

•      1 medium onion or two shallots, finely chopped

•      2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

•      Two 15-to 16-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed,
or 3 to 3 1/2 cups cooked black beans

•      Juice of 1/2 lime or lemon, or more, to taste

•      1 to 2 small hot green chili peppers, seeded and sliced, optional

•      Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

•      2 teaspoons ground cumin

Garnishes:

•      Shredded lettuce, baby greens, or baby spinach

•      Plenty of mild, medium, or hot chunky salsa, such as chipotle, peach or mango

•      Store-bought or homemade Vegan Sour Cream or Cashew Cream

To toast the torillas in the oven: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spread the tortillas on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until crisp and dry and just starting to be touched with golden brown spots. Remove them from the oven and place on a serving platter.

To toast the tortillas on a stovetop: Heat a large skillet. Toast the tortillas over medium heat (two or three at a time, depending on the size of the skillet) for about 5 minutes or so on each side, until crisp and touched with golden brown spots. Don’t be afraid to let them get nice and crisp—that’s better than ending up with a soggy tostada.

Heat the oil, broth, or water in medium skillet. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients (aside from the garnishes, of course) along with 1/4 cup water and bring to a simmer. Using a potato masher, mash some of the beans so that the liquid becomes thick and saucy.

Place the shredded lettuce, sour cream, and salsa in separate serving bowls and let everyone assemble their tostadas as follows: A layer of shredded lettuce; the black bean mixture; salsa; and sour cream. Pick up the tostadas and eat out of hand (with plenty of napkins!).

Nutritional Information:

Per tostada: Calories: 140 with oil, 126 without oil; Total fat: 2g with oil, 1g without oil; Protein: 7g; Carbohydrates: 25g; Fiber: 4g; Sodium: 100mg