Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

Ramen noodles are famous for being super cheap, but they can also deliver exceptional flavor if treated correctly. The soy sauce flavor of Nissen ramen is vegan. It's okay as is, but a few fresh additions take it from desperate lunch to amazing feast. I always cook my ramen in a very small pot. I find that this concentrates the flavor. I never, ever cook it according the package directions. They are just wrong. The proper way to cook a packet of ramen is to crack the block into sevveral pieces. Add to small sauce pot. Fill with water. Stir in flavor packet. Bring to a boil and then simmer until noodles are just tender. Remove noodles from liquid with a fork. Discard all, but 1 tbl of the liquid. Pour that on the bowl of noodles. They're pretty good that way, but there's still much room for improvement. I'll add all sorts of ingredients to the cooking ramen to amp up the flavor. Ginger, garlic, mushrooms, celery. All do wonders. This version is especailly nic

This is a variation on some early recipes I've done for Thai green curry sauce. This time I incorporated tofu into the sauce to thicken it and also to bump up the protein factor. Coconut milk can sometimes be grainy. Using a blender to puree together the coconut milk and tofu helped to create a smooth texture on the sauce. It's thick, creamy and luscious. Using the blender also made easy work of the ginger and garlic. Instead of having to microplane them, I let the blades of the blender do the work for me. Depending on where you live it can be hard to find Thai green curry paste. I just got mine on Amazon. You could, in theory, make your own paste, but good luck obtaining all the authentic fresh ingredients. Perhaps if you live in a big city, you'd be able to do so. Otherwise, the paste is the real deal. If you've had Thai takeout and wondered how to recreate it, the paste is the secret. 1 can coconut milk 1 can Thai green curry paste 1/2 block silken firm tof

A post or two ago I detailed how caramelized shallots and mushrooms are the flavor bomb you need to add to your repertoire. This is a similar idea. Broiled cauliflower, potatoes. mushrooms and red onion. You haven't really eaten cauliflower until you've eaten it caramelized. It transforms into a completely different taste experience. It becomes nutty, earthy, sweet and a little bit meaty. In a large bowl coat the potatoes and cauliflower in olive oil, rosemary, salt and black pepper. Turn onto a large baking sheet lubed with cooking spray. You can use the same bowl to toss your mushrooms, onions and garlic in oil, salt and black pepper. Turn them onto a separate, equally lubed, baking sheet. Broil the potatoes and cauliflower on high until nicely browned. Broil on the second rack from the top of the oven. Check after 15 minutes. Turn the pieces and the pan to get even browning. Broil the mushroom mixture the same way. Keep a close eye on it. Everything will brow

This exceedingly easy to cook recipe yields extraordinary flavor. The minimalist ingredients of Italy have an almost magical ability to deliver a huge bounty of deliciousness. This truly is an example of the sum being greater than its parts. Traditional recipes will call for any number of cheeses. Parmesan, mozzarella, etc. Leaving out the cheese allows the tomatoes and garlic to really shine. If there's one major foodie benefit to cooking vegan, it has to be that you learn to respect the potency that fruits and vegetables have to offer. Given the chance to really stand on their own, unfettered by unnecessary dairy, they will really surprise you. Parsley is one of those herbs that most people dismiss. It's true that dried parsley offers nothing worthwhile to a cook. Fresh parsley on the other hand, is a powerhouse ingredient that deserves your respect. 2 cups dry elbow pasta + 1/3 cup pasta water 2 pints grape tomatoes, halved 1 jalapeno, sliced 7 cloves garlic,

I wanted something light, but also hearty. That sounds like a contradiction of terms, but mushrooms have the ability to create both sensations in a dish. If you keep your ingredients list simple, but make sure it packs a lot of flavor, you can get both in one. This dish also features a great way to utilize tofu for extra protein and a pleasingly creamy texture that satisfies those dairy cravings. But the thing that really takes this recipe to the next level is actually the garnish. Another 1/2 pint of the mushrooms, an extra shallot and a little bit of the poblano. Saute them separately in olive oil and salt until the shallots and mushrooms are caramelized. Top each serving of the stew with a generous portion of that sweet umami goodness to turn an already very good dish into a spectacular one. And here's the real flavor bomb. All that goodness that's left in the pan after you saute the mushrooms, shallots and poblano... add a few dashes of white wine to deglaze and then pour

In April I took up running. I had never run before except for the mile way back in high school gym class. I had always been a cyclist or walker. It always seemed like running was for serious althletes and I was just the casual kind. I was 43 years old when I first took up this new hobby of running. Had I known how great it could be, I would've done it years ago. It was terrible at first. No lies. It was hard. Everything hurt. I could hardly go any distance without resting. But at some point I breached some magical threshold and it became a spectacular experience. I credit my vegetarian/mostly vegan diet for how well it's gone. For me, the runner's high is very real. I actually get stoned. My head goes numb. I feel invincible. I'm flying instead of running. There are wings on my feet. Depending on the temps and how rested I am, it might last for 10 minutes or it might go on that way for more than an hour. Today, it was 80 F and I had rested for 3 days at wo

I found myself inspired by all those vegetable versions of noodles and pasta. I think they're silly. Pasta is delicious. Zucchini noodles are not. Carbs are awesome. Still, ribbons, are a great way to quickly process carrots for easy cooking. It's also pretty. I don't want to spend time julienning carrots. Sliced take too long to cook. So shaved seemed like a perfect marriage of both aesthetics and function. Normally, I don't peel carrots. I just wash them and slice. With this method, you do peel, but you just keep peeling the entire carrot right down to the core. Don't discard the outer peels. All of the peels are usable. Besides being great for quick cooking, they're also good for texture as a raw garnish. When you get down to the carrot cores, reserve them for snacks or stocks. 2 large carrots, shaved into ribbons 1 pint white mushrooms, sliced 1 bunch scallions, sliced on the bias 1 poblano, diced 1 jalapeno, minced 7 cloves garlic, microplaned 2 in

In an earlier post I detailed my experience eating the Impossible Burger at Houlihan's. This time around I purchased the Beyond Meat burgers from Shoprite and prepared them at home. They were, no exaggeration, incredible. What I discovered from having the impossible burger was that, unlike traditional veggie burgers, you have to cook them like you're cooking meat. They need a browned outside crust, but you mustn't over cook them. Because like meat, they will stay tender and juicy inside when done properly. It made grease in the pan. It smelled similar to a burger as it cooked. The aroma was less dead animal, more primal nourishment. It caramelized on the outside. Stayed pink and juicy in the middle. Like a regular burger, I used the touch test to know when to stop cooking it. I went through several napkins joyously consuming it. I kept mine vegan and simple as to enjoy all the mind boggling brilliance of the patty itself. Red onion, jalapeno, some fresh parsle

Turmeric adds a unique flavor to any dish. One of the my favorite spice combinations is turmeric and paprika. They just make for a beautiful, deep flavor when accompanied by the right supporting players. Indian and Asian cuisine are a natural fusion. They have so much in common. India is in Asia, of course. So it's already Asian cuisine. But when I think of Asian food, I think of Chinese, Thai and Japanese. This recipe is essentially, a minimalist curry that borrows from both cultures. A deeply flavored broth is sucked up by the lentils and the barley. Creating a beautiful taste to both and yielding an unctuous and rich broth. Red wine isn't a typical component in either Asian or Indian dishes, but I love how it works with the traditional of spices and veg. You can pretty much add wine to any savory recipe and it will improve it by leaps and bounds. 1/2 cup dry lentils 1/2 cup dry pearl barley 1 poblano, diced 1 red bell pepper, diced 1/2 red onion, diced 5 clove