Low Carb Vegan

A couple of quick curries

2012-02-08T09:03:33Z

Here are a couple of the curries I’ve put together using the base I’ve talked about. The first one is a mushroom and pea curry, sometimes called Mattar Mushrooms. I also added some tempeh to make it a little more filling. I didn’t bother to steam or saute the tempeh to reduce it’s bitterness, just cooked it up along with the base. There’s enough other flavors going on for that to work. While the base was cooking down, I quartered the mushrooms and thawed the peas. When the gravy was ready, I tossed the mushrooms in for about five minutes and then added the peas for a couple of minutes. Adjust the seasoning and you’re done!

The other dish is one I can’t decide if I’m proud of the way it turned out or horrified at the way it turned out. If you’ve ever been to an Indian restaurant you’ve probably noticed the unnaturally red chicken they call tandoori chicken. Well, I made tandoori tofu. Now I don’t have a tandoori oven and probably wouldn’t want to put tofu in it anyway so what I did was make a kind of tofu-based yoghurt marinade (with food coloring!) and soak the drained tofu in it. Then I baked the tofu. That all could be done in advance if you wanted. When I went to prepare the curry, I cooked the base down and then added the tofu and some cauliflower I had on hand. It was good, although I probably shouldn’t have added chilies to the marinade and base both. That made it a bit hotter than I really wanted. But the photo doesn’t really do justice to the atomic mutant red color it had. A couple people at work stopped by my desk and asked just what that was. I don’t think any naturally occurring substance has quite that color.

So that’s some of what I’ve come up with. What have you made?

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Opening a curry shop

2012-02-06T01:09:56Z

OK, I haven’t taken leave of my senses and actually opened a restaurant. However, my schedule has been changing quite a bit recently and I need to be able to make some meals pretty quickly. Among other things I’ve been trying is the idea of a quick curry. I started thinking what would I do if I really did want to open a curry shop. The idea of a fast causal kind of place, sort of like a UK takeaway curry shop, really appealed to me. Now I need to state up front that I’ve only had one curry in the UK and it wasn’t takeaway so I may be way off base here.

But from what I’ve read and talking to people, I believe the way to make a curry without taking the time to actually start from scratch is to make a curry base. That’s basically a puree of onions and tomatoes with some seasoning. You then add the other ingredients to that to make whatever kind of curry you’re after. I’ve already got a Vita-Mix blender so why not use it to give me a head start?

So I took an onion, peeled and quartered it, threw in some seasoning and pureed that. You can adjust the seasoning to what you have and what you’re looking for but I usually use some garlic cloves, some ginger and some dried cumin, coriander, chili and turmeric. It’s easier to make sure the onion is completely ground up if you minimize the amount of liquid in the blender. Then go ahead and add a can of diced tomatoes and puree the whole thing.

Now I think a real curry shop would cook this down before beginning service but I’m assuming no advance preparations. The onion in the base is currently raw and will overwhelm the dish. So put some oil in a pan over medium-high heat and cook the base for about ten minutes. The nice thing is the base is soupy enough to not have a big risk of burning so you can just stir it occasionally while you get on with prepping the rest of the ingredients.

I’ll post some of the ones I’ve put together but really the sky’s the limit for what to do with your base. Add some coconut milk and go for a Thai feel? What about some mustard for a Caribbean dish? If you come up with something good, leave a comment!

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Best low carb potato substitutes?

2011-12-14T03:51:32Z

Best potato substitutes?

If you’ve been following a low carb, vegan diet for very long, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the potato is not our friend. And with recipes ranging from Indian to Russian to American calling for potatoes, what can you do? Well, if you’re like me, you start looking for substitutes. And for the longest time, I just went along with what I’d been told and what I’d read. But a little while ago I decided to investigate for myself and what I found quite surprised me.

I started by going to the USDA food database. Hey, my tax dollars helped pay for it so why not use it, right? I began with a plain old russet potato. Around here at least, if you ask for a potato, you’re going to get a russet. So lets compare some other foods with the russet.

Let’s begin with something that isn’t an actual potato substitute but often features in vegetable purees. That would be a simple carrot. And it’s not too bad. There’s about 40% as much net carbs in a given amount of carrots as the potato. Of course the orange color makes it kind of hard to fool anybody that it’s a potato.

Something else I frequently see suggested is cauliflower, And this is actually a good idea, coming in at 17% of the net carbs found in potato. It’s the best substitute in terms of net carbs as a matter of fact. The only problem is that you pretty much have to puree them, otherwise it looks like, well, cauliflower.

So let’s see if we can find some other root vegetables to fill in for the potato. What about a parsnip? It’s white and a bit sweet after all. Well it turns out it may be a bit sweeter than we realised. Coming in at 78% of the carbs in a potato, parsnips aren’t the lowest carb choice out there.

Rutabagas and turnips are also mentioned as fill-ins for the potato. How well do they stack up? Pretty well it turns out. Turnips have 28% of the net carbs of the potato and rutabagas are a close second at 33%. And they have the advantage they can be cubed up and used like a potato.

The most surprising result of all this? I had always been told that a sweet potato was a good substitute for regular potatoes. It turns out that the sweet part of the name isn’t an accident. Sweet potatoes rank at 102% of the net carbs of a potato. So they’re actually slightly worse than a plain old potato.

So where does this leave us? If you can puree your ‘potato’, cauliflower is your best choice. If you need something that you can cube up, rutabagas and turnips will be your friends. And you probably don’t want to use a sweet potato under any circumstances.

Do you have any experiences with substituting for potatoes? Let me know and we can help each other follow a low carb, vegan diet.

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Pasta with Olives and Capers

2011-11-12T05:21:39Z

The last few weeks I’ve been enjoying making some simpler dishes, ones that just let the underlying flavors of the ingredients come forward. It’s probably a reaction to the River Cottage Veg cookbook I’ve been reading.

This dish is in that style, it’s a take on Pasta Puttanesca. There aren’t any tomatoes in it so it’s not really puttanesca, but the salty flavor of the olives and the capers and the use of pantry ingredients point in that direction.

Pasta with Olives and Capers

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon crushed pepper flakes
1/2 cup good olives, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons capers
1 pound cooked pasta
red wine vinegar (optional)
salt and pepper

Cooking Directions

Heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic and pepper flakes until fragrant.
Place the saute mixture in a large bowl with the olives and capers.
Add the pasta and toss to coat, adding more olive oil if needed.
Taste and sprinkle with vinegar if desired, to cut the saltiness. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can use whatever sort of pasta you prefer here. I usually use a low-carb rotini. The vinegar is optional but I find a bit of acid really helps to keep the saltiness in check.

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Putting some pressure on your tofu

2011-11-01T01:32:12Z

TofuXPress

Please see the update at the bottom of the post.

I don’t do a lot of reviews on this site but every once in a while something comes along that demands mention. TofuXPress is just such a product.

I’m guessing everyone here knows you need to get the water out of tofu before you cook with it. Otherwise you just end up with a slimy, soggy mass. Not good eats!

In the past, the way I’ve accomplished this is with a stack of plates, paper towels and canned goods. As you can probably imagine, that tower of Babel has a number of problems. Falling over, leaking water and not wanting to be moved are just a few of them.

So when I saw an ad for the TofuXpress, I was certainly interested. It’s basically a plastic tub in which the block of tofu sets, a flat plate that presses down on the tofu, the top piece that snaps under the tabs to lock everything in place and a spring. The tub is a solid piece so there’s no chance of any leaks and you can pick up the whole unit and put it in the refrigerator or a back spot on the counter no problem. There’s also a lid that fits over the tub so you can use it for marinating your tofu.

A couple of points that have come up as I’ve used the press. The water that’s extracted from the tofu just sits on top of it. I’ve been pouring it off as I walked by and noticed it. It would be nice if it weren’t still in contact with the tofu but it hasn’t been a big problem in practice and it probably wouldn’t be a simple design change to fix. The other issue is with the spring. It’s quite strong. By which I mean it takes a bit of force to get everything snapped together. And if the tofu isn’t pretty firm or the plate isn’t setting evenly, the tofu can get squashed up around the edges and mangled a bit. There’s a lighter spring available as an accessory and I would definitely recommend getting it. That will also let the press work with homemade or silken tofu.

All in all, I have to give the TofuXpress a big thumbs up. It solves a real problem in the vegan kitchen and does it well.

Disclaimer – I have no relationship with the company and paid full price for my press. The link is directly to the company’s site and is not an affiliate link.

UPDATE: As you can probably gather from the the picture at the left, I’ve run in a small snag with my TofuXpress. The top plate has completely cracked through.

Broken TofuXpress

I was pressing some shredded vegetables to get the water out of them and I left the press in the sink while I went to answer a phone call. While I was standing there in the kitchen, I heard a loud crack. I looked around, thinking one of the glass bottles had broken and I would need to contain a spill. Instead, when I looked in the sink I found the broken press.

I’ve had the press for a little less than a month and have used it a couple of times a week so it doesn’t seem like it should have worn out yet. I was only pressing about three cups of vegetables (shredded broccoli, carrot and cauliflower) so I don’t think I overloaded the press. I may have just gotten a top plate with a hidden flaw.

I contacted the manufacturers to find out how they wanted to handle this. I got what appears to be a form letter inviting me to send the press back at my expense via their preferred carrier. I think if I’m paying for the shipping I should get to choose the shipper but that’s not the annoying part. The letter also requires me to submit a letter detailing exactly what I doing when the product failed. Then they’ll decide what they’re willing to do about the problem and let me know. I feel I am being accused of abusing the press without evidence of that being present.

So I’ll find some place to box the press up and we’ll see what happens. I’m not ready to withdraw my recommendation just yet (manufacturing flaws do happen) but I’m definitely losing my warm fuzzy feeling.

I’ll post here when I hear back from the company.

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Orange carrot salad

2011-10-29T00:24:06Z

This is a quick little salad I first heard about from a UK cooking show, River Cottage Veg Everyday. I’ve gotten several good ideas from the series and I’m looking forward to getting ahold of the companion cookbook.

This particular dish is a bit of an odditity for me for because I don’t like fruit at all and am not terribly fond of carrots on their own. Still, when I saw it on the program, it looked like a good way to use up the extra carrots I always seem to have lying around. The version as presented used cashews but I have a problem with keeping cashews around. I keep eating them! Plus I have this ginormous bag of shredded coconut I need to use up.

So here’s the version I ended up with. All of the measurements are quite loose and I generally just use whatever is at hand.

Orange carrot salad

Ingredients

2 carrots
1 orange
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
drizzle olive oil
big handful shredded coconut
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
salt
pepper

Cooking Directions

Shred the carrots, peel and roughly chop the orange. Place in a bowl and toss with the vinegar and oil.
In a dry skillet, toast the coconut and cumin. Be careful as the line between toasted and burnt is quite fine.
Add to the bowl and allow the coconut to absorb the dressing. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.

Enjoy and watch the show if you get the chance.

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Spaghetti with olives and lemon

2011-10-15T19:52:08Z

SWMBO has had me on a olive kick the last few days so when I needed to find something quick to fix to take into work, some pasta with olives and lemon seemed like a no brainer. This is a really simple recipe that lets the quality of your ingredients shine through. It’s somewhat unfortunate I have to use low-carb pasta but better that than no pasta at all.

This would be a good dish to make a special trip to the olive bar for and while you’re at it, go ahead and break out the good olive oil. I’m not going to give a formal recipe because it’s really a matter of adding things until you’re happy with it.

Cook about a pound of pasta, I used spaghetti because it seemed more appropriate but about any strand pasta would work. While the water for the pasta is boiling, pit and roughly chop a cup or two of good quality olives. When the pasta is done, add it and the olives to a large bowl. Toss with olive oil and the juice of a lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste and garnish with chiffonade cut basil leaves. Enjoy!

Preparing for a road trip, or even a hurricane

2011-08-28T00:07:19Z

I’m getting ready to leave on a road trip this weekend so I’ve been thinking about food to take along that’s easy to fix and doesn’t need a refrigerator. A lot of people along the East Coast are thinking about the same things, only for a lot less fun reasons than I am.

Putting some canned food aside comes in handy for a lot of reasons. Check out the Pantry Project for a few ideas and feel free to share some of your own.

I hope all of my readers are safe and for the folks on the East Coast, take care!

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Has Sichuan pepper been banned or not?

2011-08-21T00:29:43Z

I was looking around the web for some recipe ideas and kept seeing people talking about Sichuan pepper being banned in the US. But I know I’ve see it for sale in shops so what’s the deal here? Is there an intrepid band of pepper smugglers subverting our borders?

Photo by Ragesoss

Intrigued, I did some checking. It turns out Sichuan pepper was banned in the US starting in the late ’60s. There were fears they carried a citrus virus that could damage the US crop. But about 2005, the FDA decided if the seeds were heated to around 160 degrees, that would kill the virus and we can once again purchase Sichuan pepper.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with it.

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New Vegan Kickstart coming up

2011-08-21T00:34:48Z

There’s a new 21-day Vegan Kickstart beginning September 5.

Vegan Kickstart coming soon

Vegan Kickstart is an online event run by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and they encourage you to become vegan with recipes and tips. I always sign up for it because I usually get at least one good idea out of it and I think it’s a good cause to support. Just a word of warning, it is definitely not low carb in outlook. So you’ll want to bear that in mind while looking at the recipes.