VeganMoFo: Moujadara Lunch & Dinner

I love lentils. I love rice. Put them together, you get lentils & rice or moujadara which is a healthy and favorite dish which occurs in many variations throughout the Middle East. This particular recipe is from a vegetarian Lebanese cookbook, 'From the Tables of Lebanon'. I've made this once before with split red lentils and it was a disaster so I tried again with brown lentils and it came out much better. I fiddled around with the proportions of water because I made less than what the recipe called for which is why it looks a little mushy. (Will do better next time!) I was also supposed to use fried red onions on top but I only had yellow onions. It didn't matter much as it was very yummy and went perfectly well with the mediterranean salad from yesterday. This was my lunch and will be my dinner again tonight.

VeganMoFo: Fond memories of a Specialty Sandwich + Greek-ish Salad

When I was a girl, my uncle Tom and his family lived with us in our home for several years. He had two daughters who I would often refer to as "my little sisters" because we were so close. My uncle was a real foodie and loved to cook for us. At the time he worked as a handyman for a Ramada hotel and he would often frequent their restaurant where he would pal around with the cooks and get a free lunch. He picked up a lot of ideas from them and came home to share these meals with us kids. One of them was a 'Monte Cristo' sandwich: two slices of french toast with fried ham or turkey and melty cheese served with powdered sugar. He called it, or rather we called it "The Specialty Sandwich". He would make it for us all the time with fluffy french toast and a little mound of powdered sugar on our plates for dipping. I remember this meal the most because we continued to make it as we got older and my little brother and I still call it "The Specialty Sandwich" to this day. My uncle has since passed from cancer but his memory is still very much alive. I'll never forget his sense of fun and passion for food and cooking. Even towards the end when he was very ill, his daughter would come home from work to find him cooking up a storm in the kitchen. That makes me smile.

The other day on the PPK forums, someone made a vegan Monte Cristo and I immediately thought of my uncle. Even now as a vegan, I still want a taste of this sandwich and tonight I was able to recreate it. It was soooooo tasty! It had the same textures and flavor combination that I remember, even that "eggy" quality. I used this vegan french toast recipe but modified it by using only 1/2 cup soymilk, added 1 tsp cornstarch to the mixture and omitted the nutritional yeast. I slathered Vegenaise on the insides of the bread and used Yves Veggie Bologna and Colby Chedda Cheez (from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook) for the insides. So good. I can't wait to make it again even if I felt a little guilty for eating all that sugar!



French Toast Recipe (I'm reposting the recipe with my modifications because the original website can be wonky.)

Makes 4 slices
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
2 Tbsp unbleached white flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
pinch of cinnamon
4 bread slices

Whisk first 5 ingredients together while heating up a pan sprayed with oil. Dip one bread slice in mixture on one side then quickly turn over and dip the other side. Do not leave it in too long or it will get soggy. Fry on both sides until lightly browned. Set aside and continue with preparations for sandwich.

Quickie tutorial on making the sandwich:
After you make the french toast slices, set them aside and keep the heat going in your pan. Place two bologna slices in the hot pan. Place a slice or two of uncheese on one bologna slice. Flip the other bologna slice on top of the cheese so the cheese is sandwiched in the middle. The cheese will start to melt. While they are frying, spread Vegenaise on both slices of the french toast. Place bologna/cheese combo on on slice and sandwich with the other. Spray a little nonstick spray on your pan and fry your whole sandwich on both sides to firm it up more and get a golden color. Enjoy!

So Monte Cristos are obviously not the healthiest thing to be stuffing my face with (even though mine's made with soy based "meat" and no eggs) so I comprimised and made a healthy veggie-ful "Greek-ish" salad on the side. "Ish" because there is cubed tofu instead of feta, no red onions (I was out!) and no Greek olives (I had to sub very mild California olives). The dressing is based on one I used to like from a Mediterranean cookbook that I gave to my brother a while ago. I made it from memory.



Mediterranean Salad Dressing

1 tsp dijon mustard
3 TB red wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 -1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine mustard, vinegar, garlic and sugar. Slowly whisk in oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Vegan MoFo: Tofu-Veg Potstickers and Butternut Squash-Persimmon Pie!

Dinner was our old standby: tofu and veggie potstickers. We like to dip these into soy sauce mixed with chinese mustard, sweet hot chili sauce or yummy spicy peanut sauce.

1 14 oz. package of firm tofu, drained and crumbled/smooshed
2 cloves garlic minced
2-3 scallions, minced
1 carrot, shredded or chopped very finely
2 ribs celery, chopped very finely
1/2 cup finely chopped spinach or zucchini or both
2 TB mushroom soy sauce or 1 TB regular soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
gyoza or wonton wrappers (read the ingredients to make sure they don't contain egg.)
small dish of water

Combine all ingredients and set aside. Take a gyoza wrappers and place on a plate or cutting board. Fill with 1 heaping tsp. of filling. Dip your finger into the water and wet the edges all the way around. Fold one side over and crimp to close. Keep doing this will all the wrappers until you have used up all the filling.

Heat a large pan (with lid) over medium high heat. Add 2 TB of canola oil to the pan. Place 4-6 gyoza in the pan to brown on side about 2-4 minutes. Flip over and add 1/4 cup water to pan and close the lid. Let steam for another 2-4 minutes or until the gyoza is transparent and cooked through. Use more oil as you continue to cook them. Serve hot with dipping sauce of your choice.



I have a bunch of persimmons that I picked from my tree in the backyard and been wanting to make persimmon pie. The thing is there are only 2 out of the bunch that I picked that are very soft and ripe. The rest are still unripe and very firm. I was so anxious to make this pie and I knew that only 2 persimmons couldn't make a pie so I combined them with mashed butternut squash. The persimmon flavor is kind of lost in all the squashness but hey, I got to have my pie! I adapted this pumpkin pie recipe by Bryanna Clark Grogan. (Ps. The best pumpkin pie recipe I've ever tried!)

VeganMoFo: Bukharan Samsa & Chik'n Pot Pies

If you don't already have the book 'Olive Trees and Honey' then you should go pick it up right away. In it you'll find an exciting array of recipes from Jewish communites around the world in Greece, India, Romania, Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Egypt and on and on. It's a vegetarian book but most recipes are vegan or can at least be modified to be vegan.

One section of the book features pies and pastries with various kinds of fillings and doughs depending on the region. I was interested in the Bukharan samsa recipe because the dough seemed simple enough (oil, flour, salt, water) and didn't contain any dairy or egg ingredients I had to work around. This particular samsa recipe originates from the Bukharan Jews from the Uzbekistan region. Samsa are a common street food, customarily baked in a tandoor and are commonly filled with meat but also vegetables. The book features a vegan version that is filled with sweet butternut squash, onions and spices. I adore butternut squash in any form so this recipe was something I wanted to try.

I have to say it was quite a bit of work making the dough, letting it rest, cooking the fillings and so on. It took most of my morning but I was determined to make them. I only had enough squash filling for a half recipe of samsa so I got the idea to also make chik'n pot pie filling which I knew would appeal more to my husband. The chik'n pot pie filling contained cubed Boca Chik'n patties, carrots, potato and miso gravy. I have a pretty small workspace in the kitchen so I couldn't really concentrate on making my little pies perfect. I did the best I could and ended up making 15 small turnovers. I can't say they look pretty but they are really tasty and so worth all the effort! The dough was tender and flaky-crisp around the edges. The samsa were delicious with a soft mash of sweet squash and a earthy hint of cumin and turmeric. The chik'n pot pies were winners and tasted just like the real thing, sure to beat frozen Swanson's pies anyday.


Healthy and delicious vegetarian samsa.


Chik'n pot pies!


Inside shots. Wow!

VeganMoFo: Good Morning, What's For Breakfast?

I'm kind of sad that it's pretty much impossible for me to go out to a local coffee shop to have breakfast with my friends and family. When I'm surrounded by people eating their eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes and waffles, I feel a little left out and disappointed with my plain coffee and bowl of fruit, or even worse oatmeal. There are only a handful of places in L.A. that offer vegan breakfasts and brunch like M Cafe de Chaya, The Vegan Joint, Real Food Daily and a few others. But most of these places are kind of expensive and it's hard to convince non-veggies to come along. So I rely on my mad breakfast making skills. I'd like to have a brunch one day where I invite all my friends to try vegan breakfast food. I think they would quickly realize that these foods are just as tasty as their non-vegan counterparts. This is what I'd feature at my brunch.


A delicious creamy frittata filled with potatoes, spinach and other veggies.


Along with the frittata, I'd offer smoky tempeh bacon and fluffy dairy free and egg free pancakes and OJ. Recipe for the pancakes is posted here.


More pancakes and tempeh bacon. Recipe for the bacon is here.


A healthier alternative to eggs. Scrambled tofu with a variety of veggies and whole grain toast. Here's a basic recipe where you can improvise and add as many veggies as you like.


Along with scrambled tofu, soy chorizo and potato hash are the perfect fillings for breakfast burritos!

I think I may have to organize a brunch very soon.

VeganMoFo: Damn Good Curry.

Last night the husband came home and said he wanted Kraft Dinner (Kraft Mac n Cheese to you non-canadians) so I decided I would make a dish for myself that he doesn't particularly like. I love indian food and I only get to make it on days where husband cooks for himself. He's not fond of indian flavors anymore. He liked it at one point and then one curry dish too many put him over the edge. (Damn!) So while he was complaining about the strong spices I was using, I was happily stirring away my favorite channa masala. I use the same recipe everytime which you will find here. I tweak things a little by adding an extra 8 oz. can of tomato sauce (I like it saucy!), a tsp of sugar and frozen peas. I can't say how much I love this recipe. It's the perfect spicy curry to eat with jasmine or basmati rice and a tall glass of iced water.

VeganMoFo: Kale Salad, Soup and Grilled Cheez

Yesterday's post got me thinking about that Kale salad at M Cafe. It's covered in the most delectable spicy peanut sauce that I really can't get enough of. I tried replicating at home once by sauteeing the kale and making my own peanut sauce but it came out way salty. I didn't even think about going online to find the recipe. Well today I did and I found this video of the exec chef of M Cafe making this salad! He doesn't really give you measurements but you can at least get the gist of it all. So I got to work and whipped up the sauce and preparing the kale in the same way as in the video. Perfection! I will be making this more often from now on.

My Interpretation of M Cafe's Spicy Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (didn't have crunchy)
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt
1 TB or more of red wine vinegar (didn't have brown rice vinegar)
1 TB or more of agave nectar (again didn't have brown rice syrup)
1 TB or more of soy sauce
a tiny bit of water (to help thin out sauce if too thick)
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne
extra red pepper flakes

Whisk all ingredients together or blend. The measurements for the vinegar, agave, soy sauce etc. are loose because I was basically adding them from the bottle a bit at a time while whisking all together. I also tasted it as I went along until it was just right. You should do the same. It should be creamy, peanutty, slightly tangy and sweet with a spicy kick. The consistency of the dressing should be smooth, creamy and not too thick where you can't pour it.
Blanche a big bunch of kale in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove kale and submerge immediately in ice water. Squeeze out all the water and pour sauce over the kale. You will probably have a lot more sauce than you need. Use what you want and save the rest for another dish! Toss lightly and add sliced red onions and chopped peanuts. Chill.



I made soup today. God knows why, it was 89 degrees out. I had two bunches of celery in my fridge which was an accident. I bought the second bunch a few days ago before I realized we already had a bunch hiding in the fridge. So this soup is what I always make when there is an abundance of celery. It's a very light and delicious soup that goes well with a salad or grilled "cheez" sandwich.

Celery-Potato Soup

2 TB olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ribs or so of celery, chopped
2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 C vegetable broth
1/2 C plain soymilk
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with about 2 TB water
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a soup pot on medium high heat. Add onion, garlic and celery and saute for about 4 minutes until soft. Add potatoes and broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add soymilk and salt and pepper and keep simmering. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and let simmer to thicken. Puree half of the soup in a blender and pour back into the pot. Serve hot.


Another grilled cheez with tomatoes, basil and olive oil made with Colby Chedda from The Uncheese Cookbook.