Cheap Vegan

Cheap and Easy Chickpea Curry

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:16:36 GMT

I looked in the tags but this isn't like the other one available.

Sorry I don't have pictures, I made this the other night and spent most of my time eating it, rather than taking pictures.

Ingredients
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of chickpeas
1 vegan bullion (optional, not necessary)
2(ish) tblspn curry (to your taste)
2 cups rice (i used instant rice cuz i'm poor and impatient)

heat the can of coconut milk in a sauce pan and add the curry and (optional) bullion. mix well. when mixed, add the can of chickpeas. Bring to a slow boil, and I boil cooked it for about 5-7 minutes... until the coconut milk thickened up a little bit.

Serve over rice

makes about 4(ish) servings.

*edited to add tags*
Enjoy!

Is this too weird an idea for a meal?

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:01:10 GMT

Thai almond/coconut/vegetable stew.

Ingredients I have:

Flaked almonds that I'm probably not going to use otherwise
1/3 of a block of creamed coconut
Handful of veggies
Onion
Garlic
Brown rice to serve with it

Ingredients I'll probably go out and get:

Lemons or limes
Fresh ginger
Fresh chilli
Ideally I'd get some fresh lemongrass and other stuff, but that would mean traveling further and I can only really be bothered going to the Bengali-run corner shop which is two minutes walk away.

Yesterday I had chickpeas (garbanzo beans), and though I think a chickpea/coconut stew would work better than an almond/coconut one, I don't want to repeat what I had yesterday. I don't want to spend money on tofu today either, though that would work well with the coconut and spices too.

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 04:54:11 GMT

I believe in seitan. I've made several batches at home and never had it prepared by anyone other than me.
SO...How do I make it not taste
1. rubbery
2. hard and rubbery
3. like chewy bread.

I have boiled it= super rubbery
I have made the seitan o greatness log= really hard and still bready and rubbery
And then I baked it for a while and grilled it and it tasted eh...like chewy bread

Am I missing something or is it just not supposed to taste good?

yellow wax/string beans

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:26:06 GMT

I've just acquired a pound of yellow string beans. What shall I do with them? I do like string beans but never know how to fix them well, and then they go bad. Thanks!

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:38:05 GMT

i just received a birthday gift from my parents...The Veganomicon! they also sent Ratatoullie! yay themed gifts! :D

im so excited to try some of these recipes out but im curious to know which recipes from the book you guys like the most? (i hope that made sense, im running on little sleep here)

if you own the book and have a favourite recipe, please share!

p.s. i LOVE this community

Salty Seitan :(

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:12:20 GMT

I baked up a batch of seitan tonight and for some weird reason it turned out really salty (maybe too much Braggs? Eh). Is there anything I can do to combat the saltiness? For the record I usually freeze the lump o seitan and cut off parts of it over a couple of weeks to fry up with veggies and rice. As much I'd like to become a walking salt lick, I'd rather not (and I'm too poor/stubborn to give up on this batch!).

THANKS!

Mysterious tasty greens

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:30:33 GMT

So i bought this bundle of green stuff at the Farmer's Market last week (it MAY be mustard greens?) and tried it for the first time last night. It sauteed down to this icky looking green mush but it had a delightfully sharp, lemony taste.

My question of the day is, do you have any recommendations for what to prepare it with or any recipes for what is possibly mustard greens? 'Cause I really felt I was letting the stuff down by just throwing it into a pan with a zucchini and a bell pepper.

Things I have at home right now: tofu, vegan meatballs, vegan sausages, more zucchini, broccoli, a big head of cauliflower, pasta, brown rice and assorted condiments. I'm going to the store tonight so I could easily pick up something extra.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:12:16 GMT

Ok so maybe I am going to sound stupid...

Are chick peas and garbanzo beans the same thing?

And where's a good recipe using them to make "tuna fish"?

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:55:05 GMT

where can i find dried TVP? i dont have a Whole Foods near me. i have a Trader Joe's. would they have it by chance??

edit: thanks for all the suggestions and info guys! :)

Blueberry Spinach Salad

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:04:41 GMT

This is delicious, nutritious, and very pretty in case you want to impress someone.

Dressing:
Combine in shaker or blender:
1 TBS grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 TBS rice vinegar
2 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS veganaise or your choice substitute mayo
1/3 cup olive oil

Salad:
Toss together in bowl:
1 bag baby spinach
1 pint blueberries
1.5 cups seedless watermelon, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 yellow pepper, chopped fine
3/4 cup finely chopped radishes (if you like them, I skipped this part)
1/3 cup chives

Next time I make this, I may also throw in some chopped avocado to balance the texture of the blueberries.

baked tofu

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:02:17 GMT

what are your favorite recipes for baked tofu? i have never used this method for tofu before but would like to try it. how long can you marinate the tofu for at the maximum, has anyone ever tried doing it over night? what are your favorite marinades? what goes good with the baked tofu? looking forward to trying this, i have heard many great things about baked tofu.

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:16:47 GMT

What can I do with celery? I don't like it plain much, or with peanut butter. I like it in mock chicken salad.

Nettle Soup

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:15:25 GMT

Nettles are all over the place this time of year. So had to try to make this, well worth a try as nettles even if your in the city center should be growing somewhere nearby.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_nettle

1 bag of freshly young nettle leaves
1 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic
3 potatoes, diced
1 vegetable stock cube
4 (or to taste) desert spoons of plain soy yogurt
A dash of olive oil

Pop the onion, garlic and potatoes in a large saucepan. Fry them for about 4 minutes in olive oil . While that's doing wash nettle leaves well and add them. Then stock cube. Boil for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Then add your soy yogurt and liquidise. The business, the kids loved it too.

turnips

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:39:44 GMT

what are your favorite turnip recipes?
i'm not terribly fond of them but i got some from my CSA and need ideas on how to make them palatable!

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:50:25 GMT

makin' some smartdog's tonite. what's your favoriteway to make them?

Yves Hotdogs and Sausages

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:27:22 GMT

It's not my preferred place for grocery shopping but right now all of the Yves vegan hotdogs and sausages are on sale at Safeway for Buy One Get One Free. Whoo hoo!

Butter Substitutes

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:58:17 GMT

Does anyone know where I can get a decently priced butter substitute? I know bananas work good, but I don't want everything to taste like bananas.

Farmer's Market

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:59:25 GMT

Hey y'all, so this Sunday is my weekly trek to the Farmer's Market. I've been living off of broccoli, zucchini, baby bok choy, celery and bags of arugala for the last month so please suggest a vegetable to purchase to broaden my horizons! Bonus points if you also give me an easy recipe to go along with said vegetable.

For the record, I'll eat anything!
Please don't suggest fruit though. :(

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:59:19 GMT

alright, it's circa 11:57 p.m. LA time, and i'm craving taco's hardcore. preferably without cheese and preferably with avocados. is there anywhere open at this time that could cover those bases?

is there anywhere open ever that could cover those bases? i haven't had taco's in agessssss

Vegan bulk food?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:00:47 GMT

Do any of you fellow vegans buy anything in bulk online? (or even not in bulk) What websites do you regularly shop from?

vegan breakfast

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:54:41 GMT

this sunday i'm going on an early morning picnic.
breakfast ideas?
i'd like some stuff that's delicious to eat without having to be heated up....
and some salty food too!

thanks :>

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:32:16 GMT

So forever ago.. I asked you people delicious things to do with basil. You gave me great suggestions. But now I can't remember...

At least one person posted something for a recipe or discussion item regarding some semblance of pesto, and one of the substitutions if you didn't have a lot of basil (I am getting impatient with my basil plant) was to put in spinach. I plan on doing something like this:

-Basil
-Spinach
-Olive Oil
-Garlic
-Walnuts

So how much spinach can I put in without thinning it out too much...? Or should I just wait till my basil plant grows a little more? :(

Pickles

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:19:30 GMT

The post below reminded me to ask this burning (dumb) question: Are pickles vegan??

I only ask 'cause yesterday I was reading a list of animal ingredients and one of the items was listed as being used in the pickling process. Blech. My friend Google had no definitive answer, just a bunch of links on how make my own vegan pickles. :(

Thanks!

Edit: Comments now include a raging Vegan/Kosher debate if you are interested. I still just want to eat a pickle.

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:11:37 GMT

I have mastered the art of vegetarian hot sandwiches, but I have found few cold sandwiches that I can take with me. Oh sure, theres pb and j. But I'm looking for something more savory. I like mock tuna made with chickpeas. I love tofu egg salad. But what is something simple and almost no cook I can throw in my bag before school?

P.s. I don't like tomatoes, and while humus is great I get burnt out on it.

Any ideas?

freezing bread

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:49:16 GMT

does anyone have any tips on freezing bread? i have never done it before but i want to because i can never eat my bread fast enough before it turns moldy. i want to know if bread still tastes good after being frozen, how is the texture? how long does it take to thaw out? anything else i should know about freezing bread?