Chow Vegan

Here I am in sunny California, only it’s not sunny, it’s cloudy and dreary. I tend to eat a lot more soup in the wintertime just to warm up. People in really cold areas are probably thinking I’m a wimp. Which I am. Corn chowder has to be one of my favorite soups – it fills the ol’ comfort food craving plus it’s low-fat, creamy and full of flavor.

Vegan Corn Chowder
Serves 2

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 small onion chopped
1 medium carrot sliced
2 stalks celery sliced
2 medium red potatoes cubed
1 cup vegetable stock or water
1 cup soy milk
1 cup corn kernels fresh or frozen
Cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
Kelp powder to taste (optional)

In a soup pot, heat the oil until hot, add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the carrots and celery, saute for a few minutes. Add the potatoes and vegetable stock. Cover, bring to a boil and cook over low to medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the soy milk and corn and simmer for 5 minutes. Puree 2/3 of the soup in a blender and return to pot. Stir to mix well. Add the kelp powder to individual bowls for a briny taste and top with cayenne pepper if using.

Sometimes I feel like having pasta. This is one of those times. I like to use fusilli, it’s my pasta of choice for a dish like this. I’ve tried penne several times now and I find it’s just a little too much pasta per bite. Why do I say this? Remember that frozen pasta episode on Top Chef last year where one of the contestants was whining that he didn’t want to use fusilli because it was “boring” and everybody uses it. I was all hey I like fusilli. What? You don’t watch Top Chef? Well, I won’t be watching anymore either. The cable company finally caught on that I was getting more channels than I was actually paying for and they cut me off. Bummer. Actually it’s probably for the best – less time for me to be sitting around on my butt watching other people cook and more time for me to be doing other things like setting fire to the kitchen, I mean cooking.

Red Swiss Chard Pasta
Serves 2 to 4

1 bunch Red Swiss Chard
1/2 lb fusilli
2 veggie sausage, cut into 1/8 inch rounds
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Nutritional yeast for garnish

Wash the chard, cut off the stems and chop crosswise into 1/4 inch pieces, coarsely chop the leaves.

Heat the pot until hot, add 1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil and the veggie sausage, cook over medium heat covered so the oil doesn’t splatter all over until brown on both sides. Remove from pot and set aside. (I use a wok but you can use a heavy pot and cook everything in progression so it’s just a one pot mess to clean up).

Add 1 1/2 teaspoon oil to pot. Add chard stems and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add a little bit of water if it seems dry.

Add the chard leaves, water and red pepper flakes and turn down to low heat, covered for 5 minutes until the stems are tender. Drain and remove chard to a mixing bowl.

Cook the pasta in the same pot according to the package directions. Drain the pasta and add to the bowl with the chard.

Toss with 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or to taste. Add the veggie sausage and toss well. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast.

I’ve been eating yuan for as long as I can remember. Come to think of it, I never really knew why my mom made it, she just did. Apparently, it’s to celebrate the Winter Solstice. The round shape symbolizes family unity. It can be made either savory or sweet, we always have the savory, which I prefer. And nowadays, mine is a vegan version.

This last time I helped out with the prep work – cutting the napa cabbage, mushrooms and daikon. While cutting the daikon, mom walks by and tells me I’m cutting it all wrong. It’s at the wrong angle dummy and you’re too slow but you know in a kind, motherly sorta way. Meanwhile, she was making the glutinous rice dough into the round yuans and by the time I was done with the cutting, she was done with the yuan making. I guess I really was slow. I was going to measure and write down the recipe but she’s already finished. Okay, I’ll just get it next time. Mom said I can make it anytime, it’s easy. Ha! I once tried making the yuans myself, rolling a piece of the dough between the palms to make the round shape. They came out kinda lumpy looking, poor misshapen balls. Then mom showed off by making two at a time. I said shut up but you know in a loving, daughterly sorta way.

Sometimes the best way to cook something is to just keep it simple, nothing fancy, no special equipment, no exotic ingredients. This is my favorite way to cook spinach. I like getting the fresh organic bunch of spinach with the stems still on. A couple of times while washing the spinach, I’ve found a ladybug on a leaf. Each time I just open the back door and let them go on their merry way. For awhile there, I was buying the spinach in the cellophane bags, prewashed no less. But I missed the stems, they’re the sweetest, most tender part of the spinach.

Sauteed Spinach
Serves 2 as part of a meal

1 bunch of spinach with stems still attached
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
Salt
White sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Wash the spinach in several changes of water, making sure there’s no dirt or grit left, cut off the root part and separate the leaves. You don’t need to dry the spinach.

Heat the wok over high heat. Add the olive oil and swirl to coat the wok. Add the spinach and cover. After about 30 seconds the spinach will start to wilt down. Stir bringing up the spinach at the bottom to the top. Add salt to taste and stir again. Cover for 30-45 seconds until all of the spinach is cooked and wilted. Do not overcook. Garnish with the sesame seeds.

Cold, rainy weather is the perfect time for some homey-type comfort food – tofu, red potatoes, leeks, and garlic in a marinade all braised in a claypot. It’s a fairly quick braise too, 15 to 20 minutes since the potatoes are cut into small chunks and the tofu is already cooked but the flavors are rich and intense.

I once made this dish when I was down visiting my parents, I had intended it to be just for myself. For some reason I don’t remember what now, everyone ended up having it for dinner and they couldn’t get over how tasty it was. When my brother asked who made it, my mom decided to be elusive and didn’t really say (I wasn’t in the kitchen at the time). So he thought a family friend who owns a restaurant had cooked it. She eventually told him that it was really me who made it and to top it off, it’s vegan. Just goes to show even a die hard carnivore can enjoy a vegan dish and say it was good.

Disclaimer: I had absolutely nothing to do with fooling my brother. I guess he was not happy about that at all and nowadays at family meals, it’s full disclosure on what’s what.

But it’s still funny.