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Good Eat • No Meat

Broccolini with Peanut Sauce

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Broccolini | Chow Vegan

Have you ever tried broccolini? It looks like a skinny version of broccoli with smaller florets and longer thinner stalks. A natural hybrid between broccoli and gai lan (Chinese broccoli), it’s much sweeter than either one. I prefer broccolini so much I can’t even remember the last time I bought broccoli or gai lan.

Grown locally at Tomatero Organic Farm in Watsonville, it’s usually available at their various farmers market booths. I don’t recall seeing broccolini at the local chain grocery stores but then again, I’m not looking for it there.

Enjoy broccolini in a variety of ways, as a stir fry, how I use it. As a pizza topping, how California Pizza Kitchen uses it. Or as Broccolini Gomaae, a vegetable side dish with sesame dressing, how a Japanese restaurant might use it.

Inspired by the sesame broccolini, I made a peanut sauce version as I like the taste of peanut butter over sesame (since I’m making it, I get to use all my favorite ingredients). As I already have a peanut sauce recipe on the blog, I just modified that to be simpler.

Or you can use your favorite peanut sauce. I think almond butter would work too but I haven’t gotten around to trying that just yet.

Broccolini with Peanut Sauce | Chow Vegan

Broccolini with Peanut Sauce

Serves 2 as part of a meal

1 bunch broccolini, about 8 ounces
Sesame seeds for garnish

Peanut Sauce
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

Wash and trim the broccolini. Bring a pot or wok of water to boil. Parboil the broccolini for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. (To preserve vitamins and minerals, use the minimal amount of water and the shortest amount of time.) Drain and place on a serving dish. Make the peanut sauce.

When ready to serve, pour the dressing as desired over the broccolini. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Since I didn’t use all of the dressing, I saved it for another time. And if you’re not serving all of the broccolini at once, than store separately to enjoy later.

Happy National Kale Day

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Tuscan Kale Chips | Chow Vegan

Today is National Kale Day!

I remember a time back in the dark ages when kale was nothing more than the decorated dividers in the refrigerated meat section at the grocery store. That was way back when I was a kid and because of that early experience, I always thought kale wasn’t meant to be eaten. At most, just a fancy garnish for other food. Who knew kale was so delicious and nutritious? Weirdly, I don’t remember exactly when kale became a thing.

Let’s celebrate with a few of my favorite kale items. Pictured above, kale chips, my gateway onto the kale-eating path. Crispy and crunchy, they’re the perfect snack for those salty crunchie munchies. Easy enough to make from any number of kale chip recipes floating around the internet. I used this one from Bon Appétit.

Strawberry Tabouli | Chow Vegan

Nothing says kale more than a salad. Strawberry Tabouli Salad, a raw version of tabouli with strawberries instead of tomatoes and cauliflower replacing the bulgar wheat. So light and refreshing alongside falafel.

Easy Indian Fritters Baked Pakoda | Chow Vegan

Easy Indian Fritters Baked Pakoda, my new favorite kale recipe. Now, we’re really cruising along the kale highway, super easy to make with chickpea flour and kale. So good and spicy! It’s sure to turn anyone over to the kale side.

Kale T-shirts | Chow Vegan

Full of kale on the inside, wear kale on the outside. Join Team Kale or be a member of the Kale Produce Dept.

Have a kale-ful day!

This post contains Amazon links, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on any of the links and make a purchase of anything.

Simple Recipes for Joy

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Popcorn Salad

The review department here always seems to be backed up (slackers, I should fire the whole lot of them – me, myself and I). But I suppose that’s a good thing what with all of the vegan cookbooks out nowadays.

A long while ago, I received from the publisher for review, Simple Recipes for Joy by Sharon Gannon, founder of Jivamukti Yoga and the Jivamuktea Café in New York City. Now, I’m not at all familiar with yoga or the cafe so I can’t comment on those parts but I did enjoy trying out some of the the recipes.

Want a new and interesting way to eat popcorn? Pictured above, Popcorn Salad (page 127), the first recipe I had to try out. Simple and easy. I got everything fresh from the farmer’s market except the popcorn. I could have popped it myself but went with Skinny Pop Popcorn.

The popcorn is kinda like croutons in the salad. Normally I skip the bread kind of croutons but popcorn is a great option, especially if you’re trying to be gluten-free. I used the plain version but I bet it’ll be good too with say Earth Balance Aged White Cheddar popcorn.

Glass Noodles

Having grown up in an Asian-American household, I’m no stranger to saifun noodles, I’ve certainly eaten my share. But with the unusual, decidedly non-Asian ingredients in Dressed-Up Glass Noodles (page 112), it was a recipe to try. Who knew apples, sun-dried tomatoes, vegan sausage and kale parties well with saifun? In true Chinese fashion though, I did not cut the noodles as called for in the recipe. Noodles symbolize long life, so there’s no cutting of the noodles.

Cranberry Sauce Raw Soup

From the raw soups section, “Cranberry Sauce” Soup (page 95). Not as sweet as a smoothie, but still quite good. The color is very much like cranberry sauce, but not the taste, as there’s no actual cranberries in there. Though it does have a nice gingery taste.

Vegan Chocolate Pudding

For dessert, I made the Raw, Soy-Free Chocolate Pudding (page 268). While it was indeed simple and easy to make, I thought it was a tad too simple and one-dimensional compared to other such recipes that have more ingredients. I shaved on a bit of extra chocolate in an attempt to add more chocolate taste.

Overall, I liked the recipes I tried. Other recipes were a little too simple for me, like how to cook rice. But I figured some people could be beginners and would find those recipes helpful. Lastly, in the time that it’s taken me to review the hardcover book, a paperback version is now available.

Disclosure: I received the book free of charge from the publisher to review. The opinions and experience with the book expressed herein are my own. There was no pay to say.

This post also contains Amazon links, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on any of the links and make a purchase of anything.