Quick and Easy Vegan Slow Cooking (29 page)
Read Quick and Easy Vegan Slow Cooking Online
Authors: Carla Kelly
11.
Taste and season with the salt, pepper, and hot sauce as required.
Variations:
If you want a coconut-style red curry, replace ½ cup of the vegetable stock with coconut milk when you add it to the slow cooker.
To use store-bought seitan in the recipe above or in the Green Seitan Curry (
page 126
), first complete step 1, reducing the stock by 1 cup. Skip ahead to step 8, adding the seitan to the slow cooker. Complete the recipe as written. Adjust spices to taste prior to serving, since the seitan may not be as infused with the spices and curry paste as in the original version.
Green Seitan Curry
T
HIS MILDER, CREAMIER,
Thai-inspired curry variation is similar to its red counterpart but uses the more fragrant green Thai curry paste.
Serves 4 to 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes
1½ cups canned coconut milk
1½ cups vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade (
page 43
)
1 lemongrass stalk, crushed
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro stalks
1½ teaspoons green Thai curry paste, or to taste
½ cup vegetable stock, at room temperature
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon green Thai curry paste
(see Red Seitan Curry,
page 124
)
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro leaves
2 spring onions, sliced
1.
Combine the coconut milk through the curry paste in the slow cooker.
2.
In a medium bowl whisk together the ½ cup stock through the curry paste.
3.
From this point forward, follow the instructions for Red Seitan Curry (
page 124
), starting with step 3.
4.
Just prior to serving remove the lemongrass stalk and discard, then stir cilantro and spring onions into the curry.
Curried Sausages with Apricots, Squash, and Pistachios
I
HAVE VAGUE MEMORIES
of my mother making a curried sausage dish with dried fruit in it when I was a child. I think she used raisins. I took that memory, played around with the ingredients, and created this fragrant, not too spicy, flavorsome curry to use up leftover sausages. I like to use sausages with a little spice in them, but you can use whichever sausages take your fancy. Pretoast the nuts or buy roasted unsalted for quickest combining. Use the rest of your squash in a recipe such as the Squash and Cranberry Bake (
page 209
).
Serves 4 to 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes
2 links vegan sausage, store-bought or homemade (
page 49
, ½ recipe), cut into ¼-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder, your choice of heat
1 tablespoon Tandoori Spice Mix (
page 53
), or other mild or medium curry powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne, optional
¼ cup dried apricots, finely chopped
¼ cup toasted pistachio nuts
½ medium butternut squash or any winter squash, cut into ½-inch dice
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade (
page 43
)
½ cup canned coconut milk
¼ cup vegan mayonnaise
Salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons toasted pistachio nuts, optional
1.
Combine the sausages through the coconut milk in the slow cooker; stir well.
2.
Cover, set heat to LOW, and cook for 4½ to 5 hours, until the squash is tender.
3.
Add the vegan mayonnaise and stir well. Taste and season with the salt and pepper as desired.
4.
Garnish with the toasted nuts, if desired.
Chilies and BBQ-Inspired Dishes
Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
Mushroom, Green Pepper, and Black Bean Chili
Three Bean and Whole Grain Chili
Chipotle’d Black-Eyed Pea Stew
B
OLD, VIBRANT FLAVORS,
with lots of beans. Is that what you are expecting from this chapter? If so, the recipes won’t disappoint. They include chilies, chili-inspired dishes, and those with a BBQ theme because I feel there is a kinship between the two. Vegan hot dog off the barbecue loaded with chili from the slow cooker, anyone?
The dishes in this chapter are really easy to serve with almost anything, and leftovers are easy to use in new and interesting ways:
Make Cornbread Scones (
page 243
), or any cornbread you fancy, because they make a wonderful dipper for chili.
Cut up flour tortillas, brush one side with a little Garlic Infused Oil (
page 54
), sprinkle with salt and pepper, and broil (oil side up) until golden for a simple, flavorful dipper.
Make a side of Pineapple Kale-Slaw (
page 232
) or some Green Guacamole (
page 237
) to dollop on the top. Super yum.
You can serve these dishes over steamed rice, with Baked Garlic Potatoes (
page 214
), or as a filling for tacos, tamales, enchiladas, burritos, or chimichangas.
You can even spread chili between corn tortillas and bake for a chili lasagna, or make a pasta lasagna or a shepherd’s pie with a twist.
If you have any leftovers, please note that these chilies do tend to thicken as they are stored so you may need to add additional liquid (either water or vegetable stock) as you reheat them. All the dishes in this chapter freeze well.
A note about chilies and chile peppers: I aimed for a middle-of-the-road spiciness, and as such the recipes will be too spicy for some and nowhere near spicy enough for others. On each recipe I added “or to taste” when chile powder, chile flakes, hot sauce, or even chile peppers are listed. If you know how much heat you can tolerate, adjust prior to cooking. If you are unsure or would rather taste the finished dish first, adjust the level of spice when cooking is complete. Remember, you can always add more heat (and other seasonings), but it is very hard to reduce the amount if you have been overgenerous.
Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
T
HERE SEEMS TO
be a consensus among cookbooks that black beans and sweet potatoes love each other. I tend to disagree and think that the chunkier, heartier, red kidney beans are sweet potatoes’ true love. Try this mild, slightly sweet chili and see what you think. Start with only ¼ teaspoon of cayenne unless you are a spice lover and want a spicier chili. You can easily add more spice later to taste. Remember, for safety’s sake, not to cook the kidney beans in the slow cooker (see
page 24
).
Serves 4 to 6
Preparation time: 15 minutes
½ onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
½ cup finely chopped cilantro stalk and leaves
1 medium yellow-fleshed sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
1½ teaspoons cumin
1½ teaspoons smoked paprika
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne, to taste
One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1¼ cups vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade (
page 43
)
2 cups cooked red kidney beans (see warning on
page 24
)
1 cup canned creamed corn
Salt, black pepper, and hot sauce, to taste
Additional stock, optional
*Please check all packaged ingredients, as noted on
page 39
.
1.
Combine the onion through the creamed corn in the slow cooker.
2.
Cover, set heat to LOW, and cook for 6 hours, or until the sweet potato is very tender.
3.
Taste and season with the salt, pepper, and hot sauce as required. If desired, roughly mash some of the sweet potato pieces with a potato masher or a fork to thicken the chili a little more. If you prefer thinner chili, add more stock as needed.
Pepper and Cherry Chili
I
ADORE CHERRIES AND
every year look forward to the local season. There’s nothing I like better than gorging myself on ripe cherries until the juice stains my hands and my tummy hurts. I wanted to use cherries in a savory setting for a summer-inspired dish to see if it would shine. Boy, does it ever! The pairing of the sweet cherries with the sweet pepper and the heat from the hot peppers really works. It is, of course, fruity but not to the point of being sweet—there’s a nice balance. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, prepare the cherries almost in a production line: Cut around the middle of each with a paring knife, then pull each cherry in half and remove the pit, then roughly chop the big pile of halved cherries with a chef’s knife. If you have access to frozen cherries you can make this dish year-round.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes, divided
