Vegan Stroganoff, version #1

Hey guys!! Long time no write. I hope everyone had a very happy holiday break! Mine were filled with studies and sleep a-plenty. Now that I’ve rested enough, time to make a batch of tasty recipes! Because besides meeting up with family and loved ones, that’s what holidays are for, right?

Today my gift to you is a special stroganoff vegan recipe! The original idea is from a friend of mine and I tweaked it around into a vegan version. It’s very tasty and the mushrooms do an excellent meat impersonation. Below are the ingredients and instructions. Instead of heavy cream, I used soy cream. It’s the first time I used it, and it worked perfectly. It’s not that easy to find however: you can make your own with soy milk and butter too. Coconut milk is also a good fix.

Vegan Stroganoff, version number 1 of a series of 4. Yep, I love stroganoff that much.

Ingredients:

• 1 Carrot
• 1 Onion
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 2 table spoons of vegan margarine
• Mushrooms (can be any type, really. I used button mushrooms and the canned version)
• Corn
• 200 g of tomato extract
• 1 tablespoon of mustard
• 1 can of soy cream or coconut milk, or make your own soy cream by mixing margarine and soy milk and a bit of maizena. Will be making a post on that later.
• Pepper & Salt

Instructions:

#1. Chop and cook the carrots. I chose to cook them with vapor, but they can be boiled too.

     #2.  If you’re using tomatoes, put them in the blender with a cup of water and blend until smooth. I don’t have a blender, so I used tomato extract, which works fine.

    #3. Cook the onions and garlic in the melted margarine. Add mushrooms (if using fresh mushrooms, cook until they release lots of water). Add corn, mustard, salt, and cook for about two minutes. Add tomato extract and bring to a boil.

    #4.Take off heat, and add soy cream. Tada! Serve with rice and potato chips if you got them J

This recipe is excellent for protein, but not so much for iron. If you’re making this for a main meal, try to accompany with a good source of iron. 

Thanks for the idea Mayara!! 

Have a great holidays, and awesome 2013!

How to make authentic Brazilian Rice and Beans

How to make authentic Brazilian Rice and Beans

This is post is dedicated to all my friends and neighbors that loved my mom’s rice and beans at our annual birthday parties.

Rice and beans is the most traditional and popular Brazilian dish, due to the fact that: 1) it’s cheap 2) it tastes good 3) it’s extremely filling and has pratically all the main nutrients, including a huge dose of protein, iron, and carbohydrates. I eat this almost every day.

You’re going to need:

• Any type of dry beans or lentils (here I use red beans, but the traditional beans used in the Brazilian dish is black).
• 1 or 2 onions per 500 grams
• 2 cloves of garlic per 500 grams of beans
• Laurel leafs
• Olive oil
• A pressure cooker (optional, but it really makes the cooking easier)
• Rice

To make this dish, you’re going to need to start preparing it the night before. That’s because the beans need to be soaked for at least 8 hours. Place the quantity of beans you want to make in a bowl and fill it up with water. If you’re making this for a party or for a big dinner, use 200 grams per person. Here, I made 500 grams, because I freeze the beans afterwards and place them in plastic containers.  This way I have ready lunch to eat when I come back from school during the week J

So, the next day, you’re going to notice that the beans practically doubled in size. They’ve absorbed the water and they’re ready to be cooked.  Rinse the beans in clean water and place in a large pot or your pressure cooker.

If you’re using a pressure cooker, all you need to do is fill the pot with water until there is at least 3 cm of water covering your beans. Add two laurel leafs (if you can’t find these leaves, it’s ok). Close the pressure cooker firmly, and cook until the pressure cooker lets out steam for about 20 minutes. Wait until all the pressure is let out, open the lid, and check if the beans are soft.

If you’re not using a pressure cooker, you’re going to need to cook the beans for a couple of hours in a large pot with lots of water, to make sure the beans get soft. Be careful to add water as the water evaporates, otherwise the beans will burn and it will get ruined.

After the beans are soft: the water is still soupy like, needs more cooking!

Keep cooking the beans on low fire, even after they are soft. The liquid needs to have a creamy-like consistence.

Once the beans are soft, you can chop the onions and the garlic. Simmer the onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions turn transparent and the garlic light brown. 

Add a ladle of beans to the onion mixture. Crush the beans with a wooden spoon until it makes a paste. Add salt to both the onion mixture and to the pot of beans, which should still be cooking.

Add the onion paste to the pot of beans. Keep cooking until the beans are creamy.

Nice and creamy, after a good hour cooking on low fire

Serve with rice! We Brazilians like to eat rice and beans like this: beans on top of the rice, accompanied by greens and an orange.

Enjoy!