Seitan 'steak'

While this tastes nothing at all like steak, a quick glance in poor light might fool you for a minute or two.   However, the texture, although quite different from beef flesh, which many of us might find to be a relief, if anything, it has a chewiness that no other veg~an food offers.   As I hadn’t eaten a steak for about a quarter of a century before I discovered seitan, it’s hard for me really to compare it, but what I do know, is that it makes a very satisfactory substitute and can be used and served in a similar way to steak or beef, in stews, curries, etc.  It's also very good fried, with perhaps some celery seeds and cracked black pepper rubbed into it, before putting it in the frying pan.

 

I like to serve the steak with chips and a side salad or green vegetable.  And bread of course, for the chip butties (coming from Liverpool I make no apology for this!).  It's also good with a couple of fried mushrooms and a fried tomato, with a fried egg, or indeed, in any way you would normally serve steak. 

 

Makes 1 huge, 2 small

 

 Ingredients

 2 rounded tbsp couscous

 1 tsp Marmite/miso

 ½ cup boiling water

 2 tsp nutritional yeast

 1/4 tsp onion powder

 1/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder*

 1/4 tsp smoked paprika

 1/4 tsp ground/cracked black pepper

 1/2 tsp mushroom stock powder OR 1/2 tsp mushroom powder + 1/4 tsp salt

celery seed

 cracked black pepper

salt

2 tsp tomato paste

1½ tsp soya sauce

 1 tsp olive oil OR 1 tbsp (vegan) ghee OR 1 tbsp tahini*

1 tsp vinegar

 rounded 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

Instructions:

• Put the couscous and Marmite/miso in a bowl; pour over the water and cover.    Set aside to cool completely.
• Add the nutritional yeast, onion powder, Kashmiri chilli powder, smoked paprika,black pepper, mushroom stock powder, one at a time to the couscous, mixing very thoroughly each time. 
• Add the celery seed and extra cracked black pepper, if you are using them. Alternatively, put to one side and rub them onto the finished steaks just before frying them.    Depending on how salty the stock powder is, you might want to add extra salt.
• Add the water, tomato paste, soya sauce, olive oil/ghee/tahini and vinegar, ensuring that everything is well blended.
• Then add the vital wheat gluten, mixing in with a knife or spatula and finish off mixing it by hand.    It doesn’t stick to your fingers and is easy to work.    I have found less is more, when it comes to kneading and just knead the dough until everything is mixed in and smooth.    However, try to makes sure you have used every last scrap of it - leftovers are difficult to remove if you let them dry.    if it’s not quite clean, ensure that you leave the bowl to soak.
• Now shape into one or two steaks.    I tend to make one big one and a smaller one for breakfast the next day.    Work quite quickly: if the dough dries out, it seems reluctant to stick back together again.
• Place your steaks on a lightly-greased trivet in your pressure cooker, with about half a cup of water.    The water shouldn’t cover the trivet.    You can put it on parchment paper instead of greasing the trivet, if you prefer.
• Bring up to pressure for 10 minutes and let the pressure reduce gradually.    Remove the steaks and place them to cool.     
• Heat olive oil in a frying pan and when it’s hot, add your steaks.    Fry on both sides.    They are already cooked, so this frying is to reheat them and add more flavour.   

A little bit of Dijon mustard goes well with them.    Serve as you would a steak.    I like chips and salad, myself, or smashed potatoes and freeze-dried peas.

 

Notes:

• *Kashmiri chilli powder is mild, but has a bright red colour, which enhances the appearance of the steak.   If you are concerned about it being too hot, add more smoked paprika.
• Tahini adds an element of earthiness to the flavour.

Variation:

• When I make this steak, I usually make a large one and a small, thin one for breakfast the next day.  This is great in a roll or with good bread in a sandwich.

 

You will find many more recipeslike this here.

Minestrone soup

 

 

 

The name ‘Minestrone’ has become something of a catch-all for a tomato, vegetable and pasta soup. I don’t pretend that the following version is any more authentic than most, but it certainly is attractive and full of flavour.  Even if I weren't a vegetarian, my Minestrone would always contain beans and recipes which don't, seem very odd to me, because white beans are so often used in Italian peasant food, which is surely what this is.  Cannelini beans would be first choice, but if you can't buy them, any white beans will do.  Even borlotti beans would do, if you have those, also being popular in Italy. 

 

Non-vegetarian recipes call for bacon, but I've seen more than a few which are strictly vegetarian. Ideally, one would chop in a stick or two of celery, but I don't find this a good voyaging vegetable, because you buy so much at a time.  Even in a fridge, I suspect it doesn't last forever, so I suggest celery seed as an alternative: it's a shame that you can't just buy three or four sticks of celery at a time! This soup makes for a great and filling meal with chunks of freshly-baked bread.   

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course

 

Ingredients

at least 2 tbsp olive oil
2medium onions or one large
2 garlic cloves
1 carrot

1 small potato 
1 stick celery OR 1 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp fennel seeds 3 cups water

2 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs OR 1 tsp rosemary + 1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sweet paprika

2 cups water 

1/4 cup white beans, soaked in 1 cup boiling water for an hour 

about a packed cup full of shredded cabbage
a piece of Parmesan cheese rind

14 oz/400 g tin of crushed tomatoes

about 20 lengths of spaghetti

coarsely ground or cracked black pepper

optional Parmesan cheese or "Parmegan" cheese to serve

Method:

• Heat the olive oil in the pressure cooker.
• Chop the onions and garlic and cook over a fairly high heat until they’re starting to brown. If you are using it, add 1 tsp salt.
• While this is happening, dice the carrot, potato and the celery. Add to the other vegetables, together with the celery seed (if using) and the fennel seed, and cook until they are aromatic - about 5 minutes.
• Add the dried herbs and paprika and toss the vegetables to ensure that they're mixed well. 
• Pour in the water, the beans their water, and bring to the boil. Pressure cook for 10 minutes. Reduce pressure gradually. 
• When you can safely remove the lid, add the cabbage to the pan. Return it to the flame. If you’re using the Parmesan cheese rind, cut this into small dice and add. 
• Empty the tomatoes into the pan and mix them in. 
• When the soup is boiling once more, lower the heat to a simmer, break the spaghetti into 25 mm (1 in) lengths and add this. Stir to separate the pieces of pasta.
• Gind in a generous amoun of pepper. Minestrone also responds well to ½ tsp of cracked black pepper. Taste after a couple of minutes to see if it needs more salt.
• Cook until the spaghetti has softened – you can bring it back up to pressure for 3 minutes if you wish.

Serve with chunks of bread and, if you have it, plenty of Parmesan cheese.

 

Notes:

• Don't be mean with the olive oil and use a nice, peppery one if you can get it.
• The rind from the Parmesan cheese adds a wonderful depth of flavour, which vegans will have to do without.  However, probably most small-income voyagers will have to do without it, too and indeed, even if you have lots of money, Parmesan cheese, complete with rind, is often difficult to source.  In the days when I ate Parmesan, I used to enjoy eating the piece of rind in the soup, but most people apparently take it out before serving.
• If you don't have crushed tomatoes, use whole ones and crush them yourself. 

Variations:

• Ideally, this recipe would include green beans. I tend to eat soup in cold weather, when green beans are expensive and/or hard to come by.  But they certainly enhance the soup.
• Some recipes call for red kidney beans, but I find that they make the soup too dark,  By all means use them if that's what you fancy!
• Use black-eyed peas or chickpeas, if you have no white beans. The black-eyed peas won't need soaking first. Or you could use a can.
• Most recipes call for a bay leaf.  I can never taste them, myself, but feel free to add one, with the rest of the herbs, if you like them.   
• Replace the cabbage with kale or Swiss chard/silver beet.
• You could also use the leaves from a cauliflower, instead of cabbage.
• Broccoli florets, added at the end would go well, but not if you're intending to reheat the soup for another meal.
• Use another type of pasta, such as elbow pasta, or alphabet, but keep to small shapes so that you don't overwhelm the soup with it. 
• Add tomato purée for a richer flavour, especially if your canned tomatoes are a bit watery. 
• If you miss the bacon flavour from traditional Minestrone, use smoked paprika instead of the sweet.  
• A couple of mushrooms, sliced are also a pleasant addition.
• Add a tsp of mushroom stock powder for more flavour.
• Add chopped pepper to taste
• Use chopped tomatoes in purée for a thicker soup.
• Add 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
• Fresh tomatoes are also great, if they're available and have plenty of flavour, but in cold weather, canned will probably be a better choice.   

You will find many other recipes for soup here 

 

Edited 19/08/26

 

Tomatoes, stuffed with almonds and mushroom

 

I think the first time I cooked stuffed tomatoes was in Portugal.  The markets on the Algarve were overflowing with delicous fruit and vegetables.  They varied too much in shape and size ever to be acceptable to supermarkets, but they tasted sublime.  I would walk all around the market, ostensibly comparing prices, but in reality, just soaking up the wonderful scents and sights.  And as the food was entirely affordable, I could shop to my heart's content.  I always think that a tomato will taste good if, when you sniff the stalk cluster left on (and it should always still be on!), it has an almost peppery scent to it.  Most tomatoes I buy these days not only come without that little green star, but even when they do, have no scent and not much flavour.  I can understand why when voyaging people sell up and move ashore, they nearly always start growing their own fruit and vegetables in an attempt to recapture the glorious produce of good markets.  Some supermarkets sell 'beef' tomatoes and occasionally, these are fairly good.  But the huge, oval, rather flat tomatoes I would buy in Latin countries, starting to split at the top because they are so engorged with juices, are but a distant memory.  I used to buy them, cut the top off, stuff them and serve them for dinner the same evening.  The taste is just so wonderful.

 

However, we must make the best of what we have and recently, I bought some tomatoes from Jack, who brings a well-supplied market stall to Russell every week, and I picked up a bag of tomatoes (it's OK, he takes back the plastic bags and re-uses them!), which contained two lovely, large tomatoes.  They weren't the rich red of those in Portugal, nor bursting with luscious juices (considering it's August, mid-winter, they must have been grown in a poly-tunnel), but they brought back such wonderful memories that I had to stuff one for dinner.  It was good, but ...

 

I generally find stuffed vegetables unsatisfactory and am convinced that they contradict the laws of physics.  You remove all the flesh, cook it with other ingredients and then try to stuff the result back in the empty shell.  I always have heaps left over because even softened, you still have all the original vegetable to put back in plus all the extra ingredients!  The great thing about stuffed tomatoes, is that you don't use the tomato you take out (although you can use it in the accompanying dish), so that there is actually some room to take the stuffing.  This recipe is a genuine voyaging recipe and small-income to boot.  Good fresh tomatoes keep well at sea (and I doubt you could resist the temptation to eat them for long, anyway.  Almonds, although not exactly cheap, are often grown in the same sort of places where you get these great, big tomatoes, and can be replaced with something cheaper (see Variations).  You should get a week out of your mushrooms at sea, but can use dried if necessary.  The tomatoes can be cooked in a variety of ways, which you can find in the Notes.

 

If you can buy really good tomatoes,  this recipe is great for entertaining, being easy to prepare and very attractive - but don't get distracted and overcook the tomatoes!! 

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

2 large, ripe tomatoes, at least 70mm/3in in diameter

1/2 cup almonds

1 tsp za'atar

1/2 to 1 tsp harissa

1/2 tsp garlic granules

2 mushrooms (50mm/2in dia) 

1/4 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper 

 

Method: 

• Cut the top off the tomatoes and set aside
• Depending  on how ripe the tomatoes are, scoop out the flesh and seeds into a bowl, with a spoon - or a knife and spoon if the core is very hard.  Leave a reasonable amount of flesh in the shell for taste and moisture.  
• Now put the almonds,  za'atar, harissa and garlic granules into a blender and pulse until the almonds are a coarse powder: better to have a few chunks of almonds remaining than to have almond butter!  Chop the mushrooms coarsely and then pop them in the blender, together with the salt and pepper, for a few seconds.  The end result is a crumbly paste.
• OR chop the almonds and mushrooms as finely as you can with your knife and mix them in a bowl with the rest of the ingredi ents.
• Now divide the mixture in two and spoon it into the tomatoes, pressing it down to fill the whole cavity.  Put the top back on.
• Light the cooker and put on a flame tamer.  Place a heavy-based pan on top and lower the tomatoes into it.  Put the lid on and as soon as you can smell that the tomatoes are starting to cook, lower the heat right down.  After 10 minutes or so, check them every couple minutes, so that you can take them out when they are cooked through, but before they collapse. 

Carefully lift out the tomatoes and put on hot plates.  Serve with rice, polenta, mashed potates, or whatever takes your fancy, really.  I like to serve them with rice and wild rice in a sort of pilaf: fry an onion in olive oil with rice, until it's soft, chop up the remaining tomato and add that, and then throw in the rice and stir it around, for a few moments before pouring in water, 2:1, to cook it in the usual way.

 

You might want to make some sort of sauce to go over it, if you want something more moist.  Or you can pour the sauce into the pan and cook the tomatoes in the sauce. 

 

Notes: 

• You can replace the garlic granules with 2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic of you prefer, but the flavour of the granules spreads through the filling more effectively.
• Cooking: If you have an oven, the tomatoes can be baked in a dish, with or without extra sauce, on a medium setting, for about 20 minutes, if my memory serves. You can also cook them on a trivet in the pressure cooker, although this can be a bit fraught: if you overcook them even for a minute, they are likely to collapse on you.  If, however, the cooker is large enough to take a bowl contining the tomatoes (and you can lift it out again without burning yourself), this would be a good choice, with or without extra sauce.  You can cook them, again with or without extra sauce, in a good frying pan, as long as you have a domed lid which will fit over the tomatoes.

 

Variations:

• If you don't have za'atar, use thyme instead.
• Any other nut can be substituted for the almonds, from the lofty heights of pinenuts and macadamia, though hazelnuts, cashews and Brazil nuts down to blanched peanuts.  I wouldn't recommend walnuts, however: in combination with the mushrooms, the stuffing would have to strong a flavour.

 

 

You will find many more recipes like this here.

Mushroom pilau

I'm sorry that I don't have a photo to go with this: I'll try to remember to take one next time that I make it.

This is a great meal to make if you want a straightforward Indian meal. It’s quick to make and full of flavour. Better still, it only needs one pan, but the flavour profile is quite complex with whole spices, golden onions, garlic, and mushrooms. If you like cinnamon, this is the recipe for you and the spice complements the earthiness of the mushrooms.

Because there are only a few mushrooms, I suggest making more rice than I would normally recommend for two servings. I’m sure the pilau would also happily take the addition of some cooked beans, particularly chickpeas, if you wanted to make it more filling. You could, of course, serve it alongside curried chickpeas or tarka dal, for example.

Serves 2

Ingredient

1 tbsp oil or ghee

1 bay leaf

2 cardamom bashed

1 cm/1/2 inch cinnamon stick

3 cloves

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 medium onion diced

1 clove garlic minced or 1/2 tsp garlic paste

6 mushrooms, sliced

3/4 cup basmati rice

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:

• Heat ghee in the pan and add the whole bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and cumin seeds. Sauté for a minute or two until fragrant.
• Now add the diced onions and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until the onion softens and turns golden.
• Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes until lightly golden.
• Now add the rice and fry for 2 minutes until toasty.
• Pour in the boiling water and stir in the turmeric, garam masala, salt and pepper. Mix well and bring the rice to boil on a medium heat. Place a lid on the pan and reduce the heat to low.
• Cook until all the water has been absorbed. Stir it up with your spoon and check the seasoning. Leave it with the lid on for a few minutes to dry out before serving.

Notes:

• Making a suggestion for how many mushrooms to add, is a bit fraught. Some button mushrooms are tiny, some enormous. I envisage some of about 50 mm diameter for this recipe.

Variation:

• If you are going to eat the pilau on its own, you can stir in some green leaves towards the end: Swiss chard or spinach would go well.

 

 

You will find many more recipes like this here.

Any Bean Curry

 

I thought I should include a ‛generic’ curry, which is fairly authentic and this recipe is for when you really want a good-tasting curry, but are feeling a bit lazy. Like so much of the Indian food in this blog, it was inspired by, and adapted from, one of Richa Hingle's delicious recipes. (I have to confess that I am less keen on her non-Indian creations.) As the title suggests, you can use any whole beans for this, adjusting the time in the pressure cooker accordingly. I think the smaller ones, such as lentils and mung beans tend to get a bit lost, although whole black gram keeps its shape more readily. Personally, I particularly like this curry with dried whole peas.

 

I recommend spooning all the spices into a small bowl or egg cup before starting, following the professional cooks’ principle of mise en place. It avoids everything starting to burn before you’re halfway through getting out spice containers, unscrewing them and spooning out what you need.

 

Serves 2

 

1/2 cup dried whole beans, soaked in 1 cup water, as usual

1 tbsp coconut or other oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green chilli, chopped (see Notes)

1-inch knob of ginger diced, or 1 tbsp ginger paste

3 cloves garlic, diced or 1 tbsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne

pinch of asafoetida

2 tsp garam masala

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/2 tsp lemon juice (see Notes)

1/2 tsp salt, to taste

1 tbsp chopped coriander, for garnish

 

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over a medium heat. Add the onion and green chilli, and cook until translucent. 
• Add the ginger and garlic, mix well and cook for 1 minute.
• Add the cumin, turmeric, cayenne, asafoetida, and garam masala. Stir everything in and cook until it smells fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Mix well and partially cover, cooking until there is a nice, rich sauce. If it looks too dry, add a little more water.
• Now add the beans and their water. (Drain them, if you prefer and add a cup of fresh water). Put on the lid, and bring up to pressure. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your pressure cooker and the type of bean.  
• Reduce the pressure naturally and sample a couple of beans. They should be tender enough to mash easily. If not, bring them back to pressure and cook for a few more minutes and reduce pressure at room temperature. If you like slightly thicker sauce, mash some of the beans. If it seems too thick, add some more water, or perhaps some coconut milk.
• Taste, and adjust the flavours. Curry sometimes benefits from a bit more salt than you might normally use (and unless you have high blood pressure, it will do you no harm! Indeed, vegans should consume 1/2 tsp iodised salt per day.) You might want to add a little more garam masala or, my favourite methi – dried fenugreek leaves.
• Garnish with coriander, if you like it, and serve hot with brown basmati rice or flatbread.

Notes:

• If you don’t have a fresh, green chilli, use one pickled in brine. They’re rarely very hot, but you can remove the seeds if you find that yours are.
• If you don’t have any lemon juice, add some lemon in brine, but go easy on the salt.
• As this is a ‛generic’ curry, you might enjoy playing around with it, using coconut milk or methi, as suggested at the end of the recipe.
• You can also include some vegetables in this curry, to add to the nutrition, in which case, you might want to fry them with the onion. If you don’t want them overcooked, either cook separately and add to the curry after the beans are cooked, or cook the beans for less time, reduce pressure, add the vegetables and then bring back up to pressure for a couple of minutes.

 

You will find many more recipes

Cauliflower Cheese

 

When I was a little girl and money was a bit scarce, cauliflower cheese was something my mother used to cook regularly.  Indeed, it was one of the few vegetarian meals that we ate (two of the others being baked beans on toast and Welsh rarebit).  My father would get a piece of bacon or Ulster Fry with his - the man of the household couldn't go without his piece of meat!  Mum would put the cooked cauliflower into a dish, pour the cheese sauce over it and brown it under the grill.  She'd serve it with delicious chunky chips (usually managing to splash some hot fat on her hand in the process, while she sliced the chips directly into the pan!) It was - and remains - one of my favourite meals.

 

However, as a wannabe vegan, my mother's recipe would not suit, made as it was with milk in the cheese sauce and, of course, dairy cheese.  There are of course, vegan substitutes for both, readily available in supermarkets in some parts of the world.  I can buy plant milk, but only in 1 litre containers which are far too large for my needs and vegetarian cheese after a fleeting presence in some shops, is now unobtainable in my part of Aoetearoa New Zealand.   I love cauliflower so have done my best to recreate my mother's sauce, which I serve with either 'roast' potatoes, cooked in the frying pan, or chips (an oil filter keeps the sunflower seed oil that I use, amazingly fresh from batch to batch).

 

I make this using gram flour, white sauce, appropriately flavoured.  I've tried adding home-made nut milk to it, but it isn't really worth the extra work and washing up, in my opinion.  

 

It's a bit difficult to specify how much cauliflower to use.  It depends how far through the cauli you are.  I would suggest that two or three florets, about the size of a teacup, per person would be correct. Use the leaves, too, if you wish.

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

 half a dozen cauliflower florets

2 tbsp gram flour
1 tbsp oil, melted ghee or butter
1 cup water

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp tahini

1/4 tsp salt
good grind of black pepper

Method:

• Cook the cauliflower in a minimum amount of boiling water until just tender.  Set aside on a plate.
• Put any remaining water in a jug and make up to a cupful.    
• Put the gram flour into the same pan and knock out the worst of the lumps with your spoon. Now pour in the oil or melted ghee and mix in the flour very thoroughly, effectively making a roux, while eliminating any remaining lumps.
• Add a quarter cup of the water to the roux and blend into a smooth cream.  Mix in the nutritional yeast, garlic granules, Dijon mustard and tahini, stirring thoroughly.   
• Put the pan over a low heat and add some more water, blending everything carefully again. Raise the heat to moderate and keep stirring.
• When the sauce is showing signs of thickening, add the remaining water, the salt and the pepper. Bring the mixture to a slow boil, still stirring constantly.
• Now reduce the heat to low again, and carry on stirring while it thickens. Taste to see if more salt is required. Don’t taste it before it starts getting thick: raw gram flour is not nice. Keep stirring until it has stopped thickening.  
• Carefully add the cauliflower to the pan, cover and cook on a very low heat until the cauliflower is heated through.

Serve with fried potatoes.

 

Notes:

• When you get used to using gram flour, you will find you can be a bit more casual about mixing it.
• I am a less organised cook than I would choose, so I usually cook the cauliflower and make the sauce before adding the chips to the pan.  That way I don't end up over-cooking the chips while I'm still making the sauce!   

Variations:

• Use plant milk, instead of water, if you'd prefer.  If you don't have any on board, you can make some by grinding 1/2 cup of nuts (peanuts are a good, cheap choice) finely and adding them along with the bulk of the water.
• Sage is a good addition to the sauce.
• Of course, vegetarians can also use dairy cheese, cow's milk and/or butter if they wish.  If using dairy cheese, add it towards the end and skip the nutritional yeast.  

You will find many more recipes like this here.