Book update

I haven't had the chance to cook much, by cooking here I mean something other than eating salads and bread/soup. I was however able to add two more recipes to my Traditional Portuguese Food Veganized e-book.

Açorda de alho e coentros / Cilantro and garlic bread stew (I couldn't really find a translation for Açorda and it is a sort of bread stew thing)

Tempero para Azeitonas / Olives seasoning

Pumpkin Pie

My first attempt ever at a pumpkin pie. The thought of making one had crossed my mind many a times in the past but we don't have any canned pumpkin puree and buying a whole pumpkin was a bit out of my budget. But last week I had access to a kostenlos pumpkin! And so I set my plan in motion.

I would first make this pumpkin puree and then attempt the pie. I first cut the pumpkin in half and removed the seeds setting them aside for a later venture of roasted pumpkin seeds omomomom. To roast them I placed them in a tall baking tray with some water in the bottom and covered them in foil.

They were in the oven for an hour at what is suppose to be 200ºC or about 400ºF. This is sort of speculating as I'm previously working an an older than me gas oven. It was burning at the top gas mark possible. As the pumpkin halves were freed from the oven they were filled with water I took care to dispose of.

I just took out the flesh with a spoon and made sure to try and extract as much water as possible with the aid of a hand masher. Having no cheesecloth available it did not go as well as I would have wanted it too. But it was also not bad.

My plan of blending the pulp straight away after straining also failed. My blender would not do this one thing for me. So I bid my time and lived to bake another day. After removing as much water as possible I set the pumpkin puree aside in the fridge in plastic containers.

I now regret not having weighed the pumpkin which would have allowed me to determine its food cost. The pumpkin you see in the photo yielded 6 cups of pumpkin puree for a total of about 1,7 ~ 1,8 Kg.

In the next day I tried to strain a bit more water but not much was leaving the building. I used a store bought crust which is accidentaly vegan and for the filling I used:

3 cups of pumpkin puree ~ 850 grams
1 cup of soy condensed milk ~ 330 grams - currently in Portugal I only have the Continente brand available. I find it too sweet and almost too corn sirupy but meh.
2 lemons, the zest
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

With the aid of the soy condensed milk the blender worked and blended everything into a nice pulp. At first I feared using the pulp as is without adding some extra flour as it seemed too liquid for me but I needed to try it anyway to have a measure for comparison.

It baked for about 45 minutes at what is suppose to be 200ºC or 400ºF. The result was as I expected a pie a tad on the liquid side. But I was still able after cooling it to cut a clean slice.

A nice idea was to dust it and caramelize it with some powdered sugar.

For the future I plan on buying silken tofu and making my second attempt at a pumpkin pie with the remaining 3 cups of pumpkin puree.

Roast bananas

This is a too simple dessert. Yet too good.

With the oven at 180ºC (350F) roast the bananas for about 10/15 minutes.
Peel the top section and dust with powdered sugar.
Eat.

Mashed sweet potatoes with coconut milk

This side dish of mashed sweet potatoes is sure to keep you warm in the coming cold weather. Depending on which part of the world you are that is. I guess if you eat it cold it is sure to keep you fresh in the coming warm weather.

I wrapped an 800g (1,7 pounds) sweet potato in foil after cutting into it a bit. It was in the oven at 180ºC (350F) for about an hour and a half.

Then I mashed the pulp while still warm with the aid of a tablespoon of vegan butter. I added 6 tablespoons of coconut milk while mashing. It was pretty nice. I chose not to add any salt or pepper because I enjoyed the extra sweetness of it all.

I used a hand potato masher by the way.

Roast veggies dip

I had some mixed veggies in the fridge which would most likely spoil if I didn't take the extra free time I had before going to work so I decided to make a roast veggies dip. I used the equivalent of:

1/2 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 average sized eggplant, I used the 3 mini ones as you can see in the pic, they weighed 285g total
2 tomatoes
1 head of garlic cloves

I wrapped the bell peppers and garlic cloves in foil.
The eggplants and tomatoes I sliced in half and layed face up in the oven.

I allowed the veggies to roast for about an hour at 180ºC (350F).

Then discard the skins for the bell peppers, tomatoes and eggplants and save the pulp. As for the garlic cloves, just squeeze them out. Then with the aid of a hand blender grind to a pulp. Correct seasonings with some salt, pepper, olive oil and enjoy!

Slaw with caper vinaigrette

To make the slaw I just used:

250 g Purple cabbage (aprox. half a pound)
250 g Cabbage (aprox. half a pound)
1 tbsp Lemon juice
5 tbsp Soy Mayo

I shredded the cabbages and mixed the mayo and lemon juice in.

For the caper vinaigrette I blended:

2 tbsp Capers
1 tbsp Mustard
6 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp Cider vinegar

Then I just folded the vinaigrette in.

Seitan strips Sandwich with Fiddes Payne American Steakhouse seasoning

I remember buying this in Berlin at LIDL at a discount for only 2,99€. I had previously bought the Jamaican version in Portugal for aprox. 4,99€. The smell is wonderful so I decided to cut off some thin strips off of a seitan block and sautéeing it in:

Butter, I usually go with Alprosoya
American steakhouse seasoning
Garlic powder, just a little extra because it's so delicious
Lemon juice
White wine

There are no measures because it was freestyle. Also as with most of my recipes I don't marinate the seitan before using it because I already give it flavour as I'm making it.

I ate it in a Prokorn baguette left over from work. The team that closes the store gets to take home some of the leftover bread. My favourite is the prokorn croissant but it's like catching a rare pokemon :(

The smell of this american steakhouse seasoning is so intense and vegan I decided I should make an american variation of the base seitan using this spice!!

Book update

I've been working a lot mostly night shifts so I haven't had much time to cook. Also, I mostly eat breakfast, then soup at work, then something extra when I get home if I'm still hungry. In the last few days I've only managed to get some work done on the book.

Like I mentioned in a previous post I'm workin on two books. One focusing on how to make seitan & use it. The other one is on portuguese traditional food veganized. Also, like I mentioned I'm working on different base recipes for the seitan than the ones I had developed for the seitan products company because of legal issues I don't want to possibly have in the future.

As for the How to make Seitan & How to use it. I have:
1/3 base recipes, still missing all the pics and support videos
0/20 variation + application recipes with pics

As for the Traditional Portuguese Food Veganized I have:
3/50 recipes with pics.

I decided on 50 recipes for this book. I hope I can accomplish this goal. beeeeeeeenkyyyoooooo.

These are their pictures (please read with a Law and Order intro voice)

Bife de Seitan à Marrare / Marrare Seitan steak

Gaspacho alentejano / Gazpacho the Alentejo way

Seitan assado à Padeiro / Seitan Padeiro style roast

Mushroom red wine risotto

I prefer red wine risotto to white wine risotto, and I always use the same ratios.

1 cup of Arborio rice
1/2 cup of Wine
6 cups of Stock

To make this mushroom risotto, first prepare the mushrooms in advance. Just sautée them in some olive oil with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Set them aside.

1st step: Sautée 1 small Onion diced, or preferably about 3 shallots also diced if you can get some in 2 Tbsp of Olive oil.

2nd step: Add the rice and keep stirring, allow the rice to open up a bit.

3rd step: Add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and follow with the red wine. Allow the rice to absorb the wine, and just then add the mushrooms.

4th step: Start adding the stock one cup at a time while cooking the risotto in medium to low heat. I prefer to use mushroom stock for this recipe when I have it on hand. You can also just use water, but in this case don't forget to add extra salt to taste.

If you take your time and cook your risotto one cup at a time, you can have a great creamy risotto without adding any extra butter or cheese. Just be sure to eat it right away or the creamyness will fade away.

Oven veggie pasta

As it gets colder I start to crave more oven food. I really enjoy eating a steaming hot dish straight from the oven with a lovely salad on the side. Mmmm what if I oven baked fries right after I fried them....

The ratios for this oven dish were:

300g cooked Pasta (3 cups)
250g cooked Brocolli florets (1+1/4 cup)
350g cooked Brussels sprouts, in halves (1+3/4 cup)
750 ml Tomato sauce (3 cups)
120 ml Soy cream (1/2 cup)

Mix everything up to the tomato sauce and spread on a baking dish.
Drizzle with the soy cream on top.
Bake at 180ºC or 350ºF for about 20 minutes.

The ratios were actually based on what veggies I had around to use. You can use peas, green beans, even mushrooms, and you can totally use more broccoli than brussels sprouts.
You can also use less tomato sauce if you prefer a drier dish and are not completely obcessed about tomato sauce.
Also it is super sweet if you have access to some vegan cheese (that melts good) to mix it in as well.

Peach Cobbler

Peach Cobbler and any kind of fruit you would probably prefer to eat other than peach Cobbler all follow the same guidelines. Some saucy fruit preparation on a baking dish with a runny is this going to turn into a cake sort of concoction on top. Bake and eat.

Being as I use canned peaches, and I actually enjoy eating them out of a can straight, if you will try to make this with fresh peaches just add in some extra sugar to taste.

1 large can of Peaches (in Portugal it's 840g  or 30 oz)
60 g of Sugar (or 1/4 cup)
1 Tbsp of Maizena (or any other corn starch)

Chop the peaches in pieces or slices, and cook them for a few minutes on low to medium heat with the sugar and the Maizena. Just keep stirring so it doesn't stick to the pan. When it's nice and sticky icky move it on to a baking dish as is.

Then you'll need:

120 g Flour (1 cup)
120 ml Soy milk (it's almost 1/2 cup)
60 g Butter (it's about 2 Tbsp) if vegan butter in your country isn't already mushy even after being in the fridge, be sure to let it out for a bit before you do this.

Just mix everything together, trying to crumble it. If you have a sort of kitchen aid thingie you can do this there, just use the paddle attachment.

Pour this batter on top of the peaches and bake at 180ºC (or 350 F) for about 15 to 20 min.

Mushroom sauce on fries

I love fries, too much for my own sake. I think fries are great with anything, curry, tomato sauce, chili, mustard and cream. And on this particular occasion, mustard with soy cream and mushrooms. When using frozen mushrooms, brace yourself water is coming, to your sauce that is.

Sautée:
1/2 small Onion, diced
1 Tbsp Olive oil
Add:
250g frozen Mushrooms (half a pound)
1/2 tsp Salt
Leave it at medium heat for at least 5 minutes, the mushrooms will take a while to cook. Then dispose of the excess liquid. Return to the heat and add:
1 Tbsp Mustard
4 Tbsp Soy cream
Stir, and enjoy on top of fries. I know I did :>

Strawberry milkshake and getting started on some book writing

I have started working on two e-books. One will pertain to how to make seitan at home (a multi-purpose kind of seitan, seitan chorizo and a seitan specially made for thin slicing for sandwiches, pizzas and salads). I am working on developing new improved recipes for the book, as the previous ones are from a project I embarked with on a friend to create a company of seitan products here in Portugal.

The first seitan experiment didn't go so well as I was using a petroleum grade soy sauce I bought by the gallon at the chinese supermarket. Maybe the restaurants are suppose to dilute it with some water? This is what my otherwise pinkish seitan looked like.

I think the colour actually turned out ok, the problem was I couldn't taste anything but the soy sauce. Which isn't necessarily bad if that's what you're going after, and don't spend a lot of money on spices and herbs you will never taste >D

Still, they made for some nice Lisbon style steaks. Though I'm pretty sure they make them the same way all over the country. Also called pregos, they were super delicious on bread with mustard. Also a nice idea, is to soak up the bread in the sauce on the pan before assembling your super delicious sandwich. This second experience pertains to the second book, I'm also starting to work on with the theme of Portuguese Traditional Food (veganized).

If anyone from Portugal is reading what are your favourite portuguese traditional recipes?

Also more ratios, because most recipes are just that. Proportions of ingredients.

For a strawberry milkshake I like to use 100g of frozen strawberries to 350ml of Soy milk. That's about 3,5 ounces of frozen strawberries to 1,5 cups of soy milk. I don't use any sugar as the soy milk is quite sweet already.