Samosa Napoleons with Basil Chutney

Everyone likes samosas. We've cooked them using puff pastry sheets before, but this is a different presentation and was really fun to make. The chutney is a basic mint chutney substituting mint for one of our favorite herbs.

Chutney

1/2 cup of basil leaves
1/4 cup cilantro
1 serrano
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons water
1 tablespoon yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash basil and cilantro and pack into measuring cups for accurate amounts of each.

2. Once measured, put both into food processor along with remaining ingredients and blend until nearly smooth.

This doesn't make a lot - just enough for two people, but it can easily be doubled or made in larger batches.

Napoleon

1 package puff pastry sheets
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
salt to taste
5 medium potatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 cup green peas
1 cup matchstick carrots, roughly chopped
1 serrano, finely chopped
4 tablespoons oil (for filling)
2 tablespoons oil (for frying puff pastry, and replenished as needed)
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped


1. Let Puff Pastry Sheets thaw according to package directions.

2. Put potatoes in a pot of water and turn to high heat. Once water boils cook for 20 - 30 minutes until tender. Drain and allow to cool. Once cooled, cut potatoes into 1/4 inch pieces.

3.Bloom spices in a wok or skillet by warming them for a minute or two, until fragrant. Place in a bowl and set aside.

4.Heat oil in wok and add onion, saute until nicely browned. Add carrots, peas, serrano, cilantro, spices, and potatoes. Combine the ingredients well and cook 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. (You may need to add a splash of water if it gets too dry)

5. Once spice and veggie mixture is done, mash with potato masher to desired consistency (we like it mashed up a bit, but not so much that we're sacrificing texture)

6. Cut puff pastry sheets into rectangles. Salt and pepper them to taste. Heat oil in pan and add sheets two at a time, frying until they are golden brown on both sides.

7. When sheets are cool enough to handle, cut in half again. Place a sheet on plate and spread a spoon of basil chutney onto puff pastry. Spoon potato filling on top of chutney. Repeat with another sheet, more chutney, filling, and top with third sheet of pastry. Drizzle spoon of chutney on top of completed napoleon and serve with a side of chutney.

Coconut Curry Quinoa Stuffed Poblanos

We love curry. Curry makes everything better. This dish was born from our love of curry and one of our rules in the kitchen: Never use water. (Okay. It’s my philosophy that water sucks and everything is better when you replace it. I don’t drink it and I won’t cook with it. – Zach)

Quinoa is great because it’s actually a protein that gets used like a grain. That means one less dish you have to use a faux meat in. The flavor from the quinoa is nutty and pairs well with both the slightly bitter taste of the poblanos and the sweet/heat of the coconut and curry.

2 poblano peppers
1 cup red quinoa (rinsed)
1 ½ cups coconut milk
1 can roasted tomatoes (14.5 Oz)
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 tablespoon red curry powder
olive oil/cooking spray
4 – 5 basil leaves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste
vegan sour cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to broil.

2. While the oven is preheating, start the quinoa. Add the coconut milk to a pot along with ½ cup of liquid from the canned tomatoes and the tomatoes themselves. Bring this to a boil and add the curry paste, curry powder, salt and pepper. We use around 1 – 1 ½ tablespoons of both, but adjust this according to taste and the strength of the products.

3. Once the paste is fully dissolved add the quinoa and stir well. Cover the pot and dial the heat back from a boil to a simmer. Stir occasionally. The quinoa will cook for 20 – 25 minutes and is done when the germ is visible and each grain is translucent.

4. With the quinoa cooking, start on the peppers. Start at the top of the pepper, somewhere just above the stem, and cut them in half all the way down to the tip. You can leave the stems on. Clean them out, removing the seeds and membranes. Spray them on both sides and put them in the oven for about 7 – 10 minutes on each side. They’re ready when the skin is bubbled and black and the flesh is bright and tender.

5. The quinoa should be done around the same time as your peppers. To plate just spoon the quinoa into the peppers (we leave the skin on) and garnish with basil leaves and sour cream.

Grilled Veggie Panini

It wouldn’t really be fair to call this a recipe. A panini, no matter how tasty, is still a sandwich. Still, these are pretty tasty sandwiches. We got all the veggies from Jack-O-Lantern Farms, a local farm that sells Certified Naturally Grown hydroponic vegetables (and the best eggplant we’ve ever eaten).

These were prepared on a panini press that we purchased just a couple of weeks ago. This was the first meal we prepared using it and, naturally, our cats have already broken it. But we highly recommend a panini press if you enjoy grilling veggies, sandwiches, etc. Just put it away if you have cats.

The veggies were sprayed with a little olive oil cooking spray, seasoned with salt, pepper, and oregano, and put right on the press. Once the sandwiches were built, they went back on the press to be thoroughly heated. …okay, it was to give the bread those cool grill marks.

Any vegetables and bread will work, really, but here’s what we used: French loaf bread (precut because we’re lazy in the summer), eggplant, red bell peppers, Vidalia onions, zucchini, squash, Vegenaise mayonnaise, and roasted garlic hummus. Yum.

Banana Nut Sandwich Cookies with Coconut Lime Buttercream

These are little cookie-versions of banana nut muffins. They’re sweet, spiced, and just a little salty. On their own they’ve got a pleasant, subtle taste. As sandwich cookies, they’re a warm, nutty compliment to the rich frosting.

Cookies:

⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
½ cup canola oil
½ cup non-dairy milk (almond works best with this recipe)
a little more than 1 ½ bananas (What a measurement, huh? We’re practically scientists)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour (we used whole wheat, take your pick)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup salted macadamia nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Mix the sugars and oil until well-combined, then incorporate the almond milk. Add the banana and, using a potato masher, mash the bananas until the mixture is smooth and relatively lump-free. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. Add the dry mixture to the wet in two batches and mix well.

4. Put the macadamia nuts in a food processor and pulse 2 – 3 times until they’re roughly chopped. You’ll have some really varied sizes – that’s fine. Fold in the macadamia nuts.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough (around 1 ½ tablespoons is what you’re looking for) on a lightly greased cookie sheet. These are cookies that want to be muffins – they’re going to really rise, so flatten them a little with a spoon or your fingers.

6. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until they’re brown on the bottom. Remember what I said about the muffin-ambitions? With the back of a fork, flatten the cookies down. It makes them nice and dense and puts those cool little ridges on top. After 3 – 5 minutes move them to a cooling rack to cool.

Frosting:

½ cup shortening
½ cup margarine
4 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon coconut extract
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons limeade concentrate (or more to taste)
freeze-dried bananas (optional)

1. For sandwich cookie purposes this frosting looks and works better the fluffier it is, so we recommend using a mixer. Using said mixer, beat the shortening and margarine together.

2. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 minutes.

3. Add the coconut extract, coconut milk, and limeade concentrate and beat the heck out of it, 5 – 7 minutes, until it’s nice and fluffy.

Note: If it seems a little thick, or too wet, add up to a cup of additional powdered sugar and beat some more.

Sandwiches:

Pipe, spoon, spread, dip. It doesn’t matter. Adding freeze-dried bananas after you’ve frosted the cookies adds an extra little punch of banana flavor and a nice texture, too. We made a bit of a mess doing it (see picture below), but it was well worth it.

Introductions

Herbivorous is our attempt to motivate (read: force) ourselves to get recipes out of our heads and into the kitchen. So, if you're flirting with veganism, vegetarianism, or just looking for yummy recipes, we hope to deliver some inspiration.

We're cooking in the south. Alabama, to be exact. With our sometimes limited resources, most of what we're posting will be way accessible to just about anyone. So, whether you’re in San Francisco or Podunk, hopefully if you see something you like it will be a short trip to the grocery store before it hits your plate.

Just a heads-up: we’re both pretty big geeks and indulge our other hobbies (zombies, anyone?). We’ll post as often as we can, in between cartoons and Mario Kart sessions, with recipes, suggestions, and other plant-based noms. Enjoy.

- Lea and Zach, Herbivorous