Vegan recipe: Mexican Mushrooms - hola!

My love of Mexican-inspired food is well known by now and it's just so easy to Veganise that it's a win-win situation.

This is a simple dish, quick to prepare, yet has real depth of flavour and is one the non-Vegans in your life will want the recipe for ;)

Enjoy!

Chantal xx

Proving that Vegan food is delicious - one dish at a time.

Mexican Mushrooms

[serves 2-4 (!), takes approx 30 mins] 

Perfect for lunch or supper!

Gather:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 brown onions - chopped

2 green chillis - finely chopped (keep seeds in if you're a heat freak, like me)

2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped

750g mushrooms washed (or peeled) and sliced [a mix of white and chestnut is good]

500 ml tomato passata

250 ml vegetable stock [I use Swiss Marigold Vegan Bouillion powder]

2 sprigs of thyme

1 sprig of rosemary

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp celery salt [or 1 tbsp finely chopped celery leaves, if you have some] 

Sample ingredients (adjusted for a smaller portion).

Create:

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan or wok on a medium heat and sautee the onions for 2 minutes.

2. Add the chilli and garlic and continue to gently fry for a further 3 minutes or until all are softened.

3. Add the mushrooms, turn up the heat a little and fry for a further 5 minutes.

4. Add the passata, stock and stir well to combine.

5. Add all of the other seasoning ingredients and simmer gently until the sauce thickens (approx 15-20 minutes).

6. Taste and adjust seasoning to your preference with pink Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

As well as being as spicy as you like, this dish is incredibly aromatic!

Enjoy:

This is great served in warm bowls with some corn tortillas on the side for scooping and mopping up juice - as well as some crispy lettuce and Vegan sour cream if you fancy something cooling. Nachos and taco shells would also work well! [Old el Paso brand is Vegan]

Messy to eat, but delicious, so who cares?!!

 

#Toptip: For extra nutrition you can throw some baby spinach leaves in at the end and use hemp oil instead of vegetable oil for omegas.

Recipe - My Malaysian Laksa-style Soup (for the Soul).

Everyone has their own way of making this wonderful soup. 

This is mine.

I love the aromatics, the colours and the textures in my version of it.

See what you think - lets compare Laksas [she said]... 

my lovely Laksa

Vegetable variations you can use include: fine green beans, broccoli, mangetout, beansprouts, leaf spinach, bok choi (Chinese cabbage), cucumber, you could also add some firm tofu pieces and garnish with deep fried shallots, finely sliced red peppers and/or lime wedges. p.s. I do not recommend adding onions or shallots to the broth - for me they spoil the delicate flavours.

Serves 4 (heartily) but is best eaten the same day.

Gather

150g rice noodles (usually about 3 'nests')

2-3 tbsp sesame oil

1 heaped tbsp Vegan Thai red curry paste (*warning - Laksa paste often contains shrimp)

1 red chilli - cut in half, deseeded and finely sliced

200g assorted mushrooms - thinly sliced (shiitake are traditional but I'm not so keen on these so I tend to use white, chestnut and forestiere, for example)

400ml can coconut milk

600ml water (you can fill the coconut milk can with water 1 and a half times)

1 aubergine - sliced into 1cm thick rounds

150g baby sweetcorn - cut in half or thirds on a diagonal slant

2 pak choi - leaves separated and halved if large (leave small ones whole)

freshly ground black pepper to taste

salt to taste (I use about half a teaspoon - which seems a lot, but does bring the flavours alive)

garnish - small bunch of fresh coriander leaves (no stalks) - finely chopped

Create

1.  Put your grill on to warm and add 1 tbsp of sesame oil to a large pan on a medium heat.

2.  Add the curry paste and fresh chilli to the pan and stir to sizzle and release aromas.

3.  Next add the mushrooms and coat in the sauce. Then add the coconut milk and the water - bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer.

4.  Brush the aubergine rounds with the remaining sesame oil and place on a baking tray under the now warm grill for 5 minutes.

5.  Wash and slice the sweetcorn. Wash and slice the pak choi (pak choi can be a little dirty lower down the stems, so this is important.) Chop your coriander ready to use.

6.  Turn the aubergine slices over, add the sweetcorn to the soup pot and turn up the heat a little to simmer more vigorously. Put a full kettle on to boil.

7.  Add the pak choi leaves to the soup and pour enough boiling water over your rice noodles to cover them.

8.  Taste your soup for seasoning and add black pepper and salt to your preference.

9.  Your aubergine will have grilled on the other side for another 5 minutes now and should be golden - so remove it from the grill and chop each round into 4 pieces.

10.  Stir the rice noodles with a fork to separate and drain in a large sieve.

11.  Add the aubergine to the soup, add the noodles to the soup, give it all a good stir to combine and re-test for seasoning if you want to double check.

Enjoy!

Serve into hot bowls using tongs to make sure everybody gets a share of noodles and veg and then a ladle to top up with the coconut broth. Sprinkle with just a little of the coriander. Serve with a soup spoon and a fork!

Cooks tip: If you have the time and the inclination, you can make your own curry paste by blending this list of ingredients. [recipe by Yotam Otolengi]

100g peeled baby shallots
8 garlic cloves
25g peeled ginger, sliced
15g lemongrass (soft white stem only), sliced
2 tsp ground coriander
3 large dried red chillies
2 tbsp sambal oelek (or other savoury chilli paste) 

2 tbsp vegetable oil 

25 g fresh coriander(stalks and all)