Vegan Yum Yum (29 page)

7 cups water

2 vegetable bouillon cubes

¼ cup tomato paste

1 cup elbow macaroni
(or other small pasta shape)

2 cups packed greens
(like kale, chard, collards, etc.,torn into bite-sized pieces)

2 ears corn
(about
cup)

2 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh

½ teaspoon salt

Black pepper, to taste

Black Bean Soup

I
love black beans. I especially love them with coconut milk in soups. The coconut milk is optional here, but it's oh-so-delicious. It's hard to tell, but in these pictures, one soup has the coconut milk in it and the other does not. You stir it in just before you serve it, so feel free to ask the preference of your guest. It's easy to make some bowls with and some bowls without. This soup starts with a mirepoix, which is a classic combination of onions, celery, and carrots, all of which are known as aromatics. Traditionally, the ratio for mirepoix is 2:1:1 onions, carrots, celery. This soup is closer to 1:1:1, but it's very flexible. Feel free to alter the ratio. I also haven't called for the mirepoix to be uniformly diced, as I don't think it makes a difference in this soup. However, feel free to be uniform with your dicing if you're feeling fancy and have some time to kill with your chef 's knife.

Black Bean Soup

Makes 2 servings

step 1
Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the carrots and cook for 3 minutes. Add the celery and cook for 2 minutes. Add the red pepper, thyme, cumin, black pepper, beans, tomatoes, salt, and tamari and stir well.

step 2
Cover and let the ingredients cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover, stir, and let simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if needed. Turn off the heat and stir in the coconut milk. Serve immediately, topped with fresh red bell pepper and a celery leaf for garnish.

Ingredients

1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, your choice

¼ cup minced onion

1 medium carrot, sliced into thin coins

2 small ribs of celery, chopped
(¼ cup total; reserve leaves for garnish)

¼ cup diced red pepper

½ teaspoon thyme

¼ teaspoon cumin

Black pepper, to taste

1 14-ounce can black beans, undrained

1 cup tomatoes blended
(if fresh, about 3 small tomatoes)
or 1 cup canned diced

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon low-sodium tamari

¼ cup coconut milk
(optional, but recommended)

Diced red pepper, for garnish

Cannellini Bean Soup with Pan-fried Croutons

I
created this soup after I had a similar one in a restaurant in my neighborhood. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I deconstructed it and recreated it in my own kitchen. It's very simple and fresh, but bursting with flavor. Crispy fried croutons pair perfectly with soft beans and tender kale, while little grape tomatoes give bursts of sweetness. This is definitely one of my all-time favorite soups, and you can prepare the croutons for any other recipe you like.

Cannellini Bean Soup with Pan-fried Croutons

Makes 2 servings

step 1
To make the pan-fried croutons, melt the margarine in a skillet and add the bread cubes. Let the bread fry, absorbing the margarine, until golden brown. Toss to brown all sides of the croutons and remove from the pan when they are rich brown and crispy. Set aside.

step 2
Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add the shallots and sauté until tender and lightly colored. Pour in the vegetable stock and heat until simmering. Add the kale, beans, and salt and cook, covered, until the kale is tender but still dark green.

step 3
When ready to serve, turn off the heat and add the tomatoes. Let them sit in the hot soup for 1 to 3 minutes to cook slightly before serving. Check the seasoning and adjust, if desired. Add the pan-fried croutons at the last moment, with a small squeeze of lemon juice, if desired.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Earth

Balance margarine

3 slices whole wheat bread, sliced into ¼-inch cubes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 to 3 shallots, peeled and sliced

4 cups Homemade

Vegetable Stock

2 to 3 kale leaves, torn

1 14-ounce can cannelinni beans, drained

½ to 1 teaspoon salt

16 grape tomatoes, halved fresh lemon juice, for seasoning

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in a Ginger-Soy Broth

T
his isn't a traditional wonton soup. I suppose a vegan wonton soup wouldn't really be considered traditional anyway, but I really took some liberty with the recipe. The wontons are stuffed with one of my favorite greens, Chinese broccoli, and chopped seitan. I tossed the filling in a chili-mustard sauce for a salty, spicy kick. The slight bitterness of the Chinese broccoli really balances the piquant heat of the dressing, creating a really yummy dumpling.

I wanted the wontons to be the star here, so I made a very light ginger-soy broth to float them in. I only covered the wontons about halfway with the soup base, so really, this isn't so much a soup as fresh dumplings lightly dressed with an aromatic broth. In fact, the broth is quite plain on its own, but it works very nicely with the flavorful dumplings.

Chinese broccoli is fantastic, and if you've never had it, I wholly recommend a search of your nearest Asian grocer to find some. It's a vegetable chimera of all of my favorite things: the florets of broccoli rabe, the stems of asparagus, and leaves like tender collard greens. It has a mild flavor with a sweet and slightly bitter bite, and it's perfect for stir-fries or any other high-heat/quick-cooking method. It's also quite good for you, and its complex flavor is a nice change of pace from regular broccoli or simple spinach.

Folding wontons isn't hard—as long as you can find the wonton skins, you'll be good to go. The brand I used here is called Twin Marquis, and they make both vegan and nonvegan wonton skins and gyoza wrappers. Look for the white (not yellow) square wrappers. The round ones are gyoza skins, much better for pot stickers; even though they're similar, they're a good deal thicker than the wonton skins. Either way, check the label for eggs.

If you have leftover wonton skins, you can make extra wontons and freeze them in one layer on a cookie sheet, then transfer them to a freezer bag for long-term storage. Just drop them directly into boiling water when you're ready to cook them. You can also wrap the skins up tightly and store them in the fridge for a day or two. Fill them with anything you like (spinach and Tofutti cream cheese? Tempeh sausage?), fold in half, and seal shut. Panfry them in 1 to 2 inches of oil until crispy and golden brown. It's a wonderfully tasty and quick appetizer or snack.

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in a Ginger-Soy Broth

Makes 4 servings

step 1
Begin by chopping the Chinese broccoli very thin with a sharp knife, from the base of the stem up toward the leaves (just like chopping scallions). Heat the oil in a large pan and add the ginger. Once the ginger becomes fragrant, add the broccoli and seitan, stirring well and cooking until the broccoli is bright green and tender-crisp.

step 2
Transfer the broccoli-seitan filling to a small bowl and toss with the chili sauce, mustard, and 1 teaspoon of tamari (or soy sauce). Taste and adjust to your liking. Set aside while you make the broth.

step 3
To make the broth, in a small saucepan, heat the water, ginger slices, mirin, remaining tamari (or soy sauce), sugar, rice vinegar, and salt until the sugar and salt are dissolved and the ginger has had time to infuse the broth. Taste and add more salt if desired, but remember: this is a mild broth that is only meant to be a complement to the wontons. Once the broth has begun to simmer, turn off the heat and toss in the Chinese broccoli leaves (or your choice of greens). Cover and set aside.

Ingredients

1 cup Chinese broccoli, sliced thin

1 tablespoon oil

1 to 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced

cup seitan, chopped fine