vegan Shabbat food

[cellio]

I unexpectedly have a vegan coming for Shabbat. (Actually, she'll be arriving tomorrow, but staying through.) Due to funeral arrangements and arrival of said guest, grocery shopping tomorrow isn't likely to happen.

I have in the house: rice (white and brown), beans (assorted), fake meat crumbles, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, assorted frozen veggies, and normal staples. I have no tofu at the moment.

One of the obvious answers is vegetarian chili (using the meat crumbles). I'm also thinking of either a peanut-based or curry-based stew served over rice; I'd use the sweet potatoes, onions, sturdy veggies, northern beans, tomatoes, and appropriate seasoning (peanut butter + ginger or curry). I don't know how well the squash would work; it would turn to mush, but maybe that's ok or maybe I shouldn't try. (If I had yellow squash I know that would work, but I don't.)

I welcome other ideas.

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I think that acorn squash is too fibrous - it would mush AND leave stringy stuff in their.

But you can "bake" it in the microwave. Half them, fill with something, wrap in plastic wrap. About 3 minutes.

You can also make rice and crumbles, and stuff the acorn squash with that. Bake normally. (A little tomato sauce is nice over that. If you have none, dilute ketchup as an emergency solution.)

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

Squash can be used to make a decent soup (Laura made this (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_17866,00.html) the other day, and it was great -- though it does have honey in it). You might even be able to get the sweet potatoes and some frozen veggies into the mix.

Be careful with vegans and fake meat if you haven't discussed it before. A few see it as "carnovore-ism in spirit" and are uncomfortable with it.

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

I have a red lentil dish I often make at home that would probably work fine with beans. I think the acorn squash would be fine if cut into chunks and added to the simmer at the right time, but might be redundant with the sweet potatoes (as another starchy orange thing). I usually put sweet potatoes in mine.
This is a freeform dish, but here is an approximation:
Heat olive oil in a dutch oven on medium-high heat
Sautee diced yellow onion (shallots are also good) until softened (and slightly browned, my preference)
Add curry powder (I use Penzey's sweet curry or Balti Seasoning), some whole black peppercorns, , finely chopped ginger, and a couple of bay leaves and sautee until fragrant, maybe 45secs
Add vegetable stock and bring to boil
Add lentils and "vegetables with fortitude" (sweet potatoes, parsnips, beets, and such cut into small chunks) and reduce heat to low
Cover and let simmer unti lentils and veg are cooked through. You may need to add more liquid at some point.
Greens and other veg with weaker constitution get added towards the end so they don't get icky. The whole thing takes maybe 45mins.
I've been eating more brown rice to get more whole grains in my diet and find it to be a good match for this dish. I don't think any kind of tofu or other meat substitute is necessary especially with the brown rice, it's pretty filling as it is.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

The curry sounds delicious.

I think it would work really well.

[cellio]

Thanks; I never thought to stuff the squash with rice and crumbles. (I usually go in the fruit direction.) That sounds really good! And yes, tomato sauce is one of the staples I keep on hand.

[cellio]

Thanks. That sounds tasty. I wonder if the cream can bs substituted. I sometimes substitute soy milk for milk in recipes, but it's a thinner consistency.

[cellio]

Thanks. Now that you mention it, I've done curried lentils with veggies in the past and had it work well, and I do have lentils on hand.

[cellio]

Thanks. I've made similar dishes "stove-top" before; using the crock pot would be new but shouldn't pose difficulties. (I'm thinking of doing that for Shabbat lunch.)

[ginamariewade.livejournal.com]

The acorn squash would be mushy in a stew, but it might be good to bake it and use it as a bowl for a peanut-ginger stew.

[eclectic-1.livejournal.com]

You've got to try the lentil recipe that I emailed to you. I never liked lentils, but I like this.

[cellio]

Thanks!

[cellio]

Ooh, good idea. I bet that would be tasty.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love doing that with squashes in general. I was also thinking you could cube the squash and saute it with garlic and rosemary. Yum! I did this the other day. :)

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

You are a good cook. So is cellio. :-)

One of my favorite games to play with food is to figure out "I've got THIS, what do I make." I especially love to play it in the grocery store, looking at other people's carts as I wait to check out.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I make a soup similar to this, often. Replace the chick stock with fresh cider, and the cream with a slightly smaller amount of VANILLA soy milk. Roasted garlic is also good, roast that at the same time as the squash.

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

I'd guess that soy milk would work well with that recipe (in fact, I might try that next time -- the extra "bite" of the soy milk could go well with the ginger). Because of the sweeteners already in the soup, you could probably get away with sweetened vanilla soy milk, if that's what you have on hand. As to consistency: it's going to be soupy either way. :-) You'll lose a bit of the "chowder" texture, but you can always add flour or cornstarch to thicken.

[cellio]

Pantry cooking! Yes, I enjoy that too. And sometimes in the store it manifests as "ooh, the $PRODUCE looks really good today; what can I...?" or "hey, this is a really good price for $ITEM...".

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

I am hungry for the theoretical peanut-based stew you describe. Over brown rice. Yum yum.

[cellio]

Here's roughly how I would implement that:

Dice the potatoes and boil a bit to soften some, but don't make too mushy. Meanwhile, saute onions, red pepper, and maybe some garlic in a deep skillet. Add the potatoes and sturdiest veggies, along with some liquid (water? veggie broth?). Add chopped ginger and let it all simmer a while. (Add beans and then squisher veggies.) After a while stir in peanut butter and simmer a while longer.

For the crock-pot version, I'd pre-cook the potatoes and onions/peppers as before and then dump everything into the pot and cook on low.