Mushroom Paprikash - A Taste of Hungary

Back in the 1990s, I was an actual monk in an actual monastery. (Cue the chorus of angel voices here.) Anyway, I taught myself to cook Hungarian food because most of the elderly monks came over from Hungary during the 1950s and I wanted to give them a taste of their homeland. Also, I wanted to COOK – I was fine with the poverty, chastity, and obedience, but I missed cooking. Hungarian food was my ticket back into the kitchen.

So, remembering the robust taste of Hungarian paprika, sour cream, and hearty peasant fare, I veganized Hungarian chicken paprikash. Hearty cremini mushrooms take the place of the chicken and I developed a nifty cashew sour cream. By the way, Hungarian food can be pretty spicy (“csípös”) so feel free to oomph up the cayenne pepper.

Oh, and here's a photo of yours truly, rollerblading in the monastery parking lot. Perhaps it's no surprise I'm no longer a monk. 

A lean, mean, praying machine

I’m really pleased with this dish. Not only will it make a Hungarian monk long for his homeland, (it’s that good) but we can enjoy it too.

Mushroom Paprikash

Cashew sour cream: 

Soak 1 cup of raw cashews in boiling water for 30 min. Drain off water and blend cashews with ¼ cup water, 1 ½ tsp cider vinegar, 1 ½ tsp lemon juice, ¼ tsp salt. Then, proceed with recipe:

16 large cremini mushrooms, halved

1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1” chunks

3 Tbs Hungarian paprika

½ tsp smoked paprika

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

½ recipe cashew sour cream

1 14 oz can tomato sauce

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

Margarine and oil for frying. (I like Earth Balance)

Your choice of noodles. (Barilla veggie spirals are vegan)

Fry the mushrooms face down in margarine until well-browned. Don’t turn them over; don’t touch them. It’s important that they get really brown on the cut side. After they’re brown on one side, they’re done. You’ll need to do this in two batches.

Add the onions and bell pepper and sauté until slightly tender. Add the spices along with a little oil for frying in order to let the paprika “bloom” which, apparently, is hugely important to Hungarians. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Return the mushrooms to the sauce, stir in the sour cream, and serve over pasta. Serve the additional sour cream on the side for topping.

 Enjoy!!!

© 2015 by Jon Buckner Wheat. All rights reserved.

Patti LaBelle's Sweet Potato Pie - Veganized!

Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pie has certainly caused an internet sensation! Wal-Mart can’t keep it in stock. The recipe is elusive. And top it off with the absolutely hilarious viral video of James Wright sampling it and breaking out into the best LaBelle imitation ever – Well, all this got me curious. 

Is it really that good?

I found the recipe, but alas, it’s laden with eggs, butter, and cream. (No wonder it’s all the rave.) Many of the staff at the shelter where I work were talking about this elusive pie. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I made it for their Thanksgiving feast. And yes, I tasted it in order to get a reference point to jump off from. After all, if I was going to duplicate it or even surpass it with a vegan version, I had to know what I was up against.

The thing that made this pie so notorious in my opinion, was the copious amounts of butter and cream in Miss LaBelle’s creation. Also, the nutmeg. Normally, just a hint of that spice is used in most recipes. In Patti’s pie, its fragrant woodiness is brought to the forefront.

I went with my version of cashew cream instead of the moo-cow stuff. Easy enough. I tinkered with using coconut oil instead of butter but didn’t want to go quite as heavy as LaBelle’s use of an entire stick (8 tablespoons) per pie.

After tasting mine, I thought I’d nailed it. To be sure, I conducted a blind taste test with the staff to see which one they liked better – Patti LaBelle’s or my vegan version. Both slices were offered to eight subjects without telling them anything about either offering. (The vegan version is on the right.)

And there was a clear winner: By seven-to-one, the vegan version was preferred!

Nailed it!

So, now you don’t have to wonder about Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pie any longer. Our vegan version is even better!

Lord only knows what James Wright would do if he tasted this one! Maybe it'll make you sing like the lovely Patti LaBelle as well. 

Here’s the recipe, my friends:

To make one 9-inch deep dish pie:

Preheat oven to 350° F

Ingredients:

1 deep dish 9-inch pie shell of your choice (check to make sure it doesn’t contain lard or butter).

2 large sweet potatoes or 3 medium ones, steamed until tender and peeled

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup unrefined coconut oil (I use Trader Joe's organic virgin coconut oil). 

½ cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for an hour

¼ cup water

3 Tbs corn starch

1 tsp grated nutmeg

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

Pour off water from cashews and blend them in ¼ cup of water in a high-speed blender to create cashew cream.

Mash the sweet potatoes with the remaining ingredients along with the cashew cream. Mix well, pour into the pie shell and bake for 1 hour. Let cool to room temperature and serve.

© 2015 by Jon Buckner Wheat. All rights reserved.

THE Best Cheeze Sauce. (Seriously)

Okay, my dear vegan puppies, let's face some cold hard facts here:

We miss cheese. 

I'm not talking about Kraft Macaroni & Cheese; I'm talking real cheese . . .

English Seaside Cheddar

Cheese curds from Wisconsin

Browned and blistered provolone at 2 a.m. from Domino's, just before the morning after the night of too many.

And we've all seen "the" quick-n-easy mac & cheese from the cute and snappy people at Buzzfeed.

Mind you, I love the Buzzfeed people. I really do. Keith Habersberger is the ultimate time-suck. 

But their potato & carrot cheese sauce is absolutely abominable. (Sorry, Keith).

Turning baked potatoes all gluey in a blender is precisely what one should avoid doing to a potato. Just ask Julia Child. 

Yes, it is cheese-colored orange, thanks to the carrot. But, it tastes like the paste you ate in the second grade, minus the minty aftertaste. 

Cheese sauce made from cauliflower tastes skunky in my opinion. 

Others are mealy or lack the pungency of real cheese. 

And raw cashews? Come On! 

I am so tired of taking out a credit advance whenever I can find raw cashews.

There's gotta be a better way. . . 

Well, there is!

Check out that dried out, mealy container of Chinese take-out rice huddling in the back of your fridge . . . 
Or that bit of pasta from last-night's spaghetti dinner. 

There's your ticket to THE Best Cheeze Sauce (Seriously)

In your high-speed blender, chuck in:

1 cup leftover rice or pasta or a combination of the two (whatever ya got is fine)
(Or, for a richer sauce, substitute 1/2 cup cashews for half the rice or pasta.)

1/3 cup nutritional yeast (Here's my "go-to" on Amazon)

2 heaping Tbs of sun dried tomatoes in oil (If you chuck in 3 Tbs, that's okay)

2 Tbs corn starch

1 Tbs cider vinegar

1 Tbs vegan margarine

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp smoked paprika (from Trader Joe's) If you don't have it, add a tsp of the tasteless stuff you have on hand

1/4 tsp turmeric

2 cups hot water

Blitz that blender for all it's worth. Put that puppy on the "soup" setting.

If you don't have a BlendTec or a VitaMix, that's okay. Blend it, and then heat it in a sauce pan till simmering while whisking away. 

And there you have it. 

THE Best Cheeze Sauce (Seriously)

It will thicken up to the consistency of mayo -- almost to cream cheese thickness. 

It's rich, thanks to the sun dried tomatoes, tangy, and the cider vinegar gives it that pungency of cheese.

Keep it on hand. Schmear it on a bun along with a dotting of vegan chorizo and a fried-till-crispy Smart Dog and you'll have THE Best chili-cheese dog ever. 

Seriously.

© 2015 by Jon Buckner Wheat. All rights reserved.

Vegan Meatballs

Vegan meatballs. Probably nothing has frustrated me more than creating a delectable vegan meatball, much less nailing down a recipe for one that (1) tastes fantastic (2) doesn't require lots of ingredients (3) is incredibly cheap to make (4) is easy to prepare (5) baked, not fried.

A tall order if you ask me. There were lots of trials and errors. Lots of errors.
Pasty meatballs, beany meatballs, meatballs that stuck to the pan, meatballs that required $412 dollars worth of mushrooms that only grew in peat located in an obscure Irish county. . . .
Bah! 

But the moment I made this mixture and tasted it, I stomped my size 11 foot and pumped my fist.
Yess!! Here we go, baby!

Best of all, this one requires only SIX ingredients.

The secret to these super-tasty vegan meatballs are the sun dried tomatoes which add richness and that “umami" flavor that we all know and love. The sweetness of the sun dried tomatoes completely annihilates any hint of "beany" flavor and supplants it with a rich unctuousness.

And, please. Do not even think about using sun dried tomatoes that are not packed in oil. The oil from the jar is the only fat contained in this recipe.
Ride the wave. 

All the salt and spices come from the vegetable bouillon paste. My personal favorite is "Better than Bullion, No Chicken Base" readily available at Whole Foods or here at Jet (half the price, no shipping charge!) Splat it in and forget about adding onion powder, garlic, salt, and myriads of other flavor-enhancers. Splat! . . . Done. 

Also, draining everything well ensures a meatball that holds its shape without having to add flour or breadcrumbs which can make the meatballs pasty. Let the beans and bulgur seep in the colander for that extra 30 seconds and give it a good, rollicking shake. It's also necessary to let the mixture cool and stiffen; 4 hours is good. Overnight? Why not.

Rolling them into balls no larger than 1 inch in diameter creates a crusty exterior and moist interior. It also eliminates the need to flip the darn things halfway through the baking process -- A huge plus, if you ask me.

These proportions are for a commercial kitchen and makes about 40 meatballs. However, this entire recipe costs less than $10 to produce, so why not go for it and have plenty on hand in the freezer?

1 lb. dried black beans, (2 1/2 cups) cooked in unsalted water until tender. Drain well.
1 cup bulgur, cooked in unsalted water until tender. Drain well. (Here it is from Amazon Prime)
3 stalks celery
2 large carrots
2 onions
1 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil (Here's a great deal on a 2 lb. jar -- Yes, even with the shipping, this is a good deal.)
2 Tbs vegetable bouillon paste

Finely chop the celery, onion, and carrot in a food processor and sauté in oil until tender and moisture is evaporated.
Finely chop the sun dried tomatoes in a food processor.
Puree the black beans in a food processor. (Not the bulgur).
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, taste for seasoning, adding a touch more bouillon paste if necessary (tread lightly), and refrigerate 4 hours until cool and mixture stiffens. Overnight would be fine. 
Roll into small meatballs no larger than 1 inch in diameter and place on a well-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 40-50 minutes or until desired doneness. These meatballs will be a little squishy when they come out of the oven but will firm up once they cool a bit and shouldn't stick to the pan at all. 

I cannot tell you how good these are in the middle of the night, microwaved, and festooned with ketchup. Or smooshed into a sandwich, slathered with vegan mayo and Major Grey's mango chutney.

Go ahead. Make 40 to have on hand.
What have you got to lose?

© 2015 by Jon Buckner Wheat. All rights reserved.