Fab Rangoon

Remember that greasy crab rangoon your parents always ordered from Chinese restaurants when you were a kid? Well, here's an updated vegan version. It's easy and delicious!

Fab Rangoon (makes 16 pieces)

Dough:

1 c all purpose flour

1 tbsp semolina flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tbsp safflower oil

1/2 c lukewarm water (or more as needed to get dough consistency)

-Mix flours, salt, oil, and water to make soft dough.

-Knead dough for about 1 minutes to make smooth and pliable.

-Set dough aside in bowl & cover with damp cloth. Let sit at least 15 minutes. 

Filling:

1/2 c cashews, soaked in water for at least 4 hours

1/4c water (or more/less as needed to get smooth consistency when processing cashews)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutritional yeast

2-3 cloves garlic, minced well

1 green onion, chopped finely

2 tbsp kale, chopped finely (may use spinach instead)

2 tbsp carrots pickled in ume vinegar, chopped finely (may use plain carrots instead)

(to pickle, put carrots in jar, cover with a half water half ume vinegar mixture)

-In a food processor, process cashews with water, adding only a little bit of water at a time, until you have a thick, smooth, creamy paste. Periodically scrape the sides with a spatula/spoon. Add salt and nutritional yeast and pulse once more.

-Place cashew cream in a bowl, add garlic, green onion, kale, and carrots. Mix well. Taste and adjust any seasonings to taste.

Frying:

enough safflower oil to fry in

1 tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp water

-Knead doug and divide into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a 2 inch circle.

-Mix flour with water to make paste.

-Spoon about 1/2 tbsp of cashew cream mixture into middle of dough circle. Place a bit of paste around edges of dough circle. Gather edges of dough and pinch together until you have four edges.

-Heat oil in pan for frying. (Test the oil to see if it's ready by dropping a small piece of dough in. If it sizzles, it's ready)

-Gently place rangoon in hot oil with spoon. Fry until golden brown, approximately 3 to 5 minutes.

-Remove fried rangoons and place on paper towel to drain slightly.

Espinacas con Garbanzo (vegan)

I don't remember where I tried or even heard of this Spanish dish, but I do remember I love eating it, I love cooking it, and I love how simple it is. And I got to thinking today, "what a great pie filling espinacas con garbznzo would make!"

I had no pie crust, so I had to make one from scratch. If I had one on hand, this would have been one of the easiest & most delicious savory pies I had ever made. (I basically spent all afternoon on it, and the crust wasn't even that great. Granted, I didn't have the proper flours. I tested a mixture of cake flour, pastry flour, and whole wheat all purpose flour. While the bottom crust was a-ok, the sides were very crumbly and dry.)

This pie would be great to throw together for unexpected vegan guests. Serve it with a side of sweet potato mash for a colorful & delicious meal!

Espinacas con Garbanzo Pie (Espinacas y Pastel de Garbanzos?)


1 par baked pie crust
1 - 2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4 - 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
1 bunch fresh spinach
1 t cumin
1 t sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Heat oil over medium low heat in large saute pan.
3. Add onions to hot oil and allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for about 3 minutes more.
4. Add garbanzo beans and cook for a couple of minutes, then mash a bit with the back of a fork.
5. Begin adding fresh spinach in parts - as much as your pan can handle. Allow to wilt before adding more. Add cumin & salt 1/2 teaspoon at a time while adding spinach to incorporate through the mixture.
6. Once spinach is wilted, remove from heat. Spoon mixture into pie crust. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until the top of your pie filling begins to brown & crust pulls away from the sides.

If you're a fan of tofu, you can also add a seasoned tofu mixture to your pie. I pressed 1 block of hard tofu, mashed it, then mixed in olive oil, sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, and dried oregano. I took about 2/3 of the mixture and folded it into the Espinacas con Garbanzo to give the pie and little extra something.

Lemon & Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is nothing special (vegan, gluten free, macrobiotic, etc...) about these cookies other than that they're Christmas Eve cookies. They are delicious and the lemon makes the dark chocolate taste even better!

Recipe to come....

Spring Rolls

I had my first go at making spring rolls in class the other day, and may I say, it was one of the best things I've gotten to make! I am not a fan of the traditional spring roll. Often times, I find the peanut sauce to be bland and oily. I dislike the rice paper with the vermicelli (rice) noodles and I always think there is too much cilantro. We were able to take the idea of the spring roll and put our own twist on it.

I chose to make an italian spring roll with a tangy & creamy dipping sauce. The marinated mushrooms were flavorful, the mix of fresh herbs were balanced instead of one taking over another, and the whole wheat linguine was a nice contrast to the rice paper. I would love to make these on the regular, and I think this is probably the beginning of a love affair with anything-but-traditional spring rolls.

Recipe to follow....

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cake (vegan)

I always buy too much when it comes to holiday cooking & baking, there tends to be ingredients leftover. This is NOT a bad thing. This just encourages me to get creative past the holiday. I had a can of pumpkin, maple syrup, and cranberries left over after Thanksgiving and I've been craving sweets (not too sweet, though). I poked around the internet looking for a pumpkin-cranberry-oatmeal like cookie thing. I found this recipe for pumpkin oatmeal cookies over on pickycook.com. My first thought was to make it exactly as is, my second thought was make it vegan.

Well, when the time came to get out the butter to let it get to room temperature, I decided I didn't want to put vegan butter in it. Vegan butter out, canola oil in. Then, reading through the recipe, I realized I didn't have any brown sugar, sucanat to rescue! Oh, but I didn't have any of that either. In came the maple syrup (and some extra agave nectar), out went the sugars. Last but not least, I mashed up some banana for the egg, cause let's be honest - who really likes working with egg replacer? Not me.

I measured and mixed and what I had was not a dough - nope, not even after I chilled it. This cookie became a cake! A delicious, fluffy, not-too-sweet vegan cake. Now, I have the perfect breakfast for the rest of the week. The only thing I would add next time? Some chopped nuts!

Recipe to come....