Recipe Category Archives: Vegan Recipes

Vegetable Tofu Stir Fry with Miso Sauce Recipe

Adapted from Levana Cooks using Garden Vegetable Levana Nourishments

Vegetable Tofu Stir Fry: the Perfect Dinner!

You don’t need to wait until Meatless Monday to enjoy it. It is quite a substantial one-dish main course any time. You could swear you’re having a steak dinner: It’s that hearty!

The miso sauce and Sake yield a rich, silky and luxurious sauce. I took my recipe Asian all the way. Pretty easy to take your dish in any direction with a well stocked pantry!

For this Vegetable Tofu Stir Fry, I love to use Super Firm Tofu!

That’s the firmest textured tofu in the whole tofu gamut, and is becoming increasingly available. It lends itself beautifully to grilling and stir-frying. Firm and reliable, it won’t let you down or break apart: You will enjoy it more often. It only needs a few drops of oil to sear on each side.

You have plenty of room to play!

Although I was very happy with my vegetable selection, on another shopping day I might find something else more inviting. So this week it was tiny, and I mean tiny rainbow baby potatoes, less than an inch in diameter. They were impossibly cute, so of course I knew better than to leave them behind. Then I found small cremini, small baby bok choy, and small baby peppers. But many other choices will do: Small Brussels sprouts, asparagus chunks, thin zucchini, sliced shiitake, sliced nappa cabbage, even diced kohlrabi, butternut squash chunks, and so on. Likewise, you could skip the potatoes and serve the whole dish on a bed of soba or rice noodles.

Do not add any salt to the dish!

Once you put in the miso, you will find the dish amply seasoned without any added salt. You don’t want to ruin your dish by making it too salty!

Always have some exotic spices on hand!

I always have chipotle powder and truffle salt on hand: Accessible, exotic and low maintenance luxuries that help turn your pantry into a real treasure trove. (Enjoy the truffle salt in another dish though, we have enough salt in the sauce)

Use a large nonstick skillet!

That’s a must-have utensil. As usual with stir fry dishes, the wider the bottom of the skillet, the less oil you will need, and the faster your dish will come together, even while it keeps its vibrant color and crunch. Stir-fry the vegetables that have a comparable cooking time together. For example: stir-fry nappa, mushrooms and baby peppers together. Stir fry baby potatoes and tofu together, and so on.

 

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Natural Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Adapted from Levana Cooks, using Cocoa Coffee Levana Nourishments

chocolate frosting

Chocolate Frosting: Who doesn’t love it?

I have very recently perfected my Natural Chocolate frosting when I developed My Almond Apricot Chocolate Chip Torte, showcasing Chana Shusterman’s new and delicious brand California Gourmet Vegan Chocolate Chips. In addition to being suitable for Passover, it gets us health-minded bakers right up to the Holy Grail: An all-natural chocolate frosting, easy, dairy-free, gluten-free, low maintenance and above all fantastic.

I know you will think I lost it when I share my chocolate frosting secret, something I have been experimenting with for quite some time:

My Chocolate Frosting secret: Potato Flakes.

All-Natural 100% pure potato flakes. Ingredients: Dehydrated Potatoes. Period. Making dessert with potato flakes, hello? I know what you’re thinking: I’m a crazy old hippie. But here’s the thing: It’s funky, but IT WORKS!

I remembered the wonderful tricks we used during the photo shoots for my cookbooks.

My son in law, talented photographer Meir Pliskin, and Hannah Kaminsky, no less talented food stylist and Vegan  Cookbook Author.  Potato flakes were our best friend: All we needed to do with a recalcitrant food composition was mix equal parts potato flakes and boiling water, and mix thoroughly with a fork until the mixture got smooth, fluffy and creamy.  Pretty soon the mixture would get totally stiff, would mix with anything we  wanted to fold in (spinach for green,  tomato  paste for red and so on), and obediently hold its shape, and look perfect at photo shoot  time. I could pretend it was a fish or a vegetable or a meat terrine.

Recently I decided to see if my potato flake photo racket would work in scenarios where the mixture would in fact get eaten. I observed it was totally bland and therefore totally unobtrusive, more to the point, it had a totally undetectable flavor, and absorbed any flavor it was paired with, even while it held its shape beautifully. In short, my potato flake mixture became my blank canvass, waiting to be painted on. I tried a dozen combinations with ingredient amounts, and my last try was a triumph: a delicious and glossy chocolate frosting that contains nothing but the best, and won’t drive you crazy at decorating time or at serving time.

This chocolate frosting is just the beginning

I will take my discovery places and try using potato flakes with many other exciting combos (frostings, fillings, with chocolate, fruit, nuts etc…). I am delighted with my results, and so is everyone big and small I gave a taste to (my granddaughter licked her chops).

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Chopped Salad with Tehina Zaatar Recipe

Adapted from Levana Cooks, using Garden Vegetable Levana Nourishments

chopped salad with tehina zaatar

My favorite Chopped Salad is based on the classic Israeli Salad

I enrich with lots of good herbs, and dress it with a terrific Tehina Zaatar Dressing. More chopping than I like to do, but the good news is, my chopped salad can be easily elevated to main course status.

This chopped salad recipe is quite elastic, but here are some pointers if you are trying to make it in advance:

Do not use any fragile salad greens (romaine, Boston lettuce) until serving time. Add the tomatoes and avocados just before serving.
As long as the pre-made salad does not include salad greens, avocados or tomatoes, it is perfectly all right to make it and even dress it a few hours before serving.

Chopped salad as main course?

Here’s your chance to throw in whatever interesting leftovers you might have handy. Throw in a choice of:
Small dice Feta or Haloumi cheese (in this case no added salt) for a dairy salad
Cooked (good quality canned OK) chickpeas
Sliced seared tuna slices, or canned tuna or sardines
Diced cooked chicken or smoked chicken
Sliced seared steak

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Roasted Tomato Soup Recipe

Adapted from Levana Cooks, using Garden Vegetable Levana Nourishments

roasted tomato soup

My roasted tomato soup is strictly for tomato lovers!

And there are lots of us tomato lovers out there! Who knew the modest tomato could produce such a luxurious dish? Vegetarian to boot. Don’t change anything: Every single ingredient does its magic in this heavenly tomato soup. I often serve it at Seder dinners, or other long and elaborate dinners, not only to knock their socks off but also to mitigate the length and richness of the feast. Try the tomato soup cold too sometime!

Only plum tomatoes or beefsteak tomatoes will do.

They are the meatiest and contain the least moisture. Do not attempt to make the tomato soup with other varieties of tomatoes, as they won’t stand up to roasting.

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Basil Honey Dressing for Salads, Chicken, Fish

Adapted from Levana Cooks, using Mushroom Medley Levana Nourishments

honey dressing

Use this Basil Honey Dressing not just on salads, but in chicken and fish dishes too: It is that good!

Thank you Liz Rueven at www.kosherlikeme.com for including my Basil Honey Dressing Recipe in your beautiful story about Marina’s great new artisanal Honey Line.

You will love the vibrant basil color and flavor in this dressing. The pair of basil and honey just can’t be beat. I like to make this dressing in the summer, when basil is plentiful, and use it in salad greens that include tomatoes, fennel or olives.

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