Spinach and Mushroom "Quiche"

I have been craving quiche for a while now and I was thinking, how hard could it be? So we bought some tofu and mushrooms, picked some spinach and leeks from our garden and voila! :-)

Ingredients

1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 cups fresh chopped spinach
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
400g firm tofu, crumbed
1tbsp English mustard powder
1tbsp mock chicken stock (or veg stock) powder
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2tbsp mixed seeds
Dash of soy sauce
Seasoning to taste
Pinch of paprika
2 cups vegan white sauce
1 tomato, thinly sliced
Cooking oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200 deg C. Sautee spinach and onion for a few minutes. Add mushrooms and salt, cook for a few minutes while stirring. Remove from heat, stir in white sauce and add tofu, crumbs and seeds. Cook for a few minutes. Season and add soy sauce. Pour into greased ovenproof dish, top with tomato slices and sprinkle with paprika and bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve with salad and enjoy :-)

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Hot and Sour Soup with Shitake Mushrooms

Awesome soup for winter. It is usually made with rice wine vinegar but I prefer using lime to give it a nice citrus taste

You will need:

250g fresh shitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed (not necessary)
1 inch fresh ginger, finely grated (about 2 tsp)
1/4 tsp dried chilli (this is enough to give it a bite, just)
Juice of 1 small lime/ 2tbsp lime juice (or rice wine vinegar)
Red and yellow peppers, julienned
400g whole kernel corn
50 ml soy sauce/1 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp vegan powdered ‘chicken’ stock (available from Fresh Earth)
1 tbsp cornstarch
6 cups water (plus a bit more to mix the cornstarch)
1tbsp sunflower or ½ tsp sesame oil
Seasoning to taste

Method:

Sauté the onions, garlic, ginger and dried chilli in oil.
Add mushrooms and peppers and cook for a few minutes.
Add corn, water, lime juice, miso paste/soy sauce and stock powder. Bring to boil.
Mix cornstarch to a smooth paste and add to soup while stirring. Allow to cook for a few more minutes.
Season to taste

Variations:

Add tofu.
Add more hot with chilli oil, hot pepper sauce or peri-peri sauce.
For a more Thai flavour add lime leaves, coriander leaves, basil leaves and lemon grass.

Amaranth

As promised, I had a go at cooking amaranth tonight. It comes out looking like tiny quinoa grains when cooked and has a slightly crunchy texture. Apparently overcooking it is not a good idea as it may go "gummy". It is quite easy to work with as it doesn't burn easily and cooks fairly quickly. Amaranth is one of few "grains" that contains complete proteins, i.e. all essential amino acids, and is therefore a useful item for a vegan pantry.

I tried a recipe from this site but, as is my wont, did not exactly follow it to the letter so the veggies were less sauce and more topping:

Amaranth with Spinach Tomato Mushroom Sauce
1 cup amaranth seed
2-12 cups water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch spinach (or young amaranth leaves if available)
2 ripe tomatoes, skinned and coarsely chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1-1/2 teaspoons basil
1-1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 clove of garlic minced
1 Tablespoon onion, minced
Sea salt and pepper to taste (or use a salt substitute)

Add amaranth to boiling water, bring back to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 18-20 minutes.

While amaranth is cooking, stem and wash spinach, then simmer until tender. Dip tomatoes into boiling water to loosen skin, then peel and chop. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and add garlic an onion. Sauté approximately 2 minutes. Add tomato, mushrooms, basil, oregano, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of water. Drain and chop spinach and add to tomato mixture. Cook an addition 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lightly mash tomato as it is cooking.

Stir the sauce into the amaranth or spoon it on top.

Mushroom and Courgette Stew

Ingredients

• 1 punnet button mushrooms, chopped
• 4 courgettes, sliced into 1cm slices
• 1 can whole peeled Tomatos, blended
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 400 ml Water Or Vegetable Stock
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Black Pepper

Method
Fry the garlic and paprika on medium heat in olive oil for about a minute.
Add mushrooms and courgettes and fry for a few minutes until softening.
Add blended tomato.
Add water/stock.
Season to taste.
Reduce heat and simmer for about twenty minutes.
Before serving add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and mix.
Serve with rice, couscous or quinoa.

Variations
This works nicely as a curry as well. In that case replace paprika with good spice blend and add one tsp of grated ginger. Leaving the tomato and stock out you can use this curry as a base for an unsual twist on bobotie. In that case, you can use this bobotie topping.