Vegan Potato Pizza

I was looking at my cookbook collection and I realized that I have made a big progression over the years in selecting cookbooks. I bought cookbooks from places you wouldn’t even think to look for books. The first cookbook I bought “Indian cooking” was from Costco and it has very limited vegetarian recipes. I remember just glancing at the book cover and the next thing you know; book was home, didn’t even bother to see what was in the book. My next cookbook was from “Marshalls” and the same thing happened again.

I collected quite a few books that have not much use to me as they have minimum vegetarian recipes. But with time I realized (and a nice little discussion with my DH) that I’m amassing all these book to gather dust and that’s when I started to research a little bit before actually buying (and if you want to know, the last 4 cookbooks I bought were from amazon). I bought all of Isa Chandra’s vegan cookbook collection recently and I’m very very happy with all 3 of them.

I also have to mention about the great library that I have in town; it is a part of a co-operative library system and if my local library doesn’t carry a particular book (which is 9 out of 10 times), they can borrow it for me from any of the 75 other libraries… how cool is that!!! I might have borrowed about 25 books till now using this (or should I say misusing this). If I think I like the book and I should have it, then I buy on amazon. Its been working great for me.

So now coming to the recipe, this is my entry to Vaishali’s (@ Holy Cow-Earth Vegan) Vegan-Italian event. Recipe is from Isa’s Vegan With a Vengeance (VWaV) and has two very unusual pizza toppings: Potato and Tempeh crumbles.
And what do you know Pillsbury Pizza Crust is vegan; and I had Bertolli’s tomato and basil pasta sauce on hand; that cut my prep to practically nothing. I changed the recipe just a little bit since I didn’t have some of the ingredients on hand, but both DH and I liked the pizza very much.

Ingredients:
Pizza Crust – 1, homemade or store-bought (I used Pillsbury brand)
Potato – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Tempeh crumbles* – 3 tbsp (Recipe follows)
Pizza sauce – 1/3 cup
Garlic – 3 cloves, thinly sliced
Onion – 1 small, thinly sliced
Olive oil – for brushing
Method:

• Preheat oven to 450°F.
  
• Rinse potato slices until the water runs clear, 2-3 times to remove any excess starch.
  
• Roll out the dough onto a pizza stone or foil covered baking sheet.
• Spread the tomato sauce with the back of a big spoon on the crust. As per Isa you should still be able to see some of the crust through the sauce-otherwise pizza might get soggy, so that’s what I did.
  
• Scatter all the other ingredients on the crust making sure that potatoes and onions lay flat for even cooking. Drizzle little olive oil on potato, onion and garlic to make sure that they don’t dry out in the oven.
  
• Bake in the oven and check after 8 minutes. Once the crust is lightly browned the pizza is ready, takes about 12-14 minutes.
  
• Remove and let cool before enjoying this unique pizza.
  

Tempeh Crumbles:
Ingredients:
Tempeh – 1 pk, any variety
Fennel Seeds – 1 tbsp
Dried Basil – 1tsp
Dried Oregano or marjoram – 1tsp
Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
Soy sauce or Tamari – 2tbsp
Olive oil – 1tbsp
Lemon juice – 1tbsp
Salt – to taste

Method:

• In a small pan, crumble tempeh; add enough water to almost cover it. Over medium-high heat, simmer until most of the water evaporates; about 12-15 minutes.
  
• Drain remaining water; add the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium heat stirring occasionally till lightly browned; about 10 minutes.

O for Onion Rice

This is a very basic rice recipe with caramelized onions and my entry for this week's A-Z Indian Vegetables hosted by Nupur (@ one hot stove).

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups, cooked
Onions - 2 large, thinly sliced
Tomato puree - 2 tbsp
Peas - 1/4 cup
Red Chili powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1tsp
Bay leaves - 2
Cloves - 4
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Method:

• Heat 2tsp oil in a pan, add bay leaves, cloves and cumin seeds, saute for 30 seconds.
  
• Add onions, fry on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. Occasionally baby sitting the onions to make sure that they don't burn.
• After the onions turn golden brown and caramelized , add tomato puree and peas (boiled), cook for 2 minutes. Add chili powder, garam masala and salt, cook for about 5 more minutes.
• Mix rice into onion mixture, adjust seasoning and serve hot as is or with a curry/raita on the side.
  

E for Eggplant in Coconut Gravy

Eggplant is my favorite vegetable and I can have it for all my meals. I never understood why some people don’t like it, but I guess I am heavily biased toward it. If I have to do an A-Z of vegetables, it’ll probably look like this:

A for Aubergine (German, UK)
B for Baingan (Hindi)
E for Eggplant (US)
K for Katharikai (Tamil)
M for Makhua (Malaysia)
T for Terong (Thai)
V for Vankaya (Telugu) and so on.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise if I submit “E for Eggplant in coconut gravy” for Nupur’s A-Z of Indian Vegetables series. I used Japanese eggplants, the skinny long ones. They taste sweeter than the large round eggplants.

Ingredients:
Japanese eggplants – 3, cut into match sticks
Red onions – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Green chilies – 3, chopped
Ginger – ½ tsp, minced
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped fine
Tomatoes – 2 ripe or ¼ cup tomato puree
Curry powder – 1 tsp
Coconut milk (light) – ½ cup
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste
Method:

• Heat a large non stick skillet, sauté the eggplant pieces in 1 tsp oil until nicely browned on all sides. I used non-stick spray and worked in batches so that the skillet is not crowded and all the pieces are browned evenly. Remove and keep aside.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in the same skillet, add onions, chilies, ginger and garlic and sauté till the onions are lightly browned.
• Add turmeric, tomatoes, curry powder and red chili powder, cover and cook till the tomatoes get mushy (or until the tomato puree doesn’t smell raw anymore).
  
• Add the fried eggplant pieces and 1 cup of water (use less if you don’t want your gravy to be runny), cover and cook for 5 -7 minutes until the eggplant pieces soak up the spices.
• Add coconut milk, salt and cook for about 3 more minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steaming hot rice.
  

Rice with Eggplant Curry and Lemon-Ginger pickle (Priya)

D for Dal Moghlai

This is my entry to Nupur’s A-Z of Indian vegetables series. Dal is the quintessential comfort food for all Indians. Be it the tangy-spicy sambar or plain old tadka dal, no Indian thali is complete without dal. This recipe is from Tarla Dalal’s recipe newsletter. I love my lentils and make sure that I make a big pot of dal (like soup) every weekend that will last at least 2-3 days. That way all I have to worry about during weeknights is making a subzi (curry) and rice.

Ingredients:
Toor dal – ¾ cup
Chana dal – ¼ cup
Bottle gourd (doodhi/ lauki/ sorakaya) – 2 cups, peeled and chopped into big pieces
Tomatoes – 1 cup, chopped
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Onion – ¾ cup, chopped
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped fine
Ginger – 1 tsp, minced
Green chilies – 5
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Clean, wash and soak the dals for about 30 minutes. Drain.
  
• Add the tomatoes, bottle gourd, turmeric, salt and 3 cups water to the dals and pressure cook till the dals are tender.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and when the seeds crackle, add the ginger, garlic, green chilies and onions and sauté till the onions are golden brown in color.
  
• Add the cooked dal and 1 cup water to the onions and bring to a boil.
  

Serve with steaming hot rice for a wholesome meal.