Low Fat Vegan Cooking

Buddha's Delight

Buddha’s Delight

I first had this dish at a new-age kind of restaurant. It was probably the first vegan dish i ate, though i didn’t know it at the time. I would find Buddha’s Delight now and then, and was pleased with it because it had a lot of vegetables.

But i had no idea that it had a Chinese origin. When i thought of making it at home this month, i only vaguely remembered broccoli, carrots, and pea pods, and the fact that i liked it. I Googled the recipe and found all the entries had a lot of Chinese ingredients.

I tried to put together my faded memory with some of the ingredients, but i really wanted to make an American dish rather than Chinese. What i ended up with was a kind of stir-fry with a few Chinese ingredients. I think many people would find the flavors familiar, even if they never ate Chinese food.

Like all stir fries, the basic cooking method is to cook the veggies as fast and as little as possible. The size you chop the vegetable becomes important so you can cook the dish more or less all at once. The vegetables i chose cook more or less the same amount of time, with the exception of the snow peas and scallions, which you add a little later.

For a pretty dish, slice your vegetables and leave them fairly large.

If you can find them, fresh water chestnuts are far superior to canned ones. You may be able to find them in Asian markets in the bigger cities, or in smaller Chinese markets in China towns. Buy a few more than you think you need in case some are too mushy and brown. You peel off the brown skin, and cut out any brown spots and then slice or chop. They are good raw too, as a snack or in salads or relish trays.

“As suggested by its name, it [Buddha’s Delight] is a dish traditionally enjoyed by Buddhists who are vegetarians, but it has also grown in popularity throughout the world as a common dish available in Chinese restaurants (though often not including all of the ingredients) as a vegetarian option. It is traditionally served in Chinese households on the first day of the Chinese New Year, stemming from the old Buddhist practice that one should maintain a vegetarian diet in the first five days of the New Year, as a form of self-purification.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha’s_delight

Buddha’s Delight

Makes 4 servings
Preparation about 45 minutes
Best eaten as soon as it’s cooked
Freezes okay

1 c. water
2 T. cornstarch
¼ c. rice vinegar
2 T low sodium tamari
1 t. sugar
2 cloves garlic
2 inches fresh ginger

12 medium mushrooms or 4 portabellas
2 stalks broccoli
4 carrots
4 stalks celery
12 fresh or 1 can water chestnuts
1 c. snow peas or snap peas
4 scallions

Stir the cornstarch thoroughly into a little of the water. Pour the rest of the water into a large pot, and add the vinegar, sugar, ginger, garlic, and tamari. When all the vegetables are cut up, heat the water and seasonings to boiling.

You can chop fast and rough or slow and carefully or somewhere in between. Here’s what i did:

Carrots – peel and slice thinly.
Broccoli – cut off the bottom of the stalks and chop them into little ¼ inch pieces. Cut off each stem that ends in the flowers and cut in two.
Mushrooms – cut small one in half, larger ones in ½ inch slices.
Water chestnuts – if fresh, peel and slice into two or three pieces. If canned, drain (you can use the juice in place of the water) and slice if necessary.
Celery – slice unless very large stalks.
Snow peas or snap peas – see if the end has a string that needs to be removed. Cut off the stem.
Scallions – slice thin or thick.

Put all the cut up vegetables in the boiling water and seasonings and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the snow peas and scallions and cook another 2 or three minutes until the peas turn bright green.

Drain the vegetables in a colander into a big pot. Put the broth back on the stove and stir in the cornstarch mixture, and keep stirring until it is thickened and then cook a minute or two more. Pour over the vegetables and stir.

Serve over brown rice or quinoa.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:
Per Serving – 140 calories/5.9 g protein (16.8%)/.9 g fat (5.9%)

Baked Supper with Baked Beans Potatoes and Italian Green Beans

Baked Beans, Potatoes, and Italian Green Beans

Sometimes we are gone all day and want to eat as soon as we get home. I designed a meal to put in the oven and set it to come on an hour before you want to eat. With a salad and fruit, you have a meal. Some of the salads here can be made ahead the night or morning before:

http://www.lowfatvegancooking.org/?cat=3

This meal is also good if you are trying to save energy, as you can cook everything together.

Baked Potatoes

Small potatoes cook in about an hour at 350°. If you have medium potatoes, cut them into fourths. If you have the large baking potatoes, cut them into eighths.

Baked Navy Beans

Baked Navy Beans

It turns out navy beans are what are usually used for baked beans. They are a small white bean. Molasses makes them the expected brown of baked beans. I used more molasses than is ideal so they would be more appealing to my husband, who isn’t wild about beans, but likes sweet things. More molasses also makes the beans the more characteristic brown.

You can buy canned navy beans, but it is simple to cook dry beans, especially if they are not too old. Put two cups (or make more for another dish) beans in a large pot (you want room for the beans to bubble up while cooking). Add about a half gallon of water (8 c.). Cover and soak overnight or 8 hours. I do this last thing before i go to bed and turn on the beans as soon as i’ve made my morning cup of tea. Most beans take about an hour and a half to cook after soaking.

You can also bring the beans and the water to a boil, then turn off and let them sit, covered, for an hour. Then cook, maybe about 2 hours.

The cooked beans should squash easily when you bite them, but they are best in this dish if they still have their shape, so check them after an hour and then again every 10 minutes or so. You will get a feel for how much longer they need and need to check less often as you cook them a few times.

Baked Navy Beans

Makes 4 servings
Preparation about 15 minutes
Can be made ahead
Freezes well

4 c. cooked navy beans
1 onion
4 t. – 4 T. molasses
½ t. salt (optional)
1 T. Dijon mustard, or your favorite mustard
1 T. catsup (optional)
¼ t. or more ground black pepper

Chop the onion. Mix everything in a casserole. Cover and bake 1 hour at 350°.

Adapted from Boston Baked Beans in The Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:
Per Serving – 248 calories/13.5 g protein (21.7%)/2.1 g fat (7.6%)

Italian Green Beans

Italian Green Beans

These can also be done on the stove in about 15 minutes. Use about ½ c. water if you cook them this way.

Makes 4 servings
Preparation about 25 minutes
Can be made ahead
Freezes well

4 c. fresh green beans
1 medium white or 1 large red onion
2 red peppers
1 fresh tomato or ½ c. canned diced tomatoes, salt free
1 t. dried basil
1 t. dried marjoram
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried sage
1 t. dried thyme
1 c. water

Trim the ends off the green beans and cut off any bad spots. I prefer to chop green beans into about 1 inch pieces. I just think they fit in the mouth better. If the beans are large, you can cut them down the length before you cut them diagonally into bite sized pieces.

Chop the onion, peppers, and tomato into small ½ inch cubes.

Mix everything in a casserole with a cover.

Bake at 350° for about an hour. Dish the beans up with a slotted spoon.

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:
Per Serving – 70 calories/2.9 g protein (17.2%)/.8 g fat (9.4%)