Sunday, April 18, 2010

Biscuits!!



These delicious biscuits are courtesy of a recipe from Savvy Abby a blog that has tips for cheap vegan living from a VegNews Associate Editor. Great blog, I just started reading it today thanks to a heads up from a VN newsletter I get. As I was perusing the blog, I saw the recipe for the biscuits and was happy that I had all of those ingredients so I immediately got to baking.

I used olive oil and rice milk for my oil and non-dairy picks. Mainly because that's what I had available. I used regular all-purpose white flour because, again, that's what I had. Savvy Abby says that any combo of oil or flour or non-dairy liquids can be used. The basic recipe is really versatile: add sweetness for a sweet biscuit, use fresh herbs and garlic and other add-in ingredients. Go wild!

Here is a pic of a biscuit I had with Smart Balance and blackberry jam:


Delicious! I used the suggestion of a 1/4 measuring cup to measure out the biscuit dough for baking. I found that it created biscuits which were a little too large and had difficulty in getting some of the centers to be done all the way. They were still delicious and took 15 minutes, tops. They would be great in soups, gravies, with a sausage patty and tofu, sandwiches, etc.

Chickpea & Couscous Curry



Simple curry/stew that was quite delicious and lasted for several days. I just made it up as I went along, so I don't have exact measurements.

Ingredients:
1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
same can filled with water
1c dry cous cous
half of a large onion, medium-large dice
2-3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 can of chickpeas (15oz size?)
variety of frozen vegetables
curry powder, 1-2 Tablespoons (or to taste)
salt, to taste
olive oil, 1t

directions:

1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. In a large-ish stockpot, saute the onion in the olive oil. Add curry powder and continue to saute until onion is soft. Add garlic and saute a little more.

2. Add tomatoes and chickpeas. I also added some frozen vegetables. I just dumped in whatever looked like it would be tasty in this dish. I had a big bag of California Blend" which had cauliflower, broccoli and carrots. I also added some frozen peas. Many vegetables, fresh or frozen, would be great. Potatoes, mixed veggies, etc. Next time, however, I am going to add the veggies later on.

3. Add water. I just used the same can of tomatoes and filled it up with water and added it to the stew. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

4. Add couscous. I just threw it in dry and let it cook in the stew.

5. After couscous is finished cooking, the dish should be done. I enjoyed with sriracha but it was also fine on it's own.

It thickened up quite a bit the next day. I might add less couscous next time, and try not to overcook the veggies as they did this time. I personally wanted more curry flavor and some more spice to the dish. It was still delicious.