Contrary to what you may think, baking bread is a really simple process that is fun, easy, and makes your whole house smell wonderful!  Vegetarian or not, everyone should add this most basic skill to their cooking repertoire.

At the most basic, bread is simply flour, yeast, and water.  A pinch of salt helps the taste, and a spoonful or two of sugar helps the yeast to grow.  To make a very basic loaf of bread, start by mixing a teaspoon of yeast with a spoonful of sugar and some warm water.  Let it sit for five minutes or so.  Pour a cup or two of flour into a mixing bowl, add a bit of salt and the yeast/water/sugar mixture and start kneading.  You will probably need to add more water to get a nice dough.  A as you knead the dough slowly add water until the all the flour is moistened.  If it gets really sticky, add a bit more flour.  Continue kneading until the dough is consistent and spongy.  Cover the doughball in flour and leave it in a warm spot to rise for an hour or two.  Bake it at 350-400 degrees until nicely browned and you’ve got bread!

Knowing this basic recipe, you can make all sorts of delicious baked goods.  For pizza, add a bit of olive oil to the dough while kneading, as well as whatever spices you like (for example, oregano, Parmesan cheese, chopped sun dried tomatoes).  Flatten and top with sauce and cheese, or fold it over for a calzone.

To make garlic knots, simply roll bits of dough between your hands and tie into a knot.  Bake as before, then brush with a mix of melted butter and chopped garlic.

For cinnamon rolls, take the basic dough and roll it out into a big flat rectangle on a floured surface.  Spread it liberally with butter, cinnamon, sugar, and raisins or nuts if you like.  Roll the flattened dough into a big tube, then slice into 1-2 inch rolls.  Put the rolls sideways in a buttered baking dish and bake until browned and wonderful!

Now that you know the basics of making bread, go and bake up a loaf right now!

Delightfully moist and slightly sweet.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup apple juice
1 cup well-mashed, cooked sweet potato
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt.  Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until the dough has taken on the consistency of course crumbe.  Add the apple juice, sweet potato, honey, and nuts, and mix to form a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and knead in just enough extra flour to make the dough lose its stickiness.

With floured hands, divide the dough into 16 equal parts. Shape into small balls and arrange on a lightly oiled cookie sheet, patting them down a bit to flatten. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one tests clean. Transfer the biscuits to a plate and serve hot. Makes 16 biscuits.

An impressive and healthful dish, this could easily serve as the centerpiece to a Vegetarian Thanksgiving feast!

1 medium pumpkin, about 10 inches in diameter

1 baking dish of cornbread, baked, cooled, and chopped into 1-inch cubes

4 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
6 cups fresh autumn greens (for example: kale, collards, turnip greens, beet greens, or chard) washed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable broth to moisten

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut the lid off the pumpkin and scoop out seeds and fibers. Place cleaned pumpkin on a lightly-oiled baking sheet and bake for around 45 minutes, then remove from oven and keep warm.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil or butter over medium-high heat and add onion and garlic, stirring to coat with oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are slightly softened and golden, about 5 minutes.  Add greens and cook, stirring, until wilted and coated with oil.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the cornbread cubes, wilted greens, walnuts, egg, herbs, salt, pepper, and enough vegetable broth to moisten.

Place stuffing in pumpkin and cover with foil. Replace pumpkin in preheated oven and bake 35 or more minutes, until stuffing is cooked and pumpkin is tender.  Transfer pumpkin to a serving platter and remove foil. Serve warm, being sure to scoop bits of cooked pumpkin on to everyone’s plate along with the stuffing. Serves 6.

2 cups cranberries
1 cup water
1 cup packed brown sugar

Rinse the berries and remove and obvious stems.  Dissolve brown sugar in water in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the berries to the sugar-water and boil lightly until all the berries have popped open.  Stir frequently to make sure the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.  Simmer the sauce over medium heat, stirring often, until the sauce has thickened to your preferred consistency.  Enjoy as soon as it has cooled enough to eat, or chill overnight and serve!

¾ c butter
2 c onion, chopped
2 c celery, chopped
1-2 t salt
pepper to taste
3 t sage
3 t thyme
1 t marjoram
1 t rosemary
½ c fresh parsley, chopped
2-3 T apple cider vinegar
16 c bread cubes*
4 c green apples, chopped
1½ c lightly toasted walnuts, minced
2 c vegetable stock
 

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter over medium high heat and sauté onion and celery until soft. Add salt, pepper, herb, and vinegar. Mix well and remove from heat.  In the bowl, combine bread, apples, and walnuts. Stir in onion mixture until well combined.

Toss this mixture with half of the vegetable stock and check for consistency, ideally moist but not soggy. Add more stock as needed, then taste and adjust seasonings.  Butter the casserole dish, add stuffing, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.

2 pounds butternut squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons dried sage
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 scallions including green tops, chopped
3/4 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 450F.  , Peel, seed, and dice the butternut squash into 1/2 inch pieces.  Toss the pieces with the olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper and sage, then spread them on a large baking sheet.  Roast, turning occasionally, until tender and starting to brown (15-20 minutes). 

In a small mixing bowl, prepare the sauce by combining the mascarpone, half-and-half, chopped scallions, and 3/4 tsp salt. 

Boil the penne in a large pot of salted water until cooked, then drain.  (Tip: reserve some of the pasta water to thin the sauce if it seems too thick!)  Combine the cooked pasta, roasted squash, and sauce.  Serve topped with Parmesan.  Serves 4.

Filling and Sauce:
2 cans pumpkin, or 1 small pumpkin halved, seeded, roasted until tender, and mashed
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small carrot, grated
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream

Pasta:
2 cups flour
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk

To make the ravioli filling, begin by sauting the onion, garlic and carrot in butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Mix the pumpkin, cumin and the salt in with the sauteed vegetables.  Be sure to reserve 1/4 of the resulting mixture for the sauce. 

Now make the pasta.  On a well floured work surface, form a mound of flour with a depression in the center and crack the eggs into the center of the well.  Break the yolks and add the milk, then combine well.  Knead for 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is springy and smooth.  Separate the dough into two equal sized balls.  Roll each ball into a thin rectangular sheet.  Spoon generous tablespoons of ravioli filling at 2-3 inch intervals on one of the sheets.  Moisten the area around each spoonful of filling, then carefully stretch the second sheet of dough over the bottom sheet, pressing hard to join the two layers.  Cut the individual raviolis apart with a ravioli cutter or the backside of a butterknife and set them on a clean towel.  

To make the sauce, put the remaining filling mixture back into a saucepan over low heat.  Mix in the pumpkin pie spice, then slowly add the cream while mixing.  Simmer until the sauce reaches your desired thickness. 

Boil the raviolis for 2-4 minutes in a large pot of salted water, taking care to avoid sticking.  Drain and serve with the pumpkin cream sauce, salted to taste. Serves 4.

The holidays can be difficult for vegetarians, with extended family and friends extending offers of bountiful meals laden with meats and dairy.  In fact, the centerpiece of the Thankgsiving holiday is a huge turkey, roasted to perfection, often with a ham on the side.  Stuffing and gravy round out the meal, leaving a vegetarian to dine on mashed potatos and cranberry sauce. 

However, Thankgiving can still be a great vegetarian holiday by relying on delicious and healthy recipes using pumpkin and sweet potatos, stuffed vegetables, delectable cranberry sauces, and hearty meatless stuffings.  Over the next week, we will post a number of hearty fall recipes just perfect for a Vegetarian Thanksgiving.  Please join in the fun by sharing your favorite vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes, too!

Marking the beginning of fall, the autumn equinox is when there are exactly twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness at the equator.

Autumn equinox is also known as the second harvest. An abundance of vegetables are available at farmers markets, roadside stands, and grocery stores.

Pumpkin is loaded with the antioxidant beta-carotene, which has been found to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. It’s also low in calories—one cup of cooked pumpkin is only 49 calories. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS:
1 large onion, diced medium
3 stalks celery, diced medium
2 carrots, diced medium
1 large leek, diced medium
2 cups pumpkin, fresh, cooked or canned
6 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of clove
pinch of nutmeg
salt, to taste
1cup soy milk, rice milk, or half and half
PREPARATION:
1. Add the first 11 ingredients into a stock pot over medium high heat.

2. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer.

3. Simmer for 30 minutes and remove from heat.

4. Let cool for 15 minutes.

5. Puree soup in blender and return to pot.

6. Finish with soy milk and season to taste.

Nutritional Analysis
Per serving: 125 Calories, 3g Fat (21% calories from fat), 5g Protein, 20g Carbohydrate, 2mg Cholesterol

About Sabra
Sabra Ricci is a Maui-based private chef specializing in healthy gourmet cuisine. Her website is www.cateringbysabra.com  

Most vegetarians know the bounty of delicious meatless meals that come from India.  Korma and curry, paneer and naan - all delicious treats that delight the taste buds but scare away all but the most stalwart and experimental chefs. 

Cooking Indian food can be bewildering, with the array of words and ingredients that most of us have never even heard of before.  However, forays into the world of Indian cuisine can be satisfying and easier than you might think.  Whole Foods Market is a great place to get information, ingredients, and even recipes!  First, consult their glossary of Indian terms to familiarize yourself with the ingredients: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/kitchentips/indiancuisine.html

Then, when you’re ready to take the plunge, try “Indian Dal” as a first step into the world of Eastern cooking!  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/vegetarian/indiandal.html

And for those of us who still bemoan spending an hour chopping, frying, and simmering, there are a number of very easy to fix meals available, from companies like Eastern Essence (http://www.easternessence.com/) We recently sampled their “Royal Dal” and found it most satisfying, and so easy to prepare: just mix the sauce packet into two cups of water, simmer for 25 min, mix with rice and enjoy!

Makes 2 servings in 45 minutes

Much of the Indian population is vegetarian, and they enjoy the most extensive vegetable dishes in the world.

This is not only because of the predominant Hindu religion with its respect for all living creatures.

Also feeding 1 billion Indian people nowadays can be done much more efficiently by growing vegetables in stead of animals.

Last but not least: when a refrigerator is not available, it is much easier to use up small portions of vegetables, in stead of having to slaughter and store 1 big animal.

For vegetarian dishes, you will notice that each Indian region has distinct cooking techniques and flavoring principles to prepare them.

You have probably also noticed that there are many, many “curry”-recipes. Actually “Kari” is the Tamil (one of the many languages spoken in India) translation for the English word “sauce”. And “curry” is the western way of pronouncing this word.

Before coming to Malaysia, my simple western recipe for using chick peas was to add them in thick soups… Since Malaysia is the melting pot of all Asian cuisines, I notice that there are as much chick pea curry recipes as that there are people here.

Here is one of them: a home-cooked chick pea curry recipe from my Indian friend Ssussi. She uses a lot of fresh ingredients and her recipe takes a bit more of your time than expected for such a simple yet delicious dish.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 can of chick peas (15 1/2 Oz; 439 gr)
* 1 medium onion, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
* 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
* 1 green chilly, finely chopped
* 2 medium well ripened tomatoes, seeded and chopped
* 1 tablespoon fresh coriander chopped
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 10 g vegetable oil
* Spices:
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tea spoon “garam masala”
- salt to taste

PREPARATION

1. Drain chick peas, reserving the liquid.

2. Cook the onions, ginger garlic, chilies and turmeric in the vegetable oil until golden and softened.

3. Add the tomatoes and cook to soften, then add the ground coriander and chick peas.

4. Cook for 10 minutes, add the reserved liquid and cook a further 10 minutes.

5. Add “garam masala”, lemon juice and stir in the fresh coriander. Cook gently for 2-3 minutes, adding more liquid, if needed, to make a sauce.

Serve with “naan bread”, “chapati” or as a side dish.

About The Author
The Skinny Cook aka Stef Glassee, is a Belgian chef living in Malaysia : the melting pot of Asian cuisine.

Find more delicious home-tested recipes at : http://www.theskinnycook.com

Skinny Cooks’ Home-Recipes : Eurasian Cooking, Food and Tips!

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