Butternut Squash & Pear Soup

Many Hands House makes this every year at Yule alongside Garbanzo loaf. Take your time cooking this, it's sooooo worth it.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash (peeled, de-seeded, diced)
1 large sweet potato (peeled, diced)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
1 1/2 cups water
2 medium onions
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) butter *
3 red bartlett pears (peeled, de-seeded, diced)
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream *

Directions:
Heat vegetable broth, water, and cinnamon stick to boil.Add squash and sweet potatoes and cook until soft.
Heat butter in a separate pot, caramelize onions and add pears. Heat for 10 minutes, then add wine. Cover and cook 10 more minutes until pears are soft.
Mix pear/onions into squash/sweet potatoes. Remove cinnamon stick. Blend until pureed. (A submersible blender is great for this, but a blender will do.)

Add cream, salt and pepper to taste.

*Veganize it: Use Earth Balance spread for the butter and soy or almond milk for the cream.

Garbanzo Bean Loaf

    16 years ago, Chris and I were trying to decide what to make for Yule supper. We went through our many cookbooks, and settled on Recipe for a Small Planet's Garbanzo Bean Loaf. As I have said before, when choosing your traditions, choose carefully. Although we only make this once a year, we make it every year.
  The recipe in the cookbook is vegetarian, here I veganize it.

Ingredients:

    1/2 cup dried garbanzo beans (cook and drain) or use 1 1/2 cups canned
    1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
    1 cup pineapple juice
    1 cup chopped onion
    1 1/2 cup chopped celery
    3 tablespoons oil
    1/4 cup fresh parsley
    egg substitute equivalent to one egg
    1 tablespoon miso (any-white/red/your choice)
    1 teaspoon salt
    dash of hot sauce
    2 pinches cayenne pepper
    1 cup vegan cheese (Swiss maybe or hot pepper)

Directions:

1. Combine bread crumbs with pineapple juice, let soak.

2. Mash the beans but leave a few whole!

3. Saute onions and celery in the oil.

4. Dissolve miso in a  very small amount of hot water, to make a thick slurry.

5. Combine rest of ingredients in order.

6. Turn into loaf pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes until browned and firm.

I always quadruple this recipe for a large holiday meal so that we will have leftovers! I serve it on a bed of spinach leaves with Louisiana hot sauce along side of squash/pear soup. I hope this becomes a favorite in your home!

Serves: 3 to 4

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Roasted Asparagus Soup

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Number of servings: 4

Yield: 4 cups

 Ingredients

• 2 pounds asparagus, ends trimmed
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 small onion, sliced
• 2 cups warm vegetable broth or “no-chicken” broth
• 1/2 ounce raw cashews (1 heaping tablespoon) or 1 tablespoon cashew butter
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• salt to taste
• splash of lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450F. Place the asparagus spears on a baking sheet. Sprinkle them with olive oil.  Roast for 5 minutes. Turn asparagus and sprinkle the onion and garlic over it. Roast for about 10 more minutes, until asparagus is very tender. If anything looks like it’s browning too much, take it out. (Important Note: These directions are for thicker asparagus. Thin asparagus may take much less time so start with 5 minutes, turn and add onions and garlic, and check again in 5.)
2. While the asparagus is roasting, blend 1/2 cup of the broth with the cashews and pepper until smooth.
3. When the asparagus is done, select several of the best-looking spears, remove the tops, and set aside to use as garnish. Cut the remaining asparagus into pieces and put it and the onion and garlic into the blender, along with the remaining broth. Cover the blender and blend on high until perfectly smooth.
4. If you’re using a Vita-Mix, you can blend it on high for a few more minutes until piping hot (remove the center cup and cover with a kitchen towel to allow steam to escape). Otherwise, pour the soup into a saucepan and heat until hot, stirring frequently. Add salt, if needed, to taste.
5. Pour into bowls and splash with lemon juice. Garnish each bowl with the reserved asparagus spears and serve hot.

They ate every bit!

Sizzling Tofu with Ginger Root Ankake Sauce

This recipe is a long time Many Hands House favorite, adapted from The Book of Tofu

Tofu

1/4 cup of kudzu powder, arrowroot, or cornstarch

2 egg whites (we use egg replacer, with a bit of turmeric)
18 ounces of extra-firm tofu
oil for deep frying

Combine arrowroot and egg whites in a small bowl; mix until smooth.
Cut tofu into twelve equal cubes (or thin rectangles), dip into the batter, and deep-fry.  Serve immediately with ankake sauce (below).

Ankake Sauce

2/3 cup dashi, stock, or water
3 tablespoons shoyu
2 tablespoons natural sugar
2 teaspons arrowroot or cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of warm water
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger root or ginger root juice

Combine dashi, sugar and shoyu in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil.  Stir in dissolved cornstarch and ginger root and cook for about 1 minute, or until thick.

Archer thought it should be presented differently:

 
We served it with edamame. Wolfie likes to eat his with chopsticks.

Saag (Palak) Paneer

  Another Punjabi inspired dish! Did you know "palak" means "spinach"? "Saag", however means "greens". So your saag paneer might be palak paneer, but it might not! This is another Many Hands House favorite that I have been making for over 15 years now. And yes, the children cheer when it is served!

Palak Paneer
serves 4


2 boxes of tofu or homemade paneer
6 cups packed fresh spinach or 4 frozen spinach
2 fresh hot green chiles, seeded and chopped (adjust to taste, or sometimes I use powdered cayenne)
1 tsp. each garlic and ginger
3 cups canned evaporated milk or coconut milk
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 tsp. butter (or substitute)
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp. tumeric
2 cups chopped tomato
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar

cooked rice

- broil your tofu or paneer in the oven until golden, or fry in yummy butter.
- place fresh spinach in steamer basket and steam for 6 minutes. Transfer to blender with chiles, garlic, ginger, milk and flour. Blend til smooth.

-Heat oil and butter. Cook onion and tumeric for 4 minutes. Add tomato. Cook 4 more minutes.
-Add spinach mixture to onions and tomatos. Reduce heat. Stir in salt, sugar and tofu. Mix and heat through.

-Serve over rice.

Matar Paneer

 Matar Paneer is a recipe I have been making for decades. It's a family favorite and Chris' very very favorite. I usually make it vegetarian, and all of the ingredients (except spices) are available at Aldi. Last night I made it vegan, and it was darn good. Here are both versions! Remember you can mix the two recipes - a little tofu or coconut milk in your vegetarian version, for example.

Matar Paneer - Vegetarian  
(serves 8, you might want to halve it)

4 cans evaporated milk
2 blocks paneer (You can make it!)
1/2 cup ghee or butter
8 Tbsp. ginger root
4 Tbsp. garlic
1 onion, chopped
4 tsp. salt
4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp hot red pepper (you may want to adjust this for taste)
4 tsp. coriander
4 Tbsp. gharam masala
4 cups chopped tomato
2 cups peas
4 Tbsp. sugar
fresh cilantro


Put butter in skillet. Fry paneer cubes. (You can also bake them) Remove from pan.
Add more butter and ginger and garlic. Fry for 30 seconds.
Add onions and salt. Fry for 7 minutes (until soft)
Add one can of evaporated milk.
Stir in tumeric, red pepper, coriander, gharam masala
When blended, add the rest of the milk and the tomatoes
Bring to a slow boil, and let reduce for 10 minutes
Add peas and sugar
Add paneer
Garnish with cilantro







Matar Paneer - Vegan
(serves 8, you might want to halve it)


4 cans coconut milk
2 blocks tofu (You can make it!)
1/2 cup vegan butter
8 Tbsp. ginger root
4 Tbsp. garlic
1 onion, chopped
4 tsp. salt
4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp hot red pepper (you may want to adjust this for taste)
4 tsp. coriander
4 Tnsp. gharam masala
4 cups chopped tomato
2 cups peas
4 Tbsp. sweetener (to taste)
fresh cilantro


Put vegan butter in skillet. Fry tofu cubes. (You can also bake them) Remove from pan.
Add more vegan butter and ginger and garlic. Fry for 30 seconds.
Add onions and salt. Fry for 7 minutes (until soft)
Add one can of coconut milk.
Stir in tumeric, red pepper, coriander, gharam masala
When blended, add the rest of the coconut milk and the tomatoes
Bring to a slow boil, and let reduce for 10 minutes
Add peas and sweetener
Add tofu
Garnish with cilantro





We serve this with a salad and wheat tortillas. You could make papadum, chapatis, fried cauliflower, tamarind sauce, and mango lassi.


Girly recommends adding vegan sour cream to the sauce. Next time I will!

Vegan Broccoli "Cheese" Soup

  Chris and I have been looking for a vegan alternative to our family's favorite Super Easy Cheese Vegetable Soup. We have really been moving towards complete veganism. (In fact, it's getting difficult for us to look at the blog's header photo- so much dairy! Time for a new pic!)
  We had been thinking of using a variation of The Farm's Yeasty Mac and Cheese recipe for the soup base. When I saw this recipe for Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup, I knew it was the one!  Now I need to be up front with you. Nutritional yeast doesn't really taste like cheese. It tastes like nutritional yeast. And my family LOVES it. We use it on popcorn, toast, burritos, salad, everything. So we tried it and now we're sharing it with you!



Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup
 
Note: You can probably make this gluten free by substituting the flour with 2 or 3 tablespoons of corn starch or another similar thickener.

• 3 or 4 small heads broccoli, chopped and with most of the stems removed
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried yellow mustard powder
• 8 cups water
• 5 tablespoons vegan butter

Prepare your broccoli and onion, then steam them for about 15 minutes. It will not have enough time to cook in the soup itself, so it needs to be cooked separately. Just be sure to not over-steam it.

In a large soup pot (which will need to be at least 3 or 4 quarts), mix all of your dry ingredients together, then whisk in the water until the dry and the wet have been well mixed. Add in the vegan butter and allow it to melt as the soup cooks.

Turn on the heat to about medium high and stir constantly. It will take several minutes to thicken, but if you do not stir the soup it will burn on the bottom and not thicken evenly.

As soon as the soup thickens up to a consistency that you like, take the soup off the heat and stir in the steamed broccoli and onion. You can serve immediately, or you can store it and serve it later. It will thicken up more in your refrigerator, however as you heat it up again, it will return to a more liquid state.

Success! We loved it. Méabh REALLY loved it. I look forward to trying the yeast base in other recipes. We served it with a salad and home made garlic toast.

We had some lovely dinner guests too.