Help! need Meals for Bhikkhus - vegetarian

[cooran]

Hello all,

Need help please.... The Bhikkhus (usually two) at the Forest Monestery where I attend for teachings and meditation strictly observe the Vinaya ~ which means they are Alms Mendicants and only eat before Noon and only eat Alms food donated by lay followers. I am thinking of signing up for the roster to provide the meal, but am not a vegetarian and have only learned to cook a non-vegetarian diet all my life. The Bhikkhus, though not able to request any particular dishes, are known to prefer vegetarian dishes ... though, of course, they must take what they are given.

I would love some hints and recipes - the Bhikkhus are West German and Finnish. The congregation is mainly Sri Lankan and Australian/English. It is a very small group, but expanding.

The person who has volunteered to be rostered for a particular day, brings the whole meal already cooked to the Monestary by 10.30 a.m.for serving .... hot dishes, breads, dessert, and fruit.

I would love recipes for a meal which is delicious, not fattenig, complete and healthy .... and easy to cook, transport and reheat.

Help!!

metta

[Ben]

OK Chris
I'm currently cooking some Indian vegetarian dishes as we speak. The fiddliest aspect of Indian/Sri Lankan cooking is the preparation and cooking the spices in order. But if you're organised its not too much of a drama.
I'll pull out my Madhur Jaffrey books (Asian Vegetarian & World Vegetarian) after dinner tonight and transcribe some recipes for you.
Metta

Ben

[cooran]

Hello Ben,

Thank you!!

metta
Chris

[cooran]

Hello all,

I would welcome ALL sorts of vegetarian recipes - especially mains and desserts which compliment each other.

metta
Chris

[Cittasanto]

http://allrecipes.com/Membership/ThankY ... C6kFr%20M=

here is a good source of recipes, there are many similar types of sites around.

typically I would cook myself a Thai sweet and sour tofu, which I have altered slightly to suit my taste, and I got the recipe from the retreat centre I go to. there are many meat style alternatives in the freezer section which are surprisingly nice.

[fijiNut]

Greetings Chris & All,

The easiest ( and most welcomed suggestion in my opinion for these two monks) would be just vegetarian pizza(to save you the hassle, get this ordered from pizza hut or dominos!).

Alternatively, if you have the time to prepare you don't need any new recipes, whatever recipes you have for meat, just use mock meat, I don't know if this link might help for Asian stores that sell mock meat in Brisbane - compliments of google.
http://www.vegsoc.org.au/forum_messages ... Topic_ID=1
There are special curry pastes you can buy that takes the guesswork out of cooking delicious Asian style curries, throw some lentils/beans and vegetables, you're set!

Please send my love and kind regards to all dear friends at this special monastery.

May the merits of your good deed bring you and your loved ones - long life, health, strength and happiness to practice the Dhamma all the way to Liberation!

kind regards,
fijiNut

[cooran]

Thank you Manapa and fijinut,

Sung, you are sorely missed. Jeff will be leaving next weekend also. Anicca, I know - but ...

On a happier note, Dhammagiri at Kholo has had a wonderful three days (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) honoured with a visit from Kruba Ajahn Liem Thitadhammo, with Ven Siripanno, from Wat Nong Pah Pong in Thailand. Ajahn Liem is a highly respected and revered Buddhist monk in the classical Thai Forest Tradition. He is Ajahn Chah’s chosen successor. On the last afternoon, we took him for a Citycat ride on the Brisbane river (the captain came at the end to call and wave 'Sawadee ka'. The boat ride was from the University to Brett's Wharf and then we drove up to Mt. Cootha lookout. Bhante Dhammasiha was laughing because we were all pulled over and breathalysed on the way up ... and louder when it happened again on the way down. There were four robed monks (one Thai, one Malaysian, one Finnish, and one German) and I think more people at the look-out were taking photos of our group than of the view.

metta
Chris

[thornbush]

Here's some:

69 Vegan East Asian Recipes: Contributed by Vegetarians and Vegans from around the world
Healthy Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes Veggie Chef Recipes
Vegetarians in Paradise
Vegetarian Recipes and Cooking
Recipes Around the World

Namo Amitabha Buddha!

[fijiNut]

Chris,

That's a great story! I can imagine why the cops stopped you; "What? Five people with so radiant smiles, they must be drunk or high on something!"

....or maybe high on Dhamma.


kind regards,
fijiNut

[Ben]

Hi Chris

Actually, Sung's suggestion is excellent. I'm often a bit too lazy and resort to the viacom(?) paste jars in the Asian food isle of Coles or Safeway. One that I discovered recently was the Thai yellow curry. Instead of the meat/chicken it suggest on the side of the pack, I substitute with tofu and vegetables. instead of the fish sauce, you could substitute lemon or lime juice. For a desert, I don't think you can go past a cake. I've been making cakes at home and, don't cringe, but the Green's or White Wings English Tea Cake is particularly good. It does require a few eggs, so best to find out whether the venerables prefer not to consume eggs.

Chris, can you give an indication when you would like to start cooking for the sangha? Both of my vegetarian cookbooks will be great. World Vegetarian has vegetarian recipes from all over the world - not just Indian and Sri Lankan. And may give the monks a reprieve from a Sri Lankan cuisine (however delicious). Eastern Vegetarian also includes menu suggestions as an appendix. I could get lots of the recipes photocopied or it might be easier for me to send the books up to you and I could highlight some of my recommendations.
Anyway, just let me know what you want to do and when you need the recipes by, as I'm happy to send my books up to you on loan.
Metta

Ben

[cooran]

Thank you Thornbush - I've had a quick browse of the sites and think they will be very useful.

Ben, that's a lovely offer, I'll let you know.

metta
Chris

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Chris,

Mrs. Retro does a mighty fine ricotta lasagna... let me know if you'd like me to source the recipe.



Metta,
Retro.

[Ben]

What's becoming apparaent to me is that what Dhamma Wheel lacks is its version of an online cooking channel. Perhaps we can embed YouTube window in a thread with a selection of videos of members in the kitchen a la jamie oliver (definitely NOT Nigella) cooking up their favourite vegetarian dishes. Another idea I have is our own version of 'Hells Kitchen'. We could call it 'Cooking in Samsara' and the role of obnoxious uber-chef (Gordon Ramsay) could go on rotation. We would then channel our 'Inner-Yakkha' so that our friends have the great opportunity to develop equanimity while being publically humiliated.
What do you think??

Ben

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Ben,

What do you think??

I think you should reconsider your Nigella exclusion!

Metta,
Retro.

[Ben]

White beans with rosemary

(Provenance: France)

Note: all measures are in metric

4 tbsp olive oil
115g onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary, or 1/2 tsp finely crushed dried rosemary
1 med tomato finely chopped
1 bay leaf
285g dried large white beans, picked over, soaked and drained.
1.25 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper

- Put the oil in a wide medium-sized saucepan and set over a medium-high heat. When hot, put in the inion, garlic and rosemary. Stir and fry for 3-4 minutes, or until the onion just starts to brown. Put in the tomoato and bay leaf and stir for one minute. Put in the beans. Add 875 ml of water stir brong to a boil and cook for 1 hour. Add the salt and pepper, cover, turn the heat to low and simmer genly for another 30 minutes or until the beans are quite tender. Serves 4.

-- Source: Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

Tips:

- Use canelloni or butter beans. Its also good with bortolli beans.

- To cut down on the cooking time, consider substituting the dried beans with canned beans. I use two 400g tins washed and drained. Then, instead of 875 ml of water, add enough water to cover. Simmer for 30 minutes ensuring that the beans don't go dry.

- Serve with rice, cous cous or crusty bread.

[David N. Snyder]

The posts and recipes listed here are great. Another key thing to remember is to just keep it simple. If you make it too complicated, complex, with lots of preparation, you might waver back to the meat recipes.

Vegetarian food doesn't have to be too complex or complicated. Common simple foods include: pastas with marinara sauce, Italian foods, Mediterranean foods, Indian foods, Ethiopian, Mexican, etc.

If they like tofu it is pretty simple to make it tasty. Cut the tofu in cubes, about the size of sugar cubes. Sautee the tofu in a wok or frying pan with a small amount of oil. Then add some spices, such as curry, hot sauces, soy sauce, etc. Serve with rice and you have a tasty meal that is prepared in a short amount of time.

[Ben]

I love beans, so here's another one.

Fassoulia Fourno (Baked Butter Beans)

(Provenance: Ormylia Monastery, Macedonia)

190g dried butter beans, picked over and soaked
4 tbsp olive oil
1 med onion (115g) peeled and cut into fine half-rings
1 med carrot, peeled and cut into 7mm thick slices
340-375g tomatoes, finely chopped
1.25 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
3 tbsp fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried oregano

- Drain the beans and put them in a saucepan with 750ml fresh water. Bring to the boil. Remove the scum that rises to the top. Cover, return to the boil and simmer for 1-1.5 hours or until the beans are just tender.
- Meanwhile, put the oil in a flameproof caserole and set over med-high heat. When hot, put in the onions. Stir, and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the onion has just wilted. Put in the carrot and cook for another minute, stirring now and then. Now put in the tomatoes and cook for 7-10 minutes or until the tomato has softened. Remove from the heat.
- Preheat the oven to 170 deg C
- When the beans have finished cooking, add them, both the beans and the liquid - to the casserole. Also add the salt, lots of black pepper, parsley and the oregano. Stir to mix. Put the casserole into the oven and bake, uncovered, for 2 hours. Serve hot. Serves 4.

-- Source: Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian

Tips

Butter beans when soaked shed their skins which contains a lot of the acid that forms the scum during the cooking process and gives people gas (hence removal of the scum) and they require an overnight soaking! To get around this and to reduce the cooking time, I use canned butter beans. Go for the imported Annalisa brand in Coles or Safeway. They're cheap and they're bigger and better quality than the local coles brand. If you use canned beans, you will still need to cook but they should only require 15-30min tops.

[cooran]

Hello all,

Thanks for the recipes Ben! I'll get round to trying them. Do you have a favourite?

Retro - yes please, could you post Mrs. Retro's recipe?

fijinut ~ the link you gave is to a GREAT website ... lots of recipes and other items:
The Vegetarian and Vegan Society of Queensland
http://www.vegsoc.org.au/default.asp

metta
Chris

[Ben]

Hi Chris

As I mentioned earlier, I love beans so i'm completely biased!
One of my favourites is an Indian dish of butter beans that are cooked with sultanas and ajowan seeds. its a beautiful and quite subtle but unusual sweet and sour flavour and makes a brilliant counter-point to other indian dishes. If I get time later I'll post it.
My fav out of the two i posted earlier would be the white bean with rosemary. Its pretty easy and tasty.
Kind regards

Ben

[retrofuturist]

Mrs. Retro's Ricotta Lasagna

Ingredients:

9 sheets lasagna
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1kg crushed tinned tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
salt
pepper
pinch of sugar

0.5kg ricotta
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups grated mozzarella
salt
pepper
pinch of nutmeg

Cook garlic in oil for one minute. Add tomato, basil, salt, pepper and sugar. Lower heat and simmer for 35 minutes.

Beat ricotta and butter until creamy. Stir in mozzarella, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Alternating layers - pasta, sauce, cheese, pasta, sauce, cheese, pasta, sauce.. in a medium/large baking dish

Cover with foil, cook at 200'C for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for further 10 minutes. (oven times may vary, insert a knife to see if it's soft and hot)

Leave to stand for 10 minutes. Serve with salad.

Metta,
Retro.