Help! need Meals for Bhikkhus - vegetarian

[DNS]

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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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.

[Ben]

OK, I've had to put my reading glasses on for this one....

Butter beans with sultanas

(India)

180g med-sized dried butter beans
3 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp whole ajowan (ajwain) seeds
0.25 tsp ground tumeric
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
0.5 tsp salt, or to taste
2-4 tbs sultanas
2 tsp sugar, or to taste
1 tbs lemon juice, or more to taste

- Pick over the butter beans and wash them. Put them in a bowl and cover them with 750ml of water and soak for 20 hours. Drain
- Heat the oil in a heavy 3.5 litre pot over a med-high heat. When hot, put in the ajowan seeds and stir at once. Now put in the drained butter beans and turn the heat to a med-low. Add the tumeric, cayenne, salt, sultanas, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir to mix. Add 250ml water and bring to a simmer. Cover tightly and simmer very gently for 45 min. Check the beans every 10 min. If the water evaporates, add a tbs of hot water whenever needed. There should be no liquid left when the butter beans have finished cooking. Adjust seasonings. Serves 3-4.

-- Source: Eastern Vegetarian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Tip
To eliminate soaking time use canned butter beans instead of dried.
If using canned butter beans, use the contents of 3 400ml cans washed and drained,

[Ngawang Drolma.]

A very tasty meat substitute is Quorn. It tastes better than meat
Good luck Chris! I'll try to post veggie recipes.

Kindly,
ND

[DNS]

A very tasty meat substitute is Quorn. It tastes better than meat
Good luck Chris! I'll try to post veggie recipes.

Also, the vegetarian deli slices: http://www.vegproductsguide.com/meat/deli.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I once served them to some non-vegetarians and they couldn't tell the difference. Some said it tasted better than the meat slices.

[Ben]

A very tasty meat substitute is Quorn. It tastes better than meat
Good luck Chris! I'll try to post veggie recipes.

Kindly,
ND

Holy Jesus! I never knew what Quorn was until I googled it and by-passed the town by the same name in the arid centre of South Australia!

I don't think its available in Australia. It might have something to do with our quarantine authorities not looking too kindly on the alien fungus.
Metta

Ben