Carrot-Granola Quick Bread

I just got a new oven after going without one for about six months.  I'm on a baking binge now, and nothing's easier to make than quick breads.  They're called panques in Mexico, though your traditional gringo quick bread has more fat, more sugar, and more spices than its Mexican counterpart.  The difference between a quick bread and regular bread is that quick breads don't have yeast.  Instead, eggs and baking soda or baking powder are used to leaven the bread, making preparation a lot faster, easier, and with a lot less mess.

This recipe calls for ground nutmeg.  I've never seen nutmeg in Mexico.  If you're making this bread in Mexico, you'll have to tuck a jar into your checked luggage or ask that someone bring you some.  I've made carrot bread without nutmeg with success, but the flavor loses some of its complexity.

The recipe also calls for granola.  I use a delightful mix I found in the organic farmers market near my house.  It has toasted coconut, toasted pecans, raisins, puffed amaranth, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, and toasted oats, and it is sweetened with piloncillo, a by-product of the sugar-making process which is Mexico's version of brown sugar.

As for the dried fruit called for in the recipe, feel free to get creative.  I cleaned out my pantry and tossed in a mix of the many tiny bags full of the last pieces of dried fruit I had.  I used a mix of dried sweetened cranberries, prunes, chopped candied figs, and raisins.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs
• 1 c sugar
• 2/3 c oil (preferably canola oil)
• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 c grated carrots
• 1 c granola
• 1/2 c dried fruit

PREPARATION:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F or 176 degrees C.*
2. Combine eggs, sugar, and oil in a small bowl.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Stir with a wooden spoon until mixed, but don't over-mix the batter.  Add carrots, granola and dried fruit.
5. Pour the batter into a greased bread loaf pan and bake for about one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Makes 1 loaf.  This recipe is easily doubled.

* A lot of Mexican ovens either have the numbers 1-5 on their dials instead of temperatures, or the dial controls the size of the flame instead of the actual temperature of the oven, because the oven doesn't have a thermostat (despite the fact that it might actually have temperatures on the dial).  Do yourself a favor and buy an oven thermometer.  It'll save you a lot of heartbreak and burnt breads.

Vegan Chickpea and Dumplings Soup

This recipe tastes so much like chicken and dumplings soup that I would have thought it was made with chicken if I hadn't prepared it myself.

You can use canned chickpeas in a pinch, but I really do recommend that you use dried.  The chickpea cooking liquid is used as the soup base here.  It gives it a little more "chicken" taste.

INGREDIENTS: 

The Soup:

• 3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1.5 liters chickpea cooking liquid (if you don't have that much cooking liquid left over, add water to the chickpea cooking liquid until you reach 1.5 liters)
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning or hierbas finas
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh parsley
• 1 chile, finely chopped (optional)
• 2 tsp MSG
• salt to taste

The Dumplings:

• 2 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 TB minced fresh parsley
• 3/4 cup soy milk (you can also use regular milk here for a non-vegan version)
• 1/4 cup canola oil

PREPARATION:

1. Put all soup ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer.  While the soup is simmering, prepare the dumplings:
2. Mix dry dumpling ingredients and fresh parsley together.  Add milk and canola oil and mix with a fork.
3. Let dumpling mixture sit at least 5 minutes, until the vegetables in the soup are cooked through.
4. When the soup vegetables are cooked through, turn the heat up on the soup to bring it to a rapid boil.  Drop spoonfuls of the dumpling dough into the boiling soup.
5. Cover the soup, lower the heat so that the soup remains at a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Ladle two dumplings and soup into bowls.

Serves 4-6.

Vegan Un-Chicken Barley Soup

I knew this soup was a winner when my husband tasted it and exclaimed, "Wow! This really does taste like chicken."  You see, my husband is a meat-eater.  But not just any old meat-eater.  He was raised in a town where the only meat you can find is fresh, never frozen.  So when he thought my Un-Chicken Barley Soup actually tasted like chicken soup, well, I think that says something.

Most un-chicken soups I've seen assume that cooks have access to fancy condiments like vegetarian chicken-flavored bouillon.  Not in Mexico.  

However, in Mexico we do sometimes have access to this soup's secret ingredient: MSG.  I found some in a little stand that was part of a Chinese food restaurant in a tiny mountain town where I used to live.  If you are lucky enough to come across MSG, buy a bag.  You can also purchase MSG online.  It's cheap and lasts forever because you use so little in every recipe.

Scared by the anti-MSG hype?  I can't find evidence that a little MSG every now and then causes health problems in adults.  However, feel free to use the comments section to argue otherwise.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 liters water
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 chile, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 handful (about 1/3 cup) texturized vegetable protein (TVP)
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 2 TB dry parsley or 2 stalks fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning (sold as hierbas finas in Mexico)
• 1 TB soy sauce
• 3 tsp MSG
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION:

1. Put water in a large pot to boil.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Simmer until vegetables are soft and barley is cooked (about 30-45 minutes).
4. Adjust salt to taste and serve.

Serves 4-6.

Mexican Noodle Soup (Sopa de Fideo)

This soup is generally served as part of a multi-course meal.  Traditionally, it is simply pasta in tomato broth, no vegetables added.  However, last night we found some vegetables in the fridge and texturized vegetable protein in the cabinet, and we turned this soup into a meal.

Texturized vegetable protein (also known as TVP) is surprisingly easy to find in Mexico--more so than in the United States.  It's sold as "soya" in natural food stores in the Mexico City metro or in the bulk foods section of your local grocery store.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 plum tomatoes
• 1/4  medium onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1-2 dried chile de arbol OR 1-2 jalepeños
• 3 cups water plus more for blending
• 1 200-gram bag small pasta, uncooked
• 1/8 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1-2 stalks fresh epazote (1 teaspoon dried) OR 2 stalks fresh parsely
• 1 medium carrot, chopped (optional)
• 1 stalk celery, chopped (optional)
• 1/3 cup texturized vegetable protein (TVP)

PREPARATION:

1. Quarter tomatoes and put them in a blender with the onion, chile, and garlic.  Add enough water to cover the tomatoes.  Blend until liquified.
2. In a large pot, heat the oil.  Add the pasta and fry, stirring constantly until it begins to brown.  As soon as it begins to brown, add 3 cups water and contents of blender.  Stir to make sure no pasta is sticking to the pot.
3. Add epazote or parsely.  Add vegetables and TVP, if using.
4. Cook until pasta and vegetables are thoroughly cooked and TVP is re-hydrated.
5. Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Serves 4.

Lentil Soup, Gringa Style

This is your basic gringo lentil soup recipe. Mexicans have their own way of preparing lentil soup, but that's another recipe for another day.  This recipe is cheap, filling, and easy to prepare--the perfect meal for economic recession.

INGREDIENTS:

• 250g or 1/2 lb. brown lentils
• 5 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 small-medium onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley, or 1 heaping tb dried
• dash of pepper
• salt to taste

PREPARATION:

1. Put lentils and bay leaf in a medium pot with water.  Let them come to a boil while you chop your other ingredients.
2. Add remaining ingredients except salt.
3. Simmer, covered, 30-40 minutes, until lentils are cooked through.  You may need to add more water during the cooking.
4. When lentils are cooked, add salt to taste and letter simmer 2 more minutes.
5. Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Serves 3-4 as a main dish.

Vegan Split Pea Soup

En español

This recipe was inspired by Leftover Queen's Easy PEAsy Vegan Split Pea Soup.  I've tweaked it a bit and added a pressure cooker variation.  The pressure cooker speeds up cooking (reducing your gas use) and eliminates the need to dirty your blender because the pressure pulverizes the split peas.

Every vegetarian should own a pressure cooker, and I can't stress that enough.   The pressure cooker in this recipe reduces cooking time from 40 minutes to 10.  Need I say more?

This split pea soup has a secret ingredient: a single chipotle pepper.  A chipotle is a smoked jalepeño.  It gives the soup a smokey flavor that is reminiscent of the flavor ham would give it.  Don't worry if you don't like spicy food; it hardly gives the soup any spice.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 TBS olive oil

• 1/2 large white or yellow onion, diced
• 
2 large carrots, diced

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 
2 bay leaves

• salt and pepper to taste
• 
2 cups dried split peas
• 
5 cups water
• 
1 canned chipotle pepper

PREPARATION:

Conventional Stovetop Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pot. 
2. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and bay leaves. Sautee together until onions and carrots are soft. 
3. Add chipotle pepper, peas, and water to the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer, stirring often, until the peas are soft (about 40 minutes). 
4. Place about half of the soup in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add it back to the pot and then add salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Stir together and cook for about 10 minutes. 

Pressure Cooker Method:

1. Heat oil in the pressure cooker. 
2. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and bay leaves. Sautee together until onions and carrots are soft. 
3. Add chipotle pepper, peas, and water to the pot. 
4. Place lid on pressure cooker and cook under high pressure for 12 minutes.  Then turn off heat and let pressure come down naturally.
5. Remove lid and stir with a big spoon to mix split peas into a thick creamy soup.  
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.