Things I try to have in my pantry at all times:
- If tomatoes are not in season (like most of the year): Minced canned
tomatoes (much better than those greenhouse winter tomatoes), otherwise
just nice ripe tomatoes
- When in season: Aubergine
- When in season: Zucchini
- Brokkoli (fresh or frozen)
- Onions
- Garlic
- All The Spices
All recipes can incorporate these to varying degrees but honestly any
veggie can probably be added. If it looks like it needs using you can
probably find a way to add it. The “recipes” are more templates since
there is very little actual measuring involved here. When omitted
quantities don’t actually matter that much or “usual” amounts are
assumed. For example, you would rarely use more than a tablespoon of a
whole spice, let alone a ground one. Garlic needs a couple of gloves not
a whole head etc.
Vaguely Italian Pasta Sauce
The goal here is to make something that goes well with Pasta with
whatever is in the fridge and make it taste somewhat “italian”. Since
I’m doing this vegetarian, we have already left the path of authenticity
so let’s just lean into that and never tell any Italian friends. Can be
made vegan by omitting the cheese. Ingredients
You need for sure:
- Decent olive oil, or neutral oil
- Onions
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Garlic
- Can of chopped tomatoes
It’s going to be a good day if you have:
- Feta cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano
- Leafy greens like spinach, mangold or beet leaves
- Some kind of protein: Tofu or Lentils (ideally black lentils)
- Any kind of extra veggie like Aubergine or Broccoli or fresh Beans
etc
General principle with stuff that goes into a sauce: Dice small. So
that’s what we are going to do with all the veggies. The harder the
veggie the smaller the dice. Some guidelines:
- Garlic: Finely chopped or grated (don’t make me sad with a rough
chop do it right)
- Onion: Medium/small dice
- Carrots: Finely diced
- Zucchini: Medium dice
- Feta: Medium/large dice
- Parmigiano Reggiano: Finely grated.
- Spinach: Whole
- Mangold/Beet Leaves: leaves whole, stems rough chop.
- Tofu: Finely diced (as small as you can cut a dice without cutting
yourself)
Prep
If it’s a good day you might have some protein source at hand (look
at you, balanced diet and all). Let’s prep that since it’ll need some
time and can be done in parallel.
If you have Tofu, we don’t want any spongy thing in our sauce. We are
going to fry the shit out of it so it soaks up as much flavor from the
sauce and ideally adds some nice crunch. Think croutons. Take a smaller
pan on medium/high, add neutral oil, wait until oil is hot, add finely
diced tofu. Let it fry as long as you have patience for but don’t burn
it. Add some salt to taste.
If you have Lentils, we can make do with no frying. 1 cup of black
lentils, 1.5 cups of water and a healthy dash of soy sauce. Cook until
lentils are softened on a simmer, maybe 20 mins?
Main event
- Add oil to a medium hot large frying pan, let it warm up, use some
pieces of onion to test if it starts to sizzle.
- Add onions, we want to really cook these. If you have the time to
let them go slightly caramelized, it is just worth it.
- Add carrots. Wait for 1-2 mins so the water comes out a bit and
cools the pan.
- Add garlic and wait until you smell it, then immediately add other
veggies to avoid it burning.
- Cook veggies until somewhat softened (idk maybe not like done yet
but definitely not raw) then add crushed tomatoes.
- Time to start the pasta in a separate pan with heavily salted water.
I like Orecchiette but whatever floats your boat.
- Cook sauce for a bit until it looks more uniform and pasta is almost
ready.
- Add your protein and any leafy greens that cook fast like
spinach.
- Add like a few tablespoons of pasta liquid to the sauce to thicken
it or make it more saucy if it is super dense.
- Seasoning thyme (hah you see what I did there?). Thyme is indeed a
good choice, but oregano is of course the staple to make anything
italian. Maybe some paprika powder, chili flakes, black pepper and
nutritional yeast if you have some.
- Drain the pasta shortly before it is al dente (you already added
pasta water to the sauce, RIGHT?) add the pasta to the saucepan. If your
saucepan is too small: GET A BIGGER ONE. Well, worst case you’ll have to
cook the pasta to be al dente and add sauce on the plate but then your
Italian friends will for sure never talk to you again.
- Cook pasta in the pan for a few mins, but turn off the heat.
- If it’s a really good day you have some diced feta ready that you
can add now.
- Plating time. Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano goes on top.
Is this still Curry?
I need to confess that my experience with actual authentic Indian
food is limited, so this is not just a rhetorical question. Anyway I
like it and make it almost every week because it is so flavorful that it
tastes great regardless of what other ingredients are in it. So it tends
to be a good fridge cleaner. This is vegan. Ingredients
You’ll definitely need:
- Coconut oil
- Ginger (fresh)
- Onion
- Garlic
- Canned chopped tomatoes
- Shit ton of whole spices (the more you have of these the better):
- Cumin seeds
- Mustard seeds
- Coriander seeds
- Cardamom pods
- Bay leave
- Star anise
- Cinnamon stick
- Some ground spices:
- Garam masala (this is important doesn’t taste the same
otherwise)
- Turmeric powder (gives it the color)
- Paprika powder
- Veggies (anything goes), but some ideas:
- Potatoes
- Zucchini
- Aubergine
- Bell pepper
- Carrots
It’s going to be a good day if you have:
- Some kind of protein, preferably chickpeas, lentils (ideally red) or
green jackfruit.
- Some nice homemade vegetable stock
- Coconut milk or other plant-based milk if you like it creamy
Prep
Get some rice going, since that’ll take a while and nobody likes
waiting. You probably know how to do it.
If you are adding lentils as your protein also get those going, rinse
and cook in salted water with a ratio of 1 cup of lentils to 1.5 cups of
water.
Main event
- Add the coconut oil to a medium hot pan and let it get hot.
- Add whole spices, if you have a mortar you can try to crush the
seeds a bit before adding but not super necessary.
- Let oil infuse with spice aromatics until you hear the mustard seeds
pop or you lose patience, then add the diced onion.
- Let the onions go caramelized, then add ginger.
- After cooking for a few mins, add the diced veggies and finely (!)
chopped garlic.
- Let that cook for a bit until veggies soften, then add chopped
tomatoes.
- Ground spice time: Add about 1-2 tbsp of Garam masala and maybe half
a tsp of ground turmeric. Good time to add some salt and anything to
make it spicy.
- If you have some vegetable stock, dilute it now so that it’s as
liquid as you want it. Otherwise use water or just more coconut
milk
- Add protein and let it simmer for some time until the consistency
feels right, taste often and adapt salt levels.
- If you want it creamy, a healthy splash of coconut milk or whatever
plant-based milk you want to add.
- Plate over some freshly cooked rice.
Definitely not a chili
I was informed by both an American and Mexican that they don’t think
it is proper chili, so you know I warned you. Anyway if you like beans,
this is a winner and probably the easiest dish to make. This is
vegan.
Ingredients
You’ll definitely need:
- Onions
- Sweet peppers
- Spicy chilis
- Canned beans
- Garlic
- Cumin seeds
- Canned chopped tomatoes
It will be a good day if you have:
- Canned sweet corn
- Some additional veggies like Zucchini
- Some smoked tofu
- Some nice homemade vegetable stock
Main event
- Add quartered onions, sweet peppers and chilis to a dry big pot (no
oil!) and let them char. It is going to look burned, but that is the
point, we want some smokeyness.
- Once everything has some nice black spots, add chopped tomatoes and
garlic.
- Cook until everything is soft enough to be blended by an immersion
blender and then blend it. Add some vegetable stock or water if it’s too
thick for your liking.
- Add beans, sweet corn, veggies and smoked tofu.
- Cook for 20-30 min on a low simmer.
- Adjust salt levels and potentially add some extra chilly
flakes.
- Serve in a bowl and eat with some good sourdough bread.