Hello, my name is Jhames

I loves me some Indian food. Ever since high school when I attended Sunday prasadam at the Hare Krsna temple, I made an effort to learn how to prepare Indian-style cooking at home. The smells and flavors of spices in Indian cooking are as vast as the people of India. My favorite dish, when I ate cheese with aplomb, was saag paneer: creamed spinach with cheese curds. The English translation simply doesn’t do this dish justice. The spicy mixture of spinach is tempered with the curds perfectly fried to a golden brown. For years I tried to recreate this recipe at home but never successfully made what I ate in restaurants. Then, one day, whilst shopping at a spice market in Berkeley, I asked a woman in the store how I could make saag paneer at home. Her face lit up like Diwali and she … Continue reading →

Yesterday as I was cleaning the kitchen I lifted a 50 lb bag of flour without bending my knees. There is such a huge bag of flour in the kitchen because it’s fall which allows for cooking and baking without roasting like root vegetables. My back decided to repay my bad decision-making skills with a humdinger of a lower back ache. So listen when you are told repeatedly by people to always bend your knees whilst lifting heavy objects, for God’s sake listen. With that said, enjoy this recipe for cookies made with chocolate chips and cornflakes. As you can imagine, substitutions abound. Go crazy.

Fun facts about vegetable proteins! Protein sources for veg*ns come from a variety of sources, the most obvious being tofu which is a cake made from coagulated soy milk. Tempeh is the whole soybean which is fermented and pressed into a cake form. Soybeans and other legumes provide a lot of protein which, when combined with whole grains and rice, become complete proteins and provide veg*ns with essential amino acids. Another source of protein for veg*ns is wheat gluten, otherwise known as its macrobiotic title seitan. Veg*n restaurants may use seitan to create all sorts of fake meat dishes but it’s almost a little too eerie how well the texture of meat is replicated. I enjoy the versatility of seitan in vegan dishes, and making it at home is not at that complicated. You can follow the time-intensive process of washing vital wheat gluten … Continue reading →

Last night’s dinner was one of those impromptu meals where you have leftovers in the refrigerator you’d hate to see go to waste: roasted spaghetti squash with plenty left after our initial meal; carrots from the farmer’s market in the crisper drawer; and a large bag of onions. I decided that the best fate for these vegetables was to make patties—a homemade Gardenburger® if you will. Carrots can be spiced in any number of ways but I find that squash has its limits. Thankfully, curry works well with both carrots and squash. With a little ingenuity, and a lot of stuff in the cupboard, I put together the following recipe for curry patties.

I’ve made vegan chocolate-chip cookies with little satisfaction in the final product. The cookies may have baked in an oven but they tasted a lot like raw cookie dough. If I was looking to nurse mental anguish with food, at least I have a safe alternative to possible e-coli exposure. This recipe for vegan oatmeal cookies, however, is nothing like its chocolate-chip cousin (twice removed, possibly thrice). Every time I have made these cookies, the final product is never the same. The cookies either come out brittle, thin, or with just the right amount of crispy-chewy goodness. Since I never know what to expect, I never feel disappointed. These vegan oatmeal cookies are the sweet epitome of buddhist doctrine: let go of expectations (the cookies will come out tasting good).

I can’t take credit for this recipe, it was given to me by my French language teacher who received this recipe from one of her former students who is a personal chef. This vegan mousse is not as light as a traditional mousse but it is just as rich in flavor. I’ve read quite a few veg*n online forums where users try recipes with myriad substitutions because of cost or access to ingredients. I can appreciate the sensitivity to cost but honestly, a quick run to the liquor store for two airline-size bottles of Godiva liqueur will not break the bank.

Fall is a perfect time for mushrooms! And with the rainy season having arrived in Seattle there is no better way to keep warm than with wild mushroom & roasted garlic soup. This recipe takes over an hour to prepare but the taste is well worth the wait. I heartily recommend this recipe with warm, crusty bread and a good movie.

With the change of season, it’s nice to have a meal that will stick to your ribs. I enjoy warming tortillas in the oven, and serving them with spicy black beans. I will add shredded lettuce atop the beans, then dollop everything with vegan sour cream and guacamole. These dishes take very little time to prepare and won’t drain your bank account.

I guess the point of VeganMoFo is to post a recipe every day, but honestly who is reading blogs over the weekend? My site traffic always drops on weekends so it’s safe for me to assume you’re here reading my blog when you should be working. For shame! But seriously, thanks, I’m honored to be your distraction. Your one and only distraction. You’ll be wanting something good to accompany the pita bread recipe I gave you Friday. For me, nothing beats a plate of hummus with fresh warm pita bread. Hummus is the ideal vegan dish: economical ingredients, easy to prepare, and versatile with additions like roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, or kalamata olives. I’m just as happy eating plain ol’ hummus with carrot sticks or cucumber slices.

Last night I caught a friend’s tweet about “bombing the moon”. Justin mentioned that he saw the same phrasing popping up in his facebook news feed. Neither one of us had any idea that NASA was planning to launch a rocket which will punch a hole in the moon for the purpose of discovering ice—therefore water and life on another planet. Meanwhile, America lacks proper healthcare coverage for its citizens, public schools are devoid of any electives, and low-income families have little or no access to fresh produce. But hey! We may be able to someday live on the moon. So in honor of NASA and the government spending $79,000,000.00 on a program to blow up the moon, I present two variations of one dough recipe. Because who doesn’t need extra dough in their lives?