Quintessence NYC

www.raw-q.com

Mexican Platter with garlic & scallion wild rice, tortilla chips, burrito, and a taco.  Served with salsa and a chipotle red pepper sauce.  Very good except the wild rice would cake a bit to your teeth after chewing.  Awesome flavors.

I know this isn’t the best picture, but I loved this dish.  Sara got it – it’s the Thai coconut noodles with greens in a spicy sauce.  Unique and a real treat for our raw excursion!

Besides the “hot” cacao drink and a pear juice, this was our appetizer:  The Italian sausage pizza.  I’d challenge anyone open-minded to get this slice instead of cooked pizza and not enjoy it.  The crust, sauces, and nut meat were perfect.  We were impressed with the seasonings.

The dessert platter!!!    We shared this:  tiramisu, chia seed pudding, strawberry ice cream, and banana coconut cream pie.  All were a joy…..what was my favorite?  Well, the tiramisu, of course!  Sara liked the uniqueness of the chia seed pudding, being almost tapioca-like, and I loved the cinnamon on top of it.  The strawberry ice cream was a little icy but very good.  The pie was excellent.  I have a weakness for chocolate, in case no one has noticed. 

Teriyaki Seitan w/ Vegetables and Rice

I used the Everyday Dish (www.everydaydish.tv) recipe for Corned Seitan but made it with teriyaki sauce instead of most of the oil and molasses and did not use some of the spices and seeds.  The seitan was then broiled, so it is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Shown with sauteed onions, carrots, celery, red and green bell pepper, cauliflower, green onion, green chiles (from Sara’s garden again!), and brown Jasmine rice.

Stuffed Chard Leaves

A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen

A repeat – arborio rice flavored with lemon stuffed into steamed chard leaves and sauteed with Earth Balance and fresh sage leaves.

Rajmah, from Mr. Marcus

Kidney beans, onions, ginger, tomatoes, and a Rajmah spice mix (http://aroracreations.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=31).

Curried Rice Salad w/ Chickpeas

 

Foods That Don’t Bite Back

The recipe for this called for tempeh; I wasn’t inclined to use it.  Also, note I haven’t been to the grocery store in ages, yet I still found some fresh veggies!  You should have about 50 spices on your spice rack for fun, 1/5 of which will be used. 

All of this said, the price of Foods That Don’t Bite Back is worth it for the rice recipes alone, especially the lime (cilantro & jalapeno) rice and the above concoction.

I will be on my way up north tomorrow night, and I hope to get some food pictures from my seitan-loving friends so I can have a guest-star on the blog. 

The mention of lime reminds me of the coconut & lime panna cotta I made:

http://utopiankitchen.wordpress.com/2007/03/20/coconut-lime-panna-cotta/

This one deserves repeating!

Tamarind Lentils, Garlic-Saffron Rice, Cornmeal Roti

Veganomicon

What could beat garlicky rice with a touch of saffron?!  This was a really good, comforting meal.  I added some hot sauce to the lentils, as I wanted them a bit more spicy, but otherwise, everything as-is was perfect for me.  I even scaled it down a bit to make dinner for one! 

VeganMoFo – Trying a New Grain

Well, slap me and call me an empress, because I’m now about to try forbidden rice, a package of which I’ve had in my cupboards for nearly a year.  As an appetizer to my most royal meal, I had collards and brussels sprouts with gluten-free soy sauce, ginger, and toasted sesame oil.

(Photo blurred due to steam.  )

While my collards were cooking, I made a broth with wakame, dulse, sweet potatoes, celery, and cilantro.  I used this broth to make my Forbidden Seaweed Soup.  Not a recipe, really.  I just used the above-mentioned broth, added about 1/2 cup of dried forbidden rice, cooked that for 30 min., and then added gluten-free soy sauce, ginger, maple syrup to taste to the soup, along with miso and strips of nori. 

Next time, I might cook the rice separately, but how many chances do you get to have dark purple soup (no photo taken)?!  No, honestly, even though the color was something a little different, I don’t think I’ll be making forbidden rice this way again.  Even so, it was nice to eat the miso and seaweed, some of what I consider the healthiest foods available!

Tip:  For a gluten-free soup with miso, you must use a gluten-free miso. 

Gateau of Curried Rice

 

Veggie Chic

With layers of cauliflower, tomato, and spinach-potato, all seasoned with onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, and turmeric.  I never forget the cilantro!

Lentils & Rice in Coconut Milk, Potato Cakes w/ Cilantro

 

World Vegetarian Classics

A creamy rice mixture with lentils and brown rice, coconut milk, onion, garlic, ginger, garam masala, and turmeric.

The potato cakes have cooked potatoes, chickpea flour, chilies, cilantro, garlic, nutmeg, black pepper, lemon juice, and salt.  The lemon juice adds enough moisture to combine with the flour and potatoes and make the patties stick together easily and nicely.  You must be patient when making these, as they cook slowly, with little oil, for 15 min. on each side.  That’s partly why I made rice and lentils to go with….

Lavender-Blueberry Brulee and Dhal w/ Dumplings

Lavender Rice Pudding Brulee with Blueberries, Joy’s tester recipe

Toovar Dhal with Cilantro-Lime Dumplings, from Veggie Chic

Photos are repeats, but dishes were made again Wednesday night!  With hundreds of cookbooks on my shelves, you can tell I really like something if it happens to make it in the queue more than once. 

This time, I used dates to sweeten the rice pudding and some whole-grain flour in the dumplings.  Delicious!