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The Spicy Meatless Thread... (ya I went there)

I know going into this that this thread is going to get meat bombed... but there's gotta be at least a couple other people on this forum that have herbivore tendencies.  Lately almost everything I have been cooking has been meat-free unless its for the dogs.  I've been toying with recipes and finding ways to get the flavors of dishes that usually have animal muscle as the main feature.  Hopefully some of y'all do the same from time to time and we can swap and share some spicy veggie recipes. I've held off on making this thread for a while because I know the ridicule that will inevitably come, but I guess its better to clog my own thread with my hippy food rather than all the other cooking threads. 
 
So here goes, last night per request I made some arroz congri and tostones.  
 
For the rice and beans, I chop up a green and red bell pepper, 2 onions and about 4-5 cloves of garlic. Cook up that in the pot before adding the rice and beans and sufficient water.  Season it up, and pretty much just leave it on the stove for a while.  I don't have any fresh pods yet so I seasoned my batch up with some smoked naga powder for good measure.  The tostones start by cooking them a bit on each side before pulling them from the pan.
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After the tostones are cooked and pulled from the pan you gotta squish em dip em in cold water and throw em back in the pan, for the second round of frying. When you pull them out you can season them with whatever you want, I like to make a garlicky spicy sauce concoction to dip them in.  Also, make yourself a guava-lime rum drink for good measure. 
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Eventually, after a long long time (especially if you use brown rice), your arroz congri will be ready.  
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Happy vegetarian eating! (I also ate left overs this morning covered in cheese and a fried egg)
 
Let's see what you got....
 
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Ok so here's dinner, spinach avocado pesto over edamame noodles with sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes.  Pesto sauce was easy just put ingredients in blender, an avocado, a few handfuls of spinach and small handful of basil, a heaping quarter of a cup of pine nuts, juice from half a lemon, a couple garlic cloves, i a quarter cup of a parmesan/ nutritional yeast flake mix (I didn't have enough parm), some salt, a pinch of powder, a splash of oil if you want, and a half cup to 3/4 cups of the pasta water (depending on how thick you want the pesto) I used smoked serrano powder from GIP and mixed it with some of the smoked paprika because it was out from lunch.  
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Dinner tonight, potato kale and lemon pierogi with kraut and homemade seitan beer brats.  The beer brats had more of GIPs smoked serrano powder in the dough.  I also put a little el capitan on top of my sour cream.  Wasn't the spiciest dinner, but it was a good October dinner and the Spotted Cow took it over the top.
 
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Homemade cool! I really despise veggie sausage flavors they all seem to have an off taste to me commercially, except for the hot dogs. I bet homemade is great!
 
Yeah most the store bought stuff is crap.  I actually can't stand the veggie hot dogs, think they're worse than the veggie sausages.  Homemade is wayyyy better.  To make the seitan you mix the wheat gluten with a liquid, usually I use a broth/soy sauce mix, but for these I used a stout/soy sauce mix with some pureed beans.  Definitely tasty, a little dense though compared the others I have made.  I always toss a smoked powder in them to give them more flavor, one time I did fresh bhut, really tasty but had killer gut cramps after eating them so I stick with the powders now.  I know everyone knocks liquid smoke, but I've been thinking about getting some for making homemade veg bacon and for future sausages obviously... 
 
Did a fondue thing on Friday night and had a loaf of bread left over.  I knew it wasn't going to last very long so I planned on making french toast this morning.  Unfortunately my dog is afraid of rain and kept me up all night whining about it last night, so I didn't really wake up in time for breakfast.  I decided to make a savory french toast for lunch instead.  For the egg batter I added salt, pepper, smoked hab powder, garlic and onion powder, sour cream, soymilk and shredded gruyere. I also sliced up some of the left over beer brats and cooked them in saurkraut.  I cooked up the leftover egg batter and ate that too.  It doesn't look pretty, but I'd eat this again in a heartbeat. 
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need some inspiration guys.... feel like I've been making the same stuff over and over again.  Anyone got any ideas or suggestions for future meals?  Its getting to be crockpot and soup season, I've already got ingredients for cabbage soup and a 2bean and tofu chili.  I picked up a butternut squash today and usually do soup with that but if anyone has some suggestions for a different route I'm all ears.
 
dragonsfire said:
Baked beans with pumpkin would be nice :)
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:-/  I despise baked beans (if you're talking about the stereotypical american bbq baked beans).  A couple years back I did pumpkin ravioli all from scratch, but my kitchen is not exactly laid out for cooking.  There is only about 3.5 ft of counter space that is across the room from the stove and the sink/fridge.  It was a hellish day in the kitchen, trying to make the pumpkin filling and homemade pasta dough all in 3.5 ft of space... 
 
Rawkstah said:
trying to make the pumpkin filling and homemade pasta dough all in 3.5 ft of space... 
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A lot of the time I'll use nasoya won ton wraps as a quick sub for ravioli dough - easily available in the produce section of most Jewels around town.  A tsp of filling folded into triangles or a tbsp if you double them up for squares.  They are great and fast and require very little counter space.  :)
 
Other suggestions?  Falafel with a nice spicy tzatziki and jerusalem salad, veg kebabs with whatever meat substitute over quinoa or farro dressed with a yogurt/honey/oj/dried powder,  maybe some squash & black bean chili in the crock pot? 
 
Thanks guys, Seitan Gyros used to be one of the things I made over and over again when I first jumped on this wagon.  After posting this, that's what I had tonight.  I haven't made falafel in a while so I will put that one on the shelf, I like to make a batch of spicy pickled turnips though a couple weeks beforehand because they are an absolute must with falafel!  hmmm I need to pick up turnips next week.  
 
Ashen do you have any recommendations on a good indian dish, preferably one that I can freeze half of for later use?  I admit I'm always a little hesitant to make curries from scratch because of all the spices and ingredients in them.  I've made a couple simpler ones, but I usually just cheat with some premade stuff and frozen naan dough I keep on hand.  
 
What is everyone's thoughts on eggplant?
 
Ashen said:
Not so much specific dishes, but Indian does spicy meatless like no other cuisine out there.

For just a random dish, my aunt makes a killer stir fried broccoli with a tamari tahini sauce, I have seen versions that use roasted broccoli, and add Miso too.
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Indian vegan is probably my favorite too. Sambar is fantastic and lentils with some beans or chickpeas really rocks.

Rawkstah said:
Thanks guys, Seitan Gyros used to be one of the things I made over and over again when I first jumped on this wagon.  After posting this, that's what I had tonight.  I haven't made falafel in a while so I will put that one on the shelf, I like to make a batch of spicy pickled turnips though a couple weeks beforehand because they are an absolute must with falafel!  hmmm I need to pick up turnips next week.  
 
Ashen do you have any recommendations on a good indian dish, preferably one that I can freeze half of for later use?  I admit I'm always a little hesitant to make curries from scratch because of all the spices and ingredients in them.  I've made a couple simpler ones, but I usually just cheat with some premade stuff and frozen naan dough I keep on hand.  
 
What is everyone's thoughts on eggplant?
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Im not a fan of eggplant but making a "masala" from scratch is not hard at all. About the only way i like eggplant is sliced kinda thin, breaded and fried.
 
This place has tons of fairly good recipes for Indian masalas and curry blends.
http://www.spice-mixes.com/garam-masala.html
http://www.spice-mixes.com/curry-powder.html
 
 
Rawkstah said:
need some inspiration guys.... feel like I've been making the same stuff over and over again.  Anyone got any ideas or suggestions for future meals?  Its getting to be crockpot and soup season, I've already got ingredients for cabbage soup and a 2bean and tofu chili.  I picked up a butternut squash today and usually do soup with that but if anyone has some suggestions for a different route I'm all ears.
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Twist on spring rolls:
 
 
julienne and separate ingredients
 
Napa cabbage...add rough chopped cilantro and grated carrot
Red, yellow, orange bell pepper.  usually pick just 1
Cilantro rough chopped (more on the side for cilantro lovers)
Mint leaves
Bamboo shoots
Bean sprouts
Mandarin orange pieces
Baby Corn
Water chestnuts slivered
*whatever else sounds good
 
Fresh hot pepper rings, thinly sliced
Lime wedges
 
Broken cashew pieces
 
Hoisin sauce
Sriracha 
Peanut satay sauce
 
Spring roll skins (round tapioca sheets, you in a large bowl of hot water 5-10 seconds each before filling)
 
Put whatever on the list you desire in a Spring roll skin....roll up like a burrito and dip into what ever sauce you like.
 
Tofu or other meatless item could be added as desired.
 
Meat options:
BBQ pork
Grilled marinated flank steak
Shrimp
Chicken
Smoked Salmon
 
 
 
Here you go Rawk.
Slow cooker Indian that freezes well. I assume you have a large slow cooker.
Adjust chilli powder and fresh chillis as usual.
This version was done for people at work, and I just add extra powder/flakes to spice up. It is also low reactive so no garlic, limited onion and tomatoes
As I have a curry leaf plant growing out back I usually add more that the 40.
 
[SIZE=12pt]South Indian Vegetable Daal[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Ingredients[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]3 Cups Split Red Lentils[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]2 x Cayenne Chilli’s Finely Chopped[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]6 x Whole Dried Chilli’s (or cayenne powder or whole fresh chilli to taste)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]2 tsp Cumin Powder[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]2 tsp Coriander powder[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]1tsp Tumeric Powder[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]½ tsp ginger powder (optional)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]8 Cups Water[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]1 x Medium Eggplant Diced[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]2 tsp Salt (or substitute 2 x cup of water for vegetable stock)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]2 x Small Potatoes Diced[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Small piece pumpkin (300g of prepared)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]2 x Tomatoes – chopped (or cherry tomatoes added whole after 2.5 hours)[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Put all of the above in the slow cooker in the order listed. Cook on High for 3 hours.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Turn down to low and add the below ingredients.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]1 Cup Peas[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]½ Cup Sultanas[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]2/3 Cup Raw Cashews[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Cook for a further 2hours 30 minutes.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Meanwhile prepare the following to add to the slow cooker at the end of the above 2.5 hours of cooking.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]3 tsp Cumin Seed[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]4 tsp Black Mustard Seeds[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]½ Red Onion Finely Diced (or a leek chopped into rings)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Fry Onion in around 30g ghee (or butter) until browned. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Add Cumin and Mustard seeds (add more ghee if it dries out) for around 1 min continually stirring[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Add 40 Curry leaves[/SIZE] and fry a further 1 minute until golden and then add to slow cooker with 1 x 400g Coconut Cream and ¼ cup water to rinse out can.
[SIZE=10pt]A packet of baby spinach can also be mixed through at this point (or if freezing I usually just add to the serving.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Continue Cooking on low for a further 30 mins and then serve with Basmati Rice, Coriander Leave garnish and Fried Flat Bread.[/SIZE]
 
Cool cool, I will probably do some sort of Indian dish in the near future, I'm also thinking about getting a friend or two together and making a shitton of tamales that we can split up and freeze for later consumption.  Thanks for the input guys, I needed it!
Friday was very hectic day, usually we go out or order in on the weekend, but my pup had an emergency, so after spending an entire month's food budget at the vet I decided to make a giant pot of cabbage soup because hey it's cheap and it has fed me for 3 days so far (plus the half I froze for later)!  2 onions, 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, 6 garlic cloves, 1 head of cabbage, a giant can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chickpeas and some buckwheat groats is the majority of it, I put some veggie broth in there and seasoned it with savory and dill, smoked serrano, turmeric, black pepper, and salt.  Made homemade rye bread this past weeks and cut up what was left to make croutons.  Served with a blob of sour cream and extra sprinklin' of powder, and some shredded gruyere. 
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