Category Archives: Vegetarian

Ash Reshteh Persian Noodle Soup with Vegan Saffron Macadamia Cream

vegan ash reshteh

Dear readers, I’m excited to post my first recipe since I started working as a vegan chef at Dropbox. Truth is ever since I moved to San Francisco, the dramatic change has taken me time to adjust and get into a routine to make time for blogging among a few other things. I want to commit to share all the delicious things I am learning and creating at work. Everyday every recipe has to be different and that is one of the amazing challenges I love from work. Today I made a Persian noodle soup called Ash Reshteh. Ash is a thick soup and Reshteh is a type of noodle similar to linguini but thinner. At work I just used udon noodles but you can use any similar type of noodle. This soup consists of beans, spinach, and lots of herbs. At work I added roasted carrots and summer squashes and smeared the cream along the side of the bowl, but you don’t have to put extra veggies if you don’t want.

Ingredients | Serves 4-6

Ash Reshteh

3 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 cilantro bunches; separate leaves for garnish and mince stems
2 parsley bunches, mince leaves, stems, keep separate
3 tsp turmeric
3 tsp Ras El Hanout or Garam Masala
1 cup chickpeas, cooked
2 cup kidney beans, cooked
1 cup lentils, cooked
2 lbs baby spinach leaves
1/2 pasta: Reshteh noodles, linguini, udon, vermicelli…your fave…
mint leaves for garnish
chives for garnish

Macadamia Saffron Cream

1/2 cup soaked macadamias(unroasted, soaked for 15 minutes)
a pinch of saffron
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup water or more
1 tsp salt
Sauté onions until translucent and add garlic, parsley and cilantro stems. Cook until onions caramelize (brown). Add turmeric, ras el hanout, chickpeas, red beans, and lentils. Sauté for a few minutes together and add 2 qts (8 cups) of water, bring to a boil for 3 minutes and simmer until beans are cooked.
Meanwhile bring a pot of salted water to boil for your desired noodles and cook according to package. Cook al dente and run them under cold water so the heat doesn’t carry off to over cook them. Place in a bowl and add olive oil so they don’t stick.
Stir your bean soup and add spinach and parsley. You might have to add the spinach in small bunches to allow the first batch to wilt. Cook soup for another 15 minutes on low heat and turn off.

For the vegan saffron cream, soak saffron threads in 1 cup of warm water for 10 minutes. Place your soaked macadamias in the blender, add the apple cider vinegar, salt and saffron water. Turn your blender on low and gradually turn up to a higher speed. If the blades don’t move add 1/2 cup water gradually until you have a smooth creamy paste.

Place noodles in bowls and pour the hot bean soup on top. Add mint, cilantro, chives and the saffron cream. A super simple version that is also delicious, is just the cilantro on top which is how I made it at home. 🙂

ash reshteh

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and hopefully understand the directions. Please comment if you have any questions or if I got typos :p (I gotta wake up early at 5am for work tomorrow so I must have a few that slipped). Hasta La Vista Baby!!!

Photo taken at by Brian Mattingly at Dropbox’s Headquarters
Heres my picture from my cell phone that I took at work. I didn’t get the best angle so excuse the poor photography and sloppy plating. 😛

Chile Verde Seitan Tacos

Chile Verde Seitan Tacos
Vegan Chile Verde
Chile Verde is a popular Mexican dish with an aromatic green chile sauce with cilantro, and tomatillos that cook the protein, thus the translation name “green chile” of Chile Verde.I remember this was one of my favorite dishes from my mama’s Mexican seitan recipes.
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Moroccan Chickpea Tagine with Sweet Potatoes, Carrots & Rosewater

vegetarian tagine recipes
Morroccan Chickpea Tagine
Vegetarian Tagine
Tagine Recipes
Good morning, beautiful readers, YES I mean you! This past week I’v been so in love with my new kitchen toy! And that is my badass tagine clay pot. Tagine is a really sweet traditional north African clay pot from the areas of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. It has a deep base and a cute pointy (conical) lid. It is used to cook stews, curries, meats, couscous and other vegetable dishes. If you don’t have a clay pot, or tagine, you can just use a regular pot for this recipe. This recipe calls for a moroccan spice blend called Ras El Hanout which you either can purchase it from your local grocery store or make it from scratch. It’s kind of similar to the garam masala in Indian food and suits really nice in vegetable dishes. If you can, try to invest in a type of clay pot because the flavors of the dishes have a really nice earthiness to it that is amazing! I’ve noticed especially that when you cook some type of legumes in clay pots like beans, lentils, split mung, and chickpeas (my favorite) the flavors and aromas are enhanced on a whole different level! Check it out and let your taste buds take you on a scented journey with this ambrosial chickpea tagine infused with rosewater!

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Royal Indian Biryani Rice

The Vegetarian Blog|Royal Indian Biryani Rice
Biryani is a festive colorful rice dish from India, that is cooked with many spices and herbs. Growing up my mother would make a similar rice dish, but in a Bengali style,  which is called Pushpanna and it is much sweeter and mixed with dried fruits. Both are very delicious, but I’m more inclined to vegetable biryani which is a bit more on the savory side. My Biryani (kinda like the Indian version of Chinese fried rice) version has lots of vegetables and i usually use leftover rice, and stir fry it in ghee or coconut oil. You can also cook fresh rice and just let it chill. This biryani dish is a great companion with any Indian curries, dal, and yogurt raitas. With so many layers of flavors and textures, this veggielicious dish is perfect for any special occasion.
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Vegan Zoodles + Cilantro, Basil & Sundried Tomato Pesto

Almond Basil Pesto
cilantro garden
cilantro basil pesto

Today was a gorgeous morning. I had an early morning stroll through my garden-in-progress, and checked on my tomato plants for any new suckers, which are little stems that grow between the main stem and lower branch. Those naughty suckers take the vital energy from productive branches that will actually give you tomatoes, so you have to get rid of them. As I continued checking through my garden, I noticed my cilantro had grown relatively enormous compared to last week. And I thought, why not make cilantro pesto with all the basil I have (10 basil plants) growing right next to it. I picked a bunch of both from my garden and made a veganlicious pesto to go with zucchini noodles. One word for this garden concoction: Delicioso!
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Orange, Cabbage, Carrot Salad + Cilantro Tahini Dressing

Orange Carrot Cabbage Salad Farm To Table Gefu Spiral Slicer

Today’s feature: Organic Farm to Table Salad! Last year at my old place, my landlord told me I couldn’t plant a garden in my 25×5 ft backyard lawn, so I planted everything in pots. To my surprise it was amazing how I was able to feed myself from summer to winter with potted vegetables. I grew from seeds: kale, tomatoes (which i still harvested until November!), arugula, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans and among others. This summer I am at a new spot where I have all the garden space to grow even more veggies! On mother’s day I got 25 different types of tomatoes, tons of bell, poblanos, serrano, jalapeno, and banana peppers, eggplant, lots of melons, different squashes, beans, cucumbers and others you will see later through out my posts.

For the rest of this year, I want to do a farm to table recipe index, and showcase the benefits of growing your own vegetables. When I lived in Mexico, my dad made me read a giant book of Permaculture, which is the art of agricultural cultivation in really small space but still have a production 3 times the space! So if you have a small place you can still grow a good amount of vegetables with all the advantages of a mini farm right at your home! So anyways today I picked up some lettuce and carrots from my garden-in-progress, and decided to whip up a tahini dressing to coat a delicious organic garden fresh salad! Ooohhh so crunchy, oh so good!
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