Green Chili with Welsh Leeks and Edamame Beans

The Welsh leeks season is coming to an end and I thought I'd make the most of it in this big bowl of Green Chile.  

This was not your typical chili as the spice flavours were toned down by the sweetness from all the greens including the leeks. Also the green from the leeks were a bit muted, but were uplifted by the addition of soya and edamame beans and peas (from the freezer) and a final garnish of fresh chives from the garden plot. 

I thought the bowl of Green Chile was going to be mellow from the sweet leeks, so I decided to make a Pineapple and Jalapeno Salsa to go with it.  This uplifted the dish with another dimension of spice and warmth. I will share the recipe for the Pineapple Jalapeno Salsa in the next couple of days. 

I am sharing this Bowl of Green Chili with Eat Your Greens challenge hosted this month by The VegHog - You still have a day to share your #EatYourGreens recipe with the VegHog.  I am also sharing this recipe with My Legume Love Affair hosted by Fix Me A Little Lunch;and sadly for the final time with Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition.

Tamarind Edamame, Soy and Green Beans

Eat Your Greens on World Vegetarian Day.

Although a little spicy, this plate of food made for an interesting eat.  This Tamarind Edamame, soy and Green Beans dish is more of a stir fry than a curry. 

There is crunch from the green beans also known as pole beans, and different flavours of green  from the garden peas, edamame and soy beans.

I know stuffed I like tamarind a lot.  Its one of those ingredients that I reach for when I have a sore throat - its not like honey, but more marmite, but the flavour of tamarind are more sweet and sour, than yeasty.

D is not that keen on it, but will accept it as long as it does not dominate the whole meal, and this certainly does not.  Its subtle.  The tamarind lends a mild citrus twang with a hint of sweetness.  I think this dish was suitably moist as its not overly saucy, but if you want more sauce, then please feel free to stir in some coconut milk - how much is up to you.

Other Tamarind Recipes on my blog
Hot and Sour Broad Beans
Carrot and Tamarind Soup
Carrot Ketchup
Quinoa Meatballs in Tamarind Sauce
Gol Guppay
Sarah Beatties Tamarind Parsnip Curry
Slow Cooked Vegetable Tamarind Stew
Sweetcorn and Tamarind Soup
Tamarind Tofu 'Fish'
I am sharing this with Eat Your Greens hosted by my co-host The Veg Hog;   Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition;  My Legume Love Affair which celebrates its 100th edition, I am so glad it continues as it is one food blog event that i have continues to participate in over the years.  It is hosted by  Cooking with Siri and  Lisa's Kitchen and finally  Meat Free Mondays.  

Miso Minestrone

I made this dish last month, before we went away on our holidays to Cornwall.  

D had a little taste and thought the miso was gravy like, not an odd thing to think - especially as Miso gravy  is quite popular at the moment, but what was a bizarre suggestion was to serve this with some mash.

What mash potatoes, really?!
Yes,
Okay,
Surprisingly, it worked.

I tentatively call this a Oriental inspired Minestrone because of the addition of miso paste.  There are many variations of miso.   I used one called Genmai Miso also known simply as Brown Rice Miso. 

Stir Fried Edamame Beans with Smoked Tofu

I had some edamame beans left over from yesterday's brunch and decided to use them up in this relatively quick dish. 

I loved every thing about this dish, the way it looks on the plate, colours, the flavours, the textures. The vibrancy of the greens especially from the edamame and peas.  And the way the fresh red chilli beamed liking a red light bringing the dish to life.  The vegetables still had crunch and the beans popped, especially the broad beans.  When I served it up, D was concerned that there was not enough sauce to coat the rice, but it was plenty moist once he started tucking in.  I guess you could serve these with noodles, but I like plain steamed or boiled white rice.

Please find proper smoked tofu for this recipe, not those lightly smoked and barely .  If your tofu is not smoky enough, then please if possible add a little liquid smoke.  

I am sharing this with Eat Your Greens Challenge hosted this month by The Veg Hog; and with Sunday Fitness and Food Fitness hosted by Marathons and Motivation and Ilka's blog; 

Sauteed Edamame Beans with Vegan Black Pudding

I picked up some vegan VPud Black Pudding the last time I went into the city of Cardiff.  

I had no ideas of what I was going to do with it, but I knew I had developed a liking for it especially at the weekend for a greasy veggie fry-up.   It makes for a nice change from the usual veggie sausages. 

This is a brunch dish, though you could happily have it in the evening.  The potatoes are chopped small into little cubes, then baked in the oven with a little oil until golden crispy,  a bit like hash browns or crispy croutons.  The final dish reminded me of one of those meals that would hit the spot if you had a hangover from the night before, if you get my drift.  But its a little more healthier, or seems that way - instead of baked beans we have edamame, soya, broad beans and peas sauteed and instead of veggie bangers we have pan fried vegan black pudding. If you can't find VPud Black Pudding where you are, either omit it or sub it with something else. 

Black Soba Noodles with Miso Dressed Vegetables and Edamame Beans

The day started quite bleak -weather wise, but the sun did come out - we went into the city of Cardiff today.  D wanted a new pair of shoes for work and I had to been given responsibility to pick up a Birthday present for a colleague at work.  

When we got home, a little hungry - I decided to put together a noodle salad style dish.  I've been seeing raw rainbow salads appearing both in cookbooks and on blogosphere.  Many of these rainbow salads are made with shredded purple cabbage and grated carrot, a bit like a sesame seed coleslaw really, but without the mayonnaise dressing. 

Spicy Edamame

Edamame beans are often visually described as a cross between garden peas and broad beans.  These legumes are actually young tender soy beans often imported from Japan and served as nibbles at Japanese restaurants.  

In the past couple of year, non GM soy beans grown in the U.K are beginning to appear at some supermarkets and greengrocers.  However, those that are available fresh are often sold at a premium, either because the product is marketed as the new super food or a new celebrity diet food fad.   Regardless, I was still curious to try soy beans, so I picked up a packet in the frozen food aisle at the supermarket.  D looked at me and said 'you better make sure you use them all'.  Well I am pleased to say that the packet is now officially empty.  I've managed to make four different dishes from the packet: sesame soba noodles; yellow curry cabbage with mushrooms; vegan Vancouver Japadog-Style Hot Dogs (still to be typed up and posted); and finally these Spicy Edamame.

I bookmarked this recipe from Torwens blog last month for a couple of reasons, the first it was another recipe to use up the edamame beans in my freezer, secondly it looked quite good to me.  He also showcased this dish as being healthy, something I am lazy at - so I thought why not give it a try?!. It was rather good, we had it for brunch this morning over toasted bread.  These spicy edamame beans with tomatoes, gives 'beans on toast' a new meaning.

Torwen calls his dish Curry Fried Edamame with Tomatoes.  I've made some minor tweaks only because I had no spring onions in my fridge.  Also the garam masala I have contains cumin and coriander seeds, so I omitted these from my recipe.  As for the fresh tomatoes I used tinned tomatoes.   Therefore, I think its somewhat poetic that I am sharing this dish with Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes who is hosting Decembers edition of Bookmarked Recipes:  a monthly blog event initiated by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments; as well as  Kiran at Sumadhura  who is hosting this months My Legume Love Affair #42, a popular bean-centric event created by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook. 

Spicy Edamame 

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 shallots, sliced
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 piece of fresh ginger, grated
200g tinned tomatoes
200g edamame beans (fresh or frozen)
salt to taste
Method Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and the shallots, sauté until tender.  Then stir in the spices and ginger until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook on medium heat until thickened, then stir in the edamame beans to heat through and cook until tender.  Serve immediately over rice or crusty or toasted bread.

Yellow Curry Cabbage with Mushrooms

At the weekend, I greedily picked up one of the biggest cabbages I'd ever seen in my life.  It was enormous, in fact it was bigger than my head - really.  I turned to and said this is going to make at least four different meals this week, if not six; and its not all going to be coleslaw. 

Here is the first cabbage recipe of the week: Yellow Curry Cabbage.
I don't often dabble in the melllower yellow Thai curry, limiting myself often to the spicier red and green variety, but when I saw a recipe for Yellow Curry Cabbage in one of my much neglected cookbooks, I knew it was going to be one of the recipes we would be indulging in during the week, plus it was an excellent opportuntiy to cook up some of that big head of cabbage. 
Its very autumnal looking: fading green from the edamame beans, and the bronze brown shine coming from both the cabbage and the mushrooms.  The author Nancie McDermott writes 'make this satisfying winter vegetable braise on a blustery day while dreaming of a rainbow of produce in your garden'.  I have to agree, it certainly is perfect for a Scottish blustery day.  I am submitting this to Andrea of My Kitchen, My World who is hosting Septembers Destination Thailand.  I am also linking it to Meatless (Vegan) Monday#34 hosted by Veggie Converter.

Yellow Curry Cabbage with Mushrooms and Edamame Beans
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 - 4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 small cabbage, core removed and finely sliced
250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 - 3 tablespoons Yellow Curry Paste
60ml water
1 teaspoon Tamari or soy sauce
Salt to taste
100g edamame beans or peas
Salt to taste
Method
Heat a wide pan with a tight fitting lid over medium heat.  Add the oil, garlic and onions and cook until soft, then add in the cabbage and cook until the cabbage begins to wilt, then stir in the mushrooms and the yellow curry paste, water, Tamari or soy and salt to taste.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.  Add the edamame beans or peas, stir and cook for a couple of minutes before serving with plain white rice. Recipe adapted from Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott.  You can find the original version here.

Sesame Soba Noodles with Edamame Beans

I can't remember when I made this dish, but it was on one of those afternoons when I was feeling a bit lazy and wanted something relatively quick and easy on the table.  So instead of Italian style pasta coated in some flavoursome green pesto, I made noodles, yes you read right Noodles!

For those of you who have been reading this blog from the beginning, will know that I have had an aversion to noodles simply because of those 'artificial flavoured noodles in a pot'.  These potted noodles only entered my parents home in my teen years, when one of my brothers suddenly took a liking to them.  Well I promised, I'd try proper noodles at some time in my life and here it is - Soba noodles, the first of many noodle variations.

Soba, or Japanese buckwheat noodles, have a distinct nutty flavour.  Well I am delighted to share that the Soba noodles I ate are nothing like those instant our over hot water ones with a strange colour, smell and slimey texture. The colours were earthy and the flavour distinctly nutty.  I have to add, I also found soba noodles much lighter than its Italian friend spaghetti that is traditionally made from durum wheat.

To my soba noodles I added some fresh carrots and edamame beans.  Fresh edamame beans still in their pods were introduced to the British public a couple of years ago as the next superfood full of nutritional qualities.  The edamame bean was hailed as an amazing green bean to have virtually all the health benefits of meat.  I have read that some farmers in Kent, U.K are growing edamame beans, but I have to admit I haven't seen them in supermarket yet.  For this recipe, I've used frozen edamame beans.  Edamame beans look very similar to the broad bean, but taste is completely different - much more nuttier and creamier.  

I am submitting this to I am submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights #220. PPN was founded by Ruth Daniels of Once Upon a Feast and each Friday night a different host posts a roundup of pasta dishes submitted by bloggers from around the world. This week PPN is being hosted by Ruth.

Sesame Soba Noodles with edamame beans

Serves 3 - 4

Ingredients

Soba noodles to serve 3 - 4 people

4 tablespoons tahini paste

3 - 4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons tamari or other soy sauce

2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

100ml - 150ml water, as required

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 large carrot, cut into small matchsticks

75g - 100g frozen edamame beans (or peas), defrosted

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Method

Cook the soba noodles according to packet instructions. 

In a blender, process the tahini, garlic, tamari, 1 tablespoon sesame oil and enough water to obtain a smooth, sauce like consistency.  Transfer to a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring until warm.  Keep the sauce warm

Heat the peanut oil in a medium pan over high heat.  Add the carrot matchsticks and stir fry for a couple of minutes, then add in the edamame beans (or peas) and stir fry until hot, about 1 minute.  Reduce the heat to low and keep the vegetables warm.

When the soba noodles are cooked, drain and place in large serving bowl.  Drizzle on the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil and toss to coat evenly.  Add the vegetables and sauce and toss to combine.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.  Adapted from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.