Mouthwatering Boat Recipes (mainly plant based)

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Sailor_Hutch

We recently formed a new foodie habit that involves a regular visit to a local mediterranean restaurant. One particular dish is always available there, and I always manage to find at least a little of it on my plate. It's a seemingly mundane (by the names of the ingredients), but in reality scrumptuous dish they call "Mjadarah".

I guess it is the caramelised onions that really lift this dish, as it is basically just rice and lentils otherwise, so I used lots. Six onions sounds excessive (and looks like a hell of a lot when you have finished slicing), but they reduce down to less than a cupful.

I give this dish 1/10 for looks, but the flavour is certainly good. It was very happily wolfed down by my hungry and tired better half last night .

Thanks for the suggestion Sailor_Hutch . I haven't explored Middle Eastern cooking much before.

MJADARAH

1 mug lentils, rinsed
1 mug long grain rice, rinsed and drained (I used Basmati)
6 onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin
Less than 2 mugs water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

- Cook lentils and drain (I use a pressure cooker with about 3 mugs of water brought to pressure, turned off and left sitting 20 minutes)
- Gently sauté onions uncovered in oil over lowish heat about 30-40 minutes until they are dark brown, soft, and nothing but intensely sweet. Don't skimp on the time taken, the flavour just gets better and better. If lots of onions are used like this, the heat can be quite a bit higher, but just make sure you stir almost continually then.
- Put aside about ⅔ of the onions
- To the rest of the onions add the cumin and gently cook over low heat a few minutes
- Add the drained rice and lentils and almost all of the 2 mugs of water
- Bring to boil and simmer until cooked or to save gas, cover, turn off the heat and leave 20 minutes then if necessary briefly simmer uncovered until the rice has finished cooking, adding a little more water if the liquid has been absorbed before the rice is cooked
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Fluff up when it has cooled a bit and top with the caramelised onions

I served this with pine nuts (I just had to enliven it a little LOL), warm focaccia, banana chutney (see post #118) and yoghurt.

Edited to add: This was even better the next day. Once the leftovers had cooled the grains could be separated completely giving a much lighter mix. I then tossed through the rest of the caramelised onion, together with a handful of pinenuts and refrigerated it overnight. The flavour and texture was extra good doing this.

[Spleen]

I'm allergic to wheat, corn, rice, coffee, eggs and sesame, so I'm basically Paleo.

I have a few paleo-vegan recipes. For the porridge, you could maybe process them all before you leave (do you have a small blender or food processor on board?):

"Paleo Porridge" from Paleomom website:


Ingredients:

¼ cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
¼ cup Raw Walnuts
¼ cup Sliced Almonds
2 Tbsp Raw Pepitas (Shelled Pumpkin Seeds)
1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal
½ cup hot water
½ Tbsp Honey, to taste (optional)


1. Process coconut, walnuts, almonds, pepitas and flaxseed together in a blender or food processor until finely ground and blade starts to seize.
2. Boil water in a kettle or in the microwave. Pour into a microwave-safe container (I like to use a Pyrex measuring cup) and mix in honey if using.
3. Stir ground nuts into hot water.
4. Heat in microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir once more. Alternatively, heat over medium-low heat in a small saucepot stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes until it almost simmers. Let sit for 3-5 minutes to thicken. Enjoy!



Variations: Just like traditional porridge, you can stir in some extra ingredients at the end to change the flavor. Here are some ideas, but feel free to experiment!

Spiced Porridge: Stir in ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg and ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon before eating.
Apple-Cinnamon Porridge: Stir in 2 Tbsp Freeze Dried Apple pieces (or apple sauce) and ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon.
Maple-Nut Porridge: Use 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup instead of honey and sprinkle 2 Tbsp chopped Pecans over the top.
Banana-Nut Porridge: Omit honey and mash in half of a ripe banana instead. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp chopped Pecans over the top.
Blueberry Porridge: Stir in 1/3 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or any other berry you like).
Peaches and Cream Porridge: Stir in 1/3 cup chopped fresh or preserved Peaches and 1-2 Tbsp heavy cream or unsalted butter.
Pumpkin Pie Porridge: Stir in ¼ cup Pumpkin Puree (fresh or canned) and 1/8 tsp (a good pinch) each of Ground Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, Ground Nutmeg , Ground Allspice, and Ground Cloves.
Butter and Salt Porridge: Stir in ½ tsp Salt (to taste) and let 2 Tbsp unsalted butter melt over the top.
Chocolate Porridge: Stir in 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder.
Do you need help finding any ingredients? Check out Important Pantry Items for the Paleo Baker.

[Spleen]

Salting the cucumbers in this one is to change their texture to softer and limper. If you like crunchy, skip the salting.


Simple Cucumber Salad
July 4, 2012 by ThePaleoMom

This versatile salad has a simple, fresh flavor that so delicious beside just about any meat, from poached fish to grilled lamb chops. It keeps very well so it’s still tasty as leftovers the next day. And it has a perfect flavor to bring to a barbecue. Serves 3-6.


Ingredients:

1½ large English cucumbers
1-2 tsp Salt (for salting the cucumber)
4 large green onions
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (or use a good quality bottled Lemon Juice)
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp lemon zest
1/8 tsp fresh cracked Pepper
1. Slice cucumber very finely (I like to use my Mandoline Slicer set to 1/8” thick). Sprinkle liberally with salt and let sit in a colander in your sink for 1 hour.
2. Rinse cucumber thoroughly (taste a piece to make sure you’ve rinsed all the salt off). Let the cucumber slices drain on paper towels or a clean tea towel to dry completely.
3. Slice green onions. Finely chop cilantro. Finely zest lemon. Combine onions, cilantro, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and cracked pepper and stir to combine.
4. Pour dressing over the cucumber, stir to incorporate and serve! You can refrigerate this salad for several hours up to overnight; simply give it a stir to redistribute the dressing before serving.

[Spleen]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Boatman61 that's an "off topic" recipe. Since when are butter and eggs vegan?

A good vegan knows how to substitute out. For instance, people sometimes use bananas in place of eggs for baking.

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

MJADARAH

1 mug lentils, rinsed
1 mug long grain rice, rinsed and drained (I used Basmati)
6 onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin
Less than 2 mugs water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

- Cook lentils and drain (I use a pressure cooker with about 3 mugs of water brought to pressure, turned off and left sitting 20 minutes)
- Gently sauté onions uncovered in oil over lowish heat about 30-40 minutes until they are dark brown, soft, and nothing but intensely sweet. Don't skimp on the time taken, the flavour just gets better and better. If lots of onions are used like this, the heat can be quite a bit higher, but just make sure you stir almost continually then.
- Put aside about ⅔ of the onions
- To the rest of the onions add the cumin and gently cook over low heat a few minutes
- Add the drained rice and lentils and almost all of the 2 mugs of water
- Bring to boil and simmer until cooked or to save gas, cover, turn off the heat and leave 20 minutes then if necessary briefly simmer uncovered until the rice has finished cooking, adding a little more water if the liquid has been absorbed before the rice is cooked
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Fluff up when it has cooled a bit and top with the caramelised onions

I served this with pine nuts (I just had to enliven it a little LOL), warm focaccia, banana chutney (see post #118) and yoghurt.

- Thanks for the recipe (and test trial). I'm surprised there are so few ingredients, so the carmelized onions must be pulling the weight all by themselves... making it real easy on the herb and spice supply. I've queued it for use (soon). Maybe I'll do the pine nuts too!

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Spleen

Variations: Just like traditional porridge, you can stir in some extra ingredients at the end to change the flavor. Here are some ideas, but feel free to experiment!

Spiced Porridge: Stir in ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg and ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon before eating.
Apple-Cinnamon Porridge: Stir in 2 Tbsp Freeze Dried Apple pieces (or apple sauce) and ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon.
Maple-Nut Porridge: Use 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup instead of honey and sprinkle 2 Tbsp chopped Pecans over the top.
Banana-Nut Porridge: Omit honey and mash in half of a ripe banana instead. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp chopped Pecans over the top.
Blueberry Porridge: Stir in 1/3 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or any other berry you like).
Peaches and Cream Porridge: Stir in 1/3 cup chopped fresh or preserved Peaches and 1-2 Tbsp heavy cream or unsalted butter.
Pumpkin Pie Porridge: Stir in ¼ cup Pumpkin Puree (fresh or canned) and 1/8 tsp (a good pinch) each of Ground Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, Ground Nutmeg , Ground Allspice, and Ground Cloves.
Butter and Salt Porridge: Stir in ½ tsp Salt (to taste) and let 2 Tbsp unsalted butter melt over the top.
Chocolate Porridge: Stir in 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder.
Do you need help finding any ingredients? Check out Important Pantry Items for the Paleo Baker.

The coconut/nut/seed base for your porridge sounds good. I love this added to oats or any grains or quinoa for breakfast (along with dried fruit), so I imagine it would be nice on its own too.

Your variations are useful for oat porridge as well .

Originally Posted by Spleen

A good vegan knows how to substitute out. For instance, people sometimes use bananas in place of eggs for baking.

Just for the sake of experimenting I tried making cakes a few times last year without eggs. I felt banana was a poor substitute, as it did not produce a light result, making the cake very second rate. It did work well for dense things like brownies and flans though.

On the other hand the cookie recipes I posted all worked extremely well without eggs, so my choice of treat now if I am out of eggs is whipping up a batch of cookies, not cake. The choc almond ones (no flour used either, see post #182) were particularly good .

PS All these recipes have now been added to the index in post #1:
Simple cucumber salad
Paleo porridge
Sweet and sour courgettes

[StuM]

If you're vegan, don't swallow or cook with seawater

A Single Drop of Seawater, Magnified 25 Times | Colossal

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by StuM

If you're vegan, don't swallow or cook with seawater

Let me get this right ....
No cooking with single malt and no swallowing?
Stu, you need to live a little .

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Let me get this right ....
No cooking with single malt and no swallowing?
Stu, you need to live a little .

Maybe I needed a couple of commas in there.

From the photo: if you're not vegan, looks like swallowing seawater may be a reasonable protein source :-)

[Seaworthy Lass]

Wish I could post an icecream recipe to cool Crabby down, but no go without a freezer on board. A rich wine and herb infused dish may at least help to turn thoughts back to food .

LENTIL CACCIATORE

1 mug lentils, soaked a few hours and drained

8 cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped
2 tblspns extra virgin olive oil
8 bay leaves
1 tblspn dried rosemary
1 tblspn dried sage
1 tblspn dried thyme
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1.5 cups red wine (375 ml), rubbish in, rubbish out
2 x 400g cans Roma tomatoes (broken up in the tin)
2 stock cubes
2 onions, peeled and chopped in thin wedges
1 kg carrots, peeled and chopped
½ cup black olives, pitted and halved

- In an open pressure cooker gently brown garlic until golden, stirring constantly as it burns easily. Eight cloves may seem excessive, but they instantly mellow with a sauté.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to boil stirring occasionally, seal, bring to pressure, turn off heat and leave several hours.

This needs lots of mashed potatoes to mop up the juices . Real comfort food and I am making the most of it while still emerging cold from dives and craving hot stuff. The weather will be too warm soon for anything but cold dishes.

This recipe has been included in the index in post #1.

[Seaworthy Lass]

I loved Apricot Delight as a kid. Those little sugar coated morsels of minced apricot were munched on very happily and it was always a joy to find a few packed in my lunch box .

This is an adult only version. Make the size just right to pop in your mouth whole:

APRICOT DELIGHT

1 cup (about 200 g) dried whole apricots, chopped finely
1 cup dried halved apricots (more intense flavour), finely chopped
1/4 cup rum (whatever you enjoy drinking)
1 tbsp honey (or pure maple syrup)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup coarsely ground almonds
Extra coconut or nuts for coating

- Soak the apricots in the rum and honey for at least an hour
- Purée about 3/4 of this with a stick mixer
- Combine all the ingredients and mix well
- Roll into about 30-40 balls
- Roll in extra coconut or nuts

This recipe has been added to the index in post #1.

For old times' sake I coated a few in sugar :

[Sailor g]

I used to love those tender, apricot treats too! These will be amazing if I can dry my own apricots. Apricots are in season here. I can't wait to get the apricots so I can make this adult version! And I will roll a version in the sugar, for old time sakes. 😊

[Seaworthy Lass]

Raw soaked chickpeas give falafel an excellent texture (NornaBiron makes the best and this recipe was based on hers and is also very similar to the one DoubleWhiskey gave in post #294), but I find without a food processor they are hard to grind (my stick mixer struggles and it takes ages) and it is off-putting reading over and over that chickpeas contain toxins and need to be both soaked and cooked to eliminate these. I know that the falafel get a dose of heat when fried, but is it enough?

To reproduce the texture I love using cooked chickpeas, I now simply roughly mash them and add finely chopped walnuts. Although less traditional, the result is very good .

WALNUT FALAFEL

1 mug dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 small tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tblspns chopped coriander or mint leaves, chopped
2 tblspns chopped parsley, chopped
(the fresh herbs can be omitted, but coriander in particular adds a beautiful flavour)
A little oil for shallow frying

- Drain the chickpeas and use preferred method to cook them (I cover them with water in a pressure cooker, bring to pressure, turn off the heat and leave them sitting a couple of hours before opening the lid)
- Mash the chickpeas using a potato masher (texture needs to be coarse, so I wouldn't blend them)
- Mix everything but the chickpeas on a chopping board and chop together for several minutes
- Mix this into the mashed chickpeas
- I divide these into 16 balls (8 fit perfectly in my frypan, so this makes 2 lots)
- Shape into small thick patties and refrigerate until needed
- Shallow fry in a little hot oil for 2-3 minutes each side, just to brown them. Don't overcook as they dry out.
- Serve with yoghurt, chilli sauce and chutney. I usually pile all this in tortillas with avocado, lettuce and tomato and have lots of paper napkins handy .

(This recipe has been added to the index in post #1)

Beetroot chutney was added to yesterday's lot. I ate two from the first batch before they made it onto the plate (quality control ):

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

NornaBiron makes the best:

You're too kind! Mwah

[Sailor g]

This is so simple and is one of my husband's very favorite snacks. I adjust the amount of ingredients to how many people and how spicy they like it.

Thai Peanut Butter Dipping Sauce

Peanut Butter
Water
Thai chili sauce (or similar-I've used Tapatio Hot Sauce when we were in Mexico)
Celery, Carrot sticks to dip

1. Add a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter into microwave safe bowl.
2. Stir in a spoonful of water to thin.
3 Add chili or hot sauce
4. Microwave 45 seconds and stir together (mix will look white until stirred completely)
5. Serve with celery and/or carrot sticks