I remember reading some blogger saying that every vegan cookbook has some sort of corn chowder. Clearly I didn’t get the memo. I think I’ve only made this corn chowder in my whole adult life. The recipe is originally from Vegetarian Planet, a super old school book my mother gave me when I went vegan. My mother is not a vegetarian, but you can blame her for my open mind to veganism. I probably ate less meat, and I probably ate a wider variety of food than most children. This cookbook has always been on our shelf. I never thought it was weird until my husband shot me a weird glance when I mentioned cooking couscous for dinner. I mean every small American child eats couscous right? No? He also hadn’t heard of knishes before, which is one of the rare potato foods I actually like. But then again, I have a thing for food wrapped around a dough.
Anyways, what I love about Vegetarian Planet is that the recipes are written by a meat eater, but aren’t bland. Most omnivores who make a vegan recipe always taste like it needs a little something extra, or it is so low calorie it is almost pointless. But Didi Emmons just loves vegetables, and isn’t afraid of a little fat and calories. In fact this recipe calls originally for 6 cups milk with the option of replacing a cup of milk for heavy cream. No thanks, but I like your enthusiasm Didi.
I am also not against “fake” foods, but I do like when vegan cookbooks stay away from them. Why? Well, it just makes everything seem more approachable. I think when transitioning to a new diet, having a whole new world of wheat gluten, soy products, and fake cheese can either be fun, comforting, or intimidating. I feel like if a person who wants to go vegan could easily pick up this book and cook almost anything from it without many new products (you probably would need to remove cheese, or sub soy milk/fake butter.)
Todays prompt was all about cooking with colors we rarely make, and even though the past two posts have featured some intense yellow, I don’t actually cook with that color that often. This was my attempt to make something yellow. And color perfectionist me is just unhappy with how green and brown it is. Damn my background in color theory. But close enough right?
So how does my recipe differ from the book? Well, the original recipe uses 6 cups of milk, and I couldn’t blow that much cash on a dinner! So I cut down to 4 cups soy milk and 2 cups vegetable broth. The recipe also is suppose to use fresh corn and their stalks. But I made it so you can make it in the winter, when you probably want to eat a rich cup of hot chowder anyways. So it uses frozen corn.
There are also nice chunks of sweet potatoes in there. I wanted to use a white sweet potato, but I grabbed an orange one instead. Oops. That’s the problem with my CSA, I tend to mix up my white and orange sweet potatoes up by the time I get home and they all just get mixed together. It isn’t that big of a deal except for the different cooktimes.
Anyone else use a non-vegan cookbook often?
- 1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
- 1 large onion
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp paprika
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 4 cups unsweetened plant milk
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 4 corn tortillas cut in 1/4 inch pieces
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 2 small sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1/4-1/2 cubes
- 1 tsp salt
1 In a large pot heat up the oil. Add onions, garlic, and cumin seeds. Sauté for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add paprika and sauté for another minute.2 Add the flour and stir constantly for 30 seconds.3 Slowly add the milk and stock in small amounts (1/2 cup increments) making sure the flour doesn't clump up.4 Add tortillas and sweet potatoes and bring to a simmer at low heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Make sure you stir occassionally.5 Add the frozen corn and salt and cook for another 5-10 minutes, making sure the corn is cooked all the way through.
Susan
November 18, 2016 at 7:56 pm
Most of my cookbooks are vegan now. But years ago I had a lot of vegetarian cookbooks that I used, and veganised recipes from after I went vegan. And I also used to veganise a lot of baking things and also some other recipes from my mum’s omni cookbooks that looked like they would be good if you replaced the dead animal parts.
But these days I have so many vegan cookbooks, that I rarely cook from anything else.
Jennifer
November 20, 2016 at 1:15 pm
I like having non-vegan cookbooks for inspiration too. I think Isa Chandra has said she sometimes pick up those cheesy magazines for quick “crockpot recipes” and all that sort of stuff by the checkout counter for new ideas for recipes.
kimmythevegan
December 11, 2016 at 8:39 pm
I’m not sure I have actually ever made corn chowder to be honest. I like the addition of sweet potato! It would make it heartier and more delicious 😉
I also prefer when cookbooks are more approachable. I remember being super intimidated when one of my first cookbooks had a recipe centred around seitan (which I have learned I am not actually a huge fan of…).
Jennifer
December 18, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Yes, you do gluten free right? My husband isn’t a huge seitan fan, like it needs to be cooked JUUUUUST right, and I know I am not very good at it XD I think I didn’t really start liking the “fake” stuff until a few years into my veganism.
Sarah
December 18, 2016 at 8:02 pm
I totally agree RE fake stuff. Particularly the US ones I have, so many talk about fake meats/mayo/cheese/everything but we only have tofu here. We can now get soy cheeses (for like $10 per 100g that also taste horrid). So it’s very limiting.
Also: i LOVE corn chowder!