RECIPE: Spicy Hot Pot

[Guest guest]

SPICY HOT POT

 

Yesterday I felt as if we needed some serious veggies for our midday meal! I had

been

looking at a recipe in Barnard & Kramer's The Garaden of Vegan a while back, and

thought

that might be a good idea. Unfortunataely, as luck would have it, I didn't have

any home

made veg stock in the freezer, I had no green beans, no chickpeas, no cashews,

and

precious little cilantro, etc. etc. What I did have was an appetite. This is my

adaptation of

their Spicy Vegetable Hot Pot, simplified in method (don't need to fuss around

much if

you're not sauteeing in oil, after all). The mushrooms were added for nutrition

and for

added flavour, considering the kind of stock I was reduced to using.

 

2 cups vegetable stock (I used a low-sodium cube *sigh*)

5 or 6 ounces onion (half a large one), chopped

2 carrots (about 7 or 8 ounces), chopped

2 potatoes (around the same as the carrots in weight), chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp curry powder (I actually still have some left over from summer!)

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

1 small red thai chili, minced (seeds and all for me - you might want to remove

them)

1 Tbsp grated ginger (I used the kind from a jar)

1 cup cauliflower, chopped (from my freezer)

2 cups cooked soybeans (from my freezer)

2-1/2 cups mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 apple, chopped

1 cup frozen green peas

2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Salt? Depending on your stock, you might want to consider a little salt if you

use it.

 

I scrubbed but didn't peel the potatoes, carrots or apple. Since I cook without

oil or salt,

you might want to adapt accordingly.

 

Pan went on a medium-high heat with the vegetable stock. Onions went in next,

quickly

followed by the carrots, potatoes and garlic. Then the spices, chili and ginger

and the heat

was lowered to a simmer. After around 10 minutes the root vegetables were no

longer

hard. I added the cauliflower and soybeans (still feeling the chill) and the

mushrooms and

raised the heat. Another 5 to 8 minutes and they all seemed ready to have the

apple, peas

and cilantro join them. These took only a couple of minutes or so, because they

really only

needed to be heated through. [This is where those who are used to more seasoning

might

want to taste and correct according to their custom.]

 

I served a salad to start, as usual, and accompanied the hot pot with some

wholewheat

couscous. There's enough left for one enormous meal for two persons (and

probably even

three meals for two, depending on how much grain is consumed with it).

 

NOTE: It was very good. I'll do it again, probably tweaking the spices to make

it a little

'hotter' and adding a little more of this and that. But bland it was not; it

lives up to its

name. Also I liked it with the peas - probably better than I would have liked

the green

beans, and the mushrooms must stay in, for me, regardless of what kind of stock

I use. I

love soybeans, but I also like chickpeas. I'm not sure what I'd use next time

 

Best, Pat