devi@maisha.DEC (Gita L. Devi PKO1/D1 223-7046) (06/24/85)
RE: COOKOUTS, COUS COUS, and EGGPLANTS I'd like to respond to Jym Dyer's request for recipes for a cookout. Why go to one in the first place since you obviously don't "relish" the thought of someone cooking dead flesh near your food. To quote you: "..to avoid splatters from whatever disgusting mess the carnivores may be cooking nearby." I've thought about this a lot. It's one thing to be a vegetarian when it's convenient for us, but it's another thing to be so committed to a principle that we don't mind inconveniencing ourselves to adhere to it. To my mind, it's much more of an inconvenience, as well as an inherently disgusting thing to do, to be around a carnivore indulging in his or her cannibalistic rites. (Sorry if this offends anyone, but that's the facts of life) Wouldn't it be more enjoyable to have your own vegetarian cookout where there is no burning flesh (be it beef, chicken, or fish)? Why not invite your friends for a real Independence Day celebration (the animals you're not killing would certainly call that a worthwhile celebration)? As far as recipes go, there's lots of things that you can make: You've already mentioned veggie kabobs, tofu-veggie kabobs, baked potatoes and sweet corn. How about those TVP burgers that can be make from a mix? I've never tried them, but a friend raves about the "Love Burgers". Why\ not make up patties from a mixture of brown rice and veggies, or mashed potatoes and veggies. Use your imagination. There's always, as someone else has said, homemade cole slaw, potato salad, rice salad, tabouli salad, garden salad, cucumber marinades, cauliflower marinades, chickpea marinades, humus spread for sandwiches, falafels for stuffing into pita breads along with sprouts and tomatoes, etc, etc, etc.... And - if you are into this sort of thing, there's a product available in the market that looks like "hot dogs" (yeech) but is made from tofu. I think this type of product is okay for kids who can't yet handle the "we're different from others" and it makes them feel not quite so weird, but adults should be able to handle this. I've often wondered why, once a person has committed himself (herself) to a vegetarian lifestyle, they would want to encourage old tendencies by eating things that imitated the look, taste, and feel of meat products? I suppose you could call this a FLAME ON response, but I'd like to generate some discussion on the net. Any other opinions on this? NEXT: COUS COUS To Linda Carson - who asked about cous cous - if you haven't eaten this yet, you're in for a real treat. Cous cous is a specialty of Algeria/No. Africa, and if you can ever find a real Algerian restaurant order a plate of cous cous. I was first introduced to this delight in France when I daily ate at an Algerian restaurant where the mainstay was couscous accompanied by a broth of mixed veggies and chickpeas. The cous cous is traditionally cooked in a pot called a couscousiere which is a double boiler/steamer type arrangement. But - for those of us who just don't have the time to "do it right", cous cous can be made up in less than 10 minutes. Basic recipe is to bring equal amounts of water and couscous to a boil for about five minutes, or until the top of the cous cous is visible. Shut the heat off, and let the cous cous sit for another 5 minutes. Done. If you like a little spice to your life, try this: Fry onions in a little oil. Add minced garlic, salt, cayenne pepper and cook until the onions are browned. Add cous cous and stir fry about 1 minute until grains are thoroughly coated with oil and spices. Add water, bring to a boil, cook five minutes (as in previous recipe), shut off heat, and let it continue to steam itself done. You can vary this by adding mushroom and cumin seeds. Really tasty and goes great with almost everything. ENJOY! Eggplant is used extensively in Indian cooking. Try looking through some Indian vegetarian cookbooks (especially ones by Madhur Jaffry). One dish, called barta, is really great. If you can't find the recipe, let me know and I'll send it across the net. Eggplants are often called baingan, or brinjals, in these cookbooks. You can stuff them with a mixture of spices and then pan fry them. Also a treat. Of course, this assumes that you like spicy foods. I usually use a mixture of the following: salt, turmeric, amchur (unripe mango powder available at Indian grocery stores), and cayenne. If you can get the little eggplants, or the long thin eggplants, use those as they are more tender and cook up faster than the big fat ones. Slit the eggplant from just below the top to just near the bottom. You don't want to slice it in half, or the stuffing will just fall out. Put a good amount of stuffing into the veggie. Heat oil in a good frying pan (cast iron is great for this), add the eggplants, and quickly brown on the sides. Lower heat, add a little bit of water if sticking is a problem (especially if the spices start to come out)cover, and cook until the eggplants are tender. Enjoy. You can also use this to stuff okra.