Vegetable Biryani

I've had supper at Little Spice ( http://littlespice.ca/ ) twice this week!  It is goode to be able to get a good vegan curry for a good price! I tell you all the vegetable curries are delicious! On Sunday I was with a friend who likes mild & Thursday with a friend who, like me, enjoys medium.  The Vegetable Biryani is great either way!

Today is fridge clear out day so I can go buy fresh veg for the coming days and I was thinking abut what to do with the bit I have left! Veggie Biryani of course! Tasty, filling and makes veg stretch to a few meals.

I love the simplicity, the one pot cooking and the deliciousness!

Vegetable Biryani
Basically this is any veg you have, rice and curry spies! Today I used:
1 medium onion, chopped
3 sticks celery chopped
6 cloves garlic chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 small parsnips, chopped
1 small sweet potato, chopped
1 turnip, chopped
1/2 inch ginger, finely chopped
2 tsp Biryani spice mix
1 & 1/2 cups mixed rice - black, brown, red, wild, rinsed
2 veg stock cubes
1 tin tomatoes
Water.

Put a little water in a medium large soup pan. Add onions, garlic, celery and sweat for a couple of minutes. Add rest of veg. Stir and add a little more water. Add spices, stir, cook for a couple of minutes stirring occasionally to mix flavours and prevent sticking. Add rice, stir, add stock cubes and tomatoes. Stir add more water to cover.
Bring to boil, turn down and simmer until rice is cooked and most of the water is absorbed, abot 45 - 60 minutes depending on the rice.

Enjoy on its own or with other Indian or Pakistani dishes.

Plant Based Nutrition Certificate - day 1

Wow! Wow! Wow!

At last I am actually doing the Plant Based Nutrition Certificate with eCornell. I am really excited and know I will learn so much. Day one & the first module completed!

I was a bit worried that there may not be many students. That is not the case! There are people from all over the world and every one of them has posted something that makes me want to get to know them more.

I have found that just signing up for the course has given me even more motivation to eat a whole food plant based way 100% so I am sure that learning more will keep that motivation fired up. Combine that with my love of creating new dishes and recipes or adapting old ones and I think 2017 may be the year that changes everything!

Red Potato Casserole

I looked in the fridge the other day and there was not much left, so necessity being the mother of invention I got stuck in to making something tasty.

1 onion, chopped
14 small baby red skin potatoes
1/2 sweet potato, cubed about same size as baby potatoes
4 cloves of garlic sliced
6 large brown mushrooms, each cut in 6 pieces
1 zucchini chopped
1 medium large tin tomatoes
1/4 tin maybe less mixed beans
1/2 tsp Italian herbs or herbs of choice
good dash of tamari
sprinkle of steak spice

Pre-heat oven to 375
Throw it all in a casserole dish and cook for about 30 - 45 minutes until potatoes are cooked.

About 10 mins before it was ready I added 1/2 pack of vegan Italian mince. I don't use this often, but sometimes fancy a little to add another source of texture & protein.

I just ate it with a bowl of salad but you could serve it with rice or pasta if you wanted a carb heavy meal.
There was enough left for lunch & supper the next day