Mung Bean Noodles in a Jar

 

This is an easy lunch gluten-free soup to prepare.  You can assemble it ahead and store it in the fridge.  You just pour hot water and voila you have a comforting soup for lunch dinner or break.

Mung bean noodles cook easily in hot water but you can use ramen noodles also.

Mung Bean Noodles in a Jar 

Inspired by this site.

Ingredients

• 1 bundle of bean thread noodles (Saifun brand)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp sriracha
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp sweetener (optional)
• carrots, radishes, spinach, napa cabbage, or vegetables of your choice
• 2 1/2 cup hot water
• green onion and cilantro for garnish

Place the soy sauce, sriracha, garlic powder, ginger powder, sweetener if using, and vegetables of your choice at the bottom of a mason jar.  

Place the bean thread noodles on top of the vegetable mixture.

Replace the lid and refrigerate till needed.

Pour the hot water over the jar when you are ready to eat and mix.  

Add the green onion and cilantro and eat from the jar or transfer into a dish.

 

My craving for Pancit Malabon came when my sister Bebeng showed off the dishes she prepared for her and Kuya Jun's celebration of their wedding anniversary.  It is a popular noodle dish from Malabon, Metro Manila Philippines where I am originally from.  It is made with ground pork, garlic, achuete, fish sauce, pork rind and calamansi juice.  My younger sister Menchie joked that I could perhaps use cauliflower walnut meat for the ground pork.  I shared with her the YouTube video of my recent demo online on the use of this meat substitute which I conducted for the Plant Based Pittsburgh group I belonged to.  

I decided to give it a try.  I have expanded the use of this versatile meat substitute for another Filipino dish menudo and the Italian dish Bolognese.  Of course, it is used for making tacos as it was originally conceived to be used.  

I was happy with the result.  It has the citrusy, salty and garlicky flavor of the original.   I used lots of dry minced garlic, soy sauce instead of fish sauce and lemon juice instead of calamansi juice.  The spices in the cauliflower walnut meat enhanced the dish and helped flavored it.  It definitely took me back home to Malabon.   

Vegan Pancit Malabon

2 cups cauliflower walnut meat (recipe below)
4 tbsp Soy sauce
Lemon juice from 1 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp garlic flakes
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup chopped celery

2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water to form a slurry
2 stalks green onions chopped
8 oz rice noodles, cooked and rinsed (I cooked mine in the Instant Pot with 4 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt at high pressure for 1 minute and 4 minutes natural pressure release) 

Add the cauliflower meat, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic flakes, vegetable broth and chopped celery in a skillet and heat the mixture till the broth boils.  Add the cornstarch/water slurry and stir till mixture thickens.

Add the cooked and rinsed rice noodles to the mixture.  Garnish with chopped green onions.

Cauliflower Walnut Meat

Makes about 4-5 cups

Adapted From the website Pinch of Yum

3 cups cauliflower florets 

2 tbsp chipotle peppers from can, chopped

2 cups raw walnuts

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. (You can skip this step if not baking).  

  

Place all the ingredients in a large food processor. If you have a medium sized one, do it in two batches. Pulse till the ingredients are blended and the mixture is mealy in texture. Transfer the mixture into a parchment lined pan and spread the mixture.  Bake for 45 minutes and stir half way.  (You can skip this baking step and use it as is).

 

 

This is a one pot wonder. Thanks Instant Pot.   You cook the pasta first in the pot then dump the sauce and heat it through in the same pot.  

The brown gravy is full of umami flavor from the soy sauce and enhanced by mustard and further deepened by, (surprise), coffee. All ingredients are straight from your cupboard. And no chopping.  

The add ins are up to you. I was lazy and used prepared vegan meat but chopped vegetables like cauliflower or carrots combined with walnuts is a good whole food plant based option.  (see here)

Instant Pot Wide Noodles with Easy Brown Gravy

Pasta in Instant Pot

16 oz wide noodles (note 1)

4 cups water

1 tsp salt

Easy Brown Gravy (double the recipe if you want sauce drenched pasta)

1 cup vegetable broth

1 cup non dairy milk

4 tbsp soy sauce or to taste

1 tbsp Dijon mustard or more to taste

2 tbsp dry onion flakes or powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp cornstarch 

2 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)

Add ins

1 cup vegan meat, chopped or sliced (note 2)

1 15 oz can green peas, drained and rinsed

Place the noodles, water and salt in the Instant Pot.  The noodles do not need to be all covered with water.

Cook the noodles at high pressure for 1 minute for al dente or 2 minutes for softer noodles.  Allow for natural pressure release for 5 minutes then quick release.

Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl then add to the cooked pasta in the pot. You can add the vegan meat at this point.

Put the Instant Pot in the saute mode and heat the sauce and pasta with continuous stirring till the sauce has coated the pasta.

Add the peas.

  

Notes

1. I used store bought wide egg noodles.  You can buy egg free wide pasta ribbons from Walmart. see here

2.  I used Honest Pastures (order here) seitan based Jackfruit Beaf Ribz.  I have also used Gardein beef crumble available in the freezer section of the grocery store. You can also use a whole food alternative, cauliflower walnut meat (see recipe here) .

Instant Pot Haluski

Fish fry during lenten season evokes memories of haluski as a side dish and that means cravings for this comfort food.  I decided to make it in the Instant Pot to satisfy this yearning. 

Most haluskis are swimming in butter but I skipped that and I was still happy. The cabbage is a bit soft but I actually did not mind it.  It was indeed comforting since my friend Margaret who is recuperating from surgery loved it.  She was delighted and excited when I told her about it during my visit. She emailed me later she just had to have it when I left.

Complete your fish dinner with this easy and delicious comfort food.

Instant Pot Haluski

1 lb egg noodles
1/2 head Cabbage, cored and quartered
1 onion, chopped
4 cups water
1 tsp salt

Place all the ingredients in the Instant Pot.  It is all right if not all noodles are covered with water.

Put vent in sealing position and cook mixture at high pressure for 1 minute. Naturally release pressure for 5 minutes then quick release.

Season haluski with salt and pepper to your taste.

Instant Pot Vegan Pumpkin Tahini Linguine

Thanks to this wonderful  site  I was able to prepare a pasta dish in the Instant Pot without any burnt residue at the bottom as I experienced previously. This method I adopted gives pasta cooked al dente. This texture is maintained even when the sauce is added at the end of the steps enumerated in the recipe below.

The short cooking time of the pasta as it is cooked separately from the sauce is key as well as how the pressure is released at the end of cooking. An additional factor is adding the sauce to the pot at the end of cooking of the pasta rather than with it.

The sauce is delicious and creamy that coats the linguine with its velvety texture.  The combination of miso and nutritional yeast gives it its umami flavor while the pumpkin and tahini paste imparts the creaminess which your tongue will relish in every bite. These latter two ingredients are more for achieving a thick sauce. You hardly detect their flavor but they successfully achieve the goal of imparting creaminess to the dish without the use of fat laden cream or beans or cashews.

Instant Pot Vegan Pumpkin Tahini Linguine

See this site for more on cooking pasta in the Instant Pot.  This recipe was inspired by this.

Ingredients: 

Sauce 

• 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
• 2 cups unsweetened, unflavored almond milk or other similar non dairy milk
• 2 tbsp white miso
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 lemon juiced
• 4 tbsp tahini paste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper Fresh or dry basil for topping

Pasta

• 1 lb (16 oz) linguine or other pasta
• 4 cups cold water
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

• Place all the sauce Ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
  

• Place the water, salt and pasta in the Instant Pot. Close the lid and put the valve to the Sealing position.

• Press the manual or "Pressure Cook" button and set the time for 1 minute on High Pressure setting for al dente (2 minutes for softer pasta).

• At the end of cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally for five minutes.

• Then quick release the steam that is left by putting a towel over the vent as you switch the valve to venting position.

• Then immediately add two thirds of the sauce to cooked pasta in pot and mix using the residual heat of the pot. Add the rest of sauce if you want pasta laden with a lot of sauce.
  

• Top pasta with fresh or dry basil.

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Instant Pot Vegan Pumpkin Pasta

I attended a vegan potluck at Temple David in Monroeville PA last night and I brought  this delicious crowd pleaser. This was inspired by the one prepared on the stove top by the adorable vegan  chef and YouTuber, Brittany Jaroudi.  This was one of the dishes she featured during the cooking demo she did at our Vegan Pittsburgh East Pumpkin Recipes Demonstration session last Saturday at the Murrysville Library. She has also featured a video of her recipe at her YouTube channel the Jaroudi Family.

I

The stove top approach is a one pot recipe that entailed mixing the pasta to the simmering sauce with some stirring for fifteen minutes. During the demo I wondered aloud if the recipe could be done in the Instant Pot. It was mentioned that some who have tried cooking pasta in this cooking device got mushy consistency.

I decided to experiment and come up with an Instant Pot version. The results:  UPDATE:  See this blog post for a better way to cook pasta in the Instant Pot.

1. I obtained pasta that had the consistency of those cooked the conventional way. Not mushy at all. The sauce coated the pasta and the overall dish was not dripping with sauce.

2. Since I did not saute the onion and garlic in any oil at start of process to make the recipe oil free, the lack of oil might have contributed to a bit of the pasta burning at the bottom of the pot. The digital display showed the word burn in the Instant Pot warning me about this occurring which I just  ignored.

3. As I said only a small bit got stuck at bottom of pot while the rest had excellent texture. Despite this I prefer the Instant Pot to standing in front of the stove stirring intermittently for fifteen minutes. I love the texture and taste of the dish. The pot is currently soaking and I still have to scrub the bottom of the pot now. Tsk, tsk. I wonder...

4.  The alternative is to use some oil and saute the onion and garlic as an added step or just add oil.  Another option is to cook the pasta in the broth, release the pressure, then add the sauce to the cooked pasta and mix using the residual heat of the pot or tbe saute mode. See this site for this approach.

Overall my nonvegan husband liked the one pot recipe except for the nutmeg taste. People at the potluck liked the texture and taste of this version.

Instant Pot Vegan Pumpkin Pasta

Inspired by this stove top version and this site for detailed Instant Pot instructions for pasta with sauce.  UPDATE :  See this blog post for better way to cook pasta in the Instant Pot.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz uncooked pasta (I used macaroni)
• 1 15 oz can pure pumpkin puree
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 large white or red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1\4 tsp nutmeg
• 1\4 tsp cinnamon
• 1\2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp miso paste

Add all the ingredients except the lemon juice and miso paste (note 1) in the Instant Pot and mix. Cook at manual mode using low pressure for six minutes. (note 2) . See UPDATE At the end of cooking, quick release the Instant Pot to release pressure note( 3). Add the lemon juice and miso paste to the cooked pasta mixture and mix.

Notes:

1. Miso paste is added after cooking to preserve its probiotic effect.

2. Since I did not saute the onion and garlic in oil, a little bit of the pasta burned at the bottom and the Instant Pot displayed the word burn in its digital display while cooking which I ignored. I just left the burned part at the end of cooking and scoop the rest.

3. Do not leave the pasta in the pot. The residual heat will overcook it.

Vegan Shitake Ramen Pho (Vietnamese Soup)

This is an easy, delicious soup prepared in the microwave. This was inspired by the one from The Pioneer Woman show on TV.  I substituted shitake mushrooms for the beef used in the original recipe. The umami generated by the broth from the dried shitake mushrooms is incredible you will not miss the beef.

Vegan Shitake Ramen Pho

1-2 servings

4 dried shitake mushrooms
2 cups water
1 lime
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
1 tsp minced ginger
2 tbsp sriracha
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup Julienned carrots
1 star anise, optional
1 package ramen noodles (only noodles will be used)
1/2 cup spinach leaves

Add the shitake mushrooms in water in a medium bowl and microwave for five minutes. Take out from the microwave and allow the mushrooms to soak for 20 minutes. Take out the soaked mushrooms and slice in strips. Return them to the broth in the bowl.

Zest only half of a whole lime then cut in half and juice half of it. Add the juice with the zest into the bowl with the mushrooms. Cut the other half in wedges and set aside.

Add the onion slices, minced ginger, sriracha, soy sauce, julienned carrots in the bowl.

Add the ramen noodles without the seasoning to the bowl.

Microwave the mixture for three minutes.

Add the spinach at the end.

Vegan Longganisa Filipino Sausage

The Filipino breakfast is usually graced by the presence of a cylindrical shaped sausage made of usually ground pork, pork fat, sugar, garlic and other spices.  It is called longganisa.  This vegan version of this popular breakfast Filipino sausage was adapted from the awesome blog Astig Vegan written by the brilliant and creative RG Enriquez. I tweaked Ms. Enriquez's recipe by substituting some of the ingredients with what I have or preferred to use.  I substituted the tofu called for in the recipe with a combination of walnuts with cauliflower which I have used previously in the past in this blog as a meat substitute, see here. For extra oomph, I substituted the chili oil or sesame oil in the list in the Astig Vegan recipe with chili garlic sauce from a bottle. I also dropped the porcini mushroom but kept the shiitake mushroom in my tweaked recipe.  I did not add the pine nuts since it is taken cared of by the cauliflower and walnut meat mixture.  Since I did not have liquid smoke I used instead smoked paprika.

The sausage is easy to prepare and involves only the mixing of all the ingredients in a food processor or blender.  The original pork longganisa are traditionally encased in a casing which is not done with this vegan version.  To keep the cylindrical shape of the vegan sausage, bread crumbs in my case panko crumbs are used.

I experimented with three methods of cooking the longganisa, namely pan frying with coconut oil, baking and microwaving. Every single method is comparable to each other in giving you the satisfaction of eating the original longganisa usually made from pork or chicken. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. If you are in a hurry you can use the microwave method.  If you do not mind the oil added, you can pan fry.  If you have time and want to skip the oil you can bake.  The most moist sausage results from the pan fry method. If you use coconut oil you have that added flavor.  The sausage had a hard time keeping its shape when pan fried.  It might be because I used less oil, one tbsp, rather than three that must have been needed.  The best shaped sausage comes from the baking method which also gives a crispy coating.  One has to be careful not to over bake or the longganisa will get dry and taste burnt. The microwave method cooks the sausage best with its shape intact. It does not have the crispy coating though.  One can combine the microwave and pan frying methods by initially microwaving the sausage and then pan fry it in coconut oil to crisp the outside.

pan frying in coconut oil

baking in a toaster oven

microwaving

When I was tasting the mixture I could not help eating the uncooked sausage since it was that good.  I would suggest microwaving a bit of the prepared sausage and then adjust the sweetness or spiciness or saltiness of the sausage. Cooking sometimes tend to lessen the sweetness or spiciness of the sausage. I decided not to go overboard with any spices in preparing the sausage in order to please most of my family and vegan friends. Next time, however I would add more than 3 cloves of garlic.  I want mine more garlicky.

This is a flexible recipe that you can make your own.  You can go with tofu like Astig Vegan or with the cauliflower walnut meat.  One thing sure, as a vegan or even non vegan, Filipino or non Filipino you will fall in love with the well loved longganisa. Now you have a healthier version to top it all.

I dedicate this recipe to my new found friend Ivy (Vivian) the daughter of my former office mate in the Philippines, the late beloved Mrs K. Ivy requested that I develop this recipe since she plans to go vegan.

Vegan Longganisa Filipino Sausage

Inspired by the recipe in Astig Vegan

• 1/2 cup walnut
• 1/4 of one cauliflower head, cut roughly
• 1 oz dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in a warm water for around 20 minutes, then drained
• 1/4 cup coconut brown sugar or brown sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp balsamic or coconut vinegar
• 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce from a bottle
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• maple syrup to taste
• 1 cup Panko crumbs or vegan bread crumbs
• 3 tbsp coconut oil if frying

Mix all the ingredients except the last two in a food processor or blender until they are well mixed.

Transfer the mixture in a bowl and add the breadcrumbs and mix.

Score the mixture into 8 or more sections and shape each section into a cylinder or pattie.

If frying, heat the coconut oil in a cast iron skillet and fry the sausage till heated through and browned on the outside.

If microwaving, shape the cylinder into smaller sizes and microwave a few at a time for one minute depending on the wattage of your microwave.  This is a good method if you have frozen your shaped uncooked sausage.

If baking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees centigrade and bake for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through. Check for doneness half way through.  

The original pork longganisa is usually eaten with eggs and fried garlicky rice.  This combination is called for short Longsilog in the Philippines.  I ate mine with fresh cucumber and tomatoes and fresh leaf spinach. Later I ate it with plain cooked white rice with pickled cucumber and grape tomatoes.  

Microwaved Gluten Free Bean Thread Noodles

This is an easy noodle dish to accompany your stir fried or steamed vegetables or dumplings or any meat dish for that matter.  It takes three ingredients and 10 minutes cooking in the microwave.

It uses Saifun or bean thread noodles from the Asian Store. The noodles are made from mung bean, starch, potato starch and water.  It is a good gluten free noodle dish and serves as another option aside from rice sticks noodles. It is glassy looking and has a slippery texture when cooked. It absorbs easily the soy sauce or other sauce you add to it. The bean thread noodles come in bundles.  I used all three bundles from the packet I bought but you can just use one packet and adjust the amounts of the other ingredients accordingly.

I simplified the preparation of this dish and just relied on the addition of dry minced garlic from a bottle. One can add ginger powder if you wish but the garlic is sufficient.

This is an easy, delicious and highly satisfying dish to prepare.  Perfect accompaniment to any meal, Chinese, American etc. Next time you need a side dish in your meal, try this.

Microwaved Gluten Free Bean Thread Noodles

• 1- 5.29 oz packet Saifun or Bean Thread Noodles ( three bundles) (from Asian Store)
• water
• 2-3  tbsp soy sauce
• 1-2  tsp dry minced garlic (I used McCormick brand)
• 1/8 tsp ginger powder (optional)
• black pepper to taste

Place the three bundles of bean thread noodles in a microwave safe bowl.  Add just enough water as to cover the top of the bean thread noodles so that the noodles are submerged.  Microwave for 10 minutes at 100 percent power setting. I used a 1100 watt microwave oven.  You know it is done when the noodles absorb the water and plumped up and get soft and edible. Drain. 

Add the soy sauce, minced garlic, ginger powder if using and black pepper to the noodles and mix.

Serve with any steamed vegetables or stir fried vegetables.  

Microwaved Udon Noodles and Bok Choy Bowl with Sweet Spicy Sauce

I am sharing with you how easy and fast it is to prepare an irresistible noodle bowl in the microwave using a packet of udon and a vegetable of choice, which in this case is bok choy.  I actually microwaved the two separately but you can do them together since they have the same cooking time.  I wanted to be sure that my vegetable, bok choy, was not overcooked so I would stop and test their doneness, thus I preferred to cook it separately.

I have introduced udon noodles in this blog in a past blogpost on the Udon Shiitake Mushroom Soup recipe. In this past recipe, I used frozen udon noodles which came in separate small individual bundles of four.  The only thing I find inconvenient in using them was I had to freeze them and my freezer was always full.  When I saw udon noodles in 7.2 oz packets similar to the looks of Ramen noodles at the Asian store, I bought several with different flavor packets like, oriental, chicken, beef and shrimp.  In this recipe, I just used the noodles and saved the flavor or soup base for later use.  I was particularly concerned with the presence of monosodium glutamate as one of the ingredients in the flavor or soup base. 

You do not need these flavor packets in this recipe since you will be using a sweet spicy sauce with a Korean flavor that is very addictive.  For the sauce, I used the one I adapted from the recipe for this dish, Soba Noodles with Spicy Sweet Gochujang Sauce, I published previously in this blog.  I used less Gochujang sauce for the sauce for this recipe and substituted ketchup and sriracha for some of the amounts of Gochujang I used in the past recipe.  If you are wondering which of the two noodles, udon or soba, I prefer, I would say udon would be my choice.  It is not as slippery to eat as the soba noodles. But both are good.

This noodle dish is very addictive.  It is very versatile.  You can use any vegetables you want and also if you like add some meat or seafood. 

Microwaved Udon Noodles and Bok Choy Bowl with Sweet Spicy Sauce

1 generous serving

• 1-7.2 oz package udon noodles (from Asian store)
• 1 bok choy or other vegetables of your choice
• sesame seeds (optional)
• 1 recipe Sweet and Spicy Sauce (recipe below)

Place the udon noodles in a bowl.  Add about 1 cup water or enough to cover the noodles.  Microwave for 3 minutes. I used a 1100 watt oven.

Cut the bok choy in half and place in a bowl with 4 tbsp water and microwave for three minutes. 

Sweet and Spicy Sauce 

• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1/4 tsp sriracha 
• 1 tsp Gochujang sauce
• 1 tsp dry garlic flakes
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil

Mix all the sauce ingredients with a fork.  

Assembly

Place the drained udon noodles and bok choy in a bowl.  Add the sauce to the noodles and  mix.  Sprinkle sesame seeds if you like.