I was thinking that the Montrose potluck was so good and there were so many dishes that I would like to be able to make. How about we share our recipes here? Those who couldn't make it to the potluck and share an interesting recipe too.

Siri.

Greetings.

I got the "Incredible Corn Bread" recipe from "Cooking With Peta: Great Vegan Recipes for a Compassionate Kitchen", (c) 1997.

This seems to be a simple and "forgiving" recipe, and might be a good "starter" for a novice or nervous cook... like me. Don't panic at the "my details" section, it's just what I did, and I suspect minor variations won't matter, except for increasing the corn meal to flour ratio. But then I like the corn taste.

"1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 tea-spoons baking powder
2 tea-spoons sugar
1 tea-spoon salt
2 Table-spoons oil
1-1/2 cups soymilk

Preheat oven to 350(F). Combine the dry ingredients.Add the oil and soymilk, and mix well. Pour into a lightly oiled 8 x 8-inch pan, and bake for 30 minutes."

My details: I changed the flours ratio to about 1-1/4 cup cornmeal, 3/4 cup flour (total still 2 cups). Cake flour (wheat) was what I had. Used olive oil, 365 brand vegan cane sugar (Whole Foods), Kraft "Calumet" brand baking powder, iodized sea salt, Jewel olive oil spray onto a Pyrex baking dish.

I used an oven thermometer, didn't rely on my "old enough to get a driver's license" oven's turn dial.

This produces a "hefty" bread, that, and the expected crowd, was why cut a lot of smaller squares, around 6 x 6 = 36.

The book's authors suggests serving with "veggie chill or other southwestern fare". I also like it with "butter" and/or one's favorite jams or jellies.

Here's the mixed beans curry recipe, its really not as difficult as it looks from this recipe, I just tried to be specific about what I did.-

Ingredients-
2 cups Mixture of beans/lentils(dry)
3 onions(medium sized) chopped
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
5-6 cloves of garlic(crush them)
2 inches ginger(crush it)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
3 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons sunflower oil(or any oil you like)

Garam masala- a ground powder of the following-
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Alternately garam masala, this can be purchased at a spice store or an Indian store.

Instructions-
1. Soak the beans overnight- about 8 hours. Remember to soak in 4-5 times the amount of water by volume. I used a mixture of red kidney beans, garbanzo beans, green lentil, black beans and val beans. You can use any combination of any beans or just one kind of beans.
2. Drain the water in which the beans are soaking. Rinse the beans with a lot of water.
3. Cook the beans in a pot by adding water to it. The beans should be drowned in the water. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour. The trick is to get the beans to be really soft. I recommend using a pressure cooker if you have one.
4. In a pan, heat some oil, add the cumin seeds and wait till they splatter.
5. Then add the garlic and the ginger and saute for about 10 seconds.
6. Add the onions and saute till the onions start becoming slightly translucent. (Sauteing a little more or less will not cause a catastrophe.)
7. Add the cooked beans.
8. Add the salt, turmeric, Cayenne pepper and the garam masala.
9. Allow the mixture to cook for 5 minutes. Add water if it is too thick. (Some people like it thick, some do not)

Bean curry is done, you can eat it with rice, bread or as it is. :-)