Tag: vegan
How To Make Kombucha
How To Make Kombucha
I’m a huge fan of kombucha. But paying $4+ a bottle really adds up; especially when you drink one a day. That’s $120 a month, minimum. I felt that it was time to learn how to make it. It is so unbelievably easy and cost effective. Outside of the equipment, you can ultimately make 6 gallons of kombucha for about $20. I purchased a kombucha kit for about $50 that has everything you’ll need. The scoby culture can be reused up to 6 times.
Equipment
- 1 gallon glass jar with lid
- cheesecloth or cotton cloth
- rubber band
- reusable cotton teabag
- funnel with strainer
Ingredients
- 1 gallon water
- 4 tbsp loose leaf black, green, or oolong tea
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 scoby culture
- 2 cups fruit
- 6 20 oz glass bottles
Instructions
- Place 4 tbsp of loose leaf tea in the cotton teabag. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil. Turn off the heat and let the tea steep for 10 minutes.
- Whisk in the sugar until dissolved.
- Poor the tea into the gallon jar. Fill up with 3 quarts of water. Placd the scoby into the jar.
- Place the cloth over the jar and secure with a rubber band. Allow to sit in a dark place for a week.
- After a week, scoop out the scoby from the jar and place in another jar.
- Poor out 1 cup of the kombucha and add it to the scoby. Use within a month if making more kombucha.
- Add in the fruit of your choice. Screw on the lid and let sit for 4 days.
- When ready to bottle, ladle the kombucha through a funnel with a strainer.
Green Chili and Hominy Stew
Green Chili and Hominy Stew
Corn, beans, and chilies are important staples of Indigenous tribes of the southwest. This stew contains a base of onions, garlic, and celery, with roasted chilies, hominy, and pinto beans simmered for an hour. It’s simply seasoned with cumin, coriander, and sea salt. Then at the last minute of cooking, spinach and cilantro are stirred in. This stew is very filling and full of flavor considering that it’s vegan and contains no colonialist ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 4 cups hominy
- 2 cups pinto beans
- 2 poblano peppers
- 2 fresno chilies
- 1 small green bell pepper
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 4 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 bunch spinach washed and chopped
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Place the peppers on a wire rack. Broil in the oven for 4-5 minutes a side until the skins have been charred. Peel the skins. Seed. Dice all of the peppers. Set aside.
- Heat up the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, and celery for 10 minutes.
- Add in the hominy, beans, diced peppers, cumin seeds, and ground coriander.
- Pour in the water. Season with salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Cover. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for an hour.
- Stir in the spinach and cilantro. Cook for a minute, then turn off the heat.
Ugali with Coconut Milk Stewed Beans
Ugali with Coconut Milk Stewed Beans
Ugali with coconut milk stewed beans is the national dish of Tanzania. Initially when you hear what it is, it sounds kind of underwhelming. It is everything but that when you taste it. Ugali is made of maize flour and water and is eaten in many African countries. It is simmered as a porridge to a thick mashed potato-like consistency. It starts to firm up in the pot. It is then rolled into a ball, becoming your starch for the dish. The maharage is kidney beans with tomatoes, carrots, and onions, briefly stewed with coconut milk. When you combine the ugali with the maharage, something magical happens. While being so simple, it is unbelievably flavorful. This is on the same addicting level as eating a coconut milk-based curry; the type that you can stop eating. If I were to ever go vegan, this would be a weekly staple in my house.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
Ugali
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups maize flour
Maharage
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 roma tomatoes diced
- 1 large carrot peeled and cubed
- 1 cup coconut milk
- salt to taste
- 1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed
Instructions
Ugali
- Heat up the water in a pot over high heat. Turn down to medium heat. Stir in half of the maize flour.
- Once bubbling, cover and cook for 4 minutes.
- Take off the heat. Stir in the rest of the maize flour. Break up any lumps.
- Cook for 4 minutes. As it firms up, flip and cook for another 4 minutes. Do this process a total of 3 times
- Form into 2 oval like balls.
Maharage
- Heat up the oil in a pot over medium high heat. Sauté the onions for 5 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Stir in the carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt.
- Stir in the beans.
- Pour in the coconut milk and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.
