Dinner: Warm dishes / stews

Seitan-mushroom dish
pasta-sauce (tomato)
pasta-sauce (mushrooms)
fried egg-plamt-tomato
ratatouille
winter stew (carrots, rootcelery, parsnip)
kaali fogath (cabbage & cocos)
Chilli sin carne

Seitan-mushroom dish

1/3 seitan, 2/3 mushrooms, garlic, soya sauce

Cut the seitan in shreds and fry in some oil.
When the seitan is almost ready, add the sliced mushrooms, some garlic and some soya sauce.
Stir constantly.

It is impossible to make this in large quantities at the same time, unless one has got some big frying plates. So make small portions every time, and whenever a portion is ready, pour it into a big pot with a lid, and start another portion. When the last portion is ready, put the entire load on a hot fire for a few minutes while stirring.
When an oven is available, you can use a big oven dish instead of a pot with a lid, and keep the fried portions warm in the oven.

Serves well with quinoa, potato, grains, … as a side dish (not as a main dish)

pasta-sauce (tomato)

onions, paprikas, tomato puree, paprika powder, thyme, salt, pepper, garlic, oil, laurel/bay leaves (SV lagerblad, SF laakerinlehti)

carrots, broccoli (SF parsakaali), red lentils, basil, oregano, milk

Cut the onions to pieces and fry in a good amount of oil.
Add the finely chopped garlic and the herbs and spices.
(If using carrots, they go in now, cut in slices.)
Then fry the paprikas (cut in half rings or quarter rings) with the rest.
Add the tomato puree and make it thinner with either water or milk, and add salt to the taste.
The optional broccoli can go in now and also the red lentils. The lentils will need about 15 minutes.

Serves well with pasta, but also with grains

pasta-sauce (mushrooms)

chick peas, mushrooms (preferably some oyster mushroom SV ostronskivling SF ? osterisieni ?), (soya) cream, leeks (SV purjolök, SF purjosipuli), laurel/bay leaves (SV lagerblad, SF laakerinlehti), parsley, balsamico, fresh ginger, pepper, soya sauce

sour cream, tomato puree, boiled chick peas (not much ; it's not a chick pea–dish)

Fry the finely chopped leeks in oil and add the muhsrooms, some pepper and soya sauce.
Then add the bay leaves, the fresh ginger (cut in match sticks) and the cream (and the optional sour cream and a bit of chick peas).
Bring to taste with some more pepper, balsamico and soya sauce.
In the end you can add a little bit of tomato puree so the creamy sauce gets some salmon pink colour. Just before serving add the parsley.

Serves with pasta

fried egg-plant-tomato

1/2 measure egg plant (aubergine) (SV äggplanta, SF munakoiso), 1/2 measure tomato, thyme, basil, oregano, salt

Cut the egg plant in slices and leave for half an hour in a bowl with water and salt (this will get some of the bitterness out of the eggplant). Meanwhile slice the tomatoes.
Get the eggplant out of the salty water, rinse and dry and fry in hot oil. Regularly turn and check the slices, so they don't burn. When they are almost done, add the slices of tomato, thyme, basil, oregano and salt and stir well.

When using an oven, you can take bread forms.
First half fry the aubergine and then order it, standing in the bread-baking form, 1 slice of aubergine, 1 or 2 slices of tomato, 1 slice of aubergine, tomato, … with the salt and the herbs on top.
If cheese is an option, you can have some grated cheese on top. Under the oven grill it will get a nice crust.

Serves well with rice or other grains

ratatouille

3 big zucchinis (courgette, SF kesäkurpitsa), 3 egg plant (aubergine) (SV äggplanta, SF munakoiso), 5 paprikas, 10-15 tomatos, 4 onions, 1/2 – 1 ball of garlic, olive oil, salt, thyme, basil, oregano, laurel/bay leaves (SV lagerblad, SF laakerinlehti)
Measures for 10 persons

marjoram, dragon

Cut the onions to pieces and fry in hot oil.
Add the finely chopped garlic and the other herbs.
Cut the egg plant into cubes and the paprikas into slices and add to the onions.
After some minutes of frying/steaming, you can add the sliced zucchinis and the cut tomatoes, some salt and some pepper to the taste.
You can also add some water if the tomatoes don't make the stew liquid enough.

Serves well with rice or other grains

winter stew (carrots, rootcelery, parsnip)

1/3 carrots, 1/3 root celery, 1/3 parsnip (SV palsternacka, SF palsternakka), salt, black pepper, corn flour (maizena), mustard, vinegar, laurel/bay leaves (SV lagerblad, SF laakerinlehti), stock powder (SV buljong, SF kasvisliemi), (broccoli), (dill)

Peel the vegetables and cut them in cubes.
Boil them in water with some salt and the stock powder and the bay leaves and a bit of vinegar.
When the vegetables are cooked, you pour out some of the water (not all of it).
Mix the corn flour with some water and add, to make the stew thicker.
Boil up again and bring to taste with the mustard, black pepper and optionally dill.
When you want to add some broccoli, you only add it when the other vegetables are almost cooked.

Serves well with boiled potato (or potato boiled with a little bit of vinegar and dill in the boiling water)

kaali fogath (cabbage & cocos)

1/3 onions, 2/3 white cabbage, paprika powder, chilli pepper, oil, soya sauce, grated coconut, garlic

Cut the onions into pieces and the cabbage into pieces or shreds.
Heat up oil and fry 1/3 of onion with 2/3 of cabbage.
When they are more or less ready, add some the finely cut garlic, some paprika powder, chilli pepper and soya sauce.
Fry for another minute or two and pour into the big waiting kettle.
When everything is fried, you fill up the kettle with water until the mix is almost covered, add some salt and let boil for a while until the cabbage is ready.
Add a good amount of grated coconut at the end and mix well.

It is impossible to make the entire quantity at once, so you need to prepare in a frying pan and every time a load is ready, put it into a big pot.

Serves well with quinoa, rice or other grains, couscous, …

Chilli sin carne

Like chill con carne, but without the meat

5 kg kidney beans or brown beans (weighed dry), 5 kg onions, 5 – 8 balls garlic, salt, chilli pepper or cayenne pepper, black pepper, nutmeg, oil
Measures for 80 – 100 people

10 paprikas, 2 – 4 kg carrots, corn (mais), maizena, 1 kg of broccoli

Fry the coarsely cut onions in the oil.
When they're almost golden, add the chopped garlic.
Stir very well until the garlic is lightly burnt (completely burnt gives a very bitter taste).
Then add the soaked beans.
Kidney beans should be soaked overnight, and rinsed. A
dd some salt and chilli pepper and the nutmeg.
When you use (sliced) carrots, they can join in from the start too.
When you use paprikas, canned corn and/or broccoli, they go in much later, because they are much softer.
When the beans are ready, you can take ± 1/10 of the beans out and mash them or turn them through a vegetable-puree-machine.
These mashed beans then go back into the rest of the stew, and when the entire mass starts to boil again, these mashed beans will make the stew thicker.
Otherwise you can use maizena or potato flour to make it thicker.
Bring to taste with extra salt, pepper or chilli pepper.
Chilli con/sin carne should be spicy, but think of the people that are not used to food too spicy (especially kids).
Possible solutions are to prepare a spicy and a not so spicy pot, or serve a chilli paste separately : some like it hot !!

Serves well with rice or other grains, or quinoa.