Ruth Tal - Fresh Essentials: Quick And Easy Vegan Meals

Nevercook if you are in a bad mood. Wait until you feel better. It is always good tobe aware of who is preparing your food and your relationship to them. Cookingfood for another person to ingest is a very intimate act. Your thoughts,feelings and attitudes come through in the food. When a restaurant has greatfood, chances are that whoever is cooking in the kitchen is a positive personwith the right attitude! Equipment To make the recipes in this book, youll need just a fewpieces of equipment.

Food Processor or Immersion Blender Of all the equipment and tools a person can have in thekitchen, a food processor is probably the most useful. It will save you a lotof time and enable you to explore most recipes with ease. A blender is the nextbest thing, great for making dressings, sauces and pureing. I use an immersionblender, also known as a hand blender or stick blender, all the time,especially for blending soups, because you can do it right in the pot, whiletheyre still hot. Julienne Peeler or Turning Slicer Its worth getting a julienne peeler for long, shreddedveggies. If you try to grate vegetables on a box grater, youll end up withlittle shreds that dont have much visual appeal.

At Fresh, we use aturning slicer, also known as a spiralizer, which costs about $100. A goodoption for home use is a julienne peeler. Although it doesnt produce thesuper-long curly strands that a turning slicer does, a julienne peeler producesbeautiful strands and costs only about $10. Tongs I dont understand how people cook without tongsI cantlive without them. Visit a restaurant supplier and choose the simplest metaltongs. Look for ones without a locking mechanism at the top and with flatpointsnot scoop-shapedthat meet up perfectly when squeezed together.

Theyshould cost only a few dollars. Cheese Plane Using a cheese plane is the best way to get really thinslices of cheeseyoull never get them thin enough with a knife. It is alsogreat for cutting zucchini really thin. Other invaluable tools in the kitchen include a good sharpknife, cutting board, measuring cups, hand juicer for lemons, measuring spoons,vegetable peeler, grater, rolling pin, whisk, colander, mixing bowls, aheavy-bottomed frying pan, small and medium saucepans and a soup pot. Ingredients Cheese From Milk At Fresh, we use only rennet-free cheese. Rennet isan extract from the stomachs of certain animals, including cows or sheep.

Somecheeses are labelled rennet-free. If its not, check the ingredient list tomake sure there is no animal rennet listed. In North America, microbial andsynthetic rennet are generally cheaper than animal rennet, so most cheesemanufacturers use them instead. However, most European cheeses still use animalrennet. Cooking Beans Beans or legumes are high in protein, fat and carbohydrates.They are also a rich source of potassium, calcium and iron. When sprouted,their valuable nutrients and enzymes increase even more.

There are many beansto choose from, so if you have trouble digesting one kind, try another. Tospeed up cooking time and improve digestibility of the beans, soak themovernight in the fridge, for a minimum of 4 hours, in 3 parts water to 1 partbeans. Drain the water and rinse the beans. Using canned beans is a practicaloption if you are short on time or energy. Choose beans that are packed inwater with no salt. Combine 1 cup of soaked beans with 3 cups of water and bringto a boil.

Simmer for 1 to 2 hours. Cooking time decreases with the size ofbean and length of time soakedsmaller beans and beans that have had a lengthysoak will have a shorter cooking time. Lentils and split peas are quicker tocook than larger beans; they take 30 to 40 minutes. Cooking Grains Brown rice takes a little longer to cook than white rice asthe water has to penetrate the outer husk or bran. For a sweet toasted flavour,stir the rice in a dry saucepan first on medium to high heat for 2 minutes. Ilike to add a few slices of ginger root or garlic to the pot of rice as itscooking for a subtle hint of flavour.

Brown Basmati or Other Long-Grain Rice 3 cups brown basmati or other long-grain rice 5 cups filtered water Rinse the rice in a saucepan and drain. Add the water andbring to a boil; then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 to 35minutes, until water has evaporated. Makes 6 cups. Sweet brown rice is a sticky rice, rich in gluten andprotein. Adding umeboshi, rice vinegar and maple syrup gives the rice a specialhidden flavour. Umeboshi plum paste is available in Japanese and natural foodstores.

Sweet Brown Rice 1 cup sweet brown rice 1 cups filtered water 1 tsp. rice vinegar (optional) 1 tsp. maple syrup (optional) 1 tsp. umeboshi plum paste (optional) Rinse the rice in a saucepan and drain. Add the water andbring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes oruntil all the water has evaporated. Combine the rice vinegar, maple syrup andumeboshi together in a small bowl and toss with the cooked rice.

Makes 2 cups. Date Pure When baking, dates are a wonderful natural sweetener to replacesugar, honey or maple syrup. They build strength and are warming to the body. 2 cups cooking dates 2 cups filtered water 1 tbsp. vanilla extract tsp. cinnamon 1 pinch nutmeg Wash and rinse the dates.

Put them in a saucepan with the water,vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook on low heat for 25 minutes untilhalf the water has evaporated. Remove from heat and let cool. When cool, placethe date mixture in a food processor or blender and pure. Store in the fridge.Makes 2 cups. Filtered Water Water, which makes up two-thirds of our bodys mass, is avital nutrient for us all.