At Your Fingertips:
The Efficient Vegan Kitchen

It’s been a long day for everyone, and dinnertime is just around the corner. What will you eat? A well-stocked pantry, efficient equipment, and a little know-how can make preparing healthy vegan meals a snap and a pleasure. Here are some tips for setting up a kitchen that will work for you.

Preparing the Pantry

You’ll want to have a rich assortment of ingredients on hand. I’m not suggesting that you buy everything on this list—you’d probably have to move to a bigger place—but buy enough to keep meals lively and you prepared.

Canned Goods

Canned beans are essential for spontaneity at mealtimes. Canned tomatoes and tomato sauce can also make meals happen quickly.

Chickpeas

Kidney beans

Vegetarian baked beans

Refried beans, vegetarian

Lentil soup

Vegetable broth, low sodium

Pasta sauces

Tomato sauce

Diced tomatoes

Diced tomatoes with chilies

Roasted red peppers

Chipotle chilies

Coconut milk

Artichoke hearts

Hominy

Grains

Start with grains you know you like, and then get adventurous. Buying grains from the bulk section lets you test in small amounts.

Rice

Millet

Quinoa

Barley

Bulgar

Polenta

Corn Grits

Wild rice

Oils

Choose one or two oils for cooking, then accumulate small bottles of oils for flavoring. (See pages 26–29 for descriptions of oils.)

Canola oil

Olive oil

Extra virgin olive oil

Walnut, flaxseed, or hazelnut oil

Hot chili oil

Toasted sesame oil

Dried Beans/Legumes

Make sure to have some quick-cooking beans like lentils and split peas. Look for smooth unblemished surfaces.

Lentils

Black-eyed peas

Black turtle beans

Chickpeas

Pinto beans

Split peas

Fruits/Juices/Teas

Applesauce

Canned fruit in juice

100 percent fruit concentrates

Green tea

Mint tea

Condiments

There’s only so much room in the door shelves of the refrigerator, so buy in small quantities that you can use in a reasonable amount of time. Yeast, vinegar, and soy sauces do not require refrigeration.

Nutritional yeast

Ketchup

Mustard

Pickles

Salsa

Salsa verde

Barbecue sauce

Hot sauces

Balsamic vinegar

Rice wine vinegar

Apple Cider vinegar

Raspberry vinegar

Red wine vinegar

Tarragon white wine vinegar

Soy sauce

Mushroom soy sauce

Garlic chili sauce

Red curry paste

Green curry paste

Noodles/Pasta

If you are new to Asian pasta, start with whole wheat or buckwheat ramen noodles. (See pages 196–197.)

Ramen

Rice noodles, broad and slender

Cellophane noodles

Penne

Orecchiete

Spaghetti

Angel hair

Fettucine

Couscous

Soy, Nut, and Grain Milks

Plain

Vanilla, coffee, chocolate, etc.

Coffee creamer

6-ounce “juice” boxes

Sea Vegetables

If you have a friend who uses seaweed regularly—or who has some sitting on a shelf—ask to borrow some to experiment. A little seaweed goes a long way. Asian markets generally have better prices on seaweed. Store seaweed in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.

Hijiki

Wakame

Kombu

Dulse

Kelp

Nuts

Hazelnuts

Pumpkin seeds

Pine nuts

Pecans

Pistachios

Sunflower seeds

Sesame seeds

Almonds /almond butter

Peanuts/peanut butter

Cashews/cashew butter

Soy nuts/soy nut butter

Dried Fruits

Apricots

Dates

Cranberries

Cherries

Raisins

Prunes

Sun-dried tomatoes

Spices

Buy spices you plan to use and store them in a cool, dry place— not above the stove, please. Spices have a limited shelf life, so don’t ruin your best cooking efforts with ingredients well past their prime.

Baking Essentials

All-purpose flour

Whole wheat pastry flour

Whole wheat flour

Wheat germ

Wheat bran

Soy flour

Oat bran

Egg Replacer

Cornmeal

Cornstarch

Potato starch

Tapioca starch

Baking powder

Baking soda

Cocoa

Chocolate

Gluten-free

Baking Mix

Sweeteners

There are so many sweeteners! If possible, buy them in small quantities from the bulk section to see which you prefer. (For more on choosing sweeteners, see pages 29–32.)

Brown rice syrup

Malted barley

Blackstrap molasses

Succanat

Stevia

Corn syrup

Brown sugar

White sugar

Demerara (turbinado) sugar

Evaporated cane juice

Maple syrup

All-fruit preserves

Snacks

For the cost of one brand name package of microwave popcorn, you can buy two pounds of bulk popping corn and fifty brown paper lunch bags, which should keep you in popcorn for quite some time. Then you can toss the popcorn with a teaspoon of olive oil and sprinkle with nutritional yeast.

Pretzels

Corn for popping

Flatbreads

Freezer

Frozen foods can save your sanity on a busy day. Frozen fruits are convenient for making smoothies with intense flavors. While a steady diet of meat analogues would get tiresome, they are perfect for quick dinners.

Vegetables

Fruit

Juice concentrates

Veggie burgers

Veggie sausage

Refrigerator

Be careful not to stuff the refrigerator so full that some precious vegetable gets lost in the hinterlands. Pre-cut vegetables either from the salad bar or the produce section can reduce preparation time dramatically, especially if you are not so adept with a knife.

Fresh vegetables

Fresh fruit

Prepared vegetables

Seitan

Bread

Rolls

Fresh pasta

Soy foods

Asian Ingredients

A number of recipes in this book call for Asian ingredients that may be unfamiliar to you.

Black beans are dried, fermented black soybeans. They have a salty, pungent, slightly sweet and nutty flavor.

Black bean sauce is a spicy reddish brown sauce made with chilies, garlic, and black beans. It can be chunky with whole soybeans or puréed.

Chili oil is a light sesame oil infused with very hot, red chilies. Use it sparingly as a flavoring agent only, never for sautéing.

Chili paste with garlic is a spicy mix of soybeans, chilies, and garlic. A little bit goes a long way.

Coconut milk in this book always refers to the unsweetened kind used as a base for Thai curries. (Sweetened cream of coconut contains dairy products.) Look for brands with as few ingredients as possible. The coconut milk will separate in the can, so shake the can vigorously before opening.

Five spice powder is a mixture of fennel, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and Szechuan peppercorns.

Fresh ginger has a unique flavor. Look for ginger with an unblemished, light tan skin. If the ginger is withered at the ends, it is old and will not give much flavor. Peel ginger with a standard vegetable peeler or scrape the peel off with a spoon. To slice ginger, cut crosswise to shorten the tough fibers. To sliver, cut the slices into matchsticks. To grate ginger, use a ginger grater or the finest side of a box grater. If you are grating a large quantity, clean the grater of the fibers periodically.

Hoisin sauce is made with soy beans, chilies, garlic, and spices to produce a thick, slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce. Hoisin is nice to have around for spontaneous stir-frying.

Miso is a thick fermented soy bean paste used as a base for soup. See pages 20–21 for further information.

Mushroom soy sauce, also called dark or thick soy sauce, is Chinese soy sauce with molasses mixed in. It is used much like Kitchen Bouquet to add color and deepen flavors. Use sparingly—too much imparts a burnt flavor to the dish.

Rice wine vinegar has a mild flavor and is less sharp than cider or white vinegar.

Seitan is a concentrated form of wheat gluten often used as a meat substitute. Wheat flour is kneaded with water and rinsed repeatedly until most of the starch is washed out, leaving a ball of dough. The dough is then boiled in broth for at least forty minutes and sometimes a few hours, until it is tender. The spongy texture of seitan allows it to absorb the sauce used in its preparation.

Sesame oil in this book means toasted sesame oil, an amber oil with a nutty flavor used for seasoning, never for sautéing.

Soy sauce is a generic term for the dark, salty sauce central to Asian cuisine. Though we tend to think of Chinese and Japanese styles of soy sauce, Indonesia and Korea also make distinctive versions.

Shoyu is a Japanese soy sauce brewed with more wheat than Chinese soy sauce. It is less salty than Chinese soy sauce, with a hint of sweetness.

Tamari is a thick, Japanese soy sauce brewed with no wheat.

Wonton skins are small squares or circles of pasta. Sold fresh or frozen in packs of three dozen, wonton skins will keep well wrapped in the refrigerator several days after opening. If fresh, the extras can be wrapped tightly and frozen. Wonton skins make excellent ravioli without the fuss of making fresh pasta.

Equipment: The Right Stuff

No special gadgets are needed to prepare fabulous plant-based meals, but good equipment makes the job easier. A restaurant supply store or specialty kitchen shop will carry the less familiar utensils.

This is not a complete list, just a few items you may find particularly useful when making the recipes in this book. Plan on acquiring equipment as you acquire skills.

Knives: Most cooks can survive with just three good knives: a chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a serrated slicer. The chef’s knife should be large enough to handle big jobs like acorn squash, but small enough for everyday onion dicing. The paring knife should be able to handle delicate tasks like peeling a kiwi and small cutting tasks like dicing a shallot. The slicer should cut tomatoes and bread with equal ease.

Zester: These small devices quickly and efficiently remove only the zest, the colorful part of a citrus skin, leaving the bitter pith behind. They do have a sharp cutting surface and will dull if thrown into the jumble of a kitchen drawer.

Ginger grater: These small, hand-held graters have lots of little barbs that catch the ginger fibers but let the pulp and juice run free. They can be ceramic or steel.

Box grater: This old standby is quite versatile. One side can be used to grate nutmeg or lemon zest, another for slicing thin planks of vegetables, and the other two for coarse or fine grating.

Japanese mandoline: This is just for fun. Similar to a box grater, but more versatile, these vegetable “planers” come with three blades to make different size shreds. Long thin “noodles” can be cut from cucumbers, zucchini, or carrots.

Heat-resistant spatula: When this rubber utensil was first introduced, a colleague of mine threw one into the fryer at 375°. After 3 or 4 minutes, he removed it, rinsed it off, and indeed, it was a bit greasy but still like new. While I don’t recommend this trial by fryer, these rubber spatulas will become an indispensable part of your kitchen arsenal. Heat-resistant spatulas, or “high heat scrapers,” while not cheap, last for years—much longer than regular rubber spatulas—even with constant use. They are particularly helpful when reheating soups and stews, making sauces or puddings, or making thick soups or stews. More efficient than a spoon, these effectively scrape the bottom and edges of pots for more even cooking with fewer lumps and less burning.

Spring-loaded tongs: Most professional cooks cannot imagine life without tongs. It’s an extension of the hand, turning foods on the grill or in the fryer, removing vegetables from boiling water, pulling pans out of the oven, and snapping emphatically at other cooks who may have gotten too rowdy. Tongs are available in different weights and lengths. Eight to ten inches is a good general length; twelve to sixteen inches is normal for use on the grill. Some models have a small ring around them that keeps them closed when they are in the drawer.

Spider: The original spiders were round sieves whose wires resembled a spider web. Whether round or square, these almost-flat strainers are perfect for removing tomatoes from boiling water, pears from their poaching liquid, or falafel from a fryer. Use a spider when tongs might bruise or break an item. A “skimmer” or “wok strainer” will also do the job.

Nonstick saucepan: A good nonstick skillet with a heavy-duty surface lets you use very little oil and prevents waste, since food can’t adhere to the bottom of the pan. Nonstick surfaces should not be heated dry over high heat or they will degrade.

Cast-iron skillet: This pan retains an even heat longer and better than stainless steel or cast aluminum ones. Cast-iron can be heated dry at high heat, making it perfect for quick searing with very little oil. Once seasoned, the surface is almost nonstick as long as it is not scoured with abrasive scrub pads.

Soup pot/Dutch oven: A heavy bottom is essential for the long cooking times that soups and stews require. An eight-quart capacity is sufficient for most home purposes. It is important that you have enough room to stir the soup without its splashing. A Dutch oven can double as a casserole, allowing you to do all the prep work on the top of the stove, then cover it and slide it into the oven.

Immersion blender: This device looks a little bit like the workings of a milk shake machine encased in plastic and made portable. Use it to purée soups and sauces, or to make rice milk.

Food processor: No other appliance does a better job of processing tofu into its myriad incarnations. Tofu mayonnaise, puddings, and baked goods all benefit from the food processor. And of course it’s also great for slicing, grating, and puréeing other ingredients.

Coffee grinder: Reserve one of these for grinding spices and grains. The most basic models are strong enough to process barley into flour, or most spices into powder. Peppercorns are better off in a peppermill.

Rice cooker: Everyone has some cooking task that defeats even the best effort. I can’t make toast, even with a toaster. If making perfect rice is an insurmountable challenge for you, invest in a rice cooker. It miraculously produces perfect rice every time you follow the simple instructions. Rice cookers are also great for those with limited space on the stovetop.

Cutting Vegetables: A Little Know-how

Cutting vegetables into different shapes provides visual and textural interest. Here are some basic techniques used in preparing vegetables.

Dice: to cut into uniform cubes. A fine dice is ¼ inch; medium, to ½ inch; and large, ½ to 1 inch.

To dice an onion: Peel the onion and cut the root end off. Cut the onion in half from stem to root. Place each half flat on a cutting board. Securely holding the top of the onion, make several cuts parallel to the cutting board. Make similar cuts perpendicular to the cutting board to create a checked pattern on the onion. Holding the stem end, cut across the onion, making perfect little squares. Use this same basic technique when dicing other vegetables.

Chop: to cut in an irregular fashion. This is done when dicing would be a waste of effort. For example, chopping is used for large greens that will be cooked or soup ingredients that will be cooked and then puréed.

Mince: to chop in an irregular pattern until the pieces are very small. This technique is used when the pieces of food must be small enough to fit on a small space, such as vegetables on a soup spoon, or salsa ingredients on a chip.

Cut on a bias: to cut long vegetables diagonally. This cut is particularly good for zucchini, carrots, asparagus, celery, and peeled broccoli stems.

Matchstick: to cut into long, square pieces. Slice the vegetable evenly on the diagonal. Cut the slices into thin strips. This is a stylish alternative to shredding carrots.

Julienne: to cut into long strips. This cut is very similar to the matchstick but is more widely applied. For example, one can julienne green peppers without first cutting them on a diagonal.

Chiffonade: to cut leaves into thin, uniform shreds. This is the way iceberg lettuce is cut for tacos, to use a familiar example. Stack the leaves on top of each other, and then roll them up. Using a sharp knife, cut widthwise slices off the roll, no more than ¼ inch thick.