Don't throw away your peelings

This time of year whether you are celebrating Christmas, Channukah,.Yule or Potlach there are a lot of peelings from your family meal.
As a child my father had chickens and we would always save peelings to mix in a mash for their feed. Grown up and vegan, now the compost and worms get the good stuff but rather than overwhelm them at a time of year when both worms and compost are sluggish I've opted to save my peelings to make wonderful stock.
Its as simple as putting it all in a pan and boiling down with a bit of water and salt. The stock pictured was made from a pile of artichoke peelings, carrot, parsnip and sprouts with the odd onion skin that fell in.
Boil away your stock until its has a good colour and a good infusion then strain and leave to cool.

You can use in anything that requires it but heres for some tasty mung beans I made to share with friends:

Tasty Winter Mung Beans

1. I use whole green mung beans as they are more wholesome and are cheaper. If you want a creamy finish you can use split mung beans or mung dhal. I soaked about two cups of beans in about two pints of stock for about 8 hours.

2. In a pan heat some oil and toast off some mixed spices , a desertspoon of curry powder will do the trick or you can mix your own blend to taste.

3. Add your mung beans and stock and bring to boil.

4. After about twenty minutes the beans should be softening and you may need to add more liquid.

5. Toss in some creamed coconut, chopped coconut or coconut cream to add some flavour and any greens that wilt easily e.g spinach, lettuce or fenugreek.

6. Continue to cook to blend the flavours for another 5 to 10 mins.

7. Serve with rice, flat breads or as part of a tapas.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Extreme Vegetarianism and the Buddhist views of the Middle Way

The usual question I am asked is whether veganism follows the principles of the middle way. Often people see veganism as an extreme form of vegetarianism, and therefore in conflict with general principles of the middle way. We are told that the Buddha Sakyamuni spent time amongst the forest ascetics practicing extreme austerities and later rejected such practices for the Eightfold path of:-

Right View
Right Thoughts
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Concentration
Right Mindfulness

It is possible that veganism is rejected as an austere practice in the same way as the Buddha rejected the forest ascetics path. But veganism encompasses much of the eightfold path and is only refuted if you hold the incorrect view of it as denying yourself of animal based food. Seen as embracing ahimsa (non-violence) and incorporating conscious awareness of the karma associated with the suffering of other sentient beings, veganism supports the path of right views, right action and mindfullness.
Bodhidharma spent 9 years in a cave in meditation, for many of us spending 2 hours in zazen seems extreme but we still may hold Bodhidharma's practice in high esteem. So why would we label veganism as too extreme a practice of ahimsa?
I think culture has a lot to do with it. In Japan and in Tibet many buddhist rejections of vegetarianism is implicitly linked to cultural schemas and patterns of lifestyle. In Tibet, admittedly sources for a vegetable diet can be scarce and pose difficulties for practitioners. Yet the venerable Patrul Rinpoche is always acknowledged in stating that we should always choose the difficult path, whilst Milarepa was well known to live on eating nettles alone. It is documented that in Japan, the relaxing of monastic dietary rules allowed for greater accessibility for monasticism within the culture.
Is it because overtime we've lost the emphasis of specific principles of practice that we fail to acknowledge that veganism upholds the middleway or is it that we are so embedded in cultural norms its easy to dismiss a vegan diet as extreme and conveniently use notions of the middleway to support such a view?

No doubt we all want to be the most spiritual 'bestest' meditator or practitioner and sometimes doctrine and principles are applied incorrectly to help us ignore the flecks in the mirror that would otherwise dissolve such a view of ourselves. But whatever tradition or set of beliefs you may hold, practice or adhere to you must not forget they are culturally informed and every once in awhile it is good to question or audit them. In this we give ourselves opportunity to experience new things and shed negative or unhelpful schemas or beliefs we cling onto.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Fried Pineapple

Pineapples are great in juices and so refreshing on a warm day. On cold winter days most of us struggle to eat fruit unless its baked in a crumble or pie as we naturally crave those winter carbs. But here's an alternative way of using a pineapple that fulfills our winter needs in taste as well as vitamins.

This close to Christmas means that there seems to be a lot of offers on multi-buy fruit and you can imagine the days between Christmas Eve and New Year may see more reductions, so the good thing about this is that the riper your pineapple the better. So pick up some cheap ripe fruit and give it a go.

Fried Spicy Pineapple

1. Skin, de-core and slice your pineapple into small chunks.

2. Heat a drop of oil in a wok or frying pan and 'sweat' off a small finally chopped onion.

3. Add your pineapple, a pinch of hot paprika and a can of sweetcorn.

4. Continue cooking and stirring until your pineapple browns a bit and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve on toast or with rice or even as hot side to a portion of vegan ice-cream.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Kim Chi easy style

I'm often left with a quarter of cabbage at the end of the week that does'nt seem to fit in with anything else. Now I must confess I do love cabbage simply steamed with rice and a little oil and seasoning and is a quick winter vitamin fix but variety is a must and the smell if steamed cabbage can be sometimes too much three times a week!
So having adapted this recipe for Kim Chi from King's Kim Chee (http://www.kingsasian.com ) in the US, you can make simple use of that odd bit of cabbage in the fridge. This also works well with winter lettuces such as Iceberg and Cos as well as mustards. However the softer the leaf the less chopping you need to do in the preparation. For something like a cos lettuce leave it fairly chunky.

1. Take your half a cabbage or other leafy green and chop finely.

2. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt, a desertspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of hot paprika or chilli powder, a finely chopped red chilli and mix well.

3. Having rubbed the seasoning well into the cabbage/greens add a dash of oil. Sesame oil adds flavour here but any vegetable oil will do. Enough to add a sheen.

4. Mix again and add about a desertspoon of vinegar. Rice wine vinegar is subtle here but can be expensive so any cheap light vinegar will do.

5. Mix well and pack into a sealable jar so there is little air gaps.

6. Now place the jar into the fridge for a week. I like to give the jar a good shake daily over the week to blend the mix and distribute the flavours.

After about a week enjoy with rice, but as a snack my favorite is on toast with a drizzle of tahini.

Your easy style Kim Chi should keep at its best for month in the fridge but mine usually doesnt last that long.

Over the winter months Im going to experiment by using foraged greens such as lambs lettuce and chicory.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2