Favoring seasonality and variety, professional chefs cherish talk of vegetables. Joe Yonan, food & dining editor for The Washington Post, offers unique and endless ways to put vegetables to use in Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking.
For those wanting to avoid carbs, breakfast often means meat and eggs but Yonan brings a mung bean scramble to the table and replaces bacon with vegetable crisps. He favors carrots although anything from eggplant to coconut can be made into a smoky crisp.
Joe Yonan, food and dining editor for "The Washington Post," follows his bean cookbook with a plant-based tome. Photo by Erin Scott.
Yonan's take on a wedge salad incorporates a Green Goddess dressing, using aquafaba as its base, and spiced, crisp chickpeas to add texture and flavor. Demonstrating how indulgent plant-based cooking can get, he makes a bechamel sauce out of cashews, cauliflower, and miso, which he layers between pasta and tofu, for a satisfying white lasagna.
Mung Bean Scrambled “Eggs”
Serves 6 to 8
When the Eat Just company released Just Egg, its liquid vegan egg substitute, it wowed many custom- ers with its taste and texture—and caused some of us to wonder if we could imitate the product at home. Theirs is made with protein from split mung beans, which plant-based cooks have used for dal, dosas, and more, so it seemed doable.
Sure enough, this combination of soaked beans, coconut milk, thickeners, and flavorings behaves in the pan much like whisked eggs do—and the result is something of a custardy, soft-scrambled texture that works beautifully on toast with a side of any of the vegetable crisps (pages 66 to 70), wrapped in tortillas, stirred into fried rice, or added to all manner of sandwiches and bowls. The important ingredient is kala namak (aka black salt or Himalayan black salt; see Note, page 99). My version was inspired by the great Dana Shultz of Minimalist Baker fame, whose stroke of genius here was to include white rice flour, which helps the scramble firm up.
To turn these into a fancy brunch dish, do what recipe tester Kristen Hartke did: Steam the batter in lightly oiled ramekins for about 3 minutes until just set, and serve the savory custard with mushroom duxelles and chives.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (195g) dried split mung beans, soaked overnight, drained, and rinsed
- 1 (13.5-ounce/398ml) can unsweetened coconut milk, light or full-fat
- 1⁄4 cup (40g) white rice flour
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon smoked paprika 1⁄2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1⁄2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste and more for finishing
- 4 tablespoons (56g) Soft Spreadable Butter (page 21) or store-bought unsalted vegan butter, such as Miyoko’s
- 11⁄2 teaspoons kala namak (aka black salt)
Instructions
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IN A HIGH-POWERED BLENDER, combine the mung beans, coconut milk, rice flour, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, olive oil, baking powder, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, turmeric, and salt. Taste and season with more salt as needed. Blend on high speed until very smooth. It should be the consistency of thin pancake or crepe batter; if it’s too thick, add a little water.
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In a large nonstick skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-low heat. Add ½ cup (120ml) of the egg mixture, cover, and cook until the edges start to look dry, 1 to 2 minutes. Push the mixture to one side of the pan, breaking it up into “curds.”
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Cover and cook until another 1 to 2 minutes, until the mixture looks like, well, eggs! Sprinkle with a little of the kala namak and a little more salt, if desired. Transfer to a plate and continue with the rest of the mixture, adding more butter to the pan as you do.
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Serve warm.
Smoky Carrot Crisps
Serves 6 (36 to 48 strips)
Try these on salads, toss them into pasta, use them to scoop dips, or, for double-carrot action, pair them with roasted carrots or a carrot slaw.
Ingredients
- 3 medium carrots (about 9 ounces/265g total), scrubbed and trimmed
- Smoky, Sweet, Peppery Marinade for Vegetable Crisps (page 65)
- Fine sea salt
Instructions
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POSITION RACKS IN THE middle and the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Line three sheet pans with compostable parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Hold a carrot flat on the cutting board with one hand and use the other to run a sharp Y-shaped peeler from tip to tail, pressing the peeler gently to get even slices. Repeat until you’ve peeled through about half of the carrot, then flip it over and finish peeling from the other side. Stop when you’re left with the nub of the stem end, which you can save for snacking, salads, soups, or broth. -
Transfer the carrot strips to the dish of marinade, stirring to thoroughly coat.
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Transfer the carrot strips and marinade to the sheet pans, laying the strips out one at a time to avoid overlapping. Pour or brush on any extra marinade in the dish.
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Bake for 10 minutes, then use a fork or tongs to flip over each carrot strip. Switch racks and rotate the sheets front to back and bake until they curl up and darken around the edges, another 10 to 15 minutes, checking every few minutes to ensure that they don’t start to burn.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little salt, and let them cool on the sheets, where they will crisp up.
"Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking" provides inspiration for a healthier outlook to delicious meals. Photo courtesy of Ten Speed Press.