Investing In Your Pantry

It is not to be underestimated. 

More and more people are now trying to eat right

and that's good! However, whether you're trying to
 eat less meat or go all the way, it is certainly hard to

keep without some mad skills in the kitchen. 

If you can afford it and more convenient for you

to get your food somewhere else, this should not be a problem.

However, doesn't matter who you are, it is

my opinion that every soul should learn how to prepare

a meal for themselves. It's a survival skill. 

"But I do think the idea that basic cooking skills are

virtue, that the ability to feed yourself and few others 

with proficiency should be taught to every young

man and woman as a fundamental skill, 

should become as vital to growing up as

learning to wipe one's ass, cross the street by

oneself, or be trusted with money." 

-Anthony Bourdain

Nuff said. 

Eating healthy shouldn't at all be boring. For me,
 it pushed me to be more creative with what I cook

and challenged me to make it equally, if not better than

 animal meat dishes. 

You cannot possibly enjoy eating and cooking with only few items

in your pantry. The basic soy sauce, vinegar, oil and ketchup

are not enough. For a meat-eater, you could live off with those.

But if you're really serious about making a healthier

choice, it is admittedly pricey at first but it's absolutely worth it.

You'll have to spend on condiments, herbs, seasonings,

powdered spices, oils, etc. Yes.

You don't have to buy them all at once but every time

you go to a grocery, you can pick one item that you

have never used before. Not only it could possibly make your

dishes better, you will be pushed to learn something 

from that item.

One of my favorite quickie meal is a fried rice with veggies. 

It is simply the Lee Kum Kee vegetarian stir fry with rice and

frozen veggies (corn, carrots and peas) that I constantly have

in my freezer. With a minimal help of garlic, onion and pepper, 

I have an epic meal under 15 minutes. 

Having the essentials in your pantry, you'll never have to 

sleep hungry or be stucked with greasy fast food ever again.

That's enough reason, right?

For a vegetarian, you have to have even more

items in your pantry than meat eaters because tofu

and veggie meats has no flavor and you're gonna have to

rely the flavors on your sauces, broth and oils. 

Protein
 Tofu, veggie meat, veggie sausage,
veggie ground meat, textured vegetable protein,
seitan, gluten, and tempeh. These are the basic meat
substitutes  and you don't have to eat them everyday.
In my case, I only eat them 3-5 times a week. They
are mostly soy based and eating too much soy might
lead to high levels of uric acid.
So eat more veggies!

Canned and Dried Vegetables
The most common canned veggies are tomatoes,
beans, lentils and mushrooms.I don't usually stock tomatoes
but having one in case you run out of fresh ones are not
a bad idea. Having a nori (roasted seaweeds) is also
a good thing having around in case you may crave for
fish.

Seasonings/Condiments
One of my favorite is the hoisin sauce. I like Asian dishes
and having hoisin in my kitchen is a life and time saver for me.
It's savory and sweet and really versatile
that I can cook it with pasta, noodles, rice and tofu.
My other favorite is the chili garlic sauce from Lee Kum Kee.
I like it on everything!!!! 
It's not spicy but you can taste the chili, most definitely.

Oil

One of the most cliche meal of a regular Filipino

vegetarian is the chopseuy. We can do a lot better than that

but it is, without a doubt, most commonly cooked 

vegetable meal in this island. A drop or two of a sesame oil 

will make your chopseuy taste way way way better. 

It is also a fabulous finishing touch to any steamed green veggies

like kangkong and broccoli.

Dried Herbs/Powders
You can decide on which dishes you like, then you
can decide on what herbs or powdered spices that you'd like to buy.
For example, you like Italian dishes. Get dried oregano, basil
and Italian seasonings. For Asian dishes, get some coriander,
curry powder, turmeric, laurel, five spice, etc.

These are just few of many examples on how how stocking
up your pantry can exponentially make your healthy
cooking better.

I could go on and on but these information are useless
if you do not have a legitimate interest in having an
enjoyable meal prepared by yourself. Bottom line is,
in order to feed yourself mindfully, one must possess
common sense and a little enthusiasm on
trying out different flavors.

That's it for now. Hope you find this helpful
and encouraging.

Thanks for reading! 

Beanuguan

For those who aren't familiar with Dinuguan,, it is a blood stew.

A traditional Filipino dish that was invented to make somethin

out of pig parts that are usually left behind after butchering it. 

Of course there's blood, intestines, and other 

parts that I have no plans on knowing further.

Well despite its gory description, it really does taste good. 

It's pungent, salty, sour and savory. Beyond savory. 

When I first heard about a vegetarian version of this,

I was grossed out coz I knew that it is really hard to replicate.

Grossed out. The irony.

But when you are trying to eat better and crave for something

that is part of your culture, I don't weep. I make something close to it.

Hence, my version of Beanuguan.

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of cooked black beans (not the salted ones)

1 nori sheet

8 calamansi

1 tofu/tokwa

veggie meat

vegetable oil

1 vegetable bullion or 

1 cup of regular vegetable stock

garlic

onion

chili

salt

pepper

First, you have to use the food processor the liquify the 

beans and nori.

In a hot oil, fry the hydrated veggie meat until it is slightly brown.

I like frying them up first because it makes the veggie meat eliminate

the extra liquid. 

Put garlic and onion and keep stirring so the veggie meat

won't stick. Next is the bullion or the stock, let the flavors come together.

Pour the liquified beans and nori then let it

simmer for 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick you want it to be.

Put the tofu and make sure to cover your pot.

When your desired thickness is achieved, 

put the calamansi juice and the chilli.

Here, I used 8 whole calamansis. But the acid will

always depend on your taste and on how sour the citrus is.

Season with salt and pepper and  let it simmer

for another minute. 

Serve with rice or steamed rice cakes.  

Veggie Afrtida

Ingredients:

1/2 cup veggie meat or tofu (optional)

tomatoes

bell pepper

green beans

garlic

onion

oil

1/4 cup soy milk or regular milk

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. brown sugar

salt 

pepper

1 tbsp.soy sauce

1 cup water

Cut the vegetables into big chunks just like this.

Cook the potatoes in cooking oil until they are slightly cooked or until

they attain a little bit of color. Add your choice of protein and then saute 

garlic, onion and tomatoes until the onion is translucent. 

Season them with salt and pepper and then add the tomato paste, bell pepper, 

soy sauce, sugar, soy milk and water then let it simmer for few minutes

until potatoes are fully cooked.

Add green beans and let it simmer for another 3 minutes.

Serve with rice or bread.

You can add your own ingredients to make it something of your own.

If this was my normal afritada, I'd add vegetable stock and a little

bit of sriracha or chili garlic sauce.

For the meantime, this recipe is meant to be simple so that ingredients are

very easy to find and are available even from your neighbor's sari-sari store.

Assuming that most people are like me, skipping recipes when there's

an ingredient that I can't even pronounce, this is a jackpot.