Vegan MoFo Day 6 - Free Fridays - Curried "egg" sandwiches and Beanatouille

Welcome to Free Fridays! As I couldn't decide on a single theme for Fridays I'll be mixing it up a little over the weeks - this time my theme is called Frugal Friday. It may sound a bit similar to Tidy-up Thursdays but instead I'm posting a recipe that utilises ingredients from my pantry I frequently use rather than things that have been laying idle. I also have a quick recipe to share that was dreamed up a couple of days ago to clear out some produce from the fridge.

A few weekends ago it was nearing lunchtime, the man and I were extremely hungry and he wasn't enthused with any of my food suggestions. After fossicking around in the pantry for a bit, I spotted a bag of besan (chickpea flour) and realised it had been a while since I had last made curried "egg" sandwiches. These faux "eggs" are one of the man's favourite things to eat and if there are any leftovers remaining from sandwiches he loves having them on toast as quick workday lunch.

I posted a recipe for chickpea "eggs" earlier this year which is a cut down version of a spicier Ethiopian fluffy "eggs" recipe from Vegan Eats World. These chickpea "eggs" are a perfect addition to to a mixed brunch plate and have proven to pack up nicely for travelling. In this post I made mention of a plan to build upon the recipe further by stirring through some curry powder and mayonnaise at the end which I have done a few times but on the last couple of occasions I've added the curry powder into the mixture at an earlier stage. This allows the curry powder to be more evenly distributed throughout the "eggs". I've also found that using a scant cup of besan makes the texture of the "eggs" a little softer than if you use a firmly packed cup of besan. Another thing I've simplified along the way is to omit frying some onions to stir through the mixture - instead I add some sliced red onion, spring onions/scallions or chives into the sandwiches. We have enjoyed these sandwiches the past two weekends in a row - the first one was a classic combination with lettuce and vegan mayo and last weekend I also included sliced tomato and Vegusto piquant cheese, our favourite vegan cheese.

I'm sure everyone else participating in Vegan MoFo can relate to being short on spare time at the moment. My usual meal planning has gone out the window so a couple of nights ago I was thinking about how to use up some vegetables that were in danger of heading to the compost in a speedy meal and came up with something I named beanatouille. Amongst these vegetables that needed to be used were zucchini and capsicums so my mind drifted to ratatouille which I haven't made in such a long time. To get away with preparing another time intensive dish to pair with the ratatouille I decided to throw in some cooked kidney beans to add some protein hence my naming of the dish. Eggplant is usually a part of ratatouille but as I didn't have any about, a large sliced mushroom took it's place.

The beanatouille was served on top of mashed potatoes and cauliflower (aka. caulipots) as there was a sad looking half head of cauliflower in the fridge too. Some baby spinach leaves were layered between the caulipots and beanatouille and for the initial scepticism the meal invoked it turned out to be quite a success.

Curried "egg" sandwiches (Adapted from Vegan Eats World)
Makes 4-6 sandwiches

1 cup besan/chickpea flour
1 2/3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder (or use less for a milder version)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon black salt (this provides the eggy smell and flavour)
½ teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
pepper, to taste

Cook the besan in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes or until the flour darkens slightly and smells toasty. Transfer the besan to a bowl.

Pour the water, olive oil, lemon juice, curry powder, black salt and sea salt into the saucepan. Start adding the besan into the saucepan a few tablespoons at a time, whisking all the time. After all of the besan has been added, use a spatula and continue stirring for a minute or two until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to pull away from the sides. Turn off the heat and allow the pot to cool down for 10 minutes.

Drag a fork through the mixture to break it up into small lumps resembling scrambled eggs. Season with additional salt if required and black pepper, to taste. Some chopped fried onions can be stirred through the mixture if you wish.

Construct sandwiches using the curried "eggs" combined with your desired combination of shredded lettuce, tomato, vegan cheese, vegan mayonnaise and chives/spring onions/red onion.

Any leftover curried "eggs" can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a week.

Beanatouille

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced into half moons

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ red capsicum/bell pepper, sliced thinly

½ green capsicum/bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 zucchini (250g), sliced into half moons

1 large mushroom (100g), sliced (optional)

1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1½ cups cooked red kidney beans or a 400g tin, drained and rinsed

Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a large deep sided pan and sauté the onion over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the red and green capsicum, zucchini and mushroom. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until the vegetables have softened slightly.

Pour in the tomatoes and reduce the heat back to medium. Stir through the basil and oregano. Allow to cook for another 5 minutes then add the kidney beans and cook until they have heated through and the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.