Cookbook has easy vegan weeknight recipes

Chris Ross

LOS ANGELES: “30-Minute Vegan Dinners” is the first cookbook from Los Angeles recipe developer and food blogger Megan Sadd, known for her plant-based food blog, Carrots & Flowers, and a Facebook video channel.

Her cookbook focuses on 75 vegan dishes that are easy enough to make as weeknight meals.

“I think a cookbook of 75 skillets sounds rather boring,” she says in the book’s introduction, “so I created these recipes to push the envelope and help you reimagine what is possible to accomplish in 30 minutes.”

Her recipes include Moo Shoo Tofu, Pan-Seared Cauliflower Marsala and three versions of mac and cheese. She says this recipe is for onion lovers; it’s a vegan take on Mongolian Beef with portobello mushrooms and two kinds of onions.

MONGOLIAN MUSHROOMS & ONIONS

Makes 2 to 3 servings

3/4 cup jasmine rice

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

16 ounces portobello, shiitake, or mushrooms of choice

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 yellow onion

5 green onions

2 tablespoons avocado oil

3 cloves garlic

Mongolian Sauce

3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon rice wine

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Cook the rice with the broth in a rice cooker (or according to package directions). Slice the mushrooms while the rice cooks.

Make the marinade: Mix the cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar and liquid smoke together in a bowl. Gently toss the mushrooms in the marinade. Set aside.

Slice the yellow onion into thin strips. Cut the green onions into 2-inch pieces. Put the avocado oil in a large, deep pan over high heat.

Make the sauce: Mix the soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, sesame oil and pepper together in a small bowl.

Add the mushrooms to the pan. Cook until tender and browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Mince the garlic while the mushrooms cook.

Add the yellow onion and garlic to the mushrooms and cook and stir until the onion is softened. Add the green onions. Pour the sauce over the pan and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the green onions soften. Serve over rice. Reprinted with permission from “30-Minute Vegan Dinners” by Megan Sadd, Page Street Publishing Co.

Tribune News Service