The Vegan Slow Cooker
Slow cookers are great for people on the go. Just load the cooker up, turn it on, and
8 hours later food is ready. Mine is a 3.3 l Rival. It doesn't matter if you are
delayed in your return, nothing will get burned. Preparation can be done the night before,
with the cooker pot kept in the frig overnight. Any leftovers can be left in the cooker pot
and returned to the frig for healthy snacks over the next few days, or of course
transferred to a suitable container and frozen.
These are my favourites. They use a wide variety of vegetable foods, variety being not just
the spice of life, but also the basis of sound nutrition. Each has a flavour focusing on
the principal ingredients rather than blending many flavours.
Ingredients that need the most cooking are best put on the bottom where the liquid is. I
normally cook until the pot reaches simmer (8 hours with my cooker on low when full),
stir everything together, then let it sit in the cooker with power off for an hour more to
finish cooking. Some, as noted, are best mixed before cooking. And, no, I didn't 'forget'
to add salt, it's already there. For example, the corn-beans-squash dish has a full
teaspoon of salt per 100 g serving, mostly in the beans.
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| Mexican Corn-Beans-Squash
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| garbanzo beans | 2 cup
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The traditional three vegetables grown together since the beginning of agriculture in the
north Americas. Cook beans overnight on low in lots of water, drain, rinse, return to
cooker. (This reduces the amount of raffinose sugars in the beans that cause gas.) Add
corn (I use frozen). Remove seeds from a flavourful medium pepper such as jalapeño,
chop finely and add, add water. Butternut squash can be peeled and diced, others are most
easily cooked in a microwave until soft enough to scoop out of the rind; fill rest of cooker.
A non-Mexican Portabello mushroom or two adds a meaty flavour for variety.
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| kernel corn | 3 cup
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| chopped chili pepper | 2 Tbsp
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| water | 2 cup
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| winter squash | to fill
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| Mediterranean Eggplant
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| eggplant | 2
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Add diced eggplant, sliced tomatos, raisins and water. Heat pressed garlic and spices in the
oil until fragrant, pour over top.
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| Roma tomatos | 4
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| raisins | 1 cup
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| water | 1 cup
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| olive oil | 1 cup
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| garlic | 6 cloves
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| coriander | 2 tsp
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| white pepper | 1 tsp
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| cinnamon | 1/2 tsp
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| Potatos Kurma
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| red potatos | to fill
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Cube potatos, add mustard to coconut milk to develop its flavour, cook ginger root,
pepper and spices in oil until fragrant, pour everything over potatos, cook 9-10 hours on
low. Check the label of your coconut milk - undiluted milk is 220 calories per
1/2 cup/125 ml. If you can only get diluted milk, add a Tbsp flour to the spice
mix to thicken the sauce. (Coconut cream isn't thick milk, it's a different product.)
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| ground black mustard | 1¼ tsp
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| coconut milk | 14 oz can
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| olive oil | 1/2 cup
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| grated ginger root | 2 Tbsp
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| chopped chili pepper | 1 Tbsp
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| coriander | 1 Tbsp
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| turmeric | 1/2 tsp
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| Pineapple-glazed Beets
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| beets | to almost fill
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Boil beets until the skins slide off (about an hour with fall field beets), cube. Drain
pineapple, mix 1/2 cup of the juice with the vinegar and flour, mix together before
cooking.
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| pineapple | 20 oz can
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| vinegar | 1/4 cup
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| flour | 2 Tbsp
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| Moroccan Turnip
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| turnip | to 3/4 fill
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Dice turnip, dice and add other vegetables and apricot, add grated ginger root, spices,
chopped herb and water. Use 1/4 tsp powdered ginger if you don't have fresh root.
This improves the day after cooking, when the spices have fully permeated the turnip.
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| carrot | 1
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| potato | 1
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| onion | 1
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| dried apricots | 1 cup
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| grated ginger root | 1 Tbsp
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| turmeric | 1 tsp
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| cumin | 1 tsp
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| cinnamon | 1/2 tsp
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| chopped cilantro | 1 Tbsp
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| water | 3 cup
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| Ginger-glazed Carrots
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| carrots | to fill
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Peel and cube carrots, mix flour, ginger and sugar with juice, toss to coat carrots
before cooking.
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| orange juice | 2 cup
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| flour | 4 Tbsp
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| powdered ginger | 1 Tbsp
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| brown sugar | 1/4 cup
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| Savoury Parsnip
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| parsnip | to fill
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Peel and slice parsnip, add oil, summer savoury, nutmeg, pepper and water.
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| olive oil | 1/4 cup
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| powdered savoury | 1 tsp
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| grated nutmeg | 1/8 tsp
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| white pepper | 1/8 tsp
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| water | 2-1/2 cup
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| Sweet&Sour Red Cabbage
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| red cabbage | to fill
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Cube cabbage, combine everything else and pour over top. If you can only get
presweetened applesauce, skip the sugar.
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| applesauce | 1 cup
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| brown sugar | 1/4 cup
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| cider vinegar | 1/4 cup
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| white pepper | 1/8 tsp
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| Lima Beans with Peanut Sauce
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| dry lima beans | 4 cup
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Cook beans overnight in lots of water, drain, rinse, return to pot. Mix
peanut butter, sugar, lemon juice and water together, pour over beans,
cook on low 4 more hours.
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| peanut butter | 1/4 cup
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| brown sugar | 1/2 cup
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| lemon juice | 2 Tbsp
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| water | 1 cup
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| 'Baked' Beans
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| dry navy beans | 4 cup
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Cook beans overnight in lots of water, drain, rinse, return to pot. Scrape gills off the
mushrooms (the pork replacement) and cube, mix everything together, cook 4 more hours.
If you are used to salt-pork beans, add salt. Replace the water by crushed tomato if you
usually add ketchup to your beans. Canned beans use more sugar then here; add more if you are used to them.
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| portabello mushroom | 2 large caps
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| molasses | 1/2 cup
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| brown sugar | 1 Tbsp
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| dry mustard | 2 tsp
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| water | 1 cup
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