Albanian Style Stewed Green Beans and Potatoes with Smokey Seitan

Hello everyone!  This past weekend I made some seitan which turned out delicious!  I used the seitan recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance with a few modifications.  I was looking to make a stringy seitan and I attempted to do that by kneading the seitan dough and then I stretched it and repeated with the kneading for about 5 minutes.  I think the stretching made a great difference in the texture of the seitan.  I really enjoyed the texture of this seitan and I will try to continue to experiment with the texture.  

Moving on to the recipe!  My grandparents were preparing to cook some stewed green beans with beef.  I asked my grandpa if he needed all the green beans and he said no, so I took about two cups of the green beans.  I really wanted them to make the dish with seitan but they were not fully convinced.  They have both tried seitan a few times but are still not convinced to use it in their dishes yet.  They always laugh at me when I tell them I am making “meat” from flour!  I keep explaning to them that it’s so pure and simple it’s just wheat gluten, a couple of spices, broth and that’s it.  I really want to get them to eat seitan instead of meat but that were probably take so long as they don’t like to explore many different foods.  Anyway I decided to make a delicous vegan adaption of their dish they were making!  I really enjoy stewed green beans and I have blogged about them before.  This time I decided I wanted to step it up a notch and add some seitan!  Stewed Green Beans is a very popular Albanian dish that my mom would make all the time when she cooked, she usually made it with smoked meat.  That is where I got the idea to flavor my seitan with some liquid smoke and smoked salt for a delicious smokey taste.  The smokey seitan really give the recipe some kick!  I like adding potatoes to my stewed green beans which I learned from my grandma.  As the potatoes cook they thicken the sauce really good.  I really enjoyed the taste of this stew!   

Albanian Style Stewed Green Beans and Potatoes with Smokey Seitan
Serves 2 people
This Stewed Green Bean recipe is a great flavorful way to use green beans! The recipe makes enough for two hungry people, so if you have more people at home double the recipe. The recipe uses three tablespoons of olive oil so if you want to make this lower fat feel free to reduce some of the oil.  I use smoked salt in this recipe which is very tasty and perfect for creating a smokey flavor in addition to the liquid smoke. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of Seitan, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups of Green Beans, trimmed and cut in half
1 small red potato, cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3-4 garlic cloves
1 medium tomato or one half of a large tomato diced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Pinch of chili flakes (optional)
2 cups vegetable broth or water ( You may need to add more liquid)
3 tablespoons + 1 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons – 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke (My liquid smoke was a bit weak flavored so I had to use more until I got the right flavor, so adjust to your taste)Smoked salt to taste (Optional, if you don’t have smoked salt feel free to use regular salt)

Heat a medium pot over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When hot enough, add the seitan and saute until golden on all sides about 4-5 minutes. Towards the end at the liquid smoke and Smoked Salt. Remove from pot and set aside.

Now add about 2-3 tablespoons of Olive Oil to the pot. Add the onions and saute for a good 8 minutes until they are translucent and tender. If your pot has burned pieces from the seitan, deglaze it with a bit of vegetable broth. Add the garlic and saute for a minute until fragrant. Now it’s time to add the green beans and potatoes. Saute the green beans and potatoes for about 5 minutes.

Now add the tomato, paprika, oregano, chili flakes and season with salt and pepper. Saute for another two minutes. Add the vegetable broth or water and bring to a boil and then to a simmer. After a couple of minutes add the seitan that you have set aside. Simmer the stew for about 45-50 minutes until the green beans and potatoes are tender. If the stew starts to get dry simply add some more broth. Re-season with salt and pepper to taste if necessary. Remember to not go heavy on the salt because the Smokey Seitan is salt already from the smoked salt. Let the stew sit for 15 minutes or you can eat it has soon has it finished cooking. 

I like to serve these stewed green beans with some rice, bread, and a side salad or vegetable.

Paprika Stewed Green Beans and Potatoes and More Tofu Feta

Hey everyone!  Today for dinner I made some Paprika Stewed Green Beans with Potatoes.  When I went to my grandma’s house a couple of months ago she made these green beans too.  My grandma is an awesome cook.  She makes some of the best Albanian food out there.  I really forward everytime I go to my grandma.  My two most favorite things from are pan-fried french fries (She makes the best period) and these green beans.  The green beans I made today were awesome just like my grandma’s.   I really like the flavor the paprika gives to the green beans and potatoes.  I had the stewed green beans with a side of salad and bread.  It’s very filling!  Here’s the recipe:

 Paprika Stewed Green Beans and Potatoes

 
Ingredients:
1 pound green beans trimmed
2-3 potatoes medium size ( I prefer to use young red skinned for this recipe)
2 teaspoons of paprika (more or less depending on your taste)
1 tomato diced
1 onion thinly sliced
3-4 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup of water or vegetable broth
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a pot heat the oil over medium heat. Add the thinly sliced onions and saute for a good 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 1-2 minutes. Then add the green beans and potatoes and saute for a few minutes. Add tomato. Add the paprika, water, and season it with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for one hour, until beans are nice and tender. The green beans are going to have a nice thick sauce from the potatoes. If you the green beans don’t have alot of liquid feel free to add more early in the process.

I also made Byranna’s Tofu Feta again. I just love this Feta so much. This time I added a bit more lemon and salt. This is seriously the best Feta Cheese, so good!  Byranna is the best for inventing this awesome recipe!

Tofu Feta Cheese

I look forward to this week as I got a lot of awesome things to make like Pecan Crusted Seitan, Pistachio Crusted Tofu, Tempeh with mushroom ragout, Butternut Squash Risotto, and Pumpkin Waffles, to name a few.

Vegan MoFo Day 28: Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

Hey everyone!  I loved making food from all types of cultures.  Whenever I am eating a foreign dish I feel like I am transported into that country.  It’s an awesome experience!  Yesterday I made a  Moroccan Vegetable Tagine from VwaV.  I’ve wanted to make this recipe for so long, ever since I gotten vwav.  I finally made it!  I was a bit skeptical because their were so many spices and herbs going in it.  I got a little worried when the recipe listed raisins and cinamin because I didn’t know how it would work in a savory dish.  I added a few extra vegetables like celery, peppers, and broccoli.  It worked out perfectly.  When I tried it tasted a bit like curry, probably because of the turmeric.  The tagine came out well and when I added lemon it was even more awesome!  The raisins really made it interesting and the cinnamon added a nice back-round flavor to it.  The couscous I served it with was also great.  Today it was even better becasue the flavors settled perfectly.  This is defiantly a   The tagine wasn’t that photogenic but it was sure tasty!