The official Vegan Fire & Spice recipe review (to be updated).
With some more list help from Erin! Continue to add reviews to: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=25166.0, or here, and I will add them to the compilation.
The Americas
Appetizers
Jamaican jerk spiced tempeh nuggets
Smokin' Texas caviar
this was really good! I followed the recipe exactly and of course everyone in my family thought it was too spicy, but I thought it was perfect! I really like the flavor of black-eyed peas....it was a nice change from regular hummus. (erinmonster)
Yum! Very flavorful although not as spicy as I would have liked. Has kind of a dry-ish crumbly texture, so it can be hard to get it to stay on a tortilla chip. Overall, a great way to enjoy black eyed peas. (kristinv)
Smooth and sassy guacamole
Good. Pretty basic recipe with avocado, lime juice, tomato, onion, garlic and cumin. She calls for minced canned jalapenos and I used fresh. Instead of mashing she blends everything in a food processor for a nice creamy texture that I liked. I used one huge Florida lower fat avocado and blended the fresh jalapeno at the beginning. (tweety)
Spicy hot nuts
Spicy plantain fritters
Soups and Stews
Carribbean vegetable stew
Ok so I was a bit hesitant to make this cause I was like beans, olives, pineapple, and salsa? WTF? But seriously all of these come together and it's an awesome dish. Every time you get a bit of a pineapple chunk it's sweet and you feel like you're eating dessert too. (intheend)
Chilled avocado soup
Close to callaloo
I love me some greens, so this recipe that calls for a bunch of spinach and a bunch of Swiss Chard sounded really appealing. Unfortunately, I found the stew a little bland. Other than salt and pepper, there are no herbs or spices in this recipe which probably would have improve things somewhat. Callaloo is a Caribbean stew, so maybe some Caribbean type flavors in the way of thyme, cayenne, cumin or allspice might have perked things up a bit. (peaceablepalate)
Jalapeno soup with tortilla triangles
Spicy corn soup
Spicy vegetable gumbo
made it for my daughter with the last of this season's okra a couple of weeks ago and it was so fabulous I had to sneak a cup for myself. The only changes I made were to add some fresh serranos from my plants, a couple of bay leaves, and some Field Roast apple and sage sausage. (storm)
Yucatan potato soup
Salads and Sides
Avocado and jicama salad with lime dressing
Black bean and corn salad
Cajun coleslaw
Chipotle corn
Island rice salad
I thought rice on top of lettuce would be odd but this totally works. The chunks of mango are a refreshing burst of flavor and the sauce that goes on top of the rice is sweet and tangy. (intheend)
Lime marinated white bean salad
Mexican fruit salad
Quinoa stuffed avocados
Rice and bean salad with cumin vinaigrette
Cold salads are one of my favorite things to eat during the summer months, and this one is definitely the best one I've come across thus far. My husband and I often make a meal of this salad on lazy summer days. We don't even bother dishing it out. We just pass the container back and forth until we are thoroughly stuffed! (peaceablepalate)
Veracruz potato salad
Main courses
Argentinian inspired seitan cutlets
Baked seitan enchiladas
Barbados style grilled kabobs
These rocked! I used seitan I made from Vegan On The Cheap. I omitted the bell peper cause I hate it. I was hesitant to use the rum because I thought it would be overpowering but it completely cooks out. I wouldn't serve this on top of rice though.. it's very dry even when you do brush it with the excess marinade. (intheend)
Wasn't feeling these kebabs. Like the Close to Callaloo recipe, I feel like this recipe could have used more flavor. Other than fresh ginger and red pepper flakes, there was no seasoning in this recipe. I'm thinking that maybe a little cumin, or allspice would give the kebabs more of a Caribbean flavor. Too bland for my taste. (peaceablepalate)
Brown rice with creole sauce
Chilean stuffed peppers
Citrus marinated tempeh with sweet potatoes
Grilled vegetable fajitas
Jamaican style picadillo
I really liked this, however, I do not recommend adding the almonds....that almost ruined it for me - I guess I don't like crunchy things in my rice. But everything else was awesome! I cheated a little and used a dirty rice mix instead of plain - this way I didn't have to double the spices like I normally do with her recipes. And I didn't have any jamaican curry powder, so I just used regular curry and mixed in some key lime spice - thought that made sense.....but it was good....I will make it again, without almonds! (erinmonster)
I made my own curry blend using this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/femmes-revenge-caribbean-curry-mix-158082 . I also used a red bell pepper even though I hate them because sometimes I can tolerate them in certain dishes. Well, this was a dish I ended up not liking them in. So if you are a bell pepper hater, heed the warning! Otherwise this was an exotic dish with all the flavors going on. I loved the addition of the raisins. (intheend)
Jamaican baked vegetables
Jumpin jambalaya
This is a simple and filling dish. I omitted the bell pepper and it was perfect. (intheend)
Quesadillas
Red beans and rice casserole
Red hot white bean chili
Rice with tomatillos and chiles
Seitan fajitas with poblano chiles
Simple to make and delicious. I added the lime juice and salsa after the seitan/pepper mix was in the tortilla, also wrapping some lettuce and tomato at the end. Rather than pepper flakes, I sauteed some habanero pepper with the poblano/onion mix. For a lower fat version, could be sauteed in the seitan liquid. (kindnesstoall)
Amazingly good! Nice twist from using green peppers. I followed the recipe, but what I think made it good (if I do say so myself) is that I used homemade seitan (the "faux beef" from La Dolce Vegan, my go to book for seitan) and the homemade picante salsa from this same cookbook. I cut back just a tad because I only had six ounces of seitan and wound up eating the entire recipe in two burritos. (tweety)
Seitan with tomato orange sauce
Spicy bean and spinach burritos
These were great! Very simple. Had everything I needed in the pantry. (purpledancer)
I decided not to drain and rinse the beans but instead refried them. I also used fresh spinach so this ended up being very watery after adding the spinach. It doesn't matter though- this was still tasty and I ended up pouring my salsa on top so it ended up as a wet burrito. (intheend)
Pretty good. I did not add optional vegan cheese (since vegan cheeses generally suck). Using the homemade salsa picante is a must for this dish. I did not use frozen spinach but lightly steamed a bag of spinach until it wilted. I wasn't thrilled with her instructions to pulse the beans because I over did it and whole beans would have been just as good. I wasn't sure I'd like the combo of spinach and Mexican food this way, but it was excellent. (tweety)
Tacos with salsa fresca
Dressings, Sauces, and Condiments
Borracha sauce
Brazilian lemon chile sauce
Jamaican jerk sauce
I chose to use the Jerk Sauce as a marinade for tofu. It was good, but I don't think I like it enough to make it again. (purpledancer)
Mole poblano
Salsa fresca
Salsa picante
Very delish basic salsa with tomatoes, fresh jalapeno, cilantro, red vinegar, etc. Since it's a raw dish I cut back on used maybe two tbs of red onion instead of the called for "small onion". This could easily be my "to go to" salsa. (tweety)
Texas barbecue sauce
Mediterranean Europe
Appetizers
Ajvar
Chile Aioli
Peperonata
Spicy Olives
Stuffed Cherry Peppers
Soups and Stews
Basque Chickpea Stew
Escarole Soup
Garlic Soup
Gazpacho
Italian Vegetable Ragout
Portugese Spicy Kale Soup
except I used chard cuz that's what I had. The temperature dropped like a rock yesterday so my daughter asked for soup and this is what she got. I always taste when I'm cooking for her (my little raw cheats) and I thought it was a bit bland so I threw in some thyme and that fixed it right up. (storm)
Ratatouille
I've prepared this for my daughter twice and she inhales it. Instead of zucchini I used two patty pan squashes and three fresh serrano peppers instead of cayenne powder. It smells awesome....I wish I liked eggplant, but I just don't. She gives it a big thumbs up. (storm)
Tuscan White Bean Soup
Good. Nothing exciting, just your run of the mill Italian tomato soup. The spice is crushed red pepper and it has fresh basil. I cut back on the broth by one cup to make it more thick and I took her option to add noodles. (tweety)
Salads and Sides
Artichoke Hearts with Garlic and Capers
I thought this was delicious! I used a can of quartered artichoke hearts instead of frozen, added a splash of veggie broth to the lemon juice that it sauteed in, and added a little Chicky Baby Seasoning to the breadcrumbs - the breadcrumbs were an excellent addition! Andy wasn't a huge fan, but he isn't wild about artichokes to begin with. (erinmonster)
Arugula Potato Salad
Basque Eggplant Salad
Braised Chickory Salad
Cauliflower with Mustard Dill Sauce
Penne Primavera Salad
Red Pepper and Mushroom Salad with Walnuts
Roasted Catalan Style Vegetables
Roasted Potatoes and Peppers
Spanish Lentils
Spicy Spanish Potatoes
I really like the Potatoes and the Spinach. I would make them again for sure. (purpledancer)
Svikla
Sweet and Sour Onions and Zucchini
Main Courses
Farsia Intchauspe
Italian Easter Pie
Majorcan Baked Vegetables
Pasta Puttanesca
Penne Arrabbiata
Tempeh Cacciatore
Good. Pretty basic recipe with tomatoes, oregano and veggies and lots of crushed red pepper. I steamed the tempeh for 10 minutes because that's plenty of time in my experience. I did not fry the tempeh ahead of time in the oil because in my experience tempeh always abosorbs all the oil and I would have needed more to sautee the veggies, so the last two minutes of sauteeing the veggies I sauteed the tempeh. I did not have any parsley but I did have some basil and added that at the end. (tweety)
Vegetables and Chickpeas with Romesco Sauce
Vegan Paella
Huge disclaimer: The serving size for this is more around 10 than 6 and that's with it being the main dish so halve it if you don't want that much. Anyway, it was really good and even the tempeh in here couldn't ruin this dish for me, it completely blends in. I used seitan and sausages but next time I would just use the sausages and substitute the seitan for kidney beans like she suggests. What's also awesome about this dish is that it's made in one pot. (intheend)
Ziti with Fresh Tomatoes and Olives
Yay! Tweety liked it! I used the curry powder. I just can't get into a lot of garam masala.
Thanks for the reivew. I love reading the reviews because it helps me to decide what to cook. :)
Seitan Satays with Ginger Peanut Sauce: Awesome! I used a faux chicken seitan I made for this plus some Japanese eggplant. We grilled them, adding a little olive oil to the marinade. The ginger peanut sauce was lovely - I added more ginger and some more heat (Sriacha instead of cayenne) to suit my taste. We ate this as a main course with jasmine rice and a cilantro-spinach-carrot salad. Very delicious.
Wasabi Miso Dressing: I really like this but it's more oily than I want and it made way less than 3/4 cup. I'm one of those people who eats a big salad for lunch and who likes to smother my stuff with dressing and this just doesn't cut it. Maybe if I blended some lite silken tofu and upped the spices in proportion this would be worth making again because I heart wasabi and I heart miso, but I don't heart them drowned in oil.
Yay! Tweety liked it! I used the curry powder. I just can't get into a lot of garam masala.
Thanks for the reivew. I love reading the reviews because it helps me to decide what to cook. :)
Yeah, I love reading the reviews too. It's getting me into my neglected cookbooks more!
Lentils in Onion Gravy - Very quick and easy meal to make. Mine came out very thick and not gravy-like at all. However, that didn't bother me because I thought it was very tasty. I used Indian bread to scoop it up and served pickle and chutney with it. It particuarly went well with mint chutney. I didn't have garlic and used garlic powder. It's very unusual for me not to have garlic. I added some curry leaves because I had some I didn't want to go bad. I used curry powder instead of garam marsala this time and that was a wise choice. I added some salt to my taste.
I used some very small red lentils that promptly turned yellow in the curry, that I got from the Indian store and it very quickly absorbed the liquid in 15 minutes. I thought the yogurt would make it taste funky, but not at all. (tweety)
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs609.snc3/32043_1339806054040_1197836956_30784490_2459513_n.jpg
Chickpea and green bean curry - This was so bland that I couldn't eat it but my partner just piled on the salt and said it was ok.
Jumpin Jambalaya - This is a simple and filling dish. I omitted the bell pepper and it was perfect.
Chile-kissed corn and ginger soup - This was delicious- not even joking. If you have some frozen corn and ginger lying around, I highly recommend you use it in this recipe.
Jamaican style picadillo - I made my own curry blend using this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/femmes-revenge-caribbean-curry-mix-158082 . I also used a red bell pepper even though I hate them because sometimes I can tolerate them in certain dishes. Well, this was a dish I ended up not liking them in. So if you are a bell pepper hater, heed the warning! Otherwise this was an exotic dish with all the flavors going on. I loved the addition of the raisins.
West African spinach with spicy peanut sauce - I'm not usually a fan of "nuts" in my food but this so tasty. The tomatoes work so well in this.
Ethiopian Wat - I made a few changes. I used Niter Kibbeh instead of oil and I also added 1 Tbsp Berbere. Since I did this, I halved the rest of the spices. I was very happy with those changes so I'm not sure how this recipe tastes without them. But if you like Ethiopian food then I suggested you make Nitter Kibbeh and Berbere.
Harissa sauce - I used dried chiles de arbol and loved this. It was a pain in the ass grinding my own caraway in my molcajete though. I'd buy preground caraway just to make this again and not have to hassle it.
Moroccan chickpea and lentil soup - Oh so flavorful! The aroma alone is fantastic. I served this on top of whole wheat couscous.
Caribbean vegetable stew - Ok so I was a bit hesitant to make this cause I was like beans, olives, pineapple, and salsa? WTF? But seriously all of these come together and it's an awesome dish. Every time you get a bit of a pineapple chunk it's sweet and you feel like you're eating dessert too.
Barbados-style kebabs - These rocked! I used seitan I made from Vegan On The Cheap. I omitted the bell peper cause I hate it. I was hesitant to use the rum because I thought it would be overpowering but it completely cooks out. I wouldn't serve this on top of rice though.. it's very dry even when you do brush it with the excess marinade.
Island rice salad - I thought rice on top of lettuce would be odd but this totally works. The chunks of mango are a refreshing burst of flavor and the sauce that goes on top of the rice is sweet and tangy.
Ginger Broccoli - prompted by another review here somewhere I tried the ginger broccoli and loved it. It was quick and easy and tasty. I used a shallot because I didn't have a scallion, I omitted the sugar because I didn't see the point (Ms. Robinson's fondness of sugar is irritating), and I used Thai chilies instead of red pepper flakes. I cut back on the cooking time for a crunchier broccoli.
Spicy bean and spinach burritos - I decided not to drain and rinse the beans but instead refried them. I also used fresh spinach so this ended up being very watery after adding the spinach. It doesn't matter though- this was still tasty and I ended up pouring my salsa on top so it ended up as a wet burrito.
Asian Fusion Noodles
I made this for my daughter last night and she loved it. I didn't have nappa so I used mung bean sprouts and mushrooms instead.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/VegWeb/028-2.jpg
Anshu's red lentil sambar - This pwned! I used mushrooms instead of eggplant cause that's how I roll. I thought it would be plain because I tested it kind of early but the flavors meld together at the end.
This pwned! I
?????
A good thing or bad?
It's good! I misspelled it on purpose, it's a bastard version of "owned." I think it's origins are funny, check it out: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pwned
Seitan Fajitas with Poblano Chiles- Simple to make and delicious. I added the lime juice and salsa after the seitan/pepper mix was in the tortilla, also wrapping some lettuce and tomato at the end. Rather than pepper flakes, I sauteed some habanero pepper with the poblano/onion mix. For a lower fat version, could be sauteed in the seitan liquid.
Moroccan Chickpea and Lentil Soup- One of my all-time favorite recipes! I didn't have tomato paste so I just subbed a can of tomato sauce for equal amount of the vegetable broth. I feel the spices used are perfect. (I ground my own cardamom, which I love.) It's not overly spicy; of course, more Harissa sauce could be added if you like the heat. (I used a store-bought Harissa sauce I found at Williams-Sonoma... I couldn't find it anywere else and didn't realize until I purchased VF&S that it can be made at home.)
Served over basmati rice (cooked with a couple of cloves and cardamom pods). It smells wonderful, tastes wonderful... Yum!
Vegan paella - Huge disclaimer: The serving size for this is more around 10 than 6 and that's with it being the main dish so halve it if you don't want that much. Anyway, it was really good and even the tempeh in here couldn't ruin this dish for me, it completely blends in. I used seitan and sausages but next time I would just use the sausages and substitute the seitan for kidney beans like she suggests. What's also awesome about this dish is that it's made in one pot.
Red Hot Chile Tofu - I didn't press the tofu to follow the recipe and my strips started falling apart so next time I would make this I would press it. The flavor is good (Tweety never fails me) but it doesn't create any excess sauce.
Vegetable pancit - I thought this would have some awesome flavor going on but it didn't. It was so plain that a lot of extra soy sauce had to be added.
Ginger broccoli - This was delicious! Definitely one of the better Asian broccoli dishes I've tried.
Glad you liked the falvor intheend. I like saucy tofu as well. I never know what to do with tofu that is sauceless.
Tempeh cacciatore - Good. Pretty basic recipe with tomatoes, oregano and veggies and lots of crushed red pepper. I steamed the tempeh for 10 minutes because that's plenty of time in my experience. I did not fry the tempeh ahead of time in the oil because in my experience tempeh always abosorbs all the oil and I would have needed more to sautee the veggies, so the last two minutes of sauteeing the veggies I sauteed the tempeh. I did not have any parsley but I did have some basil and added that at the end.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1199.snc4/155182_1525279130751_1197836956_31189474_3304719_n.jpg
Three alarm lo-mein - I always buy seasoned baked tofu from my Asian grocery store and was so happy to stumble on this recipe that uses it. I loved this dish! It was so good but definitely add way more than just "one small head" of bok choy as it withers down to nothing. Even though I was at the Asian grocery store I was being lame and didn't want to label check noodles so I just bought a pack of linguine to use in this. It was still good.
I made the Spicy Gumbo for my daughter with the last of this season's okra a couple of weeks ago and it was so fabulous I had to sneak a cup for myself. The only changes I made were to add some fresh serranos from my plants, a couple of bay leaves, and some Field Roast apple and sage sausage.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/VegWeb/111.jpg
That looks soooo good.
Portugese Spicy Kale Soup: except I used chard cuz that's what I had. The temperature dropped like a rock yesterday so my daughter asked for soup and this is what she got. I always taste when I'm cooking for her (my little raw cheats) and I thought it was a bit bland so I threw in some thyme and that fixed it right up.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii85/Stormflakes/VegWeb/005-4.jpg
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