Veg News Clam-free Chowder recipe
Posted by biodancer on Jan 02, 2009 · Member since Jul 2007 · 978 posts
Actually they call it "chowdah." I made it tonight. It took a long time. Not something to make if you are hungry and want to eat anytime soon. However, it was worth the wait. It's really yummy! I only made one change. I didn't have any bay leaves left so I used a small piece of kombu. I know that they are not the same but I bought the kombu for another recipe and I thought it would go well in this soup. It's really good. If you have the latest issue of Veg News and some time to kill then I highly suggest making this. If you don't have that issue and want the recipe, just let me know and I'll post it here ;)b
Well I've already had a request for the recipe so I'll just post it here.
Clam-free Chowdah!
by Allison Rivers Samson
posted in Jan+Feb issue of VegNews
serves 4 (unless you are me who just ate three bowls)
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine, divided
1/4 pound oyster mushrooms, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 cups vegetable broth, divided
2 cups of water
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 1/2 cups cauliflower, cut into large pieces
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 teaspoon natural smoke flavor
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced
1. In a skillet over medium-low heat, saute 1 tablespoon margarine and oyster mushrooms for 7 minutes, then set aside.
2. In a blender, grind cashews to a fine powder, then add 1 cup of vegetable broth. Blend until smooth.
3. In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon margarine, onion, cauliflower, and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes, then add bay leaves, thyme, white pepper, remaining vegetable broth, cashew mixture and salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce to low heat and cook for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaves.
4. Using either an immersion blender or regular blender, blend until completely smooth. (NOTE: I guess there is a small error in the recipe because it never says when to add the 2 cups of water so I added it here when I blended). Add potatoes and cook over low heat for 40 minutes. Stir in smoke flavor and the mushrooms. Serve hot, garnish with a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of fresh parsley.
I really enjoyed it. It's been about 12 years since I've had clam chowder but to me this tasted a lot like it!
Oh, yum! I get VegNews but somehow this recipe passed under my radar....probably because they are comparing it to clam chowder and I always hated any food that came from the sea. But this sounds soooo good. I already did my grocery shopping for the week, but this is already on next weeks menu. I can't wait!
That looks lush, thanks for posting! When you said "Clam-free Chowder" I was thinking "well all you'd have left is basically potato soup!" but this looks way better.
Turtle Island foods, the makers of tofurkey, have a tempeh recipe section on their website. One of the recipes is for linguini with mock clam sauce that uses old bay seasoning and bits of tempeh. It sounds really great but I know my family wouldn't eat it.
http://www.tofurky.com/recipes/tempeh_calm.htm
OK, I just made this recipe and it is good.
Next time I will double it because it barely made enough for my husband and me (I was going to make a salad with it, but somehow thought there was lettuce or spinach in the fridge when there wasn't. I guess we just ate a lot of salad this week). I had to add about a cup (or maybe more) of extra water because it was just too thick to cook the potatoes all the way through. Otherwise the recipe was smooth sailing.
Edited: I just reread the original post and saw biodancer's note about the water that is in the ingredient list but not in the directions--that really messed me up! The potatoes would have been done so much faster with those two cups of water, and I probably would have gotten more servings out of the soup too.
Hi,
I'm making this now, and it smells wonderful. I added some dulse flakes to the onion/cauliflower mixture, and I'll add some hijiki to it after I've blended it up. It just makes sense to me to use sea veggies in something that's supposed to taste like the sea. ;)
My husband and I just finished having this for dinner. I used unsweetened Silk soymilk instead of the final water, and, after reading everyone else's posts, making a double batch. I used Rapunzel bullion and water instead of broth, because I like it better. I ended up adding 3 kinds of sea vegetable-dulse before blending, and wakame flakes and hijiki after.
Richard wasn't sure, as a vegan of 15+ years, if he liked it at first. It tasted TOO much like what he remembered Clam Chowder tasting like. We also floated some thin pretzels on top. This is because, when I was growing up, my Mom made a soup called Pennsylvania Pretzel Soup, which was basically a clam chowder with a pretzel or two floating on the top. The slightly soggy chewiness and salt of the pretzels are yummy with the chowder. I'll definitely be making this again-YUM!!! ;)b
sigh... i'm sticking to my own recipe, simply because i invented it (and it only received one vote :-\ ). Plus - cauliflower? Meh.