Hope's Edge_ The Next Diet for a Small Planet - Frances Moore Lappe [100]
Here are my basic pantry items for easy meals, with some tips on how I use them. (For basic cooking instructions, see Appendix C.)
DAIRY PRODUCTS
Nonfat dry milk. In hot cereal, baked goods, soups, blender drinks, white sauces.
Low-fat cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. The basis of sauces, salad dressings, casseroles, pancake filling, pie filling, or simply a delicious spread on bread.
Low-fat yogurt or buttermilk. A dressing for fruit salad, in blender fruit drinks, cold summer blender soups, and sauces (especially with curries). You can use buttermilk in place of yogurt wherever you don’t need yogurt’s thickness. It’s much cheaper, too.
Soy Foods
Tofu (soybean curd) has a mild flavor and the consistency of firm custard. It readily absorbs the flavors with which it is cooked. Uncooked, tofu can be blended for salad dressings and sauces. Lightly sautéed with vegetables and seasonings, it becomes a main dish. Actually, tofu can be used in almost any kind of dish, as you’ll see in the recipes that follow. Tofu and soy milk also can be used in place of milk in virtually any recipe.
Tempeh (a fermented soy curd) and miso (a fermented soy paste) are also favorites of growing numbers of Westerners. They lend themselves to many different types of dishes. The best source of information about soy foods, including hundreds of delicious recipes, are the books of Bill and Akiko Shurtleff, The Book of Tofu, The Book of Miso, and The Book of Tempeh (Ballantine Books).
QUICK-COOKING GRAIN PRODUCTS
Bulgur (partially cooked, i.e., parboiled wheat, usually cracked). For breakfast cereal, dinner grain, soup thickener, cold salad with vegetables. (Couscous is similar but more refined, and usually more expensive.) Bulgur’s nutty flavor is enhanced by sautéing before steaming.
Flours—whole wheat, soy, corn. Endless possibilities!
NUTS AND SEEDS
Sunflower and ground sesame seeds (nutritionists have advised that sesame seeds should be ground for digestibility; this can be easily done in the blender or with a mortar and pestle). Used in baked goods, salads, as a toasted topping, in casseroles, stuffing, granola, with peanuts for snacking. Toasting lightly brings out the flavor.
Peanuts and peanut butter. In bean croquettes, casseroles, salads, cookies, candy, vegetable sauce for pasta, curries.
QUICK-COOKING DRY LEGUMES
Split peas (green or yellow). Soups, curries, sauces, with rice, in rice patties, loaves.
Lentils. Same uses.
Soy grits (partially cooked, cracked soybeans; also called soy granules). In hot cereals, baked goods, in small amounts with other grains, in spaghetti sauce or bean chili, soups—or in just about anything for extra protein. Soy grits have a very mild taste and absorb the flavor of whatever they are cooked with.
OIL AND MARGARINE
You’ll notice that in this edition I have replaced butter in the recipes with margarine or oil. For my reasoning, I refer you back to the “America’s Experimental Diet” chapter in which I discuss the importance of reducing our intake of cholesterol. I recommend that you use natural magarine, which does not contain chemical additives. The best vegetable oils for your health are polyunsaturated. They include safflower, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils.
FRESH FOODS
These are fresh foods that keep well. With these three vegetables you can, as a friend put it, always create a meal out of nothing.
Carrots. In carrot and onion soup, bread, grain dishes, salad, curries.
Onions. French onion soup, in casseroles, curries.
Potatoes. In soups, salads, casseroles, pancakes.
CANNED FOODS
Kidney and garbanzo beans. In stews, chili, tacos, puréed for sandwich fillings, curries. (I use canned beans only when I am really rushed and have used up my freezer store of leftover cooked beans.)