Recipes of the Week: Creamy Vegan Clam Chowder & Raw Russian Tahini Fudge

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Some of these cold, icy nights call for chowda. Being vegan, I saw this as a tiny, potential obstacle. Once again though, I've discovered that I can still have the delicious things I loved as an omnivore. This vegan, smoky mushroom clam chowder is ultra creamy and super thick making it very rich and hearty.

CREAMY NOT-CLAM CHOWDER [VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE]

SERVES

4

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE SOUP BASE:

  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked
  • 2 medium red potatoes, cubed
  • 1/2 cup plain soy creamer
  • 1 cup plain soy milk
  • 1 cup fresh water
  • 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon kelp granule seasoning (optional)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • A splash of liquid smoke

FOR THE MUSHROOM CONFIT:

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 10 ounces Shiitake mushrooms, cut small
  • 1/2 cup celery, chopped
  • 1/2 small yellow onion, minced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • A splash of liquid smoke
  • A dash of kosher salt

PREPARATION

  1. To start, you’ll need to soak the cashews. The best way to do this is overnight in the redrigerator, but if you’re strapped for time use boiling water and soak for half an hour. When ready, drain and rinse well before use.
  2. Next, place the cubed potatoes in a microwave safe, shallow bowl and cover with saran wrap. Microwave for about 5 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender. Set aside until ready to use.
  3. Place all the soup base ingredients in a blender, including the soaked cashews and cooked potatoes. Blend on high for a couple minutes, until the mixture is silky smooth. Add additional water as needed to achieve your desired soup thickness or thinness.
  4. Transfer to a soup pot and heat on low, whisking occasionally.
  5. Now it’s time to make the confit. Heat the oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat.
  6. Add the chopped mushrooms, celery, onion, and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes, turning the heat to medium-high.
  7. When almost finished cooking, sprinkle in the salt and the liquid smoke, to taste. Stir well. The confit is done when the celery is somewhat softened. The mushrooms and onions should be cooked thoroughly.
  8. Serve a small piling of the confit in the middle of a hot bowl of the chowder.

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Nutritional Yeast / Nooch

AUTHOR & RECIPE DETAILS


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Kathleen Henry hosts the vegan food/healthy lifestyle blog, Produce On Parade and is native to Alaska. She is a food research enthusiast, foodie, Mammographer and bleeding heart. She stands against the exploitation of all creatures and reflects such in her cooking. She features commonplace ingredients, as Alaska doesn’t lend many exotic ingredients. Find out more at Produce On Parade.























If you enjoy recipes like this, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App, it's available for both Android and iPhone and has free and paid versions. The app is loaded with thousands of allergy-friendly & vegan recipes/cooking tips, has hundreds of search filters and features like bookmarking, meal plans and more! The app shows you how having diet/health/food preferences can be full of delicious abundance rather than restrictions!

This delicious healthy Russian fudge recipe takes tahini, adds a dash of sweetness, some vanilla, a helping of sea salt, and voila, fudgy goodness is yours. This is based on a classic New Zealand sweet that is traditionally made from condensed milk, butter, and refined sugar. If you’ve got a spare five minutes, grab yourself a bowl and try these little morsels out. Sprinkle over your favorite toppings, brew yourself a cup of tea, and you’ve got a delicious afternoon tea treat, without the fuss.

RAW RUSSIAN TAHINI FUDGE [VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE]

SERVES

8

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FUDGE:

  • 1/2 cup raw hulled tahini, softened
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted, plus 1 tablespoon cacao butter, melted (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons brown rice syrup (see notes for sweetener options)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

FOR THE OPTIONAL TOPPINGS:

  • Freeze-dried berries
  • Goji berries
  • Sesame seeds
  • Edible flowers
  • Flaked sea salt

PREPARATION

  1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl until combined. If your tahini is particularly hard (ie, if it has been in the refrigerator), you may want to soften/warm it slightly before starting so it will mix well and become super smooth.
  2. Pour your blend into ice cube trays, and place in the freezer for around an hour or until set.
  3. Remove from the moulds, sprinkle with toppings if desired, and serve immediately (they melt quickly). Or store in the freezer in a sealed container for up to two months.

NOTES

For a firmer result you could use an equal measure of cacao butter instead of coconut oil. Alternatively, simply add 1 tablespoon of cacao butter along with your coconut oil to help it set firmer. If you use the coconut oil only option, note that these treats do start to melt fairly quickly, so are best enjoyed straight from the freezer.

If you prefer a sweeter more traditional fudge, feel free to increase the sweetener to 4-5 tablespoons. Any liquid sweetener will work well — coconut nectar, yacon syrup, maple syrup - all will just impart slightly different flavors (brown rice syrup and coconut nectar are the most neutral).

You can also try making these with Medjool dates instead of liquid sweetener, which has a fabulous result in terms of taste (sweet caramelly goodness!). You'll just need a strong blender to do so, and it will work better if you make a double quantity batch so you have enough mixture in your blender to get it super smooth. Simply swap out the 3 tablespoons of brown rice syrup for 1/2 cup Medjool dates (approximately 5 dates), so in a double batch, that means you'll be using 1 cup of dates (instead of 6 tablespoons of syrup). Try out both versions (syrup vs. dates), see what you like best.

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tahini

AUTHOR & RECIPE DETAILS


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Wholesome family dinners and decadent gluten-free vegan desserts. Buffy Ellen Gill is the founder of Be Good Organics, a plant-based whole foods blog, community and store. After curing herself of Graves Disease, Buffy founded begoodorganics.com as a way of sharing her knowledge and recipes. Buffy is a specialist in plant-based organic living, and shares her weekly recipes, health and wellness articles and inspiring interviews to an online community of over 100,000.