THE
VEGAN NEWS
THE
VEGAN NEWS
MAY 2000
- Recipes
- Vegan Product Review
- Don't Miss! This Month's Article - Juicing
- In The Veganic Garden
- Websites
- Book Review
- The Wildlife Database
Recipe of the Month
Bulgur Wheat Pilaff
(Source: This was one of Rose Elliot's own recipes, as demonstrated at the Living Without Cruelty Exhibition recently.)
Ingredients:
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 tsp paprika (optional)
- 2 peppers (one red, one yellow), chopped
- Pinch of chilli powder
- 375g packet of bulgur wheat
- 1 pint (550 ml) of hot water
- Chopped parsley, olives and pine nuts (or sunflower seeds)
Method
- Saute the onion and garlic in a pan with a small amount of olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the chopped peppers and spices and continue to cook for a few more minutes.
- Empty the packet of bulgur wheat into the pan and add the hot water. Stir well. Turn down the heat and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for a further 15 minutes or until the water has gone.
- Place the bulgur pilaff onto a serving dish. Sprinkle with olives, parsley and pine nuts. Serve hot or cold.
Note: To use up cold leftovers, try adding some extra chopped cucumber, chopped tomatoes and perhaps an oil and lemon dressing.
May Product Review
Green People Mint Toothpaste
Have you ever wished that you could find a vegan toothpaste that was completely organic too? Well here it is - the only one of its kind, produced by Green People. This organic toothpaste is Vegan Society Approved and is also certified by the Soil Association as well. It comes in four different flavours, but please note that the Fennel variety is not vegan as it contains propolis (a bee product). However, that still leaves you with the citrus, mint and mandarin flavours to choose from!
Green People's toothpastes are made from 100% natural ingredients and contain no artificial sweeteners, colourings, flavours or preservatives. In addition they are fluoride-free and do not use Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) - a commonly used detergent which can damage the mucosal membranes. All of Green People's toothpastes contain Stevia, a sweet herb used by the Guarani Indians for centuries and which may help to prevent tooth decay by retarding the growth of plaque in the mouth.
I tested the 'Herbal Fresh Mint Toothpaste' in this range. It seemed to clean the teeth well and despite being non-foaming didn't tend to dribble out of the mouth during cleaning in the way the Sarakan one I reviewed last month sometimes did! This mildly mint-flavoured toothpaste would be ideal for anyone who dislikes strong-tasting toothpaste. A 50 ml tube costs £3.19. It can be purchased by mail order. Ordering: The above products can all by ordered from Green People's website. Customer Care Line: +44 (0)1403 740 350. Email: organic@greenpeople.co.uk
What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?
- Sowing and Planting Outside
May is bean-planting month! If you are interested in growing your own beans, but aren't too sure which varieties of beans to plant, then you might like to look back a few issues and read my earlier article Growing Your Own where I extol the virtues of this marvellous group of plants! Peas and beans, as well as being a valuable source of protein in the vegan diet, are very useful plants to grow in the veganic garden because as nitrogen fixers they make excellent waste material for the compost heap. In my opinion, it's well worth devoting some space to legumes in the veganic garden.
So what to plant? This year I will again be sowing the climbing French variety of bean 'Barlotta Lingua di Fuoco' which did very well in my garden last year and makes an excellent substitute for a pinto bean. And I will also be planting the dwarf French bean 'Annabel' which is a pencil-slim green bean, delicious eaten either as a cooked vegetable or used cold in salads and which I particularly like to grow as it usually costs a small fortune to buy these beans in the shops. 'Coquette' will definitely be grown again this year. This plump, white bean is better than any baked bean I have ever tasted! And in addition, this year, I am going to try out two new heirloom varieties of beans: 'Early Warwick' and 'Hutterite Soup', both obtained from the Heritage Seed Library and both very good for drying.
French beans are generally quite hardy and can be sown as early as the end of April in some areas. But I usually wait until early May before I sow mine and sometimes even then sow them under a fleece. Runner beans are best sown towards the end of May because they don't like frost. Or alternatively you can sow them indoors and transplant them outside towards the end of May, or even at the beginning of June. Runner beans like a rich soil, so add lots of vegetable compost and of course they also like plenty of sun. If you can't grow climbing runner beans in your garden, then try 'Hammond Dwarf Scarlet', a bush runner bean which is ideal for the small garden. But 'Scarlet Emperor', 'Kelvedon Marvel', 'Czar' and 'Painted Lady' are climbing varieties of runner beans that are all well worth trying.
Sweetcorn is another crop that can be sown this month. I sometimes cover my newly-sown seeds with plastic bottle cloches, or a fleece, for extra protection. Sweetcorn is best grown in a block, rather than in rows, in order to ensure good pollination. Courgettes, marrows and cucumbers can also be sown outside this month and so can parsley now that the ground has warmed up somewhat. Continue to make sowings of carrots, beetroot, salad onions, lettuces, radishes and peas. The dwarf variety of pea 'Little Marvel' can be sown in May and in June and is ideal for an early autumn crop.
If you have raised your own Brussels sprouts, then continue to plant them outside when they reach a suitable size. I usually plant mine along the outer edge of a bed of early peas. I use the dwarf variety 'Peer Gynt' which matures early and produces nice brussel tops as well as tasty but fairly small sprouts.
- Other Jobs:
Weeds will start to grow more quickly this month and consequently you may need to hoe your beds regularly, particularly in between your onion sets. Look out for blackfly which may suddenly invade your broad bean crop this month. (See the May 1998 issue for more information on how to control this pest.) And if the weather is dry, then you may need to do a fair amount of watering too!
- Indoor Sowings:
Sow kale, winter cabbage (e.g. 'January King,' 'Holland Late Winter'), sprouting broccoli and winter cauliflowers. I am also going to try out some 'Nine Star Perennial' broccoli this year which will also need to be sown this month.
Crops Available This Month:
Asparagus, broad beans, spring cabbage, lettuce, rhubarb, spinach and salad onions.
Other Interesting Websites
The Vegan Society (UK)
An excellent site and a particularly good starting point for obtaining information for the new or intending vegan. You can now visit their online Shop.
Find out how to join BCTV and all about their conservation opportunities, working holidays and job vacancies.
Stop The Clock! Find out what this welfare and conservation charity is doing to help to protect elephants and sign their online petition to stop the ivory trade. Read up on their latest news and discover many interesting facts about animals. Become a member, or help to raise funds by a gift adoption or by purchasing from their online shop.
This UK based company offers advice on green, ethical, environmentally-friendly and socially responsible investment funds. Find out how to invest your money without investing in cruelty!
Animal Friends provide a competitive, quality insurance. And 100% of net profits go to worthy animal welfare causes! Read their press reports and news bulletins to find out more about them.
May Book ReviewThe Vegan Gourmet by Susann Geiskopf-Hadler & Mindy Toomay (Prima Publishing, 1995)
The Vegan Gourmet contains over 100 tasty recipes, styled on food from all over the world. Many of the recipes definitely have a Mediterranean feel about them, but you will also find recipes based on Oriental, Mexican and Far Eastern food too. Many of the recipes are quick to prepare. Look out for the 'Almost Instant' label, seen on recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or under. There are delicious appetizers, a wide variety of salads (many grain-based), chapters on vegetable and grain dishes, a good selection of soup and stew recipes and some interesting saute and stir-fry dishes. I can't wait to try out some of the pasta dishes, particularly the quickly-prepared 'Simple Spaghetti Sicilian-Style' and the 'Five-Minute Couscous! And for that special occasion there's a wonderful Porcini Mushroom Nut Loaf. Oh and plenty of unusual breakfast ideas to try out, if you fancy a change from your usual cereal. Japanese style porridge perhaps? Or maybe a curried tofu scramble or even a quickly prepared fruit bowl?
This is an American book, so ingredients are sometimes measured in *cups, but are often given in pounds and ounces. And in any case there is a useful conversion chart at the back of the book. Useful nutritional data is also provided at the end of each recipe.