Quick and Easy Vegan Slow Cooking by Carla Kelly Read Free Book Online Page A

described above in your dominant one), with your thumb tucked out of the way and your fingers forming a vertical wall, with no gaps, and the fingernail joint tucked slightly inwards so as not to be caught by the knife. Use this “finger wall” as a guide when cutting. Work slowly at first, and cut by sliding the arm holding the knife smoothly down and forward rather than pushing straight down with force.
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    HERE’S ANOTHER HANDY hint for you: Measure your fingers. If you measure on your own index (or any other) finger how much an inch, half an inch, and quarter of an inch is from the tip down you are more likely to be able to easily visualize these measurements than you would if you tried to look at something you’ve cut against an imaginary ruler. This helps with cutting things to even sizes. Though, of course, there is no need to mark these measurements on your finger!
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BEANS
    LET’S START WITH a basic method of cooking beans in the slow cooker so you can freeze them in 1- or 1½-cup portions for recipes that require cooked beans. Again the caveat: do not cook kidney beans (white or red) in the slow cooker (see page 24 ).
    Soak beans overnight, drain, and rinse, then place in the slow cooker along with a bay leaf, a piece of ginger, or a strip of kombu, if so desired. Cover the beans with three times the volume of water as there are beans, cover, turn heat to low, and cook until the beans are tender, roughly 6 to 8 hours, though denser beans such as chickpeas will often take longer. Drain, rinse, cool, and store in the fridge or freezer until required.
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Vegetable Stock

    M AKING YOUR OWN stock is more simple than you may expect. Not as quick and easy as using bouillon cubes or powder (which are perfectly acceptable), but doing it yourself means you can control the ingredients, and use whatever you have on hand. I often have a resealable plastic bag in my freezer for stock, and to this I add the ends of onions, carrot and potato peelings, celery tops, and the like, ready for when I have enough to make stock. The other thing I like about making my own stock is that I can make it as salty (or otherwise) as I like and also enhance whichever flavor I want to be dominant. See the variations below for ideas. When making your own stock, do not use cabbage and other members of the brassica family such as cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, turnips, or rutabagas; their flavors are too strong and will overpower the stock, unless you plan to use it in a recipe that also uses these vegetables.
MAKES 6 CUPS
PREPARATION TIME: 25 MINUTES
1½ to 2 pounds roughly chopped vegetables such as carrots, onions, potatoes, celery, sweet potato, including skins and peelings if using organic vegetables
Pinch each salt and black pepper
6 cups water
1. Place the vegetables in the slow cooker. Season with a little salt and pepper (you can always adjust to taste later) and cover with the water. Your slow cooker will be quite full.
2. Cover, set heat to LOW, and cook for 6 to 8 hours, or longer if you wish. Taste the stock and adjust cooking times and seasoning as required.
    VARIATIONS:
    ROASTED VEGETABLE STOCK
Roast vegetables in the oven at 425°F for 30 minutes; deglaze the roasting pan with stock or white wine prior to continuing with the steps above.
    REDUCED VEGETABLE STOCK
After straining, return the stock to the slow cooker and cook uncovered on HIGH for 1 hour to reduce the volume slightly and intensify the flavor.
    ONION STOCK
Use only onions, leeks, and shallots, roughly chopped and including the skin. If you wish you can caramelize the onionswith a tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt in the slow cooker for 4 hours on LOW until very soft, or roast them in the oven at 425°F for 20 minutes first.
    MUSHROOM STOCK
Use a selection of dried and fresh mushrooms, especially the stalks, as the main ingredients, supported by onions, celery, and carrots.
    ASPARAGUS STOCK
Roast the seasoned hard stalk ends of asparagus in a hot