To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

(Update: Both these specials are now over. Aren’t you sorry you missed ‘em?)

There are currently two great vegan meals on the “Specials” menu at Hugo’s Restaurant. I don’t want to wait any longer to share them with you because soon enough they’ll be gone. If you want to try these, and yes… you do want to try these… you’ll need to head on over to Hugo’s quick like a bunny.

This first interesting dish is the Red Lentil Veggie Patties: “an outstanding combination of organic red lentils, sweet potatoes, diced fresh summer vegetables, herbs and Indian spices. Served with mango chutney relish, black forbidden rice and sauteed leafy greens”. Outstanding was their adjective straight from the menu, but I heartily agree, these lentil patties were delicious. The Indian flavors were full and fragrant yet didn’t overpower the great flavors of the vegetables and lentils. The crispy outside and soft inside were just lovely, and the mango chutney kicked ass. It tasted slightly pickled, so it was both sweet and zingy at the same time.

The black forbidden rice was good, though I’m more inclined to the black sticky rice at Lotus Vegan, for which I as of yet have found no equal. The leafy greens were very tasty too, lots of garlic going on in there, just the way I like it. Overall an excellent meal.

On a subsequent visit I was far too intrigued to pass on the Very Green Enchiladas: “green corn tortillas filled with wilted leafy greens and garlic. Covered with a roasted poblano chili sauce and toasted pumpkin seeds. Served with green spanish rice and green zucchini”. It would also usually come with Cotija cheese, which they state right on the menu they’ll do without to make it vegan.

These enchiladas were outstanding! I was concerned that 1.) this would be kind of boring without cheese, and 2.) that the garlic would be too overwhelming. These concerns quickly melted away as I eagerly shoveled in my first bite. So good! The poblano chili sauce was amazing, full bodied and not too spicy. The enchiladas themselves were excellent, the greens and garlic perfectly seasoned and surprisingly filling. Both the zucchini and the spanish rice made for great accompanists in this very green orchestra. If you only try one new dish in the next few days or weeks, consider making it this one.

Now, a minor word of warning. Two words really: green poo.

You read me right. Now I know this is food blog so the last thing you want to read about are bodily functions. The thing is, how are you to trust that I’m telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, unless I told you the entire story, from start to finish so to speak? In the spirit of full disclosure, I’d like to save you an awkward moment of surprise after you eat this meal: my morning constitutional one day after eating the Very Green Enchilada plate was Very Green Poo… bright green poo the likes of which I’ve never seen before, neither from a baby nor an elephant. A quick run down over the past 24 hours worth of food immediately led me right to the culprit: it was the green enchiladas, in the kitchen, with a fork. All I’m saying is, forewarned is forearmed. Don’t fear the green!
www.hugosrestaurant.com

(Both of these are on the current specials at both Hugo’s locations, though all the stuff featured on this blog (so far) refers to the Hugo’s in Studio City -call if you’re going specifically for either of these items, because I don’t know how often the menu changes.)

So I’m sitting here watching Anthony Bourdain’s new Egypt episode, full aware that at any moment I will be either insulted for being vegan or accosted by scenes that will make me want to gag, or both. What can I say, I’m a glutton for punishment I guess, and world food and travel fascinate me. Anthony Bourdain is pretty entertaining when he’s not deliberately being an asshole.

Anyhow, after making it through the scene where he’s enjoying eating stuffed pigeons, much to my surprise, he featured a traditional Egyptian food that is totally vegan… and boy did it look good. It’s called Kushari, described in the Wikipedia as:

…a popular traditional Egyptian national dish, normally eaten in specialty Kushari restaurants that serve this dish exclusively. It consists of a base of rice, brown lentils, chickpeas, macaroni, and a topping of Egyptian garlic and vinegar and spicy tomato sauce (salsa). Caramelized onions are commonly added as a garnish. Kushari is normally a vegetarian and usually a vegan dish, possibly reflecting the vegan diet of Coptic Orthodox Christians during Lent and other fasts. It is becoming common to add fried liver or shawarma meat as an additional topping. It is often found in fast-food establishments that also serve ta’meyya/falafel. Smaller restaurants may serve either Kushari or ta’meyya while larger ones (often chain restaurants) usually serve both. It is an inexpensive dish, and serves as a staple food. Kushari is one of the most common and most popular dishes in Egypt.

Other than the liver and such this sounds absolutely delicious, and I’ll admit that for once Anthony was actually eating something that I very much wanted to try. He also showed some street vendors selling Foul, a vegan dish made from fava beans (it’s pronounced like ‘Fool’) which I’ve had a lot of and really like (though they were serving them here topped with egg). Imagine that, Anthony Bourdain turning vegans on to new dishes! Crazy I tell ya…

Of course just a few minutes later we were treated to a scene of a goat being ritually slaughtered and consumed, so don’t get too excited about Anthony Bourdain’s momentary foray into veganism via grains and legumes.

Does anyone know of any Egyptian restaurants in Los Angeles serving kushari? I’d love to try the real thing before attempting to make it on my own, though I welcome you to share some of your favorite kushari recipes in the comments.

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Update: I found a vegan Kushari recipe online and then the page I found it on soon after disappered. Since I can’t link directly to it anymore I’ll reprint it here. This seems like a very simple recipe, I’d be interested in finding out if there are fancier versions as well. Enjoy, and let me know how it turns out if you give it a try!

Egyptian Style Kushari Recipe

Ingredients:
10 cups water
8 oz macaroni (dry from the box, or fresh)
2 1/4 cups stock
1 cup long grain rice (uncooked)
2 – 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, minced
2 cups canned diced tomato
8 oz can of lentils
pepper to taste
salt to taste
1 bunch parsley, minced

Directions: In a large stock pot, pour in the 10 cups of water, and place on the stove over high heat. Place the lid onto the pot, so that it comes to a boil more quickly. In a separate deep sided pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat the stock over high heat.

Mince your onions. Open up the can of tomatoes and lentils. Do not drain the cans of their extra liquid! In a large, shallow skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. When the oil gets hot, add the onions, and a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper. Let cook over high heat for about five minutes, or until soft. Turn down the heat to medium, and add the canned tomato and lentils.

By now, the stock should be boiling. Add the rice to the pot, and wait for the stock to come up to a full boil (uncovered). When the water is boiling vigorously, turn down the heat to a simmer, and cover the lid. Give the skillet with the tomatoes a quick stir.

By now, the ten cups of water should be boiling. Liberally salt the water, and add the macaroni to the pot. Leave the lid off, and allow the macaroni to cook fully according to your liking.

The rice should take a total of twenty minutes to cook. The macarnoi should take no longer than ten minutes to cook. By the time the rice and macaroni are cooked through, the sauce will be the perfect consistency. If it looks a little too loose for your liking, turn up the heat to high, and allow it to cook down for a few minutes.

Drain the pasta, and put it back into the large pot. Stir in the sauce. Stir in the cooked rice. Generously garnish with the chopped parsley.

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes

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Another Update!

Check out the delicious looking and super easy to make vegan Kushari recipe that just got posted over at the What Geeks Eat blog… I don’t think you’ll need to look any further…
Kushari – because carbs are good too

I may have just found my new favorite recipe, the Tamarind Lentils from the Veganomicon cookbook. Oh mama, were these good! I love this delicious vegan recipe not only for it’s inherent deliciousness, but also because it was super easy to make, and from start to finish I prepped, cooked and ate my food all in less than one hour. The recipe is pretty foolproof.

Described in the book as “savory, tangy, and sweet… Indian-inspired lentils”, that’s exactly how they taste. The flavor is full and exotic, the tartness of the tamarind cut nicely with sweetness coming from agave nectar, garam masala and tomato paste. You also get a nice spicy kick now and again from cayenne and ginger.

I did make some of my own modifications because I’m the sort that just can’t leave well enough alone. The recipe calls for onion which I wasn’t going to subject myself to, so instead I used fennel. Yes, I realize that fennel tastes nothing like an onion, however it does look kind of similar when cooked… and what the heck, I love fennel. Whatever change this gave to the flavor of the dish did nothing but enhance it’s greatness. The recipe also calls for 3 tablespoons of coconut or peanut oil, neither of which I had on hand, so I used canola instead and cut it down to 1 tablespoon. Really, 3 seems excessive, don’t you think? I needed to cook the lentils a little bit longer than the recipe suggested in order to get them tender, so I just added a bit more water and let them simmer until they softened up.

The recipe suggests having this with basmati rice but at the time I was making it I was already very hungry and wasn’t about to mess with making rice or the like. Instead I made a Jamie Oliver inspired (and veganized) raw-slaw of red & purple carrots, yellow beets and red cabbage* with miso-seseame dressing.

If you don’t already own a copy of the Veganomicon then you’ll want to get one now for your uncensored, all-access pass to the tamarind lentils recipe. If I were to tell you that your life will never be complete until you’ve made and eaten this dish, than I would only be slightly exaggerating.

*Why is it called red cabbage when we can all clearly see that it’s purple?