Polenta

Morning 🙂 Summer is totally gone. Yesterday was windy, rained a bit, and cold grey day. Today is even worse, only +6 C, and we have bike rodeo at school today. Think that one would be canceled too just like yesterday’s spray park. This kinda sucks tho since it’s the last days of this year for school kids. They were meant to have nice last days with lotsa play and fun, but the weather is hindering that. Anyhoo…I have polenta and chickpeas today. Saw the recipe while on airplane and I forgot to take a picture of it, so when I made it was just from slight memory of what ingredients they used and whatnot. For us, it turned out okay, since we did not know how it should taste and this was my first time with polenta, I believe.

Polenta is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. – Wikipedia

I topped the dish with vegan parmesan, recipe follows bellow 🙂

• 520 g polenta, ready to use
• 3 c water
• 1/2 c soaked raw cashew
• 1/2 c thick coconut milk (chill it overnight, then stir)
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Hungarian Vegeta to taste
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp minced garlic

How To

• Bring water to boil
• Crumble in polenta, cook stirring constantly, until no chunks
• Meanwhile process cashew and coconut milk into creamy mixture
• Take off polenta from stove and add in the rest of the ingredients, stir well to combine

• 1 can chickpeas, drain and rinse
• 8 dried shiitake, soaked in hot boiling water, drain and slice (I believe fresh would be nicer, less strong flavor of what shiitake has)
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, slice
• 2 green onion, slice
• 1 tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (I would lessen this to either 1/2 to 1 tbsp instead of 2, a bit too strong in flavor, it’s either due to the dried shiitake if not the vinegar)
• Magi liquid seasoning to taste
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• 1-2 tsp flake parsley
• 1 tsp dry taragon

How To

• Heat oil saute shallots and green onion
• Stir in shiitake, cook for 5 mins
• Stir in chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients
• Adjust flavoring to your liking

Serve polenta top with chickpeas and sprinkle with parmesan

Vegan Parmesan

• 1/3 c raw cashew, grate/grind

• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

• Garlic powder and salt to taste

• Mix well