That’s a hard one because, obviously, I love them all! But it’s getting to be soup time again and one of my very favorites from the book is my Peruvian‐
Inspired Sweet Potato Chowder, or Chupe, as it is called in Peru. My father was Peruvian and Peruvians love their chupe! Chupe is most often made with seafood and yellow potatoes, but I was inspired to use another common Peruvian
vegetable, the sweet potato, in this vegan version.
I love it of its complex flavors and textures;
because it’s a meal in itself; because it’s familiar and yet exotic at the same time; and because it reminds me of my father, Alejandro Jaime Urbina.
PERUVIAN-INSPIRED SWEET POTATO CHOWDER (CHUPE)
Serves 6
From the book World Vegan Feast (Vegan Heritage Press; 2011)
©Bryanna Clark Grogan 2011
Chupe is a hearty Peruvian chowder, a favorite of my father, and a jewel in the crown of Peruvian cuisine. It is usually made with yellow potatoes and seafood, but I was inspired to make a vegan version
with sweet potatoes as well as the usual yellow potatoes. It is a moderately spicy soup that can be served as a casual company meal with crusty bread
and salad. It is typically made with aji Amarillo (Peruvian yellow chile paste).
Main Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cups minced onion2 large cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup good tomato salsa (no sugar)
1 to 2 tablespoon ají Amarillo (Peruvian yellow chile) paste (available from amazon.com) or substitute Vietnamese red chile and garlic sauce (Sriracha) to taste
freshly‐ground black pepper 8 cups vegan broth
½ tablespoon fresh, chopped oregano or ½ teaspoon
3 cups cooked, peeled sweet potato, cut into 1‐inch dice
2 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon turmeric
1 ¼ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, steamed, peeled and cut into 1‐inch dice
2 cups fresh sweet corn kernels or 2 cups frozen (thawed) sweet corn
1 ½ cups cooked brown basmati rice 1 cup frozen baby peas (petit pois), thawed 8 ounces medium‐firm tofu or extra‐firm silken tofu, drained and crumbled
½ cup dry white wine 1 ½ teaspoons salt
Garnish
cooked corn on the cob, cut into 2‐inch chunks minced fresh parsley
Additional Optional Garnishes
6 green garlic tops (also called scapes), tied into knots
12 Chinese vegan "shrimp" or “prawns”
bryanna working with a young chef
Heat
the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté in the oil until the onion begins to soften‐‐ do not brown it at all. Microwave Option: In a covered microwave‐safe 2‐quart casserole, cook the onions and garlic in the oil on 100% power (default setting) for about 8 minutes or until the onion has softened.
Transfer
the broth, salsa, chile paste or sauce oregano, bell pepper, sweet potato, sugar and turmeric (and microwaved onions and garlic, if you cooked them that way) to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down to low heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Puree
the soup right in the pot with animmersion/stick blender. (Alternatively, blend in batches in a blender or food processor. Make sure that air can escape from the lid of either machine, covering the air‐hole with a folded clean kitchen towel. This will eliminate the danger of exploding hot soup). Transfer the pureed soup back into the pot.
Add
the cooked potato chunks, cooked rice, peas and corn. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
In
a blender, blend the tofu, wine and salt until very smooth. Stir this into the soup and heat gently. Taste for seasoning.
Serve
the soup hot in wide soup plates, with any or all of the garnishes decorating the top.
You are also a well‐known instructor and you’ve reached quite a few people. Is there one
particularly moving story that stands out from your classes?
Yes, and that is when I was doing a workshop at the Vegetarian Awakening vegan chefs’ conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2007 (organized by Chef Kevin Dunn). We had volunteer students from Chef Dunn’s culinary program at Grand Rapids Community College to help us with preparing our dishes for sampling, and prep for the classes. It was wonderful, because they were happy to follow directions and they were well‐trained. I don’t think that any of the students who assisted me were vegetarians, but a few were very curious and keen.
One young man, perfectly ordinary, a little
awkward and gawky, became particularly inspired as we went along, and eventually declared
passionately that he wanted to learn everything he could about vegan cooking from Chef Dunn. That was very satisfying to hear.
What is your philosophy on how to reach die‐hard meat eaters and how do you make soy appealing for those people who are “afraid” of it?
I’m cautious when cooking for meat‐eaters because, #1) I want to please me guests and put them at ease, and #2) I want 1st impressions to be good, so that these folks will have a positive idea of
vegan cuisine. Even though many vegans enjoy meat analogues (and these products are getting better and better), many non‐vegetarians are wary of them, so I usually avoid serving seitan, tempeh, and commercial meat substitutes to omnivores unless I know that they are adventurous, non‐
judgmental, open‐minded eaters, or if I have prior knowledge that they enjoy these foods. Instead, I usually serve more traditional vegetarian dishes from a particular cuisine that I enjoy, utilizing vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds, pasta, grains. I often serve a vegan Italian meal of several courses, a sumptuous Middle Eastern buffet, or a Chinese or Vietnamese feast, and I’ve never had any complaints! Although these types of meals can be made with no soy products at all, the use of soy milk in recipes usually goes unnoticed, and I have had success using tofu in several ways—for
instance, silken tofu in creamy sauces, puddings or pie fillings (sometimes in conjunction with cashews or tahini), or my Crispy Marinated Tofu slices (also known as “Breast of Tofu” in previous books) in place of chicken. Oven‐fried tofu cubes or triangles, or grilled firm tofu with assertively‐flavored BBQ sauces or glazes are often acceptable to and enjoyed by omnivores in the context of Asian meals. Another soy product that I have used successfully when serving omnivores is Butler Soy Curls®, which, when reconstituted in a tasty broth, resemble chicken strips. In stir‐fried dishes, salads and soups guests of all types have enjoyed them.
Do you have any advice you can give to someone who has just jumped into the vegan world?
Be aware that, even with all animal products eliminated from your diet, you have a whole world of exciting and healthful flavors, textures and combinations out there waiting to be discovered.
You will ever have enough years in your lifetime to explore all of the possibilities, but you'll have a great time trying and no excuse to be bored! All
the vegans I know really love to eat and they love good food. Check out the plethora of vegan food blogs on the ‘Net and the many new vegan
cookbooks on the market. Try a new and unfamiliar food every week, utilizing the expertise of a
favorite blogger or cookbook author to guide you.
Follow tried and true recipes at first and then, when you are familiar with the new foods and techniques, you can start developing your own versions or your own recipes.
What new projects do you have coming up that you can talk about?
For a long time I have wanted to put together a collection of my seitan recipes, and also recipes that are not made solely from wheat gluten, but make excellent vegan “meats”, such as my vegan
“neatballs”. It might also include some of my homemade cheese and seafood alternatives. If my present publisher is interested, it may be my next book. Otherwise I will work on it as an e‐book. I’ve also been working on a project with David Lee of Field Roast for a few years and hope that we can finish it sometime soon.
Thanks Bryanna!
Bio
Author of 8 vegan cookbooks, Bryanna has devoted over 40 years to tasty, healthful cooking, 23 as a vegan. She was a frequent contributor and reviewer for Vegetarian Times magazine for 5 years, and, more recently, wrote and published a subscription cooking zine, “Vegan Feast”, for 5 years. She is moderator of the Vegsource “New Vegetarian”
forum.
Bryanna has conducted cooking workshops and classes locally (including a 5‐day Vegan Cooking Vacation on beautiful Denman Is.), and at
numerous vegetarian gatherings in North America, including several NAVS Summerfests; EarthSave’s Taste of Health in Vancouver, BC; the International Scientific Conference on Chinese Plant Based Nutrition and Cuisine in Philadelphia; at Seattle VegFest and Portland, OR's VegFest; at the
McDougall Celebrity Chef Weekend in Santa Rosa, CA, and the 1st vegan blogger’s conference, Vida Vegan Con, in Portland in August of 2011. In 2006 and 2007, Bryanna was the only Canadian chef presenting, alongside many renowned vegan chefs and restaurateurs, at the Vegetarian Awakening vegan chefs' conference in Grand Rapids, MI.
Bryanna’s recipes appear in the The Veg‐Feasting Cookbook (Seattle Vegetarian Association); on Dr.
Andrew Weil's websites; in No More Bull! by
Howard Lyman; and in Cooking with PETA. Bryanna also developed the recipes for the ground‐breaking book, Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes.
Contact info
Email via this page:
http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/2 643700.htm
Website:
http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/5 79094.htm
Blog: http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/VeganFeaster
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bryanna‐Clark‐
Grogan/100001332474362
What led you to become vegan and what was the transition like for you?
It’s a long story, but the gist of it is that one day I saw something I didn’t expect and it caused me to re‐evaluate my beliefs and actions and whether they were really in accord with each other.
Essentially, I saw a dog who was being taken off to be slaughtered for food and I didn’t stop it when I should have. You can read the full story here:
http://animalbeat.org/manonamission.html
That one moment radically changed my life and my view of animals and food. I immediately gave up meat and eventually went vegan when I learned about the horrors of the dairy and egg industries. I was living in Vietnam at the time and almost everybody to whom I tell the story thinks that going Veg in a place like Vietnam should be a breeze, but it really isn’t as easy as you’d think.
Surprisingly, it’s not that easy to find many vegan dishes in Vietnam! Even in meatless dishes, nuoc mam (fish sauce) is fairly common as a seasoning.
If I had a dime for every time someone told me a
dish was vegetarian and then added…”with just a little pork for flavor”….well, I’d have a lot of dimes!
The lack of knowledge and alternatives is the main reason why the Kairos Coalition has been working with some of our Vietnamese partners to develop a
“Go Veg” guide and cookbook in Vietnamese for Vietnamese. Not only do Vietnamese need to be made aware of the compelling environmental, health and animal‐related benefits of transitioning to a plant‐based diet, but they also need some great recipes to get them started. Unfortunately, we couldn’t just translate a “Go Veg” guide from the United States because Vietnamese have their own particular style of cuisine. Another issue is the ingredients: although tofu and soy milk are quite common, other ingredients that we take for granted, such as beans, seitan and tempeh, just aren’t that commonly used in traditional
Vietnamese fare and can be hard to find at the local market. Consequently, we’ve had to start from scratch and develop a guide that reflected the particular culinary environment as it is in Vietnam.
It is an exciting project and I’m very grateful to A