Angelica Kitchen

The Angelica Home Kitchen: Recipes and Rabble Rousings from an Organic Vegan Restaurant
By Leslie McEachern
Recipe Development with Chef Peter Berley
Photography by John Bigelow Taylor

For over 25 years, New York City’s Angelica Kitchen has been widely regarded as the epicenter of the vegan universe. Located on a cozy, tree-lined street in the East Village, Angelica Kitchen offers a multitude of innovative dishes using only the finest organic ingredients delivered daily from local purveyors. In "The Angelica Home Kitchen," owner Leslie McEachern shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes as well as a wealth of information on sourcing, purchasing from, and supporting local organic farmers. Recipes for familiar favorites such as Sea Caesar Salad, Asian Root Vegetable Stew, Mocha Cheesecake with Chocolate Brownie Crust, and the famed Dragon Bowl have been carefully redesigned for the home cook, making "The Angelica Home Kitchen" a must-have for creating delightful vegan dishes at home.

Oden (asian root vegetable stew)
Yield: 4 to 6 servings Cooking Time: 1 hour

A highlight of Japanese country cooking, oden is generally a five-root stew. Our version adheres to that tradition. This is my favorite winter stew and it features several fundamental ingredients of Japanese cuisine - kombu, shoyu, ginger, and rice wine (mirin). If you like, you can include additional root vegetables such as white turnips, jerusalem artichokes, celeriac (celery root), and parsley root. And oden is good for what ails you: It's a blood purifier and fortifier. For authenticity, cook it in a black iron kettle over a fire in the middle of your hut.

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups diced onions (1 large)
6 cups water
Approximately 6 oz. each of the following 5 ingredients:
1 cup burdock, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup daikon, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup rutabagas, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup parsnips, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 to 6 dry shiitake mushrooms
1 (3-inch) piece dried kombu
5 slices ginger, each the size of a quarter
1/2 cup shoyu or tamari
2 tablespoons mirin
1/4 cup kuzu
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons sliced scallions for garnish

In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, sauté the onions and burdock in the olive oil over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Add 6 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the carrots, daikon, rutabagas, parsnips, shiitake mushrooms, kombu, ginger, mirin, and tamari.

Lower the flame and simmer covered for 30 to 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the ginger and discard.

Remove the kombu and shiitake mushrooms, slice into bite-size pieces, and return to the pot.

Dissolve the kuzu in 1/4 cup cold water; stir into the stew and simmer for 1 or 2 minutes longer.

Stir in the sesame oil.

NOTE: You should never cook with toasted sesame oil because high heat will release free radicals in the oil, making it toxic. Use toasted sesame oil as a last-minute addition; treat it like a flavor enhancer such as salt or vinegar.

Serve with noodles or rice, accompanied by baked, marinated tofu, kimchee, and scallion garlic.