Broccoli Rising, Storms Brewing, and How to be a (No)-Power Ranger

No cook meals that nourish.

Hey, kids, guess what time it is!? Back to school, and back to hurricane season.  There’s a conga line of tropical storms making their way towards us here on the east coast. This is not my idea of a party. California and Mexico probably aren’t much in a party mood either, having just got a visit from Hurricane Hilary.  

Miami’s had its share of uninvited guests like Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Ian, both Category 4 storms.  Hurricane Irma was a Category 5. But we know even a glancing blow from a Category 1 hurricane or tropical storm can knock over trees, trucks and trailers and knock out electricity.  

Historically, hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts through Thanksgiving, giving us something to be truly thankful about.  However, as climate change keeps proving, all bets are off.  Hurricanes, floods, wildfires and the like have become the new abnormal. Climate change impacts everyone everywhere, and there’s no telling when. So the time to get prepared is now.  Even in the stressful, sweltering aftermess of a hurricane — or an earthquake, fire or flood — we still have basic human needs. Like eating.

Uber Eats won’t come to your rescue once the power blows. Neither will pricy meal kits. The ingredients just spoil. Fast. Your usual refreshing smoothie isn’t on the menu, not without fresh produce, refrigeration and a workable blender. So what’s left?  Shelf-stable food.  For many, that means chips, cookies and other processed foods. It’s called stress eating, and we don’t judge. But remember the many pantry-friendly whole foods that can actually do your body some good, especially in a time of crisis:

Pantry Friendly Whole Foods

• applesauce

• boxed or powdered plant-based milk 

• bulgur 

• canned or packaged prepared beans

• canned tomatoes

• condiments like tahini, mustard, tamari, and your favorite nut or seed butter 

• dried fruit 

• instant oats and granola 

• nuts

Got a gas range?  Good on you.  Keep calm and cook on.  Those of us with electric ranges have to make other arrangements. Cooking dried beans from scratch — or cooking anything else —is a pleasure deferred.  But canned beans or even beans like A Dozen Cousins, plant-based prepared and packaged, are a reliable Plan B. They’re quick, no-cook reliable sources of goodness and protein.

So’s bulgur, an ancient strain of wheat that comes to you cleaned, boiled, dried and sorted from large grain to fine grain. You may know it from tabbouleh, but these mild-flavored grains invite a million other meal possibilities.  It’s quick-cook, or even — hallelujah — no-cook. Bulgur’s generous, too. When rehydrated, it goes from dry and grainy to full, fluffy and tripled in volume.  No wonder it’s been the go-to grain across the Middle East for millennia. Spice it up and make it the base of a great no-cook bowl of whole food goodness that’s pantry-friendly, quick and easy to assemble, and packs flavor, fiber and protein that’ll power you through, even when the power’s off.

Other Essentials

• baby food

• batteries

• bottled water, a minimum of a gallon per household member

• can opener (manual, doll, that’s the hand-cranked kind)

• candles

• cooler

• foil

• ice blocks 

• matches 

• meds 

• pet food

• TP — yes, toilet paper. Not Covid crisis amounts but enough to get your household through the week

Rather than brawl about what to do about climate change, or worse, do nothing, use this moment to make a difference.  Commit to a plant-based diet. It’s the most potent way to reduce the impacts of climate change.

If you’re in a position to do so, please donate relief organizations like World Central Kitchen or Mercy Chefs, feeding those in crisis.

Take a moment and be grateful for the many precious things we take for granted — access to fresh, clean water, a home that keeps us and our families safe, the ability to share a hot, nourishing meal with those you love.  

May you stay safe and well.  

No-Cook Mediterranean Bowl 

Ingredients

• 4 cups kale about 1/2 bunch, chopped

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 1/2 cup scallions chopped

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon allspice

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

• 1 cup bulgur

• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes or if you have it, 1 to 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped

• 1 teaspoon agave

• 1 cup water or vegetable broth

• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 handful cilantro, chopped

• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

• tahini for drizzling if desired

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, use your hands to massage kale with olive oil and lemon juice for a minute or two until kale starts to relax. Maybe you can relax a little, too.

2. Add chopped scallions and smoked paprika, allspice, turmeric and bulgur. Toss to combine.

3. Add diced tomatoes, agave and water or vegetable broth. Give everything a good stir to combine and cover. Pop it in the fridge, if you’ve got one, leave it on the counter if you don’t. After an hour, bulgur should have absorbed all the liquid. Season with sea salt and pepper and fluff with a fork.

4. In a separate bowl, toss chickpeas with cumin and perhaps a pinch of sea salt.

5. To serve, spoon bulgur into 4 bowls.  Scatter spiced chickpeas over the bulgur.  

6. Sprinkle on the chopped cilantro. Drizzle on some tahini, if you like.

Looking for a printable version of this recipe? Grab it here.

More no-cook wonders:

• medjool celery and date salad

• fattoush from José Andrés

• black bean and mango salad

• fruit chaat (fruit with magic dust)

• panzanella tomato-bread salad

• arugula, beans and pumpkin seed salad from beanmeister Rancho Gordo

• cool-as-a-cucumber salad from Funky Asian Kitchen

ICYMI

Vegan Means Business is back in business — for a limited time. Catch my presentation with Chef Nina Curtis, Fran Costigan, Aviva Goldfarb and Kathy Gold.

Watch it on YouTube through September 4. Thank you to the Washington DC Regional Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier for hosting.

Pssst — Miss last week’s Broccoli Confidential?  There’s another one coming.

6pm Thursday, September 14,  a virtual cooking class just in time for Rosh Hashanah. Gonna be sweet.  Broccoli Rising subscribers, stay tuned for details.

Thanks to you all for reading and subscribing. This issue of Broccoli Rising is free. Please spread the broccoli love and share.

You can also visit SoulfulVegan.com to find more recipes and connect with me online at YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Substack Notes.