My boyfriend and I have had the same diet all the time during the 19 years we've been together. Sounds weird I know. What's weirder is we have worked in the same places mostly for the whole time as well.

We stopped eating meat mostly for health reasons. Marc's father was in need of a new kidney and Marc gave him one. We were led down a path of investigation and based on information we got from the internet, and also looking at the life that Marc's father had, we realized we should stop eating meat. I wish we had gone vegan right away but we just didn't.

His father was a third generation butcher and sausage maker from Germany. He really didn't consume any fresh vegetables in his life and the only vegetables he did consume was sauerkraut that was fried for a long time in a lot of oil, and potatoes which he would consider a vegetable. He and Marc's mother, who had an open heart surgery a few years ago, still consume fried pork, sausages, fried eggs and cheese as their main diet. She is on high blood pressure pills and he is on dialysis again after Marc's donated kidney eventually failed. He had a good run for a couple of years as he totally trashed his body with the same diet as what caused it in the first place. This is not me bashing meat eaters, although I do wish the world would leave animals out of their diet.

We are in it for the animals but the greatest result of this is that I feel better. I don't have a perfect diet. I'm a foodie that likes to experiment with cooking, but I try to limit the crap as much as possible.
I had asthma that was so bad I thought I would die each night. I refuse to take medication, despite what friends said. I won the battle eventually by cutting out dairy and limiting fried foods, sugar and chemicals. I didn't allow people to smoke around me and I kid you not, I no longer get asthma attacks. I used to not be able to walk fast because I couldn't get my breath. Now I can run and I'm almost sixty.

We are in Bangkok for three more weeks and I've been cooking most of our meals in our Arbnb. I love delicious foods of all kinds as long as they're vegan but lately I was thinking of Marc's parents and how we will soon be staying with them. So I have been experimenting with low or no oil cooking.
Marc's mother fries broccoli in an inch of oil no matter how much we tell her not to. She says it will be too dry. Yes you read that right.

Black bean patties oil free in a pan.

The other day I realized I still had a bag with some black beans in the cupboard so I soaked them overnight and then cooked them for about 1 hour until they were soft.

I Drained the water from the cooked beans to make a sauce adding garlic, chili, a tablespoon of miso paste, blended than heat up, adding the juice of a lime.

The sauce

I added a mushroom sauce that I found for a little extra flavor.

The patties

I added raw peanuts, because that is the least expensive( but almond, cashew walnuts etc. would do great), corn, and 1 carrot blended with about 1/4 cup water and 3 cloves garlic.

To bind it, I ground some rice(uncooked) in my little hand blender. It was not as fine as rice flour which seemed to help hold things together. I really didn't want to go to the store for rice flour and I'm glad I didn't.

1/2 cup ground rice or rice flour.

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds ground

1/2 teaspoon toasted coriander seeds ground

1 teaspoon (or more depending on your spice desire) chili powder

Before you shape it into patties, put it in the fridge for an hour or two for bests results.

To cook the patties add water to a shallow pan only enough to cover the pan. Heat the pan and the water until it's really hot than add the patties.
Leave the heat high while the patties sit. When the water is almost gone, flip the patties then add more water, but not too much. It's easy but it's delicate. Just let all the water cook out but not to the point where they are stuck to the pan.

Turnips were in the bargain at Big C so I knew that a turnip side dish would be in order. I am not usually a fan of turnips except for once in a while so this was it. I added some leeks which were also on sale and some carrots for sweetness.

One thing that I love, and if I don't have it for a while, I feel strange, are greens. Here in Bangkok there are so many greens available at all times.
I found collards which I thought was a perfect accompaniment for turnips. In fact I think they may both be part of the cabbage family but not sure.

I was so surprised that these patties did not fall apart, in fact they firmed up. I think that using the ground rice instead of rice flour helped hold things together better. I wish I had tried this a long time ago.

When I get back to Canada I will make them again and put it in a burger bun so my mother in law will be blown away by the fact that I didn't involve oil.