Entries tagged with vegan

Current Mood: disappointed

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Challenge 54: Peppers - Mediterranean stuffed peppers

Peppers are one of my favourite things to cook with. They are so versatile. When I was thinking of what to cook for this challenge, I suddenly remembered this amazing dish I ate in Greece, called Gemista or Yemista, which are peppers stuffed with rice. Here is a picture of the ones I had in Greece.

I decided to try and recreate them at home, and I largely used this recipe from Rick Stein, but scaled it down and only did peppers rather than all the other veg as well. I neglected to remove the foil and continue cooking mine for 15-30 mins, which meant they weren't wholly successful, but they were ok. I left out the chilli flakes, but added capers to mine. I also found I needed a lot more liquid when cooking the rice than it suggests in the recipe. I also think it would have helped if the oven was a higher temperature. Oh, well. You live and learn.

Next time, I will try and do a version that has a tomato sauce with it as well, like the ones I had in Greece.

(There was definitely better lighting in Greece as well - provided by the sunshine!)

Current Mood: relaxed

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Challenge 52: Beans - Bigilla (Maltese Broad Bean Dip)

Traditionally, bigilla is made with dried tic beans. Tic beans are a smaller, darker relative of broad beans, but in this country they seem to be mostly used in animal feed. Like much Maltese cookery, recipes will vary a lot according to family tradition amongst other things. I based my recipe on one from the Food & Cookery of Malta - my go to cookbook when cooking any new-to-me Maltese recipes. However, there are also some recipes on the internet here, here and here. Most recipes seem to suggest adding pretty much all the ingredients raw (aside from the beans), but I decided to cook my garlic and chilli a little before adding to the beans.

I used tinned broad beans rather than dried, because my local supermarket did not have any dried ones. Plus I didn't have to bother soaking them or cooking them for too long.

This recipe makes enough for 4 - 6 people as a starter/snack.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp Olive oil
1 mild red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped
4 large cloves of garlic, minced using a garlic press or finely chopped
2 x 300g tins broad beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of one lemon or 2 tbsps bottled lemon juice
Salt (to taste)
Handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used parsley and mint)

Method
Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan and very gently fry the chilli and garlic, stirring often, for about 5-10 minutes until soft. Take off the heat once done, but leave in the pan. Meanwhile cook the tinned beans in some water for a few minutes (technically you don't really need to do this bit, as the beans are already cooked, but I decided to heat mine as I thought it might make them easier to mash, plus you can serve this dish warm or cold). Once the beans have cooked for a few minutes, drain and add to the pan with the chilli and garlic. Add the lemon juice, the rest of the olive oil and the salt. Using a fork or a potato masher, roughly mash the bean mixture. Finally, add the mixed herbs and stir it all together.

Serve with toasted bread or crackers. Or for a proper authentic Maltese experience serve with galletti.

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Vegan berry soft-serve !ice-cream

My kids are currently all about smoothies and slushies and the like -- anything that can be made using the thermomix and frozen Stuff.

They made for me raspberry softserve not quite ice-cream, and it was glorious.

Ingredients:
Peel and freeze bananas. This is better if they are heading towards soft, but not yet squishy (save those ones for baking).
Frozen berries. We bought ours pre-frozen at the local supermarket. We had raspberries, but any tart fruit would go nicely.

Equipment:
Blender or equivalent (I haven't tried this with a stick blender, but presumably it would work if you could get things moving?)

Process:
Put roughly equal amounts* (by weight or volume) of frozen banana and berries into blending device**, blend until smooth. Serve in cup or bowl. While this will refreeze, it isn't as nice unless you stir it repeatedly while it freezes.

* I think we do 3/4 cup of unblended fruit per person, taste, and then add either more banana or more berries, depending on taste. But I'm inclined to just look at how much I've got, and chuck some in.
** We have a Thermomix, so we use a Thermomix. But I used to do the same thing when I had a standalone blender, so as long as your blender can deal with the frozen nature of the fruit, you should be fine.

Current Mood: creative

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Challenge 47: Less than £1 - 99p Minestrone

I costed this dish at 99p for the whole thing (using J*mie Ol*ver maths) and it can serve 3 - 4 people.

Ingredients
1 tsp oil - 1p (I checked how much Jack Monroe costs oil on her recipes on her blog, as I couldn't work this out...)
1 small onion, diced - 5p (60p/kg at Sainsbury's)
1 stick celery, finely diced/sliced - 10p (60p/450g at Sainsbury's)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped - 2p (35p for two bulbs Sainsbury's basics range)
1 tsp dried mixed herbs - 1p (£2.50/85g at Sainsbury's)
1 400g can chopped tomatoes - 30p (Sainsbury's basics)
700ml water (arguably free)
1 vegetable stock cube - 5p (45p for a pack of 10 - Sainsbury's own brand)
100g dried spaghetti, broken up into small lengths - 5p (20p/500g Sainsbury's basics)
1 300g can mixed vegetables, drained - 40p (Sainsbury's)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Heat the oil over a low/medium heat and add the onion and celery. Cook gently, stirring, for 10 - 15 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and herbs and cook for two more minutes, stirring. Pour in the tomatoes and water and bring to the boil. Crumble the stock cube into the pan, stir well to dissolve, and turn down to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Uncover, add the spaghetti and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Add the mixed vegetables and cook gently for 3 - 4 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Maybe break your spaghetti into smaller lengths than I did... But either way, this was tasty!

Current Mood: tired

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Challenge 46: Unused cookbook - Aubergine, tomato and red lentil pasta sauce

The cookbook I hadn't used yet was one I got for Christmas: Jack Monroe's A Year in 120 Recipes. I like Jack Monroe's recipes because they use easy to source ingredients and are often quite simple to make but tasty. For whatever reason, I just hadn't got round to cooking any recipes from it yet.

I ended up making quite a few changes, partly to do with availability of ingredients (e.g., the fresh tomatoes I bought annoyingly had started to go mouldy even though I only got them at the weekend) and partly because it was after work and I was tired (e.g., the recipe says to roast the aubergine in the oven then add the flesh to the sauce at the end, but I just chopped it up and did it all in the same pot).

So, this is based on Smoky aubergine, tomato and red lentil pasta sauce from the above book, but with my changes included. It was filling and pretty tasty.

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 small green pepper, deseed and diced
1 small aubergine, diced into 2cm cubes
2 large garlic cloves, chopped or crushed
a couple of pinches of dried chilli flakes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
75g dried red lentils
400g tin chopped tomatoes
zest and juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper

Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook gently for 5 - 10 minutes until starting to soften. Add the green pepper and aubergine and cook for a few minutes. Then add the garlic, chilli flakes and mixed herbs and cook for another minute or two.
2. Wash the lentils and then add to the pan. Stir, then add the chopped tomatoes, the lemon and about 200ml water.
3. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 25-30 minutes until the lentils are soft and the liquid has reduced into a thick sauce (add more water if it starts to dry out).
4. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the pasta of your choice.

Some grated cheese would be lovely on this too, but I didn't have any cheese in the fridge. Booooo.

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Texas caviar

I’ve been meaning to make something from my vegan cookbook Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give A Fuck. This coming Thursday we are having a goodbye party for our student worker who happens to be vegan and I wanted to make sure she actually has options to eat. I bought the ingredients today and will make this Wednesday evening.

Sweet corn and black eyed pea dip

“Some people call this Texas Caviar. We just call it goddamn delicious. This makes a fuckton of dip so if you’re flying solo, just halve everything”

1 red bell pepper
1 small tomato
3 cups cooked black eyed peas (I’m using to 15oz cans)
1 cup raw corn kernels (I intend to double this)
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, minced
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps lime juice
2 tbsps red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt

1. Chop up the bell pepper and tomato into pieces about the size of a bean
2. Add the black eyed peas to a large bowl and smash them just a little bit. You want roughly one-third of them smashed up, the rest can stay whole. This just adds an extra creaminess to the dip but you can skip it if you are over the whole mashed bean thing.
3. Mix in the pepper and tomato and everything else, stir and taste. Easy. Add more lime juice or salt if you think it needs it. Serve this as a dip or over some greens for a fucking bomb-ass salad.

Can you see why I got this cookbook? Aside from the food sounding good, the descriptions amuse the hell out of me

EDIT - I noticed it was missing some items. Eeek!

Current Mood: sick

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challenge #45 - salads & salad dressings,
cuisine: caribbean,
fruit: citrus: lime,
fruit: mango,
salads,
veg: lettuce,
veg: onions,
vegan,
vegetarian

Challenge 45:Salad - Avocado and Mango Salad

I made this at the weekend and have pretty much been ill since then, but thought I'd try and get my post in before the week was up. Apologies if I don't make too much sense - I am a little feverish.

I wanted to do something different for my salad - I thought about making this amazing salad my mum makes, but it really requires fresh broad beans and Sainsbury's do not have any in stock yet.

Confession time: I had never bought an avocado before (I have eaten it in ready-prepared things just never bought a whole one before). I thought they would be hard to slice open/peel (given the fuss I have seen about 'avocado hand' injuries), but it turns out they're super-easy to get into and I might buy more in future!

Anyway, the salad I made was from Levi Roots's Caribbean Food Made Easy, but it's also available online here. I left off the thyme leaves although I reckon some chopped coriander would be nice in this if that is something you like.

A very refreshing, summery salad. I served mine with roast pork loin and potato wedges.

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challenge #45 - salads & salad dressings,
garlic,
gluten free,
salads,
sauces,
vegan,
vegetarian

Kale with tahini dressing

Abel & Cole, who I get my veg box from, have a great recipe search so you can type in whatever ingredient you want to use up or don't know what to do with, and that's how I found this recipe.

I used to be a bit intimidated by kale when it turned up but now I'm excited to see it, as it's an excuse to make this dressing. It'd work with spinach or any dark leafy greens, but I now associate it with kale.

You will need:

Knife/chopping board
Measuring spoons/jug
Whisk
Big bowl
Big pot and stove if you're cooking your greens

Ingredients for the dressing:

4 tbsp of tahini
4 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of water
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
2 lemons, zest and juice*
3 garlic cloves, finely minced**
Salt and pepper
A pinch of chilli flakes or chilli powder, if you like

* when I don't have lemons, 4 tbsp of juice from a bottle is fine
** one of the things I like about Abel & Cole recipes is that they don't pretend a single clove of garlic is sufficient for everything; three is enough for me as someone who really likes garlic but you could always use more or less if you prefer

(The original recipe also calls for 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, which I've always ignored because I can't cope with much sourness and the lemon is enough for me, but feel free to try that if you'd like!)

The A&C recipe is a bit more complicated, suggesting you add the garlic and half the lemon juice/zest directly to the cooked greens, but I just whisk all the ingredients together in a big bowl while the kale is on the stove, and then drain the kale and add it to the bowl.

Prepare the greens however you like. The recipe suggests simmering it for just a minute. Kale is one of the few vegetables I boil, otherwise I find it too tough, so I remove the stalks, chop it finely and leave it for however long it takes me to mix up the dressing. If I used spinach I wouldn't cook that at all.

The result is great by itself as a side, or I add halloumi, chickpeas, lentils and/or chopped nuts for protein, and sometimes other salad-y stuff, like veggies or couscous. Meat-eaters could have chicken or lamb or something with it.

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Challenge 42: Iftar - dates ladoo

This is a really quick, easy, adaptable recipe for date and nut balls. I used this recipe, varied according to what happened to be in the cupboard. (There's a whole lot of Iftar recipes here if anyone else is looking for ideas.)

Ingredients
20 large dates (the ones sold in a block for baking are fine)
1/4 cup nuts (I used walnuts)
1 tbsp sultanas

Equipment
Sharp knife (not so vital if you have a blender)
Microwave (or you can use the hob, in which case you also need a pan)
Microwaveable plate
Microwaveable bowl (I used a pudding basin)
Spoon

1. If you don't have a blender, chop the dates fairly thoroughly. Chop the nuts too, separately.

2. Toast the nuts for a couple of minutes on a plate in the microwave. Keep an eye on them and shake them around half way through.

3. Put the chopped dates in the pudding basin and microwave for about 30 seconds - this is just enough to warm them through and make them sticky.

4. Add the toasted nuts and the sultanas, mix well, and, when it all comes together into a glorious sticky lump, roll it into little balls.

If you don't have a microwave, then you can toast the nuts and warm the dates in a pan on the stove. It looks like you can throw all sorts of things in to vary the nuts, and I can see myself making these a lot - take them hiking, for snacks at work, etc, etc.

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Ginger challenge - Vegetarian/ Vegan Chilli

I love this recipe. It's cheap, it's really filling, and it tastes wonderful. What's more, with the exception of the garlic, ginger and onion, they're all non-perishable ingredients, and as I usually have garlic and onion about the house, with the substitution of dried powdered ginger for fresh, it is a marvellous emergency dinner. If I had to feed a friend unexpectedly, this is what I would turn to.

(It's better with fresh ginger, though).

The original recipe is Anna Jones - it was in a Guardian start of academic year student special - but I've tweaked it a bit (the original one is here, if you're interested).

Quantities: it will serve five to six if you serve with rice and cheese. It reheats well: leftovers are good turned into nachos, enchiladas, or burritos.

Note: you can use other grains than bulgar wheat - pearl barley might be nice, as might quinoa. Steer clear of cous cous, though, it will cook too quickly and disintegrate into mush. You can also use different kinds of beans - I have a possibly irrational aversion to kidney beans, but if you like them, chuck some in - and lentils, though I'd advise against red as again, they cook too quickly. Puy work well, though. Go with what you have in the store cupboard!

Equipment needed:
A chopping board
A kitchen knife
A wooden spoon or similar to stir
A measuring jug
A large saucepan or small stock pot

If you are using cheese, then you either need a grater or a bag of pre-grated cheese.

Ingredients:
Oil for frying
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
An inch-long piece of ginger, peeled and grated, or 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp chilli powder (or 1/2 tsp if you don't like heat)
1/2 tsp cumin (ground or bashed seeds)
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 × 400g tins of peeled plum tomatoes
150g green lentils, soaked
150g bulgur wheat
2 sqs dark chocolate, or 1/2 tsp cocoa if you're making it vegan
400g tin of black beans
1 litre vegetable stock (I like the Marigold Bouillon powder)
Salt and black pepper

Optional extra: cheese to serve

Before you start cooking: soak lentils according to the directions on the packet.

Peel and finely chop your onion, and gently fry until it's soft and translucent (this will take at least ten minutes). In the meantime, peel the garlic, smash it with your knife, and then chop it, and peel and grate the ginger. Drain the beans and the lentils.

Once the onion is done, add the tomatoes - bash the fruits with your spoon a bit to encourage them to break up - and then tip in the lentils, wheat, and beans. Add the chocolate and spices, stirring well until the chocolate is melted.

Now add about half the stock, and simmer for twenty minutes or until the lentils and wheat are cooked. Top up the liquid as you go - you may not need all the stock. Should you need more, it's fine to just add plain water.

Serve with rice, or with tortillas, or however you like your chilli! I like it with grated cheese, but obviously omit this or use your favourite cheese substitute if you are a vegan or dairy-free.

Current Mood: satisfied

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Challenge 32: Supper - Hobz biz-zejt

I grew up in the South of England and we didn't have supper. That doesn't mean we didn't have evening snacks sometimes, but we never called it supper. (And our evening meal was either dinner or tea (a large meal, e.g. a Sunday roast was definitely dinner, but a smaller meal, e.g. fish fingers and beans could be tea), but the midday meal was always lunch.)

In the interests of full disclosure I actually ate this for lunch, but this is a popular Maltese snack which can be eaten at any time of the day, including supper, so I am including it in this challenge. :)

Hobz biz-zejt literally translates as 'bread with oil', but this dish does have a little more to it.

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 or 2 thick slices of white bread (preferably a sourdough)
Tomato puree or paste or one very fresh in-season tomato (my tomato puree of choice at the moment is Sainsbury's Taste the Difference cherry tomato puree with basil)
Extra virgin olive oil

One or more of the following optional ingredients
Capers
Sliced olives
Tinned tuna flakes or anchovies
Fresh herbs (some basil leaves would work well)
Salt and pepper

Method
Spread the tomato puree/paste on the bread. If using a fresh tomato, cut the tomato in half and rub the tomato halves onto the bread while squeezing the juice out.

Pour some olive oil out onto a plate or into a shallow bowl - enough to lightly coat one side of the bread. Dip the bread, tomato side down into the olive oil.

Garnish with one or more of the optional ingredients.

****

I bought a pre-sliced sourdough, but generally I'd prefer to have thicker slices than this. :)

Sliced white bread with tomato puree, olive oil and capers

Sliced white bread with tomato puree, olive oil and capers

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Challenge #30 - sweet potato - sweet potato roast version whatever :}

Conveniently, when I saw the challenge, I realised that one of the few vegetables I have in the fridge at this point of the week is orange sweet potato. Sadly, because we are out of white potatoes, I couldn't make my usual sweet potato based roast veggies, so I improvised.

ingredients: sweet potato, carrots, cooking oil, rosemary, almonds. Quantities are entirely dependent on what is in the fridge and how many people are eating it.
also requires: working oven, sharp knife, strength to cut sweet potato, shallow baking tray

Put oven on to heat -- I think I set it to 180C, but if it had been warmer then the dish would have cooked faster. If, as I did, you need to source rosemary from the garden, get that sorted. Chop/dice sweet potato and carrot. Put in baking tray. Strip rosemary leaves off stems. I think we used about 25cm worth, for two small sweet potatoes and 3 medium carrots. Add the rosemary and almonds to the pan, drizzle oil over so that there is a suitable amount for your taste. Shake the pan as best you can to get oil coated over as many of the pieces of veggie as possible. Stick in oven, check after 20 minutes and every 5 minutes thereafter until pieces of sweet potato are soft through (carrots will still be crunchy, which is important in our household, because otherwise people Complain).

Current Mood: satisfied

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Challenge 27: Appliance cookbook - root vegetable curry

Ok, so I interpreted the challenge pretty loosely this week. I didn't get any new appliances for Christmas and I couldn't think of any recipes or cookbooks that I had that came with an appliance (in hindsight I could have used one that came with our breadmaker, but I've made bread in the breadmaker lots of times and wanted to do something different). So, I used this Abel & Cole Veg Box Companion book which came as a free gift back when I was getting Abel & Cole veg boxes for a time. I don't get the veg boxes anymore, but there are some good recipes in here (and I hadn't looked at this book for ages, so this challenge was a good prompt to use a little used cookbook and cook something a bit different!).

My recipe was based on a recipe in the book called Roots Manoeuvre Curry (recipe is also on their website). You can use all sorts of different root veg in this, but here's what I did. (NB, I have a small electric fan-assisted oven - you may need to adjust temps/timings for your particular oven). :)

Serves 2 - 3

Ingredients
Rapeseed oil
2 large parsnips, chopped (2-3cm chunks)
3 medium carrots, chopped (as above)
1 small swede/turnip/rutabaga, chopped (as above)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 small green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced using a garlic press
1 tsp frozen chopped ginger
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tsp ground coriander
1 heaped tsp ground turmeric
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 400g tin coconut milk
A couple of handfuls of broccoli florets
Juice of one lime
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 200C.
2. Meanwhile add the root veg to a large roasting tin, along with a drizzle of oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Give it all a good mix. Put it in the oven and roast for 35 mins.
3. While the veg is roasting, heat a little oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for about five to ten minutes until starting to soften. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and cook for a couple more minutes.
4. Add the spices to the pan, stir well and cook for another minute.
5. Pour in the tomatoes and the coconut milk, stir well, bring briefly to the boil and then turn down to a simmer. Let it simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.
6. Once the root veg has roasted for 35 minutes, take the roasting tin out the oven and carefully pour the sauce over the veg [I say carefully because I managed to burn one of my fingers on the handle of my roasting tin and splash some of the sauce up the wall when I was doing this]. Add in the broccoli florets.
7. Turn the oven down to 180C, return the roasting tin to the oven and cook for 20 minutes.
8. Squeeze in the lime juice at the end of cooking.

I served mine with long grain rice. It was yummy.

Root vegetable curry in a roasting tin

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Reduced Cabinet Bingo: Pickled beetroots!

I posted this on my own journal first, but as it happens I was spurred to make it cos a bag of beetroots was 59p in South Harrow and you can't say no to that, can you?

So:

1. Cut your beetroots into chunks. Do not peel or scald them; scrubbing is OK.
2. Put the chunks in a non-airtight jar.
3. Pour a salt solution (35g of salt in a litre of boiled-and-cooled water) over them.
4. Wait for a week or two for the beetroots to become sufficiently delicious.

Yeah, that's it. Hardly worth bothering with, was it?

When it's done you can either just eat the beetroots as they are or simmer them in the brine (which by then will have turned into basically beetroot kvass) and make a borscht out of them.

Variations: you can mix the beetroots with carrots/swedes/turnips; you can add some caraway seeds/dill seeds/peppercorns/garlic.

(being kept company by some cucumbers which are outside the scope of this challenge)