This is an adaptation of a recipe for the Tunisian snack Briq à l'oeuf in the Caldicotts' wonderful vegetarian cookbook World Food Cafe 2. The original involves some kind of runny egg business - "l'oeuf" of the title - which is obviously not vegan, so here is Briq à légumineuse - not sure if my internet translation into French makes any sense, but I've replaced the egg with legumes! I've tried both chickpeas and white beans mashed into the mixture, but lentils would probably be nice too with black olives!
INGREDIENTS
400g potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed till smooth
200g cooked chickpeas/ white beans/ lentils, roughly mashed
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1/4 cup green olives, chopped
2 handfuls chopped coriander leaves (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
filo pastry
METHOD
Fry the garlic in olive oil and add spices. Add the garlic and the rest of the ingredients to the potato mixture. Make filo parcels, using only one sheet per parcel. Fry the parcels in oil until very brown. Serve with lemon and chilli sauce.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Jerk Tofu
Tonight we had baked jerk tofu (and jerk veges), with rocket, polenta, and a spicy tomato sauce. The sauce and tofu marinade are adapted from the collection of caribbean recipes in the World Food Cafe 2 cookbook. I loved everything, especially the combo with creamy polenta. The tofu was exactly what I was craving, dense and flavourful.
Jerk Tofu
Press the crap out of a block of tofu. Cut it into strips (not too thin, like at least a cm thick).
For the marinade, blend:
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 an inch peeled and grated ginger (or use a tsp ginger powder)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp soya sauce (or tamari)
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pepper
Marinate the tofu for at least half an hour, then bake on oiled aluminium foil until browned. Obviously grilling would be awesome too. We also drizzled the sauce over some staves of zucchini and capsicum, and chucked them in the oven with the tofu.
Spicy Tomato Sauce
Sautee 1 diced onion, 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped) in some oil until softened. Add 1-2 tsp dried thyme and some fresh chilli or a generous sprinkling of chilli flakes. Stir and let cook for a couple of minutes more, then add a tin of crushed tomatoes, 1-2 Tbsp lime juice, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer under a lid until reduced and saucy.
Jerk Tofu
Press the crap out of a block of tofu. Cut it into strips (not too thin, like at least a cm thick).
For the marinade, blend:
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 an inch peeled and grated ginger (or use a tsp ginger powder)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp soya sauce (or tamari)
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pepper
Marinate the tofu for at least half an hour, then bake on oiled aluminium foil until browned. Obviously grilling would be awesome too. We also drizzled the sauce over some staves of zucchini and capsicum, and chucked them in the oven with the tofu.
Spicy Tomato Sauce
Sautee 1 diced onion, 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped) in some oil until softened. Add 1-2 tsp dried thyme and some fresh chilli or a generous sprinkling of chilli flakes. Stir and let cook for a couple of minutes more, then add a tin of crushed tomatoes, 1-2 Tbsp lime juice, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer under a lid until reduced and saucy.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Elegantly Rustic
Last night's dinner:
A turn to colder weather and fridge full of odds and ends of veges means... vegetable soup! I love how cauliflower makes a creamy soup without the addition of extra fat.
Cauliflower and Celery Soup
Saute 1 diced onion and 2-3 cloves garlic in a little oil in a soup pot, for a few minutes until softened.
Add half a small zucchini (chopped), 3 medium ribs of celery (chopped), and a head of cauliflower, chopped. Stir around a bit, and add some dried thyme, oregano, and a couple of pinches of ground cumin. Add enough stock to cover (not too strong). Cook with the lid on until everything is soft. Add 1-2 cups cooked chick peas. Blend everything in a blender till smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Ratatouille Tarte Tatin
This would probably be delicious with croutons, but I decided to fancy it up a bit with a savoury tart to serve on the side. I made a ratatouille-inspired version of the classic tarte tatin. Instead of apples and sugar on the bottom, I sauteed some red onions, fresh tomatoes, aubergine, and zucchini, until reduced. Then I sprinkled on some dried basil and salt and pepper, pressed a pastry top on top of the lot (don't burn your fingers!), pricked lots of holes with a fork and bunged the whole thing in the oven until browned. (Frying pan has to be cast-iron or something that can go in the oven - no plastic or wooden handles). To serve, flip upside down, so that veges are on top. I usually find this step difficult, so I often cut it into wedges while still in the pan, and then flip the wedges individually onto plates. This time I made Isa's olive oil pastry, which worked pretty well for me, but I always have best results with store-bought vegan pastry.
A turn to colder weather and fridge full of odds and ends of veges means... vegetable soup! I love how cauliflower makes a creamy soup without the addition of extra fat.
Cauliflower and Celery Soup
Saute 1 diced onion and 2-3 cloves garlic in a little oil in a soup pot, for a few minutes until softened.
Add half a small zucchini (chopped), 3 medium ribs of celery (chopped), and a head of cauliflower, chopped. Stir around a bit, and add some dried thyme, oregano, and a couple of pinches of ground cumin. Add enough stock to cover (not too strong). Cook with the lid on until everything is soft. Add 1-2 cups cooked chick peas. Blend everything in a blender till smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Ratatouille Tarte Tatin
This would probably be delicious with croutons, but I decided to fancy it up a bit with a savoury tart to serve on the side. I made a ratatouille-inspired version of the classic tarte tatin. Instead of apples and sugar on the bottom, I sauteed some red onions, fresh tomatoes, aubergine, and zucchini, until reduced. Then I sprinkled on some dried basil and salt and pepper, pressed a pastry top on top of the lot (don't burn your fingers!), pricked lots of holes with a fork and bunged the whole thing in the oven until browned. (Frying pan has to be cast-iron or something that can go in the oven - no plastic or wooden handles). To serve, flip upside down, so that veges are on top. I usually find this step difficult, so I often cut it into wedges while still in the pan, and then flip the wedges individually onto plates. This time I made Isa's olive oil pastry, which worked pretty well for me, but I always have best results with store-bought vegan pastry.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Easy Peasy Pesto Spaghetti
I'm addicted to these baguettes from Andrum, a vegetarian restaurant in Gothenburg, which is (in)conveniently close to my workplace. They make their own salty chewy carrot and sunflower seed bread, and fill it with salad, a couple of olives and a pickled chilli on the side, and top it all off with an absolute mound of creamy pea pesto. I basically want to eat that baguette every day. Unfortunately, even eating it once a week would put an unsustainable dent in my income at the moment, prices in Sweden being what they are. So I decided to have a go at whipping up some pea pesto of my own, for a solo Saturday lunch - working with the ingredients I have. It didn't really taste anything like theirs, but it was yum and easy.
Easy Peasy Pesto
Blend in a food processer until saucy (I prefer mine a little chunky, but go for smooth if you like it like that):
- some green peas (fresh, or thawed frozen. You can thaw them with boiling water or in the microwave)
- some nuts (pine nuts are obviously the pesto classic. Walnuts would also rock. Some cashew cream would bring the pesto to another level of creaminess. I only had pumpkin seeds on hand, so in they went!)
- some garlic (minced if you're worried about the odd chunk of garlic turning up in your pesto)
- a little water (not too much, you can always add more)
- fresh basil if you've got it, dried if you're like me and you don't
Add more water if desired, some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend till combined.
I made a meal of this with some wholemeal spaghetti, and some lightly fried zucchini and tomatoes.
Easy Peasy Pesto
Blend in a food processer until saucy (I prefer mine a little chunky, but go for smooth if you like it like that):
- some green peas (fresh, or thawed frozen. You can thaw them with boiling water or in the microwave)
- some nuts (pine nuts are obviously the pesto classic. Walnuts would also rock. Some cashew cream would bring the pesto to another level of creaminess. I only had pumpkin seeds on hand, so in they went!)
- some garlic (minced if you're worried about the odd chunk of garlic turning up in your pesto)
- a little water (not too much, you can always add more)
- fresh basil if you've got it, dried if you're like me and you don't
Add more water if desired, some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend till combined.
I made a meal of this with some wholemeal spaghetti, and some lightly fried zucchini and tomatoes.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Bestest eggplant curry
I don't know how vegans managed before the Post Punk Kitchen. I really don't. Isa is a genius. I love how accessible and adaptable her recipes are. Being on a budget means that we can't usually afford fresh herbs or out of season veg or a fully-stocked spice rack. Last night we took this recipe for Eggplant curry, added some chopped capsicum, left out the beans, the green lentils, the lemon juice, tomato paste, and fresh coriander, and subbed caraway seeds for the fennel seeds. And it was still spicy and hearty and frighteningly delicious. We had it with wholemeal cous cous, which was a winning combination (but obviously rice or mashed potatoes would be great too, and that would make the meal gluten-free). I've made variations of this curry several times now, and it always goes down a treat. Thank you Isa from the very bottom of my stomach.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Better than my local Chinese restaurant
One thing I really miss about Wellington is the food. As my Mum says, New Zealand is really starting to wake up to the fact that it is a multicultural Asia-Pacific nation, rather than little England 30 years behind the "motherland". In Wellington you can get delicious Asian food that actually bears some resemblance to the stuff you get in different parts of China, or Vietnam, or Japan, or Malaysia, etc. Sometimes you get fun fusion foods that make the best of local ingredients. In Sweden, the Chinese food I've tried hardly deserves to be called food, much less Chinese. So I've started learning to cook my favourite Asian food myself - sometimes with heavy moderations based on what ingredients I can find/afford - but often I'm pretty impressed with the result.
Yesterday we had Isa's fabulous Mango Fried Rice, with a side of salt and pepper tofu because we were out of nuts. Varied the veg a bit too - carrots, cabbage and zucchini chopped small, and some mung bean sprouts. All good.
Southeast-Asian lunch
On the weekend I had a group of friends over, and we made Vietnamese summer rolls (example) - a favourite in my family. I was trying to make the most of the final days of warmish weather before rainy autumn sets in. I also like how summer rolls are interactive - like tacos - you just put out little bowls of different ingredients and a bowl of warm water in the centre for softening the wrappers, and people can construct their own. (In Vietnam they even have a chain restaurant called Wrap and Roll).
Summer rolls
(gluten-free if using tamari instead of soya sauce)
What I put in mine usually depends on what I have on hand, but I usually make a base of
- mung bean or rice vermicelli noodles (lightly seasoned with sesame oil so that they don't clump together)
Then add:
- grated carrot tossed with some lime juice to prevent browning
- mung bean sprouts
- finely chopped roasted peanuts
- fresh herbs (at least one of mint, coriander, thai basil).
Other good vege accompaniments are:
- thin staves of cucumber and/or capsicum
- avocado
For protein you can either upp the peanuts, or add some marinated tofu, tempeh or soy/wheat meat.
I like this marinade.
For dipping sauce I usually just mix soya sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, chilli flakes and a little sugar together.
Coconut Agar
For dessert I made coconut agar jellies based on this recipe (using soy milk instead of cow) from the wonderful Shesimmers. I separated the coconut mixture into two loaf tins, and only made half of the coffee mixture which I layered with the coconut in one tin. For the other, I blended the flesh of a mango and a little sugar with some soy milk and then followed the same procedure with the agar-agar. Both were delicious, and even better the next day, for some reason. They weren't quite like the coconut agar I'm used to having at Chinese yum char restaurants in Wellington (the recipe was for Thai jellies), which are more coconutty and don't have the other layers. Next time I might try going all coconut and put in some dessicated coconut soaked in coconut milk (as per my genius Mum's suggestion).
The jellies were very pretty when cut into diamond shapes or hearts and stars using biscuit cutters. We ate them with fresh berries supplied by one of my lovely guests, which set off the tastes and colours beautifully.
Yesterday we had Isa's fabulous Mango Fried Rice, with a side of salt and pepper tofu because we were out of nuts. Varied the veg a bit too - carrots, cabbage and zucchini chopped small, and some mung bean sprouts. All good.
Southeast-Asian lunch
On the weekend I had a group of friends over, and we made Vietnamese summer rolls (example) - a favourite in my family. I was trying to make the most of the final days of warmish weather before rainy autumn sets in. I also like how summer rolls are interactive - like tacos - you just put out little bowls of different ingredients and a bowl of warm water in the centre for softening the wrappers, and people can construct their own. (In Vietnam they even have a chain restaurant called Wrap and Roll).
Summer rolls
(gluten-free if using tamari instead of soya sauce)
What I put in mine usually depends on what I have on hand, but I usually make a base of
- mung bean or rice vermicelli noodles (lightly seasoned with sesame oil so that they don't clump together)
Then add:
- grated carrot tossed with some lime juice to prevent browning
- mung bean sprouts
- finely chopped roasted peanuts
- fresh herbs (at least one of mint, coriander, thai basil).
Other good vege accompaniments are:
- thin staves of cucumber and/or capsicum
- avocado
For protein you can either upp the peanuts, or add some marinated tofu, tempeh or soy/wheat meat.
I like this marinade.
For dipping sauce I usually just mix soya sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, chilli flakes and a little sugar together.
Coconut Agar
For dessert I made coconut agar jellies based on this recipe (using soy milk instead of cow) from the wonderful Shesimmers. I separated the coconut mixture into two loaf tins, and only made half of the coffee mixture which I layered with the coconut in one tin. For the other, I blended the flesh of a mango and a little sugar with some soy milk and then followed the same procedure with the agar-agar. Both were delicious, and even better the next day, for some reason. They weren't quite like the coconut agar I'm used to having at Chinese yum char restaurants in Wellington (the recipe was for Thai jellies), which are more coconutty and don't have the other layers. Next time I might try going all coconut and put in some dessicated coconut soaked in coconut milk (as per my genius Mum's suggestion).
The jellies were very pretty when cut into diamond shapes or hearts and stars using biscuit cutters. We ate them with fresh berries supplied by one of my lovely guests, which set off the tastes and colours beautifully.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Kärleksmums
These are a Swedish classic. The name translates to "love-yummy" - who could argue with that?
They remind me a bit of lamingtons, with their thin icing that sort of soaks into the cake, dusted with coconut.
INGREDIENTS
cake
3dl flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp cocoa
1,5 dl sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract/vanilla sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1,5 dl milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
icing
1,5-2 dl icing sugar
2 Tbsp strong coffee
1 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp vegan margarine/oil
1 dl dessicated coconut
METHOD
1. Grease a loaf tin, and put the oven on to 175 degrees Celcius.
2. Mix/sift the dry ingredients together. Add the wet, except for the vinegar. Stir till combined, not over-mixing.
3. At the last minute, add the vinegar and stir through. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
4. Turn out cake and leave to cool while you prepare the icing. Mix all ingredients (apart from coconut) together to form a smooth icing. It shouldn't be too stiff, but if it's very sloppy then add more icing sugar.
5. Let both icing and cake cool for about five more minutes, then spoon icing over cake. It should run a little down the sides. Sprinkle with coconut.
They remind me a bit of lamingtons, with their thin icing that sort of soaks into the cake, dusted with coconut.
INGREDIENTS
cake
3dl flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp cocoa
1,5 dl sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract/vanilla sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1,5 dl milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
icing
1,5-2 dl icing sugar
2 Tbsp strong coffee
1 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp vegan margarine/oil
1 dl dessicated coconut
METHOD
1. Grease a loaf tin, and put the oven on to 175 degrees Celcius.
2. Mix/sift the dry ingredients together. Add the wet, except for the vinegar. Stir till combined, not over-mixing.
3. At the last minute, add the vinegar and stir through. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
4. Turn out cake and leave to cool while you prepare the icing. Mix all ingredients (apart from coconut) together to form a smooth icing. It shouldn't be too stiff, but if it's very sloppy then add more icing sugar.
5. Let both icing and cake cool for about five more minutes, then spoon icing over cake. It should run a little down the sides. Sprinkle with coconut.
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