It’s a vegetable spiral tart, omg…

 OMG. I haven’t written anything for ages. But I’m getting back on it now during the run up to Christmas and will be sharing some fancy and nice looking recipes, which I hope you can use and impress with. I’m pretty pleased that I’ve managed to talk my family into letting me do a fully vegan Christmas meal for five! So I need to come up with a few tricks. I had a go at this gluten free vegetable tart, which I think will look even better the more times I make it.

For this you will need:

• A mandolin slicer (or a wide vegetable peeler, or excellent knife skills to slice thinly and neatly)
• A loose bottomed baking tin
• A food processor

You can use any vegetables you like, really. I had a butternut squash which needed using, but I will definitely be making it again with aubergines, courgettes, carrots. The more variety, the better it will taste and more colourful it will look.

 

INGREDIENTS

For the crust: 

 

• 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water – mix and leave to one side for a few mins)
• 225g rolled oats (you can use gluten free if ya wanna)
• 25g pine OR walnuts
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp salt

For the filling:

• 1 small red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 handfuls of fresh, baby spinach
• 2 finely sliced mushrooms
• ½ finely sliced bell pepper
• ½ butternut squash (sliced very thinly, lengthways with mandolin)
• A pinch of smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Ground black pepper

 

METHOD

• Put the nuts and oats in the food processor and pulse until it forms a coarse flour type of texture. Add the flax egg, salt and olive oil, process again for about 30 secs. The mixture should stick together when you pinch it between your fingers.  
• Spread this out into your tin, pressing down with your hands to compact the crust mixture against the bottom and along the sides. Thoroughly washed and clean hands, yeah? Don’t be gross…
• Pop this in your oven at 200C for ten minutes whilst you prepare the filling. Take it out and reduce oven temperature to 180C.
• So for the filling. Food process the onion, garlic, spinach and 1 tbsp of oil then spread it along the base of the crust with the back of a spoon.
• Now you can start assembling your thinly sliced veg. I started in the middle with the smallest pieces of butternut squash. Roll tightly and place in the middle. Then start working your way around it with bigger strips, overlapping in a spiral pattern.
• Layer the larger slices along the outer edge and continue to overlap until all the strips meet in the middle.  
• Place the pepper and mushroom between the squash, distribute evenly and again, use the smaller strips towards the middle and the bigger ones along the outside.
• Sprinkle over with paprika and freshly ground black pepper. Lightly drizzle with a bit more olive oil.
• Stick it in your 180C oven for 40 mins and it should come out looking beautiful. Let it cool for a few minutes before you pop it out of your tin.

  

Enjoy 🙂 You could experiment with different ingredients to spread on the base. A tablespoon of pesto or any savoury preserves or chutneys you might have will add to the flavour.

S.x

It’s tofu, omg…

 (Serves 2) Tofu is a staple in vegan diets, I haven’t posted a recipe including it yet so I’m now rectifying this shameful travesty. It might look like a tasteless, weird, wobbly block of nothingness but once you get the hang of cooking with it you can make it crunchy and crispy in savoury dishes and even use silken tofu to make creamy puddings. Protein rich and also a good source of calcium, it is made from curdling soya milk to form curds which are pressed together. A very similar process to how cheese is made. And because I said I wanted to tell you more about Punjabi recipes, I had a go at making a paneer style karahi dish. Traditionally cooked in an iron, flat bottomed wok (a karahi), quite a dry curry made with ground chilli powder and fresh peppers.

Tofu takes on the flavours of your marinade – without any seasoning it really does taste like wobbly nothingness. I used nutritional yeast, lemon juice and salt, let it sit in that for a couple of days in the fridge to create a paneery flavour. The salt helped to draw out extra liquid to give it a firmer, more paneer-like texture and the lemon gave it a slight tang. 

Now if you haven’t come across nutritional yeast before, I know those words together hardly conjure up mouth watering images of decadent food… but it’s seriously good! It is a deactivated yeast (so it doesn’t have leavening abilities – it won’t make your food expand during cooking!). It has this cheesy, nutty flavour which hits that umami spot. You can find it in good health food shops for a couple of quid or online for a bit more. Basically, go buy some now so you can have cheesy flavours back in your vegan life. Put it in your pasta dishes, spoon it directly from the tub into your mouth… OR make my lovely Indian curry dish below…

INGREDIENTS

• 250g firm tofu
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp salt   

• 1 large onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 fresh chilli, finely chopped
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 2 tsp ground red chilli powder
• 2 tsp dried fenugreek/methi
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp oil (I use raw virgin coconut, olive oil is fine)
• 400g chopped tomatoes   

METHOD

• Do your magic tofu into paneer prep two days before! Mix the nutritional yeast, lemon juice and salt and put into a small clear bag/sandwich bag/zip lock bag. Drain your tofu, pat dry with paper towels and dice into bite sized pieces. Put them in the bag and mix well but gently to ensure even coverage. Try to press out as much air as possible and seal the bag. Leave it in the fridge for up to three days.
• So a couple of days later… make your curry base. Heat your oil in the wok. Cook the onion and garlic for 5 mins until browned, on a medium heat.
• Add the ginger and spices, continue to cook and stir for 2 more mins until fragrant.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and fresh chilli, stir well. Add the sliced pepper, stir to coat and cook for a further 2 mins.
• Remove your pieces of tofu from the bag and transfer into the pan. Stir gently, again to coat everything. Allow to cook for 10 to 15 minutes until the curry sauce is quite dry and thick and the peppers are tender. The tofu will hold its shape and cook in the sauce.  
• EAT IT! I ate mine with some brown rice. Lovely stuff.

This tasted great. The initial tofu marinade did give it the mild cheesy taste and texture I was hoping for, and then it was cooked again in the curry spices which added even more flavour. Tofu is a flavour sponge and making fake paneer is my new favourite thing to do with it. Might become yours too?

S.x

It’s stuffed courgettes, omg…

(serves two – one courgette each)  

 

You might ask, hmmmm, how does one stuff a courgette? Well, read this and I’ll tell you. This is a quick blog post for a quick dish I made tonight with just a few store cupboard ingredients, so there’s a lack of process pictures; I only realised after eating that it was worth writing about! It is cheap and easy (pardon the innuendo), but looks quite impressive! Plus I threw in a load of healthy things and it tasted really fresh and flavoursome for my dinner tonight…

INGREDIENTS

• 2 courgettes, cut in half lengthways, scoop out the flesh with a spoon, chop and keep aside
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, grated
• Small handful of walnuts, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 50g pearl barley
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme (dried is also fine)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

METHOD

• Fry the onion and garlic in the oil on a medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
• Add the chopped carrot, courgette flesh, thyme, salt and pepper, mix well to coat everything. Continue cooking for a further 10 minutes.

  

• Meanwhile cook the pearl barley according to packet instructions.
• Add the seeds, nuts and fresh parsley to the onion/carrot mix, stir well and turn off the heat. Then add the cooked pearl barley, again stir in to mix everything together.
• Brush a little olive oil onto the outside of the halved courgettes and place on a baking tray. Grill on a medium setting for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the grill/oven and spoon the mixture into each hollowed out courgette. Return to the grill/oven on a lower setting for a further 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn! Serve immediately.

I put this together with things I had lying around, so you don’t need to follow the recipe exactly if you don’t have a certain ingredient in your cupboard. I put the seeds and nuts in for a bit of crunch and protein to make this more balanced and substantial. Awesome fact alert: Sunflower seeds have almost the equal amount of protein as the same sized portion of chicken would provide. Once again proving you can cut out the meat and still get the nutrients you need 😉 

I will definitely make this again with tomatoes and fresh basil, and rice instead of pearl barley. I do hope you have a go at this one, it was improvisation which turned out really well. Plus I made extra filling which I can have mixed with salad for lunch tomorrow. Nice one. 

 S.x