Tag Archives: broccoli

Mixed Greens & Tofu with Chilli Bean Sauce

22 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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The vegetable garden has slowed down production in the cooler weather, so there’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but if you add all the bits together there’s enough for a tasty dish. I’ve got chard, spinach, mizuna, Russian kale, coriander and bok Choi, broccoli and a few mange toute peas.

For 1 portion

1 clove garlic – finely chopped

small piece of fresh ginger – finely chopped

few slices of red pepper

peanut oil

130 grams tofu – cut into dice

mixed green leaves – sliced

few mange toute peas

few sprigs broccoli and their sliced stems

1 tablespoon chilli bean sauce

1 tablespoon Kejap Manis – this is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce, if you can’t get it use regular soy sauce and a teaspoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce Nam Pla

2 tablespoons water

Juice of a small lime

Firstly in a small bowl mix the last five ingredients together, all the wet ones, and put to one side.

Heat a tablespoon or two of peanut oil in a wok and add the ginger and garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the red pepper and fry a minute more.

Add the tofu and fry, tossing it regularly, with the ginger and garlic until well coated with the other ingredients and starting to become golden on the corners.

Add all the greens and stir fry for five minutes or so.

Add the spicy liquid in the bowl and continue stir frying and tossing the ingredients to mix. Cook until the vegetables have brightened and just cooked but still with bite.

Serve with rice noodles. Yummy! This is one of my new favourites!

Steamed Broccoli & Cabbage with Whole Spices

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by in salads, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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Although the vegetables in this dish are cooked, you stop the cooking while they still have some crunch, so it’s like a warm spicy salad, which is just as good when left to go cold.

For 2 portions

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon kalonji/onion seeds

peanut or olive oil

1/2 onion – sliced

4 cloves garlic – finely chopped

1/2 fresh green chilli – finely chopped

1/4 red pepper – cut into small squares

1/4 cabbage – finely sliced

Small head of broccoli – broken into florets

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a shallow pan and when hot add the whole cumin, coriander and kalonji. Fry until they start to pop and release their flavour.

Add the onion, garlic, red pepper and chilli. Fry for five minutes.

Add the cabbage and broccoli. Stir well to coat with the onions and spices.

Season with the garam masala, salt and pepper.

Cover and continue cooking until the cabbage has wilted. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan by about half a centimetre.

Cover and continue cooking, stirring from time to time, for around ten minutes until the vegetables are cooked but still with some bite.

Broccoli with Garlic

14 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by in Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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A very simple recipe, broccoli braised with lots of garlic and ginger and then flavoured with either oyster or mushroom sauce.

As you can see in the photo, a good variation is to add a few mushrooms to the dish. I used oyster mushrooms.

For four portions

1 large head broccoli – cut into florets

Few mushrooms – either oyster or shiitake – sliced – optional

whole head of garlic – peeled and sliced

Piece of ginger as big as your thumb – peeled and finely chopped

peanut or olive oil for frying

1 tablespoon oyster or mushroom sauce

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a wok and add the ginger and garlic.

Stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the broccoli and mushrooms if using, and stir fry for a few minutes until it becomes a lovely bright green.

Add the oyster or mushroom sauce and a tablespoon of water. Stir in well the coat the vegetables.

Cook for a few more minutes until the broccoli is just cooked but still has some bite.

Acar Campur

02 Wednesday Sep 2020

Posted by in Food for One, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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This is an Indonesian cooked vegetable salad with a slightly sweet and sour dressing, which can be eaten hot or cold although I prefer it cool as the flavours are more pronounced.

When I cooked this I was at the end of the week with little in the fridge, but the three things I had were exactly what go in this dish, with the addition of some sweetcorn which I thought would fit for this.

For one serving

For the paste

1/2 sweet onion – roughly chopped

1 large clove garlic

15 grams nuts – ideally candlenuts but otherwise macadamias or hazelnuts

1 small green chilli

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon smooth mustard

1 teaspoon agave syrup / honey

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 tablespoon Nam Pla fish sauce

100 ml water

Put all the above ingredients in a food processor and blend to a paste.

65 grams french or runner beans – cut into bite sized lengths

1 carrot – peeled and cut into julienne

few sprigs of broccoli or cauliflower

Fresh corn kernels from 1/2 a cob of corn – just slice them off – optional

Put the paste into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring regularly. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Put the beans into the sauce adding a little extra water if needed so that they are covered. Simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add the carrots and corn and bring back to a simmer, again adding water as needed. Cook for about another 3 minutes.

Now add the cauliflower or broccoli and simmer for a couple more minutes until the broccoli is just cooked but still has bite.

Either eat as it it or leave to cool before serving.

Chickpea & Vegetable Curry

19 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegan

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This recipe is adapted from Gaz Oakley – the Avant Garde Vegan – and his recipe for Chickpea Curry. I wanted to make a curry that was a little less solid than only chickpeas, so have added various vegetables. I’m going to list in this recipe exactly the vegetables that I used, but of course you can change these according to what you have. I would alway include the red and green peppers, but then alternatives for the other vegetables are aubergines, peas, green beans or cauliflower.

Do have a look at Gaz’s website, there are some great recipes there, most with how to videos.

For 4 portions

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric

6 curry leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

oil – either olive or peanut

1 onion – sliced

3 cloves garlic – finely chopped

1 dessert spoon finely chopped ginger

2 teaspoons finely chopped red chilli

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 small or 1/2 large courgette

1/2 col rabí

2 x 1 cm slices from a butternut squash

400 grams cooked chickpeas – either ready cooked from a jar or can, or if you want to start with dried peas, 200 grams – soaked overnight and boiled in salted water until tender.

small broccoli florets

1 banana – unpeeled

1 tin coconut milk – full fat

2 tablespoons tomato purée

Firstly slowly toast the first four spices listed in a thick bottomed pan until The mustard seeds start to pop. Grind them either in a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large shallow pan and add the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli. Cook slowly until the onions are nicely caramelised stirring from time to time. This will take 10 to 15 minutes, don’t rush it as this gives a rich flavour to the curry.

Cut the rest of the vegetables into 1 centimetre cubes.

Add the peppers to the onions and carry on frying for another 10 minutes.

Add the spice mix together with the turmeric and curry leaves. Stir to mix.

Add the tomato purée and stir to mix this in.

Now add the coconut milk and chickpeas. Mix in and heat to a simmer.

Add the courgette, col rabí and butternut squash. Simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are just cooked.

Wash the banana and without peeling it, top and tail it then cut it in half lengthwise and the cut into thick slices. Add to the curry together with the broccoli florets. Most of you have probably never added banana to your curry before, but trust me and try it, it adds a rich sweet element to the curry.

Continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Serve with plain rice, chapatis and your favourite chutneys.

Provencale Brocolli Gratin.

12 Thursday Mar 2020

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Broccoli florets in a rich tomato sauce flavoured with black olives and topped with a breadcrumb crust, which is then baked to a golden brown crispness. Yummy!

For 2 servings

head of broccoli – divided into bite sized florets

olive oil

1 small onion – finely chopped

2 cloves garlic – finely chopped

3 large tomatoes – peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 tablespoon pitted black olives

Mixed fresh herbs if you have them or 1/4 teaspoon dried mixed herbs- orégano, Rosemary, thyme, sage

1 tablespoon green pumpkin seeds

2-3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blanch the broccoli by putting it in a container and pouring over boiling water. Leave to steep for ten minutes then drain.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in shallow pan that has a lid. Add the onions and garlic, and fry then gently until translucent.

Add the tomatoes and tomato purée then stir to mix in.

Add the olives and herbs. Season the sauce with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

Simmer covered for 15 minutes.

Add the drained broccoli and mix in, then tip this mix into a shallow ovenproof dish. Sprinkle over 2-3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs to make an even layer over the vegetables. Drizzle all over with olive oil.

Put into a fairly hot oven – 150 C – for 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top and sizzling.

Pad Thai – today’s version

21 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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There are many versions of Pad Thai, so it’s one of those dishes that can happily adapt to what you have in your fridge as long as you include the core ingredients, these being flat rice noodles, peanuts and bean sprouts. The flavourings are of course key. Galangal or ginger, red chillis, tamarind, soy sauce and Nam Pla, the Thai fish sauce.

Today I have spring garlics, green and red peppers, alfalfa sprouts, broccoli, edename beans and Swiss chard leaves, plus of course some peanuts.

Per person

  • 45 grams flat rice noodles
  • 35 grams raw peanuts
  • 35 grams edename beans – in Spain you can now buy these frozen in Mercadona
  • red and green peppers
  • broccoli
  • alfalfa sprouts
  • Thumbnail sized piece ginger
  • 1 clove garlic or 3 small spring garlics
  • red chilli
  • teaspoon sized piece tamarind paste or 1 dessert spoon tamarind sauce
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Nam Pla fish sauce – you vegans will have to leave this out, although for me Thai food just doesn’t taste the same without it.
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • oil for cooking – either sunflower or olive oil

Firstly put the noodles to soak in cold water at least an hour before starting to cook.

Shell the peanuts and pod the edename

Cut the peppers into short strips

Wash the chard and cut into thin strips

Cut the broccoli into bite sized pieces

If you are using tamarind paste, which you buy in Asian stores in the uk, separate off a teaspoon sized chunk and put it into a small container with 2-3 teaspoons boiling water and mash the paste into the water to make a sauce. You can use tamarind ready made sauce if need be, but this tastes better.

Finely chop the ginger garlic and chilli

You are now ready to start cooking.

Boil the kettle, drain the noodles of the cold water, return to their container and cover with boiling water.

Heat a wok and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. Add the ginger, garlic and chills. Stir round and fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the peppers to the pan. Stir round and cook for a couple of minutes.

Do the same with the broccoli.

Now the chard.

Put in the peanuts, bean sprouts and beans.

Drain the noodles and add to the wok.

Add the tamarind, soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. Stir well to mix everything. Taste to see if you are happy with the balance of flavours and adjust accordingly if you are not.

Enjoy.