Tag Archives: Vegan

Red Pepper & Walnut Pate

23 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by in Food for One, Sauces, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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This rich, spicy pate is popular throughout the Middle East with each country having their own variation of flavourings added to the two main ingredients of walnuts and roasted red peppers. In Turkey it’s name is Acuka, and it’s fiercely picante, in Syria it’s Muhammara. You, of course can make it as mild or spicy as you prefer.

For the red pepper flesh, either roast about 400 grams of thick fleshed peppers in a hot – 180C – oven until the skin is slightly charred and blistering.
The peppers can be roasted over a glowing fire or barbecue as well of course.
Remove to a container with a lid and leave to cool.

Skin the peppers and remove the seeds and stem keeping any juice that flows out of them.
We are aiming for about 300 grams of flesh including any juices.

Alternatively, if you can get hold of a jar of ready roasted and skinned Pimientos de Piquillo, these can be used for making a quick dip.

So you will need –

300 grams red pepper flesh

50 grams walnut pieces

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon allspices/ pimienta de Jamaica

1/4 teaspoon black or mixed peppercorns

1 clove garlic

1 small chilli or more to taste

4 tablespoons virgin olive oil

zest of 1 lemon plus 2 tablespoons of its juice

salt

2-3 heaped tablespoons dried breadcrumbs


Toast the walnut pieces in a thick based pan on a low heat, turning them over from time to time until they ara golden colour at the edges and you can smell their rich scent emerging.

Put to one side to cool.

Now put the cumin, allspice and peppercorn seeds in the same pan and toast until their aroma is detectable.

Put them into a small food processor and whizz to a powder.

Add the pepper pulp, garlic, olive oil, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice and zest. Whizz to a fine purée.

Add 2 of the tablespoons of breadcrumbs and pulse to mix in.

Leave for about half an hour for the breadcrumbs to absorb the liquid in the purée and thicken it. If it is not the texture of a spreadable pate and is too liquid add more breadcrumbs.

Add the toasted walnut pieces and pulse to mix in to the pate and be cut up a bit smaller but not too small.

Check seasonings and enjoy

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Autumn Red Salad

29 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by in salads, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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I made this to have with the Potato and Chickpea Cakes in the previous post using ingredients that are currently in season here. Fragrant green peppers from the huerta, this years almonds which I love dry toasted in their skins, big winter radishes and plum tomatoes from the local market.

You will need –

Several leaves of red oak leaved lettuce

2 medium tomatoes – chopped into chunks

2 samall or 1 large green pepper

about 20 whole almonds – either with skins or if you prefer without

1 large cooked beetroot – cut into smallish cubes

Winter radish – about 20 thin slices

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablesoons water

1 teaspoon honey or agave syrup

2 tablespoons extra virgen olive oil

Start by steeping the radishes. The large winter radishes can be quite peppery, so a sweet marinade will make them less so. Mix the vinegar water and honey or syrup in small bowl, then add the radishes. Leave to marinate for at least ten minutes.

Meanwhile dry toast the almonds in a thick based pan over a low heat. Stir regularly to ensure that they are evenly toasted and a little browned. Remove from the heat and put to one side.

Rip up the lettuce leaves and arrange them on a large plate, then add the chopped tomatoes.

slice the green peppers and arrange on the salad.

Remove the radish slices from their marinade and arrange them over the salad.

Put the beetroot in the marinade and stir to cover all the cubes.

Spoon the cubes and vinegar over the salad, then sprinkle on the almonds.

Finally drizzle over the olive oil.

Enjoy!

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.

Indian Spinach Salad

29 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by in Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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This salad does not have to be only spinach, it can be a mixture of any dark leaves. If you can include some bitter ones like chicory or rocket it will add to the depth of flavour. I used mostly spinach, three shredded chicory leaves and some watercress.

If your leaves are tough, then you will need to boil them in water for five or ten minutes until they are tender but still with a bite.

If the leaves are very tender then blanch them by pouring boiling water over them and then leave them for a couple of minutes before draining the water away.

The dressing is raw and made in the food processor.

Bunch of fresh mint leaves

1 clove garlic – roughly chopped

fresh ginger – 2 x 2 x 2 cm – roughly chopped

1/4 teaspoon smooth mustard

2 tablespoons peanut or olive oil

fresh chilli – roughly chopped

Whizz these ingredients together, then add to the warm leaves. Mix well and leave to marinate for about an hour before serving.

Three Salads

02 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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In this summer heat, lunch for your friends wants to be a light and fresh affair, Watermelon Gazpacho followed by three salads served with freshly homemade bread. To finish a small pot each of intense dark chocolate sorbet and crispy ginger biscuits.

BEETROOT & RADICCIO SALAD WITH PURPLE BASIL

The beetroot was roasted for an hour with whole cloves of garlic, a generous splash of balsamic vinegar, sprigs of fresh oregano and olive oil, season well with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Let the beetroot cool before mixing with shredded chicory and purple basil leaves.

LENTIL & POMEGRANATE SALAD WITH FRESH CORIANDER

His salad is cooked green lentils, a good amount of the little pomegranate jewels that I have plenty of in the garden this year, then finely chopped cucumber, tomatoes and celery. Add a generous amount of roughly chopped coriander leaves and dress lightly with lime juice and olive oil.

I’m a fan of soaking dried grains so that when you come to cooking the grains are already re moistened in the centre, and so require less cooking. Pour boiling water over the lentils and leave an hour or so to steep before cooking until just tender. Drain the lentils and let them cool before adding them to the salad.

SALAD OF FRESH FIGS, ROASTED RED ONIONS AND HAZELNUTS

This is a Yotam Ottolengi recipe which has a lovely contrast of flavours with the sweet roasted red onions and figs, and the peppery watercress and rocket. His recipe uses radiccio rather than rocket, but as I have both I decided that the more peppery rocket suited this recipe better. I was surprised to find that what I thought was weeds in my vegetable patch is actually rocket, and it hasn’t become overly peppery in the strong Spanish heat.
I haven’t used roasted red onions in a salad before, and I have to say, I’m a total convert. I shall be roasting a tray full regularly so that I have them at the ready in the fridge.

This amount serves 4

2 small red onions – peel them and cut each into 6 wedges

50 grams hazelnuts with skin / or ready dry roasted unseasoned hazelnuts

1/2 small head of radicchio / or a similar amount of rocket

good bunch of fresh basil – either the green or purple

bunch of watercress with the stems removed

6 ripe fresh figs, cut into quarters

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Roast the onions drizzled with olive oil at 180 C for 30 minutes. Leave to cool.

If you are roasting hazelnuts, turn the oven down to 140, and once it has reached this temperature, spread the hazelnuts in a shallow pan and roast for 20 minutes. Leave to cool then break up into pieces with a pestle and mortar. If you are using the ready roasted hazelnuts break these up as above.

To put the salad together, start with the leaves, rip them into pieces and put in a large bowl, add the onions and figs.

Dress with the oil and vinegar and gently toss. I like to do this with my hands as it’s more gentle than using implements.

Scatter over the broken hazelnuts and serve.

Falafel

27 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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There are so many recipes for falafel both in cookery books and online that it’s difficult to decide which to go for. Personally I’m not keen on the ones that use ready cooked chickpeas, for me the texture is too mushy and wet compared to the traditional recipes that start with dried chickpeas. The only thing with using dried peas is remembering to start soaking them the day before you want them, so a tad of planning ahead is needed, but otherwise they are simple and easy to make.

This makes 4 falafel

75 grams dried chickpeas

1/2 a small onion

1 large clove of garlic

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon of Garam Masala or 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin and 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped parsley or coriander

oil for frying

Start the day before you want to eat the falafel by soaking the chickpeas in plenty of cold water. Because it’s so warm here I changed the water every few hours so that it didn’t start to ferment, or you can put the container of peas in the fridge to keep it cool.

Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Put in the bowl of a small food processor and whizz to chop.

Add the drained chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients.

Whizz to chop up. You will have to open the processor and scrape the ingredients from the sides several times to ensure an evenly chopped paste.

What you are aiming for is a slightly rough mixture that will just stick together.

Heat a good layer of oil in a frying pan on a medium heat.

Form your mixture into four even sized rissole shaped cakes and gently put into the hot oil.

Cook for about 10 minutes before carefully turning the cakes. If they are not crisping up on the cooked side turn the heat up slightly, and if they are getting too brown too quickly turn the heat down.

Cook for 10 minutes again on the second side adding more oil if the pan is getting too dry.

Once cooked remove the falafel from the pan and blot any excess oil with kitchen paper.

Serve with salad and a sauce, I had mine with my Chill Jam, Tahini Sauce is good and also Yogurt with cucumber and mint.

Oriental Rice Pudding

19 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by in Sweet Things, Vegan

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This pudding is in need of a name, so I would be grateful for any suggestions, or should I just stick to Oriental Rice Pudding? I was looking for a light dessert to follow the Gado Gado which I served for lunch, and remembered an Indian milky dessert called Sheer Korma. That is made with a very fine wheat vermicelli, seviyan, cooked in sweetened milk with nuts and flavoured with saffron, so I thought to make it more in tune with an Indonesian dish, and to make it vegan, to substitute the wheat vermicelli for fine rice noodles and use coconut milk instead of cows milk. I think it worked very well.

For 4 servings

80 grams rice vermicelli

160 ml can full fat coconut milk

40 grams pistachios

25 grams flaked almonds

25 grams broken pecans

75 ml agave syrup / honey

few strands saffron

For lime sherbet topping

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 lime

Start by making the lime sherbet as you have to do this a day in advance so it can dry. This amount is more than you need for garnishing this dessert, but the sherbet keeps well for a couple of weeks in an airtight jar and is lovely on plain ice cream and fruit salad.

On a flat plate or tray sprinkle the sugar in an even layer.

Using the zester on your grater, grate the zest of the lime in an even layer over the sugar, then with your fingertips lightly mix the two together still leaving the mix spread out.

Leave in a warm dry place for several hours or overnight until dry and crunchy.

So for the rice pudding –

Soak the rice vermicelli in cold water for an hour.

Drain and cut into shortish lengths.

Put into a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and bring slowly to a simmer.

Simmer for 5 – 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Leave to cool.

Serve at room temperature with the lime sherbet sprinkled over the top.

Oven Chips with Mushrooms & Garlic

23 Thursday Apr 2020

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

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After the somewhat complicated Sarma recipe, here are a couple of super simple potato dishes.
Oven chips are so easy to make if you have a good powerful oven, a fan oven is best to get chips that are crispy round the edges.

Put a large baking sheet in the oven and set it to warm up at 200 C

Peel your potatoes and cut them into whatever chip shape is your preference.

Put them in a bowl with a pinch of salt and just enough olive oil the coat the chips.

Spread your chips out on the preheated tray, they do better if they are not too crowded and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and slice a clove of garlic, and slice up some mushrooms. It’s more tasty if you have more than one type of mushroom, I used shiitake and oyster.

After the chips have had their 20 minutes of cooking, take the tray out of the oven and with a spatula turn them over. Strew over them the mushrooms and garlic, then put the tray back in the oven for another 20 minutes by which time everything should be brown and crispy and gorgeous.

Serving this with a poached egg on top is lovely.

Moroccan Spiced Vegetables & Cous Cous with Almonds & Sultanas

12 Sunday Apr 2020

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

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All amounts are for one portion
Firstly get your spices roasting – in a thick based frying pan on a low heat roast the following –

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 cinnamon stick – broken into pieces

1/2 teaspoon allspice seeds

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

3 cloves

Roast the spices, shaking the pan from time to move the spices around, until they start to release their aroma. Grind with 1/2 teaspoon of salt with either a pestle and mortar or in a small coffee grinder.

For the Cous Cous –

40 grams Cous Cous

small amount of flaked almonds

10 sultanas

pinch of salt

Put all the ingredients in a small container that has a lid, stir to mix and then pour over boiling water to come about nearly a centimetre above the level of the Cous Cous. Cover and leave for 20 minutes.

For the vegetables –

1/2 an onion – finely chopped

1 clove garlic – finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped red pepper

1 tablespoon chopped green pepper

1 medium sized carrot – chopped into small cubes

piece courgette – chopped into small cubes

piece butternut squash – chopped into small cubes

4 tablespoons cooked chickpeas

200 grams chopped peeled tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon harissa

2 strips lemon peel / lemon chutney

2 bay leaves

fresh mint leaves

Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until translucent.

Add the green and red peppers and fry briskly for five minutes.

Now add the carrots, butternut squash and courgettes, and again fry briskly for five minutes.

Add the tomatoes, the roasted spices, harissa, lemon peel, bay leaves and chickpeas to the pan and stir to mix.

Heat to a simmer, turn down the heat to low, cover and leave to cook until the vegetables are done, 10 – 15 minutes.

The Cous Cous should be done, it just needs a stir to break up the grains a bit. If it is not hot enough, put it into the microwave for a couple of minutes to reheat it.

Serve strewn with fresh mint leaves.

Rice & Peas

09 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegan

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This again is adapted from Caribbean Food by Levi Roots to go with the sweet potato cakes from yesterday’s post. I haven’t had to change the recipe much to fit with ingredients that I can get here, I had to swap his fresh coconut water for a tin of coconut milk. Also I thought 450 grams of rice an outrageous amount for 6 portions, so I cooked 100 grams which did two of us for two meals.

For 2

100 grams long grain rice

100 grams cooked black beans

400 ml tin coconut milk

7 allspice berries

2 sprigs of thyme

1 clove garlic

1 spring onion / 1/2 small sweet onion

1 red chilli

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the black beans you can use ready cooked beans from a tin or jar, but the texture is better if you start with dry beans. You will need 50 grams dried beans to get 100 grams cooked.
Soak the beans overnight in cold water, drain them and put them into a pan of boiling vegetable stock, turn down the heat and simmer until the beans are tender.

Heat the coconut milk in a saucepan. Add all the ingredients except the rice and beans. On a very low heat simmer for 10 minutes for the flavours of the seasonings to infuse the milk.

Add the rice and beans, and stir to mix in.

Bring back to a simmer, cover and let cook in a low heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the rice steam for another five minutes. Do not open the lid while the rice is cooking and resting.