Don't throw away your peelings

This time of year whether you are celebrating Christmas, Channukah,.Yule or Potlach there are a lot of peelings from your family meal.
As a child my father had chickens and we would always save peelings to mix in a mash for their feed. Grown up and vegan, now the compost and worms get the good stuff but rather than overwhelm them at a time of year when both worms and compost are sluggish I've opted to save my peelings to make wonderful stock.
Its as simple as putting it all in a pan and boiling down with a bit of water and salt. The stock pictured was made from a pile of artichoke peelings, carrot, parsnip and sprouts with the odd onion skin that fell in.
Boil away your stock until its has a good colour and a good infusion then strain and leave to cool.

You can use in anything that requires it but heres for some tasty mung beans I made to share with friends:

Tasty Winter Mung Beans

1. I use whole green mung beans as they are more wholesome and are cheaper. If you want a creamy finish you can use split mung beans or mung dhal. I soaked about two cups of beans in about two pints of stock for about 8 hours.

2. In a pan heat some oil and toast off some mixed spices , a desertspoon of curry powder will do the trick or you can mix your own blend to taste.

3. Add your mung beans and stock and bring to boil.

4. After about twenty minutes the beans should be softening and you may need to add more liquid.

5. Toss in some creamed coconut, chopped coconut or coconut cream to add some flavour and any greens that wilt easily e.g spinach, lettuce or fenugreek.

6. Continue to cook to blend the flavours for another 5 to 10 mins.

7. Serve with rice, flat breads or as part of a tapas.

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Extreme Vegetarianism and the Buddhist views of the Middle Way

The usual question I am asked is whether veganism follows the principles of the middle way. Often people see veganism as an extreme form of vegetarianism, and therefore in conflict with general principles of the middle way. We are told that the Buddha Sakyamuni spent time amongst the forest ascetics practicing extreme austerities and later rejected such practices for the Eightfold path of:-

Right View
Right Thoughts
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Concentration
Right Mindfulness

It is possible that veganism is rejected as an austere practice in the same way as the Buddha rejected the forest ascetics path. But veganism encompasses much of the eightfold path and is only refuted if you hold the incorrect view of it as denying yourself of animal based food. Seen as embracing ahimsa (non-violence) and incorporating conscious awareness of the karma associated with the suffering of other sentient beings, veganism supports the path of right views, right action and mindfullness.
Bodhidharma spent 9 years in a cave in meditation, for many of us spending 2 hours in zazen seems extreme but we still may hold Bodhidharma's practice in high esteem. So why would we label veganism as too extreme a practice of ahimsa?
I think culture has a lot to do with it. In Japan and in Tibet many buddhist rejections of vegetarianism is implicitly linked to cultural schemas and patterns of lifestyle. In Tibet, admittedly sources for a vegetable diet can be scarce and pose difficulties for practitioners. Yet the venerable Patrul Rinpoche is always acknowledged in stating that we should always choose the difficult path, whilst Milarepa was well known to live on eating nettles alone. It is documented that in Japan, the relaxing of monastic dietary rules allowed for greater accessibility for monasticism within the culture.
Is it because overtime we've lost the emphasis of specific principles of practice that we fail to acknowledge that veganism upholds the middleway or is it that we are so embedded in cultural norms its easy to dismiss a vegan diet as extreme and conveniently use notions of the middleway to support such a view?

No doubt we all want to be the most spiritual 'bestest' meditator or practitioner and sometimes doctrine and principles are applied incorrectly to help us ignore the flecks in the mirror that would otherwise dissolve such a view of ourselves. But whatever tradition or set of beliefs you may hold, practice or adhere to you must not forget they are culturally informed and every once in awhile it is good to question or audit them. In this we give ourselves opportunity to experience new things and shed negative or unhelpful schemas or beliefs we cling onto.

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Fried Pineapple

Pineapples are great in juices and so refreshing on a warm day. On cold winter days most of us struggle to eat fruit unless its baked in a crumble or pie as we naturally crave those winter carbs. But here's an alternative way of using a pineapple that fulfills our winter needs in taste as well as vitamins.

This close to Christmas means that there seems to be a lot of offers on multi-buy fruit and you can imagine the days between Christmas Eve and New Year may see more reductions, so the good thing about this is that the riper your pineapple the better. So pick up some cheap ripe fruit and give it a go.

Fried Spicy Pineapple

1. Skin, de-core and slice your pineapple into small chunks.

2. Heat a drop of oil in a wok or frying pan and 'sweat' off a small finally chopped onion.

3. Add your pineapple, a pinch of hot paprika and a can of sweetcorn.

4. Continue cooking and stirring until your pineapple browns a bit and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve on toast or with rice or even as hot side to a portion of vegan ice-cream.

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Kim Chi easy style

I'm often left with a quarter of cabbage at the end of the week that does'nt seem to fit in with anything else. Now I must confess I do love cabbage simply steamed with rice and a little oil and seasoning and is a quick winter vitamin fix but variety is a must and the smell if steamed cabbage can be sometimes too much three times a week!
So having adapted this recipe for Kim Chi from King's Kim Chee (http://www.kingsasian.com ) in the US, you can make simple use of that odd bit of cabbage in the fridge. This also works well with winter lettuces such as Iceberg and Cos as well as mustards. However the softer the leaf the less chopping you need to do in the preparation. For something like a cos lettuce leave it fairly chunky.

1. Take your half a cabbage or other leafy green and chop finely.

2. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt, a desertspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of hot paprika or chilli powder, a finely chopped red chilli and mix well.

3. Having rubbed the seasoning well into the cabbage/greens add a dash of oil. Sesame oil adds flavour here but any vegetable oil will do. Enough to add a sheen.

4. Mix again and add about a desertspoon of vinegar. Rice wine vinegar is subtle here but can be expensive so any cheap light vinegar will do.

5. Mix well and pack into a sealable jar so there is little air gaps.

6. Now place the jar into the fridge for a week. I like to give the jar a good shake daily over the week to blend the mix and distribute the flavours.

After about a week enjoy with rice, but as a snack my favorite is on toast with a drizzle of tahini.

Your easy style Kim Chi should keep at its best for month in the fridge but mine usually doesnt last that long.

Over the winter months Im going to experiment by using foraged greens such as lambs lettuce and chicory.

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Nachos Libres

After a busy week I'd planned a mexican fiesta of food to compliment the lager I've been rationing out in the fridge since we had hosted a kitten shower in September.
If you have time and patience you can have a go at making your own tortilla chips but a packet of plain chips from most regular supermarkets should'nt cost more than 50 pence. Also regular supermarkets are great for reduced avocados, it seems a universal law that they reduce them in price when they are at their best and fully ripe. Either that or supermarkets are of the opinion that avocados should be eaten hard and green. Anyway I have no complaints if they want to sell them at there best at ridiculous reduced prices.
However whilst picking up reduced non-native veg at the supermarkets can have its pleasures for your budget, I couldn't help feeling guilty over the fact that it seemed wrong both for the producer and for the environment. So with this in mind here is what I did to re-address the balance but still look after the budget.

Free from ....Nachos

1. Gather your tortilla chips (either home made or bought) on to a baking tray.

2. Drizzle over some spicy apple chutney (see previous posts) or a finely minced tomato, a finely chopped onion and thin slices of fresh chilli.

3. Now for the guilt free, guacamolesque vegan cheesy topping:
Take a can of cheap peas (marrowfat or garden) and mash with a fork. Add a drizzle of oil, salt and minced garlic. Add a splash of soya milk and mix well until its the consistency of cream cheese. Spread loosely over the tortilla chips.

4. Place the baking tray with your prepared tortilla chips under a low grill for about 5 minutes and serve immediately with friends and a lager.

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Winter preserving

If you followed my previous blog on apples you might be wondering what I did with them all. Well they are still in storage in a cool place, but its about this time that you need to check on any stored fruit for 'rotters' that can destroy your bank of winter fruit.
After rummaging gently through the crate I found 5 bad apples for the compost and a good kilo of apples that werent looking well.
I wasn't prepared to waste a kilo of dodgy fruit as it was more the fact they were wrinkly and pitted and looking worse for wear. The fruit was still intact and not showing signs of rot.
I'm more partial to the savoury so I decided to use them to make chutney, which is a great way of giving them a new lease of life and giving them an extra 6 months on the shelf. Of course you can use fresher fruit but chutney is a great way of preserving and adding that sweet and spicy tang to you winter stews and hotpots.
A good blend of spices is a must for chutney and plenty of salt, some sugar and thats about it. I used jaggery in my recipe which I had in already, which is a traditional indian palm sugar and works well but for cheapness use whatever you lay your hands on. I also left the skins on my apples as it adds texture and keeps in the vitamins.
Heres how:-

1. Wash, quarter and de-core a kilo of apples. Slice into chunks and place in big pan.

2. Cook apples until softened and add a dash of oil and a good handful of spices and a teaspoon of salt. You can buy spice mixes from asian superstores under the name of 'achar' spices but a good mix is a desertspoon of the following:
cumin seeds
turmeric
onion seeds
black pepper
corriander
hot paprika

I would recommend experimenting with your mix until you get one you like that you can call your own.

3. Fry off your spices with the apples and oil and then add a cup of vinegar and two cups of sugar.

4. Continue cooking until the mix gets sticky and jammy, just before it becomes toffee!

5.Add additional salt to taste and allow to cool. Put into sterilised clean jam jars when cool enough to handle.

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Food Sovereignty

I spent this Saturday at the Permaculture Association's AGM and went along to a workshop on food sovereignty. There were some great discussions that came out of it including ideas on foraging, crop sharing, guerilla gardening and many more.
To summarise what food sovereignty is, in my own words, it is best explained as local access to sustainable food sources. We have heard in past few years governments talk of food security for growing populations but with economic decline and gaps between rich and poor becoming wider food sovereignty becomes paramount. What is also important in food sovereignty is that whilst governments see the answer to food security is to increase mass production of food which has a negative effect on animal welfare and the environment, food sovereignty encompasses local ecologically minded strategies. Permaculture is a key strategy in developing food sovereignty, but from a poor vegan's cookbook perspective here are my top tips:-

1. Plant more native fruit trees and bushes. Or alternatively map out and find where you can access local fruit trees and bushes. Ive heard of some innovative uses of google maps for this and you may well suprise yourself with what you find.

2. Take advantage of the seasons and include more foraged food in your diet. I admit winter can become a problem but by learning and resurrecting preserving and bottling techniques you can include them in your winter larder.

3.Develop community and share and swop food items, food seeds and plants. The biggest problem I found this year was getting hold of stuff to grow without spending money. I got a little help from a Seed Stewards project in the midlands who kindly sent me some vietnamese mustard seeds and from scavenging a few items but I would have been ahead of the game if there were local exchange programmes.

4. Access to land is a priority, perhaps an elderly neighbour will let you have some space to grow in return for sharing the crop or maintaining the land. In an urban setting more space can be utilised by growing upward, choose beans and other climbing veg and utilise hanging pots. Contact local companies or your council to see if there are any land that you could use on a temporary basis or obtain an allotment. With the economic downturn there are a lot of development sites that are on hold that could be accessed to sow temporary crops.

5. Although I feel I've mentioned it before in many ways, above all share. Share meals, recipes, ideas, inspiration, land and labour.

My final tip or be it thought is to plan. Plan for the future! Get yourself a diary or make a list of date to take positive steps towards food sovereignty be it a day of guerilla gardening, a date to share a meal or a plan to contact your local council about that bit of derelict land.

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Jamming

September arrived with a brilliant warm and still day. I spent the morning in the garden preparing the soil for winter and early spring planting. I thought I would save some energy costs by cooking up some lentil and vegetable stews in my dutch oven over a fire fuelled by some of the garden waste, such as dead pea vines, prunings and bamboo leaves. I managed to get two pots worth from my morning's toil and still had time for a tea break to enjoy the late summer sun and the smell of wood smoke wafting gently over. My stew was a simple recipe of two chopped carrots, an onion, a bell pepper and a cup of lentils, seasoned with herbs and spices. Cooked down slowely with some water and tomato puree its that simple, the smoke adding its own flavour. Life really does'nt have to get anymore complicated than this.
The highlight of the day was taking an evening stroll to pick blackberries from all those fruiting brambles out now. I really do think we don't offer enough respect to the indigenous bramble, I admit they can be a thorny mess but they offer food, nectar, protection and an excellant habitat for many species.
This time of year is great to collect your free hedgerow fruits and I came back with a good kilo of blackberries and a few stained fingers. There wasn't enough to make into bramble wine to raise a glass to free fruits but here's my simple jam recipe for cold winter afternoon teas by the fire:

Bramble jam

1. Rinse about a kilogram of foraged fruits. If you are short on blackberries then crab apples or apples can be added as small chunks to bring up the weight.

2. Place your fruit into a large saucepan and heat, stirring all the time until you have a fruit pulp.

3. If you want a seedless jam you can sieve your pulp through a metal sieve prior to adding sugar.

4. Add 1/2 a kilo of sugar to the pulp ( a little less if you've sieved out seeds as you lose a bit of pulp this way) and bring to a boil.

5. A good 10-15 minutes on the boil should do it. I don't bother with testing as blackberries and apples have so much pectin that it should set quite well.

6. Sterilise some jars with hot water and spoon in your jam mix.

7. Allow to cool and enjoy with toast or spread on whatever you choose.

The jam should last well for a few months without any other additions of preservatives or acidity regulators. To store longer place in the bottom of your fridge.

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Figs & Things

I've been waiting for my figs to ripen all summer, just when I was giving up hope I noticed a couple blushing at me from the tree. Having the luxury of a fig tree is something that I appreciate isn't in everyones garden or neighbourhood. You could try taking a cutting from a friends tree, they arent difficult to grow and they can thrive in small spaces as they like restricted roots but plenty of sun. Alternatively, head to the market, if you go to supermarkets you won't get much change and they'll be plastic packed.
The following recipe can also be used with any other soft fruit such as peaches, plums or apricots so don't be dismayed if figs are hard to come by or too expensive.

Roasted figs & tofu

1. Slice your figs in half and lay on a pre-oiled baking tray, sliced side up. Drizzle over with oil, salt and pepper and place in an oven gas mark 6 for 10 mins.

2. Meanwhile take a small chunk of tofu and mash up until its the consistancy of cottage cheese. If tofu isnt at hand this works well equally with black eyed peas or cannelini beans from a can, and works out cheaper too!

4. Season your mashed tofu/beans with salt, herbs, garlic and black pepper and blend in a small touch of oil or vegan marg.

5. Remove your figs or other soft fruit from the oven and spoon over your mixture. Return to oven for another 5-10 mins.

6. Enjoy on crusty bread or as an addition to a vegan meze or with rice.

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Scumptious Apples

I have two apples on my apple trees this year, a wet and windy spate during spring took off all the blossom before it had chance to be pollinated. Fortunately some sheltered community trees are full of fruit. Its becoming increasingly popular to collect fruit from trees on abandoned ground, and there are many sites in urban settings where fruit trees are left unpicked. I would encourage a ride around in your local area to see if there are any with easy access. Sometimes, it is also possible to ask permission of garden owners if they would allow you to pick some fruit in return of produce you've cooked up from it. Things like this are great for building communities.
Fruit like apples are great for storing, I got a good pick from the Church allotment, washed them and laid them out in the sun to dry off. Afterwards I packed them in a crate with holes in the side to allow air flow to store over the autumn period. You need to place them in layered with pieces of newspaper, and don't forget to keep regular checks on them to pull out any baddies. I would say its sufficient to check once a week, and keep them somewhere dark, cool and dry.
There were some bruised apples from my rich pickings which probably would last the week in storage, so I decided to make the following recipe:-

Oven baked Apple Fritters

You can deep-fry this recipe but these are just as tasty and more healthier baked. They are also wheat and gluten free so I might test them out on Jane with a cup of coffee when she comes in later.

Here we go:-

1. Take about a cup of gram flour, a cup of  fine corn meal, half a cup of sugar and two teaspoons of baking powder and place in bowl.

2. Mix the dry ingredients and put to one side.

3. Peel, core and slice about 3 apples and make 6 piles of the pieces on an oiled baking tray.

4. Take your bowl of dry ingredients and slowley add soya milk or water stirring constantly until you make a thick batter.

5. Ladle your batter over the piles of apple pieces to form 6 uncooked fritters, then place in an oven on Gas mark 6 until golden brown.

6. Serve up, sprinkled with icing sugar or drizzled with maple syrup or soya cream.

The apples were quite tart so made a nice balance to the sweet batter. If you are deep frying these then you should add the apples in with the batter and probably up the amount of apple pieces.

Left-over rice

About four years ago I spent a lovely week of books, countryside walks and vegan food in the welsh borders. The place we stayed at made their own vegan sausages and despite my best effort they kept their recipe secret. I suspected rice and tomato puree was involved so I was inspired to develop my own and was suprised at how easy it was and how effective in using up left-over rice.

Ricey sausages

1.Take your left-over cooked rice and add half again of chickpea flour, so you have a ratio of rice to flour,2:1.

2. Add a measure of tomato puree, enough to colour so I would start with a tablespoon amount. Then add herbs and spices according to taste and a small chopped and pre-cooked onion. You can experiment with additions but be aware that anything you add should be chopped small to avoid the mix losing its consistency. I got a free sample of spirulina from the healthstore and found it added both extra nutrition but also colour and a certain sweetness.

3. Add a dash of oil and mix all the ingredients by hand. At first the mixture will seem like breadcrumbs but the more you work it the more it becomes to resemble a dough. If your left-over rice is older than a few hours you may need to add a bit of liquid. Be careful though as you don't want a sloppy dough. Try a splash of tomato juice, apple juice or simply water.

4. Now take your ricey sausage dough and shape by hand into sausage shapes and place on a pre-oiled baking tray.

5. Put your sausages aside in the fridge to allow to set a little into their shapes. Overnight is a good time then you can have them for breakfast!

6. Cook either baked in an oven at gas mark 6 until crispy, or shallow fry turning gently to cook both sides. I've not experimented with cooking these on a charcoal barbie but I would guess if you did you'd be best using something like foil to support their shape.

8. Because they are quite carb loaded I served mine up with a selection of a medley of veg, but as part of a vegan all day breakfast I certainly wouldnt exclude them, neither in roll with ketchup and salad!!

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A long time waiting green beans

It seems a long time since the end of March when I planted my bean seeds in a pot. Its hardly been 'Jack and the beanstalk' but as you can see they seem to make a good item to cultivate in a small area, which is ideal for urban plots, balconies or where space is limited to pots. They are just fruiting now so hopefully over the next few weeks I will have them as a nice addition to my table. They are arriving just in time to go with rice and lentils that are on offer at my nearest halal grocers for Ramadan. Simply chopped and added to red lentils and rice whilst cooking, they add that nice fresh green crunch and you dont need to add much more than a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper. But of course add more flavours as you wish!
Green beans are low in protein so its good to combine them with some rich protein sources such as almonds or tempeh, although you may blow your budget on these hence here is a cheaper tasty combo:-

Chickpea and Green Bean Panisse

Panisse is a traditional Italian recipe made from chickpea flour cooked and set aside to solidify,in the similiar way to polenta. Chickpea flour is 22% protein and is so 'vegan versatile'. Again, because of Ramadan its worth checking out your local Asian supermarket for offers on gram flour (the indian chickpea flour that is slightly coarser than italian flours but does the trick)

1. Heat a saucepan with a drizzle of oil and place in your green beans finely chopped and some chives,onion tops or garlic.
2. Once the green beans have sweated off add more oil and a cupful of chickpea flour. Stir until the flour mix resembles breadcrumbs and has absorbed all the added oil.
3. Cook the mixture for a further minute and then add water slowely, a bit at a time, until you have a consistency of porridge.
4. Continue cooking and stirring and as the mixture thickens, add more water to return it to a porridge texture. You will need to cook for a further 5 minutes like this to ensure the flour has cooked thoroughly.
5. Take off the heat and pour into a sandwich box or other suitable container and allow to cool and set for 2-3 hours.
6. Once set, slice into strips.
7. Take the strips and bake until crunchy on the outside in an oven at gas mark 6, about 20 mins. Alternatively, cook on a griddle or in a lightly oiled frying pan until crispy on the outside.
8. Serve with salad,veg or a passata sauce (as pictured) as a main meal or enjoy as a snack.

Hopefully more green beans to come and maybe some figs too soon!

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Beans & Greens

Ive been growing swiss chard in my back plot, as it makes a great vegetable for small areas and you can continue to trim leaves throughout the year to prolong your harvest.
Unfortunately my experiments in german radish has resulted in them being overshadowed and a smaller yield than I would have liked.
Hence, finding some leftover greens in the back of a fridge I've bolstered my chard in the following recipe.
For an even leaner week, you could supplement the chard with cabbage trimmings from your local market, or this time of year peruse the hedgerows for sorrel, fat-hen and rosebay willow herb.
Dried pre-shelled fava beans are cheap and plentiful in any asian supermarkets and make a protein rich alternative to mashed spuds, having soaked them overnight and boiled them until soft. They are popular in lebanese cooking but feature in many mediterranean dishes. This one is inspired by a rural dish from Puglia where hedgerow greens are popular in traditional food.

Fava bean & pot herb bake

1. In a shallow oven dish sweat off a sliced onion and your chard and greens in oil. Season with salt,pepper and nutmeg (if available)

2. Meanwhile, cook off your pre-soaked fava beans until soft.

3. Drain your beans and return to heat.Continue stirring until they resemble mashed potato, season and add some oil or vegan marg if the mash is too stiff and not smooth enough.

4. Take your mashed fava beans and layer on top of your greens. Drizzle with oil and bake in a oven (gas mark 6) until crispy on top.

5. Serve and enjoy. I picked up some reduced basil at my local wholefood shop so I got my partner Jane to mix up one of her lovely vegan pestos to accompany it with fresh garlic herby flavours. You can also make a simple ragu of soya mince and passata and have this as one of the side dishes for a meal with friends.

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The tao of cauliflower

Zhuang Zi, the great Taoist master states
' earth does not support yet all life is sustained'

Profound! He's talking about everything having its own individual nature that fits in to the individual nature of everything else, requiring no order,constraint or moulding.

But how does this link into cauliflowers? Well the humble cauli does not require much preparation to get two meals from one cauliflower, and in respect to taoist philosophy if the cauliflower presents itself as a two meal food why try and treat it as anything less?

If you are still with me, this is what I'm talking about. Most of us will discard the green leaves surrounding the cauli in the awe of its fluffy white flower. I have to ask why as they are as good as cabbage and full of flavour.

So heres the two meals I prepared:

Dish 1
"Recycled Greens soup"

1. Trim off your cauliflower greens and chop finely with an onion or scallion.

2. Sweat off your onion and greens in a big pan.

3. Slice up two medium potatoes and add to the pan.

4. I added a handful of Amaranth here too for extra protein, quinoa is equally good, but if you have neither don't worry its equally good without.

5. Stir to mix the veg and season.

6.Add about two pints of water to cover and a handful of shredded kelp seaweed either fresh or dried.

7. Cook until the potatoes are softening, and at this stage taste and adjust seasoning with either salt or pepper or miso,soy sauce or yeast extract. If at this point you want a creamier soup, you can dash in some soya milk.

8. Serve hot and enjoy.


Dish 2
"Crunchy breadcrumbed cauli florets"

This is a healthy 'no-fry' tempura inspired dish and also good for using up that stale crust thats hanging around.

1. Break up your cauliflower into individual florets and steam for about 5 mins so that they still hold their shape.

2. Grab your stale crust and break it into crumbs either by hand or using a food processor. Put crumbs aside in bowl.

3. Take about a tablespoon of fine corn meal (harina de maize) and add enough hot water to make a batter. Keep stirring whilst adding the water to prevent lumps and stop when its the consistency of custard. Season the batter and set aside.

4. Prepare a baking tray by lighty coating in oil.

5. Take your cauli florets and dip into your cornmeal batter one at a time and then dip into the breadcrumbs, and lay onto baking tray. Any left over breadcrumbs can be sprinkled on top.

6. Now bake in an oven on gas mark 6 umtil the batter has crisped up and the breadcrumbs are toasty.

We had this with a ginger dressed salad, and used a crust off some rye sourdough. The soup is for tomorrow.

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Fungus feed and chickpeas

The spanish medieval masons built their cathedrals on a diet of chickpeas and bread and the cost of the honoured chickpea has'nt risen much over the centuries.
A great cupboard staple either tinned or soaked, I think if there was any, the chickpea would be 'bean of the gods' for its all round versatility.
Anyway, chickpeas and 'shrooms make a good,quick and cheap vegan meal. A can of chickpeas comes in around 38p and many asian shops sell crates of 12 for around £3.

Here's how its done:

1. Chop up your 'shrooms or leave whole depending on what you've foraged or bought.

2.Fry off a small onion, and some garlic in oil and add your fungi.

3.Once sweated off, add cooked chickpeas , seasoning and whatever herbs you can get your hands on. I like a combo of fresh chopped chilli, mint and parsley, but this time we just went with basil and pepper.

4.Once thoroughly warmed through, dress with oil and serve with crusty bread.

all you need is a glass of spanish or homemade wine to wash it down and you'll be fit to lay some stone and mortar!

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Fungus foray

I woke up this morning feeling 'fungussy', I think its a combination of all this wet humid weather and Liam giving me some old oak boards that I thought I would try and spawn with some tasty 'shrooms.
I've already got an oak log in the back from when I helped cut down a dead tree for a colleague a few years back, its now sprouting with a wonderful display of 'cloud ear' mushrooms , normally retailing in china town for £1.50 a pack. They make great texture to 'shroomy' meals and fresh like mine are comparable to more expensive oyster mushrooms. Anyway I decided to plan a foray for some other edibles to accompany these for a tasty Sunday brunch.

I am aware that when it comes to fungi people get a bit jumpy unless they are in nicely neated cellophaned punnets. Too right, Vitaly, my ukrainian friend had told me tales of family members, experienced in fungi hunting falling ill from a foul forage. I hope this hasn't put you off, if you wish to go no further thats ok , but you can still have a go at cultivating your own with a little help from nature and not much room.
Get yourself some clean ,untreated,broadleaf boards of wood. Whilst shitakes appear to prefer pine, more native species of fungi like oak, birch and elm. Soak your boards in water for a good few days then find a suitable area of ground, in partial shade, and lay the boards on top. If you have spawn, which isn't too costly these days, you should sprinkle it between the boards. If you dont have spawn, and you fancy fungi lottery, theres plenty of it around in nature and all it takes is a few handfuls of litter from your local forest floor to innoculate your wood.
The key thing to cultivating your own fungi is to promote the decay of the wood, that involves keeping it damp and relatively warm. Ive experimented with putting cardboard or plastic over the wood with and frequently removing this cover during warm weather.
If you are doing this in an urban setting then logs might prove better. The picture of the Inky Caps was taken just yesterday on an edge of a construction site in the centre of town! Again soak logs for a few days, a bucket will do for this. Find yourself a sheltered spot to pile logs in, but firstly lay down a sheet of plastic, and then a layer of brown cardboard with your logs on top.
The good thing about having a go at encouraging fungi to grow is that you can always find some ideal wood in skips or acquire some by word of mouth. Once you've got your wood and have a spot for it you can let nature do its own thing and see what happens.

More updates on foraging for mushrooms to come...

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Staff of life, day 2

Well my free bread is still edible despite there being a few hopeful birds staring in through the window.

It shows that freeganism doesn't have to involve sneaking around the back of your local tescos but if you explain to people what your intentions are there are many a kind folk who are happy to help the cause.

Anyway just wanted to post this as a quick shared bread snack. I turned my back and Jane had russled up a pesto-y garlic toast for me. And in proper cost cutting style used some salad that was nearly beyond redemption, so its a great snack for using up saggy limp leaves.

This is what she did :

1. Pound two cloves of garlic with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar.

2.Dilute poundings with vegetable/olive oil.

3.Add a handful of your ' beyond best leaves' and continue pounding.

4. Top up poundings with oil to make it spreadable.

5.Toast bread lightly and smear with the mixture.

6. Top with your favourite things.We had some roast aubergine, yum!

Enjoy! Jane had hers on rye, being wheat free, but she made my free bread delicious and divine.

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Staff of life

Wow! Free bread! Today I went into a good health food shop I occassionaly go in , and they were re-stocking their shelves with fresh organic loafs. I happened to ask what they were doing with yesterday's bread and they gave me a loaf free of charge. I don't want to come down heavy on supermarkets but it shows that with your small local shops there is more community spirit. Anyway I'm considering it 'bread karma' and I hope it encourages anyone to get local and start asking in their nearest store.
Also, unbelievable as it sounds,yesterday I received post from my good friend Jean in the form of a print of John 6:48 .Apparently there is a copy of it displayed in Cartmel Priory by a shelf, where loaves were left for the poor. Wait until I tell her, what a weird coincidence!
Well every culture has its bread, and nearly every culture has its recipes for using up stale or old bread.
This is one of my favourites and a version of fattoush, a lebanese dish:

1. Take your stale or old bread bits and tear up into bean sized pieces.

2.Heat a dry frying pan (no oil needed) and toss in your broken up bread pieces. Keep shaking the pan so the bread bits start to toast evenly. Add some sunflower,pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds here for extra taste and nutrition.

3. Set aside the toasted bread and seeds and once cooled sprinkle with mixed herbs and oil. I like to add seasoning at this stage and let the bread rest to absorb the flavours for a few hours.

4. Now prepare your salad.You can use anything really but a finely chopped tomato and cucumber is a must. Try adding pomegranates, baby spinach, or for a middle eastern flavour some grated carrot and raisins.

5. Toss in your prepared bread and mix by hand.

6. Serve immediately with friends and sweet cardamon coffee.

Now thats why they call it the staff of life, enjoy.

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Bubble and squeek burgers

Left-overs in the fridge are easy pickings when returning home with an appetite, but when was the last time you had 'bubble n squeek'? Well here is a quick cook up of left- over veg in the shape of a burger.
We had some new potatoes,parsnips,carrots and cabbage in the fridge from last night's tea. This is what I did:-

1. Mash up the left-over veg and potato in a bowl.

2. Shape into burger rounds. If the mix is looking wet and difficult to handle you can use a bit of cornflour to strengthen.

3. Lightly oil a frying pan or griddle pan. Heat and cook off burgers flipping half way through both sides.

4.Serve with salad

I tossed my burgers in some sesame seeds for added nutrition, this works equally well with sunflower seeds, or if you want that fish-less fishcake taste you can throw some seaweed into the mix.

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Cheap as chips!

Are you a spud bud? Who doesn't like a potato?
Over the years I've dipped in and out of freeganism and the humble spud is a joy to find amongst the supermarket food bins, not because they make good honest scavenged food but with a little encouragement, a dark cupboard and some patience you can have your own little production line for new potatoes. You can equally do this with the yellow labelled (reduced item lines) spuds and bag yourself cheap seed potatoes, or even with your peelings (why you would want to peel a spud please let me know!) I once found a spud at the side of the road when walking home, why waste an opportunity like this, and often at the end of the day at your local market you can find a few floating around.
Anyway I know it isn't cooking but consider this as a pathway to potato joy. Just take your potatoes and place them on newspaper and put them in a dark cupboard for a few weeks. If they are fregan spuds you will need to trim off any bad or damaged areas before doing this, the smell of rotten potatoes is not something you want to cultivate.
They should start to throw off sprouts by the third week and you will then be able to plant them.
The great thing is that you don't need much room for growing them, after living 7 years in the city I found that old rice sacks or bin bags make great planters for your mini spud farm as they can slip onto a balcony or in a corner of a yard. Whats also great about spuds is they can cope well with poor soil so if you are in the city and soil is hard to come by, you can use broken up brown cardboard mixed with earth to bulk out the growing medium . Just make sure any soil or other medium is free from pollutants.
Now just quarter fill your rice sack, place in 5 chitted potatoes (the technical term for sprouted spuds) and top up with the rest of your growing medium.
In a few further weeks they should be popping their green leafy heads over the edge of the sack. You can let them do their own thing, only water if they look droopy or they are in a position where they can't access rain. Potatoes will reliably inform you when they are ready for harvesting as they start turning yellow and dying back.

Now several months later its time to spread spud joy and share your efforts with a tasty dish. Here's one I prepared earlier:-

Tortilla Veganese

I was inspired in this by two places I visited in recent years thats left me with food in my belly, change in my pocket and potato joy in my soul. Firstly, Vegetalia in Barcelona , a great place to hang out in the gothic quarter and soak up the history of the Catalonian spirit of political resistance and culture. Secondly, Mono in Glasgow, Jane and I revived ourselves with their vegan ingenuity after spending the week living off porridge in Ayrshire.

1. Slice your spuds into 5mm thick slices and boil until they are soft enough to poke a knife easily through without breaking. Be careful not to over cook as you want to keep them firm.

2.Set your spuds aside to cool.

3. Now you need to make a gram flour (chickpea/besan flour) sauce. Gram flour is an excellant source of protein.
Warm some oil (vegan marg will equally do) and add about 2 tablespoons of gram flour, a pinch of chilli, some smoked paprika and a finely chopped bell pepper and small onion. Fry off until sticky, then slowely add water a bit at a time, stirring constantly. Add seasoning as you desire.
The skill here is to add your liquid without getting lumps until you have a thick creamy sauce. You can experiment with adding different things to your sauce, try cilantro (coriander) or spinach and nutmeg.

4.Set your sauce aside to cool for a moment.

5.Add your cooked spuds to the sauce, you have to be liberal with quantities. Your sauce should be like thick custard and you want to add enough spuds so they are all thickly coated. Shake don't,stir (thanks James!), as you want the spuds to keep their shape.

6. Pour spuds,sauce and all into an oil lined baking tray and bake until firm and browned on top. My oven tends to default at gas mark 6 so I would say middle of the oven for around 20 mins gas mark 5 to 6.

7. Once cooked, allow to cool for few hours to set the dish, and then it can be conveniently sliced and served either cold or re-heated.

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Veganomics

I thought I would put something up about vegan economics with the hope that I can generate some genuine discussion. It seems appropriate to include something here upon economics as measurements of economics are innately tied in to the success and effectiveness of this blog. I also felt it was appropriate to reflect upon the New Economic Foundation's measurements of wellbeing in respect to veganism and sustaining a low impact diet.
I suppose we have to start at a statement of exchange, that vegan economics is both sustainable, promotes life,culture and wellbeing without reliance upon animal products or animal exploitation. We could expand this further by reflecting upon the 5 ways of wellbeing and discuss that the nature of such exchange involves giving,learning, activity,connecting and taking notice (www.neweconomics.org). This expansion upon such exchanges means we can all have the potential to practice vegan economics ('veganomics') without necessarily subscribing to veganism, but by undertaking social,financial,emotional and physical exchanges that are low impact and supportive to non-human life.

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The 'P' word

Whether you are vegan or not Protein is the most expensive item in your shopping basket. The good thing is you don't need a lot of it, just the right amount of the right types.
But getting it free or as cheap as possible has posed me a bit of a problem.
Again I'm drawn to Chinese cultural cuisine, my father's aunt was Shanghai Chinese so this post is in her honour. Extracting the protein out of wheat as wheat gluten is a very popular vegan product in Chinese cuisine. Wheat gluten is available in tins in chinese supermarkets often in the guise of 'mock' duck or 'mock' abalone, but with a bit of time and a cheap bag of flour (around 30 pence) you can make a batch yourself and save on airmiles as well as funds.

The key to extracting the gluten is water as follows:-

1. You will need half amount of water to flour to make a dough. With a 1kg bag of flour this is probably going to equate to just under a pint of water, but different flours have different absorbancies so add a little at a time.

2. Make up your dough and knead it like your life depends on it. The kneading process helps to draw out the protein, so why not get the family to get involved and work up those biceps - its more enjoyable than a Wii Fit!!

3. I would say after a good 15 minutes knead you need to lay off the dough and give it a break. Wrap in cling film or other suitable covering to stop it drying out and rest it in the fridge for a good 3 hours.

4. After all that kneading you'll probably need a rest yourself. Next comes the washing, you will need a sieve and a large bowl. At this stage we are going to wash off the starch.
Take your dough and place in the sieve over the bowl and in a sink. Now under running water gently knead and wash the dough until the water runs clear. The bowl underneath is to collect the starch which we can either use as thickeber for stews, soups or for making starch sheets for spring rolls. What you have left in your sieve is around 70% protein that you can grill,fry marinade and use in any of your dishes.

The following is a good youtube video of the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRNxKKOncY4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Its often referred to as Seiten, which if you get into making it, is an interesting experience at parties when you introduce yourself as a 'seiten-ist'

My biggest challenge now is to find a wheat-free equivalent for my partner Jane. I'll keep you posted ...

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Seaweed salt

Well I did say I'd put something up about seaweed salt. I'm not that near to a good coastline myself so its one of those things you keep in the back of your mind until you have an opportunity available.

Firstly a good honest word of warning, seaweed has high concentrations of iodine and those of you with over active thyroid or on thyroxine should best avoid this. Ive found a good web page which is frank and open on this subject
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/iodine

Well if you've made it past the health warning its as simple as this. Find yourself a clean beach of a rocky nature, both kelp and bladderwrack are common in these areas. Collect responsibly, and dry in the sun or in your kitchen. Ive got a piece of kelp still hanging over my stove from my last foray.
Once dry, put it in a food processer and grind to a course powder, use sparingly instead of salt.

I have to point out if it wasnt for my japanese and chinese friends many years ago leading the way I wouldnt have persisted with seaweed, but now its always in my kitchen and there are such varieties around the coast of britain that are so versatile. Its great to know them all and how best to use them, or have some in to add that vegan seafood taste to your platter.

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Store cupboard clean out - Wheat free pasta

Ok, my last post was a bit Ray Mears and probably there were a few expletives from anyone finding themselves crawling around the undergrowth looking for a dock-leaf to tend those nettle stings.
Well, Liam from three doors down came round today, they'd been having a spring clean of their kitchen cupboards and found a bag of rye flour with a handful left in.
What to do with remnants of flour?? I think you've guessed at the title, all across the land mass of Europe and Asia for hundreds of years different cultures have been storing and eating their grains in the form of pasta , be it noodles, pappardelle or vareniki.
I had to think on my feet here, Rye flour is very absorbant to moisture and has high soluble fibre so doesnt crisp up in the same way as wheat. So I added a good tablespoon of fine maize meal to the handful of  Liam's Rye flour, maize meal is really cheap, I got 1Kg for less than a pound sterling and its great for thickening things, making 'Jonny Cakes', making tortillas and anything wheat free you can imagine (even cake!!). Maize has xanthen in it which loves water so it balances the water holding properties of Rye. So heres the recipe for wheat free spiralli.

1.Take a good handful of Rye flour and a good tablespoon of fine maize meal (thats the big spoon!)and mix together.

2. Add water slowely and mix until you get a firm dough. No need to give it time to rest, get stuck in straight away this isnt a pastry class!!

3. Pinch off a bit at a time and roll into thin worms on a wooden board, no thicker than knitting needle and trim to 2 inches in lengths, or the length of your thumb.

4. Now here's the bit where you might need to grab a seat, grab a friend or a willing partner, put on the radio and get twisting. Take your pasta worm and wrap around a lightly floured chopstick or similiar to create your spiral shap, and slide off onto a suitable baking tray or flat surface for drying. I've seen Italians use pieces of clean cardboard for drying pasta on so why not?

The spiralling process takes a bit of practice and time, but with good company and some good conversation its a rich experience. My partner Jane was a wonderful pasta team member, she does have pasta making experience so whilst I did the pinching and rolling she did the twisting, and I think in our conversation we put the worlds to right along the way.

5. Ok, hopefully you've carpeted your front room with sheets of drying pasta now. I left mine 24 hours to dry as the weather has been damp and unsettled, but on a good sunny day you could have this made in the morning and dried and ready for your tea.
The drying process helps the pasta keep its shape whilst cooking so if its looking a bit damp leave it a bit longer, a good tip is to give the drying tray a shake and a good sound and movement of the pasta should reassure you if its ready or not.

6. This is the best bit. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, when its on a rolling boil drop in your pasta. I start counting here, my golden rule is 3 mins. After 3 minutes drain, toss with oil, seasoning or add to a sauce and enjoy.

Pass us the nettle pesto....!!

Young and tender greens

These are the last few weeks to bag yourself a meal of nettle tops. Now we are fully in May the patch of nettles out back is looking like its ready to flower and seed. This is not good for us hungry vegans as when nettles start to flower they produce tiny grains in their leaves that if eaten can irritate the urinary tract. So the key thing is to get them whilst they are green and bright.Grab yourself a good couple of handfuls of dandelion leaves to throw in with them, do you know you can eat all parts of a dandelion! Now this is what I do with them:-

1 Rinse all your leaves under cold water, take care handling your nettles.

2 You want a good carrier bag of nettles and two handfuls of dandelion leaves chopped finely.

3 Heat a heavy bases frying pan with a bit of oil and toss in your prepared leaves.

4 Now if you have some, or can borrow some a bit of nutmeg does wonders. If you can also scrape together an onion this gives it a good texture or in your trip picking leaves you could follow the trail of wild garlic by its smell and throw in some leaves and flowers into your bag for this.

5 Toss in some seasoning, I shall blog later about making seaweed salt, this is great here especially with some black pepper.

Redress with some herb oil, olive oil or anything you can get your hands on and either eat as a lovely green snack or serve on toast.

This also makes a great layer to homemade vegan pizza , put your tomatoes on first then nettles and dandelions next, topped of with any of your favourites.

Now wheres my fork....