Naranja

Free fruit in the hedgerows is
always a joy, but I didn't expect to be picking oranges in December! Ahmed's orange tree was bursting with fruit and not wanting to be greedy I just took the two, one for each pocket on my journey home.
Still a bit green and not full up with flesh due to lack of annual sun, they were still heavily scented in orange oil and started me thinking of the scents of the seasonal festivities. Also, straight from the tree they are unwaxed and fresh, unlike many of the shop bought ones.
So with two round balls of citrus delights my mind started thinking about ideas. My first thought was to make up a marmalade along with pomegranate seeds, conjuring up flavours of north africa, or possibly speckling them with cloves to aromatise the kitchen or to bob in pan of mulling wine adding another layer of flavour.

I decided to make some jaggery marmalade. This time of year jaggery is especially indicated for colds and flu in ayurvedic medicine. A small block of jaggery is about 99p and you only need half for this recipe.

Jaggery marmalade

1. Chop two oranges pith, skin and all finely and transfer to a heavy pan.

2. Heat on high with a desertspoon of water and crumble in half a small block of jaggery.

3. Continue heating until the jaggery melts and stop when the mixture becomes sticky toffee like.

4. Transfer to cool into a jar or tub and then enjoy on bread or toast.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

Russian Veganism and calcium rich recipes

I was just browsing on my blog statistics and discovered a large proportion of views from Russia, then I came across the following published on http://www.euroveg.eu/evu/english/news/news981/siberia.html:-

"About three years ago the largest vegan settlement in Russia appeared in Siberia, where people were united by common religious beliefs. Their way of life attracted the attention of the officials who were worried about the health of the vegans. The Medical Centre for Practical Work and Research of the Vegetarian Society in Russia together with the Institute of Medical Problems of the North decided to send an expedition to the settlement to carry out a comprehensive study of the way of life, the health status and the eating habits of the vegans. The medical team included doctors of different specialisations and laboratory specialists.

The diet of the Siberian vegans includes rye bread, often home-made; wheat bread is seldom used. The diet includes also various cereals: buck-wheat, millet, rice etc. They also eat beans, peas, lentils, soy. Most of them (91%) do not use pastas. The people in the vegan settlement not only eat without fats or butter but they seldom use oil (sunflower or olive oil), 86% do not use even these. They use such vegetables as potatoes, carrots, beet-root, radish pumpkins, cabbage onions, garlic, tomatoes, squash, sweet pepper. They also widely eat the greens: parsley, fennel and others.

The studies showed that the vegan diet improved the lipid metabolism in the vegans (their cholesterol level is very low) and normalised their weight and their cardio-vascular systems. No Vitamin B12, deficiency and no iron deficiency was found in their blood. On the other hand a calcium deficiency was observed, evidently, due to the lack of dairy products in their diet. "

Wow! Its great to hear that most of the diet is obtained and sustained by locally and traditionally available foods and it would be good to get some information on some of the recipes they've been cooking. Its got me thinking about some classical Russian inspired recipes and also how to approach the concern for the lack of calcium , which I have to say may not be entirely dietary as lack of sunlight and Vitamin D could also be a probable cause.

Calcium rich vegan foods include figs, dried apricots, kale, kelp, tahini and soybeans so I'm delighted that my fig tree has kept me provided on at least one of these and I've been able to publish a few recipes here previously with them.

Unfortunately the weather here is closer to Siberian than we care to realise so all the spring gatherings we are usually so grateful for are hiding under 40cms of snow.

Least I've got some soaked soyabeans stashed, ticking off one on the calcium list. Throwing together with buckwheat I'm getting zinc, selenium, iron and a complete protein.

Buckwheat, soy and rice bake

This is also great for using leftovers in this three areas.

1. Soak and cook off a good cup of soyabeans in water

2. Take a handful of buckwheat and a handful of rice and bring to the boil together in water.

3. When all three ingredients are cooked mix together in a bowl with seasoning a dash of oil. Use sesame or a nut oil for extra minerals.

4. Add a shake of gram flour to bind the ingredients together and transfer into an oiled oven proof dish. Bake in an oven until golden brown.

5. Slice and serve with whatever you wish. This goes well with salad but equally vegan onion gravy and steamed veg on a cold day like this.

Quick Asparagus supper

Reduced asparagus cannot be walked past in the store! Asparagus is so yummy even cats try to steal it from you, and reduced down to 50p a bunch my head was spinning in delight.
Having turned my back to light the oven I had to wrestle a few stalks back from Lola, which wasn't difficult as I had the advantage of thumbs. After washing and giving Lola a stern look I snapped off the woody ends leaving nice tender tips.
The next step was to make a rosemary drizzle; pouring oil, some salt and dried rosemary into a pestle and grinding away. After a few minutes I added about a teaspoon of sugar, a swish of white vinegar and a dash of soya milk and tahini. Mixed together thoroughly I sparingly drizzled over the asparagus tips.
Into the oven went the asparagus on gas mark 6 until tender and a little bit crispy.
I served over some fried mushrooms cooked with a bit of paprika and garlic and toast.
This is also a great starter on its own or with croutons or topping a jacket sweet potato with houmous.
A gourmet bargain supper, just missing the wine!

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

Winter picnic with cabbage pie

The weather has been dry over the past week so what's more appealing than a picnic with some hearty food and a flask of coffee or soya hot chocolate?
A gentle walk through woods with their wonderful array of colours at this time of year, and the chill of the air tight on your face is rewarded with this cabbage pie recipe that is good with pickle or warm with some tomato herb gravy. Throw in a banana or a sweet treat and you have yourself a vegan picnic!
Cabbage pie
1. First make some shortcrust spelt pastry from half fat to flour ratio. I used vegan sunflower margarine.
Leave to rest in fridge for half an hour.
2. Chop thinly a local and fresh cabbage and sweat off with an onion in a pan with a bit of oil.
3. Season the cabbage and add a good spoonful of peanut butter and stir in, adding a splash or two of soya milk to sauce it up so the cabbage is thoroughly coated.
4. Allow the cabbage to cool whilst you roll out the pastry and assemble the pie in a oiled pie dish.
5. Add the cool cabbage filling and top off with a lid of pastry.
6. Bake for about 20 mins in gas mark 6 oven. You will know its ready by the smell of biscuits and its light brown colour.
Serve hot with roast potatoes or mashed sweet potato and vegan gravy or allow to cool and take it with you with pickles on a sunny winter picnic.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

Virtues of Taro

Opening and closing the cupboards a few times this morning didn't appear to affect their contents, somehow I felt this repeated action would result in better choices for breakfast but the magic wasn't working and soup or rice did not appeal to me. The dried apricots did not have their favourite friend with them of oats but I did realise I had still a quarter of a packet of dried Taro leaves hiding in their , so perhaps the magic did work!
It also made me realise I have not posted about the virtues of Taro. "Laing" a Filipino dish of coconut and Taro leaves is delicious and vegan when made simply, but is a also a great base to modify and add your own twist or eaten hot and cold on toast or as yummy alternative vegan pizza topping that is cheaper than a cheese substitute.

So grab yourself a packet of Dried Taro leaves and those rounds of stale bread and heres to a delicious breakfast!!

My Filipino colleague not only told me that I had named one of my cats "Nanna" ("Lola" is tagalog for Grandma or Nanna!) but dried Taro leaves are better than fresh as with the fresh the hairy rough coating on the leaves is difficult to breakdown in the cooking process, so if you can get fresh they must be allowed to dry first before cooking. Alternatively you can purchase a packet already dried for around £1.50 from China Town or your nearest local Filipino supermarket. One packet should be enough for 4 meals to share so thats about 38 pence plus coconut and cooking costs each time you make it, which is far cheaper than the ready made in a tin and goes a lot futher.

Before we get onto the recipe I need to say something about the airmiles cost, because Taro is not particularly a native european plant and packets of dried leaves are imported from south east asia there is the impact on the environment to consider. I've thought of a few accomodations for this as follows:-

• Replace dried Taro leaves in the recipe with dried kale leaves
• Get wise to the airmiles and offset the carbon footprint http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
• I have had some success growing Taro as a houseplant from purchasing a healthy tuber from my nearest carribean market store where it is known as "Dasheen". Pick a tuber with a green shoot and take it home as soon as possible. They like plenty of moisture and humidity but the soil needs to be rich in compost, moisture retaining but not waterlogged . After cultivating a well developed plant you can start taking off a few of the outside leaves and drying. When dry shred them up and you will be ready for the recipe!

Incidently you maybe reading this post from outside Europe so the airmiles cost maybe significantly less.

Here's how for a lower fat version, if you want a creamy rich version replace the dessicated coconut with half a block of creamed coconut or a can of coconut cream:-

1. Set aside equal measures of dessicated coconut and dried Taro. I would say about a cup of each should do it.
2. Place the dessicated coconut in a pan alongside some chooped garlic, and a touch of dried chili or chili paste if you wish. (Ginger is also good here).
3. Cover the coconut with enough hot water from a kettle and leave to soak for about 30 mins.
4. Add Taro leaves and stir in to mix.
5. Add enough soya milk to cover the leaves and coconut. ( if using coconut cream or milk you can use water)
6. Cook the mixture off until the liquid has reduced to virtually nothing ( about 20 mins) giving a few good stirs along the way.
7. Add salt to taste and finish off with a dash off oil and continue to cook a further 2-3 mins until their is no liquid left in the pan.

and thats it!!!

Squirraling away free fruit and berries

Now is the time of year to fill your boots with fruits. Its been such a wet year that even the normal reliable local trees for apples are thin on the ground so I'm also aware of the need to ensure I leave plenty of food for wildlife and not plunder the natural sources.
What does seem to be in abundance is blackberries. I think the economical cut backs has meant less money spent on vegetation control by the local council allowing them to grow and blossom.
There is still a good two weeks of fruit left on the bushes so I need to get busy preparing storage.
The easiest way to store blackberries over the winter is to 'jamify', no specialist equipment required just fruit and jam. I don't even go for the measurement, using a rule of thumb 'half the amount of sugar to fruit' by eyeballing it. Then just boil away on stove top until you get big glistening bubbles on top of the mix or the mixture coats the back of a metal spoon without slippage.
Alternatively you can juice your berries and either freeze the result or add a squeeze of lemon juice and keep in the fridge for later. As a special treat add some juice to some soya or almond milk!

Lentil bake (with vegan parmesan perhaps?!)

There's a small pleasure to be had from soaking your own pulses at breakfast for your evening meal. Knowing you are going to return home to some bulging split peas or beans that are going into your late summer supper is far superior than opening a tin of pre-cooked beans and far more economical.
I love the spontaneity of getting up and randomly soaking some pulses or beans in the morning, whilst all day in the back of your sub-concious that small part of your mind reserved for epicure and kitchen creation works away at some recipe for them to feature.

Well here's tonight's result following the day soaked yellow split peas:-

Split Pea Bake

1. I had an onion, half a squash left over from polents night and a courgette that I cubed and began roasting with a sprinkle of oil,herbs and salt in an oven-dish.

2.Meanwhile my pre-soaked yellow.split peas were simmering away on the stove top until tender.

3. I drained the peas when tender and ready in preparation of combining with the roast veg,.a handful of spinach and a tin of chopped tomatoes.

4.After combining everything together I returned the oven-dish to the oven topping the lentil-veg combi with thinly sliced potatoes.

5. The dish was cooked until the potatoes browned and crisp and then sprinkled with garlic oil for extra lush flavours.

Serve with a simple salad of leaves.or if you can barter some vegan parmesan for a skill why not grate a little over top. If you are struggling to get a friend to part with their precious cheese substitute why not try mix up the following as a vegan  parmesan style sprinkle:

Take equal parts of toasted dessicated coconut, ground almonds and yeast flakes. Put in a clean jar and shake thoroughly. Sprinkle as you please!!

Squash, polenta and all that!

Polenta is a great and cheap carb fix
that is such a good base for flavours and sauces.
I quickly put this together yesterday using half a squash, a handful of frozen peas, a few leftover mushrooms and a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Polenta flour weighs in around 99p for a kilo and for two you just need two good tablespoons or there abouts, so plenty left out of a £1 for many good meals to come.
I've been foraging for herbs so my flavours were free as the breeze with my pickings of wild marjoram, rosemary and thyme.

So how to make the polenta:-
1. Put some oil in a pan and heat and then add your polenta flour (two tablespoons) and briskly stir.
2. Gradually add water a bit at a time until you get the consistency of porridge a its thickly bubbling away
3.Add salt a good dose of herbs for flavour and stir well.
4.Pour the polenta porridge in to a sandwich box and cool for a couple of hours.
5. When ready to make the dish, turn the polenta out and slice or cut into cubes and reheat in an oven or on a griddle whilst the sauce is being cooked.

Now the sauce:
1.Cube half a squash and a whole onion and sweat off in a heavy based pan with oil, pinch of salt and pepper.
2.When the squash starts to soften stir in a cup of frozen peas and a couple of chopped mushrooms.
3.After a further 2 minutes add a tin of chopped tomatoes and continue cooking until the whole medley reduces into a thick sauce.

Serve immediately by spooning the sauce over the reheated polenta.

Remember 'national sprout a lentil day' ? Well I serve the polenta dish up with some sprouted lentils and vinegar toasted peanuts. For you peanuts just dry toast them in a pan and at the last minute drizzle some nice vinegar in along with a pinch of salt and sugar to give them a vinegar caramel coating.

Chard chana

I first sowed my Swiss chard last autumn when we had a month of unseasonable fine weather and its taken until May for them to be harvestable. What I have learnt is that its a tough veg, lasting through the winter as tiny little plants and surviving a constant uprooting and replanting from the local cat population. So get sowing now!

The past few days of warmth was bringing back memories of Barcelona and one of my favourite haunts was Juicy Jones in El Raval that served daily thali dishes of vegan goodness. Recreating this memory at home I was short on ingredients so with a few chard leaves and a tin of chickpeas I russled up an additional thali dish that is equally tasty and fulfilling to sit on its own with rice or cous cous as it is next to hot spicy aubergines.

Chard Chana

1. Take a couple of sticks of celery, an onion and four good sized leaves of swiss chard.

2. Chop the veg to equal size and fry in some olive oil until sweated off.

3. Add a teaspoon of turmeric, a clove of garlic finely chopped, a pinch of salt and half a tin of chickpeas.

4. Continue cooking add a dash of oil to moist the dish and any additional seasoning.

5. The moisture from the veg should be enough to prevent the dish drying out but you can sprinkle with water if needed.

6. Serve when the chickpeas are heated through.

This dish works well also stuffed in a pitta cold the next day , if there's any left!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Spring greens

Well its been awhile since I've written and it seems like winter has gone on and on forever now we are in May. The trees are blossoming and the dandelions are coming into flower. What better way to kick start the summer in our bellies than with spring greens. Dandelion leaves and other edible leaves are at their best but I always go back to lush newly sprouted nettle tops for flavour and nutrients.

My previous blog on nettles last year gives a good overview of their preparation. The following recipe is as versatile as spinach but unlike spinach with nettles there is no oxalic acid to get in the way of absorbing maximum nutrients.

Nettle Greens chop-up

1.After washing your nettles well in cold water steam for 10 minutes.

2. The nettles will appear really dark green , almost black , after steaming.

3. Finely chop up your steamed nettles and season.

4. Finely chop up a scallion or any onion and stir-fry it in a pan with some oil until it takes on some colour.

5. Add your chopped steamed nettles and continue to stir fry until heated through.

6.Serve as a side to other dishes, or on toast or especially nice in a pitta with tahini or nut butters.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Fat Marrow

I realise that stuffing a marrow does not conjure up great images of culinary delights, especially when I've heard them being referred to as 'badgers' because of their stripes. But a good marrow will keep through the winter in a cool dry dark place providing a lift of nutrients as we hit the lowest point of the season.
This recipe involves lentils, seeds and an onion, all great winter store food and an avocado to boost the superfood values.

Fat Marrow

1. Put a cup full of red lentils in a pan with some water and cook until just turning soft.

2. Add a diced onion and seasoning and cook for another 5 to 10 mins.

3. Meanwhile take your marrow, split down the middle and scoop out the seedy bit (as pictured). Leave to oneside in a greased baking tray.

4. Now take some almonds, about a handful, and pound until crumb- like.

5. Stir the almonds into the lentils with a bit of oil and leave the whole mix to cool.

6. Layer the lentil mix into the marrow halves and bake in an oven at about gas mark 5 until the lentils start to brown.

7. Meanwhile mash a ripe avocado with a drop of soya milk and a chopped clove of garlic.

8. Take the marrow out of the oven and smother the top with the mashed avocado mix.

9. Sprinkle over some sunflower seeds and return to the oven.

10. When the sunflower seeds are toasted remove the marrows and rest for a few minutes.

11. Serve with salad or some roasted potatoes.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Lily Flower soup

Now £1.70 may not seem a small fortune, but at first impressions you may think this expensive for a bag of dried lily flowers. Let me try and persuade you otherwise.
Lily flowers are good for the winter season as they support the lungs and have been used in chinese medicine for thousands of years for coughs. A bag of lily flowers from your chinese supermarket probably contains about enough to make at least 20 batches of this soup so should see you through the winter months. My final decree on the virtues of lily flowers is that they taste so wonderful that if you didn't know it you'd think they were some exotic mushroom.

The following recipe is a fusion of my healthy seaweed soup and a recipe using Lily flowers from Bobby Chinn which I left Jane to put together. The great thing about the hundreds of traditional chinese soup recipes is that they are so adaptable to a vegan diet, are inexpensive to make and all come with a prescriptive health benefit.

Jane's Lily flower Soup

1. Soak a good pinch of dried lily flowers from your chinese supermarket for 30 minutes in hot water.

2. Rinse the Lily flowers in cold water and chop off and discard the hard ends.

3. With the remaining lily flowers spend a little time tying each into a knot as they look so pretty this way in a soup.

4. Take 2 medium potatoes and slice thinly into about 3mm slices. Place in a pan with a chopped onion and some oil and sweat off for a few minutes.

4. Add your knotted Lily flowers and a litre of water with either two desertspoons of miso or a good measure of yeast extract.

5. Bring the broth to a boil and add your seaweed, either kelp strips or laver. You want enough to boost the soup flavour so about a good sheet of kelp broken up or a handful of laver.

6. Continue cooking until the potatoes soften but stop before they break up.

7. Serve and enjoy.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Sunday Carrot and Lemon Corn Cake

I spent the last 3 hours revising as we have hit exam time again and I needed chocolate, coffee or cake whichever came first or in whichever order. Finding my cupboards bare of all I decided the next best thing was to make cake from some carrots, fine cornmeal and half a lemon leftover from Jane's adventures in soup on Friday.

What better way to have a Sunday afternoon break than with a pot of tea and cake. Also this end of the season local carrots are getting beyond best so putting them in a cake seems to make perfect sense to use them in style.

heres how its done:-

1. Grate 3 medium carrots into a bowl with a cup of sugar and half a cup of vegan margarine

2. Blend your sugar, carrots and margarine together until blended.

3. Seperately blend two cups of fine cornmeal with a heaped teaspoon of baking soda

4. Add your cornmeal and soda to your blended carrots, sugar and margarine. Stir in well.

5. Now ,this is where you need to work fast and get your oven on Gas mark 6 and have a greased baking tray prepared as once you add your lemon juice and liquid it goes "Chemistry 5".

6. Once your oven has reached temperature, squeeze into your cake mix the juice of half a lemon and half a cup of soya milk. Mix briskly and pour into your prepared tray.

7. Cook in the oven for about 10-15 minute or until firm and golden brown.

8. Once cool top with some sugar icing and serve.

Now where's the Assam!



International 'sprout-a-lentil' day

I'm officially declaring today as International Sprout a Lentil day. Why?
Well its a great time to enter the new year and get some of that New Year extra nutritional boost and healthy crispy salad-ness you can only achieve from sprouted seeds.
If you start today by the time you've recovered from celebrating you are ready to munch down on some sprouting healthiness.
The other bonus is that you don't need many seeds or lentils to make a start so its good on the budget.

Here's my top seeds, beans and lentils to sprout:-

- alfalfa
- sunflower seeds
- green lentils
- brown lentils
- mung beans

Soak your beans, lentils and seeds overnight in a little water. You can mix your seeds and beans but as some sprout at different rates I find its best to keep them seperate then mix when youre ready to eat.
You will need about a desertspoon of your chosen seed.

After soaking, rinse and place in jam jar covered with a piece of breathable material held in place with an elastic band. Give the jar a shake to distibute your seeds and place it on its side somewhere not too cool or hot. On a daily basis refresh your seeds by rinsing in water until you have happily sprouted seeds.

Creamy Sprouted Houmous

This was a raw food version of houmous I developed when I spent a month on raw food. Its just as creamy but has that fresh taste and all the nutrition of sprouted seeds. I think sprouted sunflower seeds is best for this but any sprouts will do.

1. Take two cups of your sprouts, clove of garlic and put in blender with a pinch of salt.

2. Add a good desertspoon of oil and blend until smooth.

3. Stir in a desertspoon of tahini and a squeeze of lime or lemon.

4. Serve with pitta, falafel or on toast.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2