Friday 29 March 2013

Coconut Rice with Spinach


It's not even a real recipe. But COCONUT RICE! Just take this as more of an inspiration. Plus this was the best I could do with my ever diminishing food ressources.


Serves 2-3 hungry people

You need to have:

250ml cup rice
400ml coconut milk (= 1 can)
400-500g spinach (I used a can, it's pretty low)
1/2-1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
2 tsp vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
oil to fry (though I discovered, I don't even need that with my awesome new no-stick pan)


You need to do:

Pour rice and coconut milk in a pot, fill the coconut milk can 1/2 with water (to kind of clean it) and pour that water into the rice. Add 1 tsp of stock. Cook rice with an open lid until soft, if it starts to get too dry, pour in some more water.

Peel and cut/crush onion and garlic and fry in a pan until cooked. Add the spinach. Cook until everything is soft. Add 1 tsp of stock, salt and pepper to taste.

Monday 25 March 2013

Super Basic Burritos


What's happening at the momet is, I'm moving in a week, so I'm trying to use up all of my "food stash". That pretty much means canned and dried vegetables/fruit/grains/pasta... you get the idea. Plus sauces, onions and garlic. But I felt I should post something (considering my HUGE readership...), so here it goes:


Serves 2 hungry or 3 not-so-hungry people

You need to have:

(wholemeal) burritos

For the salsa:
300-400g kidney beans, ready to be processed
1/2 onion
1 garlic clove
1-2 tbsp curry
2-3 tsp coriander
1 tsp curcuma
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp paprika, sweet
1 tsp paprika, spicy
100-200ml tomao puree
salt to taste
oil to fry

For the guacamole:
1 ripe avocado
1 small handful walnuts
juice of 1 lemon or lime
tabasco, coriander, curcuma, salt and pepper to taste

nutritional yeast to sprinkle on top (optional, makes it taste a little cheesy)


You need to do:

Peel and cut onion and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and fry onion, garlic and kidney beans until well cooked. Add spices, then tomato puree. Add salt to taste.










Take out the flesh of the guacamole. Chop the walnuts into small-ish pieces. Mix everything (including spices) with a fork, thereby mashing the avocado.













Now just put it all on the burrito, sprinkle with a little yeast and enjoy.


Yeaaah, no yeast on it in the picture...

Thursday 21 March 2013

Züricher Geschnetzeltes with Mixed Rice and Craisins


THE CRAISINS MAKE IT AWESOME!


Serves... the usual

You need to have:

1 cup rice
1 big carrot
1/2 onion
1 garlic clove
250-300g Seitan
1/2 cup white wine
1-2 tsp vegetable stock
200-300ml soy cream
2-3 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
oil to fry
handful of craisins to garnish with


You need to do:

Cook rice according to the instructions on the packet.

Peel and cut onion, garlic and carott. Drain and cut Seitan. Heat a little oil in a pan, fry carrot for 2-3 minutes, add onion and garlic and fry until soft. Deglaze with the wine and stir in stock. Let simmer for about a minute, then add soy cream, herbs, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with craisins on top!


Sunday 17 March 2013

Zucchini Carrot Medallions with Seitan Ragout


Sunday, no open supermarkets, need to improvise with what you have at home. 


Serves 2-3 hungry people


You need to have:

For the medallions:
1 large zucchini
3-5 carrots
3-4 tbsp plain flour
2-3 tbsp soy flour
1 tsp vegetable stock
water
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

For the ragout:
250g seitan
1/2 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
1/4 soy sauce
2-2 tsp tomato paste
1/2 cup tomato juice
1 tsp paprika, sweet
1 tsp paprika, spicy
3 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste


You need to do:

Wash/peel zucchini and carrots and grate. Mix with flours and stock, then add water until the mixture is moist but not liquid. You only need a few tablespoons. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Heat oil in a pan and place about a spoonful of the mixture in the pan and flatten out. Fry on medium heat for 2-3 minutes, flip over and repeat. 










Cut seitan into little pieces. Dice onion and crush garlic. Fry everything for a few minutes. deglaze with soy sauce and fry for another minute or two. Add all the other ingredients. 

Saturday 16 March 2013

Hangover Potatoes


Incredibly oily but OH SO DELICIOUS and exactly what you need when you've had a little too much drink the night before. 


Serves 2-3 hungover people

You need to have:

5-6 big potatoes
1-2 onions 
oil
salt and pepper to taste


You need to do:

Peel and slice onion and potatoes and place in a big non stick pan. Add a good amount of oil and fry on high heat until things start to get brown.

Turn down heat to very low and put on lid. Let cook until soft, occasionally stirring and pouring away the water from the lid.

And next time, don't drink so much.

Monday 11 March 2013

Ratatouille with Mixed Rice


Lots of vegetables! I like the mixed rice because it has more flavour but of course, you can use any other rice you like, too.


Serves 2-3 hungry people

You need to have:

250 ml mixed rice (I always fill my 250 ml cup)
1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
2-3 carrots
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1/4-1/2 cup red wine (optional)
1 tsp vegetable stock
300-400 ml tomato purée
1 handful olives
1-2 tsp of herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil, majoram, oregano...
1 tsp paprika, sweet
1 tsp paprika, spicy
pinch of chili
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying


You need to do:

Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet.

Peel (if necessary) and chop all the vegetables. Heat oil in a big pan or saucepan and fry onions, garlic and carrots on medium heat for a good 5 minutes. Add eggplant and zucchini, lower heat and let cook with the lid on until everything is soft. Stir from time to time and pour away the water from the lid.

Deglaze with the wine, add stock and stir. Simmer for a minute or two, then add the tomato purée and olives. Season with herbs and spices. You can use anything that smells good to you. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve!

Breakfast Banana Smoothie


Delicious liquid food! Also great to fill into a bottle and take to uni/work/whatever.


Makes 1 glass

You need to have:

1 banana
100g soy yoghurt
50-100 ml soy milk
2-5 tbsp rolled oats
sugar or maple syrup to taste (optional)


You need to do:

Put everything in a blender and hit the button. Finished!

Saturday 9 March 2013

"Cheese" for baking


Yeasty goodness. Many people complain and whine they don't like this form of fake cheese. I do!


Makes enough for 2 pizzas, a pasta bake or similar

You need to have:

4 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp flour
8 tbsp nutritional yeast
250 ml water (roughly)
1 tbsp mustard
salt and pepper to taste


You need to do:

Melt the margarine in a saucepan (on low heat!). Add flour and stir well. Add some of the water and stir. Add yeast, mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Add some more water if needed, until you have a thick, batter-like mixture. Use on anything you like!

Zucchini Curry Pasta


Very quick and very easy, I love curry and zucchini. I'm such a poet.


Serves 2-3 hungry people

You need to have:

250g pasta
1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
1 big zucchini
1/2 cup white wine or water
1 tsp vegetable stock
1-2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp curcuma
1 tsp allspice
150-200 ml soy cream
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying


You need to do:

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.

Chop onion and crush garlic. Dice the zucchini into 1,5-2cm cubes.
Heat oil in a pan and fry onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add zucchini and a little salt, so the zucchini doesn't soak with oil. Fry on medium heat until the zucchini is soft but not mushy.

Deglaze with wine or broth you made with your water and stock. Add all the spices and then the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Thursday 7 March 2013

Chocolate Spread


This is ridiculously easy to make, has a consistency like Nutella and tastes wonderful. I don't like very sweet spreads, so this is perfect for me. I assume, you could make it sweeter by adding part milk part water and more sugar, or just using soy milk chocolate. And you could blend all kinds of nuts into it and add part nuts, part cocoa powder. Anything you like.


Makes 150g

You need to have:

100g (dark) chocolate
1/2 cup oil
3-5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
water, water, water
soy milk or cream (optional)
sugar to taste


You need to do:

Put oil and chocolate (broken into pieces) in a saucepan and melt on low to medium heat. Add cocoa powder. While stirring add water (or part water, part soy milk/cream) until you have a liquid mass that has about the consistency of cream. So just a little thicker than milk. Add sugar to taste.



Ginger"butter"


My absolute favourite breadspread. All the best flavours combined. Like heaven on bread. Sometimes I even fry tofu in it so it takes on its flavour. It is marvellous.


Makes 300-350g

You need to have:

250g margarine (roughly, I often just take what's left in the box)
1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp ginger paste or 3-4cm ginger root
2 tsp tomato paste
2-3 tsp coriander
2-3 tsp curry
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp paprika, sweet
1/2 tsp paprika, spicy
1/2 tsp curcuma
salt, pepper and sugar to taste
oil to fry


You need to do:

Peel onion, garlic and ginger and chop. You are going to blend everything in the end so you don't need to make super small pieces. Fry everything in oil. If you are using ginger paste, fry onions and garlic until cooked and then "caramelise" with the paste. 











Put margarine, tomato paste and spices in a blender-safe jar. Add onion, garlic and ginger and blend. Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.



Sunday 3 March 2013

Quick and Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette


I like to have a small bottle of prepared vinaigrette at home, because a salad is quick and easy to make when you come home late and are too tired to cook. This is an easy yet delicious recipe, which I also used with my Couscous Burgers.


Makes 350-400ml

You need to have:

100-150ml dark balsamic vinegar
150-250ml oil (depending on how sour you like it)
2 tsp tomato paste
1/2 onion
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp sugar
italian herbs (oregano, basil, majoram, thyme...) to taste
salt and pepper to taste


You need to do:

Put everything in a blender-safe jar and blend. Yes, it's that easy.






Quick and Easy Vegan Mayonnaise or Cream


This is a universal recipe (also part of the Couscous Burgers) that can be made into wonderful things such as garlic mayonnaise or sundried tomato mayonnaise. Basically, you can add anything you like and call it "thing I like mayonnaise". So exciting! And, of course, you can cook anything you like with the cream. It saves me a lot of money where I live and where anything made from soy other than milk is ridiculously expensive.


Makes 300-350ml mayonnaise or 200-250ml cream

You need to have:

100 ml soy milk
a tiny bit of mustard
2 squirts lemon juice or cider vinegar
200-250 ml flavourless cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste


You need to do:

Pour the soy milk into a blender-safe jar. Mix with mustard and lemon juice/vinegar. 
Now start blending and slowly pour in the oil. You might need more/less, always depending on the soy milk you use. Blend until you have the desired cream or thick mayonnaise texture.
Add salt and pepper to taste and, if you like, whatever flavour you would like your mayonnaise to have.

Couscous Burgers with Salad


Now this recipe is actually several recipes in one, so I will break it up into several posts. This one will be focussing on the couscous pattie and, well, the composition of everything.


Makes 4-5 patties

You need to have:

1/2 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tsp vegetable stock
2-3 slices old bread
1 handful fresh parsley
250 ml couscous (I filled a 250ml measuring cup, I did not weigh it)
500 ml water
2 egg replacer eggs
3 tbsp flour
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

Anything you like on a burger. I chose:
salad
tomatoes
ketchup
"mayonnaise"
kidney bean spread (recipe will follow)

If you want a side salad:
salad and everything you like in it
balsamic vinaigrette


You need to do:

Heat some oil in a saucepan. Finely chop onions, crush garlic and fry until cooked. Add stock, bread, parsley, couscous and water. Let sit until the water has been absorbed. Add "eggs" and flour and mix. You should have a thick and sticky mixture. If it is too liquid, add more flour, if it is too dry, more water. But always be careful not to add too much!
Add salt and pepper to taste.



Prepare your burger bun! I toasted mine a little, then put on ketchup and "mayonnaise", salad, tomatoes and red bean spread.





Heat some oil in a non-stick pan. Form a pattie big enough for your bun with your hands and fry on low heat with the lid on for a good 5-10 minutes until it is lightly brown from one side. Flip over and fry for another 5-10 minutes.

When it's ready, place it on your bun. 



Serve with a little salad and enjoy!


Friday 1 March 2013

Banana Chocolate Crêpes


So, after having leftover batter from my Stuffed Crêpes with White Wine and "Cream" Sauce, I decided to treat myself to some dessert. 



You need to have:

leftover crêpe batter (see recipe linked above)
1/2 block dark chocolate
1 tsp cooking oil
1 packet vanilla sugar
1-2 bananas


You need to do:

Put 1/2 the chocolate and the oil into a saucepan and let melt on low heat. If you don't want to use oil, you can put the chocolate in a metal cup or similar inside a saucepan filled with water, which will keep the chocolate from burning instead of melting. You need to keep the water from boiling however, and make sure that no water comes into the chocolate. I do not own such a metal cup, however, so I just melted my chocolate with A LITTLE oil.


While the chocolate is melting, simply add the vanilla sugar to the batter and mix. Now bake a crêpe from one side until firm but not browned yet.












Flip over and place a few slices of banana and a few pieces of chocolate on top.












Now, do the burrito thing again (fold both sides towards the middle) and fry on low heat from both sides until the crêpe is nice and golden and the chocolate melted.

Serve with the melted chocolate sprinkled on top.