Category Archives: Vegan

Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tomato, Carrot and Black-Eyed Bean Soup

A need for a last minute supper and no interest in racing to the shops to buy stuff. A good ferret around the cupboard and fridge and this is what I came up with. I blitzed this in the liquidiser but only to blend the ingredients rather than to puree the mix. This gave the soup a nice texture when the beans were added.

Turned out to be very tasty indeed and nicely filling. Thumbs up from the teen who made off with the leftovers for lunch!

Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
3 carrots, grated
2 tablespoons, Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tablespoon, dried parsley
1 heaped teaspoon, dried basil
¾ pint, vegetable stock
2 tins, chopped tomatoes
1 tin, black-eyed beans*
½ to 1 teaspoon, sugar**
Sea salt and ground black pepper to season

Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan
2. Add the onion, cover with the lid and allow to cook for about 5 minutes until soft
3. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes
4. Add the carrots and cook for 2 minutes
5. Add the herbs, tomatoes and stock
6. Cook for about 20 minutes
7. Add the sugar according to taste**
8. Season with salt and lots of black pepper
9. Blitz in the liquidiser until the ingredients are blended but not pureed
10. Return to the pan and add the black-eyed beans*
11. Heat through and serve

* With the amount of soup, more beans would be possible to turn this into a heartier soup or even a main meal. Next time, I will try adding a tin of borlotti beans
** I usually like tinned tomatoes cooked with sugar to season. This soup, however, was nicer with less sugar.

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Main, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegan Samosas

Ever since The Great British Bake Off, I’ve loved the food Nadiya Hussain prepares. On one cookery programme, she made a rather massive samosa pie for a picnic. A lightbulb moment! I’ll make small Samosa Pasties for the Teen the next time she’s home.

I set about devising a pastry and a filling that were both vegan. The idea was to make enough pastry for two pie lids, divide the pastry into 6 pieces, fill them and then crimp them like Cornish Pasties. The image in my head was glorious! The reality somewhat different.

The pastry I came up with was fine. I was a little timid in my treatment of it for fear I might overwork it. With a little patience, I was able to roll it out and curl it over a rolling pin. Making it into individual pasties was, however, a self-deluding pipe (pie?) dream!

Plan B. I took out a tart plate and opted to use that instead. I prepared the pastry and put the whole thing together. I followed Nadiya’s lead of adding turmeric in the pastry. I thought this was important to give it some colour as, being vegan, I wouldn’t be able to egg wash or milk wash the finished offering. I discovered alternatives of using water or almond milk to seal the edges and of using oil or almond milk to wash the lid. I opted for water to seal and oil to wash.

The result? It was lovely and the filling was delicious. The pastry was not the easiest to work with. If I was to opt for a ‘purist’ approach, I would make it again. If I was to opt for an easier approach, and one where the pastry could be shaped into the much desired pasty, I’d go for shop bought since I discovered that Jusrol’s shortcrust, puff and filo pastries are all vegan!

What did I serve it with? A mixed salad and tomato relish. The Teen approved. She liked the filling so much, she said she’d have it as a main or side dish as well.

Ingredients
Pastry
12 ounces, plain flour
8 tablespoons, sunflower oil
4-6 tablespoons, cold water (adjust according to how dry the pastry is)
1 teaspoon, salt
1-2 teaspoons, turmeric
Flour for rolling

Filling
2 tablespoons, sunflower oil
1 teaspoon, coriander seeds
½ teaspoon, fennel seeds
½ teaspoon, fenugreek seeds
¼ teaspoon, mustard seeds
1 tablespoon, freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced finely
1 green chilli, minced finely
1 small onion, minced finely
2 teaspoons, coriander powder
¾ teaspoon, turmeric
½ teaspoon, garam masala
6-7 curry leaves
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut in small cubes
3-4 fluid ounces, water
4 ounces, frozen peas
Sea salt
Sunflower oil to wash the pie lid

Method
1. To make the pastry: place all ingredients in a large bowl
2. Mix together until combined (adjust water as needed)
3. Put onto a floured board and bring it into a pastry ball
4. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes
5. Crush the coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and mustard seeds
6. Heat the oil, add the seeds and cook for about 1 minute to release the spices
7. Add the onion and cover with the spices
8. Put the lid on the pot and cook slowly until the onion is soft, shaking the pot ever now and again to ensure the mix doesn’t stick or the spices don’t burn
9. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a couple more minutes
10. Add the ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala and curry leaves
11. Add the potatoes, cover with the spiced mix, add 2 fluid ounces of water and place the lid back on the pot (add more water if needed)
12. Cook for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft
13. Season with a little salt, add the peas and cook for a further 5 minutes
14. Put aside to cool
15. Back to the pastry: cut into two
16. Roll out piece for the bottom and then one for the lid
17. Fill with the samosa filling
18. Wet the edges with water and seal the edge using a fork
19. Wash the lid with oil
20. Bake at 180 C degrees for 25-30 minutes

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Banana and Walnut Bread (vegan), Vegan

Banana and Walnut Bread (vegan)*

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I like baking. I have been baking for as long as I could climb up onto the blue kitchen stool and “supervise” my mother. I don’t know why then I was so nervous when baking this Banana and Walnut Bread. I suppose I was succumbing to engrained feelings that vegan must be tasteless. Ridiculous given how much vegan food I have eaten and not had that experience. But nervous I was.

I mixed together each stage. When I tasted the mix, it tasted exactly as it should do. I was surprised. When it began to rise in the oven, I was also surprised. And when it was baked, it tasted lovely. Another surprise. I really did fear the worst because years of conditioning said it couldn’t be so. My supremely-better-at-baking pal, Robert, assured me that all a cake needs to succeed is ‘fluids, fat and glue’ – all of which were in this mix. The fact it was tasty therefore shouldn’t have come as such a surprise!

Ingredients
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated finely
3-4 very ripe bananas
6 tablespoons, Rapeseed Oil
3½ ounces, castor sugar
7 ounces, self-raising flour
2 teaspoons, baking powder
3 teaspoons, ground cinnamon
4 ounces walnuts, broken into small pieces
Pinch of salt
Sunflower oil

Method
1. Heat the oven to 180 C degrees
2. Line a loaf tin with baking parchment and brush with sunflower oil
3. Sieve the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt together
4. Mash the bananas
5. Add the sugar and oil to the bananas and combine well
6. Add the dry ingredients in three stages, combining well each time
7. Add the walnuts and grated apple
8. Turn the mix into a loaf tin and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes
9. Cover in tinfoil and bake for a further 35-40 minutes
10. Turn onto a wire rack to cool

*There is a non-vegan version in the ‘Baking’ section

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Vegan

Kedgeree

rice

From initial fear to absolute delight, I am so enjoying cooking for the Vegan in the Attic. For Sunday dinner, I decided to try another new dish. During the week, I saw a cookery programme which featured vegetarian Kedgeree. Always associating it with flaked fish and hard boiled eggs, I didn’t know that the original was, in fact, a vegetarian version.

I ploughed through recipes but didn’t find any I really liked. They were either too bland or a pilau rice with some vegetables and nuts. Based on what I’d read, I decided to wing it! I used spicing similar to the fish and egg variety as it seemed more distinct. I created my own spice mix to give it a curry flavour rather than opting for the more traditional use of generic curry powder. The spicing is subtle, aromatic rather than hot.

Being a vegan version, I upped the level of vegetables.  I cooked it in a heavy, wide lipped, saucepan which has a great lid to seal in the steam. I would have put a sheet of greaseproof paper in between lid and pot if the seal wasn’t as good.

As a hot dish, it got the thumbs up from my attic dweller. As a cold dish, it is in the fridge awaiting lunch tomorrow.

Ingredients
1½ cups, Basmati rice
1 cup, green lentils
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1½ teaspoons cumin seeds
1½ teaspoons ground coriander
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
4 cardamom pods, bruised
1 stick cinnamon
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated*
1 large white onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely diced
1 red pepper, finely chopped
250g baby spinach, washed
150g frozen peas
2 pints good quality stock
30g flaked almonds, toasted
Sea salt and ground black pepper to season

Method
1. Put the rice and lentils into a sieve and rinse with clean, cold, water until the water runs clear and there is no starch left
2. Heat the oil in the pot
3. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods and stir for 1-2 minutes
4. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cayenne pepper and stir until all ingredients are combined
5. Cover and let cook for 5 minutes until the onion is soft
6. Add the carrots and pepper and combine with the rest of the ingredients
7. Cook for 2 minutes
8. Add the rice and lentils and combine with the rest of the ingredients
9. Cook for 2 minutes
10. Add 1 pint stock and season with salt and pepper
11. Cover with lid and cook for 10-15 minutes
12. Check after 10 minutes and add more stock if required
13. After 15 minutes, add spinach and peas and combine with the rest of the ingredients
14. When the rice and lentils are nearly cooked, cover the saucepan and switch off the heat allowing the meal to cook for the last few minutes in its own steam
15. Serve immediately with a sprinkling of toasted almonds on the top

Chef tip: A television chef suggested keeping fresh ginger in the freezer and grate from frozen, skin and all. It sounded odd but I decided to try it. Works like a dream and far easier to grate. I’m converted!

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Ratatouille, Ratatouille, Vegan, Vegetarian

Ratatouille – not exactly traditional but we love it!

Once every few weeks, I make Ratatouille. The choice can be for any or all of three reasons – we really like it, what’s in the fridge and its versatility. This rustic mix of vegetables is a firm favourite in this house where it is eaten alone, with roast chicken and steamed new potatoes, with steak and roast potatoes, with fish, with pasta, with rice…

There’s a fierce amount of chopping involved but it is so worth it. While I generally stick to the traditional ingredients, I have changed my cooking method. Instead of using the stove, I now prepare and cook it in a heavy casserole dish (lid on). I think the flavour is a tad deeper while the Teen thinks the cooking method has no effect on the flavour; she believes they taste the exact same. What I particularly like is the fact that I can pop it in the oven and not have to watch it!

French traditionalists will probably baulk at my approach and recipe. I invite them to my home any time if they want to cook the dish for me! 🙂

 

 Ratatouille

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large aubergines, cubed
2 large courgettes, cubed
2 red peppers (or yellow peppers), chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4 tomatoes, skinned and chopped (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
1 tablespoon tomato puree (a second can be added mid cooking if a more intense flavour is preferred)
2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
Salt and ground black pepper
A heaped teaspoon of sugar (optional)

Method
1. Slice the aubergines lengthways, score and sprinkle generously with salt. Leave aside for about 30 minutes. Wash and then pat try. Chop into chunks
2. Preheat oven to 180C degrees
3. Heat the olive oil in a heavy casserole dish. Add the onion, cover and sweat for about 5 minutes
4. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes
5. Add the aubergines, peppers and courgettes. Cover and sweat for about 5 minutes
6. Stir in the tomato puree followed by the fresh or tinned tomatoes
7. Add the herbs
8. Season with salt and pepper
9. Cover and place in the oven for 30 minutes
10. Take out of the oven, stir and return for another 20 minutes. At this point, a second tablespoon of tomato puree can be added. Sugar may also be added if the tomatoes seem to make the mix a little bitter
11. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

 

 

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Soups, Vegan, Vegetable Soup with Barley, Vegetable Soup with Barley, Vegetable with Barley

‘Baby teeth’ optional

We’re all about soups this month. I make them, the Teen guzzles them – win-win situation. Sometimes, however, I tire of clever soups and simply want something warm and comforting. And quick to make and cheap!

This vegetable soup I make is one of the Teen’s favourites. Not only does she like the flavour, she adores the fact that it is a one pot soup with no blender etc. to wash up. There’s another reason we like this soup – it contains a good dollop of nostalgia. I usually cook up a pot on ‘St Stephens Day’ or ‘Wren’s Day’ as called at home. Turkey and ham sandwiches and homemade vegetable soup – a feast fit for kings!

This is a soup with bits. Rather than spend countless hours chopping vegetables neatly, this involves chopping them any which way, throwing them into the pot, cooking the soup and then using a potato masher to break it all down. Simple!

Removing the chicken stock makes it vegetarian and then using only sunflower oil will make it vegan. Removing the butter also makes it dairy free. I am unsure how well it freezes – there are never any leftovers.

Barley can be added too. About half a cup, soaked for half an hour and cooked with the soup makes it more of a meal than a snack. I like barley now – I refused to eat it when little as I was convinced they were ‘baby teeth’. No amount of effort on my mother’s part could convince me otherwise!

 

Vegetable Soup with Barley

Ingredients
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 ounce butter and one tablespoon sunflower oil (or two tablespoons sunflower oil)
2 pints of chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon fresh parsley or a good sprinkling of dried herbs
1 level teaspoon, dried mix herbs
Salt and freshly ground pepper to season
Half cup of barley

Method
1. Melt the butter and/or oil
2. Fry the onions for a few minutes until translucent
3. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook for a few minutes
4. Add the stock, herbs and ground pepper (the amount of salt added will depend on the stock used and personal preference)
5. When the vegetables are soft, used the potato masher to break them down
6. Serve hot with crusty bread or brown bread.

 

 

 

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Spiced Cauliflower, Spiced Cauliflower Soup, Spiced Cauliflower Soup

Spiced Cauliflower Soup

So the Teen likes soup. Well, not just any soup. She doesn’t like ‘the creamy stuff’ as she calls it, dismissing it as ‘a bit cloying.’ I face a conundrum – she’d like cauliflower soup but with no milk, cream or coconut milk in it. All the recipes I have add some form of creaminess to the mixture.

After looking through a few, well-thumbed, cookbooks, I conjured up the following recipe to tickle the taste buds of my attic-dwelling teen. I wanted to combine what seemed like the best aspects of a few and then to give it a try-out. A culinary experiment, as it were.

And she loved it and so did I (which is strange as I am not a great fan of soup or anything which is a measure of ‘sameness’ in a bowl!).

I used butter as it gave a richness to the soup but that’s a personal preference. This recipe can be made to suit vegans by changing the butter to two tablespoons of olive or sunflower oil and not using chicken stock (eh…obviously!). Removing the butter will also make the recipe dairy-free.

We liked the addition of cayenne pepper as it gave it a little kick but again, that is simply our preference. The soup will be tasty without it too. As I used a commercial stock, I left out salt as there was already plenty. We didn’t feel the need to add more. And it also freezes perfectly.

What can I say? R-e-s-u-l-t!

 

 Spiced Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients
1 large head of cauliflower, washed and cut into chunks with the stem and greens removed
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 ounces butter or 1 ounce of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil or two tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 pint chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to season

Method
1. Melt the butter in a pan and fry the onion until soft
2. Add garlic and fry for a couple of minutes
3. Add the spices and fry for another couple of minutes
4. Add the cauliflower and coat with the spiced onion mix
5. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer
6. In about 15 minutes, when the cauliflower is cooked, place it in a blender and blitz until smooth
7. Return to the pan
8. Heat through
9. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

 

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Soups, Spiced Butternut Squash, Spiced Butternut Squash Soup, Spiced Butternut Squash Soup, Spiced Cauliflower, Vegan, Vegetarian

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

Winter dawned yesterday when I was reduced to wearing the dreaded tights! URGH! I hate them but needs must and all that.

And with the cold comes the greater need for soup. Technically, a slow release food, soup is great. Spiced Butternut Squash Soup is one of the teen’s favourites. I like it because it is so easy to make and it fills the house with the really warm and comforting aroma of spices. She likes it because it is tasty and smooth enough in texture to fit in her flask for college. A winner all round methinks!

Here’s the recipe.

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup
(Serves 4)

Ingredients
1 butternut squash, chopped into large chunks with the skin left on but seeds removed
1 large onion, skin removed and halved
1 dessert spoon, coriander seeds
1 teaspoon, mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Sea salt and ground pepper
Extra Virgin olive oil
1 pint vegetable

Method
1. Preheat the oven at 180c
2. Place the chunks of butternut squash on a baking tray, skin down
3. Add the halved onion
4. Sprinkle with spices
5. Season with sea salt and ground pepper
6. Cook in the oven until the flesh is soft (about 30 minutes)
7. Allow to cool
8. Scoop the spiced flesh off the skin and put in a liquidiser
9. Add the stock
10. Liquidise until the texture is smooth and all ingredients are blended
11. Pour into saucepan to heat and season to taste
12. Serve on its own or with a swirl of cream.

 

 

 

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Carrot and Ginger, Carrot and Ginger Soup, Carrot and Ginger Soup

Carrot and Ginger Soup

Recently, I enjoyed a lovely evening with my pal, Nuala. Good food, laughs, memories and wine – always a winning combination.

She was raving about the Carrot and Ginger Soup she had eaten earlier. I’d made Carrot Soup before but the addition of ginger was new. As the teen is a major fan of soup, I decided to give it a go. The verdict? ‘Best. Soup. Ever!’

 

Carrot and Ginger Soup

Ingredients
2 tablespoon olive oil
1½ lbs carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 medium sized onion, chopped
½ cup fresh orange juice
1 pint good quality vegetable stock
Generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper to season.

Method
1. Heat oil
2. Fry onion for 2 minutes
3. Add ginger and fry for another 3 minutes until the onion pieces are soft and translucent
4. Add in the carrots and mix until coated with the onion and ginger
5. Cook for a few minutes
6. Add the nutmeg
7. Add the stock and orange juice
8. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are cooked and soft
9. Season with salt and pepper
10. Place in an electric blender and blend until a smooth liquid
11. Return to the heat and serve immediately.

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