Tag: parsley

Baba Ganoush

Otherwise known as Aubergine dip or if you don’t even use the word Aubergine, eggplant dip.

A delicious middle eastern recipe that is also simple to make, very nutritious as well as delicious.

It is also possible to play with the flavour profile by adding spices and herbs or even other vegetables.

The recipe.

2 Aubergines
2 cloves of garlic
40ml of olive oil, or 2 tbsp
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
40ml Tahini or 2 tbsp
juice of a lemon
salt to taste
finely chopped parsley to finnish.

Grill or roast the Aubergines whole for 35 – 40 minutes, or until blackened and soft.
Allow to cool completely.
Peel or scoop out the flesh.

put all the ingredients into the blender except the parsley,
and mix till it’s a smooth luscious paste.
season to taste, and serve with the chopped parsley sprinkled on top.

super easy and greet as a snack with crackers.

Enjoy.

Secrets of perfect Couscous

There is a trick to getting perfect couscous, not porridge, which happens if you are not careful, or sawdust, which is also no fun to eat. Getting it right it’s part of the three bears philosophy, not to much, not too little, but just enough.

There are always instructions on the packet, usually this involves using way too much liquid, so be sparing. I find the ratio option works best for me.
Two to one, no more, no less.

So if you measure in cups it’s one cup to half a cup or 200ml. to 100ml.
hot water to couscous.
and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to smooth it out helps enormously to make a tasty meal, plus salt to taste of course.

Here’s how you do it. Boil the water, turn it off, pour in the couscous, leave it a few seconds and then start fluffing it up with a fork, add a little olive oil as you go, let if fluff it will grow quite a bit. Never add more water. Trust the process.

To turn it into this lovely meal, pictured above.

finely chop a 5cm chunk of courgette into 5mm cubes.
finely chop a handful of parsley
Chop a spring onion into slim rings, also using all the green
chop half a paprika into 5mm cubes

Finely chop a chilli, leaving out the pith and seeds for a milder flavour. I prefer cayenne chillies myself. Leave out the chilli if you don’t like the heat.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

This can be eaten as a salad, or the staple with any meal, served just warm or cold.

There are many variations, try different vegetables, whichever you prefer, do not be afraid to experiment.

Enjoy another great vegan dish!

 

Red cabbage salad

Red Cabbage salad Recipe

1/4 red cabbage
4 large radishes
1 Spring onion
Juice of half a lemon
grated lemon zest. (1/2 a lemon)
1 tbsp Mirin
Celtic sea salt to taste
3 tbsp Hellmann’s vegan mayonnaise. (or homemade vegan mayonnaise)

Technique.

Cut the stalk out of the red cabbage and remove any bruised outer leaves.
Finely slice the cabbage, into approximately 1-2 mm strips, the fineness of the chopping, or slicing makes the difference here.
Place in a bowl and massage firmly to bring out the colour and soften the texture.
Add the salt. (be sparing with the salt)
Grate in the lemon zest – be careful to avoid the pith as the zest is so much more fragrant.
Squeeze 1/2 the lemon and add the juice to the cabbage, mixing well.
Top and tail the radishes and slice to 1mm thickness, slice as finely as you can leaving the radish in nice wafer-thin translucent rounds, mix with the cabbage. Use a mandolin if you can’t do this well with a knife.
Finely slice the spring onion making sure to use the white and green parts, 2mm thickness is fine enough for the spring onions.
Add a tablespoon of mirin.
Add three tablespoons of mayonnaise.
Mix thoroughly and leave to chill for an hour, then mix again to stir the juices through.
It is ready to serve.

This will produce a juicy, cool and fragrant cabbage salad with a generous dressing which is refreshing and satisfying.

P.S. It is always possible to change the chopping techniques, but this will change the whole texture of the dish. It is always possible to change some of the ingredients, ordinary table salt if you have no celtic sea salt. Normal mayonaise if you do not have vegan or Hellman’s. Instead of Mirin, a small spoon of sugar – but remember that changing the ingredients changes the entire flavour of the dish.

Try it, let me know how it went, I look forward to your comments.

Recipes to go

 

Time to get it together to show you some recipes.

I have terrible trouble writing them down and then I have terrible trouble finding the scrap of paper I wrote them down on when I want to try it again.

Most recipes are in my head.
Or, I invent them as I go along, using whatever it is I have access to.
I am completely useless at menu planning for the week or the month as I use what I can find.
Be it fresh from the market, already in the fridge, or frozen a while ago.
(And did I stick a date on it before it went into the freezer?)
Probably not, but I am getting better at that, so it’s good that it does all make sense in my head.

Getting the recipes and techniques onto paper, or in this case screen, is a different kettle of fish.
Specially if you are planning to write about cabbage.

So here they are, the lovely photos of food including the cabbage salad.
You will find the recipe on the recipes page.

It’s super easy and involves no cooking whatsoever, just some knife skills.

It was served with roast potatoes cooked ‘en papillote’ slightly cooled and sliced.
Slices of avocado with fresh squeezed lemon juice, celtic sea salt, multi pepper and whole Sichuan peppercorns.
With s sampling of carrots roast in the oven with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, celtic sea salt and after allowing them to cool slightly, fresh chopped parsley.

A delicious refreshing summer dinner dish.

Hope you enjoy.