Quick and easy vegan friendly meals to eat this week!

I've been doing a bit of an audit of my blog before I move hosting and I realised I don't have that many main meals on my blog. Which is silly as I cook dinner (and often lunch as I work from home) every day! It's easy to fall into the habit of eating toast or mashed potato or wine and cheese for dinner (especially during times when I am living alone) so to inspire me I've decided to do a weekly hosting of dinner recipes. The caveat is that they need to be vegan friendly (the vast majority of my cooking is vegan with dairy free milk and cheese, no meat, honey or animal products ), quick to make (say under 30 minutes) and not rely on any fancy equipment like a Thermomix or pizza oven. I'm listing a range of recipes that I cook fairly often. These can be made for lunch or dinner as part of a meal or a meal in themselves.


Do drop by with your recipe. If you'd like to be included, please link back to my weekly post and encourage people to view the different recipes that people submit :)

Red beans, quinoa and jerk spice soup
Lentil and green vegetable soup
Vegetable, quinoa and adobe soup
Egg free quiche
Quinoa, eggplant and mushroom balls
Kohlrabi coleslaw
Quick quinoa fried rice
Spicy, pumpkin, spinach and almond fetta pasties
Quinoa, barley and pickled vegetable salad

In my kitchen this month

Over the last month I have been busy with flat hunting (which requires a four hour round trip to Berlin each time I go to look at rentals) and recipe testing for my new Ebook. We're subletting a big flat in Leipzig right now but as previously mentioned, it has a DIY kitchen in that the renter needs to bring not only their own fridge but also benches, cupboards, sink and stove. Hence we have a sink and stove and a little fridge, but no oven. But it's ok, it forces me to be imaginative when cooking which is great. In general fresh food here lasts a lot less time than in Australia so the trend here to shop for groceries little and often is apt.

                             

I've been busy making a bunch of recipes that either use up leftovers, bits from my pantry or are recipe tests for my next ebook of vegan soups, salads and sides. The book demonstrates that tasty cooking is possible from the smallest kitchen and all recipes are done on the stove you see above without any fancy equipment besides a 20€ stick blender. I've got a few more recipes to go but I'll be putting it out soon! Again a portion of each purchase will go to a charity, I haven't quite decided which one yet for this one.

I made these chocolate quinoa rum balls using leftovers:

     

Next, an experimental potato bake made in a fry pan. Next time I'll cut the potatoes thinner so they 'stick together' better! 

Loving my new hand painted mug from Leipzig's Oxfam shop. It's the only charity shop in town (to my knowledge) that has household goods and is quite overpriced in general, so I was happy to find this for 1€. Also in the pic are my custard and chocolate wontons, ready to be cooked! 

I made a lovely creamy mushroom pasta with bio cheese and soy milk and mushrooms. The pasta is actually lasagne sheets broken in half, since I've no oven I thought I may as well use them up!

Here's some food I made for our housewarming/farewell party a couple of weekends ago. The last party I had (for Australia Day), I made a load of baked dishes from my last recipe ebook like sausageless rolls and passionfruit vanilla slice. A couple of gluten free people turned up late only to find most of the gf food had already been eaten which was annoying! It was a great party. 

This one by comparison was smaller, just a few friends so I made tofu rice paper rolls, guacamole, fried polenta bites with homemade pesto and of course chips! German people love chips, paprika flavoured ones are the most common here. It's also customary for people to serve lots of sweet things at parties in Deutschland which we tend to forget, solved when one of our friends turned up with a big bag of sweets! 

Here's some photos to show the less than glamourous side of food photography. It includes dried mushrooms (not cheap), tofu which I used to fill dumplings, homemade cheese and other bits and pieces. You can see from the second picture that photography can be less than glamourous! The lack of light here doesn't help, being winter/spring it's still very dark most days. 

Who could resist party gurken! 

And lastly proof Gurken are serious business here, check out the billboard below (not the best pic, it was 10:30 pm at night). 

That's most of the activity in my kitchen this month.  Make sure you pop over to Celia’s at Fig Jam & Lime Cordial to see what is happening in other kitchen’s around the world.

Quick quinoa 'fried rice'

Sometimes you just want a really simple dish, and this is where quinoa comes in. It's easy to use, has a lovely nutty flavour and lends itself to a range of sweet and savory cuisines. I had some asian ingredients leftover from making soup and rice paper rolls so I decided to make a quick lunch. It took about 15 minutes max and was a great, tasty filling meal on a cold day. You could certainly add any leftover veggies, tofu or tempeh you have handy. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/3 cup frozen peas
• 1/3 cup sweet corn kernels
• 1/4 capsicum diced
• 1 spring onion diced
• 1/2 cup hot vegetable stock
• handful bean shoots

Dressing:

• 1 garlic clove finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons tamari sauce
• 1 teaspoon peanut oil
• 1 red chilli, finely diced (optional)
• 1teaspoon Sriracha (chilli sauce)

Instructions

1. Add quinoa to a dry warm fry pan and cook until fragrant and lightly browned. 
2. Add 1 cup water and bring to the boil for 5 minutes.
3. Add peas and vegetable stock.
4. Stir and top with a lid and turn off the heat. Leave for 5 minutes whilst you make your dressing
5. Add dressing ingredients to a jar, pop the lid on and shake. 
6. Add corn, spring onion and bean shoots to the quinoa and mix through with a fork. 
7. Stir through dressing and serve.

Chocolate and custard wontons

                       

Nutella and other types of chocolate spread are very popular here in Germany. Spread over fresh bread or toast, its a rich, sweet delight that is liable to leave someone in a food coma, especially if the chocolate spread is eaten directly from a jar, not that I would do anything like that, ahem... You can buy vegan versions (as most chocolate spreads contain milk powder) but it's actually really easy to make your own if you can get nuts affordably, I've even made it before with sunflower seeds with good results. 

I had some wonton wrappers leftover from making soup so I decided to make some sweet wontons for dessert. These are quick and easy to make, providing you have ready made chocolate spread and custard on hand for filling. I don't do a lot of frying for my recipes but I don't have an oven at the moment or I probably would have baked these after brushing them with some oil. I made both chocolate and custard wontons. You could of course, just make one or the other, both are delicious! 

Ingredients

• 1 packet of wonton wrappers
• 'Nutella' (see below)
• Custard ( I used this custard recipe from my portuguese custard tarts)
• Oil for frying

                      

 Make dumplings: 

1. Place wonton wrapper on table (a plastic surface or a board is easiest for folding) 
2. Place a teaspoon of custard or 'Nutella' in the centre of each wonton. You want to fill half your wontons with ‘Nutella‘ and half your wontons with custard. 
3. Wet edges of wrapper and fold and seal the edge together, crimping lightly as you seal. 

To cook:

1. Heat oil to medium high heat
2. Add wontons, making sure not the crowd the pan.
3. Fry on one side, then turn and fry until cooked.
4. Drain well on absorbent paper
5. Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar

Nutella recipe

• 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts
• 1 tsp vanilla essence/powder
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cacao
• 3 tbsp hazelnut oil (or oil of choice)
• 2 tbsp oat milk

Instructions:

1. Soak hazelnuts overnight in water to make blending easier
2. Add to a blender with all the ingredients and blender until thick and creamy. Add a little oat milk if needed.
3. Store in a jar in the fridge, if it lasts that long!

Chocolate quinoa rum balls

I have a heap of bits and pieces in my food cupboard that I would normally use to make cakes or biscuits. Alas in my current apartment there is no oven. So I decided to make an adult version of rum balls. If you have a decent blender then you can certainly blend the mix to reduce the need to pre-soak the dates-I won't have a blender until I move to Berlin. The rum is of course optional and can be replaced by water, although it makes a quick snack into a lovely adult dessert for a dinner party.

Ingredients

• 12 dried dates, seeds removed
• 1/2 cup quinoa (if grain free you could use flaxseeds and linseeds)
• 1 cup water (to cook quinoa)
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup coconut flakes (or coconut sugar)
• 2 tablespoons cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon plant oil (I used coconut oil but any would work ok)
• 2 tablespoons rum 

Instructions

1. Soak dates in hot water over night. Drain.
2. Dice dates in small pieces (scissors work really well) and place in a mixing bowl
3. Dry fry quinoa until it changes colour (about 2-3 minutes)
4. Add water and cook quinoa on a low temperature for 5 minutes, will be softer but still have a little bite.
5. Drain and add to the dates. 
6. Add the almond meal, cacao powder, olive and rum and stir well until all ingredients are well combined. 
7. Place mix in the fridge for an hour to make it easier to roll.
8. Take about a tablespoon of the mix and roll into balls.
9. Roll the balls in coconut flakes and store in a sealed container in the fridge or serve.

6 Food trends I am completely over and 6 I am eagerly awaiting

Every so often food trends come and go from sun-dried tomatoes to focaccias to cupcakes and cronuts. Heck I've even been guilty of falling prey to the donut trend, making my own rather tasty vegan baked donuts. As I write recipes and read food blogs, sometimes I see the same recipes again and again. They are usually exclaimed over as though no one else has over made them quite so good, but only the next day you'll see another recipe pop up for raspberry and chia jam or mango and chia seed pudding. 

I know that food trends, especially in vegan cooking, come from a desire to abstain from particular ingredients or an inability to eat certain food due to severe allergies. It's great that people take the time to be inventive and create new food combinations. I don't have to like all of them. Heck, I love quinoa and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I even made a cauliflower pizza base! But it's when I see them so many times that I start thinking that I wish they'd disappear....

Massaged kale

                         

                                    Image from here via Creative Commons

Rubbing a bit of brassica (part of the cabbage family) in coconut oil until it until it resembles salad that's been sitting in the bottom of the salad bowl marinading in italian salad dressing at a family barbecue in the sun for the better part of a day? Yuck. Where I live you can't actually buy kale except for one week a year.

Kale chips
                               
                                             Image from here via Creative Commons


Sorry, they're just not the same as potato chips. Or even as good as beetroot chips. There's something about them that catches in the back of my throat, combined with the smell of nutritional yeast that, as much as I love the stuff, reminds me of vitamin B tablets.

Chia pudding

                            
                                       Image from here via Creative Commons

Yes, it's healthy and an alternative to creamy, high fat desserts. But after they've been soaking a while, chia seeds resemble frogs eggs turning into tadpoles, all slimy. Did you ever study those at school? I did. It was a little bit creepy.

 And don't get me started on chia jam, whilst it has it's place, in my humble opinion it's not as good as my pear and vanilla or strawberry and rosewater jam. Just saying.

Brussel sprouts

                       
                                  Image from here via Creative Commons

Brussel sprouts are very popular in Germany and as cheap as carrots and cabbages. But if I see another recipe for brussel sprouts fried or baked with oil, garlic and salt and pepper (with or without nuts and bacon). Surely everyone has worked these out by now that these go best fried rather than boiled within an inch of their lives like in years gone by?

Green juice smoothies

                          
                                     Image from here via Creative Commons

Yes, I know, you have an amazing blender (the maker of which sponsors your blog posts according to your disclaimer). And I have no longer got a blender since I moved house so I am poorer than you and cannot make smoothies or juices anymore. But do you have to make another post every time you replace spinach with kale or blueberries with raspberries? Here in Germany you can buy cabbage juice at the supermarket by the carton. That's hardcore.

Two ingredient ice cream

                                      
                                                   Image from here via Creative Commons

You've discovered this amazing way to make ice cream, so much so that you went and bought an ice cream maker. And you're going to share it with all of us. If I read a little further I will invariably discover that your magic ingredient is either bananas or coconut milk. Sometimes you even go crazy and use both! I have made ice cream both ways and it invariably taste like either bananas soft serve or coconut soft serve. Not surprising really.

6 Food trends I am eagerly awaiting

Poutine

                                                   Image from here via Creative Commons

Hot chips with cheese curds and gravy. How could it be wrong? I tried it first in Montreal at the Jazz Festival, then was a regular at Melbourne's Lord of the Fries. So good.

Linner
Like brunch but later and far boozier.

Sunday roasts in restaurants for lunch
Roast meat/nuts/tofu, roast veg, greens and gravy. A staple at British pubs and occasionally in Australia. Not so much in Germany unless you want the ubiquitous pork and potatoes that you can also get any other day, any time.

More smaller serve recipes
Single unit dwellings are a thing. Many of us are couple or not but happily child free. We can end up eating that same dish three days in a row. Not everyone has much freezer space. That said, I've seen recipes for a single chocolate chip cookie, these make me sad.

More local fruits and vegetables
Since moved to Germany I've fallen in love with kohlrabi and Schwarzwurzel (salsify). Back in Australia I loved bok choy, choy sum and chinese broccoli, (not so accessible except in asian grocers here) not to mention Lychees and Dragonfruit from Queensland. It's fun to try things you haven't had the opportunity to eat much of, or in turn cook your favourites in a new ways using local ingredients.

More supperclubs and potlucks. 
I've loved running a supper club for the last 6 months. I love the way that food can bring people together, especially those who might otherwise be socially isolated or lacking the opportunity to meet new people. People have been creating websites and apps to bring people together all around the world, but what is needed most is for people to open their homes and give it a go. It's fun and a great way to move out of our comfort zone and challenge yourself.

Red beans, quinoa and jerk spice soup

In Melbourne we had dinner a few times at a Jamaican restaurant. One of the many dishes we enjoyed was 'red peas and rice', a traditional Jamaican dish of white rice and kidney beans cooked in coconut milk. This dish inspired this soup which was made extra flavoursome with homemade jerk spices. It's also really easy to make your own spice mixes and substantially cheaper than buying them already mixed. This soup is a great winter staple and goes well with some fresh bread and vegetables and a dessert of pineapple soaked in rum.

Ingredients

• Coconut or olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 onion diced
• 2 tspn jerk spice
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 tbsp ginger, finely diced
• 1/2 large red capsicum
• 2 sticks celery
• 1/2 cup quinoa ( I also added 1/4 cup of pearl barley as it was going spare)
• 1 tin kidney beans
• 1 tin peas (or 1 cup fresh or frozen peas) 
• 2 teaspoons jerk spice mix
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 1 tin coconut milk

Instructions

1. Fry onions and garlic in oil until translucent
2. Add spice mix, carrots and ginger and cook for 2 minutes
3. Add capsicum, celery, quinoa, beans, peas, stock and coconut milk and simmer under the vegetables are tender and the barley is cooked (about 30 mins)

                        

Jerk spice mix:

• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon or 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

1. Toast the whole spices in a small pan until they are aromatic and have turned a shade or two darker. Don’t be tempted to skip this stage, as it really enhances the flavours.
2. Crush with a mortar and pestle if you have one then store in a dry jar. 

                     
                        

Jumbo vegan crumpets

                                   

It's always interesting the foods and equipment that you can find in foreign countries and those you cannot. English muffins are readily available here (well a German version to be precise) whilst crumpets are no where to be seen. You can buy them at expat shops, but it's Sunday when the shops are closed and being me, I decided to have a try at making my own.  The ideal is to make the crumpets using 'egg rings' which enable the crumpets to hold their shape and I daresay easier to flip also but I've not been able to find any, so I decided to just make two pan sized ones!

I needed to buy quite a bit of cooking equipment here in Leipzig when I first moved here and my choices have been limited to large department stores that are quite pricey (a bit like Australia's Myers or David Jones) or Euro shops that have limited stock. I like Ikea but it necessitates a bus trip to Halle about 30 minutes away. I miss having loads of Asian discount stores and Kmart for cheap but functional kitchen equipment!

Anyway, give these crumpets a try (rings or not) and see how you go. You'll need at least an hour free with rising and cooking times. You could even make the batter the night before for breakfast although it would taste far more yeasty (in this situation I'd probably halve the yeast due to the longer fermenting/proofing of the dough).

Ingredients

• 3  and 1/2 cup  flour
• 2 tbsp dairy free butter
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp dry yeast (or 2 sachets)
• 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 cup dairy free milk (I used oat milk)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water (or you could use self raising flour of course and omit the baking powder)

Instructions

1. In a bowl or cup stir together yeast and 1 cup of water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes. 
2. Warm milk and butter in a saucepan or the microwave but do not boil or make too hot or you will kill the yeast. You're aiming for lukewarm.
3. Add flour, salt and sugar to a bowl and stir well.
4.  Add warm milk and  butter and mix until the batter become smooth. I added an extra half cup of water to assist this. 
5. Let stand for 30 minutes in a warm place.
6. Stir in baking powder dissolved in water and leave to rise 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Grease non-stick fry pan and heat over medium-low heat. 
8. Reduce heat to low, pour in batter and cook crumpets until tops look dry, about 15 minutes. A low heat enables them to bubble nicely and cook through without burning the bottom in the pan
9. Flip them over and cook for about 5 minutes. 
10. Serve toasted with more dairy free spread, jam, Vegemite or golden syrup. Delish!

Jumbo vegan crumpets

                                   

It's always interesting the foods and equipment that you can find in foreign countries and those you cannot. English muffins are readily available here (well a German version to be precise) whilst crumpets are no where to be seen. You can buy them at expat shops, but it's Sunday when the shops are closed and being me, I decided to have a try at making my own.  The ideal is to make the crumpets using 'egg rings' which enable the crumpets to hold their shape and I daresay easier to flip also but I've not been able to find any, so I decided to just make two pan sized ones!

I needed to buy quite a bit of cooking equipment here in Leipzig when I first moved here and my choices have been limited to large department stores that are quite pricey (a bit like Australia's Myers or David Jones) or Euro shops that have limited stock. I like Ikea but it necessitates a bus trip to Halle about 30 minutes away. I miss having loads of Asian discount stores and Kmart for cheap but functional kitchen equipment!

Anyway, give these crumpets a try (rings or not) and see how you go. You'll need at least an hour free with rising and cooking times. You could even make the batter the night before for breakfast although it would taste far more yeasty (in this situation I'd probably halve the yeast due to the longer fermenting/proofing of the dough).

Ingredients

• 3  and 1/2 cup  flour
• 2 tbsp dairy free butter
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp dry yeast (or 2 sachets)
• 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 cup dairy free milk (I used oat milk)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water (or you could use self raising flour of course and omit the baking powder)

Instructions

1. In a bowl or cup stir together yeast and 1 cup of water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes. 
2. Warm milk and butter in a saucepan or the microwave but do not boil or make too hot or you will kill the yeast. You're aiming for lukewarm.
3. Add flour, salt and sugar to a bowl and stir well.
4.  Add warm milk and  butter and mix until the batter become smooth. I added an extra half cup of water to assist this. 
5. Let stand for 30 minutes in a warm place.
6. Stir in baking powder dissolved in water and leave to rise 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Grease non-stick fry pan and heat over medium-low heat. 
8. Reduce heat to low, pour in batter and cook crumpets until tops look dry, about 15 minutes. A low heat enables them to bubble nicely and cook through without burning the bottom in the pan
9. Flip them over and cook for about 5 minutes. 
10. Serve toasted with more dairy free spread, jam, Vegemite or golden syrup. Delish!