Ever Tried Black Garlic?

You know you’ve got a cooking problem when you see some new random ingredient in the supermarket and you just have to have it!

I came across this the other day whilst looking for fennel seeds (keep an eye out for an excellent soup recipe coming soon) and I just couldn’t resist. It’s garlic that’s been aged, meaning the harsh flavours have mellowed leaving you with a sweet bulb of balsamicy, squishy goodness.

Seriously, this stuff is so nice I kept just biting bits off to chew. It’s just that morish. I decided to cook it with some chillies from the plant my friend gave me as a thank you for providing her with Spanish lessons (on CD that is. Me no hablo… or something like that), and I’m glad I did. The spiciness complimented the sweetness very well, though admittedly next time I’d use a few less chillies; Phew!

I just fried some chopped onion, added the garlic and chillies (also chopped), chucked in a couple of sliced chestnut mushrooms, two diced tomatoes (some tomato puree) and a sprinkling of oregano – pausing between steps to let the previous ingredients cook – and that was it, job done. Simple huh?

Chuck that in with some al dente pasta et voila, there you have it, a bowl of nice simple flavours that compliment each other really well. If you get a chance to have a go with black garlic I highly recommend it. It has a unique taste that your palate will thank you for trying at least once.

Kiki’s Birthday Battenberg

Been wanting to do one of these for ages. There’s not many cakes I miss, but the Battenberg is one of my favourites, and ripe for a bit of veganisation. And since it’s my birthday I thought why the hell not!

It was fairly easy to do in the end. I just made a batch of the vanilla cupcake mix from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, split it into two batches, mixed some pink food colouring in one of them, then put them in two lined cake tins and baked as directed.

Once they’re done all you’ve got to do is roll out some marzipan into a thin sheet, give it a light coating of apricot jam, slice the two sponges into square ended oblongs, and construct them in a checker-board pattern on the marzipan, using apricot jam between the layers to hold it together.

Finally wrap the marzipan around the sponge, slice off the excess, dust with icing sugar to combat the general stickiness, et voila! one battenberg. Then all you’ve got to do is make a wish and eat it quick. Tastes just like Mr Kipling used to make.

Got a pretty decent haul of pressies this year too.

From left to right: a t-shirt from my twin brother, a book, some mini silicon bun-cases from Sabera, a punky mug from Regine, some vegan fudge from Mrs Mu and Bean, and a meditation CD from Carolina. The book is my present to myself. It’s The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first Fighting Fantasy book I ever bought when I was a kid, and the only one I never managed to complete. But now, 20-odd years later, perhaps I’ve got the nounce to finally beat it. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

Vegan MoFo : Tofu Cheesecake pt 2

Just a quickie for Vegan MoFo (the Vegan Month of Food). This is a slice of a double quantity cheesecake I made from the recipe I did the other week.

It was, quite simply, doubly delicious, and all for the same amount of effort! I had to cook it for 40-45 mins rather than the original 30, but as for everything else just do twice the amounts and you’ll end up with what you see above. Good stuff.

Chocolate Almond Crunchies

Here’s a nice simple sweet snack to make that’s well tasty. And I dare you to not lick out the bowl when you’re done.

150g dark cooking chocolate (I used Dr Oetkers Continental Plain Chocolate)
50-75g of cornflakes
1/3 of a cup of almond flakes
1/2 tsp almond essence

( makes 8 )

Break up the chocolate and put it in a medium glass or ceramic bowl with almond essence. Put a medium pan on a high heat with about half an inch of water (so that it doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl) and bring to the boil.

Remove from heat and stir chocolate until melted. Return to heat as needed to achieve this.

Add the cornflakes and stir in until completely covered by chocolate. How much you put in is up to you, but if they’re not covered properly the crunchies won’t hold together.

Stir in the almond flakes until mixed. Don’t worry too much about covering them with chocolate too.

Dish out into bun cases and then let cool completely. You can put them in the fridge if needed to cool them faster, it won’t make any difference to the flavour.

Enjoy with a nice cuppa char.

30 Days of Kiki : day 21

day 21- a picture of something that makes you happy

nuff said!

Coconut and Oatmeal Cookies

It’s taken me a little while to get these right. It was difficult to find the right consistency for the dough. But I think I’ve got it working now.

Makes 18.

125g vegan margarine (at room temperature)
125g unrefined cane sugar
egg replacer to equal 1 egg
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
50g porridge oats
50g desiccated coconut

Preheat oven to 190C. In a large bowl cream the margarine and sugar until well combined.

Sift the flour into a separate bowl. Add the egg replacer, bicarbonate of soda, salt, oats and coconut.

Add dry ingredients to creamed marg and sugar and mix together to form a lightly sticky dough. I did it by hand as it’s easier and a lot more fun.

Line two shallow baking trays with greaseproof paper. Form the dough into golf ball sized lumps and spread out evenly on tray. Use the lightly floured base of a glass to press cookies half way flat. NB: They will spread when baking so give them plenty of room.

Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on oven reliability. Just look now and then to see if the edges have gone brown. I recommend swapping the trays over after 8 minutes, assuming they won’t both go on the top shelf, so that they all cook evenly.

Remove from oven and let them cool a little on tray before transferring them to a cooling rack (as they will still be quite pliable straight out of the oven). Enjoy them with a nice cup of tea.

Saag Aloo

A surprisingly quick and simple recipe that I think you’ll enjoy.

4 potatoes, chopped
2-3 handfuls of spinach, washed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated/chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chillies, chopped
2 cardamom pods, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
olive oil

Par-boil the potatoes in some salty water for 8-10 minutes or so. While you’re doing that fry the onions, garlic and ginger in a large saucepan on a medium heat until soft (approx 5 minutes).

Add all the remaining spices to the onion mixture and stir in. Drain the potatoes and add them too. Mix thoroughly, add a couple of tablespoons of water to prevent it from sticking, then cover and allow to simmer for 10-12 minutes (still stirring to keep it from burning to bottom of pan).

Once potatoes have gone edibly soft add the spinach and cook for another couple of minutes. Spinach will wilt and reduce in size a great deal.

Serve hot over a bed of rice.

A few notes on the recipe vs the pictures. I made mine with raw potatoes soaked in water rather than par-boiled ones, but this just meant I had to add more water to the pan and it took longer to cook, and I don’t think it added anything to the flavour, so I’d recommend doing it this way instead. Also, chop your spuds smaller than I did mine, again, to save time. As always I left the skin on, coz that’s where all the nutrients are, but cut the eyes out.

Also, I added more spinach than is pictured. After I threw in my 2 handfuls and it cooked down to size I saw the ratio was way off and more was needed. Really this is up to you. The recipe could probably handle more spinach even, if that’s what you’re into, I just didn’t have a whole lot more left so I stopped at 3 handfuls.

Cottage Pie

This is a tasty little winter warmer (I know, it’s the middle of summer!) that’s great served up with some greens. Also damn good for you, what with all the veggies and lentils. An all round treat.

1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 mushrooms, sliced
50g peas (approx 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup puy lentils (green speckled lentils)
1 tsp cumin seeds
a splash of olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
300ml of vegetable stock
1/3 of a red chilli, finely chopped
5-7 potatoes, peeled and diced (enough for about an inch of mash)
a knob of margarine
salt to taste

Fry onion and cumin in a medium sized sauce pan on a medium heat until onions become translucent (a few minutes). Add the mushrooms, carrots, garlic and chilli, and cook on a low heat until vegetables start to sweat.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in lots of salty water until soft (approx 15-20 minutes).

Add lentils to vegetables and stir to coat with juices. Add vegetable stock and bring to boil. Simmer on a low heat for 25-30 minutes until lentils are cooked but still firm. Let it rest for a moment while you finish off the mash.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. Drain the potatoes and mash thoroughly with a knob of margarine until smooth(ish). You can also add olive oil, salt, or soy milk (to taste).

Put the lentils in a casserole dish and cover with mashed potato. Ruffle top of mash so that it’ll brown nicely. Put in oven for 20-25 minutes.

Serve hot, and enjoy.

As I said, this is especially nice with some green veg, maybe spinach and garlic, green beans or brussel sprouts. Or you can just have it on it’s own, as the mash balances the lentils quite nicely.

You can also make it with a bottle of beer instead of the vegetable stock. If you do just add it at the appropriate time, then simmer for 5 minutes until it has reduced a bit. Add a stock cube and more water if needed, then cook as before.

Kiki’s Sweet and Spicy Quinoa Salad

This is a surprisingly sweet and tasty little concoction, inspired by the recipe for Piyadassi Purnahana from the excellent book Buddhist Peace Recipes. If you haven’t got it check it out. Not all the recipes are vegan, but the ones that are are fantastic, and the rest you can adapt fairly easily.

1 yellow/orange bell pepper, chopped
1 medium red onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp walnuts (or cashews)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp chopped ginger
a pinch of cayenne
1 tsp unrefined cane sugar
2 tsp of honey
juice of 1 lime (or 1/2 a lemon)
8-10 button mushrooms
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup quinoa
1 tbsp sultanas
some olive oil

First, marinate the button mushrooms (chopping any that are too large in half) in the balsamic vinegar for 15-20 minutes, whilst pre-heating the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Place the pepper and onion in a large bowl. Mix the cumin, paprika, ginger, cayenne and sugar in a bowl with a dash of olive oil, then pour over the pepper and onion and mix thoroughly.

Heat some oil in a frying pan on a medium/high heat. Fry the pepper and onion mix for 10 minutes stirring until both have softened (the onion more so than the pepper)

Add the chopped cashews, honey and lime juice, and fry for a further 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Whilst frying, once the oven is up to temp, put the mushrooms in a casserole dish into which you’ve put a little olive oil to stop them sticking, and bake for 15 minutes.

Finally stick the quinoa and sultanas in a pan, cover generously with water, and bring to the boil. Cook for 10 minutes until quinoa is done, drain, then set aside to cool.

Combine all the ingredients and either enjoy straight away or let cool completely to be had the next day.