Vegan Kimchi Cheese Chips

Vegan Kimchi Cheese Chips

Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients

1 recipe of cheddar cheese sauce from Teri Gentes
750 g frozen chips
300 ml kimchi

Method 

1. Make the cheddar cheese sauce. Cook the chips according to packet directions.

2. Drain the kimchi. Chop into 1 cm pieces. Fry in an oiled pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Top the chips with the cheddar sauce and kimchi.

Easy Vegan Recipes: Oat Cookies, Fried Capsicums with Tomato Sauce, and Stewed Leeks, Carrots and Kidney Beans

This week I'm focussing on easy vegan recipes. First we have something sweet, and then two recipes for quick lunches or dinners.

Looking for something to snack on? The recipe for these great oat cookies originally comes from Food Not Bombs and is available through the Vegan Cuisine Cookbook on Wikibooks. This is the simplest cookie recipe I've ever made, but the results are delicious. I don't like my cookies very sweet, so I halved the sugar.

This Turkish side of fried capsicums with tomato sauce from Twins in Kitchen is extremely easy. It's done in 15 minutes and goes well with any Mediterranean dinner. I also like to eat at as a quick snack with some bread.

Last but not least, we have this dish of stewed leeks, carrots and kidney beans in tahini sauce. It makes a good pairing for the capsicums, but can also stand alone. It's simple to prepare but complexly flavoured and delicious.

What are your favourite quick and easy vegan recipes? What do you make when you feel uninspired but want something good to eat?

Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Brussels Sprouts

This 5-ingredient vegan pasta doesn't look wonderful, but it makes up for its lack in the aesthetic department with punchy flavours: roasted brussels sprouts with a little chilli, bright lemon juice, and savoury sundried tomatoes. The roasted brussels sprouts are great for converting sprout-haters.

Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Serves 4

Ingredients

1000 ml brussels sprouts
chilli flakes
150 ml sundried tomatoes
500 g pasta  (gluten-free for gluten-free option)
1/2 lemon

Method

1. Remove damaged leaves from brussels sprouts, trim bottoms, and cut in half. Sprinkle lightly with chilli flakes, toss with salt and olive oil and roast for 10 minutes at 180 C.

2. Slice sundried tomatoes. Toss with brussels sprouts and roast for 5-10 more minutes, until brussels sprouts are done.

3. Cook and drain pasta. Squeeze the lemon. Toss with the pasta, brussel sprouts and sundried tomatoes.

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

I made this creamy mushroom pasta for my family when I was in Aotearoa New Zealand last time. They all enjoyed it, even those who aren't so keen on mushrooms. The delicious creaminess and cheesiness comes from cashews, which are brightened up with a little lemon juice. A luxurious but easy vegan dinner.

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Serves 6

Ingredients

500 g angel hair pasta or spaghetti
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
400 g mushrooms (750 ml sliced)
400 ml unroasted unsalted cashews
300 ml soy milk
100 ml water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp chilli powder

Method

1. Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Slice the mushrooms. Heat an oiled pan over medium heat. Fry the onion until glassy. Fry the garlic for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and fry until done.

2. Blend the remaining ingredients (except the pasta) until smooth. Cook the pasta: if you use angel hair, bear in mind that it cooks very fast.

3. Add the cashew sauce to the pan with the mushrooms and heat gently. Add some more water if the sauce is too thick. Serve with a grind of pepper and a grate of lemon zest.

Peppers with Sundried Tomato and Isot Pepper Stuffing

For a long time, I hated stuffed vegetables. They were either soggy or undercooked and had plain, flavourless fillings. So when I was stuffing these beautiful red peppers I decided to make a rich filling out of kidney beans, smoky isot pepper and sundried tomatoes. The peppers were roasted before stuffing to intensify their flavour.

This recipe is super good for an easy weeknight dinner. It comes together very easily, and you can make a salad to have on the side while the peppers are roasting. Isot pepper adds a wonderful depth of flavour to this dish, but if you can't find it, you can replace it with 1/8 tsp of chili powder.

Peppers with Sundried Tomato and Isot Pepper Stuffing

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 long peppers/capsicums
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
10 sundried tomatoes
1 (400 g) can kidney beans
1 tsp isot pepper/urfa biber
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
100 ml breadcrumbs (gluten-free if you want)
3 tbsp water

Method 

1. Cut the peppers in half. Remove stem and seeds. Roast at 200 C for 20-40 minutes, until they're as soft as you like them. Chop the onion finely and mince the garlic. Rinse the sundried tomatoes and chop them finely.

2. Heat an oiled pan over medium heat. Fry onion until softened. Add garlic and fry for a few minutes. Add sundried tomatoes and fry for a few minutes more. Remove from heat.

3. Drain and rinse the kidney beans. Mash them and combine with the onion mixture and all remaining ingredients. Stuff the peppers and roast for 10 more minutes.

Garlic Spinach

This garlic spinach is healthy and super easy to throw together. It's also delicious!

Garlic Spinach

Serves 2

Ingredients

120 g spinach (1200 ml chopped)
3 cloves of garlic

Method

1. Chop spinach and mince garlic. Heat an oiled pan over medium-high heat. Fry garlic for one minute. Add a handful of spinach and fry until wilted. Add the rest of the spinach, handful by handful. Season with salt and pepper.

Lemon Roasted Cauliflower

This lemon roasted cauliflower is for cauliflower haters. My sister and I have hated cauliflower ever since some early cauliflower cheese experiences, but even we like this. The little charred pieces are particularly delicious. It's super easy to make - just toss together three ingredients and leave it to roast in the oven.

Lemon Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp oil

Method 

1. Chop cauliflower into florets. Toss with all remaining ingredients and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 200 C for 20 minutes. Turn and roast for 10-20 minutes more until tender with browned bits.

Spiced Chickpea, Butternut Squash and Yoghurt Salad

I'm visiting Aotearoa New Zealand at the moment. One of the nicest things is getting to cook for my family again. Last weekend, I puzzled over what to make out of chickpeas and silken tofu. I remembered eating some Dahi Puri that were filled with chickpea curry, vegan yoghurt and a generous amount of spices and chutney.

This chickpea salad is that memory realised in the available ingredients. It's chickpeas and butternut squash smothered in creamy vegan sour cream, with a hint of cumin and chili. The vegan sour cream from Gormandize makes a great stand-in for plain yoghurt. I've never been able to find a vegan yoghurt that isn't sweet. Do they exist?

 

 Spiced Chickpea, Butternut Squash and Yoghurt Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

710 g butternut squash (900 ml chopped)

1/4 red onion

a handful of parsley (optional)

2 400 g cans of chickpeas (750 ml drained)

1 recipe vegan sour cream

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp chili powder

Method

1. Chop the butternut squash into 3x3 cm squares. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 200 C for 40 minutes, or until tender.

2. Finely chop the onion and parsley. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Make the sour cream. Gently combine all ingredients except the parsley and add salt to taste. Sprinkle the parsley on top.

Quick and Healthy Snacks: Tapas

Vegan Tapas make great snacking material. They're quick, easy, and packed full of veggies. Best of all, they're delicious.

If you're keen to get your day's vegetables all at once, Gazpacho is the soup for you. It's a thick, velvety cold soup bursting with ripe tomatoes and refreshing cucumber and seasoned with vinegar, garlic and olive oil. My favourite recipe is this one.

If you're looking for something comforting and a little more filling, try Pan con Tomate, thick slabs of baguette toasted and topped with grated tomato, salt and olive oil. I love to pile them up with more grated tomato and drizzle extra olive oil on top. So good!

 

What are your favourite Tapas? Do you know of any other Spanish dishes that adapt themselves well to vegans? I would love tips!

Leeks, Carrots and Kidney Beans in Tahini Sauce

This combination of leeks, carrots and kidney beans looks unassuming, but has a deep rich flavour from the tahini. It makes a lovely Turkish meal when combined with another easy side, like capsicums in tomato sauce.

 

Leeks, Carrots and Kidney Beans in Tahini Sauce

Serves 2 as a side
Closely based on this recipe

Ingredients

2 carrots
1 leek
1 tbsp tomato paste
250 ml water
1 (400 g) can kidney beans
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Chop the carrots and leek. Heat an oiled pot over medium heat. Fry the carrots for a few minutes. Add the leeks, tomato paste and water and stir well. Put the lid on and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Drain and rinse the beans and mix them in.

2. Salt well. Mix together the tahini and lemon juice. Spoon over the top of the vegetables. Close the lid and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Avocado and Sundried Tomato Pasta

Avocado pasta sauce sounds good, but for a long time we weren't friends. My boyfriend came up with this meal, and it had a long development cycle. We tried many different avocado sauces. But they were all a bit boring, and, well, too avocado-y.

Then he came up with the excellent idea of adding nutritional yeast, and I suggested adding sundried tomatoes. Combined, they take it to another level. This is my kind of avocado pasta: creamy and rich avocado sauce with a hint of cheesiness and bites of savoury flavour from the sundried tomatoes.

This recipe could be your new weeknight dinner staple. It's super easy; the sauce is made in less time than it takes to cook the pasta.

Avocado and Sundried Tomato Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients

500 g pasta (gluten-free if you like)
1 avocado
150 ml sundried tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 tsp nutritional yeast
25 ml olive oil
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method 

1. Cook the pasta. While it's cooking, make the sauce. Mash the avocado. Rinse and slice the sundried tomatoes and mince the garlic. Mix with all remaining ingredients and toss with the pasta.

Broccoli Fried Rice

This fried rice is delicious. The crunchy broccoli slips you your vitamins, while the garlic, chili oil and soy sauce provide a flavour hit. I can remember having great trouble learning to cook fried rice when I was a child. My first experiment turned out like congee, and even once I had learned to cook the rice first, it always stuck to the bottom The trick is simple but requires some planning: you have to cook the rice on the previous day.

Broccoli Fried Rice

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 onion
1 head broccoli
3 cloves garlic
2 dried chilies
3 cups day-old rice
3 tbsp chili oil
1 tbsp sugar
soy sauce or tamari
sweet chili sauce

Method

1. Dice the onion, mince the broccoli and crush the garlic. Crumble or chop the chilies into small pieces. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry garlic and chili over medium heat for a few minutes until golden. Add onion and fry until softened. Add broccoli and fry until softened.

2. Add the rice, chili oil and sugar. Mix well, breaking up the clumps of rice. Cook for around five minutes more, stirring well with a spatula to stop the rice from sticking. Add soy sauce to taste and cook for a minute more. Taste and add more chili oil or soy sauce if you like. Serve with sweet chili sauce.

Tomato Toast

This has been my favourite breakfast lately. It's not really a recipe: just spread some nice toasted bread with margarine, top with sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tomatoes taste amazing like this, and it's a great way to get some vegetables first thing in the morning.

Variations:
1. If you like it with a little more pep, add a few drops of tabasco sauce.
2. If you're not so into margarine, skip it and drizzle with good olive oil.
3. Use cucumbers instead of tomatoes.

Balsamic Mushroom Bruschetta

These juicy mushroom bruschetta make a great vegan starter. The sharp and sweet vinegar plays well with the fresh parsley and savoury mushrooms. And they only take a few minutes to put together!

Balsamic Mushroom Bruschetta

Makes 4 slices

Ingredients

1/2 onion
250 g button mushrooms
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt
4 slices of nice bread
flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Method

1. Dice the onion, slice the mushrooms, and mince the garlic. Heat some olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until glassy. Add the garlic and cook for a minute.

2. Add the mushrooms and fry until they release their liquid. Then add the balsamic vinegar, and cook until the liquid is gone. Salt to taste. Top slices of toasted bread with the mushrooms and a generous amount of chopped parsley.

Simple Tomato Soup

One of the things I really enjoyed eating in my childhood was canned tomato soup. It was a rare treat since my mother didn't like to buy foods that were processed or high in salt. So, this is a recreation of canned soup, but it does taste better and is lower in salt than the original.

Simple Tomato Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 400 g cans chopped tomatoes
375 ml vegetable stock

Method

1. Dice onion and mince garlic. Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Fry the onion in oil until soft, then add the garlic and fry for a few more minutes. Add the stock and tomatoes. Simmer for 20 minutes, add salt to taste, and blend.

Best Dinner Recipes

I really enjoy trying out recipes from other blogs, so I thought I'd write a best-of. These are the best dinners I've cooked and managed to take a photo of in the last few weeks. First up: Better-than-Tuna salad on The Fig Tree, originally from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. This salad is great on sandwiches, in pitas or on its own. It's also a great way to get your veggies - it's full of celery, capsicum and carrots.

I also recently made this Sambar from Hungry Desi, a food blog full of delicious-looking and mostly vegan recipes. You can put nearly any vegetable you like in your sambar. I used onions this time and it was very good.

And because the recipes on Hungry Desi are just that appealing, I made another one, Kadai Tofu. It was wonderfully spicy and flavourful. I replaced the milk with soy milk. I expect a little coconut milk would also work great.

That's all for this week, hope you enjoyed the recipes! Let me know if you try any of them out.

Zwiebelmett (Mince with Onions)

Zwiebelmett is basically mince with onions and spices, which people often eat spread on buns. I've never tried real Zwiebelmett, since I had already been vegan for some years before I came to Germany. I'm not sure who first thought of the idea of making it out of rice cakes, but there are many versions of this recipe online in German.

While I was researching this, I found out that Germans sometimes shape Mett into a "Mettigel" (a mince hedgehog) for parties, and decorate it with onions for spikes. Definitely going to have to try that for my next party!

A Mettigel (Picture from Wikipedia)

Zwiebelmett (Mince with Onions)

Makes 600 ml - enough for a small Mettigel!

Ingredients

18 thin or 9 thick rice cakes (100 g)
1 onion
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp salt
pepper

Method

1. Crumble the rice cakes. Add 300 ml water and mix well. Mince the onion. Mix the onion, tomato paste, salt and pepper with the rice cakes.

2. Check the consistency. If it's too dry, add 50 ml more water. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. When you're ready to serve, taste and add a bit more salt and pepper if you like. This is nice on buns by itself or with some chives or a few slices of cucumber on top.

Zupa Ogórkowa (Polish Pickle Soup)

I went to Poland recently and thoroughly enjoyed all the vegan food I could get my hands on. Since then, I've been bookmarking hundreds of recipes to try out. I'm not up to making vegan smoked sausage yet, but I have tried my hand at some Polish soups. Zupa Ogórkowa consists of potatoes, grated pickles and vegetables in a rich, milky broth.

Zupa Ogórkowa

Serves 3
Based on this recipe

Ingredients

1 leek
2 carrots
1 onion
1.25 litres vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
6 pickles
4 potatoes
250 ml soy milk

Method

1. Slice the leeks. Dice the carrot and the first onion. Add to a soup pot with the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until the vegetables are soft. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns.

2. Dice the remaining onion and mince the garlic. Grate the pickles. Heat some margarine or oil in a pan and fry the onion until golden. Add the garlic and fry for a minute, then add the pickles and fry for a few minutes, until most of their liquid has evaporated. Add to the soup pot.

3. Peel and dice the potatoes. Add them to the pot and cook until soft. Mix in the soy milk and heat briefly. Remove the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

Garlic Roasted Carrots

These garlic roasted carrots are an easy and impressive side. They get a lovely delicate flavour from the garlic. They can bake while you make the rest of dinner and you can easily double or triple this recipe if you need to feed more people.

Garlic Roasted Carrots

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 large carrots
3 cloves garlic

Method

1. Peel the carrots if the skin doesn't look nice. Slice them on the diagonal into 1 cm slices. Toss with the garlic, olive oil and salt. Spread on a baking sheet (covered with baking paper if things tend to stick to it) and bake at 200 C for 20 minutes. Turn and bake for 30 minutes more or until soft and crispy.

Lindsay's Bean Salad

It was always a treat for us kids to go on holiday to our grandparents'. One of the reasons was that my grandmother was a wonderful cook. She and my grandfather had a big garden in which they grew most of their vegetables, and she put them to great use. One of her dishes that I remember particularly well is this very simple but delicious bean salad. It goes perfectly with quiche.

Lindsay's Bean Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 400 g cans mixed beans or kidney beans (ca. 750 ml)

400 g green beans (ca. 1 litre)

1/2 onion

4 tbsp vinegar

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Method

1. Top and tail the green beans. Steam them until tender, drain, and rinse with cold water. Drain and rinse the canned beans. Slice the onion finely.

2. Mix the beans and onion with all the remaining ingredients. Leave to marinate for at least half an hour.