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?

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!

Polish Potato Pancakes with Creamy Mushroom Sauce (Placki Kartoflane)

One of the wonderful things about living in Berlin has been being able to travel to other countries easily. Want to go to Poland? Jump on the overnight bus! I'm still getting used to the change. In New Zealand we're so far away from everything that going anywhere (except Australia) takes a long time and isn't budget-friendly.

Old Town in Warsaw, Poland

Our last Poland trip was to Krakow, a beautiful city with a castle, gorgeous old town, and, of course, delicious food! My boyfriend, who's a vegetarian, had some wonderful potato pancakes with decadent mushroom sauce on top. This is a recreation of that dish, Placki Kartoflane. This picture is of a version with blended potatoes, but it's easier to make them with grated potatoes.

Polish Potato Pancakes with Creamy Mushroom Sauce (Placki Kartoflane)

Serves 4

Ingredients

creamy mushroom sauce
400 ml (200 g) cashews, not roasted or salted
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
150 ml water
1 onion
400 g mushrooms (1000 ml chopped)

pancakes
6 potatoes (1150 ml grated)
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp rice flour
4 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Blend the cashews with the vinegar, salt and water. Chop the onion and slice the mushrooms. Fry the onion in an oiled pan over medium heat until glassy. Add the mushrooms and cook until done. Stir in the cashew cream. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

2. Peel and grate the potatoes. Mix together corn starch, rice flour and 2 tbsp water. Combine with potatoes, flour and salt. Heat an oiled pan over medium heat. When hot, add several pancakes and spread to a 1 cm thickness. Wait until the underside is a golden brown, then flip and brown the other side. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining potato mixture.

3. Divide the pancakes between four plates. Briefly warm the cashew sauce, adding water to thin if it's too thick. Top the pancakes with sauce and serve.

Custard Rolls

As these rich custard rolls rise and bake, the wonderful smell of yeast will fill your house. Try baking them on a Sunday: in the down time, you can laze around reading a book or watching your favourite TV series - for me, it's Gossip Girl or The Good Wife (a legal drama, not a show about housewives), or a re-run of Black Books or Miranda.

Custard Rolls

Makes 9 rolls
Dough based on this recipe

Ingredients

dough
120 ml soy milk 
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp rice flour
2 tbsp water 
30 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 tbsp margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp sugar
600 ml flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast

filling
vanilla pudding or custard mix (many brands in the supermarket are vegan)
soy milk as needed
sugar as needed

Method

1. Heat the soy milk until warm but not hot. Mix together the corn starch, rice flour and 2 tbsp water. Combine all dough ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Turn out onto a lightly-oiled surface and knead for 10 minutes. Put back in the bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size (about an hour).

2. Prepare pudding/custard with soy milk and sugar according to directions.

4. Cover a large baking pan with baking paper. Stretch the dough into a 20 by 30 cm rectangle. Spread the filling thickly over the dough. Starting with the long side of the rectangle, roll up into a log and pinch the edge of the dough to seal.

5. Cut with a sharp knife into 4 cm slices. Place them in the pan with plenty of space between each slice. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size (about an hour). Bake at 180 C for 20-25 minutes, until a light golden brown.

New Zealand Sweetcorn Fritters

Fritters have been popular in New Zealand for some time. Their fame was probably helped by their inclusion in the "Edmonds Cookery Book", New Zealand's most popular cook book. The book was originally published in 1908 to market baking powder, hence the slogan "sure to rise" that still stands on the cover.

You can sometimes buy seafood fritters at fish and chips shops, but corn fritters are normally made at home. They can easily be dressed up or down. I remember my dad cooking corn fritters made with creamed corn for me and my sisters a lot when I was a child. I've also eaten them on a date.

If you want fancier fritters, use fresh corn and chilli and throw some minced herbs into the batter.

New Zealand Sweetcorn Fritters

Makes 18 fritters
Serves 2 as a meal or 6 as a snack

Ingredients

1/4 onion
660 g canned corn (ca. 900 ml)
300 ml flour
1 tsp baking powder
350 ml soy milk
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Chop the onion finely. Drain and rinse the corn. Combine all ingredients. Heat an oiled pan over medium heat.

2. Spoon in a few fritters. Cook until browned, turn and brown the second side. Drain on paper towels. Cook remaining fritters, adding oil between batches as needed. Serve with sweet chilli 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.

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.

Buffalo Chickpea Pita Pizzas

I've been looking forwards to making this recipe for buffalo chickpea soft tacos for a long time, but I don't have easy access to tacos at the moment. And so, buffalo chickpea pita pizzas were born.

Buffalo Chickpea Pita Pizzas

Closely based on this recipe
Serves 6, as a snack

Ingredients

1 onion
1 green capsicum
2 cloves garlic
2 cans chickpeas (ca. 750 ml drained)
60 ml sriracha
250 ml vegetable broth
1 bunch spring onions
3 pita breads
1 avocado
a lemon (optional)
vegan sour cream (optional)

Method

1. Chop the onion and capsicum and mince the garlic. Fry the onion in oil until softened. Add garlic and capsicum and fry for a minute. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Add the chickpeas, sriracha and broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Boil until the sauce is reduced into a thick coating for the chickpeas. Chop the spring onions and stir them into the chickpeas. Add salt to taste.

2. Cut pita breads in half and top with chickpeas and avocado. Bake at 180 C for five minutes. Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dollop of vegan sour cream, if you have any.

Latkes

I could eat latkes every day, if making them didn't involve grating the potatoes. If you have one, you can use a food processor with a shredder attachment to speed up the route to delicious crispy latkes.

Latkes

Makes around 25 latkes

Ingredients

1100 ml potatoes
1/4 tsp salt
150 ml flour
vegetable oil

Method

1. Peel and grate potatoes, by hand or with the shredder attachment of a food processor. Put them in a colander and squeeze the water out them as best as you can.

2. Heat a pan over medium heat. Add a few tablespoons of oil. Mix the potatoes with the flour and salt. Put a few latkes in the pan. Wait until one side is browned and the latkes move easily before turning them. Brown the second side. Cook the rest of the latkes, adding oil between batches as needed.

3. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with some more salt. Serve with apple sauce or vegan sour cream.

Kimchi Jeon

I've been very busy with university in the last few weeks. It's a good thing I have to write blog posts; testing recipes, taking photos and putting together posts gives me a break. Not that I'm complaining, what could be more fun than trying to work out what, exactly, Adorno is trying to say when he pops out something like this: "Though discursive knowledge is adequate to reality, and even to its irrationalities, which originate in the laws of motion, something in reality rebuffs rational knowledge"?

Anyway, onwards to the most important thing, the food. Kimchi jeon are fritters overflowing with tangy kimchi. They make a great snack or dinner with a side or two. In my opinion, they'd also go really with a barbecue or as snacks for a party. They're very easy to put together - just mix everything in a bowl and fry them up. On the evening I took this picture I had them with hobak namul (stir-fried zucchini) and rice for dinner.

Kimchi Jeon

Makes 6 jeon

Ingredients

500 ml vegan mak kimchi
6 tbsp kimchi juice
6 tbsp soy milk
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp rice flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Method

1. Drain the kimchi, saving the juice. Combine kimchi with all remaining ingredients.

2. Heat an oiled pan over medium heat. Spoon in 1/6th of the batter and spread evenly into a thick fritter. Fry until browned, turn, and brown the other side.

3. Cook remaining fritters, adding more oil between batches as necessary. Enjoy! You can have the jeon with soy or dipping sauce, but I find them flavourful enough just as they are.

Variation: You can make two large jeon instead of six small ones, and then cut them into wedges or tear them up with your chopsticks to eat them.