Whodathunkit part 2

It seems that vegans around the world feel it necessary to point out that we eat "more than tofu". We found another blog with the same name http://www.morethantofu.com/ :)

The more the merrier we say :)

Whodathunkit?

We went out for dinner on the spur of the moment with some meat-eater friends and as our favourite Greek place has apparently closed down, we ended up at the restaurant next door, The Steakery. Yes you read that correctly. Needless to say we were sceptical but we were in for quite a surprise. We managed to have a full 3-course vegan meal with only one adjustment.

Starter:

Chef's salad (avo, rocket, and various other salady things with a lovely balsamic dressing)

Main course:

Vegetarian pasta (linguine with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, peppers and a napoletana sauce - awesome)

Dessert:

Bananas baked in a rum and banana liqueur syrup - yum! Usually served with cream.

I found some awesome sources for checking whether your booze is vegan:

http://www.barnivore.com/ (also listed on the http://www.vegansociety.co.za site)

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/alcohol.html
http://www.vnv.org.au/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=195&Itemid=133
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/alcohol.html
http://www.vegansociety.com/Lifestyle-And-Nutrition/Food/Drink/Alcohol.aspx

So yeah, not that they are likely to ever read this but thank you to The Steakery for considering those that don't eat animal products for whatever reason. Hopefully other restaurants will catch on.

Btw it is my work year-end function on Thursday and I have held in my hands an invoice for, among others, 1x vegan meal :) I shall report back.

Ifisashi

This Zambian recipe was sent to me by LadyRaven. I must say I had my doubts - it seemed a bit insubstantial but having just harvested some spinach from the garden *preen* we gave it a bash anyway. It is absolutely divine! The soup is lovely, rich and full of flavour, and the combination of spinach and peanuts is genius. Thank you, dear Hila, I hope we will have an opportunity to cook it for you soon :)


What you will need:
2 bunches fresh spinach (washed and chopped)
1 cup raw peanuts (ground) (we cheated and used roasted peanuts cos it was all we had - worked fine)
Salt to taste
1 onion (sliced)
2 medium tomatoes (sliced)
Water
(Oh and we added garlic - as to most things :))


What to do:
In a medium-sized saucepan, boil the onion and tomatoes with the ground peanuts, adding salt to taste and water as needed. After a few minutes, add chopped greens. Stirring occasionally, continue cooking until the peanuts are soft and the mixture has become a fairly thick buttery sauce (15-20 minutes). We changed the method a teeny bit by frying up the onion, tomato and garlic and then adding the water, spinach and peanuts.

To serve:
Serve as a thick soup or with mieliepap as a sauce (goes well with seed loaf or any grain I imagine).

Peanuts are high in protein and low GI, spinach contains lots of vit A, folic acid and iron. Very tasty, very healthy, and cheap to make.

P.S. My friend Liz tells me that her people (she's Zulu) often add peanuts to cooked spinach. I will post pics when technology cooperates

Beetroot Leaf Salad

But that is the best bit...

I cannot understand why some people throw beetroot leaves away. They are the best bit imho

 

Ingredients

4-5 cups of roughly chopped lightly boiled beetroot leaves

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup diced apple (preferably a firm apple like granny smith)

1 tsp crushed garlic

2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 handful of chopped origanum, mint and parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Method

Gently mix all the ingredients together and allow to stand for a few hours for the leaves to soak up some of the apple cider vinegary loveliness. It should be a bit tart. (Just like Mally. Oh wait that's tarty. Hur hur – ES)

 

Variation

Add walnuts or pine nuts instead of almonds

Beetroot leaf and citrus salad - Add lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar and orange instead of apple

Mushrooms and peas with cashew nut cream

(Note: There is a picture of this floating around – I will try post it asap. This is seriously tasty – Evyl)

 

Ingredients

• 1 punnet mushrooms
  
• 1 cup frozen peas
  
• 1 cup cashew nuts
  
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
  
• 1 cup soy milk
  
• 2-3 tbsp water
  
• Salt and pepper
  
• Oil for frying
  

 

Method

Fry the mushrooms and garlic. When almost done add the peas and the water, reduce heat and simmer until the peas are cooked. Take off heat. Blend the cashews until they are a fine powder. Add the soy milk a couple of tablespoons at a time, blending between adding until all the soy milk is added. It should be the consistency of cream. Add to the mushrooms and peas and reheat.

 

Serve with pasta or rice.

 

Variations

Add basil instead of peas.

Mengel-mus

Mengel-mus

This is a hummus inspired chickpea dip that we make. Mengelmoes is an Afrikaans word that means mixture (concoction would probably be more accurate).

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, drained
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
  
• 2 tsp lemon juice
  
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
  
• pinch of salt
  

 

Method

Mix all ingredients together and blend until smooth. Serve with biscuits, toast, bread, chips, whatever.

Baklava

As you may have noticed, the blog is yet again hopelessly outdated. In our defence, we've had two birthdays (mine and the little princess') as well as a whole bunch of other things. But last night we had some friends over for dinner and Mally made a Greek meze-type veggie feast (details will follow) and ended it off with a superb vegan baklava. Try it, it's delicious! J

Vegan Baklava

(makes 12 pieces)

Ingredients

Baklava

375g mixed nuts, crushed

1/2 cup maple flavoured syrup/maple syrup

3 sheets phyllo pastry

10 ml cinnamon

1 tbsp lemon juice

Oil for brushing

Syrup

1/2 cup maple flavoured syrup/maple syrup

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

600 ml water

2 slivers orange peel

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius

Nut Mixture

Mix crushed nuts with 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1 tbsp lemon juice and cinnamon and set aside

Syrup

Mix water, sugar, maple syrup, lemon juice and orange peel

Bring to boil on medium heat

Reduce to half volume

Remove orange peel

Baklava

Brush first sheet of phyllo pastry

Fold in half and in half again

Put 1/3 nut mixture along the middle of pastry and roll tightly

Transfer to roasting tin

Repeat for last sheets

Brush the tops of all sheets with oil

Bake for one hour

Remove from oven

Cut each roll into four pieces and transfer to serving bowl

Pour syrup over all the pieces and allow to stand