Kale-Coconut-Stew

- potatoes
- root parsley
- root celery
- 1-2 carrots
- small can coconut milk
- small can chickpeas
- onion, garlic, ginger
- few leaves kale (curly kale)
- oil
- tofu, cut in stripes and fried in oil with some added soy sauce


This was a stew made out of a lot of different things which had to be used and this fresh green kale. As I made this a few weeks ago I'm not quite sure if I remember everything correctly, but it's a stew. You can't go wrong.

Cut onions, smash garlic, grate ginger and dice both the root parsley and the root celery. Oh and the carrots, too. I think I had one small carrot.
Fry in a teaspoon of oil, until onions get translucent.

Then add one litre water and salt, pepper, veggie broth,  a dash of paprika.

Let cook for 5-8 minutes and then add the potatoes and the kale.

Cook for another 8-10 minutes, then add the drained chickpeas and some coconut milk. I did use probably 3/4 of a small can. But these are just details and you can adjust this to your taste.
Let cook for a few minutes more until the potatoes are done or even a little longer, then taste if you need more salt and pepper. Serve hot with tofu stripes on top.

I love to make a big pot of soup or stew and have lots of leftovers the next day. Then I usually take some for work. You know, these stews taste better the next day anyway and so it's the perfect lunch at work.

Beetroot-horseradish soup.

Basically this is a beetroot-horseradish soup. Actually it was a big clean-out-the-fridge-action which included said beetroots, a big piece of horseradish, a carrot, garlic, a yellow bell pepper, a piece of cucumber, a few potatoes. Only horseradish and garlic were fresh, everything else was days old and had to be used one way or another. 
The result was excellent both in colour and taste. 
The topping is a finely shredded radicchio in a soya yogurt-mustard dressing. 

First I fried some smashed cloves of garlic together with diced horseradish in some oil, added cold water and the diced beetroots and potatoes. When everything was boiling I added all the other stuff and some salt, pepper, veggie broth. Mixed thoroughly with a hand held blender and served then with the radicchio topping.

Sushi Saturday.

Yesterday it had to be sushi and I made lots of maki sushi with mango, avocado and fried tofu. Furthermore inari-zushi and a miso soup with udon noodles and veggies as a starter.

Chopped coriander roots

Mango. I also made some with mango and coriander

Tofu fried with soy sauce and sesame

Miso soup with garlic, onions, roots of coriander, broccoli, chard, carrots, coriander leaves, shiro miso, soy sauce and udon noodles

Very not matching colours

Good things.

Recovering from the most severe cold I've had in years.

Getting lovely short e-mails from friends with silly photos to cheer me up.

Looking forward to the SICKOIDS show in June.

Washi tape.

Cooking a big pot of a spicy, fruity carrot-potato soup with veggie sausages.

My growing-like-a-maniac avocado.

Baked eggplant with red potatoes.

1 eggplant
red potatoes (you can use regular potatoes, too. but these are so pretty.)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
thyme
rosemary
1 tomato 
1 carrot
béchamel sauce (made from vegan butter, flour, soymilk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, squeeze of lemon juice and/or 1 teaspoon mustard)
salt, pepper, bay leave
oil

Cut eggplant in half and scoop out most of each half to make eggplant shells.
Cut onion and garlic finely into small cubes. Fry in 2-3 tablespoons oil together with fresh thyme and rosemary until the onions start to get translucent.  

Cut the scooped out parts of the eggplant and add to onions and garlic, stir well. Add a finely diced tomato. Fry for 3 or 4 minutes, the eggplant hasn't to be done, as it will bake for over 20 minutes.
Cut a carrot into thin stripes. 
Fill a casserole with 1-2 cm cold water. Place eggplant halfs into casserole and fill with the fried eggplant-onion-mix. Put carrot sticks and one or two bay leaves around the eggplants, season with salt and pepper.

Cover the eggplants with a thick batch of béchamel sauce. A part of it will drop into the water during baking time and melt together with the water to a delicious sauce. The rest will remain on top of the eggplants and will build a yummy, thick, golden, slightly crusty béchamel layer.

Cover the casserole with tin foil and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. First 10 minutes on high heat, then reduce to medium heat. Also, after the first 10 minutes you can prepare your potatoes and cook them for about 20 minutes with a little salt.

After the casserole has been in the oven for 20 minutes, remove tin foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes until the béchamel looks golden, slightly brown and crusty.

Serve with a few potatoes (drizzle a little bit of the sauce over them).

 

The eggplant is so tender, it's unbelievable.

Braised carrots w/ arugula.

This was a light lunch for work, I prepared it the night before and let it sit over night in the fridge. You can also eat it while still warm as a side dish for something like fried tofu or something like that.

Cut carrots into bite size pieces and fry them in a little oil on high heat for 3-5 minutes, stir from time to time.
Lower the heat and add some splashes of water, if necessary. Season to taste with some salt (you could also use soy sauce instead of salt), pepper, paprika. If the carrots are almost done add some arugula and let melt down the leaves. Very quick, very easy, very yummy.

Slightly spicy veggie stew.

This is a very hearty, slightly spicy, very satisfying, curry-ish stew.

- onion
- red curry paste
- carrots
- fresh spinach
- frozen edamame
- tahin
- fennu greek
- paprika
- soy sauce
- soy cream
- oil


Fry finely diced onion in a little oil until translucent. I used olive oil but use any oil you prefer.
Add some red curry paste to your taste, I only had half a teaspoon. If you like your food spicy use a bit more! Stir pretty well and add diced carrots. Add fennu greek and paprika, stirring all the time. 

Add some water, until the carrots are just covered. Let cook for a few minutes until the carrots are almost done, then add the very, very, very good cleaned spinach leaves. Stir, then cover your pot with a lid and let simmer for two minutes so the spinach will kind of wilt. 

Add the frozen edamame, a little bit tahin and soy cream (you can use coconut milk as well, I only had soy cream and it was really good), stir again and then season to taste with soy sauce.
The tahin makes the stew creamy and yummy, make sure to try it!

Carrot salad for breakfast.

-2-3 carrots

-100g soy yoghurt

-1 tbsp sesame

-salt, pepper, fresh koriander

-alfalfa sprouts

Mix yoghurt with sesame and season to taste with salt and pepper. Grate the carrots and mix with the yoghurt, top with some sprouts and fresh koriander or other herbs.
I often eat a salad like this for breakfast, it's fresh and full of flavour and a nice alternative to cross your bread and spread or whatever you're used to eat for breakfast routine.

Spelt patties with orange-radicchio and chutney-yoghurt dip.

- 100g coarsed unripe spelt grains ( a very hearty and smokey tasting variation of spelt, called Grünkern)

- 1 carrot (cut into small cubes)

- 1 small radicchio

- 1 orange

- 1 onion

- garlic

- 100g soy yoghurt

- 2 tbslp mango chutney

- olive oil and safflower oil

- pinch of sugar

Fry the carrot in olive oil and add finely cut onion and smashed garlic. 

Then add the coarsed unripe spelt grains and stir. Season with salt, pepper, vegetable broth. Add enough water to cover the mixture and cook for 15 minutes on medium heat while strirring from time to time. Let this mixture cool. If it's too wet add some bread crumbs or if it's too dry add bit by bit some cold water til you can form patties. 

Cut radicchio into very fine stripes. Peel orange, remove the white inner skin and cut into stripes or big chunks.

Heat some safflower oil and fry the patties on medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side. In the same time heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a heavy pot and fry the radicchio stripes on high heat, add salt and pepper and the orange slices. When the radicchio turn slightly brown turn down the heat, add the sugar, stir well and put a lid onto the pot.

Continue frying patties. Mix yoghurt with mango chutney. Serve hot patties with lukewarm radicchio and the chutney-yoghurt-dip. It's colourful and combines so many different flavours (bitter, smokey, hearty, tangy) - it's awesome.

Springlike carrot-snowpea-tofu-dish.

- 200g tofu

- 3- 4 carrots (cut into stripes)

- handful of snow peas (I used frozen ones, use fresh if available)

- salt, pepper

- pinch of grated fennu greek

- lemon juice

- olive oil

A very simple yet colourful and yummy dish. Cut tofu into small cubes or triangles and fry in a little olive oil together with the carrot stripes. When almost done add spices, then the snow peas. Add a dash of lemon juice and fry for another two minutes until the snow peas are bright green and slightly get golden at the ends.

Coriander-Mint-Tofu with Beluga Lentils and Carrot-Hazelnut Salad

100g black beluga lentils

2 big carrots

200g tofu

2 limes

1 tblsp agave syrup

1 tblsp apple cider vinegar

light soy sauce

1-2 tblsp chopped toasted hazelnuts

fresh mint and koriander

Cook the lentils on medium heat for about 20 minutes, add a decent pinch of salt.

Cut tofu in small triangles or any bite-sized shape you prefer and marinate in juice of two limes, soy sauce and some fresh koriander and mint.

10 minutes before lentils are done, grate the carrots, add hazelnuts, agave syrup and some soy sauce. Toss well and set aside. 

Heat 1 tblsp oil in a pan, drain the tofu (keep the marinade for lentils) and fry on medium heat. 

When lentils are done, drain them and rinse with cold water. Mix with the marinade from tofu and the apple cider vinegar. Serve all things together and garnish with some fresh mint. Great combination of flavours! And I bet it's healthy as fuck.