Fantastic Mango Dip.

There was a half mango left in my fridge and I it had to be a dip. So I made the best mango dip today, using three ingredients:

- half a very ripe mango
- few leaves fresh mint
- 1 tsp soy sauce 

Puree everything together, et voilá: creamy, fruity, fresh, luscious, colourful, fancy but ridiculous simple and quick. It's perfect for a lot of hearty, spicy dishes and fried stuff.

I ate it to fried tofu slices together with mashed potatoes (sprinkled with coconut bacon) and salad.

Mashed potatoes are one of the best things and I truly don't understand how it's possible that there are people who don't recognize the importance of mashed potatoes. To vary my mashed potatoes I cooked them today together with a kohlrabi. I had a purple one! They're very pretty (but look the same like the pale green ones, once you've peeled them).

- potatoes
- kohlrabi
- vegan butter
- salt
- rosemary
- soy or rice milk

Dice potatoes and kohlrabi (kohlrabi dices should be smaller than your potato dices) and cook in slightly salted water until very tender and almost overdone. Drain the water and mash with vegan butter, salt, rosemary and a splash of soy or rice milk until fluffy and creamy.

Fried tofu slices are also simple as hell: cut tofu into thin slices, marinate in soy sauce for a few minutes and then fry the slices in (olive) oil until the edges get golden brown and crispy. Some garlic is highly recommended.

There are lots of coconut recipes out there, I used this as an idea but I skipped the liquid smoke and used shoyu instead of tamari. AND: I made it in a pan, this version is a bit quicker. Just use a very slightly oiled pan on medium heat and stir very often.

No Egg Salad w/ Chickpeas And Raw Zucchini

There are lots of vegan "Egg"-salad or No-egg-salad recipes out there. As I can't follow recipes anyway I just made a version of my own, vaguely remembering what other people use and what I used the last time when I made one (I think I used a recipe back then). I added raw zucchini to have a more fresh taste.

- small can chickpeas
- 100g pasta
- one small finely grated zucchini (or half a medium one)
- a few spoons vegan mayo
- salt (if you have use kala namak but be careful)
- parsley


Cook pasta al dente and let cool a bit. Drain chickpeas and smash with a potato smasher or a fork. You can smash the pasta too if you want to, to have this egg-salad consistency. I had small mezzo pennones so I didn't want to smash those beauties.

Mix chickpeas with mayo and parsley, salt slightly. 

Then add the finely grated zucchini and pasta. Mix thoroughly and season to your taste. Cool the salad in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

 

Beans with tahin dressing.

200g green beans
1-2 tbsp tahin
1/2 apple
salt
soy sauce
mint
coriander


Wash the beans and cut off the ends. Cook in salted water for about 10 minutes, until they're done but still crisp.
Mix the tahin with a little water and 1-2 teaspoons soy sauce. Add some leaves of mint and coriander.

When the beans are done strain them and rinse with very cold water. This will keep the beans' pretty lime-green colour and prevent them from getting grey-ish. 
Cut apple into small cubes.
Put the beans and apple cubes in a bowl and toss with dressing.

Lime maple dressing.

For a nice and cosy silvester potluck (for which everyone cooked waaay too much) I made a pasta salad with the best dressing I've ever made before. 
I'm seeing lots of different salads with this dressing, not only pasta. I see potatoes, I see chickpeas, I see green salad and fresh tomatoes, lamb's lettuce and so on and on....

for the dressing:

oil

2 big pink (or red) onions

2 cloves of garlic

maple syrup

juice of 1 lime

salt, pepper

rest of this salad was:

500 g pasta (linguine)

200g cherry tomatoes

1 small can artichokes

 Finely dice the onions, smash the garlic gloves and dice, too.

Fry on medium heat in a little oil until onions and garlic are getting translucent, stir from time to time.

Deglace with maple syrup. I don't have a clue how much I used, but it was approximetaly 100ml.

Add salt and pepper and let simmer for 2 minutes to caramelize the onions. Then add the lime juice and simmer for another 1 or two minutes.

When I tried it, it was very sourish so I added another table spoon maple syrup. Just do this to your taste.

Then put the dressing aside and cook the pasta al dente.

In the meanwhile, cut cherry tomatoes in half and sautée in a little oil til they begin to melt. For about 4 minutes or so. Drain the artichokes and cut in half.

Mix everything with the linguine and add dressing. I let sit the salad over night but in retrospective I'd say it was even better when it was fresh.

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.