Veganaise

This is a tricky process - and i'm still working on it.


Ingredients

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice - or a mix of the two
2 tbsp soy milk
½ tbsp dijon mustard
pinch of salt
pinch of black salt (kala namat)
pinch of sugar

approx. 1 dl sunflower oil (or any other mild tasting oil)

Directions

Blend vinegar, soy milk, mustard and salts together. While blending - sloooooooooooowly add oil by pouring carefully. Continue until the veganaise thinkens. Now you can add flavor like garlic, chili, chives, tarragon etc.

Kombucha - my first brew :D

Kombucha is fermented tea said to have a million and two health benifits. It's got a tangy flavour and is slightly sparkling. I love it because it tastes great and makes me feel good.

In NYC i kinda got addicted to kombucha. I used to buy these in health food stores:

 

Now i'm brewing my own and just bottled the first batch.

Green Tea Kombucha with Strawberry

As I am incapable of following instructions or recipes, I ended up following different tips from a million places.

This is what I did:

1) Got my hands on a kombucha SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) and starter. You can buy it online or get it free from somebody who's brewing.

2) Brewed 2 liters black and 2 liters green tea - as i wanted to try both out.

3) Added 150 grams of sugar to each tea batch.

3) Let the tea cool.

4) Poured the tea into two big glass jars, making sure to leave room for some starter.

5) Added the kombucha scoby and the starter - covered with clean cloth, sealing with a rubber band.

6) Went away for a week and came back to the most delicous sparkling kombucha. The parents had made two beautiful kombucha babies.

7) Added strawberrys to some, ginger and rhubarb to some and left some without flavouring.

Any handling of the scoby and the clean utensils must be done only with clean hands. Hygiene is important to avoid other bacteria to invade the kombucha.

There's a lot of videos on youtube and webpages with detailed instructions and tips and tricks.

Thai Style Yellow and White Carrot Salad

Ingredients

Salad:
Carrots - of any colour
Garlic
Ginger
Unripe black pepper
Roasted sesame seeds
Red chili
Coriander leaves
Spring onions
Roasted cashew nuts or peanuts

Dressing:
Rice vinegar
Mirin
Lime juice
Sesame oil
Salt

Directions

Thinly slice the carrots and finely chop the chili, garlic, ginger, onions and fresh coriander leaves.
Mix the dressing with pepper, chili, coriander leaves, onions, garlic and ginger.
Add carrots and give it all a good toss.
Sprinkle with cashews and sesame seeds.

Kimchi

This kimchi is 1 month old.

Ingredients

Salt
1 napa cabbage
1/4 dl sweet rice flour
1 1/2 dl water
1/4 dl sugar
1 dl save-the-fish sauce 
1/ - 1 dl red pepper flakes 고추가루  
4 chopped cloves of garlic
2 tbsp chopped ginger
2 tbsp chopped onion
4 chopped scallions

Directions 

Cut cabbage twice lenghtswise. Wash thoroughly. Rub carefully with salt, making sure that salt goes everywhere. 

Leave to rest for two hours. Then massage and turn and leave to rest for another three hours.

Mix sweet rice flour, water and sugar until it becomes translucent. Cool a little and mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Wash the cabbages thoroughly - and then once again. Wring in order to get as much excess water out.

Wear gloves and carefully spread the mixture everywhere on the cabbage. Finally massage gently.

Fill into a sterilized glass jar with a sealing lid. Leave for two days in room temperature in order to ferment. Store in the fridge.

The flavor develops a lot over time.

Check out Maangchi making non-vegan kimchi for procedure details.

Mango Pickle

Hot, spicy, tangy indian mango pickle.

Ingredients
3 raw (as in not ripe - must be hard as rock) mangoes
1 green chili
2 1/2 - 4 tbsp red chili powder
2 tbsp mustard seeds
1-3 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2-3 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sesame oil (optional)
1 tbsp curry leaves
1/2 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp fenugreek seed powder
4-10 cloves of garlic
1 tsp asafoetida/hing (optional)
3+ dl vegetable oil (not olive oil)

Directions
Cut mangoes in small chunks. Remove the actual soft seed inside, but leave the shell of the seed on the mango pieces. Peel and half the garlic cloves. Chop the chili into small pieces.

Heat 2 dl oil and add cumin, then mustard seeds. When the mustard starts popping add curry leaves, chili, red chili powder, turmeric, asafoetida and finally mustard powder, fenugreek seed powder, fennel seeds and garlic. Stir and remove from heat after a minute or so. Add salt.

Mix all ingredients and fill into clean scalded glass jars. Squeeze the pickle down hard to avoid air pockets. Finally cover with 1/2 an inch of vegetable oil to seal off air. Store in the fridge. It's a good idea to give the pickles a stir after 3-4 days, add more oil to cover if needed.

The pickles mature in 1-2 weeks and last for months and months in the fridge.

Raw Blackberry and Raspberry Cup Cakes - my first ones ever!

Ok, so this is the very first time making raw cakes - and cake making is really not what I'm best at.
Measurements are potentially a bit off - I didn't write anything down going along...

Crust:
4 dried dates
2 tbsp rolled oats
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp raw cocoa powder

Blend all and shape into cup cake wrappers

Blackberry and Raspberry filling:
1 dl soaked cashew nuts
3 dl defrosted black- and raspberries - squeeze and save the juice

½ tsp soy lecithin
2 tsp agave syrup or other raw sweetener
½ tsp psyllium seed husks (optional)

Blend all and fill into crusts.

Coconut and mint sprinkles:
Dried shredded coconut
Mint leaeves

Chop, chop, chop...

Whipped cream:
½ dl soaked cashew nut
1 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp soy lecithin
1 tbsp juice from berries
½ tsp psyllium seed husks (optional)

Vanilla - seeds or extract to taste

Blend - holding back juice gradually until smooth.
Decorate - and serve immediately.

Final decoration:
Mint leaves

Save-The-Fish Sauce

Save the fish! - when recipes call for fish sauce - use this substitute :D

Ingredients
1 handful of dried seaweed - e.g. wakame, arame, hijiki (the stronger the taste of sea - the better)
2 dried shredded shitake mushrooms
4 cloves of garlic, slightly crushed
Boiling water to cover the seaweed, mushrooms and garlic
6 black peppercorns
5-10 tbsp rice vinegar
5-10 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp white miso (optional)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Directions
Cover the seaweed, mushrooms and garlic with boiling water and leave for at least an hour to sit.
Add the rest of the ingredients - add tamari or salt and rice vinegar until very salty and sour.
Leave to sit in the fridge for a day or so.
Filter and store in the fridge.

Korean Dumpling Dipping Sauce

⅓ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1tbsp korean chilli flakes 고추가루
1 tbsp scallions
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 heaped tbsp roasted ground sesame seeds

Mix and serve.

Wakame and Mushroom Salad

Serves 2 - me and my quest star cook - providing wakame brought back from Korea

Ingredients
2 handful of soaked and quickly simmered wakame
3 handful of fried mushroom - we used yellow oyster, common oyster, button and shitake
Roasted sesame seeds
Sesame oil
Rice vinegar
Mirin
Salt to taste

Directions
Mix and serve.

Strawberry and Raspberry Smoothie

Ur everyday average afternoon smoothie

Ingredients:

Vanilla Soy Milk
Frozen Strawberries
Frozen Raspberries

Directions:

Blend

Variation:

Add protein powder for a good 'after work out shake'.

Sweet and Tangy Zest

Ingredients:

Zest from 1 orange or any other citrus fruit (organic naturally)
2 tbsp of sugar
Boiling water

Directions:

Remove as much of the white inside of the zest. Cut into wanted sizes no wider than 5 mm. Poor over boiling water until almost covered. Add sugar. Simmer until water has evaporated. Cool on baking or wax paper. When cool dip in sugar. Use for decoration on cakes or as a snack.

Luxury variation:
Dip in melted chocolate, grated coconut or dried chili flakes.