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.

Seasoned Black Quinoa

Ingredients

Black quinoa
Lemon juice
Tamari
Chopped parsley

Directions

Cook the quinoa - directions are on the bag/box.
When cooked, add lemon juice, tamari and chopped parsley.

Mash Up

This mash up is made with Denjang...


Ingredients

Water
Parsnip
Carrots

- or any other roots you like

Optional:
Onions
Leek
Garlic
Chili


Directions

Clean - and peel the roots if necessary.
Chop into smaller bits - the smaller, the quicker they cook.
Place in a pot and add water about half as high as the roots.
Cover and cook until very tender.
Blend - add water to get the consistency you like.

To flavor add:
Oil, salt and pepper
or
Miso or Denjang
or
Pesto
or oil, fresh herbes, lemon juice, salt

Kimbap with Kimchi

Rice:

2 1/2 dl korean rice or sushi rice
4 dl water

1 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Mix oil, vinegar, sugar and salt well while boiling the rice. Stir in gently after the rice have settled and cooled a little. 

Making perfect rice is an ART - find your own way...

Stuffing:

Cucumber
Avocado
Pickled ginger
Sesame seeds

Horse radish
Tofu
Spring onions
Blanched savoy cabbage

Umeboshi Purée
Carrot
Blanched spinach
Pickled radish

or whatever combination you prefer.

Roll like maki sushi. 

Check out how Maangchi rolls.

or the turbo roll.

Serve with kimchi.

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.

Creamy Pestoish Penne

Great hangover chow.
Serves 1-2.

Ingredients

1 handful of parsley
1 handful of cashew nut
1 dl firm silken tofu
1/2 clove of garlic
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp of water  (e.g. from your boiling pasta)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

1-2 chopped sundried or fresh tomatoes

Directions
Start with oil, nuts and garlic. Blend until coarsely chopped - then add the rest of the ingredients - except tomatoes.

Toss in your favorite penne or other pasta and tomatoes and mix.

Variation
Add more tofu and soaked cashews - or no cashews - great creamy spread for your bagel or sandwich.

Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

My dream last night took me back to last summer - a beautiful day with my dad in the garden. We were cutting down my cherry tree, harvesting rainbow carrots and zucchini.

Then we made stuffed zucchini flowers, here's my vague memory of the recipe I came up with:

Stuffing
grilled zucchini
capers
silken tofu
chives
parsley
garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper

Chop the vegetables, capers and herbs finely and mix with tofu and oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the flowers.
Make a twist at the top to close the flower. 
Like this:

Batter:
wheat flour
baking powder
salt
beer

Mix the batter - heat up oil, dip the flowers and deep fry. Be careful!
Serve immediately, with a slice of lemon. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside - yum :D

Come summer and zucchini flowers I will review.

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

Cucumber Kimchi

Ingredients
2 big or 6 small cucumbers for Pickling
sea salt

4 scallions
1 very small yellow or white onion
3 tbsp of sesame seeds
3 - 4 red pepper flakes 고추가루
2 tbsp Save-The-Fish Sauce (or some salt)
1 tsp of sugar
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of sesame oil

Directions
Cut the cucumbers into chunks, slices or do like Aeri.
Rub/coat the cucumbers in salt and leave to sit.
While waiting mix the rest of the ingredients.
Rinse cucumbers thoroughly when ready after 20 - 30 minutes.
Mix everything together and store in glass jars in the fridge.
Can be served immediately but is best after a day or two.

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.

Pumpkin and Smoked Tofu Dumplings

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
15 - 20 dumpling wraps

Stuffing:
1 small Hokkaido - steamed or oven roasted till tender
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 handful of finely chopped spring onions
1 handful of chopped fresh coriander
½ - 1 tbsp korean chilli flakes 고추가루
½ tbsp tamari
100 g finely chopped smoked tofu
½ tbsp sesame oil

Directions
Mix all ingredients and wrap them up.

Steam for 10+ minutes

- or fry.
Add a little oil to a frying pan. Heat and place dumplings. Cover bottom with water. Fry for 15 minutes under lid, until water is evaporated.

Serve as they are with Dumpling Dipping Sauce or in broth:

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.

Crème Brûlée with Vanilla

Ingredients:

Serves 3

3 dl of vanilla soy milk or other vegetable milk
3 tbsp of confectioners sugar
1 tsp of vanilla sugar or seeds of a quarter vanilla bean
2 tsp of corn starch

Sugar for topping


Directions:

Heat soy milk slowly. Whisk constantly from now. Shake confectioners sugar and vanilla together with a little soy milk or water. (While whisking you ask? - YES ;)) Add to soy milk. Do the same with corn starch. Add slowly little by little - still whisking. When turned to custard, pour into portion sized bowls or whatever you wanna use. Leave to cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours (- or place in the snow if you cant wait)

When cooled - and just before serving - sprinkle sugar on top and blowtorch until the sugar caramelizes.

Take care if the containers are fragile and you're using a hardware grade blowtorch like I do and you're taking pictures at the same time... or this will happen to you too: