Sunday 23 June 2013

Vegobulous

With summer in the air and the wonderful array of fruits and vegetables on offer, I thought I better do it justice by whizzing up some fantastical bites to entertain my stomach. Following my last post I decided to stick with the Honestly Healthy recipe book as a basis, and I tailored the recipes to what I had available.

To the left is an image of my 'gourmet falafels' (in the words of Uncle Christo). These are definitely my favourite thing I have made so far and I shall definitely be experimenting with these! When you read how simple the recipe is you shall realise how easy it is to mix and match as many ingredients as you like!

So....

Ingredients wise you shall need...
- 50g raw flax seed
- 50g raw sesame seed
- 1 red pepper, finely diced
- 5-6 chestnut mushrooms OR 2 portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1/2 small onion finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- a drizzle of tamari, or salt (if you prefer)
- 125g raw almonds
- 150g chickpeas
- 150g pistachios or sunflower seeds
- 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 3/4 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- black pepper
- sprinkle of lemon pepper (optional)

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 110C
2) Combine the flax and sesame in a bowl and set aside
3) Combine the peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic and 2 tbsp olive oil in a separate bowl
4) Add a drizzle of tamari or a pinch of salt and mix well
5) Place the nuts and chickpeas in a processor and blend to a crumbly texture
6) Add the nut mix to the veggie mix as well as the parsley, cumin and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly and season to taste.
7) Form the mixture into palm sized balls.
8) Roll in the flax and sesame seed and place on a baking tray for 30-40 mins, until crisp on the outside but still moist.

Served with: Tomato Salsa (see below), and mixed salad or Iceberg lettuce

Ingredients:

- 200g tomatoes, diced
- 1 red onion
- 1 small cucumber, diced
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and diced
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- juice of 1/2 lemon

Mix all this and put in a bowl :) SIMPLE!

The next day I found a recipe that complemented the falafels very, very nicely! Chilli Pesto Dip....yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ingredients:

- 40g rocket
- 5g dill
- 50g raw cashews
- 30g feta
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 small red chilli
- 15g raw sunflower seeds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp water

Method: whizz, blend and pulverise it all in a blender woooooo, nice and easy :)



For my next delight, I was lucky enough to have our dear uncle Christo staying with us for a night. He came all the way from Nigeria, which is in Africa! Far I know. He says he made this trip for meetings or something, but really I know it was because he wanted to sample some culinary wonders :p And what a wonder it was. These aubergines were absolutely fantastic. I have to admit, when I first read the recipe I was not too excited about them, they looked rather bland and boring. But I hold my hands high and say I misjudged. This was one of the best if not my favourite aubergine dishes I have had! Super easy to make and very, very yummy.

Ingredients:

- 2 aubergines or 4 small ones, sliced horizontally
- Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
- chopped parsley
- seeds from 1/2 pomegranate
- black pepper
- drizzle of tamari

Dressing:
- 40g tahini
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 tbsp hot water
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp cumin or sumac (if you have, which I didn't!)

Method:

1) Make the dressing by whizzing up all the ingredients listed (It can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days!)
2) Mix the sliced aubergine with some olive oil, tamari and black pepper and place in the oven for about 15 mins on 220C
3) To serve, arrange the aubergines on a serving dish, drizzle the dressing and sprinkle with pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and parsley and voila! A culinary treat to accompany any meal :D


Today I was not feeling wildly crazy but I did try two new recipes that I thought would be nice. However, my tastebuds were not satisfied, so I shall spare you the recipes. Unless you really want them of course! Above is portobello mushroom with fennel salad and below are my broad bean and sweetcorn fritters with greek inspired salad. The pictures were nice so I thought I'd put them as food porn. But I want to experiment a bit more with combinations before giving a recipe as they were so bland I emptied our household of its chocolate and cheese stocks :) - Living up to my blog name.





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