The End of Vegan MoFo 2010

In the beginning of this month I planned to post everyday. It didn’t happen, but there were only few days without posting. Better than last year.

Here’s one more recipe for all our readers. The crust recipe is mine, the filling recipe is from a leaflet we got from supermarket ages ago. I still don’t know what’s the difference between pies, quiches etc. Maybe this is tart?

Lingonberry and Coconut Tart

crust:
125g margarine + little more for greasing the dish
3 dl wheat flour
0,5 dl sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cold water

margarine for greasing the dish
coconut flakes or bread crumbs (optional)

filling:
85g margarine
1,5 dl coconut flakes
0,75dl + 2 tbsp sugar
4 dl lingonberries (whole or partially crushed)

Heat the oven to 175 Celsius degrees. Crumble margarine, flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl with your hands. Add water and mix together to form a dough. Grease a pie dish (25-28cm diameter), sprinkle with coconut flakes or bread crumbs and spread the dough in it. Bake 10 minutes.

Melt the margarine in a pot. Remove from the heat and stir in coconut flakes and 0,75 dl sugar. Spread the lingonberries on the prebaked crust and sprinkle 2 tbsp sugar on them. Spoon coconut mixture on top as small lumps. Bake 20 minutes more. Allow to cool a bit before serving.

Special Macaroni Casserole

It’s handy to have some food in the freezer for days you don’t have time to cook or if you don’t have any leftovers to take with you to work. Today we made loads of macaroni casserole so we could have it for dinner and have leftovers to freeze.

Two Macaroni Casseroles

400g macaroni
3 big carrots
2 medium/small onions
1 celery stalk
1 can white beans in tomato sauce
salt, pepper, oregano
vegetable broth
half bell pepper
3 dl green beans cut in shorter pieces
2 garlic cloves
5 dl coconut milk
scant 1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
pinch of cayenne
1 tsp lovage

Cook the macaroni according to instructions on the package. Peel and coarsely grate the carrots. Peel and chop the onions. Take two oven proof dishes and divide macaroni, carrots and onions in them. If one is bigger than the other, put 2/3 to it and 1/3 to the other (like we did). Slice the celery stalk and put it and white beans to one dish. Sprinkle salt, pepper and oregano on top and pour enough vegetable broth to barely cover other ingredients. Dice bell pepper and mince the garlic cloves. Put them and green beans to the other dish. Combine coconut, cumin, garam masala, cayenne, lovage and some salt in a bowl and mix them with macaroni mix. Cover both dishes with lid or aluminium foil and bake in 200 Celsius degrees for 45-60 minutes. Remove lid/foil from the first dish after 20-30 minutes and from coconutty dish 5-10 minutes before it’s done.

Easy Weekday Dinner

An easy and fairly quick dinner we made one evening after work and school. We had sprouted and cooked chickpeas, but canned could be used too.

Chickpea Curry

3 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp mustard seeds
1,5 tsp good curry powder
2 shallots
2 garlic cloves
3 medium potatoes
2 celery ribs
4 dl cooked or canned chickpeas
5 dl water
50g creamed coconut
salt to taste

Chop the shallots and mince the garlic. Wash the potatos well (or peel) and cube. Slice the celery ribs. Heat the oil and fry cumin, mustard seeds and curry powder for a minute. Add shallots and garlic and fry until shallots are soft and translucent. Add potato cubes and simmer 5 minutes. Add celery and chickpeas and simmer few more minutes. Add water, bring to boil and add creamed coconut. Simmer until potatoes and celery are soft. Add more water if your curry looks dry or boil on higher heat if it has too much liquid. Add salt to taste and serve with cooked barley, rice or other grains.

Soup Is Good Food

It’s time to use the pumpkin we have in our fridge. I used some of it to this soup, but there’s more than a half left, so we’ll be eating more pumpkin in the near future. Soup is nice food on a busy day, because you can just let it simmer while you do other things. This soup is a light meal, so you may want to have a hummus or tofu sandwitch with it. Or maybe serve it as a starter.

Pumpkin Soup

2-4 shallots
3 tbsp oil
2 garlic cloves
1 fresh chili (I used lemon drop)
3cm piece fresh ginger
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 l water (or broth)
3 carrots, cut in 2-3cm thick slices
2 potatoes, cubed
1 l pumpkin cubes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lovage
1 tsp dried parsley (or 1 tbsp fresh)
50g creamed coconut

Chop the shallots coarsely. Mince garlic, chili and ginger. Heat the oil in a pot and fry the shallots for a minute or two. Add garlic, chili, ginger, turmeric, cumin and coriander and fry one more minute. Add the water, salt and lovage and bring to boil. Add carrots, potatoes and pumpkin, cover with a lid and cook until they are soft. Remove heat and puré the soup with a blender. Put the soup back on heat, add parsley and coconut and stir until the coconut is melted. Taste and add more salt or other spices if needed.

Lentil soup with a coconut twist

Just recently I had the questionable pleasure of being in the receiving end of some dental procedures and surgery. This resulted in a state of being unable to eat anything solid food for a few days. Hence, soups were needed and lentil soup is an awesome choice – and it doesn’t necessarily require dental operations.

Lentil Soup

2-3 tbsp oil
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dry ginger
chili powder
2 small onions, chopped coarsely
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, sliced
1 bell pepper, diced
7,5 dl water
1,5 dl red lentils
50g creamed coconut
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat the oil in a pot and fry spices about a minute. Add onion and garlic, mix well. Fry until the onion starts to get soft, stirring often, and add more oil if necessary. Add the water, carrot, bell pepper and lentils. Cover with lid and let the soup boil 15 minutes or until carrots and lentils are soft. Melt the creamed coconut into soup and puree with a blender. Season with salt and lemon juice. If the soup is too thick, add some water.