Kohl - Slaw

 That's coleslaw made with kohlrabi - get it? ;-) Rick Stein did this carrot and kohlrabi salad, prepared much like the one above but then added fried cumin seeds in oil poured over the top. I tried it and it was very good but all I could think was how much the salad itself was like coleslaw. As kohlrabi is part of the cabbage family it makes sense. It also has a great texture, crisp and juicy like apple yet has the taste of cabbage, albeit mild so is perfect for coleslaw. So I made it again with a coleslaw type dressing and it works so well together, by far my favourite coleslaw!

2013 edit - As kohlrabi can be hard to find sometimes, I have also made this with cabbage for a more traditional coleslaw - just swap the kohlrabi with equal weight cabbage, finely sliced and roughly chopped, I always use sweetheart cabbage. I sometimes add cabbage as well as kohlrabi depending on what I have in the house - just shred up 3 or 4 leaves and add it to the mix. It gives another texture in there which is nice.

Salad:

1 kohlrabi, topped, tailed and peeled, about 150g
2 large carrots, about 200g
1 small white onion
3 or 4 leaves of sweetheart cabbage, shredded

Dressing:
1/2 cup vegan mayo (100g)
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
few grinds black pepper

For the salad - feed everything through a food processor with the shredder attachment on, or grate by hand. For the dressing simply whisk everything together, pour over the salad and mix well. Cover and chill the salad for at least a few hours.

Nutritional Information: per 100g 

Calories: 131
Fat: 10.5g
Sat Fat: 1.3g
Protein: 1.3g
Carbs: 8.7g
Fibre: 2.6g
Sugar: 3.9g
Sodium: 367mg

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German Style Potato Salad

This recipe is by Richard Corrigan and is on the BBC website. It's fantastic! I've never been a huge fan of mayo based potato salads anyway and as this one includes my favourite tastes of dill, gherkin and mustard figured I would love it - and do - it's so good :-)

German Style Potato Salad

316g (approx.) of cooked, cooled baby new potatoes
2 small shallots or 1 large, finely chopped
2 Tbsp corn oil
1/2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
25g gherkins (dill pickles) not the sweet type, you want this 'sharp'
bunch of fresh dill, chopped
black pepper

Dice the potatoes into a large bowl - leave the skins on. In separate bowl, combine shallots, oil, vinegar, dijon, salt and pepper - whisk well. Fold into potatoes with a rubber spatula then fold in mustard seeds, pickles and fresh dill. Chill.

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Warm Puy Lentil Salad with Baby Spinach and Watercress

Warm Puy Lentil Salad with Baby Spinach and Watercress with Balsamic Dressing: serves 2

125g dry weight lentilles verte du puy (puy lentils)
1 clove garlic, pureed
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
5-6 grinds black pepper
1/2 red onion, sliced and halved
75g baby spinach leaves
45g watercress

Wash and rinse lentils. Place in saucepan and cover with cold water - do not add salt. Bring to boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes with lid on. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes with lid on. Add more boiling water if needed during cooking, test for tenderness at the end and cook a bit longer if needed. Whisk garlic, mustard, oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl then slowly whisk in vinegar. Set aside. Toss together the spinach, watercress and red onion. Drain lentils well then toss in the dressing. Spoon lentil mixture over top the salad and serve immediately with fresh french bread.

Nutrient info per serving: Calories 369, fat 18g, carbs 35g, protein 18g, calcium 144mg, iron 8mg.

*that's the total daily intake of iron for a man (half for a woman) and a third of the daily intake of protein*

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Garlicky Pak Choi and Chickpea Rice

I had some pak choi and chickpeas in the fridge to use up and whipped this up - very simple but very good! You could easily swap the pak choi and chickpeas with any variety of veg and beans. See below for one variation I've made.

Garlicky Pak Choi and Chickpea Rice: serves 2

150g basmati rice, dry weight
100g pak choi, or 1 large head
1-2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well.

Slice the pak choi by seperating the stalk from the leaf, slice both parts into strips, keeping them seperate. Start cooking rice - do not add any salt to cooking water. Heat oil in a wok and fry onion till soft. When there is 5 minutes left on the rice add the pak choi stalks; when soft - should only take a few minutes, add the garlic, chickpeas and the pak choi leaf. Stir well then add cooked drained rice and soy sauce. Stir well - serve.

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2012 Edit - Just made this again with a few variations and it was lovely! Chickpeas have decided to not be my friend anymore so used black eyed beans, swapped the white basmati rice with wholegrain basmati rice and the onion with 1 large banana shallot - was gorgeous, really loving black eyed beans now :-)

Garlicky Wholegrain Basmati Rice with Pak Choi, Black Eyed Beans and Shallots: serves 2

150g wholegrain (brown) basmati rice - dry weight
100g or 1 large head pak choi
1 large banana shallot, halved and sliced (or 2 regular small shallots)
1/2 of a 400g tin black eyed beans, drained and rinsed
2 large cloves garlic, pureed
1 tsp peanut oil
1 - 2 Tbsp soy sauce (I like the higher measure but I don't salt the rice water or it would be too salty)
few grinds of black pepper


Get the rice cooking according to package instructions. Separate the green leaves from the pak choi stalks and slice the stalks into about 2" strips. Slice the leaves thinly and keep separate. When there is about 5 minutes left on the rice heat the peanut oil in a wok until nice and hot and add the shallots and pak choi stalks. Stir fry until the shallots start to slightly brown and the pak choi is tender. Add the garlic and beans and a few grinds of black pepper and give it a good stir - don't let it fry long here or the garlic will burn. Quickly add the drained rice, soy sauce and pak choi leaves and stir well whilst frying until the soy sauce is evenly distributed and the pak choi leaves wilt.  Serve immediately.

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Garlic Bread Baguette or Individual Rolls

 As a baguette or...

...as individual rolls!

This recipe is an absolute staple for us, I always make it when we are having a 'special' pasta meal. Sometimes I make it with a whole baguette and sometimes as individual rolls - both are great. You can also make ahead and freeze, just wrap in foil and place in the freezer when ready to cook just put it straight in the oven for about 10 minutes then remove foil to brown up for another 5 minutes.

Vegan Garlic Bread:

1 par bake baguette, or 3 par bake rolls.
1 large clove garlic, pureed
50g vegan margarine
2 teaspoons chopped flat leaf parsley
few grinds salt

Preheat oven to 220C.  For a baguette, slice it in even slices, on the diagonal but do not slice all the way through, I tend to get 10 or 11 slices out of mine. Mix together the margarine, garlic, parsley and salt really well. Spread a bit in between each slice, if some slices come apart it's ok - just glue it back together with the margarine! There will be leftover margarine, take some of this and spread it thinly all over the top of the baguette as well.

Now loosely wrap the whole baguette in foil making sure the top and sides are sealed, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes. Now remove, unwrap from the foil to expose it, you can leave it on the foil, and place back in the oven for another 5 - 8 minutes or until golden brown and crisp on top. Remove, transfer to a cutting board and slice all the way through the slices to serve.

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Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Fluffy Vegan Buttercream Frosting

From: Vegan Cupcakes take over the World.

Notes: Recipe calls for canola oil which is rapeseed oil here. I used a vegetable oil which is 100% rapeseed. For the vanilla extract use a really good quality real extract, not an imitation one. This is important in cakes that have no eggs or butter as the flavour of the extracts really come through. For the thickener, I used arrowroot as that's what I had but recipe said you can use cornstarch (cornflour). Also I used rice milk which turned out great, the soy will curdle with the vinegar more but the rice milk works just fine.

For the frosting, I have halved the recipe as it makes so much, if you want to have piles of frosting like in the picture you may want to double the amount but this will frost 12 sufficiently. Also, I didn't need nearly as much 'milk' as the recipe called for.

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Watercress, Houmous and Sun-Dried Tomatoes on Rye

This has become one of our favourite sandwich recipes, it's so delicious and very simple. The combination of spicy dijon, creamy houmous and sun dried tomatoes just go so well with the nutty bread and peppery watercress. It's very easy and really packable, great for lunches - just wrap it up!

Watercress, Houmous and Sun-Dried Tomatoes on Wholegrain Rye Bread: makes 1 sandwich

2 slices German wholegrain rye bread
5g dijon mustard
40g houmous
15g sundried tomatoes in oil, sliced
15g canned chick peas, drained, rinsed, skinned and sliced in half
10g watercress

Of course you can ignore the gram quantities here, they are mostly for me and my calorie counting ;-) Just make sure you are generous with the houmous/chickpea filling. Easiest way is just mix some halved chickpeas into houmous, spread one slice of the rye bread with dijon, top with the houmous/chickpea mixture, sprinkle the chopped sun dried tomatoes on top then top with watercress. Place the other slice of rye bread on top cut in half and enjoy!

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Spicy Pepitas

Apologies for the terrible photo here! These are one of our favourite snacks, great with beer or just on their own, and don't forget how insanely good for you pumpkin seeds are! As for the chilli powder I use a seasoned mix here, something like a fajita or taco seasoning mix would do.

Spicy Pepitas:

50g pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp mixed chilli powder

Simply toss all together until well coated. Place in a hot dry non stick frying pan and heat until the start to pop and lightly brown. You can also do these in the oven, about 200C until again, the pop up and are golden. Let cool slightly as they will be lethally hot at first!

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Easy Red Thai Curry

Easy Red Thai Curry: serves 2.

100g new potatoes, diced
170g mushrooms, halved and sliced
80g frozen petite pois
100g carrots, sliced and halved
45g fresh baby spinach
30g plain cashews
1/2 can reduced fat coconut milk
1Tb red thai curry paste
1Tb vegetable oil

Heat 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil and fry mushrooms until soft. Remove. Heat the other tablespoon of oil and briefly fry paste on low heat then add potatoes, carrots and peas. Fry gently for 3 minutes then add coconut milk. Stir well and simmer with lid on for about 10- 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in mushrooms, cashews and spinach and cook until spinach wilts. Serve with rice.

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Udon with Shiitake Mushrooms and Kale in Miso Broth

From: Veganomicon

Notes: Didn't have shiitake so used chestnut mushrooms.

Only had sweet white miso so used that, recipe said to use more if using the sweet white so did.

Added more soy sauce, mostly for colour.

Would either cook the kale longer next time or steam it first, then add.

Otherwise perfect.

Edited to add: have since made this with shiitake mushrooms as the original recipe stated and it was very good, better in fact. Used 10g dry shiitake mushrooms rehydrated according to package instructions. Actually, we have a new front runner - sliced portobello mushrooms! Best yet!

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Pesto Pizza with Sundried Tomatoes, Black Olives, Red Onion and Mushrooms

This was a great pizza, thick and fluffy homemade base spread with the Vegan Pesto from Vegan with a Vengeance and topped with sliced mushrooms, red onion, black olives and chopped sun dried tomatoes. Perfect with a glass or two of red wine!

Pizza Base: 


225g extra strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tsp active dry yeast (not instant yeast)

150ml hand hot water

1 tsp olive oil (plus more for greasing)

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl dissolve the sugar into the warm water then sprinkle on the yeast. Leave it for 10 minutes to get all foamy. Add the olive oil and whisk it up. Stir this into the flour with a wooden spoon until it comes together in a ball. Whilst adding some more flour to prevent sticking, knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes, it should be smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour. Punch down knead a couple times, cover and let rest 15 minutes. Now hand pat down or roll out into a circle, however thick you want the base. Keep in mind it will rise some more.

Spread with pesto, I used the recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance then top with said toppings and bake in a 200C oven for about 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and puffed up.

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Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

From: Vegan Cupcakes take over the World - a chocolate mint cake with mint frosting and chocolate ganache topping...

These were absolutely amazing, reminded me of a 'pep' bar, and quite possibly made the best tasting batter in the world, Finn and I were fighting to lick that bowl I tell you! Next time for the frosting I will add all the colour and extracts first before the 'milk' as they added enough liquid that I didn't need nearly as much 'milk' as the recipe called for. Otherwise, just perfect...