Pete's Rose harissa, Ottolenghi's Spicy roast potatoes with tahini and soy, Sweet n' sour chicken, Perfectly cooked, separate grained rice, Ginger beef with pineapple, Aronia (chokeberry), apple, rose water and juniper conserve, Rowan berry and rosemary jelly, Vegan smetana (sour cream), Sieni salaatti (Finnish mushroom salad), Lingonberry & walnut bread rolls, Firm (smoked) Tofu.

1st September, 2021

Ottolenghi's Spicy roast potatoes with tahini and soy Vegan

The recipe can be found here

For this I used my own rose harissa (recipe below)

Harissa Vegan

Ingredients:

I recommend you choose a selection of dried chillies to accommodate your own taste. I used 3 ancho (medium), 3 Cascabel (mild), 5 chipotle (own here) and 2 firery hot red chillies.

Dried chillies 58-60g by dry-weight.

1 tbl cumin seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp caraway seeds

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1½ tsp smoked paprika

 

 

 

 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbl lemon juice

1 tbl white vinegar

2 tsp rose water

1 tbl tomato paste 70 ml olive oil

Method:

Cover the chillies with boiling water and place a lid over them while they reconstitute for 20 mins. Then de-stem and de-seed them.

Toast the whole seeds in a dry frying pan, until they become fragrant and 'pop'.

Grind in a pestle and mortar, then add the rest of the dry ingredients.

Pound in the garlic, followed by the lemon luice, rose water and vinegar.

Transfer to a stick blender container, adding the tomato paste and the prepared chillies. Blitz to a fine pulp.

Whilst still blitzing, pour in a steady stream of the oil to form a glossy paste.

Store in the fridge in an air-tight container.

This will keep for 2 - 4 weeks.


2nd September, 2021

Sweet and sour chicken with rice and nam phrik

Ingredients:

400g chicken breast, bone and skin removed

1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly sliced

½ medium sized onion, roughly sliced

400g tinned pineable, in juice (the juice is used in the recipe)

2 tsp tamarind paste

3 tbl brown sugar

50 ml balsamic vinegar

2½ tsp soy sauce

1 tsp of corn starch made into a paste with a drop of water

(If you dare... ½ tsp of MSG {optional})

1 dl (dry measure) full grain brown rice per serving.

 

Method:

 

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, drizzle some olive oil over it and seal the dish with foil.

Bake for 28 mins., then check it's cooked through.

Blend the pepper, juice and onion using a stick blender until a smooth paste is formed.

Transfer to a pan, bring to the boil and then set to simmer for 10 minutes after adding the remaining ingredients (except the rice!).

When the chicken is cooked, slice it into 1 cm thick slices, remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the chicken.

Serve with rice here and nam phrik sauce here

Perfectly cooked separate grain rice

Method:

We are talking here about the absorbtion method; one dl of uncooked rice per person.

(I use Uncle Ben's full grain brown rice, so you may need to adjust the timing according to whatever rice you use).

Wash the rice thoroughly in a sieve, under a running tap.

Transfer the rice to a saucepan, add ½ tsp salt per dl of rice and pour in twice the rice measure of water.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium and put a well fitting lid on the pan. Let it simmer for 11 minutes. (From this point on, do not remove the lid until you are ready to serve).

Remove from the heat source and let it stand for 5 minutes, still without lifting the lid.

There you have it!


4th September, 2021

Ginger beef with pinapple (Vegan option)

The secret to this recipe is the coarsely (cheese grater) grated ginger, thoroughly washed and brushed, but used skin on.

Ingredients:

400 g of minute steak or Vegan meat substitute (I've used Nyhtökaura tomaatti - or bean based protein)

400 g tin of pinapple chunks, drained

1 red chilli (choose your own heat), finely chopped

1 tbl ricewine vinegar

2 tsp brown sugar

2½ tbl soy sauce

120 g onion sliced

100 g of coarsely grated ginger

2 tsp corn starch

 

Method:

Cut the meat (or substitute) into small, bitesize pieces; then marinade them for 1 - 3 hrs in the chilli, vinegar,  sugar and soy sauce.

Fry the onions and ginger until golden and then add the meat + marinade together with the pinapple chunks. Let them simmer until the meat is tender (timing will depend on the cut, bean-based protein only requires a minute or two).

Crank up the heat and reduce the sauce til it thickens.

Serve with rice here


6th September, 2021

Aronia (chokeberry), apple, rose water and juniper conserve Vegan

Aronia (chokeberry), apple, rose water and juniper jam

Ingredients:

600 g Aronia (chokeberries)

300 g peeled and cored apple, cut into 1 cm cubes

20 ml rose water

20 ml water

400 g of pectinized sugar (jam sugar)

20 juniper berries

2x 500 ml Kilner/Mason jars, washed and sterilized - 30 mins. at 140°C

Method:

Wash and de-stalk the berries

Bring the water and rose water to a boil and add the fruit and juniper berries. Stir frequently. After 5 minutes, add the sugar.

Simmer on a medium heat for about 25 minutes (mine was 102°C). Stir frequently.

To test if it is setting, put a spoonful on a cold plate - put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. When you draw your finger through the jam, it should no longer return, ... the furrow remains.

If it doesn't set, boil a little longer stirring all the time to prevent burning the bottom of  the pan.

When ready, pour into hot jars and seal immediately.

Ideal on bread or with cold meats and cheeses.


6th September, 2021

Vegan smetana (sour cream)

Ingredients:

 

150 g raw cashews pre soaked for 4 hours in enough water to totally cover them.

120 ml water

1½ tbl lemon juice

½ tsp cider vinegar

¼ tsp fine sea salt

Method:

Blitz all the ingredients to a smooth paste using a stick blender. The smoother, the better. Add a few drops of extra water at a time to achieve the desired consistency.

Keeps for 5 days in the fridge, but may need a little added water again.

 


6th September, 2021

Sieni salaatti (Finnish mushroom salad) Vegan option

The best mushrooms for this are salt preserved Woolly milkcaps. In which case, even after soaking the brine out of the mushrooms, you probably wont want any more salt*.

Ingredients:

4 dl finely chopped mushrooms (If using salted mushrooms - soak out the brine in copious amounts of water 6-8 hrs).

½ a medium sized onion, chopped up as finely as is possible

1 dl of sour cream or my vegan sour cream here

1 dl of creme fraiche (I have used vegan creme fraiche "Oatly's imat fraiche")

1 tsp white vinegar

½ tsp sugar

A few turns of pepper

* Salt to taste

 

 

 

Method:

Squeeze any excess moisture out of the mushrooms

Mix all the ingredients together

Let it stand for a minimum of 15 minutes

Keeps in the fridge, well covered, for up to 5 days


6th September, 2021

Supper


7th september, 2021

Thai summer rolls

My daughter Anna made me a meal today, Thai summer rolls and coconut curry...a "day off" for me, and a lovely one at that.

Thai summer rolls


7th September, 2021

Lingonberry & walnut bread rolls Vegan

Ingredients:

4 dl luke warm apple juice

25 g fresh baker's yeast

1 dl dark syrup

1 tsp salt

2 dl lingonberries

70 g crushed walnuts or peacans

8 dl strong white, plain flour

4 dl of rye flour

50 g melted butter or vegan margarine

Method:

Dissolve the yeast in the apple juice, stir in 1 tbl of the white flour and leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Combine all the ingredients and kneed gently into a dough.

Let the dough proove for an hour under a tea-towel.

Form into 8-10 bread rolls and place on a parchment lined baking tray. Set the oven to 40°C and leave the rolls in the oven to rise for 45 mins.

Take them out of the oven, and set the oven to 225°C. As soon as the temperature is reached, bake the rolls for 12 minutes, or until golden.

Leave to cool on a rack.


8th September, 2021

Firm (smoked) Tofu Vegan

Soaking organic soy beans

The soyamilk

Boiling and separating the soyamilk

Some develpment required for my tofu pressing!

Ingredients:

500 g organic (non-GM) soy beans soaked in plenty of water for 12-18 hours

2 tbl whitewine vinegar

1 tbl lemon juice

 

Soaking the tofu

Smoking the tofu

Frying the smoked tofu

Homemade smoked tofu for lunch

Method:

Soak the organic soy beans in plenty of water 12-18 hrs. (Allow enough water for them to swell threefold)

Drain the beans through a sieve

STEP 1: Transfer a third of the beans (batch 1)  - approx. 375g to a food processor, add ½ litre of water and blitz for one minute. Then transfer the "soup" to a stick blender and blitz to a smooth paste.

Mix the paste with a further half litre of water and pour into a sieve lined with a muslin cheese cloth. Once the  pulp is almost dry, stir it a little and "wash" through with another 600ml of water.

Repeat STEP 1 for the remaining two batches.

Finally, sqeeze as much milk as you can out of the muslin pulp.

Bring the soyamilk to a boil, stirring to avoid burning the bottom of the pan (be careful, it boils over easily). Then simmer for 20 mins. at 97°C. Remove from the heat and let it cool to 85°C.

Mix together the vinegar, lemon juice and 240 ml of water. Very gently, stir in the acid, little by little until the milk curdles and coagulates. The top of the pan should become clear liquid when you stop stirring. You will most probably not need to use all of the acid. Stop adding it as soon as the separation has occured.

Let the pan stand a few minutes, then gently press a fine sieve into the pan and scoop out of the sieve the clear liquid with a ladle or dl measuring cup.

Pour the curds into a sieve and let them drain a few minutes.

Transfer the solids to your mould lined again with a muslin cloth. (The first time I used a saucepan steamer for this- one with holes in the bottom. Since then I have made a mould, the same size as a house-brick).

Fold the cloth over the solids and apply a weight to press the tofu.

Here we come to the tricky bit. There are many variables, the fineness of the bean soup, the amount of presure exerted by the pressing weight, the size of the mouold and thereby the thickness of the tofu and the time left to compress. For soft tofu, 10-15 minutes may be enough; my aim was for firm tofu and I applied as much weight as I could muster for 50 minutes.

Once ready, the tofu needs to be soaked in water for at least 1 hour to help remove any acidic taste from the coagulant.

After soaking, it's good to freeze the tofu, this changes the texture somewhat to become more firm and with more "holes" that soak up  the cooking liquids.

Smoking:

This is an optional step.

Prepare your smoker with four handfuls of chippings. Smoke the tofu FROM FROZEN, and start the 25 minute count from the moment the internal temperature reaches 100°C. Try to maintain a temp. of 150°C.

Once the smoking time has elapsed, transfer the tofu once again to a soaking bath for 1 hr.

 

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