Tag Archives: vegetarian

Desiccated Coconut Milk

Condiments and Dips, , , , , , ,

Desiccated Coconut Milk

Recently for some strange reason we could not find any of the brand of coconut milk that we normally buy. It seemed to be sold out of all of the shops near our home. We looked at the labels of a lot of other brands of coconut milk, but were not happy with what we saw. In addition to a stabilizer, many had preservatives in them, and some other ingredients we didn’t understand.

Around the same time we ended up buying a whole pile of desiccated coconut on a shopping trip to the Indian wholesaler only to find when we got home that we already had quite a lot sitting at the back of the cupboard. OK, so let’s try combining the two and making our own coconut milk! Actually it is pretty simple, and using a blender it is also very fast. No more preservatives or stabilizers in this lot!

This recipe makes both thick and thin coconut milk, in the two presses of the coconut. I recommend that you press them into separate bowls and retain them separately for use in different recipes. The thick coconut milk can be used to replace cream, while the thin coconut milk can be used as a milk replacement in many dishes.

Ingredients

  • 180g desiccated (shredded) coconut
  • 1.25L hot water (5 cups)

Directions

  1. Put the desiccated coconut and half of the water (625ml / 2 1/2 cups) of hot water into a blender.
  2. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds.
  3. Pour the water and coconut mixture out over a fine sieve or a piece of muslin cloth (you could also use a fine tea cloth) with a bowl underneath.
  4. Squeeze all of the excess moisture out by squeezing the coconut in the cloth, or by pressing the coconut with the back of a spoon in the sieve.
  5. This first press of the coconut mixture will be thicker and creamier than the second press of the coconut mixture.
  6. Return the coconut to the blender and put the rest of the hot water in with it (625ml / 2 1/2 cups).
  7. Blend again on high for for 30 seconds
  8. Pour the second lot of water out over a fine sieve or piece of cloth, and a fresh bowl.
  9. This second press of the coconut mixture will be a thin coconut milk, but will normally be more than the first press of the coconut.
  10. Store the thick and thin coconut mixtures separately in airtight containers in the fridge, and use in soups, curries, or beverages.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: The Mountain Goats – Beat the Champ

Gluten Free Kimchi Pancakes

Lunch and Light Meals, , , , , , , , , ,

Kimchi pancakes

I made a big mix of Kimchi and am spending the week on recipes that can use it in cooking, instead of as an accompaniment. Kimchi pancakes (Kimchijeon in Korean) is a recipe that Korean friends of ours made us when we went to visit them, and this is a variation of that recipe in order to make it gluten free.

These are a savoury pancake, that should get a little bit crispy. In order to make them crispy the water that you add to the mixture needs to be cold, or you can add some ice to cool it down. Do make sure that you use oil in the pan, as this will also help the process of turning them crispy. 

We ate them on their own and with Carrot Kimchi, and they make quite a hearty meal. This recipe makes 8-10 pancakes, which is a little too much for 2 people for lunch. 

We have also made them with some chicken added, and you could also add some finely chopped leeks or spring onions as a variation.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (500ml) rice flour
  • 2 Tbsp coconut flour
  • 1 egg
  • 550ml cold water
  • 2 cups (500ml) kimchi
  • 5 ice cubes
  • coconut oil or other high heat oil

Directions

  1. Chop the kimchi up finely
  2. Place the rice flour, coconut flour, egg, cold water and kimchi into a bowl. Stir to combine. It should be a fairly watery batter
  3. Heat the oil in a frying pan on a moderate heat
  4. Place the ice cubes into the batter. This will help to cool down the mixture and make sure that your pancakes get crispy. The alternative is to use chilled water out of the fridge when making the mixture.
  5. Using a soup ladle, scoop up a good scoop of the mixture and pour it into the pan. Use the back of the soup ladle to spread the mixture around, making sure that the kimchi is evenly spread across the pan and not in a heap in the middle
  6. Wait until the mixture has cooked through before flipping the pancake over onto the other side. Resist the urge to turn it too soon as it will not go crispy around the edges if you do. Takes 1-2 minutes
  7. Flip the pancake and ensure that it is cooked through – only about 30 seconds to 1 minute on this side.
  8. Serve while stil hot
  9. Makes 8-10 kimchi pancakes

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: The Vaccines – English Graffiti

Homemade Carrot Kimchi

Condiments and Dips, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Homemade Korean Carrot Kimchi

No Korean meal is complete without a side dish of Kimchi. It is a national obsession, and rightly so. There are many health studies which show the benefits of this fermented wonderfood!

We have a favourite little Korean BBQ restaurant here in Singapore, and they serve a trio of Kimchi’s. This got us investigating what other Kimchi variations we could make, including this carrot Kimchi.

Chopping the carrot finely takes some work, and you could also grate it to save you some time if you like (although then it will look a little less pretty).

Ingredients

  • 1 kg carrots
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp coarse sea salt

Kimchi paste

  • 1 Tbsp gochugaru, Korean chilli powder
  • 50g leek, shredded
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp finely grated ginger
  • 100g fresh daikon / mooli radish, coarsely grated or finely sliced (can be substituted for regular radish, but decrease the amount as it is stronger in flavour)
  • 1/2 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 Tbsp salt

Directions

  1. Peel the carrots and slice them very finely (Julienne). Place them in a bowl and add the salt. Cover the carrots with water and leave them to stand overnight at room temperature
  2. Taste the carrots to check the seasoning and wash in water until it is just too salty for your taste
  3. A good kimchi contains enough salt, but to get it right it is important to taste it. If it is very salty then you need to rinse it more. Rinse it multiple times, tasting  each time until it is just too salty for your taste. If it tastes salty enough for your taste, then it is probably not salty enough, and you should add more salt to the mixture (2 Tbsp rather than 1 Tbsp) when you are making the Kimchi paste.
  4. Mix together all of the ingredients for the Kimchi paste in a bowl
  5. Add the carrots and mix thoroughly using your hands
  6. Place the carrot Kimchi into a jar or bowl with a tight fitting lid. Press them into the jar to be tight fitting, but do not use any real force in doing so.
  7. Put the kimchi into the fridge and let it stand for 10 days
  8. It will keep for approximately 1 month in the fridge

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love

Turkish Snack Bars

Snacks, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Turkish snack bars

We didn’t enter a wholefood lifestyle to lose weight. We started looking after ourselves better to improve our health and start feeling better. But the consequence has also been that as we have taken out the junk, the processed food, and the fried food from our diets, our weight has also dropped. But we also don’t want it to drop too much or too fast.

That is where a little bit of healthy snacking comes in. But most shop bought snacks have ingredients I don’t recognize, or sugar that I don’t want to eat. The alternative are pretty expensive raw snack bars. As a result, we have taken to making our own snack bars and keeping them in the fridge. I make one or two batches in the weekend (which takes me less than 10 minutes) and they keep all week. Given that they are all dried ingredients, they should actually keep quite a long time, but they have never last longer than a week in our house to find out.

These snack bars are inspired by the flavours of Turkey. Rich pistachios and almonds are bound together with the sweetness and stickiness of dates. They are a great snack to keep in the fridge and snack on with an espresso or on its own.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pistachios
  • 1 cup dried apricots
  • 1 cup dried dates
  • 10g extra pistachios, chopped, for garnishing

Directions

  1. Place the pistachios in a food processor with the metal knife blade inserted. Pulse until they are finely chopped.
  2. Add the apricots and dates to the food processor and turn the speed up to a medium speed. Process for about 1 minute until the fruits and nuts are all finely chopped and start to stick together.
  3. Grease a metal tray with a little coconut oil. Pour the mixture onto the tray and press down firmly with your hands to form a large square / rectangular shape. You need to press quite firmly to press all of the mixture together.
  4. Chop the extra 10g (a small handful) of pistachios and sprinkle over the top of the bar. Press down into the mixture with your hands firmly so that it sticks into the bars as a garnish
  5. Place in the fridge for an hour
  6. Cut into bar shapes and store in an airtight plastic container between layers of greaseproof baking paper.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify:

Dairy Free Ice-Cream

Treats, , , , , , , , ,

Dairy Free Ice-Cream

The summer has well and truly heated up in Singapore! We are sitting in 35 degrees and high humidity. While I am not usually big on deserts, this evening we went out to dinner for sushi and my son was looking longingly at the ice-creams at the back of the menu. Matcha Green Tea and Chocolate ice-creams. One he won’t end up eating (but liked the idea of) and the other one I wasn’t so keen on him eating. 

So I decided to make our own ice-cream instead. I had put some bananas in the freezer to try out making my own dairy free ice-cream a couple of days ago, so whipping this up was pretty quick. I have to say, that with these ingredients, I won’t be so worried about skipping desert to be healthy anymore 🙂

Ingredients

  • 2 bananas
  • 50g frozen raspberries or other fruit of your choice
  • 10 pistachios, finely chopped

Directions

  1. Place 2 ripe bananas in the freezer over night (or longer if you like)
  2. Carefully peel the bananas using a sharp knife
  3. Slice the bananas into 0.5cm wide slices with a sharp knife
  4. Place the bananas and frozen fruit into a food processor with the metal knife blade (you could also use a blender, but it is a bit trickier to get it evenly blended without melting)
  5. Pulse the fruit several times until it has broken up into small grains of fruit.
  6. Turn the foodprocessor dial onto a medium setting to churn the frozen fruit into a creamy texture. You will need to stop it quite a few times and wipe the mixture down the side of the bowl in order to get an even texture.
  7. Watch it closely and stop it as soon as it has turned into an evenly blended ice-cream.
  8. Serve immediately topped with finely chopped pistachios to garnish

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Hozier – Hozier (Deluxe)

Dukkah (Duqqa)

Condiments and Dips, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dukkah crusted tuna

Dukkah is a classic Middle Eastern blend of spices, seeds and herbs. Originating in Egypt, there is no definitive recipe, with each home and store offering their unique blend. At its most simple it is a blend of mint, salt and pepper. It can be used as a topping for meat such as salmon, tuna or chicken, but can also be used as a dipping for bread (turkish flat bread is a good choice) or vegetables for a crunchy starter.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 tsp Cloves
  • 1 tsp Fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp Coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp Cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp Paprika
  • 1/4 tsp Turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp chili flakes
  • Handful of chopped pine nuts, toasted
  • Handful of chopped almonds, toasted
  • Handful of chopped cashew nuts, toasted
  • 1/2 tbsp White sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tbsp Black sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp Honey
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • Sea salt
  • Black pepper

Directions

  1. Toast the seeds in a a pan for around 30 seconds or until fragrant.
  2. Transfer the seeds to a spice grinder (or mortar and pestle) and grind until you have a coarse powder.
  3. Transfer to a little bowl, add all other ingredients and mix.
  4. Use as a topping for meat, or with olive oil as a dipping for bread or vegetables

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Intergalactic Lovers – Little Heavy Burdens

Persian Avocado Salad

Lunch and Light Meals, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Persian Avocado Salad

OK, so we can’t actually promise that this is an authentic Persian Salad. It isn’t. It was dreamed up in our kitchen while we were making Stuffed Poussin and needed a salad to go with it. But it is inspired by the tastes of the Middle East, and Persia in particular. The figs and dates combined with the nuts give a very rich salad, that is contrasted by the freshness of the salad. You can use whichever salad greens you happen to have in the house. Mesclun salad or rocket would be a good choice, but any other lettuce would also work. The parma ham / prosciutto can be omitted to make the meal vegetarian or vegan. 

Ingredients

  • 250g of lettuce greens – mesclun salad, rocket lettuce, or other lettuce of your choice
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 150g pumpkin
  • coconut oil
  • 2 slices of parma ham / prosciutto, chopped (optional)
  • 25g cashews, chopped and toasted
  • 25g almonds, chopped
  • 25g pinenuts, chopped
  • 2 chopped dates, chopped
  • 2 dried figs, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • pinch of coarse sea salt

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius (420 degrees Fahrenheit)
  2. Wash the lettuce greens and add them to a bowl
  3. Place the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a glass and stir vigorously to combine into a vinaigarette. Pour over the lettuce greens and toss to coat all the leaves.
  4. Cut the pumpkin into roughly 1cm square chunks. Place on a roasting dish in the oven. Sprinkle with olive oil and sea salt and cook in the oven for 20 minutes until a fork pricks easily through the pumpkin and the edges have turned golden. Alternatively, toss the pumpkin in 1 tsp of coconut oil, sprinkle with sea salt and cook in an Air Fryer for 10 minutes on 220 degrees Celsius. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before adding to the salad to avoid the greens from wilting.
  5. Chop up the dates, all the nuts and the parma ham. Fry them together in a pan over a moderate heat with a little coconut oil until golden and crispy. Remove from the heat and sprinkle over the salad greens
  6. Chop the figs into small pieces and sprinkle over the salad as well.
  7. Fry the sesame seeds in a dry pan over a moderate heat until they turn golden, stirring all the time to avoid burning. It will take only 2 minutes.
  8. Sprinkle the sesame seeds and a little coarse sea salt over the salad.
  9. Enjoy on its own as a light meal, or serve together with Persian Stuffed Poussin

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Hills Like Elephants – The Endless Charade

 

Moroccan Snack Bars

Snacks, , , , , , , , , , ,

Moroccan Bars

We love to have some healthy snacks in the fridge to get us through those moments when the next meal is just a little bit far off for our stomachs. These bars have no artificial ingredients or sugars, and are made of whole nuts and dried fruits. It is a good idea to check the ingredients list on dried fruits though, because sometimes oils are used in the drying process, sugars are added, or chemicals are used. We try to avoid all of these, and figs and dates seem to be the most easy of dried fruits to find without these additives.

These snack bars aren’t an authentic recipe from Morocco, but rather a bar that is inspired by the fruits and nuts that grow so well in this very fertile country. Famous for almonds, apricots, pistachios, figs and dates, the Moroccan kitchen is full of flavour.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dried dates, chopped
  • 1 cup dried figs, chopped
  • 1/4 cup blanched almonds
  • 1/4 cup pistachios
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1/4 cup cashew nuts

Directions

  1. Dry roast the pine nuts in a frying pan over a moderate heat. Toast until they are golden brown. Remove from the pan.
  2. Dry roast the almonds and cashew nuts in a frying pan over a moderate heat. Toast until they are golden brown. Remove from the pan.
  3. Place all of the nuts in a food processor with the metal knife blade inserted. Pulse until the nuts are finely chopped.
  4. Add the fruits to the food processor and turn the speed up to a medium speed. Process for about 1 minute until the fruits and nuts are all finely chopped and start to stick together.
  5. Grease a metal tray with a little coconut oil. Pour the mixture onto the tray and press down firmly with your hands to form a large square / rectangular shape. You need to press quite firmly to press all of the mixture together.
  6. Place in the fridge for an hour
  7. Cut into bar shapes and store in an airtight plastic container between layers of greaseproof baking paper.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify:

Healthy Snack Balls

Snacks, , , , , , , , ,

Fig, date, mixed nut, healthy snack balls

We like to have some healthy snacks in the fridge that we can call upon when we are getting a bit grumpy before dinner is ready. These snack balls can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Given that they are made of all shelf stable ingredients, they are also a perfect addition to kids lunchboxes. You could also add cacao nibs or roll them in desiccated coconut for a couple of variations.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mixed nuts (eg brazil nuts, cashew nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts)
  • 1 cup dried figs, stem removed and roughly chopped
  • 1 cup dried dates, roughly chopped

Directions

  1. Place the nuts in a foodprocessor with the metal chopping blade inserted. Chop the nuts for about 1 minute to small chunks
  2. Add the figs and dates to the foodprocessor and process further until all the ingredients are finely chopped. It may start to form a ball.
  3. Form the mixture into balls by squishing it tightly between your hands, and then rolling them between your hands into a uniform shape
  4. You could also roll the balls in desiccated coconut if you would like to vary the recipe.
  5. Store in a container in the fridge. Makes around 15 balls.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Ewert and the Two Dragons – Circles

Green Mango Salad

Dinner, , , , , , , , ,

Green Mango Salad

We love Thai food and this green mango salad is a simplified version that is made sugar and soy free through the use of maple syrup and coconut aminos. It is great served with a Thai Green Chicken Curry or a Thai Pumpkin and Mushroom Curry.

Ingredients

  • Coconut oil
  • 5 red shallots, finely chopped
  • 2 cm fresh galangal, finely chopped
  • 1 red chilli, chopped (deseeded when using a hot chilli)
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1,5 tbsp coconut aminos
  • 1/4 tsp maple syrup
  • Splash of water
  • Squeeze of lime juice
  • 1 raw green mango, peeled and cut into thin strips of 3 cm long
  • Handful fresh coriander, roughly copped
  • Few Thai basil leaves
  • 3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped and with the middle stem of the leaf removed

Directions

  1. Fry the shallots, garlic, galangal and chilli in a little coconut oil for about three minutes.
  2. Add the coconut aminos, maple syrup, water and lime juice and give it a stir.
  3. Take the pan of the heat and add the mango, coriander, basil and kaffir lime.
  4. Mix well and serve with grilled salmon, Thai Green Chicken Curry or a Thai Pumpkin and Mushroom Curry.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Midlake – Antiphon