Coconut-Curry-Lentils with smoked Tofu

You can't imagine about my bad weekend I've been having. Well in fact it was the very loud noise coming from upstairs from the new renters moving in - and this over the weekend. Saturday evening I heard the noise till after midnight and I couldn't sleep. He finally left but came back at 07.25 to start again. I immediatly woke up and was pretty angry as all he could do, was letting falling something down right over my bedroom and continuited rumoring. I just screamed then after went out the door in the hall and just screamed for some quite to sleep at least a few hours. Well I was quite afterward but only till 10 a.m. and the walking up and down with furniture continued till 5 p.m. I really wondered if moving in on sundays is aloud. I really easy to handle with but this sunday morning was defentiv too much! From the old renter I never heard something and this was so easy living.

Hopefully this will not be going. I really want to enjoy my vacation.

Anyway. After a short breakfast and a few hours of officework, I defently needed some nerve-food to stain the loudness from outside and upstairs. Standing in the kitchen, with the cabinet open, my brain worked about an idea about what I should do.. Then I decided to do something simple and not much ahead working to do. Lentils with vegetable and Tofu, creating the taste came by cooking. That's how I cook when it had to be fast done.

But, back to how I cooked the dish. Most ingredients you will find in your closet so no special ingredients needed :)

Enjoy this dish! For myself it gave me my nerve-strenght back to fight the noise.

 

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Coconut-Curry-Lentils with smoked Tofu



4 Portions

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Rapeoil

1 Onion, finely chopped

2 knob of garlic, pressed through

200 g Leek, cut into half and cut into 1 cm slices

200 g Carrots, cut into 1 cm sticks

200 g Celleriy, cut into 1 cm sticks

200 g green lentils

1 ½ Tbsp. little spice currypowder

½ - 1 tsp. Sambal Oelek

4 dl vegetable broth

2 ½ dl Cocosmilk

salt to taste

200g smoked Tofu

 

Direction:

Preheat oil in pan, add the onion and garlic and roast until translucent. Give in the vegetable and lentils and roast for about 3 min. Stirr in the curry and sambal oelek and roast. Pour in the vegetablebroth and lower the heat.

 

Let it cook covered at middle heat for about 20 min. Add the coconutmilk and finish it cooking open for about 20 min. Taste with salt.

 

Meanwhile cut the smoked Tofu into slices. Preheat a pan with some oil  and roast the tofu on both sides for about 2 min.

 

Take a bowl or a plate put the lentils on it and garnish with the roasted Tofu and enjoy your meal!

Vegan Relationship

Hmm astonishing

Chocolate hazelnut avocado cake

Don't worry about the the "avocado" in this recipe!!!

This Cake is super easy since the avocado helps replace the usual butter and eggs. The frosting is made simply by combining avocado, cocoa powder and powdered sugar and it can be used whenever you need a frosting fix in a hurry. With the addition of whole-wheat pastry flour and ground hazelnuts this cake is rich, dense and has a brownie like texture that is sinfully delicious. I have to admit that if I made this cake and left off the frosting I would gleefully eat a slice of this for breakfast. If you are hesitating because it seems to weird, trust me you have to try this one.

I made this cake for my Friends Birthday and I didn't tell everyone there's Avocado in it. As my friend doesn't live vegan and I didn't want her to be suspicious about the taste without eggs or milk. All she said, that the cake is great and she loves it, and when I told her there's Avocado in it instead of eggs, she was surprised and said she wants the recipe.

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Chocolate hazelnut avocado cake



Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup hazelnut meal
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup soft avocado, mashed, about 1 medium avocado
2 cups water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ cup chopped hazelnuts for garnis

For the frosting:
1 large ripe avocado, peeled and seeded
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Direction:
For the cake:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans. Set aside.

Sift together all the dry ingredients except for the sugar.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the avocado and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and the sugar and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.

Divide batter between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.

Once the cake is completely cool spread the frosting on the top of one layer, place the other layer on top and cover with remaining frosting. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top and serve.

For the frosting:
In a stand mixer whip the avocado until it forms a smooth mixture. In a medium bowl sift the cocoa powder and powdered sugar together and then add to the bowl along with the salt and vanilla extract. Whisk the mixture until you get a smooth frosting.

Malaysian Tropical Curry with Lemongrass and Shallots

Can it be that I havn't posted that long for a while - not good. But I know the reason why. I'm working 100% and cooking, writing down the recipe, taking pictures, creating a post and so on - takes times.

Anyway for now I got a new one:
Usually my maindish's in the evening and today I wasn't that hungry I choose a light and fruity, but still stomachfilling and excotic dish.
Excotic fruits in a dish just give a special taste and that's just what I wanted now. This dish is so fast done and - ready to eat - perfect if you are in a hurry.

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Malaysian Tropical Curry with Lemongrass and Shallots

 

30 minutes or fewer

 

Sweet-and-sour combinations are common in Malaysian cuisine, which makes abundant use of the country's fresh fruits and vegetables. Just so fruity! A perfect light meal 

 

Ingredients:      

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

4 shallots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks lemongrass, minced

1 Tbs. cumin seeds, lightly crushed

2 cups diced jicama

1 medium red bell pepper, sliced

1 cup diced fresh papaya

1 cup diced fresh pineapple

3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbs. lime juice

1 Tbs. agave nectar

2 tsp. chile-garlic sauce

⅓ cup chopped cilantro

 

Direction:

Heat oil in wok or large skillet over high heat. Add shallots, lemongrass, and cumin; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add jicama and bell pepper; stir-fry 3 minutes. Stir in papaya, pineapple, soy sauce, lime juice, agave nectar, and chile-garlic sauce. Stir-fry 1 minute. Garnish with cilantro.

Serve with rice

Egg-free scramble Tofu Florentine

On Sunday morning I had my sister with family over for Brunchtime. Usually I just eat some fruits and pieces of bread with jam, that simple for breakfast. But for a Brunch? Not possible. There's more need that just that.

Beside other food, such as fruits, vegan joghurt and flakes, Bread, vegan ham, cheese and jams, I made a scrambled Tofu - cause I know my sister uses to eat scrambled eggs on sundays or eat eggs a lot (which I can't understand - but....).

I just wanted to surprise her and "say" with it, that eggs are not nessessary for this kind of dish! She does like it, doe it was the first time. But I guess she still will use the eggs, unfortunatly.

The good thing about this kind of scrambled Tofu is that together with the spinach it also could be served as a light dinner, but I would recommend to eat something else with it, such as a salad with sprouts, tomatoes and cucumber and so on and a piece of bread.

Enjoy - the little different scrambled Tofu - on every occasion your in the mood for it :)

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Egg-Free Scrambled Tofu Florentine

 

4 Servings

30 minutes or fewer

 

This dish makes a hearty meal any time of day. For a special treat, serve with home-fried potatoes

and soy sausage.

 

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. minced fresh parsley

1 Tbs. safflower oil

¼ cup chopped onion

1 lb. firm tofu, pressed, drained and crumbled

⅛ tsp. turmeric

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 cup cooked fresh spinach leaves, squeezed dry

¼ cup shredded soy mozzarella

 

Direction:

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add tofu, sprinkle with turmeric, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tofu is heated through and liquid is absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes. Add spinach and stir to mix.

To serve, divide mixture among 4 serving plates and pat into an omelet-shaped crescent with spatula. Sprinkle top of each serving with soy mozzarella and parsley. Serve hot.

Green Tea Edamame with roasted Black Sesame salt /// Warm Edamame Salad /// Edamame Dip

I LOVE EDAMAME! Just that for the start... Mostly I eat them as a snack and they're something I always got ready in my refrigerator. When I don't have the time to prepare them myself I buy them already prepared with a little bag of salt. I guess I would cry when not having them...... strange but I'm so stick to them for ever.

Lately I've been to the asian store again I bought a kilo of them and now I wanted to share a few recipe to you.

To start with a snack, then goes on with a salad and then a dip.
I guess I don't have to mention that Edamame are good resurce of protein and vitamines. As every vegan person probably knows Edamame and eats it.

 

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Green Tea Edamame with Roasted Black Sesame Salt

 

Makes 450g

30 minutes or fewer

         

Ingredients:           

6 green tea bags

450 g frozen whole edamame

2 Tbs. roasted black sesame seeds

1 tsp. salt

 

1. Bring 1 liter water to a boil in large pot, and remove from heat. Add tea bags, and let steep 3 minutes. Remove tea bags, and bring liquid to a simmer over high heat. Add edamame, and cook 10 minutes. Drain.

2. Grind sesame seeds and salt in coffee grinder or mortar until coarsely ground. Toss with edamame.

Serve in big bowl.

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Or another way to use them: as a salad, Yummy too

 

 

Warm Edamame Salad

 

 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons canola oil

4 cups (12 oz) cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 16 oz package frozen shelled edamame, thawed

1 cup (4 oz) sugar snap peas, sliced in half

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1/2 cup jarred roasted red bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch strips

1 8 oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained

1/2 teaspoon Sriracha chile sauce

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
 

Direction:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Cook the mushrooms, stirring, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

 

Add remaining oil to pan. Cook the edamame, snap peas, and ginger, stirring occasionally, until peas are tender and edamame is bright green, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the red pepper, chestnuts, Sriracha, and mushrooms and cook, stirring, until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat; stir in the toasted sesame seeds and vinegar. Serve hot, or refrigerate and enjoy cold.

 

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Or used for a dip. Again so good!!

 

Edamame Dip

 



Ingredients:

one bag of frozen edamame
1/4 ripe avocado
1 clove of garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon miso
1 teaspoon red chili paste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
black sesame seeds for garnish

Direction:
Cook edamame in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, 4-5 minutes. Drain reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

Place the edamame, avocado, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, miso, chili paste, olive oil, salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth and creamy, adding some additional cooking liquid if too thick.

Garnish with sesame seeds and serve with raw veggies, rice crackers or pita chips.

 

 



Roasted Okra Masala

Again another day passing by. Founding Okra's at a bigger and more expensive store I grabbed some packets. I hardly can pass them without taking. This time I didn't wanted to cook them the asian way, still exotic - Indien. As I also do love the Indian food or at least the spices. I even got a few Ayurveda cookingbooks and many years ago I was at an ayurveda foodtherapist and Ayurveda Massage. I learned at lot about Ayurveda and mostly I still use today. It helped me a lot with curing some problems. As every person got a different "Dosha". I learned that some food aren't good for my constitution. But some I still eat it. (I just love it too much)......

All I wanted to do once I going for an Ayurveda Healing Week. Unfortunatly the best are in the very south of India or the one taking part in Switzerland are pretty expensive. Maybe some day I can afford it or hopefully the insurance will pay it. Let's see.

But back to my today's indien dish I had as a side dish served together with plain rice.

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Roasted Okra Masala




Cookingtime: 25 min
4 Side dish servings

Ingredients:

1 pound small, tender okra

1 medium onion, chopped

1 teaspoon ginger root, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)

1 teaspoon kosher salt, optional

Direction:

Preheat oven to 450 C. Place okra on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Okra should be beginning to brown in places but not burned.

 

When the okra is almost finished cooking, heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion. Cook until onion begins to soften and then add the ginger root, garlic, and cumin and cook for another minute. Add turmeric and garam masala and cook for another minute, adding a tablespoon of water if the spices start to stick. Add the roasted okra and salt, if you use it, stir well, and cook for another minute or two.

Goma-Wakame-Salad

Goma means sesame and wakame (Undario pinnatifida) means "Young shoot" and is a kind of seaweed used in Japan classics or in the miso soup. Despite their bronze-green coloring, wakame is one of the family of brown algae.

It grows in deep sea and is seen only in the spring and in the autumn when the seaweed swims with her spear, wavy along the edges and up to one meter long leaves on the water surface. Among the Japanese cuisine for more than five centuries and originally served as  salt. Also as holy food, it was long revered and offered to the gods along with fish and rice balls as a victim. Today she it's the most common algae in Japan and is bred very rar and expensive to harvest is the wild. Wakame is very iodine - and calcium-rich and fresh in semi-transparent or dried available. In Japan traditionally served together with fish, fresh salad or vegetables.

 

For us the vegan people of course eaten just like that a salad or served with vegetables.

 

I eat the salad just like that a always a big bowl. Mostly every day, again one of food I never get enough of. The first time I had this salad I fell in love immediatly. Luckely I can find this salad already prepared at a lokal store, when ever I'm too lazy to make it on my own. And when I do buy it prepared I always grab at least 3 packets. So good!!

 

 

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Goma-Wakame-Salad



Ingredients:
80% Wakame, soak dried in water or fresh for 20 min
some Agar-Agar,
20% Forest mushroom
sugar, salt
1/2 tsp. soysauce and rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. sesamoil
sesame ssed

wasabi or some fresh chopped chili

Direction:

Prepare a salad dressing of soy sauce, some sesame oil and rice vinegar and sugar, depending on the taste add some wasabi

Mix with wakame and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

 

I always let it sit in the refrigerator for an hour or two to allow the Wakame soak up the flavor of the sauce. Best if it stays over night, but that's my opinion. Just try it out which way you like it the most.

Citrus Shallots Salad Dressing

When it comes to eating food repetitively, I think there are two types of people. Those who are totally fine with it, and those who can’t face the same food too often.
.
Personally, I need to vary my food. And while I definitely have old standby foods that I’ll fall back on, I’ll almost never eat the same food day after day after day. And when I do, you know that food is something special.
Which brings us straight to this delicious salad dressing. Special is definitely one of the words I’d use to describe it. Delicious is another. Simple and easy is another.

I made this delicious salad dressing one Sunday, and I had it for lunch every day that week. And then, when I ran out, I made some more. It really is that good.
Make it. You’ll see. Just make sure you have enough, you’ll want to keep eating it.

 

Citrus Shallot Salad Dressing
Ingredients:
juice of 2 lemons
juice of 2 oranges
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons mustard
1-2 Tablespoons agave syrup or honey (depending on how sweet you like it)
2 shallots, finely minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Whisk together the lemon juice, orange juice, oil, mustard and agave syrup in a bowl. Whisk until combined and slightly thickened.

Add the shallots and stir to combine. Salt and pepper to your taste.

Enjoy!

Vegan Cheesecake with fruits

Sunday oh my sunday. Mostly the day where I relaxe from work during the week or I do things I hadn't the time to do before. On saturday afternoon - after doing some groceries and cleaning up - I went to the firestationparty with my sister and my nephew. Well my nephew didn't wanted to drive with the firecare but instead we were on a firelatter hight up in the sky (about 30 meters) with a great view over the village. Really great - well a little bit scary only being in a small box, but an experience worth. After a while and drink we both went home in hour house.

And this morning I had my nephew over to take care while my sister is in the gym. He was pleased to help me in the kitchen preparing the cheesecake. Well he was more eating than preparing the fruits, but he had fun.

The cake was almost finished at the time my sister came over to pick him up, but before she left she wanted to try the cake - as well my nephew and myself. We had to be patient but it was worth waiting.
As I may have said earlier my sister isn't vegan, but she likes it, well not really everything . but I'm glad everytime I can show her how good vegan food can bee.
Even a women I work with - we talked a lot and I told her that the vegan cheese tastes the same as normal ones and I said I would bring her some of it. She was really surprised and couldn't find a difference between vegan and omnivores ones. She was surprised, liked it but I guess would never change to vegan.... unfortunatly.

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Vegan Cheesecake with fruits


 


Ingredients:

For the ground:

260 g  wheat flour 
120 g of sugar
1 Pinch of salt
Half sachet of baking powder
160 g soft vegan margarine 
2 Messersp. Bourbon Vanilla powder
 

For the filling:

800 g of silken tofu 
240 g  vegan margarine
2 Organic lemons (Peel and juice)
400 g  tofu nature
160 g of sugar
80 g  Cornflour
about 200 g Blackberries, Rasperries

Preparation

Grease the springform pan. For the floor quickly knead with your hands or the kneading of the hand mixer knead all the ingredients. Press the dough into the shape, pulling up a small edge. Make the shape approx. 1 hour in the refrigerator.

After approx. 40 minutes cooling time put the silken tofu in a sieve, lined with a paper towel, and drain 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 °. Wash and drain the berries. Peel the mango and cut into thin slices from the stone.

For the filling, melt the margarine in a saucepan and let it cool down. Wash the lemon hot and dry, finely grate the peel and squeeze out the juice. Smooth puree juice and shell together with the liquid margarine, the drained silken tofu and all the other filling ingredients give in a blender and blend

Distributing the fruit on the bottom of the dough, pour over Tofumousse and smooth coat.
 

Bake the cake in the middle of the hot oven for 1 hour, until on an sticks engraved no longer sticking (if necessary, extend the baking time). Cool the cake on a wire rack.

 

Enjoy your vegan cheesecake and hopefully you like it :)

 

Nectarine and Watercress Salad with Tarragon-Rasperry Dressing

Salad and again a Salad. At the end of summertime a fruity and fresh salad always goes for Lunch or entree for dinner. For me there is no day without having a bowl of salad. It's so various, either with the ingredients you mix or the Dressing you use. Always tastes different and never the same.

For now my lunchsalad had two different fruits in it. The taste was sweet and spicy both way. Just great. First I wasn't sure if the rasperry compaires with the tarragon but the result was astonishing good.

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Nectarine and Watercress Salad with Tarragon-Raspberry Dressing

 

Serves 4

30 minutes or fewer

To make this salad super colorful, use a mix of yellow and white nectarines and yellow and red cherry tomatoes.

      

Dressing

¼ cup raspberry vinegar

2 small shallots, cut into thin rings

1 large nectarine, cut into chunks

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 tsp. fresh tarragon leaves

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

 

Salad

4 cups watercress leaves and small, tender stems

2 nectarines, halved and cut into ½-inch-thick slices

8 cherry tomatoes, halved (1 cup)

½ small cucumber, halved and sliced

¼ cup chopped toasted pecans, for sprinkling

 

1. To make Dressing: pour vinegar over shallots in small bowl; let stand 10 minutes.

2. Place nectarine, oil, tarragon, salt, and pepper in blender. Drain vinegar into blender; reserve shallots. Purée nectarine-vinegar mixture in blender until smooth; season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. To make Salad: Toss together watercress, nectarines, tomatoes, cucumber, and reserved shallots in large bowl. Drizzle with Dressing, and toss to coat. Sprinkle with pecans.

And of course enjoy your fresh and fruity salad