Sunday, 17 May 2015

Salted Caramel sauce


By Dieter


100gr of sugar
2 table spoons of butter
2 teaspoon of salt
1/3 of a pack of oatley cream (or coconut cream)


Pour the sugar into a pot, and heat at medium heat until sugar begins to melt. Add the butter, while constantly stirring, until it turns into golden caramel. Remove the pot from the stove, add the salt and oatley cream, and stir. 

Alternative Curries


Pineapple-Coconut curry

1 can coconut milk
1T chili flakes
1T fresh ginger cut into small pieces
1C fresh or frozen pineapple
1C tofu
1 medium sized cooked sweet potato
1/2 cooked head of cauliflower
1/2 can of corn
1 carrot
2T sugar
1t salt

Boil the coconut milk with the chili and ginger for 2 minutes. Add the pineapple, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and let simmer for a few minutes.

Chili-Lemon curry

By Dieter

2 medium sized cooked sweet potatoes
1 small head of cauliflower 
5T cooked fava beans
Half a can of corn
3 carrots 
20cm of ginger 
1 small jalapeño 
1 Meyer lemon (alternatively mix lemon and orange juice)
2T sesame seeds 
2T smoky chile lime rub
1T sugar
3T toasted sesame oil 

Cut the cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and carrots into pieces. Heat the toasted sesame oil in a large frying pan at medium heat. Add the cauliflower and roast it for a few minutes. Next add the sweet potatoes and the ginger and stir for a minute, before adding the remaining ingredients. Let it simmer for a little bit for all the flavors to combine. If you don't have the smoky chile lime rub, add chile flakes, smoked paprika powder, salt, and more lemon juice. 



Lemongrass curry

Based on the World Food Cafe cookbook


4 stalks of lemongrass
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
fresh ginger (same amount as of onion)
1 T coriander powder
1 T ground chilies
sunflower oil
water

tofu
1 head of broccoli
1 small courgette
1 bell pepper

1 stock cube
tamari
4 kafir lime leaves

Cut the lemongrass, onion, garlic, and ginger into pieces. Add them into a blender, together with the coriander powder and chilies, and add a bit of oil and water to blend into a smooth paste.

Fry the paste at medium heat in a large wok for about 5-10 minutes, stirring it to have it cook all through. In the meantime, cut the tofu and the vegetables into mouth-sized pieces. When the paste releases a nice smell, add the tofu and the vegetables, and cook the vegetables briefly until they start to become soft. Add the tamari and stock cube, while maybe adding a bit more water, to create a sauce with the paste, and throw in the cut-up lime leaves. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and serve over Basmati rice.


Kaffir lime leaf curry

By Dieter

3 T sunflower oil / Sonnenblumenöl
1 T toasted sesame or peanut oil / Gerostet Sesamöl oder Erdnussöl
1 T coriander powder / Korianderpulver
1 T salt / Salz
1 piece of ginger (half the size of the tofu) / Ingwerwurzel (halbe Große vom Tofu)
2 small chilis / kleine Chilischoten
2 potatoes / Kartoffeln
1 pack smoked tofu / geräucherter Tofu
1 C peas / 1 Tasse Erbsen
1/2 C ananas / halbe Tasse Ananas
5 dried Kaffir lime leaves / 5 getrocknete Kaffir-Limettenblätter

Wash the potatoes, cut into squares, and boil for ~10 minutes. Heat up the oil in a large pan and add the ginger, coriander powder, and salt. When the oil is hot, add the chilis, potatoes, tofu, peas, and pineapple. Stir through until everything is well covered in the oil and warm. Break the lime leaves into small pieces and stir under. Briefly let heat through so all the flavours can combine.

Wasche die Kartoffeln, schneide sie in kleine Stücke, und koche sie für ca 10 Minuten. Erhitze das Öl  auf mittlerer Stufe in einer grossen Pfanne und gib den Ingwer, das Korianderpulver, und das Salz hinzu. Wenn das Öl heiss ist, gib die Chilis, Kartoffeln, Tofu, Erbsen, und Ananas hinzu. Rühre gut bis das Öl alles bedeckt und alle Zutaten gut warm sind. Zerbröckel die Limettenblätter in kleine Stücke und rühr sie unter. Alles kurz durcherhitzen so dass sich die Aromen verbinden können.

Chocolate croissants

By Dieter





puff pastry
chocolate fudge


Make sure to get puff pastry and not any of the other kinds of pastry (not filo, nor shortcrust etc.).


Let the puff pastry defrost. It is now ready to use, and can be folded into all different shapes with a tablespoon of fudge inside. For more puffiness, flatten the pastry, fold over, flatten, fold, repeat a few times. Bake in an oven at low temperature ~170C/340F for ~15 mins until the tops are golden and crispy.

Chocolate fudge

By Dieter

1 bar of dark chocolate (70%)
2 table spoons of coconut butter
1 table spoon cocoa powder
2 table spoons of oatley cream
6 table spoons of sugar (add according to taste)
1 table spoon of maple syrup
vanilla flavour

salt

Combine all ingredients in a pot at low to medium temperatures, just high enough such that the chocolate melts. Stir well, pour into a container, and let it sit in the freezer/fridge until it becomes solid.

Saturday, 7 February 2015

Tofu Hot Pot Soup

Corina found (and modified) this recipe ages ago from a website that no longer exists.

2 T oil
2 T grated fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. firm tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes

4 C broth (warm water)
1 T brown sugar
1/4 C soy sauce
2 t cayenne pepper (or Chinese chile paste/Sriracha sauce to taste)
1 T lemon juice

1/2 lb udon or lo mein noodles

1/2 C chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

  • In medium to large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook about 4 minutes. 
  • Add tofu and fry about 4 minutes.
  • Stir in sugar, broth, soy sauce, lemon juice, and chile paste; cover and bring to a boil. 
  • Turn heat to high and add noodles, pushing them down into broth. Cook, covered, until noodles are tender. 
  • Remove from heat, stir in cilantro 

Key Lime Pie, Fruit Cheesecake, Peanut Butter Cup Pie

On a bake-off with a friend, we encountered and got addicted to these three pie recipes...

Key Lime Cheesecake (lieblings key lime rezept)
http://www.peta.org/living/food/key-lime-cheesecake/
*Variation: Instead of only using cream cheese, you can make it half cream cheese and half silken tofu.
*If ready made graham cracker crust isn't available (e.g. in Germany) make your own crust (see below) 


Key Lime Pie (raw)
http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/raw_key_lime_pie_from_choosing_raw
*Variation: Instead of cashews and coconut oil, you can use silken tofu and vegan cream cheese.

Peanut Butter Cup Pie
http://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-peanut-butter-cup-pie/
*Corina likes to use Trader Joe's chocolate chips and chocolate hazelnut milk for the ganache topping
*Variation: Instead of coconut cream or coconut milk, use melted coconut butter



Pie crust
By Corina

200g pack vegan crumbly cookies (eg Germany: Alnatura Zitronen Sables or Othello Kekse, UK: Hobnobs)
2 tablespoons margarine

Crumble the cookies (easiest in a blender), pour in a springform, add the margarine, and blend together to form a crust. You can pre-bake the crust for 5 mins or directly pour the filling on.



Fruit Cheesecake
By Dieter

1 pack cream cheese (tofutti in US, Simply V in Germany)
1/2 pack silken tofu (ideally a variety that has a neutral taste)
250g fruit (raspberries/mango/blueberries work well)
some lime juice
50g sugar
2 table spoons agave syrup
1 pack Agar-Agar

Combine everything in a blender, mix well, and pour onto the crust.


Bake for 30 minutes at 180C.

Thursday, 7 August 2014

Ginger-miso stir-fry


by Dieter

inspired by a recent visit to the Candle Cafe (NY)

1 block of firm tofu that is already seasoned (e.g. Taifun's bratfilets Japanische art, Rewe's tofu sesam mandel)
1 large bulb of broccoli
3 carrots
(other vegetables if you like)

A bit of salt
1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons of sunflower oil
5 cm of fresh ginger
1 teaspoon of chili flakes
1 teaspoon of miso
1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of tamari
1 teaspoon of rice vinegar
Some starch (corn flour or tapioca)
  • Put oil in pan on medium heat. 
  • Add the finely cut garlic and ginger plus the chili flakes and let fry for a bit. 
  • Add the cut broccoli and carrots. 
  • After 2-3 mins add a cup of water, the miso, tamari, rice vinegar and nutritional yeast. Stir well so that the flavours mix and coat all the other ingredients. 
  • Finally stir in the starch to thicken the sauce.