21 April 2012

Aubergine Pâté and Chilli-Chocolate Cake

These delicious recipes come courtesy of the Vegetarian Kitchen.  

Aubergine Pâté:
  • 3 aubergines, halved and cross-hatched
  • 5-6 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 80ml olive oil
  • 5ml ground cumin
  • 5ml paprika
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • chopped fresh parsley for garnishing
Preheat oven to about 150 degrees celsius.

Place the aubergines and garlic in a roasting pan and drizzle with 45ml olive oil. Roast for about 45 minutes until tender.

  
Allow to cool and scoop out the aubergine flesh, discarding the skins.


Puree all the ingredients, except the parsley, in a blender or mash with a fork to the desired consistency.

Adjust the seasoning, top with lots of chopped fresh parsley (if desired) and serve with freshly baked, crust bread.


Chilli-Chocolate Cake
  • 1.5 cups cake flour
  • 0.5 cups sugar
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 0.5 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 0.5-1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp vanilla essence
  • 1 tbsp grape vinegar
  • 0.5 cups sunflower oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 2-3 tbsp icing sugar
Preheat over to 160 degrees celsius. Grease and flour a 20cm round cake tin (I used ramekins in this instance).

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and spices.


Make a well in the centre and add the vanilla essence, vinegar, oil and water. Stir until combined, but do not overmix.

Spoon the batter into the cake tin/ramekins and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.


Once the cake has cooled, use a fine sieve to dust with the icing sugar.


17 April 2012














Are you doing alright?
I still worry about you.













16 April 2012

roasted.open.sandwiches

I love eating good food but I find it really difficult to commit to the whole 2 hour cooking-bonanza each time I do want to eat. So if and when something is easy, quick and healthy to make then you have my vote.



I'm going through a phase where all I want to eat is roasted open sandwiches (this phase will probably intensify over the next few weeks and result in my never being able to eat this meal again...but for now, it's freaking delicious).



I have been piling anything I can find onto the sandwiches and as such, it's a great way to get rid of those left-over, soon-to-expire, don't-know-what-to-do-with-them fridge items. Roasted tomatoes are the best as their flavour comes out in full-force and laces the rest of the toppings with a sweet, juicy tang. At the moment my favourite toppings are a combination of tofu, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, avocado (in place of tofu), gherkins, garlic and capers. If you have some spare time, marinate the tomatoes, tofu and garlic slices in some balsamic vinegar and olive oil with rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper to taste.


Since the bread tends to dry out if left in the oven for too long (nevermind slice your palate to shreds), drizzle some olive oil onto the bread before adding the toppings. Add more olive oil and balsamic just before you put the sandwich in the oven. Set the oven to about 180 degrees celsius and grill for about 20 to 30 minutes.


YUM.


bursting with excitement for open sandwich #253.

 

Foster the Puppy // Pumped Up Licks



13 April 2012

Je le veux!








Louis De Bernieres


"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

10 April 2012

Thought for the day


*and that shrill voice of yours too*
*you damn mamparra*
*WORD*


little bad days in a little box // choke 'em!


“This is about all the bad days in the world. I used to have some little bad days, and I kept them in a little box. And one day, I threw them out into the yard. "Oh, it's just a couple little innocent bad days." Well, we had a big rain. I don't know what it was growing in but I think we used to put eggshells out there and coffee grounds, too. Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me. Choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothin'. They're your days. Choke 'em!”

-Tom Waits

"no animals, no preaching, just good, wholesome food"

I recently published a book review on Mellissa Bushby's "The Vegetarian Kitchen".

Here's what I had to say (translated):




"When people find out that I'm vegetarian, the first question I tend to get asked is 'how can you live without biltong' followed by 'don't you get sick of eating rabbit-food?' When I venture to make a full-disclosure, namely that my previously meat-and dairy-obsessed Portuguese (yes, Portuguese) boyfriend and I have been vegan for the past two years, most people tend to draw the conclusion that I must be some sort of masochistic, extremist hippy who nibbles on lettuce leaves whilst practicing self-flagellation to the accompaniment of Gregorian chants.

Since becoming vegetarian eight years ago, I've worked my way through mounds of cook books- they've become a standard gift from my meat- and dairy-eating friends who pity my poor "starving" boyfriend. What I've noticed from the majority of these cookbooks is their exclusivity. The recipes tend to be quite foreign (through their use of unpronounceable and unobtainable food items), complicated (through their use of fifty different ingredients when two will do) and intimidating (through their mantra of veganism is the only way-to-go-ism). I've always thought that, if I find these cook-books inaccessible, I can only imagine how alienating they must be to any well-meaning person, keen to practice meat-free Mondays, who has consumed meat and dairy products all their lives. Moreover, these cook-books do nothing to counter-act the maligned stereotype of vegans as radical extremists. 

It is my past experience with vegetarian and vegan cookbooks which has made Mellissa Bushby's "The Vegetarian Kitchen" a breath of fresh, methane-free, air. There is no preaching or sermonising in the book, just a quick suggestion that the reader abandons any concept of "deprivation" and "blandness" when thinking of vegetarian food. Once you've let go of these preconceptions, you'll be excused in forgetting that you're cooking from what could strictly be referred to as a "vegan" cookbook.

The Vegetarian Kitchen is all-inclusive and caters to people who suffer from lactose-intolerance (characterised by stomach cramps, bloatedness and phlegm upon eating dairy products), as well as to those of us who simply wish to make a change to or improve our eating habits, whether for health, weight or ethical reasons. 

In Bushby's own words, "The Vegetarian Kitchen" brings across the feeling of lazy summer afternoons spent with loved ones over a delicious meal, which is no less tempting or enjoyable because there are no animal products in the dishes. The cookbook contains beautifully presented recipes to simple, healthy, wholesome and, most importantly, filling food.

The cook-book is also very personalised, featuring pen and ink illustrations by Bushby which serve to compliment the beautiful food presentation and photography featured in the book. I found the fact that I could see the "end-result" of most of the recipes refreshing to the extent that you're not cooking in a sensory-void. Indeed, the entire book serves as a feast for the senses.   

"The Vegetarian Kitchen" provides you with recipes for salads,  soups, main meals, breads, cakes, desserts and even alcoholic  cocktails and shows you that eating vegetarian or vegan does not amount to your becoming a teetotaler or practising an ascetic way of life. Quite the opposite really, it shows you that you can afford to indulge to your (healthy) heart's content. And when you have over-indulged, the cook-book even features a few natural remedies using aloe, buchu and Devil's claw.

The only criticism I would venture to make of the 176-page book is that it's too short. I wait with bated breath for The Vegetarian Kitchen II."

The Vegetarian Kitchen by Mellissa Bushby
Publishers: Random House Struik
Price: R220  

02 April 2012

deal breaker

This past weekend Ric and I were debating whether either of us would be able to go out with someone who has drastically different eating habits to our own (read: a meat-eater or a brussel sprouts eater *eugh* ). I ultimately decided that it would be a deal-breaker for me as it has become such a fundamental aspect of not only my way of life but, more importantly, my outlook on life. Not to mention having to kiss someone who has pieces of butchered animal stuck in his/her teeth *shiver*.
Anyway, here's an interesting article on the topic by Meghan Joyce from Good Lifestyle:



"My friends and I have a game we play when we’re bored. It’s called Deal Breaker. We work our way through the alphabet, taking turns naming characteristics that, in a prospective romantic partner, are cause to call it quits. For example, a deal breaker for the letter “D” might be “doesn’t know how to read.”

The other night, I was playing Deal Breaker with my boyfriend as we sipped wine on his porch. It wasn’t as fun with only two people, but it was proving to be rather revelatory. The letter “V” was his turn, and we made eye contact. I knew what was on the tip of his tongue.

“Vegan.”

He didn’t say it, but if we had been playing Deal Breaker a year ago, I’m sure he would have. When I decided to go vegan a few months ago, he was skeptical, and he didn’t think my plan would last.

Well, it’s lasted, and I have to say, being in a relationship with a meat eater is the worst. Before I became a vegan, one of our favorite things to do together was go out to eat. We’d order a bunch of small plates and have a blast sharing them.

Now, picking a restaurant is pretty challenging. We often end up just swinging by Whole Foods, where we can order burritos within eyeshot of each other (there’s a vegan taqueria right next to the regular one) or prepare our respective beef and tofu pho. Then we eat our meals out of cardboard containers at one of the booths. Let me tell you, it’s romantic.

If my boyfriend were a vegan, too, we could try new vegan restaurants together and come up with yummy vegan recipes to cook at home. I think our shared veganism would be a satisfying replacement for our shared small plates at regular restaurants.
But instead, he is totally thrown off by the whole vegan thing.

The tension came to a head a few weeks ago when we were on vacation in Palm Springs. The lone vegan-friendly place in the greater Palm Springs area is a vegan-only place, and the menu was rife with fake cheese and fake meat. I get that my boyfriend is creeped out by fake animal products posing as the real thing. But sometimes I just want him to bite the proverbial bullet and at least pretend to enjoy a slab of barbeque seitan. After all, every time we go to a regular restaurant, I’m forced to either nibble on a piece of lettuce (possibly with a slice of tomato on top) or risk getting my food spit in by the server who has to listen to me rattle off all the modifications I want to my meal.
I ended up talking him into checking out the vegan restaurant in Palm Springs (Native Foods, a chain with a Los Angeles location, too), and it was delicious. After that, we made a deal to eat at vegan restaurants whenever there is a special one with great reviews in the area, or when there are no other vegan-friendly options for me.

That’s fine when it’s just us, but when there are other people involved, it can be awkward. When I first became a vegan, I really struggled with social eating situations: I didn’t want my dietary restriction to be the deciding factor in choosing a restaurant, but neither did I want to starve as I watched my friends chow down on burgers at a restaurant with nothing vegan on the menu. I’ve gotten used to it and found ways to be comfortable without being imposing, but I still feel awkward when my boyfriend and I go out to eat in a group with other people. He always seems slightly embarrassed and apologetic that his girlfriend is a vegan weirdo.

But for all his eye rolling and complaining, my boyfriend respects my choice and how I’ve stuck to it. He might tease me, but he isn’t the type to try to control my ethical eating choices. If he were, well, it would be a deal breaker."

Meghan Joyce writes about her life as a vegan at Meghan the Veghan