Bliss balls

Produced a variation of my usual bliss ball recipe which was so delicious and rich and truffly I have to write down at least the ingredients, if not the proportions (which were of the "plonk things into the food processor til it looks right" variety). I usually use almond or hazelnut meal but I have run out, so used the seed mix instead, and I think I prefer the result.

dates (about half the volume of the recipe)
sultanas (about half as much as the dates, maybe a bit more)
coconut
pepita and sunflower seed mix
2 scoops peanut butter (about 2 tbsp)
1 heaped tbsp cocoa
more coconut for rolling

If you're more strictly paleo than me, tahini works fine instead of peanut butter. I'm glad the kids and my Beloved don't like these, they will all go in the freezer for me!

I Aten't Dead

And I do still cook pretty much every day. I just haven't been inspired to find or create new recipes for a while so have not had much to blog about. But I discovered a recipe for Spinach and Lemon Quinoa Bake today which was extremely nommy, and since I tweaked it a bit I wanted to write down the modifications before I forgot.

We've acquired a vegan housemate in the last few months, and since I am possessed by a compulsion to feed people, we generally cook and eat vegan meals together 3-4 nights a week then do our own thing the rest of the time. I cook a lot of vegan food anyway, but I rarely modify very non-vegan recipes to make them vegan, since that generally involves substituting with fake dairy products and frankly, since none of the rest of us have a problem with dairy, I'd rather just not bother. But this one sounded yummy, plus it would be a variation on my popular silverbeet rice pie which our housemate (who is intolerant to rice as well) can eat. Since I'm still sticking with a lower-carb diet and have largely eliminated rice, quinoa is slightly lower in carbs and higher in protein than rice so is a better option for me too.

I don't have a lemon zester, so I did thinly slice some zest off and chuck it in, but mostly relied on lemon juice instead. The zest would definitely be better, so go with that if you have a better option for parting it from its lemon than picking it out of a cheese grater with a toothpick.

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa, cooked in 3 cups water
• olive oil, coconut oil
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 bunch silverbeet, shredded
• 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
• 2 tsp flaxseed meal + 4 tbsp water
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 300mL medium tofu, drained
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• salt, pepper
• 1 large tomato
• almond meal

Slowly saute the onion and garlic in a mix of olive and coconut oil until caramelised. Add the zest and shredded silverbeet and cook down, adding more olive oil if necessary. Meanwhile, combine the flaxseed meal and water and leave to sit til it coagulates a bit. Then combine tofu, flaxseed mixture, tahini, lemon juice and seasonings in the blender until smooth. Combine the tofu mixture with the silverbeet and the quinoa, and pour into a baking tray. Top with sliced tomatoes and a sprinkling of ground almonds. Bake at 180 for an hour, let sit for a few minutes, then serve.

Lentil and Vegetable Stew

This was nom for dinner tonight and even Mr I-Don't-Liiiiike-That ate it, so it deserves to go on the blog for posterity.

Ingredients

4 small onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 1/2 cups dried mixed lentils (I used blue, brown and red)
3 cups diced pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato
1 bottle passata

1 cup kalamata olives

½ cup sun dried tomatoes

1 tsp each dried basil and oregano

½ – 1 tsp chilli (to taste, optional)
1-2 cups green beans, roughly chopped
shredded cabbage

tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Saute the onions til starting to turn translucent, then add the root vegetables and sweat for a while. Add the garlic, then after a few minutes, the lentils and enough water to cover everything generously. Put the lid on and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the lentils are part-cooked. Add the passata, olives and sun-dried tomatoes, herbs and chilli (if using), bring back to the boil and simmer until lentils are cooked. Check and add water occasionally to stop the lentils from sticking. About five minutes before serving, stir through the cabbage and green beans and balsamic vinegar.

Quick Bean and Pasta Soup

I'm trying to make soup for lunch when we're home during the day, because gawd knows we could do with upping our vegetable intake a bit, and toast for breakfast followed by toast for lunch isn't cutting it. But I'm a lazy tart at heart and toast is easy. So I've bestirred myself a couple of times this week and started cooking the soup around 11:30 when people are starting to get grumpy from lack of protein, and we've had some nice warming meals. It is definitely soup weather!

The bean and pasta soup I made yesterday was a definite hit. I wasn't happy with the balance of flavours in the previous soup, which I'd made using stock powder, so I made up a rich vege stock the night before. A carrot, handful of celery sticks and leaves, two onions, some bayleaves, peppercorns and a clove of garlic, cooked down to a gorgeous brown broth, probably about 4 or 6 cups full (who notices that sort of thing).

I didn't bother browning anything the next day because I had my beautiful stock, but you can if you want. I also used dried garlic, because I have heaps, and it kept the emphasis on speed of preparation, but if that strikes you dead in your foodie heart then by all means use the real stuff. Ditto the beans.


Ingredients
stock, glorious stock
1 can five bean mix
2 sticks celery, with leaves, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 potatoes, diced
~1 tsp dried garlic
1/3 cup risoni
1 tsp dried basil
1 slug mushroom soy sauce (optional, but it adds a bit of oomph to the broth)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything except the risoni, bring to the boil, and simmer until the potato is nearly tender. Check the seasonings, then add the pasta and simmer for about 8 minutes, or until tender. If you like a thicker soup, mash roughly so that some of the potato is broken up.

We served it with grated cheese on top, and the smalls insisted on toast, since apparently toast is an essential part of the Authentic Soup Experience, but it really doesn't need it. Very filling!

Vegan Pot Pie and Coleslaw

I'm going off dairy to see if it fixes my recurring middle ear infections (we have a strong family history which indicates that it's the likely culprit). Dangnabbit. I was vegan for a year, and cheese was definitely the hardest thing for me to cut out of my diet!

Tonight was another bottom-of-the-vegie-crisper night, since I will be going to the markets tomorrow. I pulled out all the vegies I had in the fridge and decided to make a pot pie with most of them, leaving the cabbage and carrots for coleslaw. I normally make a pot pie with white sauce, but obviously that's now on the banned list, so I used a small tin of coconut cream and added some ground almonds to thicken it. It was very yummy!

Vegan Pot Pie
1 lge onion, diced
1 lge tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp each cumin and coriander
1 lge red capsicum, diced
1 med zucchini, diced
1/2 sm sweet potato, diced
3 med potatoes, diced
1 sm tin coconut cream
1/4 c ground almonds
black pepper
1 sl. dairy-free puff pastry (I used Aldi brand)
1 beaten egg (omit for vegan version)

Steam potato and sweet potato until tender. Meanwhile, saute onions, then add capsicum and garlic. Coninue frying until pepper starts to soften, then add zucchini for another five minutes or so. Add the spices, and fry for a few minutes. Start to drizzle in the coconut milk to make a paste, then add the potato and sweet potato and toss. Pour in the rest of the coconut milk, add the ground almonds, and heat through. Pour the mixture into a deep pie dish, top with a sheet of puff pastry and brush with beaten egg, if using. Bake at 200C until puffed and golden brown.

Coleslaw
~1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp seeded mustard
1-2 tsp olive oil
1-2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
1-2 tsp water
1/4 sm green cabbage, shredded
1 med carrots, grated

Combine the dressing ingredients, starting with the smaller quantities given, and adjusting to taste. It will be very strong-tasting by itself, but the sweetness of the cabbage and carrot will temper it, so don't worry too much. Add enough water to make it a smooth, slightly runny consistency, then toss through cabbage and carrot.

Bottom of the Vege Crisper Chickpea Curry

This is my bog-standard clear-out-the-fridge-before-market-day curry. It's best with root vegetables but you can add anything into it which doesn't mind a half hour cooking period. However, sweet potato is essential for the proper balance between sweet, spicy and creamy, in my opinion. I've been playing with the seasonings for a while, and for ease of use I generally go with commercial curry pastes, but I didn't buy any this month. I used an experimental blending of spices instead and it turned out perfect! Although anyone who likes a bit more bite will want to up the chilli a fair bit ;-)

This is now my definitive foundation recipe.

Ingredients
1 lge onion
1/2 tbsp oil
2 tsp crushed garlic (or two cloves)
1 tsp ea cumin and coriander
1/2 tsp ea ginger and turmeric
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tbsp panch phora
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 sm-med sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 lge carrot, diced
400g tin chickpeas (or 1/2 c dry weight, soaked and pre-cooked)
1c frozen peas
125mL coconut cream
1/2c ground almonds

Saute the onions til translucent, then add garlic, then spices and fry until fragrant (add a bit more oil if they're too dry). Add the root vegetables and enough water (less than a tbsp) to coat them with the spice mixture, and cook for five minutes or so. Put in about an inch of water, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are nearly tender. Remove the cover, add the chickpeas and boil briskly until the water is almost evaporated. Reduce the heat and add the peas and coconut cream. Bring to a very gentle simmer. Stir through the ground almonds and heat very gently for five or ten minutes until the sauce thickens. Serve over brown rice.

As with most curries, this is even better made ahead and allowed to rest for a couple of hours or overnight for the flavours to blend.

Makes 4-5 serves.

Mama Zabetta's Spicy Greens

This recipe is from Witch in the Kitchen: magical cooking for all seasons by Cait Johnson, which I only just bought and thus is not on my potential cull pile, but I figured I hadn't made a recipe from it yet so I should probably blog one anyway. The cookbook is divided into sections for each of the eight major pagan festivals and contains lots of other suggestions for crafts and rituals as well as seasonally-inspired recipes. I love it and foresee it getting a lot of use!

My menu plan for the week had vegetable fritters down for one night, so I moved it to Monday night, since I do the fruit and vege shopping on the weekend, and added the stir-fried greens recipe as a side. I made brown rice and corn fritters, which my kids devoured as though they hadn't been fed for a week, but the stir-fried greens weren't as much of a hit with them (although we adults ate the lot). The two smaller ones insisted on cutting up the silverbeet for me, which meant that Miss K at least tried "her" greens and seemed to like them, but she didn't touch the other vegetables. I thought they were very yummy indeed, and it's definitely my kind of recipe, since it contains lots of "add whatever you like here" and "chuck in another slosh of this until it looks right". And half the fun of this book is in the author's editorialising throughout the recipes, which I'm leaving out for brevity. But here are the bones of the dish.

Mama Zabetta's Spicy Stir-fried Greens with Nuts and Seeds



Ingredients
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Onions, chopped
Garlic cloves, chopped
Dried mustard (I didn't have any)
Chilli or pepper flakes
Assorted slower cooking vegetables: I had zucchini, celery and green capsicum
Shoyu or tamari (I had mushroom soy sauce)
Dry red wine (optional)
Assorted faster cooking vegetables: I had silverbeet (swiss chard)
Toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds
Cashew, pecan or almond pieces
Toasted sesame oil (I didn't have any)
Fresh parsley, chopped (I had coriander)

Heat some oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the onions, garlic, chilli or pepper flakes and dried mustard. Stir occasionally til onion is golden and tender. Chop your slower cooking vegetables, and add with a slug of soy sauce and red wine (if using). Stir and add olive oil occasionally. [I added about a tablespoon of honey as well]. When everything is just crisp-tender, add the faster cooking vegetables and continue to cook for just another couple of minutes, until the greens are just wilted.

Add a handful or so of toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds and either cashew, pecan or almond pieces [I dry-fried a saucerful of sunflower seeds, slivered almonds and pine nuts, and served separately at the table]. Drizzle with toasted sesame oil and serve topped with chopped fresh parsley [or coriander, if you remember, which I didn't] over a bed of your favourite cooked grain.



I served it as a side to my rice fritters, which are the easiest thing in the world to make and somehow turn brown rice into a magnificent dish which Ms I Hate Brown Rice, Actually will devour. You can add tuna for a non-vego audience and they are even better. I served them with a dollop of sour cream and some sweet chilli sauce on top, but Ms B insisted on eating them with tartare sauce like she used to when she ate the tuna patties, and they were still yummy.

1 cup brown rice, cooked and cooled slightly
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup grated cheese
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1-2 tbsp flour to bind

Combine. Drop tablespoonfuls into a frying pan over medium heat and flatten. Turn them over when they're cooked on one side, then stick them on a plate in the oven to keep warm while you fry the rest. Try and secure some for your own plate before your offspring devour them all and then fight over the crumbs.

Tomato-Barley Soup

I wanted something a little less ambitious after the last couple of recipes. I'm not overfond of tomato soups personally, but my family loves them, and I figured this one sounded interestingly chunky and encouragingly simple.

The recipe comes from Nava Atlas' quirky cookbook American Harvest: Regional Recipes for the Vegetarian Kitchen. This is yet another one from my mother (I swear I have actually bought some of my own cookbooks in the last twenty years). I really like reading this cookbook because, as you can kind of see in the last photo, it is full of funny little pencil drawings and snippets from historical cookbooks and other sources. But I hardly ever cook anything out of it, which seems like a shame. It just doesn't quite match up with my usual cooking style, although it's much less stereotypically American than most of the internet since it relies on fresh unprocessed ingredients and does not contain any mention of either Velveeta mock-cheese or cream of lark's-vomit soup. But I now have a list of recipes I like the sound of (including the Virginia Peanut Soup on the facing page), so hopefully I shall use it more often, since I can't bring myself to put it into my cull pile.

Tomato-Barley Soup



Ingredients
oil
2 large onions, quartered and thinly sliced
3/4 cup pearl barley, rinsed
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium turnips or 2 smallish potatoes, peeled and diced (I used potatoes)
2 large stalks celery, diced
One 28-ounce can imported plum tomatoes with liquid (1 used 2 x 400g tins)
2 bay leaves
5 cups water
3 tbsp fresh dill (I didn't have any)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. And the onions and saute over a low heat until they are golden. [Endeavour not to get distracted and burn the crap out of them, especially if they were your last ones, because otherwise you might have to go to the lengths of emptying them out of the saucepan into a colander and scrubbing out the saucepan before putting the slightly singed pieces back in, and that would be just silly.] Add the barley, carrots, turnips or potatoes, celery, tomatoes with their liquid, bay leaves, and water. Turn up heat to bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 1/4 hoursstirring every 20 minutes or so [I didn't cook it for that long; probably only 45 mins]. At this point the barley and vegetables should be done, or nearly so.



Add the dill and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, another 10 or 15 minutes...Adjust the consistency with more water, if necessary [it was]. The soup will thicken as it stands [oh boy, did it just]. Adjust the liquids and seasonings if necessary, but let it stay nice and thick.



Verdict

Filling and tasty. We served it with grated cheese on the top, which worked well. I could have added more water before serving, but I liked it as a stew. Will probably make again, anyway.

Roast Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

about 6c diced sweet potato, pumpkin, potato and red onion
olive oil
1 tin chickpeas, drained
1 tin diced tomato
1c passata
1/2 c sultanas
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1tsp each cumin, coriander and sweet paprika
1/2 tsp each ginger and chilli powder (or to taste)
1c couscous
1c boiling water
olive oil, black pepper to taste
1/2c slivered almonds

Toss the vegetables separately in olive oil. Roast the sweet potato and potato for ten minutes then add the pumpkin and onion and roast until soft. Put the vegetables in a large frypan or saucepan with the chickpeas, garlic and spices and saute until fragrant. Add sultanas, tomato and passata, stir and simmer for about fifteen minutes to allow the flavours to blend (add more water if necessary to stop it sticking).

In the meantime, combine the couscous and boiling water in a covered pan for about five minutes, then stir through a drizzle of olive oil and black pepper to taste. Toast the almonds briefly in a hot pan until golden, stirring all the while, and remove from pan as soon as they're done to stop them burning. Sprinkle over the top of the tagine to serve.

Ethiopian Lentils and Vegetables

Ethiopian Vegetable Bowl

Lentil Bowl (recipe adapted from here)

1 small onion, diced
~1 tsp each ginger, garlic powder (aaargh, no garlic in the house! Use the real deal if you have it)
~1/4 tsp cayenne
1 c red lentils
water

Saute onion til transparent, add spices and fry for a minute or two. Add lentils and 3-4 cups of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes, checking the water level occasionally.

Vegetable Bowl (recipe adapted from here)

1/2 large sweet potato, cut into small dice [original recipe calls for carrots but I didn't have any]
3-4 medium potatoes, cut into small dice
~1 tsp each ginger, garlic and turmeric
1/4 green cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 zucchini, cut into small dice (optional)
4-5 shallots, snipped

Saute the root vegetables in a big frypan until they brown, to deepen the flavour. Add spices and fry for a minute or two, then add a little bit of water until it's about 1cm deep. You want to steam the vegetables but cook the sauce off by the end of the dish, so start with a little bit of water and add more if necessary. Cover and simmer gently until the vegetables are almost tender, checking on the water level occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. Then add the cabbage, zucchini and shallots and stir to coat thoroughly in divine-smelling yellow sauce. Add a bit more water if necessary (only enough to dampen the mix and make sure it doesn't stick) then cover and simmer for five minutes until vegetables are cooked through but still vibrant.

Serve with rice.

Carrot Tofu Cake

I bought a couple of packs of silken tofu marked down to 50c each today, so needed to think of something to do with them. I also wanted to make a cake for a coffee morning tomorrow. So I googled "tofu cake" and came up with this recipe. I changed the recipe slightly (and also accidentally made it non-vegan, because I didn't realise it *was* vegan, so I substituted milk and oil for the applesauce since I didn't have any. But anyway...).

~4 carrots, grated
300g packet silken tofu, drained
1/3c oil
1/3c milk
2c plain flour
1 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
~1/2c chopped walnuts

Grate carrots and combine with walnuts in a large bowl. Place all other ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Combine, and cook at 180C until done.

It's still in the oven so I can't tell you how it turned out yet :)

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

1 onion
1-2 tsp green curry paste
1 large sweet potato
1 carrot
1/3 cup red lentils
1/3 cup ground almonds
1 small tin lite coconut milk


Cook. Then blend. Then eat. It's yummy!

Random recipes

Made this recipe for sweet and sour dipping sauce tonight. We had DIY rice paper rolls (which would have been rather more successful if E and then B had not dropped the packet of wrappers!) for dinner.

I want to try this recipe for Green Tomato and Apple Chutney this week. I am requesting apples from the trees on the way to riding school tomorrow, so I don't have to experiment with expensive ones! *g* I do probably need to buy more brown sugar, vinegar and sultanas, though.

Minestrone

The purchase of yummy Italian bread and lots of vegies at the Farmers' Market this morning required the making of minestrone this evening.

1 onion, diced
1 leek, sliced thickly
1 carrot, diced
1/2 head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 (very) small red capsicum, diced
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tub tomato paste
1L water
1/8 green cabbage, finely shredded
1 bunch pak choi, finely shredded (or use spinach or silverbeet)
1/2 zucchini, diced
1 tin cannelini beans
1 tin kidney beans
black pepper and basil to season

Saute onion, leek, carrot, broccoli and capsicum until beginning to wilt. Add garlic for a minute until fragrant. Add tomato paste, and gradually mix in water. Season. Bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add cabbage, pak choi, zucchini and beans, simmer for five minutes until heated through, and serve with grated cheese (preferably Parmesan, although I didn't have any tonight) and Italian bread.

We've been eating pretty crappily this week because I've been too tired to cook most nights, and I can just feel my body radiating gratitude at me for all those yummy vegetables right now *g* Maybe I'm a food snob, but I can't believe that some people eat the kind of processed crap we've been subsisting on this week all the time, and think that it constitutes real food...

Satay Tofu and Rice

This recipe originated from a vegan nasi goreng recipe, but I don't think it bears much resemblance to classic nasi goreng so I've renamed it. I haven't made it for years and had lost the recipe, so I'm writing it down now so I don't forget it again!

Ingredients
Satay sauce:
1/2 onion, finely diced
4-6 tbsp crunchy natural peanut butter
2-3 tbsp kejap manis (or substitute soy sauce)
2-3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tsp grated ginger (I didn't have any so I used 1 tsp ground)
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 small tin lite coconut milk
water

Tofu and Rice:
375g firm tofu, diced
2 cups brown rice, cooked
2 1/2 onions, sliced
1/2 head broccoli
1 large carrot, sliced
1 red capsicum, cut into 1 inch lengths
2 celery sticks, sliced (optional)
1/4 won bok, shredded

Cook the brown rice until tender, then remove cover and continue to cook, stirring, until most of the moisture has evaporated and the rice grains separate easily. Allow to cool while making the peanut sauce.

Saute onion until transparent, add ginger and cook until fragrant. Add peanut butter and thin with enough water to make a thickish sauce. Add kejap manis and sweet chilli sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in coconut milk and reduce heat to low. Heat through but don't let it boil.

Remove sauce from heat, cool slightly, then marinate diced tofu in sauce for a minimum of half an hour, stirring occasionally. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while waiting.

Stir fry onion until beginning to soften, then add broccoli and carrot and stir fry for a minute or two. Add capsicum and celery and continue to stir fry for another minute. Add rice and stir through vegetables. Pour sauce and tofu into wok and stir to mix and heat through. Finally, add won bok and stir until beginning to soften. Serve immediately.

Scrumptious Samosas

Inspired by making mushroom pastries all day for the St Valentines feast on the weekend. Simple and incredibly moreish!

Ingredients:
1 large onion, finely chopped
1-2 tsp curry paste
1-2 tsp crushed garlic
1 large potato, finely diced
1.5 teaspoons each of red lentils, brown lentils, blue lentils, and yellow split peas
water
2 sheets shortcrust pastry, thawed but still cold
1 egg, beaten [omit for a vegan recipe, and glaze with soymilk]

Saute onion until tender, add seasonings and cook until fragrant. Stir in potatoes and lentils, add water, and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes and lentils are cooked, adding water as necessary. Cook, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated off. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 190C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Cut the pastry sheets into four squares. Arrange a generous dollop of lentil filling on one half, leaving about one centimetre free at the edge. Fold pastry over to make a triangle and pinch the sides firmly to seal. Glaze with beaten egg and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden. Serve with mango chutney, and a side serving of chickpea and vegetable curry over brown rice.

Yummy Vegetable Soup; Fruity Couscous Salad

My success rate with vegetable soups is usually pretty hit-and-miss, so I figured I'd write this one down since the seasonings really came together nicely.

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 tbsp cornflour
4 cups water (measurement is very approximate!)
1 medium carrot, diced
1/2 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 large potato, diced
1 cup diced mushrooms
1/2 red capsicum, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 cup frozen peas
~1 cup short noodles, uncooked
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
black pepper to taste

Method:
Saute onion until translucent, add garlic and fry for one minute. Dissolve cornflour in 1 cup of water, add to the pan. Stir over medium high flame until it begins to thicken, gradually add the rest of the water. Bring to a gentle boil, then add carrot, sweet potato and potato and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Add more water if necessary. Add capsicum, mushrooms, short noodles and seasonings and cook for five minutes, then add zucchini and green peas and cook for a couple of minutes or until zucchini is just tender. Serve immediately.

The rest of dinner was my favourite zucchini loaf, and an experimental fruity couscous salad of my own devising. I tried one from the deli counter at Coles on the weekend and it was all wrong (not to mention containing the bulbous purple fruit of Satan, which Mr Bat will not permit to pass the threshold of this house), so I was inspired to attempt my own. Here's the recipe, as far as I remember.

Ingredients:
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
3/4 cup couscous
1/4 cup currants and diced dried apricots
1 cup water
1 generous scoop of margarine or butter
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 red capsicum, diced
ground black pepper
juice of half an orange
1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil

Method:
Saute onion until transparent, add garlic and fry for one minute. Pour in water and bring to boil. Add couscous, dried fruit and butter, stir to combine, then cover and take off the heat. Leave for 5 minutes. Return pan to heat and fluff couscous with a fork to separate all the grains. Cool in the fridge. When cool, stir through chickpeas, capsicum and black pepper. Whisk together orange juice, vinegar and olive oil, pour over salad, and stir to combine. Rest in fridge for a couple of hours before serving to allow flavours to blend.

For a first attempt it wasn't half bad, but it still needs tweaking. I think probably some more greenery should be involved, and also toasted slivered almonds.

Dhal with Greens

I am feeling ethically conflicted about eating meat/dairy again, so am making more of an effort to eat veg*n. This was our fabulous meal last night, which I am recording for posterity because otherwise I will never remember what I did...

Dhal
1/2 cup yellow split peas
1/2 cup red lentils
1 onion, diced
1 dessertspoon mild curry paste
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 tub (~70g) tomato paste
1/2 cup passata
1/2 red capsicum, diced
water

Saute onion til golden then add curry paste and saute til fragrant. Add yellow split peas and at least one cup water, bring to the boil and simmer for ten minutes. Add red lentils, sweet potato and more water and simmer until the red lentils have begun to disintegrate, adding water as necessary. Roughly mash down some of the sweet potato, add diced capsicum, and continue to simmer gently until dhal is thick. Serve with:

Greens with Coconut
1/2 large leek
1 medium zucchini, julienned
1 bunch choy sum
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
~20 cardamom pods
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
~1 tsp ea cumin and coriander
1 tbsp coconut milk

Slice leek into rings and saute until wilted. Add zucchini and saute until beginning to soften, then add spices and fry for a minute, or until fragrant. Chop choy sum roughly across leaf, cut some of the thinner stems into inch long pieces. Wash thoroughly to remove grit and add to pan. Stir fry/steam gently in the water clinging to leaves until beginning to wilt, add coconut milk and heat through, then serve immediately over brown rice.

Both Mr B and I enjoyed it, and Katy devoured her entire serving plus some of her Dada's. She particularly liked the choy sum, and the sweet potato.