Vegan Recipe: Black Eyed Bean Dip Boats

Vegan Black Eyed Bean Dip Boats make perfect party food!

I grew up eating one recipe for black eyed peas - soul food classic stewed in pork fat. But these little beans are packed with so many nutritional goodies - Omega 6, Omega 3, dietary fiber, protein, folate, iron and potassium - that it's a crying shame not to get them more involved with daily kitchen proceedings. Alongside the soul food recipes of the American south, black eyed peas are found in dishes from Sephardic Jewish, African, South American, Vietnamese, Indian, Greek, Brazilian and Indonesian cuisine. So there is plenty of inspiration for getting creative with these earthy beans.

For this recipe, I wanted to get down with a little bit of finger food, because it's picnic season and eating with your hands is always fun. The main element of this is a Black Eyed Pea Dip that can be dressed as you like in it's tiny tostada. I sandwiched the dip between a green salad base and a chopped tomato topping, but you could easily mix it up with a creamy avocado sauce, cashew crema, or spicy salsa. But I would recommend something with a little bit of  juice - not too much though, you don't want your boats taking on too much water!

I was really pleased with how these came out because as well as being tasty and cute, they're the kind of thing that looks impressive on the pot luck table but doesn't take that long to make! Win and win! Enjoy.

Black Eyed Bean Dip Boats

Makes 9 Boats

Ingredients

3 soft tortillas, 8 inch
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
175g (just over 1 Cup) Black Eyed Peas
2 cloves garlic
1/4 medium yellow onion
1 tbsp jalapenos in brine
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garnish with chopped salad underneath and chopped tomatoes with cilantro(coriander) on top

1. To make the tiny tostadas, heat your oven to Gas Mark 6/400F/200C and grab a muffin tin from the cupboard. You can use any size muffin tin for this, as long as you can find a stencil that is about 1 inch larger in diameter than each muffin hole. So for a tin that made 3 inch muffins, I got a "stencil", aka "a bowl", that was about 4 inches across to cut my tortillas into smaller circles.
2. Once they're all cut out, I got about 3 per tortilla, brush each side of the shells with a bit of olive oil and place into the muffin holes. The should fit easily if you pinch them into a sort of  wonton shape like a cross. Place in the oven for about 5- 10 mins or until they are brown.
3. While this is cooking, put the garlic, onion, jalapenos, and olive oil into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add more jalapenos if you like it spicier or another spoonful of olive oil if you like it smoother.
4. When your shells are brown, remove from the oven to let them cool. While this is happening prepare your garnishes.
5. To serve, fill shells with shells with salad, then bean dip then saucy topping like chopped tomatoes or guacamole. Yum!

My "stencil"

Cut tortillas in the muffin trays

Black Eyed Bean Dip Boats

Vegan Recipe: Wild Garlic Potato Salad with Crushed Almonds

No Mayo Necessary: Vegan Wild Garlic Potato Salad with Crushed Almonds

Yeeeessssss. Potato salad. It's the quintessential BBQ side dish with the starchy fluffiness making the perfect counterpart to the saucy smokey mains. Get the flavours right, and it will set off your whole plate.

This no mayo masterpiece is as simple as it is delicious, and can be eaten warm or cold. The wild garlic add a layer of depth to the whole affair, while the crushed almonds add texture and nutrients to this fabulously simple side.

I whipped this up in about 20 mins and it was ready to eat straight away. Yum!

Wild Garlic Potato Salad with Crushed Almonds

Makes 2 Side Portions 

Ingredients

1 large potato
1/4 onion
4-5 leaves wild garlic
1 handful of almonds
2 tsp mustard
1 tbsp vinegar (use a light vinegar like ACV or a white wine vinegar. I used rice vinegar on this occasion)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Chop the potato into bite sized chunks, place in a sauce pan with water and bring to a boil.
2. While the spud is cooking, finely dice your onion, coarsely chop your garlic, and crush your almonds. Put in a large bowl to wait for the potato.
3. In a smaller bowl, whip up the dressing. Whisk to together the mustard, vinegar and olive oil. And let stand.
4. When the potatoes are soft, drain them and add the dry potatoes to the bowl with the onions, almonds and garlic. Pour in the dressing and mix until everything is coated. Cover the bowl for a 2-3 minutes to let the warmth of the potato soften the almonds and then mix through again.
5. You can serve warm or chill it in the fridge for later.

Vegan Recipe: Easy Watercress & Potato Soup

Vegan Watercress Soup

I adore watercress. It's got such a unique combination of spicy bitterness and is such a versatile green. Delicious for salads but hearty enough to stand up to a bit of cooking. No to mention that it's generally pretty cheap, available almost year round and has some nutritional vitals that are out of this world. Yes and Yum.  

I grabbed a bag the other day and whipped up this tasty bowl of soup that would have served two, it I hadn't eaten it all!

Vegan Recipe: Easy Watercress & Potato Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/4 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp vegan margarine
500 ml vegetable stock
4-5 small potatoes chopped (with or without skins is up to you I generally go with skins)
100 g watercress
2 tbsp almond milk

Instructions

1. Saute onion and garlic in margarine on low/medium heat until onions are soft.
2. Add coarsely chopped potatoes and stock to pan, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for about 10 minutes or until the the potatoes fall off the fork when you give them a poke.
3. When the potatoes are soft, add the watercress to the pan and stir until the leaves wilt into the spuds. 
4. Add the almond milk and stir for another minute or so.
5. Remove pan from heat and blend mixture into a soup using a hand blender or tabletop blender.
6. Once smooth, return to heat and stir for another minute or so before serving.
7. Grab some bowls and dig in.

Vegan Recipe: Southern Fried Seitan

Southern Fried Seitan

I eat pretty healthy these days with lots of fruits and vegetables, very little fast food, I drink tons of water and I even eat brown rice. Sometimes though...I need grease. Not everyday, but just occasionally, I just need some sinfully delicious deep fried action. And when this time comes, heaven forgive me, I turn to seitan.

Southern Fried Seitan is quite simply a revelation. It's all crunchy on the outside and squidgy on the inside. It's quick to cook. And it's totally satisfying. Plus it's a fantastic for covering with hot sauce, bbq sauce or any other guilty pleasure you can think of. Get Some. Tuck in. Bring a napkin.

Southern Fried Seitan

Ingredients

1 tsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup cornflour
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp water
7 - 10 medium pieces of seitan

1. Grind the sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and turmeric in a pestle and mortar.
2. For the coating, mix spices with corn flour and white flour and place in a large bowl.
3. For the batter, scoop out 2 heaping teaspoons of the coating mixture, add 2 tablespoons of water and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and mix well.
4. Heat the oil in a wok until it's good and hot.
5. Soak the seitan pieces in the batter until they are fully covered, I mean every little nook & cranny. Then remove each piece from the batter and place in the flour mixture, coating again. 
6. Fry each piece until all sides are golden brown, about 5 mins, then remove and place on plate with paper towel on it to drain excess grease.
7. Repeat until all pieces are cooked.

Vegan Recipe: Soy Roasted Beetroot

Beetroot is one of my favourite foods. Soy sauce is one my favourite seasonings. Kikkoman is by far my favourite soy sauce.  And now this is one of my favourite dishes. First I tried this simple recipe as a side dish for dinner, then had the cold left overs in a salad the next day. I'm not gonna lie: it was delicious both times.

Soy Roasted Beetroot

Ingredients

4-6 medium boiled beetroot
2 -3 tbs Kikkoman soy sauce
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs agave nectar
1 tsp rice vinegar
dash of pepper

1. Cut beetroot into quarters and place in a roasting tray.
2. In a separate small bowl, mix soy sauce, oil, agave nectar and vinegar together. Then pour over the beetroot. Rub the sauce into each of the beets making sure that they're all covered. Pepper to taste.
3. Place in the oven for 15 - 10 mins on Gas Mark 6/400F/200C giving it the occasional shake to the them a roasted on all sides.
4. Serve hot or place in the refrigerator to eat cold with salad.

Vegan Recipe: Red Cabbage Spring Rolls with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce

Red Cabbage Spring Rolls with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce

I love spring rolls and these colourful vegan cabbage spring rolls are a great treat for any day of the week. Using rice paper there is no need to batter these in egg and this Kikkoman dipping sauce can be used for all manner of dumplings, dim sum or tempura.

Red Cabbage Spring Rolls with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce

Ingredients for Spring Rolls

100g finely shredded red cabbage
1 medium carrot shredded
1 quarter onion finely chopped
1-2 tsp Kikkoman Soy Sauce
10 -12 rice paper spring roll sheets
2-3 cups of water

Ingredients For Dipping Sauce

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce
2-3 tbsp water

1. Combine cabbage, carrots and onion in a large bowl and sprinkle with soy sauce. Let stand while you make the dipping sauce.
2. Mix ginger, vinegar and soy sauce in a small bowl to make dipping sauce. Now let this stand while you cook up the spring rolls.
3. Grab a tray and fill it with just enough water to submerge one rice paper sheet at a time. Place one sheet in the water until it's fully wet, about 5 seconds, then place on to clean flat surface for filling. Scoop out one tablespoon of filling and lay left of centre in a short line. Now fold your spring rolls like a...spring roll or a tiny burrito. Wet the corners to seal.
4. Deep fry spring rolls in vegetable oil (don't use Olive Oil - it makes everything extremely oily) until brown.
5. Remove and place on a towel or rack while you cook the rest.
6. Repeat until you've got about a ten rolls.

Vegan Recipe: Green Plantain Chips with Lime

Pan-Fried Plantains Green Plantains with Lime

Plantains are a global food eaten throughout the tropics. African, Indian, South American, South Asian, Caribbean cuisine, all count plantain as a staple comfort food.  Plantains make me think of my Nigerian friend from college who made them pan fried with black pepper. My Venezuelan friend whose tostones are amazing. A little Cuban joint in Downtown Las Vegas where the waitress called me 'Mami' every time we spoke. I didn't grow up eating plantains, but when I do the natural sweetness and warm fluffy flesh, make me feel like I've come home.

Along with being quick and delicious to cook, they are a complex carbohydrate that provide a good source of potassium as well as vitamin A, C and B6, and I just love me some vitamins. If you're new to plantains, have a go at this tangy little plantain recipe which is a great side dish or zesty snack.

Green Plantain Chips with Lime

1 plantain
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt
2-3 tbsp coconut oil

Peel the plantains and slice into discs. Cover with lime juice, add a pinch of salt and mix well until each disc is covered evenly.

Heat some oil in a large pan. Drain the plantain slices, then fry them for 3 minutes until they are crisp and golden brown. When they are ready, remove them from the pan and place on a paper towel to dry. Serve when cool.

Source: luigig

Vegan Recipe: Okra & Potato Bake with Mint Sauce

Okra. O. Kra. Ladys Fingers. Kingambo. Bhindi. I am intrigued by these pointy fuzzy pentagonal vegetables and have tried countless okra recipes to find one that would make me love them. Don't get me wrong I haven't been actively avoiding them, but like many I sometimes find them a little hard to season and can be put off by the sliminess of a little okra action.

So the other day, when I was flipping through the Dock Kitchen Cookbook, I was pleased to find a new recipe for okra that I hadn't tried before that looked simple and lovely. I made a few vegan alterations, added a sauce, and the results were delicious.

I also discovered that if you only slice them longways, that the sliminess is reduced significantly!

Okra & Potato Bake with Mint Sauce

Serves 2

For the Okra Bake

olive oil
1 large red onion
2 cloves garlic
100g potatoes
3 tomatoes
100g okra
1 teaspoon cilantro aka coriander seeds
pinch pepper
tablespoon lemon juice

For the Mint Sauce

2 heaping tbsp vegan mayo
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp dried mint
1 tsp chopped onion

1. Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces and boil in a large pan until soft. 
2. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, heat oil in in a skillet or wok and fry the onions and garlic and coriander seeds until soft. And the tomatoes and then cut the the tops of the okra and then slice it long ways and add to the mix. The potatoes should be soft now too, so add them in. Season with pepper, add in the lemon juice.
4. To finish off, transfer the mix to a roasting tray and bake for about 5 minutes while you whip up the sauce...
5. Mix vegan mayo, mint, onion and lemon juice together in a small bowl for quick sauce.
6. To serve remove okra mix from the oven and serve with splashes of minty sauce. Just gorgeous! 

Vegan Grilled aubergine with chick pea purée & harissa Recipe

I've done recipes from Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food before and that's because Nigel is my homeboy. I've not found a bad recipe yet - they're all good. It's not a book that is aimed a vegetarians, but my mate Nige, that's what I call him when we hang out, is amazing at getting the seasoning just right on everything he does and that is a special skill that is useful for any cook. Plus there's a boatload of tasty veggie recipes in the book that are easy to do and will make you look good in front of your friends.

This recipe was so simple to do and I reckon that a deconstructed version would work really well as dainty h'orderves for your next dinner party. And any left over chick pea puree make a very tasty bean dip with tortilla chips.

Here's a vegan version of Nigel's recipe...

Vegan Grilled aubergine with chick pea purée and harissa

1 x 400g tin chick peas, drained
a sprig of fresh thyme, plus 1 tbsp chopped leaves
225g large diced, peeled potatoes
3 large cloves of garlic, halved
salt
1 large aubergine, weighing about 275g
150ml pint virgin olive oil
50g vegan margarine
harissa sauce
1 lemon

1. Tip the chick peas into a pan and cover them with water or vegetable stock. Throw in the thyme sprig and bring to the boil. Add the diced potato and two of the garlic cloves. Salt and simmer for 15 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, slice the aubergine into 12 rounds about 1cm inch thick. Chop the two remaining garlic cloves and add to oil with the thyme leaves. Brush aubergine with thyme and garlic oil and cook under or over a preheated hot grill for 7-8 minutes, brushing with more oil as necessary; turn once. 
3. Remove the thyme sprig, drain chick peas and mash. Stir in the margarine. Season with salt. 
4. Put six of the hot grilled aubergine slices on a warm serving dish, place a generous spoonful of chick pea purée on each. Spread the remaining slices with a little harissa, then place on top of the others to form six sandwiches, three for each person. Serve with lemon.

Source: The Guardian

Waste Not Want Not Vegan Dumpling Recipe

My Mother always taught me not to waste my food. 'Finish your plate' she'd say. 'Don't let that go to waste' she'd say. 'You to eat your food...you know there are children starving in Africa right now...' she'd say....'You gonna eat that?' my Dad would say.  We would eat leftovers until there wasn't anything left over at all and my Mom was the queen of reinvention. It didn't feel like some lesser knock off of the original meal but something totally new and equally tasty. Remembering that you're saving money as well as helping to fight climate change by saving some of the 7.2 million tonnes of food waste that goes to land fill in the UK every year.

These days I look at leftovers as a bit of a challenge. I ask myself 'What can I do with what I've got?' Today I looked a a little bit of left over Leek & Potato soup and thought, 'how can I step up to the challenge of stretching this bit of soup in to something substantial enough for my dinner time food meal?' Then in came to me, like a sticky blob...dumplings!

Vegan Dumplings over Steamed Cabbage 

Vegan Dumplings in Leek & Potato Soup 

The Soup Stretch

1 cup of left over thick Leek & Potato Soup
1/2 cup Soy milk
1/2 cup Vegetable Stock

The Dumplings (recipe from Veg Web)

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Mix your soup stretching ingredients together in a sauce pan on a low heat.
2. In the meantime, prepare the dumplings in a large bowl. First mix dry ingredients together with minced garlic. Next add milk, oil and stir until you've got a stick ball of dough. Break off spoonfuls of dough and add to the soup. Cover and cook for 10 -15 mins. 
3. Serve over steamed vegetables for a delicious winter warming meal.

Vegan Recipe: Thai inspired Roasted Squash over Satay Sauteed Peppers with Coconut Rice

Roasted Squash over Satay Sauteed Peppers with Coconut Rice

One of my favourite things about being vegetarian is looking forward to the new produce as it comes into season. Strawberries in summer. Greens in the spring. When I think of autumn, I am most excited about the abundance of pumpkins and squash! I like lots of different types of gorgeous gourds, but butternut squash is easily my favourite. It's so versatile, easy to cook and easy to find that you can't really go wrong

For this butternut squash recipe I took the commonly seen flavour combination of butternut squash in coconut curry and got a little crazy by putting the coconut into the rice. I know, I know, what can I say I'm a rebel.  So then I thought, what is the awesome sauce that would make coconut rice truly rocking? Satay. 'But you can't make satay sauce if you haven't marinated it overnight' you say. To which I reply: Let's do this thing.

Thai inspired Roasted Squash over Satay Sauteed Peppers with Coconut Rice

This is a recipe in 3 parts and will take about 40-60mins from start to finish and it was well tasty...

Roasted Squash Ingredients

1 butternut squash
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp all spice

Coconut Rice Ingredients

1 cup of rice
1 cup water*
1 cup coconut milk *

*This is a bit of a ball park, the trick with rice is to pour double the amount of water into the pot as rice by volume and then cook it off. So when you pour the rice into the pan, look at how high it is on the side and the pour the water/liquid so that it's double that height.

Satay Saute Ingredients

1/2 tbsp peanut oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp sweet soy sauce
1 - 2 heaped tbsp of crunchy peanut butter
1/2 small chopped onion
1 small chopped yellow or red pepper

1.  Heat the oven to Gas Mark 7. Cut your squash open length ways and then scoop out the seeds. Next score the squash with a knife and then rub in the olive oil. Sprinkle the spices on top and then pop it in the oven for 30 - 40 mins or until soft and brown.
2. For the rice you, cook like normal rice but instead of using water you use diluted coconut milk. So pour the rice into a sauce pan, then add the liquid and then simmer until cooked through. Be careful to keep stirring the rice as coconut milk is more likely to increase the chances of the rice burning.
3. Now to the satay sauce. I generally use the last bit of the peanut butter jar, or a few peanut butter jars to do this which means I can put all of the sauce ingredients into the jar and then just shake them up...which makes me happy. Once the sauce is shaken, you can add your peppers and onions, and then shake it a little bit more. I treated my sauce more like a coating, but if you want liquid then you could add some coconut milk.
4. To make my satay saute, I heated about a tablespoon of peanut oil in a skillet and sauteed the saucy peppers & onions until aldente. Whilst cooking, the satay went a sort of dark brown and started to make crunchy bits, so I made sure to keep stirring as I went along. 
5. By the time the peppers are cooked and the rice is ready to eat i.e. when the liquid is absorbed and the rice is soft, you should be able to remove the roasted squash from the oven and serve. Yum yum.