Saag Channa

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Megan, why are you posting pictures of ugly food again?" But hear me out on this one, please. I once saw an ex order a version of this when we ate Indian food for dinner. I saw a gloop of spinach puree (and this was back when I hated spinach), filled with cubes of curd cheese (I will ALWAYS hate each and every cheese, vegan or not) and wanted to throw up. Can anyone think of anything more disgusting? And then all of a sudden, I was faced with greens that needed using, a stomach that needed filling, and a strange craving for some spice. Uh-oh. This was about to get serious.

Now, I'm kicking myself that this has taken me so long. Usually I'm pretty reasonable, and I come around to things relatively quickly. (Me, stubborn? Never!) But when I made this, and hesitantly tried a spoonful, I realised that I've been an idiot for the last 8 years. I'm sorry, tastebuds, that you've been deprived. My version was made with a mix of spinach and kale, a hefty sprinkling of spices, just enough chilli to have my lips tingling, and freshly-cooked chickpeas. Served over quinoa, a comfort food if ever there was one (creamy? check. grainy? check. Bases covered.) this was an amazing dinner, and an eye-opening experience. Saag, I'm sorry that I ignored you for so long. I promise to make it up to you in future... even if you are ugly.

Saag Channa

1 head kale or 1 huge bunch spinach (or a mix!) finely chopped
2 large spring onions (or 1 small onion), finely chopped
1x 4cm piece ginger, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp chilli puree (sambal oelek is fine!)
400g tin chickpeas (or 1 & 1/2 cups home-cooked; not sure what that is dry, sorry!)
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander seed powder
oil
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot sautee garlic, ginger, onion, chilli, and spices in a tiny splash of oil, until fragrant. The garlic and onion should be transparent. Add the greens, and mix well, allowing the greens to wilt evenly.
As soon as the greens are wilted, transfer the entire mix to your blender. Blend carefully - remember that this is hot, and accordingly, I always remove the plastic insert in the lid of our blender, so that it won't explode with the steam pressure. You want the mix to be as smooth as humanly possible.
Return the mix to your pot and add the chickpeas. Season to taste with salt and pepper, allowing it just long enough to warm the chickpeas. Best served over grains; basmati rice or quinoa are my recommendations.
Eat!

Polish-style Cabbage Stew

This stew is definite Winter-food. Considering the weather that we've had in Paderborn lately (including the first snowfall of the season yesterday) it's an appropriate meal to make. It's thick, rich, and made of seasonal vegetables: cabbage and onion. This is one of the few times I've written about anything with a pre-prepared mock meat. I'm not a fan of meat-replacements, but while I was researching this recipe (which is based on Bigos, a Polish stew) I found a lot of meat-heavy recipes, and decided to give it a try. I ate something like this in Poland, and enjoyed the sweet/sour flavour, so I decided to recreate it. The result was pretty accurate, but in future, I'm going to omit the mock.

So, your first step: obtain a vintage 'Salzburg' themed pot from your friendly German housemate. Seriously, how cute is it? I'd never voluntarily obtain something like this into my own kitchen, because I'm a bit picky about aesthetics, but it's so much fun to use other people's vintage cookware. Plus, this came from the housemate's grandmother, which makes it even more adorable. I may have the world's ugliest kitchen - ok, debatable, but it's not pretty! - but at least I can enjoy certain aspects.

I'd like you to have a good look at the picture above. That, my friends, is the largest clove of garlic that I've ever held. When you consider that I also have very long fingers (ET is in for a challenge!) then maybe you'll get a sense of perspective. It was fresh garlic, which meant that the surrounding layers of skin hadn't dried out, so those got chopped up and added to the stew as well. I can't abide by wasting something that contributes so much flavour.

Speaking of flavour, a lot of it comes from the onions. They're delicious, quite frankly. I used red onions, because that's what was in my pantry, though the colour was hidden by the use of the tomato passata. So really, it's your choice. What is not your choice, however is the cabbage: do as I say, and not as I do. I used a savoy cabbage, because honestly, they're beautiful. They're just a good-looking vegetable. Unfortunately, using savoy didn't give me the same texture as the original stew, and thus, I'd recommend that you use a normal, boring, flat-leaved green cabbage. Sorry, but you'll just have to trust me that you'll enjoy it more. ;)

Sigh. See what I mean about beautiful vegetables? However, this is no place for a beautiful vegetable, because my stews are not beautiful dishes. It's like I always say: ugly food tastes better, but you want to eat the pretty stuff. I'm exactly the same, but thankfully (or not?) I've had enough beautiful but tasteless meals to now rely on my sense of smell a little more. If food smells good, I want to eat it. Simple. So, here's a stew that will make your kitchen smell delicious for hours as it slowly simmers on your stovetop. Serve it with chunks of potato, or better yet, omit the mock meat and use potato in its place. Mop up the remnants with crusty bread while you stare at the snowflakes sliding down your window.

Polish-style Cabbage Stew

1/2 green cabbage, shredded as finely as humanly possible (or finer, if you have a mandolin or food processor)
2 onions, finely sliced
6 cloves garlic - the normal-sized ones ;)
2 bay leaves
750ml tomato passata (puree)
5 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar*
1 Tbsp brown sugar
water (or light vegetable stock)
300g pack mock meat (I used soy-based chunks, which I cut in half)
salt
pepper
olive oil

Using a medium heat, sautee the onion and garlic in oil until tender. Throw in the bay leaves and sautee for a few minutes longer, until the alliums are browned.
Add the cabbage, folding gently to allow it to mix with the onion, and sautee for a few minutes. You want to stir it frequently so that it begins to soften evenly, instead of browning on the bottom and being raw on top.
When the cabbage is softened, add the tomato passata and tomato paste. To that, add the vinegar, sugar, and enough water or stock to just barely cover the cabbage.
Turn the heat down to low and simmer gently, covered, for as long as you can manage. I managed about four hours. If your mix requires more liquid in this time, just top it up with water. This would also be excellent in a slow-cooker.
Add the mock meat chunks about 5 minutes before serving - they'll only need to warm up. If you're using potatoes, which will be what I'll do next time, throw them in half an hour before you plan to eat. That way, they'll have sufficient time to simmer to a lovely soft texture.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, and adjust the sweet/sour balance with a touch more vinegar or sugar if needed.
This tastes even better the day after it's made... so makes fantastic leftovers. :)

*balsamic is completely non-traditional. Most recipes I saw called for sauerkraut mixed in with the cabbage to provide sourness. I hate sauerkraut, so this is my sweet-sour substitution.

Crispy Vegetable Pancakes

Nom nom nom. Crispy vegetable pancakes were the order of the day... or, for breakfast, at least. I wasn't hungry when I woke up, so by the time I decided I wanted to eat something, it was nearly time for lunch. So I figured that I'd go with an all-purpose brunch food, something savoury and filling, but a little more creative than my usual breakfast food. So I decided on vegetable pancakes, using the leftover garlic kale in my fridge. Sure, I'm a fan of leftovers for breakfast, but I already had some of the leftover kale yesterday at breakfast. ;) I have to keep things interesting, you know!

So I decided to make it into crispy pancakes, Asian-style. The original idea for these was based on a thin, delicious pancake that I ate in South Korea more than a decade ago. It was made by my host-grandmother and I remember tearing off pieces with chopsticks, enjoying every bite, as the girl who was hosting me tore into it alongside. We could barely communicate, sure, but I'm pretty sure that the pancake transcended that. When I got back to Australia, I made a similar version, using spring onions and sometimes really finely shaved green capsicum. I later expanded into thin strips of other vegetables, and generally stick to thicker fritters with a lighter, airier batter than the original flour-and-water mix. But for this one, I decided on some familiar flavours: greens, spring onion, chilli, garlic, and sesame oil. The first one was so good that I ate the entire thing before I remembered to add salt. Alternately, slice it and dip it into soy sauce and chilli as you eat. Heavenly.

You'll see in the second photo here that I've let the batter set completely before flipping it. I cook these over a high heat, and by letting the batter completely set, not only am I allowing the bottom to crisp up, I'm making it easier to flip the pancake in one piece. If you try to flip too soon, much like any ordinary pancake, you'll just make a mess of it. This recipe is me using maximum veg to minimum batter, which means it's a little more fragile than a normal pancake or fritter, but I didn't have any troubles. Normally I shy away from using very much oil (and for some pancakes, I don't use any!) but here, you need it. You'll never achieve the crispy outside if you don't use oil. So hey, live a little. Does the below photo make anyone else think of those satellite maps of rivers and mountains? Hm, never mind.

Crispy Vegetable Pancakes
1 cup plain flour
1 & 1/2 cups cooked greens, chopped*
1/2 cup soymilk
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped/crushed
1 tsp siracha or chilli paste
1 tsp sesame oil
2 large spring onions, greens included, finely chopped
1/2 tsp baking powder (optional; for those who like a lighter pancake)
water
oil

Mix flour, baking powder and soymilk together with enough water to make a thin pancake batter. Into this batter, stir the greens, siracha, garlic, spring onions and sesame oil.
Fry the batter in thin pancakes - pour about a half-cup into the hot, oiled pan and press it with a fork to distribute. If you press down on the mix with a fork, batter comes up between the vegetables, and keeps it from developing too many holes (which can happen when you're spreading it just by pushing).
Allow the batter to set to enable easier flipping. When the underside is golden and crunchy, flip the pancake, and cook until the second side is equally toasty.
Serve with a sprinkling of salt, or with soy sauce for dipping.

* You can, of course, use many other vegetables. The idea is that they're finely sliced, so that you can get them even distributed throughout the pancake. Raw greens would be somewhat harder to work with, due to their volume (and their shape, if you're using curly kale), which is why I recommend using leftover cooked greens.

Agave Onion

Vegan Mofo Post #4! Here's the onions that went with yesterday's simmered turnip. Yum!

Ok, back to the above plate. The simmered turnips have already been explained. The delicata squash was steamed and sprinkled with a few flakes of salt to emphasise the sweetness. And now, onto those delicious onions. They're crispy and sweet, a little brown and burnished in places, and are rapidly becoming a favourite of mine. Sometimes I throw in some fresh thyme leaves, depending on what I'm serving them with. I'm not usually one to eat onions - I buy them only rarely, because they're a definite moderation-food as far as my stomach is concerned. However, if I'm at risk of getting a stomach ache, then I need to get my money's worth of flavour. And these onions definitely deliver.

I like to use red onions. Not only is their colour absolutely beautiful, but they're a little sweeter and a little less pungent than brown or white onions. I wouldn't recommend using green onions here, because while they'd taste delicious, I think they have too much moisture to caramelise as nicely as bulb onions or shallots. You can see from the above picture that the onion I used was absolutely tiny! An onion twice its size could still be classified as 'small'. So take that into account when you're adding your agave syrup - you might need twice as much as I did, in order to get the right flavour and sweetness. This is one of the few places where I don't skimp on my sugar...

I still can't get over how damn pretty that onion is. Lacy turnip greens are also pretty, but that chopping board is in serious need of some bleach. Anyway, onto agave syrup: I love the stuff. I know it's rapidly becoming one of those new-wave health foods, raved about by every quack with internet access, but I'm going to take a step back from the pseudo-health claims and tell you this: it's delicious. Seriously. This stuff is liquid gold - it has a subtle but almost tropical flavour. It's caramelly and addictive. I know it's supposed to be lower GI than other sugars, but hey, it's still sugar. In fact, some times it's sold in concentrated forms that can be nearly as bad for you as HGCS (High Glucose Corn Syrup), so be cautious if it looks unusually thick. It's usually sold in a form with a similar consistency to maple syrup, and you can also buy it as 'raw' - not heat-treated, so definitely more natural. In summary, it's still sugar, but it tastes better than most.

Agave Onion

1 really small onion (if yours isn't tiny, double the agave, but you shouldn't need more oil)

2 tsp agave syrup
2 tsp olive oil

Slice the onion as thinly as you can manage. If you have a mandolin, let me borrow it.
Heat the oil over a medium-high heat and sautee the onions, separating the layers as you mix them around. You want them to be transparent, but not too brown - lower the heat as appropriate.

When the onions are soft and transparent, add the agave syrup, and mix to coat. Let them cook for another 5 or so minutes, stirring frequently, until they're slightly crispy.

Serve hot.

And don't forget to scrape the pan for the crispy bits before you wash it. ;)

Tofu Scramble.

Sorry about the above photo. I wasn't going to post this, but I like to use this blog to remember what I've been eating, so I figured I may as well... even though the only photo I have of the tofu scram is the one I took when I'd already eaten a huge portion. Oh well, no one reads this anyway, so I can pretend that I'm a studious blogger who always takes photos of food and doesn't eat it all before getting around to thinking, "Oh, that was delicious - I should write about it!"... ;)

Some people like their eggs scrambled. Me, I'm not one for eggs, so I prefer to make breakfasty-mush out of tofu. The recipe is pretty versatile - as long as you tear up some tofu and fry it with a few other ingredients, it can take the title. I prefer sauteed onions, fried mushrooms, and lots of parsley as my favoured ingredients in the scramble itself. It's flavoured with soy sauce, sometimes stock powder (if I choose sweet soy) and usually a touch of tumeric, just for colour. Dried herbs and lots of pepper add another layer of flavour. I'd like to have a recipe to share, but this is a throw-it-in dish. It's best served on toast, especially with breakfasty sides: baked beans, wilted spinach, fried mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. However, if you're not eating it for breakfast, it's also good with rice. You'll want to make it extra salty if that's the case, and folding some tomato, peas or spinach through the hot scramble will add to the vegetable component and make it dinner-worthy.

To make the batch above, I fried half of the world's largest onion (and it was still an incredible amount), a teaspoon of crushed garlic,a small knob of chopped ginger and the chopped stems of my parsley. Waste not, want not - parsley stems are still flavour, they just need a little longer to cook. I added a 300g block of tofu, which I crumbled into the pan, and then the flavourings I felt like: soy, siracha, and a pinch of dried thyme. Before I ate it, I mixed in the chopped fresh parsley, and ate it over toast. Delicious. Oh, and I'm serious about that onion; the photo below is only half of it, and that's a pretty large frying pan.

Spicy Vegetable Stew.

I'm quite pleased to say that I just ate a bowl of this, and I'm now onto my second. But, being me, I have to admit that it wasn't perfect: the pumpkin that I used had a strange aftertaste that I'd never encountered before. That was half the reason why I made this dish: to hide the pumpkin in a mix of other flavours. Anyone else eating this wouldn't know that it was there, but of course I know, so I'm on the lookout for it. Sigh. Either way, I did a pretty good job of disguising my lack of pumpkin quality, despite never having encountered this in an Australian pumpkin. Maybe it's the climate? I'd be pretty annoyed too, if I needed sunlight to grow, and these awful grey and drizzly days were all I was getting. Wait, I am annoyed about it.

So, pumpkins aside (or under my bed, where I'm beginning to hoarde them in large quantities), this is a reliable stew to fall back on when you're under the weather, or worse, when the weather is under 15 degrees. It's easy, it can be made in a slow cooker, or if you're hungry, you just simmer it a little faster. I think you can guess which boat I was in! I served this with soft polenta, through which I mixed a touch of salt and a handful of chopped herbs. This stew also gets along swimmingly with couscous or rice, or just a giant hunk of crusty bread to mop up the sauce. Better yet, you can do that, and then you can lick the bowl.

This stew can be made with whichever vegetables you like. Usually I'll add some cubes of fried eggplant, but it's not the sort of effort I was prepared to go to. Today's batch had lots of brown mushrooms, zucchini, and the rest of the pumpkin I'd roasted the day before. Add the pumpkin with the zucchini, even though it's not added in the photos below. Do as I say, not as I do! I made a huge batch, so that I can eat warm food at every meal, in an attempt to lift my spirits. Still, even in the warm kitchen, I can look out the window and see that I had no real summer. I feel ripped off by this country and its weather. Today, I only needed the flavours of Morocco to lift my spirits.

Comfort foods are always a nice consolation, and this dish is comforting. This stew is based on tomatoes, sure, but it differs from its Italian counterparts by the use of cumin and cinnamon. I've often made it without the cinnamon, and it's equally delicious. You can throw it together in a cinch - I made it today without sauteeing the veg, simply because I was starved. Sauteeing the onion and garlic does bring out that nice, caramelised goodness, so I'd probably advise that you're not as slack as I am today. Do as I say, not as I do! I'll use my upcoming German exam as an excuse.

You can see from the above photo that I used passata instead of real tomatoes. There was a bottle of organic passata sitting in my pantry, and I figured that now was the time to use it, rather than buying tomatoes from Marktkauf (and, therefore, from Spain. Sorry, Spanish economy.) I've also used chopped tomatoes, tinned tomatoes, and frozen tomatoes. Anything goes, provided it's a tomato in some form or other. If you use fresh tomatoes that need a little extra richness after cooking down, add a splash of balsamic vinegar, or a few tablespoons of tomato paste. I've also snuck a teaspoon of stock powder into my stew on occasion, when my tomatoes were of the general supermarket variety. To thicken, today I've used red lentils, but when I'm not so hungry, I just let it cook down by itself. I made a huge pot, a "community stew" of sorts. Halve the recipe if you have a smaller appetite than I do. (I'm pretty sure that you do.) We'll see if mine lasts longer than a day...

Spicy Vegetable Stew

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed

2 small onions, finely chopped

500g mushrooms, quartered (if small - otherwise in 1/6ths or 1/8ths)

1kg zucchini, in large cubes

1 kg pumpkin, in large cubes

3/4tsp cumin powder

1/3 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tsp black pepper, ground

1 tbsp fresh chilli paste (siracha or kecap manis is fine)

1 tsp salt

750g passata / 2 tins tomatoes / 1kg fresh tomatoes, diced
1 bunch fresh herbs, chopped (I usually use parsley - today I also used basil, but usually I add a few leaves of mint)
olive oil

In olive oil, sautee the garlic and onion until golden and fragrant. Add the mushrooms, and let them sautee for a few minutes.

Add the vegetables, stirring to mix, and then add the fresh chilli paste. Allow to cook for a few minutes more, until the vegetables are slightly softened.

Add the tomatoes and spices, plus any extra water that you need so that the vegetables are just barely covered by the liquid. I needed about a cup.

Simmer, uncovered, for as long as you dare, adding water as needed, to stop the sauce from catching on the bottom of the pot. If you're in a hurry, just simmer until the vegetables are tender - about 15 minutes. The longer and slower this cooks, the better the tomatoes will be.

When you can't stand the amazing smell in your kitchen any longer, and simply must have a bowl, throw in the herbs and serve yourself as much as you can fit in your bowl. Then go back for seconds. ;)

*I added 1 cup of red lentils to this, partly because I love them, and partly because they're great at thickening rustic sauces. I usually add a tin of chickpeas, but alas, none in the pantry.