See the recipe I love this salad because it’s so simple and easy to throw together when you’re in a bit of a pinch. It combines the lovely charred flavour of roasted cauliflower with both beautiful aubergine and the umami hit of shelf staples like olives and sundried tomatoes. Typically Kenny isn’t very keen on salads but this is the first time he’s asked for salad seconds. I serve it with a dressing based on the oil you’ll find with your jarred artichokes or sundried tomatoes. Since it’s already seasoned, it makes for a great base for a dressing and saves you from throwing this away – win-win! This is…
-
-
Lo Bak Gou or Daikon Cake (Vegan & Gluten Free)
See the recipe If you’ve never had Lo Bak Gou before, you are missing out! It’s a delicious dish that can be eaten steamed or, as we prefer, stir fried. You can find it in most Chinese restaurants in the Dim Sum section of the menu and is often made around Chinese holidays, as a symbol of prosperity and new beginnings in Chinese tradition. Traditionally this radish cake is made from Chinese turnip or daikon (also known as mooli), rice flour, and water and then steamed. Once cool it can be cut into slices and pan fried until golden brown and crispy. The interior of the cake remains soft while…
-
Creamy Beetroot Pasta (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Skip to the recipe It’s no surprise to hear that going for a plant based diet can be good for you. The benefits of fruit and vegetables is well known, and the UK’s five-a-day campaign recommends everyone gets at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Easy right? Well not quite — a recent survey found the average Briton only eats 2.7 portions of fruit and veg a day! UK diets revolve around meat so much that I’ve had friends tell me they couldn’t go vegan because they wouldn’t know what to eat. To make things easier, here are five simple tips I used, to help you reduce…
-
Mung Bean Coconut Curry (Vegan & Gluten Free)
Skip straight to the recipe This dish definitely fits the definition of #uglydelicious. I know it looks … dubious but trust me here, it’s so tasty that I probably ate twice as much as I should have. Another recipe borne from COVID lockdown when I was attempting to use every little bit of pantry staples before going shopping again, this turned out so tasty we’ve had it several times since. Like most pulses, mung beans are little powerhouses of nutrition, stuffed full of protein, vitamins, and minerals making them the ideal cornerstone for a plant based pantry. What’s more, they’re cheap and a bag of dried beans is the perfect…
-
Easy Vegetable Chilli (Vegan & Gluten Free)
See the recipe As a child I hated kidney beans with a passion. I would sit, hovering over my mother’s Chilli Con Carne, picking out every dark red, hated bean before even deigning to eat the dinner she had lovingly cooked. These days, I acknowledge that beans and lentils are part of a balanced vegan’s diet but it took hard work for me to get past my own legume phobia. That and cooking my beans from dried. I don’t know what it is about tinned beans but the texture just isn’t nearly as good as when you’ve cooked them yourself. It’s cheaper and, even better, with a pressure cooker you…
-
Pumpkin Soup with Sage & Walnut Pesto (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Here in London, it’s cold and raining, winter is continuing strong through February so it’s ideal weather for soup. Warming and soothing, it’s a dash I’d typically reach for during colder weather and it’s healthy too! I don’t see a lot of pumpkin over here. It’s a very American veg that has been slowly creeping over along with the ever-popular pumpkin spice everything. I’ve been working out what to do with it and this soup has been incredibly popular. Paired with some delightfully autumnal sage and walnut pesto, this soup is incredibly easy but will warm you through after a cold day. Leftovers This soup will store in the fridge…
-
Garlic & Sesame Broccoli (Vegan & Gluten Free)
Today’s post is a little short but no less tasty. You want a quick dinner, then stir fry is often the way to go. The veg gets crisp and tasty but not overcooked. What’s more, it’s just so easy – for the perfect stir fry, get a proper wok and put it on a high high heat with a little oil. Don’t stop stirring when you add your veg otherwise they’ll cook unevenly, burning on one side and raw on the other. That’s all there is too it, a proper wok, truly high heat, and constant stirring. This is an incredibly easy recipe that makes a great side dish. I…
-
Beetroot & Coconut Curry (Vegan & Gluten Free)
We get a veg box most weeks and it’s been great for encouraging me tto be creative with my cooking, as well as being more seasonal. What it’s not great for? Seasonal means that we sometime gets the same veggies over and over again. While that’s great for staple like carrots and potatoes, for some veg it can be a bit of a struggle. At this time of year, beetroot can be one of those problems – since we don’t tend to have the same things over and over again it’s been a struggle to make something new each time. I’ve turned it unto pancakes, vegan wellington, burgers, ravioli, pickled…
-
Vegan French Toast (Vegan & Gluten Free)
This Sunday is mother’s day in the UK and in that spirit, this recipe is ideal for breakfast in bed. With vanilla, cinnamon, and a touch of sweetness, this is the ultimate treat for any brunch. I like to make it with slices of a great gluten free sourdough but it works equally well with whatever bread you have to hand. Topped off with maple syrup or a tasty fruit compote and it’ll hit the spot. Want to make it even easier for kids to whip together so they can make your breakfast? Then just pop all the ingredients into the blender jug the night before and (with supervision!) they…
-
Sabich Platter (Vegan & Gluten Free)
Holidays are a thing of the past at the moment but I can’t express just how much I miss them. Looking back at our holiday snaps makes me yearn for a little bit of adventure and that joy of discovering new places. If there’s one place I’d love to visit just for the food, it’s Israel. Food from all over the world, coming together in one place makes the food scene unbeatable. What’s more, influences from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa mean there’s a strong lean toward vegetables and Israel has the world’s highest ratio of vegans so finding tasty plant based food really isn’t hard. While everyone…