Breakfast greek yogurt

vegetarian, sugar free

Greek Yogurt is one of my favourite foods. It is very versatile and can be used in breakfasts, snacks, and desserts. I think anyone can agree that it is 100x more filling than plain yogurt, perhaps because of the extra protein and lower sugar content.

Today we giving you idea how you can serve Greek yogurt for breakfast.

Ingredients: (serving for 2 people)

400ml greek yoghurt

1 banana sliced

any seasonal fruits you like

1 or 2 tablespoon maple syrup

2 tablespoon linseeds

½ teaspoon cinnamon

For decoration we used edible flowers.

Veganista Ice Cream Parlour - Vienna!

I don't know about you but, now we are in the hot summer months, I've really been craving ice cream and it reminded me of last summer in Vienna. Where we found Veganista potentially Europe's greatest ice cream parlour, which is all handcrafted vegan and mostly gluten free .

The parlour is located opposite Veganz, an all vegan supermarket so its a really tasty place to have a little wander round if you are in Vienna. Vienna as a city is incredibly beautiful, and everyone was very friendly and very helpful especially since we don't speak any German.

When you walk in there is a large deli counter with every flavour of ice cream you could ever think of and lots you haven't, you could buy little cups, larger cups, cones or boxes of ice cream; we saw a little boy and his father picking up a whole box for a special occasion which really was a perfect idea as the day we visited was very hot. The staff were very friendly, helpful and spoke English perfectly. We really got the impression that this was a popular ice cream parlour not just for vegans but ice cream lovers in general.

I (Jan) went for a cup of peanut flavour and my partner opted for mint choc chip ice cream. There are a few seats so that you can enjoy your ice cream whilst you are sat down in the shade so your tasty treat doesn't melt! This Ice cream is really nothing like the Vegan supermarket ice cream brands like Swedish Glace or Booja Booja or even Almond Dream. This was much creamier and the flavours were rich and so delicious.

Really reminded me of having ice creams when I was little at the seaside.

So if you are in Vienna make sure you pop into Veganista!

 

To finde more:

facebook 

instagram

Aish Baladi

vegan, gluten free

In Arabic, Aish means life, and for the Egyptian people, bread is the most important component of every meal.  Aish Baladi it is very similar to pita, but made with buckwheat flour, this Egyptian flatbread is traditionally baked in ovens in Cairo's markets. Home cooks can achieve similar results with a baking stone and an oven cranked to high.

We adopt this recipe to make them quicker for preparing and easier to make in home oven.

Instead of using the oven you can fry these like you would pancakes in a dry frying pan until  lightly charred in spots appear.

Ingredients:

300g buckwheat flour

4 tablespoon linseeds

water

Mix all ingredients, gradually adding enough water to create a good dough.  Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, do this for about 10 minutes.

Place a baking stone on a rack in the oven and heat the oven to 250°C for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, punch the dough down and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten into a 1 mm circle.

Place the dough circles on the hot baking stone and bake until lightly charred in spots, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer the breads to a rack and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Summer salad with cauliflower couscous

gluten free, vegan, BBQ

A fresh and colourful salad to brighten up any barbecue or buffet - no matter what the weather. This a summer variation of my cauliflower couscous recipe from a few months ago, found here.

Ingredients:
250g cherry tomatoes
1 large cucumber
a handful of chopped fresh parsley
a handful of chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper for taste 
500g spring greens

For the cauliflower couscous:
click here for recipe

For the dressing:
olive oil

Method:

Prepare cauliflower couscous following recipe here.

Slice cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. Combine tomatoes, cucumbers and cauliflower couscous in a salad bowl.
In mean time steam spring greens and drizzled with olive oil. Take care not to overcook, as the leaves will develop a bad flavour and smell. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with olive oil.

Halawa Tamr

vegan, gluten free, sugar free

Traditionally, there are two types of Halawa:

Flour-based – made from grain flour, typically semolina. The primary ingredients are clarified butter/Ghee (this is butter from which all milk solids has been removed. The result is a clear yellow fat that can be heated to a higher temperature than butter before burning), flour and sugar.

Second one it is nut-butter-based. This type of halva is crumbly and usually made from tahini (sesame paste) or other nut butters, such as sunflower seed butter.

Today we are going to do a nuts-based halawa. Using fresh figs will give you a more intense taste.

I think the best sweets are only available in Turkey. They are extremely sweet but soo delicious. Making this halawa tamr reminds me of Turkish delight. I hope you will like this recipe. Post some pictures below of your attempts, we can share ideas for different flavours and varieties!

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight

Ingredients:

50g hazelnuts

50g almonds

120g fig (you can use fresh or dried)

50g dates1/2 teaspoon aniseed

2 tablespoons honey* (for vegan version use date syrup)

Method:

Fry on dry pan nuts and almonds until the are golden, do not burn it. Chop coarsely nuts.  Blend fig, dates and honey in food processor. Add nuts and shape into marble-size balls rool in confectionary sugar or sesame seeds. They will keep well for weeks and are good to serve with coffee.

Rice Salad

vegan, gluten free

The simplicity of this rice salad makes it ideal for when you don't have much time.

Ingredients:

150g white basmati rice (because it has the shortest-cooking time)
1 teaspoon turmeric
250g portobello mushrooms
500g spring greens
1 fresh chilli 
a handful of flat parsley 
olive oil for frying 
salt and pepper to taste

Method: Cook rice with the turmeric. The turmeric, naturally, will stain the rice a nice yellow.

Whilst the rice is cooking, slice the mushrooms and fry in olive oil. Deseed the chilli, chop and add to the mushrooms in the pan.

In meantime slice the spring greens into olive and steam. Drizzle with olive oil when finished. Take care not to overcook, as the leaves will develop an odd flavour and colour. It should take 4-8 minutes and they should be a vibrant dark green.

Assemble the salad by gently mixing the spring greens and rice into the mushrooms and parsley. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. An extra splash of olive oil can be nice.

Matt from Wogan Coffee

Coffee is the topic of conversation for today. Matt from Wogan Coffee.
South West England’s largest independent coffee roaster.If you are a Bristolian, or have visited Bristol, it is likely that you have tasted the beans of Brian Wogan and perhaps caught the aroma of the beans being roasted as you drive into city centre between the end of the M32 and Cabot Circus shops.

Brian Wogan was the founder of the company in 1970. Adrian Wogan now runs the business, still sourcing the same Speciality premium-quality green coffee bean as Brian did 46 years ago. Today we are with Matt Beynon, the companies Barista Trainer and Coffee Consultant; a wonderful chap, I got my coffee training from him.

JP: Hi Matt. Congratulations on your work as a Barista and Trainer, I’ve seen you all over Bristol, Better Food, Café Kino and you also work with a few Michelin Star restaurants, such as Pony & Trap. What initially motivated you to become a Professional Barista? Was Brian Wogan your first job or did you have to work around?

MB: Thank you for your introduction, very kind. We are very proud of our relationship with this city and its food hero`s. I have worked in the service industry for 20 years and I have seen the industry change unrecognisably and I have enjoyed being part of that change. I first met Adrian over 10 years ago at a training session he hosted and he enthused me with so much passion, I new it was the industry for me. 

I was working for Fifteen in Old Street and had the opportunity to work for another roaster in London before I moved back to Bristol. Adrian and I had a chance meeting, and the rest as they say is history, that was 4 years ago now. That was the best decision I have ever made. It is not often in life you find someone with so much passion, drive and knowledge in what they do, everyday you learn something new!

GM: Could you briefly explain the full process that happens at Wogan Coffee, from receiving the fresh beans from an exotic country to having them ready to be delivered to coffee shops.

MB: After an exciting process of picking origins and varieties from samples, requests and visits we make, we plot our buying schedule and await the new arrivals. The coffee arrives once a week and is sorted between our holding warehouse and roastery, we then pick our origins for the days roasting based on what we need for that particular day. We do most of our roasting on a 1967 120kg Probat and this we find gives us more control and refinement over our profile. After we roast the coffee we let it rest for 3-5 days, this is an integral part of roasting as it lets all the flavours get to know each other and allows the coffee to degas. Then it`s off to the shops!

GM: As a customer in a coffee shop how we can recognise if our coffee was made by a professional, with all the due care and attention?

MB: For me the first thing that I look for is a clean steam arm, anything less is showing a lazy work practice and can have a detrimental affect on the taste of the finished drink. I then cast my eye to the grinder where I either want to see an on-demand grader or see that the Barista is taking care to ensure that not too much coffee is ground off in the chamber and that they are extracting my espresso in a nice slow time. Lastly, taste is the most important factor. If I have a beautifully creamy textured drink with a beautiful taste I`m happy! Very Nice indeed!

JP: The coffee machine market is vast and ever expanding. There are hundreds of options for those wishing to start making coffee at home. Do you have any recommendations or guidance?

MB: At home I am lucky enough to have a few brewing methods to choose from; these range from espresso machine right through to Aeropress. However my favourite method is still the cafetière. It is a method steeped in memories for most of us and reminds me of Sunday mornings. The secret to using a cafetière is keeping it really clean and ensuring that you give the coffee a chance to bloom; this involves adding a touch of hot water to the coffee first to allow it to expand. Once you have allowed this bloom time for around 30 secs complete the pour and allow to stand for 4 minutes, then enjoy!

JP: Milk. To milk or not to milk? Or what about non-dairy milk? Do you have any pearls of wisdom or suggestions for the baristas or home-baristas?

MB: Milk and non-dairy milk is a very exciting topic at the moment with more research and papers coming out on what seems a weekly basis!

In my opinion west country milk is the best in the world and as long as it`s unhomogonised and organic you can`t go wrong! 

Non-dairy alternatives are very exciting and I am currently in love with coconut milk, it`s everything I am looking for in a textured beverage, in fact I fact we have a new espresso machine coming in September that is made by Slayer that can profile different steam temperatures and pressures depending on milk types! Most importantly is to remember not to over heat the milk, anything over 65 degrees will cause the natural sweetness to disappear.

GM: How about cold-brew coffee, that is growing in popularity. What is it?

MB: Cold brew coffee is growing in popularity in the UK however it is nothing compared to the US market where of course they are blessed with slightly hotter days! essentially by brewing using no heat, you extract much less volatile compounds, low amounts of acidity and more natural sugars. Because you are using lower temperature it does take up to 12/16 hours and more careful to brew, so be careful. It might taste sweet and fruity but will pack a punch.

GM: From you experience of training and working with baristas, would you say there are any common mistakes that people make when it comes to making great coffee?

MB: We run a training course at our roastery up to 5 days a week and the most common mistakes come from misinformation; only in the last few years are we really getting to grasp with espresso technology and now is filtering down to the baristas in the field. Sizes of drinks and amount and temperature of textured foam is always a confusing point as people are always surprised it is a lot less than they thought. The same could be said for adjusting the grind on the grinder, this should be done at least 3 times day... At least! The thing that really grinds my gears is cleanliness or lack there of, dirty wands and no back flushing equals a revolting cup of coffee, it deserves better.

JP: Have you ever entered a Barista competition?
MB: I have thought about it, but you need to dedicate hours and hours a week to the task and I simply don`t have the time. There is another competition where you have They do a great job of raising the bar of the industry and long may they continue!

GM: Arabica and Robusta. Can you explain to our readers, who may be inexperienced with coffee, what these are? And the difference between them.

MB: A common misconception is that all Robusta are bad and all Arabica are good. They are two completely different genus`s, it`s a bit like say a carrot and parsnip are the same. They might look similar, but that`s where it ends.

Robusta is grown at lower altitudes and is naturally higher in caffeine acting as an insect repellent. It is predominantly grown in low lying emerging markets such as India and Vietnam and many crops are more commodity crop driven than speciality. Arabica is grown at much higher altitudes and is more susceptible to disease and insects and therefore is a harder crop to manage and grow, but it is full of complex characteristics and many different varieties lending itself to the speciality market and beyond.

JP: When is your favourite time to drink coffee? And what coffee would you choose?

MB: All day! My favourite? I always seem to return to is Kenya Peaberry:-complex, refined and perfect for Sunday mornings.

GM: We have spoken a lot about drinking, but what about food? Do you have a favourite cuisine? Or maybe an ‘unsung dish’ (Vegan or vegetarian as that is nature of our blog) that you believe more people should try?

MB: Food is a real passion of mine too and recently I tried your cottage cheese cake which I must say is my new favourite desert and my go to dish is Chickpea stew, which contains every single piece of veg I have in the cupboard along with paprika from Hungary which in my opinion is the best thing in the world and of course chickpeas, cook for hours with brown rice and spinach, simple yet always makes me smile.

JP: Thanks Matt again for your time.
Interviewed by Jan Philips and Greg Macalla
To follow Brian Wogan visit their website and FB page.
or contact: sales@wogancoffee.co.uk or 01179553564

Clafoutis (flaugnarde)

vegan, gluten free, sugar free

Today we're going to make a traditional French dish that is naturally gluten free and vegan. Unlike a lot of VGF (Vegan-Gluten Free) food this dish is simple. You need 15 minutes for preparation, 35 minutes for baking and no more than 3 days to eat. The clafoutis comes from the Limousin region of France, and while black cherries are traditional, there are numerous variations using other fruits, including red cherries, plums, prunes, apples, pears, cranberries or blackberries. When other kinds of fruit are used instead of cherries, the dish is properly called a flaugnarde. 

Ingredients:
180g tofu
200ml soya milk
50g date syrup
70g ground almonds
500g wild blueberries. Other stone fruits would also work well in this dish. Try peaches, plums or apricots.

Method:Mix together the tofu, soya milk, date syrup and ground almonds.
Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease a muffin dish with oil. Shake the sugar around the dish so that it is evenly coated, then tip out any excess.
Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish. Place some cherries on top each muffin.
Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is slightly domed and the blade of a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.