Honey & Mustard salad dressing

vegetarian, gluten free

 

Ingredients:
 1 teaspoon English mustard

2 teaspoons clear honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

4 tablespoon rapeseed oil

See salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Shake all the ingredients together in a screw-toped jar to mix and emulsify. Trickle generously over the salad and serve.

Mother's cookies

vegetarian, sugar free

 

I first experienced the fruits of this recipe when I was a child, growing up in Poland. My Mum used delicious cookies filled with homemade jam using blackcurrants from our garden. Yummy. Today I would like to share with you lovely readers my Mum's recipe. You can use any jam or any filling you would like. I hope you will enjoy cooking and eating with us today.

 

Ingredients:


30g butter
30g cottage cheese 

pinch pink Himalayan salt
200g white flour
250g raspberries

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Roughly break the butter in small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. Add cottage cheese and mixing until you have a firm dough adding extra cheese if needed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 min in the fridge.

Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle.
Cut out square (5x5cm) put few raspberries in middle square and fold corners to the middle.


Bake in 180C for 20 minutes.

Review: Delemi Bites' raw raspberry & vanilla cake

Delemi Bites are a Bristol based duo who specialise in raw, gluten free, vegan and refined sugar-free delights. Today I am going to be reviewing and reminiscing about an amazing raw Raspberry and Vanilla cake that they made for me, for a special occasion. They are a fairly new enterprise, currently you can find their selection of raw energy and protein balls in the deli counters of my favourite ethical food shops - Wild Oats and Harvest Natural Foods. 

If I was a good blogger I would have taken more photos, but honestly I was too engrossed in the cake to stop to capture cross-section shots of the two creamy, rich and fruity 'cheese' layers that sat firmly on top of the wholesome, sweet and satisfying base. There was a layer of raspberry cheesecake on top of a vanilla cheesecake layer. On the surface were raw, berry energy balls, raspberries and desiccated coconut. This was a birthday cake for my partner; vegan, raw and gluten free, and one of the best cakes I have ever eaten. Being a raw cake, you couldn't feel too guilty about binging on it as it must be made mostly of nuts, fruit, syrup, seeds and water.



I decided to approach Delemi Bites after: thoroughly enjoying their energy balls from Harvest Natural Foods' deli counter, chatting with them in said shop and browsing their Instagram gallery - all very positive experiences! They delivered the massive, heavy and obviously delicious package to my door on the morning of my partner's birthday, which was perfect.

It was a very efficient cake. The consistency, flavours and textures were all exquisite, in addition to this delight the cake was filling. So much so that we decided it would be best to freeze it and have two birthday cake celebrations with friends. If you committed to eating a slice two energy balls wide, then that would be your meal completed, appetite fulfilled. When the next celebration comes around, I will definitely send an enquiry to Delemi Bites... I'm tempted to get a raw chocolate cake just for the sake of it.

You can find them on Facebook, Instagram and Email.

Chickpea soup

vegan, gluten free

This chickpea soup is a traditional recipe from the mediterranean island of Crete. I have adapted the recipe slightly, using less oil and veganising it.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
50g grated carrots
50g grated parsnip
50g grated celeriac
2 bay leaves
70g rice
2 teaspoons oregano
1 lemon (juice and zest)
2 tablespoon soya sauce or tamry
dill
salt and pepper for taste


Method:

Soak chickpeas overnight; next day, drain and rinse. I usually use dried chickpeas and cook them in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes or normal cook in hob for 2h. But its such a comforting dish, so when I am short of time, I use tins of chickpeas, which I always have in my cupboard.

In a saucepan add olive oil, grated carrots, parsnip, celeriac and bay leaf. Sauté for 5 minutes stir regularly to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add the chickpeas and rice cover with water to about 25mm above them; simmer for 25 minutes.
Add the lemon juice, oregano, tamary, salt and pepper. If soup is to thick add more water. soup, stir regularly to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Sprinkle dill and olive oil on top and serve with crusty bread.

Tahini dessert

Vegan, Gluten free, soya free

Personally I am not a big fan of tahini, but when combined with cashew nuts you're in for  a delicious treat. Today I would like to share with you my favourite Sunday breakfast. It is more exotic than the traditional English breakfast, but if you want to do something new and you do not to spend much time in kitchen than this will be a good option for you. I used Soya milk, but any plant-based milk works. Also there is a vegetarian alternative with natural yoghurt. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
150g cashew nuts

200ml soya milk (you can use any plant base milk)

2 tablespoons tahini paste

1 tablespoon date syrup

For our vegetarian friends we have different option:

200g natural yoghurts

2 tablespoon tahini paste

1 ½ tablespoon honey

For both:

Strawberries, blueberries or any your favourites fresh fruits, pistachio nuts.

Method:

Mix all ingredients in food processor until they are combinate well. Pour in to cup or jar decorate with fresh fruits or nuts.

Potato, sweet courn bonda

vegan, gluten free

Weekends are special as we spend more time with our family. It is always nice to cook something special, especially for evening snack when everyone is together playing games or watching a film. Bondas are very easy to make and you can do this using left overs from previous day. They have a  crispy outside and fluffy inside.

Ingredients:

aprx 4 large potato

1 tin sweet corn

a large handful of fresh coriander

For the batter:

150g chickpea flour

1/2 baking powder

2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne peeper
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Method:

For the batter, mix all ingredients. Slowly whisk in 175 ml water whisk to combine and get rid of any lumps.

Boil potato until the are soft then smash to make puree. Mix with the sweet corn and chopped coriander. Make medium, snowball-sized, balls from this mixture.

Add the potato balls to the batter and turn them, making sure they are all thoroughly coated.

Heat about 2 cm depth of oil in a heavy-based pan over a medium high heat. When the oil is hot enough to turn a cube of white bread light golden brown in 30-40 second, start cooking Bondas. 

Cook for about 3 minutes, until crisp and golden brown on the base, then turn over and cook for another minute or two. Drain the Bondas on kitchen paper, then serve.

'Vegg' dip - Vegan eggy dip.

vegan, gluten free

I love this! Another veganised egg dish. Do you remember our recipe for vegan scramble eggs. No? You can find recipe clicking here.

Today an eggy dip, which tastes great with fresh baked bread and cornichons.

Ingredients:

180g tofu

3 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon lemon juice

50g dill (the best if you can use fresh dill).

Method:

Very quick and very easy. Blend all ingredients apart dill, which you will use at then end. Done!