Pancakes for breakfast

The most wonderful man in the world makes the most wonderful pancakes in the world for breakfast. So here's the recipe, including a recipe for chocolate sauce by our swedish friends.

Pancake with strawberries and vanilla oat whipped cream.

Preparation time: about 30 minutes total.
Suggested music: Swedish medieval music from Patriarkus!

Ingredients for the pancakes:

• 150 g flour
• 250 mL soy milk
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg replacement (e.g. 1 tablespoon soy flour; it seems this is not even necessary, we left it out and it still worked)

What to do:

1. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
2. Add soy milk and optional egg replacement while stirring.
3. Pour small portions of the batter into a pan over medium heat. Brown lightly from both sides.

Pancake with vanilla oat ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Ingredients for the chocolate sauce:

• 1 part cocoa powder (the one used for baking)
• 1 part sugar
• 1 part water
• dash of salt

What to do:

1. Mix the cocoa powder and sugar in a small pot. Add the water bit by bit while stirring.
2. Bring to a boil on the stove. Let simmer until it thickens a bit.

Sacher Cupcakes

Today, someone mentioned Sacher torte. And posted a recipe (german). And I did not have chocolate since... I can't even remember (if I don't count the chili in I made on the weekend). Here is my version of this old and famous cake!

Preparation time: with baking and cooling and all about 90 minutes
Suggested music: Oh, we need something from Austria again... Georg Kreisler maybe? (The song is very old and about poisoning pigeons in the park - not very vegan ;-) )

Ingredients:

• 150 g flour
• 100 g sugar
• 100 g margarine
• 2.5 tablespoons soy flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 130 mL water
• about 4 tablespoons apricot jam for the filling
• 50 g semidark or dark chocolate + 2 tablespoons soy milk for glazing

What to do:

1. Put paper cupcake liners in your muffin pan and preheat the oven to 175 °C.
2. Mix all ingredients from flour to water to form a relatively sticky dough. 
3. Fill a tablespoon of dough in each of the wells. I got 11 half-filled ones. With a wet finger, press down the dough and flatten the surface. If your finger is wet, the dough won't stick to it.
4. Bake for 18 minutes (check with a toothstick). Take out of the muffin pan and let cool.
5. With a finger, poke a hole in each cupcake and fill with jam. Add a thin layer of jam on top of the cupcake.
6. Melt the chocolate in a hot water bath; take out of the bath and mix with the soy milk. Add a layer of this ganache on the cupcakes, being careful not to mix with the jam.
7. Chill cupcakes in the fridge until the ganache is a bit more solid.

True Norwegian Black Chili

Ein unglaublich gutes Rezept von den weltbesten Norwegern, die wir in Paris kennengelernt haben. Jedes Mal, wenn wir es machen, denken wir an sie und sind glücklich. Für 3-4 Personen.

This is an incredibly good recipe from the most wonderful norwegians that we met in Paris. Each time we make it, we think of them and are happy. Serves 3-4.

Zubereitungszeit: 1 Stunde

Preparation time: 1 hour
Suggested Music: Watch the documentary "True norwegian black metal" by VBS.tv

Zutaten:

Man muss sich hier nicht exakt an die Mengenangaben halten, und es ist nicht tragisch, wenn das ein oder andere Gewürz fehlt. 

• 1 EL Olivenöl
• 3 Zwiebeln, fein gewürfelt
• 2 Dosen gestückelte Tomaten
• 150 mL Rotwein
• Saft einer halben Zitrone
• 1 EL frischer Dill, gehackt 
• 1 EL frische Petersilie, gehackt
• 1 Dose rote Kidneybohnen
• 1 Dose kleine weiße Bohnen (oder sonstige Bohnen)
• 150 g Cashews, gesalzen oder nicht ist egal
• 100 g Sojagranulat
• 1/2 EL gemahlener schwarzer Pfeffer
• 175 g Tomatenmark
• 2 Knoblauchzehen, fein gehackt
• 2 TL gemahlener Kreuzkümmel
• 1 TL Chili (das ist abhängig vom verwendeten Chili!!)
• 1 EL Senf
• Salz nach Geschmack
• 1/2 EL getrockneter Basilikum
• 1/2 EL getrockneter Oregano
• 1 kleines Glas/Dose schwarze Oliven (am besten ohne Stein)
• 20 g dunkle oder Zartbitter-Schokolade
• 1 TL Zimt

Ingredients:

Feel free to mix the ingredients freehand, and don't worry if you're missing any of the herbs or only have dried ones, etc. It will work out fine.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 onions, finely chopped
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 150 mL red wine
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill 
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 can small white beans (or mix any other beans in that you like)
• 150 g cashews, salted or not
• 100 g granulated soy (Sojagranulat)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 175 g tomato purée
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes (depending on your chili!)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• sea salt to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 small can black olives
• 20 g dark or semi-dark chocolate
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Zubereitung:
What to do:

In einem großen Topf (notfalls zwei nehmen) das Olivenöl erhitzen. Die Zwiebeln darin dünsten, bis sie weich und leicht durchsichtig sind.

In a very large saucepan or pot (use two, if in doubt), heat the olive oil. Sauté the onions until tender and transparent.

Tomaten, Rotwein, Zitronensaft, Dill, Petersilie und Bohnen dazugeben. Durchrühren und fünf Minuten köcheln lassen.

Add tomatoes, red wine, lemon juice, dill, parsley, and beans. Stir well and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Cashews und Sojagranulat hinzugeben, außerdem Pfeffer, Tomatenmark, Knoblauch, Kreuzkümmel, Chili, Senf, Salz, Basilikum und Oregano.

Add cashews and granulated soy, followed by pepper, tomato purée, garlic, cumin, chili powder, mustard, salt, basil, and oregano.

Schließlich Oliven, Schokolade und Zimt hinzugeben. 20-30 Minuten köcheln lassen.

Add the olives, chocolate and cinnamon. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Kann so serviert werden, mit etwas Brot. Wenn vorhanden, sind gewürfelte oder mit der Gabel zerdrückte Avocados extrem lecker.

You can serve it as it is, with a little bread. If available, diced or mashed avocados are very delicious.

Anti-Weltschmerz chocolate pudding

For one sad and/or lonely person. Immediate improvement guaranteed!

Necessary therapy after watching the documentary "Schmutzige Schokolade" ("The dark side of chocolate") by Miki Mistrati. The filmmaker investigated child labour on cocoa plantations in Côte d'Ivoire.

Further information (german)
Film in der ARD-Mediathek
www.thedarksideofchocolate.org

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Suggested music: Get well soon - Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon

Ingredients:
The whole point of this recipe is using fair trade cocoa powder, of course. You can likely find it in an organic supermarket, as well as fair trade sugar.

• 250 mL soy milk (any other plant milk should work as well)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (you might need more if you use unsweetened soy milk)
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

What to do:

1. Heat 200 mL of the plant milk in a small pot on the stove.
2. Sift the starch and cocoa powder into a bowl, add the sugar, and mix. Sifting helps preventing clumps. 
3. Add the remaining 50 mL plant milk to the cocoa mixture and whisk until all clumps have disappeared.
4. When the plant milk comes to a boil, turn the heat down (or even off, depending on your stove) and add the cocoa mixture while whisking. Let it boil shortly - with this amount of starch, it should thicken immediately.
5. Pour into a small serving bowl, grab a spoon and devour.

This recipe will result in a relatively solid pudding. I like it that way, because I usually eat it hot, directly after preparing it. If you want to prepare the pudding in order to put it in the fridge and eat later, you can use as little as 1 tablespoon corn starch.