Vegan Planet

When I became vegan, I bought some cookbooks. One of those, Vegan Planet, I used a lot in the beginning, and then, somehow, not anymore. I don't know why - it looks pretty and the recipes were tasty. When I flip through it, I instantly remember the feeling of my first months as a vegan - a very good feeling of a summer full of discoveries and happiness and, most importantly, the friendship of some of the most wonderful people I got to know in my life. So my task last weekend was: Cook something from Vegan Planet!

For one day, I chose Chilled Ginger-Peach Soup with Cashew Cream - a soup that tastes like a smoothie! Perfect.

And for the next, Walnut Crusted Millet and Celery Root Croquettes, with the recommended Yellow Pepper Coulis. Very good! Although I did not taste much of the walnut crust, which is a pity.

Yeah, I will never become a food photographer :-)

So, if you are searching for another vegan cookbook for all occasions that looks pretty (no photos though) and tastes good, I can definitely recommend this one. It is very well suited for beginners, as it has a well-written chapter about "vegan basics", featuring nutrition, reasons for being vegan, hidden animal ingredients, and presenting food that the average omni has never used before, like flax seeds or tempeh.

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.

Vegan travel to the north

Sweden is definitely a vegan paradise! It started already great, with two kinds of oat milk plus rice milk for breakfast in a hotel.

Breakfast corner for lactose and gluten intolerant people.

Here is a short review what we ate in Stockholm! First, I had to survive two days at a conference. Therefore, the first thing I did was to get some supplies at the nearly-vegan shop Goodstore.

After the conference, Manuel arrived. For a start, we went for the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet at Legumes in Södermalm. Nearly everything is vegan and the staff knew exactly what wasn't. It was all very good and we enjoyed it on a hot day outside on the terrace.

Legumes lunch buffet

We continued to the old part of the city, Gamla Stan. Apart from the amazing Science Fiction Bookstore that has also board games and roleplaying games, we plundered the sales counter of Sattva's bakery for some Kanelsnurror and T-bergis. Most things there are vegan, and they are all clearly labeled.

On the next day, which was a sunday, we wanted to visit the café that belongs to Sattva, on Kungsholmen. According to their business card, they were open. In reality, they were closed. We went there on another day, and were not fully convinced. A poor girl was working there alone and had just started her job. She did not know how to make any of the coffees. She tried to make espresso, but it was very... concentrated. But we got a tea for free! I hope they have taught her all that soon after our visit, because it was a bit depressing, and also not a very nice situation for her.

We had an early evening dinner at the all-you-can-eat buffet at Hermitage in Gamla Stan. It was a bit more expensive than the one at Legumes, but also very good.

Food from buffet at Hermitage

On the next evening, we went to Hermans. It was the most expensive buffet we had, but totally worth it. The huge outdoor seating area and the view over the water are just great. In the beginning, we were a bit confused, because we asked someone what was vegan. He had to get a list and then pointed out several things, but not very many. I could not believe this and asked a woman a little bit later, and she knew without the list that most things were vegan, only maybe three things contained cheese or yoghurt, and that was clearly visible. We were very hungry and did not take a picture of the food...

On our last evening in Stockholm, we went to Lao Wai. I had read that you have to book a table or to arrive very early. It was a tuesday, and we arrived when it opened, at 17:30 h. We did get a table, but had to promise to finish until 19:00 h when they would be fully booked. The food was gorgeous!

Gong Bao Su Rou

Ma Yi Shang Shu (I think...)

Nutty delight - chocolate panna cotta

The next day we travelled to Uppsala to visit some friends for a few days. Therefore, we did not go out for eating, but cooked at their place. Chili, BBQ, pancakes... Here is a little sample what you can find in a big enough swedish supermarket (ICA):

Oat milk, strawberry soy yoghurt, oat ice cream, soy cream cheese

Oh lovely Sweden! I totally recommend visiting it, regardless if you are vegan or not!

Stockholm

Yeast swirl with poppy seeds and nuts

Yeast buns are great, and poppy seeds make them even better. The recipe is slightly modified from Zucker.Haus.

Preparation time: 2-3 hours total, but a lot of waiting time in between.
Suggested music: Omnia - Twa corbiez (because the yeast bun was eaten during a Cthulhu gaming session with hungry ravens)

Ingredients for the dough:

• 400 g flour
• 25 yeast or 1 package dry yeast
• 125 mL plant milk (I used soy); use milk at room temperature to make the dough rise faster
• 60 g margarine, at room temperature
• 40 g sugar (depending on how sweet your milk is)
• 1 tablespoon soy flour

Ingredients for the filling:

• 100 g poppy seeds
• 100 g ground hazelnuts or almonds (I used a mixture)
• 50 g sugar
• 80 g bread crumbs
• 250 mL plant milk
• pinch of cinnamon (and cardamom, if available)

What to do:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough to prepare a yeast dough. It should not be super dry and not sticky. Better knead too long than too short. Cover and let rise (30-60 minutes, depending on temperature).
2. In the meantime, prepare the filling. Place the poppy seeds in a mixer and mix for a few minutes. They can be used without mixing, but they are a lot tastier when shredded. Not every mixer is able to do this properly though.
3. Mix the shredded poppy seeds with the other ingredients for the filling.
4. Lightly oil a cake tin (I guess it also works without).
5. When the dough has risen, roll it out to a rectangle, about 30x20 cm. Spread the filling and roll up. Fold in the middle and twist the two ends with each other. Place in the cake tin, cover, and let rise again for at least 20 minutes.
6. Brush the top with vegetable milk and add sugar crumbs, almond slices, or whatever decoration is lying around. Bake at 180 °C for 35-45 minutes.

Wassermelonencurry

(english version below)

Ein weiteres fruchtiges Currygericht von den veganfreundlichen Omnivoren aus Tübingen! Ich mag eigentlich keine Wassermelonen (ganz im Gegensatz zu Manuel), also nutze ich jede Chance, aus ihnen etwas besser Schmeckendes zu machen. Überraschend lecker, und perfekt für heiße Sommertage.

Das Rezept stammt aus einem indischen Curry-Kochbuch, das an sich sehr interessant klang, aber definitiv viel zu viele Fleischrezepte hat, als dass ich es haben wollen würde. Als Hauptgericht für 2 Personen oder als Beilage für 4.

Dazu passt sehr gut Rhabarberchutney! Ich habe Himbeeressig durch Balsamico ersetzt, geht auch, sieht nur nicht so hübsch rot aus.

Zubereitungszeit: 30 Minuten
Musik: Dresden Dolls (weil sie auf die selbe Weise seltsam, aber gut sind, wie Melonen in Curry zu packen) - Delilah

Zutaten:

• 1 Wassermelone von ca. 1 kg (oder 1/4 einer großen, oder 1/2 einer kleinen)
• 1,5 Teelöffel rotes Chilipulver (oder ein Mix aus Chili- und Paprikapulver)
• 1 Prise gemalener Kurkuma
• 1/2 Teelöffel gemahlener Koriander
• 1 Knoblauchzehe, gepresst
• 1 Prise Salz
• 2 Esslöffel Öl
• 1/4 Teelöffel gemahlener Kreuzkümmel
• 2-3 Teelöffel Zitronensaft
• Zucker (optional)
• wir haben noch hinzugefügt: gemahlener Ingwer, Currypaste

(Generell kann man auf jeden Fall mehr von den Gewürzen dazugeben.)

Zubereitung:

1. Wassermelone in mundgerechte Würfel schneiden (ohne Schale), dabei möglichst viele Kerne entfernen. Etwa 170 g der Melonenstücke pürieren.
2. Chilipulver, Kurkuma, Koriander, Knoblauch und Salz zum Püree hinzufügen.
3. Öl in einer Pfanne erhitzen. Kreuzkümmel kurz anrösten, dann das Püree hinzugeben. Hitze reduzieren und fünf Minuten köcheln lassen. Wenn etwa 1/3 der Flüssigkeit eingekocht ist, mit Zitronensaft und ggf. weiteren Gewürzen oder Zucker abschmecken.
4. Die Melonenstücke hinzugeben und vorsichtig rühren. Das Curry ist fertig, wenn die Melonenstücke erhitzt sind.
5. Mit Lieblingsgetreide servieren. Ich habe schon Quinoa und Reis benutzt.

Another fruity curry recipe from the vegan-friendly omnivores from Tübingen! I am not a big fan of water melons (in contrast to Manuel), so getting the chance to do something with them that makes them more tasty is great. The result is surprisingly good, especially on a hot summer day.

The recipe is from an indian curry cookbook that sounded very interesting, but had too many meat recipes to be further investigated. Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side dish.


Preparation time: 30 minutes
Suggested music: Dresden Dolls (because they are weird in a good way, same as the idea of putting melon into curry) - Delilah


Rhubarb chutney goes very well with the curry, the recipe is here, but in german: Chutney.


Ingredients:

• water melon, about 1 kg
• 1.5 teaspoons red chili powder (or mix of chili powder and paprika powder)
• pinch of ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
• sugar (optional)

(It definitely won't hurt to use mooooooore of the spices, plus ginger... and curry paste)

What to do:

1. Cut the water melon open, remove the peel and as many of the seeds as possible. Dice into bite-sized pieces. Take 170 g from the melon pieces and puree.
2. Add chili powder, turmeric, coriander, garlic, and salt to the puree.
3. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the cumin and roast for a few seconds. Then add the puree. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice to taste, and sugar, if you think it necessary.
4. Add the melon pieces and stir carefully to coat them with the puree. Ready when hot.
5. Serve over your favorite grains; I used quinoa once, and once rice.

Defoliation

Ever eaten artichoke? Not from a jar? Sounds scary? Here's how!

Buy an artichoke with nice green leaves (no blackened ones) and cut the stem off right under the blossom. Place in a pot and add water, such that the artichoke does just not start swimming. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Depending on the size of your artichoke, simmer for 25-40 min. You can test if it is done by taking it out of the pot and testing if the lowest leaves come off easily. They should.

While the artichoke is in the pot, make some kind of dip. I usually do a thick salad sauce, approximately like this:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• some salt and pepper
• 1-2 teaspoons mustard (medium spicy)
• 1/2 teaspoon dandelion honey

When the artichoke is ready, take it out, let the water drip off, and place it on a plate. You might want to throw away the first leaves, but it depends on your artichoke. Dip the leaves in the sauce and use your front teeth to scrape the lowest, edible part from the leaf.

The leaves become thinner and thinner towards the center. Finally, you'll end up at the hairy center. I do not recommend eating it - the artichoke is a thistle, after all! Scrape it off with a knife.

If you had a really big artichoke, it might be necessary to remove a bit of fibrous material from the bottom of the remaining part at this stage. Then cut into little chunks, dip them in the sauce and enjoy the best part of the whole thing. Bon appétit!

Sign of life

Yes, we are still here, and still cooking. But somehow too lazy to blog. The man is very busy working at the moment, and the lasagna and the rhubarb crumble we made nearly two weeks ago were eaten long before we thought of taking a picture. So only a few random pictures of foooood today.

Green smoothie with salad, cucumber and banana.
Next time, definitely less cucumber...

Scrambled tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance
(I only have the iPhone App),
with tomatoes instead of champignons.

Freezer compartment thawing menu:
Seitan, peas, pasta (the latter was not in the freezer...)

I also made hemp milk for the first time, which was very tasty. I never knew what to do with the unshelled hemp seeds, but for milk, they are perfect.

Very weird is the fact that I am starting to like soy milk. Pure soy milk. Without sweetener and oil added. I never thought I could like that "beany" taste, but interestingly, taste buds adapt. Pretty cool.

Good news: happycow.net finally has an iPhone app. Which definitely needs improvement, especially for the offline use, but hey, it's a good start! We will be traveling to Sweden in June, so it is perfect.