Trying new vegan product is always something that excites me, especially as I’m literally seeing new vegan products hitting the shelves almost every month, it gives me hope for a more sustainable future. Most of these products…
Archives for October 2016
Kimchi Hummus
I love both hummus and kimchi and never would have thought to combine both, but here we are, we made a kimchi hummus and it turned out to be quite tasty! Lately I’ve been making my own huge batches of kimchi so I always have plenty lying around, I’ll upload a recipe the next time I make a batch so I can write it down. You can se store bought, use another recipe on-line and soon my own recipe. Kimchi is awesome Korean food staple made from fermenting cabbage and is great for the gut, so you should definitely look into using it. …
Black Cupcakes w/ Sliver Frosting – Halloween Addition.
A party just isn’t complete without a nice sweet snack/dessert, and since we’re still working towards a spooky Halloween menu why not make a spooky recipe for cupcakes!? These cupcakes are moist and rich with a decadent silver frosting that will ward off all the evil spirits, some might even say that this frosting will even protect you from werewolves. No I didn’t use any funky food colouring, just black tahini which you’ll find a recipe for over here. By now you might have figured out that black tahini will be making an appearance into almost every Halloween dish this year, so go to your nearest asian grocery store and get yourself a big bag of black sesame seeds, it’s worth it! You can also order the seeds or the tahini on-line if you don’t have any store selling these product near you.
Now to be honest even though the frosting adds a nice flare of magic it isn’t very necessary since the muffins are sweet by them selves, having said that, it does add to the presentation and might be just what you need! You can also skip the black tahini if you don’t have any on hands and still want moist and dense cupcakes, or use less like the picture below. One thing to keep in mind when using black tahini is that you’ll want to let the cupcakes cool before you eat them, cause otherwise the taste of the tahini will dominate the cacao and that’s, not, delicious! But once they’ve cooled down they’re the most delicious chocolate cupcakes ever!
These cupcakes were an instant fave for my family, they weren’t to sweet and perfectly moist, just the way they like them! I also sneaked a couple of pieces of chocolate in the batter so some cupcakes would have a chocolate core, because who doesn’t like a chocolate overdose!?
You can expect even more Halloween themed recipes during the next week so we’ll all be ready for our Halloween parties, or ready to simply indulge, parties are overrated anyway! I really hope you like these recipes and feel free to leave a comment below or to tag me in your spooky creations on Instagram and don’t forget to like my Facebook page.
One Love,
A.J.
Black Cupcakes w/ Sliver Frosting - Halloween Addition.
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 2 tbsp flax seed crushed
- 4 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 1/2 cup soy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp black tahini
- 1/4 cup agave
Dry ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup cacao powder
Frosting
- 3 tbsp vegan margerine
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp black tahini + 2 tsp
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 175 celcius or 350 Farenheit. Add the crushed flax seeds and water to a bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes to form the egg substitute. After this add the rest of the wet ingredients and whisk it well. Now in a separate bowl add the dry ingredients (or not and add it straight to the wet). And whisk to combine. Now add the dry to the wet and stir till you get a nice cake batter.
- Now grease your muffin tins/molds and evenly distribute the batter, you can even sneak a little piece of chocolate in the batter. Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes or until you poke it with a skewer and the skewer comes out clean. After they are done remove them from the oven and let them cool. Enjoy.
Quick & Easy #5 Spicy Carrot Curry Soup.
One of the things I really enjoy during the colder months are soups, eating a soup is like getting a warm hug from the inside out, they’re very comforting. Almost every single week I try to make a huge pot of soup that’ll last me a couple of days, they’re my go to prep meal! This weeks soup will feature two of my favourite things, carrots and curry.
fun fact: Carrots are actually one of my favourite root vegetables, especially eaten raw or juiced, the only downside is that I’m highly allergic to raw carrots.
This soup is creamy and full of flavour! I used one of my favourite masala curry powders which I buy at the Surinamese grocery stores, but you can use any curry powder you can find. We’ll be making this soup a bit creamy by adding some cauliflower, if you hate cauliflower you can always use potatoes or if you love coconut you can use a can of full fat coconut milk. Like with any other dish I encourage you to experiment and try out new flavours that will appeal to your taste buds! But don’t forget the main star which is our carrot and curry combination.
This is another post that will only require about 30 minutes to make (if you don’t count the chopping) and apart from chopping isn’t very labor intensive, which in my book makes this a quick and easy meal.
You can top this soup with some cilantro, pine nuts, black sesame seeds or whatever else your heart desires, maybe a drizzle of vegan sour cream or vegan yoghurt. It’s equally delicious topped with some fresh basil and some chopped spring onions.
Now let’s get cooking!
Feel free to leave a comment below or to tag me in your recreations on Instragram and don’t forget to like my Facebook page!
One Love,
A.J.
Spicy Carrot Curry Soup.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo carrots or 2 pounds
- 1 leek
- 1/2 cauliflower
- 1 onion
- 7 cloves garlic
- 1 cube vegetable bouillon
- 3 tbsp curry powder
- 8 cups water or enough to cover the vegetable.
- 1 chilli pepper or adjuma if you're brave
- 1 handful cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- chop all the vegetables and start by sauteeing the onions and garlic for about 3 minutes. now add the carrots, cauliflower, leek and curry powder and stir it around for about 2 minutes.
- Now add the water, vegetable bouillon and pepper and let it simmer until the carrot and cauliflower are soft. Once they are soft you can blend it all using a stick blender or by blending it in a regular blender, until you get a smooth and creamy soup. serve with cilantro. Enjoy.
Black Cacao Granola – Halloween Addition
Bao Of The Month: Shadow Bao – Halloween Addition.
Every once in a while I like to explore my honor my Chinese roots by exploring the Chinese cuisine and veganising my favorite dishes! Today we’ll be making steamed buns also called Baozi or Bao. Since the only thing not vegan about these steamed breads are often the filling it’s not that difficult to veganize, no today we’ll be spookifying (I know it’s not a word, bear with me) these buns.
It all starts by making the buns from scratch and adding in a bit of black tahini, yup you can expect a lot of dishes using black tahini this month. You could also use charcoal but I find black tahini to be more cost effective when it comes to natural food colouring (if you make it from scratch of course) find the recipe for the black tahini here. These buns are soft and light, like little clouds, but at the same time dark and spooky.
As for filling It’s all up to you, I used a marinaded tofu which I pan fried a bit with some fresh veggies; beets, cucumber, carrot, tomato, brocolli cress, bean sprouts, tomato and avocado, and as for sauce I used a home made kimchi hummus, which you’ll find a recipe for later this week.
You can honestly fill these buns with whatever you want, you can use a black hummus to make it even more creepy or fill it with a mini burger patty to make these the perfect party sliders, scratch that, no matter what you stuff them with these buns make a perfect addition to your (halloween) party menu!
Now lets start cooking! And as usual feel free to leave a comment below or to tag me into your recreations on Instagram, I’d love to see you’re spooky creations. Bon Appetite!
One Love,
A.J.
Black Steamed Buns - Halloween Edition
Ingredients
Black Steamed Buns
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 pack dry yeast
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp black tahini
- 1 tsp backing powder
- 1 1/2 cups flour
Marinaded Tofu
- 1 brick tofu cut in squares
- 4 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 pinch sugar
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
- 1 tbsp gochugaru
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 5 tbsp water
Instructions
Buns
- To make the buns we start by activating the yeast. Take a bowl and add the warm water and sugar and add the pack of yeast. Now let this bloom for about 5 to 10 minutes in a warm place.
- Once the yeast has bloomed add the oil, tahini, backing powder and flour to the bowl and mix until you get a soft and dough. I let the food processor mix the dough for about 15 minutes or so. You can also kneed it by hand.
- Now add the ball of dough to a bowl, cover it and set it somewhere warm to let it rise for about 60 minutes. After this roll out the dough till its about half an inch thick and cut out circles using a cookie cutter or a big mug. Cover the tops with a bit of oil and fold them in half.
- Now place them on a piece of parchment paper in a steamer, cover it with the lid and steam the buns for about 15 minutes. Remove them from the steamer and they are ready to be filled with whatever your heart desires.
Marinaded Tofu
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk it all together. Now pour them over the slices of tofu you've put in a container or sip lock bag, give it a good shake and set it in the fridge to grill or cook whenever you want to use them.
Quick & Easy #4: Dark Satay Noodle Salad – Halloween Addition
Noodle salads are one of my go to dishes when I want something fast, filling and delicious, all you need is a tasty sauce and some colourful veggies to turn it into a meal! This is definitely a quick and easy recipe. It took me about 3 minutes to whip up the sauce and not much more to chop the veggies, you could all of this while the noodles are soaking and by the time they are done you’ve got yourself a meal. You could possible make this colourful rainbow noodle salad in less than 15 minutes, lets make it a challenge!
Just like many people like to dress up during halloween, well be dressing this salad up with a dark satay sauce, made using black tahini, which you can make yourself and you’ll find a little how to by clicking the link. The sauce will turn this once beautiful salad into a messy dark bowl of deliciousness.
Of course feel free to play around with the ingredients by using different veggies or a different type of noodle, I used rice noodles which I coloured with purple cabbage to make it blue and being able to transformed to pink with a few drops of lime. You can find out how to make these noodles by clicking on this link. Unicorn noodles aren’t required but its a fun way to turn a regular salad into a Harley Quinn inspired salad, perfect for Halloween!
Now lets start cooking! And as usual feel free to leave a comment below or to tag me into your recreations on Instagram. Bon Appetite!
One Love,
A.J.
Quick & Easy - Black Satay Noodle Salad - Halloween
Ingredients
Sauce
- 5 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 piece lime juiced
- 1 tbsp black tahini
- 1 red cilli
- 3 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp cane sugar
- 3 tbsp hot water
Salad
- 1 handful greens such as arugula, lettuce or spinach
- 1 serving rice noodles
- few baby corns
- 1/2 bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1 yellow beet jullienned
- 1 avocado
Instructions
- To make the sauce simply add everything to a bullet blender and pulse until you get a nice and creamy sauce. If you don't have a blender you can finely chop the chilli and garlic and mix everything in a bowl using a spoon.
- To assemble the salad add the noodles to a bowl, add the veggies and cover it with the sauce (add as much as you prefer). Enjoy!
Walking Meditation – Life Tools #1
Disclaimer: I’m also still learning how do deal with this thing called life, which sometimes for me can be quite difficult. Since there are many people like me, I decided to share some tools that help me to get the most out of life. Know that these are just tools and use them as such, they might not have the same effect on you as they have on me, but I encourage you to look for the glimmers of light, in your own life. Nothing but love. <3
You might or might not be familiar with meditation, it’s a beautiful practice, for me it has been a healing, inspiring and peaceful practice. Now when I say meditating, what comes to mind? You’re probably seeing yourself sitting in a lotus position with your eyes shut, which is a very effective way of meditating, but surely not the only! Think of yoga or sports, and for others it might be activities like doing the dishes or cooking that helps them silence their minds.
In my opinion meditating is simply silencing the ego, being truly you, childlike, pure, reaching a profound state of tranquility, not holding on to thoughts and ideas and being completely present, this for me is meditating. This all sounds very whimsical but don’t take it to serious, or to lightly, and don’t think that just because you’ve got a very active mind meditating isn’t for you, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Now let me talk about another way of meditating, you might have guessed it from the title, meditative walking. It might be a quite walk through a park or a hike through the mountains. Do you remember those walks where you felt calm and at peace, where you weren’t held captive by the past nor the future, but truly present? Those walks where you listened to the rustling of the leaves, where you felt the sun kiss your skin and smelled natures soothing fragrance? Probably you have, and this is exactly what I’m talking about right now, it’s not rocket science, it’s the simple act of walking. I’ll share with you how and why I take these walks.
For me it has been very healing to take walks through nature, its something I have to do every single week. When I go on these walks I take of my headphones, often put my phone on airplane mode and let myself be guided by my senses. No more noise, or distractions, I focus on my surroundings, I notice the birds chirping and smell the crisp and clean air, nothing like we’ve got in the city. It’s overwhelming to be surrounded by such purity and silence, often it doesn’t take long for me to find myself in a state of silence, no longer worrying about the days to come or lingering in days past, no, at those moments I’m fully present.
Which brings me to the reason I go on these walks on the first place. As someone who’s quite the introvert and always surrounded by people it doesn’t take a lot for me to get overwhelmed, it’s very important for me to have some “me time” and process life. Nature for me provides me with all the me time I need, for a moment no one is around me, for a moment I am in silence. I’ve also had moment where I decided to go to the city, to visit some stores, feeling suffocated by all the people surrounding me, and ultimately jumping on my bike and going straight to nature, and every single time it happens it is exactly what I need! Sometimes I don’t even make it to the city.
With this I mean to say that for me it is important to be alone some times, and not only alone, but also in nature. I can’t express how important it is for me to be in nature every now and then, especially for all my city people, it is one of the most cleansing and inspiring places in the world, and free for us to visit
If you are looking for real magic you should go take a walk in nature, turn your phones on silent and try to be in the now, not judging any thoughts or emotions, just let them be. Try to observe your surroundings, what do you hear, how does it smell, what can you see and what can you feel? Try this for at least half an hour someplace quite, in a national park, dunes, beach or any other place your heart feels content and let me know how it was!
I’m not a scientist, but if there is one thing that I’m sure of is that you should always follow your heart, my heart is telling me to share this with you. This is just one of the many tools I use on my lives path, and I’d love to share many more, so keep your eyes peeled for more “tools”.
One Love,
A.J.