Stir-Fry, Pesto, and Curry

So here's what I've been eating lately...

A quick tofu stir-fry, using the ingredients from my chinese supermarket trip



Fresh pesto pasta... yes, I made pesto. Woot! The jarred Vegan pesto is just not very nice and seems to always involve lots of vinegar for some reason...yeck!



And a loverly curry full of fresh veg



The best thing I've found for curry was something I learned by accident. I boil chunks of sweet potato until they are soft enough to mash, and mix it into the curry and it mashes up and adds texture to the sauce... yummers.

Sag Aloo

I get cravings for this every few months. I love spinach, and since I can no longer eat sag paneer, this is my replacement spinach curry.

It goes a little something like this...

Chop up the equivalent of 4 medium baking potatoes into square inch pieces.
place in baking dish
cover with 2 Tbsp oil - I used hemp oil.

Add:
1 Tsp cumin
1 Tsp coriander
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tsp chilli powder
dash salt/pepper

mix it all together and bake at gas mark 5 (190°C) for about 30 minutes.

I used fresh spinach, but I guess you could use frozen...
Chop 300-400 grams of spinach and wilt by stiring over medium heat for 30 seconds. You could use an imersion blender if you want a more saucy spinach mixture.

Add the spinach to the potatoes (after the 30 minutes of cooking time) and cook for another ten minutes.

During this time, I made up about 350 ml of this stuff:


chunks of cheese, or white sauce could be added instead if you do the dairy thing.

I added the creamy mixture to the potatoes and spinach and cooked for another 5 minutes.

And voila... spinach wonderment!

Serve with rice or quinoa, or on its own

Serves 3-4

Happy Shopping

Some people might think it sad or weird, but I love shopping for food. It makes me happy. So there.

Today I made my way out into the 70mph gales (that part I didn't enjoy quite so much, and I nearly lost my special hat) to traipse down Leith Walk to the Chinese Supermarket.

I haven't been there in a while, and I was out of soy sauce. There are always new things to wonder at, and sometimes, if I'm brave, to try. Here's me bounty...

Soy Sauce	Spinach	Bok Choy
Coconut Milk	Bean Sprouts	Noodles
Garlic Powder	Mild Curry Powder	Pressed Tofu
Preserved Chilli Tofu

All pretty standard Chinese Supermarket fare, and I did in fact get the giant bottle of soy sauce I was after...Hurrah.
The one odd thing I did pick up was the preserved tofu in a jar... I was curious. We shall see how that one turns out.

I also made my way to the green grocer, Tattie Shaws. This is a great little place that still manages to exist in a time of Superstore domination. Here's what I got...

Red leaf lettuce	Beetroot
Corgetts	Egyptian Potatoes
Peppers	Fresh Basil

oh and Purple Sprouting Broccoli - it's in season, and it's lovely

Horray for fresh veg!

Pesto Pasta and Green Stuff

Last night Ian came home from work around 9pm... a bit late for any kind of extravagant dinner. So I made up this pesto pasta type thing... I fried up some veggie sausage, onions, mushrooms, green beans, and spring greens; and chucked in some vegan pesto, dairy free parmasan, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. I then threw in some cooked pasta spirals and topped it with some fresh basil. Another tasty quick meal.
(apologies for the blurry photo)



This afternoon I fancied a bit of healthful green-ness which ended up in the shape of Seaweed Tempeh with veggies and sprouted beans...


Halfway devoured... and oh yeah noodles too!

Clear Out Ratatouille and My Thai Curry

I often run out of just about everything and am left with just a few random vegetables. Yesterday those turned out to be: a bit of an onion, half a corgette (zucchini), some tomatoes, 2 carrots and some spinach. At this stage I decided the best and most obvious thing to do was to throw it all in a pot and spice it up with some paprika, oregano, garlic power, mild chilli powder, and salt and pepper. Easy peasy... simple, pretty, yummy food. I served it with with couscous and half a baked sweet potato... delish!
note: if you eat cheese, this would have been even better with feta.

I also made my Thai Curry last night sans red peppers as I forgot to get some. This was a recipe I came up with after falling insanely in love with a vegetarian coconut curry I got from a takeaway while at work. I made it up using ingredients that are easily found, and it ended up tasting well nigh exactly the same! Sooo good.

Thai Coconut Curry with Tofu and Mushrooms

250g Firm tofu cut into cubes (1 packet)

1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 1/2 Tbsp minced ginger

1-2 Tsp hot curry powder (depending on how hot you like it)

Salt and Pepper to season

1 small onion roughly chopped

20 fresh dwarf green beans - ends taken off and cut in half

Half a red pepper, cut into strips

1 small corgette (zucchini) – cut into large chunks

10 button mushrooms (or whatever kind you like) cut in halves or quarters

350ml vegetable stock

½ can coconut milk

4 Tbsp Fresh basil chopped + ½ Tbsp to garnish

2 1/2 Tbsp Fresh Coriander + ¼ Tbsp to garnish

Zest of one lemon

Fry the tofu cubes in a little olive oil on 2 sides, remove from pan and put to one side. In the same pan, fry the garlic, ginger, onions, green beans, and red pepper until the onions become somewhat flaccid. Add the Corgettes (Zucchini), the curry powder, and the salt and pepper, and fry for another minute. Add the mushrooms and fry another 30 seconds or so.

Now add the vegetable stock, followed by the coconut milk. Stir through and allow it to simmer. Add the Basil, coriander and lemon zest and the pre-fried tofu and continue simmering for another 5 minutes or so.

If the sauce is not thick enough for your liking, you can add teaspoon or two of corn flour (mixed with water to avoid any lumps).

Serve with Rice or noodles garnished with the left-over herbs and a bit more lemon zest.
I like to toss some cooked and drained white rice with 1/4 of a can of coconut milk and some chopped coriander.

Serves 3-4

Nutty Edinburgh Weather and Yummy Food

A day's worth of food, and some photos taken of the weather from my flat. Edinburgh can be particularly changeable this time of year.

Action packed morning muesli!!!

Oats, walnuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, goji berries, cranberries, apricots, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, almond flakes, coconut flakes, and dried banana flakes and soy milk... this is serious stuff and I eat it every morning.

Super yummy Smoked Tofu from The Engine Shed stir-fried with purple kale, purple sprouting broccoli, and spring greens... mmmmm

Fajita Filling - Guacamole in the back

Looking ominous towards Carlton Hill

Big spooky clouds of doom

And then it rained sideways


Wait 5 Minutes...

Athur's Seat and The Crags after the rain, shining in the sun

What I've been eating

Garlic, Spinach, and Chickpea Soup

Rocket and Spinach salad with tomatoes, hummus, walnuts and balsamic vinegar hemp seed dressing

Vegan Cinnamon Buns! from Vegweb

Stir Fry with Quinoa

Snaps along the way, Vegan Shepherd's Pie, and Quesadillas

St. Stephens Church

Shepherd's Peh

Veggie mince with garlic, onions, carrots, peppers, corgettes, and tomatoes topped with carrot and potato mash. Along with steamed purple sprouting broccoli and bok choy and salad.... mmmmm

Guacamole and refried bean quesadillas :-)

Valentine's Dinner

Grilled Veggies, couscous, and potato salad with rocket and spinach