Month: July 2016

Fast food can be good food!

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This meal puts paid to the theory that healthy, tasty vegetarian/vegan food has to be complicated! I whipped up this falafel with hummus and salad in just a few minutes, and it tasted every bit as good as an iskender meal from the local Turkish takeaway. The falafel themselves are ridiculously easy to make, and the salad can just be made with what’s in the fridge. Here’s my recipe:

falafel

For the falafel:

2 tins of 4 bean mix

1 handful of fresh herbs; parsley or coriander are good

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons coconut flour

1 tablespoon coconut oil

 

For the hummus:

1 cup cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)

1 clove garlic

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

 

For the salad:

4 cups of salad greens; I used lettuce, tomato, grated carrot, grated fennel, grated radish, beansprouts and avocado. The trick is to shred everything quite small.

 

Optional sauce (not vegan)

1/4 cup natural, unsweetened yogurt

1 large handful fresh mint, roughly chopped

 

To make the falafel, blend all the ingredients except the oil together until they form a paste but it is still a bit chunky. Add a splash of water if it needs to be loosened a bit. Put aside in the fridge for 15 minutes before cooking.

In the meantime, make the salad and hummus.

Put all the hummus ingredients into a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until smooth, adding water until you get a good consistency.

Toss the salad ingredients in a large platter. If making the sauce, mix the yogurt and mint with a little water to thin it down and serve in a jug to the side.

Roll the falafel mixture into walnut sized balls, and fry in the coconut oil until brown on both sides.

 

Serve falafel on top of a bowl of salad with a big blob of hummus on the side, and sauce dribbled over the top (if using).

 

Grain-free vegan lunch in 5 minutes?

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I’m trying to go wheat-free for a while, so the standard lunch of mushrooms on toast or salad wrap is off the cards for now. Searching around in the fridge and my rather sad winter vegetable garden today netted me half a block of tofu, 1 field mushroom and some winter greens. Yep, not looking great, until I remembered that scrambled tofu can be really tasty and a good vehicle for other flavours. Within 5 minutes I had a plateful of goodness which contained 5 servings of vegetables, plenty of protein and some powerful spices just to really get things going, although clearly not enough to excite the dog.

Here’s my recipe for a super-simple vegan and grain-free tofu scramble for one:

tofu scramble

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon salt

Half a block of tofu (about 150 grams), chopped into small dice or crumbled

A couple of handfuls of vegetables. I used a chopped field mushroom and a handful of frozen edamame beans, but courgette, bean sprouts, tomato or corn would be equally good.

Handful of spinach leaves, shredded

Handful of rocket leaves, shredded

2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves

Handful of my savoury seeds

1/2 a fresh lime or lemon

 

In a small frying pan, heat the coconut oil. Drop in the spices and cook until light brown and fragrant. Add the tofu and stir fry for 3-4 minutes until brown.

Stir in the vegetables and cook for another minute, then stir through the shredded spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted.

Serve the tofu scramble with a big handful of rocket leaves, chopped coriander, savoury seeds, a good squeeze of lime juice and salt and pepper.