Aubergine slices with tofu and tomato sauce

   

     In one of the first vegetarian cooking classes I attended, I remember they told me that aubergines did not offer great nutritional values to the body. At that time I was very very disappointed, especially because I have always appreciated the flavor of aubergines. The fact is that I went on eating them over the years and today I'm glad  I did it because the information they gave me during  that class was not correct. In fact, aubergines have medicinal properties as they are very  digestive and they also help to reduce bad cholesterol (LDL).  Aubergines are also low in fat, rich in magnesium, fiber, vitamin B6 and vitamin K.

    With a huge basket of them, as well as tomatoes, this past week, here at home, we had a lot of gazpacho, paté and this delicious roasted auberginee-shaped lasagna.

Ingredients:

(serves 4)

 2 large aubergines + olive oil as needed

1 onion sliced ​​

2 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove 

250 gr grated tofu

10 mushrooms on slides

1 large grated carrot

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp oregano

salt to taste

For the sauce:

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

2  garlic cloves 

650 gr tomato peeled and seeded

1 tsp coconut sugar (optional)

 salt to taste

Prepare the sauce:

Place the olive oil and the chopped onion in a pan. Brown until golden.

Add the garlic cloves and mix well.

Add the tomatoes and sugar. Wrap well and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.

Add salt and simmer at low heat for another 10 minutes.

Check the seasoning and use the food processor to obtain a creamy sauce.

Reserve.

Cut the eggplants into thin slices.

Rub each slice with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt.

Let them stand while you prepare the tofu.

Preheat oven to 200

Cut an onion into rings and sauté in olive oil.

Add the chopped garlic and let it simmer.

Add the tofu and season with salt. Wrap and cook on low heat for 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms. Wrap again and cook  for 2 minutes.

Add the carrot, soy sauce and oregano. Wrap well. Check the seasoning and cook for 3 minutes on medium heat.

 On a baking tray, add a layer of tomato sauce and then start to spread the aubergine slices (remove excess salt from the slices if they have).

Spread  a layer of tofu evenly and go on using the aubergines and the the tofu until you use all the ingredients.

Pour  the rest of the tomato sauce and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

Place in oven and bake for 45 min.

Serve with a green salad.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, September  2014

Raw yellow zucchini with natural flavors

  

    Nature is always surprising us with a great  variety of fruits and vegetables that allow us to eat rich, diverse and colorful food.

   I really like stuffing vegetables, especially round zucchinis and I have recently found, for the first time,  some gorgeous and fragrant yellow  big round zucchinis, for sale, which I bought.

   I thought the most natural  would be to eat them raw and I prepared a natural dish which I ate using the zucchini as a plate.  A simple recipe, taking almost no time to prepare, and full of natural flavors and bright colors  that  seduce just to look at it. I served it with a vegan mayonnaise sauce that I learned to prepare at  the event "Easter Princess", in a workshop given by Marta Varatojo, some months ago, here in Lisbon.

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

2  round or long zucchinis

1 long zucchini for the pasta

½ red pepper cut into small squares

3 yellow tomatoes

1 red tomato

6 strawberries

For the sauce:

300 ml of grapeseed oil

200 ml of soy milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 full hand of basil  

1 bunch coriander

 salt to taste

Prepare the sauce by mixing grapeseed oil with soymilk.

Process until thick and add the remaining ingredients. Grind again and rectify the seasoning. Reserve.

Wash the zucchinis, cut the top of it to make a lid and with a spoon scoop the entire interior.

Grate the zucchinis or use the vegetable machine.

Cut the tomatoes into quarters and stuff the zucchini with the grated pieces of zucchini ,  the tomatoes, the red pepper and, on top, the strawberries.

Add the sauce to enrich the vegetables flavor.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, September  2014

Small apple, banana and cinnamon cakes & Grapes smoothie

   

   After a short Summer break, the return  to blogging matches with the beginning of the school year for most kids, here in Lisbon, including my daughter.

  Entering  a new school where children have no friends awakens some excitement associated with nerves.

   With the return to school,  it also comes the concern with what snacks to take. Although seasonal fruits are the first choice, I sometimes prepare a sweet treat, which is also good if not eaten on a regular basis. And because the first day at a new school is always special, I thought it would be nice to take a sweet snack.

    It is precisely that what I’m blogging about -  apple, banana and cinnamon cakes and to go with  a grape smoothie.

Ingredients:

(it makes 12 small cakes)

200 gr flour

50 g whole spelt flour

180 gr demerara sugar

300g apples peeled and cut into slivers

1 + 1/2 smashed bananas

200 ml of warmed coconut oil

1 tbsp of cinnamon powder

1 tsp of baking powder

Preheat oven to 200

Mix the flours.

Add baking powder and cinnamon. Wrap with a spoon.

Add the demerara sugar, the bananas and finally the apples. Mix well.

Add the coconut oil and mix everything.

Put the mixture into shapes and bake for 20-25 minutes depending on the size of the shapes.

Grapes smoothie:

Select a good quality bunch of grapes and remove the pips.

Place in a blender and add 200 ml of vegetable milk. Grind and serve with the cakes.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, September  2014

Plantain soup with Sishuan pepper

       Today I’m writing about one of the soups I have been eating during this special period of my diet: a plantain soup and one magic ingredient – Sishuan pepper.

       I have recently eaten a plantain soup at the restaurant The Food Temple, in Lisbon- The Food Temple -  and I loved it! The following days were devoted to trying to reach the taste I had experienced.

    Each chef gives his own interpretation to every recipe but the result obtained with my soup was just delicious!

    My final touch was to add a few grains of Sishuan pepper that my friend Catarina brought from China - Stepping Out of Babylon | Travel Blog : a hot and fragrant flavor pepper , filled with a strong and stimulating aroma. It activated  some of my tongue’s nerve fibers  which were completely unknown to me! 

   Plantains are a super fruit, rich in natural sugars, fiber and potassium. A nutritious and very energetic fruit which is low in fat. This type of bananas is not yet well known here in Portugal -large and green, less sweet than other varieties and not to be eaten eaten raw.

Ingredients:

(serves 4)

3 big plantains 

1.5 l  home made vegetable stock ​​(approximately)

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 medium sized onion

3 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

Sishuan pepper to taste  (you can buy it in chinese supermarkets)

Wash the plantains and put them in the pressure cooker. Cook between 25 to 30 minutes, depending on how green the plantains are.

Meanwhile, chop the onion and sauté in olive oil.

Remove the pressure from the pressure cooker. Peel the plantains and cut them to small pieces.

Add the plantains to the onion and add the curry powder. Mix it well and add the vegetable stock. 

Blend, season with salt and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the garam masala and taste.

If necessary, add more vegetable stock, depending on the consistency you want the soup to have.

Serve and garnish with Sishuan pepper.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, July  2014

Blueberry, banana and chia energetic smoothie + Ice cream

   The hot summer afternoons drive us to an inviting atmosphere where we can enjoy light and natural meals, raw, if possible.

    I have been also following my body call for light meals based on liquids. So, I have been  on a daily routine of juices and smoothies and a warm soup at the end of the day.

    I always start the day with a green juice as it produces a very nice effect and it is an excellent detox to waken the body and the mind as well.  It provides a large amount of vitamins (when we drink or eat raw foods all of their natural properties are kept), strengthening the balance sometimes difficult to get through the day, especially because most of times the day runs fast...

    My second day juice has been, a carrot and parsley one. Carrot and parsley when juiced together assume a medicinal effect, nearly a magic potion rich in minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and iron, vitamins A and C. A diuretic juice which is healing, rejuvenating and which stimulates the proper functioning of the immune, nervous and cardiovascular systems. And we even get a natural tanned skin (ideal for this time of the year) as carrots are rich in beta-carotene.

At lunchtime I have an energetic drink with vegetable milk, fruits and seeds. At night, a creamy soup lightly heated ...

    The recipe I’m posting today is one of the raw energetic drinks that I’ve been drinking and which satisfies me for several hours. And to please the entire family, I also prepared an ice-cream variation.

    I used organic, healthy and natural ingredients,  raw, to keep all their natural properties. Eating and drinking healthy make us lighter and happier!

Ingredients:

(you get about 750 ml)

200g of blueberries

2 overnight frozen bananas  

200 ml coconut milk + 2 tbsp of chia seeds

200 ml coconut milk

The night before:

1.  Peel the bananas and froze them.

2. Place 200 ml  coconut milk in a bowl, add chia seeds, wrap well and leave it  in the fridge overnight.

The next day:

Wash the blueberries and place them in a food processor. 

Cut up the frozen bananas, add to the blueberries and add also the 200 ml coconut milk. Grind all .

Pour the mixture into a large bowl and add the coconut chia milk that you left in the refrigerator overnight.  Mix it all very gently.

Drink it or put into ice cream forms and freeze to eat when you want ...

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, July  2014

Plum jam

  

   After one year without posting any recipes in English, I’m back!

   Sorry for the last months... When you're not a native speaker, it is not always easy...

   Today’s theme is about jams. After many years without particularly appreciating this kind of sweet I decided to give myself a chance and try to cook a  fresh fruit jam wich would be low in sugar.

   During these last two weeks I have been offered two baskets of plums that I have been using in juices, smoothies and for the sweet I’m posting the recipe today. A  plum jam with a slightly spicy flavor and low in sugar.

   Plums are powerful antioxidants, rich in phyto nutrients, calcium, iron, potassium and vitamins, among them vitamins C, A and B2.

   For the spicy flavor, I used fresh ginger root whose medicinal values ​​are highly recognized for its richness in antioxidants and their anti-inflammatory properties.

   To sweeten, my heart went  for one of the healthiest sweeteners – coconut sugar, a one hundred natural product, which is not processed. Compared to the other brands of sugar, coconut sugar, has a much lower glycemic value and it is high in potassium, magnesium, zinc and iron. This sugar is much more expensive than the other brands but if you consume it with wise, you will be investing in our health, right?

Ingredients:

(for about 500ml)

600 gr plums peeled and pitted

250 gr coconut sugar

1 full tsp fresh grated ginger

Clean the plums, remove the skin and the pit. 

Put them in a pot  over medium heat.

Add the sugar, let it dissolve and add the fresh ginger.

Reduce the volum to minimum and simmer for 30 minutes (or until it has reached the thickness you desire), stirring frequently.

Let it set up and serve with toasts, crepes, cakes or or cookies of your preference. You can also use it for decorating cakes, puddings or cheesecakes.

Pour jam into prepared jars, fill them and refrigerate.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, July  2014