Toasted yam and apple crumble my way

  My great surprise last week happened on Friday, when I received a message from Mr. Fernando Pinto to inform me that he had burdock roots for sale, and that he was going to be at the Principe Real Bio market on Saturday. As you can imagine, I was thrilled. It has been years since I last ate burdock and I really like this exotic and very rich root.

  Last weekend took place at a fast rythm: first a visit to the organic market, after that a quick entry in Miosotis supermarket ( a bio supermarket here in Lisbon) and finally the most delirious moment of the day, which happens whenever I visit my favorite grocery store, the Popat Store in Martim Moniz square, where the intense smells and characteristic of the products exhibited acquire a unique magic.

Meanwhile , the roots are already stored waiting for a recipe worth of their super root status. And the fresh vegetables that I bought at the market, made our delights in the salads we ate during the weekend.. Arugula, mizuna, radishes and many more ...

  From the kitchen, with love, my suggestion for Valentin's day is a yam recipe cooked with the yams that I bought at the Indian grocery store Popat. This recipe, which is for sure as good as a class dinner in a special restaurant, has the advantage of being cooked at home and by that you will avoid the usual waiting queues typical of these special days, which if you are not in a good company, will let you out of motivation...

  So, for Valentine's day I made up a delicious menu that I am publishing in advance so that you can have time to buy the ingredients.

Here is the suggestion: a yam main course that I learned from my dear friend Lais, years ago, and that I appreciate to eat in special occasions.

 The yam rhizome is a very flavorful stew that can be used in soups, purees, desserts, among other possibilities. It is rich in protein, phosphorus and potassium and is considered a healthy substitute for potatos.

  When buying yams note that the texture should be uniformly rough and covered with hair. It should be firm, with no soft areas.

Serve the yam balls with brown rice and a delicious radishe vinaigrette.

  Finally, a tasty dessert - my version of a tasty apple crumble.

  Here is the purpose: to wait in line or to have dinner in the retreat of your home?

  Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, February 2013 

Ingredients for yam balls:

5 yams average size

1 large carrot

1 medium sized onion

4 black olives

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sal to taste

Wash the yams and steamed them until gently soft.

Remove the skin and mash them with a fork until you have a purée. Reserve.

Chop the onion and sauté in the olive oil until soft.

Wash, cut and chop the carrot.

Add the carrots to the onion. Cover the pan and let it cook on low heat until soft. Season it with a little salt.

Season the yam with soy sauce. Add the carrot and the chopped olives. Combine well and form balls.

To form the balls, moisten your hands slightly.

Heat a pan and toast the balls on one side and the other until golden. Be careful to turn the balls just when the bottom is nicely browned so they do not fall apart.

Radish vinaigrette:

1 small onion

½ green pepper

½ red pepper

6 radishes

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

Peel the onion and cut it into thin strips.

Wash the peppers and cut them into thin strips.

Wash the radishes and cutt hem into thin slices.

Mix the olive oil with the vinegar, the soy sauce and the minced garlic. If you like, add a pinch of salt.

Add the onion, the peppers and the radishes. Combine well.

Apple Crumble with my personal touch:

  I used coconut sugar which is a 100% natural sweetener and very rich in magnesium, potassium, zinc and vitamin B1, 2,3 and 6.

  The flavor is just to cry for more ...

  And if it has my personal touch, chocolate could not be forgotten.

  I used oreo cookies for the crumble base. Ok, oreos are not very healthy cookies but once in a while it is ok and they are delicious. The occasion justifies this mouth sin...

Ingredients:

1 kg of good quality apples

200 g of wheat flour

100 gr coconut sugar (I bought it through www.biosamara.pt)

125 g of vegetable butter

1 tablespoon of cardamom powder

1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder

1 pinch of salt

1 pack of oreo cookies smashed.

Wash the apples. Remove the peel and cut them into thin strips.

Divide the amount of apples in two equal parts.

Sprinkle one amount with lemon drops and put the other amount of apple in a pan on to cook.

Sprinkle it with cardamom powder and a pinch of salt. Cover and leave it on low heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 200 º.

Mix the flour with the cinnamon and add the butter ( room temperature). Knead it with your fingers and add the coconut sugar.

In a removable pan line the smashed oreo cookies and press them well.

Place the raw apple on top of the oreo base and finally the apple that was semi cooked with the cardamom powder.

Finally put the flour and press small amounts so that they sink through the apples.

Smooth the surface until uniform and bake it for 35 minutes.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, February 2013

Proteic rice

    Sunday winter is the perfect atmosphere to contemplate the variety of vegetables that my husband brought from the countryside.

  To have the opportunity to cook fresh and organic vegetables, grown with love by my mother-in-law, is a unique privilege. But to my regret, I also have to shop in the biological supermarkets as the

“homemade” vegetables do not always make our needs.

  I confess that I love to go shopping and find out what fresh vegetables they have. 

 This week I give you a selection of vegetables that came directly from the countryside and some suggestions to go with it.

  What would the typical taste of Portuguese gastronomy be without the precious garlic?

  I am a huge fan of its spicy flavour and especially of its bactericidal properties. Garlic helps in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and it also strengthens the immune system. 

 What about a “smashed potato” with a little olive oil and a good quality chopped raw garlic?

  Beetroot is rich in minerals, vitamins and sugars.

  I suggest it raw, cooked and juiced, for example with carrots.

 Beetroot syrup is very effective in combating cough. Try to cut a beetroot into thin slices, cover them with a good quality sugar and let stand until it releases the juice.

  Rich in calcium, iron, fiber, vitamin A and C.

 They are very therapeutic and they can be eaten raw, juiced, steamed, sautée with pasta, among others.

  Did you know that eating raw leafy greens helps to prevent feeling sick after a heavy meal and that in juices it helps to prevent and even cure colds?

  Raw, boiled, sautée, they are super yummy!

  Cauliflower is rich in calcium, phosphorus and vitamin C. It's great raw, steamed, in soups and tempura.

  Turnips are very rich in calcium and are extremely alkaline, helping to eliminate the fat from foods that we eat.

  What about a juice or grated with a salad?

  I suggest it. Especially if you ate fried food...

  This week's recipe suggestion goes again to a tempeh and basmati rice dish. It seems that I'm getting redundant, always insisting on the distinctive aromatic flavour of the basmati... Believe me that this rice is the ideal one for joining the flavours that I propose..

Ingredients for the rice:

2 cups basmati rice, cooked on the day before.

1 pack of tempeh cut into small cubes.

1 large carrot, sliced and steamed al-dente.

1 small leek cut into slices and steamed al-dente.

2 tbsp olive oil.

2 minced garlic cloves.

1 tbsp soy sauce.

Salt to taste.

Put the olive oil in a pan and sautée the garlic until light brown.

Add the tempeh and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat.

Add the carrot and leek and combine well.

Add the rice, combine well and then add the soy sauce.

If necessary, season with salt.

Garnish it with “Chard leaves au sésame”

Ingredients:

Chard leaves

Sliced chard stems

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sésame seeds

Wash the chard leaves and set the stems apart.

Boil the leaves and the stems in salted water for 1 minute.

Drain and cut them finely.

Put the olive oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic. Let it brown and add the leaves and the stems.

Combine well and add the sésame seeds.

Let it rest for 1 minute

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, January 2013

Carob crepe on a rainy day

“A rainy day is as beautiful as a sunny day.

Both exist, each one as it is”.

Alberto Caeiro, in “Poemas inconjuntos”

  Back to the kitchen... Nothing better than a rainy day to stay home and sweeten the palate with an exquisite and simple dessert! Yummy, just mouth watering...

  Today's inspiration evokes the sweet memories of chocolate. For those who don't know me, chocolate is my sin! Since childhood that the cocoa parfum holds me in a kind of magic potion, dominating my senses and growing the pleasure of enjoying chocolate.

  We all know that chocolate is calorically rich and it was thinking about that that I developed this recipe, to get a less low fat dessert, using the “healthy chocolate”, carob. The result was a delicious vegan crepe that I served with a juice full of colour, appealing to the power of the Sun that has been hidden these days.

Bon appétit!

Ingredients for the crepe:

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

½ tbsp carob powder

3 tbsp + ½ tsp vegetable milk

1 tbsp demerara sugar

½ tsp cinnamon powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp vegetable butter for greasing the pan

Oat cream, chocolate cream, grated nutmeg and cinnamon powder for the final touch!

  Mix the all-purpose flour, the carob powder, the cinnamon powder and the baking soda.

  Add the sugar and mix again.

  Add the vegetable milk and combine all the ingredients.

  Heat a pan and grease it with the butter.

 Using a ladle, place the dough in the center of the pan and spread it with circular movements until the dough is thin.

  Let both sides bake in low flame.

  Choose a beautiful plate to put the crepe.

  Roll the crepe and garnish it with the oat crem, the chocolate cream, the cinnamon and the grated nutmeg.

For the juice:

1 large carrot

1 large orange

100 gr pumpking without the skin

 Wash all the ingredients and juice.

© veggie delicious food, January 2013

Tofu curry and lentil soup

  Learning to deal with what I'm not expecting is a great challenge for me. Planning the details of anything I do is, sometimes, almost an obsession and the passion for cooking has taught me that the unexpected moves the inspiration and awakens new experiences!

My election day is Sunday, and whenever I can, I try some ingredients that I have at home, in search of new flavours to get a different dish. It takes me hours that seem just a few minutes. In the end, I look forward to the reaction of the most demanding critics: my daughter and my husband!

This Sunday, I was inspired by the flavours of India. I cooked a tofu curry with a mild taste, ideal for seducing some skeptics of the intense flavours of the east.

To go with the curry I prepared some vegetables with a crispy texture and of course, basmati, the indian rice, could not be forgotten.

You can also try a delicious lentil soup to warm the soul, especially in these winter days.

Bon appétit!

Ingredients for the tofu curry:

250 g tofu

1 bottle coconut milk

3 tbsp olive oil

1 big onion

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tbsp tomato puré

1 tsp vinegar

coriander

salt to taste

Ingredients for the vegetables:

1 big carrot

1 eggplant medium size

1 tbsp cummin seeds

salt to taste

Begin by preparing the rice according to the directions on “Tempeh with mustard sauce and eggplant” recipe.

Wash and slice the eggplants into cubes. Sprinkle with salt and allow them to rest for 20 minutes.

Wash and cut the carrots into cubes and steam until slightly tender.

Begin to prepare the tofu:

Cut the onion into slices and sauté in the olive oil. Add the tofu cut into squares, sprinkle with salt and let it cook until light brown on low flame for 3 minutes.

Combine the curry powder, the vinegar and the tomato purée and add to the tofu.

Add the coconut milk and let it cook on medium flame for five minutes.

Season with salt.

Meanwhile, heat a pan. Wash the eggplant and place it in the pan. Sprinkle with cumin and let it cook, stirring frequently. When they are soft, add the carrots, combine well and season with a little salt if necessary.

The curry shouls be on point. Add the chopped coriander , let it stand for 1 or 2 minutes and serve.

Enjoy it!

Lentil soup

200 gr pumpkin

2 big carrots

1 medium onion

2 sweet potatos

150 gr lentils

coriander

1 tbsp olive oil

salt

For the soup:

Wash and cut the vegetables. Set the lentils and the coriander apart.

Put a pan with water in the oven. Add the vegetables and let it boil. Season with salt and let it boil again.

Add the lentils and let it cook until all is soft. Add the olive oil and the coriander. Let it boil again and cook for 3 minute more and then blend it.

Enjoy it!

© veggie delicious food, January 2013