Vegan lemon cheesecake

 Interacting with circumstances can be quite fun, especially if friends offer us certain things that we like. The idea for this week's recipe came precisely from these circumstances and it resulted in a "cheesecake". 

  My friend Margarida gave me lemons, and my friend Paulo gave me strawberries, so nothing better than combining the two ingredients and preparing a dessert.

  I also decided to add ginger to get an exotic taste and chocolate for a warm texture.

  Ginger root has many exotic properties that favor our body. For this reason, it has been used by Eastern peolpe as home pharmacy for more than 5,000 years. It is a natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antihistamine, antibacterial, it strengthens the immune system and it is excellent for the treatment of sore throat.

  Consuming lemons brings many health benefits. Lemons help in weight loss and strengthen the immune system. They are rich in vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin and phosphorus. In times of warmth, a fresh lemonade is  always great ...

  Combining immunological benefits to good taste is so exciting!

For this recipe you need a removable bottom tart pan.

Ingredients:

For the base:

100g rolled oats

150 grams of biscuits

150 gr brown sugar

225 gr vegetable butter

For the filling:

300 ml vegetable cream

150 gr of sugar

1 cup of vegetable milk (I used almond)

20 g of agar-agar powder (seaweed jelly for sale in health food stores)

1 tbsp lemon zest

1 tsp grated ginger (or more if you like the taste)

250 gr firm tofu

For the strawberry sauce:

300 gr of good strawberries

125 gr brown sugar

½ cup water

1 cinnamon stick

2 tbsp lemon juice

For the chocolate sauce:

1 cup of almond milk

4 dates soaked for at least 2 hours

1 small banana

1 tbsp of raw cacao powder

1 tbsp raw chocolate nuggets

1 tbsp of coconut sugar

1 pinch of salt

Start by preparing the sauce. If you prefer, you can choose only one of the sauces.

Wash the strawberries, put them in a blender and grind.

Put the strawberries in a pan, bring to the boil and add sugar. Wrap well and add the cinnamon stick. Wrap again and add the lemon. Bring to a boil and add the water.

Cook over low heat for 20 min.

When cool, set aside and put them in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile prepare the chocolate sauce:

Grind all ingredients in a blender and reserve the sauce in the fridge.

Prepare the cheesecake base:

Line the bottom of the removable tart pan with parchment paper.

Grind the oats and slightly toast them on slow flame.

Grind the biscuits.

In a bowl, mix the butter with the sugar and then add the oats and the cookies to make a firm paste.

Place the paste in the removable bottom tart pan, press well and refrigerate it for 15 minutes while preparing the filling.

Whip the cream with the sugar until firm but without reaching the point of whipped cream.

Press the tofu with a fork. Reserve.

Put the milk in a pan and bring to the boil. Add the lemon zest and the ginger and cook on low fire for 3 minutes.

Add the agar-agar and stir rapidly until the powder is well incorporated.

Add the cream and the tofu to the milk.

Mix well and pour over the cookie paste that you reserved in the fridge.

Place it in the freezer for 4 hours.

At the time of serving, remove from the freezer, cut the desired slices and place each slice on a plate with the sauce.

Note: the cheesecake should stay in the freezer to maintain its firm consistency.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, 2013

Seitan steaks with nettle puree, roasted potatos and sautee vegetables

  One of the most pleasant memories of my childhood reffers to the time that I spent in a cottage family. In my my imaginary child's world countryside life was just magical.

  It gave me a special sense of freedom and it was around that time that I learned what growing a garden was like and how some food products were cultivated.

  I discovered how pleasant it was to pick blackberries and eat them right away, and I also discovered how terrible it was to touch nettles.

  But as things in our lives are not for ever, today I no longer consider nettles so unpleasant.   I still try to keep them away from the contact with my skin, but they have became part of the meals here at home. They are rich in vitamins from groups B, C, and K, carotene, iron and magnesium, amino acids, calcium salts, phosphates and proteins. They are excellent to help recovering in cases of anemia and circulatory problems. Their use in recipes is diverse: whether in green juices, teas, soups, among others.

  My suggestion for today is based on mashed nettles to go with a delicious seitan steak, roasted potatoes and sautee vegetables.

Ingredients:

(Serves 3)

For the seitan:

3 seitan steaks

a piece of fresh ginger root

2 garlic gloves

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil or sesame oil

salt to taste

For the nettles:

1 bunch of nettles

1 hand coriander leaves

1 garlic glove

1 tbsp olive oil

salt

For the potatoes:

Potatoes for 3

Herbs (rosemary, rosemary, thyme)

½ cup olive oil

salt

For the vegetables:

chard stalks of various colors

8 mushrooms

1 cup of peas

2 tbsp olive oil

Start by marinating the seitan steaks in a broth of water, soy sauce and lemon (at least for 20 minutes).

Wash the potatoes and cook them with the skin in abundant water, seasoned with salt until slightly tender.

Preheat oven to 220 º.

Wash the nettles. Remove the tales and use only the small leaves.

Place the cilantro in a pan with boiling water, seasoned it with salt and cook it until soft. Add the nettles and when the water starts to boil, leave them only for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and drain the water.

Reserve the broth that you can use for other dishes, soups or sauces.

Blend the nettles until you get a creamy puree. Reserve.

Meanwhile, steam the peas. Reserve.

Cut the stems of the chard and steam them lightly as you want them to remain firm (2 minutes maximum). Reserve.

Clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth and cut them into slices.

Sauté the mushrooms in olive oil and then add the chard stalks and peas. If necessary, season it with salt.

Cut the potatoes into quarters or slices and place them on a baking tray. Sprinkle them with herbs and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 10 minutes, while preparing the  seitan steaks.

Grate the ginger and saute in the olive oil.

Add the chopped garlic and sauté.

Add the seitan steaks, cook on one side and on the other until lightly golden and add a little of the broth used for the marinate. The broth should cover the steaks.

Let them cook until the broth reduces and rectify the seasoning.

While the seitan steaks are cooking, place the olive oil that you reserved for the nettles in a pan, heat and add a whole garlic glove. Let it brown and add the nettle puree and the coriander leaves. Wrap well and rectify the seasoning. If necessary, add a few drops of lemon or a little corn starch, dissolved in a small amount of water, in case you want a thicker consistency.

The potatoes and the steaks should be ready ....

Put the ingredients in the dishes and enjoy the meal!

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food,  2013

Cauliflower "steaks" with black rice noodles

  Last Saturday my trip to the market was filled with anxiety as I wanted to buy the same treasures I had bought the previous week. I could only appease my anxiety when I reached Ecoseiva place and found what I was looking for: purple cauliflower!

 While I was choosing my cauliflower, Mr Nuno Lobão from Ecoseiva – http://www.ecoseiva.com - told me that in a near future they would probably have other colourful cauliflowers – humm – imagine the impact of the colors on tasty recipes when presented at the table!

  Meanwhile, I went through a brief search on the net and found out that the different colors were obtained by crossing different strains  until the desired color was reached and always without using genetic laboratories.

  Cauliflower productive season extends almost throughout the year. Choosing a good cauliflower is a simple task. You just have to pick the ones which are firm, compact and show green and vibrant leaves. Cauliflowers are very rich in vitamin C, folic acid, potassium, and in the case of the purple one, the nutritional values are even higher.

  Cauliflower is also an excellent vegetable protein.

  For today’s recipe I cooked black rice noodles to go with cauliflower “steaks” as I wanted to get  an exotic dish with a velvety texture and flavor.

  Black rice noodles are gluten and wheat free. They are produced from black rice flour and brown rice flour. Black rice flour contains five times more protein and minerals than common rice. By combining these two flours we get noodles with a different color (after cooked they turn purple), rich in calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, selenium and B vitamins.

Ingredients:

(serves 3)

1 pack black rice noodles

1 purple cauliflower

3 white cauliflower florets

150 ml olive oil

1 generous bunch of parsley

1 tbsp pomegranate powder

salt to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash the purple cauliflower and cut into “steaks”.

Reserve 2 purple florets and blend in a food processor. Do the same with the white florets and set aside for garnishing the plate.

In a blender, place the olive oil, the parsley, the pomegranate powder and the salt. Grind until you get a creamy sauce.

Place the cauliflower “steaks” in a baking tray and drizzle with the green sauce.

Put it in the oven ( reduce to 375 degrees) and roast for 15/20 minutes or until soft.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions in plenty of salted boiling water (3/4 minutes).

Put the noodles on a plate and garnish with the cauliflower “steaks”.

Sprinkle the plate with the raw purple and white cauliflower “petals”.

Bon appétit!

© veggie delicious food, May 2013