Miso soup with Soba noodles, vegetables and fried tofu Ⓥ

Nothing like a filling and savoury homemade miso soup when you don’t have much time or ingredients to cook.

Ingredients

• Kombu seaweed (about 5-6 big pieces)
• half a package of Soba noodles
• 3 carrots
• half a zucchini
• half a fennel
• 2 cm of fresh ginger
• 1 cm fresh turmeric
• 2 tsp black miso paste
• boiling water

Optional: fried tofu cubes

• 250g of firm tofu
• 1 tbsp of sesame oil
• 2 tbs of Tamari or Shoyu sauce
• Black pepper
• Some coconut oil

Preparation

1. Heat  about 1,5 liter of water
2. Put the Kombu in the boiling water and leave to simmer.
3. In the meantime, drain the water from the tofu (using either your hands to squeeze the tofu (fast version) or placing the tofu between two plates and putting a heavy object on the top plate and wait 30 minutes to free the excess water).
4. Cut the tofu into cubes (approximately 1-2 cm).
5. Mix the other ingredients for the tofu cubes in a deep dish.
6. Add the tofu cubes to the mixture; making sure all sides are well coated.
7. Wash, then slice the vegetables in julienne.
8. Peel the ginger and slice.
9. Peel the turmeric.
10. After the Kombu has simmered for about 10 minutes, add the ginger, carrot, fennel and turmeric, leave to simmer.
11. In the meantime, fry the tofu with coconut oil in a frying pan or wok until it’s nice and crispy.
12. After 5 minutes of simmering the Kombu and the vegetables, add the zucchini.
13. After 5 more minutes add the noodles (mine needed to simmer 5-6 minutes in boiling water).
14. In the meantime, prepare 1 tsp of miso with some hot water in two separate bowls.
15. Once your noodles are perfectly cooked (al dente), turn of the heat source, take a  skimmer (‘serving spoon with holes’) to take out the noodles and vegetables and divide them over the 2 bows with miso. Mix well. Add some of the stock. Finish with the fried tofu and some black pepper.

You can keep the stock for soup or sauce, in your freezer or fridge (couple of days). You can use any vegetable you like, I used what I had in my fridge. Also, if you don’t want to fry the tofu, you can simply cook it along with the vegetables for about 10 minutes.

Important: don’t leave any noodles in the stock to heat up at some later stage: as they will become all mushy. So if you cook for more than one meal, simply boil your noodles in a separate pot and drain them, rinse with cold water and use the desired quantity. I did an easy version in order to save time and water.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

Vegan recipe: mixed vegetable soup

There’s enormous comfort in eating a delicious homemade soup with the vegetables that you have in your fridge. Improvise each time with what you have have, if you don’t know what to make, or when you don’t have much time and still want a healthy & filling meal. This particular time I made a soup with 5 different vegetables, some spices and voilà !

Ingredients

• 4 green celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• 1 fennel
• 1 onion
• 1 potato
• 1 cm of fresh ginger
• 2 tsp of turmeric
• 1 tsp of smoked paprika powder
• Enough (filtered) water to cover the vegetables
• Vegetable oil (preferably olive or coconut)
• Salt & peper to taste

Preparation

1. Wash and cut the vegetables in equal-sized parts, peel and cut the ginger in small pieces.
2. Stir fry the ginger in some vegetable oil.
3. Add the vegetables and stir fry for some minutes, add the turmeric and paprika powder and stir until all the vegetables are nicely covered with the spices.
4. Fill the casserole with enough water to cover all the vegetables, bring to a boil and let it simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes (or until the vegetables are soft enough to blend. (TIP: you can also boil the water separately and add boiling water to the vegetables).
5. Blend the soup with a hand blender to a smooth soup.
6. Enjoy with or without some boiled quinoa or toast or just like that.

Vegan recipe: quinoa & lentils with roasted cauliflower & tahini dressing Ⓥ

On a lazy sunday evening I decided to cook some soul food. Hence I came up with the following recipe. You can replace the parsley with cilantro or mint. You can replace the cauliflower by broccoli or kale. The quantities are estimates, I used these and have enough food for 3 to 4 meals :-).

I’ve shared the recipe for the roasted cauliflower before here.

You can make the tahini dressing in a larger quantity, it stays well for a couple of days (or even a week) if you keep it in the fridge and tastes great on a variety of dishes (in wraps, on salads, …).

Ingredients (4P)

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1 cm ginger root (or more)
• 1 or 2 garlic cloves (optional)
• Coconut oil
• 1 cauliflower
• Spices mix (garam masala, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, cumin, …), about 1 tsp of each of the herbs of your choice
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Fresh parsley
• 1 cup of lentils (I used brown lentils)
• 1 tsp of summer savory (dried herbs, to improve digestion)
• 2 tsp of tahin
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon (1 to 2 tsp)

Preparation

1. Cut the cauliflower in florets (equal size) and wash
2. Prepare the spice mix for the cauliflower: mix enough olive oil with the spice mix to coat all the cauliflower florets, add some salt & pepper, leave to soak in the spice mix for about 15′
3. Rinse the quinoa
4. Rinse the lentils
5. Boil water (2 cups for the quinoa and the lentils each)
6. Preheat the oven at 180°
7. Put the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet in the oven for about 30′, turn the florets after about 15′
8. Meanwhile, add 2 cups of boiling water to the lentils, add the summer savor herbs and leave to simmer until all the water is absorbed (about 20′), add salt only when the lentils are cooked
9. Peel and cut the ginger & garlic, stir fry in some coconut oil
10. Add the rinsed quinoa and stir for 1 or 2 minutes, add some salt (if desired)
11. Add the boiling water to the quinoa mixture and leave to simmer until all the water is absorbed (about 20′)
12. Wash the parsley and cut using scissors
13. Mix the tahin with 1 or 2 tsp of lemon juice and 2 to 4 tbsp of water to obtain the desired consistency. If it’s too thin, add more tahin, if it’s too thick, add more water. You can add a pinch of salt & some pepper
14. Blend the lentils in with the cooked quinoa, add the parsley, decorate with the roasted cauliflower florets and sprinkle the tahini dressing on top.

Health benefits of tahini

1. t’s rich in minerals such as phosphorus, lecithin, magnesium, potassium and iron.
2. It’s a good source of Methionine, which aids in liver detoxification.
3. It’s one of the best sources of calcium out there.
4. It’s high in vitamin E and vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5 and B15.
5. Helps to promote healthy cell growth.
6. Prevent anemia.
7. Helps to maintain healthy skin and muscle tone.
8. It has 20% complete protein, making it a higher protein source than most nuts.
9. It’s easy for your body to digest because of its high alkaline mineral content, which is great for assisting in weight loss.
10. It is high in unsaturated fat (good fat!)

Vegan recipe: roasted miso-and-ginger-glazed eggplant

Eggplants are one of my favorite vegetables. They are purple (my favorite color) & so versatile: use them either oven-roasted, in a stew, on the BBQ, as a spread, … It took me some time to understand how to prepare eggplant well, to obtain the perfect tenderness of the flesh of this beautiful vegetable, without the bitter taste.

Eggplants are in season from august to october. They are a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin B1 and copper, as well as a good source of vitamins B6 and K and of manganese. Make sure you eat the skin as it’s rich in antioxidants. It is generally discouraged by healthcare practitioners to eat eggplant if you have untreated kidney or gallbladder problems, because of the high content of oxalates. More information about the health benefits of eggplants can be found here.

For 4 persons, as a side dish

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized eggplants
• 2 tbsp of olive or sesame oil
• a dash of lemon juice
• 1 cm of ginger
• 1 garlic clove (optional)
• 0,5 tsp of miso (I used black miso)
• Himalaya or sea salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Cut the stem end and bottom off the eggplant, then cut it in half lengthwise. Cut the flesh with a knife, cutting deep into the flesh but not through the skin. Cut diagonal lines going about 2 cm apart, then turn the eggplant around and cut again so you have a diamond pattern.
3. Sprinkle salt on the eggplant halves and leave to rest (sweat) for about 30 minutes or longer.
4. In the meantime peal the ginger, and add it to the blender with the rest of the ingredients and blend into a nice liquid mixture.
5. Gently squeeze out the excess water and salt from the eggplant halves above the sink and pat dry with paper towels or a clean towel.
6. Apply the mixture (prepared under 4) on the eggplant halves with a brush making sure it also seeps into the cut flesh.
7. Put the eggplant halves face-down on a baking sheet.
8. Roast the eggplant for about 35-40 minutes, or until the back of the eggplant looks collapsed.
9. Let the eggplant cool for 10 minutes, then season with salt and pepper. It can be scooped out of the peel for use in dips, or eaten plain with its antioxidant-rich peel and a extra sprinkle of lemon juice.

I used 1 halve of a grilled eggplant per person for a dinner with home-made fries & veganaise, a green salad tossed with pear vinaigrette and seitan gyros (Wheaty).

Vegan spicy mango cake

As I found myself with a lot of left-over spicy ginger-mango sauce after a vegan BBQ, I decided to make it to good use and do some baking with it. Browsing for recipes on the internet, I found one on the website of Vegetarian Times and adapted it to my liking.

Dry ingredients

• 2 cups of whole wheat flower
• 2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 0,5 tsp of baking powder
• 0,5 tsp of salt (Himalaya)
• Optional: 2 tbsp of grated coconut 

Liquid ingredients

• 1,5 cups of mango sauce (1,5 large, ripe mangoes pealed & diced)
• 0,5 cup of agave syrup (or more if you want it sweeter)
• 0,5 cup of coconut oil
• 1 tbsp of freshly grated ginger root
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Utensils

• 2 bowls
• Sieve
• Wooden spoon
• Baking dish
• Blender

Preparation

1. Start the oven at 180°C and grease a baking dish with some coconut oil.
2. Sieve all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Peal & dice the mangoes and puree with the grated ginger in a blender.
4. Stir all the liquid ingredients together in another recipient, add the mango sauce using a wooden spoon.
5. Transfer the liquid ingredients into the mixed dry ingredients, using a wooden spoon to stir it into a batter. Poor the batter in the baking dish and bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Serving suggestion: Nice with coconut whipped cream. 

 

Yogi recipe: brown lentil soup with ginger, purslane and roasted vegetables Ⓥ

Yogi recipe : vegan eggplant-quinoa roast

This delicious recipe combines eggplant, quinoa, a red pepper & zucchini with a lemon, ginger & tamari sauce.

It’s a real yogi recipe as it doesn’t contain any garlic or onions or other stimulants & is taken from the Sivananda  Yoga Cook Book, a highly recommended cook book (available on Book Depository, free shipping, mind you not all recipes are vegan)!

Over the years since first making this dish, I’ve added onion and garlic to the recipe. It’s up to you to decide whether you like these ingredients or not.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of quinoa
• 2 to 3 medium sized eggplants, cut into equal long slices
• 1 (purple) onion, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper (paprika/ poivron rouge), cut into small cubes
• 2 zucchini, coarsely grated (or cut into small cubes)
• Parsley sprigs, to decorate
• Vegetable oil (I like to use sesame or olive oil)
• Coarse salt
• Black pepper

Ingredients baking sauce

• 3 tablespoons tamari (or other soy sauce you may have at home)
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup (filtered) water
• 2 tsp (or more 🙂 ) grated fresh ginger root
• Optional: 2 cloves or garlic
• Black pepper

Preparation

1. Wash & prepare all vegetables.
2. Prepare the baking sauce: mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.
3. Heat the oven to 180°.
4. Arrange the slices of eggplant in a single layer in a baking dish. Pour the baking sauce over the eggplant slices. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake for another 15 minutes or until the eggplant is soft.
5. Rinse & cook the quinoa according to instructions (mostly it’s 1 volume of quinoa requires 2 volumes of boiling water).
6. Add the onion in a skillet with some vegetable oil and stir fry for a few minutes.
7. Add the red pepper and zucchini and sauté until soft. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Add the cooked quinoa, mix well, and spoon over the eggplant in the oven dish.
9. Return to the oven and bake for about 10 minutes.

Serve hot decorated with parsley sprigs & a green or tomato salad on the side.

 

Om shanti –ॐ शान्ति

Leftover lunch with eggplant quinoa roast.

Vegan spicy winter soup

It’s still pumpkin season for a little longer & I absolutely love this soup which is very filling and spicy so just perfect to warm you up on a cold day as today. You can eat it with the noodles, with quinoa or even with some (home-made) corn or sourdough bread. This recipe serves 3 to 4 portions. 

Ingredients

• 40 g ginger root
• 1 chili pepper or hot pepper
• 500 gr pumpkin
• 1 leek
• 2 carrots
• 200 g white cabbage
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 800 ml filtered water
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 200 g chickpeas (precooked)
• 50 g wok noodles
• 2 tsp curry powder or garam masala
• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro
• Coconut oil
• Salt & pepper to taste
• (1 onion)

 

Preparation

• Peel the onion and the ginger.
• Cut the pepper in half and remove the seeds.
• Put the ingredients into a food processor; add 4 tbsp of olive oil and a little salt, mix until obtaining a creamy mixture.
• Prepare the vegetables: peel the pumpkin and cut into pieces, cut the leek into rings and carrots into small pieces. Chop the cabbage & wash the vegetables.
• Heat the coconut oil in a wok and add the garlic/ onion/ pepper mixture. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
• Add the pumpkin, carrots, cabbage and leek to the mixture.
• Let it all simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the curry/ garam masala.
• Pour the coconut milk, a little lemon juice and 800 ml water to the wok. Bring the soup to a boil.
• Add the chickpeas, noodles and possibly a little bit more water. Cook the vegetables until well done.
• Add seasoning to taste & add the cilantro just before serving.

Source: © Cookbook Donderdag Veggiedag by Miki Duerinck et Kristin Leybaert – 2012, page 106

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Yogi recipe: vegan yellow lentil & pumpkin soup with quinoa

This is an ideal meal when you are pressed for time and still want to eat a healthy and filling meal: right after your yoga practice or at lunch for example. The soup can be eaten as a full meal on its own or served with a cooked grain (quinoa, millet, …), potatoes from the oven, some bread or chapatis, … You can also choose to eat it with seasoned and stir fried or oven-baked tofu or tempeh. Use your imagination to adapt it to your favorite tastes with some chili, some other herbs or spices of your liking.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of chopped up pumpkin
• 1 cup of yellow (brown, orange, …) lentils
• 0.5 cup of other seasonal veggies
• 3 cups of filtered water
• 1 or 2 cm of ginger root
• 1 tbsp of mustard seeds
• 0.5 tbsp of coriander seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp of garam masala (or curry) powder
• Salt & pepper
• (Coconut) oil
• Fresh parsley

Preparation

• Wash the vegetables & cut in ~2cm cubes.
• Peel the ginger root & grate it or cut it in small bits.
• Thoroughly rinse the lentils until the water runs clear.
• Heat some (preferably coconut) oil in a frying pan (wok).
• Add the mustard & coriander seeds; wait until they ‘pop’. 
• Add the ginger root; stir for 2 minutes.
• Add the garam masala & turmeric powder; stir for another minute. 
• Add the pumpkin and other seasonal vegetables of your liking (I added some celeriac); stir fry for a couple of minutes. 
• Add the lentils; stir fry for another 2 minutes.
• Add the filtered water & the bay leaves; leave it to boil.
• When it boils, lower the heat & let it simmer for approximately 25 minutes or until the vegetables and the lentils are tender. 
• You may have to add some water depending whether you want a soup or more thick sauce type of dish. 
• Add salt ONLY at the end (as it’ll prolong cooking time) & season with pepper. Take out the bay leaves before serving & serve with the fresh parsley on top.

Serving suggestion
Serve with quinoa, millet or some other whole grain you like.

Yogi recipe: vegan pumpkin carrot soup

I love making soup, it’s very easy & satisfying as you can make lots with little effort. You can combine it with quinoa, rice, bread, …  to have a very filling main meal. Every season has its distinct vegetables to enjoy different types of soup all year round. I often just use one or two different veggies in a recipe and don’t even bother to use broth. I prefer to use spices, such as turmeric, cumin, paprika and Herbamare salt & black pepper as well as fresh herbs to bring out the taste of the veggies.

If like me, you always make way too much soup, then surely don’t hesitate to freeze the left-overs in portion sizes to have some nice food readily available to take to your work or for some other good reason.

This recipe is for approximately 10 servings & ready in ~35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 kg chopped pumpkin
• 1 kg carrots
• 1 piece of fresh ginger
• 250ml Provamel Bio Soya Cuisine cream or coconut milk
• 3 l (filtered) water
• 70 g vegetable stock powder (to taste/ optional)
• Fresh coriander
• Black pepper & Herbamare/ Sea or Himalaya salt

Preparation
Cut the pumpkin and carrots into cubes. Peel the ginger and cut it into pieces or grate it.
Place all vegetables in a large pot. Add the water and bring to the boil.
Add the stock powder. Let it simmer on low heat until the vegetables are tender.
Remove the pan from the heat source and mix the soup with a blender.
Season with pepper & salt. Add the Soya Cuisine cream or coconut milk and stir well & let it simmer a little longer. Finish with a few coriander leaves.

TIP
If you buy organic produce, you can leave the skin of the pumpkin & carrots on (less work!), just make sure to wash them well (optional: use a vegetable brush).

Yogi recipe: vegan dahl

As a first yogi recipe, I’d like to share the most common Indian dish: rice and dahl. A typical dahl is composed of some type of lentils, water, mustard seeds, lots of spices and often carrots, ginger and coriander. It’s a very easy dish to prepare and very filling as well. I never cook dahl just for one meal or person, mostly I cook enough for several meals or people.

Ingredients (serves 2/3)

1 cup of lentils (red or yellow)
2 or 3 carrots sliced
A piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of coriander seeds (optional)
1 bay leave
2 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 tsp of garam masala powder
Salt & pepper to taste
Water
Some wedges of lemon or lime
Fresh coriander leaves
Vegetable oil of your choice (I mostly use coconut oil)
Optional: garlic/ onion to your taste, chili powder/ crushed chili

Preparation

Wash the lentils thoroughly, until the water runs clear. Peel & grate the ginger. Cut the garlic/ onions if using. Peel & slice the carrots. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds and wait until they ‘pop’.  Add the freshly grated ginger (and garlic/ onion if using), stir until golden. Add the turmeric and cumin powder. Stir everything until the spices become very fragrant.

Add the carrots, stir fry to coat the carrots with the spices for 2 minutes.
Add the washed lentils, mix everything well.
Add 3 cups of filtered water, the bay leave and bring to boil. When the water boils, lower the heat, let the mixture simmer for about 15 minutes, make sure to keep on adding water if the mixture becomes dry. The dahl needs to ‘swim’.
Taste the mixture when the lentils become soft, then add salt & pepper to taste.
You can add half of the dahl mixture in a blender, blend it for a short while & add it back to the pan to have a more firm dahl.

Serve with quinoa or rice and add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice and coriander leaves.

This is a very hearty meal for cold winter nights but I admit I can eat it any day of the year. Try to experiment with different types of lentils, mung beans, etc. It’s also nice to add some coconut milk to your dahl for a softer flavour.

You can find all the ingredients in your local Indian or oriental shop. I prefer to buy mostly organic, most of the ingredients can also be found in your organic foodstore (except for garam masala I haven’t yet found an organic version in Brussels).

<3 juicing

I’d been a big fan of smoothies for a long time & have even sent a couple of blenders to the blender graveyard by trying out many blends of (frozen) fruits, veggies, nuts, pulses, seeds, …

After reading the book ‘Crazy Sexy Diet‘ by Kris Carr and attending a healthy living workshop, I bought myself the great gift of a Jazz Max in the spring of 2012. The Jazz Max is a slow juicer that transforms any vegetable or hard fruit into a juice, it doesn’t warm up and hence gets a maximum of nutrients out of your (organic) vegetables and fruits.

I experiment with whatever comes in my bi-weekly organic and local vegetable basket as well as with vegetables and fruits that I happen to have in the house. If your fruits & veggies are organic, all you need to do is wash them and them cut them into the right size to fit them in the juicer. If they aren’t organic, then, peal them and wash them thoroughly before juicing them.

The Jazz Max juicer comes with two different heads, so besides juices, you can use it to make your own nut butter (cashew, almond, macadamia, …) after having soaked the nuts in filtered water overnight, as well as to make oils (almond), baby meals, pumpkin puree and much more.

Some of my favorites juice blends are:

• carrot, apple, ginger
• celery, beetroot, carrot, ginger (apple: optional)
• kale & pear
• kohlrabi, beetroot, carrot, ginger
• zucchini, kale, fresh turmeric

You can add hemp or flax seeds oil to get your daily dose of omega-3 fat.
I love ginger & will probably write an entire blog post on the health benefits of ginger in the near future.

Some awesome recipes can be found here, here, here, here and here.

Recommended books: Crazy Sexy Diet, Superfoods, Green smoothie revolution & Becoming raw.