Vegan Nutmeat Bolognese with Zucchini and Carrot Spaghetti (low carb)

Like every other Australian kid, I grew up eating a lot of spaghetti bolognese. It's so commonly cooked in Australian homes that it's practically a national dish. Nobody in my family was vegetarian or vegan at the time, but my father used to switch around between making our bolognese with meat or with nutmeat. Even as a kid, I loved the nutmeat one more than the meaty one. When I grew up I learnt to cook it for myself and made it often. I introduced it to my Italian best friend and even he loved it more than the meat version. He wasn't a vegan then, but he is now and it's become the lunch we always cook whenever we catch up at, in either of our kitchens. So, it's a sentimental dish for me, and one I probably should have shard on the blog earlier.

Usually, I'd have it with thin spaghetti (the thinner the better!), but cutting back on my carb intake has meant experimenting with other options. These zucchini and carrot noodles taste wonderful with this sauce, and make for a much lighter meal. I've left mine raw, and then ladled the hot sauce over them which cooks them just slightly. You can also blanch them for a minute before eating to soften them up, but don't cook them much or they will break apart and become mushy. You'll want a julienne slicer to get them nice and noodle-y, but I seem to recall mine cost less than $2 from eBay.

 

Vegan Nutmeat Bolognese with Zucchini & Carrot Spaghetti

Ingredients1 tbsp. Olive oil

1 onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 x 400g can of nutmeat, chopped finely

2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes (or even better - 1 can diced, 1 can crushed)

1 tbsp. Tomato paste

1 tbsp. Soy sauce

Pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup fresh oregano, chopped finely

Cracked pepper, to taste

1 zucchini, julienne sliced into noodles

1 carrot, julienne sliced into noodles

(or, use spaghetti)

To Make:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion until just starting get translucent. Add the garlic and carrot and fry for a moment. Then add 1/3 cup water and simmer, covered, until the carrot is cooked through.

2. Add the chopped nutmeat, cans of tomatoes, tomato paste, soy sauce and nutmeg. Add 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered,  for about 15-20 minutes by which point the sauce should have reduced and thickened nicely. Stir in the fresh oregano and add cracked pepper to taste.

3. Shred your zucchini and carrot into noodles using a julienne slicer and divide between two bowls. Ladle the hot sauce over them. If you like, sprinkle with some (vegan) parmesan cheese.

Makes enough sauce for 3-4 people, and enough noodles for 2.

[The Best] Curried Potatoes

Potato curry is such a perfect dish, the potatoes are superb consistency just waiting to soak up the delicious flavours of your curry sauce. These curried potatoes are genuinely some of the best I have ever eaten (that is a really tough call!). It's made here with potato as the absolute star, but you could adapt it to be a more general veggie curry by using a range of different vegetables. This is the perfect dish to make for a potluck or party though, just exactly as it is.

The chilli in it is definitely optional, in fact I think it's just perfect without it. But you can throw in the jalapeño if you really don't like your curries mild! This recipe makes a fairly large serving, perfect for taking to a potluck or serving up at a dinner party. If you're making it for a smaller crowd or as a side dish for a family diner, try just making half.


Curried Potatoes

Ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 lg carrot, diced
1kg chat potatoes, peeled and halved
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup vegetable stock
1 jalapeño, finely chopped (optional)
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Shallots (green parts only), to garnish

To Make
1. Heat oil in a wok and add the onion and garlic. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes, until translucent.
2. Add the curry powder and allspice and fry for about another minute. Then add the carrot and potatoes. Cook for a further 4 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, jalapeño, balsamic vinegar and one cup of water. Bring to a boil and the reduce heat. Simmer, covered for about 45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and cooked through.
4. Serve with rice and garnished with fresh chopped shallots.

Serves 4-6.

Lumpiang Hubad

 

 

You might have noticed a lot of lumpia on the blog this month - here is another! Lumpia are Filipino spring rolls and they come in all varieties. I've already shared fresh (lumpiang sariwa) and gorgeous fried (lumpiang prito) spring rolls, you can find links to those recipes at the bottom of this post. Lumpiang hubad is essentially the filling of the rolls and the sauce, but without wrapping them up into rolls. Same great flavours, but a 'lazy' version which doesn't involve taking the time to roll them. The peanut sauce all over it is just delicious.

 

I've chopped my veggies bigger than I did when making the lumpiang sariwa and prito, because I knew I wouldn't be rolling it up. You can also just make a double batch of lumpiang filling and use half for rolls and half with peanut sauce like this for another meal.

 

 

Lumpiang Hubad

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
400g hard tofu cut into cubes
1 cup sweet potato cut into cubes
1 large carrot, cubed
1 cup chopped celery
2 tsp vegan fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup sliced green beans
1 cup cabbage
Shallots, for garnish

For the peanut sauce:
2 cups water
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup finely chopped peanuts
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp cornstarch

To make:
1. Heat oil in a large frypan or wok and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent and then add the tofu and sweet potato. Cook for about 3 minutes and then add the carrots, celery and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring often.
2. Add the fish sauce and soy sauce. Once the carrot is tender, turn off the heat and stir through the green beans and cabbage. The residual heat will cook them just enough. 
3. Set the filling aside to cool a little, it can be warm but not hot when you wrap up the rolls.
4. To make the sauce: Combine 1 1/2 cups water, soy sauce, brown sugar and salt in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Once all the sugar is dissolved add the peanuts and garlic and simmer for 3-4 minutes. In a cup, combine the remaining 1/2 cup water with the cornstarch and stir until smooth. 
5. Stirring the sauce continually, add in the cornstarch. Stir continuously over a low heat until the mixture thickens up a bit. Remove from the heat. 
7. Arrange lumping hubad in a bowl and pour the peanut sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped shallots.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Float

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Pancit Canton

 



Filipino Pancit Canton

The Philippines is a fun country to explore, it's such a melting pot of different influences. A lot of Chinese influence has made it into their traditional dishes, and this is one of them. Pancit means noodles, so these noodles are called Cantonese Noodles in the Philippines. It's a dish of stir fried noodles with vegetables (and usually pork) similar to a chow mein. It has lots of variations, you can use any variety of mixed veggies, and a few different cooking methods. I love how easy this dish is because you cook the noodles in the broth, rather than separately, which makes it a great one-pot dish.

Filipino Pancit Canton

Ingredients
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
2 tbsp. oil
1 onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium-large carrots, cut into sticks
4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup light soy sauce
750g dried wheat noodles
3 cups shredded green cabbage
A few handfuls of snow peas, trimmed
Generous grinding of black pepper

To Make
1. Soak shiitake mushrooms in one cup of hot water while you chop all your veggies.
2. Heat the oil in a wok and sauté the onion until just softened and then add the crushed garlic and cook for another few minutes.
3. Add the carrots, vegetable stock, soaked mushrooms, soy sauce and any liquid remaining from the mushrooms. Bring to a simmer and simmer until the carrots are just slightly softened.
4. Add the dried wheat noodles and simmer until he noodles are just cooked and have soaked up the liquid. Add the shredded green cabbage, snow peas and a generous amount of cracked pepper. The residual heat will cook them just enough. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Note: Depending on the thickness and variety of your wheat noodles, liquid quantities may be variable. If your noodles have absorbed all the stock but are not quite yet cooked through, you may need to add in a little bit more liquid - make sure it is boiling hot rather than cold. Alternately, you may find that the noodles are perfectly cooked but you still have quite a bit of liquid. In this case, mix 1 tbsp. cornstarch with 2 tbsp. cold water and stir just before you take it off the heat and add the remaining veggies.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Floats

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Any excuse to make spring rolls is good with me! These veggie spring rolls are particularly good and the vinegar dipping sauce was sensational! I tend to always have my spring rolls with sweet chilli, sweet and sour or chilli dipping sauce, so I wasn't sure how this vinegar sauce was going to turn out. It was so delicious, I think I'll make it for all my future spring rolls and rice paper rolls!

Lumpaing Prito
Ingredients
2 tbsp. oil
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups diced sweet potato
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups sliced celery
1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts
1 tbsp. Soy sauce (or vegan fish sauce)
1 cup sliced green beans
2 cups shredded green cabbage
20 spring roll wrappers
Lots of vegetable oil, for deep frying.

Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Ingredients
1 small red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

To Make
1. Heat the 2 tbsp. oil in a wok and sauté the onion and garlic until just softened and translucent. Add the sweet potato, carrot and 1/4 cup water. Simmer for a few minutes and then add the celery and peanuts. Once the sweet potato and carrot are just tender (they can be just slightly undercooked), turn off the heat and add the soy sauce, green beans and shredded cabbage. The residual heat will just slightly cook them.
2. Cool the filling (while it's cooling, you can make your vinegar dipping sauce) and then roll up the spring rolls. Use about 2 heaped tbsp. per roll.
3.Once your rolls are all done, clean out the wok and then fill generously with oil. Heat the oil and then test it by throwing in a corner of spring roll wrapper - if it floats to the top and look like it's fizzing then your oil is hot enough.
4. Deep fry the spring rolls in batches until golden brown (if you prefer, you can shallow fry them and make sure you turn them while cooking to cook both sides). You will probably need to turn them over to cook both sides as they'll float on the surface. Once golden brown, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a bit of paper towel to absorb excess oil.
5. Serve hot with vinegar dipping sauce.

Vinegar Dipping Sauce:
1. Combine all ingredients and mix well until sugar is completely dissolved.

Makes 20 medium sized spring rolls.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Float

Pancit Canton

Chakalaka (South African)

It's been quiet on the blog because lately a lot of life has been happening instead, I've got so many wonderful things on and some great things that I'm working towards at the moment. But I do have a file full of photos and recipes to share with you, and I'll do my best to get as many of them up as I can.

I'm going to be taking the next couple of months off my world food challenge, because I've got a bit too much else happening. But I have quite a few recipes left over from South Africa month (last month) which I didn't get a chance to share, so I'll post them and you'll still get your fix of world food on Gormandize.

Today I'll give you a fun but simple dish. The fun is really in saying the name - chakalaka! But also the dish is delicious. It would traditionally be packed full of capsicum, but as capsicum makes me sick I hope I'll be excused for making mine without. I've added a grated zucchini in their place, which was really delicious. If you'd like to try it with, add one green and one red at the same time you add the chillis.

South African Chakalaka

Ingredients
2 large onions, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 Serrano chillis
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 carrots, grated
1 large zucchini, grated
2 tsp curry powder
5 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 can baked beans
1 tsp. paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

To Make
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions. Cook until just starting to brown and then add the chillis, garlic and curry powder and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes or so.
2. Add the carrot and zucchini and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add the tomatoes and reduce the heat. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes (if you tomatoes weren't very juicy, you may need to add a little water to stop it sticking).
4. Once the tomatoes are cooked down and the vegetables are cooked, add the tomato paste, baked beans, paprika and salt and pepper to taste and let simmer for a further 5 minutes. The end result should be thick and saucy, if it is watery, cook down for longer until it reduces.

Serve hot on toast, with rice or as a side dish. Or serve cold as a relish on burgers, wraps or anything you like.

I've entered this dish in the Vegan Virtual Linky Potluck.

This month I'm featuring recipes from South Africa.

Check out my other South African recipe posts:

Vegan Milk Tart

South African Tomato Chutney

Soetkoekies

Tunisian Cooked Carrot & Olive Salad

Sweet tender cooked carrots make up the bulk of this easy and delicious north African salad, flavoured with harissa and tangy lemon & vinegar and punctuated with marinated black olives that pack a punch of flavour every time you get one. I love cooked salads, and this one made me really happy. It's healthy, quick to make, a bit different to your usual table salad and perfect for all seasons.

Ingredients
1 kg carrots
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp harissa (you can use paste or spice mix)
1/2 tsp ground caraway seeds
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
10 marinated kalamata olives

To Make
1. Trim and slice the carrots. Place in a pan and cover with water; bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for for about 10 minutes, or until tender.
2. Combine all the remaining ingredients except the olives in a jar and shake to combine.
3. Drain and rinse carrots. Place in a bowl and dress with the dressing in the jar.
4. Sprinkle olives on top and serve at room temperature.

This month I'm featuring lots of recipes from Tunisia!

Check out my other Tunisian recipe posts:

{Baked} Tunisian Yoyo (Orange Flavoured Doughnuts)

Mzoura (Harissa Parsnips)

Hlalem (Tunisian Pasta and Beans)

Sweet Potato, Olive & Caper Briks

Polish Surówka z Marchewki (Carrot and Apple Salad)

This simple Polish salad is an absolutely perfect accompaniment to the heavier and creamier dishes which I've been serving up for Polish food month(s). When you're eating Pyzy with Creamy Mushroom Sauce or delicious Golabki, you're keen to have a light, fresh and healthy salad on the side! I'll be honest, I made this salad based on a vague description of a salad on the wikipedia Polish Cuisine page, so I'm not sure how authentic it is (you can never really trust wikipedia!). Either way, it's a winner :)

Guess what I'm doing today while this post is scheduled to go up? I'll be spending a day strolling around the Art Nouveau Buildings in Riga, the capital of Latvia! I'm really excited about it.

Ingredients
4 carrots
2 green apples
4 tbsp grapeseed or sunflower oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Walnuts, to garnish

To Make
1. Coarsely grate the carrot and place in a bowl. Peel the apples and grate them too. Add to the carrot.
2. Add the oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mix well.
3. Garnish with broken walnut pieces and serve.

Serves 8 as a side salad. Halve the recipe to serve 4.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from Poland.

Check out my other Polish recipe posts:

Home Made Vegan Sour Cream

Pyzy (Polish Potato Dumplings)

Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad)

Golabki (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

Kluski Z Makiem (Poppyseed Pasta Dessert)

Makowiec (Poppyseed Strudel)

Vegan Halwa e Zardak (Carrot, Cardamom and Rosewater Pudding)

This September is Afghanistan Food Month, so here is my first Afghan sweet for the month! This is a veganised version of a recipe which I found here. As soon as I read it I knew that I had to make it. I love making sweets out of carrots! Carrot cake has always been a favourite of mine; I also made a delicious carrot and rosewater jam when I featured Iranian food - which was unexpectedly delicious! So I was fairly sure that it would be a big success, and it really was! It even exceeded my expectations.

The recipe that I got from this website wasn't the best recipe. The first step is to cook the carrots in butter (i.e. nuttlex) and then add all the liquids and then to "cook until all the liquid is absorbed". This didn't make sense to me at all, as carrots are already filled with liquid and don't generally absorb much by nature. So, unsurprisingly, they didn't. Perhaps they meant that it should be cooked without a lid so that the liquid would evaporate away? It didn't bother me though, as it made a lovely pudding even without having all the liquid 'absorbed'.

I recommend this dessert any day. It's a bit different any anyone you serve it too will be pleasantly surprised! The guests at my dinner party loved it and were really pleasantly surprised that it was made of carrots. 

Vegan Halwa e Zardak

Adapted from Afghancooking.com

Ingredients

1kg carrots, grated

1/2 cup Nuttelex (or any other non dairy butter or margarine)

1 1/2 cup almond milk (or sub soy milk)

1 1/2 cups coconut cream (1 tin)

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cardamom

2 tbsp rosewater

1/2 cup almonds, chopped

1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

To Make

1. Grate the carrots. Yep, a bit of a slog. If you have a food processor that has a grating attachment then you can do it in there, as long as it grates fine enough. Otherwise I recommend enlisting a helping hand to help you get through it all.

2. Melt the Nuttelex in a large pot. Add the grated carrot and cook over a medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes. The carrots should have started to soften and smell cooked.

3. Add the almond milk, coconut cream and sugar. Turn the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about an hour. It should thicken as it cooks, stir occasionally. 

4. Add the cardamom and rosewater and stir through. 

5. Heat a small (preferably non stick) frypan and add the chopped almonds and pistachios. Toast over a medium heat, stirring often, for 2-3 minutes. Keep your eye on them so that they don't burn!

6. Transfer the warm pudding to a serving bowl and top with the toasted chopped nuts. Alternately, serve in individual glass bowls or parfait glasses.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Serves 6.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Afghanistan!

Check out my other Afghan recipe posts:

Mashawa (Afghan Spicy Beans)

Awb e Dundawn (Incredible Pistachio Biscuits)

Brides Fingers with Orange Blossom Syrup

Sweet Potato and Coriander Bolani 

Spiced Tofu Palau (Afghanistan's National Dish)

Best Ever Vegan Carrot Cake

This have been very quiet on this blog lately - my apologies! I do, however, have an excellent excuse. I have spend the last three weeks in Sri Lanka having the most amazing holiday, thus not being able to post. If you keep your eye on the blog in the next few days you'll see lots of great pictures of all the curries I ate and a wonderful cooking class I took in Unawatuna (on Sri Lanka's south coast). First though, here is something very un-Sri Lankan!

I flew in last night and after a very long day of flying and today I slept until 12:40pm! Sounds bad, I know, but actually it was only 8am in Sri Lanka, so I didn't feel so bad! When I finally got myself out of bed I jumped back on my blog to see how it had fared in my absence. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the blog had quite a lot of hits still - thanks guys! I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I had about 3 hours left to enter the July Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - Nuts About Sweets.

Luckily I had this incredible vegan carrot cake in the archive, which is packed full of tasty walnuts! I'm a long time lover of carrot cake, but there are a lot of awful ones out there! I had it a lot as a kid but not as much as an adult. One night I had a real craving for carrot cake while I was out with friends so I decided to have a decidedly un-vegan moment (I'm only human! It happens sometimes) and bought a piece of carrot cake from a bakery on King St in Newtown. It was dreadful. Dry and bland cake covered in a thick icing which pretty much tasted like butter with a little bit of sugar. It was devastating and I threw most of it in the bin - all it did was make me crave real carrot cake more!!

So I knew I had to make a better one! It had to be my mother's recipe, so I decided to do a vegan version. It was incredible, the absolute best carrot cake I have ever eaten! So here it is - easy and delicious!

Ingredients

The Cake

1 cup oil

1 ½ cups sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of salt (optional)

3 cups grated carrot

1 1/3 cups apple sauce

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

2 cups wholemeal flour

The Icing

1 tsp vanilla

60g nuttelex

125g vegan cream cheese

2 cups soft icing mixture

To Make

1. Mix sugar, oil and apple sauce well. 
2. Add dry ingredients (sifted), carrots and nuts. Mix well.
3. Pour into a greased and lined cake tin
4. Bake at 120 degrees celcius for 1 hour.
5. Remove and allow to cool for 20 minutes or so in the tin before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
6. Cream the vanilla, nuttelex and cream cheese together using an electric beater or a knife. Mix in the icing mixture and mix until completely smooth and fluffy. Ice the cake however you like.

Lemon and Orange Vegetables

You'd probably be surprised to hear that this recipe is part of my Scottish recipes for May! It might not surprise you, however, to hear that it is quite difficult to find vegan savoury recipes from Scotland! So when I found citrus vegetables it was a relief to find a delicious and simple vegetable recipe from Scotland!

It looks so simple, but actually it's a very lovely way to present and eat vegetables. Tying the carrots up in little bundles with chives is a great touch, but is fiddly so if you're just cooking for yourself then you may want to skip it. However, it is a cute way to present and portion vegies if you're feeding a family or a group of guests. The inspiration for this comes from "Rainbows and Wellies" The Taigh Na Mara Cookbook, which is full of traditional and modern Scottish recipes. I've modified it and added a very un-Scottish touch to it (I couldn't help myself!).

Ingredients
4 carrots
1 orange
Chives
2 bunches broccoli
1 lemon
2 tsp sesame oil
Cracked pepper
Salt to taste

To Make
1. Slice the carrots into equal lengths (and do your best to make them all the same width). Place in a saucepan and zest a bit of the orange zest into the pan as well (about 1/2 tsp).
2. Juice the orange and add to the pan as well with enough water to just cover the carrots. Simmer, covered, until the carrots are just tender.
3. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the carrots and leave the orange juice in the pan. Grab about 5-6 pieces of carrot and tie it into a little bundle (you'll break a few chives doing this but practice makes perfect and you'll develop a good technique).
4. Cut the broccoli into florets and steam until just tender.
5. Bring the orange juice back to a simmer and add the juice of the lemon and the sesame oil.
6. Mix the broccoli and carrot bunches together in a bowl (or serve separately on a plate if you like). Pour the hot orange and lemon juice over the top and mix through. Add cracked pepper and salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Serves 6 as a side.

I'm featuring lots of recipes from the United Kingdom,

Check out my other recipe posts here:

Vegan Cauliflower Cheese

Summer Pudding

Mushroom & Guinness Pie

Treacle Tart

Vegan Bakewell Tart

Roasted Love Apple and Wine Soup

Cranachan (Whiskey Cream with Raspberries and Oats)

Scottish Vegan Oat Scones

Swede & Parsnip Mini Cottage Pies

Torshi-havij (Persian Pickled Carrots)

If you read this blog much then you'll have read how excited I was when I made home made Sugar-Pickled Garlic as part of Iran month. Well - good news! The excitement doesn't stop there because I also made some other pickles! Iranian and other Middle Eastern cuisines love their pickles. I remember the first time I went to a proper Lebanese restaurant and they brought out bread, hummous, baba ghanoush and garlic dip as soon as we sat down. Then they brought out this strange small dish of brightly coloured "things". I had no idea what they were until my Lebanese companions told me they were pickled turnips, radishes and cucumbers.

Like Lebanese cuisine, Iranian cuisine includes a plethora of different pickled vegetables - pickled cucumbers, pickled cauliflower, pickled eggplant, pickled garlic, pickled onions and pickled carrots (read that list aloud really quickly and the word 'pickled' starts to sound really strange!). Although I was tempted to try all these I limited myself to two - pickled garlic and pickled carrots. Both of which I served up to my guests at my Iranian feast as part of the mokhalafat (accompaniments).

These pickled carrots (torshi-havajii) went down really well with my guests (not to mention the fact that they were amazed that I made my own pickles!) and the word that was being bandied about the table as they ate them was "zingy". That describes them pretty well! One of my guests even said it felt like a carbonated drink in her mouth. They're quite strong so I recommend serving them as a side dish with a meal  - but be warned, they will made your meal incredibly special and very zingy :)

Ingredients

1 bunch baby carrots, trimmed and washed (about 100g)

5 cloves fresh garlic, peeled

1/2 tsp dried mint

15-20 black peppercorns

1/2 tsp salt
White wine vinegar (quantity will vary depending on the size of the jar you use)

To Make
1. Wash the carrots well (there is no need to peel them, but you can if you want to) and boil for about 3 minutes in boiling water. Remove from the water and allow to cool.
2. Once the carrots are cooled, place them in a jar with a good lid or seal. As you can see from my pics I used a wide preserving jar for mine, but I think it would be better to use a tall and thin jar so that you can stand the carrots up in it without needing to use so much vinegar.
3. Grate the garlic coarsely and add to the carrots in the jar. Add all other ingredients (except the vinegar).
4. Add enough white wine vinegar to the jar to cover the carrots completely. Put the lid on and store in the fridge for at least 3 weeks.

Makes 1 jar.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Morabaa-Yeh Haveej (Persian Carrot & Rose Jam)

This month I am so incredibly excited to announce that I will be cooking and posting a plethora of Iranian cuisine! This is the fourth month that I have been featuring a different country each month and I have to say I am SO happy that somebody suggested Iran! So far we have featured Croatia, Chad and Bosnia - so it's definitely time we all visited the Middle East! Iranian food is a wonderful delight of ingredients such as eggplant, rice, okra, pomegranate, nuts, dates, fresh herbs and rosewater! All ingredients that I adore. So thank you from the bottom of my heart to the reader who suggested it!

I anticipate that this month may be the biggest one regarding the number of recipes, just because I found so many dishes that I wanted to try! I'm starting off with this one for two reasons, 1) because it is such an unusual idea that turned out so well and 2) because it fits into the Holiday Recipe Club's Easter/Passover Blog Hop theme. This hop's ingredients are: Spinach, Carrots and Eggs. Clearly eggs are out so carrots or spinach it is. However, I wanted to do something completely different to what I would normally do with these vegetables so here it is: Carrot and Rose Jam. I also wanted to make sure it was acceptable to Pesach food (no chametz and also suitable for any Jews which also abstain from kitniyot).

I know this sounds a bit unusual - however, really it makes a lot of sense. Orange vegetables really do lend themselves to be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Think carrot cake, pumpkin pie, sweet potato brownies (these exist! I have seen recipes on the internet), orange chicken, carrot and orange soup. There are plenty of other examples! The jam also turns out an awesome colour (one day I will try it with purple carrots)!

What are your favourite ways to use orange vegetables in sweet cooking?

Morabaa-Yeh Haveej

Adapted from persianrecipes.net 

Ingredient

1 kg carrots

1 kg sugar
1/4 cup rosewater
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 packed jam setta (for info on this see this other jam post)

To Make
1. Grate the carrots (there is no need to peel them first). This is awesome for building your arm muscles because it is a lot of grating. Alternately, if your food processor has a grating attachment you could use that and save yourself some time.
2. Add the grated carrot, lime juice and sugar to the biggest pot you own (you want it to be big enough that the jam only fills up half the pot).
3. Put over a medium heat and stir continuously until all the sugar has melted. Cover and boil over a medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the lid and add the jam setta. Boil for a further 10 minutes. Add the rose water and boil for a further  5 minutes.

5. To test whether the jam is ready do the set test. To do this: place a teaspoon full of the jam (preferably not a chunky fruity bit) on a saucer and put in the freezer for about 30-40 seconds. Take it out and run your finger through it. If the jam crinkles then it is ready. If it doesn't then boil the jam for a further 5 minutes and try the test again.

6. Once you have a successful set test remove the jam from the heat.

7. Wash your empty jars in warm soapy water and rinse well. Put the jam in them and screw the lids on tightly. 

8. Line a big saucepan with tea towels (so the glass jars don't touch the bottom or sides) and add the jars full of jam. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for 20 minutes to sterilise. 

Makes 5-8 jars of jam (depending on the size of your jars).

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments)