Onion Bhaji

Somtimes I get real cravings for onion bhaji, they're a such a treat in my book. I don't eat a lot of deep fried foods but you have to make some exceptions for things like these. The chickpea flour is really important for getting the right flavour, but if you can't get any you can substitute other flours. If you can though, try and use chickpea flour or they just won't be the same.

Onion Bhaji

Ingredients
6 tbsp chickpea flour
6 tbsp self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tbsp peanut oil*
2/3 cup ice water
2 onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Peanut oil*, for frying 

*If you have allergies, substitute vegetable oil

To Make
1. Combine the flours, salt and spices in a bowl and whisk together. Whisk in the oil and then gradually add the iced water, whisking constantly. 
2. Add the sliced onions and crushed garlic and fold through until the onion is completely coated in the batter. Let it all rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Heat plenty of oil in a saucepan or wok. Test the heat of the oil by dropping in a tiny amount of batter. If it floats to the surface the oil is hot enough, if it sinks to the bottom of the oil then it's not there yet.
4. When the oil is hot, add large tablespoons of batter to the oil and deep fry until just golden. This should take 4-5 minutes and  you'll need to flip them over after the first two minutes. Once cooked, remove and drain on a wire rack or on crumpled paper towel to drain as much oil off as possible. 
5. Fry the fritters in batches until you have used up all the batter. Eat hot! 

NOTE- These are best freshly cooked straight from the pan but can also be made in advance and kept warm (or even reheated) in the oven. 

Makes approximately 20 onion bhaji (this will vary depending on how big your spoonfuls are).

Vegan Ohn No Khao Swe (Burmese Noodles) with Chickpea Tofu

The first dish I'm sharing for Burmese food month is Ohn No Khao Swe, one of the countries most common and popular dishes. It's traditionally made with chicken, but I've substitited another Burmese food staple, chickpea tofu. I made my own chickpea tofu according to this recipe from a blog called Girl Eats World. I followed the recipe to the letter when I made it, so rather than reproduce her hard work I've linked to her original recipe. It was delicious and surprisingly easy to make! If you don't feel like doing it, you can substitute some bought tofu, although it won't have the beautiful flavour of the chickpea tofu.

The soup that these noodles and tofu are immersed in - oh my goodness - I don't think I have adequate words to express it! It's the tastiest curry soup I've ever made, no exaggeration! Really something special! It utilises my lovely home made fish sauce, as does many of the Burmese recipes I'll be sharing over December.

Vegan Ohn No Khao Swe with Chickpea Tofu

Ingredients
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 shallots, sliced
2 onions, 1 sliced and 1 diced
2 tbsp chickpea (besan) flour
3 cups "chicken" stock (use a veggie based chicken stock or substitute with vegetable stock)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp paprika (optional)
2 tbsp vegan fish sauce (plus more to taste, if you like)
1/2 batch chickpea tofu
300-400g Thin rice or wheat noodles 
Lime, cut into wedges to serve
Fried shallots, to garnish (optional)
Fresh coriander, to garnish (optional)

To Make
1. Heat oil in a large frypan or wok and cook the sliced onion until golden. Combine cooked onion, fresh ginger, garlic and shallots and make a paste (i.e. in a food processor or a mortar and pestle, add 1/3 of a cup of water if using a blender or food processor).
2. Cook the diced onion in the remaining oil in the pan for 2-3 minutes and then add your paste and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Mix chickpea flour with 1/4 cup cold water and add to the pan along with the 'chicken' stock, coconut milk, turmeric, chilli flakes and paprika. Bring to a simmer and then add the vegan fish sauce.
3. Cook your noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Once cooked, distribute evenly amongst four bowls (or, serve in one large bowl like in the picture above) and top with cubes of chickpea tofu. Ladle the hot soup/sauce over the noodles and tofu and garnish with lime wedges, fried shallots or coriander. Drizzle additional fish sauce over the dish to taste.

Serves 4.

This month I'm featuring vegan recipes from Myanmar (Burma).

Check out my other Burmese recipe posts:

Vegan Fish Sauce

Burmese Tomato Salad

Gin Thoke (Ginger Salad)

Burmese Sticky Rice Cake

Fennel & Cabbage Tahini Slaw with Chickpeas and Cashews

I call this little creation a 'tahini slaw' - it's essentially a coleslaw but the bulk of the creamy dressing is made from delicious nutritious tahini rather than lots of gluggy and nutritionally deficient mayonnaise. It's versatile, of course, so feel free to make your own adaptations. In this recipe I've used not just cabbage but thinly sliced fennel which gives it a wonderful crisp flavour and I've added a can of chickpeas to bulk it up a bit and turn it into a main event dish rather than a side. If you're just bringing it along to a bbq then you can choose to omit the chickpeas.

This recipe makes enough for 2-3 people to have a big bowl of it for lunch or dinner, or for 4-6 people to have as a side salad.

Fennel & Cabbage Tahini Slaw with Chickpeas and Cashews

Ingredients
1/4 medium green cabbage (you can substitute purple cabbage or a mixture of both)
1/2 large fennel bulb
1 small Spanish onion
1 small granny smith apple
1 400g can of chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup roasted cashews
2 tbsp unhulled tahini
1 tsp mayonniase
1 tsp soy sauce
Juice of small 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
Cracked pepper, to taste
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, washed and halved.

To Make
1. Very thinly slice the cabbage, fennel bulb and Spanish onion and toss together in a bowl. Cut the core out of the apple and cut into thin matchsticks. Add to the salad along with the chickpeas. Once you've added the apple, sprinkle a bit of the lemon juice over the salad to stop the apple going brown while you make the dressing.
2. Combine the tahini, mayonnaise, soy sauce, remaining lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl or jar. Mix well to combine. It may be very thick at this stage, but don't worry it will thin out as you mix it through the salad. Season to taste with cracked pepper.
3. Add the tahini dressing to the salad and mix thoroughly until the salad is evenly coated with the dressing. Break up the cashews a bit with your hands and toss them in along with the halved cherry tomatoes. Mix well and serve garnished with extra cashews (optional).

Notes: You can use the cherry tomatoes to decorate the top instead of mixing them through if you like. 

Serves 2-3 as a main or 4-6 as a side salad.

Hlalem (Tunisian Pasta and Beans)

Pasta is probably my all time favourite food, I just adore it! Lately, though, I've been trying to eat a little less of it because I'm not quite as young as I used to be and I don't burn it off as easily, so now pasta is a real treat. I'm always a bit excited when a pasta dish comes up as part of my research for a country, because then I have an excuse to make pasta :)

This Tunisian dish of pasta and beans is wonderful - hearty, nourishing and beautifully flavoured. Traditionally it is sometimes made with the addition of Mergues sausages, so if you like, you can throw in some chopped vegetarian sausages when you add the pasta. I've used frozen broad beans, but you can also use dried - just soak them with the chickpeas and add them at the same time.

Hlalem (Tunisian Pasta & Beans)

Ingredients
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked for 24 hours and then drained and rinsed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp harissa paste or harissa spice mix
3/4 cup green lentils, rinsed
1 x 400g diced or crushed tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
200g pasta (any large shape such as large spirals or shells)
1 cup frozen or fresh broad beans

To Make
1. Soak the chickpeas for 24 hours and then drain and rinse.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion until soft. Add the harissa paste or spice mix and fry for about 30 seconds, until fragrant.
3. Add the chickpeas and lentils and enough water to cover them. Then add the tomato paste and tin of tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about 90 minutes, or until the beans are tender. Keep an eye on the water level and add more water as needed during the cooking.
4. Once the beans are cooked, add the pasta and the broad beans. Simmer, uncovered for 20-30 minutes or until the pasta is cooked al dente. You may need to add more water as it's cooking in order to properly cook the pasta.

Serve.

Serves 4-6

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

Check out my other Tunisian recipe posts:

Cooked Carrot & Olive Salad

{Baked} Tunisian Yoyo (Orange Flavoured Doughnuts)

Mzoura (Harissa Parsnips)
Sweet Potato, Olive & Caper Briks

Peri Peri Hummus Cucumber Bites (Easy Healthy & Vegan Appetiser)

Sometimes you just need appetisers to be quick, easy, delicious and healthy. Because who wants to fiddle around with tiny things when you're in a rush (or just not in the mood). This is the perfect healthy appetiser to whip up quickly - you can even use store bought hummus! Use home made if you feel like it of course. It has a bit of a kick with the addition of some Peri Peri Spice blend from my spice rack. You can substitute peri peri sauce or even just a pinch of dried chilli flakes if you don't have access to either. Start with just a little peri peri and then gradually add  more until you get to the level you like it. If you or your guests don't like it hot at all, just substitute a little cumin or garam masala instead.

Peri Peri
Peri Peri is just chilli really, but it's a chilli blend which is used extensively in South Africa. The term Peri Peri (or Piri Piri) is used loosely to describe chillies in India and South Africa. Both peri peri spice powder and peri peri sauce are simply made from a blend of chillis, generally being quite hot. If you want some interesting facts about chilli that you probably didn't know jump over to my Spicy Chickpea Salad with Olive Hummus Dressing where I've written up some info about chilli :)

Reference: Hemphill, 2006

For my month of spices I'm using Spice Notes and Recipes by Ian Hemphill as my reference tool to learn about spices and for all the information above. Thanks Ian for writing such a great and informative book! 

Peri Peri Hummus Cucumber Bites

Ingredients
1 tub store bought hummus
1/2 tsp peri peri spice blend (or 1 tsp peri peri sauce), add more or less to taste
2 cucumbers
1/2 cup black olives, sliced in half and pitted.

To Make
1. Stir the peri peri through the hummus.
2. Slice the cucumbers about 1 cm thick and arrange on a plate.
3. Top each cucumber slice with 1 tsp of hummus and half a black olive. Serve as soon as they are made (preferably).

Spicy Chickpea Salad with Olive Hummus Dressing

This delicious salad uses four spices from my overflowing spice rack - and all of them red, giving this salad a lovely red-orange hue. Chickpeas fried in chilli and sweet and smoked paprika with a creamy olive hummus dressing and a sprinkle of middle eastern sumac.

Chilli

Well, you all know about chilli. There are hundreds of varieties of chilli and they have a long history in many countries. There is evidence that chillies were eaten by Mexican Indians as early as 7000 BCE. In modern times chilli has become a commonly used all over the world in a myriad of ways. Chillis apparently contain more Vitamin C by weight than any citrus fruit and are found in our spice racks in dried form, flakes and many powdered varieties including chilli powder, hot paprika and cayenne pepper. Chilli is also purportedly excellent for weight loss as it speeds up the metabolism (in my experience it also good in this regard because it limits the amount of food you eat - because I can't eat as big a quantity of really hot food as I can mild food!). The heat of chilli can depend on what you cook your chilli with - oils and fats can mollify the heat of a dish so adding a high fat coconut milk can tame your curry. When eating a super chilli dish it's natural to reach for a glass of water - but don't! Water will actually make it worse - the best relief will come from a spoonful of sugar, but beer is also a good accompaniment. Milky drinks using yoghout or coconut milk are also a good option.

Paprika

In the same family as chilli (Capsicum family), paprikas origins go back the same as chilli - to the Mexican Indians in 7000 BCE. However, it was the Spanish that first turned these fruits into a powder after Christopher Columbus brought them back to Europe from the new world. Paprika in it's many forms is now ubiquitous in Spanish and Hungarian cuisines in particular. But during the Turkish occupation of Hungary in the 17th Century, paprika was prohibited and it's use and trade was punishable by death! This resulted in many people growing paprika illegally and a black market for paprika evolved, keeping the spice firmly entrenched in Hungarian cuisine. Interestingly, paprika can be used to tone down a dish if you have accidentally added too much chilli.

Sumac

If you haven't spent much time eating oodles of middle eastern food, then this is a spice which may have passed you by! Sumac is made from berries which grow on a tree in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Since there were no lemons in this region during the Roman era, sumac was used as a sour flavour in many dishes. Not only was it used for flavouring, but the berries were also used for dying as they are a rich deep red. Sumac was brought to Australia by middle eastern migrants, you may have encountered it sprinkled on hummus, fleshly sliced onions or used in salads such as fattoush. When buying sumac, the colour can be a good indication of the quality - darker red sumac contains more berry and less stem and seed than lighter varieties. 

Reference: Hemphill, 2006

For my month of spices I'm using Spice Notes and Recipes by Ian Hemphill as my reference tool to learn about spices and for all the information above. Thanks Ian for writing such a great and informative book! 

Spicy Chickpea Salad with Olive Hummus Dressing

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas (or 350-400g cooked chickpeas), drained well

1 tbsp sweet paprika

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground chilli (chilli powder)

3 cups baby spinach

3 tomatoes, chopped

Olive Hummus Dressing 

3 tbsp hummus

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

4-5 kalamata olives, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Sumac

To Make

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chickpeas and spices. Fry, stirring occasionally until fragrant and the chickpeas are coated in the spices.

2. While they are cooking. Combine all the ingredients for the dressing (except the sumac) in a small bowl and mix well.

3. Remove the chickpeas from the heat and set aside while you put together the salad. Wash the baby spinach leaves and dry as much as you can. Place in a large serving bowl and sprinkle the chopped tomatoes over the top. Add the chickpeas and drizzle with the dressing. Sprinkle liberally with sumac.Toss just before serving.

Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side.

Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Chickpea Soup (Guest Post by The Little Cookbook)

My lovely guest post for today comes from the wonderful Rachel from The Little Cookbook. What a perfect choice for the end of July when it's so cold and rainy and windy. Sweet potato and pumpkin make such warming and satisfying soup for winter! I hope you enjoy this while I'm catching the train from Bergen to Oslo - one of the most spectacular scenic railroad trips in Europe. Thanks Rachel!

Hello! My name Is Rachel and I am super excited to be blogging over here at Gormandize. I blog at The Little Cookbook and whilst my desserts are often wickedly sweet, my weeknight eats are always (okay mostly) yum and frequently vegan – best of both worlds right?

So this soup actually came about through a complete and utter soul destroying craving for tomato soup a few weeks ago, but I had nothing to thicken up my oven-roasted veg. What’s a girl to do?

I’ll tell you what a girl is to do. She will quickly pan fry some canned chickpeas and chuck that in the pot. Done.

So when deciding on my ultimate vegan recipe to help out Keely whilst she’s off travelling, (I’m so jealous!) my mind came back to the amazing tomato soup. But alas it’s winter. Tomatoes are pretty bland at this time of year.

We need to sweet potato and pumpkin the shiz out of this idea.

The chickpeas not only add a beautiful creaminess to the soup but also thicken it up, and add pops of unblitzed chickpea too. Texture is vital to a good soup.

The key to a good pumpkin soup? Half oven roasted; half sweated in delicious butter (vegan butter), if you haven’t got a vegan butter that you absolutely love, use olive oil. Don’t use coconut butter. Or do. You know, whatever.

Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Chickpea Soup

1 Small pumpkin, half diced/half quartered

2 Sweet Potatoes 1 peeled and diced, one quartered

1 Brown Onion quartered

4 sprigs of rosemary

Olive oil
3 tablespoons of vegan butter (or regular butter/olive oil – see note above)

1 can of chickpeas

1 ½ cup of vegetable stock

½ cup of almond milk

¼ teaspoon of chilli flakes

salt and pepper to season

pistachio dukkah to serve

1. Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius and set the quartered veggies on a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, place the sprigs of rosemary on the tray any which way.

Roast for 40/60 minutes, until soft, golden and browned around the edges.

2. In a large fry pan melt the vegan butter on a medium heat, once melted add the diced vegetables and turn to a low heat. Cover and leave for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. When the oven roasted veg is removed and cooled slightly, remove the skin and reserve the potato skins (for wonderful potato skin times).

4. In a large soup pot drizzle some olive oil – about a tablespoon, and set on a medium heat. Drain the can of chickpeas in the time and rinse once. Pour the chickpeas (sans any liquid) into the large soup pot and toss through until the shells pop.

5. Add both the oven roasted veg and the buttered veg to this large pot (sans skins, rosemary and butter) and stir. Pour in the vegetable stock and stir. Allow to simmer for 10/15 minutes, until it feels right. You just want the flavours to really combine.

6. Take off the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then blast with a stick mixer until creamy and smooth. Stir in the almond milk and chilli flakes. Blend further with the stick mixer; don’t go tooo creamy otherwise you miss those pops of chickpea!

Serve with dukkah and potato skins.

To make the potato skins just grill on a high heat both sides for a few minutes.

Roasted Tomato, Chickpea and Vodka Soup (Guest Post by The Kitchen Crusader)

Today I have the first of the delicious guest posts which my awesome blogging friends were kind enough to contribute! This one comes from Heather at The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader - if you haven't checked out her blog yet then you should jump over and have a browse, she comes up with some seriously awesome and inventive ideas! Thanks Heather for contributing this soup recipe!

Roasted Tomato, Chickpea and Vodka Soup

Yeah, that's right, it's a soup with vodka in it. Look, in case that freaks you out, it's not exactly compulsory vodka, but it does enhance the flavours of the dish. Vodka is often used with tomatoes in dishes, it marries well with the fresh zestiness and adds an interesting depth of “savoury-ness.” I first discovered the wonder that is vodkas and tomatoes not, as you may think, in a Bloody Mary, but rather in Rachel Grisewood's cookbook Manna from Heaven. That cookbook is full of the kinds of cooking I adore, unusual flavour combinations that teach a cook a lot about how flavours work and how to think about them differently. Grisewald's “Absolut Tomatoes” recipe is still one of my Summer dinner party favourites, it takes little effort and not much vodka, leaving plenty for cocktails with dinner.

During Summer tomatoes are abundant at my local farmer's market, so much so that I purchased a 10kg box of tomatoes for $10. This recipe is designed for tomato season, for when we can get tomatoes at great prices and in great quantities. It might seem a little mean, then, that I'm posting this recipe at the start of Winter, when tomato season is quite far off and soups are staple fare... but put this baby away in your memory banks. I promise come next tomato season, you'll be thanking me.

Serves 4 (depending on serving sizes, of course)

Ingredients

2 kg tomatoes, washed and halved (no need to remove the tops/core)

2 tbsp olive oil

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 tbsp sugar

salt and pepper

2 tbsp vodka

1 small bunch of well washed and roughly chopped silverbeet or English spinach

1 400g can of chickpeas, drained (or 1 cup of dried chickpeas, rehydrated)

parsley or some “poor man's parmesan*” to serve

*poor man's parmesan is just bread, crumbed roughly, fried in a pan with some olive oil and salt until is crispy and crunchy and golden brown. If you have never tried this, you need to remedy the situation... plus it's the kind of vegan fare I love, the kind that ANYONE, vegan or not can enjoy and drool over. It's also great with pasta.

Method:

1)Preheat oven to 180C.

2)Place the halved tomatoes in a large baking dish, scatter with garlic. Drizzle the olive oil over the top, sprinkle with sugar and salt.

3)Toss to coat the tomatoes in oil.

4)Bake the tomatoes for 1 and a half to 2 hours, they should be cooked through and browning on the edges.

5)Blitz the tomatoes, their juices and the garlic in a blender or food processor with the vodka, silverbeet/spinach and half of the chickpeas. This will probably need to happen in batches. Blend until the soup reaches your desired consistency.

6)Reheat the soup in a pot on the stove and add the remaining chickpeas while this occurs.

7)Serve hot, topped with the parsley or poor man's parmesan (or both). Some toasted crusty garlic bread would also be lovely with it. 

Chickpea, Apple and Cashew Salad with Tahini Dressing

My mum calls me the Salad Queen because I almost never make the same salad twice. I just love making salads - they are so easy and so versatile. A lot of people think that salad is boring which baffles me - maybe they just put lettuce, tomato and cucumber in their salads and then add some store bought sugary dressing? If that is how you view salads then I challenge you to try some of my salads.

There are so many different vegetables and fruits, beans and pulses, nuts and seeds and different dressings to use in salads! This hearty salad is perfect for people who think that salads aren't filling enough to be your whole meal. It's also deceptively healthy - the rich creamy dressing is made with tahini which already has a certain oil content so that means you don't need to add any oil to the dressing - winner! 

Ingredients

1 small or medium sized beetroot

Lettuce (as much as you want for 2 people)

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp pepitas

1 x 400ml tin of chickpeas OR 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (soak for 24 hours, then boil for 30 minutes)

1 medium apple (see note)

1 cup unsalted cashews

Dressing

2 tbsp unhulled tahini

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 small glove garlic, crushed

Note: The variety of apple you choose will alter the flavour profile of the dish. I chose a sweet apple (like gala or pink lady) to add some crunchy sweetness to the salad. If you use a granny smith you'll have a more sour taste to the salad. Try both and see which one you prefer? :)

To Make:
1. Peel and dice the beetroot. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil until tender (about 15-20 minutes - depending on how big you cut the pieces). Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Spread lettuce between two bowls. Chop tomatoes and layer on top of the lettuce. Then top with the cooled beetroot.
3. Lightly toast the pepitas by dry frying in a pan for about 60 seconds, tossing them regularly until they're browned and starting to pop. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. To make the dressing mix together all the ingredients and stir vigorously until smooth and combined.
5. In a bowl toss the cooked chickpeas, diced apple, cashews and pepitas with the dressing to coat. Distribute amongst the bowls and enjoy!

Serves 2

Roast Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad with Nasturtiums

The weather has really started to warm up during the day here lately, which has been so lovely! It's almost enough to lull you into the notion that spring has arrived (cue sudden cold snap). It's also made me really start to feel like eating salads again! This coincides nicely with the Eat The Alphabet blog challenge - which this month is featuring vegetables and grains which start with the letters M, N and O.

There are a lot of choices for M, N and O - so I'm sure we're going to see a great variety of recipes. I wanted to take the opportunity to share an ingredient that I've always loved, but many people don't even know about - Nasturtiums. I always remember having nasturtiums in the garden as a kid, it was fun to know that some of the plants were edible and that we could use them when we were playing and actually eat them!

I've never seen nasturtiums for sale at any green grocers, but they are incredibly easy to grow and they thrive on neglect. You can buy seeds at any garden centre or from many places online - they are a great addition to your salads especially since they're not readily available - so are a great thing to serve for guests. You'll probably want to plant them somewhere contained, otherwise they will spread all over your garden. Here is a picture of them in my veggie garden:

The best thing about nasturtiums is that you can eat the leaves and the flowers - so they make your salad very pretty. Nasturtium leaves have a slightly peppery taste, so start with a few and add them to your own taste. If you can't buy or grow nasturtiums then you can use baby spinach in this salad instead, it won't taste the same - but it will still be nice!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (soaked for 24 hours, rinsed, boiled and drained OR a tin of chickpeas which has been drained and rinsed)

400g pumpkin, peeled, chopped and roasted for about 20 minutes (will vary depending on how big you chopped it)

150g penne pasta

4 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup pepitas

Generous amount of nasturtium leaves and flowers

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 tsp agave nectar

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)

1 tbsp soy sauce (or more to taste)

Cracked black pepper to taste

To Make

1. If you haven't already done so, cook the pre-soaked (for 24 hours) chickpeas (unless using canned) until tender, drain and rinse under cold water. If using canned, drain and rinse well. Similarly, roast the pumpkin as above and allow to cool (or use warm).

2. Bring a pot of water to the boil and boil the pasta until al dente - this is usually 1-2 minutes less than what the packet says. Drain and rinse with cold water.

3. Combine the pumpkin, chickpeas, pasta, chopped tomatoes and nasturtium leaves in a bowl. Toss.

4. Heat a small frypan over a high heat. Add the pepitas to the dry saucepan and toast for 2-3 minutes, stirring/tossing often. They will puff our slightly and start to brown. Keep your eye on them at all times, as they burn quickly. Once toasted take of the heat and allow to cool.

5. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a small bowl or jar and mix/shake well to make the dressing.

6. Add the cooled pepitas and the dressing to the salad and mix well. Serve immediately, placing the nasturtium flowers on top before serving.

Serves 4

Roasted Vegetable and Chickpea Couscous

It's getting a lot colder where I live now, so it's time to start thinking of alternatives to salad for lunch. It's not good to eat too many raw foods in cold weather, as it takes a lot more of your body's warmth and energy to digest than food that has been cooked. So it's time to put lots of quick and easy cooked meals on the menu. Couscous is a great option - cooks in a few minutes and can be combined with a whole range of different ingredients. Roasted pumpkin and parsnips with cooked chickpeas make this dish almost completely cooked and thus easier on your digestive system.

Ingredients

2 cups instant couscous

2 ½ cups vegetable stock

1/4 cup sunflower seeds, toasted*

1 parsnip, peeled and diced
200g pumpkin, peeled and diced
1 large cucumber, chopped
2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 tin chickpeas)

6-7 dates, chopped
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Salt to taste

* Toasting! There are 2 ways to do this 1) Spread the seeds on a tray and toast under a grill for 2-3 minutes until slightly browned – keep a close eye on the suckers because they are really easy to burn. 2) Heat a little bit of oil in a non stick pan and then slightly fry the seeds for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

To Make
1. Place the chopped pumpkin and parsnip in a bowl or baking dish and coat with oil. Transfer to a tray (if you had it in a bowl) and roast in a moderate oven for 15-20 minutes, or until soft and completely cooked.
2. Put the instant couscous in a bowl.  Add the hot stock and stir with a fork. Leave it for about 5 minutes to soak up all the liquid and then go back and fluff it up with the fork.
3. When the couscous is dry and fluffy add the the rest of the ingredients and mix well. You can also drizzle in some of the oil from the baking tray.
4. Serve with extra chopped coriander, if desired.

Serves 4.

Chickpea and Cabbage Salad with Tahini Dressing

I've recently bought the amazing 'Appetite For Reduction' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and honestly it is the best book she has ever written (except maybe Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, but that is in a league of it's own). The first section in the book is dedicated to the most amazing sounding salads and I am literally planning to make them all starting from the first and working my way through. Salad is something, however, that I find recipes are often basic, boring and something I could have made in my sleep and I often think they are a waste of space in a cookbook. However, there is something very exciting about salad recipes which make you drool just reading them - mostly because salad is so easy to make.

As a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, however, I am not an enormous advocate of salads and would strongly try to dissuade anybody thinking of going on a raw food diet against doing so. This is because eating a lot of salads and raw foods expends a lot of extra heat in your body in order to digest it and can result in cold in the interior. Cold foods can also damage the functioning of your Spleen Qi, and therefore may cause digestive problems, bloating, water retention and even weight gain. So - I advise salads to my patients only in moderation and when I eat salads I often try and make sure that at least some of the ingredients are cooked (see my Marinated Tofu, Broad Bean and Broccoli Salad, my Glass Noodle, Green Bean and Black Fungus Salad, or my White Bean Salad).

However, this salad doesn't involve cooking any of the ingredients, therefore I recommend not having it too often. Whenever I eat a salad like this I always drink a cup of herbal tea with it to help warm up my Stomach and aid in the digestion of the food. In this case the tea you should drink is my Cabbage-Is-My-Friend Tea, there are two reasons for this. As this salad contains raw cabbage I would recommend having a couple of cups of this tea with and after your salad for a carminative (anti-flatulent) affect. Secondly, it contains herbs which aid in digestion, therefore may help prevent any damage to your Spleen Qi caused by the cold nature of the foods. 

Ingredients

1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

1 1/2 cups shredded green cabbage

1 carrot, grated

1 small cucumber, finely diced

1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1x 300g can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tsp pepitas

1/2 lemon

1 tbsp unhulled tahini

1 clove garlic

2 tsp soy sauce (substitute tamari to make this salad gluten free)

Cracked Pepper, to taste

To Make

1. Combine the lettuce, cabbage, carrot, cucumber and chickpeas in a bowl and mix well to combine.

2. Sprinkle the cherry tomatoes and pepitas over the top.

3. Add a little zest from the lemon.

4. In a small bowl or cup, combine the tahini, lemon juice (from the half lemon) and garlic and mix quite vigorously until the tahini is all smooth and has turned a paler colour (due to the lemon juice). Add the soy sauce and mix well to combine. Add pepper to taste (you will not need to add salt, as the soy sauce is salty enough).

5. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Eat straight away.

Serves 2