Tatws Popty (Welsh Oven Potatoes)

Tatws popty is a traditional Welsh dish of roasted meat and potatoes. The name translates as "oven potatoes" so I don't feel too bad for leaving out the meat and keeping the traditional name. It's a versatile dish, everybody's nain (grandmother) has her own way of making it. Since I've left the meat out of mine, I've added in some extra vegetables to make it a complete meal. It's such an easy and comforting dish and is perfect for this cool weather. White wine is not a very common addition, but adds a lovely sweetness - you could use beer instead if you wanted a 'meatier' flavour to the dish.

Tatws Popty

Ingredients
6 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into sixths (or just large chunks)
1 leek, washed and chopped into large pieces
1 large parsnip or swede (or both if you like), peeled and chopped into large chunks
1/3 cup vegan margarine/butter
3 tbsp olive oil
4 onions, peeled and thickly sliced
14 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
2-3 sprigs thyme
1/2 cup white wine
2/3 cup beef stock (no animal content, such as Massel), or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

To Make:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and prep all your veggies.
2. Heat a large casserole dish or roasting pan on the stove (if you don't have a suitable dish, you can use a frypan and then transfer to a casserole dish) and add the margarine and olive oil. Once melted, add the onions, garlic cloves, bay leaves and the thyme. Cook for 8-9 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the onions have started to brown. 
3. Remove from the heat and add the leek and the parsnip and/or swede to the dish, followed by the potatoes on top. Pour over the white wine and the stock. 
4. Seal well with foil (or a lid) and bake in the oven for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are completely cooked through. 
5. Remove the foil or lid and switch the oven to the grill setting and leave in until the potatoes are crispy and browned on top. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Have as is, or add some steamed green veggies.

Serves 4-6. 

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)

Orange and Lemon Vegetables

Scottish Vegan Oat Scones

Swede & Parsnip Mini Cottage Pies

Vegan Jamaican Patties

If, like me, you spend all winter dreaming of being in the Caribbean instead, you can do what I do and enhance your dreaming with delicious Caribbean delicacies.

Jamaican patties are quite different to what we call patties in Australia (and many other parts of the world). We use the word patty to refer to the meat or veggie fillings in burgers, but in Jamaica a patty is more like what we might call a pasty - a savoury pastry with filling. The pastry of a Jamaican patty is golden yellow from turmeric and curry powder, and the fillings can vary. They're most commonly filled with meats of various types, but can also be filled with vegetables or cheese. Tofu isn't a traditional filling, but the curried crumbled tofu and potato in these ones are so delicious, they were a huge hit (even with traditional tofu-phobes).

In Jamaica, it's common to eat a patty sandwiched in a bread roll as a full meal. I find that the pastry and bread together might be a bit of overkill, so just ate mine as they were. But if you'd like a traditional Jamaican lunch, grab yourself a bread roll (in Jamaica it would be coco bread).

Jamaican Curry Tofu Patties

Ingredients
Pastry:
3 cups plain flour
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g vegan margarine/butter
3/4 cup ice water (give or take a bit)

Filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
375g hard tofu, as much liquid pressed out as you can
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 scotch bonnet chilli (optional)
1 potato, peeled and diced into small cubes
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp dried or fresh thyme
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup chopped shallots

To Make:
1. To make the crust: combine the flour, curry powder, turmeric, salt and baking powder in a food processor. Chop the vegan margarine up and add it to the food processor, pulse it until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Gradually add in the ice water while you're processing until the dough starts to clump together into a ball. Turn it out onto a bench and dust with flour. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. To make the filling - heat the oil in a large frypan (or wok) and add the onion. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion is cooked. While it's cooking you can crumble up the tofu with your hands into a 'mince-like' consistency. Once the onion is cooked, add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or so. Add the crumbled tofu, curry powder, chilli, potato, and the herbs and spices along with  1 1/2 cups water. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until all the liquid is gone and the potatoes are cooked through. Turn off the heat and allow the filling to cool and then stir though the chopped shallots. 
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 
4. Get the dough out and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Roll out each piece to a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Each circle should be about 6 inches diameter. Place a generous amount of filling in the centre of each circle. Moisten the edges with a bit of water and fold them in half, crimping the edges together to seal them well. Continue with the remaining pastry and filling. Poke a couple of holes in the top of each one to allow the steam to escape while cooking. 
5. Line a baking tray with non stick paper and bake the patties for about 20-25 minutes, until golden. 

Makes 12 patties. 

Check out my other Jamaican recipe posts:

Jamaican Rum Punch

Jerk Tofu & Pineapple Skewers

Jamaican Peanut Punch

Gizzada (Coconut & Brown Sugar Tarts)

Old-time Jamaican Lemonade

Jamaican Ginger Cake

Pineapple Salsa

Callaloo

Jerk Sweet Potato Chips

[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.

Sesame & Chilli Fried Potatoes

I'd sound like a broken record if I told you again how much I adore tahini - if you've ever read this blog before then you probably know it already! So I won't. Wait, I just did. Oh well.....

It's hard to pass up the opportunity to make fried potatoes of any variety - and these ones in particular. In this recipe you make a bit of a home made tahini with toasted sesame seeds and spices, fry it up with some potatoes & chillies and then sit back and eat it straight out of the pan with a fork. Or serve it up on nice plates to dinner guests - it's your choice!

Ingredients
500g potatoes
1/2 cup unhulled sesame seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 green chillis, chopped
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (just leave this out if you don't have any)
Juice of 1 lemon

To Make
1. Peel the potatoes and chop into wedges, keeping them all roughly the same size. Boil in water until just tender. Drain and set aside.
2. In a dry (preferably non stick) frypan, toast the sesame seeds until golden. Transfer to a food processor and blitz into a powder.
3. Heat the oil in a large (preferably non stick!) frypan, and add the chillies and fenugreek seeds. Fry until the fenugreek is golden brown and then add the spices and fry for a further 15 seconds. Then add the sesame seed powder and stir well, to make a paste.
4. Add the drained potatoes and toss well to coat in the sesame chilli paste.Turn the heat down to low and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often. The potatoes should be cooked through, but not starting to break up yet.
5. Add the lemon juice, stir through and remove from the heat. Serve.

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

Check out my other Nepali/Nepalese recipe posts:

Tomato Achar

Aloo Roti (Potato Roti)

Semolina Halva

Vegetable Momo with Chilli Sesame Dipping Sauce

Chilli Grapefruit & Orange Salad

Saag Tarkari

Nepalese Potato Roti (Aloo Roti)

I adore roti! I never knew how easy it was to make my own roti until I went to Sri Lanka and had the most delicious and fun cooking class at Unawatuna. It was so easy to make the delicious coconut roti that Karuna taught us that it's become a firm favourite at home. So, I never pass up the chance to make more roti - and different varieties always make me a little excited inside. This is Aloo or Aalu (potato) roti that I made for Nepal month is a great addition to my roti repertoire. Flavoured lightly with chilli, spices fresh coriander, it is delicious to mop up your curry or slather with some tomato achar or any other chutney or pickle.

Nepalese Potato Roti

Ingredients
3 large potatoes
1 green chilli, seeds and placenta removed
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups wholemeal flour
Oil for frying

To Make
1. Peel and chop potatoes. Boil until well cooked then drain and mash finely. Allow to cool.
2. Once the potatoes have cooled, add the chilli, garlic, coriander, cumin and salt and stir well to combine.
3. Add the flour and stir well to combine. Take small handfuls of this dough and place on a floured surface. Use your fingers to flatten into a disk about 1 cm thick. Use a small bowl to cut out the roti into evenly shaped circles (this keeps them all the same size).
4. Heat a small amount of oil in a non stick pan. Fry the roti for a few minutes on each side on a medium heat, until they become golden brown and crispy on the outside. Keep warm as you cook the remaining roti. Serve warm with tomato achar.

Makes 10 roti (may vary depending on the size of the bowl you use to cut them into circles).

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

Check out my other Nepali/Nepalese recipe posts:

Tomato Achar

Semolina Halva

Vegetable Momo with Chilli Sesame Dipping Sauce

Chilli Grapefruit & Orange Salad

Saag Tarkari

Sesame Chilli Fried Potatoes

Vegan Pyzy (Polish Potato Dumplings) with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Dumplings are a universally comforting food - from the fried or steamed Chinese dumplings dipped in tantalising chilli and soy sauce, to the hearty and satisfying potato and vegetable based dumplings of Eastern and Central Europe, there is something about dumplings which satisfies the soul as well as the stomach! Generally, I've had a lot more experience making the Chinese variety than the European ones, but that changed when Poland was requested by a reader to be featured on the blog.

This June and July you'll see a lot of Polish recipes, and that is going to include some dumplings! Dumplings in creamy I-can't-believe-it's-vegan mushroom sauce. When I made these and served them up it looked like a bit too much sauce and I made a mental note to alter the recipe - but when I served them up we mopped up every little last big of that sauce and could have had more! So I didn't alter the recipe, you're going to want that much of this sauce!

I used my home made vegan sour cream in this recipe, and the result was luscious and super creamy! I can't predict how it will turn out with store bought vegan sour cream, but making it was really, really easy. So you can jump over to my recipe here and make some yourself.

Vegan Polish Pyzy (Potato Dumplings) with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

1 kg potatoes, peeled

5 tbsp flour (or more, as needed)

1/2 tsp salt

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

400g mushrooms

3 tbsp vegan margarine

2 tbsp plain flour

2 cups hot vegetable stock

1/2 cup vegan sour cream

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or substitute 1 tsp dried dill)

Salt and pepper to taste

To Make

1. Grate half of the potatoes raw and place in a strainer placed over a bowl. Leave to drip dry for at least half an hour then use the back of a spoon to push any remaining liquid out. Keep the liquid though!

2. Roughly chop the other 500g of potatoes and boil until tender. Mash and place in a bowl with the grated potato and the flour. Mix well.

3. The leftover liquid should now have settled and separated out, gently pour off the clear liquid from the top and add the starchy sediment to the bowl of potatoes and flour. Mix well.

4. Your dumpling mix should now be a thick and sticky consistency that you can roll into balls - if it is too dry add a little water, if it is too wet you can add a little more flour.

5. Dust your hands with flour and roll into walnut sized balls. Set them aside while you make the sauce (you'll boil them just before you need to serve them).

6. To make the creamy mushroom sauce: wash and slice the mushrooms. Melt the margarine in a saucepan and add the flour. Stir vigorously to form a smooth paste. Gradually add the hot vegetable stock, just a little bit at a time, and stir well to keep the sauce as a smooth paste. Continue until all the stock is added.

7. Add the mushrooms to the sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked. Add the sour cream, dill and season to taste and then remove from the heat.

8. To cook the dumplings - bring a big pot of water to the boil and gently add the dumplings. Stir gently to make sure none stick to the bottom. Boil for about 10 minutes, you'll know they are done when they float to the surface (you may have to do 2 batches to get them all done). Serve hot with the mushroom sauce and garnish with extra dill as desired. 

Serves 4.

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

Check out my other Polish recipe posts:

Home Made Vegan Sour Cream

Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad)

Golabki (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

Surówka Z Marchewki

Kluski Z Makiem (Poppyseed Pasta Dessert)

Makowiec (Poppyseed Strudel)

Paprika de papa (Paprika Potatoes)

Potatoes make such a wonderful comfort food - and potatoes and paprika are a match made in heaven! This recipe is very simple, and although it's part of Costa Rican Food month, I'm sure that similar dishes are cooked in many other countries all over the world. Because it's just a winning formula.

Although simple and easy to make - these potatoes just knocked my metaphorical socks off. This is a recipe which will go in your regular rotation, it's been added to mine. I plan to make this again and again and again!

This basic recipe can also be slightly adapted to your mood. If you want a bit of heat add some more hot paprika, if you want that smoky taste, add a bit of smoked paprika. You could also add cumin or even lemon juice for a bit of sour tang. So many possibilities! But try the original recipe first, then you can play around with it. Serve with corn tortillas and chopped fresh coriander. 

Ingredients

5-6 large potatoes

5 cloves garlic

4 tbsp olive oil (you'll need a bit more if you aren't using a non stick pan)

1 1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1 pinch hot paprika (optional)

1 tsp sugar

Cracked pepper to taste.

Fresh coriander, to serve

Corn tortillas, to serve

To Make

1. Peel and cube the potatoes. Peel and slice the garlic.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large frypan (I highly recommend non stick)

3. Add the potatoes, garlic, paprika, salt, sugar and pepper.

4. Fry on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Stir often to avoid sticking to the pan.

5. Serve in corn tortillas topped with fresh coriander.

Serves 4.

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

Check out my other recipe posts:

Resbaladera (Rice & Barley Milk Drink)

Orange & Passion Fruit Pudding (Atol de Naranja)

Chayote con Maiz (Chokoes and Corn)

Home Made Salsa Lizano 

Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding)

Gallo Pinto (Beans and Rice)

Hearts of Palm Salad with Lime Coriander Dressing

Mushroom Ceviche

Salsa Verde Potato Salad (otherwise known as Green Potatoes)

Around the holiday season you find yourself often in the position of being asked to "bring a dish" to any number of events. Potato salad is a classic, but give the tired old mayonnaise dressing a miss and try out this fresh and tangy salsa verde.

Ingredients

1kg chat potatoes

1 bunch parsley

1 tbsp capers

1 dill pickle, roughly chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

2-3 shallots, chopped (scallions)

To Make

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the potatoes. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and set aside.

2. Combine the parsley, capers, pickle, lemon juice, vinegar and 2 tbsp olive oil in a food processor. Process until you get to your desired consistency. You can either leave it a bit chunky (like a traditional salsa verde) or continue until it's smooth. 

3. Cut any of the larger potatoes in half, if desired. Stir through the dressing. Sprinkle with chopped shallots (scallions) and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. There is no need to add salt, as the capers are quite salty already. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6.

German Potato Salad

I have mixed feelings about potato salad, I'm not much a fan of the overly creamy mayonnaise based potato salads. This salad, on the other hand - is out of this world. I could sit down with a big bowl of this salad every night of the week and never get sick of it. Sometimes simple things are simply the best, and I believe that pickles and potatoes are a match made in heaven. In salad, in soup, or in gorgeous Croatian pogaca - I will never tire of this ingredient combination.

This is a very simple and elegant recipe, but it was one of my favourite ones from the whole German month. No kidding, just make it ok?

Ingredients

6 large waxy potatoes (such as desire)

1 tsp vegetable stock powder (or 1 cube if you buy them in cubes)

1/2 cup boiling hot water

2 dill pickles

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

2-3 shallots (scallions), chopped (white and green parts)

Salt and pepper to taste

To Make

1. Peel the potatoes and chop into large chunks. Cover with water and boil until just tender. Drain and place in a bowl.

2. Dissolve the stock powder in the 1/2 cup of water. Pour over the hot potatoes.

3. Dice the pickles and add to the bowl of potatoes with the olive oil and vinegar, stir through gently. Set aside to cool.

4. Once cooled to room temperature stir through the shallots and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

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

Check out my other German recipe posts:

German Apple Pancakes

Rohkostsalat (Cabbage and Fruit Salad)

Deconstructed Black Forest Cake Parfait

Rosenkohl in Bier (Brussels Sprouts in Beer)

Zwiebelkuchen (German Onion Pie)

Frankfurter Kranz (Bundt Cake Layered with Cherry Jam & Rum Buttercream)

Kaiserschmarrn (Torn Pancakes with Apple)

Rote (und grün) Grütze (German Fruit Jelly)

Vegan Jansson's Temptation (Creamy Potato Bake)

Jansson's Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation) is a Swedish potato bake which is traditionally flavoured with sprats, which are a type of salty preserved fish. In most Anglicised versions of this dish the sprats are replaced with anchovies (much more readily available). However, this is a vegan version - so it obviously doesn't use either sprats or anchovies. In their place I have used tangy salty capers, which were absolutely delicious - even if they're not that authentic!

A creamy potato bake is something which is generally missing in a vegan's repertoire! So, it's nice to have created this one to fill that void! It's delicious! Creamy potato with bursts of tangy capers all flavoured with a sprinkle of dill. Try this - it's easy and very satisfying!

Ingredients

1 kg potatoes, peeled and sliced (1 cm width)

1 lg onions, thinly sliced (still round)

400g silken tofu

1 cup blanched almonds (soaked in water for 30-60 mins, then drained)

1 clove garlic, crushed
4 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp arrowroot
Pinch of nutmeg
1 1/2 cups almond milk
2 tbsp chopped dill
1/3 cup capers

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Combine the the almonds, garlic, lemon juice and 1/2 cup almond milk in a food processor. Process until smooth and the almonds aren't gritty.
3. Add the tofu, salt, nutmeg, arrowroot and the rest of the almond milk. Process to form a smooth creamy sauce.
4. Layer half the sliced potatoes on the bottom of a large baking dish. Top this with a layer of the sliced onions.
5. Sprinkle the capers and the chopped dill over the top of the onions. Layer the remaining potatoes over the top.
6. Pour the creamy sauce over the top of all of it, covering all the potato evenly.
7. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender to pierce.
8. Remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the top is browned (if you have an oven with elements that separate then you may wish to switch it to a "top-only" setting to aid this). Serve.

Serves 4, or 6 as a side dish. Perfect to bring to a family gathering or a potluck!

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

Check out my other Swedish recipe posts:

Ärtsoppa (Split Pea & Mustard Soup)

Vegan Smörgåstårta (Swedish Sandwich Cake)

Chokladdarraksbolls (Chocolate & Aniseed Balls)

Vegan Swedish Meatballs

Almond and Cranberry Semla

No-Knead Cardamom Braid 

Kladdkaka (Gooey Chocolate Cake!)

Garlicy Field Mushrooms with Rödkål 

Swede and Parsnip Mini Cottage Pies

This month I'm featuring recipes inspired by Scottish food, quite a challenge for a vegan - but one that I'm very much enjoying! Pies are a bit part of Scottish cuisine. Scotch pies, shepherds pies and cottage pies. All very meaty of course. So, this is my version of a vegan cottage pie. It has big chunks of swede and parsnip (though you could use carrots and turnips as well) mixed into a rich onion and pepper gravy topped with classic mashed potato and baked until crispy on top. It's perfect served with mushy peas. I made mine in mini pies but, of course, you could put it all in a dish and make one big pie as well.

Ingredients
4 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 swedes (or turnips), peeled and chopped
1 kg floury potatoes (such as sebago), peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Nuttelex (or other non dairy butter or margarine)
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 heaped tbsp flour
2 tsp powdered 'beef' stock (I use Massel, because it has no animal content)
2 cups boiling hot water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cracked black pepper

To Make
1. Simmer the swedes for about 35-40 minutes, or until just tender. During the last 15 minutes add in the parsnips, they should cook in much less time.
2. Preheat your grill to 160 degrees.
3. Boil the potatoes until very tender (at least 30 minutes, more is fine). Drain and mash well with salt and nuttelex.
4. Now get all the rest of the ingredients ready and close to hand to make your gravy. In a small saucepan heat the olive oil and sauté the onions until soft and translucent. Add the flour and stir constantly for a minute or two. Add the stock powder and soy sauce to the boiling water and add about 1-2 tbsp to the flour and onions in the pan. Stir well to make a very thick flour and onion paste.
5. Add the rest of the hot stock in small amounts and stir vigorously as you do so to make sure there are no lumps (this isn't as hard as people think, just don't add too much water at once and make sure the water is still hot).
6. Once you have added all the stock add the black pepper. You should now have a fairly thick but pourable gravy. If it is still too thick to pour then you can add a bit more hot water to thin it out.
7. Drain your swede and parsnip and stir into the gravy. Stir well to coat all the chunks in gravy.
8. Take 8 medium sized ramekins (or alternately just use a square baking dish) and distribute the vegies and gravy evenly amongst them.
9. Top each ramekin with mashed potato and use a fork to score/rough up the surface (this creates more surface area to go crunchy in the oven).
10. Place in the oven/grill for about 15 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned.

Serves 8, serve with mushy peas and a sprinkle of salt on top!

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)

Orange and Lemon Vegetables

Scottish Vegan Oat Scones

Chadian Recipes: Irio

Keeping up with the Chadian food we're now offering you this delicious Irio! Irio is a staple base to a meal common in Chad and Kenya, where it is generally served with a sauce such as our delicious Chadian Peanut Sauce. It is essentially mashed beans, potatoes and vegetables and as far as I'm concerned you can't really go wrong with that! It tastes delicious on it's own, and even better when eaten with peanut sauce and our Chadian Sweet Potato Fritters - a perfect meal!!

This recipe makes quite a lot, so if you don't want to have a big dinner party so that there are plenty of people to help you eat it (like I did), you can still make the full amount because the leftovers make a delicious vegie burger! Just shape the leftovers into patties, roll in breadcrumbs and fry for quick, easy, healthy and delicious vegie burgers.

Ingredients

1 cup dried lima beans, soaked over night

1 cup dried peas (or use fresh or frozen)

5 potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 cobs corn

1/2 bunch fresh spinach (silverbeet) - or use more to taste

1 tbsp salt

Black pepper to taste

To Make:

1. Boil lima beans in plenty of water until completely cooked (you can even over cook a bit) and the skins have split. Drain and set aside.

2. Bring a really big pot of water to the boil and add the salt. Add the dried peas and boil for about 15 mins (if using frozen peas forego this step).

3. While the peas are cooking cut the corn off the cob (give the cobs to your guinea pig - they'll love gnawing on it).

4. Add the corn, potatoes and spinach to the boiling pot. Boil, covered, until the potatoes are well cooked.

5. While it is boiling, head back to your drained lima beans. The skins should be loose and split so just peel the skin off the outside and discard (this will give your Irio a smoother consistency). Add the middle bits of the lima beans back into the boiling pot and remove from the heat. 

6. Once the potatoes are well cooked, drain the whole pot of vegies into a big colander and then immediately put back into the pot.

7. Use a potato masher to mash the whole mixture together into a thick paste/mash. Obviously the corn won't mash down and the spinach will only mash up to a degree. But the rest of it should mash into a nice thick mash. Taste and add salt and cracked pepper to taste.

Serves about 8 as a side dish, serves 4-5 as a main accompanied by a sauce.

Check out our other Chadian recipes as well: 

Chadian Breakfast Bouille

Millet Balls with 3 dipping sauces

Chadian Sweet Potato Fritters

African Loz (Almond and Pistachio Bites of Amazingness)
Kachumbari 
Maharagwe 

2 Croatian side-dishes: Kupus Na Zagorski & Blitva

Well we've almost reached the end of Cabbage Month... I mean Croatia Month. So we're rounding the savoury recipes for Croatia off with a double whammy - two lovely side dishes (no surprises - one of them is cabbage!). These dishes are a great accompaniment to your main dish, or you can make them both because if you eat them together it makes a great full vegetable-filled meal.

Kupus na Zagorski

Ingredients:

½ a large cabbage, shredded finely
4 Tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp brown sugar
1  brown onion
4 Tbsp of smoky paprika
1  tsp cumin
1 green chilli
5 tablespoons vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

How to make:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over a medium heat and sauté the onion and chilli for 2-3 mins.

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well, sautéing for 5 mins.

3. Turn the heat to low, cover pot and leave to simmer for about 20 mins (or until cabbage is cooked).

4. Enjoy!

Serves 10-12 (as a side dish)


I recommend having some of our Cabbage-Is-My-Friend Tea.

Blitva


Ingredients:
1 bunch chard/spinach
2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled
2 tbsp olive oil or to taste
2 tbsp nuttelex
Salt & pepper to taste


To Make:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the 1 tbsp nuttelex.
2. Rinse the chard well and remove the tough stems. Tear into large pieces. Cut the potato into 3-4cm cubes.
3. Drop chard and potatoes into the boiling water and cook until done (about 10 mins).
4. Drain and top with olive oil and 1 tbsp nuttelex. Stir well and season with salt and pepper to taste.


Goes perfectly with out fabulous Croatian Posna Sarma (Cabbage rolls stuffed with rice).

Yumuşacık Poğaça (Croatian fluffy savoury buns)

A-dizzle and I recently had a whole group of people over to help us eat all our Croatian food. Not only was this a particularly fun one to make with helpers but it was also by far the most popular savoury dish we served. There is something so fun about inviting people over and then getting them to help you with the food and we had a great time rolling these out, check it:

Poğaça is a savoury bread/pastry eaten in Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, Greece  (where its called bougatsa Μπουγάτσα) and Turkey with variations.Typically it is filled with feta cheese, however, this isn't a very vegan option so these ones have a vegan filling of my own devising, comprising of creamy potatoes, grated pickles and chopped parsley - it was such a hit that my guests were eating the leftover filling straight out of the saucepan.

I have to give a big thank you to the fantastic @rhelune for sending me the idea for these, and also for all the other awesome advice and recipes sent to me via twitter.

Poğaça with Potato and Pickles

Ingredients

Dough

4 cups flour

¼ cup warm soy milk
1x 7g sachet dry instant yeast
½ cup canola oil
1 tbsp sugar
¾ cup mineral water

Filling

2 potatoes, peeled and washed

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp nuttelex

2 pickled cucumbers

1 bunch continental parsley

Sea salt, to taste

Plus

Soy milk, to brush on top

Poppy seeds

To Make

Dough

1. Mix sugar and yeast with warm milk. Combine all the dough ingredients including this milk mixture and mix them well. You can add a little more flour or mineral water if either of them is not enough. You should have a pliable and nonsticky dough. 

2. Cover it with a moist cloth and let it rest in a warm spot for 45 min.

Filling

1.  Chop the potatoes and boil them in plenty of water until completely cooked.

2. Melt nuttelex in a saucepan and sauté the onions until translucent and soft.

3. Coarsely grate the pickled cucmubers and add to the onions. Sauté until the onions are completely cooked. Remove from the heat. Add the potatoes and mash with a potato masher (doesn’t have to be smooth, leave it chunky).

4. Finely chop the parsley and stir through the filling with the sea salt.

Assembly

1. Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees

2. Take a small piece from the dough and flatten it with your hands. You can do this on the counter. Put a tsp of potato mixture on it and close it up folding the edges upwards like a bundle. Do the same for the rest of the dough. 

3. Place a parchment paper in a baking tray and place the poğaça on it. The folded side of  poğaça should be at the bottom to have a ball shape. This is best done with help :) Try to make them all the same size, however, as you can see below, we didn't really succeed due to multiple rollers, but it didn't affect their cooking.

4. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with poppy seeds.

5. Bake for 20-25 mins or until they are nice and golden on top. Serve straight out of the oven or allow to cool to room temperature (both delicious).

Makes 12.

Check out our other recipes for Croatia Month:

Poppy Seed and Almond Kolache

Paprenjaci

(Cracked Pepper Biscuits)

Posna Sarma

(Rice filled cabbage rolls)

Makovnjaca
(Poppy Seed Strudel)

Croatian Pizza

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