Vegetable and Lentil Stew with Herb Dumplings

We are off to Denmark next week to spend Christmas with a friend and his family. But before we leave I thought I'd post this yummy winter stew.

My picture does not do this dish the justice it deserves. It's a really delicious, filling dish that's great for cold winter nights. It's based on the recipe for Mushroom Stew with Herb Dumplings in vegan.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and and I'll see you all in the New Year!

Vegetable and Lentil Stew with Herb Dumplings

1 potato, chopped
25 g shiitake mushrooms, halved

125g oyster mushrooms, sliced

600ml (1 pint) vegetable stock

200ml of water

125g puy lentils (dried)*

1 red onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

125g frozen peas

1 red pepper/capsicum, deseeded and chopped

125g cabbage, chopped

2 heaped tsp cornflour

2 tsp vegan bouillon powder**
2 tsp cocoa

1 tablespoon of molasses***

1 tsp vegemite****

2 tbsp tomato sauce

125ml sherry

Dumplings:

1 3/4 cup self-raising flour

1 tsp vegan bouillon powder**

1 tsp chopped sage

1 tsp chopped thyme

1 tsp chopped parsley

3 tbsp oil

1/2 cup soya milk

Place the potato, shiitake mushrooms and lentils into large saucepan with stock and water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Mix all dumpling ingredients together in bowl. Make 12 balls (this is easier to do between 2 spoons or with 1 spoon and a hand. Two hands get rather sticky).

Add remaining vegetables to stew.

Mix the remaining stew ingredients into a small bowl. Then gradually add this to the stew. Stir constantly until stew thickens.

Sit dumplings on the stew and replace lid. Simmer for another 20 minutes until dumplings are cooked.

* We can never get dried puy lentils so use the canned ones. If you use the canned ones then don't put them in until the end just before you put the dumplings in. Alternatively, you can use red lentils or green lentils (the green ones will need pre-soaking, though, and may take longer to cook).

** If you can't get this, don't worry too much. We actually use this as the vegetable stock so just add a bit extra to make this. You could use dried vegie stock.

*** I use golden syrup instead of molasses. It's not really the same but it does the trick. 

****  Or whatever yeast extract you use.

Gazpacho

This recipe is super easy (as long as you have a blender/food processor), doesn't actually involve any cooking, uses up stale bread and tastes surprisingly delicious! It is based on a recipe I saw on River Cottage during their vegetarian season (on Channel4 for all you UK people). I made it much simpler by not caring about skinning and deseeding the tomatoes. If you want to do this I would suggest visiting the River Cottage website to see how Hugh does it. I also make my own croutons. He cheats.

 Gazpacho

3 thick slices stale white bread (around 100g), crusts removed*

200ml cold water

1 garlic clove, crushed

1.5 kg large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

1 red capsicum/pepper, deseeded and chopped

½ small red onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil for soup + 1 tbsp olive oil for toasting croutons

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

shredded basil or chopped flat-leaf parsley

Take 2 of the bread slices and tear into pieces. Put the bread into a bowl with the crushed garlic and water. Leave to soak for 10 minutes.

Put the soaked bread and garlic, tomatoes, half the cucumber, red pepper, onion, olive oil, vinegar and sugar in a food processor (it should just fit). Process to a coarse purée and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill for 2–3 hours, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

Cut the final slice of bread into small squares. Brush the front and back with the oil and grill for a couple of minutes on each side to make croutons.

Serve the gazpacho topped with the croutons, shredded basil/parsley and the other half of the cucumber, chopped.

*I kept the crusts on for one of them (for my croutons) because they gave extra crunch.

Cinnamon Scrolls and Donuts (Doughnuts)

Yes, I make my cinnamon scrolls and donuts with the same recipe. Topologically and semantically I might get away with it: the donuts are torus shaped and made from dough. However, I'm not sure Homer Simpson would have given my donuts the stamp of approval.

I love cookies and cake and muffins and all the really fatty, sugary stuff. It's really easy to eat something someone else made and not realise exactly how much fat and sugar goes into the product (and thus it's easy not to feel guilty about it). However, when you are physically mixing the batter and are measuring exactly how much oil and/or sugar you are using, you might not end up enjoying your lovely baked good in quite the same guiltless way.

This does not mean that the following donuts are healthy; everything in moderation. (Although, these donuts really need to be consumed on the day of baking (next day at the latest) so you might need to share in order to avoid eating them all yourself.) But these donuts are a lot healthier than your tradional donut from Krispy Kreme.

This dough recipe is based on the recipe for the dough for the Cinnamon Rolls in The Joy of Vegan Baking. In fact, my cinnamon scroll recipe is closely based around that recipe. I guess American cinnamon rolls are like Australian cinnamon scrolls and British Chelsea buns.

The dough you make will need 1-2 hours to rise so keep that in mind if you are pushed for time. You wil also need an electric stand mixer. If you don't have one you can do it just fine by hand but it'll be some work!

Also, don't be put off with the length of the recipe. It might look complicated at first glance but it is actually really simple once you have read through the instructions. And the results are well worth it!

Dough (for cinnamon scrolls and donuts)

(Dough needs 1-2 hours to rise so keep that in mind.)

4 1/2 tsp egg replacer (5 tsp ground flaxseed)

6 tbsp water

5 cups flour

2 1/4 tsp (7g sachet) active dry yeast

1 cup soya milk

1/3 cup vegan butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Whisk egg replacer/flaxseed together with water until thick and creamy.

Using your electric mixer with the normal paddle/mixing attachment mix 2 1/4 cups of the flour with the yeast. 

In a small saucepan heat the milk, butter, sugar and salt until butter is almost melted. Stir constantly. Pour into flour mixture in electric mixer and mix on low speed. Add the egg replacer mixer and turn to high/beat for 3 minutes.

Switch attachments to the hook-looking one. Put the mixer on low and mix in remaining flour gradually for 3-5 minutes until you have a moderately soft, smooth and elastic dough. You might end up with 1/2 a cup of flour left over. If you don't need it, don't use it. Your dough should be tacky but not sticky to touch.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in greased bowl. Let it rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place or until the dough has doubled in size. 

Once the dough has doubled, punch it down, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover with a clean tea towel and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then roll it out.

  

Cinnamon Scrolls

advanced prep required: scrolls needs about 1 hour to rise (this is in addition to the 1-2 hours above)

soya milk for brushing

Filling: 

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened

1/2 raisins

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (or other)

Icing:

1 cup icing/confectioners' sugar

2 tbsp vegan butter, melted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp soya milk

Prepare your dough as above.

Mix all the filling ingredients together.

Roll the dough into a 30cm square (12-inches for those of you still living in my grandma's era).

Spread the filling out over the dough. Do this evenly.

Roll the dough into a log (so that you can see the spirals at the ends). Pinch at the end to seal.

Slice the log into 8 equal slices (you should havd little flat cylinders with sprials of yummy filling showing). Place the slices on a greased tray or baking paper.* Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes-1 hour in a warm place until they double in size (keep this in mind when placing).

Preheat the oven to 190C (375F) and (uncover and) brush the scrolls with the soya milk. Bake for 25-30 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

To make icing combine all the icing ingredients in a bowl. After the scrolls have cooled for 5 minutes drizzle the icing over them. Serve warm. Best eaten day of baking (or next day at the latest).

*You can actually do all of this the day before and then put them in the fridge and carry on with the instructions from here.

(Healthier) Donuts

Prepare your dough as above.

Cut out donut shapes. I do this by using a wide glass for the outside circle and a small, sample-size jam jar for the inner circle. I'm sure you can also buy donut cutters or you could do it free-hand. You should end up with a bunch of donuts and holes. Keep both.

Place the donuts + holes on a greased or baking paper lined tray. Cover with cling wrap/film and let rise for 45min-1 hour. Donuts and holes should double in size.

Preheat oven to 190C (375F). Uncover the donuts and brush with soya milk. Baked for 10-15 minutes until the bottoms start to turn golden brown.

Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.

If you want to ice your donuts then let them cool completely and ice with whatever your favourite glaze is (the icing for the scrolls will do with a bit of cocoa if you like chocolate). If you want the traditional cinnamon donut then let them cool a little (a few minutes will do) then give them a quick spray with oil and roll them in a cinnamon-sugar mix (1 tsp cinnamon to 1/2 cup sugar).

Best eaten day of baking (or next day at the latest).

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I've been in the Peak District again this weekend. Lots of food reviews to come as well as some yummy new recipes!

Soba and Kombu Dashi soup

Kombu dashi. I used dark soya sauce so my soup is quite dark. A light soya sauce will give a lighter soup.

I really love Japanese food. I especially love Japanese soups; they are low in fat but are warm and yummy on an autumn's afternoon.

We recently had a Japanese PhD student visiting our lab for a few months and she introduced us to a lot of Japanese food and cooking we would never have known about. And her father owns a chain of sushi restaurants in Japan so I think we can take it for granted that she knows what she is talking about!

I recently asked her for a recipe for some sort of soba noodle soup. She gave me the below recipe (to which I've added only minor comments). It involves something called kombu which is dried kelp to make the base soup. We found some in our local Asian grocer (although the packet is not necessarily going to be in English so you should ask someone). Besides from that the ingredients are pretty standard.

Kombu. An essential, pre-prepared ingredient for the soup base.

 Soba and Kombu Dashi soup

for the kombu dashi (advanced prep needed)

6 cups water

3 x 2 inch pieces of kombu

for the noodle soup

400g/14 oz. dried soba (buckwheat noodles)
1/3 cup soya sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp salt

for the topping

~300g block of tofu

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 leek, finely chopped

1 sheet nori, shredded

In advance:

The kombu dashi soup base can be made in 2 different ways: a quick way or a long (better) way. 

For both ways you take the kombu pieces and tear a couple of one inch tears on each end of the piece. This is to give the water somewhere newly exposed to seep in to. The piece should still be whole just with tears on each end (see picture).

Tear the ends of the kombu about 1 inch.

The long way to make the kombu dashi is to place the pieces in the 6 cups of water and soak for at least 4 hours (overnight is fine). The quicker way is to soak for 20 minutes and then slowly bring the soaking kombu to the boil. Before it starts bubbling, take it off the heat. After you've done either of these you need to strain the water to remove the pieces of kombu and anything else. To do this use a sieve and line it with 2 paper towels. Pour the liquid through the paper towels and sieve. You should collect some very clear, pure liquid at the other end. Discard the pieces and keep the clear liquid. The clear liquid is your kombu dashi.

To make the soup:

First fry the tofu. To do this you should pat your tofu block with paper towels to absorb as much liquid as possible. Then slice the tofu up into small chunks. Heat the sesame oil in a wok on high and fry the tofu for 2-3 minutes on each side. Once fried, place the tofu on clean paper towels to soak up some of the oil.

Cook your soba noodles according to the packet instructions (normally boil water, add soba, boil for 6-7 minutes, drain, rinse with cold water).

Heat the kombu dashi soup with the soya sauce, mirin, and salt in a large pot to make the soup. 

 Serve the soba noodles into four bowls. Pour the hot boiling soup over the noodles. Put the toppings on top of the noodles in each bowl.

Serves four.

Get Stuffed!

Stuffed vegetables are awesome. Especially when you stuff the vegetables with more vegetables! The weather is getting colder so warm, yummy food with lots of vegatables (and vitamins), like the pictured dish, is more than welcome.

My general rule with stuffed vegetables goes a little something like: use whatever is in your fridge. I've posted about a stuffed field mushroom recipe before. However, zucchinis/courgettes stuffed with a delicious vegan pate is just as yummy. How do you make this delicious vegan pate? Well! I'm glad you asked.

Vegan Pate

adapted from vegan

1 cup red lentils

1/2 brown onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 cup of vegetable stock

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 tsp vegemite/marmite*

2 tbsp chopped dates

1 tbsp canola/rapeseed oil

1 tsp soya milk

1 tsp chopped thyme

Put lentils in a saucepan and cover with cold water (water should be about 2-3 inches above the lentils). Bring lentils to the boil then drain and rinse.

Return lentils to the saucepan with the onion, garlic and vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Drain the lentils again. Stir in remaining ingredients. 

Blend the lentil mix in the pot using a hand held stick blender or transfer the mix into a food processor/blender/liquidiser and blend until smooth.

Eat hot or cold.

If you want to stuff courgettes with the pate just cut about 1/4 of each courgette away along the length and scoop out the inside with a teaspoon. Brush with oil and bake for 15 minutes. Then add the pate and bake for another 10 minutes. If you are having trouble getting the courgette to sit flat then slice a sliver off the bottom edge, along the length.

The pate is also great on toast or crusty bread. I used it for a couple of days on sandwiches on fresh, grain bread with some vegan luncheon meat. It was very yummy!

* Or some sort of yeast extract paste.

Absence

I'm not dead nor have I given up on cooking. I'm just super, super busy! But I have many new recipes to share and lots of reviews of restaurants from all over Europe so hang in there a little longer and I promise to update very soon!