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Anni & Heikki

Rhubarb is very tart, hence the generous amount of sugar in the filling. I also recommend drinking a glass of calcium-enriched vegan milk with this pie, since rhubarb might steal the calcium from your body if you don’t. This recipe makes a lot of cake, enough for 10 helpings I’d say.

The FIlling:

• 4 large rhubard stalks (about 6-7 dl sliced rhubarb)
• 4-5 dl (frozen) strawberries
• 2 dl sugar
• 3 and 1/2 tablespoons potato starch
• grated zest of 1 lemon

The Cake:

• 200 g margarine
• 2 dl sugar
• 2 and 1/2 dl soy yogurt
• 5 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

The Crumb Topping:

• 1 dl rolled oats
• 1 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl sugar
• 1/2 dl liquid margarine

First, I prepped the rhubarb: peeled the skin and sliced it very thinly. Then I mixed all the filling ingredients and set aside while making the cake and the batter.

For the cake, I first whisked together the soy yogurt, margarine, and sugar. The result will be grainy, but that’s okay. Then I mixed the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, added this to the wet, and stirred with a fork until combined. The batter is relatively stiff as far as cake batters go.

Then I proceeded to make the topping by mixing everything together with a fork.

Now, I covered our (20 X 30 cm) baking dish with parchment paper, making sure there was enough paper to cover the sides of the dish as well, because this cake will rise a lot in the oven. Then I spread the cake batter in the bottom of the pan, poured the fruit filling over it, and sprinkled the crumbles on top.

Then I baked in 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted came out clean, and the crumb topping had browned nicely. We served the cake with vanilla soy ice cream.

This stir-fry is based on the Kung Pao Tofu recipe in The Asian Vegan Kitchen. I tweaked it quite a bit, but the essence of the dish remains: a stir-fry sauce with chili paste, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, sweet miso, and sherry. As my version doesn’t have peanuts or cashew nuts in it, I couldn’t call it Kung Pao any more. As a side we had a Sweet and Sour Cucumber salad from the same book and some jasmine rice.

This amount of ingredients made about three portions.

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
• 2 teaspoons chili paste
• 1 and ½ tablespoons sweet (light) miso paste
• 1 and ½ tablespoons dry sherry
• 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice

Stir-Fry Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons canola oil for frying
• 1 cm slice of ginger, crushed
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 300 g tofu, pressed and diced
• 1 fresh red chili, chopped
• ½ dl sunflower seeds, roasted
• ½-1 dl chopped chives and chive flowers
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• fresh coriander and chive flowers for garnish

I began by preparing all the ingredients - mixed the sauce, removed the seeds from the fresh chili, and chopped and diced all the ingredients. Then I put a wok over medium heat, heated the oil, and threw in the chili and the tofu, and fried them for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Then I picked up all the chili slices and the tofu cubes with two spatulas, and put them aside in a separate bowl.

I heated the oil remaining in the wok to high heat, and first put in the carrot and the ginger. After stir-frying them for half a minute, I added the bell peppers, and after another half a minute, the chives and the chive flowers. I stir-fried the veggies for about a minute more, and then poured in the sauce followed with the tofu and the chili. I stirred to combine everything, lowered the heat, and cooked it for a couple of minutes more. Before serving, I added in the sunflower seeds, stirred them in, removed the wok from heat, garnished with coriander leaves, and drizzled with sesame oil.

We decorated our portions with pretty chive flower petals. By the way, stir-fried chive flowers taste amazing!

These biscuits are called kauralastu or kaurapitsi in Finnish - “oat shavings” or “oat lace”. They are extremely sweet, a little too sweet to eat on their own for my taste, but more than perfect served with ice cream. We also used these to make ice cream sandwiches, with vanilla ice cream and blueberries - yum!

This batch makes a lot of biscuits, and we still have a jar full of them, but stored in an airtight container they keep for at least a few weeks.

Thin Oat Biscuits (makes 50-60):

• 3 and 1/2 dl rolled oats
• 1/2 dl whole wheat flour
• 2 and 1/2 dl sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 dl liquid margarine (or 100 g melted)
• 1/2 dl muscovado sugar
• 3/4 dl soy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

We first mixed all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then added in all the liquids, and finally just stirred with a fork until combined.

Then we covered a baking sheet with parchment paper and dropped teaspoonfuls of the batter on the sheet. The first sheet was a bit crowded, and we ended up with one very large biscuit! A teaspoonful of batter makes a biscuit that’s about the size of the palm of my hand, so these really do spread out quite a lot. We found out that making about 10 per baking sheet was good.

We baked our biscuits in 200 degrees Celsius for 5-7 minutes, until their edges had browned. At first, they needed 7 minutes, but once the oven had warmed more, 5 minutes was just enough - it’s important to keep an eye on them after 4 minutes, since the edges can turn black in less than a minute’s extra time.

After baking, we slided the parchment paper from the baking sheet to the kitchen counter, and let the biscuits cool down for a few seconds. Straight out of the oven, they don’t keep together well, but after only a few seconds they start to firm up. We wanted to make some curved biscuits too, so we lifted them with a thin spatula and carefully placed over a rolling pin. Now, if the biscuits had cooled down too long, they wouldn’t bend any more, so this is a little tricky. But flat biscuits are just as good!

Heikki also molded some of the biscuits in small bowls, and they make really pretty desserts with berries and ice cream!

These cookies were molded in small bowls right after baking.

I actually tasted a hint of liquorice in this mash, maybe because of the combination of salty and sweet flavors.

Sweet Potato Mash:

• 2 sweet potatoes (about 500 g)
• 2 teaspoons muscovado sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons margarine
• 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice (or lime juice)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 to 2 tablespoon chopped basil leaves
• salt to taste

First I peeled and sliced the sweet potatoes, placed them in a cooking pot with the sugar and the 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and added enough water to cover. Then I boiled them until very soft.

Once they were cooked, I drained the water, added the margarine, and mashed the sweet potatoes with our potato masher. Then I stirred in the black pepper, chopped basil, lemon juice, and some salt, and served the mash with some stir-steamed veggies and an arugula salad.

Wild vegetables should never be picked from road banks or anywhere close to heavy traffic. It’s also important to know exactly what you’re looking for - we were happy to have the advice from Heikki’s mom, who’s been trying to root up the goutweed from her allotment garden for the last few decades!

Here’s what we had in our soup:

• 5 dl goutweed (lightly packed), rinsed and chopped
• 5 dl veggie stock
• 2/3 dl semi-dry white wine (we had Portuguese vinho verde)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 dl fresh bread crumbs (the insides of a baguette, for example)
• oat cream and chives

I first fried the onion and the garlic in the oil on medium heat for about 12 minutes, until they started to turn golden but not yet brown. Then I added the white wine, and let it come to a brisk boil. I added the veggie stock and goutweed, heated the soup until it was boiling again, and simmered it for one minute. Now, I removed the pot from heat, added the bread crumbs, and used our immersion blender to purée the soup.

After plating the soup, I drizzled our portions with a little oat cream and sprinkled with chives.

Fresh goutweed leaves.

The combination of bitter cocoa flavor paired with intense pink peppercorns and sweet cinnamon is quite complex, and probably not to everyone’s liking, but I could live off the fragrance alone! Muscovado sugar imparts a pleasant, subtle sweetness, which situates these muffins somewhere between a dessert and a snack.

This recipe makes 6 muffins, but can easily be doubled.

The Dry Mix:

• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pink peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg

The Wet Mix:

• 1/2 dl liquid margarine (or canola oil, or 50 g melted margarine)
  
• 3/4 dl muscovado sugar
• 1 dl plain soy milk
• 1 dl plain soy yogurt
  
• 50 g chocolate, melted

Garnish:

• 6 chocolate squares
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pink peppercorns

First I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. The making of the batter was quite simple: I just mixed together the two mixes in separate bowls, and then combined the two with a fork until relatively smooth.

I greased 6 cups of my muffin tin with a little margarine, dusted them with cocoa powder, and spooned the batter in the cups. I pressed a little square of chocolate in the middle of each muffin, so that they peeked out a little bit, and then popped the muffins in the oven. They were done after 15 minutes in 175 degrees Celsius.

When the muffins had cooled down enough to handle, I placed them on a rack, and sprinkled ground pink peppercorns over the melted chocolate in the middle of each muffin.

The recipe is very easy and quick to make, but the flavor is at its best after a night in the fridge. If refrigerated and stored in an airtight container, this should keep for about one week.

Here’s what I used:

• 300 g firm tofu
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 1/2 dl water
• 2 teaspoons agave syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
• 12 fresh sage leaves
• juice of 1/2 lemon

I just blended everything except for the lemon juice and salt in our mini food processor until smooth. Now, I added the salt and the lemon juice a little by little, until the balance was right. Then I refrigerated the spread overnight - the flavors developed and the texture firmed up quite nicely.

The crust I made was really nice too, and its crunchy texture was a great compliment to the smooth filling. We’d left the sides of our springform pan over at a friend’s house, so had to use a pie tray instead, but that didn’t really cause any problems.

The Crust:

• 1 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl potato starch
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon muscovado sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 50 g margarine, cold
• 2 tablespoons soy milk, cold

I first mixed the dry ingredients together, then added the cold margarine, and mixed with a fork until crumbly. Then I added the soy milk and stirred until the mixture was sticky, and then pressed in the bottom our prepared pie tray with fingertips dipped in cold water. I baked the crust for about 17-20 minutes in 175 degrees Celsius, on the middle rack of the oven, until the sides were just lightly brown. Then I let the crust cool down before preparing the filling.

The crust puffed up quite a bit during the baking process, but settled once removed from the oven.

The Filling:

• 350 g silken tofu (we had Mori-Nu firm)
• 200 g vegan chocolate
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 dl coffee liqueur
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier liqueur

First, I melted the chocolate in a water bath, and set it aside to cool down a little. Then I measured everything else in a mixing bowl, and blended with our immersion blender until smooth. Now, I added the melted chocolate in the mix, and stirred until combined.

When the crust had cooled, I brushed the sides of our pie tray with a little bit of canola oil. Then I poured the filling over the crust, spread it with a butter knife, and made wavy shapes on the surface with a fork. Now, we refrigerated the pie overnight to let the filling settle, but the original recipe said it would be good to eat after two hours.

It’s important to choose waxy potatoes for salads, since they won’t get all mushy once cooked and cubed like their starchy relatives do. I even forgot my potatoes on the stove this time, and consequently overcooked them until their skins started to crack, but they still kept together just fine!

The Dressing:

• 1/2 dl olive oil
• 1/2 dl apple cider vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, rubbed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon red paprika powder
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

The Salad:

• 1 and 1/2 kg waxy potatoes, boiled, peeled, and cubed
• 4 Russian-style salted cucumbers, cubed (see our Stroganoff recipe for more information on Russian cucumbers)
• 35 g capers (1 small jar, or about 5 tablespoons)
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely cubed
• 1 can chick peas, rinsed, or about 3 dl cooked chick peas
• 1 small leek, rinsed and sliced
• chives (for garnish)

I just combined all the ingredients, whisked the dressing together, and mixed it in the salad. At this point, I always adjust the saltiness, and check if the salad still needs a dash of vinegar, or a little more black pepper.

Then we let the salad develop in the fridge overnight before taking it with us to the May Day picnic. This makes a big amount, and we even had leftovers with lunch for a few days after the picnic day - which is good, because this salad just gets better and better.