Nettle Temptation

By Heikki | July 19, 2008 – 10:57

In May, when we gathered some goutweed, we also picked up a lot of nettles (Urtica dioica). Usually, we make pancakes or a sauce from nettles, but this time we wanted to do something different. A non-vegan version of this recipe by Vivi-Ann Sjögren was in the monthly Kuukausiliite supplement of the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Why call it a temptation, you might ask. There’s a Swedish (non-vegetarian) dish called Janssons frestelse, which is a bit similar to this dish, and the name translates as Jansson’s Temptation.

  • 7 potatoes, chopped into sticks
  • 4 onions, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 2 liters of fresh nettles (or more)
  • 3 tablespoons capers (or more)
  • 2 dl oat cream
  • dry bread crumbs
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • margarine

First, we chopped potatoes into sticks, and sliced the onions. We fried the onion over medium heat until translucent, and removed it from heat. Then we boiled the nettles in lightly salted water for a couple of minutes, and drained them. Now, we crushed the garlic, chopped the nettles, and fried them lightly on medium heat.

Next, we oiled a 28 x 19 cm baking pan, and started adding layers of potatoes, onions, nettles, and capers, in this order. After each full round we added salt, pepper and bread crumbs. We finished with an extra layer of potatoes, poured in the cream evenly, sprinkled the bread crumbs, and added a few dollops of margarine.

The temptation was baked in 200 degrees Celsius until the potatoes were cooked. In our oven this took 55 minutes. If the potatoes start to burn but are not yet cooked, cover the pan with aluminum foil.

We ate the temptation together with some pan-fried tofu.

Note: When gathering nettles, try to pick up only smallish ones - they shouldn’t be more than 20 cm high. The stalks and leaves of the younger nettles are still soft, and better for cooking.

By Heikki | Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (7)

Blueberry Lime Ice Cream with Matcha Powder

By Anni | July 16, 2008 – 11:59

We are finally back from holidays - well rested and happy to be in our own kitchen again! This ice cream, which actually was my first homemade ice cream ever, is something I’ve had in mind for a few months now. We don’t have an ice cream maker, and without one the process requires a lot of time hanging around the house. But the result was delicious, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be experimenting with a bunch of new flavors in the future!

This recipe makes a pretty nice, smooth ice cream, and it wasn’t as much work as I thought it would be. Blueberries and lime are a match made in heaven, and matcha powder adds a nice green tea flavor in the mix - I like to make a smoothie with these three ingredients as well.

Here’s what I used:

  • 350 g firm silken tofu (Mori-Nu)
  • 200 g frozen blueberries
  • about 2 dl confectioner’s sugar (depending on the sweetness of the blueberries)
  • 3 and 1/2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder
  • juice and zest of 1 lime
  • 2 dl oat cream (or other vegan cream)

Making the ice cream takes about 5 hours (in our tiny freezer compartment), and it’s best eaten on the day of making. This recipe fills one 750 ml (7,5 dl) container.

First, I reserved 1 dl of the blueberries for serving, and placed the rest in a mixing bowl. Then I added all the other ingredients: lime juice and zest, tofu, oat cream, sugar, and matcha powder. I blended everything with our immersion blender until completely smooth, poured the mixture in the container, and popped it in the freezer.

Now, I set our kitchen timer at 55 minutes (it can only be set to 1 hour or less), and when the alarm went off, I hurried into the kitchen to blend the ice cream. I moved it in a large mixing bowl, blended with our immersion blender, ladled right back in the container, and placed it in the freezer again.

Then I repeated the above step two more times, until 3 hours had elapsed. The fourth time I only let the ice cream freeze for 35 minutes, then stirred briskly with a fork to break the texture once again, and placed it in the freezer for about an hour more, until it was time for dessert.

If frozen overnight, this ice cream becomes very solid, and needs to thaw for about an hour in the fridge before it’s scoopable.

By Anni | Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (9)

Summer Vacation!

By Anni | June 5, 2008 – 23:06

The reason for the lack of posts recently is the long-awaited summer vacation. Our first stop was a tiny island in Helsinki - the water was still pretty cold - and tomorrow we’re off to Lisbon for warmer waters.

Blogging will be resumed in July - we wish you all gentle summer nights with no worries at all!

Anni & Heikki

By Anni | Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (12)

Zesty Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake

By Anni | May 30, 2008 – 22:51

The fruit combo in this cake is very nice and summery - lemon zest adds a refined kick to the usual pairing of rhubarb and strawberries, and the cake layer is sweet with a hint of cinnamon. When I first baked this, my mom said that it tastes like it had eggs in it. And I sort of agree - at least the texture of this cake is very similar to cakes that use eggs. I suspect it’s got something to do with baking soda and soy yogurt, but chemistry is not my strongest point, so that’s as far as I’m going to go with speculation…

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.

By Anni | Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (7)

Sunflower Seed Tofu

By Heikki | May 27, 2008 – 23:29

We got The Asian Vegan Kitchen by Hema Parekh a couple weeks ago, and have tried a few dishes out of it so far. It’s an excellent and inspiring book, but we’ve found that we want to make the recipes spicier. For example, the biryani was the first recipe we tried off the book, and we did like it, but we both thought that the amount of spices could have easily been doubled. After that experience, we’ve been happily boosting the recipes with extra amounts of spices and enjoying all the dishes so far!

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!

By Heikki | Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (4)