This batch serves 2 people as a snack or a starter – I have a feeling that next time we make these I will be doubling the recipe. The mint flavor came out quite delicate despite the seemingly large amount of mint leaves in the recipe, possibly because our mint was a little bit on the dry side.

The Ingredients:

• 200 g firm tofu, not pressed
• 1 dl cashew nuts
• 1 dl mint leaves, lightly packed
• 2 cloves garlic
• a 5 cm piece of a lemon grass stalk
• 1 red Thai chili, de-seeded
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water, as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

I placed half of the tofu, cashew nuts, mint leaves, garlic, lemon grass, the chili, and a splash of water in our mini food processor, and started blending into a coarse paste. The paste didn’t end up completely smooth, just so that there were no larger pieces of lemon grass or chili – I think this could easily be achieved with an immersion blender as well.

Now I crumbled the rest of the tofu, and added that to the spicy paste. I seasoned the dough with salt, and it was ready to be fried.

I heated a tin layer of canola oil in a frying pan, formed the dough into 10 balls, and flattened them lightly. I actually battered two of the croquettes with a gram flour and water mixture (the one that is on the right side of the picture being one of those), but I think the un-battered ones were slightly nicer.

I fried the croquets on high to medium high heat until browned on both sides, and then drained them on kitchen towel. I served these right away with an easy dipping sauce made with lime juice, soy sauce, and a pinch of sugar.

Heikki and I liked the chocolate that was sprinkled with both cardamom and pink peppercorns most, and the nutty chocolate did have a nice sugary crunch to it as well. Next time I might just add our favorite spices right into the melted chocolate and then sprinkle with nuts, although it was nice to have a variety of flavors to taste and compare this time.

Sugar-Coated Nuts:

I didn’t actually caramelize the nuts for this chocolate bark – they only got a thin coat of whole cane sugar, more brittle than the solid caramel you’d get by boiling the sugar for a longer time. This is a lovely treat by itself and we munched the leftovers from the chocolate-making in no time at all.

• 4 tablespoons whole cane sugar (rapadura)
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 2-3 teaspoons water
• pinch of salt
• 2 dl pecans, chopped
• 2 dl cashews, chopped

First, I mixed the sugar, oil, water, and salt in a cup to make a smooth-ish paste. Then I chopped the nuts coarsely with a heavy non-serrated knife, and toasted them on high heat until fragrant and just very lightly browned. I lowered the heat and poured the sugar mixture in the pan, stirring with a wooden fork, and it started bubbling right away.

I let it boil for a minute or two, until the water had evaporated and all the nuts were coated with the sugar. Then I spread the mixture on a piece of baking parchment, separating the bits from each other, and let it cool.

Making the Chocolate Bark:

• 200 g (or more) chocolate
• crushed pink peppercorns, ground cardamom, crushed peppermint candies, sugar-coated nuts, cinnamon, etc.

I used a bunch of different “leftover” chocolates for this one, most of them about 70 % cocoa solids. I divided the chocolate bars in small pieces, and melted them in a water bath (first boiled the water, then took the pot off heat and placed the chocolate bowl in the pot). Then I poured the chocolate on a piece of baking parchment in smaller and larger mounds, and spread them a little bit until about 3 to 4 millimeters thick.

Now I sprinkled the chocolate with my favorite things: pink peppercorns alone and combined with cardamom or cinnamon, mint candies, and the sugary nuts from above. I let the chocolates sit in room temperature until settled, for a few hours I’d say.

Since the sunflower that had decorated our living room for a few weeks had just started to wilt, I used a few of its petals to garnish our soup. They were actually quite tasty as well! I’m also thinking that coconut milk instead of the cashew nuts would probably be a nice tweak.

Here’s what I threw in the pot (enough for 3-4 as a main):

• 3 large beets
• 1 medium cauliflower
• 2 red onions, roughly chopped
• 1 red chili
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 7 and 1/2 dl water
• 1 dl cashew nuts
• juice of 1 lime
• zest of 1/2 lime
• (pinch of cayenne)

I heated up the oil in the cooking pot and fried the onions until they’d browned. Meanwhile, I prepped the veggies: peeled and thinly sliced the beets, chopped the cauliflower, and de-seeded and sliced the chili.

When the onions were soft and browned, I added the chili to the pot, fried it for a bit, and added the beets, the cauliflower and the garlic. I fried the vegetables for a few more minutes and then added the water, the cashews, and the salt in the pot. Now, I cooked the soup until the beets were tender, for 20 minutes approximately.

I puréed the soup with our immersion blender until it was completely smooth, and stirred in the lime juice and the zest, a little cayenne pepper for extra heat, and checked the salt.

This batch made enough soup for three lunches – two for me and one for Heikki.

The Soup:

• 1 small head of cauliflower, cut in florets
• 300 g (one medium) sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 and 1/2 dl coconut milk
• 4 dl vegetable stock
• salt to taste
• about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

I fried the onion and garlic in the oil until soft, then added the sweet potato and cauliflower, and fried for a few more minutes. After frying the veggies, I added the coconut milk, vegetable stock, and garam masala, and let the soup simmer until the vegetables were soft, for about 20 minutes. While it was boiling, I prepared the cashews.

Then I puréed the soup with out immersion blender, added a little bit of salt (might not be necessary if the stock is very salty), and stirred in the lemon juice. Before serving, I sprinkled my bowl with cashews.

Cashew Nuts:

• 1 dl cashews
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup
• 1 tablespoon water
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• pinch of salt

First I toasted the cashews lightly on a dry frying pan, and meanwhile mixed the rest of the ingredients together. When the nuts had browned a bit, I lowered the heat to medium, poured the syrup mixture in the pan, and stirred until the cashews were shiny and covered with the syrup, and the water had evaporated. Now, I poured the nuts on a plate covered with aluminium foil and let them cool down until the soup was ready to serve.

My cashews came out really sticky, which basically means that I didn’t caramelize them enough. That’s not a problem when sprinkled in a soup, but the leftover cashews were a nuisance to eat…

I always peel and slice the thicker stems of broccoli and use them in my cooking as well – they have a nice mild taste that reminds me of kohlrabi. I didn’t measure the soy sauce, and soy sauces also vary in how salty they are, so the amount might need a little adjusting.

• 1/2 dl cashew nuts
• 300 g broccoli, in florets, stems peeled and sliced
• 1/2 dl water
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• a squeeze of lemon juice

First, I prepped the broccoli, and heated a non stick frying pan over high heat. Then I toasted the cashews for a few minutes, until they started to brown, and added the broccoli and the water in the pan. Now, I stirred the broccoli for a few minutes until the liquid had more or less evaporated, and then added the chili flakes to the pan. After a minute or so , I added the soy sauce, and stirred until most of the liquid was gone. At this point the broccoli was cooked on the outside and still crispy on the inside.

I removed the pan from heat, added a splash of lemon juice, and enjoyed my simple lunch!

So, these days I like to add new things in my mashed potatoes and they sometimes hit the spot. After baking the pinwheels I was thinking hazelnuts, and the resulting variation might well be the best one I’ve mashed so far. Pink peppercorns added a touch of elegance in terms of taste and presentation.

We enjoyed these with steamed bok choy and fried tofu that Heikki prepared while I was busy with the potatoes.

Nutty mashed potatoes:

• about 10 small floury potatoes
• 1 dl cashew nuts, lightly roasted
• 1/2 dl hazelnuts, lightly roasted
• 1 dl cold water
• about 1 dl cooking liquid from the potatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pink peppercorns, crushed

I peeled and sliced the potatoes, and boiled them in enough fresh water to cover until soft, for about 10 minutes. While they were boiling, I ground the cashews and hazelnuts with the 1 dl of water in our mini food processor, until the mixture became creamy and smooth.

When the potatoes were done, I drained them, reserving some of the cooking liquid, and then mashed them carefully with our potato masher. Now, I added the margarine, nut cream, salt, and enough reserved cooking liquid to reach the consistency I was after. Sometimes I whip the potatoes at this point to make them extra fluffy. Before serving, I sprinkled the crushed pink pepper over the pile of mashed potatoes.

Our lasagne wasn’t extremely photogenic, but the side of steamed broccoli added a hint of aesthetic value – and also balanced the rich lasagne quite nicely.

Tomato Tempeh Sauce:

• 5 dl tomato sauce (passata type)
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 200 g tempeh
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

First, we prepared the tempeh. We chopped it finely, until we had nice crumbles.

Now, we heated a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan, and fried the temped crumbles for about 7 minutes, until they’d turned golden brown. Then Heikki added the soy sauce and the liquid smoke to the pan, and fried the tempeh until the liquid had evaporated, for a few more minutes.

I removed the tempeh from the pan, added a little more oil, and fried the onions until they became translucent. Now I added the dried basil, fried it for a few seconds, and then added the rest of the tomato sauce ingredients to the pan. I let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes, until the cashew sauce was ready, and then mixed in the tempeh crumbles.

Cashew Cream Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons vegan margarine
• 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 2 dl cashew nuts & 1 dl oat milk
• 9 dl plain oat milk
• 1 dl nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 teaspoon green peppercorns, ground
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

While Heikki ground the cashews with 1 dl of oat milk to create a thick cream, I melted the margarine in a small cooking pan on medium heat. When it started to bubble, I added the wheat flour, whisking all the time, and kept on whisking and frying the flour for a few minutes. Now, I added the rest of the oat milk a little by little, whisking to get it smoothly incorporated, and brought the mixture to boil on medium-high heat, stirring all the time. After the mixture had thickened a little, I whisked in the nutritional yeast and the cashew cream, and heated for a few minutes. Now the sauce was quite thick, and I added the rest of the ingredients – salt, green peppercorns, and lemon juice.

Assembling the Lasagne:

• 250 g (half a box) spinach lasagne sheets (Pirkka brand)

We first brushed our lasagne pan with olive oil, and spread a thin layer of the tomato sauce over the bottom of the pan. We covered the sauce with 4 lasagne sheets, and spread some more tomato sauce over the pasta. Now, we spooned about one fifth of the cashew sauce over the tomato layer, and then added three more layers of pasta covered with the two sauces. We reserved a little more cashew sauce for the last layer, and spread it evenly over the whole lasagne. We ended up with 4 layers of pasta, a layer of tomato-tempeh sauce underneath, and a layer of the creamy cashew sauce upmost.

Now we baked the lasagne in 200 degrees Celsius for about 35 minutes, until the white sauce had browned nicely, and let it cool down for about 10 minutes before serving.

Happy Valentine’s to everyone from me and Heikki!

As the mint flavoring I used crushed mint chocolate candies, more specifically a product called Marianne Crush from Fazer. It saved me from crushing the candies myself, and those candies come in wrappers, so it’s actually even more ecological to use the crushed ones. Marianne is essentially a candy cane candy with a heart of chocolate.

Mint Chocolate Cake:

• 1 dl plain soy yogurt
• 1 dl water
• 1/2 dl liquid vegan margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 dl sugar
• 1 and 1/2 dl crushed mint chocolate candies
• 2 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

To make the batter, I mixed the liquid ingredients (soy yogurt through apple cider vinegar) in one bowl, and the dry ingredients in another bowl. Then I combined the two and mixed with a wooden fork until combined. Now, I greased and floured a rectangular (23 cm X 15 cm) glass oven pan, spooned the batter in it, and baked the cake in 175 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes. Then I let the cake cool down completely before cutting it.

I first sliced the cake in two layers with a sharp knife. It is easiest to first cut around the edges, and then cut the whole cake along those lines. The edges are a little crusty, and the first cut steers the knife through the cake to make two even layers.

I cut off thin slices around the sides of the cake layers to get rid of the crusty parts, and since my baking dish had rounded corners, this also shaped my layers rectangular. Now, I cut each layer in 8 small squares.

Mint Chocolate Frosting:

• 1 package firm silken tofu (we had Mori-Nu)
• 1 dl confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 dl agave syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
• 2 dl cashew nuts, lightly toasted and finely ground
• 200 g vegan chocolate, melted
• 1 dl crushed mint chocolate candies

I first mixed the tofu, sugar, agave syrup, and cashew nuts with my immersion blender until the mixture was completely smooth. This took maybe 5 minutes or so, and when I tasted the mixture, I got a little worried: it tasted like tofu. Very sweet, but still had the bitter vacuum-packed tofu taste. I poured in the crushed mint candy, blended for a few minutes, and the tofu magic happened: no taste of tofu, but instead a perfectly creamy mint-chocolatey flavor.

I melted the chocolate in water bath (like I did with the Chocolate Raspberry cake), poured it in the bowl, and whipped the frosting until it got a little fluffier and lighter in color. Then I refrigerated it until the cake had cooled down enough to be filled and frosted.

Assembling the cakes:

I spread each little layer with some of the frosting, and then piled three little squares to make five small layered cakes. There was one little square left over. Now, I spread more frosting up the sides of the cakes, and sprinkled them with crushed mint candy and chocolate shavings. Then we shared one little cake with Heikki, and refrigerated the rest.

This is what we used (makes enough for two):

• 100 g rice noodles
• 200 g carrots, scrubbed and cut into thin strips
• 300 g cabbage, cut into thin strips
• 1 dl cashew nuts
• 250 g firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• 1 slice of ginger, about 1 cm thick, crushed
• about 3 tablespoons canola oil for frying

For the sauce:

• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon dried, crushed chili in oil (We used Lao gan ma brand)
• 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup
• 2 teaspoons brown rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

First, I put the noodles in a boiling pot of water. While they were cooking, Anni was slicing the vegetables. I pressed the tofu with cheese cloth for a couple of minutes, and cut it into cubes. I tasted the noodles now, and yes, they were already beyond al dente, so I poured them into a colander, and rinsed them in plenty of cold water, so that they wouldn’t get stuck into each other.

Then I heated about 2 tablespoons oil in a wok over high heat, and fried the tofu cubes until they were slightly browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. I poured the tofu out of the wok to a plate, and put rest of the oil in the wok, and waited a while for the oil to heat up. Now it was time to fry the veggies.

I put the ginger in the wok first, and stirred it around for maybe 20 seconds, and then added the carrots. Stirring continuously, I fried the carrots for about half a minute, and then added the cabbage, and fried them for about 2 minutes more. Whatever vegetables you are using, put the hardest vegetables in first, so they have more time to cook, but don’t fry them for too long! It’s nice if they still have some crunch, I think.

Next, I added the noodles. I put them in a bit at a time, mixing them with the vegetables. If you add all the noodles at once, it’s easy to end up with one big lump of noodles, all the veggies around it, which is, well, unsatisfactory.

While I was frying, Anni prepared the sauce. It’s easy to make, just combine all the ingredients in a cup, and stir. This time we used garlic, lemon juice, chili oil, soy sauce, agave syrup, brown rice vinegar and sesame oil. Yummy!

Once I had fried the noodle-veggie-mix for a couple of minutes, stirring continuously, I added the tofu back in, stirred for a few seconds more, and then poured in the sauce. Once it was mixed in, the noodles were ready to eat!

Variations

One thing to take into consideration with this dish is that the tofu tastes a bit mild when prepared this way. We don’t mind, I think it creates a nice contrast to the otherwise strong flavours of this dish, but there are a couple of easy ways to season the tofu.

One variation of the dish would be to marinate the tofu beforehand and otherwise prepare it exactly the same way, or alternatively, use unmarinated tofu, but once you have fried the tofu, pour in part of the sauce on top of them, stir until the tofu cubes have absorbed the sauce, and then remove them from the wok, and prepare the rest of the dish as explained above.

I used all kinds of green things in these cupcakes; an apple, melon seeds, kiwi fruits, and green food coloring for the icing (had we had frozen parsley, I would have squeezed out its juice to be used as a natural food coloring). The cake itself was disappointingly pale after baking, but the artificial greenness of the icing remained. I had never heard of baking fresh kiwi fruits in a cake, and the experiment was a success: the cupcakes had a mild kiwi taste, a light and moist texture, and the kiwi fruit cubes provided a slightly tangy edge when bitten into. And these cupcakes got excellent reviews – “the best muffin I have ever tasted” remarked a relative after having one (there is no word for cupcake in Finnish), and Heikki said that they were “probably the best cupcakes you’ve ever baked”.

The Fruit:

• 2 (organic) kiwi fruits, peeled and finely cubed
• 1 Granny Smith Apple, very well washed and grated

Dry Mix:

• 1 dl pumpkin seeds, finely ground
• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl potato starch
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt

Wet Mix:

• 2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 dl unsweetened soy milk
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 dl confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• grated peel of 1 lemon

I ground the pumpkin seeds in our mini food processor, and preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. At this point, I greased and floured my muffin tin as well.

Then I washed my apple thoroughly, and grated it. I didn’t peel the apple because I thought the peel would give the cupcakes some green color – it didn’t, so I’d say it’s best to get rid of the peels, because they have a lot of preservatives. I peeled the kiwi fruits and cut them in small cubes. I have a feeling that organic kiwi fruits are slightly larger than the non-organic ones we’ve had, so 3 smaller kiwi fruits wouldn’t be exaggeration.

Now, I mixed the wet mix and the dry mix in separate bowls, and then combined the two. I mixed the batter with a wooden fork just enough to combine, and then poured the batter in the prepared muffin tin, filling the cups about 2/3 of full.

Now, I baked the cupcakes in 175 degrees for about 23 minutes, until they were lightly browned over the top. The cupcakes were not very pretty straight out of the oven, because there’s so much fruit in the batter, but the icing makes them shiny and smooth. I let the cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, and then removed them to prevent sogginess.

Green Cashew Icing:

This icing is very rich and sweet, and the recipe makes more than enough to ice 12 cupcakes. Half the recipe would be just enough to make a thinner layer of icing.

• 1 dl cashew nuts, toasted and finely ground
• 1/2 dl unsweetened soy milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable margarine, in room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• a pinch of green food coloring
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons potato starch
• 2-3 dl confectioner’s sugar

After I’d put the cupcakes in the oven, I measured the margarine and the soy milk in small cups, and let them warm up to room temperature. I ground the cashews in our small food processor, then added the soy milk, and processed until the two were completely combined, and resembled a thick cream.

Now, I combined the margarine and the cashew mixture in a big bowl, and mixed them with a hand held mixer for a few minutes. Now, I added the rest of the ingredients one by one, beating in between: agave nectar, vanilla sugar, lemon juice, food coloring, potato starch, and confectioner’s sugar. I started with 2 dl of sugar, and added it tablespoon at a time until the consistency was still sort of runny and almost thick enough to be piped. Now, I refrigerated the frosting until my cupcakes had cooled down, and then piped it on the cupcakes.

It’s best to let the frosting dry up in room temperature for a few hours before refrigerating the frosted cupcakes. Also, I recommend only frosting the cupcakes that will be eaten on the same day, because otherwise they will get soggy in the fridge.