This spread was part of our May Day picnic. It gets its deep flavor from liquid smoke and fresh sage, and goes especially well with a bread that has a lot of flavor of its own - like the dried Finnish sour rye bread pictured below.
The recipe is very easy and quick to make, but [...]
I made this as a light lunch for myself, and it was so good that the recipe is definitely going to appear as a side dish for a larger audience. Steamed broccoli is great, and stir-steamed broccoli is even greater - it’s a quick method that gives pleasantly crispy results. Simply seasoned with nothing more [...]
Pasha is a lovely Easter dessert that has traveled to Finland from Russia. It’s a rich and flavorful concotion seasoned with almond, vanilla, orange peel, and dried fruit, traditionally prepared for the celebrations at the end of Lent by the Eastern Orthodox Christians. For pagans like me and Heikki pasha is a perfect way to [...]
These croquettes were made with simple ingredients that we almost always have around the house. Black beans, sunflower seeds, and pink peppercorns were the main components here, but lemon juice, sesame seeds, and ground coriander added a lot of flavor as well. Pink peppercorns and coriander are both fragrant and delicate seasonings, and they paired [...]
Palak is an Indian spinach dish that everyone knows from Palak Paneer, in which it is served with Indian cheese. I do not think that I ever tasted that dish before going vegan, but I’ve witnessed friends devour it in restaurants numerous times, and have become curious. Palak is delicious on its own, but tofu [...]
We baked this pie Sunday evening, when neither of us felt like having real dinner. I often make savory pies that are based on a puréed tofu filling, but haven’t thought about walnuts in this context before. Their deep flavor paired perfectly with the sweetness of the fried onions and the tangy lemon juice.
The ingredients [...]
A happy coincidence: I needed something productive to do, and we had two perfectly ripened organic kiwi fruits.
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 [...]
This was a quick lunch I made for myself on a day when I had to use up three carrots, since we’d got our organic veggie delivery the day before, and the old ones had to go. We froze a bunch of leeks after the previous organic delivery, so now I could just take one [...]
This was our vegan take on the traditional Finnish Christmas ham, although its similarities to a ham are very minor. We coated our roast with Dijon mustard that’s seasoned with garlic and red bell pepper - I am not a great mustard lover, but that particular mustard is delicious. We used pink peppercorns for decoration [...]
Marmalade confections are very popular in Finland around Christmas, and they’re naturally vegan - what could beat that as Christmas gifts for friends and family. My family isn’t religious at all, but Christmas is my favorite holiday, traditionally celebrated in Finland at the time of year when the darkest day of the year had passed. [...]
These vegan cutlets were mainly inspired by the Chickpea Cutlets from the Veganomicon cookbook. We made those cutlets a few weeks ago and they were really good. I liked the idea of mixing beans and gluten flour, since gluten can be too glutinous on its own, and the cutlets were really easy to prepare. Another [...]
We had this curry for dinner with basmati rice and cooling soy yogurt sauce. It was delicious, one of the best curries I’ve ever made. Toasting the spices and mixing my own curry paste must have been the secret of its taste.
Curry paste:
2 tablespoons grated coconut
1 teaspoon each: mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, [...]
The fragrance of this moist cake comes mainly from Grand Marniér liqueur, and there are three citrus fruits involved in the recipe; lemons, oranges, and limes. We had a few slices of this cake with black Assam tea on a gloomy November afternoon, and it seems to be a pretty good antidepressant. This is an [...]
We had these tofu patties for lunch two days in a row: first day served with cous cous and some leftover gravy, and the next day with olive mashed potatoes and basil yogurt sauce. We thought the patties tasted even better the next day, and thus would be perfect to have in the freezer for [...]
Served with a slice of bread, this soup is a tasty wintertime dinner in itself. It only took me about 10 minutes to make plus an hour to simmer. Long cooking time cuts the sharpness of the Middle Eastern hot chili pepper paste, harissa, and mellows down the garlic as well.
My soup looks more liquid [...]
Fava beans, also known as broad beans, are very delicious, but there’s one problem: they have thick skin, and every bean needs to be peeled separately. Especially dried fava beans are a little difficult to work with. I was very happily surprised when we found dried split fava beans at a local shop, Al Marwan. [...]
This is a North African salad made of bulgur (or burgul), crushed wheat grains. Bulgur doesn’t need to be cooked. Instead, it is reconstituted in the fridge overnight. It absorbs the liquid from vegetables, and prepared this way, remains firm in texture and is very flavorful. Other vegetables, like tomato or onions, could be added [...]
This is a quick salad I made as a refreshing side dish to go with a spinach curry.
What I used:
2 medium carrots
a splash of water
1 dl cashew nuts
1/2 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
pinch of sugar
freshly ground black pepper
First, I brushed the carrots until there [...]
