This isn’t the most visually pleasing dish even with the decorative sprig of rosemary, but the taste will more than compensate for the plain looks. Heikki took his half to work on the next day, and says it was very good re-heated as well. Cooking this took me about 25 minutes from start to finish, including the cooking time for lentils.

The Ingredients (serves 2):

• 5 dl whole wheat fusilli
• 300 g eggplant (1 medium)
• 1 and 1/2 dl green lentils (plus 1 bay leaf for cooking)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 dl fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons capers
• salt and pepper to taste
• nutritional yeast for sprinkling (optional)

The first thing I did was to rinse the lentils. Then I placed them in a small sauce pan with plenty of cooking water and a bay leaf, and let them simmer until soft but still firm.

Now, I cut the eggplant in small cubes, and heated a non-stick frying pan with about half a tablespoon of the olive oil. Eggplant will absorb any amount of olive oil, so there’s no point adding too much. Then I started frying the eggplant, on medium-high heat, stirring every now and then to ensure even browning.

I chopped the rosemary, squeezed the lemon juice, and grated the garlic, and mixed all these together. Then I cooked a large pot of water for the pasta, and added it in the pot when the lentils had cooked for about 10 minutes so that they’d be ready at about the same time.

When the lentils were done (which only took 15 minutes to my surprise), I rinsed them, removed the bay leaf, and added them to the frying pan with about two thirds of the lemon-garlic-rosemary mix. I added some salt at this point as well, and continued frying for about 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Finally, I added the capers, and removed the pan from heat.

When the pasta was cooked, I drained it, and combined it in the cooking pot with the rest of the lemon, garlic, and rosemary, and half a tablespoon of olive oil. After I plated the dish I sprinkled it with some nutritional yeast, and ground a healthy amount of black pepper over my portion.

Brown rice takes a long time to cook, but it results in a much more satisfying dish than white arborio rice commonly used for risotto. Brown rice isn’t as starchy as arborio rice at first, but it will get creamy after about an hour’s cooking. I’ve heard about brown arborio rice as well, but I don’t think it’s available in Helsinki. So, I didn’t feel like a heretic when I poured most of the cooking broth in the pan right at the beginning and covered the pan – I just let the brown rice reach the starchy stage this way, and once it was almost done, I started stirring in order to produce a nice and creamy risotto.

My Risotto Ingredients (serves 2-3):

• 2 and 1/2 dl short grain brown rice (soaked for 2 hours)
• 2 medium beets, peeled and chopped
• 1 small parsley root, scrubbed and chopped
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 dl flat leaf parsley (lightly packed), chopped

The Cooking Broth:

• 5 dl mild vegetable stock
• 1/2 dl mirin (or white wine)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• (additional water/stock to add later)

The Lemony Tofu:

• 200 g firm tofu
• juice of 1 small lemon
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

First, I placed the rice in a small bowl and covered it with water, and let it soak for about 2 hours. Then I mashed the tofu with a fork and combined it with the lemon juice, garlic, sugar and salt. I placed it in the fridge to marinate while I was cooking the risotto.

Then I made the cooking broth by combining the hot veggie stock with mirin and soy sauce.

I heated the olive oil in a frying pan and fried the spring onions until soft, then added the root parsley and the beet cubes and fried for a few more minutes. I rinseed the rice and fried it for a few minutes as well, and then started adding the liquid to the pan.

Pretty soon I realized that I’d have to hang around the stove for a very long time if I was to make the risotto correctly, and it was lunch time after all. So I decided to make things easier and added all the broth in the pan at once, lowered the heat to a light simmer, covered the pan, and set the kitchen alarm to 30 minutes.

After the first half an hour had elapsed I checked the risotto every now and then, stirring each time, until it started to thicken. I needed to add some more water toward the end of the cooking, maybe 3-4 dl altogether – it all depends on how runny you want your risotto. During the last 15 minutes I started stirring the risotto continuously while adding a little bit of liquid to get the consistency I wanted, and it was ready after about an hour and a half of total cooking time.

When the rice was soft and creamy, I stirred in about two thirds of the lemony tofu and the chopped parsley, and saved the rest for garnishing purposes. I also crackled some black pepper over my lunch portion.

Here’s my scrubbed parsley root, alongside some of its leaves.

We had the leftovers for lunch on the next day, and the flavors had blended a little more than I’d have liked. So in case of leftovers I recommend storing the lemony tofu and the risotto in separate containers, and only combining them right before serving!

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.

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!

We made our pasha with Estonian soy quark and soy whip cream, but I think plain soy yogurt, soy cream cheese, and soy sour cream would be great substitutes. We buy our soy quark from an Estonian grocery Eestin Herkut, or from the all-vegan grocery shop Asoka, both in Kallio. Traditional pasha is made in a special pasha mold that has a pyramidal shape, but since we don’t have one, we just used a fine sieve and got a nice round pasha instead.

This is what we used (serves 4-5):

• 2 dl vegan whip cream (GoGreen Vispi)
• 300 g soy quark (SoSoja lemon vanilla)
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 dl almonds, toasted and finely chopped or ground
• 1 dl candied citron (sukaatti in Finnish)
• 1/2 dl chopped sultanas
• grated peel of one orange
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

We first whisked together the soy quark, soy whip cream, and margarine, until the mixture was smooth, and then added the rest of the ingredients and mixed thoroughly. Now, it’s important to check the taste: it should be both tart and sweet, and finding the right balance between the two depends on the soy products used and the sweetness of the dried fruit. The flavors will deepen when the pasha sits in the fridge overnight, but at this point it might be necessary to add a hint of lemon juice if the mixture is too sweet.

Now, we covered a fine sieve with a layer of cheese cloth, and spooned the pasha mixture in the sieve. Then we placed the sieve over a deep bowl and covered with a lid, and placed the bowl in the fridge to let our pasha drain overnight.

The next day, we removed the bowl from the fridge, removed the sieve, and covered it with a serving plate, making sure that no cheesecloth remained under the rims of the sieve. Now we turned the whole thing upside down to plate our pasha. We peeled the cheesecloth, decorated the pasha with citron and sultanas, and devoured it with a cup of strong black Russian tea.

We served the croquettes with steamed cauliflower, a mix of brown rice and quinoa, and a tomato sauce seasoned with sage. Simple flavors of the accompaniments combined really well with the more complex black bean croquettes.

Black Bean Croquettes:

• 4 dl cooked black beans
• 1 dl sunflower seeds, lightly toasted
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 big cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon pink peppercorns
• 4 tablespoons spelt flour
• 1 dl sesame seeds
• canola oil for frying

To make the dough, I placed all the ingredients except for spelt flour and sesame seeds in a bowl, and mixed them with our immersion blender until smooth. Then I mixed in the spelt flour with a fork. Now, I formed the dough into 17 small croquettes with the help of our measuring tablespoon, dipping it in cold water in between each croquette, and then rolled them in sesame seeds to cover.

Heikki heated the canola oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat, and then fried the croquettes in two batches, for a few minutes on each side, until they had browned. Then we drained them on a piece of paper towel to get rid of excess oil.

Tomato Sage Sauce:

• 2 dl tomato sauce (passata type)
• 1 dl oat cream
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heikki fried the onion in the oil until translucent, then added the rest of the ingredients except for black pepper, and let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes. Then I puréed it with our immersion blender, adjusted the saltiness, and seasoned it with freshly ground black pepper.

Asafoetida, also known as stinking gum, or hajupihka in Finnish, is a very pungent spice, and isn’t to everyone’s liking. We only recently started using it, and I don’t find its fragrance all too repulsive, but Heikki is pretty sensitive about it. So, if you’re unsure, use it sparingly and see if you like it – I think it’s worth a try. Maybe the best bet is to try and not smell your spices while you are frying them, because that’s when the asafoetida odours really can get you – then you probably won’t even notice which part of the delicious curry taste comes from that particular spice component.

While I was cooking the spinach, I started to wonder why it didn’t turn brown like the spinach in Indian restaurants does, and googled my way to a few recipes for Palak Tofu on two of my favorite blogs Mahanandi and Fatfree Vegan. They both have fresh tomatoes in them, which explains the color – maybe I’ll include those next time, but I think that my addition of lemon juice provides some of the fruitiness that would normally come from tomatoes.

The Tofu:

• 300 g firm tofu
• 1/2 dl freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons brown rice miso

The Spinach Purée:

• 250 g fresh spinach leaves
• 3 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried ground coriander
• 1 dried crushed chili
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing) – be careful!
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dl water
• (1 tablespoon plain, unsweetened soy yogurt)

Heikki prepared the tofu by pressing it and then cutting it in small squares not thicker than half a centimeter. Then he patted the squares to get most of the moisture out. Now, he mixed the lemon juice with the miso paste, and placed the marinade with the tofu in an air tight container and let them sit in the room temperature while we proceeded with the rest of the cooking.

I minced the onions, ginger, and garlic, and heated the peanut oil in a frying pan on medium-low heat. Now, I fried the onions for 10 minutes, until they started to turn golden but not yet brown, and added ginger and garlic to the pan. I fried them for a minute or so, turned up the heat a bit, and then added the rest of the spices (except salt and sugar). I toasted them for a minute or so, stirring all the time.

Meanwhile, Heikki had rinsed and chopped the spinach leaves, and I added them to the pan. I fried them until wilted, and then we placed the spinach mixture in a small bowl and Heikki puréed it with an immersion blender. He poured it back in the pan, added 1 dl of water, the sugar and the salt, and let the mixture simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Then I added the tofu in the pan, reserving the marinade, and simmered the curry for another 10 minutes. Before serving, I mixed in the soy yogurt, adjusted the saltiness of the dish, and then we enjoyed our Palak Tofu over jasmine rice.

The ingredients were improvised from what we had in the house, and we managed to use up a few items that had been sitting in the fridge since pizza night; half a bell pepper and a small chunk of Cheezly vegan cheese. I don’t think Cheezly contributed to the taste very much. The quiche was delicious, and with some more elegant garnishes could very well be served to guests as well. I had a slice for lunch the next day, as pictured above, and the flavors were even better after a night in the fridge.

Crust:

• 3 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 dl liquid vegan margarine
• 1 dl plain unsweetened soy milk

First, I mixed the flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Then I poured the margarine and the soy milk in the bowl, and mixed the dough with my hands until it formed a firm ball. Now, I rolled it out with a rolling pin to form a round shape a little larger than our pie tray. After Heikki had greased and floured our pie tray, I placed the crust in it and evened up the edges.

Filling:

• 2 small onions, finely diced
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil for frying
• 2 dl walnuts
• 350 g firm silken tofu (we had 1 package of Mori-Nu)
• 20 g Cheezly Edam (optional)
• 1 dl soy milk
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

First, Heikki diced and fried the onions in olive oil until they had browned a bit. Meanwhile, I placed the walnuts, the tofu, soy milk, lemon juice, and vegan cheese in a bowl, and mixed them with our immersion blender until the mixture was smooth and light brown. Now, I added the rest of the ingredients, stirred with a spoon to combine, and adjusted saltiness. Then I poured the filling in the crust.

Garnish:

• 1/2 small red bell pepper

Heikki sliced the bell pepper thinly, and I arranged the slices over the walnut filling.

Now, we baked the pie on the middle rack of the oven, in 175 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. Then we placed the pie on the lower rack of the oven, baked an additional 10 minutes, and let it cool down for 15 minutes.

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.

Making soup can’t get easier than this; I placed the ingredients in a pot, and cooked for 15 minutes. This batch makes one big bowl of soup, and would easily serve two as a starter. To make it a little fancier, I would garnish the individual servings with chopped cilantro, basil, or other fresh herbs.

Here’s what I had:

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 leek, cut in matchsticks
• 1 big clove garlic
• a handful of cashew nuts (about 1/2 dl I’d say)
• water to cover
• salt to taste
• about 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• a little freshly ground black pepper

I placed the carrots, leek, garlic, cashews, and salt in a small cooking pot, and filled it with just enough water to cover them. Now, I covered the pot with a lid, and cooked the soup for about 15 minutes, until the carrots were tender. I puréed the soup with our immersion blender until creamy, added about a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (a few squeezes), and adjusted the saltiness. Then I poured the soup in a bowl, and crushed some black pepper to garnish.