We enjoyed this cake with a store-bought vegan whipped topping, but I am sure that vanilla ice cream would be just as good. I tend to choose full-fat whipped toppings on the rare occasion when I buy commercial ones – they’re not quite as artificial-tasting as the lighter versions. My favorite right now is GoGreen Vispi, an oat-based product that is available at least in Finland and Sweden.

The Wet:

• 2 dl plain soy yoghurt
• 1 large lime, juiced and zested (1/2 dl juice, 1 tablespoon zest)
• 1/2 dl canola oil

The Dry:

• 2 dl almonds, ground into 3 dl almond meal
• 1 dl white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 dl gram (chick pea flour)
• 2 dl sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• pinch of salt

The Topping:

• 1 dl slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy milk
• pinch of salt

To Serve:

• vegan whipped topping (we had GoGreen Vispi)
• 1/2 vanilla bean

The batter was as straightforwards as can be – I mixed the wet and the dry separately and then combined, stirring with a fork. I also stirred the topping ingredients gently together (I didn’t want to mash the slivers), then poured the batter in the baking pan and sprinkled with the topping. For an even coating, you might want to double the amount of topping.

Then I baked the cake for 25 minutes in 200 degrees Celsius, until the edges were nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out with just a few crumbs. I let the cake cool to room temperature, and served with vanilla whipped cream. For the cream, I just scraped the seeds from half a vanilla bean with the tip of a sharp knife, and added that to the commercial vegan whipping cream as I was whipping it.

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.

The limes in Portugal were actually considerably sweeter than the ones we have around here – they are picked more ripe I suppose – which made me realize how challenging it can be to share recipes internationally. So, in this recipe, you might only need half the amount of agave if you live where the lime trees grow!

These patties were nice with mashed potatoes, and especially tasty squeezed between two slices of rye bread like a “fishy” veggie burger. We enjoyed our burgers with some garlic yogurt sauce, fresh dill, and pickled cucumbers – yum!

The Patties:

• 500 g firm tofu
• 1 dl chopped green onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons tamari (or regular soy) sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• grated zest of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon veggie broth powder (or less than 1 tsp salt)
• 1 teaspoon crushed dried chilies
• 3/4 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika powder
• 1 dl gram (chick pea flour)
• some more oil for brushing

First, I set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and covered a baking sheet with some parchment paper.

I didn’t press the tofu, since the burger dough needs moisture anyway. I just took the block of tofu out of the package and rinsed it, placed in a large mixing bowl, and then squeezed it with my hands until it was all mushy. Now I added the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and mixed the dough with a fork until everything was combined. At this point, I checked the taste to see if the balance of salty and sweet and acidic was right, and it was.

Now, I formed 12 patties out of the dough, each about the width of the palm of my hand, and about 2 centimeters thick. I placed the patties on the baking sheet I’d covered with parchment paper, brushed them with some canola oil on both sides, and then placed the baking sheet in the middle rack of our oven. I baked the patties for 10 minutes, then flipped them with a spatula, baked them for 15 minutes, flipped again, and baked for another 5 minutes until they’d browned nicely on both sides.

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.

This pasta shape has many names, but I like to call it risoni, just because there’s a connection to the word rice there. This makes enough for two moderate portions or one big portion and some leftovers. The dish has a serious lack of veggies, but I did munch a few carrots to balance that up!

The Pasta:

• 1 and 1/2 dl risoni (orzo) pasta
• juice of 1 lime (about 1/4 dl)
• 1 huge garlic clove (or 3 normal), pressed
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• salt and black pepper to taste

I cooked the risoni in plenty of water for 8 minutes, then drained it, and tossed with the other ingredients in the cooking pot. While the pasta was cooking, I prepared the tofu.

The Tofu:

• 200 g firm tofu
• 1 onion, cubed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/2 teaspoon agave syrup or sugar

I cut the tofu in tiny cubes without pressing it first, and heated the oil in a frying pan. I first fried the onion for a few minutes, until it started to get a little brown, and then added the tofu to the pan. I kept on frying it until most sides of the cubes had browned. Then I mixed the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, liquid smoke, and agave syrup together, and poured this mixture to the pan. I kept on frying until the liquid had evaporated, and then I was ready to plate the lunch.

Also needed:

• chopped basil leaves to garnish

I first ladled some of the risoni on my plate, then a pile of tofu over the pasta, and then sprinkled with chopped fresh basil leaves. Yum!

Agar agar keeps everything together, and I think scant 2 teaspoons is just the right amount – the filling is smooth and creamy, but keeps together nicely when cut. This pie is surely an easy way to impress friends and family! We brought this one to a dinner party, so no inside pics – I feel a little weird about bringing dessert and then taking pictures of my own portion.

No-Bake Graham Cracker Crust:

• 400 g whole wheat Digestives, finely ground
• 5 tablespoons brown rice syrup
• 5 tablespoons melted margarine
• 2 tablespoons soy milk

The crust is easy to make: everything just needs to be mixed together. The mix should have a consistency that keeps together when pinched with two fingers. After making the crust, Heikki covered the bottom of our 22 cm springform pan with a round piece of baking parchment, and then pressed the crust on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Filling:

• 4 limes, zest and juice (about 1 dl of juice)
• 4 dl soy whip cream (or soy cream cheese and more soy yoghurt)
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 dl plus 2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste!)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (or extract)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons agar agar powder

The filling is almost as easy to make as the crust. I started with prepping the limes, and pouring the juice in a small cooking pot. Then I reserved about one teaspoon of the lime zest for garnish, and placed the rest of the lime zest in a mixing bowl along with the soy whip, the soy yogurt, sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt. Then I whipped these together until the mixture started to become a little fluffy.

I heated the lime juice on medium heat until it was at a gentle boil, removed the pot from heat, and sprinkled the agar powder in the pot while Heikki was whisking the juice. He whisked it for a little while, a minute maybe, until the powder had dissolved.

Now, Heikki moved on to whisk the contents of the soy-whip bowl, and I poured the lime-agar mixture in the bowl in a thin stream. When everything was all mixed up, we poured the filling in the crust, leveled the surface, and sprinkled the reserved lime zest over the pie. Then we popped the pie in the fridge and let it set overnight.

The crust came out chewy like an oat cookie, and the vanilla ice cream we served this pie with complimented its tart fruit flavors quite perfectly. The filling would probably go nicely with the no-bake crust I used for the strawberry lime pie as well.

Oat Crust:

• 2 dl rolled oats
• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 tablespoons rum
• 2 tablespoons oat milk

I combined the oats, wheat flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl, and then added the liquid ingredients one tablespoon at a time until the dough came together and was a little sticky. Then I covered the bottom of our spring form pan with a piece of baking parcment, greased the sides with a little margarine, and pressed the crust in the pan. I baked the crust in 175 degrees Celsius for about 14 minutes, until just lightly browned, and let it cool down while I prepared the filling.

The Filling:

• 4 dl mango puree (unsweetened, or pureed fresh mangoes)
• 1 dl sultanas
• juice and zest of one lime
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain soy yogurt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 dl water
• 2 teaspoons agar agar powder

FIrst, I placed the mango puree, sultanas, lime zest, and soy yogurt in a mixing bowl, and let the mixture come to room temperature for about fifteen minutes. This made the sultanas soften up a little bit as well. Then I blended the filling with an immersion blender until the sultanas were all mashed up. Now I seasoned the filling with lime juice and sugar, alternating between a squeeze of juice and a tablespoon of sugar, until the balance was just right – not too tart and just sweet enough.

I heated the water in a small cooking pan, and when it was almost boiling, sprinkled the agar agar powder in the pan, whisking all the time. The mixture thickened almost immediately, but I kept on whisking for a few seconds to make sure all of the agar had dissolved, and then removed the pan from heat.

I scraped the agar mixture out of the pan and poured it in the mango bowl, whisking whisking whisking away as vigorously as I could to avoid lumps. Now, I poured the filling in the crust, covered the pie with plastic wrap, and immediately placed it in the fridge to chill for 5 hours – overnight would be even better. It is important that the pie isn’t moved once the filling starts to thicken, or it won’t set properly.

Once the pie was set, we enjoyed our slices with a generous scoop of vanilla soy ice cream.

The crust is speckled from the coarse muscovado sugar we use.

We were out of olive oil when I first engineered this recipe, so it ended up lower in fat than the hummus we normally make. Also, the red bell pepper we used came from a glass jar, and while home-roasted peppers are more delicious, it was an easy and economical option – bell peppers are ridiculously expensive this time of year, although they are getting a little cheaper as the spring progresses. I am not a huge fan of tahini and add only a little bit, since the sunflower seeds contibute a nice nutty flavor without the bitter edge of the sesame paste.

Here’s what we used this time:

• 4 dl cooked chick peas
• 1 roasted red bell pepper (from a jar)
• 1 dl lightly toasted sunflower seeds
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 dl water
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons tahini
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (or jeera, juustokumina in Finnish)
• 1 teaspoon sugar

I just mixed everything up with our immersion blender. It takes a while until the sunflower seeds get all crushed, probably about 5 minutes.

I always adjust the taste of my hummus by adding a little lemon juice, salt, more chick peas, or even water if the taste isn’t quite balanced in the end. Jarred roasted bell peppers are more acidic than home-roasted, since they’re usually preserved in vinegar, and this affects the flavor balance as well.

The crust wasn’t actually as thick as it seems in the photo – that’s a really tiny slice of pie, since there wasn’t much left the next day…

Crust:

• 20 Digestive graham crackers (about 300 g)
• 5 tablespoons margarine, liquid or melted
• 2 tablespoons dark syrup

Filling:

• 3 dl frozen strawberries
• 1 and 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 2 dl vegan whippable vanilla sauce (or vegan whip cream)
• 1 dl plain unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• zest and juice of 2 limes (1/2 dl juice)
• 1 (and 1/2) teaspoon agar agar powder

Heikki made the crust while I was preparing the filling. He ground the digestives, and then mixed the crumbs with margarine and syrup until thoroughly combined. Then he covered the bottom of our spring form pan with a piece of parchment paper, and pressed the crust evenly in the bottom and up the sides of the pan with his fingers.

I didn’t have time to defreeze the strawberries, so I placed them in a bowl with the vanilla sauce, soy yogurt, lime zest, and sugar, and mixed the whole thing with an immersion blender until it was smooth and pink. Now, I filled our kitchen sink with hot water, and placed the bowl in the sink. This warmed up the mixture, so that the agar that I added later wouldn’t get shocked by the coldness.
Now, I heated the lime juice over medium heat in a small sauce pan until it was barely boiling, and sprinkled the agar powder in the pan while whisking vigorously. I kept on whisking until the agar had dissolved, for about a minute or two, and then removed the pan from heat. Then I spatulated the agar lime mixture in the strawberry bowl, and whisked the filling briskly for a minute or so. I poured the filling in the pie crust, levelled the surface of the pie, and refrigerated it until we were too impatient to wait any longer.

By the next day, what was left of the pie had firmed up the way it should. I still think it could have been a little firmer, so using a little extra agar would be a good idea in this recipe. I used 1 teaspoon, but I think that adding 1/2 teaspoon more would be just the perfect amount.

The ingredients:

• 4 sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 dl sunflower seeds
• 1 teaspoon harissa
• 1 ½ tablespoons lime juice
• 5 tablespoons water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon frozen parsley

First, the sunflower seeds need to be toasted, which is the easiest thing in the world; we just heated them in a dry frying pan, and toasted them, stirring with a ladle every once in a while, until they had browned lightly. When the sunflower seeds were ready, we placed them on a plate to cool down a bit.

Then we mixed everything up in our electric grinder, until the spread got lighter in color and was very smooth, which took maybe about 3 to 4 minutes or so. We adjusted the amount of water while mixing, adding it half a tablespoon at a time, until the spread had a creamy and easily spreadable consistency.