We hadn’t eaten black-eyed peas for a while, so the peas and rice did taste extra delicious. Anni commented how the taste of the black-eyed peas combine the sweetness of chickpeas and the flouryness of regular beans. I think that’s an apt description!

Here’s what I used:

• 2,5 dl dried black-eyed peas
• a piece of kombu
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• about 2 teaspoons of cumin
• about 1,5 teaspoons of coriander
• 2 chipotles in adobo sauce, finely chopped
• 2 dl tomato sauce, passata style
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

About two hours before I started to cook, I quick soaked the peas: I rinsed them, put them in a bowl filled with boiling water, and covered the bowl. (Obviously, they could’ve been soaked overnight too, but since I forgot to do it, I had to quick soak them.) Then, two hours later, I began with boiling the black-eyed peas. I threw soaking water away, put the peas in a kettle over low heat, added the kombu and plenty of boiling water.

While the peas were simmering, I prepared the sauce. First, I put a frying pan over medium high heat, added the onion, and fried it until quite brownish. I kept stirring the onion a lot so that it wouldn’t burn. Then I added the garlic, cumin, coriander and the chipotle, and fried them about half a minute, stirring continuously. I poured the tomato sauce in the pan, stirred, lowered the heat, and waited until the black-eyed peas were done. I drained the peas, removed the kombu, and added the peas into the frying pan. I mixed the sauce and the beans, added the salt, and checked the taste.

This makes enough tofu for 4, so we have plenty of leftovers – they are very munchable and a nice addition to many meals.

The Herbed Tofu (serves 4):

• 500 g tofu
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon each: smoked paprika, thyme, sage, tarragon
• 1 teaspoon brown rice vinegar
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

I first pressed the tofu – sliced it, wrapped in cheesecloth, placed a cutting board and a pile of cookbooks over it, and let sit for 15 minutes. Then I cut it into small-ish cubes (about the size of the tip of my thumb), heated the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat, and fried the tofu cubes until slightly browned on most sides. This takes about 10 minutes, and while the tofu was frying, I had plenty of time to mix together the seasonings (tamari through garlic).

When the tofu was nice and golden brown, I poured the seasoning mixture in the pan, and stirred it to coat all the tofu cubes. I kept on stirring until the liquid was absorbed and started to get brown, and removed the pan from heat. I let the tofu come to room temperature before adding it to the salad base.

The Salad Base (serves 2):

• 1 small head of new cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• a bunch of arugula, chopped
• 6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
• a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons gomasio (Japanese sesame salt), or salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup
• plenty of black pepper
• fresh basil

I just tossed everything together in a large bowl, added about half of the tofu, and sprinkled with some fresh basil.

We’ve used these bacon bits as a yummy pizza toping and in two kinds of pasta sauce – the other was just a tomato sauce with chick peas, and here’s the carbonara sauce we whipped up the other night.

Here’s what I used:

• 2 dl soy flakes
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons brown syrup
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• canola oil for frying

I first mixed the soy sauce, vinegar, syrup and liquid smoke together. Then I placed the soy flakes and the seasoning in a bowl and stirred until the flakes had absorbed all the liquid.

Now I heated our cast iron skillet with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and then fried the soy bits until nice and brown all over, with a few blackened spots here and there. For crispy results, I’ve used more oil, and for a chewier and less greasy result just a thin layer is enough.

I drained the bacon on kitchen towels and then it was ready to be used – in pasta, on sandwiches, as a pizza topping, or in salads. Yum.

Simple Carbonara:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 dl soy cream (or other vegan option – rice, almond, oat)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• plenty of black pepper
• 1 and 1/2 dl soy bacon bits
• chives and nutritional yeast

I heated up the oil and fried the onions until browned. Then I added the garlic, fried a minute more, and added the soy cream and heated it up. Then I removed the pan from heat, and stirred in the salt, plenty of black pepper, and the lemon juice. This makes enough sauce for a dry-ish pasta dish for 2 persons – add more cream if you like it saucier.

When the spaghetti was cooked, I stirred most of the soy bacon bits in the sauce, and then mixed the sauce with the pasta. We sprinkled our portions with nutritional yeast, chives, and more soy bacon bits.

I find it oddly gratifying that anything baked, using only whole spelt flour, and filled with lentils and quinoa can compare to those deepfried, salt-laden treats – even if the yumminess of my pies is of a different, more wholesome kind. The dough I used was adapted from the recipe I found from the Dog Hill Kitchen blog, and which I used in my apple pocket pies last year. It’s lovely and very easy to work with. This time I actually colored the dough yellow with turmeric, which doesn’t show in the picture much at all – my photographic eye hasn’t gotten used to the bright spring sun just yet!

The Dough (made 10 medium-sized pies):

• 5 and 1/2 dl whole spelt flour
• 2 dl water (cold)
• 5 tablespoons margarine (cold)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper

I first combined the flour, salt, baking powder and spices in a bowl, and then mixed the margarine in with a fork. When the dough started to be very crumbly without any large lumps of margarine, I added the water, and kneaded with my hands until smooth, soft and workable. A little more flour or a little more water might be needed, it all depends on how dry the flour is.

Then I placed the dough in the fridge while I made the filling.

The Filling (for 10 pies and some leftovers):

• 1 and 1/2 dl red lentils, rinsed
• 1 dl quinoa, rinsed
• 4 dl water
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• canola oil for frying
• 2 teaspons grated ginger
• 2 dl cabbage, grated
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons mild curry paste (Rajah’s or similar)
• 2 teaspoons curry leaves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 dl chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon veggie broth powder (if needed)
• 1 dl plain soy yoghurt

I first heated the oil in a non-stick pan and fried the onions until soft. Then I added the ginger and fried a minute or two, added the cabbage and fried until a little softened, and then added the following: curry paste, coriander, chili flakes, and curry leaves. After a few minutes I poured in the lentils, quinoa, and water, and brought them to boil. Then I covered the pan and lowered the heat, and let the filling simmer for 15 minutes.

At this point the quinoa was almost done and the filling had a porridge-like consistency. I removed it from heat, stirred in garam masala, soy yoghurt, and cilantro, as well as a teaspoon of veggie broth powder to add some saltiness. It might not even be necessary since curry pastes are often quite salty.

Before the assembly, the filling needed to cool down to room temperature, so it wouldn’t melt the margarine in the dough.

To Assemble:

I divided the dough in 10 equal parts and rolled each into a ball. Then I floured my working surface lightly with some spelt flour, and rolled each ball out until they had the diameter of about 13 centimeters. Now I placed a generous amount of filling in the center of each round, folded them over to form a half-moon shape, and sealed with the spikes of a fork. I also poked a few air vents in each pie with the fork.

Then I baked the curry pies in 175 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. I find that in our climate, these are best stored in a paper bag in room temperature, but we did freeze a few for future lunches as well.

I just used whatever veggies there were to be found in our fridge, and luckily the red bell pepper and edamame beans went really well together both in texture and flavor. Ginger juice can be easily extracted by first grating some fresh ginger and then squeezing it so that the juices ooze out. The amount in this recipe is an estimate since I didn’t measure, but I used what I got from a small piece of ginger.

This is what I had (for 1 large lunch portion):

• 1 bundle or 50 g soba (Japanese buckwheat) noodles
• 2 dl frozen edamame (fresh soy beans)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 10 Roman lettuce leaves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon shiro miso
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger juice

First I cooked some water and poured it over the frozen edamame to defreeze them. Then I heated a large pot of water until boiling, added the noodles and the drained edamame, and cooked for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped the veggies and placed them in a bowl, and mixed together the sauce ingredients (miso through ginger). When the noodles and beans were cooked, I drained them and rinsed under cold water, drained again, and added to the bowl. I dressed with the sauce and tossed everything together, and my 15-minute-lunch was ready to be served.

A bundle of soba noodles.

We both really enjoyed this dish as a light Sunday lunch with a slice of bread. Well, for Heikki this was more of a breakfast really… The flavors are bright and clean, and a nice texture is provided by edamame and cauliflower. For a heartier salad, I would add a handful or two of toasted cashews, or maybe a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

The Marinated Cauliflower:

• 200 g cauliflower, in small florets
• juice of 1/2 lime
• grated zest of 1 lime
• pinch of salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper

I mixed all the ingredients together and let them marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

For the Salad:

• 1 and 1/2 dl quinoa, plus 2 and 1/2 dl water for cooking
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 dl edamame (frozen’s what we have)
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced

This is how I usually cook the quinoa for nice and fluffy results: rinse the quinoa well, place the quinoa and the water in a small cooking pot, and cook on high heat until the water starts boiling. Then I reduce the heat to low and cook, tightly covered, until all the water has been absorbed and the quinoa has steamed a bit, for about 20 minutes. This time I added two garlic cloves in the cooking water as well, and after the quinoa was done, removed them from the pot and saved for later use in the dressing.

The edamame we get is frozen, and I just cooked it in plenty of water for about 3 minutes, then rinsed with cold water to cool down.

After the quinoa and the edamame had cooled to room temperature I tossed them together with the onions in a salad bowl.

The Dressing:

• 1/2 dl olive oil
• juice of 1/2 a lime and 1/2 an orange
• the two cooked garlic cloves from the quinoa
• 1/2 dl chopped cilantro
• 1/3 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar, or more to taste
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper

I mixed everything except salt and pepper together in our mini food processor until smooth and light green. Then I seasoned the dressing with salt and pepper, tossed the salad and the cauliflower florets with the dressing, and garnished with a few yellow cherry tomatoes.

This makes quite a large batch for two, so we had leftovers – they tasted mighty delicious after half a day of refrigeration as well.

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.

This is a lunch salad I made for myself the other day, and we had the leftovers as a side dish for a few days after that. I love the combination of oranges and red onions, and the freshness of the fruit was a very nice contrast to the earthy flavor of kamut. I don’t see why kamut couldn’t be replaced with another less expensive grain in this recipe: wheat berries, spelt berries, or even whole brown rice would most likely be very nice.

Here’s what I put in my salad:

• 5 dl cooked kamut
• 1 orange, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, cubed
• 6 sundried tomatoes in oil, rinsed and chopped
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teapoons salt (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• freshly ground black pepper to serve

Kamut is a grain that requires soaking overnight and even after that, a normal cooking time is about one hour to an hour and a half. I cooked mine in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, and then let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes.

After the kamut had cooled down, I just tossed all the ingredients in a bowl, and refrigerated the salad for a few hours before serving. It actually got better and better over the next few days, so refrigerating the salad overnight would marry the flavors nicely.

Right before serving, I crackled some black pepper over the salad. Very nice served with homemade crackers or a nice crusty bread and hummus!

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 used a pointed ramiro pepper for the salad, since Heikki happened to find a good deal on them in the grocery. They are sweeter than regular bell peppers, and slice beautifully, making them perfect for use in salads.

Salad:

• 2 dl dry risoni (orzo) pasta
• 4 dl cooked chick peas
• 1 medium head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
• 1 red ramiro pepper, thinly sliced
• bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
• a little olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice for the risoni
• 1-2 cloves garlic

Dressing:

• 1/2 to 3/4 dl olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• freshly ground black pepper

FIrst, I cooked the risoni according to the instructions on the package, only to find it to be a little too crunchy still, and ended up cooking it double as long as the time indicated in the package. When it was finally done, I rinsed it in cold water, added a tablespoon of olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, and two pressed garlic cloves, and refrigerated the risoni for about 15 minutes, while we proceeded with the rest of the salad.

We prepped the veggies and mixed the dressing, and then I tossed half of the dressing with the iceberg lettuce in the salad bowl, and the other half with the chick peas in a smaller bowl. Then I poured the risoni in the salad bowl, tossed to mix with the lettuce, added the chick peas, and sprinkled with the peppers and the spring onions.

This recipe makes a lot of salad, but Heikki and I finished it by bedtime – we just couldn’t stop ourselves.

Cooked risoni – looks like rice to me!