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.

Katie wrote that her brownies were too crumbly and didn’t keep together well, but I lined my baking dish with parchment paper, and didn’t have any falling apart issues – maybe due to the adjustments I made.

I read an article in the NY Times claiming that real brownies shouldn’t use baking powder or baking soda. On the other hand, according to the writer of that article, real brownies should use a liberal amount of eggs and butter, and almost every vegan brownie recipe I’ve seen uses a leavening of some kind.

Mint Chocolate Brownies (makes 10):

My little godson was enchanted by the mint chocolate brownies and gobbled one up in no time. Still, they weren’t very sweet – more like an adult treat for those who love dark chocolate. I used organic muscovado sugar for extra flavor, but I guess any brown sugar would equally enhance the chocolate aroma.

• 70 g vegan chocolate (semi dark)
• 60 g margarine
• 1,2 dl wheat flour
• 2/3 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 1/2 dl crushed mint candies
• 3 tablespoons oat milk
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and melted the chocolate and the margarine in a water bath. Once melted, I let them cool down while preparing the other ingredients.

I mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Then I placed the soy yogurt, the oat milk, vanilla extract, muscovado sugar, and crushed mint candies in another bowl, and whisked them for about 3 minutes. I wanted the candies and the sugar to melt a little, so at this point I took the time to prepare my baking dish.

I covered my glass baking dish (23 cm X 15 cm) with parchment paper, greased the paper with a little margarine, and floured it to make sure the brownies wouldn’t stick, since the original recipe stated that these stick very much. Now, I whisked the cooled down chocolate-margarine -mixture in the other wet ingredients, and then added the dry ingredients. I stirred with a wooden fork to combine, and poured the batter to the baking pan, spreading it evenly.

I baked the brownies in 175 degrees Celsius, on the lower rack of the oven for about 33 minutes, when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out clean. Then, I cooled them thoroughly before eating.

Spicy Brownies (makes 15):

The spicy brownies were a tad sweeter than the minty ones since I used more sugar instead of crushed candies, and vanilla sugar instead of the extract. I have a feeling that the hot bursts caused by chili flakes require a little more sweetness for a nice balance.

• 70 g vegan chocolate (semi dark)
• 60 g margarine
• 1,2 dl wheat flour
• 2/3 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 and 1/2 dl muscovado sugar
• 3 tablespoons oat milk
• 3 teaspoons vanilla sugar

I made the batter exactly as above, only adding the spices to the flour-cocoa mixture and substituting vanilla sugar for extract since I didn’t have that any more. Because I think that brownies are often thinner than the first batch, I baked the second batch in a larger baking pan (33 cm X 21 cm). Subsequently, I baked them for 16 minutes only, until a toothpick inserted in the center came out clean.

We had very recently bought the chili flakes I used for this, and I think they added just the perfect amount of heat without being overpowering. I might up the amount a little bit if my chili flakes were older.

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.

Curry paste:

• 2 tablespoons grated coconut
• 1 teaspoon each: mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons curry leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds (without pods)
• 2 small stalks cinnamon
• 2 fresh green chilies
• 3 big cloves garlic
• 3 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

I toasted coconut on a dry frying pan until it was nicely browned. Then I toasted all the dry spices: mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, curry leaves, cardamom seeds, and cinnamon, until an exquisite scent appeared, after about 3 minutes. Then I ground all of the ingredients together, until a smooth paste resulted.

Toasting spices and coconut.

Eggplant and Split Chick Pea Curry:

• 1 small eggplant (350 g)
• 1 onion, cubed
• 2 dl chana dal (dried split chickpeas)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 dl + 2 dl water
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons cilantro (fresh coriander leaves), finely chopped

First, I cut the eggplant in cubes, drizzled with salt, and put in a colander. Then, I rinsed the chana dal, and let it soak in a bowl filled with cold water while I was doing other things.

Now, I heated a frying pan with the oil in it, and then fried the onion until browned. I now added the eggplants and fried them for a few minutes until they started to turn brown and get soft. Now, I moved onion and eggplant toward the sides of the frying pan, added the curry paste in the middle of the pan, and fried it for a few minutes.

After frying the curry paste for a while, I rinsed the chana dal once again, and added that to the pan. Then I added a teaspoon of turmeric for color, and stirred the curry to cover chana dal and eggplant with the curry paste.

Now, I added 4 dl water, lowered the heat, covered the pan, and let it simmer for 40 minutes. Then I added the rest of the water and let the curry simmer until chana dal was soft, about 30 minutes.

Before serving, I mixed in the lemon juice, and sprinkled on the cilantro.

Cucumber Mint Yogurt Sauce:

• 1,5 dl plain soy yogurt
• 1 dl grated cucumber
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

I grated the cucumber, and squeezed it in my fist to get rid of some moisture. Then I mixed everything together and served immediately. For a mintier taste, I would refrigerate the yogurt sauce for an hour or so, and use fresh mint leaves if they are available.

Yogurt Sauce:

• 1,2 dl plain soy yogurt
• 4 tablespoons finely ground almonds, toasted
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small clove garlic, crushed
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Tomato Mint Relish:

• 2 medium tomatoes, finely cubed
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (or other hot chili sauce)
• 1 teaspoon dried mint

I thoroughly combined the ingredients for each dish and served immediately.