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.

Now these burgers are not about the patty, since the “patty” is actually just a slice of fried tofu, and I guess that in the US these might most likely be called sandwiches instead of burgers. But the main thing that’s going on here is the beet-sauerkraut relish, with its sweet-tangy taste that goes so very well with the rye bread, and its beety texture that is quite lovely with the fried tofu – especially when everything is drenched in creamy tahini sauce. Simple, quick, and tasty, just the way we prefer our dinners to be right now.

This recipe makes enough for 4 burgers, with some extra beet relish and tahini sauce left over. The relish is mighty tasty as a side dish as well, and we often serve this sauce with cooked grains like quinoa or barley. We also filled our burgers with pea sprouts and sliced yellow bell pepper, and enjoyed them with a side of carrot sticks.

The Tofu:

• 300 grams tofu
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• canola oil for frying
• black pepper to taste

Heikki first cut the tofu in 4 slices, pressed them for a bit with some cheesecloth, and then fried them in canola oil until slightly brown on both sides. Then he drizzled the liquid smoke and the soy sauce in the pan and turned the slices over a few times to make sure they got an even coating, and crackled plenty of black pepper over the tofu when it was ready.

The Beet Relish:

• 2 large beets, julienned (or even grated)
• 1 and 1/2 dl sauerkraut (about 100 grams)
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
• salt and black pepper to taste
• (a sqeeze of lemon juice)

I heated the oil in a frying pan and fried the onion until slightly browned. Then I added the beets and the sauerkraut in the pan, and fried for about 5 minutes, until the beet started to soften. Now I added the salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice, covered the pan, and let it stew until everything else was ready to serve (it took about 10 minutes).

Tahini Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 1 dl nutritional yeast
• 3/4 dl water
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Heikki just dumped all the ingredients in our mini food processor and mixed until thoroughly combined and creamy. The thickness of this sauce can be easily adjusted by cutting the amount of water – this makes quite a runny sauce.

To assemble, we buttered out two toasted rye bread slices with a bit of vegan margarine, slathered the bread slices with tahini sauce, then added a pile of the beet relish on the bottom slice. That got drizzled with some more sauce, then covered by a slice of tofu and a bunch of veggies, and another drizzle of the sauce.

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.

The secret of this soup is how we used tahini as a thickener, which produced an almost coconut-milk-like creaminess. It really worked well in this recipe, and we’ll be sure to try tahini in other soups in the future.

This is what we used:

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons cumin (jeera)
• 2 teaspoons coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• about 6 dl of vegetable stock
• 5 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 teaspoons tahini
• 1 – 2 tablespoons lime juice
• salt to taste
• sugar to taste
• pepper to taste
• chopped fresh parsley to garnish

I began by prepping the potatoes, onion and garlic. Since we were hungry, I diced the potatoes into smallish cubes to reduce cooking time.

I heated the oil in a thick-bottomed pot and added the cumin, coriander, turmeric and paprika. I stirred with a spatula, until the fragrances were released. Then I added the onion and garlic, and sweated them for a few minutes. Next I put the potato cubes in the pot, and poured in the stock, just enough to cover the potatoes. I brought the soup to boil, covered the pot, and cooked until the potatoes were soft.

When the potatoes were done I added the chickpeas in the soup. Then I took about 1 dl of the liquid from the soup in a cup, mixed in the tahini with a spoon until no lumps remained, and poured it back into the soup. Then we added the salt, sugar, pepper and lime juice, and checked the taste until it was to our liking. Before serving, we sprinkled our soup with some chopped parsley.

Focaccia is one of my favorite homemade breads, mainly because I lack the patience of a true bread maker and it’s so simple! I used to always make it with white wheat flour, which results in lusciously soft and fluffy bread. Nothing wrong with that, but baking with whole spelt flour does add nice texture and makes the bread a lot more satisfying as a part of a meal, even if it doesn’t make a focaccia quite as tender and airy.

I always add onions in my focaccia, but olives, rosemary, red bell pepper, and eggplant are very nice as well. Frying the onions with balsamic vinegar makes them all caramelized and lovely, but when I don’t feel like any extra work, I just spread the raw onions over the bread and bake it a little longer to make sure they cook in the oven.

The Dough:

• 4 dl (300 grams) whole spelt flour
• 2 tablespoons gluten flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 sleeve (12 grams) dry yeast
• 2 and 1/2 dl warm water (approximately 42 degrees Celsius)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

First I stirred together the flour, gluten flour, salt, sugar, and dry yeast. Then I made a well in the center of the dry ingredients and poured in the water and the olive oil, and mixed with a wooden spoon until the dough came together. It ends up still a little sticky.

Now I let the dough rise in a warm place, covered with a plastic wrap, for about half an hour – or until doubled in size.

The Topping:

• 4 small onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• pinch of sugar and salt
• (a few kalamata olives)
• more olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper

I fried the onions in the olive oil until they started to soften, and then added the balsamic vinegar, sugar and salt to the pan. Now, I continued to fry them on medium-low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions were very soft and dark brown from the balsamico. Then I spread the onions on a wide plate to cool down a bit.

When the dough was well risen, I covered a baking sheet with baking parchment, and sprayed the parchment with olive oil (brushing is fine too). Then I formed the dough into an oval shaped log and placed it on the baking sheet, and flattened it until about 1 and 1/2 centimeters thick. Then I poked it with my finger to make wells, sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper, pressed a few kalamata olives here and there in the dough, and spread the onions over it all. Now I sprayed some more olive oil over the bread and let it rise in a warm place for about a half an hour more.

I set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. When the bread had risen, I sprayed it with some more olive oil, sprinkled with some more sea salt, and baked it for 20 minutes on the lower rack of the oven. I took the bread out of the oven and sprayed it once more with olive oil, and let it cool down a little before enjoying with a bowl of soup.

I adapted the recipe from Mathilde’s recipe that I found on the French Vegetarian Association’s website. I added some cognac and muscovado sugar, and served the soup with toasted baguette slices with some melty vegan cheese on top. It gets dark after about four in the afternoon in Helsinki, so the picture is taken of my lunch bowl the next day!

Here’s what we put in our soup (serves 4-6):

• 1 kg onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons cognac
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• black pepper and salt to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon muscovado sugar
• 1 and 1/2 liters water

We sliced the onions pretty thickly (about 1/2 – 3/4 cm thick), chopped the garlic, and then fried them on medium heat in the olive oil in our largest cooking pot until golden and soft. The frying took about 20 minutes or so. Then we added the flour, stirred to mix evenly, added the cognac, and stirred again to remove all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Then we added the rest of the ingredients, and cooked the soup for about 45 minutes.

The Garlic bread (serves 2-3):

• half a multigrain baguette, sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 50 g vegan melty cheese (we had Cheezly Edam)
• freshly ground black pepper

I preheated the oven to 200 degrees Celsius while the soup was boiling, and started making the breads when it had simmered for half an hour. I placed the bread slices on a baking wheet, combined the garlic with the olive oil, and spooned it over the bread slices. Then I let the oil seep in for a minute or two.

Now, I turned the slices over, grated the Cheezly over the slices, and ground some pepper over them. Then I baked the bread on the uppermost rack of our oven for about 6 minutes, until it was brown and crispy underneath and the Cheezly had melted.

Soup ingredients:

• olive oil for frying
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• half of a medium rutabaga (about 275 g), diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 teaspoon hot chili powder
• 4 teaspoons of ras-el-hanout
  
• 4 dl (about 275 g) dried split fava beans (you can use whole beans, but they take longer to cook)
• enough water to amply cover the vegetables and beans (about 1 – 1 1/2 liters)
• 3 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• juice of 1 mandarin
• salt to taste

Harissa yogurt ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon harissa
• 1 1/2 dl soy yogurt
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

About 4 hours before starting to cook the soup I speed soaked the fava beans. Speed soaking means I simply rinsed the beans in cold water, put them in a bowl, poured boiling water on them, and covered the bowl. Of course one could soak the beans properly too, overnight in cold water.

After the beans were soaked, we started by chopping the onions and crushing the garlic. While I diced the rutabaga and the carrot, Anni put some olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat, and fried the onion and the garlic until the onion was translucent. We then added the chopped rutabaga and carrot, and fried them for a minute or two more.

Now we added the chili powder and the ras el hanout, stirred the mix for a while, and then added the beans, water, stock powder, sugar, and vinegar. We covered the pot, and simmered until the beans were soft. This took about one hour.

Anni then proceeded to purée the soup using our immersion blender until it was smooth, and adjusted the taste by adding the olive oil, the mandarin juice, and a pinch of salt.

We garnished our soup bowls with some harissa yogurt – the yogurt was simply made by combining and mixing all the ingredients in a small bowl.

We thought that the burgers turned out really well. The Indian-style spices, the earthy flavor of the cow peas and the delicate taste of the hemp seeds made a delectable combination. The burgers were served with a side of potato wedges, garlic yogurt sauce and some lettuce.

There are many reasons to use hemp seeds. First of all, they are a complete protein source, just like soy bean and quinoa. Also, unlike soy beans, hemp can be cultivated in Finland too. After making this dish, I realized there’s a third reason as well: Its mild, easily combinable taste makes it a great ingredient in plant-based cuisine.

This is what I used:

• 500 g boiled or canned cowpeas, mashed (about 1 cup or 2,5 dl of dried cowpeas)
• 1 dl ground hemp seeds
• 3 tablespoons gluten flour
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 2 teaspoons of coriander
• 1 fresh chili, minced (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• olive oil for brushing

First I set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. I heated the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and fried the onion until translucent. Then I lowered the heat, added the garlic, turmeric, cumin, and coriander, and stirred them into an oily paste. I continued to fry and stir for maybe a minute more, and removed the paste from the heat.

Next I simply combined all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, added the paste from the frying pan, and kneaded the mix with my hand for a minute or two, until a delicate dough was formed. Now I spread some baking parchment on a baking sheet, and rolled eight balls from the dough, which I proceeded to tap between my palms into burgers.

I placed the burgers on the baking parchment, and brushed them with olive oil on both sides. I baked them in the oven for 30 minutes, 15 minutes on both sides. Before flipping them over, I brushed them with olive oil again. Together with the burgers I baked some potato wedges on a separate baking sheet, the burgers on the upper rack, and the potatoes on the lower rack.

Even though I used new crop cabbage and new crop potatoes, this would work nicely as a winter time pie too – winter cabbage isn’t as mild and tender as summer cabbage, but it is one of the few locally produced veggies that are available all year round in Finland.

The Crust:

• 4 and 1/2 dl whole wheat flour
• 1 dl canola oil
• 1 dl plain soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon salt

I first measured the flour and the salt in a large mixing bowl, and then added the oil and stirred with a fork until it formed crumbles. I added the yogurt and mixed until it was incorporated – the dough was still very crumbly, but kept together when pinched between two fingers. Then I pressed it on a pie tray greased with a little bit of margarine, and refrigerated while I prepared the filling.

The Filling:

• 7 and 1/2 dl chopped new crop cabbage (2/3 head)
• 2 big onions, sliced
• 2 medium potatoes, grated
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 dl plain unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup
• 2 dl oat cream (or other vegan cream)
• 1 dl parsley leaves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1/3 teaspoon ground allspice (maustepippuri in Finnish)
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

I heated the oil in a frying pan, and fried the onions until they were soft, for about 6 minutes. Then I added the cabbage and fried it for about 5 minutes, and added the potatoes and garlic and kept on frying until they had softened too, which took some 7 minutes. Now, I added the rest of the filling ingredients in the pan, removed it from heat, and poured the filling in the pie crust.

Then I baked the pie in 175 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes, until the top had browned just a little bit, and the crust started to loosen from the sides of the pie tray.

Why call it a temptation, you might ask. There’s a Swedish (non-vegetarian) dish called Janssons frestelse, which is a bit similar to this dish, and the name translates as Jansson’s Temptation.

• 7 potatoes, chopped into sticks
• 4 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 liters of fresh nettles (or more)
• 3 tablespoons capers (or more)
• 2 dl oat cream
• dry bread crumbs
• salt
• black pepper
• margarine

First, we chopped potatoes into sticks, and sliced the onions. We fried the onion over medium heat until translucent, and removed it from heat. Then we boiled the nettles in lightly salted water for a couple of minutes, and drained them. Now, we crushed the garlic, chopped the nettles, and fried them lightly on medium heat.

Next, we oiled a 28 x 19 cm baking pan, and started adding layers of potatoes, onions, nettles, and capers, in this order. After each full round we added salt, pepper and bread crumbs. We finished with an extra layer of potatoes, poured in the cream evenly, sprinkled the bread crumbs, and added a few dollops of margarine.

The temptation was baked in 200 degrees Celsius until the potatoes were cooked. In our oven this took 55 minutes. If the potatoes start to burn but are not yet cooked, cover the pan with aluminum foil.

We ate the temptation together with some pan-fried tofu.

Note: When gathering nettles, try to pick up only smallish ones – they shouldn’t be more than 20 cm high. The stalks and leaves of the younger nettles are still soft, and better for cooking.