The amount of chili can of course be scaled up or down, to suit everyone’s tastes. The seasoning recipe makes just about enough to season 1 dl of unpopped corn kernels, or less if we want a more intense flavor.

Basic Pop Corn:

• 3/4 to 1 dl pop corn kernels
• 1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons canola oil

We heat the oil in a cooking pot on high heat and add one corn kernel to see if it’s hot enough – when the kernel pops, it’s time to add the rest. Then we cover the pot, shake it a little, and let the kernels pop. When the popping slows down, we remove the pot from heat, pour the pop corn in a serving bowl, and toss in the seasoning.

The Seasoning:

• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon amchoor (dried mango powder, also known as amchur)
• 1/3 teaspoon hot chili powder
• 1/3 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon salt

We just stir all the ingredients together with a fork – the amchoor powder tends to get a bit lumpy, so it’s important to be thorough with this.

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.

Ever since I learnt to use our mandolin I’ve been making oven fries from scratch. I’m guessing they’re almost as quick to prepare as frozen fries but way more tasty, especially the crusty bits with potato skin. I enjoyed these with a mayonnaise dipping sauce that consisted of 2 parts plain soy yoghurt, 1 part vegan mayonnaise and a pinch of salt. Mayo was never a favorite of mine until I spent some time as an au-pair in Brussels and learnt to love it with fries.

This is what I used (serves 2-3):

• 4 large potatoes
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

I set the oven to 225 degrees Celsius. Then I scrubbed the potatoes and used our mandolin (aka v-slicer) to chop them into 1 cm thick strips. This could be done without a mandolin but the tool really makes the whole process much quicker and easier.

Now I spread the fries on a kitchen towel on a single layer and then folded the other half of the towel over the fries, patted them lightly, and let them dry until the oven was ready. Meanwhile, I mixed the paprika, cayenne, thyme and oil in a bowl, and when the oven had reached the right temperature I just tossed the fries in the oil until they were all evenly coated.

I spread the fries on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper in such a way that none of them were overlapping – important for crispy results. Then I baked them for 15 minutes in the upper third of the oven, tossed them up a bit, and baked for another 10 minutes until they were nicely fried and crispy. After baking I sprinkled them with sea salt and they were ready to serve.

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.

I sprinkled my leftover-lunch-portion of the spicy rutabaga soup with these seeds, and that was the most satisfying meal I’ve had for a long while. This recipe is eminently customizable – for starters: basic soy sauce can be used instead of tamari, any other sweetener instead of agave, and wheat flour and olive oil instead of spelt and canola. The seasoning possibilities are endless, but these are pretty great even when made with just soy sauce and no extras!

Here’s what I used:

• 2 dl sunflower seeds (hulled)
• 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon hot chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder
• pinch of smoked paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon spelt flour

First, I toasted the sunflower seeds in a non-stick frying pan on medium high heat until slightly browned. It took me about 10 minutes, and I kept stirring them every now and then all through the toasting process. I’ve found that seeds often start to “smoke” a little when they’re done toasting – maybe it’s the water that evaporates when they’ve reached a certain temperature.

While I was toasting the seeds, I mixed the seasonings together (tamari through canola oil). When the seeds were done, I added the seasoning in the pan, and stirred with a wooden fork until all the liquid had evaporated. Then I sprinkled the spelt flour over the seeds, and fried them for a few more minutes.

When the seeds were all done and nicely covered with the seasoning mixture, I spread them on a piece of baking parchment to cool down.

This is what I used:

• 5 dl soy chunks (textured soy protein)
• 2 big onions
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, ground
• 5 dl water
• 2 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
• 1/3 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon sugar

I started by rinsing the soy chunks in a colander thoroughly. Then I chopped the onions finely, and fried them in the canola oil until translucent. I removed the frying pan from heat, added paprika, smoked paprika and the ground caraway seeds, and stirred. Paprika burns very easily, so that’s why it’s better to stir in the spices after removing the pan from heat.

I returned the frying pan to the stove on medium heat, and added the soy chunks, water, stock powder, salt, black pepper, and sugar. When the sauce started to boil, I lowered the heat, stirred it, covered the frying pan, and simmered for one hour, stirring every now and then.

At this point, the sauce had thickened quite a bit, and the pörkölt could have already been served. However, I wanted a thicker stew, so I simmered the pörkölt in the covered sauce pan for another 20 minutes, and then the pörkölt had the consistency I desired. This extra simmering is completely optional and depends on the kind of stew you like. We served the pörkölt with boiled potatoes and grated carrots. It can also be served over pasta or Eastern European dumplings called galuska.

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.

Here’s what I used:

• 2 dl boiled chick peas
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon paprika paste (see below)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 dl water
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds crushed in 1 teaspoon of water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon flaxseed, crushed (optional)

When I set out to make the spread, I realized that we have no tahini, so I started by grinding the sesame seeds in our shredder together with some water into a paste. I didn’t bother to roast the seeds, which you might want to do first to get a more tahini-like result. Then I just combined every ingredient in a bowl, and used our immersion blender to turn it into a smooth paste. The paprika paste I used is something that we brought with us from Portugal, it looks like this:

It’s really tasty, but also super salty. We haven’t seen anything similar for sale in Finland, but I guess you could substitute it with Ajvar or something similar.

As a side we had oven-baked potato wedges and soy yogurt sauce seasoned with garlic and chives.

Marinade for 250g firm tofu (serves 2):

• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, ground
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 dl white wine
• ½ teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

We just pressed the tofu, cut it into slices, dried the slices with a kitchen towel and put them in a plastic container. Then we mixed all the marinade ingredients, poured them over of the tofu, closed the lid of the container, shook it until the marinade was spread evenly, and put the tofu in the fridge overnight.

Next day we heated the oven to 200 degrees Celcius, spread the tofu slices in a single layer in a baking pan, poured the rest of the marinade over them, and baked them together with the potato wedges (see below) until the marinade was absorbed. In our oven this took 30 minutes.

Spicy Crispy Potato Wedges (serves 4):

• 1 kg potatoes, scrubbed and cut in 6 wedges each
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
• 1 teaspoon paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 3/4 dl dry bread crumbs

Anni first mixed the breadcrumbs with the spices in a big bowl, and then added the potato wedges and the canola oil. Now, she stirred the potatoes until fairly covered with the breadcrumbs, and placed them on a baking sheet covered with baking parchment, the skin side of each wedge facing down. Now, there was some breadcrumbs left in the bowl, which she pressed on the wedges.

Now, we baked the potato wedges in 200 degrees Celcius on the uppermost rack of our oven for 30 minutes, while the tofu stayed on the lower rack of the oven and was cooked in the exact same time.

As a side dish, this recipe makes plenty for two.

Here’s what I used:

• 6 small potatoes, peeled and grated
• 1 red Gloster apple. peeled and grated
• 1 small onion, peeled and grated
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• 1/2 dl spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried, crushed red chili
• 1/3 teaspoon (smoked) red paprika powder
• olive oil for frying

First I grated the potatoes and rinsed them in cold water to remove some of the starch – raw potatoes can have a little bit of a bitter taste, and this takes it away. Then I dried the grated potatos by spooning them on a layer of cheesecloth, placing another layer of cheesecloth over the potatoes, and pressing them lightly. (To make it quicker and easier, I’d skip the whole rinsing part, and just omit potato starch from the recipe.)

Now, I mixed all the ingredients in a small bowl, and heated two frying pans; one of them was my pancake pan that makes small pancakes with a diameter of about 8 cm, and the other a larger pan that had a diameter of about 15 cm. I poured some olive oil in the pans, and heated them on medium heat until hot.

When the pan was hot, I added about one tablespoon of the batter in each little compartment of my pancake pan, and about 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter to the larger pan, and then flattened the piles of potato to about 1/2 cm thick.

I fried my rösti for about 5-6 minutes on both sides, until they were golden brown. I find that medium or medium-high heat is best for this; on high heat the potatoes quickly burn before they’re done inside, and if the heat is too low, they won’t turn brown and get crispy.