Falafel (en)

This is a nice recipe to eat chickpeas, it is quite tasty and can be used to fill some pita breads with vegetables inside or either as a side dish with some vegetables. Always when I cook this people start to eat lots of them but remember, it is almost 99% chickpeas. Also one of the good things of this recipe is that the falafel doesn't come out fatty after frying, since it comes out of the oven, that makes for a good consistency without added fat.


Ingredients:
- 300g chickpeas
- 3 gloves of garlic
- fresh coriander
- 3 grated carrots
- cumin, curry, pepper and salt
- 2 potatoes or flour (optional)

Procedure:
The chickpeas should be boiled and blended until they become a nice smooth paste. Afterwards in the same container, add the garlic, carrots and pepper, salt, cumins and curry according to taste. Mix these ingredients until the mixture becomes homogeneous, then add the chopped coriander. If the paste is not really thick, you can add either the potatoes or the flour to give more consistency to the paste in order to make the balls. Be aware that adding potatoes or flour will make the taste more mild, so perhaps you want to add some more spices. When the mix has a texture in which you can work with, sticky but not thick, start to make the balls, not too big and not too small. Place them in the oven at 180C around 30 min, if your balls are small leave them less time or if they are bigger maybe a bit more time, but that is a matter of taste. Enjoy it, this is one of my favorite recipes.

Röschti (En)

Last Sunday we made a classic Swiss dish, Röschti, for dinner. We did the original, puristic version which always consists of potatoes only. And instead of butter we used olive oil. In this way, the recipe is also suited to be served to a vegan / non-vegan mixed crowd as a fried egg can optionally be put on top of the Röschti for non-vegans before serving the dish. Instead of the original Röschti-Härdöpfel we had to resort to using other frying potatoes. Of course, as the only ingredient is potato, the resulting Röschti depends a lot on the potato flavour... use your favourite potatoes for frying.

After some consulting with a Röschti expert in Switzerland (J's mother), here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
- potatoes, as many as you want
- olive oil
- salt

Procedure:
The trick is to boil the potatoes in their skin the night before, or to use left-over boiled potatoes. The next day, peel the cold potatoes, and grate them with a relatively coarse grater. Put a bit of salt and a tablespoon of oil in a hot frying pan, and put the shredded potatoes inside. Fry them for a few minutes while mixing them, adding some tablespoons of water as required to prevent the Röschti from becoming too dry. After this let the Röschti settle to a round cake and fry it until the bottom is brown and roasted gently. Flip the Röschti using a big plate and fry the other side in the same way. Don't forget to salt both sides appropriately.

Spicy chocolate

This recipe was shown to me by a friend that loves chili peppers. It is really easy to do and you can make a wide variety of shapes and use different nuts for the inside of the bonbon (I bet that with pistachios will be gorgeous).


Ingredients:
- 250g pure or culinary chocolate
- 2 teaspoons grained chili pepper or chili powder
- 20 cashew nuts

Procedure:
With the bain-marie technique melt the chocolate until it becomes a smooth paste. When it has become an homogeneous paste, sprinkle the chili pepper and leave it on the fire around 5 min, and the chocolate will get a nice chili taste. Later, carefully spread the chocolate either on top of a cashew nut or on plain cellulose paper. Before to eat it, leave them around 30 min in a cold place. A graphic with the steps to follow can be seen below.



Uhmmmmmm! yummy yummy :-)

Aubergine casserole

This recipe was inspired by the traditional Greek musaka plate, but of course a vegan version. This course has been cooked for a dinner that we had with two friends (an Italian and a Swiss) with whom we had the joke of starting a game that is familiar to most of us: "Find the vegan", maybe we can play another day.


Ingredients:
- 3 potatoes
- 2 aubergines
- 2 tomatoes
- 200g spinach
- 1 onion
- 250ml soy cream
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- oregano
- Salt, pepper and olive oil

Procedure:

This recipe requires some effort, things need to be cooked separately and then joined together.
- In the first place, peel the potatoes and cut them in thin sliced and boil them in a sauce pan. In another pan, boil the spinach until it loses all its water.
- In the second place, in a pan fry the onion really well, when it is done add the paprika, oregano, pepper and the small chopped tomatoes. After 10 min add the soy cream and some salt, stir and leave it cooking on low fire.
- In the third place, use a grill pan or a pan with a thick bottom for toasting the potatoes and the aubergine until they get a nice brownish color. I prefer not use oil in that process but that is a matter of taste.
- And finally, in a oven pan or casserole we have to join all ingredients in layers. First, cover the bottom with a layer of potatoes (use half of the potatoes), on top put a layer of the soy cream. Now, put all the aubergine between the cream, that will make the aubergine to acquire a melted texture. Finally, cover the top with remaining potatoes. Put the casserole in the oven and leave it around 30 min at 180C or until the top potato layer gets the desired toasted color.

Guacamole (En)

I didn't cook this recipe. One day in the canteen, Jaume brought a huge amount of guacamole to have for lunch all together. That lunch was really funny and international with a Catalan, a Balear, a Valencian and a Georgian. The avocados and the pita bread were Turkish, the onion, tomatoes and lemon were Dutch and the vinegar Italian. Ohh and yoga came up more than one time in the conversation!


Ingredients:
- 3 avocados
- 1 onion
- 2 tomato
- 1 chili pepper
- 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
- Salt, vinegar and olive oil (to taste)

Procedure:
Peel the avocados and cut them in small pieces. Do the same with the tomatoes and onion. Then mix all together in a bowl and add the lemon, oil, chili and vinegar.

Serve it fresh and eat it with pieces of pita bread (that is the most traditional way), or with another type of bread, which also works fine.

Quiche (En)

This is a recipe that can vary a lot, dependent on what ingredients are available. This version is made with broccoli and leek.

Ingredients:

>>>> Dough >>>>

>>>> Filling >>>>

Starting

I decided to start a blog about vegan food. This is dedicated to my mum, Paki, who believes that my diet is 'strange'. For you Paki, because little by little I hope to change your opinion. But of course, this blog can be used as a reference of recipes and other information.
Mireia