Cooking that gives a damn
YOU NEED
2 bananas
1 cup of Bonsoy Soymilk
brown rice syrup to taste
Ground cinnamon
YOU DO
Blend the banana, Bonsoy and brown rice syrup until smooth and creamy.
Pour in a glass and dust liberally with the cinnamon.
Yields: 1 serve for a hungry person or 2 smaller serves for 2 not so hungry people.
Time: 2 minutes
Rhubarb reminds me of my late Grandmother. She and Pappy grew it in their vegetable patch in the back garden of the house they lived in together for almost 70 years.
Every visit from them would involve containers of Gran’s stewed rhubarb. I love how like music and scent that food has the power to evoke such precious memories of people we have loved and have lost and of the stories they have left with us.
I was living in England when I received a call from home that she had taken ill. I left immediately but was too late to say goodbye. At her funeral I stood before all those whom attended and read out a letter I had written to Grandma on the flight home, when I knew she was dying and it included many memories of her and the food she made.
My rhubarb is much sweeter then Grandma’s was and she didn’t use ginger. I have also used maple syrup instead of cane sugar, but you can adjust the recipe to suit your tastes.
You need
500 grams of rhubarb, ends trimmed, cut into 1 inch pieces & washed
1/2 cup of pure maple syrup
fresh grated ginger, to taste
You do
Place all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a gentle simmer & cook for 10- 15 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender.
Serve with your favourite coconut, soy or cashew ice cream.
Yields: 4 small serves.
Time: 20 minutes
Freeze: Fine to freeze.
YOU NEED
1 unsliced loaf of wholemeal bread. * See Method
1 cucumber
2 tablespoons of dairy free cream cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
YOU DO
Purchase the loaf of bread from your local bakery and request that they slice the loaf lengthways for you. Place the crusts aside for another recipe.
Line a plate with some paper towel and cut the cucumber into thin slices, lengthways. Place the sliced cucumber onto the plate with the paper towel and put it into the fridge over night. You will need enough slices to be able to cover one slice of the bread. Put any remaining cucumber aside for more sandwiches another day.
When you are ready to make the pinwheels, lay one slice of bread on your bench and spread the dairy free cream cheese evenly onto it. Make sure that there is cream cheese right to the edges. Then place one layer of cucumber slices lengthways onto the bread, without overlapping them. Season the cucumber with salt and pepper to taste.
Roll the bread slice from one of the short ends until the whole slice is rolled into a snail shape. Cut the roll in half, so you end up with 2 good size pin wheels. Put the rest of the bread into an airtight container to use throughout the week.
These are great for parties and picnics or just a different lunch box idea for the kids.
Yields: 4 pinwheel sandwiches. Note that you will get up to 14 pinwheels from one loaf.
Time: 5- 10 minutes. Plus the draining time for the cucumber.
Notes: Cucumber has very high water content. So it is an important step to lay the cucumber slices on draining paper, otherwise you will end up with very soggy sandwiches.
It’s important to lay the cucumber lengthways on the bread. If you lay them along the short side of the bread slices you will have trouble rolling the pin wheels.
You can purchase dairy free cream cheese at Coles. It is usually located where the dairy cream cheeses are kept.
If your children like herbs, these are also beautiful with finely chopped dill mixed through the cream cheese.
You can make the pinwheels with bean dip, hummus or any dip or filling that the kids love.
Ingredients
½ cup of fresh coriander
8 round rice paper rounds
½ cup of finely sliced red cabbage
½ cup of finely sliced savoy cabbage
½ cup of very finely sliced red capsicum
½ cup of peeled carrot, cut into fine match sticks
Method
Trim the roots from the coriander, wash it well, pat dry with a clean tea towel and set aside.
Lay all your prepared ingredients out on a plate.
Place 1 rice paper round in a shallow bowl of lukewarm water for about 10 seconds. When you pull it out of the water, it will still feel firm. It will soften as you work with it though and it is much easier to work with this way. Place it down flat onto your bench top.
Put equal amounts of each of the ingredients down the centre of the rice paper round. Make sure there is space at the ends and don’t be tempted to over fill it, or you will have trouble rolling it. Fold the ends of the rice paper in and roll up firmly, to enclose the fillings. Repeat with the remaining rice paper rounds and fillings.
Serve with fresh lime and/or organic tamari or sweet chilli sauce.
Yields: 8 rolls
Time: 20 minutes
Notes: You can purchase rice paper rolls at Asian supermarkets and in the Asian section of most supermarkets.
If you want the fillings to show, you can place the ingredients all to one side of the rice paper round and only fold one side of the round, before you roll it. This is great for parties and gatherings, but for lunches its best to enclose all the ingredients.
For a more filling snack or lunch, add a small amount of vermicelli rice noodles to each roll.
YOU NEED
1 cup of red rice
2 cups of water
¼ cup of water
½ a large brown onion, peeled and finely diced
3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
Pinch of hot cayenne
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
2 small tomatoes, cored and finely diced
½ a large red capsicum, finely diced
2 teaspoons of tomato paste
½ cup of vegetable stock
¼ teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon of liquid smoke
1 small bunch of fresh coriander, washed and drained
8 taco shells
YOU DO
Rinse and drain the rice then place it in a small pot with 2 cups water. Bring it to the boil, then cover the pot, turn the heat down to a simmer and cook until it is cooked. This takes about 30 to 40 minutes. While the rice is cooking, finely slice the coriander stems, roughly chop the leaves and set them aside.
Put the ¼ of a cup of water into a large pan and sauté the onions and garlic on a low heat, until the onions are translucent. Add the cumin seeds, cayenne, oregano and paprika and sauté on a low heat for a minute or two. Add the tomatoes, capsicum, tomato paste and the vegetable stock and cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes.
Add the cooked rice and coriander stems to the pan with the rest of the ingredients. Stir the mixture so all the flavours combine. If the mixture is too wet just cook it a little longer.
Spoon equal amounts into the taco shells and garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with sliced avocado and dairy free sour cream. They are lovely topped with a bit of spicy salsa too.
Yields: 8 tacos
Time: 30 to 40 minutes. If you cook the rice the day before though, it only takes 15 minutes to get these on the table.
Notes: You can get red rice from Asian grocers. If you can’t find red rice you can substitute it with brown rice.
Think “smokey”, “spicy”>>>>vegetable packed, nourishing, simple… tasty.
YOU NEED
1 large brown onion, peeled and finely sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
¼ cup of water
1 cup of green brown lentils, washed and drained
1.5 litres of water
6 teaspoons of Massel “beef” stock powder
4 generous cups of grated zucchini
3 cups of grated sweet potato
2 tablespoons of Old El Paso Fajita Seasoning
liquid smoke to taste
hot chilli sauce to taste
salt/pepper
YOU DO
Place the onion, garlic and the ¼ cup of water in a large pot. Cook them gently on a medium heat, till the onion softens and the water has mostly evaporated.
Add the lentils, 1.5 litres of water, “beef” stock, zucchini, sweet potato and fajita seasoning to the pot. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cook until the lentils are tender (approx 45 minutes).
Once the lentils are tender add liquid smoke and hot chilli sauce to taste. Check the seasoning and add a little salt and pepper if needed and serve.
Yields: 4 serves
Time: 15 minutes of preparation. 35-45 minutes of cooking time.
Notes: You can get liquid smoke from well stocked delis and American Food Stores.
YOU NEED
4 cobs of organic corn
1 tablespoon of coconut or olive oil
¼ cup of finely sliced spring onion
2 pinches of cayenne
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
¼ cup of beer
salt/pepper to taste
handful of fresh coriander, washed
# optional – ¼ cup of vegan cheese
YOU DO
Remove the husks from the corn. Discard the husks and place the corn on the BBQ or an open flame on your stove top. Using tongs, carefully turn the cobs as the kernels blacken. Continue cooking until the corn is mostly blackened.
Place the corn, oil, cayenne and paprika together in a large pan. Move the cobs around in the pan so that they are well covered in the seasoned mixture. Pour the beer into the pan with the cobs. Heat everything through and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Once the corn is cooked and well covered, turn off the heat. Garnish the corn with the coriander and the vegan cheese (if you are using it) and serve immediately.
Yields: 4.
Time: 15 minutes.
Notes: If you do not have a BBQ and are not comfortable blackening the corn on an open flame, or if you have an electric stove top, you can blacken them in a dry pan on a high heat instead. This will just take a little longer.
YOU NEED
1 large sweet potato
1 tablespoon of rice bran oil
1 large brown onion, peeled and finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
¼ teaspoon of dried crushed hot chilli
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon of pimento allspice
1 large green capsicum
1 can of crushed tomatoes
2 cans of black beans
¾ cup of vegetable stock
20 grams of dairy free (70% cocoa) dark chocolate
3/4 teaspoon of salt
Cracked black pepper to taste
4 handfuls of Kataifi pastry
2 large mangos, cut into cubes
1 cup of fresh mint leaves, washed
2 limes
YOU DO
Preheat your oven to 180c and get a steamer on to boil. Peel the sweet potato, cut it into rough cubes and steam them until the potato is tender. Once the potato is cooked, mash it and set it aside.
Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook on a low heat until the onion is caramelised. Add the chilli, coriander and pimento allspice and cook, stirring frequently for another minute or 2.
Add the capsicum, tomatoes, black beans and stock and gently simmer on a low to medium heat for 5 minutes. Once all the ingredients have cooked down, stir in the chocolate, salt and some ground black pepper, to taste. Continue cooking until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is a thick, wet consistency.
Spoon equal amounts of the bean mixture into 4 shallow, single serve pie dishes. Top each with some mashed potato. Then top each pie with a handful of Kataifi pastry. Place the pies into the oven and cook until the pastry has started to brown.
Make the salsa by juicing the 2 limes, roughly chopping the mint and combining them with the mango. Place into a small serving dish.
Serve the pies hot from the oven, accompanied with the salsa.
Yields: 4 serves.
Time: 25 – 30 minutes preparation. Plus 15 minutes cooking time.
Notes: You can purchase black beans at well stocked health food stores. If you don’t have black beans you can substitute them with kidney beans.
Kataifi pastry can be found in well stocked delis. Otherwise substitute with filo pastry. The pies are also lovely with no pastry.
YOU NEED
500ml of fresh pineapple juice
300ml of fresh papaya juice
4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
1 cup of fresh basil leaves
YOU DO
Gently wash the basil leaves and remove any hard stalks.
Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until the basil leaves have roughly broken up. Be sure not to over blend the mixture or the basil will break up too much and your mixture will become green.
Pour the mixture into two flat trays and place them into the freezer onto flat surfaces.
After an hour or so, check the trays and as the mixture begins to freeze, use a fork to carefully scrape any of the mixture that has started icing up. Continue doing this every 20-30 minutes until all the mixture is completely flaked. If you are not serving straight away, just place it into an air tight container in your freezer until you want to use it.
When you are ready to serve the granita, serve it in chilled glasses and eat it before it melts.
Yields: Serves 4
Time: 10 minutes for preparation. Then simply allow for the freezing process.
Notes: I used fresh pineapple and papaya and juiced them in my juicer until I had the desired amount of juice, for each fruit.
If your pineapple is super sweet you can get away with using no maple syrup.
YOU NEED
2 litres of water
1/3 cup of agave syrup
2 cloves
1 star anise
1 large cinnamon quill
1 mango, peeled and seed removed
1 green apple, core removed
1 pear, core removed
½ a small pineapple, core removed
1 orange
3 prickly pears, peeled
Handful of walnuts
Handful of raisins
4 hibiscus flowers
Soda water to taste
#optional – rum or tequila to taste
#optional – fresh sugar cane
Handful of fresh washed mint
YOU DO
Place the first 5 ingredients into a large pot and bring them to the boil. Then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes and turn off the heat.
Chop all the fruit into any shape you wish and add them all to the pot. Add the walnuts, raisins and hibiscus flowers. Allow the punch to cool and refrigerate until chilled.
Ladle chilled punch into serving glasses. Add a splash of soda water and some rum or tequila, to taste (if you are using alcohol).
Very carefully cut the fresh sugar cane into sticks. Garnish the serving glasses with fresh sugar cane sticks and fresh mint leaves.
Notes: Ponche is traditionally made by cooking the syrup along with all the fruit for a much longer period of time and then served warm. This recipe has been created to suit hot summers day with chilled punch and firmer fruits.
If you don’t have agave you can use pure maple syrup.
You can purchase prickly pear from specialty fruit and vegetable stores. Otherwise simply substitute for another tropical fruit.
You can purchase hibiscus flowers in syrup at liquor shops and specialty supermarkets. If you cannot find it, simply omit it from the recipe.
You can purchase fresh sugar cane from Asian fruit and vegetable grocers.