You may say “what-the-aquafaba?!” & then try my creamy 2-minute Green Princess dressing.

There has been a lot of talk about winning and losing; some prince’s new romance; elections; things that must fall and then some more election talk lately.

Luckily there has been a lot of talk about aquafaba as well.

Aquafaba is simply the cooking liquid of beans and other legumes.

In short, the name of this magic ingredient was only coined about a year ago, after two guys by the names of  Joël Roessel and Goose Wohlt experimented  with some chickpea cooking liquids and discovered their similarity to eggs in cooking.

• Aqua = WATER
• Faba = BEAN

Great! Now that we’ve got the Latin sorted..This protein- and starch rich liquid is currently widely used in vegan and vegetarian recipes. Canned chickpea liquid, for instance, makes a fabulous vegan mayonnaise alternative.  In my opinion  it can’t really be called a mayonnaise unless it’s an egg-emulsion, so maybe we should stick to calling it a veganaise?

It can also replace eggs in vegan meringues (yes, really!) and cakes , can be used as a thickening agent in stews and soups and acts as a foaming agent in dairy free mousses.

My Green Princess Dressing is a perfect way of using chickpea cooking liquid to add protein AND flavour. PLUS it makes me feel good as there is less wastage.

How to do it:

Simply add all the ingredients to a blender / food processor and blitz until foamy. It takes literally 2-3 minutes. Alternatively use a stick blender and a pulse action to get the same results.

*It might seem like a lot of oil, but yields almost 4 cups of creamy, green, vegan goodness.

 

 

What you need:

• The reserved liquid of one can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• ¼ can of  chickpeas
• 1 clove of garlic
• Juice and grated peel of ½ lemon
• 2 tsp whole grain mustard
• A small handful of fresh leafy herbs (I used flat leaf parsley and basil)
• ¾ cup of neutral tasting oil (olive oil is not a good choice in this case)
• 10 capers
• A large pinch of salt
• Black pepper to taste
• 1tsp  Xylitol or sugar – optional

*Store refrigerated.

The dressing was wonderful with some chilled roasted veggies and pasta as a meat free salad.

Read more on this fabulous find:

http://aquafaba.com/

Have a look at how easy it is to make the veganaise and Coconut Craze’s recipe: https://coconutcraze.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/aquafaba-mayonnaise-eggless-mayonnaise/

 

 

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The most beautiful summer rice paper rolls

I was so surprised by how easy these beauties were to prepare and absolutely blown away by the taste. They are light and fresh and a little goes a very long way. On top of this they are super healthy, meat-  and gluten free. Can they be more perfect?

How to do it

1. Prep your veggies for the filling.
2. Soak the rice paper wraps in cold water, one at a time, for 3- 30 seconds or as per packet instructions.
3. Place wrapper on a damp kitchen towel, place filling ingredients on top. Roll and serve.

Use a mix of colours and textures for the best results.

Some suggestions : baby salad leaves; fresh herbs; avocado; roasted nuts; julienne cucumber; raw and pickled / cooked beetroot; raw baby carrots; spring onions, edible flowers; grated  cucumber; ribbons of any root vegetables..the list is endless

Serve with a dipping sauce of your choice. I feel that a little heat absolutely works here – see my recipe for a quick sweet chilli dipping sauce below.

I am definitely not  a pro at rolling them yet. They had a few nicks and tears, but it is really not a tricky thing to get right.

 

Easy sweet chilli dipping sauce

• 5 red chillies – chopped
• 60 ml water
• 60 ml rice vinegar / white wine vinegar
• 60 g raw sugar /palm sugar / brown sugar / sugar replacement
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cloves of garlic – chopped

1. Boil all the ingredients together for 15 minutes
2. Blitz together in food processor or with stick blender

**For some inspiration as well as examples of some VERY neatly rolled rolls see https://za.pinterest.com/vaniaclcorreia/rolls/

 

 

 

Sweet Palermo peppers & cute courgetti

 

Everybody knows- very much like the Leonard Cohen song.

Anybody close to me knows that I get totally dazzled in a fresh food / vegetable isle, resulting in me regularly returning home with all kinds of super exiting ingredients as well as extra caffeinated coffee, conditioner instead of shampoo and the like.

The explanation is quite simple. I would on a particular day say, discover fresh horseradish for the first time in a very long time and in my dreamy state grab another bottle of regular coffee instead of much needed decaf- you see what I mean?

The same thing happened upon discovering these SWEET PALERMO PEPPERS.

Aren’t they just gorgeous?  Mr Cohen himself could have stood right there beside me crooning “..let it be your will…” and I would nót have noticed.   I did hear a faint “hallelujah”, though ;- )

They were simply begging to become a fabulous Romesco sauce, and needless to say, I came home without the decaf.

Romesco is a gorgeous Catalan pesto-like sauce / dip / condiment that goes perfectly with …uuhhmm .. anything. It is heavenly on meat, fish or veggies.

I would really like to add some adjectives here, but rather challenge you to try getting away with only one after making this.

As with most traditional cooking, there is no fixed recipe, just some basics to stick to. Although some recipes use almonds only, I’ve tried both and suggest you use a few hazelnuts as well.

Notes:

• If you don’t have blanched nuts, just roast unskinned nuts in a pan over a low heat and give them a quick rub in a tea towel white still hot. “No hay problema” as they would say in Catalan.
• Sherry vinegar is quite non-negotiable here, but you can substitute for lemon juice if needed.
• You can use ANY variety of sweet peppers for this recipe
• Peppers can alternatively be grilled on an open fire / under a very hot oven grill.

 

This is my version, using canned whole tomatoes – feel free to use fresh peeled ones – your extra effort will be handsomely rewarded.

• 4 sweet red peppers
• 100g blanched almonds
• 50g hazelnuts
• 1 can peeled whole tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2Tbl (30ml) sherry vinegar
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil Plus extra for drizzle
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• ½tsp paprika (sweet or smoked)

1. Pre heat oven to 200 ̊C
2. Roast the peppers over an open gas flame until blackened and blistered all over.
3. Place in a bowl with a tight fitting lid or cover with cling wrap.
4. Oven roast the nuts on a baking tray until just toasted and changing colour (about 6 minutes) and set aside.
5. Also roast the tomatoes, including their juice with the garlic for 15 minutes.
6. Scrape the black skin from the roasted peppers, slice open and discard pips.
7. Add the peppers, roasted tomatoes, vinegar, roasted nuts, oil, salt, pepper and paprika to a blender.
8. Just blend for a few seconds – it should still be quite coarse.
9. Now taste – more olive oil, maybe? Salt and pepper just right?

The sauce keeps very well – up to 10 days in the fridge.  We’ve had a super easy dinner the next day with some steamed courgetti, a plumb sundried tomato, lovely strong green Spanish olive oil and fresh baby herbs from the garden. It was perfect!

Isn’t that simply the cÜtest word ever?  ..co-er-get-ti..