Vegetarian Foods Archive

Early in the week, whilst I was doing some research for work (honestly I was), I stumbled on The Best Jollof Rice Competition held in Brixton, London today.  It the UKs first ever Jollof competition, in past there have been Best Rum Cake. Its hosted by The Afrikan Family Works . I  love these grassroots community spirited competitions.  I thought I would compete virtually with my vegan Jollof variation, but I sincerely wish the hosts and the participants the best and hope the event is a success.   For those of you unfamiliar with Jollof.  Jollof rice or Benachin which means 'one pot' originates in Senegal.  Jollof  is eaten all across West Africa and has recently become appreciated alongside the South Indian Pilaf and the Spanish Paella. So here it is my vegan Jollof  rice.  I added peppers, okra and chickpeas to the Jollof rice only because I didn't have an accompaniment with it.  I am no expert at making Jollof, in fact this is ...

There are no fiery or smoky chillies in this African Aubergine Coconut Cassoulet , but it is immensely flavourful.   The recipe for African Cassoulet is originally made with  Boerewors  which are South African sausages, I liked the sound of the flavour's in the rich ochre coloured sauce, so decided to make a vegetarian version which also happens to be suitable for vegans.  In place of the  Boerewors  I sliced some aubergines length ways in a manner to mimic the look of the  Boerewors .    I really wanted this Cassoulet to have flavours reminisce of Boerewors , so I did a little research and learned that spices such as allspice, black pepper, coriander, cloves and nutmeg are used for spicing up the  Boerewors  , so I have incorporated these spices into the Cassoulet. I also read something about there being grape vinegar, so decided to throw in some grape-like cherry tomatoes (from the greenhouse of course) towards the end fo...

Refugee Week is a continuation of  World Refugee Day and marks a collective acknowledgement across the world to raise awareness  of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers across the world.     The theme for Refugee Week for 2016 is  Welcome.    As my blog is a vegetarian food blog  my Simple Act  is to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness that way among some colleagues and some of my readers. Today I will share a vegetarian Somalian dish, that also happens to be vegan.  It is Shahan Faul, Ful Sahan.   This is a bean dish that is also very common in Eritrea, Ethiopian and Sudan.   But before I share the recipe, you may be interested to know that Somali's have been in the U.K for over a century, arriving here as merchant seamen and settling in port cities like Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff.  However, it was in the 1990s following famine and further conflict in the region in 2...

I have more autumnal coloured food coming your way, but here is one that you may want to consider making for your grown up Halloween Party.  I made this Carrot Rice Pilau with some rainbow carrots.  I was quite surprised how the purple carrots bled into the white basmati rice and tainted it with a purple hue.  It actually looked quite pretty and quite nice to eat.   As I had some left over, I decided to take some into work for lunch as a savoury rice salad dish.  You could reheat it in the microwave or eat it at room temperature. So I have decided to share it with Kahakai Kitchen .  By the way this is not the traditional way of making pilau rice that comes from the Indian Sub Continent, but it was still very flavourful.  I adapted a recipe that was also adapted by the cookboo k authors.   Other Rainbow Coloured Vegan Recipes  Savoury Chestnut, Rainbow Carrot and Lentil Cake Rainbow Carrots, Puy Lentil and Barley Salad...