Vegetarian Foods Archive

I've had a proper lazy weekend and most of all I have had a long sleep in, no dreading the alarm going off and waking up to go into work in the dark and come back home in the dark. The weekend has also allowed me to d some slow cooking and make the most of the little light there was outside for photographs, but the reality is its been a dark weekend with lingering dark clouds, drippy rain and blustery winds.  Today's hearty  lunch was Lemon-Coriander Maftoul with Roasted Harissa Rainbow Carrots.   I  picked up two bunches of rainbow carrots from a local greengrocers.  I wanted to make more of a feast of them, than just chop, grate or spiralize them for a coleslaw, so I roasted them whole in a harissa sauce and served it with  Zaytoun Palestenian Maftoul .  Maftoul is made from sun-dried bulgar wheat and hand rolled into tiny chewy balls.  The magic of maftoul is that it absorbs flavours wonderfully so I coated it in lemony coriander goodne...

I've been wanting to make a Beetroot version of  Tahdig  ever since I managed to find some rosy coloured barberries.  Tahdig  is a Iranian - Iraqi - Persian Upside Down Rice cake.   I have made traditional Tahdig once before in a pot with crusty golden almost burnt topping, but that was well before I started this blog.   It is for this reason, I was confident I could adapt a Tahdig recipe with the addition of Beetroot.   I was pleased by the way the  savoury Persian style Upside Down Beetroot  Rice cake t urned out, baked in a silicon heart-shaped mould (because of Valentines week), BUT - yes there is a but, I was disappointed in the way it tasted.  My tinkered version of this Persian style Upside Down Beetroot Cakes was just about edible, it needs work.  My version dyes the rice with beetroot instead of saffron and is filled with spiced roasted aubergines and puy l entils.  The whole recipe needs a little tweaking, No...

Happy Valentines dear readers.   I've made Persian Kuku  many times before, for those of you unfamiliar with it - Bake of the Week ;  Belleau Kitchen for  click on this link to learn more .    Kuku's are a Persian omelette and what I present to you is not exactly one - though it did start of originally as a Kuku .  I should have made it in a wide frying pan, but I wanted to get all fancy for Valentines day and made it in a silicone heart shaped mould.   This Persian Kuku puffed up like a aerated blow up bed, then settled down quite calmly.  Once it was unmoulded, the top was a blanket of beetroot red.   It looked fabulous and sliced wonderfully.   I have to say it tasted pretty marvellous too.  D loved it as it contained two of his favourite vegetables - beetroot and cauliflower.  I'd almost describe it as   a cross between Spanish Tortilla and Frittata , but its neither - so I call it a big fat Persian ...

I do feel my calling is to work in a big community kitchen with people from diverse, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.  I even dream one day if I win the lottery big time to start a community canteen where people from all backgrounds can come together, share and eat food and mostly talk with each other to break down preconceived ideas and challenge misinformation disseminated often by cheap paper tabloids.  I would not want it to be one of those places, where people come along, a bit like so-called 'Diversity days' 'eat the food from different countries, dance to the music, have their hands painted in henna', then go back to their homes continuing to still carry those prejudices.  I've seen that way to many times and always avoid it as tokenism.  Anyway, today (and the rest of this week) is not about me.  This week I give my blog space freely over to Refugee Week  in the hope that it will raise some awareness of refugees and asylum seekers across the world f...

The theme for  Refugee Week    for 2016 is  Welcome.    Refugee Week is  a collective acknowledgement across the world to raise awareness  of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers across the world.    As my blog is a vegetarian food blog  my Simple Act  was to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness that way among some of my readers. Kibbeh is a popular dish from the Middle East, especially in Aleppo in Syria.  It is made from bulgar wheat, meat, onions, spices and then deep fried.   It often comes in torpedo shape croquettes which I have yet to master and many variations.  In Aleppo, Syria there are many varieties including those made with vegetables.  Some of you may remember me mentioning a Middle Eastern cookbook I foun d at my local library a little while back called  Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa (2000) by Habee...

All week,  except for Friday much to do with the EU Referendum I have been trying to raise some awareness of Refugee Week  through  Cooking A Dish from Another Country   .  Refugee Week  in the United Kingdom is an event that promotes positive encounters between asylum seekers and refugees and members of the receiving communities, as well as raising awareness. The theme for Refugee Week  2016 was  Welcome.     Today I will share another Middle Eastern dish called Maqluba .  . Over the years, I've seen various versions of Maqlub.   Maqluba is a Palestinian dish popular throughout the Middle East.   Once the dish is cooked, the cooking pot is turned   upside down and removed to reveal  the edible crown beneath.   I have no doubt that Maqluba takes centre stage on the table at Middle Eastern family feasts, especially now when many Muslims across the world are taking part in the holy time in the ...

The past few weeks or so, I have made a few Persian inspired dishes inspired mostly by Iranian   food bloggers, rather than from the spate of mainstream Middle Eastern cookbooks published recently in the UK.  It started as a means  to find inspirational ways of using my spices such as Advieh , Baharat , Sumac, Za'ata r and ingredients such as Maftoul and Freekeh, but like any curious cook I have been lured and enticed by other recipes.   When I saw an Iranian style Koresh tweeted by The Persian Fusion,   I just knew I had to make a vegetarian variation of it.  Something about it had me salivating.   Koresht/Khoresht/Ghalyeh  are stews or curries in Persian cooking.  They should not be compared to South Asian curries popular in the Western world.  Persian stews and curries are  quite mild.   I substituted the chicken breasts with Quorn 'chicken' fillets and adjusted the spices to taste and the tomato sauce acc...

I don't know if he was just very hungry or being honest, but D complimented on how delicious this Harissa Butternut Squash Stew was, not once but twice with a Thank you Lady.   I thought it was going to one of those stews that would benefit from overnight rest in the fridge, but we had it within an hour of making it and it was most enjoyable.  The harissa and the smoked paprika offset against each other wonderfully. Be careful with the cooking of the vegetables, especially the broccoli towards the end, you do not want it really soft, but still with bite, otherwise it would be more bordering on soup than stew, which is not a bad thing, but sometimes you want texture not bambino  food. I served this Harissa Butternut Squash Stew with some Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by Searching for Spice as this was good a couple of days later too; and  with CookBlogShare hosted by Easy Peasy Foodie. Harissa  Butternut Squash Stew with Broccoli and Chickpeas Ser...