Vegetarian Foods Archive

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   The recipe for African Cassoulet is originally made with  Boerewors  which are South African sausages, I liked the sound of the flavour's in the rich ochre coloured sauce, so decided to make a vegetarian version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...

I am certainly making the most of my jar of black sesame seeds.  First it was  Black Sesame Seed Butter , then   Black Sesame Seed Flapjacks and now its sprinkled over these Aubergine Nibbles.   These Aubergine Nibbles are not far removed from the Japanese Nasu Denkagu loosely translated as  Miso Glazed Aubergines , Here though the aubergines are chopped and roasted in the oven with sesame seeds, once golden. Served with a dip, this of course can be made from miso, but i have to be honest I used one from a squeezy bottle.  These Japanese sushi plates have made an appearance on the blog before.  They are rather special to me.  I got them in the US of A from a independent Oriental shop in Berkeley when visiting my beautiful friend in 2000.   It was my first time in America too.  I carefully packed them and they arrived back with me in the UK in tact.  I treasure them and whenever I use them, all those precious moments we shar...

This was not what I had planned to make with the aubergines that have been  nestling at the bottom of the fridge for the past week or so, but I couldn't remember the recipe I had actually planned to make with them.  Do you have days like that?!  Pick up some avocados for something specific then can't remember why and end up just making guacamole with it! It didn't matter in the end as this Harissa Aubergine, Kale and Chickpeas dish was lovely.  We had it  early this afternoon after a lovely day in Cardiff where I spent quite a bit of hard earned cash today.  I picked up a gorgeous retro dress from a stall at St Mary's Market in the High Street, (the same place I got my Angry  Persian Aunties );  and a couple of pair of shoes from one of Cardiff's many Arcades, yes you read right, a couple of shoes and I am not even a shoe person.  Honestly they are both for work.  The past three months, and I am not kidding I have been going into work...

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 hope you don't mind me sharing a recent observation when I was waiting to get the bus back home from work. I start with a statement.  I think chivalry is dead or taking its very last dying breaths.  I had faith it was still alive in the older gentlemen but not now.  I waited to get my bus home and noted fellow blogger Sareta's Kitchen make and was inspired to give it my own South Asian twist - Indian, Pakistan and Bangladesh all rolled into one.  Here it is my Curried Anglo Italian Ratatouille with fenugreek and chickpeas.  Of course, I had to present it prettily, it takes a little time but its worth the effort when you want to make an impression. You could serve this with plain Basmati rice if you want, but some good crusty bread is what we had.   So how was it?  I really liked it.  If ratatouille was served to me like this I would enjoy it more. Yes we British people Love Fusion Food.  Yes - we do, really - when people think of t...

This Greek Vegetable Bake is known as Briam.  Briam   is one of those dishes my Greek flat-mates at University used make and eat after a long day at lectures and tutorials.    In fact, it was not my Greek flat mates that introduced this  Briam  or Moussaka , but another Greek girl staying two floors down that frequented the lads, she realised I was vegetarian and one day brought some over for me to try.  It was delicious and she told me how to make it and I thought, well that is easy.   It is also one of the reasons  I veered towards making it last week during the working week, straight after work.    Briam is Greek, but there is also a Turkish version called Turlu. or Tourlou Tourlou.    Briam and Turlus are both often described as a Baked Ratatouille .  The other reason for making this Briam - Greek Vegetable Bake is that I have an abundance of courgettes and I also had some green peppers. ...

I've been cooking quite a lot of Middle Eastern recipes recently.  It started with the    Iranian Pearl Barley Soup known as  Ash-e Jo  or  Ash-e-Jow   early this year when we had freakish snow and with the unusual hot weather continuing, now I have Etsis Turlu .     According to the cookbook author this  Etsis Turlu  comes from Turkey. With the rain over the weekend, it was the perfect excuse to make a stew more suited for autumnal days and colder evenings, but i have lots of summer vegetables including courgettes, marrows and green beans coming from the garden that I wanted  to make the most of it, even if it is the height of summer. This stew will last us good three days of the working week and we intend to eat it with couscous, bulgar wheat, rice or crusty bread.   I am sharing this  Etsis Turlu Stew  with   Kahakai Kitchen .  Adapted from Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle E...

We are continuing to enjoy homegrown fruit and vegetables, because we know it won't last. So with our h omegrown courgettes and homegrown tomatoes, I made an Oven Roasted Ratatouille, and b efore some of you get all uppity and say its not made this way, blah blah blah...well this recipe comes from a  French woman, author of - if its good enough for her, well who am I to argue. So who is this French woman, well she is Parisian and it is Clotilde Dusoulier author of the best food blog Chocolate and Zucchini.  She started her blog in 2003.  I can't remember how I stumbled across her originally but I did buy her cookbook also of the same name and from which the recipe comes from.   For those of you who read my blog regular, will know that I am not that keen on ratatouille, so I am always willing to try different recipes that will encourage me to change my mind, well I think I am onto a winner here.  My oven roasted ratatouille was a little more juicy ...