Coconut Squash Curry

I've been living in my current apartment for about three and a half months now. For three and a half months I've been living just one block away from an Indonesian restaurant serving mostly vegan food. And I haven't tried it until just recently. Wow, is all I can say about that meal. I had the most amazing pumpkin curry, rich, creamy and with a wonderfully perfumed and spicy flavor. As soon as I'd taken the first bite, I said to myself "I have to try this at home". Now I have, and below is the documentation of my attempt. Coconut squash curry, scented with cardamom and fennel. If I may say so myself, it turned out pretty nicely! 

There are several ways you could make this recipe even more magical. The first of these is to add more spices. When it comes to curries I find that it is often the more the merrier with spices. Here are some suggestions (some you may want to take out before mixing!):

• 6 green cardamom pods
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 1 stalk of lemon grass (this one I believe strongly in!)
• Some curry leaves
• Some whole cloves

Secondly, you could add more vegetables to the curry. Either cook them in the sauce, in which case you add them with the chickpeas and simmer until done, or you can cook them on the side. This is what I did this time. I took the other half of my squash and roasted it with chili, cinnamon, vinegar, maple syrup and shredded coconut until crispy. You could also stir-fry some vegetables and put on top of the curry. Vegetables that would marry well with the curry sauce:

• Sugar snaps (add with chickpeas)
• Spinach (add with chickpeas)
• Potatoes (add with chickpeas or roast in the oven)
• Brussel sprouts (I just love these cute mini-cabbages so I had to put them on the list - roast in the oven)
• Peas

Thirdly, you can bring this dish to a new level by serving it with something equally exciting. I try to avoid rice as much as possible due to the large amount of water required to grow it. I therefore made myself some roasted quinoa spiced with cinnamon. I've included how to make this below the curry-recipe. Another amazing alternative would be cous cous or bulgur studded with dried fruits and nut. Or naan bread. Or both. Yum.

This curry recipe is sweet, colorful and fragrant, and also very easy! As I've already told you above, a good start for being creative and making some true kitchen magic. Try it out and let me know what you think!

For 2 hungry soon to be very happy people (or even happier if you're already in a good mood)

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp ground cardamon

½ tsp chili flakes (you can substitute for whatever kind of chili you like)

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds (I used yellow)

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tbsp coconut oil (preferably)

½ large onion

1-2 cloves of garlic, depending on size

½ small squash, such as acorn or butternut

1 bay leaf

2 dl water

2 dl coconut milk

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp lime juice

2 dl cooked chickpeas

Chop the onion and garlic. Cut the squash in about 1 cm-cubes, don't bother peeling, unless the skin is particularly tough. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add all the spices and let them roast gently in the oil until your kitchen smells wonderful. Add the onion, garlic, squash and bay leaf and sauté over quite low heat for about 5 minutes or until the onion starts getting soft. You might have to add some extra oil at this point. Once this is done, add the water, coconut milk, salt and lime juice. Bring to a boil and simmer covered until the squash is done. This might take about 30 minutes, but depends on how big pieces you cut. 

When the squash is soft, take the pot of the heat and blend it with an immersion blender to a smooth creamy sauce. Add the chickpeas, put back on the stove and simmer for about five more minutes. 

Making roasted quinoa:

Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a saucepan. Add a stick of cinnamon and six whole cloves together with 2,5 dl of quinoa. Roast over low heat until the quinoa starts to get golden and smell roasted. Add 5 dl of water, bring to a boil and simmer covered until the quinoa is done. When it's done, remove the lid to let the steam escape and the fluff it up with a fork. 

The Vegan Challenge 3.0

This blog started with the project Vegan Vegan, several years ago. It was a school project during which Agnes and I went vegan for one month and documented our cooking and our experiences here on the blog. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least. Since then I have been more or less vegetarian or vegan. A bit more than a year back my brother and I had a second vegan month. For me it was a great way to get back to the kind of eating that I believed in. For my brother is was a challenge, but one that he enjoyed. Since then he has become an almost full-time vegetarian, which for him is quite an amazing change.

Both of these vegan month have been inspiring and taught me a lot. And I have to tell you, I have many inspiring people in my life. One of them is my boyfriend, who lives with three friends outside of Stockholm. Before Christmas he told me that they were going to try a vegan month. You can imagine how excited this made me. Back in August I'd given him a copy of our Vegan Vegan!-book, and I can only wish that had a part in inspiring this new vegan action. But in reality I think the reason for their challenge is that they are such amazing people, who are openminded and want to change the world. Because to me, that is what veganism is about. You can change both your corner of the world by making a healthy choice to do something good for your body, but also make our planet a tiny bit better and greener by changing your habits. 

I am excited about this third Vegan Challenge. So far, we will be 9 people going vegan for the month of February. That is if you don't want to join us and increase that number. If you are hesitant, consider this. Whether you believe it to be worth it or not, being vegan has many perks. It has many health benefits, it means taking a step away from the mistreatment of animals and for me the most important one, it is one of the best ways to help save our planet. But it is also a great way to challenge yourself and learn new things about how you can live your life. A month may seem like a long time for an avid meat-eater to not have a steak, even a long time for a everyday vegetarian to refrain from milk and cheese. But if you give it a try, I promise that month will go fast! A month is the perfect time to start to build new habits and it is long enough to realize that being a vegan is easier than you'd ever thought! 

I've decided to give this challenge a second part. Apart from going vegan for a month, I have also decided to post something here on this blog every day of that month. It might be a recipe, an interesting fact about veganism or an homage to my favorite vegetable at the moment. This will be a way for me to get back to blogging but also to make my self research relevant topics and learn more about different aspects of being a vegan. If there is anything in particular that you're wondering or want to read about, fell free to comment. The "Comment"-button is getting sleepy and dusty down there...

For me, the main reason to be a vegan is that is one of the best way to do something to save the environment. I strongly believe that each and every one of us has to take steps towards new habits that are kinder to the planet that mankind is not so slowly but surely destroying. It can be a small step such as starting to recycle or bringing bags from home when going to the store. It could also be a grander step, such as giving the Vegan Challenge a chance. It may feel like a big step, but trust me that it doesn't have to be a hard one! The hardest part is probably making up your mind and starting. But if you do, if you want to join us in February, let me know. If you do, you're in for a fun, eye-opening month!

Snowy days... Soup days

Winter finally came. More than a half a meter in one day, and now there is a sea of slush out there. But in times like these, there are actually easy ways to make life better. One of them is making a hearty soup to scare away the winter chill. I've been craving a red lentil soup the last week, and finally I got around to making one! A red lentil soup with caramelized onion to be precis.

This soup does take some time, but it is still very easy. Most of the time required the soup spends minding its own business, which leaves you free to just take it easy and enjoy the wonderful smells escaping the pot.

Serves 2 hungry people with a side of good bread:

½ large yellow onion
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp salt
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 small carrot
1 ½ dl red lentils
10 dl water
2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp vinegar
Pepper
Chili

Start by slicing the onion in thin slices lengthwise. Cut the slices in half. Heat the oil in a deep pot. Add the onions and sauté on low heat for ten minutes. The onions should get soft and see-through. Meanwhile, mine the garlic, finely dice the carrot and chop the ginger. After ten minutes, add the salt and continues sautéing for ten more minutes. The onions should start to get golden brown by now. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for five minutes. Add the carrot and lentils and leave for five more minutes.

Now it's time to add the rest of the ingredients. You can add pepper and/or chili to taste. Bring it all to a boil and let simmer with the lid on for 30-40 minutes until the lentils are nice and soft. Give it a good stir to break down the lentils and make it creamier. Serve with a good bread.

Crispy schnitzel and crazy simple tomato sauce

That wasn't a very vegan headline for a post you might think. I'm happy to tell you that you are wrong. My world has been turned upside down by learning that one can take something as un-meaty as a kohlrabi, coat it in bread crumbs and fry into crispy wonderfulness! A kohlrabi? That might be your next thought. What is that? Don't they have a peculiar taste? Well yes, raw they have quite a strong and unique taste. But cooked gently and then breaded and fried the flavor mellows and the consistency becomes is soft yet firm and plain perfect. 

In my mind, eggs were essential to breading something, but the internet showed me how wrong I was. A simple mixture of flour and water is quite sufficient for dipping the kohlrabi in before coating it with bread crumbs. The beautiful thing about this is that you can easily add flavors and spices to this mix. For my schnitzels I used homemade bread crumbs that I'd flavored with garlic and herbs. If you don't have this, I'd recommend adding som herbs to your crumbs and some grated garlic or garlic powder to your flour batter. 

Something that goes very well with the "schnitzel" is a yummy tomato sauce. I won't say making the kohlrabi schnitzel is hard, because it isn't. It does include a few steps though so I've made the tomato sauce simple stupid to make things easier. Use an oven-proof pan for the sauce. Then it will happily cook away in the oven while you're making the schnitzel!

Keep in mind that the recipe does not include a great source of protein. I solved this by serving it with a mix of cooked grains and puy lentils. You could also add beans to the sauce of you want to. Or make sure to get your protein at some other point in your day. When I dig into the leftovers I'm planning on having them with polenta, keep an eye out for the polenta recipe!

Serves 2 with left-over sauce

Crazy simple tomato sauce

800 g of whole, peeled, canned tomatoes (you can probably use chopped if you want to)

1 onion

3 small carrots

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp salt

1 spring of rosemary

5-8 dl water, depending on how thick you want the sauce

Black pepper

Oil

Heat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Dice the carrots, chop the garlic and onion. Heat up an oven-proof pan with some oil. Gently sauté the vegetables in the pan on low heat for 5 minutes, stirring now and then. Add the salt and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the whole tomatoes and rosemary to the pan, give it a good stir and pop it into the oven. You want to roast the sauce for a good 30-35 minutes until it starts looking a bit dry, even brown around the edges. Meanwhile you can start preparing the schnitzel. After about 30 minutes have passed, take out the sauce and stir it up to break down the tomatoes. Add water until the sauciness fits your taste, as well as pepper, and put it back into the oven for another 20-30 minutes. If it looks too dry, add more water. 

Kohlrabi schnitzel

1 small kohlrabi

3 tbsp water

2 tbsp all-purpose or whole wheat flour

1 tsp vinegar

1-2 tsp Dijon mustard (depending on the strength of the mustard)

½ tsp salt

Pepper

2 dl good bread crumbs (see note about bread crumbs above)

Oil for frying

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Peel and slice the kohlrabi in about 7 mm thick slices. Cook the slices for about 8 minutes or until tender. Drain. While that is happening, mix the water, flour, salt, pepper, vinegar and dijon in a small bowl. Pour the bread crumbs onto a plate. Heat a frying pan and add the oil. Dip the kohlrabi in the batter and then in the crumbs, coating both sides. Put directly into the pan and fry on medium heat for about3-4 minutes per side or until beautifully golden and crispy.

Serve the schnitzels with the sauce and some pasta, grains, bread or polenta. 

Magical miso hummus

My brother is a big fan of Japanese food. He visited me here in the big, beautiful Apple during Christmas and we discovered that there is a Little Tokyo in the East Village! I had no idea, although I can't say I'm surprised. One can travel the world with a NYC Metro card. We had the most amazing vegetarian ramen, and I got inspired and enthusiastic in a way that I only get over food. I had to learn how to make it myself! I went for a shopping spree at my local Japanese shop and came home with both kombu and dried shiitake. Now you might expect me to share the recipe for the ramen I made. Unfortunately that's not going to happen, that recipe is still a diamond in the rough. But one wonderful outcome from making ramen, apart from the ramen itself, is that you might find yourself with a large jar of miso paste in the fridge. You may also not know what to do with it (I didn't, at first), but not want it to go to waste either. If you're like me you see this as an opportunity to be creative. Therefore I have miso in most everything right now, one example being yummy miso hummus! Give it a try!

Note on the miso: I used red miso. White would probably work just as well. It has a milder taste, so you might want to add some more. Choose the larger or smaller amount of miso depending on what you like and what kind of miso you are using. As the miso is quite salty, I didn't add any salt, but you can if you want to.

For a good-sized jar of hummus:

5 dl chickpeas, cooked or from a can

A splash of olive oil

1-2 tbsp sesame oil (to taste)

3-4 tbsp miso paste

2 small cloves of garlic or one very big

¼-½ lemon, juice (to taste)

A small bunch of cilantro

Pepper

Water to desired consistency

Garnishes: Black sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions

Simply mix all the ingredients but the water and garnishes, using an immersion blender of mixer. Add water a bit at a time until you reach a consistency you like. Transfer to a nice bowl, swirl the surface to make it beautiful and top with garnishes if you want to! Simple stupid and so good!

New times

So, it's a new year and a perfect time to get a fresh start. Same goes for this blog. Previously we've promised, on several occasions, to get back at it and start posting things here again. Well, those promises we haven't been that good at keeping have we. So I've thought a bit about the reason for that and how to be better this time.

First of all, when I was back home in Sweden I was way to busy with other things. That doesn't mean I wasn't cooking, I could never stop that. I just didn't have time to document what I was doing and share it here. Now, life's changed. I have more time, and so much inspiration! New York must be one of the best cities to be a vegan in!

Secondly, when I cook, I don't like having to stop, write things down, measure things out exactly and so on. When I'm cooking I'm in the moment, tasting, smelling, stirring and looking. To me it's all about getting into it and using all your senses, not getting exact grams and milliliters of everything you add. Therefore I've now decided to document my recipes accordingly. When you follow them, use you're common sense and creativity. If you want to change something, do so. As long as you taste whatever you're cooking along the way, it will probably come out wonderfully. I want you to see the recipes as guidelines and inspiration more than anything else. Have fun when you're following them!

Third thing is the photo-thing. I've never enjoyed taking pictures of the food I cook. The reason is simple, once it's done I want to eat it not have it get cold while I'm getting the pictures of it just right. Also, I don't have a nice camera or the skill to take nice pictures. Therefore I've decided that just because everyone else has beautiful photos on their blogs doesn't mean I have to. If you think a recipe sounds good I hope you dare try it anyway!

As I said, some changes are happening. But end of the day I think the'll make me post more, and that's a good thing. Also I feel I can do my thing having explained this to you. Hope that you enjoy what you find on the blog, and please feel free to comment if something is good, bad or to simply say hi.

Cuban Black Beans with Butternut-Carrot Purée

Guess who's back... Maybe we should make this a thing, to post something once a year when our blogging-conscience gets too bad. Or maybe not, it probably wouldn't be such a successful project. Anyhow, times have changed! I (Hanna) have now moved across the big ocean to the United States of A! To be precise, I now live in New York, one of the most inspiring cities to be vegan in! The possibilities here are endless. Walking into grocery stores is like walking into an enchanted world filled with tofu, tempeh, nut butters and other fun vegan food. You can buy local produce at the farmer's market, even though you're living in one of the world's craziest cities. It down right wonderful!

Moving to the Big Apple has also given me a lot more spare time. And as a kind of New Year's resolution I figured I could spend som of that time sharing my vegan experiences. Although I've decided that some things are going to change. I'll get into the details of that later though, my new blogging mentality. It'll be a separate post.

But here's the first recipe of the year for you! Cuban black beans with butternut squash and carrot purée. The butternut and carrots are cooked long and slow to really bring out their sweetness and then mixed into a heavenly smooth purée. The beans are mashed with spices and it all comes together to a nice and hearty dish, perfect for cold weather! I served it with a simple kale salad (as I do with most things nowadays), dressed with a kind of avocado-lime-sesame dressing. It all ended up being a very nice dinner! 

For 2-3 people (depending on how hungry you are!)

Start making the purée and while the vegetables are cooking you can start the beans. Let them reduce while you finish the purée. 

For the purée:

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 large clove of garlic, sliced 

4 average size carrots, chopped into 1 cm cubes

½ butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1 cm cubes

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp maple syrup

Heat up the oil in a saucepan and add the garlic. Sautéed the garlic until it's slightly roasted and smells wonderful. Add the carrots and squash and fry for another minute or two. Add enough water to cover the vegetables bring to a boil. Once it's cooking lower the heat, put the lid on and let it simmer until the vegetables are tender. 

Once the vegetables are done, remove the lid and add the salt. Continue simmering them until nearly all the liquid has evaporated. Mix with an immersion blender and stir in the maple syrup.

For the beans:

1 leek, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cumin

1 can of black beans (400 g)

2 tsp sriracha sauce (or your favorite chili sauce)

Blackpepper

A bunch of greens, such as spinach, chard or in my case beet greens, chopped

A sprinkle of smoked paprika

1 lime, zest and juice

Oil

Gently sauté the leek, carrot and garlic in the oil until they're nice and soft, about 5-8 minutes. Add cumin, salt, pepper and smoked paprika and sauté for another minute. Add the beans together with the sriracha, chopped greens and 5 dl of water. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered while you mash upp the beans as much as possible. You might want to cover the pan in the beginning in order for the greens to wilt. Once it's all nice, mushy and reduced, taste for more salt, pepper and spices and then add the zest and juice from the lime. 

Serve the beans and purée with a nice salad, and maybe some extra lime wedges to squeeze on top of it all. I made a simple kale salad with a dressing made from lime juice, vinegar, sesame oil and som left over guacamole. The tartness of the dressing and crispiness of the kale was a nice complement to the rest!