Posts Tagged With: vegan

Cool Cucumber, Basil and Cashew Soup (Raw)

Posted on July 12, 2013 by leroy watson

Cucumber, Basil and Cashew Soup (Raw)

This soup is a real summer cooler, not something you can regularly say about a soup. Its creamy (without cream) and hearty (without potatoes and butter), all down to our raw friends the cashew nut. What a wonderful thing they are. They make great cheese, milk and add wonderful richness to all things they grace.

Raw soups can be very hearty actually, adding sprouted grains helps and a few nuts or seeds go along way to building a full texture, bags of veggies also make a big difference. It always impresses me how much goodness you can squeeze into a soup/ smoothie/ juice. My juice this morning had around 10 different fruits and vegetables (beetroot, carrot, orange, lemon, parsley, basil, spinach, apple, ginger, sweet potato YUM!) I have to say, afterwards, I was feeling quite high on the stuff. High on food! Juice on an empty belly is a magical thing and gets the ZING going in the AM.

This mornings super juice

This soup has so many good flavours in there (we love the horseradish especially) as well as being superbly nutritious. We have been using olives a lot this month instead of adding more salt, they add a natural saltiness to dishes. So this is a salt-less soup.

COOL AS A CUCUMBER

Cucumber in anything is cooling, it has that lovely quality which is perfect for a sweltering summers day. I am a hot blooded creature and therefore the British summertime is a little tepid, but yesterday did seem quite steamy. This soup made for a perfect dinner.

The cooling effect of cucumber is put down to cucurbitin and fatty oils found in the seeds that has a soothing effect on the body. Cucumber is great for sunburn and can also have a cooling effect when made into a juice. So drinking cucumber juice is just like putting coolant into a car!

THAT ‘RAW FOOD’ FEELING

Now that we have been eating raw food for over two weeks, our appetite has generally decreased, more accurately our cravings for sugar have decreased. I find myself better balanced and not snacking hardly at all, certainly not craving coffee or alcohol or sweet things. I forgot how powerful the raw diet is and how it impacts much more than just what you eat, you feel very different also. Its like your charged with loads of clean energy and your brain is working at its optimum level and your body is thanking you all the time for being some damn good to it. Its a pleasant place to be.

RAW FOOD EQUIPMENT

The only thing about getting started with a raw food diet is that you need the equipment. We’ve gathered ours over a period of two years and are still short of a few bits and pieces. We have added a dehydrator recently, which we have been enjoying. A juicer is fairly essential and a food processor is important for all those soups and smoothies. You could be raw without these gadgets, that is probably the next step for us! Eating things that fall from trees and gathering berries from hedgerows. That would be a really natural existence! Without this equipment, I’d imagine it would be difficult, especially in Britain, to get a decent variety of textures and keep things interesting. Munching on a raw carrot does have its limits.

Raw food equipment

Having said that, one of the best bits of equipment that we use is a humble peeler. Known as a French peeler, it is vital in sorting out all these fruits and vegetables quickly and makes almost perfect ribbons of produce that can then be popped into salads or made into a raw pasta-style dish.

French Peeler – The Best!

Makes two big bowlfuls:

The Bits

1 1/2 cucumbers, 2 garlic cloves, 2 small green apples (cored and chopped), 1 lime (juice), 1 cup cashews (soaked for 2 hours or longer in filtered water), 1 cup green olives, 1 cup parsley, 1/2 cup basil, 1 tbs horseradish, 2 tbs nutritional yeast flakes, 2 cups filtered water (more if needed)

Do It

In a food processor, blend your cashews first, until a thin paste is formed (add soaking water a little at a time), add the rest of the ingredients and a cup full of water. Blend for 30 seconds and check consistency, it should still be a little chunky in places, add more water and blend again if required.

Serve

With a splash of brilliant, fruity olive oil and a pinch of cracked black pepper.

Foodie Fact

Cucumber has many beneficial properties, it is anti inflammatory and moisture regulating, as mentioned above, it also has cooling properties. These are the reasons that cucumber is used in beauty products and the like, it smooths the skin and gets rid of dead skin cells.

Cucumber is also full of dietary fibre and is great for people suffering from heartburn, ulcers,acidity etc, for this reason it also helps with constipation. It’s good for the joints, the kidneys and helps in the digestion of proteins.

Cucumber also has plenty of vitamin C and folates and like the vast majority of veggies, it contains a vast amount of other nutrients. Overall, cucumber is a serious superfood!

Homemade Cucumber Pickles

Categories: Raw Food, Soups, Vegan | Tags: chilled, cold, cooling effects, cucumber, equipment, low salt, raw food, recipe, soup, summer, vegan | 3 Comments

Sprouted Wheat Grains, Apple, Carrot and Mustard Salad (Raw)

Posted on July 9, 2013 by leroy watson

A wholesome, hearty salad that fits perfectly with our beloved Welsh summer (meaning torrential rain and mist, even the sheep look miserable!) This is actually unfair as today and yesterday have been complete beauties, check out the sunset below taken from the kitchen window.

Its a real eden like environment up here on the hill and our garden is loving the sun. The beetroots and cavolo nero particularly are leaping out of the ground. Slugs seem to be taking it easy, probably hiding in some damp slug den, planning there next raid. Cunning slime balls that they are. Long like the sunshine!

RAW TIMES

Sprouted wheat grains have been a saviour for us in the past as they sate and bready sweet pangs that we have. Sometimes when we sit down to some nice raw salads, soups etc we do crave a little bread to add something a little different. We will be experimenting with raw breads very soon, but until then we reach for our buddies the wheat grains.

It takes a couple of days for them to sprout and after that you have a lovely sweet and chewy grain to use in all kinds of good things. They need to be soaked in filtered water for 24 hours and then placed in a sprouting tray or something flat, rinse them twice daily with fresh water and you’ll soon see the sprouts waking up.

Anybody who reads the BHK regularly knows that we are into our sprouts. Anything sprouted just seems so full of vitality and energy. They are so easy to do at home even we manage! We have been experimenting with other grains, oat and buckwheat are two firm favourites. We also have barley, which is next on the sprout list. The grain sprouts bring something new to the menu, quite chewy and meaty in texture.

The star here is the dressing, pairing our local rapeseed oil, with mustard and apple concentrate, a brilliant combo of flavours. The rapeseed oil is almost buttery and the sweet apples cuts through nicely. YUM!

Making dressings all hangs on what the ingredients of the salad is and the overall flavour you’d like. This is a sweet salad, with the apples and the raisins, which Jane really loves. We made the dressing slightly tart to counteract the sweetness, I always try and think of what the overall flavour of a salad will be when I’m making a dressing and adjust it accordingly. A dressing can accentuate the flavour of great ingredients, or hide them behind bog flavours. I think a balance is best, with the veggies shining through.

The Bits – For 2 Hungry Herbivores

2 cups sprouted wheat grains, 1 apple (decored and chopped), 1 celery stick (chopped), 2 carrots (scrubed and chopped), 2 cup raisins. 1 handful mint (ripped), 1 handful parsley (chopped), 2 handfuls rocket leaves, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Dressing – 1/2 cup cold pressed rapeseed oil, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tbs apple concentrate, 1 tsp English mustard, 1 clove garlic (crushed), 1 teas sea salt (to taste)

Do It

Chop all ingredients in a fashion that suits your mood. We were in a post work hurry, so they became abstract, but satisfying non-the-less. Also when the sun goes down, we are using candle light and it can be difficult to chop things and wash up when you’re in the dark. In fact, many things are. You need to slow down, read, then sleep. Which is great.

Whisk up your dressing ingredients in a small bowl, making sure all is nicely combined.

Serve

Dressing on the side, it is quite potent and each persons taste will differ. Salads are of course best served super fresh, straight off the chopping board.

We Love It!

A real local treat this one, welsh rapeseed oil, mustard, apples, celery, rocket…..almost the entire bowlful came from our neck of the woods and some from the garden. We love this time of year when the sun shines a little and plants begin to bloom and fruit. Happy days indeed!

Foodie Fact
Rejuvelac is an amazing by-product of the grain sprouting process. It is regarded highly by Ann Wigmore and all at the Hippocrates Healthy People, which we pay great attention to. It is one of those things that boasts incredible health benefits, but there is something about it that is quite special, almost undiscovered by modern science.

Rejuvelac contains many enzymes aiding digestion and is filled with friendly bacteria which are amazing for us, helping us to release toxins in the body. Add to that the fact that it is bursting with vitamin B, E and C and you’re looking at quite a beverage. It also tastes nice, like a tangy lemonade with a hint of sweet grain.

Here’s how its made.

Suns gone and I’m typing by feel, time to call it a day………

Categories: Recipes, Salads | Tags: ann wigmore, food, health, raw, recipe, rejuvelac, salad, sprouting, sprouts, vegan, vegetarian, wheat, wheat grains | 10 Comments

Sprouted Buckwheat, Onion and Miso Crackers (Raw)

Posted on July 6, 2013 by leroy watson

Sprouted Buckwheat, Onion and Miso Crackers (Raw)

What a thing! What a wonderful thing! RAW CRACKERS have arrived with a crunch at the BHK! We managed to pick up a dehydrator for half price which has inspired us to play with many ingredients in new ways, generally making them all crispy.

This crispiness is something you can miss when you go full-on raw (I believe it is known as mouth feel in some circles, but that sounds too technical for a humble cracker), the odd bit of toast, bread, crackers, oat cakes, you know the drill. You fancy something to balance the crunch and zest of all the magic veggies and fruits you’re eating. This is where the raw cracker comes into its own and this one boast not only dried onions (massive flavour here) but also brown miso for a cracker that tastes as stunning and moreish as anything dusted with chemicals and the like.

These buckwheat crackers were a real surprise, we had no idea they’d taste so dang good! The only issue is not eating them all at once and they do take a good 12 hours to dehydrate. Dehydrating is a great lesson in being prepared and most importantly patient. You can’t rush the process, but the end result is normally more than worth the wait. It’s best to dehydrate over night and then you just forget about whats going on until you wander down in the morning and find some crispy wonders awaiting you.

The dehydrator also makes soothing buzzing noise and warms a room quite nicely, just a couple of add- on benefits. It actually sounds like your on a plane when you sit beside it, that gently humming and whistling, you can close your eyes and imagine your off to somewhere exotic to behave in wonderful ways.

Buckwheat is one of those things that we don’t eat enough of, we have to go to the health shop to get our hands on it. When we have it around we love having a play with it using it as a substitute for grains in salads and stews.

Buckwheat is actually a berry (along the lines of quinoa) and has nothing to do with wheat etc, so its gluten free and great for the body/ digestion. Buckwheat flour is also perfect for a full flavoured, dense pancake or flatbread. We love wheat, but it generally doesn’t love us. When you start giving things up on a raw diet, you really get to know your digestive system in a new way (promise not to get too graphic here!). You also realise how much strain you have been putting it under and wheat/ gluten for us is a real drag on the belly and below. Still, the smell of toast is something quite special and we’ll always nibble our way through a couple of slices. It’s a pleasure-pain thing and the pleasure is well worth the gurgling insides.

There is something about miso that is quite special also, it’s got that healthy bacteria thing going on and just feels very, very right. It is high in sodium, but it is used by the body in a different way to plain old salt. Japanese people eat alot of it and Japanese people live for a long, long time and have significantly less disease than us Western varieties. It could be the miso!?

We used slightly oiled baking parchment to dry these babies out, it works quite well, but in proper dehydrating circles, you’d use a special non-stick tray. If you are gentle with a spatula, you should be able to get them off in one piece-ish.

Makes eight medium sized crackers.

The Bits

300g sprouted buckwheat, 1 1/2 tbsp brown miso (use more if you are using white or yellow miso), 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp fresh parsley (we didn’t have any), 1/4 onion (finely sliced), 2 tbsp boiling water, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes, 1 tbsp sunflower/ pumpkin seeds (optional)

Do It

Blend all together to a thick, spreadable paste. You’ve got to love this raw food prep, its a blend-fest, but oh so simple.

Just add……avocado?

Serve

We like ours with a crunchy salad, the contrast of textures is something to behold and its raw, and all the nutrients are there AND its superbly healthy. How about lathered in avocado!!!!! Its one of those raw/ vegan food no lose situations that we coming to love in the BHK.

We Love It!

Full of nutrition and raw crunch, we can’t wait to get started on a new batch. Flax and sprouted oat next up….

Foodie Fact

Buckwheat is a berry related to rhubarb and sorrel, it helps to slow down the absorption of glucose after a meal making it good for diabetics. It contains all of your amino acids, not produced by the body and also contains lysine and many minerals which are great for the immune system.

Categories: Raw Food, Recipes, Snacks and Inbetweens, Vegan | Tags: buckwheat, crackers, dehydrating, dehydrator, food, healthy, miso, raw, vegan, vegetarian | 2 Comments

Why Raw Food?

Posted on June 28, 2013 by leroy watson

This was written for our raw food time last year, but is a timely reminder of what we are putting ourselves through!!!! Fortunately, its all good!

Raw June is here for the Beach House. Jane and I are going cold veggie (and fruit) for the entire month and we both cannot wait to get going.

It really has come around quickly this 100% raw/vegan June adventure. We have both been working quite a bit lately and have had less time to plan for the big plunge than we would have liked, hence the lack of any ‘build-up’ posts. As with most things, we’re going straight in there!

I have a strange excitement in the pit of my stomach and I don’t know why. I know that I will feel alot better and have bags more energy, focus and vitality, but there is the feeling that this could be something very big in my life. It could be a huge lifestyle change for the better, no matter how unconventional it is and no matter how many people call me a ‘weirdo’ (there have been quite a few already) I going for this new diet and looking forward to experimenting with my body and mind in a good way. We are what we eat, well, we shall see.

The main reason for eating raw is that cooking kills nutrients in food. Vitamin C and B are heat sensitive, enzymes are also destroyed when food is cooked, which are essential to the function of the body. If enzymes are not replenished in the body, we can age quickly and loss health. Raw foods have been used for years to treat ailments and illness, most famously by Dr Ann Wigmore,who set up the Hippocrates Health Institute. The truth is that we are exposed to more pollutants than previous generations and our food has less nutrients, even organic food is grown on soil that is less rich than is was in previous times (normally due to bad farming techniques).

Ecologically, if we all ate more raw foods there would be a relief on the planets resources. No cooking conserves energy, there is less packaging (hopefully non) with raw foods, there are no emissions created no processing, the waste is compostable and biodegradable, meaning no rubbish.

Below is the Raw Food Pyramid (thanks to the Almost Raw Vegan for this), this replaces the average diet with meat, dairy etc and will give you an idea of what we will be munching on in June. We are eating no dairy, refined foods, wheat etc and no alcohol or caffeine. Our diet will consist of many different types of salads, smoothies and juices and another host of interesting raw foods that you will seldom find, especially in the UK where raw food is still a relatively new thing. In the States and Australia for example, raw food seems to be very popular. Many people say that raw food will become the new vegetarianism for this generation, I have already seen restaurants with raw options on the menu.

We have always eaten alot of raw food, we just didn’t necessarily call it ‘raw’, just a salad or a smoothie. We will try and be as close to 100% raw as possible, but aren’t really too fussy about things. We’ll still be drinking herbal teas and if our new lovely looking olive oil is not certified raw, we’ll still use it. The same goes for nuts, seeds, dried fruits, pastes etc which are all borderline raw foods. We love these items too much and deem their nutritional values to be too important to eliminate from our diet.

We hope to open a few people’s eyes, minds and palates to the joys of raw food. Raw food is nutrient rich, meaning you don’t need to eat or digest as much. When you are eating a bag of crisps, or packet of biscuits, the reason you are not getting full is because they are devoid of nutrients. Your body needs the right fuel! A raw diet puts that fuel in and makes it readily available. We have had a few days almost raw already and the we have been buzzing! I went for my normal jog and needed to extend it a little, up the mountain. I couldn’t stop! With raw food, your body needs less energy for digestion, which can be utilised in other beneficial ways.

The body has clearly define cycles or natural rhythms:

12pm-8pm Digestion cycle

8pm-4am Absorption cycle

4am – 12pm Elimination cycle

The raw diet will help to cleanse our system of toxins and bring us into balance. After gradually eating healthier for a number of years (we are not just diving in here, we have been eating well for a while now) my body is quite sensitive to toxins and rich foods. I sometimes get what is called a food ‘hangover’ after a cheese or chocolate binge, I will be glad to be free of them. Raw food is devoid of toxins and packed with nutrients. There is a popular raw slogan, ‘stop counting calories and start counting nutrients’. It makes perfect sense to me that what we eat has a profound effect on our bodies and minds. What we consume affects us on ways that we cannot see or know. Raw food seems like a stepping stone for me to a greater understanding of my body and what makes me tick, what makes me truly happy.

Raw food will also free up so much time, as I mentioned we are both busy this summer with work, so not cooking will allow us to do other things. The garden is definitely looking like it needs some TLC.

We will be taking alot of inspiration from our fellow bloggers of the cyber world and also have some good books. ’Eat Smart, Eat Raw’ by Kate Wood being one of the main ones. Written by a Brit for British folk, mainly important because we don’t have the plethora of fruits and veggies that many countries enjoy. We also have the long cold, dark winters, where soup is our best friend and a chilled smoothie seems like a difficult proposition.

We will be supplementing our diets with a few superfood-type bits. Jane picked up some Barley Grass at the health food shop and that is supposed to be super charged stuff. We will also be drinking propolis daily, which is a bee resin with amazing properties. We’ll be writing about it soon. We will also be sure to drink plenty of water, as this seems to be important no matter what foods you are eating. Become more fluid! It is worth noting that many mineral waters are not organic and the best water you can drink is water that has been treated by reverse osmosis, this is pure H2O. You should also not drink water, or any liquid with meals, as it affects digestion and absorption (diluting stomach acids).

So we are going out in a blaze of intoxication tonight. We said we wouldn’t, but we are. It is a relatively decadent evening with some smoked stilton with sparkling wine planned, followed by some of the finest chocolate I have ever tasted (post coming soon..).

Raw June, a time when we in the Beach House gain a greater awareness and respect for the foods we eat and the bodies we inhabit; a time when we gain a new insight into the world of nutrition and the impact it has on us.

Jane and I are both very positive about all of this, which we feel is crucial, as our mental state has a more profound effect on our health than anything else.

Happy Days!

Categories: Detox, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Raw Food | Tags: detox, food, foods, healthy eating, living, nutrition, raw, vegan, whole | 6 Comments

Crunchy Thai Salad with Green Coco Dressing (Raw)

Posted on June 28, 2013 by leroy watson

Crunchy Thai Salad with Green Coco Dressing

So here we go again! Raw Earth Month at the Beach House Kitchen will see a huge influx of tasty salads and juices, its inevitable and we love ’em all!

An amazing friend of the BHK (Dodee over in Hawaii – see magical ‘Sacred Backyard Blog‘ here) said of raw food, ‘I’ve made the decision to feel good all the time!’ and how true that is. Jane and I are buzzing around feeling ace, it’s day five I think and we are fully over our ailments brought on by a fairly intense ‘treat’ time in Dublin(Guiness-fest), lots of birthdays in a row (wine and cake-fest) and meals out (plenty of great rich food). Our bodies are thanking us now and our energy levels are through the roof. We are also enjoying the naturally slower life, with no lights and electrical appliances at nighttime.

Jane enjoying the slower life – Glynllifon Estate, Caernarfon

I had some fairly strong caffeine withdrawal symptoms on day 2, pounding headache and no energy whatsoever. After a good sleep, this passed. Its amazing how the body adapts so quickly to things, good or bad and how sensitive you become when eating this wonderful raw stuff! Happy days indeed.

Salad wise, we had some left over thai curry paste hanging around the fridge that demanded a dish. This salad has all the flavours of Thailand and more, when we’re raw we really like to make a fuss over our salads.

Jane and I love Thailand and on rainy afternoons in Wales we sometimes wonder how Bangkok is and our favourite little coast towns; how are those street food stalls doing without us!? How is a our favourite juice guy near Kaosan Road? How is the coconut curry man in Prachuap Kiri Khan? At times like this, the tastebuds are going mental and they need something with the incredibly pungent and fragrant aromas of THAI. Its unmistakable and I’d almost consider going back just for the food alone, but there are at least a 101 other countries I’d like to visit before I start re-tracing my steps in the global sand.

Nutritionally, this is a beast of a dish; with sweet potato, sesame seeds, peanuts, avocado, spinach, etc etc etc, the list goes on and with a punchy/ creamy dressing to finish things off, its a real main event salad. When you decide to eat raw vegan, there is very little you can eat that will do you any harm, that’s one of the beautiful things about the lifestyle, pile it on a plate and know that its all good. No baddies included.

This salad boasts quite a list of ingredients and was mainly dictated by what we had in, but you can very happily have a play with this one; veggies can be chopped and changed and any nut will do here!

Talking of chopping, if you can get them into thin, baton-like shapes, they work best here. The dressing clings to them and they look the part also.

ความสงบสุข

khwām sngb sukh (peacex)

Makes one large salad bowl full, enough for four hungry munchers.

The Bits

Salad – 1 carrot, 1 stick celery, 1/2 cucumber, 1 red pepper1/2 sweet potato (all chopped into thin batons), 1 cup rocket (arugula to some), 2 spring onions (finely chopped),1 red chilli (finely chopped), 2 cups spinach (finely chopped), 1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved), 1 cup beansprouts (we used homesprouted mungers aka mung beans), 1 cup basil leaves, 1/2 avocado (scooped out with teaspoon), 1 lime (zest and juice), 1 tbs black sesame seeds, 1/2 cup raw peanuts

Dressing – 2 cup organic coconut cream (the creamier the better), 2 tbs green thai curry paste, 1/2 lime (zest and juice), 2 teas white wine vinegar, 1 handful basil leaves, 1 teas sea salt

Do It

Chop all hard veggie ingredients into long, thin batons leaving the avocado, nuts and basil leaves to the side for topping purposes. Add all the rest of the ingredient and the hard veggies to a large salad bowl, mix in half of the dressing, combine well and sprinkle over the topping ingredients.

For the dressing, simply blend all together in a food processor. The texture should be thick and ‘cling-y’ to get sticky all over on the salad.

Serve

Not chilled, but not quite room temperature, this is a good gauge for our salad temps. To cold and you don’t get the flavour, to warm and you have wilting issues. We always have a nice surplus of salad dressing in a bowl on standby.

CRUNCH! and ZING!

We Love It!

Getting back into raw vegan ways is a serious blessing for body, mind and soul. We are so lucky to both want to lead this type of lifetsyle, if one of us wanted chips everynight it just wouldn’t be the same! This salad is a far from chips as you can get in the food world. It’s a proper zinger!

Foodie Fact

Sesame seeds are outrageously healthy, some say they are the healthiest food in the world. These wonder seeds have been with us for many thousands of years and are thought to originate in India, having been mentioned in ancient Hindu texts.

They are very rich in minerals, especially copper, iron, calcium and zinc. So ‘open sesame’ and pop some in your diet soonXXXXXXX

Categories: gluten-free, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Vegan | Tags: coconut, food, healthy eating, raw, salad, thai, vegan, vegetarian | 11 Comments

Raw Earth Month – What’s it all about?

Posted on June 23, 2013 by leroy watson

We are running late on Raw Earth Month, the big day is now tomorrow (for a variety of mundane reasons). I know Jane has already told you a little about what we’re up to, but here’s my take on the whole shebang. Lee

The Beach House is going full-on this June – July (24th – 24th), its:

!………………RAW EARTH MONTH……………….!

We are rather excited about the whole dreamt up project. It came like a bolt from the blue, we wanted to do another raw food month (because it makes you feel great and raw food is seriously interesting for the taste buds and from a nutritional point of view) so we took it to the next level, a huge step towards a more natural, peaceful lifestyle.

Raw Earth Month means:

– A raw/ vegan diet only

– No caffeine/ alcohol

– No consuming

(not buying anything other than staple food)

– No detergents/ unnatural chemicals

(i.e. toothpaste, washing up liquid, clothes washing detergent, shampoo, soap etc)

– Minimal use of electricity

(other than recharging computers, dehydrating, juicing, blending)

– Minimal car use

(other than going to work and shopping on the way back)

– 1 hour internet use per day

– No electric lights

(candles are allowed!)

– No washing machine

(we are hand washing clothes in the bath)

– Waste water to be recycled

(in the garden on our veg patch)

– Use as much organic produce as possible

(has been difficult this year with the wet, wet conditions)

– Forage as much as possible

(nettles, elderflower, hawthorn, wild herbs, red clover, dandelion)

– Composting all our waste and only buying packed produce when absolutely unavoidable.

Yoga, walking, meditation, gardening, playing music and smiling; definitely allowed.

We have loads of cool books to read about sustainability, organic/ biodynamic gardening, raw food, etc and are taking this month as a huge learning curve. Jane is really getting into herbal remedies and potion making, with wonderful results (elderflower champagne anyone!!!!!) We have both been super busy with work recently and are looking forward to this little window of peace.

Jane and I are also going to be making some music and this may appear on the BHK soon. We may sing about red clovers and rosemary, we may not!

We’d love to hear your experiences of a similar lifestyle/ project and any advice is very, very warmly appreciated.

All in all, we hope to live the life we want to live, free from the troublesome add-ons of the modern world and co-existing within it.

VIVA RAW EARTH!x

For more info on our Raw Earth Month, see here.

PS – I’ve no idea what we’ll do next year, maybe move into a cave or become wandering mendicants?!

Categories: Healthy Living, Raw Food, Vegan | Tags: alternative, eco, food, foraging, health, lifestyle, nature, no impact man, organic, raw, sustainability, vegan | 5 Comments

Egyptian Ful Medames

Posted on June 21, 2013 by leroy watson

We have hardly been prolific of late, both of us busy as bees. Things are about to change. Raw Earth Month is about to commence, more of that later.

It’s great to be getting back in the blog flow, so I thought I’d start with a simple little stew that we love, get warmed up gently. So its semi-official, the Beach House is back and in many ways, better than ever!!!!!!!

I love broad beans. They are surprisingly one of Britian’s most ancient crops and we used to make bread out of it until our seafaring sorts brought wheat to these shore. I haven’t tried broad bean bread, but it sounds mighty.

This is a simple stew and ideal for a midweek dinner, hearty and superbly healthy, it also only takes a short time to prepare.

This may well be the national dish of Egypt, but it’s also served throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Ful (I like to mispronounce it ‘fool’) Medames is a rich, spiced stew that was a true food revelation when I ate it in Cairo old town all those years ago (seven to be exact). The food of Egypt was a pleasant surprise, as it does not have the reputation of say Lebanon or Iran. I can think of one little restaurant, buffet style, with fresh flat bread, heavenly light hummus and a large dollop of this on a steel plate. You can keep your Michelin star joints, this was real food, heart and soul. They also showed very entertaining Egyptian TV and a beautiful recitation of the Koran, it was a multi-media feast.

This dish is equalled by an Arabian recipe, heavy on the tahini and tomato, which transports broad (fava) beans to something supreme. I’ll be whipping that up in the future for sure. Broad beans have such a great, chewy texture, they are great fodder for visiting meat eaters and would sate any ravenous carnivore, especially if you serve topped with a fried egg and lashing of warm bread. YUM, YUM……

Alas, we live halfway up the hill in sunny Wales and my duty in the Beach House Kitchen it to bring the flavours of the world into our lovely little cottage. Last night it was flavours of the pharaohs that we dined on and no, we were not walking like an Egyptian afterwards.

The Bits – For 6-8

1kg whole dried fava beans, 3 garlic clove (blended), 1 red onion (blended), 50g fresh coriander, 25g fresh parsley, 1 large lemons (juice and zest), 1 small hot chilli (finely sliced), 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 3 heaped tsp cumin seeds, 700ml good tomato passata, 3 heaped tsp tomato puree
3 heaped tsp brown sugar, 100ml olive oil, sea salt and black pepper

Add a tablespoon of light tahini for added richness.

Do It

Soak the beans overnight. Drain, place in a pan, cover with plenty of water and cook for around one hour until tender.

Toast cumin seeds for 3 minutes in a hot frying pan, no oil, pop in a pestle and mortar and grind (ground cumin is also fine, but just not as good)

Blend the onion and garlic in a food processor, then fry gently in a little oil. Meanwhile, chop and mix the herbs, oil, lemon juice, chilli and spices.

Add this mixture to the onions and garlic, then cook for a few minutes. Add the passata and tomato puree plus 100ml of fresh water, which you can first use to wash the remains of the passata out of the jar or packet it came in.

Cook for a ten more minutes and then add the beans. Continue to simmer and taste – adjust seasoning with sugar, salt and pepper. The beans will be ready as soon as the seasoning is balanced and the sauce is nice and thick.

Serve

Eat straight away or allow it to cool, divide into portions and freeze. It’s traditionally eaten with warm pitta bread, plus tomato and cucumber salad.

We Love It!

I love bringing the flavours of the bustling streets of Cairo into our quiet little kitchen. Food evokes so many memories of travel for me and these flavours are allow me to relive days and nights in more exotic times. I love Wales, but its good to mix things up, regularly.

Foodie Fact

Broad beans offer awesome levels of fibre, keeping the belly and below very happy. They are full of folate, which lessens heart issues and other nasty diseases. A cup of broad beans contains 40% of your daily iron (and fibre) and is a brilliant source of lean protein. They are also easy to grow and even grow well in our windswept veg patch.

In times of doubt, refer to cat.

Categories: Dinner, Recipes, Stew, Travel | Tags: broad beans, egypt, food, ful medames, recipes, stew, travel, vegan, vegetarian | 4 Comments

Raw Earth Month – Moving Back to Nature

Posted on June 2, 2013 by leroy watson

Raw Earth Month

RAW EARTH MONTH

at the Beach House

‘Raw June’ in 2012 was a whole month dedicated to eating raw food, with no caffeine, added sugar, or alcohol. It was an incredible month for me. The experience made me realise that I actually ENJOY eating raw food! After it had finished, it felt natural for us to continue with a big part of our diet raw from then on.

Not only did I develop quite a flair in the kitchen for whisking up quick, gorgeous salads, soups and sauces (I’m not a natural cook), we both became very at home with the basics of nutrition, combining foods, new foods, health foods – the days were long and light, the food was sunny, and bright, and so were we!

The other interesting thing for me was that I really connected a lot more with my body during that time. I listened to it more, and felt into my energy levels more often during the day. For the first time in my life, I was aware of the conditioning of my mind, telling me I was hungry just because I didn’t feel ‘full’ (despite eating bowls and bowls of the most nutritional food on the planet)! And my goodness, did I get a whopper lesson on the nature of cravings? Wheew! It was as if something happened in my brain and I suddenly over-night became an addict of chocolate, dairy, crisps and even fried chips! It was a great exercise of willpower for me, especially since my birthday also fell into the month of June….

The other day, while roaming Anglesey’s wild and beautiful coastal path on a gorgeous sunny afternoon, Lee and I started excitedly planning the next Raw Food month for this Summer.

Inspiration spiraled as we sparked off each other, and soon we were discussing not only how we could improve the way we eat, but also the way we live our lives in general. The way we impact our Mother Earth.

Mother Earth

I would say we live in a fairly environmentally conscious way; we are not huge consumers of material possessions, electricity, or water. We recycle and make compost for our veg patch, we don’t own a clothes dryer, microwave or TV, we make our own washing up liquid and toothpaste, I don’t wear make-up, I use cloth pads during my moon time…. But no way are we perfect! We still use some chemical cleaners around the house; we use laundry detergent, conventional soap, and I use conventional shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant. We both use our computers for hours each day, electrical appliances and lights are accidentally left on… that kind of thing.

So we have set an intention! For a whole month starting on the Summer Solstice Friday June 21st, we are going to be eating only raw vegan food and we are also going to live in a way that lowers our impact on nature and the climate.

This means we are going completely ‘chemical free’ in the home – we’ll be experimenting with home-made eco-cleaning products, laundry products and toiletries. We are cutting down our electricity usage by not using appliances or electric heating. We are also going to switch off our lights in the evening to become more in tune with nature’s circadian rhythms. We’ll reduce our petrol consumption to essential trips only, and limit ourselves to 2 hours of computer time per day. Our mobile phones will be off unless we’re working, and, last but not least we will not buy anything apart from food and essentials – so no shopping trips!

It was not easy for us to agree the finer points of this experience – because of course it does involve sacrifices to our normal way of living, and would not be a challenge otherwise. For example, there was a point in the conversation where I flatly refused to even do Raw Earth Month! It was when Lee brought up the topic of shampoo and conditioners. This was met by fiery resistance by me as my hair is unusually big, long, thick and DIFFICULT at the best of times, even with these wonderfully enriching chemically products in my life. The other thing I felt resistance about was hand-washing all our laundry, not using conventional laundry liquid, and disinfecting the loo. Other than that I’m excited to experiment and relishing the thought of no technology and evenings sat by candle light… Bliss!

Lee on the other hand had no qualms about giving up chemicals on his body and hair, but found the computer part challenging – and even managed to haggle me up from one hour (as initially suggested) to two per day! I do take his point that blog articles can take time to write…

I’m just hoping that we can learn some new life skills during this phase; hopefully lessons we will be able to integrate into the rest of our lifes forever. In our opinion, saving and conserving energy is something we will all have to do more in the future. We will have to turn back once more to Mother Nature, and work with her not against her. Lets get a head start!

Janexxxxx

and

Leexxxxx

For more info on raw food check out our posts from last year, June – July 2012.

Also see our page ‘Why Raw Food?‘

The ‘No Impact Man‘ has been doing things like this over in New York.

Categories: Healthy Eating, Inspiration, Raw Food | Tags: conservation, earth, energy efficient, energy saving, food, nature, no impact man, raw, raw earth, recycling, vegan | 9 Comments

Parsnip Mulligatawny

Posted on April 17, 2013 by leroy watson

Secret ‘Mulllleee’ sweetness here – raisins

There’s a mini tornado blowing around the Beach House today, that can only mean one thing, the soup pan is making an appearance. It’s the kind of day when you want to ignore the inclement weather and get cosy by the fire with lashings of soup and preferably a cat and loved one (not in that order of course). So we’re staying in and making a spicy soup.

‘Mulllll-eeeee-gahhh-townnnn-yyyy ‘ is such a great word, it’s a meal in itself. For many years I’ve preferred the word to the soup, it always seemed like a half-hearted attempt at spicing a bland soup up, but always had the potential to be a real star.

We wanted to give the tired old Mulligatawny a touch of Beach House lovin’, add a little tickle and zing to predictable proceedings. The spices here make it rock and warm with a zestiness and aromatic tinge that tingles the palate (coming mainly from our pal the coriander seeds), there is also the lovely sweetness of the raisins and parsnips paired with the warm flavours of the garam masala. The mushrooms here were a late addition and do tend to make soups a little on the grey side. I don’t think they added a great deal here and could easily be omitted.

However, the highlight by far of this little number is our own leeks making an appearance. The Beach House Garden is hardly prolific, but it has given us some gems to savour and these little leeks were wonderful.

Beach House Leeks

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The name ‘Mulligatwany’ actually comes from two Tamil words (a state in the south east corner of India) meaning ‘pepper’ and ‘water’.

If you don’t like coriander husks, try and pick them out before blending (this goes for the bay leaves also). They can be a little tough and catch in the throat, which doesn’t really bother us.

Once more for luck and laughs, ‘Mulllll-eeeee-gahhh-townnnn-yyyy’.

MORE BEACH HOUSE SOUPS

If you like this, here are another couple of Beach House soups (we eat alot of soup up here in the windy hills of Wales):

Beetroot Leaf Soup

Raw Green Thai Soup

Roots Soup

Makes one big pan full, enough for four with possible leftovers. Hoorah!

The Bits

5 medium parsnips, 1 leek, 1 onion, 1 small sweet potato, 3 small potatoes, 4 cloves garlic, 4 large mushrooms, 1 apple, 3 bay leaves, 1/2 cup raisins, 1 ltr good veg stock

Spices – 1 tbs garam masala, 2 teas turmeric, 2 teas ground cumin, 5 cardamom pods, 1 teas coriander seeds

Parsnip Mulligatawny on the hob

Do It

In a large saucepan begin to soften your onions for 3 minutes, then add your leek and garlic, fry gently for 3 more minutes then add the rest of the vegetables and spices, stir in and heat for a couple of minute to get the spices warmed, then add your stock to a lovely low hissing noise. Bring to a gradual boil then cover and simmer for 40 minutes, until the veg is nicely tender.

Blend soup (taking out bay leaves and as many of the cardamom pods as you can fish out) and serve warm.

This soup keeps well in the fridge for days and should be nice thick texture, it may need a little thining out with water.

Parsnip Mulligatawny

Serve

Warm but not too warm (too much heat hides the flavour a little) and plenty of rough brown bread (recipe here). A drizzle of yoghurt/ sour cream is always a pleasant addition, a vegan cashew cream would also be quite amazing.

We Love It!

Proper rustic, hearty soup with a warm spice underbelly and punnet loads of aromatic flavours. Most definitely a meal in a bowl.

Aforementioned cat doing what they do when Tornados blow outside. We have so much to learn from these fur balls.

Foodie Fact

The great thing about parsnips, living in Wales, is that they actually need a good frost to grow well! No shortage of that up here. Parsnips are high in sugar, similar levels to that of banana and they are a great source of dietary fibre.

Categories: Recipes, Soups | Tags: dairy free, gluten-free, healthy, homegrown, mulligatawny, parsnip, recipe, soup, spices, vegan, vegetarian | 8 Comments

Shiitake Mushroom, Sesame & Kelp Noodles

Posted on April 12, 2013 by leroy watson

Konichiwa and greetings! Here we have a lovely Japanese dish to tickle your taste buds; the ingredients are subtle and revitalising, perfect for a light spring lunch, also great chilled as a noodle salad.

We have paid a visit to our brilliant little Asian supermarket in Bangor recently and stocked up on the staples for tasty Japanese and Chinese fare. Noodles are of course a mainstay here, but the dried kelp is something not so easy to find, but well worth getting hold of.

Dried kelp adds a strong vegetal flavour to soups and stocks and, along with the mirin, really makes this salad tick and fizz with flavour. The jerusalem artichokes add nice crunch and sweetness and are plentiful in our area of Wales at the moment. Think of them as a water chestnut substitute of Welsh origin.

The rest of the flavours found here are classically Japanese and the sauce is vaguely Teriyaki. I had a friend as a child, Kenji, and my first most amazing cooking experience (I’ve only remembered this because of this dish, how cool is that!) was at his house with his Mum. We had to cook in front of our school class, I have no idea why, so I went around Kenji’s house one Sunday and we got straight into the kitchen and whipped up a Teriyaki Noodles as I recall. I remember it being another world of flavour’s and techniques and like absolutely nothing I’d seen before or tasted before. The way Kenji’s Mum approached cooking was so different. I was then a major Japanese food fan, 10 years old, and still am to this day.

The dish would be best garnished with some toasted sesame seeds, but we seem to have ran out! We finished it with some dried sea salad, but you can hardly see it on the pics, but it’s there and the flavour is wonderfully oceanic and salty. Sea salad is very similar to seaweed, which would also make a great topping here. Anything edible, green and living in the sea is bound to be amazing for you and taste like seaside rocks (you know that flavour!).

THE LAND OF MUSHROOMS

In this part of Wales we are blessed with the finest grower of shiitake and other mushroom varities in the UK, The Mushroom Garden. Being nice and damp and misty, Wales in the perfect place for mushroom cultivation and their shiitake’s and mushrooms in general are some of the finest I’ve tasted. I have been trying to track down a hedgehog mushroom for a while now, they are elusive little critters! The Mushroom Garden are also doing an ‘Umami’ seasoning, which sounds interesting and will be sprinkled on things in the BHK very soon. It’s great to have such wonderful, passionate producers locally.

Here in North Wales, good Japanese food is quite rare, homegrown is best. This salad turned out very well and I’d hope Kenji’s Mum would be happy with my progress!

Sayonara & Peacex

Makes two decent bowls.

The Bits

15og shiitake mushrooms

6 medium jerusalem artichokes (sliced into 1cm discs)

2 spring onion (finely chopped)

1/2 teas chilli flakes

1 tbs minced ginger

1 cup of dried kelp

150g fine wheat noodles

2 tbs light soya sauce

2 teas rice vinegar

1 tbs sesame oil

2 tbs mirin

1 cup noodle/ kelp cooking broth

1 teas brown sugar (if needed)

2 teas cooking oil

Garnish

Sprinkle dried sea salad/ sea weed, chopped fresh coriander, toasted sesame seeds

Do It

In a saucepan, warm 2 teas of oil and fry your shiitake for a few minutes then add your artichokes and ginger, fry for five minutes and add your vinegar first (allow it to evaporate a little) then add chilli, sesame oil, soya sauce and mirin. Keep your eye on the mushrooms, shiitake will absorb alot of liquid and can go a little soggy. They will release this liquid after a few minutes more of cooking.

Continue to cook on a high heat and reduce the sauce a little, check seasoning, it may need a little more sugar. Cover and keep warm.

Have some boiling water ready in another sauce pan, pop in your kelp and cook for 3 minutes, then add your fine noodles and cook for a minute. That’s all it should take. Seive the noodles and kelp and keep the stock. Run under cold water to cool the noodles down. This salad is best served warm. Reserve any leftover stock for other soups and stews, even freeze it, the flavour is well worth it.

Add your noodles to your mushroom mix and pop in your spring onions. Stir gently together, combine well.

Shiitake, Sesame and Kelp Noodles

Serve

In warm bowls with chopsticks, extra mirin and soya sauce available. Make sure everyone gets a decent amount of mushroom and artichoke, they tend to sink to the the bottom. Sprinkle on your toppings and enjoy.

We Love It!

Full of the flavours of classic Japanese cuisine and is nice and easy to get together and great served hot or cold. Great quick bite material and something that keeps nicely.

Foodie Fact

Shiitake Mushrooms (or Wood Mushroom in Japanese) have been used by the Chinese for over 6,000 years medicinally and are burting with health giving properties. Brilliant for voth the immune and cardiovascular system, the Shiitake is also full of iron.

Although the Shiitake may seem like an iconic Japanese ingredient, China now produces 80% of the worlds Shiitakes. No great surprises there though.

All this nutrition talk is all well and good, but the best way to feel healthy, is to feel healthy! Enjoy your cookingx

Categories: Recipes, Vegan, Welsh produce | Tags: cooking, healthy, japanese, kelp, mushroom, noodles, recipe, shiitake, the mushroom garden, vegan, vegetarian | 7 Comments

Sweet Thai Mango, Basil & Coconut Rice

Posted on April 10, 2013 by leroy watson

Thai Mango and Coconut Forbidden Purple Rice with Basil (Vegan)…..quite a mouthful this wonder dessert, in more than just the name!

If you love this magical dessert, you have been to Thailand and probably savoured it in a hectic street scene with a plastic spoon and big smile on your face. It’s one of those experiences that etches itself on your memory, your first taste of sticky coconut rice is not easily forgotten.

The very mention of this desert and I’m weak at the knee; one foot in dessert heaven, its full of unspeakably good sweet stuff and awesome flavour combos. As you may gather, I quite like this dish, it’s up there with my top desserts of all time (ever) in the world.

I’m not a huge dessert fella, but sweet coconut rice topped with mango is something I’d swim to Thailand to try again. Jane brought it all the way to the Beach House and it was a very pleasant surprise.

Jane made this ‘Forbidden Rice’ for one of our date nights (in). We are some of the luckiest folks you’ll ever meet and get much good luck/ news/ people crossing our paths and we felt like celebrating it all. I opened something fizzy and Jane disappeared into the bowels of the Beach House Kitchen to work her culinary magic spatulas, and what a feast we had. The Corn and Coconut Korma (recipe coming soon) was something to write home about (even though we were already home) but the dessert…………..I do a lot of the cooking in the B.H.K. and I also work in a kitchen for my sins, so to have a dinner presented to you with such care is a recipe for a magic night.

Purple rice (sometimes called black rice) was deemed so special, fragrant and nutty, it was only served to emperors in ancient China, hence the ‘forbidden’ moniker. It was also popular in the fascinating Indian region of Manipur, where it is still served on very special occasions to much fanfare. It is believed that all of the strains of this rice lead back to the Manipur region. It is a glutinous rice and is grown in many different countries now, it is exceptionally nutritious (see the Foodie Fact) and has a distinct, full flavour. This rice also makes for a very funky porridge.

The only problem is getting hold of the stuff, the real deal is hard to find. Jane picked some up in Glastonbury, which is the heart of all things obscure and nutritious foodstuffs within the UK. I imagine if you live in certain pockets of California it grows on trees there! But generally, it may take a while to track down. Our advise, persevere and bring this dessert into your life. Of you can’t get black, go white jasmine instead.

This is an easy dessert to make and is perfect for when you fancy adding something a little exotic to proceedings; mango and coconut are a legendary pair and the coconut pouring sauce, quite literally, tops it off.

We had some pouring sauce left over and its been making cheeky appearances on all sorts of things, mainly bowls of muesli.

You may like to add a little jasmine thai rice to the mix, it turns a wonderful purple colour when combined with the purple/black rice.

A word on coconut milk: there is some real rubbish out there. We have managed to find a little sustainable Sri Lankan project that makes the finest coco milk, it cannot be compared with the stuff you’ll find clogging most supermarket shelves.

MORE BEACH HOUSE DESSERTS TO TICKLE YOUR FANCY:

Raw Coconut Lime Cheesecake

Moist Almond and Olive Cake

Raw Chocolate Brownies

Raw Strawberry Tartlets

Sweet Coconuts and Happy Days to you allXXXXX

————-

Sweet Thai Mango, Basil & Coconut Rice (Gluten-free, vegan)

Makes enough for two very lucky folk

The Bits – For 2

1/2 cup black rice (or any rice you prefer really)

1 big handful of jasmine rice

1 can sustainable coconut milk

1/2 cup sugar (we used unrefined brown)

1/2 teas sea salt

1 ripe/ fragrant mango

Garnish

2 tbs toasted dried coconut (desiccated coconut will do)

Several leaves of basil (we forgot the first one, but it would be amazing)

Do It

Soak black rice for four hours or overnight to get nice and tender.

Cook all rice in a saucepan, cover with plenty of water and bring to a boil, simmer for 30 – 40 minutes or until tender but still with a little bite. Drain, keep warm.

Pour coco milk (make sure you get all the cream from the bottom of the can), sugar and salt into saucepan and bring to boil, simmer for 5 minutes, stirring almost constantly. Reserve a cup for pouring at this stage.

Add your rice to the saucepan, heat again gently to a boil, then simmer for 10 mins until it thickens. Check sweetness.

Cut mangoes, this can be quite a fiddle, so heres a little example of how its best done by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone (we loved the name). This will give you cubes, for the thin slices, just take off the skin at the cubing stage and slice thinly. Any questions, we are here to help on the mango hotline, Wales.

Next up toast your coconut in a small frying pan, medium heat for 5-8 minutes will do and this can be done well in advance, although warm is better.

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Forbidden Purple Rice gets a drizzle

Serve

In lovely shallow bowls (small servings are best as this is a very rich dessert), spoon in your purple rice, lay on your slices of mango (fan shapes look brilliant here) and offer the pouring sauce in a small jug. The general sweetness of the dish will be enough for most.

Sprinkle on your coconut and basil leaves and serve warm and immediately.

We Love It!

You’ve seen the pictures, you’ve heard me get all excited, you imagine the flavours……..you know you’ll love it!

Foodie Fact

Purple/ black rice contains all of the 18 amino acids, which means that technically you can live on the stuff. Great for dessert islands (small joke there)! It is also high in iron, zinc, copper, caroten and several great vitamins.

It also contains anthocyanins, which make it black and are also found in blueberries and peppers. This chemical mops up bad molecules and is a poweful anti-oxidant.

Purple/ black rice has also be touted as the new superfood against the big C (cancer).

Tunes

Because music and food are the same thing, one in your ear, one in your mouth……

Two tunes this time from Beach House radio and both relevant to this incredible dessert. Deep Purple ‘Child in Time’ for the deep purple of the rice and because it reminds me of the dawning or rock music in my world (I was around 10 years old in the back seat of a car when it hit me like bolt, you can wail and not be told off! IT’S ONLY ROCK AND ROLL. If I could sing like Ian Gillan, I’d happily forgo my forbidden rice.

and a shaky clip from one of my favourite music bars in the world, the Adhere Blues Bar (just of the infamous and rubbish Khaosan Road) in Thailand (queue more wailing with a Thai accent).

Categories: Desserts, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: black, coconut, dessert, mango, music, purple, recipe, rice, thai, top desserts of all time, vegan | 15 Comments

Imam Bayildi – Turkish Stuffed Aubergines (Vegan)

Posted on April 6, 2013 by leroy watson

Imam Bayeldi (Turkish Stuffed Subergines)

Turkish food has always tantalised me, Ive had a few dishes that promised so much, but finding good Turkish restaurants is difficult in the UK and I have resorted to educating and cooking them myself at home. Isn’t that always the best way anyway! I much prefer a home cooked meal, prepared with love than something bought. I am not a good diner out-er, I rarely have a good time and seem perpetually let down by the food. This maybe due to the fact that I live in the sticks in Wales and in Spain, in the big cities, where cultures merge and intermingle, things are a very different story.

Thing is, I’ve always been more fond of food from further afield that Europe (is Turkey now a part of the ever expanding ‘Europe’!?), maybe its the exotic element and imagery of new and distant horizons. Turkish cuisine has such bold flavours and is normally pretty simple to get together, focusing on super fresh produce and a constant flow of awesome yoghurt!

A wonderful dish this ‘Imam Bayeldi’ of Turkish origin, bursting with flavour and delicious texture. You’ve probably made something like this in the past, but its nice to get a specific origin to things, I love the heritage and tradition attached to dishes, the stories and legends behind them.

Imam Bayeldi translates as ‘the priest fainted’, according to Armenian legend, a housewife was surprised by a visit from a priest and created this dish especially (whipped it up quickly I’m sure!) At the first mouthful the priest fainted with delight!

I have been buying a few cheap as chips cook books on-line, I’m shifting slightly away from constant experimentation in the kitchen and looking at what other people are up to. The books I am buying are mainly retreat style cooking, Ayurveda and Macro-biotic influenced; I have some very cool Zen Buddhist cook books but this recipe (well most of it) came from the awesome ‘Shoshoni Cookbook’, which is a Yoga retreat up in the hills of Colorado. The food is simple, vibrant and superbly nutritious. The philosophy of cooking at Shoshoni, be ever present and immersed in your activity, constantly channeling love and good intention into your food and its preparation are essential for me in the whole wonderful food game, enjoyment! This is food charged with positive energy, cooked from a special place.

I know there are many different ways of preparing this dish, but this is my favourite. The aubergines are very tender after boiling and the light spices and herbs work very well together.

Aubergines can be grown in Britain, but only in greenhouses. We are struggling getting good local produce at the moment, so our seasonal fare is sparse. Fingers crossed this cold weather won’t hold, it’s been gloriously sunny in the days and freezing in the morning and nights. Not good for our poor plants, but makes for beautiful days walking.

You my live in a lovely part of the world where your veggies are just plain amazing and sweet. I would omit the honey and even the tomato puree in this case, with great produce, well, it speaks for itself and needs no assistance.

Yemek Keyfini! Enjoy!

Serves two quite nicely.

The Bits

2 aubergine (whole), 1 onion (diced small), 3 cloves garlic (crushed), 4 tomatoes (diced small), 1 red pepper (diced small), 1/2 teas ground coriander, 1 teas cumin seeds, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 teas honey, 3 tbs pine nuts, 1 cup coriander (leaves and stems), 3 tbs olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper (to taste), parsley and mint (chopped for topping)

Aubergines/eggplants ready for the pan

Do It

Place aubergines in a pot of boiling water, press down into the water with a lid and boil for 15 to 20 minutes until tender. Do not overcook, they have a lovely smooth texture, but the skin is fragile and breaks easily (as I learnt the hard way!) When cooked, run under cold water to chill quickly.

Split the aubergines down the centre lengthwise and gently score out the pulp and remove without piercing shells. Good luck here! Keep the skins warm somewhere of your choosing, a warm covered plate works well.

Saute your cumin seeds for two minutes, they will pop a bit, then add onion and cook until translucent, add aubergine and cook for 10 minutes or until tender, add ground coriander, tom puree, pepper, garlic, honey (if needed) and tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add some of your herbs (coriander, parsley or mint or a mix) and pine nuts, season well to taste.

Serve

Fill the warm shells with vegetables and sprinkled with some more herbs and a good drizzle of amazing olive oil. Traditionally served with Mudjedera (recipe to come soon) or cous cous.

We Love It!

A simple, tasty dish that didn’t make us faint this time, but we’ll work on it!

Foodie Fact

Aubergines have very few calories but plenty of fibre, it contains loads of the vitamin B’s and some vitamin C. It also has good levels of manganese which acts as an anti-oxidant around the body and plenty of potassium which is good for many of your parts! (nerves and heart especially).

Categories: Dinner, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: aubergine, eggplant, food, recipe, stuffed, turkish, turkish cuisine, vegan, vegetarian, yoga, yoga retreat cooking | 20 Comments

Layered Filo Pie with Sweet Potato, Puy Lentils and Cashew Cream Filling

Posted on April 1, 2013 by leroy watson

Layered Filo Pie with Sweet Potato, Puy Lentils and Cashew Cream

After a long walk with Mum and a ride on the Ffestiniog Highland Train it was time for a pie, but not just any old pie though. A wonderful day demands wonderful pie and this one has been on my mind ever since I read the recipe.

This layered filo pie will suit any special occasions and satisfy all loved ones, especially those who are still skeptical about the whole vegan approach. Get on board, try this pie, eat more nut cheese! The cashew cream is the real star here, adding bags of creaminess and that ‘something a bit different’ that I love in any recipe. This is not our first play with cashews and it also makes a very respectable cheese, although denser in texture, cashew cheese would also make a great layer for this kind of pie.

The inspiration for this magic pie came from the brilliant Becky over at Veg Hot Pot, a blog for anybody who likes tasty food cooked with heart and soul. Becky is attracted to big flavours and gorgeous looking food. Cheers Becks!

We have of course tampered with the original and added some of our favourite bits (we’ve just made one with lime zest, smoked paprika and a spinach layer…..but we digress……) We have added roast peppers and sweet potato instead of the delicious sounding roast carrots, we have used sage to flavour the sweet potatoes, because I love that little combo of green ‘erb and funky orange spud. There is also a tablespoon of tomato paste in the puy lentils, this is a rich tart and the tomato lifts things a little.

I love giving meat eaters a run for their money in the flavour stakes, this meets and beats any meaty creation in Christendom (it is Easter after all!). The look of the pie will make jaws drop; cook it for an Uncle who has gravy on his corn flakes or that boyfriend who cannot omit meat from any plate of food. I’d love to hear the response from that crew?! Let me know….

The filo adds a nice crunch here, its a great thin pastry for making a guaranteed crisp pie base. I very rarely buy pastry, but this is a no-brainer. Filo sits there quite happily until called upon.

Mum’s comment after pie for dinner tonight whilst holding her belly:

‘Blimey Lee, I feel like I’ve had a pie!’

This pie is magical in so many ways, mainly because of its versatility. You can play around with the flavours and layers and the potential combinations are mind boggling.

Recipe makes two individual pies, more than enough for two good folk. If you are eating the pie with vegetables, half a pie is more than enough per person.

Layered Filo Pie

The Bits

1 big sweet potato (cubed)

2 fat cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1 red pepper (cut into thick flattish slices)

1 onion, (finely diced)

2 small leeks (finely chopped)

1 cup soaked cashew nuts (overnight)

4 sheets of filo pastry

1 teas dried sage

250g puy lentils

glugs of vegetable oil for frying.

Do It

Turn on your fan oven, 200oC.

Sort out your lentils, either cook them or open the can. Cooked fresh is of course best (follow pack instructions). Normally cover with an inch of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 mins. They should be completely soft, but not mushy. At this stage stir in your tomato paste and heat through.

Toss your sweet pots in oil and sage and roast for 15 minutes, until soft and slightly golden. Remove and cover. Leave for 10 minutes then mash. Whilst that is going on, add your peppers to the oven and roast for 10-15 mins until becoming slightly charred.

Rinse your cashew nuts and place in a food processor with half a cup of water and a pinch of salt and blitz for 5 minutes until creamy and thick, the texture of hummus is good.

In a frying pan, add a tablespoon of oil and begin to fry your onions off on a medium heat. Get them nice and golden, we’re looking for nice sweetness here, then add your leeks and garlic, cook for a further 10 minutes on a low/ medium heat. All should be very soft indeed. Then add you cashew cream and stir well together.

All layer ingredients can be made well in advance and refrigerated.

Take two small ovenproof dishes, or pie dishes approx 5 inch diameter by 2 inch deep. Oil them up ready for action.

Use filo straight from the fridge and brush oil over each layer, use three layers for each base. Spoon in your layers starting with sweet potato, then peppers layed out, then lentils and finally the cashew cream mix. Make sure all layers are pressed snugly into the corners of the pie, giving a distinct layered look and good full shape to the pie.

Pop them in the oven and check after 10 minutes, the pastry may get a little dark. If so, place tin foil over the pies.

Cook for 25-35 minutes, until the bases are nicely golden and crisp.

Lovely layers

Serve

Leave to rest for a couple of minutes in the dish then pop out onto a wire rack to cool and settle for 5 minutes. Then mange! We had ours with a tomato chutney and it was a tasty feast.

We Love It!

This is a rich tart and very nicely segregated, it looks a million dollars! The cashew cream works fantastically well, it browns a little and gives a fantastic creamy texture. Who needs cheese!

Foodie Fact

Cashews are not devoid of calories, but we’d be a sorry state without enough fuel! Some people I’ve met on raw food diets etc have warned me off cashew nuts, but in a world riddled with vices and food fads, I hardly think the odd cashew nut will push me over the calorific edge. A roasted cashew is a thing of beauty and grows on trees. They also contains plenty of vitamins, minerals and a hefty dollop of fibre.

Categories: Recipes, Vegan | Tags: cashew cream, easter, filo, food, healthy, layered, nut cheese, pie, puy lentils, recipe, vegan, vegetarian | 28 Comments

Creamy Tofu & Olive Dip (Vegan)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by leroy watson

Tofu and Olive Dip

HAPPY EASTER Y’ALL!x

Easter is all about family, Mum’s here and we’ve been doing some celebrating. It seems nowadays that no party is complete without a stonking dip to showcase (or is that just me!) Dips act as the perfect accompaniment to pre-meal nattering and decadent snacking antics.

This is a very creamy/ cheesy tasting dip without the cheese. I think its the olives and tofu that combine to form an unusual vegan cheesiness. It is rich and like all dips, superbly versatile. Spread it on things, dip things in it, eat it by the spoonful, anyway you enjoy this is just fine by us.

Making our own tofu appeals, but we hear it can be a pain. Here is an interesting little clip that has inspired us and simplified things greatly:

We are moving back to our vegan ways, little by little and this kind of vegan dip leaves us with plenty of space to get stuck into our Easter bounty. Mum even made Jane and I an egg this year, what a talented creature! Its chocolate and ginger and will definitely not be seeing the light of Easter Monday. YUM.

I’ve put one clove of garlic down here, but we actually had two as we are full-on garlic fiends. One is erring on the side of normality.

This can be thinned down by adding a cup of water, or a little oil, depending on your persuasion, to make a nice thick salad dressing.

Happy dipping!

The Bits

250g firm tofu, 1 cup green olives (pitted), 1 lemon (juice and zest), 1 clove garlic (crushed), 1 handful mint leaves, 1 handful basil leaves, sea salt and cracked pepper to taste, dash of fruity olive oil

Do It

Pop all ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.

Serve

We added it to a salad, adding nice creaminess and have also dunked wedges of carrots in with gusto.

We Love It!

All the cheesiness without the dairy bits! A pleasant change and very quick to get together, for all your impromptu party dip needs!

Tofu in all its glory

Foodie Fact

Tofu is a magic food with a bad rep due to tiresome jokes about vegetarian hippies and the like. It is an acquired taste to some, but adds a great texture to all it touches and is a great vehicle for bags of fat-free protein in anybodies diet. Tofu contains more protein than eggs and milk and contains a quarter less calories than beef and a third of the calories (that’s the main protein brigade taken care of!). Like all plant based foods, tofu is completely cholesterol free.

Like with all soya products, we strongly recommend going organic.

Categories: Dressings, Recipes, Side Dish, Vegan | Tags: dip, food, healthy, herb, homemade, olive, recipe, tofu, vegan, vegetarian | 2 Comments

Avocado and Basil Cheese

Posted on March 21, 2013 by leroy watson

Avocado and Basil Cheese

The idea for this little wonder came from the venerable Paul Gayler, a man who is a top, top chef and also creates magic vegetarian food. We had his book out of the library ‘Pure Vegetarian’ and it was refreshing to read such inventive vegetarian dishes created by a chef who is not actually vegetarian himself.

I wrote down quite a few of the recipes, but this one stuck in my mind and I’ve been going on about it ever since, ‘Jane we must make that avocado cheese’ was becoming a daily muttering as I opened the fridge. Finally, I got around to it and it was worth the wait.

Somethings are just meant to go together, and creamy cheese, avocado and lemon is a match made is tasteville. I added some Basil because we have a profusion (I have no idea where Jane is getting it all from!)

Preparation is simple here and for a vegan alternative, try it with well drained firm tofu or even cashew cheese. If you are not a huge fan of feta, try ricotta instead. You’ll be downgrading the flavourful, salty tang of the feta, but the most important thing is that you try this recipe! In fact, it could be called more of technique, mashing avocado with different delicious ingredients. Hmmmmm, this could become a hobby of sorts.

Here it is, in all its glory and simplicity. Green cheese!

The Bits

1 avocado (Haas is best), 1 block of tofu or feta, 1/2 lemon (juice only), 10 basil leaves (finely shredded), 1 tbs nutritional yeast flakes (if using tofu)

Avocado cheese in the mix

Do It

Two ways- for a chunkier finish to the cheese, place all ingredients in a bowl and mash together using a masher or a fork. This is a nice hands on way of getting it together.

Alternatively, for a smoother cheese, pop all ingredients in a blender and whizz up until well mixed and all is green and smooth.

If you are using tofu or ricotta, you may need to add a pinch of sea salt to the mix.

Tip – When scraping out the avocado (this is true for most fruit and vegetables) make sure to scrape out the parts closest to the skin, if you can, use the skin. This is where the highest levels of nutrients are found.

Serve

We had ours simply lathered on celery sticks but I’m eating an oatcake now drowned in this glorious creation and it seems really good on anything. Use in salads or on pan fried/ steamed vegetables.

Avocado and Basil Cheese

We Love It!

This will be a regular in our fridge this summer, it will not keep for long with the avocado turning brown quickly, but it wont last long anyway!

Foodie Fact

There are always odd facts and advice about food. Avocado got a bad name previously for having high fat, but its good fat, natural fat. These fats regulate your blood sugar levels and boost levels of good cholesterol. Avos contains all of the amino acids which are absorbed into the body via the high fibre content of avocado. They are also high in carotenoids which are high in vitamin A (and normally associated with carrots) A is a great vitamin for protecting the body.

Categories: Recipes | Tags: avocado, basil, food, good cholesterol, good fats, healthy, nutriton, paul gayler, recipe, vegan, vegetarian | 13 Comments

Top 5 Sources of Vegetarian Protien

Posted on March 10, 2013 by leroy watson

Glorious Veggies!

More great info from the folks at veglove.com

Five Sources of Vegetarian Protein

Whether you’ve been a vegetarian for years or are giving it a thought for the first time, the most common question you’ll get about your diet is, “where do you get your protein?” Instead of drawing a blank, get prepared for this situation and impress your audience with a solid answer.Here are some facts you can share:

Most of us are aware that protein has an important roll in our bodies, but you may not know why. Made up of amino acids (oxygen, nitrogren, carbon, and hydrogen), protein is the nutrient responsible for growing new cell and building and repairing tissue. However, contrary to popular belief, we don’t need to consume that much of it to be health. The average requirement of protein is only about 5 ounces a day, or about 5% of your daily caloric intake. It may also surprise you to hear that too much protein can actually damage your bones and organs, and that reducing the amount of protein in your diet can give you more energy, put your digestive system at ease, and protect your immune system.

A common misconception is that meat is the best source of protein. Consider the following animals: gorillas, cows, elephants – all of them are vegetarians! While you probably aren’t aiming to have their body types, they are great examples of how big and strong a living creature can be on a plant based diet. While animal products contain large amounts of protein, they are also high in cholesterol and saturated fat, which can lead to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. The plant based diet is low in fat, free of cholesterol, and full of fiber.

Almost every plant contains protein, though some have more than others. Luckily, we do not need to get all amino acids from one source, so eating a varied vegetarian diet will result in a complete balance of protein. Here are some excellent foods that you can depend on to keep your body fit:

1. Beans contain more protein than any other vegetarian source, and they are high in fiber so you’ll feel full hours after eating them. There are countless varieties, the most popular being black, pinto, kidney, chickpeas, lentils, split peas, and soy.

2. Whole grains are a great compliment to beans, and together they pack a protein punch into your diet. Rice is always a great choice, but give quinoa a try. While quinoa is technically a seed, it contains more protein than any other grain. Check out barely and millet, and keep in mind that even popcorn contains protein!

3. Nuts are also very high in protein – one ounce of almonds has the same amount as one ounce of steak (6 grams)! Enjoy your favorite nuts raw, salted, roasted, seasoned, or in butter form.

4. Seeds are a great addition to any meal – simply sprinkle them on top or mix them in to add an extra boost of protein to your dish. Flax, pumpkin, and hemp seeds are not only rich in essential amino acids, but contain other important nutrients like omega-3s, iron, and fiber.

5. Green vegetables. There’s a reason Popeye was obsessed with spinach – he wanted to maintain his big biceps! Other veggies with high protein content are: broccoli, kale, green beans, asparagus, and watercress.

Categories: Healthy Eating, Nutrition | Tags: best source of protein, food, health, healthy living, heart disease cancer, high protein, nutrition, protein, sources, top 5, vegan, vegetarian | 3 Comments

Dark Chocolate Masala Chai

Posted on March 8, 2013 by leroy watson

Dark Chocolate Masala Chai

This is luxury chai (tea in English). Packed with chocolate and spice, I can assure you they don’t drink it like this Chandhni Chowk (Delhi)! But it’s a luxury take on the classic Indian masala chai recipe.

I have been playing around with my masala chai recipe for years and this is the best. We normally drink it without the chocolate, this is just something for a very special treat. The recipe works very well by itself.

Masala chai is more a potion, an elixir, than a mere hot beverage. Add fresh chocolate shavings to the mix and you have something rather special indeed. I have heard rumours about adventurous folk even adding a glug of brandy or whisky to it, I can imagine that to be quite a thing!

Masala chai basically means mixed spice tea and is normally brewed in the milk, rather than adding milk later. It normally contains black tea, but we also love it with rooibos (for those not sipping caffeine). Tea from Assam is best due to its dark orange colour and robust flavour. Darjeeling tea is best reserved for drinking black or with a touch of milk, after all it is the champagne of teas don’t you know (normally meaning more expensive and well marketed!)

Indians now drink the most amount of tea in the word, chai (tea) is part of Indian everyday life and chai wallah’s (like Starbucks but more low-key and infinitely better) dot every street side around the country. Thats over 1 billion people hooked on the spicy sweet goodness of chai and its really all down to the Brits. Tea has always been grown up near Darjeeling and Assam in the wet and wonderful northeast of India, but it was the Brits who began to plant it on an industrial scale and ship it back. What a meddling lot we were!

Sweetening chai is a must and we like to use jaggery if we can get it or dark sugar.

Star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg……this is truly a magic potion and it tastes pretty darn magic too. I love this combination of spices and if you can get them all fresh and whole, the chai will be much better for it. Powders are decent, but a proper chai should be simmering for hours and all of those massive flavours infused.

We have used soya milk here because we like the taste, but any of your favourite milks will be fine.

Traditionally, chai should be taken from small tea cups or even glasses, definitely not big mugs. Chai is to be slurped and enjoyed, made a fuss of and very much savoured. The smaller the tea cup the better (almost espresso size), this also has the advantage of prolonging chai time.

Bring on the potion!

The Bits – Makes one large sauce pan full, enough for 8 small cups

Beach House Chai contains:

1 stick of cinnamon

4 star anise

6 green cardamom pods (crushed)

4 cloves

2 heaped teas grated ginger

1 teas all spice

3/4 litre of soya/ almond milk, 1/3 litre water

3 good black tea bags (assam preferable, loose leaf tea is alot better and more traditional)

2 heaped tbs jaggery/ dark brown sugar or sweetener of choice (chai should be served nice and sweet)

1 big handful dark chocolate (grated)

Many other spices can be added including fennel seeds, cumin seeds (very warming), peppercorns, saffron, liquorice or even rose….the list goes on and each area of India has a particular favourite.

Do It

Get the water boiling in a large saucepan, add all the spices and turn down to a rolling simmer, leave for at least 10 minutes for the flavours to infuse (longer is better).

Now add milk, bring to a boil and then add your tea leaves/ tea bags. Stir in and help the tea infuse. Bring back to the boil. Leave until you are happy with your chai shade, deeper is better. Stir in your sweetener and chocolate.

Taste and adjust sweetness.

Serve

Strain into little cups with plenty of slurps and great conversation. A biscuit would be nice!

We Love It!

This chocolate masala chai adds a whole new level to the chai experience, its a dessert in a cup and with that amazing mix of spices is the perfect antidote to a grey March day. Indulge!

Foodie Fact

Black tea is the oxidised leaf of the tea bush, if it wasn’t oxidised it would be green tea (which makes sense!) Black tea has many health benefits and considerably less caffeine than coffee. It has a high level of anti-oxidants, it boosts the immune system, helps the heart and even lowers the level of stress hormones. What a grand cuppa!

Tunes

Making chai in your home, you need some real India rajas to get the spices flowing. Here is the late and and sorely missed Ravi Shankar playing with his daughter Anoushka:

Categories: Recipes, Tea | Tags: chai, chocolate, india, masala, music, photography, ravi shankar, recipe, tea, travel, vegan, vegetarian | Leave a comment

greenPOWsauce! (aka Salsa Verde)

Posted on March 4, 2013 by leroy watson

greenPOWsauce (or Salsa Verde)

A simple and lip smacking sauce from our hombres in Mexico. Salsa Verde is so fresh tasting, especially when lathered on a street taco in Mexico City. Viva la verde! Summer is on the way, we need to get these recipes gathered and prepared. Here comes the sun……….

With a fridge full of amazing green herbs and lemons all around, making this was a real no-brainer. I have played around with the spices here, but I think it adds even more punch and flavour to the sauce.

I was first introduced to this incredible, tangy number in a Mexican street stall lathered all over a street taco with lashings of raw chillis (normally after a few late night tequilas). The art of a good taco is in the balance of all the ingredients, but for me the salsa verde was always the most interesting component. How do they fit so much POW (followed instantly by a TWANG) into a sauce?! Later I found out and have been making variations ever since, normally potent concoctions with herbs, citrus and chilli as the core (and of course the essential tomatillos (green tomatoes).

The Verde is a super healthy affair also, making your own sauces cuts out the middle man, who usually enjoys adding scary sounding chemicals to sauces and no doubt bags of white sugar and other baddies.

Local lemons

This salsa is easily prepared and you may want to chop up your garlic, lemon rind etc depending on the potency of your food processor. We think its best to mash it all up in a pestle and mortar (and hope you have time for this). Here in Spain, our blender/f.p. is more of a smoothie maker and woefully under powered for the umph a salsa verde needs, you should be left with a vivid green sauce, all the bits well blended and together, mingling and sharing.

Due to the tomatoes, salsa verde doesn’t hang around to long in the fridge, its best eaten fresh poured over roasted veggies or in sandwiches/ tacos/ enchiladas/ burritos etc and we also use it in cooking as a sauce. Salsa Verde will also grace any pasta, I wonder if they’ve thought of it in Italy yet!?

Tomatillos can be a little hard to get hold of outside Mexico, other green tomatoes work almost as well.

Happy whizzingX

Makes one decent size tubful

The Bits

4 large green tomatoes/ tomatillos, 1 tbsp capers, 1 ½ big handfuls of fresh coriander, 1 of parsley, 1 of mint, 1 teas roasted fennel seeds, 1 teas roasted coriander seeds, 1 teas ground coriander, 2 fresh red chillis (jalapeno? Gauge how hot you like it), 3 cloves of garlic, 2 lemons (juice and zest), 150ml olive oil, hefty pinch of sea salt

In the mix – Salsa Verder

Do It

Pop all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz away until deep green and extremely tasty. Or if you lead a life of leisure and want to do it properly, add garlic, seeds, capers, chilli and lemon zest to you pestle and mortar, add a little oil and get mashing! Add this potent paste to your food processor with the other ingredients and blitz for 2 minutes.

Serve

Its very easy to just ladle this straight into your mouth! We would however recommend it mixed in with roasted veggies and will zing up any rice dish. Use it as a sauce and revel in the goodness. Jane and I would also have it thinned out a little, as the perfect dressing for a lively salad.

Salsa Verde

We Love It!

There is nothing like the bite and zing of a salsa verde, citrus and herbaceous with hints of spice. It’s really, very healthy too. The only sauce for a spring barbecue and salad session. Why not start early this year!

Foodie Fact

All those green leaf herbs are superbly good for you, packed with anti-oxidants. Tomatillos were originally cultivated by the Aztecs and contain more minerals than your average red tomato.

Tunes

The only soundtrack to salsa making, Santa Esmeralda – ‘Please don’t let me be misunderstood’ (bad miming and all!)

Categories: Recipes, Sauces, Vegan | Tags: cooking, food, healthy, mexican, music, photography, raw, recipe, salsa, vegan, verde | 5 Comments

Rambo Tomato and Roast Fennel Curry

Posted on February 11, 2013 by leroy watson

Rambo Tomato and Roast Fennel Curry

With tomatoes literally (almost!) falling from vines before our eyes, this is a curry that is local spice bonanza. For many years I’ve been hunched over a bubbling pot of fragrant curry masala: a spoonful here, a spoonful there; ever seeking perfection in blends of spices and sometimes herbs. This is not it, but its mighty close.

Some of my spices are straight from India, brought back on the plane in my backpack. The pack itself stunk like a Mumbai spice shop, fortunately I flew Egypt Air, Egyptians are no strangers to aromatic spices themselves. During the flight, I got vague sniffs of cumin and turmeric, I knew where they were coming from and I smiled, safe in the knowledge that I was smuggling curried gold dust.

People seem put off by curries, the list of ingredients itself can be daunting. It’s actually fairly straightforward, if you are a little organised (which for curries I am). Once you learn the basics of curry making, especially with a healthy tomato base like here, you are off into a world of pungent kitchen happiness.

These tomatoes are curiously named ‘Rambo’. I have no idea why and when I asked the tomato man at the market he simply said “Because they are from around here.” with suitable gruffness and disdain. They are a macho lot in these parts after all!

A little snap taken on a rambla walk near our casa.

There are many spices here, not an everyday curry, but one fit for a feast and fine friends. The main difference between Indian food in restaurants and at home is that Indian chefs are not afraid to be wild and free with the spices. They also normally add lashing of ghee (clarified butter) to make it sparkle and tantalise. This tomato curry is perfect for the calorie conscious curry muncher, full of flavour and superbly healthy. This surely is some kind of elixir! After some Indian meals in restaurants I feel quite heavy and lethargic (with a smile on my face however), you don’t get that treatment here.

Please try and buy good spices and keep them out of sunlight and in a sealable container. It is well worth it, a little effort could produce a curry that blows your mind.

This makes one large panful, enough for at least six hungry curry fiends.

The Bits

6 lovely large and ripe red tomatoes (chop – see below), 1 large onion (sliced), 1 stick of celery (thinly sliced), 8-10 cloves of garlic (finely chopped), 1 bulb of fennel (sliced), 1 large red pepper, 2 inch sq of fresh ginger (finely chopped), 2 teas fennel seeds, 1 teas yellow mustard seeds, 2 star anise, 2 teas ground coriander, 1 teas turmeric, 2 teas curry powder (a good one), 1 teas cumin, 8 fresh green cardamoms, ½ teas chilli powder (or as incendiary as you prefer).

Do It

Prepare all of your spices, this is quickly cooked and you don’t want to be fumbling around with packets and lids which normally leads me towards turmeric leaks and general chaos. Pop all ground spices into into a dry bowl, and the anise and cardamom into another.

Chop two tomatoes finely, forming something resembling pulp. The rest can be cut into large segments, roughly 8 to a normal sized tomato.

In a hot pan with a good glug of oil, roast off your fennel and peppers until both have colour and a little softness to them. Set aside and cover.

In the same pan on high heat, add more oil (1 tbs) and fry off your onions until soft (5mins) then add your fennel seeds and yellow mustard seeds, give a minute and constantly stir. Then the celery, garlic and ginger, stir in and give another minute and keep it all moving. Then for the spices (being careful not to burn them, add water if needed), add your spices and stir well for couple of minutes, then the cardamom and star anise can be added and the well chopped tomatoes added. Stir well and get all the flavour incorporated from the pan base (that’s the good stuff!)

Cover tightly and lower heat, leave to simmer and infuse for 10 minutes. Stir in your roasted fennel, peppers and tomato segments. Cover again and cook for a further 15 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft.

Try not to stir this curry much at this stage, you want the tomatoes retain their shape and texture.

Rambo Tomato and Roast Fennel Curry

Serve

Finish with a splash of olive oil stirred in (gives it shine and a little richness) then blob on some yoghurt and brown rice, topped all fresh coriander leaves. The serving style that we like to call ‘A La Beach House’.

We Love It!

One of our favourite homemade curry delights that we’d love you to try. We made it for a recent curry night and there were many mmmmmmm’s.

Foodie Fact

Fennel is of the same family as parsley, cumin, carraway and dill. Fennel could we be native to Spain and is a highly sought after veg in these parts. Fennel contains many essential oil compounds, anti-oxidants and a good amount of dietary fibre. Although the seeds are the real stars of the fennel plant, packed full of many, many good things.

Categories: Curries, Healthy Eating, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: calories, curry, fennel, food, healthy, masala, recipes, tomato, vegan, vegetarian | 5 Comments

Radio Tarifa Tagine

Posted on January 23, 2013 by leroy watson

Tarifan Vegetable Tagine

Tarifa is one of the windiest towns in the world, home to windsurfers and a whole host of eccentric folk (apparently the relentless wind sends people mad!) Most places in Spain have three winds, Tarifa has five! It is located directly across the med from Tangiers, an equally nutty Moroccan town.

Tarifa has long been regarded as a great example of the merging of all things Hispanic and African, not to mention, there is an awesome band named Radio Tarifa who rock our worlds (see below), they’re also a mix of Moroccan, flamenco and other beats. Really when you get down to this coastline, cultural borders blur into one hectic mix of all things med. There is an ancient feel in the air around here, Romans, Greeks, Punics, Carthagens…… it makes sense that people who want to live in such beautiful climes and always have done.

I learnt to make good cous cous and tagine on the open fires and portable gas stoves of Morocco, in garages, date plantations and even the odd oasis. Moroccans are like Italians when it comes to their cooking, namely, don’t mess with it brother!!!! Keep it the way it has always been and momma knows best et al. Which is cool, makes things easier. I cooked a tagine in the Atlas Mountains and added beetroot to the mix and then spent the rest of the evening in some form of food induced exile. They turned their nose up at my meddling with the ancient, alchemical laws of the tagine. Seems I haven’t quite learnt my lesson!

I have had a good meddle here. I love to add a little tahini to the mix to add some richness and paprika is a superb local delicacy that creeps into most things I cook over here on the Costa Calida. The rest is all fine, fresh, fresh, med veg and fistfuls of cumin from the markets of Marrakech to get things flowing in the right direction.

The secret here is a thick and rich sauce to start with and gently steaming the other veggies over that. This makes this dish brilliantly tasty and the veg chunks are cooked until perfectly tender and succulent. The nature of tagine recipes is wide and uber-complex, but this one is straight forward and mighty fine. A tagine is just the pot’s name really, it’s unique conical shape, but it’s what goes into it that matters.

I serve this with fluffy cous cous in a tagine dish, there is plenty of gorgeous sauce to make the cous cous nice and moist. My tagine dish has a very sticky base, otherwise I would cook the sauce in the tagine base and then whack the lid on. That would be the authentic route, but I have used a pan here to make this easier and avoiding sticky situatioGod, I love Morocco, the dunes of the Sahara and the peaks of the Rif mountains are just a hop, skip and ferry away from here and it is calling my name in capital letters. It’s such a massive empty place, full of amazing people and tasty treats. This tagine takes me back……

Tarifan Vegetable Tagine

The Bits

2 med onions (finely sliced), 6 cloves garlic (finely chopped), 3 inch cube of ginger (finely chopped), 5 big fat plum tomatoes (chopped rough), 1 courgette, 1 large red pepper, ½ large butternut squash, 4 large carrots (all veg chopped into large chunks), 4 teas ground cumin, 3 teas paprika, 1 teas cinnamon, 1 teas ground coriander, ½ handful roughly chopped dried apricots, 6 dates (finely chopped), 1 heaped tbs dark tahini (dark has a more intense flavour, but regular tahini is fine), 2 cups good veg stock, s + p to taste
350g cous cous (for three), 1 pint good veg stock, 1 teas cumin seeds,

Do It

Get a nice good glug of olive oil hot (high heat here) in a large saucepan, pop your onions in and cook until soft and going golden, add your garlic and ginger and your spices. Stir well and often, get it all combined nicely, then add your chopped tomatoes and stir in. It should all be smelling amazing and cooking down well. Taste and adjust accordingly. When the tomatoes have all broken down, 5-10 minutes, add all of your other veggies, stock and dried fruit stir in a little. Stick a lid on it and leave for 30 minutes to cook slowly, no peeking!

When the lid is taken off, you’ll have a gorgeous tagine waiting with plenty of rich sauce to be soaked up by the cous cous.

To cook your cous cous, warm a pan with a little oil and toast your cumin seeds for one minute, then pour in your cous cous and stir well, add some s+p to taste and pour in some freshly boiled water (straight from the kettle is good).

Cover the cous cous with water, 2cm above and then cover tightly with a lod and leave for 20 minutes to cook off the heat. When you lift the lid, fluff the cous cous well with a fork and add a little oil if it needs a little help.

Puerto Mazarron Sunset

Serve

As warm as you can, in a tagine dish preferably. Lay out plenty of cous cous on the base, spoon over plenty of sauce and then scoop on your vegetable tagine. Cover with more sauce and a good drizzle of great olive oil.

We like to eat out of the tagine dish in a communal fashion, pop it in the middle of the table and enjoy with your nearest and dearest, just like in Morocco. We had ours with hummus or a nice garlic yoghurt.

At the shepherds house – Bolunuevo, Mazarron

Foodie Fact

We use tahini in many ways, but here it adds a creamy richness to the tagine without the use of our old friends butter/ cream and the dairy gang, with the added advantage of awesome health benefits and easy digestions. Tahini is full of vitamin B’s, essential for keeping the body ticking over, enhancing metabolism and sorting the immune system out.

Tahini is also rich in calcium and a small blob can contain up to 35% of your required daily intake. Many people believe that tahini boasts the highest levels of calcium in any food!

Here’s the soundtrack to our Tarifan Tagine, the incredible Radio Tarifa:

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Categories: Recipes, Travel, Vegan | Tags: cooking, food, morocco, photography, recipe, tagine, tahini, travel, vegan, vegetable, vegetarian | 3 Comments

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