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Lemony stuffed cabbage parcels - Recipe - VEGAN STARTER

September 14, 2011 by India Leigh

I confess I am currently obsessed with cabbage. Cabbage, cabbage, cabbage. Red, white, savoy. Steamed, souped, stir-fried and slawed. Why? To this I am clueless. Perhaps my body is craving something. Cabbage is packed full of nutrients (as long as not overcooked). Cruciferous cabbage is widely reported to be supportive to the digestive tract, full of cancer preventing nutrients, cholesterol lowering etc. I’m not a nutritionist. I just am liking it right now. Next week…who knows?

This recipe is simple, with only 5 ingredients and I LOVE it hot from the steamer or cooled the next day from the fridge. Fun to make too. I also absolutely LOVE this filling wrapped in vine leaves. The flavour is sensational. Alas, my ethnic store is 1 hour away.

LEMONY STUFFED CABBAGE PARCELS

Ingredients

For the filling

1 cup yellow split peas (soaked overnight) TIP: SAVE TIME & ENERGY make more of the mix and freeze to make soup, stews, curry etc

1 large onion chopped finely

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

3 cups water (approx)

2 tbs chopped fresh mint

8 large cabbage leaves (remove tough lower stem as it will make folding difficult)

cocktail sticks or kitchen twine

Method

1.heat the oil and saute the onions

2.pour on water (boil in kettle to speed the process)

3.Add the split peas and salt and cook until al dente (do not over cook to a mush) . approx 30 mins keep an eye on water levels, you want most of the water absorbed.

4.remove any excess liquid and add the mint and lemon juice. Allow to cool.

5.take the leaves and place 2-3 tablespoons of mixture into the centre and then wrap up the top and bottom before rolling in the sides. (if you are using vine leaves (YUM) then ensure the veins are towards you)

6.carefully place in a steamer for approx 10mins, until cabbage leaves are cooked.

So nice. Eat straight away or cool and chill the lovely bundles in the fridge.

Alternative suggestion - you could use brown rice instead of the split peas. Best served cold.

PARTY POPPERS - Bite-you-back stuffed Peppadew Peppers - gluten-free vegan

August 30, 2011 by India Leigh

I could easily live off these for a month! Do you ever raise two triumphant, celebratory hands into the air when achieving something awesome? When I popped my first taste of one of these my body lost control and I did just that. I looked like the person first through the tape at the end of a race!

Continuing my recipe testing of Vegan 90 mouthwatering recipes for all occasions by Tony Weston & Yvonne Bishop..gossip.. they since married..ahh) I was so excited to give this recipe a whirl. I had to make them a couple of times to get the batter right. My recipes are gluten-free so I have a little bit of tweaking to do.

The first batch tasted INCREDIBLE almost indescribable but they were like flavour grenades. The peppadews were piquant and succulent, the garlicky cheese was rich and creamy, the sesame seeds and lemon rind gave a background of slightly bitter tang. Soft, chewy, moist little pops of flavour burst into your mouth with such intensity and they take you over completely…rendering all around you, momentarily, of very little interest. Attention grabbers!

With the flavours in the bag I made a few alterations and put another batch in the oven. I made the batter thicker than previously and put a little less of the cheese stuffing in the pepper (so the heat of the oven didn’t make them explode and leave me with a baking tray of garlicky cheese (though I would’ve eaten it anyway!). I wanted them to look good (I’d say look as good as they taste but I think this near on impossible).

My second batch pouting for the camera…

I think the batter could still be improved slightly to prevent cracking…a pinch of xantham gum may do the trick. For now, here is the recipe.

Ingredients

8 teaspoons of Vegan cream cheese (I used Redwood Blue cheese style)
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 tbs chopped parsley
8 peppadew peppers in a jar - labelled HOT - they are deseeded and topped
1/2 cup(125g) sorghum flour (they used strong white)
1 (125ml) coconut milk (I used Kara - it is not the type in a can you use for cooking but a milk drink) you can use rice or soya milk instead
1 tbs Vegan yogurt
1 tsp arrowroot
1 crumbled vegan yeast free stock cube
1 tsp lime rind or zest
juice of 1/2 lime
sesame seeds for sprinkling
oil for greasing pan

optional - a generous pinch of cayenne and a peppering of white pepper

Method

1. oil a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 180 (350f).
2. put cream the cheese, garlic, and parsley in a bowl.
3. using a small spoon stuff the mixture into each pepper
4. in a bowl put the flour, milk, yogurt, arrowroot, crumbled stock cube and lime rind/zest & juice. Mix well to a stiff batter.

5.Using your thumb pat the dough into your other hand to make it even thickness then place the stuffed pepper inside. Close the dough over the pepper and then roll in you hand to make a ball. Ensure all of the pepper is covered.
6.Roll in a little oil and then the sesame seeds (I didn’t do this so they looked a little anemic..learn from my mistakes to result in a nice golden finish). Pop onto the baking tray.
7. Bake for approx 7 mins and then turn and baste and return to oven for 7-10 mins until crisp.

They will not last five minutes as they are SUBLIME, mouthwatering and moreish. Crowd pleasers for sure! Next time I will double the ingredients and make 16. I can freeze any that remain (yeah right).

* Tony & Yyvonne’s original recipe made way too much dough/batter for 8 so I changed this up.

Next time I make these I will have a go and tempura them. They’d also be very delicious without the batter and just naked, blushing and bare on a platter…exposing a tantilising flash of the garlic creamed cheese.

OUTTAKES

My first batch - oh dear, extremely tasty yet not fit for exhibition!

From the cookbook VEGAN

Tomato bombs - 10 minute tomato bombs to blow your mind!

August 25, 2011 by India Leigh

The only bombs that should exist on this earth are those of the nightshade family - enter Mr Tomato. The blushing red fruits are packed full of lycopene - said to beneficial to health and are endlessly versatile.

Over the next few days I will be testing out recipes from a cookbook I am reviewing. It is not a new book; published way back in the day 2004, but it is new to me. I found it in my village’s mini library (its more like a shed with books in).

The use of some interesting ingredients and the glorious photographs intrigued me so I got myself a copy and wrote a long list of recipes to test.

I happened to have three beautifully ripe tomatoes sitting in my bowl that were singing out to be embellished and adorned so I grabbed book and ingredients and set to work. I used the Vegan cook book written by Tony Weston & Yvonne Bishop for their recipe and then added two of my own variations. Each mixture only takes minutes to prepare.

I changed up their recipe slightly (they used cream cheese and I only had Redwoods Blue Cheese).

I used the following quantities so change these up according to how many you want to make.

Each recipe will make approximately 2 large tomato bombs. To prepare the tomatoes cut a sliver off the bottom of each and cut off the tops. Scoop out the innards and retain juice and innards in two separate bowls.

Original recipe Tomato Bombs

2 large ripe tomatoes
2 tbs vegan cream cheese (I used blue cheese by Redwoods foods)
1 garlic clove finely chopped
8 large black olives chopped
1 tbs good olive oil (walnut or avocado oil may work well too?)
1 tsp finely chopped parsley
1 tsp oregano
salt & pepper

1. put cheese, garlic, oil, olives, herbs and seasoning into a bowl and add the tomato juice you collected and mix. (I put my cheese in in cubes..I am sure the cream cheese would crank the intensity of flavour up a notch..learn from my mistakes people)
2. stuff into the tomatoes
3. serve

I got a little creative and made two other mixtures to stuff the other tomatoes with.

Spinach & mushroom tomato bombs (my favourite!)

1 cup of frozen spinach (defrosted) or cook fresh and allow to cool
5 large chestnut mushrooms (approx 100g)
1 tbs nutritional yeast
1 tbs sunflower seeds toasted
1/3 tsp garlic powder
1/3 tsp white pepper
1/3 tsp salt

1. put all of the ingredients with the exception of the seeds into a bowl and mix well. With a hand blender blend 80% of the mix..what you are aiming for is a puree with a few small coarse chunks of mushrooms running through.
2.mix in the seeds and stuff mixture into prepared tomatoes.

Note: it is said that spinach needs to be consumed with Vitamin C for optimal iron absorption. Toms have lots of it so they make a good combo.

Spicy tomato bombs

Remaining tomato innards chopped
5 sweet piquante peppers (Peppadew in a jar - hot variety) roughly chopped
2 tbs bread crumbs (I used gluten free by Hale & Hearty..they are so good I eat spoonfuls of them!)
1 tbs good olive oil (you can also use rapeseed as the nutty flavour works well)
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp agave
salt & pepper

1.put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix gently
2. stuff the mixture into your patiently waiting prepared tomatoes.
3.serve

They are great on their own as a starter or served with vegetable-infused brown rice and green salad for a main/entree.

Yum! They’re the BOMB!

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