Month: November 2019

• 100 g dried chickpeas
• 50 ml unsweetened peanut butter (100% peanuts)
• 50 ml coconut butter
• 3 tbsp birch sugar
• 6 tbsp cacao powder
• 2 tbsp rum
• a pinch of salt to taste

Cook the chickpeas, let them cool and drain them.
Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend into a smooth paste. If the paste is too thick, add some water (or concentrated Celestial Peach tea – gives some nice aroma).

Serve it as it is or with some crushed nuts or fruit.

Ingredients:

• Chickpeas 250g dry (or 500g cooked)
• Bay leaves 2-3 (optional)
• Olive oil 60 ml
• Tahini 1 cup
• Lemon juice from 2 large lemons or 1/2 cup Apple cider vinegar
• Cumin powder 1 tsp
• Garlic 2-5 cloves crushed (or more cloves, depending on your taste)
• Chickpea cooking water (+ boiled water if the cooking water is not enough)
• Black pepper to taste
• Himalayan salt to taste

Instructions:

Preparation: soak the chickpeas overnight (or around 4-6 hours until they are soft as the fresh ones)

• Cook the chickpeas until they are very tender with bay leaves and in as little water as you can (so that you can use all of it later and not need to throw away this tasty stuff). 
• When the chickpeas are tender, throw away the bay leaves and drain the chickpeas, keeping the cooking water for later!
• Throw all the ingredients and some (around 1 cup) of the chickpea cooking water into a blender with knives.
• Run the blender and and add as much of the chickpea cooking water as you need for the consistency. If not enough, add boiled water.
• If it is too thick, add some of the cooking water. Taste it. If it is sourly, garlicky and creamy and you absolutely love it, stop. If not, add more Apple cider vinegar or garlic or tahini to your absolute satisfaction.

Tips from Piret:

• Extra tahini and oil is good, if you like the taste and want your hummus to contain more of the good fats.
• Boiling the chickpeas with bay leaves and using the water in the hummus gives a meatier taste.

Based on https://cookieandkate.com/greek-kale-salad-recipe/

This healthy Greek kale salad recipe is full of bold Mediterranean flavors. It packs great for lunch, too. Recipe yields 2 large meal-sized servings, or 4 medium side salads.

INGREDIENTS

Kale salad

• 1 medium bunch of curly green kale (about 8 ounces = 230 grams)
• Fine sea salt (use Himalaya salt)
• 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
• ½ cup thinly sliced Kalamata olives and/or roughly chopped pepper rings
• ⅓ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and drained (no need to rinse and drain, the oil suites well for the sallad)
• ⅓ cup finely grated Parmesan (optional) (leave out to be Seitan friendly!)
• ⅓ cup sunflower seeds
• ¼ teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil (not needed, enough oil in tomatoes)

Creamy tahini dressing

• 1⁄4 cup tahini (ca 60 ml = 4 tablespoons)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 to 1 ½ lemons) (Replace with apple cider vinegar to be Seitan friendly!) (added 8, might need more! Don’t add water until you’ve added enough vinegar.)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium clove garlic, pressed or minced
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard (leave out to be Seitan friendly!)
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt (use Himalaya salt)
• 2 tablespoons water
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To prepare the salad:
   1. Place the chopped kale in a large serving bowl.
   2. Sprinkle it lightly with salt and massage it with your hands by scrunching up large handfuls at a time until it’s darker and more fragrant (this makes the kale more tasty and easier to eat).
   3. Add the chickpeas, olives and/or pepper rings, sun-dried tomatoes, and Parmesan (if using).
   4. Set aside.
2. To toast the sunflower seeds, combine the seeds with the olive oil and a few dashes of salt in a small skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the seeds are fragrant and turning lightly golden at the edges, about 5 minutes. Pour the toasted seeds into the salad bowl.
3. To prepare the salad dressing:
   1. In a small liquid measuring cup or bowl, combine the tahini, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, and salt.
   2. Whisk until blended.
   3. It will become very tough, so add the water and whisk until blended.
   4. Season generously with freshly black pepper, to taste.
4. Pour the dressing into the salad (you might not need quite all of it, but I did). Toss until the salad is evenly coated with dressing. Serve immediately. This salad keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days.

NOTES

MAKE IT DAIRY FREE/VEGAN: Omit the Parmesan. You might like a light sprinkle of nutritional yeast to make up for it.

Thoughts and comments

Used chana dal instead of chickpeas – ok choice.
Used only half of the dressing – a matter of taste, the salad felt very filling already with the half of the dressing.
The salad IS filling. Can be perfectly used as a whole lunch. If you’re looking for a light and fresh feeling salad, this salad is not it.
Could try to add some fresh tomatoes to make the salad feel more light, if desired.
Need more garlic, especially if you’re using only half of the dressing.
Needs MUCH more apple cider vinegar (if you like sour salads). I added 8 tbsp to the dressing (of which I used half), but then poured quite a lot (3-4 tbsp?)  into the salad itself.

A lot of preparations – need to optimize.
Chana Dal or Chickpeas can be cooked in advance in a larger quantity and kept separately.
Tomatoes, peppers, olives can be chopped and mixed in advance in a larger quantity and kept separately.
The dressing can be prepared in advance in a larger quantity and kept separately.

Piret

I chop everything rather coarsely to give more of a chunky feel to it.

On Piret’s recommendation I also add Jalapeños, very delicious! And since I don’t like olives, I just skip them. Adding marinated garlic cloves is a great way to vary the salad a bit when desired.

Toasting the sunflower seeds can be done without any oil, just don’t forget them on the stove, they burn easily.

Adding extra Chana Dal and upping the size a bit makes it OK to skip the Seitan mix for a meal, making this a great travel food!

Mixing everything beforehand except the tahini dressing works out fine, the dressing can be added quickly when needed. I usually keep a large box of ready-made salad in the fridge, stays fresh for at least 5 days, and a smaller box of tahini dressing, stays fresh for at least a week.

Erik

(The teaspoons for spices are actually more than the official tsp. I used a normal teaspoon, but it always had a “mountain” on top of it, so maybe the amount should be doubled)

Step 1 – fry onions until golden brown

2 large onions (chopped)

olive oil – enough to make 2 large onions swim

Step 2 – add cumin seeds to the onions and fry until browner

1 tsp cumin seeds

Step 3 – add the following spices and fry for a couple of seconds

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp asafoetida

1 tsp paprika powder

1 tsp arada berberé

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp curry

Step 4 – add cauliflower and fry until ready (can be quite crispy, depends on how you like it)

1 large cauliflower (chopped)

Step 5 – When the cauliflower is ready, add salt and sprinkle Shiro all over it, mix and fry a bit more. You should still have enough oil in the frying pan, so that the pan does not become completely dry after adding Shiro. If it is too dry you can choose to either add more oil or water, depending on how much fat you prefer. If you add water, the result will become more like a creamy mess, otherwise like more distinct parts.

3 tsp arada shiro

salt to taste

1 medium cauliflower (chopped)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp arada berberé
1/2 tsp asafoetida
juice from 1 lemon (30 ml) or 30 ml Apple Cider Vinegar
1 garlic cloves
salt + black pepper to taste

Heat the oil and add all the spices except for salt and black pepper and sizzle for a couple of seconds.
Add cauliflower and fry it until you have the desired consistency.
Add the lemon juice or the apple cider vinegar and mix.
Add salt and pepper and mix.
Finally, add the crushed garlic clove, mix and remove from the heat.

The prominent taste of curry will give it a really nice flavor!

Chana Dal (half saucepan)
2 bay leaves – optional, gives a meatier taste

6 tsp oil (or as much as you want)
0.5 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp curry powder
0.5 tsp arada berberé 
salt to taste (if you cooked your chana dal with salt, you don’t need any salt at all)

Cook the Chana Dal with bay leaves (if desired) and salt. During cooking remove the forming foam.
When the dal is soft enough, drain the dal and remove the bay leaves.
Let the dal dry and (preferably) cool.

Heat the oil.
Add all spices (except the salt) sizzle a couple of seconds.
Add the dal, mix and fry.
Add salt as needed.

Chana Dal (half saucepan)
2 bay leaves – optional, gives a meatier taste

6 tsp oil
1 large onion finely chopped (or as you prefer)
1 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp arada berberé (take less if you don’t want that spicy)
salt to taste

Cook the Chana Dal with bay leaves (if desired) and salt. During cooking remove the forming foam.
When the dal is soft enough, drain the dal and remove the bay leaves.
Let the dal dry and (preferably) cool.

Fry the onion in the olive oil until golden brown.
Add all spices (except the salt) sizzle a couple of seconds.
Add the dal, mix and fry.
Add salt as needed.

Chana Dal (half saucepan)

Oil:
3 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 tsp Arada Berberé
1 tsp Curry
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp cumin seeds or mustard seeds
1/2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves – optional, gives a meatier taste

Cook the Chana Dal with bay leaves (if desired) and salt. During cooking remove the forming foam.
When the dal is soft enough, drain the dal, remove the bay leaves and prepare the spice laced oil:

– Heat the olive oil
– Add cumin seeds and sizzle until they start to turn dark (or add mustard seeds and cover with a lock as they start popping and wait until they become silent)
– Add the rest of the spices (except salt) and sizzle for a couple of seconds

Final touch:
– Pour the oil into the lentils and mix
– Add more salt if needed

water
red lentils (half saucepan)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp asafoetida (djävulsskit)
1 tsp cumin seeds

The water and lentils ratio will define how thick the result will be. It is fine to have it quite liquid in the beginning, it will thicken over night.

– Put the lentils into the saucepan and cover them with water + add a couple of extra cm of water. You can always add more later. (Cook some water in case you want to add more water later.) Quite a lot of water in the end, should be pretty liquid
– Add turmeric.
– Add salt
– Start cooking and stirring from time to time.
– Add more water if needed.

When the lentils are ready, prepare the spice laced oil:
– Heat the olive oil
– Add cumin seeds and sizzle until they start to turn dark
– Add asafoetida and sizzle for a couple of seconds

Final touch:
– Pour the oil into the lentils and mix.

1 large broccoli
1 onion
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp curry
1 tsp cumin seeds
olive oil
salt
water

Fry chopped onion until golden brown. Have enough oil, so that it almost swims in it.

Add cumin seeds and let them turn brown.
Add all spices (except salt) and mix.
Add chopped broccoli and fry a couple of minutes. You might need to add more oil as broccoli absorbs quite a lot.
If the frying pan becomes dry, add some boiled water and let it cook in.
Add more water if the broccoli is still too hard.
Add salt.