Recipes | Vegetarian Food Directory

Because of my South Asian features and heritage, a lot of people who don't know me stereotypically assume I just specialise in food from the Indian Sub-Continent.  And yes, although I can make a mean killer Chickpea Curry and Creamy Lentil Dal ,  I have always branched out and made other worldly vegetarian cuisines.    I don't and have never wanted to be put into an 'ethnic' box. I have always avoided tokenism at work where people have used their ethnicity to progress; or permitted employers to use their photograph in promotional materials, when in reality the organisation was doing very little in relation to workplace diversity and addressing inequality, and I am sad to say such tokenism occurs somewhat in cooking too. I refuse to play that game and be a stereotype. I have and will always continue to remain true to myself.  I am diverse person and love cooking ethnically diverse world wide cuisine.   Saying all this, I am very aware and proud of my root...

I do love the vibrant green spiral coiled vegetable known as  Romanesco Cauliflower .  I  look forward to having it at least once a year, but when I do the question that often arises is 'What to do with it?' - without damaging its beautiful pointy cone shaped heads always baffles me in the culinary sense. First I decided to simply blanch the the florets, ready to be tossed into a salad of some sort, but once I had drained the florets and set them aside to cool and dry off,  I found myself changing my mind.  Instead I went ahead and made another galette, throwing in some black sesame seeds, not just into the galette pastry, but also the topping to contrast with the white studs of feta cheese cubes. What you cannot see, is beneath the Romanesco cauliflower and feta cheese there is also some caramelised onions, without it this galette would have been quite dry.  I am sharing this with Eat Your Greens challenge and   The Pastry Callenge ...

Welcome to October's Round Up for  'Eat Your Greens' .     This is a monthly vegetarian and vegan cooking challenge for food bloggers  to make something with a green vegetable (or fruit) each month.   The Veg Hog brings to the table some rather tasty and crunchy Broccoli Nuggets .  Its both naughty and nice.   Dom from Belleau Kitchen shares a mild and nutty Slow Cooked  Cauliflower, Carrot and Green Bean Korma .  If your feeling poorly, this is the curry to make as it will lift you up.  Janet from the Taste Space shares a Follow this link on how to participate .  I hope you will also be able to join in the # Vegetable Palette challenge too, the theme is White.  Also welcoming #FruitPalette recipes. 

I was inspired by Ruby Tandoh's  recipe in The Guardian  to make a savoury Crumble .   Its b een a while since I've made a savoury crumble.  The last I blogged about one was when I made this  Black Eyed Bean and Vegetable Crumble .  Ruby's herby topped crumble had butternut squash and spinach, mine has cauliflower and kale.   Once I've scattered the remaining crumble on top, its ready to go into the hot oven. I like how the spicy tomato juices have dyed the cauliflower florets almost a copper gold. Sorry no pictures of it coming out of the oven bubbling furiously on the sides oozing its unctuous volcanic tomato juices, but you get the gist.  I have to say, my savoury crumble reminded me more of a  Leek and Butter Bean Cassoulet  that I made years ago than a crumble, still it was good and I especially liked how silky the kale had become.    You may be interested to note that  I have also made a Sweet Cauliflow...

I know everything is in the presentation and this plate of salad would have been elevated a little more with a little more tinkering in the name of food styling; and perhaps served on a bed of greens such as rocket or watercress would have done it, but had cauliflower - the veg du jour been presented by a celebrity chef, cookery writer or so called queen of the grain and greens I am sure it would have encouraged swoons and wow's, But as it comes from a little known vegetarian food blogger it will be perceived more as the smashed brains of a zombie presented by someone watching way too many episodes of The Walking Dead ; and perhaps best served around Halloween; and to an extent I would have to agree on first glance, but I assure you its all about the veg.  No humans, animals or zombies were hurt in the making of this Salad.  And it was bloody marvellous too.  Image source AMC The white cauliflower dyed beautifully and naturally by the beetroot and balsamic v...

Did you have a good Christmas? We had a quiet one - just the two of us. I have lots to share, but I wanted to share something that I have eaten recently that is not particularly festive, but interesting none the less. Golden Glowing Turmeric is all the rage at the moment.  These days it can be found in soups, smoothies, teas, lattes, hummus, vegan cheese, Tofu scrambles and even  sweet and savoury  porridge's .  However turmeric is not a new and trendy ingredient to me,  as a person of South Asian heritage,  I have been eating and drinking turmeric all my life and have even used it as a natural face (beauty) product.  Loving its colour and its medicinal qualities  and loathing how it  can taint every thing in its way - not the Midas touch I was expecting.  A bit like the Turmeric New Potatoes yes I admit this bowl of Barley looks radioactive. I've had and made Turmeric Rice many times in my life, but wanted to ring the change...

In more of an effort to make use of my cookbooks from my Vegetarian Library, today we have Mildred's The Cookbook.   I  was fortunate to win Mildred's The Cookbook last year.   I've made a few recipes from it including  the most delicious vegan  Brownies with Peanut Butter   and a smoky  Lapsang Chestnut Mushroom Strogonoff .   This time I wanted  to try something with piquancy.  I decided on the Cauliflower and Green Olive Tagine.  I like olives, it wasn't always this way and to satisfy D it had his favourite white vegetable.   Although the Tagine was filling and full of different textures from the cauliflower, carrots and chickpeas, we both felt the sauce lacked depth.  Why? This recipe does not have onions, but is substituted with celery sticks.   I do understand the need for such recipes.  When I did a bit of freelance vegetarian cooking, one of my customers had an allergy to alliums: the onion famil...

I have never had a desire to make a  Korma  at home  until I ate one a few months back and was reminded of its loveliness.  It was quite yummy a little reminisce of Thai Green Curry, which I really love.  It was made with pumpkin and green beans and made a pleasant change from rich spicy tomato based curries.   So in order to remedy having never made a korma in my home, I was finally ready to give it a go and i t was quite delicious  and despite its long list of ingredients I think this is one of the worlds most easiest recipes.   .  Although, I think I may have added way too much coconut milk as it was drowning all the vegetables, still it tasted lovely.  I think my mother in law would like it too as it was not overly spicy.   This Vegetable Korma Soup is perfect for those evening when you want to curl up in the corner of your soft and watch a movie.  I don't watch many Bollywood movies these days as I did in my childhoo...

Happy Valentines dear readers.   I've made Persian Kuku  many times before, for those of you unfamiliar with it - Bake of the Week ;  Belleau Kitchen for  click on this link to learn more .    Kuku's are a Persian omelette and what I present to you is not exactly one - though it did start of originally as a Kuku .  I should have made it in a wide frying pan, but I wanted to get all fancy for Valentines day and made it in a silicone heart shaped mould.   This Persian Kuku puffed up like a aerated blow up bed, then settled down quite calmly.  Once it was unmoulded, the top was a blanket of beetroot red.   It looked fabulous and sliced wonderfully.   I have to say it tasted pretty marvellous too.  D loved it as it contained two of his favourite vegetables - beetroot and cauliflower.  I'd almost describe it as   a cross between Spanish Tortilla and Frittata , but its neither - so I call it a big fat Persian ...

Brighton Eats blog post here .    Back home in Wales, we have seen a rise in  the number of fantastic independent vegetarian eateries, especailly in the last five years.  The majority of these are crammed in the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales including its first 100% vegan cafe.  You will also find some vegetarian and vegan eateries in other parts of Wales, such as   Hunky Dory's in Newport   (now closed, but left a legacy by influencing non-vegetarian eateries to put slightly more interesting vegan and vegetarian options on their menu).   What all these places have in common is that they all serve down to earth, honest food - the kind of food I make at home.  However, there is not yet a 100% vegetarian or vegan restaurant with the Accolade of vegetarian fine dining  - haute cuisne - a gap that no doubt will be filled in the next few years, especially as there are a handful of excellent vegan and vegetarian supper clubs...

Brighton Eats blog post here .    Back home in Wales, we have seen a rise in  the number of fantastic independent vegetarian eateries, especailly in the last five years.  The majority of these are crammed in the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales including its first 100% vegan cafe.  You will also find some vegetarian and vegan eateries in other parts of Wales, such as   Hunky Dory's in Newport   (now closed, but left a legacy by influencing non-vegetarian eateries to put slightly more interesting vegan and vegetarian options on their menu).   What all these places have in common is that they all serve down to earth, honest food - the kind of food I make at home.  However, there is not yet a 100% vegetarian or vegan restaurant with the Accolade of vegetarian fine dining  - haute cuisne - a gap that no doubt will be filled in the next few years, especially as there are a handful of excellent vegan and vegetarian supper clubs...

This  Warn Aloo Gobi Salad aka Roasted Potato Cauliflower Salad was really yummy. What elevated this salad was the seeds, especially the Kolonji , onion seeds known these days as nigella seeds.   We ate this Roasted Warm Aloo Gobi Salad with a little drizzle of tangy tamarind sauce or even mango sauce if you prefer sweetness.  The seeds added both spice and crunch.  There was also crunch from the curly kale that crisped up in the oven, but if you still want additional texture maybe some poppadom crisps or pitta chips.  I was thinking about tinkering with this further by throwing in some chickpeas, but decided against it as I was concerned they would have dried out too much, but popping beans are quite trendy at the moment - so I was kicking myself after, so maybe next time.   Vegan Mof o prompt  today is Fusion Food.    This Warm Aloo Gobi Salad is essentially a Aloo Gobi Curry or even Bombay Potato - w hat makes this fusion is that ...

This  Warn Aloo Gobi Salad aka Roasted Potato Cauliflower Salad was really yummy. What elevated this salad was the seeds, especially the Kolonji , onion seeds known these days as nigella seeds.   We ate this Roasted Warm Aloo Gobi Salad with a little drizzle of tangy tamarind sauce or even mango sauce if you prefer sweetness.  The seeds added both spice and crunch.  There was also crunch from the curly kale that crisped up in the oven, but if you still want additional texture maybe some poppadom crisps or pitta chips.  I was thinking about tinkering with this further by throwing in some chickpeas, but decided against it as I was concerned they would have dried out too much, but popping beans are quite trendy at the moment - so I was kicking myself after, so maybe next time.   Vegan Mof o prompt  today is Fusion Food.    This Warm Aloo Gobi Salad is essentially a Aloo Gobi Curry or even Bombay Potato - w hat makes this fusion is that ...

I have to throw my hands up and admit that I have somewhat lost my blogging groove.  At the same time I have also found myself uninspired in the kitchen, I am not begrudging this at all, in fact I am a little thankful for it as it has allowed me to both cook those bookmarked recipes as well as peruse cookbooks from my burgeoning bookshelf,  to which I have to confess I have added some more cookbooks.  For those of you who read my blog, will know that I went to the  But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan . I had considered last year to put them both on my Christmas wish list, but then for some reason decided  not to as I had other vegan and vegetarian cookbooks that I wanted more, but then when I saw both of them at the Vegfest.   I was finally swayed  to get the cookbook as my blogger friend Johanna who cooks much like I do at home, was making recipes on her blog and commenting, even fellow blogger Faye Veganopoulous was recommending it.  Both Fa...