Chickpeas once more - in a bread!

The internet is a wonderful thing - quick access to information about any topic under the sun. Sometimes it's prudent to be careful and question where this information is coming from, particularly controversial points of view; for recipes though it's like having one massive cookery book at your finger tips with so much variety, abounding inspiration is available at every moment.
I can spend hours browsing websites and blogs, googling random ingredients and following a path of ingenuity and creativity. There's so many different options on offer, I tend to forget where I've been, and take ages finding that fascinating fact or idea that's tantalising the edge of my subconscious. Now I try to bookmark everything that I want to return to; that list is getting pretty long and unmanageable!
Recently I found an article featuring marvellous things to do with chickpeas (that old obsession returns once more!); this led me to a recipe for 'Eggy Breakfast Bread', a chickpea based bread, similar to cornbread but sweet http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/10/11/eggy-breakfast-bread/. Made with chickpea flour, it looked great, but I'm not so keen on sweet bread, so decided to omit the sugar and add in some savoury flavours.

I have to say, not only is it incredibly easy, the flavour and texture is fabulous. And totally moreish! Not being able to eat bread other than wraps and the occasional soda bread (home made version) due to my yeast intolerance, it was exciting to create something that was so tasty and felt so right in the mouth.
This recipe calls for flaxseed. If you've not come across it before, you're missing out. Nutritionally it's a brilliant plant source of omega 3, absolutely packed full of fibre, lignans (anti-oxidant phytonutrients) and other anti-oxidants. When mixed with water, flaxseed swells and can be used as an egg replacement in plant based cooking. When you see how it swells in a cup with a little water, you realise how it's going to swell in your gut. So it's not only good for healthy bowels, it will  help you stay full for longer if you're trying to lose weight.  Adding it to cereal in the morning is a wise thing to do!
Here is my savoury version of this bread. The herbs and spices can be played around with to create different flavours. I'm planning on experimenting with pesto (dairy free of course!) by omitting some of the oil and adding the equivalent pesto. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Savoury chickpea bread

1 cup chickpea flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon vinegar (omit if yeast free diet)
1 cup of dairy free milk
2 tablespoons of olive oil or water
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Black pepper

Pre heat oven to 180oC and lightly grease a round metal pie tin.

Combine flaxseed with all the wet ingredients and whisk together really well. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients together, then pour the wet into the dry and stir until well mixed.

Pour batter into prepared tin and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until firm and slightly browned on   top. Remove from oven and leave to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes. Cut into triangles in the tin before removing.

Best eaten warm, it's still delicious cold - that's if you can leave it to get cold before gobbling it up!

'Cheesy' cauliflower soup or a pasta bake

Back in August last year, I posted a recipe using cauliflower as a base for a white sauce http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/saucy-cauliflower.html. Since then, I have experimented further with the good old cauli and discovered another way to make a sauce that tastes remarkably like cheese sauce. Doesn't seem possible I know, but it's not just me that thinks that - my family have commented on it's cheesy-ness (dairy and non-dairy eaters alike) as well as it's general gorgeousness.

And the secret - roast the cauliflower florets first.
The idea actually came from soup, as so many good things do! Browsing through my Rachel Allen cook book, I found her recipe for cauliflower soup that included the use of ground almonds to thicken the texture. At the same time, I remembered a Guardian newspaper article featuring the 10 best cauliflower recipes (I do read a lot about food!), one of which had been a whole roasted cauli. Roasting concentrates the sugars in the florets, caramelising them slightly as well as giving a slight nutty flavour. It's delicious just by itself. The magic comes by adding it to a base of onion, garlic and ground almonds and simmering it in some stock. Once pureed, it somehow tastes cheesy, and has a slightly coarse cheesy texture.

What's more, it doesn't take long to make it. In fact, my first experiment with roasting was to make the soup, which I actually made in the morning before going to work. I was so excited about the flavour I force fed it to everyone whilst they were trying to eat their breakfast (it doesn't go so well with porridge apparently!). For the pasta bake, the sauce takes the same time to cook as the pasta, and the oven is already hot and ready to use for the baking, so it's an easy, midweek supper for when you're running low on time and inspiration.
And the ultimately amazing fact about this soup/sauce is that it is dairy free, gluten free and just perfect for a plant based whole food diet.  Low in fat, high in fibre, packed with nutrients and generally just fabulous. If you think I'm over excited, try it for yourself and you'll understand why!
Roasted cauliflower soup

1 medium sized cauli, broken into florets

1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons ground almonds
1 litre veg stock
600ml almond milk
salt and pepper
Heat the oven to 180oC. Pop a tiny amount of olive oil onto a roasting tray and spread the cauliflower florets out over it, turning them around to spread the oil. Place in the oven for 10 minutes or so until the florets start to caramelise (see picture). Remove from the oven.
Whilst the cauli is roasting, heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large pan and gently sauté the onion until soft. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for a minute or so. Don't let it burn. Stir in the ground almonds, then add the roasted cauli, bay leaves and enough stock to cover. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so until the cauliflower is well cooked. Turn off the heat and cool slightly, remove the bay leaves, then transfer to a blender, adding the almond milk and seasoning. Blend until you get a voluptuously thick puree, adding more milk or stock as needed to get a good soupy consistency. Return to the pan, check the seasoning, add more as needed, reheat and serve.
'Cheesy' cauliflower pasta bake

Ingredients as above, omitting the almond milk.
400g wholewheat or brown rice pasta
2 large tomatoes, sliced
few handfuls of baby spinach (optional)
Put a large pan of water on to boil and cook the pasta according to packet instructions. In the meantime, follow the recipe as above. When adding the stock, use enough to just cover the cauli and no more - you can always add more later if needed. Once the cauliflower mix has been through the blending process, it should be thick and very sauce-like. If too thick, add a little more stock.
Drain the cooked pasta and pour in the cheesy cauliflower sauce, mixing well and adding more seasoning if needed (seasoning really is key to this dish). Mix together well. Spread out the spinach over the base of a large baking dish and pour the pasta and cauliflower sauce over the top. Place the tomato slices on the top and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so until the tomatoes are cooked and the top slightly brown. Serve with some extra greens if required and enjoy!

Yet another slaw recipe!

How many different types of slaw can a girl come up with? I guess I could describe this as a salad with dressing, but it really is another type of coleslaw. Still crunchy, still yummy and just slightly different.
I recently wrote about making almond butter http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/eating-dairy-free-whole-food-plant.html. Since then, I've made a whole host of nut butters - cashew nut, peanut and tahini (which I know is from a seed not a nut!!). The tahini is a particular success, and much better than anything I've ever bought in a shop. It never solidifies, has an amazingly intense flavour and is as unadulterated as you can get - not a preservative or colour in site.
In case you didn't know, tahini is just sesame seed paste, traditionally used in North African, Middle Eastern and Turkish or Greek cooking. Sesame seeds are a great nutritional addition to a plant based whole food diet as they contain a fabulous amounts of calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron and zinc, all essential minerals to keep us healthy. Not only that, but sesame seeds also pack a punch with vitamin E (fabulous skin!), B1 and other phytonutrients and anti-oxidants. Sesame seeds have an ancient history, going back to prehistoric times and are connected to many early tales about ancient Gods. They are even mentioned in early Hindu legends where they symbolise immortality. They must have known how good they were even then!
I lightly toasted my sesame seeds before grinding them down to make tahini - this does release more of the natural oils, but these have omega 3 healthy oils in them, so it's good fat that's released. I think this makes it easier to break the seeds down in the processor and form a paste.

A main ingredient for my old favourite, hummus, I also use tahini for a light, refreshing dressing that packs a punch of flavour - stirred into fresh, crisp veg, it really does make a wonderful type of slaw that's pretty unusual. As I eat dairy free, I use soya yoghurt.  There are a few brands on the market, most of which have added sugar which is most disappointing as it really doesn't need it. So I either make my own using my trusty Lakeland yoghurt maker, or try to buy Sojade, a lovely, light make of soya yoghurt that somehow isn't too heavy on the soya flavour (wish I knew how they did it!).
This slaw tastes amazing with hummus and flat bread, or on a simple baked potato. So give it a go and see what you think - and add this to your own slaw collection!
Tahini and yoghurt slaw

2 carrots, grated
1/8 red cabbage finely shredded
1/8 green cabbage finely shredded
2 sticks celery, finely sliced on an angle
flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons dairy free yoghurt
1 clove crushed garlic
lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
Prepare your vegetables and pop in a large bowl together. Admire the colours all mixed together! Combine the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl, taste and add more juice or seasoning to get the flavour you want. Then stir into the veg, mix together and sprinkle the parsley over the top. Enjoy!

If you're watching your refined oil intake, omit the olive oil. It will still taste great.

Buckwheat pancakes for pancake day

It's pancake day today, or rather it's Shrove Tuesday in the church calendar, the day that traditionally all the yummy food is eaten up ready for Lent. It's another religious date that has been commercially hi-jacked; remember the slogan "Don't forget the pancakes on Jif Lemon Day"? 

Pancakes can be a challenge for anyone eating a free-from diet, whether it's due to excluding wheat, dairy or eggs. Fortunately, there are a number of alternatives out there; my favourite for savoury pancakes is buckwheat. Despite it's name, buckwheat is not wheat but the seed of a crop that's related to rhubarb and sorrel. It tends to be classified as a grain because of it's culinary use, but it is gluten free (some products such as soba noodles tend to mix it with wheat, therefore making it no longer gluten free). A great whole food source of protein and fibre, it's also got a good whack of magnesium, iron, phytonutrients and is really low in fat. It does have quite a distinctive earthy flavour though, so can be an acquired taste to some!

Of course, galettes in France are traditionally made from buckwheat. Whenever I think of galettes though, I picture India rather than France, due to the wonderful creperie in Bangalore, Chez Mariannick. An oasis of European familiarity in the crazy overstimulation of an Indian city, it's well worth a visit if you happen to find yourself in the area (they're on TripAdviser).

To make a truly free from buckwheat pancake, all you need is some buckwheat flour, baking soda, salt and water mixed together. You can use non-dairy milk and vanilla if you want slightly creamier and sweeter pancakes - just use one to one measurements i.e.: one cup of buckwheat flour to one cup of milk, one teaspoon vanilla and one of baking soda.

If you fancy something a bit more healthy (and hippyish according to my daughter!), then try these buckwheat and sunflower seed pancakes instead. Using the whole buckwheat groat ensures you are eating the whole food with all the nutrients available. Soaking makes the buckwheat more 'alive'; you can soak this up to three days allowing it to sprout, releasing even more amazing nutrients. That's if you plan ahead of course. If you're more like me and plan things at the last minute, 20 minutes soaking will be just fine.

Buckwheat pancakes

2 cups buckwheat groats

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt

(apple sauce, cinnamon or vanilla if 

you want sweet)

First, rinse the buckwheat groats well and place in a glass jar or bowl. Cover with water and leave to soak - somewhere between 20 minutes to 3 days! When you're ready, pour out into a sieve and rinse well. Pop into a blender along with the other ingredients. Add enough fresh water to cover the top of the the buckwheat and blend until smooth. Poor a ladle full onto a hot pan coated with a little oil. Cook as normal pancakes and enjoy!

Easy and gorgeous dairy free chocolate mousse

As a child, I was never that bothered about chocolate. Not that I didn't like it (there can't be many than don't) but my pocket money would go on sweets and candies rather than chocolate treats.  Fortunately, I've never been plagued by chocolate cravings like many I know, but I do appreciate there are moments when only chocolate will do!

Once I became dairy free, my chocolate intake dropped to almost nil, as I only really like milk chocolate, and the only dairy free alternatives I found were carob bars. I tried it once. And only once!
Fortunately, there are more and more dairy free chocolate alternatives around.  There were so many free samples on offer at last year's Vegefest, I can say I was truly chocolate-stuffed by the end of the day. And many of these are now available in supermarkets, which does make life rather easy.
One chocolate dessert I've always had a passion for, though, is chocolate mousse. Decadently rich yet beautifully light and airy, its a pudding that you can savour teaspoon after teaspoonful. Not good for your hips, but a delight on your tongue and worth the extra workout the next day!! Recently, I had a sudden urge for a chocolate mousse so decided to find a dairy free version - and I have to say this works so much better than I could have hoped.
It's really quick and easy and tastes stunningly chocolaty. As tofu is used to replace the double cream element, it's much healthier too as it's low in saturated fat, although go easy on the agave syrup as this sweetener will rack up the refined sugar content some what. Although marketed as a healthy alternative to refined sugar, agave is just as processed and can even have a higher sugar content than the nasty high-fructose corn syrup that's added to so many processed cakes and pastries. Mind you, this IS a chocolate pudding, so has to have a little devilish nastiness to it!!
Dairy free chocolate mousse

350g silken tofu
170g dairy free chocolate
3/4 tablespoon agave syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
fresh berries/berry coulis to serve
First, melt the chocolate in a clean bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool slightly. Meanwhile, drain and dry the tofu and puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add the melted chocolate, agave syrup, vanilla essence and salt and blend again until smooth and well mixed. Spoon out into four individual ramekin dishes and chill in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours or until set. Serve with whole fresh berries or a berry coulis and enjoy your divine chocolate treat!