THE VEGAN NEWS
| PAGE LAST UPDATED 23 NOVEMBER 2009 |
THE RECIPE
COLLECTION
| BREAKFAST IDEAS | DESSERTS | MAIN COURSES | RAW RECIPES | STARTERS | SALADS | SNACKS | JAMS & SPREADS
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| LIST OF ALL PUBLISHED RECIPES |
SALADS
Hale Kale Salad
Recipe Source: Raw Food For Real People: Living Vegan Food Made Simple by Rod Rotondi (New World Library, 2009)
This is the basic recipe for a delicious and quick kale salad. You can of course add other ingredients (unless you want them to be mashed in, add them after you have completed the basic recipe). Some of my favorite additions are sprouted wild rice, tomatoes, seaweed, mung bean sprouts, and tahini. Yummy — I’m getting hungry just thinking about them!
Ingredients:
Method:
- 1 bunch kale leaves
- 1 medium avocado
- Juice of 1 medium lemon (about 2 cup)
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoon sea salt
Serves 1 to 2
- To prepare the kale leaves: Holding a kale leaf by the stem with one hand, wrap your other hand around the leaf up near the stem with your thumbnail exerting a slight pressure on the stem. Glide your thumbnail down the stem, separating the leaf from the stem; once you get the technique, it’s a snap. Using this technique, deleaf one bunch of kale leaves into a large bowl.
- Now, reach in and grab a handful of kale leaves and rip them into pieces. Continue this motion repeatedly until you have ripped all the leaves into small bite-sized pieces (you don’t want the pieces to be too big because they could catch in the throat while you are swallowing or may just be unappetizing).
- Cut the avocado in half lengthwise and remove the pit. With a spoon, scoop out each avocado half onto the kale leaves. Add the lemon juice, cayenne, and salt to taste.
- Okay, now comes the fun part. Remember how I talked before about having a relationship with your food? Well, here is a chance to develop a very tactile and immediate bond! I want you to get down and dirty. Reach into that bowl and start mashing the mixture with your hands. Squeeze the avocado between your fingers. Mash it all up until you have all the kale bits coated in a lovely creamy sauce. (If no one is looking you might even go ahead and lick that tasty dressing off your hands when you’re done.)
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Chicory Salad
Ingredients:
Method:
- Red chicory leaves, washed (see allotment page for information on how to grow this chicory)
- Citrus segments (grapefruit, satsuma, or orange segments)
- Optional: Olive oil and freshly squeezed lime, orange or lemon juice
- Roughly chop up the chicory leaves if they are large and place them in a bowl.
- Peel the citrus fruit and if using orange or grapefruit segments, chop each segment into two or three smaller pieces, then place the segments on top of the chicory leaves. I used whole satuma segments in the above salad.
- Mix a few tablespoons of the oil and citrus juice together to make a dressing and pour this over the salad.
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Grilled Mixed Peppers
Recipe Source: Own Recipe
Ingredients
Method
- A mixture of peppers e.g red, green, orange and yellow (Could use home-grown Mini-Belle peppers.)
- Optional flavourings: Crushed garlic cloves, olive oil, lemon juice, mixed herbs.
Serving Suggestion: Add the peppers to salads, or use in sandwiches.
- Wash the peppers. Cut them in half and remove the seeds.
- Place the pepper halves on a baking tray and grill until the peppers are soft and evenly cooked.
- Transfer the cooked peppers to a bowl and allow them to cool before removing the skins.
- Chop the peppers into smaller pieces and place them in a serving dish. Add the seasonings and an olive oil/lemon juice dressing if required. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.
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JAMS & FRUIT SPREADS
Recipe Source: Own Recipe.
I often get requests from Vegan News readers for sugar-free jam recipes. Indeed it's possible to make great-tasting jams without using any sugar by substituting concentrated apple juice instead.
Recently I obtained loads of wild-grown autumn fruit and as I didn't have any concentrated fruit juice I made up these two recipes. They seemed to work quite well so here they are:
Apple, Blackberry and Plum Fruit Spread
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
- Apples (use cooking or eating apples)
- Plums (I used wild plums)
- A generous handful of blackberries
- Agar flakes (Clearspring)
- Water as required
- Peel, core, wash and roughly dice the apples.
- Wash and stone the plums.
- Place the stoned plums and about half the apples into a pan.
- Pass the remaining apple chunks through a juicer using the juicing plate.
- Place the resulting apple juice and apple pulp into the pan containing the fruit.
- Add sufficient water to just cover the fruit. Stir well.
- Bring to the boil, then lower the heat slightly and continue to boil the fruit for about 20-25 mins until it has thickened up nicely.
- Try plate testing. (My fruit spread didn't set as such, it just thickened up well.) Add the agar flakes to the pan, using about one heaped tablespoon per jar of spread.
- Stir well and continue to simmer for about 3-5 mins until the agar flakes have dissolved.
- Pour the fruit spread into sterilised jars, replace the lids and allow to cool. Note: I only filled the jars to about two thirds full to allow for expansion in the freezer. The fruit spread will set when it is cold.
- Keep one jar of fruit spread in the fridge for immediate use and place the remaining jars in the freezer until required. Bring out one jar at a time and defrost just before use. I haven't experienced any problems with mould. However, it is best to consume an open jar of fruit spread within a month. Delicious on toast or on freshly baked bread!
Apple, Blackberry and Elderberry Fruit Spread
Make this tasty fruit spread as described in the recipe above, but add a small quantity of elderberries instead of the plums and increase the amount of apples used. I obtained all of my fruit from the hedgerows.
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Blackberry & Apple Jam
Recipe Source: Sugar Free Jam Making by The Wholefood Cookery School
INGREDIENTSMETHOD
- 1 lb/440g blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 6 oz/150g cooking apples
- 8 oz/200g concentrated apple juice weighed in a plastic container
- Juice of half a lemon
- Wash, then liquidise the blackberries.
- Wash and dice the cooking apples, then liquidise them with the blackberries.
- Place the fruit in a pan and simmer the fruit in its own juice for 10 minutes.
- Add the concentrated apple juice and boil for a further 10 mins
- Add the lemon juice and continue to boil the jam. Plate test after 4-5 mins to see if there is a set.
- Place in sterilised jars, seal and leave to cool.