Having quite a few oca to use up that I had grown on my allotment I decided to create a Peruvian inspired dish.... Mash potato with oca.
Cooked sliced oca
Mash potato and oca with vegan 'feta' style cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds and borage flowers
Ingredients
About 8 to 10 oca tubers, finely sliced (I used a mandoline to slice but you can easily just slice with a knife)
One large baking potato (use Vivaldi, Sante and Melody varieties for the fluffiest results)
Olive oil
Handful of pumpkin seeds
About 25 g of crumbled vegan 'feta' style cheese
Borage flowers for decoration (optional)
Instructions
1. Normally I accelerate the baking process by placing the potato in the microwave for 5 mins, and then finish in the oven for 35-40 mins at 200C. If you have time then put in the oven at 200C for 1hr-1hr 20mins.
2. In a medium hot pan lightly oil and fry off the sliced oca. It should only take around 5 to 8 minutes. Season with a little salt and pepper.
3. With your baked potato scoop out the flesh from the skin and mash with a little olive oil and seasoning. Mash with a potato masher or just a fork. Add more olive oil if you want a richer mash.
4. In a dry frying pan dry toast the pumpkin seeds over a medium heat - remember to keep the pan moving so the seeds do not scorch.
5. Now all is left is to place in the bowl with a scoop of mash at the bottom and sliced oca on top. Sprinkle with the vegan 'feta' cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds and borage flowers.
Mash potato and oca with vegan 'feta' style cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds and borage flowers
I am blessed to be in a beautiful part of England, which thankfully does cater for vegans sometimes; just like this lovely little cafe in Dunster, Somerset - Tessa's Tea Shop. They have a range of dishes that can be chosen from but whenever I go I just have exactly the same thing: chickpea pie. The pie is fabulous, with a great spicy taste that it not hot in any shape or form; plus the salads are always fresh and delicious.
Costa Rican Sopa Negra with rice, avocado, radish, salsa and patacones (fried smashed green plantain)
A dive into Costa Rican dishes that would be suitable for vegans and vegetarians brought me to this simple dish of Sopa Negra with rice, avocado, radish, salsa and patacones. Let's start with the Patacones - fried smashed green plantain which is a Costa Rican dish = but also found in Columbia.
Rice, avocado, radish, salsa, patacones (fried smashed green plantain)
Patacones (serves 8)
Ingredients
2 Large green plantains
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt to taste
Instructions
1. Peel the plantains and cut cross-wise into 1/2"/just over 1 cm slices
2. In a medium heavy pot, add enough vegetable oil to cover the plantain slices and heat the oil over medium high heat.
3. Add the plantain slices to the heated oil in a single layer and fry for about 3 to 4 minutes per side.
4. Remove from the oil and allow to drain on plate with kitchen paper.
5. Cool for about 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Sandwich the plantain slices between layers of baking/greaseproof paper and with a saucepan press or 'smash' the plantain thinning the slices to about 1/4"/0.7 cm
7. Add the slices back to the hot oil in single layer and fry for 3 minutes on each side.
8. Again remove from the hot oil and drain on kitchen paper, and sprinkle with salt.
Costa Rican Sopa Negra with rice mixed in and a topping of salsa, avocado, and radish
Sopa Negra (Costa Rican Black Bean Soup)
I adapted this from Costa Rica Guide website which features some non-vegan ingredients but leaving out the meat stock and eggs does not detract from this wholesome, tasty dish. The dish seems to share many characteristics of sopa de frijoles negros cubana (Cuban black bean soup), Moros y Cristianos , or feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew) which perhaps shows how the black turtle bean is so synonymous with central and south american cuisine.
This black bean soup which is flavoured with red bell pepper and coriander and works perfectly with plain boiled rice, and additions of a chilli salsa, avocado and radish.
Ingredients
1 onion - finely chopped
1 clove of garlic crushed/chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped in to very small pieces
1 tin of black beans or the rough equivalent of dried beans, soaked overnight and boiled until soft (preserve the water you cook them in)
Vegetable stock cube or about 1 tbsp of vegetable stock
Olive or rapeseed oil
Handful of finely chopped coriander/cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
1. If you are using dried beans, after soaking, boil for a few hours until they are very soft but don't throw away the water. Get a potato masher and crush some of the beans as well as you can, this will make the soup a bit thicker and add to the colour. Simmer for 15-20 mins.
2. In a large pan, use a little oil and saute the onion, then add the garlic and half the pepper. Then add the beans and their some of the water (applies for both if using tin or the dried beans). You may need some extra water to keep the mixture soup like
3. Crush some of the beans if you have not done so before. Add half the coriander/cilantro and bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20mins.
4. Add the rest of the pepper and coriander/cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Simmer for another couple of minutes and the soup is ready to eat.
To serve ladle the soup into a bowl and serve the rice, and extra toppings like salsa, avocado (just mashed an avocado with lemon juice and salt and pepper) and radish alongside. Leave to your guests to tip the rice into the soup and eat with other toppings.
For the dessert I made these light pancakes made with fresh corn called chorreadas. Normally it is served for breakfast or lunch or just as a snack. I made the sweet variety but they can also be savory.
Cooking the vegan chorreadas
Vegan chorreadas
Ingredients
1 cups fresh corn (about 2 to 3 ears of corn or tinned corn)
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup plain flour
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tbsp vegan butter
up to 1/4 cup vegan milk (almond, or oat)
Vegan butter to cook
Instructions
1. Make the flax seed egg but combining the ground flax seeds and adding some water so that it is like a thick batter. Leave for about 5 minutes.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor bar the vegan milk. Then add the vegan milk a little at a time to make a batter.
3. In a hot frying pan lightly oil and using a ladle pour in the batter to form small round pancakes.
4. Fry for a couple minutes and then tip over and fry for a couple more minutes
5. Serve warm with a syrup like agave if you want a very sweet version. I found that they were very sweet so did not need any extra sweetness.
There is a savory version as well by taking out the sugar and replacing with salt. You can add cream cheese or grated hard cheese of you choice.
Viviana (a chef from Costa Rica) shows how to make a non-vegan version with the aid of a great band behind her.
I have been inspired by the Middle East of late.... Syrian and Lebanese and the beautiful foods of Iran.
Having made some vegetarian Persian dishes in the past; notably tahdig many, many years ago for my university friends (now that is ancient history). Now this was a total surprise for my Persian flat-mate..... I think one that this was this English girl making this classic Iranian dish and secondly that this is a dish for celebration; all made in a crummy halls of residence kitchen. It was all worth it for the look on my Persian friend's face. So thanks to Madhur Jaffrey's Eastern Vegetarian Cooking for introducing me to Persian cuisine (that is the book where I also learnt how to make the Japanese stock dashi from as well - a game changer for me).
Back to what I have recently been trying; the first is a bejewelled dip of pomegranate, green olives and walnuts - zeytoon parvardeh. Recipe is courtesy of My Persian Kitchen. I just served with some shop bought pitta bread as I did not have time to make my own lavash bread; next time that is something I will definitely master.
This dish originated in northern Iran near the Caspian Sea in the Gilan Province, where locals make it with regional herbs like coriander and baby blue eryngo (locally called chuchagh) but you will probably need to substitute mint for that ingredient. Now chuchagh is Erynagium Planum apparently but I could only find this reference in Eat the Weeds to a Erynagium as being edible and no mention of using as a herb. So that will be an interesting experiment someday if I can find and grow the correct plant!
Next up was a simple dish of aubergine and tomato stew with rice (Khoresh Bademjan) from The Spruce Eats. I served with some plant based yoghurt... the blend of cumin, turmeric cinnamon and saffron was divine with the aubergine. Using the pomegranate molasses really gave a sweet/sour pinch to the dish, which I love and is one of the essentials to Persian cuisine. This is a recipe I will be coming back to.
"Persian cuisine is, above all, about balance - of tastes and flavors, textures and temperatures. In every meal, even on every plate, you'll find both sweet and sour, soft and crunchy, cooked and raw, hot and cold."
