Nearly vegan curry

I still have been cooking but not posting about it - a first this year. I hope I can go back to blogging about food again. I was very busy with our B-Litter and with our other three giants among whom there are two quite stubborn teenagers who need a lot of training and discipline.

I have been to an Indian restaurant these days and got a great curry. Very nice, go visit them when you are in the region.  It is called Suriya and is situated in Ludwigsburg, South Germany. We forgot to tell them precisely if we wanted mild, hot or very hot.. So we got the mild version. I said then that I would have liked to have some spice and got an extra sauce for conditioning. They didn't fail to tell me to be very cautious because it is extremely hot. In fact it was but mixing I got just the right taste.
So I wanted to try make a curry myself. Actually, reading all over the internet, there are so many recipes that it is difficult to choose.

This is where I got the basic idea:

Suggested/ what I made:
2 table spoons of peanut butter / ok
15 g butter/ had none put none
1 large onion, diced/ ok
1 table spoon of fresh sliced ginger/ had none, will put it next time however
2 table spoons of sliced garlic/ put one garlic clove, should be enough
1 tea spoon of cinnamon/ ok
1 tea spoon of black pepper/ actually I forgot it, but I prefer chili
2 table spoons of ground coriander/ ok
2 table spoons of cumin/ ok
1/4 tea spoon of turmeric/ ok
2 tomatoes/ had only cherry tomatoes but leftover tomato juice, about 1/4 liter
1 tea spoon of cayenne/ dried chilis
2 red chilis without seeds/ more dried chilis
2-4 table spoons of fresh coriander herbs/ I put only 1 tea spoon. In my opinion too much coriander herbs can destroy a whole dish. Got once an otherwise great ceviche in Costa Rica which was so full of it that it was really a pity for the taste of the fresh fish.
110 g yogurt/ I put 150 g of yogurt
680 ml water/ since I put tomato juice I didn't add any water

Next time I will add the ginger, roast the spices in a pan before adding them and make lots more of this curry, so I can freeze it for next time.

The curry sauce goes well with this combination: sliced avocado - avocado is always good - roasted banana and mango, whole grain rice with chick peas and yogurt with sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
Yogurt seems to be served quite often as a side with Indian dishes and it seems it is to take away the hot feeling of the chilis and cayenne, works really good!
If you use a dairy-free yogurt for the sauce and side dish you have a vegan, yummy and nutrient meal!
For my restart I want to add a nice youtube music video which goes well with the dishes every time now. So India - there must be lots of different kinds of music but I am not really into them.
This one  is from an older movie, very nice scenes and dance, music starts around 4.00

Vegan Butternut-Zucchini Ceviche

Usually a Ceviche would be raw fish, marinated with lime, originally from Peru but I also tasted it in Costa Rica. Very yummy. This time I stole the word for a purely vegan dish. The important thing is to slice the pieces in very fine stripes and leave it at least two hours - better more with the marinade.

So here we go:

VERY thin slices of butternut and zucchini, marinate with lots of lime juice and sea salt. After two hours add the oil. I used grape-seed oil this time.

Bottrop Salad

This is a summer salad - more than the traditional Swabian salad made with broth which I will teach you in the future. Actually I stole the idea from a place which isn't really known for creative cuisine. Some years ago we went to pick up our Giant Schnauzer Sissi - Susi Sorglos vom Kellergeist - from her breeder. Since they were breeding Continental Bull Dogs in the meantime, she wanted to give away this great dog and we met at a dog training place in Bottrop where they were for an exhibition that day. The Boxer dog camp was a small club and for the exhibition the members made a barbecue and homemade salads. I really liked the combination of spring onions, radishes, potatoes and sour cream. In honor of the place where I tasted it for the first time, I called it Bottrop salad.
Very easy: Cook potatoes - important to take the small spring potatoes with a quality of not becoming too starchy when cooked. Add the cut spring onions, radishes and sea salt. Wait for at least 10 minutes to add the sour cream. - That's it, great component of a spring or summer barbecue.

Quinoa Experiments and Vegetarian Stew

Quinoa must be really healthy, gluten free, much protein and it can be used in many different ways. Somehow this is also it's problem. I tried to cook it as written in the recipes for about 15-20 minutes and used it as side dish. Actually it didn't taste of much, now I understand why you can use it also for desserts. In a post I read that you must roast it in order to give it a more special nut-like taste. I also did that, still I am not very satisfied.
My next test was to make a hearty stew with little white beans, red lentils, and peeled tomatoes. That was really good, I like the veggie chili taste.

It is important to wash the quinoa with hot water before cooking it, otherwise it will keep a bitter taste of the saponin attached to it's shell.

Ingredients:
Onions, garlic, olive oil, quinoa, chili to taste, white beans, red lentils, diced peeled tomatoes, tomato puree, sea salt

If I remember, I put the white beans to soak the day before, this saves some cooking time, otherwise it will work just as well, you just have to let it boil for a little more.

Roast the onion dices and garlic until they are glassy, add water and the white beans. The white beans take the longest time to cook, about 30-40 minutes. When they are nearly ready, add the red lentils which have to cook about 5 minutes, in the end the already cooked quinoa.

Since I am still experimenting, I still had leftover cooked quinoa. If  you don't have it cooked yet, you can also add it directly to the stew calculating about 20 minutes of cooking time.

Add one can of peeled diced tomatoes and one of tomato puree, the chills, salt and try if you like to eat it with roasted cumin

What I added apart from that:
I had a cup of vegetable stock still frozen. I did this some time ago, it is a great plus for taste.

So next time you have some time, too much vegetables which have to be consumed, a large pot and some space in your freezer, prepare some of this stock, it can be used in so many ways. Any time you see a recipe which requires the addition of vegetable broth, you can use this. The only difference is that it has less liquid which will save space in your freezer - and there is a huuuuge difference to the vegetable broth you can buy in the supermarket in cans, powder or paste - lots of chemical ingredients and no taste.
Very easy: Start with the usual groundwork: Pot, olive oil, diced onions and garlic in very very thin slices, roast slowly until they have a glassy appearance.
Then add the vegetables cut in small dices, water and let it simmer until the vegetables are well done. I put them in small empty yogurt or curd cup which holdsabout 200 g (7 oz)

Furthermore some already cooked carrots and yellow zucchini, cut in a bit larger dices. I found this dish to be a really yummy alternative, a bit like a Chili sin Carne.
Topping: Sour cream and roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds
Without the sour cream topping it is a vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose-free and even absolutely vegan dish.

Fruit smoothie

Have you ever wondered what is inside these fruit smoothies they are selling everywhere now, even in the super market. I do so, too. Actually it is better to make it yourself, you spend less, know what is inside and can use up your leftovers in the fridge or the garden. Plus, it is super healthy and tastes good because you choose your ingredients. You can drink it as plain fruit smoothie or add some yogurt if you like it, add oat flakes ( not the whole grain ones but the ones which would melt) for more substance and you have a wonderful start for the day. If you don't have time in the morning, prepare it the day before and but it in your fridge.

Here we go, in this case I used apricots, peaches, red and black currant from the garden and a banana. Blend it with a hand blender - you don't need to have the most sophisticated kitchen tools, the hand blender is a tool you should have in your kitchen, though, for many purposes and it doesn't cost too much. Mine has at least 10 years now and is still going strong.
(Braun MQ 500 Soup Multiquick 5 Stabmixer)

Avocado hummus

Kevin has a great food blog and this inspired me for the avocado hummus. Practically hummus is a mix of chickpea puree and tahina - a sesame paste with salt and spice. He used chickpeas from a can, already cooked, I used some leftover already cooked chickpeas, left off the garlic as well.

Ingredients: Cooked chickpeas, tahina, avocado, salt, mint.

Procedure: Blend everything, time for preparation - 5 minutes (if you are slow)

Salad glut and how to fight it - first idea

We have really great salat in the garden, planted some time ago. Unfortunately salads tend to come all at once - and es much as I like salad - they got the better of us. So tonight there will be a new experiment, there was a recipe of a French salad soup on the internet. Soup is always good, especially as it isn't that hot here right now. So this will be the first one to try.

I mean - have a look at this salad field, it is also a pity to let it waste.

Ingredients (I won't put quantities):

olive oil, shallots and garlic, salad, cooked potatoes, salt and nutmeg

 Heat up some olive oil, throw in chopped shallots and garlic

Add the salad

Braise for a couple of minutes (5-10)

I had already cooked potatoes which I added.

Add salt and nutmeg.

Now this is a trick - I had some bacon left in the fridge, put it in a kitchen paper, roll it up and put it for a minute in the micro wave

I comes out really crispy because the lard is soaked up by the paper

Pass the mix of salad, potatoes and spice with a blender, add spoonful of sour 

cream and the cut bacon.

If vegetarian - without bacon, if vegan without bacon and sour  cream.

Preparation time - if you have cooked potatoes: no more than 15 minutes.

You might want to change the taste of it, so try this:

add some grated cheese, make it more hot with chili, vegan: add some roasted pumpkin seeds or sun-dried tomatoes, just try.

The soup is also great for putting into the freezer for a fast meal when you don't have the time to prepare - put some ice cubes in it and eat it cold on a hot summer day.

Glazed carrots

Very simple dish - I nearly always have carrots at home. You find them everywhere, they are cheap and don't get spoiled easily. However, If I see that they don't leave my fridge soon, I peel them, cut them into pieces and put them in the freezer. They are always useful for some soup or stew.

I got inspired by a video from Youtube this time, it is in German but you will understand anyway.
He is using butter in this video instead of olive oil.

My version:

Ingredients:
carrots
olive oil
1-2 tea spoons of sugar (preferably brown sugar)
1 pinch of slt
(white wine)

Heat up a pan, put olive oil in it, roast the cut carrots together with the sugar, do not heat too much and let them simmer slowly, add the salt and a little wine to taste. It is ready when a small kitchen knife enters easily in the carrots, takes about 10 minutes

Pimientos del padron

Pimientos del padron is a dish I see often in Spain used as one tipe of tapas among many others. I was lucky to get some of these in my local supermarket. The ones I ate in spain were always a kind of "Russian Spicy Roulette": you might eat 5 mild ones of them and then get an extemely spicy one, in fact, that's the fun of it, especially the people's face when they get the spicy surprise.

The ones I got weren't spicy at all, unfortunately, but good all the same.
Fast recipe too:
Heat up some olive oil in a pan and roast the peppers slowly, they may have some darker bits, no problem. Throw in medium sea salt in the end on the peppers. You can eat them hot or cold.

Cucumber raita my way

I got inspired by this one by a facebook post in one of my Giant Schnauzer groups.
Look at that cute picture:

Isn't that sweet? So I wondered what is a raita? Found out that it is an Indian recipe with cucumbers, yogurt and other ingredients like cumin seeds, garlic, coriander and cayenne.

Here is my raita recipe:
1 cucumber
2 cups of whole-milk yogurt
2 or 3 table spoons of pomegranate seeds
2 table spoons of roasted squash and sunflower seeds
sea salt (always use sea salt!)
Fresh mint leaves

How to:
Roast the seeds in a pan until they have a golden color
Grate the cucumber with a medium vegetable grater
Mix cucumber, yogurt, pomegranate and squash/sunflower seeds and salt
Garnish with chopped mint leaves.
Here we go, enjoy! - I love the crunchy taste of the seeds and the
lemony fresh flavor of the pomegranate with this dish

By the way, had to make my comment to the little dog which inspired me: