Veg Manchurian

*** You need to prep Holy Trinity Paste first*** (5/10 minutes)

{Makes around 10 balls} {Prep 20 mins} {Cook 20 mins}

Ingredients:

For the fritters

• 145g (5oz) grated carrot
• 145g (5oz) shredded white cabbage
• 60g (2oz) sliced spring onion
• 80g (3oz) thinly sliced green beans
• 1 tsp Holy Trinity Paste
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Vegetable oil,  for frying

Feeling fancy? For the sauce

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp finely diced root ginger
• 1 tsp finely diced garlic
• 100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) light soy sauce
• 100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) vegetable stock
• 50ml (2fl oz) red chilli sauce
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 green chilli, finely sliced
• 2 spring onions, sliced, to garnish

Method:

1. Mix together all of the ingredients to make the vegetable fritters (apart from the oil for frying) in a large mixing bowl. When all of the mixture has come together, form into even balls (around the same size as a golf ball). You may want to do this in batches, as the fritters fry best when freshly rolled.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer or large, heavy bottomed pan to 180c.
3. Carefully add the fritters, in batches, and deep fry each batch for 5-6 minutes until golden brown. Drain on paper towels to absorb any excess oil and set aside until required.
4. For the sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a wok or a saucepan over low-medium heat and fry the ginger and garlic until golden-brown. Add the soy sauce, vegetable stock, 400 ml (14fl oz) water and the chilli sauce and allow to gently come up to the boil.
5. Mix the cornflour with a splash of cold water and add to the pan. Allow the sauce to thicken slightly and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the fried fritter balls to the sauce and gently mix in, being careful not to break any of the fritters. Sprinkle over the green chilli and spring onion slices and serve.

Recipe from My Modern Indian Kitchen by Nitsha Patel

Batata Vadas

*** You need to prep Holy Trinity Paste first*** (5/10 minutes)

{ Makes around 10-12 balls } {Prep 20 mins } {Cook 15 mins}

Ingredients:

For the filling

• 1kg (2lb 3oz) mashed potatoes (I used Maris Piper)
• 2 tsp Holy Trinity Paste
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder (I used standard chilli powder)
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon

For the batter

• 200g (7oz) gram flour, sifted
• 1/2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tp tumeric
• 1 tsp of salt
• vegetable oil, for frying
• plain flour, for dusting

Feeling fancy? For the seasoned oil

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida*

*I left the asafoetida out as I am not a massive fan… but you might like to try it.

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling together and them mix well.
2. For the seasoned oil, heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, add mustard seeds and allow to sizzle and crackle. Add the sesame seeds, shake around in the pan and then add the asafoetida and stir with a spatula or a wooden spoon for 10 seconds. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
3. Pour the hot seasoned oil into the filling mixture and mix well again.
4. Shape the mixture into golf ball-sized pieces and put them into the refrigerator to chill.
5. Mix all of the ingredients for the batter together with 230ml (8fl oz) water. Set aside.
6. Heat the oil for deep frying in a deep fat-fryer or large, heavy bottomed pan to 180c. Gently roll the balls around in the flour for dusting (batches of four or five) and then dip into the batter.
7. Place the battered balls into the hot oil and deep fry until golden brown (about 4-5 minutes). Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the balls.

Recipe from My Modern Indian Kitchen by Nitsha Patel

Holy Trinity Paste

This takes about 5-10 minutes and is rather tasty.

• 200g (7oz) chopped green chillies
• 200g (70z) chopped garlic
• 200g (7oz) chopped fresh root ginger
• 50ml (2fl oz) vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp of salt

1. Blitz all the ingredients in a food processor (handy nutribullet) until they form a coarse paste.
2. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks

Tip: You don’t need to make this much necessarily, just make sure the ratios are right.

Recipe from My Modern Indian Kitchen by Nitsha Patel

Corn Fritters

Ingredients:

• 2 x 200g (7 oz) tins of sweetcorn
• 1 diced red chilli
• 1 bunch of chopped corriander
• 2 tsp salt
• cornflour/ polenta
• sunflower oil (for frying)

1.  Drain the corn and whizz with the chilli, decide how much texture you would like. The longer you blend, the smoother it is.
2. Add coriander and 2 heaped tsp of salt. Now add the cornflour. polenta, enough to hold the mixture together. The more added, the greasier the result.
3. Heat the oil until it spits when drops of water land. Wet your hands. Form golf ball-sized fritters. Flatten and them place them in the hot oil, don’t drop them, as this leads to splashing. When golden, remove from the heat then drain.

Ratatouille

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines
• 4 small courgettes
• 2 red peppers
• 4 large tomatoes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ tsp sugar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• small bunch basil, roughly torn

Method

1. Cut the aubergines into quarters lengthways, then cut the quarters into 2.5cm/1in slices. Cut the courgettes into 2.5cm/1in slices. De-seed the peppers and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
2. Score a cross in the base of each tomato and place them in a heatproof bowl. Pour over enough boiling water to cover and set aside for one minute. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle, then peel away the skins. Cut them into quarters, scoop out the seeds and discard. Roughly chop the flesh
3. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish and add the onions. Cook over a gentle heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown and very tender. Add the aubergines and courgettes, increase the heat slightly and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the peppers, garlic, sugar, some salt and pepper and half the basil and mix well. Cover and cook over a very gentle heat for 20 minutes
4. Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook for a further 10 minutes. Scatter with the remaining basil and serve.

Tip: chopped tomatoes will work just fine if you don’t want the faff.

Falafel

Ingredients

• 2 cups chickpeas/garbanzo beans
• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3-5 cloves garlic (I prefer roasted)
• 1 1/2 tbsp flour
• 1 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• Pinch of ground cardamom
• Vegetable oil for frying (grapeseed, canola, and peanut oil work well)

Method

• Pour everything into your food processor along with the chopped onion, garlic cloves, parsley, flour, salt, cumin, ground coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cardamom.
• Pulse all ingredients together until a rough, coarse meal forms. Scrape the sides of the processor periodically and push the mixture down the sides. Process till the mixture is somewhere between the texture of couscous and a paste. You want the mixture to hold together, and a more paste-like consistency will help with that… but don’t overprocess, you don’t want it turning into hummus!
• Once the mixture reaches the desired consistency, pour it out into a bowl and use a fork to stir; this will make the texture more even throughout. Remove any large chickpea chunks that the processor missed.
• Fill a skillet with vegetable oil to a depth of 1 ½ inches. I prefer to use cooking oil with a high smoke point, like grapeseed. Heat the oil slowly over medium heat. Meanwhile, form falafel mixture into round balls or slider-shaped patties using wet hands or a falafel scoop. I usually use about 2 tbsp of mixture per falafel. You can make them smaller or larger depending on your personal preference. The balls will stick together loosely at first, but will bind nicely once they begin to fry.
• If the balls won’t hold together, place the mixture back in the processor again and continue processing to make it more paste-like. Keep in mind that the balls will be delicate at first; if you can get them into the hot oil, they will bind together and stick. If they still won’t hold together, you can try adding 2-3 tbsp of flour or chickpea flour to the mixture.
• Before frying my first batch of falafel, I like to fry a test one in the center of the pan. If the oil is at the right temperature, it will take 2-3 minutes per side to brown (5-6 minutes total). If it browns faster than that, your oil is too hot and your falafels will not be fully cooked in the center. Cool the oil down slightly and try again. When the oil is at the right temperature, fry the falafels in batches of 5-6 at a time till golden brown on both sides.

Tip: the original recipe says to use dry chickpeas only but I found that rinsing canned chickpeas and leaving them to drain overnight in the fridge achieved the same result.

See the full post: http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2011/01/falafel/#4qYWXTBYM142s5xr.99

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 15g vegan spread/ butter
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 150g carrots, sliced
• 500g butternut squash, flesh only, cut into cubes
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced
• 100g red lentils, rinsed
• 1L hot vegetable stock
• 3 level tbsp tomato purée
• 3 tbsp chopped parsley (or 2 level tsp mixed dried herbs)
• 100g Oatly Crème Fraîche
• Crusty bread, to serve

Method

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pan. Add the onion and cook until soft.
2. Add the carrots, squash and sweet potato. Stir to coat with oil. Cover and cook over a low heat for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the lentils, stock, tomato purée and 2 tbsp of the parsley or the mixed herbs and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Purée with a hand-held blender or a processor. Heat through again, add swirls of crème fraîche, and sprinkle with pepper and parsley, if using. Serve with crusty bread.

Recipe from Asda Good Living 

Thai Sweet Potato Bean Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato
• 3 cups cooked kidney beans/ chickpeas or 2 cans rinsed rinsed and drained
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1 cup of water
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 cube veggie bouillon
• 1 tablespoon of lemon grass, lemon verbena, or lemon balm, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried ground galangal root (or 1/4 teaspoon coriander plus 1 1/8 teaspoon cayenne)
• Zest of 1/2 a lime
• Salt, to taste
• Fresh cilantro or Thai basil, for serving

Method

On the hob

• Put everything except the salt and cilantro into a soup pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and then decrease the heat to low.
• Cook until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Mash a few of the sweet potatoes to thicken up the stew, add salt if needed, and serve over rice. Top with the chopped cilantro.

In the slow cooker

• Put everything except the salt and cilantro into a 4-quart (3.8 L) slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.
• Mash a few of the sweet potatoes to thicken up the stew, add salt if needed, and serve over rice. Top with the chopped cilantro

This recipe is from The Great Vegan Bean Book