Tag: vegan

Categories
Mains Recipes

Parmesan Kohlrabi Steaks

Kohlrabi is a great vegetable to cook with. It has a texture that’s been described as a cross between a turnip and a water chestnut, which sounds about right.

Quite often you will see it in recipes that treat it like the poor relation – consigned to the margins of a meal, as a side dish, or have it grated into a salad along with other ingredients.

I felt it deserved its place in the spotlight, so this dish sees it firmly centre stage (or should that be centre plate?) as the star attraction. The crisp, juicy and crunchy texture it retains when cooked makes it suitable as a main, especially for anyone on a vegetarian, vegan or plant-based diet. I hope you will find it lives up to its billing!

It is actually quite simple to make. Cut a large disc-shaped slice of the kohlrabi that is about 1 – 2cm in thickness from the widest point (the equator, if you know what I mean). Trim off the peel, then cut it into about 6 pieces. Go for irregular shapes – you want each steak to be individual and the whole dish not to look uniform. Also, work in a number of angles and corners – these will crisp and caramelise as they roast.

Briefly place the steaks in a shallow pan with a little oil. Fry each steak on both sides for about 2 – 3 mins, then transfer to a roasting dish and place in the oven, heated to 180C. Let them roast for 30 mins, flipping them over half-way through.

Remove the dish from the oven and grate 40g of parmesan cheese (or vegan alternative if desired) over the steaks. Place back in the oven for a further 10 mins and let the cheese melt. The steaks will be browning up nicely as the photo below shows (I couldn’t resist a sneak peek in the oven to see how they were doing).

When complete, remove and serve with your choice of accompaniment. In my main photo you can see that I served this with savoury rice and steamed carrots. I served 3 steaks in one serving, making this a meal for 2.

If you like, you can make more servings, or have it again on another occasion, as you will only have used a fraction of that beautiful kohlrabi.

This is an exciting weekend for me, as I am setting off on my travels, spending the next couple of months in Australia, with some time in the Middle-East en route. I’ll be blogging here and tweeting (@differentkitch) along the way, so do please follow me on my journey. I welcome any comments and suggestions on places to visit and eat, food and drink I should try. This lovely track about global travel – Ramblin’ Man from Lemon Jelly – seems particularly appropriate today!

Categories
Mains Recipes

Root Veg Curry

Continuing the recent theme of cooking with autumn vegetables, this dish brings together a variety of seasonal root veg in a subtle yet spicy curry that is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans. My meal, shown in the photo, used celeriac, mooli (or white radish), kohl rabi, carrot and parsnip, though other veg are available!

Servings

This will make enough to serve four.

Timings

10 mins to peel and chop the root veg, and 30 mins to roast. The rest of the prep can be done while the veg is roasting. Allow 10 mins more to combine and finalise.

You Will Need

  • a baking tray full of root vegetables, peeled and chopped into chunks. I used celeriac, mooli (white radish), kohl rabi, carrot and parsnip
  • oil to drizzle
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 fresh chilli, or 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp nigella seeds
  • 500g passata
  • bunch of fresh coriander
  • 400ml can of coconut milk
  • rice to serve

Method

  1. Drizzle oil over the tray of chunked root veg and roast in the oven at 180C for 30 mins.
  2. While the veg is roasting, heat some oil in a saucepan and toss in the garlic and spices until sizzling. Then add in the onion.
  3. After a few minutes, add in the passata, Hold the bunch of coriander over the pan and, with scissors, cut in a generous amount.
  4. Let the passata and coriander cook for a few minutes.
  5. Add in the coconut milk and stir to combine. Cook for a further 5 – 10 mins. It will reduce slightly to give a thick, spicy sauce.
  6. When the root veg is roasted, scrape it into the saucepan and stir in.
  7. Serve with boiled rice.

Customise it!

Lots of scope to vary the veg. Butternut and other squash will work well in the roasting tray, also some chestnut mushrooms or peppers. Adjust the strength of the chilli and spices to suit your taste.

For musical choice, I have gone for a favourite track of mine, which also serves as an homage to the good people at our local community farm who harvest these lovely root vegetables from the soil – Can You Dig It by The Mock Turtles.

Categories
Blog Desserts Snacks

Take Me to the Beach

We spent the long bank holiday weekend by the beach at Branksome. The weather is still great here, and it was easy to swim in the sea each day. On the final day the breaking surf was a little too choppy for my liking, so I settled for going in knee high, and a barefoot run along the shore, stepping and splashing through the lapping waves.

One of the many pleasures in a trip to the beach is an ice cream from the kiosk. On this occasion, I noticed that they were stocking the new Vegan Magnum, and decided to give it a try. It’s a dairy-free version of the legendary ice cream on a stick. I’m not vegan, but I am always open to trying new foods and have enjoyed a number of vegan desserts in the past.

I wasn’t sure what to expect – the Magnum I consider to be no less than a modern design classic, and I did wonder if messing around with its ingredients may turn out to be a disaster. I was thinking of what happened when Coca Cola decided to update a famous soft drink that everyone had grown up loving, only to have to yield to popular opinion and go back to making it by the original recipe.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, it is quite difficult to point out the differences in a blind taste. The Vegan version still has a delicate chocolate couverture, made from coconut oil and cocoa butter, that fragments indulgently as you bite into it. The underlying ice cream, made from pea protein with vanilla, is sweet and velvety, and not at all (as I had feared) unduly coconut tasting. The only real difference I could pinpoint is slightly less richness to the creamy taste, but not in any way that would put me off buying another.

Dairy-free alternatives to foods have been growing in popularity for some time. A relevant factor in this is concern about the contribution made by the livestock industry to climate warming, and consumption of water at a time of increasing drought. Many believe a vegan diet brings health benefits and is kinder to animals.

What is clear is that anyone who is vegan can now enjoy a Magnum when they visit the beach, a theme park or go on any other great day out: a wonderful contribution to the cause of equality of opportunity.

I’m hoping there will yet be a few more trips to the beach before the summer is through. That will probably mean a few more Vegan Magnums to come, as I make the most of our Pure Shores.

Take Me to the Beach!