Vegan and vegetarian food scene in Copenhagen – Part 3

This is the opening weekend of the 2019 season at Reffen. Reffen is an outdoor street food market and designer container village at the Harbour of Copenhagen. They opened for the first time last summer and have already become hugely popular in Copenhagen. I spent a lot of time there last summer, and can see the same happening again. They have a good selection of vegetarian and vegan street food as well, so I wanted to write about them in my Vegan and vegetarian food scene in Copenhagen series.

These photos were taken at Reffen either yesterday or during last year in order to show you different atmosphere at the place. My apologies, if it's a bit too many photos, I just wanted for you to see different corners of the place.

There are too many nice food stalls, so I haven't been able to taste as many dishes as I would have liked to. I need to try harder in this season.

The Holy Pita is my absolute favourite, as I think that they make the best falafel in the world and their hummus is the smoothest of them all. They also make great fried halloumi pitas. This is why is end up eating there most of the time.

There are a lot of live music performances in Reffen as well, and there are stalls from local designers and arts and crafts people. During the weekends they often have fleamarkets, where you can find lovely bargains.

Last summer was so hot throughout, so ice-creams and sorbets from Tit Is offered a great option for cooling down. This is a seabuckthorn sorbet.

When you are just a little bit peckish, a sweet or savoury crêpe is just a perfect snack.

Here is a great fully vegan Asian food stall, and many more where I have to try the food!

One of my favourite bars in Copenhagen, Mikkeller Baghaven, happens to be next to Reffen, so it's very convenient to also pop over there and enjoy some excellent local sour beers.

Here are my previous posts in the Vegan and vegetarian food scene in Copenhagen series:

Part 1 

Part 2 

Have a nice Sunday!

Your VegHog

Pasta Bolognese

Today is a really nice and sunny spring weather, and it should get up to +16 C degrees, so what could be better. Also my favourite outdoor street food market opened yesterday for the 2019 season, and of course I will have to pay them a visit. During the winter break I missed the atmosphere and the best falafel in the world so much. The hummus in one of the places is just perfection. The food market is located on an island by the water in Copenhagen harbour, so it's a very nice place to spend a relaxing Saturday. I soon want to write a blog post about the place, so please bear with me.

Now first of all, I want to share an easy recipe with you. Vegetarian Pasta Bolognese is suitable for both weekdays and weekends, and I've found myself craving for it often lately. I think I have found my favourite among the plantbased minces now. It's this product by Naturli made from peas and wheat gluten. 80% of the peas come from Denmark. They have just now rebranded it from Fars to Hakket, so my packet on the picture is still with the old name. Nevertheless the nice product inside has stayed the same.

Here is my pasta Bolognese recipe, which is also easy to veganise. My dish is otherwise vegan, I just added some cheese on the top.

Pasta Bolognese

Ingredients

400 g vegan mince

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

2 carrots

1 can tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato purée

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

1 glass red wine

Pasta of your choice

Grated cheese

Method

Chop the onions, garlic and carrot finely and start cooking them in the oil.

Once they are softened, add the vegan mince to the mix and fry for a while.

Then add the seasoning, the tinned tomatoes and the red wine.

Let simmer under lid once the flavours have blended nicely.

Cook the pasta and serve it with the sauce.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Pearled wheat risotto with portobello mushrooms

My weekend has started in a very relaxing manner after a really hectic week at work. I'm happy to just potter around at home this morning and read some lovely blogs. I'm baking carrot rolls at the same time, and later we will head for lunch at a nearby brewhouse. It will be a nice day I'm sure. How is your weekend going?

Now to this recipe. I like vegetarian risottos of all kinds, and am ready to eat one at almost anytime. I prefer to make my risottos these days with pearled spelt or barley rather than arborio rice, and now I made one with pearled wheat kernels. This was a really nice and quite basic portobello mushroom risotto. I added a little parsley oil on top for some additional flavour and colour. I also wanted to add the mushrooms pan-fried on top, but they can of course also be mixed in, if you prefer. Have a look at my recipe below.

Pearled wheat risotto with portobello mushrooms

Ingredients

1 l vegetable stock

1 large onion

2 carrots

2 garlic cloves

1+1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp butter

1,5 cups pearled wheat

1 cup dry white wine

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Fresh parsley

4 portobello mushrooms

Method

Warm up the vegetable stock.

Chop the onion, carrots and garlic.

Heat oil in a separate pan, and start cooking the onion. Once the onion is softened, add the carrots and garlic and cook for a while.

Then add some butter to the pan, and stir in the pearled wheat.

Pour the white wine in and let it absorb.

Then make a vegetable stock addition, and keep adding it little by little while the risotto simmers.

Season the risotto with fresh parsley, salt and ground black pepper.

Slice the portobello mushrooms and fry them quickly in a hot frying pan. Then place them on top of the risotto and serve.

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Bean and bell pepper enchiladas

Weekends are made for Mexican food, I find. I often catch myself planning tacos, quesadillas, nachos etc. for a Saturday dinner, and I think that it's absolutely brilliant. There are so many vegan and vegetarian cooking possibilities in the Mexican cuisine, and I love it. I've even gotten a bit more accustomed with hot and spicy things over the years.

Therefore I want to share another Mexican recipe with you today. I made pinto and bell pepper enchiladas with chicken style veggie bites made from soya. These soya bits were a new product for me, but I would definitely buy it again. The texture of the chucks was very good and they were easy to fry golden brown in a pan.

In this recipe I also got to use the Gran Luchito enchilada cooking sauce with tomatillo and jalapeno that I found in Norway. It was a really nice sauce with a mild warming heat. I saved the other half of the bottle for another recipe.

Are you also a fan of Mexican cooking and what are your favourites? Here is anyway my enchilada recipe.

Bean and bell pepper enchiladas

Ingredients

1 cup dried soya chunks

1 red bell pepper

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves

1 green chilli

1 cup cooked pinto beans

1 cup sweetcorn

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ cup frozen spinach

½ bottle tomatillo and jalapeno enchilada cooking sauce

6 wheat tortillas

150 g grated Cheddar

Fresh coriander

Method

Cook and fry the soya chunks as per packet instructions. Set them to side.

Chop the bell pepper, onion, garlic and chilli.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan and cook the onions until soft. Then also add the bell pepper, garlic and chilli to the pan.

Add the beans, sweetcorn, the soya chunks and the seasoning to the pan. Stir and cook.

Finally also add the frozen spinach and the tomatillo and jalapeno sauce. Let simmer for a while.

Fill the tortillas with the mix once you are happy with the flavour.

Place the filled tortilla rolls into an oven dish, sprinkle grated Cheddar and a little bit of the sauce on top.

Bake at 180C for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle fresh coriander on top for serving and enjoy!

Your VegHog