Noodle broth

Hello February! A new winter month has started, and it's still not cold. It's just wet and rainy, but I'm in good spirits and excited to see what February brings. There are many changes going on at work and it can be a bit draining working on multiple projects at the same time. That's why I really appreciate my quiet weekends with no plans. I guess we'll stroll to the marketplace today to see, if they have any new interesting fruit and veg and then just cook a nice dinner at home.

A vegan noodle broth is occasionally a good idea. I made this coconut broth in Thai style and it was so comforting and nice. I used some of that cute confetti coriander in it too. Here is my recipe.

Noodle broth

Ingredients

200 g tofu

100 g noodles

1 fennel

2 carrots

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

1 cm fresh ginger

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp palm sugar

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

2 bay leaves

400 ml coconut milk

1 lime's juice

Handful of fresh coriander

Method

Chop the fennel, carrots, onion, garlic, chilli and ginger.

Start cooking onions in vegetable oil. Once they are softened, add the carrots and fennel to the pan. Once they have cooked nicely, also add the garlic, chilli and ginger and let cook for a while.

Add the seasoning and the coconut milk and let simmer.

Cube the tofu, fry it in vegetable oil and set to side.

Cook the noodles in water, cool and set to side.

Once the broth flavours have developed nicely, add the noodles and tofu to the broth and heat it through.

Serve and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Green broth

It has been snowing here overnight, so the ground is nicely covered in white. Here is a photo from our backyard. Soon we will go to town to see Copenhagen covered in snow and ice, but first I wanted to share this recipe with you.

I made a light but warming green broth with Thai spices and coconut milk. Green pak choi leaves were the star of the show, but I also really enjoyed that spicy broth. If you want to make a more substantial dish, you could add some noodles, fried tofu or tempeh to this recipe.

Green broth

Ingredients

3 pak choi (green leaves only)

1 onion

1 cloveless garlic

1 green chilli

1 cm fresh ginger

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp palm sugar

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

2 tbsp white miso paste

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

2 bay leaves

400 ml coconut milk

1 lime's juice

Handful of fresh coriander

Method

Chop the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger finely and cook them in oil until soft.

Then add the seasoning.

Add the coconut milk and little water and let simmer.

Blend the mix to make a really smooth broth. Remove the bay leaves before blending.

Chop the pak choi leaves coarsely and add them to the broth once it's almost done. Cook for a while longer with the pak choi.

Serve and enjoy!

I'm sharing this recipe with Eat Your Greens that is hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen blog this month. Check out the other green recipes shared with the challenge.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Spicy onion squash soup

Halloween is approaching soon, and if you need cooking ideas for the season, a nice pumpkin or squash soup is always a good idea. This is my favourite soup of the season. It can be made with various squashes or pumpkins and it contains a lot of warming Thai style spices and coconut milk. The soup is vegan and oh so comforting.

Spicy onion squash soup

Ingredients

1 small onion squash

3 carrots

2 onions

1 cloveless garlic

2 red chillies

2 cm fresh ginger

½ cup red lentils

Vegetable oil

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

250 ml coconut milk

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp white miso

2 tsp palm sugar

1 lime

Fresh coriander

Method

Peel and chop the onion squash and carrots. Chop the onions, garlic, chillies and ginger. Soak the lentils.

Start cooking the onions in the vegetable oil. Once they are soft, add the squash and carrots, followed by the garlic, chillies and ginger. Then also add the lentils to the pot.

Season with ground cumin, ground coriander and vegetable stock powder. Then add the coconut milk, bay leaves, white miso and palm sugar and let simmer.

Purée the soup once all ingredients have cooked nicely.

Add fresh coriander, lime and a little bit of grated lime zest to the soup and serve.

Your VegHog

Thai rice with fennel, carrots and cashews

Light vegan Thai dishes are my favourites at the moment, and I can imagine cooking more this type of dishes towards the spring. I made once again a similar rice dish with Thai flavours, as I have done a few times before. You can use whatever vegetables you have, but as I have been also so fond of fennel lately, I chose to use fennel paired with the basic and economical carrots that go well in so many dishes. This was a very tasty and flavoursome dish.

Thai rice with fennel, carrot and cashews

Ingredients

1 fennel

2 carrots

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

3 cm fresh ginger

1 small chilli

1 tbsp vegetable oil

160 ml coconut cream

Bunch fresh Thai basil

Bunch fresh coriander

2 dried lemongrass stalks

1 lime's juice

2 tbsp soy sauce

150 g cashew nuts

1 cup jasmine rice

Method

Cook the jasmine rice in water.

Chop the cashew nuts coarsely and toast them on a dry pan.

Chop the fennel into slices and the carrots into slices. Also chop the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli finely.

Start cooking the onion in vegetable oil, and once it's soft and slightly browned, add the garlic, ginger and chilli to the pan.

After a while also add the carrots, soon followed by the fennel. Cook for a little while and then add the coconut cream and spices.

Let the mix simmer, and shortly before serving, mix in the rice and cashews.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Fennel and cauliflower Thai curry

After the festive season I mainly want to eat clean and light food, which is often vegan. I also appreciate international flavours very much after the typical roast dinners. I'm sure I'll have more roasts again, if the weather gets seriously cool over here. However yesterday I made a nice fragrant vegan Thai curry to celebrate the long weekend off work. It was a lovely dish and I had the rest of it for lunch today.

Can you believe it that I used fennel in my cooking for the first time? I have of course eaten it sometimes, but it just isn't something I grew up with, so I never bought it. I was inspired to make this dish, after I saw Shaheen's gorgeous recipe for a Green Coconut Soup with Fennel. It looked so nice that I simply had to buy some fennel and try cooking with it.

I thought that fennel would be nice in a Thai style green curry together with cauliflower. I added spinach and broad beans as additional greens and protein. Before I started cooking, I consulted the internet a bit, and found this video: How to cut fennel. That guy surely knows his fennel! So after all of this, I managed to cut and cook my fennel just fine. I was quite keen on it, so there may be many more fennel dishes.

Fennel and cauliflower Thai curry

Ingredients

Thai green curry paste

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

2 cm fresh ginger

1 large green chilli

Bunch of fresh coriander

½ lime's juice

2 kaffir lime leaves

Other ingredients

1 small cauliflower

1 fennel

2 tbsp vegetable oil

50 g spinach

160 ml coconut cream

½ cup frozen broad beans

2 dried lemongrass stalks

Fresh coriander

1 cup jasmine rice

Method

Purée the ingredients for the curry paste.

Slice the cauliflower and fennel.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan and start cooking the sliced cauliflower and fennel. Cook them until they get slightly browned and softer.

Then add the curry paste to the pan and cook for a few minutes more. Also add the frozen broad beans and soon after the coconut cream and the lemongrass stalks. Remove the lemongrass stalks before serving.

Let simmer until everything is cooked nicely.

Cook the rice to serve on the side.

Add the spinach and fresh coriander to the curry just before serving.

Enjoy!

This recipe is my Eat Your Greens entry for January. Shaheen is hosting the event this month.

Your VegHog

Thai inspired pumpkin soup

There probably can't be enough pumpkin recipes for October, so here comes yet another one. A friend of mine actually taught me how to make his thai style spiced pumpkin soup. You probably know that I don't usually use this many spices, but as I was so well instructed this time that it couldn't go wrong. I think you should try this too!

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin

1 onion

2-3 garlic cloves

2-3cm fresh ginger (about the same amount as garlic)

1 small red chili

Cumin powder

Coriander powder

1l water

2tsp Vegetable stock powder

Sesame oil

1 lemongrass stock

3 kaffir lime leaves

160ml coconut cream

2tsp miso or soy sauce

½-1 lime's juice

2tsp palm sugar

Fresh coriander leaves

Method

Fry the chopped onion pieces in sesame oil until they are glossy. Add the finely chopped garlic, ginger and chili and fry for about one minute more. Season with the cumin and coriander powders.

Peel the pumpkin and chop it into cubes and add them into the pot. Glaze them for a while and then add some water and vegetable stock powder.

Pour about half of the coconut cream into the soup. Add the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves and let the soup simmer under the lid at moderate heat. If you are using fresh lemongrass, make sure to chop it very finely.

Season the soup with lime juice, miso (or soy sauce) and palm sugar. Add more water at any time if needed. Chop fresh coriander and add it to the pot towards the end. Coriander leaves are also a good decoration for serving. Remove the kaffir lime leaves and the lemongrass from the soup.

Once the pumpkin is soft, puree the soup and taste if any seasoning needs to be added. I added rest of the coconut cream to mine. It depends a bit which taste is dominating at that stage and of course the sweetness of the pumpkin also impacts things. I also didn't want to make mine too spicy in terms of the heat, but if you like chili, feel free to add more.

Serve the soup warm with lovely bread and enjoy! This could be a good idea for surprising your Halloween guests as well!

Your VegHog