Deconstructed hummus with pasta

It's been quite a cloudy weekend, but now the sun came out, so we are heading out soon for a Sunday afternoon walk. There is a lovely star fort close to our home, and we like to do little walks there. It's also very close to Copenhagen's most famous landmark, the Little Mermaid.

This is called a deconstructed hummus only because I haven't bought a new blender to make my own hummus, and assembled it from the different components. So in this pasta I used whole chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil and lemon. I also added some fried red onions to the pasta. I should buy some sort of a blender soon though, as we can't make any smooth soups either.

Those garlic and beetroot sprouts just looked so tempting that I basically wanted to build a dish around them. I thought that they would go nicely with falafel, and they did indeed. This was a nice little weekday dish, and I would make it again, if I happen to have the same ingredients.

Have a nice Sunday!

Your VegHog

Butterbean hummus with red pepper and walnut paste

This Butterbean hummus with red pepper and walnut paste recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi is such a good one to try. I simply had to make it once I saw the recipe in the Guardian. It looked so good and there can never be enough good dip and paste ideas. In that article there are also a few other good dip recipes, you should definitely have a look!

This plateful consists of two parts, a creamy garlicky butterbean hummus and a paste made from roasted peppers, chillies and walnuts. Hummus is always so good and it's nice to use different pulses to make it. I also love it when peppers are roasted until soggy with black skins. The walnuts just completed this plate.

It was such a good combination and I served it with buttery homemade spelt garlic rolls. This was just the perfect summer spread.

Your VegHog

Red lentil hummus

Can there ever be enough different hummus variations? I think not. I've tried plenty of different ones, but not a red lentil one, until I recently had some with a meal out. I became very curious wanting to make some myself. In this recipe I basically just substituted the chick peas in my basic homemade hummus with red lentils and it became a really nice dip. I'm sure I will perfect the recipe more with the time, if I'll feel like it.

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils

2 garlic cloves

½ lemon's juice

1 tsp salt

Sprinkle of smoked paprika

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp tahini

Method

Cook the lentils until they are soft, drain and cool them down.

Purée all ingredients into an even paste.

Serve the hummus with some vegetables, flatbreads, crispbreads, sandwiches etc.

Your VegHog

Salad plate with hummus

How has your week started? Do you have any healthy eating plans for this week? Nice variable salad plates have been much of my favourites recently and therefore here is just a quick salad plate post for Monday with the cheerful colours. This sort of plates can be easily put together after a long day at work and they are tasty and filling. I was very happy that I found kohlrabi again, that's always a highlight for me. Otherwise I went with my standard favourites here.

The components on today's plate are:

• hummus
• carrot sticks
• kohlrabi sticks
• olives
• aged Havarti cheese
• baguette
• pea shoots
• tomatoes
• lettuce

What are your favourites for such veggie plates?

Your VegHog

Falafel with char-grilled vegetables and halloumi

I bought a new grill pan, a second one, which is a bit smaller than my first one. It's a neat little pan and it obviously inspired me to char-grill some vegetables. Then I was considering what to have with them and thought of homemade falafel, which are always nice. That's how this dish came to life, simple but oh so tasty!

As the making method for the falafel I chose baking in the oven in order to avoid an additional oil addition. They should be put into the oven only briefly under high heat so that they get some colour, but not too long that they dry out. All components are already cooked before, so they don't need any extra cooking. Have a look at my recipe below, which should make about 10 falafel.

Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas

1 can broad beans

3-4 garlic cloves

1 small onion

1 tsp vegetable oil

15 g fresh parsley

15 g fresh coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp salt

Sides:

Hummus

Tomatoes

Carrots

Baby bell peppers

Munchkin pumpkin

Halloumi

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight and then cook until done.

Chop the garlic and onion and pre-cook them a little in oil in a pan.

Mix the chickpeas, broad beans, garlic onion and the spices and mash them into a mixture that sticks well together. I like to leave some of the chickpeas whole in this process.

Shape falafel from the mixture and place them on a baking tray.

Bake them in the oven at 250 C for a few minutes until the falafel have received some colour. Don't bake them too long, as they can then dry up.

I served my falafel with some homemade hummus and char-grilled vegetables and halloumi. I wanted to try my new grill pan, and indeed it was very nice to use.

I'm entering this recipe to this month's Eat Your Greens, a vegetarian cooking and blogging challenge hosted by Shaheen from A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table. The greens here are the broad beans and the lovely fresh herbs parsley and coriander.

Your VegHog

Kohlrabi and carrot sticks with hummus

I haven't just been tasting whiskys (previous post), I've also had a taste of healthy life with lunches such as this assembly of kohlrabi and carrot sticks. I love all sorts of vegetable sticks enjoyed with homemade hummus. Onto this plate I also added some homegrown tomatoes. Do you often enjoy such light lunches? I should definitely do it more often.

Somehow I never seem to get kohlrabi in this country. What's up with that? So now that I saw these beautiful specimen in my local health food store, I just had to grab a few. I hope they'll have them for a while yet, because I really got into the taste again. I prefer them eaten raw with a dip, that is just divine.

By the way, how do you like my hiding deer?

Have a great start to the weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Healthy summer snacking platter

Okay, so it's the hottest July day on record in the UK today and I promise you, it feels just that hot! It's no fun being at work all day and then on a delayed train without air conditioning, but now that I'm finally home I feel like a nice and light summer supper (nothing too hot of course). I still wanted to include a couple of cooked elements, but they can also be eaten cooled down just as well.

This vegan platter is just one example of what wholesome yet easy dishes you can eat in the summer. This platter contains a few warm and filling components and then fresh local vegetables.

Not too bad of a mix on a hot day.

Here are the things I had on my platter this time:

Hummus

Croutons

Spring onions

Radishes

Mixed leaves with beetroot shavings

Puy lentils

Black quinoa

Pumpkin seeds

I cooked the lentils and quinoa in water with some added vegetable stock powder and the other ingredients on the platter were raw.

I found that the croutons added something nice and also more substance, although I only rarely eat them otherwise. Maybe I should do so more often.

Now it's back to lazily lying around for me and maybe having a cooling drink to end the evening with. Luckily it's already starting to cool off here, I was just able to sense some oxygen in the air!

Have fun and stay cool!

Your VegHog

Vegetable grazing plate with hummus

Today I'm just grazing lightly on vegetables and hummus before tomorrow's English veggie breakfast and pub meal in the evening. Sometimes simple dishes that don't require a lot of cooking, but are still full of vegetable goodness, are the best choices as weekday meals. I can't believe it's yet another vegan meal! I've been cooking many vegan meals lately. Of course some cheese could be added, but is by no means necessary. This is what I used to make this vegetable grazing plate with hummus as a part of this week's cooking plan.  

Hummus

2 romano peppers

10 baby turnips

10 baby carrots

15 cherry plum tomatoes

1 cup mung bean sprouts

I cooked the double amount of chickpeas for yesterday's chickpea, spinach and potato curry and saved the half of them to make hummus for this dish. I also started sprouting the mung beans on Monday. 

I roasted the peppers, but everything else I ate raw and dipped to the lovely homemade hummus. I had to buy those cute baby turnips for their looks and they were indeed very tasty as well.

What would you put on such a grazing plate? Are you also crazy about hummus?

Have a lovely soon starting weekend!

Your VegHog

The VegHog's falafel burgers

Maybe you remember when I wrote in March about how I accepted falafel back into my life. I hadn't fully discarded them, but wasn't too fond of them either as they often tend to be the only vegetarian alternative available (at least back in the day). Anyhow, my homemade falafel feast reverted me again, and now we're back in the subject, as I have made my own falafel burgers!

This falafel recipe is very similar to my previous one, I only had frozen broad beans instead of the canned ones, but both seem to work well. And of course instead of small falafel, we are now making chunkier burger patties.

This is how you can make 8 falafel burgers.

2 cups dried chickpeas

2 cups frozen broad beans

5 garlic cloves

5 spring onions

15g fresh parsley

15g fresh coriander

1tsp salt

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp baking powder

Vegetable oil for frying

Soak the chickpeas overnight and boil them in water for about 20 minutes.

Chop the garlic and the spring onions finely and remove any large stalks from the herbs.

Then just purée all the ingredients together into a paste that should be easy to shape with your hands.

Shape burger patties from the mix.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan (or you can deep fry these) and fry the falafel burgers on both sides until they are golden brown with crispy surfaces.

Serve in a pitta bread with char-grilled peppers, hummus, fresh tomatoes and spinach (or any other veggies) and enjoy! 

Your VegHog

Black bean hummus and aubergine canapés

Happy Sunday! It's actually quite warm here today, and I have spent some time on the balcony. When I felt peckish I made this quick afternoon snack with just a few ingredients. The black bean hummus can be combined with pretty much anything you can imagine. For tomorrow's work lunch I'm putting it into pitta breads with some vegetables.

Black bean hummus:

1 can black beans

4 tbsp tahini

1 garlic clove

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika powder

½ lime's juice

1 tbsp olive oil

Just blend all the ingredients together into a smooth paste and the hummus is done.

 

Aubergine canapés:

1 aubergine

Vegetable oil for grilling

Olive oil for roasting

1 halloumi

Slice the aubergine lengthwise into this slices. Char-grill the slices on both sides, then brush them with olive oil and bake at 150C for about 10-15 minutes. Also char-grill the halloumi pieces and let them cool. Wrap the halloumi with the aubergine slices and serve with the black bean hummus. Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Falafel feast

Finally the weekend is here, and more time can be spent in the kitchen! Why not make a falafel feast for your loved ones like I made recently. Some years ago I'd had enough of falafel. Quite often they were the only, or the best, vegetarian alternative available, and so I thought that I had already eaten more than my share. However now I started thinking that I should give them another chance, and decided to make my own. It turned out that I still like them very much and will definitely have them more often again.

As an inspiration and guideline I read quite a few falafel recipes, but mainly based my own version on the Guardian article How to cook the perfect falafel and a recipe in the wonderful cookbook Veggiestan by Sally Butcher. The making of the falafel is surprisingly simple, and you can combine them with pretty much anything.

So this is how I made mine, and the recipe makes about 15 falafel.

2 cups dried chickpeas

195g broad beans (1 can)

5 garlic cloves

4 spring onions

15g fresh parsley

15g fresh coriander

1tsp salt

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp baking powder

Vegetable oil for frying

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Many recipes suggested that the chickpeas don't need to be pre-boiled, but I boiled them for 20 minutes anyway. The main reason being that I don't have a good food processor, just my old hand mixer. You can decide which version you prefer.

Chop the garlic and the spring onions and remove any large stalks of the herbs. Then just purée all the ingredients together into a paste that should be easy to shape with your hands.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan (or you can deep fry these) and fry the falafel on both sides until crispy.

This is how simple it is!

Serve the falafel with: homemade hummus, tahini, salad with mixed leaves, heirloom tomatoes and shallot rings, char-grilled peppers with harissa coating (chopped peppers first char-grilled on both sides, then brushed with harissa and baked in the oven for 20 minutes), char-grilled halloumi and pitta bread.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog