Vegan fish & chips

It’s a nice and sunny Sunday. I’m baking rolls from local artisanal flour. Once we have tasted those rolls, we will go for a walk by the seaside. Luckily the place where we tend to go isn’t too popular, so it’s easy to keep distance from other people.

But before I’ll go, I want to share this dish with you that I made over Easter: vegan fish & chips. Sometimes it’s nice to cook a vegan or vegetarian version of a classic dish. I tried these new seitan “fish” filets that I happened to find in the shop. By the way, this Veganz range seems pretty good in general. I’ve tasted a few of their products. For example the nuggets are probably the best vegan nuggets I’ve ever had. This is just my opinion and not an ad, let alone sponsored in any way.

I pre-fried the filets, and then battered them with cider batter and fried again. They were quite good, just perfect for this purpose, if you want to make vegan fish & chips. The chunky chips were also twice-cooked, first boiled and then finished in the oven to get them nice and crispy. I served peas, radish and lemon with them.

Have you been cooking vegan or vegetarian versions of old classics lately?

Your VegHog

Tahini pasta bowl

Have you tried pasta made from pulses that looks like rice yet? Well I have and I loved it. Mine was made from red lentils, chickpeas and peas and I made a vegan tahini pasta bowl with it. I added some mini macaroni, veggie balls, bell pepper, onion, garlic, garlic sprouts, fresh tomatoes and a sauce made with tahini and lemon to the bowl. It was such a nice and comforting bowl of food. A little splash of tahini and lemon can work wonders on any basic bowl.

I'm also including some live scenes from my tea towel to this post. January continues being grey and soggy here in Copenhagen, but the buildings are colourful and uplifting. We are off for a walk soon regardless the heavy winds.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Crispy roast potatoes, vegan beurre blanc and 2020

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you got to the twenties alright. I've had a very nice break, first Christmas at home in Finland, and then New Year's celebrations here in Copenhagen. We even got some snow in Finland, even though it has been unusually warm for this time of the year.

I have some recipes waiting to be shared with you, and I can't wait to get started. I will be sharing many vegan dishes this month, and it could be handy in case you're taking part in Veganuary. I'm once again not doing it, as I've got too much left-over cheese from the festive period. However I will primarily be eating plantbased food.

Today's dish is what I cooked for my partner for his birthday dinner after Christmas, a fully plantbased meal of crispy roast potatoes, vegan beurre blanc, steamed brussels sprouts and a shop-bought vegetable frikadelle. It was a very nice meal, and it now occurred to me that it was almost identical with this dish from 2018! The funniest thing is that even the tea towel in the photos is the same! Well old habits... but this time the dish was vegan, and I think that there were also improvements in the roast potatoes. You can check the recipe for the roast potatoes in that old post and here's the recipe for the vegan beurre blanc. I used Vegan Block by Naturli, and it worked here very nicely.

Vegan beurre blanc

1 shallot

150 ml white wine

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

125 g vegan butter

1 tsp yeast flakes

Pink peppercorns

Green peppercorns

Chop the shallot finely and heat it with the wine and vinegar. Reduce until about the half of the liquid has cooked off.

Remove the shallot with a sieve leaving just a clear liquid. Add the cold vegan butter into the liquid a small piece at a time and keep whisking.

Finally add the yeast flakes and peppercorns and serve with the dish of your choice. 

 

I look forward to another year of cooking and sharing recipes with you. With these wintery scenes from Finland, I wish you a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Pattypan squash curry

I managed to buy the rest of the Christmas presents yesterday, so no more stress for me (apart from the cooking planning etc.). There won't be any elaborate presents this year, just some small trinkets, and I'm not really planning to stress about anything either. Next weekend we will be travelling to Finland to spend Christmas with my mother. Before that, there will still be a hectic work week. I'm quite ready for a few days off over Christmas and happy to see family.

The rain continues today and it's chillier with heavy wind, so what could be nicer than a warming curry and curling up on the sofa.

I made a Thai style pattypan squash curry last weekend and it was very nice. I still had one pattypan squash left from late summer, early autumn, and slowly wanted to cook something with it. I added fried oat block to the curry, which is a Finnish product, like tofu but made from oats. I also used some nice red chillies, onion, garlic, coconut milk and warming spices. I also made homemade naan bread on the side.

I thought that one of the naan breads looked like a hedgehog. Don't you think so too?

I'm not going to publish the recipe here, as I've made many similar curries before. Here are some of them for inspiration.

Golden Thai Curry

Thai Curry with fennel and beetroot tofu 

Pattypan squash and broccoli green curry 

Thai curry with spinach and tofu 

Fennel and cauliflower Thai curry 

Homemade naan bread 

Have a nice day!

Your VegHog

Mushroom and lentil shepherd's pie

The weekend has started rainy. There would be a lovely Christmas market nearby, but maybe it's better to leave it for tomorrow, in case the weather improves. I need to buy a couple of Christmas presents for the children in the family, so I might just be brave and head for the shops. I know it will be crowded, but it probably doesn't get any better towards the holidays.

I haven't made a vegan shepherd's pie for quite a while, but somehow it belongs to this season. I might make one for the Christmas table too, but haven't decided that yet. The only twist here from my usual lentil shepherd's pie was using portobello mushrooms. They added a really nice earthiness to the dish and I can only recommend this combination. The filling really doesn't look too appetising, but I promise you, it was tasty. So here comes my recipe.

Mushroom and lentil shepherd's pie

Ingredients

700 g potatoes

2 large onions

3 garlic cloves

3 portobello mushrooms

2 carrots

½ cup green lentils

½ cup red lentils

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp vegetable stock powder

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp yeast flakes

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Method

Peel and cook the potatoes. Mash them, add some vegan butter and salt and set to side.

Cook the green lentils separately in water until they are done. Towards the end, add also the red lentils to the mix. Drain and set to side.

In the meanwhile, chop the onion, garlic, carrots and mushrooms. Start slowcooking the onion in vegetable oil in a pan under lid until it becomes soft and slightly browned. Stir occasionally. Then add the minced garlic and carrots to the pan and cook a while more. Then also add the chopped mushrooms and cook until they are done.

Add the lentils to the mix and season. Place the mushroom and lentil mix in an oven dish and cover it with the potato mash. Make some fork markings on top and bake at 180 for about 1 hour.

When the mash is nicely golden brown and crispy at places, serve the pie with a side salad and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Schupfnudeln

Schupfnudeln are traditional German thick “finger” noodles or dumplings. Some of the basic recipes just use flour, eggs and water, but often also potato mash is added. Schupfnudeln can be eaten in both savoury and sweet dishes. There are regional differences, whether the noodles are just boiled in water or also fried. I definitely prefer the savoury potato variation fried.

I made vegan Schupfnudeln and first I was a bit nervous whether they would hold their shape, but they did so perfectly. I added some potato flour to the dough, which I think made a firmer texture. I served the Schupfnudeln with panfried smoked tofu and mushrooms and side salad. Here is my recipe, which really is simple. The shaping of the noodles just requires some effort and patience. Give it a try, these noodles really are amazing! This is also my last recipe to my German Food Week. I hope you've enjoyed it.

Schupfnudeln

Ingredients

700 g potatoes

300 g wheat flour

75 g potato flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Cook the potatoes and then peel them. Mash the potatoes and let them cool down.

Add the flours gradually to the potato mash, season with salt, add the oil and knead to an even dough.

Shape about 3-4 cm long noodles from the dough.

Cook the noodles in water for about 5 minutes until they float on the top.

Cool them in cold water and then fry in a pan until they have some golden brown frying marks.

Serve the Schupfnudeln with for example mushrooms like I did and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Quesadillas with spicy potatoes and beans

This weekend we have the great Street Food om Søerne food festival taking place right at our doorstep for three days. We already went there yesterday to check out the food trucks and booths, and to have some evening snacks. I still have a long list of tasty things to try, so we will be heading there again today. I will write a post about the festival at the end of it, but now first a quick quesadilla post.

I made these vegetarian quesadillas with the amazing No Fairytales beetroot tortillas to give them more colour. They contained twice-baked new potatoes, black-eyed beans, butter beans, bell pepper, tomatoes, cheese, chipotle and Mexican spices.

Quesadillas with spicy potatoes and beans

Ingredients

8-10 new potatoes

1 red bell pepper

6 cherry tomatoes

½ cup cooked black-eyed beans

1 cup cooked butter beans

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

1 chipotle chilli

Vegetable oil for frying

2 tbsp tomato purée

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp Mexican oregano

100 g grated Cheddar

5 beetroot tortillas

Method

Cook the potatoes in water until done.

Chop the vegetables and start frying the onion in oil.

After the onion is softened, add the garlic, chillies and bell pepper to the pan.

After a while, also add the tomatoes, beans and potatoes to the mix, followed by the seasoning.

Let simmer under the lid until the flavours have blended.

Place some of the potato and bean mix on a tortilla with cheese, fold and fry them on both sides in a pan.

And they are ready to be served. I served the quesadillas with fresh peas on the side. Enjoy!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Spicy sweet potatoes

I've been having a relaxing weekend so far, and tomorrow it's still a public holiday so that I can relax some more. Yesterday we went on a stroll in the botanical gardens and spotted some cute moorhen chicks swimming around in a lake full of yellow water lilies. It was a nice weather too, not too hot just nice and sunny. Today I want to go to the seaside a little bit, so we will soon head to that direction. It only takes about 10 minutes to walk there from our place. What have you been up to this weekend?

I made this vegan spicy mix with roasted sweet potatoes, black eyed peas, sweetcorn, tomatoes, carrots, brown rice and spices. It was just a creative dish using what was available, but it turned out quite nice.

Spicy sweet potatoes

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes

Vegetable oil

4 tomatoes

2 carrots

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 chilli

1 cup black eyed peas

1 can sweetcorn

Salt

Ground black pepper

Smoked paprika

Ground cumin

Ground coriander

Tomato purée

½ cup brown rice

Method

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into cubes. Coat them with vegetable oil, salt and smoked paprika and roast in the oven.

Chop the onion, tomatoes, carrots, garlic and chilli and start heating them in a pan.

Once they are softened, add the black eyed peas and sweetcord, and season to taste.

Cook the rice separately and add it to the mix once done.

Let the flavours blend and enjoy.

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