Peanut noodles

 

I hope you are all doing fine. I don’t have anything new to update, but just wanted to stop by with a small dish. I’ve been just working, cooking and going out for walks, as there is not much else to do. It has been quite relaxing though, but I do miss an occasional restaurant visit and seeing my friends and family. Tell me what you’ve been up to?

These quick vegan noodles were made with peanuts, peanut butter, soy sauce, chilli, spices, carrot ribbons, garlic and onion. They were very tasty and it was nice to have some chunky udon noodles for a change.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

 

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

Asparagus and peanut noodles

This week has again been sunny, but quite chilly. Yesterday even a few snowflakes came down. Anyway it's starting to look more springlike with all the flowers around and leaves on the trees starting to grow. Next week it's already Easter. We will get some visitors from England over Easter, so we will mainly be out and about in town.

This dish could actually be an alternative Easter meal. Asparagus just belongs to the spring, and it's nice to see local asparagus appearing in the market. I was looking for new inspiration for cooking asparagus, and I stumbled upon this asparagus and peanut pairing in The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. It sounded nice, so I adapted this recipe from it, and also added some spicy noodles to the mix. The dressing also contained some lemon, and of course lemon and asparagus are always a great match.

Asparagus and peanut noodles

Ingredients

For the asparagus (adapted from The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit: Asparagus & Peanut)

1 bunch green asparagus

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp soy sauce

Pinch of sugar

100 g chopped roasted salted peanuts

1 tsp black sesame seeds

For the noodles

200 g tofu

Vegetable oil for frying

200 g noodles

1 red chilli

1 jalapeno

1 garlic clove

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Method

Cut the tofu into cubes and fry them in the vegetable oil.

Cook the noodles and cool them down again.

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

Then add the noodles and tofu to the pan, and season to taste.

Steam the asparagus spears and prepare the peanut dressing by mixing the ingredients together.

Serve the noodles with the asparagus and peanut dressing and enjoy!

I'm sharing this recipe with this month's Eat Your Greens, which is hosted by me this month, and co-hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen. There is still plenty of time also to share your recipe in April!

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Thai noodles

I hope that you all had a nice festive period and are now ready to return to the normal routines and start the new year. I've already been working for three days this week, and it was okay, but now I'm still happy to have this relaxing weekend. It's fairly sunny today, but also a bit chilly, so it's a perfect weather for January.

So how many of you are having Veganuary? I'm not taking part myself, because I have too much cheese left from the Christmas period, but I admire everyone who takes this challenge. There is also a dry January, which I have sometimes done, but I'm not doing it this year. I'm happy to see these initiatives to be quite popular though. I will try to be more healthy and frugal in January otherwise.

I recently made these Thai noodles just as a change to my usual Thai curries with jasmine rice. I used soya spaghetti as the noodles and fennel and red bell pepper as the veggies. It's basically one of my golden Thai curries, but with noodles instead of rice. It was a really nice vegan meal.

Thai noodles

Ingredients

250 g tofu

1 fennel bulb

1 red bell pepper

1 onion

2 cm fresh ginger

3 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

Vegetable oil

2 tbsp white miso

2 tbsp tomato purée

2 tsp palm sugar

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 vegetable stock cube

1 lime

1 can coconut milk

Soya spaghetti

Method

Chop the tofu into cubes and fry them in vegetable oil. Set them to side and mix them into the curry towards the end.

Also cook the noodles, cool them down and set them to side. They will also be added to the mix later.

Chop the fennel and bell pepper. Also chop the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli finely and start cooking them in a pan until soft.

Add the fennel and bell pepper and fry them for a while. Then add the seasoning and stir it in.

Add the coconut milk and let the curry simmer until the flavours have blended nicely. Add any more of the seasoning to taste.

Add the noodles and tofu to the mix and heat through.

Serve and enjoy!

Have a really nice weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Peanut and cabbage noodles

I've made these spicy peanut and cabbage noodles a couple of times, but I never seem to be able to make a pretty picture of them. Well, I will keep trying, as the dish itself is so tasty.

I made slight variations to the dish this time. I would normally add tofu as the protein, but now I had these soya chunks around, and decided to use them. They also fitted the dish very well, and also the sprouts on the top add a nice zing to it. The spicy peanut sauce itself is of course key, so make sure to taste it and balance the flavours according to your taste while you make it. It's also easy to substitute the different components, but I do think that this is a nice use of cabbage.

Peanut and cabbage noodles

Ingredients

Sauce

5 tbsp peanut butter

5 tbsp soya sauce

3 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp mirin

½ tsp chilli flakes

Other ingredients

½ red cabbage

1 onion

1 garlic clove

200 g soya chunks

Sesame seeds

Radish sprouts

Wholewheat noodles

Method

Mix the sauce ingredients together, and add more of any ingredient to taste.

Cook the noodles, cool them down and set to side.

Cut the cabbage into thin strips. Chop the onion into half rings and chop the garlic finely.

Fry the onion and cabbage in a pan until soft, although I like to leave a bit of crunch to the cabbage.

Add the soya chunks and garlic and fry some more.

Stir in the sauce and the noodles and heat through.

Serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and radish sprouts.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Noodles with smoky tofu, spring onions and soy beans

Last year I reserved Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi months before it was published, as I already knew that it would be another brilliant cookbook. I really like Plenty and Ottolenghi's vegetarian recipes in the Guardian, so it was a given that I would buy this one too. I will review the book at some point, but now I'm only introducing one recipe, as I (nearly) followed it. I say nearly, because I made some additions and used slightly different ingredient amounts, depending on availability.

The Ottolenghi recipe Rice noodles with spring onions and soy beans is on pages 68-69 in Plenty More and a digital version of it can be found here. 

Below is my version. I added some smoky tofu and garlic to the dish as well and used buckwheat noodles instead of rice noodles. I liked this dish very much, and it's also quick to make.

Ingredients

200 g buckwheat noodles

225 g smoky tofu

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 bunch spring onions

2 garlic cloves

2 red chillies

200 g frozen soy beans

2 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

15 g fresh coriander

1 lime zest

Method

Cook the noodles first, drain and rinse and set to side.

Cut the tofu into small cubes and fry them in vegetable oil until golden brown and bouncy. Also set them to side.

Cut the spring onions into about 3 cm long pieces. Chop the chilli and garlic finely.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan or wok and cook the garlic, spring onions and chilli for a few minutes.

Cook the soy beans quickly in water, drain and add to the pan.

Also add the noodles and tofu to the pan.

Drizzle sesame oil, sesame seeds, rice wine vinegar, coriander and lime zest on the top.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Spelt Spätzle with smoky leeks

I have posted Spätzle recipes here a couple of times before. Please also see my Cheese and shallot Spätzle bake and the original Spätzle post. Those posts include a bit more detailed instructions for the making, if you're actually up for it. I am also very keen in answering any questions you might have about the process. I can't basically stop talking about this, if only anyone is interested.

Spätzle are Swabian egg noodles, a southern German classic dish. I love them and always want to find new ways to combine them in veggie dishes. One day I thought how great it would be to try Spätzle made of spelt flour, and I made a half and half mix. That was quite successful, so I went even bolder this time and only used spelt flour for this Spätzle. They stuck together just as well as with wheat flour and were wonderfully earthy and tasty.

In order to add even more to the earthiness of the recipe, I baked the Spätzle covered with cheese and hugged by a smoky leek sauce. If you got interested, read the recipe below. It's surprisingly straight forward even though you're making your own noodle batter.

Ingredients:

2 leeks

4 shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp butter

50 ml dry cider

2 tsp vegetable stock powder

100 g smoky cheddar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

A few fresh thyme leaves

200 g mozzarella and cheddar mix

Spätzle dough:

400 g spelt flour

4 eggs

1 tsp salt

250 ml water

Method:

Chop the leeks, shallots and garlic and cook them in butter at medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Add the cider and vegetable stock powder.

Finally add the grated smoky cheddar and season with salt, pepper and fresh thyme.

Then mix the Spätzle dough ingredients together into an even batter.

Bring water to the boil and press the Spätzle dough into the water through a potato ricer to make thick noodles.

Cook them until they float on the surface.

Mix the Spätzle with the leek mix and place into an oven dish.

Cover with the mozzarella and cheddar mix and bake until the cheese has melted and is golden brown.

Enjoy the yummy winter flavours!

Your VegHog

Spicy carrot and zucchini noodles

This is a colourful and summery vegan dish and the noodles are actually replaced by stringy carrot and zucchini. A dear friend of mine gave me this wonderful device that cuts vegetables into strings and that's what gave me the idea of a noodle-free noodle dish.

Ingredients

1 zucchini

1 carrot

1 packet of smoky tofu

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 chilies

Ginger powder

Soy sauce

Umami paste

Rice wine

Sesame oil

Groundnut oil

Cut the zucchini and carrot into strings with a special vegetable cutter. Chop the tofu into small pieces. Also chop the onion, garlic and chili.

Heat groundnut oil in a pan and start by frying the tofu until it's firm and golden brown. Add the chili, onion and garlic and fry until they are translucent. Add some sesame oil as well.

Then add the carrot strings as they need longer cooking than the zucchini. Finally add the zucchini strings and season with ginger powder, soy sauce, umami paste and rice wine. Always taste the seasoning while you go and add more of any of the seasonings if needed. Let it simmer and stir occasionally until the veg is cooked and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Spätzle – Swabian egg noodles

Spätzle are a wonderful delicacy from the German Swabian region. They are hearty and filling egg noodles often eaten with cheese and fried onions, obviously also many meat variations exist. I have a slightly different version but I learned my Spätzle making skills directly from my Swabian friends. They taught me what the dough needs to feel like in order to produce the perfect Spätzle, firm but not too eggy. Therefore the quantities below are somewhat approximate.

You'll need:

400g wheat flour

4 eggs

250ml water

Salt

2 peppers

2 large onions

4 cloves of garlic

Grated cheese

Pepper

Oil

Do this:

First prepare the onions and peppers. Chop them and the garlic and fry them in oil until they are pre-fried but not yet quite done. Season with salt and pepper and set them to side. Grate the cheese, Emmental or Cheddar go nicely with this, and bring water to the boil in a large pot. Also pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Then start making the Spätzle dough. Put the flour into a bowl, add the salt and eggs and mix. Carefully add water to achieve a stretchy, bouncy and even dough. Scoop small amounts of the dough at a time into a potato ricer and press it straight into the boiling water. Use a large setting of the potato ricer with a hole diameter of about 5mm. The Spätzle are done when they float on the surface. They might want to stick together a little but that doesn't really matter. They'll still turn out tasty.

Place the fried peppers and onions into the bottom of a large oven dish. Put the boiled Spätzle on the top and then the grated cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Serve with a fresh salad and a nice wine and enjoy the goodness.

Your VegHog

Tofu and vegetable noodles

Today I'm trying out my Asian style cooking skills because I was inspired by a friend's dish. It's slightly out of my comfort zone but I think the result was fairly nice tasting. I'm not going to be very precise with the ingredient amounts (see approximately how much I used on the ingredient photos) as there needs to be a certain experimental approach for the seasoning.

Ingredients

Wholewheat and buckwheat noodles

Smoked tofu

Shiitake mushrooms

Sugarsnap peas

Radish

Shallots

Garlic

Ginger

Chili

Soy sauce

Rice wine

Umami paste

Groundnut oil

Sesame oil

Chop the tofu into small bits and start frying them in the groundnut oil. The smoked tofu is a nice touch as there's no need to marinate it beforehand. Also chop the chili, shallots, garlic and ginger.

When tofu is fried so it's bouncy and firm add the chili, shallots, garlic and ginger to the pan. Fry these for a while and then chop the shiitake and add them to the pan. Add some sesame oil as well at this stage. Finally add the sugarsnap peas, cut them in half if you prefer, and add good splashes of soy sauce and rice wine until it tastes right. Then you can also add a little umami paste or miso to make the dish more savoury or just add extra soy sauce. The sugarsnap peas are done within a few minutes if you want them to be a bit crunchy.

Simultaneously boil the noodles in water. When they are soft drain and stir them in to the rest of the mix. Slice the radish as garnish. Check for seasoning and serve!

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog