Roasted veg, chickpeas, tempeh and tahini sauce

My apologies for the quiet blog once again. I don’t seem to have much energy for blogging at the moment and my daily dishes aren’t that inspiring. Last weekend was cold and icy and we still had proper snow in the week, but today it looks quite different. It’s a little bit cloudy at +4C and we are of course heading to the market soon, as there’s not much else to do on the weekends. There is of course a lovely vegetable and flower market, but also take away food and drinks in the market halls. You are not allowed to consume any food or drink on the premises, but there is also a nice nearby park. Now to my dish.

The title kind of says it all. I roasted some potatoes, squash and carrots and added chickpeas and fried soy-glazed spicy tempeh to it. I made a tahini-lemon sauce that was sprinkled on the dish and there I had it, a tray full of goodness. I took inspiration from Yotam Ottolenghi’s traybakes for this dish. I’ve also been very inspired by the Danish tempeh that is now easily accessible here in the supermarkets. It’s locally produced, made from split peas and lupin beans and such a nice quality. I always have some in my freezer these days.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog 

 

Roasted vegetable pitas

I had a lovely relaxing day yesterday. We took a train to a nearby village and walked around there a bit. There was a mix of a cute little old town and modern architecture. It was quite interesting to go outside of Copenhagen, which we don't do very often. I'm really keen to travel in rest of Denmark to get to know the whole country better. Today I just want to go for a walk and cook a Thai curry in the evening.

I recently made these pitas with roasted aubergine and bell pepper, vegan broad bean strips and cabbage. Here is a quick and simple recipe.

Ingredients

1 aubergine

1 bell pepper

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil for roasting and frying

Ground black pepper to taste

Ground cumin to taste

Ground coriander to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

Chilli flakes to taste

Salt to taste

250 g vegan protein (I used Beanit made from broad beans)

100 g hummus

Kale, cabbage, beetroot mix

4 pitas

Method

Chop the aubergine and bell pepper into cubes. Slice the onion and chop the garlic finely.

Coat the aubergine and pepper with olive oil, and roast them in the oven until done.

Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the onions. Add the garlic to the pan, and then also fry the vegan protein.

Add the roasted vegetables to the pan and season to taste with ground black pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika, chilli flakes and salt.

Warm the pitas in the oven, spread hummus on the inside and fill them with the roasted vegetable mix. Add fresh veggies of your choice. I used a kale, cabbage and beetroot mix.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Roasted vegetables & Getting into the Christmas spirit

Are you fully getting into the Christmas spirit? I'm slowly getting there, although I've been very busy and there is still one toilsome day at work ahead. Then tomorrow evening we will be heading to Finland to celebrate Christmas with my family. Let's hope that there will be a lot of snow. I would love to hear what your plans are for Christmas?

I'm a little bit sad to leave my cosy Christmas nest behind, but it'll also be nice to be home and relax. I've got two trees in the apartment that we will be keeping well into January as per the Scandinavian tradition. One is only a tiny table tree, but it makes such a great dinner table centrepiece. We also got a slightly bigger tree, which is still quite compact. It has been decorated with diverse animal ornaments in a quite rustic way. Of course there are plenty of hedgehogs on there!

Then over to the food. 'tis the season for roasted vegetables, if any. I made this small platter of roasted potatoes, carrots and brussels sprouts and served them with hummus. I'm still a little bit indecisive, which vegetables I should roast for Christmas. Are you having them on the side and what mix are you going with?

Have a lovely festive season!

Your VegHog

Couscous with roasted Mediterranean vegetables

The VegHog's Cheap Eats Week has already started nicely and is continuing today with this vegan couscous dish with added roasted vegetables. This vibrant dish contains a few fresh vegetables that have been roasted, but the couscous is the filling agent and it's very affordable. Some money can be saved here by using seasonal vegetables. For the first time ever I also roasted a whole chilli and it was quite an interesting addition.

So here's today's cheap eat:

Ingredients

1 head garlic

1 aubergine

3 romano peppers

1 onion

100 g tomatoes

1 red chilli

Olive oil

1 cup couscous

2 tsp vegetable stock powder

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Slice the top off the garlic head, drizzle it with olive oil, cover in foil and roast.

Cut the aubergine in half and cut a griddle pattern on each of the cut sides. Drizzle them with olive oil. You can add more oil during the roasting, if they are threatening to get dry. I want my roasted aubergines very soggy, and even the skin can be discarded afterwards, if it's too tough.

Cut the romano peppers into pieces and slice the onions. The tomatoes can be roasted whole. Roast the vegetables brushed with olive oil in the oven until they are soft and have nice roasting marks. The roasting time varies a bit, the tomatoes need less time than the aubergine and peppers. I roasted some of the vegetables in different tins to be able to control the process better.

Cook the couscous in water with some added vegetable stock powder. Combine the couscous and the vegetables, season a little with salt and pepper and serve.

Have you been saving some money through cooking? What are your best cheapskate tips when it comes to eating?

Your VegHog

Black rice with roasted vegetables and halloumi

I have been fancying unusual coloured food lately, especially black, which is slightly weird for the spring season. Anyhow, I saw this black rice at my local health food shop and was curious to try it. I planned for me quite a typical weekday meal around it and here are the results. I made a black rice dish with roasted bell peppers and plum tomatoes and fried halloumi. I liked it very much and will surely be making similar dishes in the future.

Ingredients

2 bell peppers

250 g baby plum tomatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

1 cup black rice

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

250 g halloumi

½ tbsp vegetable oil for frying

2 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp chilli flakes

Method

I cooked everything separately first: Roasted the bell pepper and baby plum tomatoes in the oven; boiled the black rice in water with vegetable stock powder; fried the halloumi cubes in vegetable oil and then combined them. Here are more detailed instructions.

Cut the bell peppers into coarse pieces and brush them and the tomatoes with olive oil. Roast in the oven until they have distinct roasting marks. I did the roasting in separate dishes, as the tomatoes can come out of the oven a bit earlier.

Cook the black rice in water with added vegetable stock powder. Fry the halloumi cubes in vegetable oil until golden brown.

Start cooking the finely chopped shallots and garlic in olive oil. Then add the rice, roasted tomatoes and spices to it. Cook until the flavours have blended nicely and the rice is fully cooked.

Serve together with the roasted bell peppers (which can also be mixed in, I just didn't want them to turn purple for the presentation) and halloumi.

What do you think, does black or weird coloured food appeal to you or rather not? I wouldn't always want to have it, but it can be a nice change.

Your VegHog