Chilli sweetcorn fritters

How has your week started? My Monday was fine, possibly better than usual, but I'm now happy to be able to relax a little with some blog writing. To spice up your Monday I bring you spicy chilli sweetcorn fritters. They contain sweetcorn, pepper, chilli and smoked chilli paste with some seasoning. I used an egg and spelt flour for binding. These fritters held together very well during the frying and were nice and firm in the end. I enjoyed them with black bean rice and some chipotle ketchup. I thought that these were quite nice summer fritters.

Recipe for about 8 fritters

Ingredients

140 g sweetcorn

1 romano pepper

1 green chilli

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

1-2 tsp smoked chilli paste

Sprinkle of smoked paprika

Sprinkle of salt

1 egg

3 tbsp spelt flour

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Chop the romano pepper, chilli, onion and garlic finely and quickly fry them in olive oil until softened.

Mix the sweetcorn, smoked chilli paste and seasoning in and let cool.

Add the egg and spelt flour and heat vegetable oil in a pan.

Shape fritters from the mix and fry them on both sides until golden brown.

Remove any excess oil with a kitchen towel.

Enjoy in whichever combination you like!

Your VegHog

Sweetcorn cakes

I haven't been baking much for Easter this year. Probably because I won't be home then and have been quite busy lately. Now I made these savoury little cakes, which I think could almost qualify as Easter baking. Have you already been making some lovely stuff for Easter?

I saw this recipe for “Maissikakut” (Sweetcorn cakes) on a Finnish recipe page. I gave it a little bit my own twist, so my version is here below. These are really easy to make and they are a great snack in between.

Makes about 12 cakes.

Ingredients

260 g / 1 can sweetcorn

1 carrot

2 continental salad onions

A bunch of fresh parsley

200 ml polenta

2 tbsp spelt flour

200 ml milk

1 tsp salt

Method

Peel the carrot and grate it.

Chop the salad onions into fine rings, also use the greens.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, season the mix and stir it smooth.

Place the mix into muffin cases and bake at 200C for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Smoky freekeh with peppers, beans and sweetcorn

Freekeh is quite a new acquaintance for me, but I'm already head over heels for it, not just for its health benefits. Freekeh is an ancient grain, unripe wheat that has been through a process of roasting, where it has obtained a lovely smoky flavour. It's full of fiber and protein, which makes it a perfect veggie supplement.

Last week I made this spicy freekeh dish with beans, sweetcorn and peppers (please note that the recipe is for quite a large amount and can be scaled down). I think that this was a perfect mid-week dinner, which transformed into a great lunch for the next day. I will be making much more this kind of dishes in the future now that I'm hooked. This basic recipe is vegan, I only added halloumi to the serving, but it's optional.

Ingredients

1 cup smoky freekeh

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

1-2 bay leaves

2 bell peppers

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

240 g red kidney beans

240 g sweetcorn

1 tbsp olive oil

½-1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

A sprinkle of salt

Fresh coriander to taste

Method

Rinse the freekeh and cook it in water with added vegetable stock powder and bay leaves until it's done. This takes about 20 minutes.

Chop the bell peppers, shallots and garlic and start cooking them in olive oil.

Add the beans and sweetcorn to the pan with the spices (chilli flakes, smoked paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander and salt).

Let it cook until you're happy with the flavour and textures.

Add the freekeh to the vegetables and cook for 10 minutes more.

Just before serving, add the fresh coriander.

On the side I served just a little bit of salad and fried halloumi slices.

Enjoy and have a good week!

Your VegHog

Sweetcorn and black bean burritos

I spontaneously started craving burritos, so I had to do something about that (well, a day later that is...). As I happened to have black beans in the cupboard I started planning what else could go with them into nice veggie burritos. I chose the ingredients below, mainly black beans, sweetcorn, pepper and tomatoes. Those are always good basics + I got to use loads of my own tomatoes again. I can't promise that these are very authentic burritos, but it's my take on them anyway.

And here's how I made them.

500 g tomatoes

4 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

Slow-cook the above ingredients into a tomato sauce, until the sauce is concentrated and the tomato taste is intense and any excess liquid has evaporated. Simmer at least one hour, mostly with lid on, and stir occasionally. This is quite similar method to my slow-cooked tomato sauce recipe.  

Then continue with the below ingredients.

2 large shallots

1 pointy yellow romano pepper

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp chilli flakes

240 g / 1 can black beans

240 g / 1 can sweetcorn

Chop the shallots finely and the pepper into small cubes. Start cooking them in a separate pan in vegetable oil until they are soft.

Add the seasoning and then the beans and sweetcorn. Cook for about 15 minutes at low heat.

Add the concentrated tomato sauce to the vegetables and stir.

Now your filling is ready for the burritos.

6 soft tortilla wraps

300 g Red Leicester and Cheddar cheese mix grated

Warm the tortilla wraps up and fill them with the sweetcorn and black bean mix and cheese. Wrap them into burritos and enjoy!

I also served a tomato salsa (my recipe here) and plain cottage cheese on the side.  

Have a good weekend!

Your VegHog

Vegetarian bean and potato burgers

When I became a vegetarian as a teenager in the mid 1990's, a vegetable burger was a very desirable dish for me. Back then neither in Finland nor in Germany there were very many in the offer, so I had to figure out how to make my own. A bean and potato burger was the very first one I ever tried to make, and I remember to have been very pleased with myself then. Unfortunately I have lost that recipe, but I tried to make an advanced version of those burgers today, and I really think that the result was similar, yet much better, to the burgers back then.

So here's my recipe for vegetarian bean and potato burgers. Don't be intimidated by the long ingredient list, most of it is seasoning that's handy to always have around. The burgers take a little bit of dedication to make, but boy, are they worth it!

For the burger patties: (Makes about 10 large patties)

500g potatoes

2 red onions

3 garlic cloves

2tbsp olive oil

400g black beans (1 tin)

200g sweetcorn (1 small tin)

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp parsley

A dash of grated nutmeg

1tsp chilli flakes

1tsp vegetable stock powder

A few leaves of fresh sage

1tsp salt

½tsp black pepper

2 eggs

1 cup semolina

1 cup breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

For assembling the burgers:

Ciabatta rolls (or lovely home made buns!)

Cheddar with chilli

Gem lettuce

Peel the potatoes, boil them in water until soft and mash them. Then let the mash cool. While the potatoes are boiling prepare the rest of the Schnitzel mixture. Chop the onions and garlic finely and cook them in olive oil until soft. Add the beans and sweetcorn to the pan and season with cumin, coriander, parsley, nutmeg, chilli flakes, vegetable stock powder, sage, salt and pepper. Cook until any excess liquid has evaporated and cool the mix.

Once both mixtures have cooled, combine them and stir thoroughly together. After the mixing, let the patty mixture rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Then the actual patty making can start. It's best to prepare an assembling line for these, starting from the left: the bowl with the patty mixture (shaping of the patties takes place above the mixture bowl), a deep plate with the beaten eggs, another plate with the semolina and breadcrumbs and finally a hot non-stick pan with generous amount of vegetable oil for frying (the cooking temperature may need adjusting during the cooking). Shape the patties with your hands and roll them in the eggs and the breadcrumbs, and then off to the frying pan they go. Fry the patties on both sides until they are golden brown with a crispy surface.

At some point in between, warm up the buns and cut the lettuce. Then just assemble yourself some nice veggie burgers and enjoy! I served a salad with homemade oven tomatoes on the side and added some chilli Cheddar to the burgers – yummy! 

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Mixed bean and sweetcorn chilli

I have made a vegetarian chilli again. The butter beans and black beans were the main ingredients in this one, but I also added some sweetcorn to it. Use more chillies than mentioned in this recipe, if you prefer really spicy food, as I like my chilli a bit milder. I normally make a bigger batch so that I can have some left as next day's lunch. I think that this kind of chilli is also a nice dish to offer to any vegetarian dinner guests you might have. 

So this is how it goes.

7 small shallots

5 garlic cloves

1 green chilli

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp paprika

250 g tomatoes

400 g butter beans (1 can)

400 g black beans (1 can)

400 g sweetcorn (1 can)

140 g double concentrated tomato purée

150 g Red Leicester cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 tsp vegetable stock powder

1 lime's juice

Chop the shallots, garlic cloves, green chilli and tomatoes small.

Cook the shallots, garlic and chilli in olive oil until soft. Then add the following seasoning: ground coriander, ground cumin and paprika, and stir for a minute or so. Then add the chopped tomatoes, butter beans, black beans, sweetcorn and tomato purée, and simmer under lid for at least 30 minutes, but the cooking time can be even longer.

Season later with salt, cocoa powder, vegetable stock powder and lime juice. Add more of any of the spices to taste. Once you are happy that the flavours have blended nicely and everything is cooked, stir in the cheese.

Serve with rice, nachos, tortillas, anything you like... what is your favourite serving suggestion?

Enjoy!

Your VegHog