Become Pro Vegetarian Chef

I've had a proper lazy weekend and most of all I have had a long sleep in, no dreading the alarm going off and waking up to go into work in the dark and come back home in the dark. The weekend has also allowed me to d some slow cooking and make the most of the little light there was outside for photographs, but the reality is its been a dark weekend with lingering dark clouds, drippy rain and blustery winds.  Today's hearty  lunch was Lemon-Coriander Maftoul with Roasted Harissa Rainbow Carrots.   I  picked up two bunches of rainbow carrots from a local greengrocers.  I wanted to make more of a feast of them, than just chop, grate or spiralize them for a coleslaw, so I roasted them whole in a harissa sauce and served it with  Zaytoun Palestenian Maftoul .  Maftoul is made from sun-dried bulgar wheat and hand rolled into tiny chewy balls.  The magic of maftoul is that it absorbs flavours wonderfully so I coated it in lemony coriander goodne...

This was not what I had planned to make with the aubergines that have been  nestling at the bottom of the fridge for the past week or so, but I couldn't remember the recipe I had actually planned to make with them.  Do you have days like that?!  Pick up some avocados for something specific then can't remember why and end up just making guacamole with it! It didn't matter in the end as this Harissa Aubergine, Kale and Chickpeas dish was lovely.  We had it  early this afternoon after a lovely day in Cardiff where I spent quite a bit of hard earned cash today.  I picked up a gorgeous retro dress from a stall at St Mary's Market in the High Street, (the same place I got my Angry  Persian Aunties );  and a couple of pair of shoes from one of Cardiff's many Arcades, yes you read right, a couple of shoes and I am not even a shoe person.  Honestly they are both for work.  The past three months, and I am not kidding I have been going into work...

Some of you will have noticed that in the past week or so, I have been gravitating towards Welsh recipes and Welsh things.  This is for the simple reason that next week many of us in Wales will be celebrating St David's Day , even the daffodils are coming out to celebrate, though to be honest they have been out posing by the side of the roads a month earlier. As we enjoyed the  Curried Root Vegetable Stew  a couple of weeks back, I thought I would make it again, but enhance it further with the addition of spices and leeks and make it somewhat Fusion Welsh - yes we do like our leeks here in Wales, well I do.   Even though the daffodils are confused and finding the British weather warm, some of us are still finding it, so stew-like meals have been on the menu quite a bit.     Cwtch means hug in Welsh and it a word you will hear and see a lot in Wales. And these light cloud like dumplings definitely give you a big warm welcome hug, who doesn't lov...

I hope you don't mind me sharing a recent observation when I was waiting to get the bus back home from work. I start with a statement.  I think chivalry is dead or taking its very last dying breaths.  I had faith it was still alive in the older gentlemen but not now.  I waited to get my bus home and noted fellow blogger Sareta's Kitchen make and was inspired to give it my own South Asian twist - Indian, Pakistan and Bangladesh all rolled into one.  Here it is my Curried Anglo Italian Ratatouille with fenugreek and chickpeas.  Of course, I had to present it prettily, it takes a little time but its worth the effort when you want to make an impression. You could serve this with plain Basmati rice if you want, but some good crusty bread is what we had.   So how was it?  I really liked it.  If ratatouille was served to me like this I would enjoy it more. Yes we British people Love Fusion Food.  Yes - we do, really - when people think of t...

I don't know if he was just very hungry or being honest, but D complimented on how delicious this Harissa Butternut Squash Stew was, not once but twice with a Thank you Lady.   I thought it was going to one of those stews that would benefit from overnight rest in the fridge, but we had it within an hour of making it and it was most enjoyable.  The harissa and the smoked paprika offset against each other wonderfully. Be careful with the cooking of the vegetables, especially the broccoli towards the end, you do not want it really soft, but still with bite, otherwise it would be more bordering on soup than stew, which is not a bad thing, but sometimes you want texture not bambino  food. I served this Harissa Butternut Squash Stew with some Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by Searching for Spice as this was good a couple of days later too; and  with CookBlogShare hosted by Easy Peasy Foodie. Harissa  Butternut Squash Stew with Broccoli and Chickpeas Ser...

This inspiration for this recipe that I have dubbed as Chickpeas Three Ways comes from Kari who blogs  Bite Sized Thoughts .   I recently made her  Sweet Potato Fudge  and was delighted with it, so knew this would also hit the right spots in my belly.   Its dainty presentation, something that my husband doesn't always appreciate.  He feels robbed, as if there i not enough on his plate.  He likes his plate piled high up, I like it neat. But there was no grumbling today, this plate of Chickpeas Three Ways is definitely a belly filler  This made for a delicious light lunch, to sit outside in the garden and enjoy.  It would also be a fantastic starter to a posh meal.  Or treat it like a blini topped with the spiced chickpea ratatouille. And even though its quite fancy, its a very economical dish too.  Perhaps one to make for large crowds too. I made chickpea pancakes from my recipe that you can find here .  The chickp...

I made a  Plum and Chickpea Curry last year but did not get round to sharing it at the time, so with it being the Plum season in the UK I thought I would make it again and share my vegetarian vegan version of 'Lamb' and Plum Curry.   This 'Lamb' and Plum Curry is a real recipe adapted from Camellia Panjabi 50 Great Curries of India.    I used vegan soy pieces* that I picked up from a Polish shop, they were not that great, but for the vegetarians the Quorn fillets will also work.  If you don't want to use the mock meat substitute, then just double up on the chickpeas.   If you can't quite get you head round it, think of the plums as zingy purple tomatoes - the plums in a way replace the tomatoes in this dish; and for those of you who have had either Red or Green Tomato curry, then this will not sound that strange. It was actually quite nice, sharp and sweet. Here are    13 Vegetarian and/ or Vegan Meat Free Fruit Curry Recipes . Plu...