Become Pro Vegetarian Chef

I am back from my holidays and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, but like all holidays it comes to an end.  I have lots of photographs to share, but that will have to wait till later in the week.   Today I share with you this Chipotle Chilli Sweetcorn Soup. This soup may look a tad simple on the visual side, but the bold flavours totally blew me away. Sweetness and bite from the sweetcorn, punch and fragrance from the coriander, there was also smokiness from the chipotle chile and a distinct fresh tarragon like flavour from the epazote, a little aniseed like.   Had I not rediscovered my No Croutons Required  hosted this month by  Lisa's Kitchen.  and Jac at  Tinned Tomatoes.   Chipotle Chilli Sweetcorn Soup Serves 4 Ingredients 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, finely sliced 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1/2 teaspoon dried epazote leaves or 1 sprig or tarragon 1/4 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon chile chipotle powder 400g...

Eating black eyed peas at the start of the New Year had become a bit of a tradition in my home, reputed to bring good luck and prosperity.  Goulash made with Black Eyed Beans Black Eyed Peas Hot Pot Ginger Black Eyed Peas Trini Black Eyed Peas with Rice Well whether its true or not, I fancied a change this time round and made something different. Still with pulse goodness.   I like the natural buttery nature of butter beans more than cannelini beans, but choose whatever white bean takes your fancy if you want to try this recipe.  What really tempted me to make this White Bean Soup was actually the  Arabic Seven Spices  known as Baharat .   Follow this link to learn and see so many other variations of the  Middle Eastern - Arabic Seven Spice - Baharat . When the dish was completed, I felt it was more of a stew than a soup which was actually a good thing, making this suitable more for a meal than a light lunch.  The weather has been stu...

We tend to enjoy soup at the weekend.  There was once a time when I would make it on a Sunday for us to enjoy during the working week, but the reality was when we come home from a long day at work, we really want to tuck into something more substantial than slurp from a bowl. D has a tendency to pick up tomatoes from the grocers even out of season.  He knows they cannot ever be compared to homegrown, but he likes to have them as an option for his home-made sandwiches or cherry tomatoes for salads.   These tomatoes had not been used for either and to the touch were beginning to soften here and there.  After enjoying the Seven Spice Butter Bean Stew I was inspired to make a soup of them with the addition of butter beans.  As you can imagine, the tomatoes were not the tastiest, so I decided to a little balsamic vinegar for sharp flavour, this was a good move as it made for a good soup. I am sharing this with Farmers Girl  Kitchen and Baking Queen 74 ...

When I say Indian, its more Indian style as I wish to embrace the diversity of all the countries in the Indian Sub-Continent - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even the Maldives as they all embrace this way of cooking.  This is also in part to show respect to the many 'Indian' restaurateurs and take-aways  across Europe and the United Kingdom where the owners and workers are often of   Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage.  I make Curried Red Lentil Dal all the time, its part of my South Asian heritage, however I made this particular version of  Pigeon Pea Soup from Prashad's cookbook a couple of weeks back.    It does just look like a simple bowl of Red Dal, but its rather deceptive in appearance because once you take slurp of this soup you are hit first by the heady perfumed herbyness and then Boom - you taste the amazing spices - its really quite something special for some thing could easily be described as a peasant dish.   ...

I made this soup last week, or was it the weekend before...I can't remember now.  What I do remember is wanting to make French Onion Soup for a long while.  I think the idea had been planted in my head during Vegan Mofo when I saw a good looking vegan variation of French Onion soup that got me drooling.   This one is not vegan though it could easily be by replacing the butter with vegan margarine and vegan 'cheese'. Previous to making this soup, I have only ever had French Onion soup once in my life.  No it was not when I was in  Paris, France  for my honeymoon; or when I was in Brittany visiting friends . No it wasn't even when we went to Marseille quite recently, no I had my first ever French Onion Soup in  Loch Lomond , when I lived in Scotland.   We had friends visiting us from America and we went to the shores of Loch Lomond.  It was the only dish on the menu, other than Ploughman's Lunch that was marked as suitable for vege...

I made this soup last week, or was it the weekend before...I can't remember now.  What I do remember is wanting to make French Onion Soup for a long while.  I think the idea had been planted in my head during Vegan Mofo when I saw a good looking vegan variation of French Onion soup that got me drooling.   This one is not vegan though it could easily be by replacing the butter with vegan margarine and vegan 'cheese'. Previous to making this soup, I have only ever had French Onion soup once in my life.  No it was not when I was in  Paris, France  for my honeymoon; or when I was in Brittany visiting friends . No it wasn't even when we went to Marseille quite recently, no I had my first ever French Onion Soup in  Loch Lomond , when I lived in Scotland.   We had friends visiting us from America and we went to the shores of Loch Lomond.  It was the only dish on the menu, other than Ploughman's Lunch that was marked as suitable for vege...

This is just a variation of my popular Miso Bowl with Green Vegetables .   I decided to make more of a meal of it, simply by stirring in some buckwheat noodles.   It reminds me a little of of Bibimbap, a bowl that you mess up. This one though, I will let you slurp. Buckwheat Soba Noodles in Miso with Green Vegetables Serves 4 Ingredients 5g sea vegetables, rehydrated in water 600ml water 2 tablespoons miso paste 1 tablespoon Tamari or soy sauce 160grams asparagus spears (or sea asparagus - samphire), sliced in three 120grams edamame beans, soy beans, broad beans and peas Optional: chopped spring onions and for garnish coriander Soba noodles, cooked according to packet instructions, set aside Method In a pan, boil the water.  When it begins to boil, stir in the miso paste that has been diluted to a thick paste. Stir in the soy sauce, and asparagus and simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in the beans and simmer for two minutes along with the sea ...

For those of you who grow vegetables, no doubt you are in undated with courgettes aka zucchini. Do get yourself the cookbook What Will I Do with All Those Courgettes ?!  Saying that though, its done me no good today as  I couldn't find my copy and am still in the process of looking for it.  The last time I saw it was when we lived in Scotland and now of course, my home is in Wales.   Anyway, I ended up making a simple Dal recipe with the addition of courgettes from my garden plot.  I still have a very sore throat from last week and i keep losing my voice now and again, so wanted something soothing and a little spicy.  Plus its been raining on and off - yes typical of a long Bank Holiday weekend.   Yes I know this is really a Dal, that you eat with roti, chapatti or naan bread, but I like to enjoy it like a soup with a big spoon and some crusty bread, there was definitely something about it that made me feel well.  It was also really yummy ...

Its a soup kind of day.     I actually made this Berbere Split Pea, Sweetcorn and Yellow Courgette Soup when I had courgettes growing in the garden plot, they have come to an end now (though I have still have some courgette dishes to share).   In recent years I have been exploring and enjoying more and more Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. The last recipe I made was during Refugee Week.  I have to admit this Berbere Soup is not authentic,  but it is inspired as I was given a little jar of homemade Berbere spice  blend by one of the volunteers in my workplace.    This soup not only has homegrown courgettes, it also has but yellow split peas and sweetcorn enhanced with a good sprinkling of Berbere spice blend.  If your  interested in seeing more Ethiopian and Eritrean recipes, please see here.  I am sharing this with  Food of the Wold hosted by Simple Living Eating and the spotlight is on Ethiopian cuisine; and...

I am thankful for the rain as the garden has been dry and wanting of water from the skies, but c'mon   - enough already.   I am hoping the weekend is dry as we have made some plans, so I guess I should really be saying bring it on now , but then please give us a break. I made this  Curly Kale and White Beans Soup   over the weekend with what we had in the house as I wasn't feeling adventurous.  Its nothing special, yet variations of this  Curly Kale and White Beans Soup   has featured on many a blog and many a cookbook, but it made for a nice change from a smoother soup with its chunky vegetable and crinkly soft greens.  I am sharing this Curly Kale and White Bean Soup with  Soups, Salads and Sammies  hosted by  Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen  and  Tinned Tomatoes.  Simple Curly Kale and White Beans Soup  Serves 4 generously Ingredients 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, finely minced 2 garlic cloves...

I am giving my readers advance warning, that the next few blog posts for the next few weeks will be packed with courgette aka zucchini recipes. So if you have an aversion to this mild, yet versatile vegetable then don't visit - but let me tell you there will be sweet and savoury zucchini recipes, some new, some interesting and some traditional. Here is the first of many... Zucchini, Broad Beans, Peas and Mint Soup - all the fresh green ingredients have been grown in my garden plot and were picked at the weekend.   I know its warm, so why on earth would I make soup? I just fancied something light and its been a while since I made a zucchini soup. I have to admit, I did not enjoy it as much on the day it was made, preferring it a day or two later when the flavours improved, still it made for a lovely summer soup, one to eat with a spoon from a bowl or from an mug if you want to sit in the garden and slurp, watching the bees sneaking in and out of nasturtium flowers. ...

Did you see the red sun yesterday?! It was truly Amazing - I am not one of those people who throws the word around lightly, it really was amazing.   Early on in the week I made a Red Tomato Curry, today I share a bowl red soup which by all means should have been green according to the both the photograph in the cookbook, but also the ingredients including broccoli.  Upon a little research on blogophere,  I noted that other food bloggers had also made the  Cheesy Broccoli Beer Soup  and it was also not the vibrant green featured in the cookbook Street Vegan, so I felt relieved that I was not heavy handed with either the soy sauce  or tamari and smoked paprika.     Anyway, this  Cheesy Broccoli Beer Soup with S moky Sunflower Chorizo Croutons  was ridiculously flavourful, but in a very good way.  I especially loved the different levels of flavour from the topping the beer, the cheesiness from the nutritional ye...