Paprika Carrots

This recipe comes from Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass. I used purple and white carrots to get these hues. It also contains sweet red pepper.

Butter bean mash with roast vegetables

I left out the optional butter when making the mash from butter beans, which I cooked from dried. The mash is served with roast aubergine/eggplant, tomato, and sweet pepper.

Mushroom Paradise Pasta

Really this pasta was just an excuse to cook with grains of paradise. I can’t say that it actually tastes of paradise (it was okay) but I also got to put some alliteration in the title.

Ingredients

• 1 clove minced garlic
• 100 grams mushrooms (I used chanterelles), sliced
• 1 bell pepper or romano pepper, thinly sliced
• two handfuls of leafy green vegetables (I used one baby bok choy)
• 1/4 teaspoon red chilli flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground grains of paradise, or black pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 200 ml vegan white wine
• 200 grams egg-free pasta
• 6 tablespoons cream substitute (I used oat cream)
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley (optional)
• salt to taste

Methods

Set a pot of salted water to boil, for the pasta. When the water comes to a boil, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.

While the water is heating, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for half a minute. Add the sweet red pepper and mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the wine to the mushroom mixture. If the leafy green vegetable has firm stalks (like bok choy), add it as well. If it is entirely soft (like spinach), add it after five minutes. Simmer the mushroom mixture until the liquid is completely evaporated.

Drain the pasta and add it to the mushroom mixture, along with the cream substitute. Add the fresh ground grains of paradise or black pepper. Season to taste with salt. Stir until the cream is absorbed. Garnish with parsley.

Serves two when accompanied by a salad.

Paneer Capsicum

Here is a recipe for cheese and bell pepper curry.

Bonus Post: Kayseri Mantı

I don’t think this really qualifies as cooking. I found that my local Turkish shop carried dried Kayseri mantı filled with tofu, so naturally I had to try it. I served it with haydari, paprika powder and paprika paste.

Of course it was not as delicious as fresh mantı, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well the non-traditional filling worked.

Easy Grilled Peppers

These grilled peppers are yet another side dish for warm evenings.

Light Pasta Salad

To make this pasta salad, I first soaked a handful of cashews in warm water, before blending them with a little water, one small clove of garlic, a bit of nutritional yeast, and half of a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. I then cooked the pasta, along with the carrots and broccoli, which I did not want to eat raw.

While the pasta and vegetables were cooking, I rinsed some tinned corn, sliced olives, chopped yellow and red sweet peppers, chopped cucumber, and chopped parsley. I rinsed the pasta, broccoli and carrots in cold water to chill them, then mixed them with the remaining vegetables, the cashew sauce, black pepper, salt, and olive oil.

Obviously the vegetables can be changed to taste – I meant to add some frozen peas to the pasta just before draining, but discovered I had run out – as the main thing about this dish is that it has a very light sauce instead of a heavy mayonnaise one that is typically found in pasta salads.

Italian Vinaigrette

When you enjoy cooking it’s sometimes easy to forget about the simple recipes, like this salad of lettuce, cucumber, carrot and sweet pepper with classic Italian vinaigrette. It can serve as a summer lunch or dinner, or as a side.

Hiyashi Chuka

I tried this dish of cold ramen noodles using vegetable ingredients: vegetable stock in place of chicken stock, and fried tofu in place of chicken. I also used light miso instead of a red because that is what I had. I left off the tomato and included courgette/zucchini, sweet pepper, and rehydrated shiitake mushrooms. Finally, I didn’t use ramen noodles at all but udon.

The recipe didn’t provide instructions for cooking vegetables, so I par-boiled the carrot and courgette, then pan-fried them, along with the mushrooms and sweet pepper, with ginger. I deglazed the pan with sake. Both the sauce and the vegetables had a lot of flavour.

Mangal Chopped Salad

I made this fusion dish of mixed peppers as another part of my meze. I used a mix of Sivri, Carliston and pimentos for my peppers, and left out the tomatoes.