more wasabi: Kale, Kumera and Tempeh with wasabi mayo

I'm trying to shop almost exclusively "in season" which means I am repeating a lot of ingredients here as they are what I can buy at Alfalfa House. Still it's nice to have options when you buy something in bulk, so here's my latest wasabi / sweet potato excursion.

Ingredients:

1 kumera / sweet potato

half a bunch or so of kale

2 carrots

1 packet tempeh (Alfalfa House sells amazing fresh tempeh, in a clear packet. If you live nearby GET SOME)

thumb-length nob of ginger, finely sliced julienne

3 large cloves garlic, finely sliced

2 spring onions, inc green parts

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 a lemon, juiced

1/2 lime, juiced (you could just use 1 lemon)

sesame oil for frying / roasting

water

wasabi mayo (which can easily be made by mixing wasabi paste and mayo - or vegan mayo - together to taste)

1. Cube the sweet potato and lay out on a sesame oiled baking tray. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, and toss around the tray to coat a little with the oil. Roast in the oven on medium heat.

2. Meanwhile, cube the tempeh (about 1.5cm square) and fry in sesame oil, chilli flakes and soy sauce til crispy and just starting to burn.

3. Add the tempeh to the oven tray and turn the oven down, leaving the tray in the oven to keep it warm.

4. Rip the kale into pieces and cube the carrot small.

5. Fry the julienned ginger and garlic in sesame oil for a couple of minutes, then add 1 tbsp water, stopping them from browning.

6. Add the kale, carrot, lemon and lime juice (plus a little splash more soy) to the pan and stir fry, further cooking the garlic and ginger and softening the kale and carrot. (I like my carrot really crunchy so I actually didn't add it til a few minutes in).

7. Slice the spring onion

8. Place some kale & carrot on a plate, then top with tempeh and sweet potato. Garnish with spring onions and pop a dollop of wasabi mayo on the side.

Eat!

Sweet Potato, Red Lentil and Coconut Soup

Oh I really must start using measurements. But while I know them to be important, my brand of savoury experimenting just doesn't require them. I promise I will start. But not today. So, here goes - another vague recipe. Also, am aware crappy iphone pics of food are, well, crappy, but alas I cannot find the cord that connects camera to computer.

Years ago a housemate of mine, Lou, made a soup like this and it was divine. I decided to make it for a friend who came over last week to flush my nasal passages with salt water - a yogic practice of some sort that I agreed to mainly because I like the phrase "flush my passages" so much. He told me dairy was bad for the flu (which I know already but ignore) so I set about making vegan dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red lentils, soaked over night
• 1 large sweet potato, chopped into small pieces
• Half a can of coconut cream
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• 1 nob of ginger approx. 2cm square
• Vege stock
• 2 teaspoons dried chilli (or fresh chilli) - the amount of chilli really depends on your taste. I like to add little bit by little bit tasting along the way
• 1 heaped teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried coriander powder
• Salt & Pepper
• Sesame oil for frying (or vege or canola oil)

1. Soak lentils overnight in water, covered by a cloth.

2. Lightly fry the ginger (grated on a small hole grater) and onion in oil. Add spices. As they soften, add the chopped garlic.

3. Add the lentils and chopped sweet potato and cover the mixture with vege stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer til the sweet potato and lentils are very soft.

4. Blend til smooth.

5. At this point, you can leave the mixture overnight (if preparing in advance) or freeze portions. This soup was actually the most flavoursome on day 3!

6. Heat soup before serving and add coconut milk. Stir and serve.

I served this with cumin flat/crispbread. Shall be uploading various flat bread recipes soon!

...

Wasabi Vege Tortilla Wrap

The other night I attempted to make a sweet potato cous cous salad for my favourite homo, Cameron. I went about my cous cous making the same way I always do but it rapidly turned into a globby, gooey, mashed-potato-porridge lump! I think the cous cous belonged to my subletter from months ago and had been in the cupboard some time...

Anywaaaay, I quickly turned to my fridge-full-of-tortilla (the accidental purchase that just keeps giving) and made the following.

NB: Cameron said it was too much wasabi for him. Pansy.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 tortilla wrap per person
• Half a sweet potato, cut into teeny tiny cubes (1cm square)
• 5-6 snow peas
• 6 asparagus spears
• a few button mushrooms
• 1 spring onion, chopped (inc green part)
• 1 large garlic clove (I also used a couple of cloves I had pre-roasted)
• 2 teaspoons whole egg mayo (I can't emphasise the importance of whole egg enough. Do NOT use that sugary Praise shit)
• 1 teaspoon wasabi (or less if your guest is a pansy)
• Salt & Pepper
• Sesame oil for roasting / frying

1. Spread the sweet potato out on an oiled (sesame or peanut is best but vege or canola will do) oven tray, sprinkle with salt & pepper and roast in a medium oven til soft and browning.

2. Meanwhile, slice the other veges.

3. Fry the mushrooms first, in a little sesame oil. Then add the chopped fresh garlic.

4. Mix together the mayo and wasabi (in a little bowl - or, if you hate washing up, smear them together directly onto the tortilla). You can also smear some slow roasted garlic onto the tortilla if you have some (and if you love garlic).

5. When the sweet potato is done, turn off the oven and chuck the snow peas, asparagus and spring onion into the mushroom pan and fry til just cooked but still crunchy (only a few minutes!)

6. Place the veges on the wasabi-mayo-ed tortilla, wrap and eat like a burrito or soft taco.

sweet potato and blue cheese muffins

so these delicious muffins have been adapted from a recipe Annabelle gave me...though I have, as is my habit, changed them substantially and added a bunch of extra ingredients...The original recipe had pumpkin, blue cheese, flour and egg...mine has -

Ingredients (makes 12):
400g chopped sweet potato
160g self raising flour
juice of a lemon
4 eggs
2 cloves garlic
half an onion
splash balsamic vinegar
splash tabasco
80g blue cheese
a handle of spinach leaves chopped
handful chopped parsley
tablespoon chopped rosemary
handful crushed walnuts
handful toasted pinenuts (fry in a dry pan or pop under the grill til browning)
olive oil for frying
salt & pepper

preheat oven to 200 celcius

1. boil the chopped sweet potato

2. meanwhile, fry the finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil til softened then splash in tabasco and balsamic

3. when sweet potato is soft, mash it and mix it with the onion and garlic and lemon juice

4. leave the potato mixure to cool - it's important it isn't hot or it will cook the eggs when you add them!

5. once the mixture is cool, stir in the eggs (beaten before you add them) and the flour

6. add the nuts and herbs and spinach and stir to combine

7. season with salt & pepper

8. spoon half the mixture into muffin trays, place a nob of blue cheese in the centre of each muffin and then spoon mixture over the top to cover the cheese

9. bake in oven til starting to brown a little (took me about 25 minutes!)

these are great warm or cold. the blue cheese is pretty rich. if you don't like blue try a goat or feta. omnomnomnom!!!

...

roast beetroot, sweet potato and haloumi salad

This is the love child of a donna hay recipe I read last year (oh how I miss living with Liz and her subscription) and a nadine abensur one I tested out on friends a couple of weeks ago. Both originals are divine, but the donnay hay is very filling and fatty and the nadine abensur was a bit oily and work intensive (who has time to make dukka when they get home at 6pm?)

Anyway, this is a combo of the two, but with my own touches (e.g. the sweet potato, which goes so well and looks so pretty...)

feeds 4

Ingredients:
4 Beetroot
2 Sweet potato (equal amount to beetroot)
Greens (not lettuce!): Baby Spinach, Rocket, Green Beans and/or Asparagus
3 cloves Garlic
dessert spoon of brown sugar
large handful of fresh sage leaves (must be fresh)
400-500g of haloumi (depending on whether it's a main or not, you can add / subtract haloumi)
good splash tabasco
olive oil
salt & pepper
juice of 1 lemon
half handful chopped parsley

1. Roughly chop sweet potato and beetroot and place in a baking dish (if you are serving at a dinner party and want it pretty use two baking dish, dividing the ingredients that follow so that the beetroot doesn't dye the potato pink)
2. Crush garlic and add to dish
3. Sprinkle over brown sugar, salt & pepper
4. Spread whole sage leaves through mixture
5. Splash with tabasco
6. Then splash with olive oil so that the veges are shiny and coated but not swimming in the stuff!
7. Use your hands to rub the flavourings into the veges making sure that garlic, sage etc are evenly spread around the dish
8. Bake at 180 degrees (celsius) for about half an hour-40 mins or until veges are cooked, but not mushy at all! It's nice when there is a firmness to the beetroot (though the potato can be super soft...mmmmm)

Just before they're cooked...

9. Arrange greens on plate
10. Fry sliced haloumi (in chunky chip sized pieces or larger if you prefer)
11. Pile roasted veges on the greens, place haloumi on top, sprinkle with parsley, squeeze on lemon juice and serve!

Notes re originals:
The Donna Hay was the above vege roasting process, but only with beetroot and cooked slower. Then the beetroot was placed on top of fettucine that had parmesan, marscapone and goats cheese melted through it. This is DIVINE.

The Nadine Abensur was with beetroot and fennel roasted with oil (too much oil), garlic, tabasco, salt, pepper. Then you stirred through dukkah and parsley and served on a bed of rocket with haloumi pieces and lemon squeezed over the top.