Kind of a Moussaka
I made a kind of Moussaka over the weekend.
And it was SO good! I got a huge pumpkin last week. Around 6kg!!!
It was perfect for this bake dish. Some eggplant of course,... and for meat replacement, jackfruit.
I usually use tofu. But this time I wanted to leave out soy.
Jackfruit worked well for me.
I was surprised that the Moussaka was in such good shape and not falling apart.
I thought with just the sauce it will not really come together.
I was surprised when this dish also kept a good shape.
It was a bit of a work and I didn't wrote down an exact recipe.
But I want to add it anyway to my page to just inspire you.
I know how I did it and what I used.
I am sure you can figure it out on your own to bring it together.
I started with the sauce.
I started to fry half an onion with a small splash of olive oil until browned.
I added small cubed eggplant (and a bit more olive oil)
and fried also until browned.
Deglazed with:
half a bottle of organic passata tomato
2 tins of diced organic tomatoes.
A splash of filtered water
Seasoned with:
a generous amount of cinnamon,
also oregano,
some smoked salt
and 1 big grated fresh clove of garlic.
I separately fried 1 can of Jackfruit on high heat with a small splash of olive oil until browned.
Before I removed the jackfruit from the tin,
I washed it and removed as much liquid as possible.
When done with frying, I added the jackfruit into the sauce.
Simmered for approx. 15minutes.
Next step was to cook potatoes for the topping. I removed the skin from approx 5 potatoes.
Cut into small pieces and cooked in water with a bit of pink salt, until done.
I added cashew milk when the potatoes were done. Unfiltered milk.
For that I simply added raw cashews with filtered water into my Nutribullet and processed until smooth.
Mixed into the potatoes with 1 grated clove of garlic,...
and pureed until smooth. Set aside.
Next step,....
Cut the pumpkin in thinner slices. Also the eggplant. And I started to fill my baking dish.
First with some sauce on the bottom of the dish. Topped with the pumpkin. Sauce on that layer.
Next layer the eggplant slices and topped with the rest of the sauce. Finished with the potatoes.
Sprinkle with oregano,... and bake until slightly golden and firm on top.
I baked for about 45minutes on 180C
Yes,... very delicious. I made this on Thursday. And we enjoyed it on Sunday again.
It was even better. I served it with Greek style rice and a mixed garden salad.
I hope I could give you some inspiration :-)
What do you do when your fridge and pantry is almost empty and you can't go shopping,
because your partner has the car for important business travels?
Well, I had a look at the leftovers in my fridge. I found some potatoes, carrots, asparagus and Chili in the fridge.
Frozen peas in the freezer. And my okra bush gave me the last okras of the season.
I was ready to go for a simple and delicious lunch.
An Austrian dish called "Sterz" came to my mind. My mum often made "Sterz" for dad an me.
It is just grated potatoes with garlic, some flour, salt --- and baked in the oven until golden und very crisp.
Haha, dad and I always fighted about the crisp edges!
This "Sterz" gave me the idea for my lunch. I grated the potato and carrot, added the peas, seasoned it with one big clove of garlic and sea salt, added it into a baking dish with sunflower oil, topped it with my fresh Chili and okras and baked it in the preheated oven until the magic of crispyness happened. Oh that was sooooooooooooo good.
I just fried the asparagus and topped it with a simple cooked dill sauce. But what also is totally delicious for this dish --- plain soy yoghurt or soy sour cream! Sounds strange, but trust me --- it is awesome.
At home, we always only ate it with sour cream yoghurt!
For this dish I used
5 middle sized potatoes, 1 middle sized carrot, 1 middle sized clove of garlic, 3\4 cup of frozen peas,
4 generous tbsp plain flour, sea salt for seasoning, approx. 1\4 cup of sunflower oil.
Zipfer potatoes are also known as "Fingerling Potatoes".
At our veggie shop this kind of potato was advertised as
"Zipfer Potato".
Leek, I love leek! And in combination with potatoes and a creamy sauce, this is just heaven.
I served this delicious Quiche with a mixed salad. The combination is just delicious.
When you make a Quiche, always give it a resting time of at least 30 min after you get it out of the oven!
It will set and you easily can slice it like a cake!
What you need to make the Quiche dough:
85g plain flour, 85g Atta wholemeal flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp raw or coconut sugar, 200g Nuttelex margarine,
80 - 100 ml cold water, 40ml sunflower oil, sea salt for seasoning, 1tsp nutmeg.
What you need to make the filling:
1 big, or 2 small leeks - cut into thin rings, 1\2 middle sized onion - chopped, 6 middle sized fingerling potatoes - cut into small cubes, 100g firm tofu - drained cut into small cubes and marinated with 1 tsp smoked paprika,
1\2 tsp seasalt and 2 tbsp sunflower oil.
What you need to make the sauce:
100ml soy cream mixed with 150ml soy milk, 1 package silken tofu, 3-4 tbsp potato starch, 3 sprig lemon thyme, 1 tsp kala namak (black Himalayan salt), black pepper, 1\2 red Chili - fine sliced.
What you need to make the salad:
cucumber - cubed, red Chili - fine sliced, melon - cubed, green capsicum - fine sliced, corn kernels, tomato - cubed, onion - fine sliced, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar, linseed oil and olive oil, a splash of water, sea salt and black pepper for seasoning. Add as much as you like to your salad - the dressing should be a mix of sweet and sour.
Leek is a high source of Vitamin K and A. It also is a good source for manganese, iron, calcium, magnesium,
Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids and copper.
For the first time I worked with Polenta for a bake! I got the idea from Alisha Silverstones book
"The Kind Diet" http://www.thekinddietbook.com/uof/thekinddietbook/ps/.
I changed the recipe here and there and it surprised us how good this bake is! Polenta is a Corn Maize and popular in the Austrian and Italian cuisine. I know my dad likes Polenta but I never actually ate some, even thoug, my granny cooked with it.
Polenta contains lots of carbohydrates. Polenta is a complex carbohydrate, meaning that it rests low on the glycemic index and takes the body longer to digest. In fact, polenta's carbohydrate content is almost entirely complex carbohydrates, with only 6 grams per serving existing as sugars, according to Aminoz.
A standard serving of polenta has slightly more protein than a large egg. Each 100 grams of dry polenta cooks up into a serving that contains 8.1 grams of protein according to Aminoz - so, Polenta is a great sourece of Protein. It also is a rich source of vitamins and minerals. Each 100 gram serving offers up 10 % of the RDA for vitamin C and 6% of the RDA for vitamin A. Polenta also contains potassium, phosphorus and magnesium. And less than 1 milligram per serving, of iron, zinc, thiamin and niacin.
Now let's get started with my changed recipe from Alisha --- lets call it Alishange's Polenta Bake :-)
You need: half a leek stalk, a quarter of white cabbage, 1 vegan chicken stock cube (or vegetable style), 2-2,5 cup's of Polenta, a bunch of fresh flat Parsley, 1 small clove of garlic, sea salt, 3-4 tbsp roasted onions, as many potatoes to lay the baking dish, 1-1,5 cups of frozen peas and corn cernels, vegan cheese (I used vegan cheese from Vegusto), Soy Sauce, approx 1,2-5 l hot water.