Greek Briam à la T-Dogg

Serves 6

Ingredients

1kg Potatoes, peeled and sliced in 5mm rounds
5 Courgettes, sliced in 5mm rounds
4 Red Onions, sliced in 5mm rounds
3 Handfuls fresh parsley, chopped
400ml tomato puree
4 Plum tomatoes / 200g cherry tomatoes, chopped, sliced or halfed as you wish
1/2 Vegetarian bouillon cube
5 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt, pepper
* Option, emmental cheese as topping


Preparation
* Preheat oven to 180deg
1) Blanche the potatoes in boiling water 20 minutes. Drain and put in baking dish.
2) Put the courgettes, red onions, parsley, puree, tomatoes in a baking dish and coat with the olive oil. Mix all together so all ingredients are covered with the tomato puree.
3) Add 50 ml water and bouillon cube and generous helping of salt and pepper
4) Mix everything well
5) Put in oven
6) Mix everything again after 30 mins
7) Let cook for 30 mins more
8) If adding the cheese, spinkle on and let grill in the oven.
9) Serve!

Goes well with a greek salad : Lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomato, red onion, feta, black greek olives

Osama's Middle Eastern Dressing

2 Tbsp Tahini
1 Lemon
3/4 Tsp Cumin
4 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 Tsp Sesame Seeds
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Clove Garlic/ 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Honey
Salt/Pepper

Get one bowl
1) Squeeze lemon juice into bowl
2) Chop garlic finely and parsley
3) Mix everything together, salt and pepper to taste
4) Put in fridge

Serve! Great with a chickpea salad.

Peewee's Vegan Burger

Makes 8  burgers

It's a lengthy process, but well worth it. I recommend to do lots and freeze them for later munching!!

*** If you want a complete protein meal, then do half oats half quinoa, great for recovery after some intense sport. I'm sure the many many Olympic Gold medalists on a plant-based diet will agree.

Ingredients

Veggies:

~280g Kidney Beans (Or white beans, or pinto beans. I find kidney beans give nice color.)

~400g Chickpeas

1 Carrot

1 Onion

~5 Champignons de Paris (Mushrooms, or other of your choice)

1/4 Red Pepper

2 Cloves Garlic

Spice and herb mix:

2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika

1 Tbsp Cumin

1 Tsp Pepper

1 Tbsp Salt

1 Tsp Coriander

1 Tsp Paprika

Handful of chopped fresh parsley

Extra:

Two decent handfuls of oats ** Very important so the starch is released to stick the burger together.

Olive Oil.

Preparation

Get two large bowls.

1) Cut the carrots, red pepper, onion, mushrooms and garlic as finely as you can into small cubes.

2) Fry the onion in olive oil until translucent and put into the bowl.

3) Fry the carrot in olive oil until soft and put into the bowl.

4) Fry the mushrooms in olive oil until most of the liquid has been evaporated. Then add the garlic until cooked and put into the bowl.

5) Fry the red pepper in olive oil and put into the bowl.

6) Mix the oats (and or quinoa) and the spice mix and finley chooped parsely in with the cooked vegetables, mix well and set aside. The mix should have a bit of oil and liquid from the mushrooms. The liquid serves to glue with the oats.

7) Mix the drained chickpeas and kidney beans in the second large bowl,  mash with your hands until you get a decent semi dry paste like consistency. No worries if there are still some whole chickpeas or kidney beans, the important part is that it can be molded into a patty. This serves as the base of the burgers.

8) Pour the bowl of vegetables into the bowl of chickpeas/beans, mix well into big heavy blob.

9) Put this covered into the fridge for half an hour at least or until it is cooled.

10) Take the bowl out of the fridge.

11) Form 1 1/2cm to 2cm thick patty with your hands and wrap each burgers in aluminium foil.

12) Place the burgers in the fridge for at least 1 hour again.  ** Instead, can be frozen directly for later. They taste almost as good!

Either you can fry them in a frying pan with a bit of oil, difficult on a bbq... put between some wholemeal hamburger buns slices of tomato, red onion, ketchup et al.

** If you want mexican style try my fajita spice mix substituting the fresh parsley for fresh coriander

http://cookwithoutmeat.blogspot.fr/2013/09/fajita-seasoning.html

and spread some of my guacamole as sauce!

http://cookwithoutmeat.blogspot.fr/2013/02/guacamole.html

** I'll add Indian style when I have the time :)

Raw Vegan Pad Thai-mmy

Serves 4 hungry people

** Good quality fresh ingredients, the cutting finely and proportions are paramount in the success of this dish. Organic, local produce should be preferred and be fresh. I managed to get away with finding everything coming from the same county (less than 50km) at the local market except the limes, which come from Brazil, and snow peas (mange tout, pois gourmands) that come from Kenya?! bad me.

Ingredients

Veggie mix:

2 Medium sized courgettes

2 Large Carrots

1/2 Head of cauliflower

1/4 Head of red cabbage

~30 Snow peas (Mange tout, pois gourmands)

2 spring onions

1 healthy large handful of fresh coriander

Sauce:

6 Tbsp Tahini

6 Tbsp Soy sauce

6 Tbsp Peanut butter

2 Tsp Honey (If you want it vegan, find agave or something to replace the sweetness of the honey)

2 Garlic cloves

2cm3 Ginger

2 Limes (producing at least 6 tbsp of juice, if not, get more limes)

Other:

Flat Noodles (or udon, or whatever you have or takes your fancy)

OPTIONAL : Cashews or Peanuts (unsalted)

Preparation

Get one large bowl.

1) Cut the carrots, courgettes and red cabbage finely in strips like in the picture and place in the large bowl. Peeling the carrots tends to a finer less rooty flavour that is recommended for this dish, as is half peeling the courgette, but leave half the skin on.

2) Cut the cauliflower in small florets and place in the bowl.

3) Cut the snow peas in half (lay them horizontal and cut vertically) and place in bowl.

4) Cut the spring onions, white part if not too strong otherwise only green part. Chop the coriander and place in separate bowl put to one side.

Sauce

Get one small bowl

1) Chop the garlic and ginger very finely and place in bowl.

2) Add the tahini, soy sauce, honey and peanut butter and mix in the bowl. It will be thick, don't worry.

3) Add the juice of 1 1/2 limes into the sauce mix and mix with a fork. It will still be thick, don't worry. (The limes should be juicy, you should get at least 4 Tbsp of juice from the 1 1/2 limes, if you don't, use more limes)

4) Cut the remaining half lime in 4 as a decoration.

5)  Mix the thick sauce in with the vegetables, leave to marinate. Yes, the sauce will be thick, but the liquid from the veggies will thin it just enough so that it sticks nicely but doesn't become a juice.

Final

1) Heat some water and cook the noodles. Cool them with cold water after cooked. Either you can sprinkle them with some oil, sesame works well, or mix them into the veggie mixture so they don't stck.

2) Try the mix and sauce, add more soy or lime juice if taste desires. Some may find it not salty enough.

Serve on 4 plates, top with the coriander and spring onion mix and the cut lime on the side. This dish goes well, as always with a nice hot fresh cut chilli (or 2, 3 or more). If you have peanuts knocking about, then crush em and spinkle a bit on top. Cashews work well too.

This is best eaten 1 day after preparation. The lime juice "cooks" slightly the veggies. If you have the will, preparation and time to prepare 1 day in advance and leave covered in the fridge, do it. It's worth it.

c. Inspired by numerous recipes online, and refined to what I see best.