All posts tagged: plant based diet

Skillet Rock Cakes with Goji Berries

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This week I have been once again facing the perils of cooking without an oven, and in my mind all I want to do is bake. I made up the batter for these rock cakes with the intention of baking them traditionally in the oven.  I had everything all ready and the oven pre-heating! Then disaster…  Once again I heard the noise of the gas change,  had a look underneath and saw the fuel pipe was on fire on the OUTSIDE!  Argh ! The thing drives me crazy. I was determined to not let the batter go to waste…  Wasting food is not something that happens on these ships.  There is a very well enforced rule of ‘if you put it on your plate… Your eating it’. So I grabbed my skillet and thought why not? It could work. These delicious Skillet Rock Cakes were the result and can be enjoyed anytime of the day.  We had them for an afternoon snack served with jam and vegan custard, then this morning I had the leftovers …

quick rise vegan garlic bread

Quick Rise Vegan Garlic Breads

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I haven’t had time to do as many post recently as I would like as I have been going crazy trying to find a job, any job will do really! In a little over a month now I will be returning home to England, I guess permanently for now, and leaving ship life behind for a life on land, hopefully filled with growning vegetables in my garden and visiting forests, the thing I miss most while living on water! Well so far no luck… Lincolnshire is not calling out for vegan chefs unfortunately so I am having to look at very different career ideas, something I haven’t had to do for years now and its pretty daunting, and extremely stressful. The dream is to open a vegan cafe/restaurant in Lincoln, something it desperately needs, but I am a very very long way from having saved enough funds to get that up and running, so I am spending my days trawling the interent for jobs to apply for that are not completely soulless and I can …

Sambar Masala Chickpeas

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This side dish can go with almost anything and can quickly bulk up a meal when you realise last minute you havnt’t made enough food… something that happens pretty often to me with the amount of food a crew of hungry sailors can eat! It’s the perfect last minute dish and is absolutely delicious, I could eat this everyday. Its so versatile… serve as a side dish with other curry dishes, rice and flat bread, wrap up in a tortilla with chutney, vegan yogurt and salad, or just eat plain as it comes topped with tons on fresh coriander. I like to make a big batch of this spice mix to store with my other herbs and spices so I can sprinkle it on other dishes… I particularly love it on oven cooked potato wedges.  With this recipe I used chickpeas as I find them so versatile I always have a few cans stored away for emergencies.   Sambar Masala Chickpeas   3 Tbsp of Sambar Masala Spice Mix (recipe below) 2 cans chickpeas, drained …

Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

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In 2011 I joined the Sea Shepherd ship M/V Brigitte Bardot in Belgium as the cook and my journey into discovering vegan cooking began. The Sea Shepherd ships are all strictly vegan and so was I when I joined. I soon learned though that cooking for yourself in your own home compared with the reality of cooking on a moving ship, providing 3 meals a day for a hungry group of sailors was a whole different and extremely challenging thing! This was also my first time on this type of ship (a trimaran which jerks in every direction possible with seemingly no pattern, extremely fun when trying to drain a huge pan of pasta). I felt for a while I might be out of my depth, I was sea sick, I wasn’t that good a cook, I couldn’t sleep but at the same time I was so excited o be on board and luckily had a very supportive crew to help me. After a while I started to enjoy myself… we got past the Bay of Biscay …

Vegan plant based spinach falafel with tahini dressing and homemade pitta bread

Spinach Falafel and Homemade Pitta Bread | Is Veganism a Diet?

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I have been posting a few different bread recipes recently, and I think it’s because I am craving a variety. If we want anything other than white rolls or plain sliced bread here the only option is to make it ourselves, there simply is no variety what so ever. Thinking of all the foods I am missing so much, (including big field mushrooms, fresh olives, crusty brown bread, baby leaf salads, fresh tofu, among other things) makes me realise how privileged I am to come from UK where eating like this is even a possibility. I have been making a conscious effort to concentrate on creating interesting recipes from the easy and cheap local ingredients available. Going back to the vegan basics of beans, lentils and veggies. I think its very important that vegan food should be accessible to everyone, not just the priviledged and rich who can live everyday on 100% raw, specialist superfoods diets, and shopping exclusively at Wholefoods, Waitrose or expensive health food shops etc. This is not an option for the …

Everything in Your Fridge Juice

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This is one of the juices I make for the crew maybe a couple of times a week, and it basically boils down to whatever we have left in the fridge that I can shove in the juicer. This recipe this week’s concoction which I wanted to share as it was particularly tasty. Everything in Your Fridge Juice   2 carrots 1 inch piece of ginger 2 cups chopped pineapple (about a third of a large pineapple) 4 apples 2 beetroots with leaves 1/2 cucumber 1 lemon 1 grapefruit Place everything through your juicer and enjoy Makes approximately 1.2 litres

matcha green tea, matcha vegan cupcakes, vegan baking

Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes

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Matcha Green Tea has a bunch of awesome health benefits. It has antioxidant qualities, can help with detox, boost concentration and give you a natural energy boost without the usual side effects like hypertension and nervousness of other stimulants. I also really just like the flavour! I have wanted to post a cupcake recipe for ages now, but could never decide what flavour to go for…. so I figured why not Matcha flavoured! Where the ship is now I can’t get hold of any natural sweeteners or unprocessed sugars, hense why this recipe just calls for straight forward regular crappy sugar alongside something awesome like Matcha Green Tea powder. So if you make these at home feel free to swap that out for a more unprocessed sweetener. I will definitely be trying so when I head back home.   Green Tea Cupcakes   1 1/2 cups plain flour 2 Tbsp corn starch 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2/3 cup sugar 2 tsp matcha green tea powder 1 cup soya …

Hominy, cachupa black eyed pea tomato broth stew homemade vegan potato farls

Black Eyed Pea and Cachupa Broth with Potato Farls

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Cachupa, also known as Hominy in America, is one of the national dishes of Cape Verde, and can be found everywhere, with each restaurant having their own recipe. It seems basically to be cachupa, which is from corn, cooked in a broth with whatever ingredients on hand to make a thick stew. Its very cheap and extremely filling which explains why it is so popular here with so many people living in extreme poverty. It is most often cooked here in fish stock or other animal juices so I have never had true cachupa here in Cape Verde, instead used the dish to inspire this recipe of cachupa and black eyed beans in a light tomato broth. This dish uses ingredients that are super cheap and available everywhere here, and then cachupa and beans to make a simple thin broth into a hearty meal. I served this with another of my favourite Irish inspired quick breads… Potato Farls, which you can find the recipe for below. This really is one of my favourite breads, and …

lemon and gnger spiced soda bread, vegan baking, vegan quick bread

Lemon and Ginger Spiced Soda Bread

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These rolls are an adaptation of my earlier recipe Irish Soda Bread. They make the perfect little side accompaniment to winter soups and stews. They are hearty and filling and best of all so quick to make as they don’t need to be kneaded or left to rise… the beauty of soda bread. Lemon & Ginger Spiced Soda Bread   1½ cups plain flour 1½ cups wholemeal flour ½ tsp salt ½ tsp baking soda zest of 1 lemon 1 tsp dried parsley ½ tsp grated fresh ginger 250ml warm water 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice Preheat your oven to 180c and lightly dust a baking tray with flour Sift the flours, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir in the zest, parsley and ginger Mix the water and the lemon juice together then pour into the flour mixture. Stir and beat together with a wooden spoon until there are no dry patches of flour left. If dough still is too dry add a little more water, a teaspoon at a time. The …

Coconut Lemon Tart

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This tart is lovely and refeshing as well as being very easy to make. I opted for a no bake crust with this as I kind of have a love hate relationship with pastry. I love to eat it, but recently I have no interest in making it. I used to love making pastry but I think my change of opinion has something to do with the lack of good quality vegan baking ingredients in Cape Verde. They have a number of vegan margarines here, but the label ‘fully hydrogenated vegetable oils’ seems to be used as a positive selling point for the product. Its not even kept in the fridge. The idea of trying to use this to make pastry repulses me slightly. So here is my recipe for Coconut Lemon Tart, with a gluten free no bake crust. This tart would be perfect served with some vegan cream or fresh berries on top, and will keep for a day or two in the fridge   Coconut Lemon Tart   Crust ½ cup dates …