Recipe #33 Puffy Pastry with tofu and vegetables

Shopping list (4 portions)

• 1 puffy pastry
• 1 block of tofu
• handful of mushrooms (around 150gr)
• 2 Handfuls of baby spinach leaves
• 1 cup grated carrots
• oil (olive or sesame)
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli
• salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika
• Juice 1/2 lemon
• Fresh parsley
• soy sauce (some drops)
• Nuts to serve
• Couscous 1 cup
• 1 lemon

Method

I bought the pastry, it seems to be vegan as the fat used is vegetable fat (Lidl pastry for 95 cents). But you can do it yourself if you want to use vegan butter for the pastry.

In a bowl place the tofu block, drained, and scrambled it with a fork. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika; some lemon juice and some drops of soy sauce.

In a wok heat a bit of olive oil or sesame oil. throw in the mushrooms and the broccoli. After some minutes throw in the carrots and the spinach leaves and let the vegetables almost cook. Then add the tofu to the vegetables with some chopped parsley and let it cook slightly. Take off from the heat.

Open the pastry on the kitchen top (it should come rolled on a baking paper). Divide this in 4 rectangles. Place some of the vegetables in each rectangle and close at the top (doesn't really matter because they will open in the oven) or make some parcel shaped buns.
Place them in the oven for 20 min at 180 o C

To serve I placed the dry couscous in a bowl and covered it with 2 cups of boiling water; then added 2x 1/2 a lemon and sprinkled a bit of salt, pepper and parsley. Cover with a dish and leave it alone for 10min. When you remove the dish you will have nice fluffy couscous.

[You can make the same recipe with other vegetables, like courgette, tomato, green cabbage, soy sprouts, chickpeas...]

Recipe #6: Vegetarian Broccoli Quiche

Shopping list

• 1 broccoli
• 1 can of corn
• 1 puffy pastry ready made
• 2 balls of mozzarella fresh cheese (around 150 gr)
• 400 ml of cream
• 4 eggs
• Salt, pepper, dry parsley

Method 

Get an oven proof tray and lay your puffy pasty in. Be sure to cover all edges at least 2/3 up the edges because the pastry with double its size after cooking.
Drain the water from the corn can and place the corn on the tray. Add the cooked brocolli and cut the mozzarella in chunks and sprinkle over the vegetables.
In a medium bowl add the cream, salt+pepper+dry parley and 4 eggs. Bet until it's a smooth mixture. Cover the vegetables with this.
Cook around 30min on 180 C and be sure to let it cool before serving (or else it might fall apart when you cut it)

This made 6 portions of food ! As below:

To Veganize:

You can make the filling with tofu and 1/4 cup of soy or nut milk.

Recipe #5 Vegan Indian Curry

Shopping list

• 1 cup of basmati rice
• 3-4 cardamom seeds
• Cinnamon stick
• Olive oil
• 1 zucchini
• 1 chopped carrot
• 1 chopped onion
• 200 gr of brocolli
• 250 gr of mushrooms
• 1 can of low fat coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of Curry Masala (check recipe #69)
• 1 tablespoon of tomato pure
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Method 

For the rice: add olive oil to a saucepan and add the cardamom seeds and the cinnamon stick. Let the flavors blend in and add the rice. Stir well until its a bit crispy. Add 1 + 1/2 cups of water and let it cook. Remove the seeds and cinnamon stick before serving.

For the curry: Add olive oil and the chopped onion into a wok and let it get golden. Add the mushrooms, zucchini, carrot and brocolli to the wok and add more olive oil if you think it's getting dry. Sprinkle your spice mix and stir well everything together. Add the can of coconut milk, tomato pure, lemon juice and keep mixing to blend in the flavors. Once the vegetables seem cooked (but not mushy) serve on a rice bed.

You can use other vegetables too such as cabbage leaves, cauliflower, butternut squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, leek, asparagus...