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 #28 Vegan Roasted Veggies

Shopping list

• half a cup dry couscous
• half a cucumber
• 2 tomatos
• 1 carrot
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• salt pepper
• lemon juice
• 1 Big courgette
• 8 asparagus
• Dry parsley

Method

[Recipe for 2]

On a ovenproof tray place 1 courgette sliced open in half and the asparagus. Drizzle some olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper. 200 oC for around 20 min should be enough to roast them.

For the couscous: boil water in a kettle and measure 3/4 of a cup.
Place the couscous in a bowl and add the water. Season with salt and pepper and dry parsley (or some fresh coriander or mint 5 or 6 leaves should be enough)
Cover with a plate so you keep all the heat and let it rest 10minutes.

For the salad:
Cut small chunks of tomato, grate the carrot and with a peeler slid very thin slices of cucumber.
Season with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and some lemon juice.

Take the plate from the couscous, mix the couscous and check if they are fluffy already.
Now get the place ready and organize it with your array of colours: red from the salad, white with your couscous and green from your roasted veggies.
Sprinkle everything with dry parsley.

Recipe #19 Veggie, Couscous and Cashew nuts (vegan)

Shopping list

• 1/2 courgette
• 4-5 mushrooms cut in quarters
• 150 gr diced tofu
• a handful of chopped spring onion
• soy sauce
• teriyaki sauce
• sesame seeds
• sesame oil
• olive oil
• salt pepper and garlic powder
• 1 cup of dry couscous
• Cashew nuts to serve
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Method

First season your tofu. Dice the tofu and season with salt pepper and soy sauce. (you should do this at least 30min or 1h before cooking the rest)

Now make your couscous:
Place a cup of dry couscous in a bowl and add your seasoning (you can use 1 cube of vegetable stock).
Add 2 cups of boiling water and cover the bowl with a dish or a kitchen cloth.
Let it covered for about 5min.

So start the veggies.
Place the diced courgette, tofu, spring onion, mushrooms in a pan with olive oil. Season wel with salt and pepper and teriyaki sauce. Add a bit of sesame oil and sesame seeds and soy sauce. Stir well. When the vegetables are done, serve on a couscous bed and place some cashew nut over the dish.

Recipe #3 Vegetable Couscous (vegan)

Shopping list

• 1 cup of dry couscous
• 1 + 1/2 cups of hot vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric, dry parsley
• salt & pepper
• Olive oil
• A mix of roasted vegetables (such as asparagus, zucchini,  carrots)

Method 

For this recipe I used asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, chickpeas and peas, but it works with any vegetable you have at home.
I roasted the asparagus and zucchini and set this aside.
Then in my wok I heated some olive oil and added 1 chickpea can, 1 can of peas and some mushrooms diced in 4. I set this aside.
In a big bowl I added the couscous with some turmeric and parsley. I poured over this the hot vegetable stock and stired a bit, not too much as you dont want to loose the steam. Cover this as soon as you can with a cloth and let it rest for around 5-10min. When this is done you will have nice cooked couscous as a base for your vegetables.
Serve the couscous in a deep dish (add some spoons of vegetable stock if you don't like it very dry), then add some of the chickpeas and peas and mushrooms. And then add the roasted asparagus and diced zucchini half-es.