food hits and misses

Seems to be everywhere I look someone is talking about reducing carbs, or increasing protein, or coconut being the answer to all of life's ills. Then there are the people who are avoiding gluten, soy and animal products. And then there are those who are proponents of the raw food movement. These little snacks tick nearly all of those boxes, and if you use honey, maple or agave as the sweetener, they even tick the last one. So what's the down side? Each tiny little ball contains over 400 kilojoules, with nearly 9 grams of fat each. That's fine if you're particularly active, but if you're sitting at a desk most days, then enjoy responsibly.* 

Lemon and coconut balls

Method

One of the benefits of getting a mystery fruit and veg box each week is that it forces you to cook and eat things that wouldn't normally appear on the shopping list. Call me boring if you will, but I had never eaten fennel until it turned up in the box one week.

It's so close to winter that the neighbours have started lighting their wood fires of a night. Even though the days have still been fairly warm, I really haven't been in the mood for salad. So had to come up with something to do with the mountain of tomatoes that have been arriving in my weekly fruit and vegie box. Slow roasting them seemed like the perfect solution, with the bonus  being that I could use up basil from my herb patch.

Here's the before shot, with all of the tomatoes looking particularly juicy.


There's no real recipe for this stuff. Basically you just preheat the oven to 120 Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper. Cut your tomatoes as small as you like them - probably halves for Romas, I went with quartering my Grosse Lisse - sprinkle them with shredded basil, add a couple of thinly sliced cloves of garlic and finish off with olive oil. Then cook them until they reach the desired amount of dryness.



Give it a shot. The smell of the kitchen alone is reward enough.

This week's theme was hearty, which lead to a discussion about what makes a meal hearty. We agreed that some soups are hearty, but not all soups are. I think stews are hearty, and that a stew that can't be described as hearty isn't a very good stew at all. My dining companion in chief disagreed. In the end, neither of us could describe what qualifies. I think this recipe is, he wasn't entirely convinced. Regardless, it's very enjoyable and certainly didn't leave me any room for dessert.

The recipe is from one of my newest books - Vegetarian Slow Cooker: Over 200 Delicious Recipes. I wanted dinner a little bit quicker than that, so cooked it all in my favourite French oven. It worked perfectly well this way, and I probably wouldn't get my slow cooker out unless I needed the oven for something else. I replaced the peanuts with cashews and cashew almond and brazil nut paste, as I prefer their flavour. Since they're not as strongly flavoured as peanuts, I think I'd use half a jalapeno next time, with the added benefit of letting the flavour of the ancho through, too.

All in all, my only quibble with the recipe is the name. Describing something as an "African stew" makes about as much sense as calling ratatouille "European". Still, that's the name the cookbook used, so that's what I'll go with.

African-style Peanut Stew

2 tbspn coconut oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbspn ginger, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tspn cracked pepper
800g tinned tomatoes, with juice
2 cups vegetable stock
1 sweet potato, cubed
2 dried ancho chillies
1/2 to 1 jalapeno chilli, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
1/4 cup coriander, roughly chopped
1 capsicum, seeded and diced
1/4 cup roasted peanuts

Method

Preheat oven to 190 Celsius. Heat the oil in a large French oven or stockpot. Add onions, celery and carrots and cook, stirring, until softened.

Cook the vegies for around 7 minutes

Add garlic, ginger, slat and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juice and stir well. Add vegetable stock and sweet potato. Place lid on pot and cook for around one hour.

Ready to go in the oven

Meanwhile, soak the ancho peppers in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain, discarding the liquid and stems. Transfer to a blender, and add the jalapeno, peanut paste, coriander, and around 1/2 a cup of the stew liquid. Puree. Add to the pot along with the capsicum, cover and cook for another 15 to 30 minutes until the capsicum is tender and the flavours have melded. Serve over brown rice, garnished with roasted peanuts.

By now it should be fairly obvious that I'm a fan of soup. This one tastes fantastic, and has the sort of silky texture that you normally only get from adding loads of cream. Despite that, it's very light, and would be perfect as a starter or for a late supper. Garnish with grated parmesan or a dollop of yoghurt for a bit of extra zing.

Spinach and broccoli soup

1 tbspn olive oil
1/2 tspn cracked pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 leeks, chopped
250g spinach, chopped
2 heads broccoli
1 potato, peeled and cubed
4 cups vegetable stock

Method

Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan or stockpot. Saute the leek until softened. Add the pepper and garlic, and continue cooking until the garlic is fragrant. Add the chopped spinach (in batches if using fresh), broccoli, potato and stock. Cover and simmer until the potato is cooked - around 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Blend on high speed using a stick mixer.

It's definitely stew season at the moment; we're having the coldest winter in the past 15 years. Despite being a great lover of all things summery, I'm handling it pretty well. Possibly because I've been filling up on warm and hearty soups and stews.

This recipe is really simple to make, without compromising flavour at all. If you're looking for something low fat and full of fibre, then look no further. If, on the other hand, you're on a low carb diet, keep browsing because this recipe is defintely not for you.

Spinach and chickpea stew

1 tbspn olive oil
2 onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic
1 pinch safron threads
1 tbspn ground cumin
2 potatoes
2 x 420g cans chickpeas, drained
1 tspn paprika
2 tbspn water
1 tbspn red wine vinegar
200g baby spinach leaves

Method

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan. Saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic, saffron and cumin and cook until fragrant. Grate the potato, add to pan and toss to coat. Stir through the chickpeas and remove from heat. Place in oven and cook for around an hour. Remove from oven and return to stove top. Combine paprika, water and vinegar. Add to chickpea mix and stir well. Add spinach in batches, and cook until heated through. Serve with your favourite stew accompaniment.

Years ago I lived in a small town that had a tiny Thai restaurant. It was my first experience of Thai food, and to be honest, it was so long ago, I can't remember if it was authentic or more Westernized. Still, it set me on my way to absolutely loving Thai food.

One dish that stood out as particularly yum was their sticky rice, served as a dessert. This afternoon I suddenly felt like trying to recreate it. This is my version. Super sweet, very creamy and definitely bad for you. I'm sure it could be modified to be lower in fat, but if you don't have to, why would you?

Sticky rice

1 cup glutinous rice
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 tspn coconut essence
2 - 3 bananas

Method

Combine rice, coconut milk, coconut cream, sugar and water in a large saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until most of the water is gone, leaving a thick and creamy mixture surrounding softened rice. Remove for heat. Add the coconut essence and stir well. Mash the bananas and stir through the rice. Serve hot or cold.

For variations, try adding a tspn of cinnamon and replacing the coconut essence with vanilla. Replace the banana with apple or sultanas. Or add 1/2 - 1 tspn ground cardamon and forego the fruit altogether.

Smidgin is off to his first birthday party - other than mine, that is - this week, and I've volunteered to make the cake. Auntie Hotmo has requested a sponge cake for the birthday boy, which, after a successful practice run, I'm sure will work out nicely. One of the guests has dairy and egg allergies, and Smidge doesn't react well to milk either. So my challenge for the week was to come up with a cupcake recipe that's egg and dairy free, without using soy, which is just as likely to trigger a reaction in somebody. Here's what I came up with.

Banana Coconut Cupcakes

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 banana, chopped
1/2 tspn vanilla
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 tspn bicarb soda
1 1/2 tspn baking powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Beat the margarine and sugar together until light and very fluffy. Meanwhile place the banana in a food processor and puree until creamy. Add to the margarine mix and beat well. Sift together the dry ingredients at least two times, preferably three. Add around a third of the flour mix to the banana mix, and mix well. Follow by a third of the coconut milk and vanilla. Repeat until all milk and flour has been added. Place around a tablespoon of mix into patty pans then bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Serve with a sprinkle of icing sugar or decorated with vegan "butter" icing.

For a chocolate version, add 2 tablespoons of cocoa to the flour.

Tagines have to be one of the easiest ways to cook. Just whack all the ingredients in the tagine and stick the lot in the oven until it's done. Precisely what you want when you don't have loads of time to look after a meal.


The name tagine refers to both the pot and the style of dish. There are plenty of recipes out there for meat tagines, but I haven't come across that many vegetarian ones that I like. This is my favourite way of using my tagine.

If you don't have a tagine, the recipe will work just as nicely in a French oven or casserole dish.

Chickpea and lentil tagine

1 onion, sliced
800 g canned crushed tomatoes
1 capsicum, seeded and sliced
420g chickpeas
1 cup red or yellow lentils
1/2 preserved lemon
1/2 cup pitted olives
1 tbspn turmeric
1 tspn cumin
1/2 tspn paprika

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Layer the ingredients in the tagine base. Place the lid on top, and put in oven for around two hours. Remove from the oven and check the lentils have softened. If they are still dry, stir and return to the oven for up to another two hours. Serve with cous cous.