The Loaf

Tags

bread, buckwheat, chickpea, compassionate, gluten free vegan, gluten- free, healthy, holistic, homemade, homemade gluten free bread, millet, nutrition, oat, psyllium, red teff, rice, vegan, vegetarian

Winter is here and i have fallen in love all over again.
Autumn, you are pretty hard to beat but the light has just been too beautiful not to melt my heart.

Things round here have been suitably wonderful- big socks, bigger jumpers, mugs of tea, long walks and soup. So much frickin’ soup! I’m kind of kicking myself for not joining the soup party earlier but hey ho, everything happens as and when it should.

And of course soups best friend- bread. Lovely home made bread. Bread that is beautifully soft inside, has a pleasing crust but most importantly (to me anyway) has substance- a real bite to it. Bread that can handle being lovingly dunked into soup, slathered in coconut oil and zesty avocado, bread that hold its weight under thick swatches of peanut butter and jam. God damn, bread is where its at!

I’ve tweaked and tinkered this recipe for the best part of a year now. I’ve had woeful evenings where greediness has prevailed, leading to completely mangled loaves, tenuous afternoons where slices have scattered into dire sand like crumbs, and then finally, mornings of elation where i slice open a perfectly mishapen loaf to discover to my utter joy that, yes, yes, yes, we have lift off.

I’ve tried this with every gluten free flour i could get my hands on and i’m pretty darn confident that you too can play about with whatever mixes you fancy with perfect success. My personal favourites are: Red Teff, Millet, Buckwheat, Oat, Rice, Chickpea.

Red Teff + Millet lends to a brown (yes, slightly rusty coloured) loaf,
Rice + Buckwheat create a happy white loaf,
Chickpea + Oat somehow manages to produce a loaf that tastes exceedingly like Yorkshire Pudding (hells yes!)

You can chuck in herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, dried fruit- get creative. Or don’t, just keep it simple and you’ll have a delicious loaf of bread that is super healthy, good for your gut and lovingly made by your own fair hands. But pleeeeease, let it cool completely before slicing. It might seem like a good idea at the time but you will end up with a loaf that is both half mush and half cavernous.

• 2 cups warm Water
• 5 tbsp Psyllium Husk
• 1 tbsp Oil
• 1 tbsp Fast Action Yeast
• 1 tsp Salt (or to preference)
• 2 cups gluten free flour
• (1 tsp Xanthan Gum- optional but aids binding)

1. Combine the psyllium and water in a large bowl, mix well and leave for 10 minutes to gel up
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until it starts to come together, use your hands to combine the remaining dough into a bowl
3. Tip onto a floured surface and “knead” for a few minutes until the dough is quite smooth (it will be stickier than standard dough)
4. Pop into a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour
5. Heat your oven to 200c, line and lightly flour a loaf tin
6. Tip the dough out and gently form into a fat sausage shape, pop into the tin, sprinkle with a little water and bake for 50 minutes
7. Allow to cool completely before slicing. Keeps best, sliced up in the freezer

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Vegan Sushi…

Tags

avocado, cucumber, dipping sauce, ginger, gluten- free, horseradish, mint, orange, radish, rice, seaweed, sesame, sushi, vegan, vegetarian

This was my first foray into vegan Sushi and well if i’m not kicking myself for not having tried sooner! Simple, quick and fresh- how good sushi should be. Although i would recommend investing in a Bamboo rolling mat and sharpening your finest knife. Only half of my rolls were presentable enough to photograph, the other half mushed onto the plate, i gladly took one for the team here! I went with two fillings: the first- cucumber, mint, ginger and spring onion, the second- horseradish, avocado, radish and wild garlic. I served our sushi with a sesame dipping sauce and a simple side of Soba noodles and Crispy “Seaweed” (roasted Kale).

Once you’ve cooked your rice, its really just a case of assembly but the end results look so impressive that this dish would easily work well as both a luxe mid week supper and an astounding weekend party piece.

(Makes 4 large rolls, Vegan, Gluten-free)

• 4 sheets of Nori
• 1/2 cup of cooked Brown Rice
• 1/4 Cucumber
• 2 Spring Onions
• 4 Radish
• handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
• small thumb of Ginger, grated
• 1/3 Avocado
• handful of Wild Garlic
• 1 tablespoon of Horseradish (or 1/2 tablespoon of Wasabi if you have)

1. First, Second rolls: Spread two tablespoons of rice over 1/3 of a nori sheet, leaving a 1 inch border
2. Spread the ginger and mint over the top
3. Chop the cucumber and onions into thin matchsticks, arrange in lines over the rice
4. Roll the nori as tightly as you can and leave to sit for a few minutes before cutting into 6. (Repeat with another sheet)
5. Third, Forth rolls: Spread the horseradish over the nori sheet, then the rice as before.
6. Cover with a thin layer of wild garlic
7. Cut the radish into thin sticks and slice the avocado, arrange on top of the rice
8. Roll, leave for 5 minutes, chop into 6

Sesame Dipping Sauce:

• juice of 1 Orange
• 1 tablespoon of Sesame Oil
• 1 tablespoon of Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Sesame Seeds

1. Combine everything in a small bowl and whisk with a fork

Golden Beetroot Burgers with Plum Tomato Salsa

Tags

beetroot, burger, chilli, cumin, Edinburgh, garlic, Leith, lemon, lentils, rice, salsa, seasonal, tomatoes, vegan, vegetarian, vinegar

I wanted to make a veggie burger with some back bone. I’d seen numerous recipes for Beetroot burger, one problem- my fella ain’t so keen on the beets, (the vegetable of course, his taste in music is quite swell). How happy i was to find in my local greengrocers Golden Beetroot, i was intrigued, i didn’t even know they existed, and i do love a challenge… This recipe is great in that is also uses up the left over rice we had from the tofu salad and it’s vegan- score.

(Serves 4, Vegan (omit cheese) and Gluten free)

For the burgers:

(Makes 8 hefty sized burgers, but we saved half the mix and made falafel)

• 1.5 cups of cooked brown rice
• 1 cup of brown lentils
• 2 golden (or purple) beetroots
• 1/2 a green chilli
• 3 cloves of garlic
• a dash of olive oil
• 1/3 bunch of coriander
• teaspoon of cumin seeds, coriander seeds & garam masala

1. Cook the lentils for 10/15 minutes until they are just cooked but still retain their bite, drain and rinse in plenty of cold water
2. Peel and dice the beetroot into small squares
3. Place all ingredients into a blender and pulse until the mixture is quite smooth but still has a few nice lumps and bumps
4. refrigerate for an hour or so
5. Heat a heavy based pan with a little olive oil
6. Get your hands in there and form the mixture into desired size- we used scone/ cookie cutters and pushed the mixture firmly into these, then fried them, still in the cutters, until both sides were browned
7. Grill or pop in the oven for another 5/ 10 minutes
8. At the last minute we added some Camembert that needed using but you can keep them vegan if you like.

Plum Tomato Salsa:

• 10 plum tomatoes
• 1/2 a red onion
• 1/2 a red chilli
• tablespoon of red wine vinegar
• 1/3 bunch of coriander
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

1.  Quarter the tomatoes lengthways
2. Finely dice the red onion
3. Very finely chop the chilli and coriander
4. Combine all ingredients in a bowl

Brown Rice Salad with Marinated Tofu & Black Beans

Tags

beans, chilli, coriander.orange, Edinburgh, garlic, griddle, grilled, hazelnuts, Leith, lemon, marinade, peanuts, rice, rocket, sesame, spinach, tofu, vegetarian, watercress

The great thing about salads in my mind is that they are the perfect excuse to throw all manner of good stuff into a bowl. This recipe was created after a fruitful loot in our local health food stores reduced bin.

(Serves 4, Vegan and Gluten Free)

Roasted Squash:

• 350g Butternut Squash, diced
• tablepoon Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• pinch of sea salt

1. Preheat Oven to 180oc,
2. Combine all ingredients and bake for roughly 20 minutes or until squash are just turning crispy.

Tofu Marinade:

• tablespoon of: olive oil
• red wine vinegar
• lemon juice
• teaspoon of: sesame oil
• dark soy sauce
• good pinch of sea salt
• 2 cloves of very finely chopped garlic

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well until the citric components have combined with the oil.
2. Halve your tofu block horizontally then cut each half vertically, so you get 6 slabs.
3. Remove excess liquid from tofu by wrapping in kitchen roll and press down gently, this will help the marinade soak in.
4. Pour half the marinade into a rimmed plate, place the tofu on top and pour the remaining marinade over.
5. Cover with cling film and leave for no less than an hour (the longer you leave it the tastier it gets).
6. Heat a griddle pan (no need to use more oil as there’l be plenty from the marinade) and cook tofu 2/3 minutes on each side.

Black Beans:

• tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• zest of one orange
• handful of finely chopped coriander
• 1/2 green chilli
• good pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin & coriander seeds
• tin of black beans, drained and washed thoroughly

1. Fry the onion and chilli for 3 minutes in the oil then turn off the heat.
2. Add coriander, orange zest, cumin, coriander seeds and salt.
3. Mix in beans.

Brown Rice:

(This fool- proof method for cooking rice was handed down to me from my momma, always perfectly cooked and no need to drain any water at the end- rice with a lovely bite).

• 1/2 a tea mug of brown rice
• 1 tea mug of cold water

1. Wash rice in a sieve then place in a small pan, add the cold water.
2. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes.
3. Turn the heat off and cover with a tea towel for 15 minutes.

(This should make enough for 4 portions- depending on your appetite!)

Toasted Peanuts and Hazlenuts:

• 25g of both, dry fried until they start to go brown.

For my salad i used a base of watercress rocket and spinach, then added the rice, then the squash, some (reduced!) plum tomatoes, cut lengthways, 1/2 very finely chopped red onion and nuts. Serve the beans on the side with the grilled tofu on top.