Easy Lentil Curry

The leaves are falling from the trees and there's nothing like a delicious curry to warm one up on a cold autumn night.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 medium onions , chopped
4 tbsp curry paste
850ml vegetable stock
750g frozen vegetables (carrots, butternut, potatoes or any veggies of your choice)
100g red lentils
200g basmati rice
turmeric
handful of raisins and roughly chopped parsley or coriander

Method:
Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and cook until they are golden brown.
Stir in the curry paste and cook for a minute. Slowly pour in the stock.
Stir in the frozen vegetables, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the lentils and simmer for a further 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables and lentils are cooked.
While the curry is simmering, cook the rice according to the packet instructions, adding the turmeric to the cooking water. Drain well.
Season the curry with salt, toss in a handful of raisins and the chopped herbs, then serve with the rice, poppadums and chutney. Enjoy!

Spinach Pesto Mini Pizzas

This recipe from Fresh Earth sounds divine. I can’t wait to try it!

Ingredients:
2 cups of raw organic spinach
½ cup raw walnuts
2 table spoons nutritional yeast
1 table spoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 clove garlic
Black pepper
4 Brown English muffins
80g button mushrooms
10 cherry tomatoes
½ cup farm mozzarella
Pinch oregano

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C Prepare a food processor and place the spinach, walnuts, yeast, lemon juice, 20ml water, garlic and pepper in the bowl of the food processor and blend until you have a coarse paste.

Cut the English muffins in half and spread the spinach pesto evenly across them. Top with sliced button mushrooms and then sprinkle with mozzarella.

Bake until the cheese has melted the muffin is crispy.

Recipe from Fresh Earth - all ingredients available at their store in Emmarentia.

Meat Free Monday's

Go vegetarian for 24 hours every week – it is the easiest way for every South African to make a difference to the planet.

The global Meat Free Monday’s campaign urges all South Africans to pledge their support and make a difference by not eating meat, fish or chicken every Monday.

Meat Free Monday is an environmental campaign to raise awareness of the climate-changing impact of meat production and consumption. Many people are unaware about the detrimental impact that meat production has on the planet. Livestock farming is the most significant contributor to today’s most serious environmental problems. Animal agriculture contributes significantly to the destruction of tropical rainforests, soil erosion, dwindling reserves of fresh water, land, fuel and other resources.

Statistics around the effect that livestock production has on the planet are staggering:
* At least half of all the greenhouse gases are due to livestock production.
* If all Americans ate no meat, chicken or fish for just one day a week, this would result in the same carbon savings as taking 19.2 million cars off the road in the USA for an entire year, or save gas emissions equivalent to 46 million return flights from New York to Los Angeles.
* It requires 500 times as much land to produce 1kg of beef as it does to produce 1kg vegetables.
* It takes 250 litres of water to produce 1kg wheat, and 25 000 litres of water to produce 1kg meat.
* Cows, pigs and sheep bred for human consumption discharge millions of tons of methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Livestock accounts for about 18 percent of greenhouse gases, more than all the world’s transportation systems including cars.

Giving up meat one day a week will not only greatly benefit the planet, but also animals, and our own health. If every South African goes meat free one day a week, 11 200 cattle, 2 million chickens, 10 000 pigs and 22 300 sheep will be saved from slaughter weekly. Furthermore, eating less meat will decrease the likelihood of heart attacks and high blood pressure.

Support Meat Free Mondays by cooking your favourite vegetarian recipe today, or try one of the Believe In Change recipes and make a difference!

source: www.frysvegetarian.co.za

Meat Free Monday

Couscous Vegetable Loaf

Prep time: 20 min plus overnight refrigeration
Total cooking time: 10 min
Serves 6

4 cups vegetable stock
500g couscous (quick cooking/instant)
1 tablespoon olive oil (for cooking couscous)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon garam masala
250g cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 baby marrow, diced or grated
130g corn (either cut fresh off the cob or frozen)
8 fresh basil leaves
150g sun dried peppers in oil (or use sun dried tomatoes)
1 cup fresh chopped basil
80ml fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Bring stock to the boil. Put the couscous and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a bowl and cover with the stock. Leave for 10 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan and cook the garlic and onion over low heat for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the spices and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the pan.
Add the remaining oil to the pan and cook the tomatoes, baby marrow and corn over high heat until soft.
Line a 3 litre loaf tin with plastic wrap, overhanging the sides. Form the basil into 2 flowers on the base. Drain the red peppers, reserving about 2 tablespoons of the oil, then roughly
Chop. Add the onion mix, tomato mix, peppers and extra basil to the couscous and cool.
Press the mixture into the loaf tin and cover with the plastic wrap. Weigh down with cans and chill overnight.
Place remaining ingredients and reserved capsicum oil in a jar with a tight lid and shake.
Turn out the loaf, slice and serve with the dressing.
Enjoy!

Mushrooms with Bean Puree, Puy Lentils and Red Wine Sauce

A recipe for Mushrooms with Bean Puree, Puy Lentils and Red Wine Sauce for this chilly Meat Free Monday

Prep time: 30 minutes
Total cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

4 Large field mushrooms
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Red onion cut into thin wedges
1 Clove crushed garlic
200g Puy lentils
185ml Red wine
440ml Vegetable stock
1 Tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
3 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Cloves crushed garlic (extra)

Bean Puree:
1 Large potato cut into cubes
2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
400g (1 can) Cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
2 Cloves crushed garlic
1 Tbsp Vegetable stock

Red Wine Sauce:
170ml Red wine
2 Tbsp Tomato paste
375ml Vegetable stock
1 Tbsp Soft brown sugar

Remove stalks from mushrooms and chop the stalks. Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Add garlic and mushroom stalks and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the lentils, wine and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally until reduced and the lentils are cooked through. If too wet, remove the lid and cook uncovered.

To make the bean puree, bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and cook potato until tender. Drain and mash. Stir in half the extra virgin olive oil. Combine the cannellini beans and garlic in a food processor. Add the stock and remaining oil and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the mash potato. Keep warm.

Brush the mushrooms with olive oil and remaining garlic and grill or fry in a pan on either side until cooked. Remove and keep warm.

To make the red wine sauce add the red wine to the pan which you fried the mushrooms in. Scrape the bottom to remove any sediment. Add the combined tomato paste, stock and sugar and bring to the boil. Cook for about 10 minutes or until reduced and thickened.

To assemble, place the mushrooms onto serving plates and top with the bean puree. Spoon on the lentil mixture and drizzle with the red wine sauce. Season and serve immediately.

(Note: The mushrooms will shrivel if kept warm in the oven. Either turn the oven off or find another warm place.)

Asparagus and Mushroom Salad

Asparagus and Mushroom Salad

Prep time: 20 min
Cooking time: 10 min
Serves 4

150g asparagus spears
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
60ml lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lime zest
2 cloves of crushed garlic
¼ cup honey
400g button mushrooms, halved
150g rocket
1 red pepper cut into strips

Trim the ends of the asparagus and cut in half on the diagonal. Place in a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 1 minute or until just tender. Set aside.
Place the mustard, juices, zests, garlic and honey in a large saucepan. Season with pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and add the mushrooms.
Toss for 2 minutes. Cool. Remove the mushrooms from the pot with a slotted spoon. Return the sauce to the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes until the sauce become syrupy. Cool slightly.
Toss mushrooms, rocket, red pepper and asparagus together. Drizzle the sauce over the salad and serve.

Broccoli, Smoked Tofu and Avocado Salad

Avo’s are finally coming back into season so here’s a delicious Autumn salad recipe.

Ingredients:
1 large head of broccoli
400g Smoked tofu (or if you do not like tofu, why not substitute this with canned chickpeas, roast butternut or even just croutons)
2 Avocado
50g Spring onions
247g Cherry tomatoes
30g Flakes almonds

Method:
Chop the broccoli into florets and steam for about five minutes.
Chop the spring onions into julienne
Drain the broccoli properly
Slice the avocado and squeeze a little lemon over the slices to stop them going brown
Dice the tofu block into large squares then sauté in olive oil until there is texture and colour. Set aside to cool.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half
Assemble the salad in layers and garnish with flaked almonds
Dress with Fresh Earth Herb dressing

Fresh earth’s dressing:
400ml Olive oil
100ml Lemon juice Freshly squeezed
110g Chopped onion
7.5g Garlic
7ml Dried basil
7ml Dried Oregano
7ml Dried parsley
55g Fructose
7g Brown sugar
½ tsp Sea salt
½ tsp Black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in the blender.

Recipe from Fresh Earth - all ingredients available at their store in Emmarentia.

Little Lisakhanya

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Marilyn from Boikanyo. She told me about Lisakhanya, a little burn victim who is almost 3 years old and who has lived in the ward at the Chris Hani Bara Hospital for 2 years with a tracheostomy.

I was privileged to join them for their appointment at the Park Lane Clinic for an assessment with a view to doing surgery. After quite a traumatic check up we were told that Lisakhanya needed to have a small op so they could go in and take a closer look. Thankfully this was paid for by a very kind volunteer. It will take between one and seven operations to help Lisakhanya and if these are a success she will be able to live a normal life and probably even be able to talk again. I have been told that Lisakhanya’s first op is scheduled for this week and I am waiting to hear the outcome. This first operation will cost R70 000 and they are trying to raise funds for this.

Boikanyo also looks after brain damaged and maimed (burnt, abused, etc) kids. They buy them equipment to allow them to go home if possible, collect old car seats and model them so that severe cerebral palsied kids can sit for the first time as the hospital refused to supply them. They also buy special mattresses for comatose children to lie on so that their bedsores can heal.

If you would like to donate any money whether personally or from your company, please contact Marilyn directly on 083 617 7520 or marilyn@boikanyo.org.za

Meat Free Monday Recipe

Grilled Tomatoes with Herbs and Vegan Cottage Cheese

Ingredients:
1 kg mixed variety tomato, washed
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped rosemary leaves
250g tub vegan cottage cheese
1 clove chopped garlic
Fresh herbs – parsley, mint and oregano

Method:
• Turn the oven grill on to full.
• Cut the tomatoes into irregular shapes and season with smoked sea salt.
• Pour on a little olive oil and add the chopped rosemary.
• Place the chopped tomatoes onto a baking tray
• Grill the tomatoes until cooked then place onto a serving plate.
• Combine the vegan cottage cheese with the remaining olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper and half the chopped herbs.
• When the tomatoes are ready add dollops of the herbed vegan cottage cheese to the tomatoes.
• Garnish with the remaining herbs and serve hot or cold.

Recipe from Fresh Earth - all ingredients available at their store in Emmarentia.

Falafel Burger

For this Meat Free Monday, why not try this scrumptious falafel burger recipe from Fresh Earth.
(All ingredients available at Fresh Earth Food Store in Emmarentia)

Ingredients:
• 400g can chickpeas , rinsed and drained
• Garlic clove, chopped
• handful of flat-leaf parsley or curly parsley
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1⁄2 tsp harissa paste or chilli powder
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• toasted pitta bread
• 200g tub tomato salsa , to serve
• green salad , to serve
• 1 small red onion, roughly chopped

Method:
1. Pat the chickpeas dry with kitchen paper. Tip into a food processor along with the onion, garlic, parsley, spices, flour and a little salt. Blend until fairly smooth, then shape into four patties with your hands.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the burgers, then quickly fry for 3 mins on each side until lightly golden. Serve with toasted pittas, tomato salsa and a green salad.
3. The burger tastes great with a tahini sauce poured over.