The first school term is over, and now I have a five days long break to recover from that horrible invention called exam. Well, actually not: we must give the first draft of a fifty pages long (very important) project we are supposed to have begun in summer. I still have wrote twenty pages so far.

So, instead of apologizing for being during almost a month in hiatus, I think you will appreciate something more….ehm, useful than my excuses and complains about how difficult is a student’s life and blah blah.

Do you like Photoshop? I must confess that I hated it for a long time; it was too complicated, too heavy, with too many things I didn’t understand and I didn’t need. I was already happy with my lighter and less fussy Paint Shop Pro. I suppose I was on safe ground and I just didn’t want to leave it. Now I discovered many of Photoshop’s advantages and I cou ldn’t live without it.  One of the things I learnt some days ago is how to use actions. For example, this one gives to your photo a fresh and original comic style. Compare.

Photoshop is wonderful. We know that. But some people make the mistake of thinking that it can transform a disastrous photo in a wonderful one. First of all, I would recommend shooting in RAW format whenever possible because it gives you much more control over the photo (because the data lost is minimum). Second, NO flash please; natural light is the best you can use, but sometimes is not enough. To solve this problem I use a homemade reflector. Actually, just a cardboard with some silver paper glued on it.

And the difference can be substantial. Look at this two photos I took for my previous Cauliflower and green peas dry curry post: in the first one a reflector was used; in the second, not.

And you? Do you love it? Or its huge amount of tools scares you? Do you prefer using natural light or you are lucky and have one of those powerful external flashes (which have nothing to do with the flash included in the camera)?

I have got into the habit of doing everything with music….I even study and do homework with music! Because listening to the same songs one time and another is boring, I had to look for something new (I know it is supposed to be a vegan food blog and has nothing to do with music, but I just wanted to share it with you), and I found it: Evans Blue and Sick Puppies (no Lady Ga Ga for me, please). In case someone is interested, here is two of the songs I have been listening the most (I have just discovered that an embedded music player is trickier than I thought)

Cold (but I'm still here) (Evans Blue) -->

You're going down (Sick Puppies)-->

Ok, what I suppose you were looking for when you entered in a food blog: the recipe. By the way, this recipe is my December’s contribution to Tried&Tasted event (originally created by Zlamushka) which featured one blog every month; this time Closet Cooking by Kevin was chosen as the featured blog and Salt to Taste by Hema as the hostess. You just have to choose one of the many recipes from Kevin’s blog and send the information to Hema. You can use this logo, which I was pleased to design (you know that I am crazy about graphic design) and link it to Salt to Taste blog entry about the event. It would be also nice if you could give me credit and link to this blog too.

Feel free to use this logo (I am the official T&T designer…yay!),but it would be nice if you linked back to Tales of a Spoon ;) It’s the only thing that I ask in return.

Sweet potato pancakes Original recipe form: Closet Cooking Serves: four large pancakes and lots of small one (sorry, I couldn’t count them because I ate them to quickly) I don’t know why it didn’t try it before, because the combination is perfect. The sweet potato makes the pancakes dense, giving them a sweet (and unmistakable) flavor. The original recipe had eggs and buttermilk in it, so I had to change some things in order to veganize it:  I used soymilk with vinegar instead of buttermilk (tofu would have worked too. Check Go Dairy free for more buttermilk vegan alternatives), ground flaxseeds instead of the egg and olive oil instead of melted butter. I reduced the amount of sugar, used only whole wheat flour and finally did small pancakes instead of big ones. I froze most of them to enjoy them for breakfast during the next weeks. -1 cup whole wheat flour -1 tsp baking powder -2 Tbsp brown sugar -1 tsp cinnamon -½ tsp nutmeg -1 cup vegetable milk + 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar -½ cup cooked & mashed sweet potatoes (about one small potato) -1 Tbsp olive oil -1 Tbsp ground flaxseeds + 2 Tbsp water -½ tsp salt Cook ahead the sweet potatoes; I baked them because I love the flavor of the charred skin, which I left for the texture. Mix the milk and the apple cider vinegar (you can also use lemon juice) and leave it to stand for ten minutes. In another small bowl mix as well the ground flaxseeds and the water and do the same. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, spices, salt, sugar) in one bowl and the wet ingredients (butter milk alternative, flaxseeds, sweet potatoes and oil) in another. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones slowly, mixing well but do not overmixing. I recommend using a non stick saucepan and no oil at all. You can make a few big pancakes or a lot of small ones; I did the last. The mixture must be dense  but not too much, so you can pour them easily. Cook them on a medium heat and wait until some air bubbles appear on one side before flipping. Serve with some jam, tahini, lemon juice, or margarine and sugar. I ate them with the compote de pommes my French partner gave as a present when I did the students exchange.  Magnifique !They freeze very well and can be kept for several month (but I doubt if they are going to last you so long….)

Cauliflower and green peas dry curry (T&T)

I have been a cauliflower hater most of my life. I hated all about it: the taste, the color and specially the smell. I remember that when I was little, I couldn’t stand arriving at home from school and smelling this thing — just mentioning “cauliflower” was enough to send shivers down my spine— while it was cooking in the kitchen. I admit that I was a little bit fussy about food when I was little (not just with cauliflower) but I still can’t understand my past aversion to this veggie. My mother was always trying to disguise it covering it with an omelet; it worked with my brother, but not with me….I was too clever (just kidding. I suppose my brother loved omelet too much to leave it on the plate. My mother, of course, always made sure that the cauliflower was broken in tiny, tiny florets)

Now I love it. And I don’t need covering it with anything: I can eat it plain, steamed and just with a drizzle over it. Actually, I eat most of my veggies this way: it’s easy and you can savor them in all their glory (I am sure that I have already told it…and more than once. I wonder why I am such a pain in the neck).  I could do a list of all the veggies I hated before going vegan and that now I adore, but I am afraid that you would fall asleep before I finished.

A couple of days ago I was in a café, speaking with a friend: she ordered a chocolate bun and told me she was addicted to it; I told her that I was addicted to Brussels sprouts and broccoli (now I am afraid that I lost her forever).

But if I only ate steamed veggies I wouldn’t have anything to blog about, so sometimes I need to cook something more elaborated. An example is this cauliflower curry I did for this month Tried and Tasted. Since Renae sent me a box full of spices because I complained about how difficult it was to buy them here (I won’t get tired of saying it…you’re a darling! : ) I suppose you will receive soon your parcel from Spain), every time I cook something Indian I am like a kid with a new toy….at least I can cook something without omitting half of the ingredients! 

So if you like Indian cuisine too, have a look at Sunshinemom’s Tongue Ticklers, the blog of the month in Tried&Tasted November edition. The hostess is Raaga, from The Singing Chef. As always, you have more information Raagas entry on T&T, or in Zlamushka’s original post. But the principle is easy: you cook something from Tongue Ticklers, make a photo, blogs about it and send it to the hostess (this month to The Singing Chef  webmistress). Non-bloggers are welcome too.

Feel free to use this logo (I am the official T&T designer…yay!),but it would be nice if you linked back to Tales of a Spoon ;) It’s the only thing that I ask in return.

Cauliflower and green peas dry curry - Gobi Matar ki sukhi subzi Serves: 3 From: Tongue Ticklers 1 kg cauliflower ½ cup peas (I used one cup) 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp carom seeds  ( Sunshinemom emphasized that it shouldn’t be omitted, but I didn’t have any) ¼ tsp fennel seeds 1 ½ coriander powder ½  tsp cumin seed powder ¼ turmeric Chili (to taste; I didn’t add  too much) 1/8 dry mango powder 1 tsp fenugreek Coriander and dry fenugreek leaves (I omitted this) Break the cauliflower in small florets. Heat a little bit of oil in a skillet (or in a wok) and add the cumin, carom and fennel seeds. Add the cauliflower, salt and cover until half cooked. Add the peas and cook until almost done. Add the powdered spices (turmeric, coriander, chili, mango and cumin). Sauté. Adjust the seasoning if needed. Finally, add the fenugreek, sauté for a minute more and turn off the heat. Sunshinemom recommends serving it on rotis or rice

Verdict
Definitely, you can’t omit half of the spices when cooking something Indian like I was doing. I have done curry many times before, but it never tasted like this (I suppose it’s logical when you curry lack some essential ingredients, like turmeric). It was spicier than I am used to, but I liked it. I have been only once in an Indian restaurant (it was in Prague, and my friends told me that it was real Indian food. If their Indian friends told them it, I suppose it was true) and it was rather spicy….but very pleasant to palate. You know, spicy enough but not too spicy. Well, this is the most similar to something Indian I have ever cooked :-) Light, easy to digest (fennel and cumin are very good in this sense), low-fat and quite quick. Maybe I will try a wet variation of it (but first I have to find a soy yoghurt without a tone of sugar in it)

Now that summer is over, I have dug up some photos I did when I was still on holidays.

I'm back ...with some onion crackers

Back to the routine! Or almost, because luckily am not at school yet: It will start in two weeks. Ugh! It will take me some time to get used to it again: getting up at 6:00 AM (although now I get up more or less at the same time, at least I know that I am not in a hurry and I can have breakfast slowly), taking the bus, having lessons until half past two, waiting for the bust for 30’ (or 40 if there are traffic jams), having dinner at 4PM, doing homework and studying….and start all over again! Sounds boring, huh?

So I am trying not to think about it and enjoy instead my last days of vacations. Or at least all I can enjoy it while revising for school and doing my research project (I would never thought that transcribing interviews would be so time consuming! >.<)

At the end, I didn’t reach the 1.000 photos (ohhhh!...), but I have lots of them anyway. Because putting them all in one post would be a guaranteed crash for your computers (and maybe for my bandwidth too), I will divide them in many posts. After all, I would like to write more Russian (and Catalan and Spanish) recipes, and that photos will be perfect to go with them.

I don’t have any typical Russian recipe yet, but I am already thinking about how veganize some of them (because most of them are not vegan). But the problem is….which food is typical Russian food? If I had to decide looking at what people eat every day, I would have to say that Big Macs and kebabs (at least in Moscow)are traditional Russian food, which of course is not.

Another reason why it took me so much to post anything is that after coming back from Russia, I was not able to relax for a simple reason: I didn’t have my baggage with me, which the air company lost. Luckily, they found and returned it to me two days after….but what a shock!

Savory Onion Crackers So I don’t have a Russian recipe yet, but a review for an Indian one instead: savory onion crackers (nippatu). This crackers are my contribution to the September edition of Tried&Tasted, created by Zlamushka. This month the featured blog is Madhuram’s Egless cooking and the event is hosted by Poornima of Tasty Treats. It will be announced soon, but you can already look for a recipe to try in  Madhuram’s website =) This is the second month that I officially create the T&T logo! =D I created the first ones just because I like graphic design, but Zlamushka asked if I would like to be the T&T logo designer and I agreed ^^ This month I used the photo of the onion crackers. My verdict? Delicious! I baked them two days ago, and there are only two crackers left, lying in the fridge (it’s unbearably hot here. Even nuts go off with that heat! We keep our gomasio in the fridge, just imagine! T_T). I was a little bit hesitant at the beginning because of the onion. I was sure that I would like it, but I could not say the same about my family. But they loved them even more than I did! I recommend adding some extra salt and sesame seeds on top before backing for more crunchiness. They taste great cold or warm, but if you store them in the fridge but don’t like cold treats, try to put it under the grill or in the toaster (with the accessory for buns, or your cracker will fall). Microwave can turn them too soft (at least for my taste) I changed very little things: I didn’t have cilantro leaves, so I added 1 teaspoon of dried dill and ½ spoon of Provence herbs instead. I substituted the butter with margarine and used 1 cup of white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

Midsummer Eve, too much party and Chana dal Masala [Spiced Split Pea Lentils]

Do you like bangers? If not, I don’t recommend you to visit Spain on the 23th June night because it’s “San Juan” —Sant Joan in Catalan, Saint Gorge in English — holiday. This holiday it’s not exclusive of Spain, though: if I am not wrong, the Midsummer Eve is celebrated in many European countries. Bonfires are lit, kids throw bangers and family and friends meet. In Catalonia and Valencia they also eat a cake called “Coca de Sant Juan” (If your wonder it… no, I don’t have a recipe, but I am already looking for one that I could veganise). But for a lot of people the best of all the holiday are the parties, especially beach parties. Bonfires are lit on the beach itself, DJs are contracted and the open-air cafés next to the beach make a fortune.

Nevertheless, the most common is something that in Spain is called “botellón”, and that my Oxford Dictionary translates as “young people’s street party”. It’s just the name for the meeting where groups of friends buy the drinks in supermarkets instead of in cafés, and drink them in the street (usually in parks). Well, Sant Joan is one of the biggest “botellón” you can find. It’s a pity that I didn’t bring the camera with me….the amount of people was incredible! The only I don’t like about it? All the garbage — and some slept people lying on it— that remains in the beach after the party =(

 I arrived at half past seven of the morning after the beach party, but strangely enough I was not sleepy at all (a coffee before leaving to the beach contributed in it), but I was starving. Nevertheless, I was not in mood for cooking, so I devoured half of a watermelon and a big bowl of breakfast cereal. My other meals were as quick and little healthy as my breakfast (trust me…at least the breakfast cereals we buy are not the healthiest way to begin your day), so yesterday I decided that it was enough and I cooked some real food.

After surviving basically on carbs, I thought that my body needed a more balanced meal. I gave a quick look to my recipes-to-try list, and immediately knew the answer: the Tried&Tasted June edition! This month the featured blog is Hooked on Heat and its author intention, Meena, is to introduce us to the real, everyday, modern Indian cuisine. Who said that Indian cuisine is difficult? Nevertheless, a quick advice from Meena: stay away from that yellow powder that most of the people call “curry”! If you want to know more, read her “How NOT to cook Indian food” post. Highly recommended!

Tried&Tasted was created by Zlamushka, of Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen. This month the event is hosted by “Kits Chow”. After looking among her recipes, I decided to chose a quite simple one: Chana dal Masala, or Spiced Split Pea lentils.

Chana dal Masala — I won't copy all the recipe again, because I changed very few things, so you can find the recipe here — Although I tried to follow the recipe, I had to do some small modifications. For example, I didn’t have turmeric, so I added a little bit of curry powder, which has got turmeric (I know…Meena recommended not to use it. But believe it or not, but I have not found just turmeric yet =S) Also, I didn’t have fennel seeds. Yes, you are right….I didn’t find fennel seeds either. Despite the lack of fennel seeds and plain turmeric, I loved the result. Nevertheless, I suspect it would have been even better if I had used the omitted ingredients. The dominant but mild at the same time flavor was cumin, which as well as delicious is good for your digestion (very important when you eat beans and lentils). I am sure that I will try another of the Meena’s recipes soon =) If you can, use whole spices and grind them when needed. They will keep all they flavor and aroma. It makes the difference!