Raw recipe: Bloody "Green" Smoothie with pears

Merry Christmas! I hope you spent a nice dinner yesterday and that you don't have an overdose of relatives and hugs yet (we still have to celebrate New Year, remember?). 

Usually I do, but because this year I am not going to Russia for holidays  at least I will safe myself the relatives who think that I am some kind of teddy bear which can be squashed, squeezed and hugged while I am trying to breath and not to bring up all the food I have eaten. It is already a problem to see friends and family when you are in Russia because every time you pay a visit (even if you told them you only have fifty minutes!) they set a table full of pancakes, tea and all kind of sweet and savory treats. So imagine in Christmas....

I remember that my godfather, for who a stack of pancakes is a required element in case of visitors, was almost shocked when I told him that I didn't eat eggs or milk anymore (being a vegan in Russia, where sour cream and butter are as essential as water, is something worse than being an alien).I think that this hospitality with friends and relatives contrasts with the coldness and indifference that Russian people show with strangers (and I don't mean foreigners: I mean other Russian people)

Because I am sure that we all have indulged ourselves more than we should last night, I thought it would be better to post something light (I have a recipe for the coffee brownies I cooked for our Christmas table, but I decided I'm going to save it for later).  I have posted a couple of green smoothie recipes before (see Basic green smoothie and Chocolate green smoothie), but because there are endless combination I feel like I could post dozens of them! 

For today's smoothie you will need a juicer (trying to squeeze a beetroot with a lemon-squeezer can be quite unproductive) as well as a blender, but I suppose it's not a big deal (because you must have a juicer! If not, now you know what you should ask for Christmas next year). The process is simple: make the juice, add it to the blender, put first the veggies (cabbage in this case, but you can use spinach or kale) in small amounts and don't add the fruit until it is all completely blended, playing with the proportions until you like the taste. If you are not used to eat greens this way, I would recommend adding more fruit than veggies, but it's up to you.

Have you realized that every day more and more people have green smoothies? It's not only the green smoothies: all the raw movement is trendy, and I think it's great. I especially like the approach of Gena of Choosing Raw: she is what people call "high raw", because she also eat cooked food. I would not be able to go 100% raw, and I would not  like either. I think there are some nutrients we can't get only from raw food and we shouldn't be extremist. In this sense, Gena`s principle is wise: listen to your body. If it's snowing outside and you feel like having a soup, and not kale salad....do it! 

I also read in his blog about food combining, and this is the reason why this time I didn't add nuts. She also posted a raw Christmas menu (I know it's a little bit late, but you can use it for New Year)

Bloody "Green" Smoothie with pears Recipe form: ~ original recipe ~ Serves: about 1 liter This makes about one liter of green smoothie. I don't have any problem with eating it whole on the morning, but most of the people have stomachs that can't hold so much food, especially if you are not used to raw food. So consider halving the amounts or be aware that you will have some leftovers (although if you can eat it all...great! You will have your vitamin and minerals dose for the whole day). I added pear, but you can try with apple too, or even orange. You can also play with the consistency: I like my smoothies rather thick, so they can hold the pieces of fruit or whatever I add after blending. I don't recommend adding water: juicing more of the fruit (or adding some extra) instead of blending it will work much better because you won't lose any flavor. Juice of : 1 beetroot, small 1 pear, medium 3 carrots 1/2 cucumber 1/2 lemon 5 dried figs  1 pear 3 or 4 leafs of cabbage a handful of parsley 1 tsp of tahini 1 Tbsp ground flaxseeds For decoration: 1/2 avocado another pear Put the four first ingredients in the juicer. Add the lemon juice (I do it with a lemon-squeezer) Put all the juices in the blender. Add the dried figs. Pulse. Add the parsley. Pulse again. Add first the cabbage and at the end the pear, roughly chopped and seeded.  **I discovered than adding first the harder ingredients (like the figs or the greens, which have a lot of cellulose) makes a better blended and smooth....smoothie (doesn't it sound redundant?) Greens are great, and despite what people think they are tasty, but I don't like finding pieces of cabbage in my smoothies.  Add the tahini and the ground flaxseeds. Blend and taste it. If it is too strong, add extra fruit or a sweeter of your choice. Chop the reserved pear and half of an avocado in little pieces. Add it after blending. If you don't like "chunky" smoothies, you can blend it too. 4) Enjoy your delicious AND healthy treat :)

No, I am not dead. I am just overwhelmed with school. Fortunately, Christmas Holidays begins next week (hurray!), so although I will have to work anyway (the last day to finish my research project is getting closer. Tic-tack, tic-tack…), at least I will have time to breathe.

It has been awfully rainy and cold the past three days because of a Siberian cold front.  It’s not that I hate cold (I love visiting Moscow for Christmas, and that would be certainly a problem). I hate cold without snow.  With that kind of weather, the best you can do is to curly up in your sofa,  cover yourself with a blanket and read a book while sipping your hot tea (or chocolate, if you prefer it).  I am looking forward my school break to do that. Instead of it, yesterday I had to curl up with a geography textbook (I had the exam today), and it lost most of its charm.

I can’t study without music. I don’t know why, but I got used to it….and now I just can’t concentrate in complete silence.

I haven’t cooked too much lately. Some days my mother does baked potatoes with extra ones for me without asking me before, and I can’t say no (could you?). When I have sweet potatoes in the fridge, I don’t need anything more and cooking something else seems just stupid. It’s a pity that a person can’t live just on sweet potatoes.  On other days I just don’t have the time, or I am not at home.  I have school until 14.30 every day except Thursday, when I have a split shift. Because I don’t have time to come back to home, I spend the hour and half I have in a café near school. The place is OK, but you still feel the bitterness of the coffee after adding the two packets of sugar. But some weeks ago I discovered another café (half an hour from school, tough) where you can order coffee with SOYMILK! I know people who live in vegan-friendly places will think it’s nothing out of this world, but apart from Starbucks (which you can only find in Barcelona, by the way) I don’t know any other café who offers it. So sometimes I just don’t come back at home until 6PM or so because I stay there doing homework. It is cozier, not as cold and smells better than the library. The only minus? They have nothing vegan to eat.

I know it sounds strange, but I concentrate better there than in a library and of course better than at home. I just can’t work at home. My mind seems to go somewhere else when I try to focus on some task. So it worth wait a little bit more to eat because I do twice as homework there.

And talking about coffee, I am working on a special post about this addictive and caffeinated drink. I thought about cooking something with coffee (maybe a dessert. I love how it enhances the flavor any cake!), plus collecting recipes from the web, some graphics (I found such a cute icons!) and extra stuff.   

I know what are you thinking: “Stop pestering me and go on with the recipe” (sometimes I have to remind myself that this is a blog about food). So, for those you dislike chilly and rainy days, I have the perfect recipe today: a smooth, warm roasted chickpeas and zucchini soup!

Roasted chickpeas and zucchini soup Recipe form: ~ original recipe ~ Serves: 3-4 -2 medium zucchinis (or 1 large) -2 cups water or stock -2 cups chickpeas -2 tsp chickpeas seasoning blend -1/4 cup coconut milk (optional) -salt -oil (I used olive oil) I love chickpeas, and I can snack on them like some people snack on chips or candy (which is great, because it’s a healthier addiction).  My family is usually quite skeptical about vegan food, but they all love chickpeas. Some days ago I sautéed them with some chana masala, a spices mix used with chickpeas….and they didn’t leave any leftovers!  It also works great with sweet paprika (here is called pimentón dulce). My father likes chickpeas, but he is crazy about hummus. Especially with a lot of garlic. I love it too, but sometimes you fancy something different, and the zucchini/chickpeas combo works perfectly. Add a little bit of vegetal milk (I strongly recommend coconut), extra seasoning for more spiciness, cover it with more coconut milk, nuts (or even raisins as I did. The savory and sweet combination is terrific!), olive oil and…voilà! Heat 1 or 2 tsp of oil on a saucepan and add 1tsp of the chickpeas seasoning. Add the chickpeas and sauté for 5 minutes or until they become golden and crispy. Set aside. Put the water (or stock) to boil and add the chopped zucchini, salt, coconut milk and another tsp of seasoning. Boil until they become tender, about 10 min. Turn off the heat. Let the cool a little bit. Put the zucchini (stock included) and the roasted chickpeas in a blender. Puree until you get the desired consistency. Add a little bit more coconut milk, salt and spices if desired. Serve with chana dal or some nuts, extra coconut milk and olive oil on top.

Crazy about Japan (and my first guest post)

What do you think about Japanese cuisine? Do you hate it? Love it? Or maybe you have just never tried anything else apart from sushi? I don’t know if I have never mentioned it (if I don’t, I am doing it now), but I am in love with Japan ♥. I love its culture, its language (I have even tried to learn it when I was ten years old. As I suppose you have already guessed, I didn’t succeed) and of course its food.  Contrary to what people thing, Japanese cuisine is a very simple one and it focus on fresh products and the flavor of each ingredients (instead of a concoction where they become unrecognizable)

I have been a big otaku for years ; now I just don’t have time to read manga or watching anime, but I still like it. Actually, two of my biggest hobbies began with manga: drawing and website/graphic design. I could spend all the day drawing the characters of my favorite series. Luckily enough, my teachers didn’t care about the fact that I had all my notebooks full of faces and little drawings. And of course, my first websites were (you guessed it) about manga and anime. I began to design websites when I was only ten years old!

Now, I have too many books from school to read and too many homework to do, so the only way I have to put in practice my interest in Japanese is cooking; I can live without TV (actually, I don’t watch it anymore), cinema, computer games or even without going out on Saturdays nights, but I need doing at least some cooking to relax.  

Well, writing a post (my first guest post!♥) about Japanese culture for some friend of mine (who is even more a lover of Japanese culture than me) is another good way to take a break from schools :) I cooked a Mushroom miso soup and wrote the recipe, which you can read here. By the way, you can visit his blog, NihongoUp: it’s about Japanese language and culture. Philip is a Russian New Media developer & designer (check out his game to learn Japanese!) who has been living for years in Czech Republic. He has got a small section about food and recipes, and I tried one of them: Stir-fried tofu with green beans. Maybe I can’t afford going to Japan, but at least I can eat a tofu with green beans at home :)

Check out this mushroom miso soup recipe on NihongoUp blog!

By the way, I have created a Twitter account (I couldn’t resist it!) Now I have to get the hang of it. What do you think about Twitter? Do you think that it will suppose the disappearance of blogs  (yeah, some people think it will) and that microblogging is the future? Or that it is just a passing fashion? In any case, I succumbed to the temptation, and now I have a Twitter widget on the right side of the blog :)

Stir-fried tofu with green beans By Philip, from NihongoUp Blog(recipe here) I have introduced very little changes in this recipe because it’s incredibly easy. It’s the perfect everyday dish: healthy, balanced, tasty and quick. The only ingredients I omitted are fresh minced ginger and mirin because I run out of this ingredients (visiting the Asian store is in my “to do list” since September). The original recipe calls for extra-firm tofu, but mine was frozen. I would say it worked as well as regular tofu. I forgot unthawing it, so I put it in the steamer for five minutes and it turned out perfect. Then,  press it between two plates and something heavy on top as you would do with a non-frozen tofu block (it allows the tofu to absorb better the flavor) and marinate it in the mix of tamari (soy sauce), mirin, sesame oil and maple syrup for 15 minutes.

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.

Curried rice and red lentils with Brussels sprouts

Fall is definitively here. The wind is already cold and gusts on morning and afternoons, and you only want to stay at home with you cup of hot tea (or coffee, or herbal tea. I would like to be so healthy, but I can’t). I fancy again hot porridge on mornings, and for me it’s the sign that cold days are already there. And of course, sweet potatoes and chestnuts. I have been living on sweet potatoes lately, but today I ate chestnuts for the first time this autumn. I bought them at school. Yeah, at school: 11 year students (which here is called 4th of ESO, and it’s the last compulsory year) are selling roasted chestnuts in the school café to recollect money for their end of year trip. I think that the authentic fall tastes like chestnuts and sweet potatoes, doesn’t it? It’s common to see people who sells them in the street , especially just before “Castanyada”, a traditional Catalonian celebration which takes place during the All Saints’ Day (although every time more and more people is replacing it with Halloween) and where people eat roasted chestnuts, panellets (small marzipan cakes) and sweet wine. We even saw Trick ‘r Treat,— Michael Dougherty horror film—in English class! 

I have posted recipes with pumpkin and sweet potatoes so far (chestnuts and panellets are in my “to do list”, but  I have sun a little bit other wonderful vegetables like….Brussels sprouts, for example. I don’t know why there are so much Brussels sprouts haters.  I can understand spinach haters or even chard haters—although I love this veggies as well—….but what is wrong with Brussels sprouts? I love eating mine plain, just steamed and with a drizzle of olive oil on top (like a lot of veggies), but sometimes I fancy something different. Brussels sprouts is not the kind of veggie you usually put in your slow and long cooking dishes, but I decided to try. The result was today’s recipe.

Curried rice and red lentils with Brussels sprouts I haven’t used too much curry in this recipe, so if you like your curried dishes spicy consider adding a little bit more. The coconut milk makes it even milder, and cooking it on a low heat and whole softens the Brussels sprouts without making them fall apart. Feel free to try it with other kind of rice (white rice, Arborio, basmanti rice…), but be careful with the cooking time. From: original recipe Serves: 3-4 1 tsp curry powder 1/2 tsp garam masala 1 onion, chopped 5 tbsp tomato paste 1/2 cup brown rice, half cooked 2 pears in quarters 1 cup Brussels sprouts 1 cup water 2 cups shredded cabbage 1 cup red lentils 1 cup stock 125 ml coconut milk more water if needed salt oil Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in a saucepan. Add 1 tsp of curry powder, 1/2 tsp of garam masala and cook for a couple of minutes on a low heat (don't burn it!)Add the chopped onion, about 5 tbsp of tomato paste and the half-cooked 1/2 cup of rice. Cook for 5 minutes more. Add one cup of water or stock, salt (if you are using water), and cover for 10 minutes. Stir the shredded cabbage, one cup of red lentils, 125 ml of coconut milk and another cup of stock. Cook on a low heat until the rice is well cooked and the lentils are falling apart. It must be a moist dish, so add more stock or water if needed.

Pumpkin & sweet potatoes stew with white beans

Do you like fall and winter vegetables? I do. I think I even like them more than summer veggies.  Pumpkins, sweets potatoes, Brussels sprouts, beets, artichokes, chestnuts…. If you love them too, you will like today’s recipe: pumpkin & sweet potatoes stew with white beans. It’s easy, made from seasonal ingredients and healthy! I love fall and winter vegetables because you can cook wonderful comfort meals with them. Ok, steamed broccoli is great (have you tried it just with a drizzle of olive oil and some nuts on top?), but when it’s cold and rainy outside and you want something filling and warm, broccoli is definitely not the first what I think about. Instead, I begin to dream about bowls of steamy chilies, casseroles, soups and stews.

>No, it’s not cold here yet. Actually, today it was 27ºC (80,6ºF),but I suppose that summer is being too long this year, and I have already began to miss my cold days comfort food.

Making stupid faces in front of a camera is SO funny :) I went to the dentist last week to change the elastic bands of my dental braces. Now they are blue! Luckily, it didn't hurt as much as the first time: after two or three days I was able to eat almost normally.

Which is your favorite comfort food or comfort meal? Mine is always something with beans and veggies, cooked on a low heat until they become tender. I sprinkle my stews with nuts (actually, I sprinkle everything with nuts) or seeds because I like the contrast between the crunchy and moist and tender ingredients.

This month is the month of vegan food, and many of the blogs that I follow are participating. I really admire people who can write for a whole month one post a day, which is the main rule of Vegan MoFo. I even don’t know how I found time to write this (short) post. I suppose that I just didn’t want to study on a Friday evening, and I tried to convince myself that I must write a post. Compared with this duty, my Philosophy or Economics homework is something superfluous ;) Luckily, I don’t have school next Monday (hurrayyy!), so I will try to compensate a little bit.

How many of you are participating in Vegan MoFo? Some examples of the great reacipes that vegan bloggers are posting these days are this Mole-Roasted Cauliflower or this Vegan Mauritian Stew. Don’t they look delicious? :)

Pumpkin & sweet potatoes stew with white beans I love oven baked sweet potatoes. I eat them whole, with the peel because it is the part I like the most, especially when it caramelizes and becomes crunchy. But if you do that, you must scrub with a scouring pad. I used non peeled sweet potatoes in this stew, but you can peel your if you want. You will lose a little bit of texture, but you will improve the presentation: the peel, which is darker, gives a less bright color to the dish. This is a rather sweet main dish (all the ingredients are quite sweet), so I would recommend to serve it with something salty. I ate it topped with ground almonds and gomashio (ground sesame seeds with salt) and crackers. How about these savory onion crackers? The spice blend was inspired in SasanV’s Iraqi-Inspired Seitan and Eggplant Stew. I only added mustard seeds. You can play with the seasoning: if there is some spice that you don’t like, leave it out. Begin with 2 tsp of seasoning blend and add more if you think it’s not enough. Or just add you own seasoning blend. Whatever is your spices choice, the stew will taste much better the next day, or the next one….if there is some stew left, of course :) Serves: 3-4 as a main dish From: original recipe. Seasoning blend inspired in SasanV’s Iraqi-Inspired Seitan and Eggplant Stew Seasoning blend: 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp smoked paprika 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp cardamom 1/8 tsp ground cloves ½ tsp mustard seeds Stew: 2tsp of the seasoning blend above. 1 tbsp olive oil ½ onion, chopped 1-2 medium sweet potatoes, diced 1/3 of a medium pumkin, diced 1 apple, peeled and diced 1 ½ cup cooked white beans (feel free to substitue with any kind of beans) 1 ½ cup broth and additional water if needed Salt If you are using dried white beans, soak them the night before and cook them as always. I used dried beans and reserved the cooking water and used it as the broth. If you are using canned beans, you can use a buillon cube instead (or your homemade stock) Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the spices. Cook on a low heat for a minute, until they become fragrant. Add the chopped onion and sauté for a couple of minutes more. Add the diced sweet potatoes and cook for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Add the pumpkin and apple. After a minute, add the beans, the broth (or water) and salt. Cook for 30-40 min on a very low heat, adding more water or salt if necessary. Serve it very hot, with ground almond and a drizzle of olive oil on top.