A Berry Raw Cake ;)

For the finale of an Indian Feast I did a few nights ago, I made this raw cake, in honour of birthday girl, and dear friend,  Kat Witgruber.

What you ought to know about Kat, is that she's just as adventurous in the kitchen, though her passion & specialty lies in baking- hence there was just no way I was baking anything - nothing compares to Kat's baked goods!! 

As for this cake, I kid you not, it is so very very simple. 

The ingredients are simple, and it doesn't take so long to prepare. I'm all about simplicity these days, without compromising on taste. 

I got the idea for this from this recipe, by someone I can only find as 'Megadaisy1's- thank you whoever you are!
I adapted it by substituting almonds for the macadamia nuts, and maple syrup instead of dates in the crust.     There's a fair bit of room to play, so go for it, do your own thing, using the following as a rough guideline. 

CRUST (& Topping)

2 cups Almonds 

1/2 cup Shredded Coconut 

1/4 cup Maple syrup 

Pinch of salt 

FILLING:

2x Avocado 

4x Banana (very ripe) 

Cacao powder

TOPPING:

Your choice of fruits & remainder of crust ingredients (if you wish). 

Put all the crust ingredients into a food processor, and blend to from a coarse mixture. 

Blend avocados, bananas and cacao powder. Fill in the crust. 

Add berries and voila- all done!

It did turn out to be quite a hit. So much so, that it's fast becoming part of my Indian Feast repertoire. 🌞 

Let me know if you try it, and in the mean time, I'm heading back into the kitchen to prep for tomorrow's lunch time feast, with a few angels. ;) 

Kohlrab & Courgette 'Pasta.'

Kohlrab & Courgette 'Pasta'

I bumped into a friend the other, moments before I was being interviewed (by 9muz), about my first published fairytale, "Piyar & Soleil."

We had just enough time for him to tell me how amazing my food looked on instagram, and for me to ask him if he'd tried to make any of it yet.

His answer resonated with what I'd been feeling of late with my food, I've really got to simply.

So, this is for my dear friend, and anyone else looking to make a beautiful looking and tasting meal, in very little time.

As an artist, I still do pay attention to detail, rather than time, so by all means, you don't have to shave the kohlrab, nor cut the courgette so finely, but believe me, it'll impress. ;)

Fettucine Aglio Olio & Peperoncino

That was about the longest part of this meal, which was still complete in about half an hour. (You could cut that time in half).

Before I carry on, I've got to admit, that I did imitate the 'Fettuccine Aglio Olio& Peperoncino, ' that I made for my husband the other day, (the traditional way). As I was in the first day of my cleanse, I didn't taste it all, but got the gist of it today. :).

Moving right along-

What I used for this meal (All very loose estimates).

2x kohlrab
1x large courgette
1/2 red pepper, cut into small pieces
6 garlic cloves
6 leaves of fresh sage
Parsely flakes
Salt & Peppercorns (crushed to your liking)
Tbsp butter
3Tbsp olive oil
Juice from half a lemon

I peeled and shaved the kohlrab, sliced the courgette into noodle shape/size, lightly boiled them (separately), in a little bit of water, on low heat, with the lid on the pan. (Kohlrab was still a little crunchy, and courgette, 'al dente.' :)

That done, on low heat again, I melted the butter in olive oil, added salt, pepper, chopped sage, parsley flakes, and let it all fuse together for a few minutes, then tossing in the veggies.

I added the raw red pepper bits, right at the very end, just before serving, along with a squeeze from the lemon.

A hit, as usual. :)

If you try it, let me know.

A Tasty Treat in Just Minutes, & Only Four Ingredients :)

My sweet tooth dragged me to the kitchen after making my a couple of videos today, a welcome note for my website, plus a new EFT video.

First came the coconut, then I added cacao powder, figured I'd need something to sweeten - maple syrup from Yurai's parents- thank you very much - and cream, just because I can. ;)

You don't need a recipe, do you...? 

Ok, if you do, here's approximate measurements-

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 Tsp (unsweetened) cacao powder

1Tbsp maple syrup 

1Tbsp cream 

(**add whatever else you fancy, cinnamon, cardamom, chia seeds, cacao nibs, oatmeal.....)

Mix everything together.

If mixture is too wet, add more coconut, otherwise more cream or maple syrup, depending on your tastebuds, and roll into balls or eat straight out of the bowl with a spoon.

How many portions? Enough.
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Play with your food! :D 

That's all, post done. 

Let me know if you try these, and don't forget to add a whole lotta love-- It'll negate the rest of the ingredients, if that's a worry for you (like it used to be for me). <3

Much peace and love. 

My very first chutney

With all the cherries we recieved from Yurai's parents, I'd been promising to make chutney. We cooked up all the cherries so they wouldn't go off, kept some in the fridge to be neatly rolled into crepes, made some cherry chocolate ice cream (which is so simple and really, there's no need for an ice cream maker), and the rest sit in the freezer, waiting to be turned into chutney.
Key word be 'waiting.' 



Alas, such is the way with this dear foodie, who has half a dozen projects on the go. No stress, I just roll with it. :)

With the cherries waiting, Yurai's folks made a surprise drop off over the weekend. This time tons of currants, red, white and a blueberry shade too-. 

Neither of us really love them, so Yurai pulled off the stems (not my favourite job-bless him- !!!), whilst I had my creative mind elsewhere for a few moments-revamping our 'Modern Alchemy for Emotional Freedom,' website.  Still working on the totally new one, which will compliment my own website, and eventually, Yurai's- like a small collection, but I'm not designing clothes, this time.
Once an artist, always an artist. ;)

I digress...Back to currants. Once he finished, into a pot they went, on low heat, cooking in their own time, while I carried on playing with our website. 

There was a beautiful crimson blob by the end, which I converted into an even more beautiful crimson blob, complete with rich flavors from the onions, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, coriander...not forgetting the compulsory brown sugar & vinegar. 

On an aside, less than a year ago, I wouldn't have made chutney because of the high sugar content, even though I loved it. "That just cannot be good for you...." Blah blah blah. 

Gone is that rule. Thank God (myself).

If I love it, and it's supposed to have sugar, then I will add the sugar and love it too 😉. 

Now then, I have to admit though, as with most of what I cook/create, this one is a very loose recipe. 

The ratios for sugar:vinegar are roughly the same (or 1 : 66, respectively). That was pretty much all I knew for certain, the rest I could and did swing, having reviewed a few different recipes for chutney, (linked below).

I love my first batch which contained roughly: 

3 cups of mixed (cooked) currants (juice removed) 

1.5 medium sized onion 

1 cup brown sugar 

2/3 cup (plain) vinegar 

(Approximately)

1 tsp salt

1tsp coriander seeds (whole) 

1/2 tsp cloves 

1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger (finely chopped) 

1 tsp mustard seeds 

1/4 tsp Chili flakes
(a lot of recipes call for raisins, I didn't have any, so skipped that part). 

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Quite literally, you just throw everything into a pot at the same time, and cook on low heat for about 45mins to an hour, keeping a watchful eye towards the end, so as to not reduce too much, burning your lovely chutney.

If you do what I did, and already have cooked fruit, you don't need to cook the mixture for as long. Having cooked the berries, they'd released a lot of water, which in the process, turned into a ruby red syrup- I did add a little (to moisten the mixture), at the very beginning. Go with your gut. :)

**Instead of adding everything to the pot, as mentioned above, I left the currants till last, once the onions had softened. 

 AND, seriously, play with your food. I've given rough estimates above, always leaving room for your own tastebuds to make magic. OR pop along to anyone of these recipes, which I skimmed through:

From The Kitchn, Marisa Mcclellan's 'An Adaptable Chutney'
From The Kitchn, Nigel Slater's 'Dark and Sticky Fruit Chutney'
From BBC's Goodfood.com, Emma Lewis' 'How to make Chutney'
From Jamie Oliver.com, Claudia Medeiros' 'Cherry Chutney Recipe'

Serve as you wish, I had a few bites with the potato curry/masala I made a couple of days ago, but I can imagine this piece of art with a dozen other foods already. 

Jeeze, I love food, and creating. 🌞

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My Visual Mind:

A little picture story about a Potato Curry, paired with a mixed  Currant Chutney, my first ever, would you believe? :)

Picture 1- Quite simply, Potatoes, chutney & Coriander Shoots
Picture 2- Let's add some chill flakes
Picture 3- And currants as garnish
Picture 4- Currants atop the Potatoes, of course
Picture 5- Another view :)










Take some time for you and play. C'est tout :)
Much peace and love. <3

Quick and Easy Bean Salad

This was wonderful as it was, though I can imagine all kinds of goodies coming from this concoction.

Quite simply, I stirred together, tamari and dijon mustard, with coconut oil, and tossed in spouted, then lightly boiled kidney beans, and topped with rucola.

I was hooked on this for days!

Once again, I thank you for coming along and visiting my food blog, and for your patience. I got then posts up today, and am happy with that. I'll get back here at my soonest convenience to get more details up.

Till then, please play with your food, try out new things, and share!! :) Drop me a line anytime, should you wish for a food chat. In any case, come along to my Instagram page, where you'll find tons more food, and other things I love :)

May you be blessed.
xxMunjeet 

Fancy Fries & Eggs, w/ Spring Onions, & Sprouts

Carrying on from the last post, with this lovely picture, the feature this time is not leeks, nor pasta, rather a breakfast for champs.

My favourite, fancy fries, with eggs made in a cookie cutter, leeks on the side, with rocket sprouts and plenty of dill.

As with the rest, recipes, or outline of what I did to come. Thanks for your patience!
xx

Pasta without the pasta- Leeks

For long, I've been substituting breads and pastas for veggies, coming up with not so usual combo's. Sure this has been done before, but as it's sooooooo easy, I have to share.

I picked up the pictured veggies, from a couple who comes in from Hungary and sells their produce just down the road, (literally on the sidewalk). I thought I might use everything together, but came up with this, and then the rest I used for the next post- fancy fries and eggs made in a cookie cutter, with other yummy fixings :). 

Leek 'pasta' with the usual fixings of olive oil, butter and garlic, a pinch of salt, and a few tomatoes, and fresh dill.