Carrot and Potato Soup with Ginger and Chilli (v)

A lovely friend made us a delicious bowl of soup to replenish our bellies after a walk round the Holmfirth countryside a few weeks ago, so I decided to recreate the flavours and use up some limp carrots from the bottom of the fridge. You can flavour this soup with whatever you like, but the warming ginger and chilli work well with the sweet carrot.

For 3-4 portions you need

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3-4 carrots, roughly chopped, no need to peel

2-3 potatoes, roughly chopped, no need to peel

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 small chilli, destalked and cut into a couple of sections.

1.5 litres vegetable stock

Fresh parsley and coriander to serve

Heat the oil in a pan and sautee the veggies for a few mins. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and then top up with the stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 mins until the potatoes are cooked.

Blitz to a smooth consistency, adding more water if necessary and then serve topped with chopped fresh herbs. Yummy.

September 7, 2013June 10, 2015 by veggieg3ek Categories: carrot, easy, garlic, ginger, potato, quick, soup, vegan Leave a comment

Lamb, Date and Almond Lentil Tagine

I adore Moroccan food. Absolutely, totally love it. Thankfully Fuz does too 😉 This was an easy and quick meal to use up some of the left over lamb from our Sunday roast. It would work well with leftover beef too.

For 2 portions you need
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1/2 tsp each turmeric, ground cumin, chilli flakes and ground coriander
1 tsp each of ground cinnamon and ground ginger
salt and pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp dates, roughly chopped
1 cup diced cooked lamb or beef
300ml lamb stock
1/2 cup red lentils
2 tbsp whole skinned almonds, toasted

Begin by frying the onion in the oil in the base of a tagine or other heavy based pan. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and cook for another 5 mins or so. Add everything else apart from the almonds and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30-45 mins.

Add the toasted almonds 15 mins before you want to serve, and remove the lid to thicken the sauce. Delicious with the orange, onion and almond salad.

March 28, 2013June 10, 2015 by veggieg3ek Categories: easy, garlic, ginger, lamb, leftovers, lentils, moroccan, onions, tagine, tomatoes 2 Comments

Pasta with Tomatoes, Chilli, Ginger and Garlic (v)

I don’t have a picture for this, boo. So you’ll just have to imagine in your minds the bowl of steaming hot pasta topped with a gloriously vibrant red sauce, speckled with pungent ginger and chilli and garlic…
This was made for me a couple of weeks ago and was a revelation. I had never ever thought to add ginger to a tomato based pasta sauce but it works so well. Usually I reserve the holy trinity of ginger, garlic and chilli to Indian or Chinese style dishes, not pasta. But try it. You won’t be disappointed.

For 2 people you need:
150g pasta of your choice
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
good knob of ginger, finely grated (only a microplane will do imho)
1 cup fresh baby plum tomatoes
salt and pepper

Cook the pasta. Meanwhile prepare the fresh tomatoes by chopping them and then pulverising them in the pan. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and heat. Season. Serve on the pasta. Groan with pleasure, even moreso if you have been spoiled and someone else does the cooking and washing up…

September 3, 2011 by veggieg3ek Categories: easy, ginger, pasta, quick, tomatoes, vegan Leave a comment

Double Ginger Cookies with Stem Ginger (v)

The only problem with opening a jar of stem ginger in syrup is that you need to eat it within a week… So these were created to use up the jar I opened to make the sticky date and ginger loaf yesterday. This was a risk recipe as the original uses egg but I just omitted that and used some of the stem ginger syrup to replace it. It worked a treat and these cookies are crisp but chewy and nicely packed with bits of ginger. The original recipe is another Rose Elliot (Vegetarian Cookery, original edition, p325).

For about 18 cookies you need:

50g vegan margarine

100g caster sugar

40g golden syrup

175g self raising flour

1 tsp bicarb

1 tsp ground ginger

4 balls stem ginger, chopped

2 balls stem ginger, sliced (to decorate)

Mix the marge, sugar and syrup together till fluffy. Add the four, bicarb, ground ginger and stem ginger. Mix well. Add a little of the stem ginger syrup if you need to bring the mixture together in to a dough. Pull of bits about the size of a walnut and roll into balls. Place on a lined baking tray and flatten with a fork. Top each one with a piece of stem ginger. Bake in a moderate (160 degree) oven for 10-15 mins till golden brown and risen. Leave to cool for a few mins on the baking sheets then transfer to a cooling rack. 

July 11, 2011June 10, 2015 by veggieg3ek Categories: baking, biscuits, easy, ginger, quick, vegan Leave a comment

Sticky Date and Ginger Loaf (v)

I love love love gingerbread and sticky gingery cakes and my staple vegan cake of choice is thus Rose Elliot’s fabulous parkin. But we all fancy different things at times and my recent decision to go totally vegan has meant my vegan cook books are getting more of a read of late. This is another Rose Elliot recipe, from her Vegan Feasts book (p164). I have tweaked it slightly in the method and by adding some of the ginger syrup in place of golden syrup.

For 2 2lb loaf cakes you need:
250g plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp bicarb
125g stoned dates
50g (about 4 balls) stem ginger in syrup
125g light soft brown muscavado sugar
150g treacle
100g golden syrup
50g ginger syrup from jar
125ml grapeseed oil
125ml soya milk

Heat the treacle, sugar, golden syrup and ginger syrup until everything has melted together. Leave to cool (this is important! If it’s too hot the cake will collapse).

Meanwhile mix together everything else in a food processor to roughly chop the dates and ginger. Add the cooled sugar/syrup and pulse quickly to bring it together. Pour into lined loaf tins and bake in a moderate (150 degree) oven for an hour or so. The cakes last well and get stickier over a week or you can slice and freeze ready for lunches.

July 10, 2011June 10, 2015 by veggieg3ek Categories: cake, easy, ginger, vegan 1 Comment