GROCERY HAUL #4 + BRIGHT FOOD

It's another week of colourful food with most of the usual stuff. I got some extra mangoes this time around because they were incredible the last time and I've been craving them ever since. I fancy creating some sort of mango dessert this week too..hmm. Also picked up a humongous tin of chickpeas on special offer, and some cauliflower for a change.

I didn't go to my usual fruit & veg place because I spent the whole day in town doing other non-food related things. Then, like some kind of special blessing, I saw this other store open as I made my way back home at 7pm. Literally two seconds away from my usual place (which was closed by then) and still brimming with all this inviting produce. The amazing guy at the store even gave me some free celery and parsley, because I'm just that loveable (OR..they had a bunch of stock left over that they needed to get rid of! OR..trying to bribe me so I can ditch the other place and come back to them! Whatever the reason, I was grateful. Nothing beats a bit of random kindness :) ).

Here are a few meals from the previous week. I like to cook enough to have some leftover for lunch the next day. It's a system that works for me and makes life as a vegan pretty darn easy. And I still can't get over how bright each plate of food looks. 

  

NIGERIAN SALAD DRESSING

Spice up any salad with this fiery, fruity salad dressing. An unapologetic taste explosion if I ever did see one... Now there's no excuse to avoid a giant plate of greens.

Ingredients

- Juice of 6 limes

- Juice of 1 large orange

- 2 tbsp grated ginger

- 1 garlic clove (finely chopped)

- 1/2 ripe mango (finely chopped)

- 1/4 scotch bonnet pepper (finely chopped)

- 1 tsp dried thyme

- 4 tbsp sunflower oil

- Pinch of salt

NIGERIAN MEAT-LESS PIE

The 'Meat Pie' (cue dramatic music) is probably the king of Nigerian snacks. You know the scenario - you've had a chilled or stressful day out in Lagos, you're heading back home and Mr Bigg's is just at the next roundabout. You stop over to buy a great, big succulent slab of the stuff and wash it down with an ice-cold bottle of coke (or fanta, if you're that way inclined).

I'm proud of my healthy, vegan version of this classic, not only because it looks and tastes great but because it still has the ability to make any kind of day feel that much better.

Ingredients

(serves 2)

- 2 cups whole-wheat flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 4 tbsp sunflower oil

- 1/2 cup cold water

- Pinch of salt

- 1/4 cup almond milk 

- 1 large potato (diced into cubes)

- 1 carrot (finely chopped)

- 1/2 onion (finely chopped)

- 6 broccoli florets (finely chopped)

- 4 tbsp cooked beans or lentils

- 2 tbsp sunflower oil

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 vegetable stock cube

- 1 tsp curry powder

- Salt and pepper to taste

To make the pastry, combine the flour, baking powder, oil and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water a little at a time, kneading constantly until you have a firm but supple dough. If it feels too dry and flaky, add another tablespoon or so of water. If it feels too soft and gooey, throw in a tiny bit more flour. Wrap the dough in clear plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make the filling, sautée the finely chopped onions, carrot and broccoli in oil for 5 minutes. Then add the diced potatoes and seasoning ( vegetable stock cube, curry, salt and pepper). Add the water and cooked beans/lentils and simmer on medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until the veggies are soft but still holding their shape (you don't want the mixture to turn mushy).

Take the dough out of the fridge and split it into four equal parts. Roll each part out on a lightly floured surface, forming a flat, round shape.

Spoon enough filling into the centre of each circle and fold over, tucking the edges in to secure the pie. Use a fork to press down on the edges to create the signature meat pie pattern. 

Place the pies on a baking tray covered in grease-proof paper and brush with a little almond milk.

Bake in a pre-heated oven, gas mark 5, for 20-25 minutes.

BREAKFAST #3 - AVOCADO/TOMATO TOAST

I've heard it said that avocado is nature's butter. And too right. I'm currently obsessed with the stuff and have worked my way through a fair few in the past 4 weeks or so. 

This attractive toast ensemble is now one of my favourite things to have for breakfast. It's the sort of thing you bite into and think to yourself: 'This tastes so flipping amazing, it can't be good for you'. Except that it actually is...

Ingredients

- Wholegrain bread (3 small slices or 1 large slice cut in half)

- 1 small avocado (sliced)

- 1 medium tomato (halved and sliced thinly)

- Sunflower seeds

- Pinch of salt

Toast the bread. Layer on the tomato and avocado slices. Sprinkle each with sunflower seeds and a pinch of salt. 

So simple.

GROCERY HAUL #3

I had to drag myself out of bed this morning to make it to the fruit and veg place before they closed up at 12pm (who closes at 12 ?! Don't know about you but that's when my Saturday's just getting started). Anyway, with 20 minutes to spare, I made my merry way there and gathered some rainbow loot...

Onions
Red garlic
Carrots (with the leaves still on - Bugs Bunny style)
Cabbage
Broccoli
Mangoes
Vine tomatoes
Yellow peppers (for a change)
Courgettes
Spring onions
Green pepper
Regular potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Endives

BANANA-LIME FRITTERS

A kitchen experiment gone right. These tangy, savoury fritters make great appetizers. Serve this at your next dinner party if you want to impress your friends and family (minus all the hard work...)

Ingredients
(serves 6)
- 2-3 ripe bananas
- 1 cup wholemeal flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 whole lime (for the juice and zest)
- Salt to taste
- Sunflower oil (enough to coat your frying pan)

Place the bananas in a large mixing bowl and mash with a fork or wooden spoon to form a smooth purée.

Add the baking powder, thyme, garlic and grated lime zest, mixing well to combine all the ingredients.

Start to incorporate the flour, adding one tablespoon at a time until you have a thick, sticky batter.

Heat the oil in a shallow frying pan and drop a tiny bit of the batter in. Once it starts to sizzle and turn brown you know your oil is hot enough.

Drop the batter into the oil, one teaspoon at a time. This is finger food so you don't really want them any bigger than a teaspoon size.

You can fry several at a time but make sure the pan doesn't get too crowded. Once they're brown on one side, flip them over and brown the other side.

Drain the fritters on kitchen paper and serve hot with some freshly squeezed lime juice !

GINGER & CHILLI SPICED HOT CHOCOLATE

Remember that scene from the movie Chocolat ? The one where Juliette Binoche melts the old lady's stone-cold heart with some spicy hot chocolate? No? Then take a couple of seconds to YouTube 'chocolat movie clip taming the shrew'.

Now, I can't promise that my recipe will cure any stony hearts any time soon, but it sure tastes good. A bit like drinking chocolate silk, with a wickedly hot kick to keep things interesting. And before you wrinkle your nose at the idea of chocolate and chilli even appearing in the same sentence, I urge you to give it a try.

Ingredients
- 1 glass almond milk
- 2 tbsp organic 100% cocoa powder
- fresh ginger (about the size of your thumb)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp chilli powder
- Sugar to taste (optional)

Place the almond milk in a plastic container and grate the fresh ginger into it. Cover with the plastic lid and refrigerate for 30 min - 1 hr.

Heat the almond milk/ginger infusion in a small saucepan, bringing to a steady boil on medium heat or until the milk gets frothy around the edges.

Add 2 level tablespoons of cocoa powder, then add the nutmeg, cinnamon and chilli powder. Stir continuously for 2-3 minutes to dissolve completely.

Serve hot, using a small tea strainer to separate the bits of grated ginger.

VEGAN ICE CREAM

Traffic in Lagos city was the golden opportunity for street hawkers to sell their goods to tired, hungry and mostly frustrated travellers. It was also the golden opportunity for tired, hungry and (not so frustrated) kids to bag a snack or two. Now, I loved sweets and biscuits and unnatural-looking sausage rolls as much as the next kid, but my thing was fresh fruit. One look at the bananas on sale and you just knew that they'd been picked from a tree that same morning (give or take...). Imperfect and mottled as they were, nothing could beat the rich, sweet taste - much unlike the plastic, tasteless variety that exist in a few shops I could mention. There was an art to eating the fruit too. I'd eat around the edge and pretend that the soft, gooey centre was ice cream. What can I say, some conjured up imaginary friends, I conjured up imaginary food. Anyway, it turns out that I was on to something all those years ago.

Here is the one-ingredient, dairy-free, scarily accurate replica of creamy, indulgent ice cream. And once again, there is a little bit of an art to getting it just right!

Ingredients

(serves 4)

- 4 ripe bananas

- Topping of your choice (dark chocolate chips? chopped pecans? organic maple syrup? Go wild...)

Cut the bananas into small pieces and freeze in a plastic container for 2-3 hours. 

Place the frozen banana pieces in a food processor and blend. Watch in awe as the mixture turns creamy (the consistency of whipped, swirly ice cream).

Scoop into a bowl and serve with your favourite toppings.