RATATOUILLE (NIGERIAN INTERPRETATION)

You've been warned. If you're after a classic ratatouille recipe then Google has done you wrong and you need to go ahead and hit that back button on your browser. Otherwise, if you're here intentionally or if I've remotely piqued your interest, then stick around for my Nigerian interpretation of this well-known French Provençal dish.
My co-worker and I were recently discussing how much we love the Disney Pixar movie 'Ratatouille', which is about a rat with some mad cooking skills. It's got the perfect blend of humour, sentiment and drop-dead gorgeous animations of food (and Paris...but mostly food). If you haven't seen it yet, stop everything you're doing and go watch it! Or watch Remy the rat in action in the short clip below:

My coworker and I plan to recreate the traditional version at work one of these days, but I couldn't resist putting my spin on it first. 

If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you'll know that I'm tackling NaNoWriMo again this year and making this dish provided a much needed break from the novel I'm working on. Not to mention that cooking never fails to inspire me and aid my thinking process.

Hope you have as much fun making this as I did. And don't forget to leave me a comment if you like what you see :)

Ingredients

(serves 2)

- 1 small, narrow sweet potato (peeled; thinly sliced)

- 1 plantain (thinly sliced)

- 1-2 small tomatoes (thinly sliced)

- 1 small red onion (thinly sliced)

For the red sauce:

- 2 tomatoes (chopped)

- 1 red bell pepper 

- 2 cloves garlic

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 small red onion (finely chopped)

- dried thyme

- curry powder

- salt to taste

Blanch the sweet potato slices in a pot of boiling hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside with the rest of your thinly sliced vegetables.

To make the red sauce, blend the tomatoes, red bell pepper and garlic until you have a thick, chunky sauce consistency.

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and add the red sauce, chopped red onion, tomato paste and a generous pinch of dried thyme and curry powder. Season to taste. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Grab a small oven dish and spread about 3/4 of the red sauce over the base. Arrange the vegetable slices in an alternating and overlapping pattern all the way around the dish, working your way around the edge and into the centre. Take the remaining red sauce and spoon that over the top of the vegetables.

Cut out greaseproof paper to match the shape and circumference of your oven dish and use it to cover the entire arrangement.

Bake in a pre-heated oven, gas mark 6, for 25 minutes until everything is cooked and tender. Peel off the greaseproof paper and bake for a further 5 minutes just to add some colour to the top.

Serve on its own with sauce drizzled around the plate and extra thyme to garnish, or serve with a few slices of wholegrain bread.

Voilà! 

QUORN VEGAN LAUNCH

Earlier this month, I was invited to the exclusive blogger launch for the new, hotly anticipated range of vegan products by leading meat-free company, Quorn.

The event took place at The Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington on Thursday 15th October. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by the Quorn representatives and offered a drink, along with a selection of mouth-watering vegan canapés. Aside from the great opportunity I had to try the new vegan range that evening, the event was also wonderful for connecting with other bloggers based in and around London - something I have mostly failed to do since my move to the city one year ago.

The atmosphere was laid-back and informal, and I had some really interesting conversations about veganism, food and blogging in general. 

After the drinks reception, a presentation was given by Jen Shepherd, Digital and PR rep for Quorn Foods. It was highly informative and I found myself learning a lot about the origins of the company, as well as the reasoning behind their decision to launch a range of vegan products (which has been 3 years in the making). 

The Vegan Society estimates that there are around 300,000 vegans in the UK - a diverse group who follow the lifestyle for a number of ethical, health and environmental reasons.  Following growing demand for vegan alternatives across digital channels (and a total of four petitions!), Quorn decided to develop the Quorn Vegan Range, offering consumers two exciting 100% vegan products. The first is the Quorn Hot & Spicy Burger, which will be available at Asda and Waitrose from October 2015. The second, also available at Asda, is Quorn Vegan Chicken-Style Pieces. Both products have a recommended retail price of £2.49, which sounds pretty reasonable to me.

The presentation was followed by the opportunity to sample both products, which had been cooked up into delicious meals by the chefs at Quorn. My absolute favourite of the night was the hot & spicy chicken-style burger, which had a fantastic texture and my seal of approval on the level of spice. The Mediterranean socca (flat-bread 'pizza' with tomatoes and olives) was also a highlight. I was less sure of the stir-fry and did find the texture slightly too crumbly. However, as far as meat-free alternatives go, Quorn has certainly developed a strong product that rivals what is already out there in the market. Compared to another brand of chicken-style pieces that I have tried in the past, Quorn gets my top vote.

I am looking forward to seeing the range expand to other leading retailers in upcoming months. Although I tend to shy away from using meat alternatives in my regular day-to-day cooking, I am excited to test out the stack of recipes they were kind enough to send me. 

If you would like to find out more about the products, be sure to check out www.quorn.co.uk/vegan. 

Photo credit: Tomas Preston of Preston Perfect Photography (www.facebook.com/PrestonPerfectPhotography) 

PEANUT AND GINGER HOT CHOCOLATE WITH MARSHMALLOW CREAM

Two years ago, I shared a ginger and chilli spiced hot chocolate recipe. Today, I've gone for peanut and ginger, a combination that seems odd at first, but one that works to a tee. I discovered that I liked this combination while experimenting with some raw, vegan energy bites. Along with freshly grated ginger, dried fruits and dessicated coconut, I decided to add a dollop of peanut butter and was left with a deliciously moreish mixture. I've taken that as the inspiration for this recipe, but gone a step further by adding a smooth, silky marshmallow cream topping and pieces of soft marshmallow. 

The method for making the hot chocolate is easy as pie. The marshmallow is also pretty simple too but involves more processes. To create the marshmallow cream, you'll need to start off with aquafaba vegan meringue (which I used for my mango macarons recipe). The tutorial video below will show you exactly how the meringue is made. To that, you will need to add one tablespoon of xantham gum, which is what gives it the gooey marshmallow consistency.

Ingredients

For the hot chocolate:

- 1 cup coconut milk

- 1/4 cup dark chocolate pieces

- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger

- 1 tbsp unsalted peanut butter (organic if possible)

- coconut sugar or brown sugar to sweeten (optional)

For the meringue cream and meringue pieces:

- 1 batch of vegan meringue mixture (see video above for recipe)

- 1 tbsp xantham gum

- extra vanilla extract 

Start by making the marshmallow cream. The base is vegan aquafaba meringue. Add the xantham gum and a little extra vanilla extract while whisking in order to get a soft marshmallow consistency. It should look like this...

Place about a quarter of this mixture into a piping bag and pipe small marshmallow pieces onto a baking tray lined with baking paper...Place in the oven on the lowest setting and allow it to dry out slightly for about 10-15 mins so that it is still soft and spongy, but able to hold its shape. Leave to cool before peeling off the baking paper.

Next, make the hot chocolate by adding all the ingredients to a saucepan. Heat up the coconut milk, add the dark chocolate pieces, peanut butter and grated ginger, and bring to a boil...

Strain to get out any ginger pieces. Pour into your mug or glass, filling up 3/4 of the way...

Place the rest of your marshmallow cream mixture into a piping bag and pipe over the hot chocolate, working your way up and around in a swirl pattern...

Take a few of the baked marshmallow pieces and dot it around your swirl. Dust with a generous helping of grated dark chocolate to complete the drink!

COOKERY DEMO AT LONDON VEGFEST 2015 (PHOTOS + VIDEO)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was billed to do a cookery demo at this year's London VegFest on Saturday 10th October. As it was finalised all the way back in April, I had six whole months to get used to the idea. Six months to tell myself that it's always good to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. Somehow, along the way, I succeeded in convincing myself of this. The day finally came and went and shock horror (!) I am still in one piece. The world is still spinning, the sun will continue to shine and life goes on.

In all seriousness, I have to say that the experience is definitely high up there on the list of cool stuff I've had the opportunity to do as a result of this blog.

I've always hated giving presentations - I dreaded every single one I had to give during my academic career - but the strange thing about this particular one is that I actually felt excited in the build-up to the event. Not a drop of nervousness. Not until the very last minute before I was about to start anyway! (And then I had my amazing older brother there to knock some sharp sense into me and provide the extra boost I needed to just get on with it).

I had a wonderful time cooking at the festival. The crowd was kind, responsive and encouraging - I couldn't have asked for more. Whenever I looked out and saw someone smile or nod in agreement or actually look interested, it made me feel as though I wasn't talking complete nonsense lol. It made it easier to share anecdotes and tidbits of information specific to Nigerian cuisine. As an aside, I have so much respect for professional food presenters who manage to engage so well with their audience! Serious props.

My presentation was far from perfect, but I have absolutely no regrets. Sometimes in life, you just have to give yourself a pat on the back for trying. I had fun, the feedback on my jollof rice was absolutely ace and I got to meet some lovely individuals in the process. If I get a chance to do a similar presentation in the future, I will totally learn from this experience and improve my technique where necessary.

Here are a handful of pictures taken by my brother, along with a video with clips from my demo (unfortunately the camera ran out of memory half way through so we couldn't film the whole thing...my fault for forgetting to free up enough space the night before!)

*Thank you to VegFest for the opportunity*

Unpacking all my ingredients and equipment...no such thing as over-preparing!

Printed some flyers for the audience.

About 20 minutes before the demo starts. Big bro helping put flyers out on chairs.

Still unpacking; silently wondering 'what the heck am I about to do?!'

My name on the cookery demo poster. Cool!

Also in the festival program. Yay!

Throwing on my chef coat. Bro cracking some joke.

Actual people turning up to watch! 

My favourite shot. I actually look comfortable up there. Strange.

Plantain taking forever to brown. Quick...think of something to say.

VegFest crowd growing in the auditorium.

Audience trying the jollof rice/plantain/coleslaw, and asking questions. Great feedback!

Homeward bound. Obligatory sibling photo at the station before parting ways. Thanks, Tola!