I was in Berlin for Easter and had the most amazing sweet potato smoothie. I hadn’t even thought about adding sweet potato to a smoothie , what a genius idea! It took some time to get the flavour right, but I think I got there… Read more
All posts filed under “Drinks”
Making milk without cows and cashew&coconut pulp macaroons
It was meat free last week, I hope you got on well with all those fabulous vegetarian recipes that were published everywhere. Still riding that wave I thought I would share with you how to make milk without cows. Now you wonder how is that… Read more
Cashew & Coconut nut milk- makes 500ml x2
Cashew Milk
1 cup of soaked cashew nuts ( soaking over night is best, but 4hours should be fine too)
3 cups of filtered water
2cm of vanilla pod or a few drops of extract if you like to flavour your milk ( optional)
Coconut milk
1 cup of fresh coconut meat
3 cups of filtered water
2cm of vanilla pod or a few drops of extract if you like to flavour your milk ( optional)
If you want to make almond milk, please soak the almonds over night and peel them as the skin would make the milk quite bitter. You can also get already peeled almonds if you want to save time peeling them but they will be more expensive and you would still need to soak them over night.
You will always need a cheese cloth or bag to strain the milk.
And here is how it works : just put the soaked nuts or fresh coconut, water and optional the content of 2 cm of vanilla pod into a blender and blend until you have a smoothie like liquid.
Leftover tip : keep the piece vanilla pod and use it to flavour salt or sugar. Just add it to the jar and after a couple of days you have lovely flavoured vanilla salt or sugar, leave it in to keep the flavour- it works a treat.
Next get a jug and a cheese cloth ready and start poring the liquid.
Once all is pored in, pick up the cloth and carefully squeeze it to get all the remaining liquid through, it does actually look quite authentic, doesn’t it ?
You can either use the milk straight away or fill into a bottle and keep in the fridge, consume within 4-5 days and always shake well before use as the milk will separate. Enjoy!
Coconut & cashew pulp macaroons– makes 12-16
Nut milk pulp of one cup of coconut and one cup of cashew nuts
1/2 cup of desiccated coconut
1 tbsp of chia seeds & 1 tbsp of ground almonds
2 egg whites
3-4 tbsp of honey
content of half a vanilla pod or some extract (add the empty pod to your salt or sugar jar)
A pinch of sea salt
3/4 of bar of dark chocolate for the coating- ideally organic and 85% ( optional)
Pre-heat the oven at 160C. Next place all ingredients except the cocolate into a food processor and blend until you get a nice gloopy and sticky texture. A handheld mixer or whisk should work fine too.
Now line a baking tray with baking paper and start making egg shaped macaroons using two tea spoons. You can also make balls if that is easier, although the mix is quite sticky so using spoons is probably going to be easiest.
Bake for 15-20 minutes ( I always try one after 15 minutes to see if they are done). Leave to cool before coating the macaroons with chocolate.
For the coating, melt chocolate over a hot water bath, adding a small pinch of sea salt gives the chocolate coating an extra twist. For the water bath boil water in a pot, take off the hob and put a glass bowl on top, then break chocolate into smaller pieces into the bowl and keep stirring with a wooden spoon until completely melted. Now dunk the macaroons into the chocolate-coating the bottom part- best to use your hands and leave to set on a sheet of baking paper- done-delicious ! Happy Easter !!
Beetroot, Carrot & Ginger Juice & Beetroot pulp brownies
Today is another gorgeous and sunny winter’s day in London. I just love the blue sky and low light of the winter sun. Last week was the start of the Christmas party season and I thought it would be good to send you a nice… Read more
Beetroot pulp brownies – makes 12
Juice pulp of 3 medium sized beets & 4 carrots ( ginger removed-optional)
100g unsalted butter (coconut oil for vegan recipe)
200g bar plain chocolate (70% cocoa- raw for vegan version)
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod
75g dark caster sugar ( 50g of soaked dates 100ml maple sirup or agave syrup )
3 eggs ( vegan: 1 tbsp ground Flax seeds +3 tbsp Water =1 egg)
100g buckwheat flour mixed with 1 tsp of baking powder
75g cocoa powder ( raw if vegan) & 100g walnuts
Cocoa powder , icing sugar & cinnamon for topping the brownies
Method:
Heat up the beetroot and carrot pulp mix with 250ml of water, add vanilla extract and 2 tbsp of maple sirup to the mix. Once heated up set a side. Pre-heat the oven at 160c/180c fan/gas4 and layer the brownie tin with baking paper. Cut butter into small cubes, break the chocolate into small pieces and put together with hot beetroot pulp and soaked dates into a food processor or blender; blend until smooth. Next mix eggs and sugar in a large bowl for around 2 minutes until it gets a foam like consistency. Now add the beetroot chocolate mix and fold gently under the eggs using a wooden spoon, this process is not one for looks, it will turn out pretty in the end though. Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and fold under the batter until smooth. Make sure the flour and chocolate are sifted well as to not get a ‘bumpy’ mixture.
Finally add the walnuts ( cut into smaller pieces) and also carefully fold under. Now poor the batter into the brownie tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, check they are done using a knife, it needs to come out clean, so no batter sticking to the blade.
Leave to cool down before cutting into squares. You can sprinkle cinnamon, coco powder or some icing sugar to decorate. They are super delicious enjoyed with a chai tea or latte .
