A blog about veggie cooking and urban gardening

for a healthier living

[veggiewalks]

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[veggiewalks]

Lentil, Spinach and Avocado Salad

  This lentil, spinach and avocado salad was everything I needed for a quick midweek dinner - something light and healthy, easy to prepare, yet very filling.

Ingredients (2 servings)

1 cup brown lentils

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 handful baby spinach

1 dozen cherry tomatoes

1 lime (juice and zest)

4 green onions

Coriander leaves

1 ripe avocado

Balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt to taste

Bring water to the boil in a saucepan with a lid and put the lentils with the turmeric. Turmeric will make any smell disappear and will give the salad a bit of fusion taste. Boil with the lid on and cook until soft but not mushy, drain well and leave to cool.

Empty lentils in a salad bowl and add the squeezed lime.

Meanwhile chop tomatoes, coriander leaves and slice the green onions. Add them to the cool lentils.

Toss spinach leaves with some salt and balsamic vinegar, add them to the lentils and mix everything gently.

Spoon the salad to a plate, top with the avocado slices and sprinkle with some salt and olive oil. Enjoy with a glass of dry red wine or by itself.

Notes Any leftovers stored in the fridge overnight will be good to pack in a lunch box for next day.

[veggiewalks]

Pickled Green Tomatoes

Gonzalo did not do that much harm to my second crop of tomatoes as the storm last night did. I woke up to find them blown away and scattered on the ground. Most of them were a bit bruised and would not ripen indoors. So instead of carving the pumpkin, I had to collect and pickle my fallen tomatoes before they turned bad.

My yield: 1 2l container with a lid 2 half-liter jars

Ingredients

4-5 celery stalks and some leaves 

50 g sea salt per 1 liter of water (for the brine)

1 tablespoon honey per 1 liter of water (to be added to the brine 7 days after tomatoes have been pickling in jarsRinse tomatoes with cold water.

Depending on how big they are and what size your jar/container is, you can slice them, cut them into pieces or pickle them whole. If you decide to go with whole tomatoes, score a cross in the base of each one so that the tomato absorbs the brine and gets properly pickled.

Cut celery stalks into 5 cm-long sticks and place two sticks on the bottom of each jar. Arrange tomatoes/slices on top of them, stuffing them as much as you can. Fill the empty spaces with celery sticks and some leaves - it is such fun as playing Tetris. Try to pack in as many tomatoes as you can, as once fermentation starts, they will soften and may start floating and not be fully covered by the brine.

Mix salt with water and stir well until all is dissolved. Pour brine over pickles and repeat this as many times as you need to fill up all your containers to the bump of the thread. Cover with some celery leaves.

Put the lid and shake the jar. You will have to shake the jars once a day for the next 14 days. If your jars are not with twist off lids, you will have to open them daily to let some air in.

Put the jars on a sunny window sill for 14 days. Even if there are no sunny days, fermentation will still take place and just like a pot with basil, these jars will be a great room decoration.

Remove the pickles from the sill and store them in a cool cellar or cupboard, out of sunlight. Once fully pickled the jars will keep for about two months.

The green pickled tomatoes are great with warm potato salad or just by themselves as a meze (tapas), just toss them with some olive oil.

[veggiewalks]

Eggplants with Yoghurt Dressing

I can’t believe it’s mid August in the Northern hemisphere and it’s 18C outside. Last night I even turned the floor heating on as I felt very cold, brrr.. So I decided to east seasonal and make this typical late summer dish. Cooking it also keeps me warm.

Fried Eggplants with Yoghurt Dressing (Serves 2)

2 unpeeled medium sized eggplants

Some salt to sprinkle on eggplants

1 cup plain flour

Vegetable or olive oil for frying

1 cup plain yoghurt (Turkish style or Greek style)

1-2 garlic cloves

Some chopped mint leaves to sprinkle on top (optional)

Wash eggplants and cut them into 1 cm-1.5 cm rounds (too thin slices will absorb more oil. Sprinkle some salt over each slice and leave them in a colander for at least 20 minutes. If you - like me- don’t have a colander, just arrange them in a baking tray and tilt it slightly on the counter top, you can fold a kitchen towel and place it under one side of the tray. Remove the juices from the eggplant slices and rinse them roughly.

Meanwhile spread 1 cup of plain flour on a sheet of baking paper and pat in it each eggplant slice on both sides. You can start only with the first few slices for your first round of frying.

Meanwhile heat the oil in the frying pan and once it’s hot place the covered in flour slices and fry them for 3-4 minutes on each side. When you take them out of the pan, place them on a plate or tin covered with kitchen paper – this will absorb the oil you haven’t managed to shake off. Depending on whether you like them soft or crispy, you can cover them with another plate and they will be very soft.

Repeat step 3 until you've fried all slices.

While frying the eggplants prepare the yoghurt dressing. Peel the garlic and crush it in a wooden mortar or on a chopping board. Add 5 or 6 table spoons of plain yoghurt to the mortar, add some water and season with salt to taste and stir with the pestle or a spoon.

Transfer the slices to a deeper plate or bowl. Pour the yoghurt dressing over them and and sprinkle with some mint leaves.

Although fried, this meal is actually light as both yoghurt and mint are known to help digestion.

If you haven't started drooling yet, leave the eggplants to soak in the yoghurt for about 30 minutes - this will make them even softer with a bit of sweet aftertaste. Bon appetit!