My first inclination was to call this “Thai carrot soup”, but I wouldn’t want anyone thinking this is a traditional Thai recipe or anything, because it isn’t.

It is, however, exceedingly tasty. Nicely spicy from the Thai curry paste and [optional] chilli, and mellowed out with coconut cream.

I’ve tried carrot soups in the past, but they were all a bit… ordinary. And not, in my opinion, blog-worthy. This one definitely is.

Nice served with crusty bread to mop up every last drop from the soup bowl.

You can substitute 1/2 of a 400ml (14 oz) can of coconut milk for the creamed coconut/water mixture, if you like.

Enjoy!

Carrot soup with Thai flavours

1. In a heavy saucepan, saute leek and chilli (if using) in vegetable oil for five minutes, until softened.

2. Add ginger, garlic & lemongrass and saute for an additional minute or two.

3. Add tomatoes and Thai curry paste and continue to saute for another couple of minutes, until tomato starts to break down.

4. Add 750ml (3 cups) of water and carrots and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, until carrots are completely soft.

5. Remove from heat and let mixture cool for 15 mintues. Transfer to a blender in batches and puree (fill blender no more than 1/3 full with hot soup, unless you want to redecorate your kitchen ceiling in “carrot orange”). Return soup to saucepan (you’ll actually have to use another saucepan, unless you’ve got yourself a ginormous blender). Or you can use a stick blender to puree the soup and save some washing up.

6. Put coconut cream in a glass measuring cup and add boiling water to the 1/2 cup mark. Stir until dissolved, then add to the pureed soup.

7. Add additional water until soup it is at the consistency you like (I used about 1 litre (4 cups) water in total.) Heat gently for 10 minutes, until soup is hot and flavours are blended. Add salt to taste.

8. To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh coriander (cilantro).

Makes two servings.

Here is our Christmas dinner… vegan turkey roast with stuffing, roasted potatoes with rosemary, roasted parsnips & carrots, sprouts, sunspuds (aka Jerusalem artichokes), leeks, stuffing balls, and of course, gravy.

Wishing a happy and joyous festive season to all creatures!

The awesome carved pumpkin you see above is not only the first one ever carved in the Thrifty household, but it has been carved from a pumpkin that we grew ourselves, down at the allotment. Yay!

The flesh that was carved away has been steamed, and may be destined for pumpkin muffins. The seeds have also been saved, as they are huge and plump, so I will figure out the best way to roast those bad boys.

Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

I tend to go through food phases (apparently having never outgrown them), and lately I have been in one of my frequent “soup” phases. I’ve been sticking with favourites like Greek lentil soup and Black bean & sweetcorn soup, but last night I had a hankering for minestrone.

This is a great hearty soup loaded with veggies, beans and pasta that is a meal in itself. A bit of crusty baguette goes nicely on the side. I like to add a couple of tablespoons of red lentils, because I really like the way that red lentils add body to soup. Fresh basil added when serving lends a nice flavour pop.

The type of veggies can be varied to suit… try green beans instead of peas, or add a bit of spinach. If using beans, add them at the start with the carrots and potato; for spinach, add during the last minute or so. I like my veggies diced fairly small, but if big chunks are your thing, feel free to do it that way and adjust cooking time as needed.

The type of beans can be varied as well; I used small white beans, but you can substitute a different type. Cooking the beans from scratch in my trusty Stanley and using homegrown veggies (well, the courgette and potato, anyway), made this a cheap as well as delicious soup.

Enjoy!

Summer minestrone

1. Combine vegetable stock and tomato puree (tomato paste) in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add red lentils, cover and lower heat to keep at a gentle boil. Cook for 20 minutes until lentils are soft.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a heavy skillet (I use cast iron) over medium-low heat and saute onion for five minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute for another minute. Next add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes begin to break down and form a puree. Add this mixture to the simmering vegetable stock (it’s okay to add it even if the lentils haven’t yet cooked for 20 minutes).

3. Whilst the vegetables are sauteeing, bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Add about a tablespoon of salt, then add pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

4. When the lentils are soft, start adding the veggies. First add potatoes, carrots and celery and cook for two minutes. Then add courgette (zucchini) and cook for another four minutes. Add peas and continue to cook for an additional four minutes, or until veggies are tender.

5. Add cooked pasta and beans and heat through. Add salt to taste.

6. To serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with fresh minced basil.

Makes two generous (meal-sized) servings.

Yes, another potato salad recipe! This one is completely different than the mayo-based Potato salad with garlic & herbs. It is a super quick and easy recipe, and uses common kitchen ingredients.

With this recipe, the potatoes are cooked with a chilli, and then dressed with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing. The cooked chilli plus raw garlic in the dressing makes the salad nice and spicy. You can adjust both to your taste.

I’m not sure how authentically Spanish this recipe is, but it sure is tasty. It’s from the book In Praise of the Potato.

Remember to gently simmer the potatoes, and check often so you don’t overcook them.

Enjoy!

Spicy Spanish potato salad

1. Scrub potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks.

2. Boil water in a medium-sized saucepan; add a bit of salt to the water, and then potatoes. Return to a gentle boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are just tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Drain and let cool until they can be handled.

3. Mash garlic clove with 3/4 teaspoon salt in a mortar and pestle until a paste forms. Put olive oil in a mixing bowl and gradually whisk in lemon juice. Whisk in the garlic paste and paprika.

4. When potatoes can be handled, peel them (this is optional if the skins are thin). Peel the chilli and chop it into bits. Place potatoes and chilli in a serving bowl. Drizzle dressing over top and mix gently. Serve warm or cold.

Makes two generous servings. Also keeps vampires away.

This yumm-tastic ‘tater salad is the perfect way to enjoy those new potatoes you’ve been digging from the allotment or garden (or, if you are less fortunate, buying from the store).

Be sure to use new potatoes (or another waxy potato) for this recipe, as they stay firm when cooked (provided you don’t overcook them, of course).

Our freshly dug spuds take just 10 minutes to cook, so be sure to stay in the kitchen (or set the timer), lest you end up with accidental mashed potatoes. Another way to end up with mash is to cook the potatoes too vigorously; a gentle simmer is best.

For herbs, I use either baby dill or chives. Feel free to experiment with other herbs (and let me know how it turns out!)

Thanks to Epicurious for the original recipe.

Potato salad with garlic & herbs

1. Scrub potatoes and cut into 1- to 1-1/2 inch chunks.

2. Boil water in a medium-sized saucepan; add potatoes. Return to a gentle boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are just tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Drain and let cool until they can be handled.

3. Mash garlic clove with salt in a mortar and pestle until a paste forms. Mix this garlic paste with the mayonnaise, lemon juice, hot water and pepper to taste.

4. When potatoes can be handled, peel them (this is optional if the skins are thin). Place in a serving bowl. Drizzle dressing over top and mix gently. Sprinkle fresh herbs on top.

Makes two generous servings. Keeps vampires away all night.

Last year we grew Jerusalem artichokes for the first time, down at the allotment. They were a resounding success, reaching over 10 feet in height and producing lots of delicious tubers.

Jerusalem artichokes can be kept over winter in the ground, and dug as required. It’s now that time of the year when all the remaining Jerusalem artichoke tubers need to be dug up, as they’re starting to sprout and grow.

If you’ve never had Jerusalem artichokes, I can best describe them as tasting like a sunflower-flavoured potato. In other words, yum! They can be eaten raw; or boiled, roasted or made into soup. We’ve mainly been having them roasted, but with the coming glut, I wanted to find more creative ways of using them.

I also wanted to find some ways of preparing them so they could be frozen and used over the coming few months. (Unlike potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes don’t store very well after they’re dug.)

First up: Jerusalem artichoke rösti. I started with this recipe for potato rösti, but used half potato and half Jerusalem artichoke. I omitted the thyme, and didn’t pre-fry the onion nor add fat to the rösti before shaping into patties and frying. I liked the idea of using a cookie cutter to shape the rösti (especially after I saw the price of rösti rings… over £6 for two!). And finishing them off in the oven ensured that they were cooked all the way through.

I made these to have with an evening meal last week, and we had them again with scrambled tofu for breakfast on the weekend. The remaining ones were frozen, so we’ll see how successful that was.

Both the Jerusalem artichoke and the potato I used were homegrown, so these rösti score very well on the food miles scale. The potatoes were “Cara”, which is a maincrop variety suited for baking, roasting etc. I’m not sure if a waxy new potato would work in this recipe.

Verdict: the addition of Jerusalem artichoke takes these rösti to a new level. Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, with the delicious flavour of Jerusalem artichoke complimenting the potato perfectly. Simply scrumptious!

Jerusalem artichoke rösti

1. Scrub the Jerusalem artichokes and the potatoes well, but do not peel them.

2. Steam the artichokes for 15 minutes over simmering water, and the potatoes for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, mince the onion.

4. When the artichokes and potatoes are finished steaming, remove them to a plate to cool.

5. When they have cooled, peel the artichokes and potatoes. Grate them into a big mixing bowl with a large grater. Add the minced onion, plus salt and pepper. Mix well.

6. Using a large cookie cutter (see photo here) or rösti rings, shape the mixture into patties, pressing firmly.

7. Fry the rösti in batches until golden, then gently turn and fry the other side. Remove to a baking tray.

8. Bake at 180C until cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes about four servings.

I love tahini, and for quite some time have been in search of the ultimate tahini salad dressing.

I tried various recipes, but none really hit the mark until I made a modification of this recipe.

Oh! So! Scrumptious!

This really is a delicious dressing, the new favourite for both myself and Mr Thrifty. I’ve made it with either fresh garlic, or fresh ginger, and each is as good as the other. Difficult to believe something with only four ingredients (five if you count water) could be so finger-lickin’ good.

The amount of water you add to thin the dressing will depend on the thickness of your tahini, and personal taste.

So toss yourself up a big crisp salad, and drizzle it on!

Ultimate tahini salad dressing

1. Mix together tahini, soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic until smooth and creamy.

2. Add water until a salad dressing consistency is reached.

Makes about 1/4 to 1/3 cup.

Variations:

• Use rice vinegar instead of lemon juice.
• Use 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger instead of garlic.

In celebration of Burns Night (January 25th) I decided to again try making homemade veggie haggis. My first attempt turned out pretty well, but was too moist. Second try resulted in a haggis a lot like a commercial vegetarian haggis, though a bit dry.

Third attempt, this past weekend… veggie haggis perfection!

Now again I hear you asking the question… why would a vegan seek to recreate a Scottish speciality traditionally made with sheep innards and oatmeal? And again I answer: because it tastes really good, and it’s a very thrifty dish.

Veggie haggis is made from oats, lentils, mushrooms, onion, tomato and seasonings. It’s steamed for three hours, then finished in the oven to give it a crispy top. (The last step being optional, but really good.)

In case you haven’t read my previous haggis posting, I will again share the source for the recipe I based my haggis on:  the 1904 book Reform cookery book: Up-to-date health cookery for the twentieth century by Mrs. Jean Oliver Mill, which was brought to my attention by Nac Mac Vegan.

And for those of you who are wondering what Burns Night is all about, why it’s a celebration of the life and poetry of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. The very same one who wrote Auld lang syne. And Address to a haggis, of course.

Vegetarian haggis

1. Cook lentils in water in a small saucepan until tender and beginning to fall apart, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a heavy skillet (I use cast iron) over low heat, dry toast the oats until lightly browned. Remove to a mixing bowl.

3. Heat margarine in same skillet and saute onion and mushrooms until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.

4. Add tomato and continue to cook until tomato softens, another few minutes.

5. Add cooked vegetables to oatmeal and mix well. Dissolve Marmite in 1 tablespoon of boiling water and add to mixture, along with ketchup. Add additional tablespoon on water, and season with salt & pepper to taste. Thoroughly mix in vegetarian suet.

6. Spoon haggis into a ceramic bowl or dish, and cover with foil. Steam over simmering water for three hours.

7. Remove dish from steamer. Brush top of haggis with a bit of vegetable oil, then put in a hot oven to lightly brown the top.

Makes two generous servings.

It’s taken me ages to make a Greek lentil soup that I really like. The ones I’ve made in the past were okay, but nothing special.

Most recipes for Greek lentil soup that I’ve tried use too many lentils in proportion to liquid ingredients for my taste. A lot use vinegar, which I’ve decided I don’t like in soup (at least, not in this soup). Most use carrots and/or celery, both of which I omitted.

I got the idea of using sweet red pepper and smoked paprika in the soup from Peter Minakis’ blog, Kalofagas – Greek Food & Beyond. Peter also adds raw garlic at the end, which is a brilliant suggestion. I didn’t add carrot or oregano, and used fresh tomatoes instead of passata (tomato sauce). I also sauteed the veggies in olive oil first, instead of just cooking everything together. Since I don’t have a pressure cooker, I made the soup on the stovetop, which worked fine. Other changes I made were using more water in proportion to lentils, and adding a few tablespoons of red lentils, which break down to make the soup nice & thick.

To grate the tomatoes, simply cut them in half and use a large-hole grater, leaving the skins behind.

The soup wasn’t just good, it was excellent, and is one I will make again and again.

The traditional way to serve this soup is with bread, olives & pickled vegetables. We instead served it with bread, Greek potatoes and Greek salad.

Enjoy!

Greek lentil soup

1. In a heavy skillet (I use cast iron) over low heat, saute onion and red pepper in olive oil until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Add one clove of garlic and saute an additional minute or two.

3. While the veggies are sauteeing, bring water to the boil.

4. When water is boiling, add sauteed veggies, continental (brown) lentils, red lentils, salt, smoked paprika and bay leaf.

5. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until lentils are soft.

6. Add fresh tomatoes, and cook another 10 minutes.

7. Stir in remaining clove of raw garlic and freshly ground pepper to taste, and serve.

Makes two servings.