Persian Food

Wow it's been quite a while... but I was internetless for quite some time. Aswell as lazy... ;)

First pictures from Berlin. We went to this vegetarian bistro/restaurant/caterer ALSA and the owner is persian and holy moly his food was extremly delicious. I even liked the rice&raisins combo, something I've always detested.
This was a vegan dish, eggplant casserole with beans, lentils, nuts and whatnot. So fucking amazing!!!



And a mix of salads he had left (we got there at around 4 and almost all the plates were pretty much empty already=good sign!).



Anywho, I finally had some money to buy food. Raspberries are so addictive ♥



Spinach with cucumber, raspberries and a surprisingly good tasting basil dressing (storebought dressings mostly suck... or maybe I just always pick the bad ones).



I've been trying to catch up with your blogs and the last days were simply horrible because I had no food/money/whatsoever and your pictures almost made me cry! And realize what amazing chefs each and every one of you would make (this is not neccessarily the starving person from a couple of days ago talking, he he). Anyone up for inventing beaming and starting a delivery service worldwide with amazing vegan food creations? ;)

Salad, Pasta, another Cake & Curry Cauliflower Carrot Soup

I wonder, why do I always feel like salads are a pain in the ass to make? Am I seriously that slow? And am I the only one? Mhh...
Anyway, the delicious salad I had last night sure did remind me that all the washing and chopping and mixing and roasting is simply worth it!



Roasted zucchini, eggplant & orange bell pepper on a bed of iceberg & lamb's lettuce, some cucumber slices, tomatoes, red onion & avocado chunks (I actually prefer avocados in form of guacamole... oh well, next time), drizzled with a balsamic yogurt dressing. Oh and some Nachos with mexican salsa.



Now onto my dad's cake. He and my mom enjoyed it a lot! Of course so did I ;)
A layer of raspberry perserves, banana slices and chocolate mousse.



I didn't have any fresh berries to add so I simply used pieces of cake crust, spread them with more chocolate mousse and arranged them on top. Some chopped chocolate on the sides & on top and it could've passed as the mouthwatering Starbucks Chocolate Fudge Cake I used to have quite often ♥

A few days ago I wanted something quick, so here goes Kamut pasta in olive tapenade mixed with broccoli & scallions sautéed in garlic. And a few drops of soy yogurt. Yumm!



Last week I made a Curry Cauliflower Carrot Soup with potatoes & red lentils! This was hearty & filling, yet light.
I ate it 3 days in a row yet never managed to take a picture. Even my boyfriend loved this!
I'll have to increase my soup cooking skills and make more of them.

I used about 6 medium potatoes & 2 carrots cut into small chunks and about 1/4 cup red lentils that I cooked in broth.
Midway cooking I added about 8-10 cauliflower florets, cut into smaller pieces, nutritional yeast, curry, ginger, garam masala, nutmeg, chili, paprika, salt and pepper.
I added 1/4 - 1/3 cup soy milk and puréed 2 cups of the solids in my blender and poured it back into the pot.
With a slice of whole wheat toast spread with a layer of olive tapenade, this was a perfect dinner!

PYROG Salad & Baba Ganoush

What a burst of color and taste!



The name PYROG was put together simply because of the colors. I mixed chopped red cabbage (P=purple), a bell pepper (Y=yellow), cherry tomatoes (R=red), shredded carrot (O=orange), regular and lamb's lettucce and cucumber slices(G=green) and topped it all with roasted sunflower seeds. The dressing pretty much consisted of Balsamico bianco, a little olive oil and 1 tsp. fig mustard.

I don't have salad often enough and I always wonder why. It's not that time consuming and it always tastes good. Plus, the boyfriend loves to eat it. He gets all excited when I make salad (the kind of excitement I get when I see the Lindt commercial and start to believe that I will one day work in that exact same setting =p) - even more reasons to toss together some greens every now and then!



I also made Baba Ganoush for the first time and used this recipe(added some additional fresh parsley). But being the way I am I did not start small and then added more, as suggested by Susan. I used 2 cloves of garlic. BIG cloves! So when I tasted it... woooosh, hardcore garlic infusion! Even for a garlic lover like me.




So I didn't eat much of it and decided not to grill my veggies (I wanted to use my new grill pan to try out Katies recipe using asparagus, zucchini and bell pepper to accompany the Baba Ganoush) and just had some slices of raw bell pepper instead. I don't eat enough raw vegetables... I'll really try to eat a big salad every day(or at least every other day)!

Ratatouille with roasted rosemary potatoes

After finding fresh rosemary at the supermarket yesterday I immediately thought of roasted potatoes. So I bought two zucchini, an eggplant and tomatoes and had the following for dinner last night. Again, a well received classic. But there's not much you can do wrong with this anyway.

Roasted Vegetables and a huge clove of garlic

After Jennifers post reminded me of what I had wanted to do for a very long time, I piled together the leftover vegetables sitting in my fridge, sprinkled them with olive oil, a chopped onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, salt & pepper and a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds along with pine nuts and popped them in the oven (20 minutes on 350°F). They are almost done and my apartment smells so fucking good! I swear I could eat the air!!!



Done!



I was rather surprised when this abnormal big clove of garlic fell into my hands. I've never seen one this big.



Next to the regular size it's like a baby clove of garlic chasing his mama. ("Look it's like a baby caterpillar chasing it's mama!" - Chandler on Joeys mismatching eyebrows). As you probably don't know yet I am seriously Friends obsessed. Well, you do now! ;)

Chili Con Vegetales & a simple sandwich

Like many people I have trouble sticking to a recipe. I can't help it, when my eye catches something lying around in my kitchen that appeals to me, I throw it in. Most of the time this is not particularly a bad thing though.

I kind of followed the Chili recipe from HIAV. I used kidney beans instead of black beans and also threw in a few cherry tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, some Pesto Rosso, many many spices(a hint too much chili powder) and a tiny bit soy sauce.



Before going to bed I made myself a simple sandwich. A toasted whole-wheat bread roll with a thin layer of my homemade Onion Cream Cheese(I added some garlic and more pepper), followed by a thin layer of mustard and topped with fresh salad, orange bell pepper and tomato slices sprinkled with fresh black pepper. Sometimes it's the simplest things that are the best.



I went grocery shopping last night and bought regular Tofu along with silken Tofu. I really want to try Scrambled Tofu, because everyone around the blogsphere seems to love it. And either I will give the Tofu sour cream another try or bake something really fancy with the silken Tofu. We'll see!
And I bought chickpeas because I'm dying to try out the roasted tomato hummus recipe. That on a sandwich... I imagine this must be simply delicious!