Creamy Chickpea Pasta

2 cans chickpeas, drained
2 medium carrots, grated
1 large zucchini, grated
6 medium mushrooms, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 bottle pasata (pureed tomatos)
1 small can coconut cream
500g pasta

Cook pasta according to the instructions on the packet.  Fry the onion and then add the mushroom and garlic.  Once the mushrooms are soft, add the seasonings, carrot and zucchini.  Once carrot and zucchini are soft, add the chickpeas and pasata and simmer until the flavours combine.  Add coconut cream and serve over pasta.  Enjoy!

Serves: 8-10.

Chickpea and Tomato Curry

2 onions, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
270mL can coconut cream
2 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
Salt to taste

Fry onions.  Add garlic and mushrooms and fry until mushrooms are soft.  Add seasonings, chickpeas and tomatoes and cook until tomatoes have broken down and softened.  Add coconut cream and serve over rice or mashed potato with steamed vegetables.  Enjoy!

Serves 8-10

Pumpkin Tofu

Wow!  It has been six months since I last posted on here!  It's about time that I post another recipe...

500g firm tofu, finely diced
1/2 butternut pumpkin, diced and steamed
1 onion, chopped
1  bunch pak choy, chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
Braggs and salt to taste

Fry all ingredients together (beginning with the onion and celery) and enjoy with rice or noodles!  Serves 4-6.

Recipe Review: Silverbeet and Potato Gratin

I was seeking for a silverbeet recipe when I found this one...

Silverbeet and Potato Gratin - from taste.com.au



It looked yummy and we had the ingredients, so I decided to make it with Mum's help.

Mum made the milky sauce, blending milk with a little bit of flour (to thicken it) and the garlic.  Once blended, she thickened it on the stove and then we added some ricotta cheese.  We fried the onion and wilted the silverbeet and then worked on assembling it all in a large casserole dish.  We made a much larger quantity of the recipe in order to meet our needs.  We did not use the grated tasty cheese or nutmeg.

The result...

 It was yummy! :)


From a church member's garden:
Silverbeet

Gemista [Greek Stuffed Vegetables]

After eating a greek inspired salad for lunch, I thought it would be great to continue on the theme and assemble some greek food for tea.  Searching the internet, I finally found a recipe that I thought would appeal to my family and that would be authentic.  Interestingly enough, the blog was called Authentic Greek Recipes.

I printed out the recipe and got started.  A few hours later we sat down to eat...

Here is the list of ingredients that I used (slightly different to the original recipe):

8 large ripe tomatoes
2 red capsicums
1 medium round eggplant
12 tablespoons medium-grain brown rice
potatoes to fill in the gaps between the other veggies in the dish (I actually didn't count them all, I just used as many as I could fit)
2 large onions, finely chopped (I tried grating, but was not very successful and the fumes were terrible!)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 bunch chopped (flat leaf) parsley
1 tablespoon (TBS) chopped mint
olive oil
1 teaspoon (tsp) salt

Additionally, here are the changes that I made to the preparation:

• I threw away all the eggplant insides (full of seeds).
• Before adding the rice to the tomatoes (etc.), I cooked it in an equal amount of water for 15-20 minutes.  
• Briefly blending the tomatoes (the only insides that I salvaged), I ended up with a simliar result as I would have achieved using a food processor.  By briefly blending, I mean turning the blender on and then off again almost immediately.
• Just prior to putting the filling in the veggies, I added a drizzle of olive oil to the filling.
• I oiled the whole dish and the potatoes.
• I did not add salt (or pepper) to the potatoes

The end result was that some people loved it, some people hated it, and some people didn't mind it.  My personal favourite was the stuffed tomatoes.

If you would like to make the recipe for yourself, here is the link to the original: Greek Stuffed Vegetables (Gemista).  Oh, and if you do make it, let me know how you like it by posting a comment! :)

From the garden:
Parsley
Mint

Note: The steamed cauliflower and broccoli were a familiar flavour to add to the different ones, they were not part of the recipe.