Veggie Ceviche Norteño

I love Peruvian food - I love the flavors, the colors, the vegetables. We've discovered a few wonderful restaurants here owned by Peruvians who work hard to create authentic tasting dishes from the motherland. And let me tell you this is a rarity, most international restaurants in Brasil serve food that caters to the Brasilian palette rather than celebrating authenticity. It's kind of depressing. 

Ever since our lovely meal in São Paulo, we've been planning a Peruvian night at home. Our favorite dish is ceviche and we agreed it had to be on the menu; however the only challenge is I'm not eating fish. I know you all think I'm crazy, but I'm feeling really good about it. I had a beautiful purple cauliflower head in my fridge and I thought the color and texture would be a great substitute for fish. I modified a recipe that I found in this great Latin cookbook, which my sister gave to me.

My veggie ceviche Norteño turned out amazing! It had lots of flavor and a lovely balance between tart and spicy, just like traditional Peruvian ceviche. Serves 2 hungry people or 4 as a light appetizer

Ingredients

1 head of purple cauliflower, chopped into florets

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

2 red chilies minced

1 cup of lime juice, about 4 limes

1 small sweet potato

1/2 cup canned sweet yellow corn

*optional, serve with large banana chips or tortillas chips

Leche de Tigre sauce

200ml coconut milk

200ml water

1 1/2 vegetable bouillon cubes

3 whole garlic gloves

4 sprigs of cilantro

1/4 dried ancho chili with seeds or 1 chili pepper of choice

salt to taste

Leche de tigre is a milky marinade that is used in some Peruvian ceviches and it's made from fish bones. I always thought it was made with coconut milk and reminded me a little of Thai coconut soup, so I substituted fish bones with coconut milk and it worked. First prepare a small pot of boiling water and cook your sweet potato until tender. Remove the sweet potato, carefully peel and chop it into small cubes and set aside. Meanwhile in a separate sauce pan, throw in all the leche de tigre ingredients and bring to a boil. Then reduce it to a simmer and let it cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the dried chili has soften. I used a dried ancho chili that I had in my fridge which is mild and sweet, but any chili would work. I think it depends on the flavor and heat you prefer, so play around!

Remove your leche from the heat and transfer into a blender and blitz until smooth. Let it cool down completely then place in the fridge.

Now we want to prepare the cauliflower for the ceviche. Purple cauliflower adds wonderful hues to this dish, but you can easily use white cauliflower. Fill a large pot with about 1/3 of water and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile prepare an ice-water bath. As you can tell from the picture, I actually failed to do this and boiled away some of the beautiful purple color. So don't boil, steam the cauliflower florets in a basket insert set over the simmering water until tender about 7-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on the florets because you don't want them to overcook and turn mushy. Remove and immediately place the cauliflower into the ice-water bath. This stops the cooking process and helps retain its color.

In a large bowl or serving bowl (less dishes) mix the red onions, chilies, cilantro and lime juice. When the cauliflower florets have completely cooled, remove and drain them from the ice-water bath and add them to the mix. Evenly coat the florets in the lime juice and then pop into the fridge for at least 30 minutes. I loved how the colors popped after mixing, the red chilies gave the purple cauliflower a hot pink tint.

When you are ready to serve, pour 3/4 of the leche de tigre sauce over the cauliflower. Decorate the edges with the sweet corn and cubes of sweet potato. Serve with large banana or tortilla chips and voila!

I can't begin to tell you how good this was! I'm so proud of myself because I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out and it turned out superb. 

Gettin' Over the Hump: Vegetarian Inspiration

We're almost there but not quite and yet kind of already there. I say throw in the towel, minimize your Outlook inbox and read about health s*&t instead! Here are few entertaining hump links that will hopefully get you through today, tomorrow or at the very least tickle your hypothalamus.

Lots of Love,
L

I like this meat-lovin' chef who eats vegan 6-days a week.

Never got round to the Lake District in England, but if I ever do I'm staying at this vegetarian country house hotel.

In elementary school I gravitated towards chocolate and strawberry flavored milk, but pediatrician Paul Porras says milk has no place in schools.

Will attempt these gooey chocolate pumpkin brownies someday.

Great Q&A about Carbs and Fat.

(Mini carrot cakes pictured above are from Exmouth Coffee Company in Whitechapel, East London. Don't worry I didn't eat them, just took a picture and now drooling over them)

Dark Chocolate Chili Brownies

TGIF people. What you up to this weekend?

My friend Elisa invited me to 14º Veganique/Piquenique on Sunday, a vegan picnic that's taking place in Boa Vista which is up in the mountains in Rio. It's also where Hub and I had that epic raw dinner. Everyone has to bring a vegan dish and originally I wanted to make classic chocolate brownies, but then I had a dream about Mexican chili chocolate. I woke up inspired to make dark chocolate chili brownies! I did a test batch today and they were awesome. 

my working station

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat spelt flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 -1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, depending on how much heat you like
• 1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
• 1 tsp chunky sea salt
• 1 cup sweetened soy milk
• 1 cup grapeseed oil
• handful of walnuts
• handful of roughly chopped extra dark vegan chocolate, 70% or higher

Preheat your oven to 350F/175C. Line a 9x11 inch baking tray with parchment paper and grease it with a little bit of oil. In a large bowl add the soy milk and oil and set aside. In a separate bowl combine the cocoa powder, sugar and chili then gradually mix this into your wet ingredients. The mixture should be a thick chocolaty mix. 

Now combine the spelt flour, baking powder and sea salt in a bowl and gradually mix this into your chocolaty mix using a wooden spoon or spatula.

All you want to do is combine the ingredients well. Don't over beat your batter. 

The batter should be thick, sticky and heavy. Have a taste of your batter and it should be rich, subtly sweet with a hint of chili and sea salt. Mix in your walnuts and dark chocolate chips then spread evenly into your baking dish. 

Bake for 20 minutes and voila! The brownies have a dark intense chocolaty flavor and then a mild fiery kick. So delicious!

Helpful links for this post:

Which do you prefer cakey, chewy or fudgy brownies?

3 ways to make chocolate brownies

My recipe was modified from this yummy recipe

Veggie Noodle Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

Lately I've been craving noodle stir fries like pad thai and yakisoba. So the other night I thought I'd whip something up with lots of veggies and lots of peanut butter. I loved this dish because it was easy to put together and it was sooo good, I made it again the following night. Serves 4 or 2 very hungry Gringoes.

Ingredients:
250 grams of rice noodles
1/2 large carrot, peeled into strips
1/2 large red or yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 cups of broccoli florets and leaves
1/2 large onion, cut into thin half moons
2 large garlic gloves, minced
1 red chili, minced
1 inch of fresh ginger, minced
fresh cilantro to garnish

Peanut Sauce
2 tbs unsalted natural peanut butter
4 tbs dark soy sauce
squeeze of half lime
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbs toasted sesame oil
1 tbs nut or vegetable oil (not olive oil though)
1 large garlic glove, minced

Prepare your veggies first and get a big pot of water boiling for the noodles. Once the water starts boiling, add in your noodles. I found this lovely broccoli at the supermarket and it has lots of leaves. I loved them and enjoyed them in this recipe, however simple broccoli florets works well too. 

Start warming up a large wok (or something similar) with a few tablespoons of water. Since the peanut sauce has a generous amount of healthy fats from peanuts and vegetable oils, I didn't want to add anymore to the stir frying process. Once the water starts boiling, add in your onions, garlic and chilies and cook until soft. 

Then add in your broccoli and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the bell peppers and carrots. Vegetables lose their vitamins and minerals the longer you cook them, so you don't want to overcook them to the point of complete softness. I cooked them for about 5-10 minutes max. They should retain their color, vitality and crunch!

Meanwhile check your noodles and see if they are close to being done. Different types of noodles have different cooking times, so keep a close eye on them. Once they are overcooked, it's all over. When they are about 5 minutes from being done, start on the peanut sauce. Put all the ingredients together in a little sauce pan and start heating it up over a low heat. 

Continuously whisk until you get a creamy, sticky sauce like so. Taste it! It should be sweet, very very salty and yummy. Notice I didn't add salt to the stir fry? That's because regular dark soy sauce is very salty and I felt it had the right amount of salt for my noodles and veggies. If you like things salty, season with salt throughout the stir fry. If you are watching your sodium intake, use reduced sodium soy sauce.

Add your noodles to the veggies and then the sauce. Mix and voila!

Hub and I enjoyed this so much, we ate the whole thing. Both times. 

In the Kitchen: Raw Almond Milk

It is unbelievably easy to make delicious nut milks. I never knew, but it also never occurred to me to make my own because I've always enjoyed my store bought brands. That is until I moved to Rio. I love unsweetened soy and nut milks and they have a lovely subtle sweetness that I'm used to, but searching for unsweetened non-dairy milk has been an expedition without success. Most grocery stores offer soy milk, but ALL are sweetened with either sugar or an artificial sweetener like cellulose. Fake sugars are really unhealthy, so I try to avoid them as much as possible.

Ooh and don't get me started on the almond milk. So far I've found one brand of nut milk, Mandorlat almond milk, but it's so unnatural it's scary. It's made from water and almond SYRUP and then a bunch of additives. I mean...what? I found rice milk at my local organic shop and I swear I didn't see any sweeteners in the list of ingredients. But when I tried it, it was sooo sickly sweet it had to have had sugar. Tasted great in my coffee though.

Fortunately this experience has encouraged me to try something new and one of my favorite things to make is homemade raw almond milk. And it's crazy easy, the steps are soak, blend, and strain.

Ingredients 

• 300 grams of plain raw almonds
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1. Soak

Put your almonds in container and completely submerge them in water with a few extra inches above. You can soak your almonds overnight or up to 48hrs and the longer you soak, the creamier the milk. 

2. Blend

Once you're done soaking, strain the almonds and rinse them in clean water. Put them into your blender and fill with 3 1/2 cups of fresh water. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon then blend baby blend. The milk tastes great on it's own, but I love adding cinnamon and vanilla for a bit natural sweetness.

 

3. Strain

Now you want to strain the almond meal from the milk and there are multiple ways of doing this. The easiest/quickest method is to filter the milk through a cheese cloth. I don't have one so I use a spoon and a fine strainer and that works perfectly, just takes longer. Regardless of the method, make sure to squeeze as much of the liquid out of the almond meal.

BOOM! Almond milk done and it's sweet, creamy and natural goodness. There's also delish almond meal leftover that you can bake with, snack on or throw back into milk shakes for protein and good fat. The milk will last in the fridge for about 3-4 days and it's natural for a little separation to occur, just give it a stir before consuming. I love making breakfast shakes with it and a diabetic nutritionist told me that my morning staple was a healthy and balanced breakfast. Here's my favorite recipe:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 banana
• 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon of linseeds (chia or flaxseed are excellent too)

Great Reads for this post:
Health benefits of almond milk
7 Good reasons to say bye bye to cow's milk

Raw Food by Joan

The other night Hub and I were invited to eat comida viva at this amazing house in Alto da Boa Vista, a neighborhood hidden in the Tijuca forest on top of mountain. Our friend Daniela, whom we met at La Casita Shelter in Buenos Aires, boasted about the chef Joan and his creative concoctions from raw vegan foods. We were super excited and it had been ages since my only raw vegan experience at Pure Food and Wine.

When we arrived to the house, I asked Daniela if I could pop into the kitchen and have a quick peak at the chef at work. Joan is slim, calm and gentle...and he was running a bit behind on dinner. It was perfect timing because he asked me if I wanted to help him out and I was super keen to see raw "cookin'" in action and also to practice my Portuguese. 

Joan was not always a raw foodie. He used to be an overweight scientist and being unhappy with his health was the catalyst for change. He decided to start eating vegan, left his job and began a new life journey. He says he never looked back and no longer craves cooked food. He also doesn't get sick anymore and after years of good health, he cancelled his health insurance. A little radical I know, but I was still inspired.

spicy sweet potato sushi rolls

Avocado cream and linseed pate

"Cheddar Cheese" made from coconut and malanga root

Grated taro root plus...

Green orange equals...

"Goat Cheese"

 

And then there was dessert. Joan mashed up a mix of raw nuts and dried fruits in a food processor then hand molded his base. He added a layer of mashed ripe banana and then a layer of grated apple with cinnamon. He topped his pie off with a puree of papaya and passion fruit and more dried fruit and nuts.

 

It was a magical fruit pie and I ate three slices, however, not the wisest thing to do in my prediabetic state. Although it was completely all natural and no sugar or butter in sight, it was very sweet due to the combination of ripe tropical fruits and dried fruit. It woke up my inner sugar junkie and like any good addict I convinced myself it was okay. It's raw vegan!

 

We finished our meals with herbal teas and a full belly. It was a fantastic and unique meal and and I learned so much. I now know that all vegetables can be eaten raw and potato and coconut go well together. I'm also very inspired by his dessert and would like to create my own recipe with a lower glycemic load. Stay tuned.