I was inspired by a vegan menemen made with tempeh. We were undergoing an atypical detox, but the vegan menemen tasted like the classical menemen that I love and have served so many times!

What do you need for a vegan menemen?

4 tbsp of olive oil

1 onion

2 bell peppers                                                                   

3 tomatoes

a pinch of dry oregano

a pinch of sea salt

a dash of pepper

How to make it?

Sauté the onion over low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Add the diced bell peppers; simmer them for 5-6 minutes.

Dice the tomatoes and mix them in with the oregano, sea salt, and pepper.

Add the tofu 3-4 minutes later (chop it in the pan or dice it before adding it).

 Serve it warm! Enjoy your meal!

You may wonder what Vegmezan is. If you click this link and then this one, you will understand that I wanted to come up with a savoury recipe from the vegan goodies wholeheartedly made by NoMoMoo*!

Well, Vegmezan is a cashew parmesan.

I used white spelt (whole spelt is trickier to use for bakes; with white spelt, you’ll get a fluffier dough) because I felt they’d complement each other!

Which were all the ingredients?

Well, I used—

250g white spelt flour

5g yeast

3g sea salt

1 tbsp of olive oil

160ml water

+olive oil

+white spelt flour

+(optional) 4-5 tbsp of tomato juice

+1 large tomato

+1 pc Vegmezan

My method?

Add the first 5 ingredients into a bowl in the specified order. Start kneading. When the dough feels compact and not sticky, let it sit for 1 hour.

Brush olive oil on a pizza baking pan, flour it, and spread the dough.

If you wish, pour homemade tomato juice (with basil) onto the dough; it is optional.

Place the tomato slices onto the pizza dough, then bake for 10 minutes at 220°C.

Sprinkle Vegmezan over the pizza after removing it from the oven.

My Dad was visiting; he was thrilled. He confessed that he didn’t even notice that the pizza was vegan.

*I’ll return in October with new vegan recipes that include other NoMoMoo goodies. Until then, already-tested but unpublished recipes will keep you company, along with the new recipes discovered throughout the detox that we’re undergoing again.

For a different pizza (but a filling one!), you’ll need—

100g quinoa (+500ml water)

a pinch of salt

1 tbsp of olive oil

60ml water

+tomato juice

+2 tomatoes

+salt

Optional: avocado

How can we bake a pizza from these?

Pour hot water over the quinoa.

Let it sit for half an hour. Drain the quinoa thoroughly. Then, add it into a blender with the salt, olive oil, and water.

Spread the batter onto a pizza baking pan over baking parchment. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes at 200°C.

Remove from the oven. Spread tomato juice over the crust, place the sliced tomatoes, add the salt, and bake for 15 minutes more at 200°C.

Add avocado slices over the pizza if you wish after removing it from the oven the second time.

Enjoy it! I have a hunch you will!

 

What to use?

5g dry yeast

350ml water

a teaspoon of sugar

500g Graham flour

7g sea salt

2 tbsp of olive oil

Mix the water, dry yeast, and sugar; let them sit for 5 minutes.

Add the sea salt to the Graham flour; then, pour the olive oil and the mix of yeast and water mentioned above over the flour.

The mixture will be quite liquid. Use a wooden spoon to homogenise it; let it rise for one hour.

Line a pound cake tin with baking parchment; pour the batter into it.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven at 200⁰C.

I’ve tested ciabatta recipes before – mini-ciabatta recipes, to be more exact –, but this recipe seems the optimal version. I keep baking it because it is in demand. :D

For 2 ciabatte, you’ll need:

400ml water

5g dry yeast

2 teaspoons of sugar

500g flour (+ flour for the baking mat)

10g sea salt

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (+ 2 more tbsp for the baking mat)

It takes a bit more, but it is worth the work and wait!

Let the water-yeast-sugar mix sit for 5 minutes.

Then, pour it over the flour on the opposite side to where we added the salt in order not to deactivate the yeast.

Add the olive oil. Then, knead until you incorporate the entire flour amount. The dough will be sticky.

Let it sit for 10 minutes in a bowl.

* Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil onto the baking mat, knead the dough through it, pull it, and let it sit for 10 more minutes.

** Repeat this step twice more without adding more olive oil.

*** Add flour onto the baking mat, knead the dough through it and let it sit for 30 minutes.

**** Divide the dough. Spread one of the dough pieces into a rectangular shape. ’Stick’ the large sides. Then, turn your ciabatta onto the other side and place it in the baking pan lined with baking parchment. Do the same with the second ciabatta.

***** Bake in the preheated oven, at 220⁰C, for 10 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 180⁰C. Bake for 3 and a half minutes more.

Let them cool and... enjoy them! ♥

 

And I didn’t use all the classic ingredients; I adapted them—

30g basil

2 garlic cloves

20g walnuts

3 tbsp of olive oil

2g sea salt

a drop of lemon juice

Blend them. Then, store the pesto in a small jar in the fridge.

It’s not only great with pasta, but with some fresh or crunchy slices of bread, too! 

P.S. For this year’s pesto jar (I am trying to make one each year), I used

45g basil

2 garlic cloves

30g pine nuts (I still had some bought in Tunisia)

4 tbsp of olive oil

3g salt.

It turned out very creamy, with a rich, fresh flavour.

8 flatbreads

300g spelt flour

3g salt

100ml water

30ml olive oil

I was talking to a dear friend of mine precisely about spelt flour. I had already ordered it because I wanted to bake with it and give it a try.

I was nearly out of einkorn bread and I needed a quick fix for dinner. ’I’ll make some flatbreads.’

Mix the flour and the salt, add the water and the olive oil (or any other oil), and knead until you get a non-sticky dough.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Knead them into balls. Take a ball of dough, flatten it, and roll it out.

Fry them in a thick pan on both sides until they turn brown.

If there are any flatbreads left, they will be great for breakfast, too, with some delicious preserves!

baking pan diametre: 20cm

Filling:

500g spinach

100g (Feta) cheese

1 egg

2 garlic cloves

50g butter

Pie sheets:

250g flour

10g salt

30ml olive oil

100ml water

1 tbsp vinegar

+olive oil, flour -> baking pan

+butter -> brush on the pie

While travelling through Greece and in the Greek restaurants and stores in Romania, I’ve had my fair share of spinach pie (Spanakopita). I’m crazy about it. So, why not bake my version of Spanakopita at home?

Place baking parchment on the bottom of a baking pan with a detachable bottom, cutting out the excess paper. Oil the side with olive oil and flour it.  

First, make the dough for the pie sheets, mixing the flour, salt, olive oil, water, and vinegar. Knead and split the dough into four equal parts.

Then, make the filling (Marcel helped out). Wash and clean the spinach. Sauté in butter until it softens. Spill out the excess liquid and add the crumbled cheese, the beaten egg, and the crushed garlic. Leave for three more minutes to cook on low heat.

Roll out the pie sheets, one by one, adding the filling and folding the edges of the sheets. You’ll have three such double layers, with one last sheet covering them all (butter it before it goes into the oven).

Bake in the preheated oven at 200°C for 25 minutes.

P.S. Pies entirely baked at home are wonderful!

100g buckwheat flour

30g tapioca flour

150ml water

2 tbsp flaxseeds

20ml olive oil

50g agave syrup

35g cocoa

5-6 large strawberries

…because even we, vegans, sometimes crave yum desserts, here’s a tasty version of a plant-based brownie. J

How to make it? In a bowl, mix the buckwheat flour, the tapioca flour, the water, and the flaxseeds (if you let the flaxseeds sit in water for 5-10 minutes before adding them to the mix, that’s great). Add the olive oil, the agave syrup, and the cocoa.

Place the batter into a baking mould (I used a round silicone one). Cut 5-6 strawberries into slices and place them on top; then, bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, at 160°C.

Let’s enjoy strawberries while they’re still in season! ♥

My inspiration came from a Tuscan speciality. But then, I let my imagination and senses carry me away. It was labelled as ’delicious’ and I hope you like it, too.  

4g dry yeast

2 tbsp Marsala wine

1 tbsp agave syrup

90ml (warm) water

100g almond meal

50g tapioca flour

30ml olive oil

a pinch of salt

a bunch of grapes

40g coconut sugar

+tapioca flour, olive oil, agave syrup

Mix the yeast, the wine (not necessarily Marsala wine), and the agave syrup. Then, pour the warm water, starting to mix in the almond meal and the tapioca flour (you may add some extra tapioca flour if the dough is too sticky). After adding the olive oil and the salt, knead the dough and let it rest for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash the grapes and grease and flour (using olive oil and tapioca flour) a baking pan of 15x22 cm.

Spread half of the dough on the bottom of the baking pan, placing half of the grapes on top. Sprinkle the coconut sugar and cover with the remaining dough (be careful, it is crumbly); place the remaining grapes on top and pour agave syrup over the cake.

Bake in the preheated oven, at 170°C, for 20 minutes, and then for 25 minutes more, at 150°C.

This cake fills you up and is... surprising, too!

For 3 large pizzas, you will need:

420g flour

250ml water

1g fresh yeast

10g salt

+olive oil

+semolina

+tomato purée

+3 mozzarella balls

+fresh basil

To start, mix the water and 220g of flour for 2 minutes. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, at room temperature. This will be the base of our pizza.

Half an hour later, add the yeast and knead well, by slowly adding the remaining flour. When the flour is absorbed (in order not to deactivate the yeast), add the salt. Continue to knead. When the dough feels elastic and fine, place it in a plastic film and let it sit for 2 hours at room temperature.

When the dough rises, take it out on a mat and then divide it into three equal pieces. Like shown in the picture, roll the dough, stick its ends and cover with the dough edges. You will get three dough balls. Place them in the fridge, in bowls with lids. This way, the yeast will work slowly but the taste obtained will be fantastic.

After at least 5-6 hours in the fridge, take out the dough and bake the pizza (the dough balls keep for 3 days, so there’s no need to bake all of them on the first day... and you’ll notice that the last dough ball will taste best).

Oil the pizza pan, sprinkle semolina (this makes the dough fluffier). Add olive oil onto the dough and spread the dough over the pizza pan; then, pour tomato purée on top of it and bake in the preheated oven, at 220°C, for 4 minutes and a half.

Take the pizza out, place the mozzarella slices on it and bake for 3 minutes more.

When it’s done, sprinkle fresh basil leaves over it. Let it cool for a minute and cut yourself a slice.

How does it taste? J