Lenten Bulgur Wheat Salad with Cashews and Mandarins. And Some Rambling.

Tags

bulgur wheat, cashews, Lent, mandarin, salad, vegan

Um, hello… do you remember me? Yes, it’s me, Eleni. I bet you thought I’d never be back! Well, here I am. Gosh, it’s weird writing in English… my fingers can’t seem to find the right keys!

So, my news. Busy busy with little brother blog The Foodie Corner. It’s funny how I think of blogs as being boys… wonder why… Anyway, lots going on over there as I recently launched my new pages from which I am selling slow cookers in Greece! Yay! It’s something I’ve been obsessing about for a couple of years now. It’s an almost unknown cooking device here, goodness knows why. So for a long time I knew I wanted to bring them over and introduce the wonders of slow cooking to Greek people. Many of course already know how brilliant they are, since the internet is a major educator on all things trendy and popular. But now they can easily purchase one by ordering it from my blog! Yay again! Now I just need to somehow tell everyone in the country about this. Yeah, that’s not so easy/cheap to do (if it’s one it’s not the other). But I will get there. I will. I will. Won’t I?

The past few days have been a bit strange. Apart from the above question that keeps popping up in my mind a-l-l-t-h-e-t-i-m-e, I am also having trouble switching my mind off work. The combination of working for yourself and working from home is, I’m sure, a fool-proof recipe for this condition. One of the two is bad enough, but put both in the mix and there you go. Business and life become one gooey mixture which oozes into every single corner of your mind. Can I just say here that I’m not complaining. I love what I’m doing and I have absolutely no regrets about the decision I made. I’m just putting my thoughts into html and what better place to do it than my hobby-blog? So back to the oozing mess of work/life. What do I mean? Well, say I’m on Facebook and I’ve posted my newest recipe link (pure business), and I’ve then clicked on “home” to see what everyone else is up to. I’m sitting there liking stuff, and adding new friends, and catching up with old ones. Am I wasting time? It’s not pure business, but surely as a blogger I need to keep up and be seen out there? That colleague I haven’t seen in years might want to buy a slow cooker! Business/life = blurred. I’m in the kitchen and I’m cooking. It’s dinner but it’s also my next post. Does the time I spend chopping and prepping count as work? Blur. Does the time I spend washing up count as work, since the dishes held my next post? Blur (ha). Do I deserve an extra hour in bed tomorrow because I was writing this post till ten o’clock at night? No so blurred (I do). Anyway, you get the picture. And I’m sure lots of you know exactly what it feels like; I haven’t just discovered America. The worst thing about it all is that I can’t stop thinking about recipes, food and the blog. If I’m left for one minute to just sit quietly without any distractions, my mind will automatically go to that recipe I saw on tv, that photo I saw on Pinterest or that idea I had for a good brownie. Food will not get out of my mind. At all. It’s driving me just a little bit nuts. Yesterday I resorted to 2 hours of ironing while watching Scandal, just to get rid of the cheeseballs that were in my head (don’t ask). Ok, I’m done now. That feels better already. No it doesn’t, now I’ve remembered the cheeseballs…

Moving on (if any of you are still here) I’m going to share one of the most amazing salads I’ve ever tried, let alone made myself. This was a dish I prepared for a charity event last December, and –if I may say so myself- it went down preeeetty well! As soon as I had mixed the dressing ingredients I was already in love with it just from the smell. You have to try it. I’ll leave you in peace now, I’m going to watch House of Cards. That’s one I really have to concentrate for, I haven’t a clue what’s going on even on the best of days…

Recipe adapted from Power Hungry

Lenten Bulgur Wheat Salad with Cashews and Mandarins

Makes a big bowlful (approx. 10 side servings)

Ingredients

1 box (500gr) bulgur wheat, soaked overnight in lots of water and drained well
2 spring onions, the white and a little bit of the green part, chopped (you can use more if you like it)
6 Tbs parsley, finely chopped (measured after chopping)
3/4 Tbs orange zest (from 1-2 oranges)
3/4 cup sultanas
1/2 cup cashews, roasted and salted
1/2 kg sweet mandarins, peeled, segmented, with each segment chopped in half

For the dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
3 Tbs lemon juice, freshly squeezed
3 Tbs honey (or vegan friendly substitute)
1 1/2 Tbs Dijon mustard
1 Tbs cumin
2 1/4 tsp cinammon
2 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Drain the bulgur wheat very well. Use some cheesecloth over a colander, fill it with the wheat, grab the corners creating a pouch and squeeze it dry. (Note: we do not boil the wheat)
2. Put the wheat in a large bowl with the onions, parsley and orange zest. Mix well.
3. Put all the dressing ingredients in a clean jam jar and shake till well incorporated. It will be thick and yummy.
4. Add the sultanas, cashews and dressing to the wheat and mix well but gently. To be sure, add the dressing in stages and mix as you go along, that way you can stop when you feel it’s enough.
5. Finally add the mandarin pieces and mix again, being careful not to break them up too much.
Note: The salad is best made in advance so the flavours have the chance to mingle and get to know each other. Just make sure to take it out of the fridge about half an hour to an hour before serving so it’s at room temperature. If you do this, keep the mandarins out till just before serving.

A Glass of Dessert Part 3 – Lenten (and Vegan) Chocolate Mousse

Tags

chocolate, coconut milk, honey, Lent, mousse, tahini, vegan

Antique English spoon dating from the late 1800s, on kind loan by The Collector

It’s Good Friday today, a day of strict fasting in Greece. It is really hard to believe this chocolate mousse is actually allowed. But it is. I, however, would make this any day of the year. Out of all the chocolate mousses I’ve tried, this might just be the best. And not a raw egg in sight!

I give you two versions and two methods of preparation. The original version, adapted from an insert in Ta Nea newspaper (Feb 2012), uses honey and a food processor. Honey is allowed during Lent even though it comes from bees; this is not the case with veganism. So, I thought I would make it again replacing the honey with golden syrup, making it suitable for vegans. This time I also ditched the processor, purely because I couldn’t be bothered to wash it. Surprisingly, this actually made a big difference in the texture of the mousse, and produced a much softer, lighter and well, mousse-ier result. The original is very smooth and dense, and might be better described as a chocolate pot de crème. Taste-wise they are very similar and I can’t choose which one I like more. But texture-wise, my own version wins hands down. You’ll just have to make a double batch, one of each, and decide for yourself!

Lenten Chocolate Mousse – The Original (with Honey)

Adapted from Ta Nea insert Feb 2012
Makes 4

Ingredients

1 c. coconut milk (not cream, not water)
100g dark chocolate, chopped
3-4 Tbs honey
2 Tbs tahini
1/8 tsp cinnamon
sesame seeds and slivered almonds to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the coconut milk in a small pan till just below boiling point.
2. In a food processor, whiz the chocolate pieces with the cinnamon.
3. Add the warm coconut milk to the processor, along with the honey and tahini, and whiz till it froths up. Be careful, the warm milk might make it froth up too much, or even overflow and make a mess everywhere. That might put you in a bad mood.
4. Empty the mixture into 4 glasses or small bowls, let cool and refrigerate till set (at least 3 hours).
5. Garnish with the sesame seeds and serve. To get the margarita effect in the photo, I put some golden syrup on a plate, twirled the rims of the glasses through it, and then twirled the rims round a plate sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Note: The recipe in the newspaper used almond milk instead of coconut. I haven’t tried this; if you try it please come back and let me know what it’s like!

Lenten and Vegan Chocolate Mousse – My Version

Adapted from the same recipe
Makes 2

Ingredients

1/2 c. coconut milk
40g dark chocolate, chopped
2 Tbs golden syrup
1 Tbs tahini
a pinch of cinnamon
sesame seeds to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the coconut milk in a heat-resistant measuring jug in the microwave (in 15 second bursts, checking after each burst).
2. When hot, add the chopped chocolate and stir till melted.
3. Add the tahini and golden syrup and whisk till incorporated.
4. Add the cinnamon and continue to whisk till smooth.
5. Poor into glasses, let cool and refrigerate till set.
6. Garnish and serve.

Other Chocolate Pot or Mousse Recipes
Instant Chocolate Mousse by Nigella Lawson (tried, tested and loved!)
Chestnut Chocolate Pots by Nigella Lawson
Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt by The Kitchn (also tried and tested; gorgeously interesting and different)

Chocolate Tahini Bites – Lenten Sweet Treats

Tags

almonds, chocolate, healthy, honey, Lent, nuts, tahini

Today is Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Holy Week. Holy Week is one of the most beautiful times of the year in Greece, not just because the weather is usually gorgeous, but because Easter is the most important religious holiday. It’s actually bigger than Christmas, which has sort of caught up in recent generations but is heavily commercial with many “foreign” traditions having infiltrated its celebration. Did you know that traditionally people in Greece used to decorate miniature wooden sail boats and not trees? Hang on, why am I talking about Christmas? Easily distracted? Me?

Back to Easter and Lent. As I mentioned a few weeks back, there are many recipes flying around, in magazines, on tv shows, on blogs, all with great ideas on how to enjoy good food even if you’re fasting (meaning no meat, dairy, eggs etc.).  One such recipe is this little gem. It’s amazingly easy, lusciously chocolatey, and actually quite healthy! The taste leaves behind a hint of halva (the type we call Macedonian, referring to Northern Greece) which is made of tahini and sugar or honey. Now I’m no expert, but dark chocolate, honey, tahini, almonds and even cinnamon, are all said to offer great nutritional benefits. These Chocolate Tahini Bites contain exactly these ingredients and nothing else. Also, they are very rich, so you only need a bite or two!

The recipe is from Sweet Stories, a magazine by Greek pastry chef Stelios Parliaros.

Chocolate Tahini Bites

Ingredients

125g dark chocolate, chopped
125g tahini
50g honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
50g almonds without skin (I used slivered because it was all I had, use chopped if you want more crunch)
Icing sugar or cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

Instructions

1. Toast the almonds. Put a non-stick frying pan on high heat, wait till the pan is very hot, then add the almonds. Shake them around or stir with a wooden spoon or spatula. As soon as you start to smell the almonds and you see a few starting to brown, take them off the heat and continue to stir. They will finish toasting on the hot pan. Set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave (or over a pan of boiling water). I always do this in 15 second bursts on high, taking the bowl out and mixing after each burst. It should be ok after 3 goes. Stir well to smooth out any last lumps.
3. Add the tahini, honey and cinnamon and stir well or whisk to combine. Add the almonds and stir again till they are all coated.
4. Pour mixture into a lightly greased, shallow baking tray or pyrex dish. Mine was 16x25cm. Leave it to set at room temperature for at least 2 hours, or, when cooled, pop it in the fridge for about one hour. Cut into squares or bars, and dust with icing sugar so they look pretty! The original recipe uses cocoa powder for dusting, but that would be too bitter for me, so I went with the white stuff.

Other Chocolate and Tahini Combos
Molten chocolate cake with tahini and millet by La Tartine Gourmande
Chocolate Tahini Cookies by Pixels + Crumbs
Chocolate Tahini Dressing by Where’s the Beef?