Spice Box of Earth

Well my vegan friends, I tragically found myself not winning the tremendously fun Chopped Vegan competition earlier this week! I fell into the chocolate chili trap like……erm…..a piece of chocolate falling into my chili. There were some wonderfully inspired dishes that made great use of the four mystery ingredients (dark chocolate, black eyed beans, fresh mint and blackberries).

Here is my non winning recipe :)

Chili Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 red chili (or more if you like it hot!), very finely chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 3 pieces dark (bittersweet) chocolate
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 tsp cumin
• 1 tin black eyed peas
• 1 carton crushed tomatoes

Rice Ingredients:

• 1 cup wild rice
• 1 tbsp vegan butter
• 1 tsp cardomom seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• a handful chopped blackberries

Mojito Salsa:

• juice of 1 lime
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped ripe tomatoes
• 2 tbsp white rum
• a handful of fresh mint, chopped

Sauté the garlic and chili in a little olive oil with the cumin seeds. After a few minutes add the red onion and pepper and sauté for a little longer. Add the cumin and the black eyed peas. Mix well, then add the crushed tomatoes. Sit the chocolate on top, let it melt, then stir it in. Leave the chili cooking over a low heat.

Finely chop the red onion and tomatoes. Mix with the rum, lime juice, mint and salt. Put in an airtight tupperware and give it a jolly good shake (imagine it’s a proper mojito!).

Fry the cardomom seeds, cumin seeds and bay leaves in the vegan butter for a minute or two. Add the rice and toss it around in the mixture. Put the rice into boiling water and cook for 12 minutes or so. When the rice is cooked, drain and mix in the chopped blackberries.

Finally, to complete my week of non winning, I present my ‘coffee shop’ selection of cupcakes that were entered into a little local competition - the flavours are Hot Chocolate, Maple Macchiato and Cappuccino. Hurrah for not winning!

Blimey dear readers, it’s been a busy old week where the day job’s concerned. However, I had time to take some foody snaps, and will be embarking on nothing short of an ADVENTURE in the kitchen tomorrow.

I had time to bake a lemon vanilla cake to order……

I made an absolutely heroic cheesy pasta dish in about 13 minutes when we were in an almighty rush to get somewhere on time……

I ordered a whooooole lot of packaging and other goodies for my secret cake-selling superhero activities including these SPLENDID A3 laminated posters which I am just in love with…….. (my cheeky technique is to mention only vegan options at a stall, thereby sucking in all the regular folks and at the same time attracting the attention of any vegans; then I enjoy the utter delight on their faces when I tell them they can eat ANYTHING….)

Friday night was, OF COURSE, fajita friday. Since we do fajitas every week in our house, I don’t often photograph it. However, last night I was thrilled to be using my new obsession, Wheaty chorizo sausage, and had to take a snap…

Then I was curiously inspired to put together this series of pictures. I call it, “Anatomy of a Fajita”…..

HOW DO YOU BUILD YOURS?

This is very important - on a vegan diet you want to make sure you’re covering all the food groups, etc. Coffee and cake.