Tempura Battered Mushrooms
Tempura Battered Mushrooms & dipping sauce
Ingredients
For the tempura batter
- 1/3 Cup of Cake flour
- 1 Heaped tablespoon of Corn Flour
- Pinch of Sea salt
- 1 Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of soda
- 2/3 Cup of Ice cold water
- 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
- For the Dipping sauce
- 2 Tablespoons of Tomato Jam-i used homemade
- 4 Tablespoons of Reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider or Rice Vinegar
- 2 cm small piece of fresh Ginger (grated)
- 2 Small Garlic cloves minced
- 1 Small red chili chopped
Extra
- Olive oil for cooking
- Raw mushrooms (sliced (or any other raw vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, cauliflower or broccoli))
Instructions
- Make the batter: Sift dry ingredients together and then carefully whisk in the wet ingredients.
- Make the sauce: Blend everything till smooth and heat up over low heat on the stove.
- Dip your sliced vegetables in the tempura batter and cover well with the mixture.
- Add a tiny bit of olive oil to a hot pan and fry your dipped mushrooms until golden brown.
- Transfer the mushrooms to kitchen towel to drain excess oil.
- Serve warm with dipping sauce on the side.
Notes
Photo and recipe credit: Pieter Kotze
Raw Rainbow Spring Rolls with Peanut & Ginger dipping sauce
Raw Rainbow Spring Rolls with Peanut & Ginger sauce
Ingredients
For the rolls
- Spring roll rice paper
- 1 beetroot
- 1 carrot
- ½ small cucumber
- Red cabbage (fine sliced)
- 1 nori seaweed sheet
- Mung bean sprouts
- Fresh basil
- Fresh mint
For the sauce
- 2 x tbsp good quality vegan peanut butter
- 1 x tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 x 4cm piece of ginger (peeled)
- 1 x can Coconut milk
Instructions
- Cut the carrot, cucumber and beetroot into thin ‘matchsticks’. If your knife skills are somewhat questionable; use a peeler or mandolin to slice the veggies thinly, then stack the slices together and slice vertically through them to make the sticks. Or, if your knife-skills are not very good at all, buy them pre-sliced.
- Cut the seaweed into thin strips and pick the basil and mint leaves off the stalks.
- Arrange all your filling items neatly on a chopping board so that you don’t miss any of them out when you put the rolls together.
- Fill a large bowl with warm water. Soak the rice paper sheets in the water until they are soft.
- Place a clean, damp cloth on your chopping board and place the wet wrapper on it. Smooth it out so that it is completely flat.
- Place your ingredients just above the middle of the wrapper in a straight line. Be careful not to put too much in as it will make it difficult to roll. Fold the top of the wrapper all the way over your fillings (about 1/3rd of the way down) and press them tightly, being careful not to break the skin*. Fold over the two sides inwards before rolling it to the bottom. Keep under a damp cloth until use.
- Make your sauce: Combine the peanut butter and vinegar in a small bowl. Grate the ginger through a fine grater into the mixture and add coconut milk until it reaches the desired consistency. Serve in a dipping bowl alongside your raw rainbow spring rolls.
Notes
*If you are having difficulty with the skin breaking, use two wrappers put together.
South African Butternut Soup
South African Butternut Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized butternut (peeled, eeded and chopped into pieces (the smaller pieces will cook faster))
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (grated)
- 2 onions (peeled and finely chopped)
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Slow cook onions in olive oil until transparent (clear), for about 10 – 12 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger and gently stir through the onions.
- Add the butternut and coat with the onion mixture. Cook with the lid on for 2 minutes.
- Add the vegetable stock, salt and pepper to taste. The liquid should cover the butternut. Bring to the boil with the lid on.
- Transfer to your lined Keep It Bag, close and leave for 2 – 4 hours. Alternatively, cook on your stove until butternut is super soft.
- This soup is best enjoyed with a smooth texture - use a stick blender or try a potato masher during load shedding.
Notes
For added flavour and nourishment, add a fresh chilli salsa of chopped tomato, onion, chilli, and fresh coriander. For a more child-friendly option, add a sprinkle of nutmeg.
Sweet Rooibos Mieliemeal
Sweet Rooibos Mieliemeal
Ingredients
- White Star Quick super maize meal
- 3 to 4 Rooibos teabags
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- Cinnamon (optional)
- 4 peeled and chopped apples/pears/oranges/sweet potato
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water (add a little more if needed (use ½ cup water with oranges))
- Raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Make White Star Quick super maize meal according to instructions, (add 3 to 4 rooibos teabags to the water while it’s still cold, let the water simmer a bit to make strong tea and remove bags before adding meal – optional) this takes 2 minutes to cook so it saves electricity or paraffin.
- Simmer the chopped fruit or sweet potato with the sugar and water until soft. Stir to stop sticking and burning but only add water if you have to. Green apples are best as they keep their shape, but any apples will do, and the sweeter apples sometimes cook to a pulp, which is very nice. If you have raisins, add a handful of raisins to the water and fruit while cooking, for extra nutrition and sweetness.
- Ladle meal into cups or mugs and top with an extra sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon, if you'd like. Add a spoon of hot cooked fruit before serving.
Notes
TIP: if you have a packet of peanuts and raisins, pick the raisins out, rinse the salt off, and use these
Basil Spaghetti
Basil Spaghetti
Ingredients
- Packet spaghetti
- 5 ml dried basil
- 5 ml dried oregano
- 3 cloves garlic
- 40 ml margarine
- Salt to taste
- Lemon
- Sprig fresh basil
Instructions
- Boil half a packet of spaghetti. Put water on the stove, add some salt, and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti. Stir with a fork until all the spaghetti is submerged. This will prevent it from sticking and clumping together. Do this a few times at the initial stages of the boiling. It's important not to add oil to the water - oil covers the boiled spaghetti and prevents any pasta sauce from sticking and covering your spaghetti completely.
- In a separate pan, melt your margarine. When the margarine begins to melt, add the crushed garlic (crush your garlic gloves in to fine little pieces beforehand). Don' put your heat on too high. You don't want the heat to scorch or burn your garlic as it will become bitter. You want the garlic to infuse the margarine and that means melting the butter at a slow steady rate. After the margarine has melted and no longer looks milky, sprinkle in your dried herbs. Fry this mixture until the garlic is a nice light golden brown. It is important to taste your mixture every now and then to a) make sure your garlic isn't burning and b) to make sure that your taste balance is right. I generally start off with a teaspoon of herbs and if during the tasting (while cooking) I think it needs more of anything, I just add it until I get the taste that I am happy with. Once you're happy with the taste of your mixture (the sauce), set aside.
- Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain and put in a bowl. Gingerly drizzle over the spaghetti and mix the sauce and the spaghetti until all the spaghetti is nicely covered. You can add more sauce, but because this is such a decadent dish, if it's too buttery it can become too rich and oily.
- Grate some lemon zest over the spaghetti just before serving and place the basil sprig on top for garnish.
Notes
Recipe Credit: Nikki Botha
Photo Credit: House of Vizion