Sunday 1 April 2012

Are there any adventures waiting?



Spelt patties with orange-radicchio and chutney-yoghurt dip.



- 100g coarsed unripe spelt grains ( a very hearty and smokey tasting variation of spelt, called Grünkern)
- 1 carrot (cut into small cubes)
- 1 small radicchio
- 1 orange
- 1 onion
- garlic
- 100g soy yoghurt
- 2 tbslp mango chutney
- olive oil and safflower oil
- pinch of sugar


Fry the carrot in olive oil and add finely cut onion and smashed garlic. 

Then add the coarsed unripe spelt grains and stir. Season with salt, pepper, vegetable broth. Add enough water to cover the mixture and cook for 15 minutes on medium heat while strirring from time to time. Let this mixture cool. If it's too wet add some bread crumbs or if it's too dry add bit by bit some cold water til you can form patties. 
Cut radicchio into very fine stripes. Peel orange, remove the white inner skin and cut into stripes or big chunks.
Heat some safflower oil and fry the patties on medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side. In the same time heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a heavy pot and fry the radicchio stripes on high heat, add salt and pepper and the orange slices. When the radicchio turn slightly brown turn down the heat, add the sugar, stir well and put a lid onto the pot.

Continue frying patties. Mix yoghurt with mango chutney. Serve hot patties with lukewarm radicchio and the chutney-yoghurt-dip. It's colourful and combines so many different flavours (bitter, smokey, hearty, tangy) - it's awesome.

Springlike carrot-snowpea-tofu-dish.



- 200g tofu
- 3- 4 carrots (cut into stripes)
- handful of snow peas (I used frozen ones, use fresh if available)
- salt, pepper
- pinch of grated fennu greek
- lemon juice
- olive oil

A very simple yet colourful and yummy dish. Cut tofu into small cubes or triangles and fry in a little olive oil together with the carrot stripes. When almost done add spices, then the snow peas. Add a dash of lemon juice and fry for another two minutes until the snow peas are bright green and slightly get golden at the ends.

Spinach summer rolls.



-200g tofu
-200g fresh spinach (wash pretty well, remove the stems)
-light soy sauce
-ginger
- rice paper
- garlic
- sesame


This was a pretty good variation of summer rolls, which I usually fill with a lot more different things like grated carrots, glass noodles, fresh coriander, peanuts and so on. This filling is a bit more simple.

For the filling cut tofu into thin stripes and marinate in soy sauce and finely grated ginger ( I used a piece 2cm x 2cm) for about 20-30 minutes.

Drain the tofu and keep marinade. Fry the tofu stripes in oil and when they slightly get golden add some sesame seed and smashed garlic and fry for another two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the spinach and stir carefully, then add splashes of the marinade so it will fall together within a few minutes.



Set aside and let cool. Soak the rice paper sheets in cold water, but not for too long, otherwise they will crack. Prepare a filling station with a big bowl of cold water and enough space for filling and folding the sheets. Put about 10 sheets intot the water, wait a minute and begin: 
spread the sheet and put one tablespoon of filling right in the middle. Fold one side over the filling, then the other one. Then fold the bottom over the filling and roll up. The filling was enough for about twenty rolls alltogether.


Serve with soy sauce and/or other dips. I had cauliflower with some fried bread crumbs on the side. You could serve rice or something else with it, too.