Pumpkin Coconut Curry (and pumpkin soup for the day after)

 

Bake the whole pumpkin in the oven and then slice and remove the outer peel and centre, slice and set aside. Chop two shallots and one green pepper and sauté with a little vegetable oil,  then add red curry paste (as much as your taste buds suggest) and a can of coconut cream, plus the water from rinsing out the can. Bring to a simmer, then add the sliced pumpkin and some Vietnamese mint leaves and flowers, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Top with fresh Vietnamese mint flowers, and also chopped coriander and Thai or lemon basil. Serve with rice, it is delicious!

If you have made a lot you can also blend it into a soup, easy as!

  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vegan Monte Bianco

This is my home recipe for a Vegan Monte Bianco so easy, (plus no cooking required) and one of my favourite desserts. Chestnuts are in my DNA, as they were the staple food of my ancestors, and mine to when I was little (we still have a chestnut wood in Italy). They are naturally sweet, low in fat and high in protein, but they are so difficult to find in NZ (please write to me if you have some!!). The original recipe calls for cream, but it seems that coconut cream goes really well with chestnuts too! Here are the ingredients:

1x 400ml can coconut cream, refrigerated for at least one day

1 drop vanilla

1 tbsp sugar

1 x439g Clement Faugier chestnut puree

1x 250g Clement Faugier Sweet chestnut spread

Dark chocolate to grate (I used dark vegan Mexican chocolate)

You can add a few drops of rum or Frangelico if you like.

Scoop the coconut cream out of the tin (leave the water at the bottom) and beat until soft and foamy. Add sugar and vanilla. Set aside. Beat the two chestnut purees together (I added the coconut water to make them softer). Add some grated chocolate (about 2-3 tbsp, or to taste) and if you like a little alcohol. Spoon the chestnut mixture over a plate and shape like a peak. Then cover with the coconut cream.

Grate some more chocolate on top and refrigerate until serving. 

Well, your Vegan and non-vegan friends  alike will be surely impressed: this is sooooo good, full of proteins, and gluten free too!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vegan chocolate and coconut cream puddings with edible flowers

1 can coconut cream

1 l oragnic soy milk (I use Vitasoy, either Original, Milky or Calci Plus)

4 tbsp raw sugar

2 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality)

2 tbsp cornflour

Natural Vanilla essence 

1 tbsp icing sugar

Edible flowers to decorate

Place the can of coconut cream in the fridge (possibly one day ahead). Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 8 dessert ramekins or small bowls and refrigerate. When the pudding is set open the can of coconut cream and scoop out the cream top, leaving the water at the bottom of the can (this can be added to other dishes, like curry or rice. Whip the coconut cream with a drop of vanilla essence and the icing sugar. Top the chocolate puddings with the whipped coconut cream.

And now for the flower decorations: choose only organic flowers, here we have borage, rose petals, violets, diantus petals (small carnations), calendula petals (pot marigold). Wash the flowers and petals with water, I let mine soak for white a while and shake them gently to make sure that there are no insects (this is a Vegan dish after all!). A few flowers or petals will suffice, as they are only decorations, although to be eaten. Refrigerate again so that the coconut cream set, and then serve.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Instant mango and coconut yogurt vegan ice-cream, and how to make more coconut yogurt from your bought jar to save money!

I have tried a couple of brands of coconut yogurt and it is quite nice, although I am not sure 100% if I can call it Vegan. One of the two labels it as Vegan, but the live bacterias (a part from being 'live', if you see what I mean) could come from dairy products, as usually lactobacillus originally do… so if you know more about it just tell me, I really like to find out!*

Another thing that I have noticed is the price of coconut yogurt… so expensive!!! Around $10! So before finishing the second jar I have filled it up with a can of coconut cream (only about $2.50) and after two days in the hot water cupboard followed by two days in the fridge I got my own coconut yogurt (albeit a bit more runny than the bought one). I am trying the second lot with a thicker coconut cream and I'll let you know if it works.

The ice-cream

One cup of frozen mango

Half a cup of coconut yogurt

Blend with immersion blender

I am glad I remembered to take a photo before they gulped it all up: it was delicious!!

And of course it could count as sugar free, gluten free, and possibly raw vegan*.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Coconut and Lavender Agar Agar, like a Vegan Panna Cotta or Biancomangiare

I like to use lavender for dessert, but the flavour has to be delicate, not too overwhelming. 

Ingredients: 

one small bunch of Lavender

3 tbsp caster sugar

1x400ml can coconut cream +

same amount in boiling water to rinse the can

1 tsp agar agar

to serve: blackberries and lavender

Pick the lavender from the garden and make sure it is clean, or rinse lightly and pat dry with a clean tea towel. Put in a container and cover with the caster sugar. Put a lid on and leave for 2-3 days. The sugar will absorb the aroma of the flowers. 

 Place the coconut cream in a pot, fill the can with the same amount of boiling water to rinse it and add into the pot. Remove the flowers from the sugar (it will be crumbly and moist) and add it to the mixture. Add a tsp of agar agar and bring to the boil stirring constantly. You can add a few petals of lavender if you like, but don't overdo it - not everyone likes to find 'bits' in such a smooth pudding. Fill 6 individual jelly moulds and let them set. The container with the lavender and sugar still had some sugar around the sides so I put the blackberries there for a few hours to marinate (with the lavender also) and get a bit of juice! I serve them alongside the tipped agar agar, which tasted a bit like young coconut flesh and with a subtle but distinctive lavender flavour.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vermicelli in coconut and veggie broth with tofu and Asian fragrances

This is an aromatic vegan and gluten free soup, light and delicious.

For the broth:
500 ml vegetable stock
1 can coconut cream or milk + one can of water (rinsing the coconut cream)
1 large yellow courgette (zucchini)
2 fresh red chilies
1 block of tofu
a pinch of freshly grated ginger
1 stalk lemon grass
a few coriander leaves

Simmer all together for a few minutes until the zucchini are soft but not mushy.

In the meantime soak the vermicelli in hot water until soft then divide between 6 bowls.
chop a few cherry tomatoes, and wash some fresh basil and some thai mint

Pour the hot soup over the vermicelli, making sure that each dish has equal parts of tofu and veggies.
Decorate with the tomatoes, basil and Thai mint and serve immediately.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Coconut and ginger tofu

Ingredients:

Two blocks of soft tofu

1 shallot

2 fresh red chillies 

1 can coconut cream

500 ml vegetable stock

1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

fresh coriander

fresh Vietnamese mint (or basil)

Drain the tofu and cut into slices. Finely chop the shallot, and roughly break up the chili, discarding the seeds unless you like your food very spicy. Place everything in a pot with the coconut cream and vegetables sock and simmer for 20 minutes. Grate the ginger and add to the tofu, finish off with some fresh coriander and Vietnamese mint leaves. If you don't have Vietnamese mint use fresh basil.

Serve with Thai rice or noodles.

It is also Orchid season in Auckland (or at least in my garden!). I love them because they last for ages, and when they start to fall off the stem I still keep them in small pots or in a bowl of water.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Ginger is the ingredient of the month for July’s Little Thumbs Up event, hosted by Chef and Sommelier in Singapore.

Honesty boxes, Tofu and Brassica Green Curry, and a Super Juice

One of the things I like best about New Zealand are the little stalls on the side of country roads, unattended and with a few offerings, mostly fruit, vegetables and flowers. Usually they are alongside a driveway, near the letterbox, and sometimes you don't see the house from the road, often you don't see anyone, as a matter of fact! So how do you pay? You leave your money in a honesty box. I have a couple of these near my house, one sells cute flower bouquets from the garden, and sometimes little bags of fruit, another sells orchids. When I don't have enough cutting flowers in my garden I go there, it is unexpensive, honest fun.

Tofu and Brassica Green Curry

Ingredients:
1 tbs green curry paste (see recipe here)
1 can coconut milk
1 couliflower, cut into florettes
half carrot, sliced (I sliced it in the shape of flowers)
1 block tofu, cut into pieces
1 large broccoli, cut into florettes
1-2 chili peppers
Thai or regular fresh basil leaves
Thai or Vietnamese fresh mint leaves

Place the paste in a pot with the coconut milk, the cauliflower, carrot, and the tofu. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli, cover and simmer for 5 minutes (I like my broccoli to be still green and a little crunchy). Add the chili peppers and the fresh herbs, cover and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add salt to taste and serve with Thai rice.
Serves 4

Super Juice

To make 1 litre of juice I used:

10 carrots

1 red beetroot

6 green apples

1 piece of ginger

Put everything through the juicing machine, filter and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Coconut and Eastern Herbs Pumpkin Soup

One day long time ago I started adding coconut cream and fresh coriander to my pumpkin soup... and my life changed!

The fact is that I always found creamed pumpkin soup a little... predictable?

It always tasted the same to me!

This time I also added some Vietnamese mint (one of the few herbs still alive in my garden) and the result was a fragrant pumpkin soup.

Another thing that I have to say about pumpkin is that I hate cutting it! So this time I roasted the whole pumpkin first, in the oven, for well over an hour... can't remember really, but I was baking other stuff and I thought of putting in the pumpkin too, and after a while I added an onion, peeled.

In the end the pumpkin was so soft that I could cut it with a spoon! I removed the skin and seeds and placed it in a pot with the onion. I added vegetable stock and then I blended everything. Finally I added one can of coconut cream and simmered it for 15 minutes. I turned the stove off, then I added some fresh chopped coriander and a couple of stalks (with leaves!) of fresh Vietnamese mint (to be removed before eating).

This is my number one pumpkin soup, definitely!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Coconut Rice with Thai Mint

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This is a lovely way to serve rice, one of my favourites in fact!

Ingredients

400 g Thai rice

1 x 400ml can coconut cream

half tsp salt

(In Thailand they also add sugar, but I prefer not to).

Wash the rice a few times with cold water, place it in a saucepan and add the content of the can of coconut cream plus half a measure of water from the same can (in this way you can also rinse the coconut cream out). Add salt and cover with a lid. Cook very slowly by absorption, if your lid is not very heavy line it with a tea towel to avoid loosing too much steam during cooking.

When the rice is ready turn the heat off and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. At this point you can also add some fresh leaves of Thai mint, they will perfume the rice and give it more flavour.