Easy: Creamy Spinach with Chickpeas and Peanuts

Deutsche Übersetzung unter dem englischen Rezept!

So, I am not in my usual kitchen environment. Instead of enjoying the beautiful Ruhrgebiet, I am in New York City! Only temporarily, though. I am still settling in and finding my way around, particularly in the supermarkets, but I am glad to have access to a kitchen in the apartment in which I'm subletting a room. I had originally intended to make something along the lines of my world famous (ok, it's not... yet!) Sesame Spinach, but since I couldn't find any sesame seeds, I had to come up with something else. And I like what happened as I threw together my very, very limited selection of food items. Getting set up in a kitchen without having anything in the pantry or fridge whatsoever is quite the challenge. But it worked! :D

Thai Pasta Salad

Die deutsche Übersetzung steht unter dem englischen Rezept!

Mondays are always a bit of a challenge: I always prepare a lunch for work for my colleague and myself... but I want to vary what I bring. So I keep my eyes open for new ideas and suggestions. Today, the Vegan Food Nerd came to my rescue. Their dish inspired me to pick up some of the basic ingredients they used and to come up with something new myself. :)

This is not actually a Thai recipe. But the nice noodles, coconut milk, and red Thai curry paste made me call it that! :D

Ingredients for 6 generous portions:

• 400g of rice noodles (the type that looks like fettuccine, about 4mm, ca. 1/6 in)
• 300g of soy sprouts
• 3 bell peppers (red, yellow, green)
• 1 large zucchini
• 250g of snowpeas
• 1l of coconut milk
• some oil (for example sunflower)
• 2 tablespoons of red Thai curry paste - if you like it hotter, use more (double check the ingredients! Curry pastes are not always vegan/vegetarian!)
• some soy sauce
• some salt
• 2 limes
• 100g of (unsalted) peanuts 
• 400g of tofu (it's the squishy type which I buy at the Asian supermarket, not the firm stuff)

You will also need: A big pot, a deep-fryer. If you don't have a deep-fryer, I suppose you can also fry the tofu in a pan, but it won't be quite as nice.

Curry Coconut Milk Potatoes with Spinach and Cauliflower

Yet another Tuesday work lunch! Monday nights are always a bit of a challenge because I want to cook something nice for my colleague and myself. Something that can easily be taken to work, heated up, and then eaten. And since my friend - unlike me - does not appreciate the taste of meat (and never has), I always want to make sure I make a wholesome, nice meal without making it seem like I'm just bringing side dishes. Curries and chilis are the obvious choice... and for today I did another curry based dish, but a little different from the green Thai curry or the regular tomato based curry. I have something similar every time we are at the Indian restaurant with my boyfriend's parents, ... except they put much more garlic in there. Which I like. But I don't really consider that a great idea for work lunches. So, if you eat this in the privacy of your home or do not care if your breath wreaks havoc on humanity: Don't forget to throw in as much garlic as you like!

Die deutsche Übersetzung findet ihr unter dem englischen Rezept!

Ingredients for 5-6 servings:

• 1kg of potatoes
• 1 cauliflower
• 500g of spinach
• 1l coconut milk
• 3 onions
• massaman curry paste
• some coconut oil 
• salt - if necessary. I didn't use any because I was happy with the salt content of my curry paste
• optional: fresh garlic (preferably chopped finely and added to the pot along with the onions)

Green Thai Curry with Rice

Again, as with most more exotic recipes, I am claiming no authenticity for my green Thai curry. I am just claiming that it tastes great! :)

I made a big batch of green curry tonight because I made lunch for myself, a friend, and the boyfriend for tomorrow. And for dinner tonight. And whatever is left over won't survive for too long either. Here is a recipe for a normal batch.

Ingredients:

• 600ml of veggi stock
• 400ml of coconut milk (1 can)
• green curry paste - how much depends on how hot you like your food and on the curry paste itself. Also: Make sure you check your curry paste for non-vegan ingredients. Some are made with shrimp etc.
• 2 small zucchinis
• 1 eggplant
• 1 small broccoli
• 3 lime leaves (optional)
• a little bit of salt
• 1 cup of rice (I used red and white rice)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 tsp of sugar

Veggi Galore: Massaman Curry

Have a few Euros to spare? Help my friends at the Café Mousebear (vegan guerilla living room café) open a real café to spread the vegan love! Check out their crowd funding campaign. Every Euro helps!

How do you put as many different vegetables as possible in one pot? Curry is definitely a good option here!

The last leftovers that I could save for the photo before the
boyfriend devoured it all!

Disclaimer: This is most likely not a traditional Indian curry. That's ok. I just don't know any better. So far everyone who has tried this curry, though, said that it was good. Still - I'm not claiming any sort of authenticity.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 8 tablespoons of curry paste
• 1 l of veggi stock
• 1 l of tomatoes
• 1 pineapple
• 5-6 small onions
• 250g spinach (I used frozen)
• 300g peas (I used frozen)
• 5 carrots
• 1 eggplant
• 2 large bell peppers
• 1 can of coconut milk

• As much rice as you want - we ended up not making any rice in order to keep this a low carb dish.
• This is also a dish in which you can nicely add a couple of TSP (texturized soy protein) chunks. Cook a handful or two in salt water, press out the excess water and add them to the pot.

Carrot Ginger Soup

When life gives you carrot, ... make carrot soup.

Preferably yummy soup that doesn't look like baby food. Fresh ginger, coconut milk and a bit of good vinegar should be on the list.

Since the local organic veggie box from my last blog came with a lot of carrots and I still had about 700g left in the fridge, I decided not to give them any chance to spoil and made a big pot of soup. And please notice the incredibly awesome R2D2 soy sauce dispenser the boyfriend got me for our 9-year anniversary. That man knows how to please the ladies! <3

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

• 1kg of carrots
• 3 onions
• 2-2.5l of veggie stock
• 3-4 medium sized potatoes
• 1 leek (how do you call pieces of leek? The German word would be "Stange" which would literally translate to "stick" oder "bar") 
• 500ml coconut milk
• 100g tomato paste
• a big chunk of fresh ginger
• more ginger
• some olive oil
• salt
• agave sirup
• 5 table spoons of white wine vinegar