Ciabatta Brötchen | Ciabatta Rolls

English version below

Für dieses Rezept braucht ihr wenig Zutaten und viel Geduld!

Karamell - Caramel

English version below

Karamell geht immer. Auf Kuchen, Cupcake oder im Apple Crumble. Aber bisher habe ich in freier Wildbahn noch kein veganes Karamell gefunden. Immer mit Butter, Milch, Sahne etc... Also selbst machen! Ich mochte früher auch immer gerne die "Kuh"-Bonbons (ihr wisst alle, welche ich meine :)) - das Karamell, für das dieses Rezept ist, schmeckt ziemlich genau so.

Kitchen Basics | Frittierter Tofu | Deep-fried Tofu

English version below

Ab und zu bekomme ich die Frage, wie ich meinen frittierten Tofu mache, den ich für mein Tofu süßsauer, mein Thai Curry, gebratene Nudeln und so benutze. Es ist mal wieder so ne Sache, die fast schon wieder zu einfach ist - aber man muss halt einmal wissen, wie es geht.

Was ihr braucht? Weiches Tofu aus dem Asialaden und eine Fritteuse.
Das Tofu, das man im deutschen Supermarkt bekommt, ist in der Regel sehr fest und bröselig. Das eignet sich nicht so.

Kitchen Basics: Soy Milk

Die deutsche Übersetzung ist unter dem englischen Rezept!

Mr. Squirrel is very talented in the kitchen. He likes to help and he likes to kick me out of the kitchen to fix me veganized versions of my favorite childhood foods! He is also a pro at making vegan bratwurst from scratch and at making and eating all the vegan burgers. Mr. Squirrel also makes me soy milk. This is how he did it!

Kitchen Basics: Pumpkin Pie Spice

Die deutsche Übersetzung findet ihr unter dem englischen Rezept!

In order to make pumpkin pie, you need pumpkin pie spice. You can buy an expensive blend, or... just make your own blend. There is no one true way to make this, but this is how I like mine.

It's Fall! We need Apple Sauce!

Die deutsche Übersetzung findet ihr unter dem englischen Rezept!

Apple sauce is great, especially when apples are in season, and you can make tons of nice goodies with it. For example apple pie. Or Himmel un Ääd, a traditional dish from the German Rhine land, which combines mashed potatoes and apple sauce with caramelized onions and veggie sausages.

Or eat it just plain like that.

Kitchen Basics: Cashew Parmesan

Die DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG findet ihr unter dem englischen Rezept!

I posted this in a previous blog, but I'd hate for it to get lost in the pasta recipe post. And since I got was specifically asked to repost this on my facebook page, here we go! How to make cashew parmesan!

Special thanks to Marcus Kösters at camslinger.de for taking the picture with his awesome
new camera while I was sick. And for bringing me tea, snacks, love, and tissues.

Ingredients:

• 100g of cashews
• 1 tea spoon of sea salt
• 3 tea spoons of yeast flakes

This is really easily made. It stores well in the fridge. I usually have a small mason jar full of cashew parmesan at hand.

Vegan Cream Cheese/Quark/Herb Cream

Ladies and gentlemen, I have yet to find a place that sells an affordable, great tasting vegan cream cheese or any type of vegan "quark" at all. Fortunately, I have a really cool boyfriend who makes those products for me!
It's really easy. The hardest part of the experiment is to find the right soy milk. We tried this with different brands and it just did not work with some of them. We don't know why. Our brand of choice is Alnatura Soja Drink Natur. Affordable, tastes good, and works for our cream cheese recipe.

These are the ingredients for Herb Quark or Herb Cream Cheese.
If you don't want the herb part, just... well... don't use the herbs or garlic.

Ingredients 

(for about 550g of cream cheese)

• 2l of soy milk
• 2 table spoons of olive oil
• 1 tea spoon of coconut oil
• the juice of one lemon (and maybe a little more)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• some salt
• herbs of your choice (we used parsley and chives)

Kitchen Basics: Vegan Mayonnaise

Having grown up in a country where it is not only fully acceptable, but almost expected to eat your fries with mayonnaise, I have developed a deep love for this artery clogging, creamy beauty. I have tried a number of store bought vegan mayos... and they just didn't do much for me - except for draining my wallet. 

When I put together the list of dishes that I wanted to serve at the boyfriend's and my birthday party, I quickly realized that I had to find an affordable way to make lots of mayo. German potato salad just isn't the same without mayo (yes, there are some versions with vinegar in them... but no! Mayo!), and a good aioli needs mayo [recipe for Vegan "Honey" Aioli here!], too. 

I ended up making one liter of mayo. Just enough for a good birthday party! :)

Here's my recipe. It's super easy, doesn't need any fancy ingredients and doesn't spoil as easily as conventional mayo because it does not contain raw egg yolks! 

Pureed arugula makes the mayo even better!

Vegan Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• 100ml soy milk 
• 1/2 tea spoon of mustard
• 2 table spoons of lemon juice
• 1/2 table spoon of white vinegar
• 300ml oil
• salt

Kitchen Basics: Hazelnut Milk

My favorite non-dairy milk is a specific brand of oat milk (Kölln Smelk in case any one is interested). It's more expensive than the average soy milk, but I like it because it tastes great, and the ingredients are not shipped across the world, as the oat is grown (and then also processed) in Germany. I'm absolutely willing to pay that price (usually €1.79 to €2.19 for a liter), but when I saw Jérôme Eckmeier make hazelnut milk, I knew I had to try this myself. It's really easy, too! And cheaper. And tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1l of water
• 2 table spoons of sunflower oil
• 100g of hazelnuts (soaked in cold water over night)
• 1 table spoon of unrefined cane sugar
• a pinch of salt