Cashew Nut Stir Fry

This is a fairly quick one-pot dish to make and flexible too: a good way to use up veg at the bottom of the fridge. Nutritionally balanced, this needs no accompaniment. Those vegetables mentioned here can be substituted for others such as courgettes, peppers or spring onions, and even frozen vegetables can be added though they may need to be cooked first. Noodles can be used instead of rice: they won't need as much cooking initially. The key is to cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces and cook the harder ones first so they all end up tender without being overdone. You'll need a wok or a large non-stick frying pan with a lid.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
about 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
half a medium onion
1 large carrot
2 sticks celery
1 clove garlic
half a head of broccolli/calabrese
chunk of white cabbage (about 10 cm by 5 cm)
4 medium mushrooms
3 or 4 tablespoons cashew nuts
100 to 150g long grain brown rice
half teaspoon ginger
juice of half a lemon
about 1 tablespoon soy sauce
black pepper

Method
Start by rinsing the rice in a seive before putting into a medium pan half-filled with boiling water and simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal. If it is ready early, drain, rinse in cold water and refrigerate until the vegetables are done.
Wash and prepare all the vegetables by peeling if necessary and chopping them into bite-sized pieces. It helps to make the dish more attractive if different shapes are used. Celery needs to be washed and sliced thinly; broccolli can be cut into small florets; the cabbage can be shredded finely and the mushrooms sliced. The carrots will need to be peeled and either sliced very thinly or cut into "matchsticks". Peel and crush the garlic.
Heat the oil in the wok on a medium heat and add the onion, celery and carrot, stirring constantly to avoid sticking. Add the ginger and garlic after a few minutes.
When the onion looks half done, still stirring, add the cabbage, mushrooms and broccolli pieces. Then add the cashew nuts.
When the carrot is just tender and the nuts appear slightly toasted, reduce the heat to low and ccarefully add the lemon juice (the pan may hiss) and the soy sauce. At this point, add the cooked, drained and rinsed rice and cover with a lid, allowing the vegetables to simmer and the rice to heat through thoroughly.
When hot enough, add black pepper to taste, mix again and serve immediately, with more soy sauce if required.

Vegetable and peanut butter soup

Quick and easy to make with a blender, this is good for 3 to 4 portions.

Ingredients

half a red pepper
half a dessertspoon butter
1 medium onion
3 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 dessertspoon peanut butter
1 pint (about 500 ml) stock
1 teaspoon dried herbs
squeeze lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method

Chop the onion fairly small and fry in the butter in a medium saucepan for a few minutes.
Peel and slice the carrot and celery thinly and add to the pan along with the chopped red pepper.
Add the stock, herbs and lemon juice and bring to the boil.
Simmer until vegetables are tender.
Carefully add the peanut butter, then blend until a puree.
Add salt and pepper to taste, plus some water if the soup is too thick.
Re-heat if necessary before serving.

Cheese and broccolli quiche

Makes enough for about 4 people, depending on what else you have with it. I served it with saute potatoes and home-made coleslaw. Took about an hour and a quarter to make, start to finish, including accompaniments.
Would also be good with salad or a tomato sauce with steamed vegetables.

Ingredients
 
Pastry
8oz or 250g flour (I used a mix of wholemeal and white plain)
few dessertspoons cold water
2oz  or 60g vegetarian white cooking fat
2oz or 60g butter
quarter teaspoon salt

Filling
about one third head of broccolli
about 4oz or 125g strong hard cheese
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
salt, pepper, paprika

Utensils
dessertspoon
tablespoon
scales
teaspoon
fine seive
sharp knife
small basin or jug
large mixing bowl
rolling pin
8 inch (20cm) diameter pie dish
steamer or collander over a saucepan

Method
Make the pastry by sifting the flour with the salt into a large mixing bowl. If using wholemeal flour, best to discard the bran left in the seive as it can make the pastry heavy. Then cut the fat up small and rub it into the flour with your finger tips until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Scatter the water on top, a little at a time, and bring the mixture together with a knife to form a dough.
Knead gently on a floured surface, then roll out until large enough to fit the pie dish. Carefully place it onto the dish (draping it over the rolling pin can be helpful), pushing the pastry down and trimming off any overlapping ends with a knife. Place in fridge.
Switch on oven - fairly hot, Gas mark 6.
Cut up enough broccolli to loosely cover the bottom of the pie dish into bite-sized florets and wash under the cold tap. Put into steamer, or into collander over boiling water in saucepan and steam until tender but not too soft - check the stems as they take longer to cook.
When broccolli is ready, place into pie dish and grate enough cheese over this to cover the gaps, plus a bit more.
Crack the eggs into a small basin and beat them well, adding the milk plus seasoning. Pour this on top of the broccolli and cheese, adding a bit more cheese on top afterwards. Bake for about half an hour, until both pastry and filling are golden brown. Serve hot or warm. Best eaten within 24 hours.

Variations
Try substituting other vegetables instead of the broccolli: mushrooms, tomatoes, courgettes, leeks, onions etc. Just remember to chop them small and cook them before putting into pastry case. Also, try varying the seasoning: add herbs, for example, or stronger flavours such as cayenne pepper.

Vegetarian pizza

Makes enough for 2 or 3 people, depending on what else you have with it.


Ingredients

1 packet pizza base mix
l tin tomatoes (the larger sort)
1 large onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
a few mushrooms or half a small pepper(capsicum), or half a small tin of sweetcorn - or a combination of these
a few tablespoons grated hard cheese e.g. mozzarella or cheddar, or more if liked
1 tsp dried mixed herbs, or basil, oregano etc.
salt and pepper to taste

Make the pizza base according to instructions on the packet.

While the dough is rising, switch on the oven to warm up (usually a fairly hot oven but check the packet), grease the baking tray with oil or margarine and make the topping.
Chop the onion fairly finely and fry gently in olive oil, without letting it brown. When soft, add the tin of tomatoes and let it simmer without a lid so that it turns to a mush, stirring occasionally, then add the washed and thinly sliced mushrooms, chopped pepper or sweetcorn. Cook until vegetables are tender.
Add the dry herbs, taste and add salt and pepper according to taste.
When the dough is ready, spread the topping over it, as close to the edges as possible (you may not need all of it) then sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on top.
Cook on a baking tray in oven according to pizza packet instructions. It is ready when the cheese has started to turn golden brown - if you leave it too much longer than this the cheese goes hard, though still edible.

Serve with: new potatoes, chips, a salad etc.

Variation: add other combinations of vegetables to the topping - you may want to boil or steam these lightly first if they take a long time to cook.

vegetarian chilli

 vegetarian chilli

Ingredients

For 3- 4 people:

half a packet of either dried or frozen soya or quorn mince - about 3 - 4 cups
1 pint stock (about 500 ml)
1 tablespoon oil for frying
1 tin chopped tomatoes
half tin kidney beans, rinsed
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 large onion
1 large carrot or a small red/green pepper
half teaspoon chilli powder (or more if liked) OR 1 small finely chopped green chilli OR 1 finely chopped dried chilli
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
half teaspoon Marmite
1 large clove garlic
few sprigs fresh parsley
salt

Possible accompaniments: rice, jacket potato, dollop sour cream, handful of rocket on top, separate side-salad

Chop and fry the onion in the oil until soft, adding the crushed garlic and chilli. Keep on a low heat to make sure it doesn't burn. If using frozen mince, add this now with the stock and cook for 15 minutes, adding the dried herbs, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato puree and Marmite towards the end of this time.
If using dried mince, soak this in a separate heat-proof bowl in most of the stock for 15 minutes before adding to the pan. Then add the rest of the stock plus herbs and kidney beans etc (see above).

Peel and slice the carrot thinly, or wash and chop the pepper into small pieces. Add these to the pan and cook on a low heat until vegetables are tender.

Just before serving, add the coarsely chopped parsley and salt to taste.

spicy sweet potato soup

Need a blender for this. Filling and warming, it's a bit like lentil soup.

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato
1 onion
 about 25g or one dessertspoon margarine
3 carrots
1 teaspoon curry powder, or cumin or coriander
2 dessertspoons creme fraiche or natural yogurt
1 - 1 and a half pints (500 - 750 ml) stock
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion and fry in the margarine in a large pan for a few minutes, adding spices. Peel and chop the sweet potato into chunks and add to the pan. Add the peeled and sliced carrots and fry gently until the onions are fairly soft. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer until all vegetables are tender. Blend in blender until smooth, then mix in the creme fraiche. Check seasoning and add salt and papper if needed (but it probably won't be). Thin out soup with a little water if required - it should be fairly thick.

vegetable casserole

A warming supper for cold winter days.

Ingredients for 2 people:

2 medium potatoes
1 tablespoon oil
small cup lentils - any sort, soaked for a few hours beforehand
2 medium carrots
2 sticks celery
1 medium onion
 5 or 6 mushrooms
1 pint (500ml) water
1 vegetable stock cube
few squirts soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried herbs, or 1 tablespoon fresh herbs, chopped
(optional) small portion of any other frozen or chopped fresh vegetables as liked
black pepper


Cook the lentils until almost tender - about half an hour for green or brown ones, less for red ones.
Wash and chop the fresh vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chopped onion, potatoes, celery and  carrots, plus any other fresh vegetables. Cook gently, stirring often so it doesn't stick.
Add the water, then the lentils and mushrooms and frozen vegetables, if using, and bring to the boil. Add dried herbs.
Simmer for at least 15 minutes until lentils and vegetables are tender. Add crumbled stock cube towards end of cooking time. Stir well.
At end of cooking time, add soy sauce and any fresh herbs. Check seasoning and add pepper if required.