Easy, delicious, vegan recipes that are a dream to make and eat.

 

To thrive on a plant based diet, eat well and feel satisfied, especially if we have busy lives, we need to be able to make delicious, vegan meals quickly and easily and that means having ingredients and recipes at the ready.

Today I made fast and easy vegetable fritters with a herby sauce.

This recipe sounds very simple – it IS very simple – and it’s flavours and textures are as complicated as we need them to be so we feel we have eaten well.

It is a great option if you want something super healthy, light weight and quick without feeling deprived in any way.

Think along the lines of latkes but without the eggs and smoky kitchen.

How many Christmas eves we spent gathered around the kitchen fire eating latkes with smoke floating around our heads?! A lot, and they were fun.

The fritter is made of grated vegetables. You can use whatever you have in your fridge, I used 2 courgettes, a carrot, a red chilli and a sliced onion plus some chickpea flour and water. Seasoned with a little salt and some cumin.

I’ve previously made with cabbage, carrots, peppers and onion plus green onion tops and I have used sweet potatoes, sweet corn and I can’t remember what else, its so flexible it doesn’t matter, you really can use anything.

I’ve served them with various sauces for a example a sauce of sriratcha and mayonnaise with tomatoe ketchup (the super-healthy, raw, homemade one and at other times the bought stuff 😉 when leaning towards an Okonomiyaki pancake and we almost always have some crispy leaves by the side.

Today we have fresh, peppery rocket leaves.

So, the whole thing, without cooking time took 15 minutes tops. Then 15 minutes cooking… and then 10 minutes eating. I am actually eating them as I am writing this and trying not to get sauce on the keys.

To keep on track with a healthy recipe make sure you have an arsenal of easy delicious vegan recipes. When we are doing our retreats I keep a list of two to three times the number of starters, main courses and desserts I will need so that I always have inspiration.

There are some images of meals I have made for guests here http://desriskitchen.com/ and an example of a day’s meals here https://haven-on-earth.com/residential-retreats/.

As you can see there are so many variations and so many possible combinations of fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts but we all need to be prepared, me too, otherwise we end up with something bland and unbalanced, a bunch of bananas or  something we maybe regret (throw that pizza delivery menu away;) Though we aren’t puritanical all the time I promise you!

I grated everything except the onion and chilli which I sliced finely and mixed with 3 TBS chickpea flour, a pinch of salt and a few good grinds of pepper. If you need some water add just enought to pull it all together. My courgettes were very fresh and juicy so I only needed a drop.

The mix then sat and absorbed to bind while I made the sauce and the air fryer heated up. I’ve previously left the mix overnight in the fridge, which does make the fritters a bit firmer.

I’ve also grated, mixed and cooked immediately before now and it was just fine, so no need to wait if you can’t. They are not so firm but still very good.

Todays sauce is based on chimichurri or salsa verde but without the anchovies (I am not sure anyone would know they aren’t in there!).

I used about 8 blood sorrel leaves, hence the less than vibrant colour, and about 8 large stems of flat leaf parsley, a garlic onion (like a spring onion but garlicky or three cornered leek), half an avocado, about 15 salted capers which I had rinsed, the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper.

It was blended until smoothish and then I added ½ tsp maple syrup to balance out the bitterness of the sorrel and about 1 TBS olive oil to make it more silky.

I blended again and hey presto, delicious!

You can bake or fry the fritters, I air fried mine at 200° – the air fryer is my newest addition to the kitchen and one I really do wonder why I resisted for so long, I LOVE IT and there’s no smoke or frying oil. I just spritz the tray with avocado oil to prevent sticking.

Serve with the sauce to dip into, or pop some on top.

These would be lovely made smaller as part of l’apéros with some other easy, delicious, vegan recipes!

Options if not vegan:

Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce

Use an egg to bind

Crumble in some feta or parmesan

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House update and a recipe for you

Hello, hello, it’s been so long!

Quick update…

we are in the house, the kitchen is gorgeous with its big, chunky, cool granite surfaces, I love working on them and they are perfect for photos too.

The bathroom has a working shower, loo and basin but the bath is being used to hold towels …. and there is, as yet, no door. Maybe today!

We are feeling exhausted after working every day for so long (OK apart from the enforced holiday on the Il de Ré when our first rental guests were here and we hadn’t got a bathroom in, haha, poor old us!) but it is a very satisfied tired. We have moved past the point of working for days on end without much to show for it (though loads has happened in the back ground). At latest things we are doing actually show and make a difference which s satisfying – as a door or two would.

So many people are dealing with being tired, over worked, looking for work, ill or caring for somebody who is ill, stressed, depressed, excited, living on adrenaline …. all this takes energy and nothing can give that more than food – other than a few weeks rest of course, even then you need good, clean, boosting foods. It is so much easier to cut the stodge in summer too. Fresh, local fruits and veggies bursting with flavour and packed with vitamins. Lets make the most of it.

I have been loving the last few days. For the first time in the new house I have been creating meals for clients, soaking, blending, dehydrating and tasting. Balancing flavours and varying textures. Adding colour and packing in the nutrition.

You can do it too – make every ingredient count, try to add in sweet, salty, tangy, sour, warm, cool and as many colours as you can. You know you need green, as dark as possible. Dark purples, bright reds, summer oranges (it is so good to have all the juicy summer peaches, nectarines and apricots), crisp whites etc. Then think of textures, creamy, juicy, crisp, chewy.

For example:

CHIA PUDDING: and easy recipe for 2 small bowls

Mix 2 TBS chia seeds with 8 TBS almond milk 1/2 tsp each ginger and cardamon, pinch salt and leave to soak until plump whilst you prep the following

Soak 1 TBS raisins and 1 TBS sunflower seeds (or more of course) in the juice of an orange

Dice and soak an apple in lemon juice

After about 15 mins your chia should be ready so combine everything except the apple  together, including the soak juices

Add 1 tsp raw, local honey (or agave) or more of less to taste

Stir in a teaspoon of spirulina

Pop the apple in the bottom of your bowl and pile the rest on top.

Tastes good, does you good 🙂

Have fun!

PS We are offering 20% OFF our  raw food retreats in autumn, contact desri.goodwin@gmail.com

Lots of photos and ideas on my Instagram account and websites – Insta: Desrigoodwin

www.desriskitchen.com www.boutiqueretreatfrance.com

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