Vegetarian
-
Recipe: Cauliflower rice
This is my go-to side dish to serve with curries and Peruvian dishes.
-
Product review: Coco-Bliss coconut kefir
The other day we went to our local health food shop and there was a kombucha and kefir tasting. Coconut kefir, to be precise. I’ve made it a few times at home with coconut milk and dehydrated kefir culture, but was curious to know how this one would taste. It was great and the ingredients list was clean, so I bought a tub to bring home. interestingly, the tub of Coco-Bliss I bought was labelled as dessert kefir (I’m guessing because it contains sweetener). This kefir is lactose-, gluten-, egg- and sugar-free. It contains coconut milk, kefir culture, arrowroot (as culture feed), organic green tea (as culture feed) and birch…
-
Product review: Global Organics tomato passata
I know I’ve ranted before about canned/jarred vegetables, specifically tomatoes. I used to hate them, but know I use them quite often. I think what happened is that I came across the wrong brands/products in the past, often the ones that come with added ingredients that basically ruin the product. I also had more time to cook. Since then, I’ve found a few good products that not only save time but also money. One day browsing through the health food/organic section of my local supermarket, I found a large glass bottle of organic passata (tomato purée) that had nothing else than organic Italian tomatoes. The brand is Global Organics and…
-
Product review: Niulife coconut products
I’ve been using Niulife coconut products for a few years now, so I thought it was time to give them a review. Coconut flour: for baking and cooking. I don’t bake that often but it’s handy to have for those special occasion treats. Shredded coconut: usually for eating straight out of the bag (very handy when travelling), mixed with macadamias and cinnamon, or for making grain-free granola, smoothies, desserts, coconut butter, meatballs, coconut cauliflower rice, etc. Coconut flakes: same deal as the shredded coconut: straight out of the bag, with macadamias and cinnamon, for caramelised coconut chips, etc. Creamed coconut: This thing is unbelievable. I bought it because I wanted…
-
Recipe: Cauliflower arroz a la cubana
The poor person’s Peruvian dish of choice is arroz a la cubana (Cuban-style rice), which I’m willing to bet doesn’t exist in Cuba (much like our Russian-style eggs, but that’s a topic for another time). When I was a kid it I considered it a treat (sweet fried stuff for lunch!) but then I realised it was just a cost-saving strategy. Either way, it’s a dish that is deeply ingrained in my memory, and as such, I crave it from time to time. I have no issues with eating small quantities of rice but this dish needs a big whack of it to fill you up and mop up the…
-
Recipe: Chocolate coffee bites
There are only a few things that can mess with my willpower and usual tendency to eat sensibly. One of the biggies: dark chocolate-covered coffee beans. That’s the reason I (almost) never buy them. One night I was studying and I felt like I *needed* my cacao-caffeine fix, but all the shops were closed. I came up with this super simple, quick and dangerous alternative.
-
Product review: Mojo Kombucha and Kombucha Wonder Drink
The first time I heard the word kombucha was in System Of A Down’s Sugar (“the kombucha mushroom people, sitting around all day…”). Curious as I am, I looked for the term online and found that it was a fermented drink that hippies used to drink. I was incredibly uninterested for years until I heard Angelo Coppola mentioning his kombucha brewing and drinking habits in his podcast. I had been making and eating sauerkraut for a while, tried store-bought and homemade kefir, and was keen on introducing more probiotic-containing fermented foods into my diet. On a particularly hot day, I bought a bottle of original flavour Mojo Kombucha at my…
-
Recipe: Gluten-free lamingtons (take 1)
Happy Australia Day! Time for a confession: in the 4 years I’ve lived in Australia I have never eaten a lamington. When we were “fresh” in the country I didn’t like coconut. Over time, this aversion disappeared but I just wasn’t too excited about sponge cake with chocolate icing and desiccated coconut. Then I ditched the grains so lamingtons were out of the question. As an almost citizen of Australia, I felt it was about time to try a lamington. I thought it would be relatively easy to find a gluten-free commercial one, but not a grain-free, crap-free one. So I had to make my own. Luckily, I’m one of…
-
Product review: Paleo Hero products
Since I cleaned up my diet to base it on real nutrient-dense food my snacking has gone down to almost zero. The only occasions I munch on something that is not a main meal is when I’m extremely stressed, or drunk, or travelling, or not hungry enough for a full-sized meal. While my preference will always be to eat minimally processed snacks (nuts, for example), it’s smart to be prepared and have a supply of pre-made snacks that you can grab on the go. While looking for some snacks I could take to my upcoming trip I came across Paleo Hero products. These products are somewhat similar to some of…
-
Recipe: Lúcuma coconut mousse
The three Fs I miss from home are family, friends and food. And to be more specific about the third F, I’d say fruit is what I find myself craving more often. Not only standard stuff like bananas, avocados and papayas are way tastier on the other side of the world, but there are some fruits you just can’t get here. Among them: lúcuma. Lúcuma is a fruit native to Perú, although it’s now grown in other South American countries (don’t let the Chileans fool you about its origin!) It’s a medium-sized round fruit with a dryish thin green skin that cracks when the fruit is ripe, soft fibrous orange…
