Chickpea Flour Pancakes (Egg Free) with Eggplant Puree and Wild Rice Salad

 

It’s late Autumn, and although we have some beautiful days – a long lingering warm Autumn – the evenings can be cool. Winter is not yet poking its head around the corner but we are all aware that it is coming. Winter doonas are on the bed. The warm coats, PJs and dressing gowns are released from their Summer storage. Throw rugs are ready for snuggling up on the couch as we sip warm drinks or cups of soup in the evenings.

Chickpea Flour Pancakes are just perfect for evening meals – topped with any imaginable toppings, from curries to sautés to Wintery salads. Just a note of warning, these are not like wheat-flour based pancakes or crepes, quite different in flavour and texture in fact. But so delicious and full of protein.

100 Vegetables (and Fruits): #85. Plantain

Plantains are delicious, a variety of banana that is eaten while green. India uses them a lot, far more than Western cuisines which tend to ignore them completely. Enjoy these spicy dishes and snacks.

You can browse all of our Plantain recipes. And check out our 100 Vegetable Series.

100 Vegetables (and Fruits): #84. Pineapple

From the moment that pineapple hits the shops in late Spring or Summer, it is a regular feature in our kitchen. Salads of course, or just wedges to suck at. But then there are curries, grilled when BBQing, and endless cooling juices.

You can browse all of our Pineapple recipes. And check out our 100 Vegetable Series.

100 Vegetables (and Fruits): #83. Persimmon

Persimmons are so divine, and a beautiful, Autumnal colour. We don’t use them much, preferring to eat them just as they are. But I have one recipe for you – look at that colour!

You can browse all of our Persimmon recipes. And check out our 100 Vegetable Series.

100 Vegetables: #82. Green Peas

Peas have been part our diet for hundreds of years and are used all over the world. Strictly speaking, green peas are not vegetables. They are part of the legume family, which consists of plants that produce pods with seeds inside. Lentils, chickpeas, beans and peanuts are also legumes. There are many varieties of peas, but here we are focusing on the humble, oft overlooked Green Pea.

You can browse all of our Pea recipes. And check out our 100 Vegetable Series.

100 Vegetables (and Fruits): #81. Pears

Pears are as ubiquitous in Autumn and Winter as stone fruits are in Summer. They are my afternoon snack in these months, and my preference is the brown beurre bosc. The yellow pears of my childhood are no longer the same – mushy when ripe instead of gorgeously juicy with a touch of crispness. I do miss them. But there is now a wide variety of pears from which to choose – red, green, yellow, and brown. Nachi, William Bartlett, Packam, Corella, Anjou, Asian and more.

You can browse all of our Pear recipes. And check out our 100 Vegetable Series.

100 Vegetables (and Fruits): #80. Peaches

Summer means Peaches, the loved stone fruit above all others. The gentleness of the white peach and the juiciness of the yellow peach. The joy of eating them as they are! They are suitable not only for sweet temptations but also for salads, salsas, chutneys and drinks.

You can browse all of our Peach recipes. And check out our 100 Vegetable Series.

Salty Macadamia and Golden Syrup Biscuits | Egg Free

We don’t eat many sweet things around here, especially sweet baked goods – perhaps a little more in Winter than Summer. It is not that we don’t like them (we LOVE them), but biscuits and cakes are basically sugar and butter held together with flour, right? Also, we don’t cook with eggs, so that limits our range as well.

But it is the one of the coldest weeks of Winter as I write, and we are looking for a few more sweet things – rice pudding, apple crumble, golden syrup dumplings, and some biscuits for our cuppa.

I was alerted to this recipe by @CallisClan – she made them one day from a book called Winter on a Farm. The original recipe is here. I have made a slight variation, adding coconut and a little bicarb soda (which adds a little more colour and chewiness to the biscuits). I’ve also sprinkled a little salt over the top before cooking for a delicious sweet-salty taste.

The biscuits are not unlike ANZAC biccies, starting from a base of oats, flour, golden syrup and butter. This combination is so Australian. But the technique and other ingredients differs a little. In ANZAC biscuits, when cooked well, the flour is  partially cooked by the hot butter mix and boiling water. This changes the texture considerably. But in this recipe, the mixture is cooled before adding to the oats and flour. It makes a remarkable difference.

The salt sprinkled over the top of these biscuits is not compulsory and can be omitted.

Similar recipes include Date Tahini Biscuits, Semolina Butter Biscuits, Date Loaf, ANZAC Biscuits, Tahini Biscuits, and Scones.

Or browse all of our Biscuit Recipes.

Kale and Cheese Pikelets

You won’t know that you are eating kale with this dish. The delicious cheesy pikelets successfully hide the vegetable and it is only if you focus can you detect the crunch and taste of the thinly sliced greens.

It is quite an oily dish with heaps of butter and melted cheese. You might like to place on a kitchen paper towel after cooking. They are best slightly warm rather than hot. Cheesy and buttery – what can’t be good? But not something for every day, despite the kale.

The recipe is from Plenty More, one of Ottolenghi’s books. I have made it egg-free in my version as we don’t use eggs in our kitchen. You can see the original recipe here, or check his book.

Similar recipes include Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters, Aloo Tikki, Zucchini and Sweetcorn Fritters, Crispy Couscous and Saffron Cakes, Eggplant and Kale Pakora,  Asian Kale with Sesame and Shallots, and Garlic- Chilli Kale with Spring Onion Dip.

Or browse all of our Kale dishes and our Fritter recipes.

Cheesy Butternut Bake in Creamy Sauce with Quince Paste

This is an unusual dish of butternut pumpkin, roasted, then cooked in a creamy cheese sauce with quince paste (membrillo) for a great festive dish.

It is a twist on a quiche in Ottolenghi‘s Plenty More. As we do not cook with eggs, I made this into a dish that is simply the roasted pumpkin baked with cheese and quince paste in a rich creamy sauce. It has been cooked until the top is bubbling and golden. The original recipe is here if you want to make the original.

Similar dishes include: Congee with Butternut, Butternut Tataki with Udon Noodles, and Pumpkin Soup with Lentils.

Or browse all of our Butternut dishes.