Tag: vegetarian

How to make coconut butter

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Coconut butter is incredibly easy to make, you just need dried and unsweetened coconut flakes and a food processor (or a very powerful blender).

I love it so much! ❤️

Spread on toast, added to a smoothie, mixed with peanut butter for an energy ball, added to a yummy cake frost. As you can see, the sky is the limit! 🙂

Ingredients
  • 500 grams of dried coconut flakes, unsweetened
Directions
  1. In a food processor (or a very powerful blender) add the coconut flakes.
    You must use dry coconut, either shredded or flakes. Fresh coconut will not work.
  2. Blend it for 15 to 20 minutes, or until you get a smooth and thick liquid.
  3. Pour the butter into a glass jar and let it rest at room temperature, until it has a solid but spreadable consistency.
  4. Cover the jar with a lid and store it also at room temperature.
  5. It’s done! 🎉 There is no need to refrigerate coconut butter.

Tip: It is normal for coconut butter to get quite hard on a cold day, especially around winter.
I recommend you to microwave it, or put on a double boiler, to soften things a bit before serving.

Did you know? Scientific research is still a bit sparse in this area, but it is commonly accepted that coconut butter (or oil) is an interesting natural beauty product for skin care. Typical applications include as a skin moisturizer, lip balm, and even shaving cream. But of course, before spreading coconut all over your body, make sure to test on a small area to make sure it does not trigger any allergic reactions.

Creamy Cauliflower with cheese | Cauliflower dishes #4

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Another cauliflower dish on the blog! I bet you couldn’t have guessed this veggie was so versatile, could you?

This Creamy Cauliflower with cheese is a great side dish for your lunch or dinner. We love to have it with a beautiful steak and some fresh salad.

You can also make a huge batch to have leftovers for the week, saving you some precious cooking time when you need the most.
I feel this is much better the next day by the way, with all that gooey cheesiness happening. 🙂

Ingredients
  • ½ head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons of capers
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoons of salt
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 1 cup of ricotta
  • ½ cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
Directions
  1. Place in a baking dish the cauliflower florets, garlic, capers, olive oil, salt and black pepper. Mix well.
  2. Roast them, tossing occasionally, at 180C for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender, but not browned.
  3. Then, add in the ricotta, mozzarella and parsley, mixing well.
  4. Bring it back to the oven and bake until the surface is finally golden and brown. Approximately 30 minutes.
  5. It’s done!

Looking more ideas on what to prepare with cauliflower?
Find here more recipes using cauliflower as the main ingredient.

Roasted Cauliflower head | Cauliflower dishes #3

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This is a very simple, yet extremely delicious, recipe I’ve learned from an Israeli friend.
It’s basically a whole cauliflower head boiled until tender then roasted to get a beautiful golden colour and an amazing caramelised flavour. It seems this was created by an Israeli chef and since then it’s getting more and more popular. I totally understand why. 🙂

You can’t believe how delicious this thing is. Sometimes I need to control myself because I could eat the whole thing alone. I’m telling you, this is amazingly good!

Ingredients
  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of salt
  • Black pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Fill a pot with water. This pot needs to be large enough to fit the whole cauliflower head in it. Also, make sure to pour just enough water to cover it.
  2. After the water starts boiling add in the salt and the whole cauliflower head.
  3. Boil it for a maximum of 10 minutes.
  4. Then, place a baking sheet on a tray and put the cauliflower head over it. Brush olive oil all over it and season with black pepper to taste.
  5. In a preheated oven at 200C (392F), bake it for approximately 30 minutes or until its surface becomes golden and brown.
  6. It’s done!

Keen to learn more recipes with cauliflower?
If so, here’s our collection of cauliflower recipes!

The best cauliflower pizza crust | Cauliflower dishes #2

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I can finally say I’ve mastered the technique to make the perfect cauliflower pizza crust. I’ve tried so many different ideas, changing a bit here and there, willing to get a version that doesn’t fall apart.

Today I’m proud to say I’ve achieved that! This is the BEST Cauliflower Pizza Crust EVER! This crust is perfect and simply has the best texture and flavour you can imagine. Put your fork on the side and embrace a delicious slice of pizza with your hands. 🙂

Ingredients
  • ½ head of cauliflower, shredded
  • 2 cups of water
  • 2 tablespoons of cream cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • Black pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Add water and shredded cauliflower in a pan. Once it starts boiling, cook for 3 minutes.
  2. Turn off the heat and let it cool down.
  3. After the cauliflower has cooled enough – like lukewarm temperature, strain the liquid out placing it on a cheesecloth or a thin tea cloth, squeezing very well. Squeeze it until you can’t see any drops of water coming out of it. Nobody likes a soggy crust!
  4. Next, add the strained cauliflower together with the rest of the ingredients to a medium bowl and mix everything until well combined.
  5. Place a baking sheet on a pizza tray and pour the batter over it. Use a spoon or spatula to make it even and in a circular shape.
  6. Bake the crust for 20 minutes at 180C (356F).
  7. It’s done! You can top your crust with any filling you like, here I added tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, black olives, and cherry tomatoes. Pizza time! 🍕

Are you also a cauliflower lover?
If so, check out here all amazing recipes we have with cauliflower. 🙂

KyoTofu Fujino Cafe | Nishijin District – Kyoto

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KyotoTofu Fujino Cafe entrance.
KyoTofu Fujino Cafe entrance.

Within walking distance from the Kinkaku-ji temple you can treat yourself with delicious soy-based desserts at KyoTofu Fujino Cafe. There is also a restaurant serving traditional tofu meals and soy milk treats, but I only had time to visit the cafe during this occasion.

The place serves different types of desserts, all soy milk based and a yummy and creamy ice cream. Which sounded like heaven after walking the whole morning in a heat of 38C degrees. Geez, it was scorching ☀️ in Kyoto that day.

My order

For a quick stop and to refresh ourselves before the next attraction, we decided to have:

  • Hubby: Soy milk ice cream, with mochi, azuki beans paste, fried gluten, and soy milk cinnamon stick.
  • Mine: Soy milk cheesecake with black sesame seed crust.
Soy milk ice cream.
Soy milk ice cream.
Soy milk cheesecake.
Soy milk cheesecake.
Soy milk cheesecake.
Soy milk cheesecake.

As every Japanese dessert, they were just sweet enough. In case you have a strong sweet tooth, you may find it needed more sugar, but for my taste it was amazing! I got a little bit of the ice cream, it was very creamy and you could definitely taste the soy milk.

About my choice, the cheesecake, it was extremely delicate and light. I could feel some lemon or citrus flavour, what gave a special kick to it. Although the ice cream had a clear soy milk taste, the cheesecake had nothing like that. Definitely, a must go if you are around the area. 🙂

The verdict

They say their soy milk and all soy based products sold in the store are homemade. I really liked the desserts and would go back in case I return to Kyoto one day. Ah! For all vegans out there, I don’t know about the desserts (they are vegetarian for sure), but for the traditional tofu meals, they can adapt everything to be vegan, you just need to book in advance.

About the English: English menu available and staff can communicate just enough in English.

Bill: 824 yens (A$10) – no drinks.

Exact location: https://goo.gl/maps/EDcM2PjCUaU2

More information: www.kyotofu.co.jp/en/