The Leafy Cauldron

Rosewater Cupcakes with Halva Buttercream (Vegan with a Gluten-Free Option)

April 22, 2016 by theleafycauldron

When we visit Montreal, our first stop is always to see Bob, our old grocer at Fruiterie Mile End. He’s one of our strongest ties to the city and it’s always more emotional than I can explain. I like to take him something homemade and this time I wanted to be able to include what he’d mentioned is his favourite sweet – halva. There are several kinds of halva in the world, but the one he means is a sesame based, fudge-like dessert, often with pistachios in it.

These cupcakes are delightful; such a surprise with a delicate floral flavour topped with a creamy, dreamy frosting that’s not unlike a peanut butter one – except I think tahini makes a much nicer buttercream than peanut butter could ever dream of. Unfortunately, my husband is allergic to all of what makes these great, so they’re for guests only. Rosewater is an incredible flavour, but like all floral desserts, restraint is needed with it or you enter soap territory pretty quickly.

Rosewater Cupcakes
Makes 16
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: ~1 hour

1/2 cup silken tofu, firm or extra firm
1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon rosewater
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour (gluten-free mix is here, please use brown rice flour)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup non-dairy margarine, softened
1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk

Rosewater syrup

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon rosewater

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tin with liners. In a blender, blend silken tofu, 1/2 cup non-dairy milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla and rose water until smooth. Set aside. In a large bowl, using a hand or stand mixer, combine together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the non-dairy margarine and mix until it resembles sand, no clumps of margarine should remain. Add the blended tofu mixture and combine. Add the final 1/4 cup of non-dairy milk, mix on low until just combined and then turn the speed up to high for about 2 minutes. The batter should be completely smooth. Scoop into prepared muffin tin, filling each 2/3 of the way up. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the tops spring back at your light touch. While the cupcakes are cooking, prepare the syrup. In small sauce pan, whisk together the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the rosewater and set aside to cool. Once the cupcake are done, remove from the oven, poke the tops several times with a toothpick and pour about a teaspoon of rosewater syrup over the still hot cupcakes. Let cool part way on baking racks, remove from tins, place on baking racks and finish cooling completely before frosting.

Halva Frosting

1/4 cup non-dairy margarine, softened
1/2 cup tahini
3 – 4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon rosewater
Non-dairy milk, if needed
Crushed and whole pistachios, for decorating

Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the margarine and tahini until lighter in colour and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly add about half a cup of powdered sugar, the vanilla and rosewater and beat to combine. Add the remaining powdered sugar in small amount, beating to combine well and monitoring until you get the buttercream texture you like. Add non-dairy milk to thin, or more powdered sugar to thicken, as you like. An extra tablespoon or two of tahini never hurt anyone, either. Top with pistachios, both whole and crushed.

Roasted Beet Risotto (Vegan and Gluten-Free)

April 4, 2016 by theleafycauldron

Risotto is my husband’s favourite meal. It’s so creamy and comforting and you can stuff it full of vegetables and have a one pot meal. There’s always this idea that risotto is too fancy to make at home, but it’s really something you can generally finish in less than an hour – and still impress everyone around you. This one takes a bit more planning, as the beets need roasting time, but you can do that ahead of time, if you like. I love the colour of this particular risotto; it’s so romantic! Perhaps I should save it as a Valentine’s post, but when I save recipes I just tend to forget about them and the pictures pile up so that my Google storage is now entirely full. I don’t use the stems in this recipe, as it throws off the texture of the dish, but they are delicious and you can eat them. Save them to put in soup, or sautee them as a side.

As an aside, we’re currently starting our first garden! We have a large deck as a part of our second floor apartment above a commercial space and we’re so excited to have the chance to try to grow some of our own food! We have four types of heirloom tomatoes: Pink Brandywine, Roman Speckled, Tiny Tim and Chadwick Cherries, as well as Jamaican hot peppers, Chinese Five Colour hot peppers, mini bell peppers, sage and basil. There’s some cilantro started for an indoor herb garden, as it doesn’t like to be transplanted. We have plans for lots more, but we won’t start those from seed. Hopefully we’ll have something more to show you in a month or two!

Roasted Beet Risotto
Serves four
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: ~1 hour 15 minutes

3 red beets, with greens
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 leek, green and white parts
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
Pinch of dried thyme
1 1/2 cups arborio rice, or other short grain rice
3/4 cup dry white wine
~1 1/2 litres warm vegetarian chicken stock
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon non-dairy margarine

Preheat oven to 400 F. Remove the greens and stalks from the beets and quarter them. Make a foil packet for the beets, drizzling with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for about 30 minutes, until the beets have started to soften. Allow to cool enough to handle, peel and dice. Finely chop the beet greens; discard the stems. In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the leeks and sautee until they are soft. Add the garlic, thyme and rice and stir so all the rice is coated in oil. Sautee for an additional minute, but make sure no browning happens. Add the wine and stir until it has all been absorbed by the rice. Add the diced beets and a ladle full of warm stock and stir until it has been absorbed. Continue adding stock, by the ladle full, until the rice has expanded and is soft but still toothsome. You may not need all the stock. Add the beets greens, a final ladle of stock and stir until absorbed. Remove from the heat, add the nutritional yeast, lemon zest and juice and the non-dairy margarine, stir and let sit to settle for ten minutes. Serve immediately after. Save any leftovers to make arancini, as it’s the only way to eat leftover risotto.

Pumpkin and Tofu Stew

March 30, 2016 by theleafycauldron

I’ve mentioned before that my uncle is Trinidadian, so West Indian food is very familiar and comforting to me. What a delight that there is Caribbean food on every single corner in Toronto and that we moved within a few blocks of Little Bangladesh and have access to some of the most delightful spices. I made a fresh curry for this stew and recommend you do the same. The smell is heavenly and the taste is out of this world! You can easily control the heat in this stew, as well, so take heart if you’re not well versed in chili peppers. Figuring out that my husband is allergic to the flesh of the coconut and not the milk has been a revelation for us and has opened up so many new cuisines. Not sure what Caribbean pumpkin is or how on earth to find it? No problem! Substitute any winter squash you want, such as butternut or acorn. Even large sweet potato chunks would do that trick here. This stew is well-spiced, but there are no chilies in it, so it is not spicy. Add as many chilies as you like, of course. We like to top with Trinidadian pepper sauce.

I used fresh tomatoes and blanched them to make them easy to peel, but canned would work just as well. It may end up needing a little more simmering time, as there will be extra liquid. It’s not a really thick stew, as it you’d serve it over rice generally, so you could add a thickener in there if you’d prefer. And feel free to add more, or different, veggies as you feel comfortable; it’s very flexible. The second time we ate it, I added some soy chunks while reheating, which were lovely.

Trinidadian Curry Powder
Adapted from here and with the help of my most beloved Auntie
Makes ~ 3/4 cup
Total time: 15 minutes

1/4 cup cinnamon bark or sticks
1/4 cup whole cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds (menthi)
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon white poppyseeds
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
8 star anise pods
6 green cardamom pods
3 tablespoons ginger powder
1/4 cup turmeric

In a heavy bottomed skillet, over medium heat, toast all the spices except the ginger and turmeric until they become fragrant. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until you can handle them. Using a spice grinder, or all your strength and a mortar and pestle, grind until smooth. Run everything through a sieve and make a second pass at the large chunks left. Store in an air-tight container, in a cool, dark place.

Pumpkin Tofu Stew
Serves 8
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 90 minutes

1 lb firm or extra firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1/3 cup canola oil, or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1/4 cup garlic-ginger paste
8 medium Roma tomatoes, peeled
3 tablespoons Trinidadian curry powder, or more to taste
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 cans 440 ml (13.5 oz) full fat coconut milk
1/2 litre (2 cups) vegetarian chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups pumpkin, peeled and cut into small cubes
~1 1/2 cups chickpeas
2 large potatoes, roughly chopped
1 head of swiss chard, stems included, roughly chopped
10 okra, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon Trinidadian green seasoning, or to taste

After you’ve cubed the tofu, salt it generously. In a large skillet, heat half the oil over medium high heat. Add the tofu and brown on each side of the cube. Set aside when fully browned. In the meantime, add the other half of the oil to a large pot. Turn the heat to medium high, and add the onions and cumin seeds. Sautee until the cumin seeds become fragrant. Add the celery, carrot and garlic-ginger paste and stir to combine. Heat for another couple of minutes, stirring often to make sure the garlic-ginger paste does not burn. Add the peeled tomatoes, curry powder, thyme, coconut milk and chicken stock and taste for seasoning. Add the browned tofu, pumpkin, chickpeas and potatoes and bring to a full boil, stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Once it has boiled, reduce the heat and simmer for about a half an hour, stirring occasionally. Test the potatoes for doneness and once they are tender, add the Swiss chard and okra and taste for seasoning again. Simmer until the greens are wilted and the okra is soft. You can simmer as long as you like, and longer is always better with a stew, but as soon as the vegetables are cooked it is ready for you to add the Trinidadian green seasoning and eat. Serve with rice, dhalpuri, salad or whatever you’d like, really.

Orange and Lavender-Thyme Syrup Loaf Cake (Vegan)

February 29, 2016 by theleafycauldron

It’s been a while, friends. I think of Leafy Cauldron very much as a team effort, so tend to talk using the royal we on here, but please know this is very much a personal effort, the majority of which comes straight from my heart. At the end of January, my husband and I lost our first pregnancy at almost ten weeks, so not a lot has been happening in my kitchen. The physical recovery is mostly over; the rest will come in its own sweet time. I’m learning to stand again.

I have dozens of completed and not yet published recipes. I have thousands of unused photos and tens of thousands of ideas floating around my head, but this is the one I’m choosing to come back with. Everyone here loves lavender in food. It’s so special, but so easy to go overboard on. This cake, so small and pretty, is easy, moist and so, so pretty. There’s a just hint of what-is-that in the background, which is the ideal culinary use of lavender. I used cara cara oranges, which have a wonderful pink hue and a lovely sweetness, but naval oranges would work just fine. I candied a few slices in my lavender-thyme syrup, if you’d like to try the same it made a gorgeous and delicious topping.

Orange and Lavender Syrup Loaf Cake
Makes 1 loaf
Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess

1/2 cup non-dairy margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon boxed egg replacer +1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Syrup
Juice of half an orange
1/4 cup lavender thyme syrup (recipe follows)

Candied Orange Slices
1/2 orange, cut in very thin half moon slices
Enough lavender syrup to cover

Glaze
~ 1 cup powdered sugar
~ 2 tablespoons lavender-thyme syrup

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line a loaf tin (25 cm x 13 x 7) with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the non-dairy margarine and sugar. Add the zest and cream for an additional minute. Mix the egg replacer, water and milk together and add to the creamed mixture. Using a whisk, or whisk attachment, combine until well mixed (it will not look smooth like if you were to add eggs). There will be a curdled look to the mixture and that is all right. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt until smooth. Pour into prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 45 minutes total. Check its colour about 20 minutes in and cover with foil once it is golden so your crust doesn’t overbake.

While baking, prepare the syrup. When you remove the cake from the oven, poke holes throughout the top with a fork. Pour the syrup over immediately. Remove from the pan and let cool completely on a rack.

For the candied oranges, lay them flat in a small heavy-bottomed skillet and cover with syrup. Over medium low heat, gently simmer them for about ten minutes, watching carefully not to burn the syrup. Turn over several times. Take out of the skillet, place flat on wax paper, pour the syrup over top and let cool completely.

To make the glaze, in a small mixing bowl, add small amounts of the syrup to the powdered sugar until a thick glaze has formed. Spread over loaf cake once it has cooled. Top with fresh thyme leaves and candied orange slices, if desired.

Lavender-Thyme Syrup
Adapted from here
Makes ~1 1/2 cups

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons dried, food-grade lavender flowers
4 to 8 springs of fresh thyme

In a small pot, bring water and granulated sugar to a full boil, stirring to dissolve all the sugar. Remove from the heat, add the lavender flowers and thyme spring and cover with the lid. Allow to steep for about an hour. Strain the syrup, using a fine mesh sieve. Store syrup, covered, in the fridge for up to three days. Excellent mixed with some club soda, as a delicate lavender soda.

Festive Vegan Cheese Ball (Nut-Free and Gluten-Free)

December 2, 2015 by theleafycauldron

This cheese ball was the absolute star of our Thanksgiving feast this year. A dead ringer for a traditional sharp cheese ball, it seems we solved that problem where vegan cheese substitutes are mysteriously saccharine sweet (Seriously, Daiya manufacturers, have you ever eaten Swiss cheese??). This holiday recipe is unbelievably easy as there is minimal prep, and it uses fairly standard vegan ingredients (the star here is really the seasoning, I swear it). It also happens to be a stunner with perfect ruby-toned cranberries and wonderful pine green pumpkin seeds. You can make it a few days ahead of time, but it needs at least overnight in the fridge to allow the flavours to fully mix and mingle.

Festive Vegan Cheese Ball
Serves 8
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 8 hours

225 g (8 oz) non-dairy cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup non-dairy cheese shreds, any mild flavour you like
1/4 cup non-dairy sour cream
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
3 tablespoons dried chives, or 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh
1/2 tablespoon dry mustard powder, such as Colman’s
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup shelled pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Plastic wrap

Using a food processor, combine the non-dairy cream cheese, non-dairy cheese shreds, non-dairy sour cream, nutritional yeast, chives, mustard powder, onion and garlic powder, cayenne, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Scoop the mixture out onto a large square of plastic wrap and cover. Shape into a rough ball, cover with a second square of plastic wrap and refrigerate, at least overnight. When ready to serve, mix the pumpkin seeds and cranberries together on a large plate and roll the chilled cheese ball, gently pressing into the seeds and dried fruit, until all of the cheeseball is covered in the mixture. Wrap again to chill until ready to serve. Works well with crudite, crackers, bread or apple slices.