Updated 30 December while prepping for New Year’s Eve 2024: This time, I am using split red lentils which I had overcooked (very easy to do). I actually think it works better since you do not have the skins of the chickpeas to contend with.

Updated 16 January with this tip: For hummus, the best result is obtained when the “skin” is removed from the chickpeas. This is quite bothersome and time consuming and have hardly ever done that now. However, I have discovered that you can now buy dried chickpeas with the skins removed in bio supermarkets, at least in Berlin, of the brand Vivaterra. Also, to make sure that the chickpeas get nice and mushy fo the purpose, add a heaped teaspoon baking soda (natron) to the water in which you soak the chickpeas for 8-10 hours. Rinse before boiling in new water.

400 g cooked chickpeas (if you must use tinned, then rinse thoroughly)

Salt

3-4 cloves garlic

3-5 tblsp (up to 150 g) tahini

2 tblsp olive oil

Juice of 1,5 lemon

1,5 tsp roasted cumin seeds

If you are not using skinless chickpeas as mentioned in italics above, try to rinse and remove as many skins as possible. Then process all ingredients, tasting along the way, and add more of everything as needed.

Obvously, the creamier you want your hummus, the longer you have to process – up to ten minutes, which means the processor can run warm, and thus warm up the hummus. To counter that, instead of adding the cold water all at once, add an ice cube at intervals.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours to settle.

These are easy and quick to make, and also a healthy grab-and-go lunch if you are going to be out and about and with no even remotely healthy food within reach but only those train-station-sandwiches made with refined wheat and filled with highly processed meat/cheese/whatever, not to mention E-numbers, that are being peddled wherever you look when on the move in and around Berlin.

The quantities below can of course be doubled or trippled and the pancakes then frozen.

Mix 150 g chickpea flour with approx. 4 dl oat milk (or any other plant milk or animal milk, or even water). Start with less and add until you have the desired texture which depends how thin or thick you want your pancakes. Let rest while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Then add 1 tblsp baking soda (natron), 2 tblsp psyllium husk, and 1 tsp salt, and mix well.

Then add whatever you want as a filling. If you want sweet pancakes, add for example any kind of berry, and some maple syrup.

In this case, I added half a pack of broccoli, from the freezer, chopped; a red onion, finely chopped; two garlic cloves, finely chopped; half a tsp turmeric; a tsp moringa powder; a tsp dried methi leaves; a tsp ajwain seeds, a healthy dose of black pepper, and a pinch of chili flakes, and a tblsp nutritional yeast.

Other ingredients can be chopped red bell pepper, aged black garlic, curry leaves, nori strips, fresh herbs, shredded beetroot, chopped olives, crumpled feta cheese, a tsp amla powder, ……

Then bake as you would any other pancake.

If you do not need to eat them right away or within a day or two, freeze them in order to be able to grab them and put them in your rucksack for a lunchbreak when out walking.

First published 9 December 2012

Contains a minimum of white flour and no refined white sugar (except the icing sugar which is optional).

Here is my customised take on panforte (which is usually based on dried figs and too much flour):

Note: instead of all the chopping and grating, I blitz everything briefly, in batches, in a small food processor, but making sure the nuts remain just that – chopped – and not pulverised.

Mix

400 g mixed nuts, can be hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pistacios, and even some pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds, lightly dry-roasted (optional) and coarsely chopped

with

400 g mixed dried  fruit, can be dates, apricots – figs if you insist but I prefer dates and dried apricots with a little bit of candied orange peel and some ginger in some form or other (stem ginger in a syrup, or candied, optional but to me, ginger in this recipe is essential). I would imagine dried cherries would also work

and

3 tblsp cocoa powder

1,5 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp roasted, ground cloves

1 tsp roasted ground coriander seeds

Ground seeds from ten cardamom pods

1 tsp ground black pepper

Heat 400 g of a mixture of honey, brown sugar and syrup – maple, or ginger syrup – must not boil – and add 150 g dark chocolate and two tblsp butter or oil (I am an olive oil freak so that is what I always use).

Pour over the fruit/nuts/spice mixture, mix well (most easily done with your hands but be aware of the heat). Press the mixture into a well-greased oven-proof plate or a round baking tin with baking paper covering the bottom. You may have to use a bit of brute force as the mixture settles. Make sure there are no air pockets at the bottom, sides or corners. Make the surface as smooth as possible.

This portion fits into a baking plate measuring 25×25 cm and will then be a couple of cm tall.

Bake at 150 degrees C in 35-50 minutes depending on the thickness of the layer. The cake should still feel slightly soft and wobbly in the middle, since it does not set completely until it cools off.

Dust with icing sugar. Keep well wrapped in clling-film in the fridge and it will keep for weeks.

IN PROGRESS

Ingredients

• 397 g extra firm tofu (press out the water, then cut into ½-inch cubes)
• 20 g cashews (use pumpkin seeds if nut-free)
• 454 g frozen spinach (substitute with two large bunches of fresh spinach*)
• 15 ml avocado oil or any neutral oil
• 4 cloves
• 1-inch piece cinnamon
• 5 green cardamom pods
• 2 g cumin seeds
• 1 large onion (finely diced)
• 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
• 34 g ginger-garlic paste
• 3 medium tomatoes (finely diced)
• 1 g turmeric
• 2 g cayenne (adjust up or down based on your taste)
• 5 g ground coriander
• 2 g ground cumin
• 5 g garam masala
• 4 g kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves). Optional, but I strongly recommend it.
• Salt to taste

For optional tadka finish

• 15 ml avocado oil or any neutral oil
• 1 tablespoon ginger (julienned)

Instructions

• If you’d like to bake or air-fry the tofu cubes before adding them to the recipe, do so in advance.
• Make cashew cream by blending the cashews with 3 tablespoons water until very smooth. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and, when they start to color, add the cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds begin to darken and become aromatic, add the onions and the garlic. Add a pinch of salt. Saute for a few minutes until the onions start to turn golden-brown.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste, saute for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes. Add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin and coriander powders and mix well. Cover and let the tomatoes cook until they are very soft and pulpy.
• Add the kasoori methi, if using, and mix well. Add the spinach puree, mix, and let the sauce come to a boil. Lower the heat and continue cooking the spinach for 10 minutes. Add some vegetable stock or water if it looks too thick, but don’t add too much liquid at this point– you want the spinach to cook thoroughly and lose any raw flavor.
• Add the garam masala, then stir in the tofu cubes. Let the sauce simmer a couple of minutes. Add the cashew cream, add salt, stir in, and turn off heat.

Make optional tadka

• In a small skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the julienned or grated ginger and saute for a minute, stirring constantly. Carefully pour over the cooked palak paneer. Serve.

Notes

IN PROGRESS

For the quinoa “rice”

• 170 g quinoa (rinsed thoroughly in a fine-mesh strainer)
• 532 ml water
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 3 cloves
• 2 g caraway seeds (black cumin or shahi jeera. Use cumin seeds as a substitute)
• Salt to taste

For the kala chana biryani sauce

• 5 ml oil (any neutral oil, including avocado oil, sunflower oil, grape seed oil, etc.)
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 1 heaping tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 237 ml tomato puree (preferably made with fresh tomatoes, but you can substitute canned tomato puree)
• 1 g turmeric
• 1 g paprika
• 5 g ground coriander
• 1 g dried mint (use 2 tablespoons if using fresh mint)
• 2 g dried dill (use 2 tablespoons if using fresh dill)
• 178 ml vegan yogurt
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 14 g fried onions (divided)
• 168 g dried kala chana (black chickpeas)
• 2 heaping tbsp biryani masala (tweak the amount according to your preference)
• ½ cup cilantro (finely chopped, plus more for garnish)
• Salt to taste

Instructions

Make the quinoa rice

• Add 2 ¼ cups water to a saucepan. Add cinnamon stick, black cumin seeds, green cardamom pods, cloves and bay leaves to the water. Add salt to taste.
• Add the washed quinoa to the water with spices and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower heat to a simmer, cover the saucepan with a tight lid, and let the quinoa cook 12 minutes. Turn off heat and let the quinoa stand until it has absorbed all the water. Then fluff it with a fork.

Make the biryani sauce

• Cook the kala chana in advance until tender in the Instant Pot (35 minutes on high pressure), or in a stovetop pressure cooker or in a saucepan covered with two inches water.
• In a larger pot or Dutch oven, add a teaspoon of oil. Add the salt with salt and ground black pepper. Saute until the onions brown. If the onions start to stick, add some water and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Once the onions have browned, stir in the ginger garlic paste and sauté for a couple of minutes.
• Stir in the tomato puree and mix well with the onions. Add turmeric and cayenne and mix it in.
• Stir in the ground coriander, dill and mint. Let the sauce continue cooking for 5-10 minutes over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until it has darkened visibly and most of the moisture has evaporated. Add the vegan yogurt and lemon juice to the pot and stir them in.
• Next add the kala chana followed by the biryani masala. Let the sauce come to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for a couple of minutes. Add a little more water, no more than ½ cup, if the sauce is too thick. Check for salt and add more if needed. Stir in the cilantro and half the fried onions, if using. Turn heat down to the lowest point and mix everything well.

Assemble the biryani

• Layer the cooked quinoa over the biryani sauce in an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining fried onions over the quinoa, and a bit of dried mint. Cover the pot with a tight lid and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the quinoa biryani stand 10 minutes before serving.

This definitely needed some crunch, so I made poppadoms, and also fried some salmon skin in the same oil.

200 g beetroot

850 ml vegetable broth

2 bayleaves

1 star anise

1 tsp szechuan pepper

2 cloves

1 tblsp lemon juice

1 pinch salt

6 gelatine leaves

1 tsp wasabi powder

4 dl whipping cream

Soak four gelatine leaves.

Peel and grate the beetroot.

Simmer for about 25 minutes in 700 ml vegetable broth, bayleaves, anis, peppercorns and cloves. Pass through a sieve and measure out 600 ml liquid.

Melt the now softened and drained four gelatine leaves in the liquid. Distribute in four glasses and let cool, then place in the fridge.

Soak two gelatine leaves.

Heat up the remaining 150 ml vegetable stock and add 1 tsp (or to taste) wasabi powder.

Melt the now soaked and drained two gelatine leaves in the wasabi broth. Let cool till it starts to set slightly.

Whip the cream and turn in the wasabi.

I thought this required some crunch so served it with papadams. Probably highly unauthorised 😊.

IN PROGRESS

Again, purely for my own use, since Word documents accessed from several different devices are no longer synchronised (??) – at least this way I have everything in one place.

And don’t forget the Poland plans

December Dresden

6-8 January Munich (Lenbachhaus and Dachau)

January Rostock/Warnemünde

February Art Karlsruhe; the new museum in Wiesbaden;

April 5 and 6: Görlitz (two “lost places” photo tours)

April 13: Hamburg (Blende2 plus various exhibitions) (and Bremerhaven?

And a reminder to myself that when I moved to Berlin, I set out to visit as many towns and cities in my new neighbouring country – Poland – as possible. A certain pandemic, and a regime change, put a temporary stop to those plans, but now that Poland is back on my good books, it is time to resume those visits.

Visited	Visit again	Still to be visited
Gdansk		Byalystok
Krakow		Bydgoszcz
Łódź		Częstochowa and Chorzow
Lublin		Kostrzyn
Poznań	Poznań	Katowice
Szczecin (x 2)
Torun
Warsaw	Warsaw
Wrocław

IN PROGRESS

Ingredients

• 1 cup of barley
• 2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon of of fresh parsley, minced
• 2 teaspoons of fresh basil, minced
• 2 tablespoons of red bell pepper in small slices
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric
• ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon of fenugreek seeds
• ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil. Add barley and reduce to low heat.
2. Cover and cook for 40 minutes or until water is cooked out.
3. In a separate frying pan, heat olive oil.
4. Add mustard seeds; when they begin to pop add cumin and fenugreek and cook for about one minute.
5. Then add fresh ginger, turmeric and red pepper.
6. After 3 minutes add the cooked barley. Cook for several minutes and garnish with parsley and basil.
7. Add salt to taste.

 Learn more about grains — vegetarian powerhouses in Ayurveda. 

Mainly because I have some cashew nut and carrots that need to be used. The tofu is from the freezer since I am told the tofu will be firmer and chewier after freezing and this recipe definitely calls for firm tofu.

This is the type of dish that often tastes better reheated the day after :-). Can be served with rice or, as I will do, chickpea flour flatbread.

• 300 g cashews, covered with room temperature water and soaked overnight up to 24 hours
• 1 tsp salt, added to the cashews and water
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 fresh chilli, finely chopped, or chili in any other way, shape or form you have available, for example a half tsp cayenne or a sprinkle of chili flakes
• 1 large knob of ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 tblsp tomato concentrate
• 1 tin coconut milk
• 200 g carrots, diced
• 200g firm tofu, cut into 2cm cubes and browned in a little oil on all sides
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Spices:
• 1 cinnamon stick or ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 5 cloves
• 5 cardamom pods, slightly crushed
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tblsp ground coriander
• 1 tblsp ground fenugreek
• curry leaves

1. Fry the onion in a little oil until soft.
2. Add the ginger and fry for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently, then add the garlic and fry for a further minute.
3. Add the spices, stir well and fry for another minute. You might need to add a bit more oil at this stage.
4. Add the tomato concentrate, stir.
5. Add the cashew nuts and coconut milk, stir well and simmer for ten-15 minutes. Then add the carrots and simmer till the carrots start to soften.
6. Add the tofu and simmer till heated through.
7. Check for salt and pepper – and chili 🙂