Before the coffee gets cold
Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Essbare Wildpflanzen
Steffen Guido Fleischhauer
Jürgen Guthmann
Roland Spiegelberger
The Inner Game of Music
Barry Green
Veg in One Bed
Huw Richards
Monsieur Vuong
Das Kochbuch
Climate – A New Story
Charles Eisenstein
Sacred Economics
Charles Eisenstein
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible
Charles Eisenstein
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
Black Box Thinking
Matthew Syed
frittata of mung beans, spinach and coriander
1 cup green mung beans, soaked over night
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons plain yoghurt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons coriander, chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 teaspoon sattvic spice mix (recipe below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Ghee or coconut oil and 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds for frying.
Drain and rinse the mung beans. Using a high-speed blender pulse to purée the beans, lemon juice and yoghurt. Transfer the mung bean mixture to a bowl. Combine all other ingredients with the ground mung beans. the mixture should be the consistency of a thick pancake batter. If it’s too thick you may add some water.
In a frying pan warm some ghee or coconut oil on medium heat. Sauté the mustard seeds until they pop. Pour the mung bean mixture over the ghee and spread evenly.
Cover and cook over medium heat until the sides begin to brown, 3-6 minutes. Flip the frittata by using a plate (transfer to the plate, let it glide back into the pan) or two large spoons or spatulas. Cover and cook 10 minutes more until golden brown.
Transfer to a serving platter and cut into bite-size pieces. Serve with yoghurt or a fresh salad.
sattvic spice mix
This mix is especially nice in dals and soups.
In Ayurveda SATTVA feels like : content, restful, peaceful, steady, satisfied, fulfilled.
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon hing powder (asafoetida)
Roast the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds in a frying pan over medium heat. Stir constantly until you can smell them. Cool and then grind these spices together with the salt, ginger, turmeric and asafoetida to a uniform powder.
apple date morning kichari
(serves 6-8 )
1/2 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup yellow split mung beans, soaked overnight or at least a few hours
4 cups water
2 teaspoons sweet spice mix (recipe below)
2 apples, cored and chopped
4 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
Rinse the rice and mung beans well. In a saucepan bring the water, rice and mung beans to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, uncovered for 15-20 minutes.
Add the spice mix, apples and dates. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes more, adding more water if needed. The consistency should be of thick oatmeal.
Turn off the heat and stir in the salt and coconut oil.
Let stand for 5 minutes before eating. You can store the kichari in the fridge for 4 days at least.
Top with some fresh chopped apple and date.
Spin offs: Dates can be replaced by raisins. Apples can be replaced by pears.
sweet spice mix
This mixture aids in the digestion of sweet foods. Use this mix in hot cereal, spiced milks, baked goods, and anywhere you want a warm touch.
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg (optional)
Mix the ground spices together in a glass jar.
butter cookies
375g butter (at room temperature)
150g sugar
5 egg yolks
500g flour
Mix sugar, butter and egg yolks until creamy. With your hands fold in the flour to create a firm dough. Put the finished dough into the fridge to cool and to harden.
Roll out the dough onto a floured surface and cut out the forms.
Bake at 175°C for 15 to 25 minutes.
Buddha’s Hand, aka fingered citron, has a sweet lemon blossom aroma, no juice, no pulp and no seeds. It looks bizarre, smells heavenly and in Asia it symbolizes happiness, wealth and longevity.
Here’s some examples what to do with this crazy lemon:
Finally I decided to use up the whole fruit by making a “good luck” marmelade.
Buddha’s Hand marmelade
1 Buddha’s Hand citron
water, 3 x the weight of the citron
1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 package of “2:1 preserving sugar” from the whole food store (usually they have raw cane sugar with apple pectine)
Rinse and dry the citron, then slice and cut it thinly.
In a pan bring to a boil the citron and the water. Simmer until the fruit turns slightly glassy. Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Add “2:1 preserving sugar” in the correct ratio and cook following the instructions on the package. Fill in glass jars while hot.
Pinotage Cake
4 eggs at room temperature
200g sugar
180g butter, melted
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
150ml milk
400g flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
a generous pinch of sea salt
the grated zest of a an organic orange
the grated zest of an organic lemon
300-600g sweet little grapes (or blueberries)
Preheat oven to 175°C. Butter the bottom and the sides of a 25 cm baking dish.
In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar until creamy. Add the butter, the oil and the milk. Add the grated citrus zest. Finally whisk in the flour, the baking powder and the salt. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
With a wooden spoon or with a spatula mix in 200g of the grapes, then pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
Take out of the oven and spread the remaining grapes onto the batter. They will slightly sink in. Bake for another 30 minutes until golden brown.
Enjoy with a good glass of Pinotage Bon Courage Estate 2014.
porridge
(yields 1)
1 generous tablespoon oatmeal
1 cup of milk ( any nut or rice milk is fine)
a pinch of salt
1 generous piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 -2 teaspoons almond butter
fruit for topping
roasted seeds, bee pollen to your liking
wild mirabelle upside-down cake
500g wild mirabelles (or any stone fruit), stoned
150g butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons muscovado sugar
sea salt
100g sugar
2 eggs
120ml milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
200g flour
vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or crème fraîche for serving
Preheat oven to 180°C.
In a large bowl, use your hands to combine 3 tablespoons of the butter, the muscovado sugar and the pinch of salt. Spread the mixture on the bottom and the sides of your pan.
Distribute the mirabelles on top of the butter layer.
In the same bowl whisk the remaining butter (ca. 110g) with the sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, then the milk.
Add the flour, the baking powder and a pinch of salt. Whisk in until just combined.
With a rubber spatula gently scrape the batter over the mirabelles. Be cautious not to mix them into the batter.
Bake for ca. 45 minutes until the cake is golden brown. Let it cool for 30 minutes. With a knife loosen the cake from the pan. Put a serving dish on top and carefully turn the pan over. If there are mirabelles sticking to the pan, use a spoon to put them back on top of the cake.
Enjoy with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or crème fraîche.
This is one of the soups I prepare when I’m craving a “juicy” detox week, but the temperatures are still too low to fully enjoy the raw freshness.
red pepper, potato and pear soup
4 red bell peppers, halved, cored and seeded
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves
a sprig of thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 pear, peeled, cored and diced
ca. 1,5l vegetable broth
parsley, finely chopped for serving
Put the bell pepper halves skin-side up on a baking sheet and roast until the skins are blackened . (I use the fan grill at 220°C).
Immediately transfer the pepper halves into a bowl and cover tightly with a plastic wrap. The steam will help to loosen the skin. Rub off the skin and chop the roasted and peeled peppers.
Meanwhile, in a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, garlic, potatoes and thyme. Sprinkle with pepper and salt. cook until the vegetables have softened, for about 15 minutes. Discard the sprig of thyme.
Add the peppers, the pear and the vegetable broth. Let it simmer for 15 minutes. Puree the soup.
Serve sprinkled with parsley.
It all began with the idea of a competition. A competition between family and friends. A friendly one, of course.
This is the Great Gingerbread House-Off.
The brief: A gingerbread house should be built, from scratch, edible and breathtakingly beautiful with no limits concerning style or century.
the gingerbread house
With an engineer and designer combining forces, the duo did not rest from start to finish. With a prototype built and dimensions noted, the dough was made:
2 cups sugar syrup
1 1/2 cups muscovado sugar
250g butter
1kg flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cloves
Mix the flour, salt and spices. In a pot melt the butter and the sugars, then pour the melted sugar/ butter mixture into the flour. Be careful and let it cool before you start kneading with your hands. If the consistency is still too crumbly, add more sugar syrup.
With the dough flattened, cut the templates and place into baking trays. One tray at a time, slide into the oven at 180°C for 12-15 minutes. As one is heated, the others can be cut.
Continue until all pieces are cooled and solid.
When all the pieces have cooled, mix a thick sugar syrup to act as glue, combining the pieces to construct your desired layout. Make sure to hold in place until you’re sure they won’t fall! The thicker the syrup, the less time this takes.
To decorate:
Tons of glue! (4 packages of icing sugar mixed with water to a glue-like consistency)
A bag of Haribo Colorado sweets (infinite possibilities!)
A box of Smarties, silver pearls and sugar patties, meringues
Goji berries, red peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon stars
Use your imagination when decorating! We crafted lanterns by slicing licorice haribo sweets, moulding and sticking yellow, flame-like sweets onto the ends.
The tools:
A knife, steady hands and anything else in your kitchen you deem useful!
the playlist:
