Ripe London

Never Far From My Mind

You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – with what caution – with what foresight – with what dissimulation I went to work!
–The Tell-Tale Heart
by Edgar Allan Poe

I have no reason to hide it.  I am obsessed with perfecting the pancake, with making infinite variations of it to my heart’s content.  And content it is, given that they're dripping with taste and yet not a drop of unhealthy fats. 

I often top my porridge with grated apple and maple syrup.  I also like to rotate my breakfast options so I don’t get bored.  Naturally, the next logical step was to spin some apple charm into my beloved pancake.  And here they are. These are exceptionally moist and will infuse your kitchen with a wonderful scent as they cook.

Yes, I make pancakes mid-week, sometimes more than once.  It’s what you can do when you wake up before dawn and work at home.  Madness, you say?  It’s 3:32 pm on a Friday right now, I’m nowhere near an office and I’m in slippers.  How about you?

Spiced Apple Pancakes
Serves one hungry heart

Half an apple
1/2 cup almond milk* or soy milk
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1/2 cup fine wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg
Dash sea salt
Sunflower spread

Set a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Core and grate the apple, and put it in the blender (peel and all) with the milk, water, baking soda and ground flax seed.  Whizz until smooth.  Combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and blend gently with a fork – just a few quick strokes will do; over-mixing will activate the gluten in the flour, and the pancakes won’t be as fluffy as they should.

Put a bit of sunflower spread on a non-stick skillet to coat lightly, then drop enough batter in to make a pancake shape.  When the top starts to bubble, flip and cook on the other side.  Continue with remaining batter, stacking cooked pancakes on a paper towel.  Drizzle with maple syrup or spoon applesauce on top.

*In case you have other things on your mind: soak one part raw almonds in four parts water overnight.  Whizz in a blender, then push through a fine-mesh sieve.

Recipe Rebel

Last week, I went to the best show I’ve seen in London – and probably ever: Trances at the Peacock Theatre.  A mix of dance, acrobatics and spoken word, it’s a show that breaks the rules.  That’s exactly what makes it so good.  Even the audience announcement before the performance begins is worth the ticket price alone. 

So today, pancake day, I decided to break more than a few rules, starting with not breaking any eggs.  To me, pancakes have always meant the fluffy stackable ones, the kind I’m pretty much obsessed with.  In the UK, pancakes are actually crêpes – the kind you fill, fold or roll.  To complicate matters, the French make crêpes with plain flour and use buckwheat flour for galettes.  The crêpes are supposed to be sweet while the galettes are for savoury fillings.  Both are meant to be flipped with acrobatic ease.

Strangely, I’ve never attempted crêpes/galettes/British pancakes.  Today was the day, and there were a few hoops to jump through.  I wanted buckwheat.  I wanted banana.  And while my small frame means I’ve been piggybacked and lifted overhead, I discovered that my acrobatic skills stop at the kitchen door.  I tried to flip these two times before I decided there must be a better way. For me, anyway.  And there was.  A sweet, no-flip galette that’s pretty flipping good.

You can fill these with whatever you like, of course; but I happen to have a thing for bananas, chocolate and nuts.  Hold the jokes, please.

No-rules Galettes
Enough batter for four servings 

For the galettes:

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup almond milk*
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light Agave nectar
Sunflower spread for oiling pan

For the chocolate sauce:

1/4 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon light Agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon corn starch (corn flour in the UK)
dash sea salt

Filling:

1 small, ripe Fairtrade banana, sliced on the diagonal
About a tablespoon roasted cashews, chopped

Combine all the galette ingredients (except the sunflower spread) until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.  If necessary, add water in small increments until the batter is thin enough to pour – it should be much thinner than American-style pancake batter.

Make the sauce: heat the 1/4 cup almond milk in a small saucepan.  Meanwhile, combine the cocoa powder, Agave nectar, corn starch and dash sea salt in a cup.  When the almond milk starts to smoke, add a little of it into the cup and stir vigorously until smooth.  Add the remaining milk to the cup and stir until well combined.  Now add the sauce back into the saucepan and stir over high heat until the sauce boils and thickens.  Set aside.

Set a large frying pan over low-medium heat.  Use a paper towel to rub enough sunflower spread on the pan to coat.  Now be quick: pour about 1/4 cup batter into the centre of the pan, then swiftly lift and tilt the pan to coat.  Now be patient.  The lower heat means the batter won’t cook as quickly, but it also means you won’t have to do any flipping.  As the edges start to brown, use a spatula to “peel” it gently away from the pan.

Once bubbles cover most of the top, mound the banana onto the middle, spoon over some of the sauce and sprinkle with the cashews.  Use the spatula to fold three sides in to form a triangle.  Or you could fold in four sides and form a square.  Or you can roll it.  Hey, it’s your stage. 

*What, you mean you don't already have a jar of wonderful, oh-so-easy almond milk in your fridge?  Okay, just soak one part raw almonds in four parts water overnight.  Whizz in a blender, then push through a fine-mesh sieve.

Karma Chameleon

Last week I went to hear a Buddhist monk speak at Alternatives in Piccadilly. I think he was saying something about freedom.  Freedom from within.  Yes, that was it.   I’m not so sure; because my eyes were closing, and not because I was meditating.  I was falling asleep (the joys of waking up at 5:30am).

Then, all of a sudden, I was jolted wide awake.  Now he was talking about eggnog.  Eggnog!  Here is this monk, head shaven and in robes, waxing lyrical about the eggnog he tried when he visited California.  He had asked for the recipe and then lost it, and he was quite distraught.  Now I knew why I had come here tonight.

I put pen to paper – the blank notebook page I had intended would contain Buddhist wisdom from this talk – and wrote out my recipe for what I call Eggnog Smoothie. Don’t ask me how, but this shake looks, feels and tastes like eggnog.   And it does it without any of the eggs, heavy cream or sugar in the usual festive beverage. I have it several times a week as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack (the joys of working at home).  As the monk continued to talk (something about soul mates), I kept writing and felt good about teaching this holy man something – freedom from without, perhaps?

At the end of the lecture, I waited my turn to talk to him and seriously thought about bolting.  Who am I to teach this man anything when I should be here to learn?  I sat down and gave him the recipe, telling him he would get all that eggnog yum (no, I didn’t use that word) without any of the unhealthy stuff.  He smiled and very sweetly tucked the piece of paper into his robes.  This was not the excited reaction I had been expecting, so I asked him if he could repeat what he said about soul mates.  “People get obsessed about looking for a soul mate,” he said with a stir, “Better to just look for someone to love.” 

“Eggnog” Smoothie
Serves one

1 ripe, medium Fairtrade banana
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1 cup almond milk* or soymilk
Whole nutmeg for grating

Put the banana, pineapple and milk of your choice into a blender.  Grate in some nutmeg.  Whizz until smooth, pour into a glass and grate some more nutmeg on top.  That’s another wonderful way to Go Bananas for Fairtrade.

*To make almond milk, soak one part raw almonds in four parts water overnight.  Whizz in a blender, then push through a fine-mesh sieve.  Keep any remaining milk in a tightly-lidded jar in the fridge.

I Found My Thrill

With the exception of waking up naked next to someone you’re crazy about, I didn’t think it was possible to be more excited before 9am than when I created my Sticky Toffee Pancakes.

And yet, and yet!

Go Bananas for Fairtrade is from noon to noon 6-7 March, so I’ve continued to monkey around with my old banana pancakes recipe.  They needed to be egg and dairy free, and they also had to make me swoon.  So I forced myself to try different variations until I hit the perfect note (poor me).  At last, I decided to carry over the best parts of the Sticky Toffee adaptation, this time adding the banana directly to the batter and chopping the walnuts finely to keep things from getting heavy.  The result?  Naturally-sweet pillows of goodness that taste of banana-walnut muffins without the usual fat, sugar or cholesterol.

I was on a roll.  And if you’re a pancake devotee like me, you’ve noticed that the price of maple syrup is skyrocketing.  So I took it one step further, whipping up a quick, intensely fruity compote to top it all off that’s not only beautiful to look at, but is made with Agave nectar so it won’t mess with your blood-sugar levels.

I’ll be posting some more blissful banana ideas over the next two weeks, so stay tuned.

Banana-Walnut Pancakes with Blueberry Thrill Compote
Serves 1 healthy, hungry monkey

For the pancakes:

Half a medium, ripe Fairtrade banana
1/2 cup plain soymilk
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1/2 cup fine wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
Dash sea salt
Sunflower spread

For the compote:

1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons light Agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)

Set a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Put the banana, soymilk, water, baking soda and ground flax seed in a blender and whizz until smooth.  Combine flour, baking powder, nuts, spices and salt in a large bowl.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and blend gently with a fork – just a few quick strokes will do; over-mixing will activate the gluten in the flour, and the pancakes won’t be as fluffy as they should.

Put a bit of sunflower spread on a non-stick skillet to coat lightly, then drop enough batter in to make a pancake shape.  When the top starts to bubble, flip and cook on the other side.  Continue with remaining batter, stacking cooked pancakes on a paper towel.  Meanwhile, combine the blueberries, Agave nectar and cornstarch in a small saucepan and set over medium heat.  Stir constantly until compote bubbles and thickens; turn off heat.  Taste and swoon.

Stir Your Heart

I’ve read a lot of personal-growth books, and I can tell you that they all say the same the thing.  Whether they’re about finding love, moving on, leading a richer life or discovering your purpose, it all comes down to two words: acceptance and gratitude. 

A few months ago, I came across The Surrendered Single by Laura Doyle.  Once I got over the funny title, I saw that the premise was once again the same: don’t try to change him (acceptance) and focus on what you love about him rather than what ticks you off (gratitude).  But there was also another little nugget in there I warmed to:  the idea that there is no perfect partner, rather an imperfect person who’s perfect for you.  Which, if you think about it, is just another way of saying the same thing: get over yourself and embrace what you’ve got, whether you're in love or singledom.

I’ve always been intensely intrigued by that elusive little devil called chemistry.  How someone can spark outrageous flames in your heart while another won’t cause so much as a flutter is infinitely fascinating to me.  And the fact that the person who ignites such passions in you often turns out to be far from your idea of perfect fills me with awe for the mysterious workings of human nature.

Perfect imperfection.  I was thinking about this as I was making everybody’s favourite standby: the stir-fry.  There might be a few fundamentals in the preparation, yet my idea of a perfect stir-fry is probably quite different from yours.  Google “stir fry”, and you get 4,020,000 results (and quite a discrepancy about whether there should be a hyphen).  One thing is certain: stir-frying, like romance, needs to be devoid of measurements.  It’s much more satisfying – and I’d say essential – to dispense with rigidity and just go with the flow.  Just make sure you keep things moving – in this case over high heat.

This is the stir-fry that does it for me.  There’s nothing fancy about it.  It fills me up.  It’s good to my body.  It’s always dependable.  It’s nice to look at and even better to taste.  So, tell me, what’s perfectly imperfect about yours?

My Perfect Stir-Fry

King Soba Noodle Culture brown rice and millet noodles
Mild olive oil
Carrots
Celery
Broccoli
Garlic clove
Fresh ginger
Mushrooms
Tofu
Light tahini
Tamari
Raw cashews
Toasted sesame seeds

Put a pot of water to boil and set a wok over high heat.  Cut the carrots into matchsticks, slice the celery and add to the wok along with a little water.  While the vegetables steam, cut the broccoli into small florets, rinse them and add to the wok (with more water if necessary).  When the broccoli’s green amps up (about a minute), transfer all the veggies to a plate.

Add some olive oil to the wok, then mince the garlic and ginger and throw them in.  Place the noodles in the pot of the now boiling water.  Quarter the mushrooms and add to the wok.  Stir, stir, stir.  Slice the tofu and add it in, too.  Sizzle, sizzle.  Meanwhile, quickly mix about one part tahini to four parts tamari in a small bowl.

Push the mushrooms and tofu up to the side of the wok and add a little more oil to the center.  Drain the noodles and add them to the oil, breaking them up with a long wooden fork.  Now add the vegetables back in along with the cashews, sauce and sesame seeds.  Keep stirring everything together vigorously for a few more seconds.

That's mine.  Now show me yours...

Stuck on You

Welcome, food lovers, to the first of two Valentine’s Day posts.  Love is in the air in my flat this morning, and it smells of sticky toffee pudding.

Oh yes.  You know those rare moments when “you just know”?  I’m talking about that absolute knowingness that comes when you a) fall in love, b) finally solve a long-standing problem and c) come up with a recipe that knocks your own thermal socks off.

For the past-two weeks since deciding to stick with a plant-based diet, I’ve been trying to give my banana pancakes an egg-free, dairy-free makeover.  I’ve tried the usual vegan recommendations: using soy yogurt in place of Greek and beating ground flax seed together with water to replace the egg.  The results were pretty good, but I had this feeling – I just knew – there was something else I hadn’t yet hit upon.

At the same time, I had been thinking about an old flame I hadn’t seen in a while: the sticky toffee pudding.  Suddenly, it all came together: the planets aligned, my heart skipped a beat and I went to bed last night with Sticky Toffee Pancake dreams.

This recipe trumps my banana pancakes on every level.  Not only are they fluffy and wonderfully sticky toffee, but because there’s no egg or dairy in them, there’s no cholesterol to clog your precious heart.  Instead, the flax seed gives you those heart-healthy Omega-3 fats that keep springing up in the press – as if this is news.  And did I mention there’s no sugar in these, either?  

I. Am. In. Love.  In fact, I am so flipping excited (Tom Cruise style) that for the first time in the three years of writing Ripe London I’ve been moved to make things official: I added one of those Creative Commons licenses to the blog.  Let it be known to the world that heart-thumping, vegan Sticky Toffee Pancakes originated here.  Likewise, don’t make these for your sweetheart on Saturday morning unless you’re prepared for him or her to declare their undying love for you.

Sticky Toffee Pancakes
Serves 2 better halves

For the pancakes:

10 pitted dates
1 cup plain soymilk
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1 cup fine wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
Sunflower spread

For the sauce:

2 teaspoons sunflower spread or other vegan margarine
1/2 cup almond cream*
4 tablespoons dark Agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Set a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Put the dates, soymilk, water, baking soda and ground flax seed in a blender and whizz until smooth.  Combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and blend gently with a fork – just a few quick strokes will do; over-mixing will activate the gluten in the flour, and the pancakes won’t be as fluffy as they should.

Put a bit of sunflower spread on the skillet to coat lightly, then drop enough batter in to make a pancake shape.  When the top starts to bubble, flip and cook on the other side.  Continue with remaining batter, stacking cooked pancakes on a paper towel.  Meanwhile, melt the two teaspoons sunflower spread in a small saucepan; then add the almond cream, dark Agave nectar and vanilla extract.  Stir constantly until sauce bubbles; turn off heat.  Distribute the pancakes amongst two plates, drench with the sauce and feel the sticky love.

*Almond cream, like cashew cream, is very simple to make:  Soak one part raw almonds in three parts water overnight.  The following morning, blend everything in a blender and push through a fine-mesh sieve.  Any extra cream keeps in a tightly-lidded jar in the fridge for a few days and can be served with fruit...or more pancakes.

Back to Basics

The economic crisis.  The heaviest snowfall in 18 years.  Coincidence? I don’t think so.

So what happened on Monday?  Businesses suffered and people rejoiced.  KPMG offers their staff a four-day workweek, and weeks later the Earth does the same.  The orchestration of it is awe-inspiring.

I believe these events are meant to be – a non-negotiable wake-up call that will eventually help us evolve to a place of less greed and away from the excess that has created them in the first place.  A return to simplicity.  You can call it divine order, but I also like to think of it as self-inflicted, even karmic.  Most of us agree that the credit crunch is manmade, and I’d venture to say the snowstorm was, too.  Climate change is, after all, a by-product of how we’ve been treating our planet.  What goes around...

Not having a TV is one thing, going without a food processor is quite another.  And yet for preservation of precious kitchen space and not wanting to clean out the millions of parts, I’ve never owned one.  I also happen to find chopping, grinding and mixing to be very therapeutic.  So, in my efforts to get creative with a plant-based diet, I built some biceps with this recipe. 

What elevates this to hummus superstardom is the roasted garlic.  On the off chance you’ve never tried it, just slice the top off garlic, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake for about a half hour.  The cloves will squeeze out easily.  The calcium in the sesame seeds (tahini) and the protein in the chickpeas come in handy when you’re having a snowball fight.

Handmade Hummus
Makes enough for about four sandwiches

1 cup cooked, drained and rinsed chickpeas
5-6 roasted garlic cloves (or more or less, depending on your taste for garlickyness)
2 tablespoons minced coriander
4 tablespoons light tahini
the juice of half a lemon
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Smash everything in a bowl with a potato masher and tuck into toasted pita with shredded carrot, baby spinach leaves and toasted pumpkin seeds.  Any leftover hummus will keep for days in an airtight container in the fridge.  This hummus has a rustic texture unlike the blended, overpriced stuff you buy in stores.  If you like crunchy peanut butter, you’ll love it.  If you’re into smooth peanut butter, I can’t relate to you.

Outside the Box

“How did you make this vegan?”

It was said with the same mixture of shock and curiosity I often get when people ask me how I manage to live without a TV. My answer is always the same: I live.  Here’s the extended version.

Food tastes better
I never intended not to get a television.  When I moved to London five years ago, I lived with a flatmate who, as people normally do, had a TV.  A year later, I moved out on my own into a furnished apartment that didn’t have one.  I became acutely aware of the lack of TV when I sat down to dinner my first night there.  Suddenly, without the usual background noise, I realized how I was now focusing my attention fully on the food in front of me.  My dinner stretched awhile and actually became an event, unlike the usual mindless eating I was doing before.

No license needed
Even so, I still thought I’d get around to getting a TV.  But as the days went on, I wasn’t really missing it.  Then the harassment letters started coming.  If you don’t live in the UK, you may be surprised to hear that you need a license to watch television, and that there’s a terrifying crackdown team in place should you think you can get away without buying one.  The letters started out quite friendly and would build to menacing missives: “Most people who claim not to have a television actually do.”  Oh really?  I wonder how many of these people also bother to open letters from TV Licensing.

Long-haul flights are fun again
“Move freely about the cabin” is one of the most ridiculous phrases I’ve ever heard. When I fly, I’m like a kid playing with someone else’s toys.  Richard Branson may have a lot to answer for when it comes to catering, but who flies for the food?  I’m there for the entertainment, and Virgin Atlantic has this one down.  But back home with no TV: that’s freedom to really move it...and get my butt outside.

Radio, silence
What I love about radio is that, unlike TV, you’re not watching your time get sucked into a vacuum.  Radio sort of follows you instead of the other way around.  Along the way, you laugh and learn.  To me, the greatest radio station on earth is Radio 4.  If you haven’t heard Graham Norton on Just a Minute, you’re missing out.  So tune in.

Bigger is better
One thing I miss about America is big movie theatres.  Unless you go to the West End, which I tend to avoid, you might be in for a stamp-sized screen at typical London cinemas.  Still, it’s going to be bigger than even your biggest plasma.  I can’t usually relate to Michael Jackson, but I do get his need for an in-house movie screen.   I’m lucky to have one down the street, and I go whenever I can.

Brain food
There was a time when the majority of my reading was comprised of the freebies on the Tube.  What a sad, sad thought.  I go through books like I do maple syrup now, and I don’t tend to hold on to them.  If it’s not in the library I’ll buy it, read it and pass it on – hopefully to someone who might be inspired to turn off the TV.

He’s just not that into YouTube
If I lived with someone, I’d probably have a TV – I like cozying up together on the couch after making dinner.  In the meantime, it’s really interesting to see the response I get from guys when the no-TV topic comes up.  “Brilliant!” is a good sign.  “That’s weird” is even better.  It means I should probably change the channel.

Back to my opener: I made this dessert for a dinner party yesterday, and it got great reviews all around.  Like not having a TV, I’m learning that the whole veganism thing is weird only because people aren’t used to it.  As always, a taste can turn your world around.

Bigger-picture pumpkin pie
With no eggs and no dairy, this dessert makes more room for what really matters.

For the crust:

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
3/4 cup porridge oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash sea salt
1/4 cup sunflower oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup

For the filling:
1 cup soymilk
1/4 cup cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)
1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup Agave nectar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg (so much better than ready-ground)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread nuts over a baking pan. Toast for 7-10 minutes on middle shelf until starting to brown.
2. Combine pecans, oats, flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and dash salt. Whisk together oil and 3 tablespoons maple syrup, and mix into dry ingredients to form a dough. Press mixture into an 8-inch pie plate (I used a tart pastry mould). Bake for 10 minutes, and set aside to cool.
3. Whizz soymilk and cornstarch in a blender until dissolved, about 15 seconds. Add pumpkin, 1/4 cup maple syrup, Agave nectar, ginger, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, nutmeg, and cloves; blend until smooth. Pour filling into crust.
4. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned and the outside inch of the filling is set. Cool on wire rack, then chill until set – preferably overnight (if you can keep yourself away from it for that long).