We always look forward to The Happy Pear’s delicious recipe offerings in each magazine … and our Autumn 2020 issue was no exception! In this issue, they gave us two gorgeous recipes: one for an Aloo Gobi Indian potato and cauliflower curry, and one for an epic vegan cheesecake. Read on for all the details!
Autumn comfort
Enjoy these scrumptious meal ideas
by David and Stephen Flynn
In this article, we wanted to share one of our favourite curry recipes from our new book, “Vegan cooking for everyone”. This curry is easy to make and so tasty! Cauliflower is often dismissed as a ‘bland’ vegetable, but when baked, it acquires more flavour and a slightly charred note. It’s well worth getting the spices too. We hope you enjoy this meal as much as we do!
Aloo Gobi Indian potato and cauliflower curry
Takes 30 mins, feeds 4
Ingredients
4 spring onions
3 cloves garlic
1 chilli (leave out the seeds if you prefer less spice)
1/2 thumb sized piece of ginger
1 whole head of cauliflower
250g potatoes
1 x 400ml can of coconut milk
1 x 400ml veg stock
1.5 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Finely chop the spring onions, garlic (peel first), ginger and chilli ingredients.
Fill and boil the kettle. Once boiled, fill a pot and add a pinch of salt.
Chop the cauliflower and potato into small bite-sized pieces and boil for 10 mins. Drain and rinse, then put on a baking tray with 2 tbsp of oil and a generous pinch of salt. Bake for 10-15 mins until the cauliflower is starting to char and the potatoes are soft.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan on high heat and add 1 tbsp of oil. Once hot, add your chopped spring onions, ginger, garlic and chilli. Fry for 3 mins.
Add the spices and fry for 1 minute.
Add the coconut milk and veg stock and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Add in the baked cauliflower and potatoes and leave to reduce for 5 mins, until the sauce thickens.
Add the lemon juice, tamari and season to taste – this step is designed to achieve a harmony between the salt, acid, sweet and umami flavours.
Serve with some coconut yogurt and coriander leaves, and enjoy!
5 ingredient epic vegan cheesecake
This cake is really easy to make, super tasty and uses only 5 ingredients. This one is really worth making. We topped it with fresh berries and a blueberry compote. Details for the blueberry coulis are down below.
Takes 20 minutes prep, 2 hour chilling. Makes 12 slices
Base layer:
200g cashew nuts
200g pitted dates
2 tbsp coconut oil
Cashew cheese layer:
250g raw cashew nuts – boil for 10 mins so they are super soft, or soak overnight
250g vegan cream cheese
100g coconut oil
150g maple syrup
Instructions
Line a 20cm/8 inch spring form cake tin with baking parchment. Pour the 200g of cashew nuts (for the base) into a food processor and blend until they form a breadcrumb-like consistency, which will take about a minute or so. Add the pitted dates and the coconut oil, then blend until it all comes together into a uniform texture – which takes another 2-4 minutes, depending on your food processor.
Remove the blended base ingredients and place them into the springform cake tin. Use a spoon to compact it down and level it out, so the base is perfectly smooth and level.
Clean out the food processor. Drain and rinse the soaked cashew nuts, then add them to the food processor along with the rest of the ingredients for the cashew cheese filling. It is very important you rinse them well, as this will remove some of the acid from soaking.
Blend until the mixture becomes super smooth, which will take about 7-10 minutes. You want to be patient and really get it to a super-smooth velvety or silky texture.
Using a silicone spatula or spoon, remove the cashew cheese and add it on top of the base layer. Spread out the mixture so it is smooth, then place into the fridge to set for a couple of hours.
For the blueberry coulis: Add 300g of frozen blueberries to a saucepan with 50ml of boiling water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and leave to cook for 10 mins. Add to a blender and blend till smooth. Pour through a sieve until the coulis is lovely, fine and super smooth.
Remove your cheesecake from the fridge and decorate with berries and blueberry coulis.
Enjoy – this is a really delicious, rich cake!
