Tag: flax seeds

First bread of 2018

While in my parents’ place I baked many pompes a l’huile for Christmas, but I didn’t bake any bread. There are a few nice organic bread shops and bakeries around. But now that we are back to Isumi, it was mandatory to bake some bread. I started this year with a very simple bread: rye and whole wheat, with a handful of flaxseeds. And since the house is rather cold, I kept the bread all night in the room with us for it to rise, and only baked it much later. It has risen very slowly but the result was a very soft yet dense bread. With jam, honey, butter, or whatever, it’s delicious for breakfast. And it goes together with the book I am reading about Roland Feuillas, a guy who has been working for the last 12 years in making bread with traditional wheats grown traditionaly too. This reading has revived in me this idea that I should grow my own sourdough, but I still don’t know how to manage the trips between Isumi and Tokyo every weekends, and the longer one abroad  and to keep it alive properly… If you have some experience in raising sourdough I’ll be happy to learn from you!!!

Breakfast!!!

Cooking in the morning for breakfast is great when I have the time: pancakes, scones, crepes… but it is not always possible and sometimes I prefer to bake something the day before so that it only takes the time to prepare some fresh fruits in the morning. My basic recipe is usually that of a cake. This time I used a German mix of dates and flax seeds that our friends made me discovered when we were in Germany last September. I added some more flax seeds and it was really rich and not too sweet, so perfect for breakfast.

What do you like to orepare for breakfast? 

Mini vegan burgers

Oops! I did it again!  with some leftover boiled lentils I had, I made some vegan burgers!!! Well or some sort of burgers because I use my seed preparation as the base of my burgers and then just add a spread of avocado to glue them together. This time I was running out of time so I couldn’t blend the lentil to puree, so I used the whole boiled lentils, flax seeds, and a handfull of vegan burger mix to have some texture to work with. I assume that some flour of any kind would work as good. Added some warm water and worked it into a sticky paste. Then I added a tea spoon of paprika, a bit of chili pepper, and a bit of all spice. I finally formed small patties (4-5cm of diameter) that I cooked in a frypan greased with olive oil at low-medium heat until crispy and brownish. For the spread I used one avocado ripe and soft that I roughly pureed with a knife, the added chopped fresh coriander, salt, pepper and curcuma (tumeric)  powder. Once the patties are well-done I topped them with the spread and pile two of them in a plate. Add some blanched fresh green peas and a 1/2 Japanese cucumber diced. Enjoy the soon coming weekend!!! 

Little breads

Recently I haven’t posted much about bread making. I made a trial for a panettone which was a delicious “something”, but not a panettone the recipe I used from “journal des femmes” website was just a big scam, after more searching in some cookbooks, I think I have a nice recipe to try. I also baked less because the past weeks have been quite cold and I know I have troubles making the dough prove and raise properly in this cold everything ends much more compact than it should.  But taking this as an opportunity I wanted to make an energetic breakfast so I decided to bake to make oat wheat breads and flaxseed little breads with whole wheat and spelt flours. The result was really nice. Because of the cold the breads were very dense and compact with a beautiful golden color. The taste and texture were exactly what I wanted, so even when your house is coldd you can bake! Don’t expect to make fluffy brioche or bread loaf, but for compact and nourishing breads it is perfect!!!

Vegan burger

A. is always asking for burgers so I prepared him a special vegan burger with homemade vegan patties, avocado spread and plenty of salad, really plenty, as he lives salad a lot. I guess what he really wants when he says burger is a bloody steack and fries… but I tried to be inventivd and to have a very tasty combination and if worked cery very well. Beware, contrarily to most of the recipes I post this one takes a bit more time, but is very simple. I used what I had in the fridge for that so yoocan adjust easily with yours!

For the patties, inspired by Prunellia’s recipe of pancake seeds:

  • 1 cup of quinoa, mind was black, but red or white works well, can be replaced by bulgur, red beans, rice… 
  • a handfull of pumpkin seeds
  • a handfull of sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup of flax seeds, here I used brown, but blond work too, 
  • 2 large sato/taro imo, can be replaced by boiled chickpeas, boiled red beans… 

For the filling:

  • 1 ripe avocado  
  • lemon juice
  • salt and pepper  
  • green beans sprouts or any other sprouts: brocoli, alfalfa… 
  • a lettuce

First grill the sato/taro imo in the oven with the skin until soft and creamy inside. In the mean time boil the quinoa until slightly softer than usual and drain if needed. Peel the sato/taro imo and cut in pieces, add to the quinoa. Add all the seeds, stir well to obtain a thick paste. In a frypan greased with olive oil make 1-1.5cm thick patties of about 8-10cm diameter and cook them until golden on both side. I prepared 2 per person.  They are good cold or warm. You can rheat them in the oven if needed. Manipulate with care because they can break easily. 

Chop the lettuce, smash the avocado and add lemon juice, salt and pepper. Wash the sprouts. Now you are ready to make the burgers. I used half of the avocado spread per person. I spread a thick layer on on patty, added the sprouts and flipped over the other patty. Served on top of the lettuce, finish with a little of olive oil. Et voila!!!  

The sato/taro imo give a very good texture to the patties and help them to keep their shape, the creamy avocado it perfect with the crunchy patties, and the sprouts add freshness.  I’ll do it again!!!!

Improvised dinner for friends

Our friends visiting from Germany spent the weekend with us in Tokyo with daytime busy visiting the city, museums, flea markets, and kabuki, trying some nice cafes too, and evening at home, I’ve cooked for them Japanese as much as possible but not only, in particular for an improvised late dinner at home after a long day out and a fridge almost empty. So I opted for a potatoes and baby spinach salad with tofu and poached egg and topped with sunflower seds and flax seeds. Simple, ready in 10min and delicious!!

Okara galette

I like okara very much but we don’t eat some too often.  For this recipeI wanted   to prepare a 100% vegan meal and I come with the idea of a sort of galette. I mixed okara with finely cut tomatoes, fresh green beans slightly boiled, flax and sesame seeds, and salt. I shaped them in round and grilled them in the oven until the top it slightly roasted. I was very much pleased with the sweetness and juiciness of the tomato contrasting with the crunchy beans and flax seeds. It was hard to fell the sesame taste. I regretted not to have used tahine or suri-goma (crunched sesame seeds) for more flavor instead of just the seeds. But I’m fairly happy with this use of okara.

Chickpea and flax seeds thick crepe

There is an infinity of variations with crepes and pancakes, by changing the flour, adding baking soda or not, milk, egg, seeds… I love to play with all these possibilities and create something different each time. This time I grilled some eggplant and sweet pepper, so I decided to bake a big thick crepe made of chickpea flour and added some flax seeds in. For the crepe just chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt is ok, for a less dense one adding an egg is good also. I baked it at low heat under cover and served with olive oil and pepper.

Potato salad

It’s funny because I like potatoes but I seldom cook some except to make gnocchi and I have no idea why I don’t prepare more potato-base recipes. So I had two potatoes in the fridge that were waiting there, and suddenly I come up with a potato salad idea. Here in Japan usually potato salad (just like macaroni salad) means a lot of mayonnaise and I hate that. My potato salad is completely different: for 2 I used 2 new potatoes (about the size of an egg) boiled with the skin; 2 branches of celory; 1 cucumber (Japanese cucumber, right?); one boiled egg chopped; a few slices of smoke salmon; pumpkin seeds; flax seeds;  olive oil. Et voila! A super delicious salad, but that doesn’t look so on the picture! And many more ideas for potato salads!

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