Roasted Eggplant Topped with Tomato Salad

It has been a little while since my last blog update. Apologies, apologies. It has been over a week without gluten and dairy and let me tell you, it has been great. I am feeling wonderful! So happy my body is reacting so well to this. It is definitely a positive reward for not being to eat a lot of things -- and not to mention, a great motivator to try out new recipes!

I have always loved vegetables but even more since the change of diet -- my vegetable intake has massively increased. Baby carrots and celery sticks are pretty much my go-to snack and cooking with fresh goods -- basically only vegetables in my case -- has been the best way to keep it gluten and dairy free.

This recipe has been one of my favorites to cook for many years. However, I used to cook this recipe with mozzarella cheese previously. This will therefore be my attempt to try it without!

Roasted Eggplant With Tomato Salad

Roasted Eggplant Topped with Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 aubergine or eggplant
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes
• 1 red capsicum
• A handful of fresh basil
• 2 tsp pine kernels
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil (for taste and greasing)

Roasting the Eggplant:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cut the eggplant into 2 inch slices. Places the eggplant pieces on a greased baking sheet (greased with vegetable or olive oil) and drizzle some salt and olive oil onto the eggplants. 
2. Bake the eggplants for about 10 minutes. Turn them around and bake for another 5 minutes. THe eggplant pieces should be yellow-brownish. Roasting is complete!

Making the Tomato Salad Topping

1. Cut the tomatoes and capsicum into small pieces. Slice fresh basil into small strips. 
2. Mix all the cut ingredients into a large bowl. Add the olive oil and vinegar. Mix and add in the pine kernels. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Place the topping on the roasted eggplant pieces. Put back into the oven for another 5 minutes. Can be served warm or cold!

When the Roasted Eggplant Pieces Come Out of the Oven!

Roasted Eggplant

I Love the Smell of Fresh Basil!

The Tomato Topping

The Finished Goodies!

This recipe was really a success! Eggplant is my weakness -- probably my all-time favorite vegetable. I was extremely satisfied that this recipe tasted so good even without the mozzarella cheese. It is extremely easy to put together as it barely requires much preparation. Also, the fact that it looks so colourful is a wonderful reward and not to mention the smell of fresh basil. 

Looked and tasted delicious!

Chocolate Chickpea Cake -- The Chickpea Weekend Continues...

I still had a lot of chickpeas left over from my massive 'chickpea boiling' session earlier this weekend. I thought it was a great opportunity to satisfy my sweet and chocolate cravings by making a cake out of it.  I know, it sounds a little odd.. chickpeas and cake? Yeah, I was a little skeptical about it too. I read though, that it makes for a great substitute for flour in cakes. Because it sounded so odd to me, it made me even more curious to try it out. Plus, the chocolate cravings were really at an all time high this weekend and I needed to change that. I told my sister about making this cake -- who is also allergic to gluten -- and she immediately reacted with "ew." Time to prove her wrong. (Spoiler alert: I sure did prove her wrong!)

Chocolate Chickpea Cake!!

I used this recipe for the chickpea cake. However, I did alter a few things; I used caster sugar instead of white sugar and used bars of chocolate instead of chocolate chips. This is probably the fastest cake I have ever made!! Super duper easy and you need very little ingredients.

Side note -- you do need a food processor to make this cake.

Chocolate Chickpea Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 bars of semisweet chocolate (113 grams each) -- melted in microwave
• 570 grams chickpeas
• 4 eggs
• 185 grams sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

It All Began With a Bunch of Chickpeas...

...And Two Bars of Semisweet Chocolate

I found chocolate bars that are a 100% cacao, meaning that there is no milk added to the chocolate and therefore dairy free and friendly to those who are allergic! Generally when chocolate says it is "unsweetened" it means that it does not contain dairy. 

-- I made the mistake of eating a piece of this chocolate by itself. Wow: terribly bitter and strong!!! Unless you really love dark chocolate and I mean, VERY dark chocolate, I suggest to not take a bite. Luckily it will be mixed in with the chickpeas!

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a 23 inch cake tin.
2. Place the chickpeas and eggs in a food processor and blend until the mixture is smooth. Add in the sugar and the baking powder. Process until the ingredients are mixed well together. Finally, add in the melted chocolate and continue to process. Put the ingredients in the cake tin.
3. Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick, fork or knife comes out clean after inserting it into the cake. Let the cake cool, take it out of the tin and dust it with icing sugar to finish!

The Mixture

Ready for the Oven

Hot Hot Hot Out of the Oven

Ready to be Eaten!! -- From Chickpeas to Beauty

To be quite honest, I was very pleasantly surprised that chickpeas had the ability to be turned into THAT -- something so wonderful looking and sweet. Chickpeas are quite the powerful food! Of course, I made my entire family try it. My sister mentioned it to be "the best cake ever." A great improvement from "ew." I myself found the cake a little bit dry and the chocolate taste a little too strong -- because of the very dark chocolate used. Although, I thought it tasted good. I guess it all depends on your chocolate preference.

I will definitely make this again in the future but try to play a little bit with changing the moisture and strong chocolate taste. I think that maybe I should try using dairy-free milk chocolate chips. That way the dark chocolate taste will not be so strong. Minus the little critical points, the cake was lovely!

I have always been more of a cooker than a baker and am always terrified of taking on a baking project. I have a fear of massively messing it all up and it tasting horrible, especially with something completely different like a cake made out of chickpeas... But I guess this one was a success for the most part! My family was for sure happy with how it tasted and I for sure, have satisfied my chocolate cravings! 

Good night!

Chana Masala -- Indian Chickpea Curry

I had been boiling chickpeas for so long that I was quite eager to begin cooking the recipe I had been anxiously waiting to complete for a while. I decided to make chickpea curry -- also knows as Chana Masala. Chickpeas are a great source of protein and a wonderful carbohydrate fulfill-er. They are currently also one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. That is because I haven't really cooked much with them before and never realized how many cooking options they provided. It is like a new discovery! Also because I really love hummus.

The Chana Masala I Completed Today! -- Proud Moment.

I really love Indian food -- as I may have mentioned earlier. It is probably on the top of my all time favorite food. Sometimes I get Indian food cravings very badly. This time was one of them. I thought it was the perfect time to make a curry out of the chickpeas that I had just finished boiling. I found this recipe online from smittenkitchen and adapted it a little!

Chana Masala

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions -- chopped
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger -- minced
• 2 medium tomatoes -- chopped
• 1 fresh green chili -- chopped (optional depending on your spiciness preference)
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp dried mango powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp cayenne powder (optional depending on your spiciness preference)
• 2 tsp paprika 
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 cups boiled chickpeas
• 1 tsp salt

-- Do not be put off by the amount of spices that are in this recipe. I know the list looks long!! They are actually quite attainable and affordable (in Singapore that is). You can buy them at most local supermarkets or Indian stores. The dried chickpeas can easily be attained here as well. Besides, the color and fragrance of the spices combined is a wonderful reward! I love love the smell of these spices all mixed together. Pure greatness to the nose. 

The Beauty of Spices!

Some of the Chopped Goodies

The Chickpeas -- still excited they are finally cooked.

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onions, garlic, green chili and ginger. Cook for approximately five minutes or until onions begin to brown. Reduce heat.
2. Add in all the spices, mix and cook for another minute or so. 
3. Add in the tomatoes and mix well. Immediately after, add in the water and the chickpeas.
4. Let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add salt to taste and it is ready to be served! 

Done!

Yum yum yum

The chana masala turned out wonderfully! I was extremely happy with how it looked and tasted. Especially after a dissatisfying chickpea boiling session the day before, this was quite a rewarding cooking experience. The cooking of the masala is actually very fast and quite an easy dish to make. It was however, a little on the spicy side. I really enjoy spicy food but if you are not a spicy eater, I definitely suggest eliminating the cayenne pepper or cutting it in half. That stuff is SPICY and powerful. 

I ate this with some brown rice. It was a lovely lunch! Myrthe is happy.

Hasta la vista!

The long long process of boiling dried chickpeas

Let me start of by saying that in order to boil dried chickpeas yourself, you only need three ingredients: dried chickpeas, water and patience. A lot of it.

The Dried Chickpeas 

I decided to boil chickpeas myself because of the preservatives (containing gluten) that a lot of canned goods contain. Well, it all started with me buying a bag of dried chickpeas and looking on the internet for tips on how to boil them. I read that you have to soak the chickpeas in water for a whole night and then boil them in water the next day for only an hour. NOT IN MY CASE! It took me about 10 hours of boiling the chickpeas before they were ready. A little bit longer than I expected..

After a Night of Soaking

The Boiling Begins...

I began boiling the chickpeas and made sure that the water added is at double the level of the chickpeas. I brought the water to a boil, lowered the heat and let it simmer for an hour. After an hour, the chickpeas were still as hard as ever.. Another hour passed by... followed by another one... until four hours had passed and I needed to go somewhere. I decided to turn of the heat and continue when I returned. I ended up boiling the chickpeas until midnight and they were still not ready!!! What was I doing wrong?! But the lady on the internet said it would only take an hour?! Lies. Don't trust them. So I went to bed. I was frustrated because it wasn't ending up the way I hoped. My goal was to have at least one chickpea recipe finished in the afternoon.

I hoped to have better luck in the morning. I went for a different approach.. I took out the high pressure cooker:

The Chickpea Saver!!

A high pressure cooker allows you to cook above a 100 degrees (yes, I am talking in Celsius) because it is air tight? I am not a scientist or genius in that field but I think that is the correct explanation. This would hopefully speed up the cooking process. AND IT WORKED!! I was so excited. Within an hour the chickpeas were cooked and ready to be used! Ah, I didn't know anyone could be so excited about a bunch of chickpeas until this moment today. I had a little victory dance going on in the kitchen.

The Chickpeas are Ready for Cooking :)

I am thinking that maybe I did not soak the chickpeas for long enough. Maybe it needs to be for 24 hours or so. Next time I will definitely soak them longer. Oh, and immediately turn to the high pressure cooker.

Conclusion: if you want to cook your own chickpeas, clear your schedule for the day and bring your A-game in terms of patience.

Ahh The Sweet Cravings Have Begun..

I started of with a lot of excitement to try out alternatives to gluten and dairy but right now I AM CRAVING CHOCOLATE. Really bad.. and I can't have any. Sad face. Not until you cut out gluten and dairy completely do you realize how often you snack on sweet things -- well, in my case that is. Most candy contains artificial flavoring or preservatives and these both contain gluten. That is pretty much immediate elimination. And cakes, cookies, pastries are for sure out of the question. And chocolate. Oh chocolate... Well, I can have dark chocolate which I guess is something I should try. Fruit has been a great sweet satisfy-er though!

Currently my mouth is watering for peanut butter and chocolate. Aka: I want peanut butter chocolate brownies at this point. Meh. Or any cake for that matter. Just want to have a gluten fest.

I thought it would be a genius idea to look up baked goods to help with the cravings. Let me tell you: bad idea. It only made the cravings worse. All the food looked so good! If you are curious what I was looking at and made me feel that way -- go to this link. http://foodgawker.com/post/category/dessert/   It is pretty much dessert paradise.

I should really stop whining. Don't want to be that Debby downer -- especially when it is about food. Trying to avoid being one of those peeps. I guess I am not doing a good job at that right now.

I am anxious to try out some gluten and dairy free cake recipes! I have some chickpea recipes coming up that I want to try. Currently in the process of boiling dried chickpeas. Yes, that's right, I am making cake out of chickpeas. Lets see how this turns out!

Finding a Substitute for Soya Sauce

I am currently going four days without gluten and dairy. I have had some struggles. Especially when it comes to seeing your family snack on chocolate and cookies. It was also not fun when somebody brought cake to work. Yeah, definitely wanted to cheat and eat a piece.

Random side note -- who knew that lipstick contained gluten?! Big surprise. And apparently so does play dough? Cool.

One item that contains gluten that was most surprising to me is soya sauce. I read that a lot of soya sauce contains wheat that is mixed in with the soy. Therefore, I cannot have any stir fry with soya sauce, which is hard at home because all we eat every day for dinner is basically stir fry with soya sauce and rice. That also eliminates going to restaurants and hawker centers in Singapore since soya sauce is one of the main ingredients. Challenge time!

Yeah, I love my stir fry. And I love my soya sauce.

I am going to make it my goal to find a substitute for soya sauce that will add flavor to the stir fry dish. Today marked my first experiment.

Bell Pepper Stir Fry with Brown Rice

I am a big fan of Indian spices and lately have been experimenting with Indian cooking a bit -- back in the gluten days. Indian spices have a lot of flavor to them and currently my two favorite ones are ground cumin and coriander. These spices were the soya sauce alternatives of the day.

Capsicum / Bell Pepper Stir Fry [Soya Sauce -less]

Ingredients:

• 2 Capsicums / Bell Peppers (One Green and One Yellow) -- (Chopped)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 2 tsp chopped garlic
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• salt to taste

The Raw Ingredients

1. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Add garlic and onions and cook until onions begin to get soft (this will only take a few minutes).
2. Add the bell peppers to the pan and stir fry. Lower the heat and add in spices. Add in salt to taste. (The salt will bring out the flavour of the cumin and coriander so make sure that you add in enough salt to taste)
3. Turn of heat when the bell peppers are soft -- or still a little bit crunchy. It depends how you like them cooked! Serve with rice.

Stir Frying the Goodies!

The Finished Product

It turned out to look and taste very nice! I always love having a lot of colourful vegetables on my plate!

The Indian Spices ended up adding a lot of flavor to the dish and went really well the bell peppers. This is definitely a mix of spices I will try again.

I mark experiment one of finding the soya sauce substitute a SUCCES!!

Lunch Time!

I added some brown rice to it, put it in a lunch box and it will be ready to be taken to work!

This is so simple to make. I made it in the evening just before going to bed and it took me less than half an hour. Somehow, I feel very relaxed cooking in the evening, especially when trying out new foods and experimenting with things. This makes me look forward to not being able to eat food at work or at the canteen.

Good night! I have a lovely lunch to look forward to tomorrow :)

Taking on the Challenge of Making Red Lentil Hummus

Ah, this is kind of exciting. It is basically my first ever blog post with meaningful content. I guess that is up to you to decide whether it is meaningful or not..

The Finished Red Lentil Hummus

Usually hummus is made out of chickpeas but they often come from cans and those contain preservatives and preservatives often have gluten in them so I am not allowed to eat them. I really am a big fan of hummus so I started looking for alternative ways of making it. Apparently, making hummus from red lentils tastes very similar to chickpea hummus and there are no preservatives in a bag of lentils! I just realized that I could have also bought dried chickpeas (the natural form). Oh well, this brings excitement to the unknown of how it will taste. This recipe was inspired by a blogger called "Oh She Glows." It turned out to be very easy to make and not many ingredients are needed at all!

Soo.. here we go.

Red Lentil Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup uncooked red lentils
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 5 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Paprika powder for seasoning (optional)

The Ingredients

1. Wash the lentils until the water runs clear. Also check for pebbles because they are often found in between the lentils. In a medium sized pot, at the lentils to 1 1/4 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to cook lentils for 10-15 minutes (until lentils are soft and water is absorbed). Stir the lentils often because they may stick to the pot. 

Cooking the Lentils

2. Put the minced garlic, cooked lentils, tahini, olive oil and lemon juice into a food processor and let it run until all the ingredients are smoothly blended.

Blending it all

3. Add in salt and paprika to season

The Veggies to Go With It!

The Finished Product

I am extremely happy how it turned out! It tastes great -- almost the same as chickpea hummus except for the texture varies a little. I was a bit concerned while cooking the lentils (because of the color and moisture) that I was doing something horribly wrong but you just need to cook the lentils long enough that most of the water content is gone and it will turn out great!

This will be my snack at work tomorrow! First recipe was a success. I am happy. The cooking and trying out new things really makes the gluten / dairy free diet a lot easier!

P.S. Taking pictures of food is way harder than I thought.

The Adventure Begins -- Day 2

Well, this officially marks the second day of having a gluten and dairy free diet. Surprisingly, it is kind of exciting to eat 'different' things. I never thought that gluten free pasta would actually taste nice -- thank you corn for your ability to be made into flour! But, it still does suck a lot not to be able to open the fridge and eat some cheese. Or the ability to munch on bread. Bye bye to my two favorite foods. I predict that cheese is going to be the more difficult one to replace. Vegan cheese just sounds ODD. Plus that would make me a betrayer towards cheese. I could never hurt its feelings. I am a cheese enthusiast after all -- maybe to a level of concern. I once read that Philadelphia had a rehab center for cheese addiction and always thought I would go there one day but having your body not allow you to eat it works too I guess. This is making me sound a little strange.

Anyways, the experience of no gluten and dairy is going pretty great so far. Consuming a lot of raw vegetables and rice crackers. Rice crackers are pretty much my new best friend. I had no idea how great of a snack they were. Yumm. Gluten free bread just tastes strange but in a weird way I kind of like it. It taste like salt with a bread texture. I am making it my first goal is to make some bomb gluten free bread. My second goal would be to find an effective source of calcium that I like. I am terrified of drinking milk. I don't think I have drunk milk since I was about 4 years old. I can't even get myself to eat cereal with milk because I just think it is THAT gross. It is kind of ironic because I love cheese that much. I have never tried any other milks -- soya, rice, almond -- so I am going to make it my goal to get myself to try these and like them. Yeah, definitely not ready yet to take on that challenge.

Well, this is enough rambling for one day. I will continue my adventures on this blog shortly and try to put up some recipes that I have tried out whether they taste good or bad.

Hasta la Vista!