Potato coleslaw

It’s all ‘red white and blue’ everywhere you look! Any one would think there was a celebration coming up…!

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is a pretty big deal, it’s not every day that comes around, plus we all get an extra days bank holiday! That said, I have been a little slow on the uptake and my patriotic baking creativity hasn’t really happened…but I may have a little something up my sleeve for Tuesday (the day of the Jubilee itself) but you’ll have to wait for it. Plus I will have another reason to celebrate on Tuesday…you’ll have to wait for that too.

In the mean time I thought I’d share some patriotic baking of another kind….these cakes were baked and decorated by the kids my mum looks after (she’s a childminder), I think the iced tops were supposed to resemble Union Jacks….not so much, but still pretty cute!

Yesterday's dinner time was a good opportunity to see what the garden had to offer. My mum wanted to dig up some of the potatoes she’d planted to see if they were ready. 

Um, that will be a no then....

I posted this photo via Instagram on twitter yesterday, so some of you may have seen it there.  I have recently joined Instagram, and the link to my profile is now added to the top of the page so please come and find me!

I had originally planned a potato salad with homemade mayonnaise, but due to the potatoes being less plentiful than hoped for, I made a potato coleslaw of sorts which was pretty good with great texture. I had no cabbage to hand so once i’d cooked the baby potatoes and coated them with the mayonnaise, I grated some raw carrot and courgette over the top and mixed it through.

A lovely simple side dish. This would be great served up with these burgers!

Whether you are celebrating or not, I hope you have a great weekend…I hope the Queen does too!

Recipe: Vegan Mayonnaise

Makes ¾ cup

Ingredients

• ½ raw cashews (or 1/3 cup cashew butter)
• 1 garlic clove
• ¼ cup soy milk (I imagine water would also suffice)
• 2 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinch ground cayenne or parika
• 2 tbs olive oil

Method

Grind the cashews along with the garlic to a paste (or use cashew butter). Add the remaining ingredients and blend again until smooth and creamy.

Stores in the fridge in a covered container for up to 3 days.

For potato coleslaw, coat boiled new potatoes with the mayonnaise and stir through raw grated carrot and courgette. Sprinkle with fresh herbs or seasonings if desired and serve immediately.

Irish potato farls

Ooo look I’m just in time…for St Patricks Day that is! 

I also had one other recipe I wanted to make, this time along the green theme but alas I didn’t quite get organised enough. Oh well I may as well just get that up tomorrow anyway on the actual day itself, I know it will be short notice but I am pretty certain it will a recipe for St. Paddy’s and far beyond!

So…. I wrote down and crossed off so many options for so many reasons:

…irish cream

….soda bread

…green smoothie

…. anything green!

Problem was I’d seen plenty of amazing looking recipes along these themes already. At some point I do want to attempt a soda bread though, but having never baked a GF loaf before I figured it might be best to wait for another time when I have time on my side to make a few mistakes and few attempts if necessary.

For today I wanted a fool proof recipe with a short ingredient list, but still decidedly Irish. I also wanted a savoury recipe (to compliment tomorrow’s sweet recipe!)

So, here we have Irish potato farls (with a little twist of my own that I couldn’t resist).  The traditional Irish recipe simply calls for regular potatoes and does not include any seasonings other than salt. The ‘cakes’ are meant to be plain as an accompaniment to a dish. However I wanted to add some sweet potato into the mix also adding a hint of seasoning whilst not being overpowering. I also substituted GF flours for the regular plain flour that would be more typically used. Feel free to mix things up as you wish.

One thing I would note is that the potatoes should ideally be ‘dry’ before they are mashed.  When I made them I didn’t let my potato dry very well after draining and had to add more flour to compensate, the flour is an approximation so add as much as it takes. It’s not a huge problem if you add a lot more, but better to let the potato take centre stage and not risk adding copious amounts of flour to the mix to alter the flavours.

I served my farls with a light salad as a brunch, I left the rest of the dough in the fridge to cook up at another time. The dry frying in flour is what really makes the farls, giving them a lovely crisp exterior and leaving a creamy soft interior.

Recipe: Irish potato farls

Makes 4-6 farls

Ingredients

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and halved
• 2 medium (or one large) sweet potato
• ½ tsp salt
• Approx.1/3 cup GF flour mix (I used tapioca and buckwheat)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tsp mix of garlic and onion powder- optional

Method

Boil the potatoes for approx. 20 minutes until cooked. Drain the potatoes and let sit for a few minutes to let dry out properly.

Add potatoes to a bowl and mash well, once mashed add  all the other ingredients and mix through until a soft dough begins to come together. The dough should be sticky but if it is too sticky to handle add a little more flour until it becomes workable (note- allowing the potato to dry should help combat this).

On a well floured surface bring the dough together into a ball and flatten into a circle approx. 1cm thick- cut into 4 or 6 wedges using a floured knife.

Heat a frying pan and sprinkle a little more flour over the base, cook the farls fry in the flour for approx. 3 minutes in each side until browned.

Sprinkle with salt to serve.

This post is also in memory of my Grandma Marion, who's birthday it would have been today... had she been born one day later she would have been named Patricia! 

Sweet Potato Cakes

Yesterday, I met up with a friend for lunch. It was a nice treat as usually all my friends work during the week and so I just have Fridays to myself to do my ‘baking things’ along with all the self-development and learning I’m taking some time out to appreciate.

I had my Pilates class as usual first thing then met up with my friend late morning. The loveliest thing about it was that she cooked lunch for us both….vegan style.  It was great!

It’s so nice when I can share the way I eat with others and it not feel like they are just accommodating me. I think a lot of that has to do with me still feeling a little self-conscious at times when I’m out with others, when it’s not simply me cooking for myself.  I’ve still only been eating this way for a relatively short amount of time (just over a year) and so habits, routines and assumptions are hard to break and I do still sometimes feel as though I’m ‘putting people out’ when chances are they are more than willing to accommodate. When people get interested and excited to share the way I do things it is a great feeling.

So, Friday’s lunch was sweet potato cakes with spicy beans and tomato. The potato cake recipe recipe was modified to use sweet potato instead of regular potato and then veganised so as to not use the egg and butter that the original recipe called for. The butter was easy to sub with olive oil but the egg was proposed as a glaze to coat the cakes before coating in polenta and frying, however we figured that since the potato cakes were soft and sticky as they were, the egg wasn’t really necessary. For those of you who are not vegan feel free to add the egg.

The polenta coating gives a lovely crisp crunch. I have often used polenta (I use the quick cook variety) as part of my flour mix in my baking to give added crunch to cookies. These chocolate shortbread cookies are a great example.

The potato cakes were served with a spicy bean topping, based on this recipe from way back right at the beginning of this blog! (note- awful photo with my compact camera under the fluorescent kitchen light!). The potato cakes themselves are very versatile and could be used to top a salad, with a variety of different toppings or even mixed with beans and used as burger patties in a bun or pitta bread pocket with salad.

Here you have it… Sweet Potato Cakes, courtesy of Fatima Cassim.

Recipe: Sweet potato cakes

Ingredients

• 700g sweet potato- peeled and cubed
• 25g olive oil
• 1 onion- peeled and chopped
• 1 garlic clove- peeled and crushed
• Pinch each of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste
• 50g quick cook polenta
• 2 tbs mild oil

Method

Cook the sweet potato for approx. 15 minutes until soft. Drain and mash well.

Add the olive oil, onion and garlic to a saucepan and cook for 5-10 minutes until soft. Add  the mashed sweet potato to the pan along with the seasoning. Stir together until mixed thoroughly.

Allow to cool before shaping into 4 circular patties approx. 1 inch thick. Coat in a generous, even layer of polenta. Refrigerate for approx. 30 minutes.

Heat a mild oil (such as rapeseed) in a frying pan and cook the potato cakes for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden.

Serve with your desired topping or sides.