Holistic Vegan

Continuing my new obsession with gram flour , it was brought to my attention by a lovely person on Instagram that I haven't shared this recipe yet! I don't even have a photo, because whenever I make these they get eaten far too quickly for Instagramming. These are a satisfying and tasty flatbread that is the perfect accompaniment for curries and spicy foods. They also have a very slightly eggy flavour to them which makes them very good with tomato based curry. These cook very much like a pancake, but are quite firm and cannot be rolled up to use as a wrap. They are better torn or cut into quarters and dipped into delicious sauces or chutneys. This is another recipe that I have to credit to the amazing Ghazalla who was kind enough to teach me some of her traditional Persian and Indian recipes. It's definitely one of my favourites because they are very filling, satisfying and make the perfect contract to a hot and spicy curry. Makes 6 Ingredients 90z/255g Gram

Wheat free bread suitable for vegans is horribly expensive, not to mention hard to get hold of. Tesco make a passable loaf but the price is about 5 times what I would have spent on a wheat loaf, and you gate about one third of the quantity. It's far from good value! I decided to have a go at baking my own wheat free bread, so I invested in some Freee gluten free bread flour and started experimenting with my bread maker. Whilst I used to make all my bread by hand, I tend to use my bread maker these days for convenience and speed, so the bread maker method is the one I will be focusing on in this blog. The Freee flour made by Doves Farm, is made from blend of rice, tapioca and potato flour, with added xanthan gum.  If you're not familiar with xanthan gum, it's an additive that adds the elasticity missing from most gluten free flours and stops your baked goods from crumbling to bits when you touch them. Freee have a standard recipe for a white loaf on the packet w

I enjoy traditional potato rostis and hash browns, but I've always thought that the flavour could use jazzing up a bit. After discovering gram flour and learning how to make vegetable pakoras from my friend's Persian Mummy, I decided to make my own twist on the humble potato rosti and make it even more delicious. This special rosti is very tasty and makes an ideal to accompaniment to your dinner and is perfectly suited to a 'morning after the night before' fry-up. I don't have a photo at the moment because I keep eating them and forgetting to take a pic... (oops!)  They should end up looking something like this handy library image... The secret to making them in a neat circle shape is to use egg poaching rings or crumpet rings to form them into a coherent shape. You can even use a heart shaped one if you like! You only need one ring to make a batch, as you use it over and over again. So here we go...knives and forks at the ready! Makes 8 approx

Gram flour is one of my newest and favouritest (is that a word?) flours to cook with. I was first introduced to it a few years back by a friend whose Persian mother was kind enough to teach me some of her delicious, traditional middle eastern recipes.  What is it? Gram flour is usually described a chickpea flour, but if you take a look at the ingredients on the packet of any of the brands you can buy, most also contain a percentage of yellow lentil flour too. It's a highly versatile flour made from pulses that has many uses. Where can I buy Gram flour? It's easier to get hold of than you might think. Pop into your local Asian food store, or if you don't have one nearby, the bigger supermarkets here in the UK normally stock it in their Indian/Asian food aisle. Failing that, you can always order some online from specialist food retailers or on Amazon. What is it used for? Being made from pulses rather than grains, this flour is higher in protein than your reg

A newly made batch of Burmese Tofu, cooling in the tin. I've accumulated quite a lot of exotic recipes since going vegan, but this one has to be one of my favourites, and as it only needs 3 low cost ingredients, it's a brilliant vegan hack too! Much as I really like the normal soya tofu products, tofu can be expensive and it's not something my rather tight budget can stretch to very frequently as I'd like. I came across Burmese tofu for the first time in Autumn last year, and I absolutely love it. It's easy to make, cheap and has a really satisfying texture that reminds me of boiled eggs. And best of all, it's made using one of my favourite vegan and wheat free ingredients - gram flour. The texture is firmer than silken soya tofu, but softer than the firmer varieties. And a word of warning - don't try to put it in a tofu press to make it firmer, that won't work. (I've tried, it was messy!) This tofu can be cut into slices or cubes, an