SPAGHETTI "BOLOGNESE"

Actually spaghetti bolognese is a meal that i make when i´m too lazy to cook anything complicated or uses a lot of time. But a friend of mine told me about his yummie bolognese sauce he made with red wine and other yummie ingredients. So i decided to do this aswell and..... this was a good desicion!!! This was definitely the best bolognese sauce i´ve ever had!!! It need´s a lot of time but the result was great!!


Ingredients:

• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1/4 - 1/2 piece of celery, finely chopped
• 1 onion + 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 4 - 5 brown champignons, finely chopped
• 160g granulated tvp
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• about 175 - 200ml red wine
• vegetable stock
• tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• olive oil
• salt, pepper, paprika powder to taste
• spaghetti

1. Cook tvp according to package instruction. I cook my TVP in a strong vegetable stock, 1/2 fresh onion and a rosemary branch. Drain well!
2. Heat some oil in a pan and sauté the prepared veggies. Take it out of the pan and set aside. Now add the TVP to the pan and fry until brown. This will take some time, but it´s worth, i promise!! Season with salt, pepper and some paprika powder.
3. Add the veggies and deglaze with the red wine and let it boil briefly. 
4. Pour with the chopped tomatoes and some vegetable stock and add the bay leaf. And this is the part that needs a lot of time! Let it cook over low flame as long as possible. I think i was cooking the sauce for about 1 hour, but the longer the better!
5. Meantime pour a little broth. At the end, stir in tomato paste and season with salt and pepper!! I think i had 2-3 tbsp of tomato paste, but you can use as much as you want. It depends on how tomatoey you like it.
6. Serve with spaghetti and vegan parmesan!

CREAMY POTATO SALAD

Since weeks i wanna try a vegan potato salad and now it was time for it. I never made one before and i was surprised how easy it is. Actually my mum cuts potatoes for the salad in slices but for my recipe i used some really small red and yellow potatoes and cutted them into half pieces. This looks a little bit more rustic, but i really liked it. You don´t have to add carrots and peas to the salad ( i think these are the typical german ingredients). Just add what you want, i´m sure it will also be great.

 Ingredients:

• small potatoes (i don´t know how much i had, but it should be something about 1 kg), halfed/quartered
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1,5 - 2 cups green peas
• 3 pickled cucumbers, diced
• 4 tbsp vegan mayonaise
• 2 - 3 tbsp soy-yogurt
• 1-2 tbsp mustard
• 1 tsp agave syrup
• salt and pepper to taste
• a bunch of dill and chive, chopped
• some liquid of the cucumbers to taste

1. 1. Heat some salted water in a pot and cook the potatoes. They shouldn´t be too soft, otherwise you´ll get more a mashed potato salad.
   2. In the last 2-3 minutes add the carrots and frozen green peas to the water.
   3. Rinse all veggies in ice water to halt cooking.
   4. Give it to a salad bowl and add the diced cucumbers. Season well with salt and pepper and let it cool. 
   5. In a small bowl mix mayonaise, yogurt, mustard, agave syrup, herbs and cucumber water and season with salt and pepper. Don´t be too accurate with the amount. The taste depends on the taste of your ingredients. So for example... my mayonaise has a sour and salty taste, that´s why i also added agave syrup and needed no more extra salt. 
   6. If the veggies are cooled, add the dressing and mix well. Put the bowl into the refrigerator and let it rest for at least 2 hours before eating so that the dressing can soak into the potatoes.

VEGAN SWEET HOI-SIN DUCK WITH STIR-FRIED NOODLES

Yes... this should be my last recipe with seitan or vital wheat gluten, cause my doctor diagnosed me with a gluten-allergy. This is why i have to dispense with it for a long time. Too bad, cause the taste of the duck breast filet was amazing! The recipe for the marinade is from a grillbook called "fired up". I just added some extra flavours. =) so try it out and convince yourself !!

Ingredients for the Sweet Hoi-Sin Duck:

• 3 duck breast filet from alles-vegetarisch
• 2 tbsp light soy-sauce
• 3 tbsp Hoi-Sin-Sauce
• 3 tbsp ketchup
• 3 tbsp agave syrup
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• some fresh coriander leaves
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1. Wash off the filets under cold water and dab it off with a kitchen towel
2. Cruciform scarify but not too deep.
3. Mix all the other ingredients in a flat box and marinate the "fake-meat" in it.
4. Heat a pan and fry well.
5. You can eat it now, or put it in a casserole with the rest of the marinade and grill it.

Ingredients for the Stir-Fried-Noodles: (sorry again for my inaccurate amount)

• chinese egg-free noodles 
• carrots, cut into strips
• broccoli florets
• onions, cut into coarse pieces
• red pepper, cut into strips
• china coal, cut into coarse pieces
• a small piece of ginger, grated
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• Hoi-Sin-Sauce
• soy-Sauce
• some sugar, salt and pepper to taste
• peanut oil
• coriander leaves

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to package intructions. Drain, rinse in cold water, drain again, and set aside.
2. In a  pan, heat about 1 tablespoon of peanut oil over medium high heat and stir fry the garlic, ginger  and the vegetables. Season with a little salt, and stir fry until the vegetables are cooked but still crisp/crunchy.This shouldn't take too long. Set aside in a bowl.
3. In the cleared pan heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat and add your noodles. Toss them around, get them well coated in the oil, and break up any clumps.  Pan fry the noodles, stirring and flipping them frequently until some of the noodles get a nice and crunchy golden brown exterior. Then season with the Hoi-Sin-Sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Taste and see if it needs additional seasoning. add the vegetables into the skillet, toss until everything is evenly distributed into the noodles.
4. Sprinkle with some coriander leaves and serve it with the grilled duck breast filet.