About Matthias Kail

After several years of working as head chef in well-known Amsterdam high end restaurants, Matthias and two of his former colleagues chose to leave the traditional restaurant setting and open vanVeg, a take away and catering business in Haarlem, offering a 100% plant based menu. Matthias has always been surprised at the general lack of creativity when it comes to using only plant based ingredients. Most traditional cuisines already comprise a wide range of vegan examples, that have either been forgotten or are considered to be of inferior interest. In their business, Matthias and his colleagues try to give those dishes a well-deserved revival and adapt them -where needed- to modern needs and standards.After several years of working as head chef in well-known Amsterdam high end restaurants, Matthias and two of his former colleagues chose to leave the traditional restaurant setting and open vanVeg, a take away and catering business in Haarlem, offering a 100% plant based menu. Matthias has always been surprised at the general lack of creativity when it comes to using only plant based ingredients. Most traditional cuisines already comprise a wide range of vegan examples, that have either been forgotten or are considered to be of inferior interest. In their business, Matthias and his colleagues try to give those dishes a well-deserved revival and adapt them -where needed- to modern needs and standards.

What inspires you to cook with less meat?

Having grown up with a mainly meatless diet due to economic reasons, I have developed a predilection for vegetables and fruit at an early age already. Unfortunately, what was and still is offered as vegetarian and/or vegan alternatives in restaurants and other eateries leaves much to be desired on a creative and executive level. Most chefs still see vegetables and pulses as being a mere accompaniment for a piece of meat or fowl but will frown upon their use as the main hero of a dish. Feeling rebellious to the established patterns, I have always seen it as my challenge to adapt cooking techniques and recipes in a way as to create a dish that is interesting and satisfying to vegans and non-vegans alike. My love for experimentation with new ingredients, exploring different styles of cooking and baking and ultimately my love for good food that leaves the consumer with a clean conscience are my foremost motivation!

About this recipe

Brownies surely must be THE best known and most widely enjoyed pastry known to our western civilizations. Yet, there are only few recipes that will suit people choosing to avoid ingredients of animal origin. At vanVeg, we not only try to bring change to that fact, but even take a step further, by creating a 100% vegan AND gluten-free variety of this all-time-pleaser.

Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Yield: 1 baking tray/brownie tin of 20x30 cm (10 portions, approx.)
Preparation time: 2x20 min.
Baking time: 50 min.

Ingredients

Almond-Caramel-Crunch:
250 g almonds
150 g caster sugar
2 tbsp cold water
1 tsp salt

Brownie batter:
300 g chickpea flour
150 g cocoa powder
175 g caster sugar
200 g currants
1 pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
300 ml cold water
250 ml sunflower oil

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius or to just in between 3 and 4 on a gas oven.

First we prepare the almond-caramel-crunch:

· Chop the almonds coarsely and roast them in a dry pan on medium heat, till they start turning a golden brown (you can also use shop-bought pre-roasted and pre-chopped almonds!). Empty the roasted almond splinters on a plate and let them cool to room temperature.

· Prepare an baking sheet or similar heat-proof plate and line it with grease-proof paper. Set aside.

· Put the sugar and the water in a pan (pans with non-stick layers work best!) and heat it on a medium flame till the sugar dissolves and starts boiling. Leave the pan on the stove till the sugar — that has now turned into a kind of syrup — starts caramelizing. Stir as little as possible, using a wooden spoon rather than a metal one (metal conducts heat and can get extremely hot!).

· Keep heating on a medium-high flame till the syrup has reached a dark-golden hue. Be VERY careful: caramel reaches temperatures of just under 200 degrees and is extremely sticky. You do NOT want to get drops of it on your skin! Quickly pour the caramel on the previously prepared tray, spread it out with a wooden spoon or a heat proof spatula, and let it cool down completely before proceeding.

· Crush the caramel with a rolling pin, ye olde meat tenderizer 😊 or any other heavy, blunt object (the bottom of a sauce pan works just fine!) into small shards and crumbs. Mix with the chopped almonds and salt and set aside.

Now to the brownie batter:

· Prepare and measure out all listed ingredients.

· Prepare a deep oven tray (20x30 cm approx., 4 cm deep) or heat proof oven dish and line it with grease-proof paper (alternatively — when using a brownie tray with several compartments — brush the compartments with a bit of sunflower oil and dust it with chickpea flour).

· Place all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well, using a whisk or a wooden spoon (I suggest, you avoid an electric mixer at that stage, otherwise you and your kitchen will be covered in brown dust!)

· Add the liquids to the dry mix and stir well, till you reach a thick batter. You may use an electric mixer at this stage!

· Pour the batter on the oven tray and spread out evenly with a rubber spatula.

· Sprinkle the batter with the almond-caramel-crunch, making sure that you distribute the crunchy bits evenly. Pat the brownie VERY gently with the flat palm of your hand, to ensure the crunch adheres well to the batter, but make sure not to press them into the batter itself.
Put the tray in the pre-heated oven (using a medium slot) and bake at 180 degrees.

· After 50 minutes, prick the center of the brownie with a wooden skewer. If it comes out clean, the brownie is ready, if not, add a couple of minutes to the baking time and repeat the skewer test, till the brownie is completely cooked through.

· Let the brownie cool completely before you take it out of the baking tin and cut it into pieces.

For more about Matthias Kail, follow and connect with him on:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/vanvegnetherlands
e-mail: m.e.kail@vanveg.com
the web: https://vanveg.com
instagram: @vanveghaarlem

Chocolate Fudge Brownie was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mexican Salad Wrap with Creamy Avocado Dressing
(1 serving)
เม็กซิกันสลัดแรปกับซอสอะโวคาโด (สำหรับ 1 จาน)

CREAMY AVOCADO DRESSING
ส่วนผสมสำหรับซอสอะโวคาโด
1 avocado peeled and pitted
¼ cup vegan salad cream
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1–2 teaspoons lime juice
salt & pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

อะโวคาโดคว้านเอาแต่เนื้อ 1 ลูก
น้ำสลัดครีมมังสวิรัติ ¼ ถ้วย
ผักชีฝรั่งหั่นแล้ว 1ช้อนโต๊ะ
น้ำเลมอน 1–2 ช้อนชา
เกลือ
พริกไทย
วิธีทำ
ผสมวัตถุดิบทั้งหมดให้เข้ากัน ปรุงรสตามชอบ

The wrap
1/4 bell pepper (any color) deseeded and diced
1/4 onion sliced
¼ tomato diced
1/4 cup corn
¼ cup beans drained and rinsed
1 cup baby spinach
2–3 romaine lettuce
1 large tortilla

ส่วนผสมสำหรับเม็กซิกันแรป
พริกหยวกหลากสีหั่นเป็นลูกเต๋า ¼ ลูก
หอมใหญ่หั่นสไลด์ ¼ ลูก
มะเขือเทศหั่นเป็นลูกเต๋า ¼ ลูก
ข้าวโพด ¼ ถ้วย
ถั่วล้างสะอาด ¼ ถ้วย
ผักโขมอ่อน 1 ถ้วย
ผักกาดขาว 2–3 ใบ
ตอติลญ่าแผ่นใหญ่ 1แผ่น

Instructions
1. Prepare Creamy Avocado Fresh Herb Dressing. Set aside until ready to use.
2. Spread the avocado dressing on the tortilla sheet.
3. Layer the baby spinach and lettuce on a tortilla, followed by adding bell pepper, onion, tomato, corn and beans.
4. Enclose both ends of the tortilla and roll up.
5. Cut each wrap in half and serve with lime wedges.

วิธีทำ
1.ทำซอสอะโวคาโดก่อนตามวิธีทำด้านบน
2.ทาซอสอะโวคาโดลงบนแผ่นตอติลญ่า
3.วางผักโขมลงบนแผ่นตอติลญ่าที่ทาซอสแล้ว ตามด้วยพริกหยวก หอมใหญ่ มะเขือเทศ ข้าวโพดและถั่ว
4.ใช้มือพับด้านข้างของแผ่นตอติลญ่าไม่ให้ผักร่วง ก่อนม้วนเป็นโรล
5.ใช้มีดผ่าครึ่งแล้วตกแต่งด้วยมะนาวฝาน

Chef Fin Suparadi Siwapornpitak
A chef and a co-founder of Chefu Town, kid’s cooking school.
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/chefutown/

Mexican Salad Wrap with Creamy Avocado Dressing was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Healthy Chocolate Ball
(for 6–7 chocolate balls)
เฮลท์ตี้ ช็อคบอล (สูตรสำหรับทำช็อคบอล 6–7 ลูก)

1/3 cup almond powder
100 g date palm
2 1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder
50 g compound chocolate
Sprinkles

แป้งอัลมอนด์ ⅓ ถ้วยตวง
อินทผาลัม 100 กรัม
ผงโกโก้ 2 ½ ช้อนโต๊ะ
ช็อกโกแลต 50 กรัม
น้ำตาลโรยหน้า หรือธัญพืช

1. Place almond powder, date palm and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl and blend until they have a crumbly texture.
2. Knead the dough with your hands and roll them into small balls.
3. Dip each ball into melted compound chocolate and decorate with sprinkles.

วิธีทำ
1. เทส่วนผสมทุกอย่างลงในเครื่องปั่น (ยกเว้นช็อกโกแลต) ปั่นจนกระทั่งส่วนผสมกลายเป็นก้อนเนื้อครีม
2. หยิบก้อนแป้งออกจากเครื่องปั่นลงในที่พัก แล้วเริ่มปั้นให้เป็นก้อนๆพอดีคำ
3. จุ่มช็อคบอลลงในช็อกโกแลตที่ละลายแล้ว จากนั้นตกแต่งช็อคบอลด้วยน้ำตาลโรยหน้าหรือธัญพืช

Chef Fin Suparadi Siwapornpitak
A chef and a co-founder of Chefu Town, kid’s cooking school.
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/chefutown/

Healthy Chocolate Ball was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About Michele

Michele Genest lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where she writes The Boreal Chef cooking column for Yukon, North of Ordinary Magazine. Her big enthusiasm is to find new ways to cook with northern ingredients, whether they live and grow wild in the boreal forest or its lakes and rivers, or are cultivated in northern gardens. She often wanders out of the north to explore ingredients and techniques from other cuisines, bring them back to the Yukon and create some great north-south kitchen mash-ups.

Why did you decide to partner up with Greenpeace?

Greenpeace is doing vital work raising awareness of and appreciation for the boreal forest as a key habitat for all manner of life. I especially like their approach to the forest as a cultural landscape that includes the people who live here, first and foremost Indigenous people, but newcomers as well. As someone who lives here, I appreciate Greenpeace’s boreal forest campaign, and wanted to help in the best way I can — through food. I don’t know if people generally think of the forest as a source of delicious wild foods, but my hope is that through these videos we’ve made together the forest will seem not just miles and miles of endless trees, but a source of beautiful sustenance.”

What inspires you to cook ingredients from the boreal forest?

When I first arrived in the North 25 years ago I got to know and love the boreal forest by going berry picking with friends. Those early experiences led to more foraging excursions into the woods, and as my knowledge grew so did my appreciation for this beautiful place. Creating and sharing dishes and recipes made with the foods of the boreal forest helps me connect to the land and to the people who live here. I love it.

Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce

3 Tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
2½ cups (600 mL) mixed wild mushrooms, chopped
8 to 10 dried morel mushrooms, soaked in water for 30 minutes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp (15 mL) soya sauce
¼ cup (60 mL) cognac or Calvados
1½ cups (350 mL) almond milk
2 Tbsp of flour

Heat olive oil in a cast iron frying pan over medium heat. When oil is sizzling, add mushrooms. Squeeze excess water out of dried morels, chop and add to the pan. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring. When mushrooms are just beginning to turn golden brown, add garlic. Stir in soya sauce, followed by the cognac. Cook until cognac has reduced by half, sprinkle 2 Tbsp of flour over top of the mushrooms, mix thoroughly and cook for 2 minutes before stirring in almond milk. Cook until the sauce has thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes, being careful not to let it boil over. Pour finished sauce over pasta and sprinkle with fresh basil.

Makes 4 servings.

Adapted from The Boreal Gourmet, Adventures in Northern Cooking, by Michele Genest. Harbour Publishing, 2010.

Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About Michele

Michele Genest lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where she writes The Boreal Chef cooking column for Yukon, North of Ordinary Magazine. Her big enthusiasm is to find new ways to cook with northern ingredients, whether they live and grow wild in the boreal forest or its lakes and rivers, or are cultivated in northern gardens. She often wanders out of the north to explore ingredients and techniques from other cuisines, bring them back to the Yukon and create some great north-south kitchen mash-ups.

Why did you decide to partner up with Greenpeace?

Greenpeace is doing vital work raising awareness of and appreciation for the boreal forest as a key habitat for all manner of life. I especially like their approach to the forest as a cultural landscape that includes the people who live here, first and foremost Indigenous people, but newcomers as well. As someone who lives here, I appreciate Greenpeace’s boreal forest campaign, and wanted to help in the best way I can — through food. I don’t know if people generally think of the forest as a source of delicious wild foods, but my hope is that through these videos we’ve made together the forest will seem not just miles and miles of endless trees, but a source of beautiful sustenance.”

What inspires you to cook ingredients from the boreal forest?

When I first arrived in the North 25 years ago I got to know and love the boreal forest by going berry picking with friends. Those early experiences led to more foraging excursions into the woods, and as my knowledge grew so did my appreciation for this beautiful place. Creating and sharing dishes and recipes made with the foods of the boreal forest helps me connect to the land and to the people who live here. I love it.

Cranberry Chutney

2 Tbsp (30 mL) olive oil
½ cup (125 mL) chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp (2.5 mL) ground cardamom
½ tsp (2.5 mL) ground cinnamon
½ tsp (2.5 mL) salt
pinch of ground cloves
3½ cups (825 mL) low bush cranberries, fresh or frozen
½ cup (125 mL) sugar
2½ Tbsp (22.5 mL) balsamic vinegar

Sauté onion in oil over medium heat until translucent. Stir in garlic and spices. Add cranberries and stir until the cranberries begin to pop. Stir in sugar and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often. Pour into hot sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Makes about 2½ cups (600 mL) chutney.

Adapted from The Boreal Gourmet, Adventures in Northern Cooking, by Michele Genest. Harbour Publishing, 2010.

Cranberry Chutney was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About Michele

Michele Genest lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where she writes The Boreal Chef cooking column for Yukon, North of Ordinary Magazine. Her big enthusiasm is to find new ways to cook with northern ingredients, whether they live and grow wild in the boreal forest or its lakes and rivers, or are cultivated in northern gardens. She often wanders out of the north to explore ingredients and techniques from other cuisines, bring them back to the Yukon and create some great north-south kitchen mash-ups.

Why did you decide to partner up with Greenpeace?

Greenpeace is doing vital work raising awareness of and appreciation for the boreal forest as a key habitat for all manner of life. I especially like their approach to the forest as a cultural landscape that includes the people who live here, first and foremost Indigenous people, but newcomers as well. As someone who lives here, I appreciate Greenpeace’s boreal forest campaign, and wanted to help in the best way I can — through food. I don’t know if people generally think of the forest as a source of delicious wild foods, but my hope is that through these videos we’ve made together the forest will seem not just miles and miles of endless trees, but a source of beautiful sustenance.”

What inspires you to cook ingredients from the boreal forest?

When I first arrived in the North 25 years ago I got to know and love the boreal forest by going berry picking with friends. Those early experiences led to more foraging excursions into the woods, and as my knowledge grew so did my appreciation for this beautiful place. Creating and sharing dishes and recipes made with the foods of the boreal forest helps me connect to the land and to the people who live here. I love it.

Labrador Tea Custard

2 cups (480 mL) soy or almond milk
2 Tbsp (30 mL) Labrador tea (substitute 1 Tbsp (15 mL) dried rosemary)
1 Tbsp (15 mL) Labrador Tea-infused vodka (substitute 1 Tbsp (15 mL) bourbon)
2 Tbsp of cornstarch + 2 Tbsp of soy or almond milk
¼ cup (60 mL) sugar

Preheat oven to 300F (150C). Heat soy or almond milk, Labrador tea and flavouring in a medium saucepan over medium heat until steam rises. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 15 minutes. Whisk 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of soy or almond milk.

Pour milk mixture through a strainer into a measuring cup with a spout, then pour slowly into cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly. Return to the heat until custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Set 6 or 7 ½-cup (125-mL) ramekins in a deep roasting pan. Break up any bubbles in the custard mixture with a spatula, then pour into the ramekins. Boil a kettle of water and pour into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes. The centres will still be jiggly but will firm up as the custard cools.

Serve warm or cold. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Makes six or seven ½-cup (125-mL) servings.

Adapted from The Boreal Gourmet, Adventures in Northern Cooking, by Michele Genest. Harbour Publishing, 2010.

Labrador Tea Custard was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About Jenny

I started Free Pour Jenny’s in 2016, combining my interests in mixology, foraging, gardening, and alchemy.

I create small-batch, handcrafted cocktail bitters using homegrown and wild, foraged ingredients in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (in northern Canada).

The boreal forest that surrounds Whitehorse is a perfect place for foraging for these amazing ingredients. My ingredients are hand-picked or grown in small amounts, and the bitters are then made with the fresh ingredients during the short growing season. As such, some flavours are seasonal and will be available in limited quantity.

What inspires you to use ingredients from the boreal forest?

The uniqueness of the ingredients inspires me. The fact that these ingredients are so unlike what you can find in a grocery store is motivating. It makes me feel more creative in finding uses for these beautiful and delicious things.

The history of this region inspires me. The fact that people have used these ingredients for such a long time, in a sustainable and meaningful way, is yet another reason to continue to forage and to discover new ways to incorporate the boreal forest’s diversity into our lives.

This is a stunning part of the world, and I hope you can visit. In any case, Free Pour Jenny’s bitters are truly the essence of the Yukon in a wee bottle!

Recipe

1½ oz Vodka
½ oz Crème de Cassis
3 dashes rose water
4 oz soda water
7 drops Free Pour Jenny’s Rosehip Bitters
Wild rose petals, fresh or dried

Combine all ingredients except rose petals in a mixing glass filled with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a Collins or rocks glass filled with ice, and garnish with rose petals. Cheers!

For more about Jennifer, follow and connect with her on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freepourjennys/
Website: https://www.freepourjennys.com/

Rose Gold Cocktail was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About Jenny

I started Free Pour Jenny’s in 2016, combining my interests in mixology, foraging, gardening, and alchemy.

I create small-batch, handcrafted cocktail bitters using homegrown and wild, foraged ingredients in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (in northern Canada).

The boreal forest that surrounds Whitehorse is a perfect place for foraging for these amazing ingredients. My ingredients are hand-picked or grown in small amounts, and the bitters are then made with the fresh ingredients during the short growing season. As such, some flavours are seasonal and will be available in limited quantity.

What inspires you to use ingredients from the boreal forest?

The uniqueness of the ingredients inspires me. The fact that these ingredients are so unlike what you can find in a grocery store is motivating. It makes me feel more creative in finding uses for these beautiful and delicious things.

The history of this region inspires me. The fact that people have used these ingredients for such a long time, in a sustainable and meaningful way, is yet another reason to continue to forage and to discover new ways to incorporate the boreal forest’s diversity into our lives.

This is a stunning part of the world, and I hope you can visit. In any case, Free Pour Jenny’s bitters are truly the essence of the Yukon in a wee bottle!

Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup (250 mL) wild rose hips
1 Tbsp (15 mL) high bush cranberries
1 tsp (5 mL) organic cacao nibs
½ tsp (5 mL) organic gentian root
½ tsp (5 mL) organic wild cherry bark
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups (480 mL) vodka, 50% ABV
1 Tbsp (15 mL) organic blue agave syrup

Combine all ingredients except the syrup in a clean 1-litre Mason jar. Allow the jar to rest for 3 weeks in a cool place, shaking the jar daily.

Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined funnel into another clean 1-litre Mason jar. Add the agave syrup to the jar, shaking to mix. Allow the jar to rest for 3 days in a cool place, shaking the jar daily.

Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined funnel into clean glass bottles with either dasher caps or glass tube dropper lids.

Yields approximately four100ml bottles.

*Bitters will keep almost indefinitely if stored in a cool, dark place (not in the refrigerator).

For more about Jennifer, follow and connect with her on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freepourjennys/
Website: https://www.freepourjennys.com/

Rosehip Bitters was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About Johanna

Johanna is a nutritionist and yoga teacher based in Aachen, Germany. She teaches yoga classes, workshops and gives private trainings. She offers holistic and ayurvedic nutrition coaching, guidance in detox programs and collects and shares her cooking highlights and recipes at www.livesimplicity.de. She is passionate about combining her two professions and inspires and supports others to cultivate a more conscious, sustainable and healthy lifestyle — internally and externally.

What inspires you to eat less meat?

Raised in a family of vegetarians, cutting out meat was never really a challenge for me. However, being born into a specific environment is one thing, but it’s another matter to start thinking critically yourself and also question the habits and beliefs of the people surrounding you. The more I learned about food and its industry, the more detailed and substantial my perspective grew. The decision to keep being a vegetarian was strengthened throughout my studies in biology, nutrition and health and experiences I made working with practitioners in India and Indonesia. It keeps surprising me that so many people consider a life without animal products as complicated and boring. Proving the opposite is part of my personal ambition.

About this recipe

The vegetables incorporated in this recipe can easily be replaced according to your own taste. I wanted to focus on seasonal foods and give it a more grounding character using roots and healthy oils. A fresher summer version could be using fresh mint and a lemon-tahini dressing. For the current season, I wanted to give the meal a spicy twist and created a peanut sauce, which I combine with pretty much everything in my kitchen at the moment. Avocado toasts, tofu dishes, dips for oven veggies… it even tastes amazing as a pasta sauce.

Ingredients

For about 12 rolls:

1 medium size cabbage
1/2 avocado
1 carrot
1 beetroot
1/2 red capsicum
5 cm cucumber
1 spring onion
black and white sesame seeds

For the creamy peanut sauce:

12 tbsp peanut butter (make sure it’s a high quality product, no added sugars or fats)
1 yellow chili
2 garlic cloves
3 tbsp soy sauce
Water

Method

1. Remove the outer leaves and the wooden end of the cabbage, wash it and put it into a cooking pot.
2. Add water until the cabbage is fully covered and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Wash and finely slice carrot, beetroot, cucumber, capsicum and spring onion.
4. Halve the avocado and cut little rectangles in one half of the avocado using a sharp knife.
5. Place peanut butter, peeled garlic, washed chili, soy sauce and 2 tbsp of water into the food processor and blend until you obtain a homogenous paste. Add as much water as needed for your preferred consistency.
6. Take the cabbage out of the cooking pot and rinse under cold water to cool it down and protect your hands from burning.
7. Carefully, remove the leaves of the cabbage one at a time until you reach the very middle, where the leaves are very small and quite hard.
   Remove the hard areas from the leaves so you’re left with soft and flexible leaves, just as the leaves of iceberg lettuce.
8. Fill the cabbage leaves with the veggies, avocado, peanut sauce and sesame seeds and roll them into small parcels.

Enjoy these vegan rainbow rolls warm or cold, as a starter, main or snack in between.

For more about Johanna, follow and connect with her on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/___livesimplicity___/
Website: http://livesimplicity.de

Vegan Summer Rolls was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

About Jenny

Jenny is a freelance chef, cookery teacher and writer based in Bristol, England. She has written a number of cookbooks including Pulse and is passionate about getting legumes and whole grains onto more mainstream menus. In 2016 Jenny was named the United Nations FAO European Special Ambassador for the Year of Pulses. Jenny works with Humane Society International UK, leading their Forward Food workshops, training and engaging with chefs in the catering industry to put more plants on plates.

What inspires you to eat less meat?

Cooking and eating less meat is an absolute no brainer for me; removing the meat from a menu means that I quite naturally include a wider selection of tasty and exciting vegetables making my diet so much healthier and more varied. I oppose the factory farming of animals so cheap meat is absolutely not an option, plants offer so many wonderful, economical alternatives. Finally, I’m truly concerned about future of our planet; the devastating environmental costs of meat production are just too huge to ignore.

About these recipes

Chickpea flour, also known as besan or gram flour, is inexpensive and packed with wonderful fibre and protein. Chickpea pancakes, or flatbreads, are traditional in both the Mediterranean and Indian kitchens and are an absolute cinch to make.

You can alternate the herbs or spices in the recipes to suit your larder or the season.

Italian Farinata
Makes 4–6

In Italy, farinata is usually baked on a flat tray in the oven but I find it easier, and just as delicious, to fry it in a pan, as a slightly thick pancake.

Ingredients

200 g chickpea flour
1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp salt
400 ml water
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Method

Tip the chickpea flour, salt and rosemary into a large jug and slowly whisk in the water and half the olive oil until you have a loose, lump-free batter. Rest the batter for at least 30 minutes.

Heat up a small crepe or omelette pan, add a little olive oil and then tip in about a 2 cm thickness of the batter. Fry the pancake over a medium flame, turning it over carefully once the underside is cooked and browned after about 3 or 4 minutes. Cook the second side and then repeat the process with the remaining batter.

Eat alone as a snack, piled up with a tomato salad or served with roasted pepper and aubergine.

Indian Cheela
Makes 4–6

Indian cheela, or spiced chickpea pancakes, are often served for breakfast but I love to eat them at any time of day served with a fresh salad and some really good chutney or pickles.

This batter is a little thicker than the Italian version and includes baking powder for a lighter texture.

Ingredients

200 g chickpea flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp toasted cumin seeds, ground
1/2 tsp toasted coriander seeds, ground
1/2 tsp turmeric
300 ml water
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Large handful of fresh coriander, chopped
100 g green peas (if using frozen, do thaw first)
Vegetable oil for frying.

Method

Mix together the chickpea flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a large jug, slowly whisk in the water until you have a smooth batter and then add your greens.

Heat up a small crepe or omelette pan, add a little vegetable oil and then tip in about a 2 cm thickness of the batter. Fry the pancake over a medium flame, turning it over carefully once the underside is cooked and browned after about 3 or 4 minutes. Brown the second side and then serve with your favourite chutney, pickle or coconut yoghurt.

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Versatile Chickpea Pancakes was originally published in Recipes for a Healthy World: A Greenpeace Cookbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.