Gourmandize with a good conscience: three vegan recipes

Cooking vegan means going completely without animal products – not just without meat and fish, but also without eggs, milk, honey and cream. So, what can I eat, after all? Won’t I miss something? Does it even taste good? Isn’t it monotonous? Will it really still my hunger? When it comes to the topic of vegan nutrition, there are so many prejudices that have to be overcome. Our Green Pearls^® partners demonstrate that purely vegetal dishes or pastries don’t have to be any less varied, nutritious or tasty than the versions containing animal products: For starters, there is a spectacular Thai salad à la Keemala, LA VIMEA contributed these delicious ravioli as a main course and their tasty Raspberry Beetroot Rose Cake completes the menu. Enjoy!

Spring Spinach Salad

Ingredients for the salad:
400 g fresh baby spinach
180 g fresh strawberries (ca. 10 pcs.)
1 avocado
200 g smoked coconut meat
5 g edible flowers
5 g pink peppercorns
5 g sea salt
20 ml Sicilian Lemon Oil

Ingredients for the Creamy Cashew Nut Dressing:
800 g organic cashew nut
50 ml fresh lemon juice
30 g finely chopped, boiled garlic
15 g chopped chives
20 g fine Himalaya salt
200 ml coconut water

Vegan ravioli with pumpkin, cabbage & hazelnuts

For 4 people, time required: 2 hours

Ingredients for the pumpkin filling:
500 g Hokkaido pumpkin (without seeds)
1 bay leaf
1 small laurel branch
lemon zest of half a lemon
1 dash of cinnamon

Ingredients for the ravioli dough:
300 g wheat flour
100 g spelt flour
200 ml hot water
5 g salt
10 ml extra virgin olive oil
(Tip: use the cold-pressed biovegan olive oil by Biotique Agrivilla i pini)

Furthermore:
400 g palm kale (cavolo nero)
10 ice cubes (optional)
100 g whole hazelnuts
1 pinch of chilli powder
1 sprig of thyme
Pumpkin seed oil

Cut the Hokkaido pumpkin into pieces of about 2 cm. In a large bowl, mix the pieces with olive oil, salt, pepper, bay leaf, rosemary and lemon zest. Bake for 15 minutes at 200 ° C until the mixture has a soft consistency. Remove the spices and purée the pieces until the mixture is creamy.

For the dough, mix the flours with the salt and add very hot water and olive oil. Wrap the dough in foil and allow it to rise for one hour. Divide the dough into two halves and roll them out to a thickness of 2 mm.

Spread the pumpkin mass on the first halve. The remaining cream can later be used as decoration. Sprinkle a little water on the second piece of dough and put it onto the first layer. Avoid air bubbles as far as possible. Now use a ravioli cutter or similar device to cut equal pieces of ravioli.

Remove the stalk of the palm kale, so that only the soft parts remain. Cook for four minutes in a pot with hot water and allow the palm kale to cool on ice cubes. (This is to preserve the green color.) Then heat it in a pan with olive oil and add a little hot chili powder.

Heat the pumpkin seed oil in a pan with a little thyme. Meanwhile cook the ravioli in hot salt water for two minutes. Then place the ravioli and a little cooking water into the pan and continue to simmer until the liquid has been completely absorbed. Serve the ravioli, the remaining pumpkin cream and the hazelnuts on a plate with the palm kale.

Raspberry Beetroot Rose Cake

Time required: 40 min

Ingredients for the base:
250 g white spelt flour
100 g pumpkin seed flour
80 g coconut blossom sugar
80 g sunflower oil
100 g almond milk
2 drops of rose essence

Ingredients for the cream:
400 g almond milk
100 g beetroot juice
30 g raspberries
250 g dark chocolate
1 tbsp olive oil
Herbs and flowers as decoration

Mix spelt flour, pumpkin seed flour and sugar in a large bowl. Then add the liquids and mix thoroughly. Form it to a disk that is ca. 7 mm thick, place it in an oiled round baking mould and bake at 170 ° C for 15 minutes.

In another bowl, mix the beetroot juice and the cornstarch. Meanwhile, bring the almond milk, oil and sugar to the boil. Add the cold beetroot juice mixture and let it boil until it has a creamy consistency. Place the hot cream into the mold on the base and allow it to cool.

In the meantime, melt chocolate using the double-boiler method and add oil. Spread the mixture on the cake and decorate with raspberries, herbs and flowers.