vegan taco pie (recipe)

 

In Sweden the classic Friday dinner since a couple of decades (?) is concidered to be tacos. I’m not a great fan of tacos though, so it’s a very rare (practically non-existing really) meal for me. However. This savoury vegan taco flavoured pie I’ve been meaning to make for ages, original recipe in Swedish here - https://planti.se/recept/tacopaj

First I searched in vain for the Planti dairyfree cooking fraiche paprika chili in grocery stores for a long time. When I finally stumbled over them I still didn’t got around to making it because I’ve always found making pie crust is such a time consuming bore. And it felt like a million years since I last made a savoury pie, I’m not a huge fan of those either. Or perhaps I just connect them to non-vegan pies with an unsavoury amount of dairy, eggs and cheese and that notion in itself is just so off-putting. Who knows how the mind works. (Especially after two years of corona isolation…)

When I finally did make it I was practically blown away by how utterly delicious, moreish and fabulous it was. And I have made it regularly ever since. The pie crust thing isn’t as daunting anymore. And besides, it isn’t suppose to be a flawless looking piece of pie, just appetizing, rustic and inviting.

So if you love taco and pie this is the best of both worlds, a hearty plantbased pie and classic taco taste. This vegan taco pie takes Friday coziness (aka Fredagsmys which is a very Swedish concept, like Fika) to new heights.

VEGAN TACO PIE

4-6 servings

The crust
3 dl wheat flour
125 g refrigerator dairyfree butter
3-4 tablespoons ice cold water

The filling
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500 g vegan mince
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 dl Planti vegan Cooking Fraiche Paprika Chili (not sure what’s available in your grocery store if outside Sweden, but I’m sure you can find the equivalent)
1 red pepper, finely chopped
2 dl corn kernels
salt
black pepper

Decoration
1 box of cherry or plum tomatoes

How to make it - 

Pie dough:

Pinch together butter and flour. Add the water and mix quickly to a dough. Roll out and dress a pie tin with it. Dot the bottom with a fork. Myself I just put the ingredients in a mixer and let it do the work. Also I never roll pie doughs, I just dress the pie tin with pieces of dough evenly.

Set the oven to 225 C degrees.
Let the pie dough rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Pre-bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Taco filling:
Fry the yellow onion and garlic in a little rapeseed oil until it softens. Turn the soy (or whatever vegan mince you have) mince over and let it simmer for a few minutes.
Season with cumin and coriander. Stir in flavoured cooking fraiche, paprika and corn. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the minced meat filling into the pre-baked pie crust and press it down lightly. Decorate with the tomatoes on top of the pie and bake everything at 200 C degrees for about 40-50 minutes.
Serve with a simple salad.

And above all, enjoy!

hello, february 2021

You know what, today was the first day in about ten months that I woke up in the morning (late morning) feeling I had had eigth-ish hours of interrupted sleep and had the energy to actually feel inclined to do things without forcing myself to do them just because I should.

I had forgotten how life could/should feel. And how miserable is that?

 

I cooked, I took photos, ate some and then I took a long walk with little mum in our current winter wonderland. There were actually un-forced spring in my steps. Again, 10 months lost.

Since we went past the local church and I’d never been inside and it happened to be open, we stepped in and sat in the warmth for a while. I’m an atheist of course, but I can enjoy quietly contemplating in my own bubble in churches. However the organist was playing rather unpleasant music so there wasn’t any quiet time available alas. 

But I always like to light candles and remember beings lost and missed. And for things I wish to change.

No line thrown my way, yet, alas. But for now I’m grateful for a beautiful day with energy and without brain fog. And the fact that I’ve planned and put together a third Vegoforum (theme being Vego and animal rights in media this time) to be held on February 13th (two talks will be in English, speakers from The Vegan Society and Sentient Media, three in Swedish and then we’ll have a panel in Swedish). It’ll be held on Zoom and it’s free, but you need to book a spot for it. Or watch in on YouTube after. Where you also find last year's digital forums.

And with that I’ve tied together the tasks there wasn’t time to complete on my gig last autumn. It feels great to finally tick that box. The project has been fun, frustrating, exhausting, infuriating, inspiring and I've learnt oodles. Now I need to rest from that, and let someone else take the rein again. I must focus on finding my purpose, my people, my job. Simple (and difficult apparently) as that.

As this is quite an urgent situation now I also work a lot on my ability to really trust that the Universe has my back and attracting my goals. I think I've been very clear with what I want (ehat I really really want) for years now. But still it has been illusive and evasive. Come on 2021, I need your help!

Apart from continuing on my purpose finding quest, I’m planning to read more books now again. I’ve only finished three (of my 52 books goal of 2021), so I want to step that process up.

Next week I’ll be able to pick up vegan buns at my local bakery and assemble my own semla at home. Was afraid there wouldn’t be any semla at all this year, but I’m so happy to report that I asked and they said yes. It’ll be fun to make my own almond paste again. If I had a kitchen aid I'd bake my own vegan semla buns, but that's not an option now.

I hope this good day will not be a rare exception to the previous brain fog months. But for now I’m ever so grateful for one truly happy day. Let’s keep this post light and short for a change. Life’s rough enough in these times.

In the next posts I’d like to write about Two Fluffy Tykes art, baking vegan cakes and the miracle of aquafaba, more organic vegan food inspiration, philosophy, sheep, good books and the not so happy current things like my indoor heating that leaves a lot to be desired. Oh how I’m looking forward to the day I’m able to sort that out properly...

February, welcome, be kind and inspiring, and very helpful pretty please. 

happy birthday to me 2020

A year older, a year wiser but definitely not a year happier. But who is after such an epically miserable  year as 2020? 

So either I’ve aged 10 years instead of 1, or I’ve cancelled the aging process altogether and will save getting older to next year.

In this now small and restricted world it’s obviously been a quietly good day only (which isn’t bad) without a vegan proper cake though - no such bakeries around here and I just didn’t have the inclination to bake myself.

Little mum and I did get this feast from the thai foodtruck on Friday though, shared the fries and half a dish (two with tofu, two with Oumph), then saved the rest for today. And still have leftovers for tomorrow.

And on Thursday I had this vegan Snickers pastry (that actually IS vegan, as opposed to that time before...). Got two to go, so we at least could have something sweet and special with the tea.

With the fabulous vegan bake book I should obviously had baked myself, but with organizing the Vegoforum AND trying to study for sustainability science class as well as other stuff going and life itself on I’ve been to busy, too tired for that. I’m hoping I’ll be able to bake something this upcoming week though.

As for the digital Vegoforum on Zoom, it took place yesterday afternoon. For various reasons I had worried (as I am the worrying kind as well as have my moments of imposter syndrome) a lot about it. But I turned out so awesome that I was both touched as well as very happy. And proud of my work. And my passion. From the vegan food companies, entrepreneurs, innovators to the panel of politicians - three hours just said swoosh and we could have filled much more time. I see it as a very good birthday gift, that also were a great gift to so many others. The day was recorded, it’ll go up on YouTube as soon as I have figured out the editing. Though mostly in Swedish of course. I’ll add the link when it’s ready.

If disappointment had a face, Ågot’s would be it though. The kitties were totally miffed over how I treated the sacred Caturday yesterday. Not everyone was pleased about a day well spent. 

Two more forums to go, in November and December.  Vego och djurrätt i journalistiken (Veg and animal rights in journalism) resp Vego i politiken (Veg in politics). But as I now have a structure from setting up yesterday’s forum I expect the project managing to be somewhat smoother. Fingers crossed.

As for special treats for myself there’s this Marimekko oversized anorak. Little mum think it looks great, but ’it’s not really you, it’s too sporty!’ - well, you’ll never see me wearing it with jeans or anything else remotely sporty hence I will not sport a sporty look in it!

I also got a lovely orange tunic/dress. No pretty 55 year old like last year, which would have been a dream, but those are extremely hard to find, so there you are. 

I also did a Maria Nila colour refresh, blended the last dollop of Bright Red (as I did last October too) with Pink Pop. It’s more red than violet IRL though, but I kinda love it! Last year there was still some shimmer left in late December (almost three months later) so I’m thinking it’ll be just in time for another perky colour pop up for New Year’s.

Now I’m going to get a big cuppa, have dairyfree nicecream, watch a movie (What If always lift my spirits) and have a foot bath. 

As for an epically miserable year, it has still been filled with so many important lessons, and online meeting interesting people in a very different way (still find it quite awkward and exhausting though). And I liked my birthday treats, especially the work-related one. It was serendipitiously good actually. 

As I’m writing this on the iPhone and not the computer (because I loath how limiting that is when it comes to photo publishing on Blogger these days), I have now idea how the photos will turn out when I hit publish. Decent I hope. (Or I’ll have to tweak it computerwise later...)

Apart from REAL climate action, a vegan norm and kindness everywhere my wish for MY new (but remaining the same age) year remains the same as it has been for these past few years - a great job, with my kind of people, working for a better world. 

Happy B-day to Me, Myself and I the 2020 version!

bye september, hey october

September went fast. And basically being totally absorbed by the fact that mid September I suddenly got a part time temp job until December 31st. A long story, it was all very sudden and linked to my volunteer work revolving around plantbased food and the environment.

As I'm studying Sustainability Science on 25% part-time, it fits quite well with a 50% part-time job. As this year has been crazy for us all, and continue to be so, it actually takes a lot more energy to keep juggling all this than it usually would do. But all in all, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to keep on learning. 

My main job task is organizing the three last Vegoforum events for the year, all digital via Zoom. One the day before my birthday, one in mid November and one in early December. And yes, it's a bit overwhelming when you get thrown into it like this, even if the work per se isn't super heavy. Well life is pretty heavy right now, thus even things that would normally be just fun and a good energizing challenge get a bit much at times. And obviously I wan't to do a great job, so...

:: The lack of decent photo uploading on Blogger is still infuriating. So this is all you get today. The fact that the not so great at vegan pastries cafe now has opened a sourdough bakery too, is another great thing about September. Because the bread is awesome. Especially the rolls and the levain.

:: Little mum and I have taken the commuter train to the end station (two stops from here) twice, to do bank errands and visit my favourite coffee chain Espresso House. Since we get there and home between 9.30-1pm there are very few people on the train it feels pretty okay. And just the thing of enjoying a soy latte and some trustworthy vegan treats again have been a highlight.

:: I finished the second part of the philosophy class at the beginning of September. So it was a clean slate for the sustainability course. We've had four seminars so far, of which two have been great (Sustainable economics and Environmental ethics), but one quite annoying as the concept of ecosystem service is infuriating, specieism at its finest I'd say.

:: We've had some glorious Indian summer days, so autumn has just slowly arrived. And summer dresses have been quite appropriate. Even if the weirdness of the average Swede still is to dress as if it's a cold autumn in late August already. And, obviously black and drab and lots of clothes is the informal dress code. Which I loath. Obviously.

:: I've ordered another batch of those wonderful vegan, palmoil-free Scottish soaps. Bliss.

:: I've also ordered some more tea. And actually, more again the other day. It's Cinnamon Bun Day (vegan recipe for them here!)on Sunday, and they had a small batch of special Cinnamon Bun tea blend this week only. As there won't be any vegan cinnamon buns for me this year alas, I can at least have a whiff and a sip of cinnamon bun tea.

:: I've watched a lot of seminars, some poor, others pretty great. I've finished books, I've started reading new books. I haven't been able to finish any new ones lately, so I'm again 7 books behind on my 55 books reading challenge alas.

:: I've done another colour refresh, this time the colour was Autumn Red. It was visible, but a lighter, more orange red than suits me and it was practically washed away after four hair washes. I'm feeling in the mood for something darker now in October, like last year.

:: I won a big bad of new vegan fruit toffees, it was lovely. And I haven't won anything for years now (oh 2015-2016...), so it was a very welcome surprise. 

:: My recent favourite TV-crush is Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist - if you haven't seen it already, you really should! It's funny, sad (prepare to cry during every episode), moving, insightful and obviously full of music. Loved it, binge watched every episode over 2 days. Miss it. If you, like me, enjoyed Ally McBeal, Glee and Pitch Perfect, you won't be disappointed!

:: My short and sweet summary of a month that so far have been the best one, me thinks, of the last six ones. There's more bits and pieces, I could write about. But this will have to do for now. Not being able to simply add photos is a nuisance, and now I need my beauty sleep.

I want to thank you, September, I think you were a sweetheart, despite the overall current life circumstances. And your surprises were mostly of a positive, uplifting kind. I'm very grateful for having met you.

You also gave me this unexpected fun public toilet selfie moment; Professor Pia and the Mystery of the Haunted Toilet. And I have the Velma Dinkley haircut to prove I can solve it!

Hello, October, my dear birthday month. You have a lot to prove, and so do I. Let's make this a really great, productive and professional month together, with extra bells and whistles, m'kay?

delicious vegan bulgur pomegranate salad

As the new Blogger interface is just ridiculously non-user-friendly it's (currently?) impossible to  post photos in blog. You have to trust my words on how good this dish is, and not your eyes. Can I say how much I dislike this poor Blogger update? Not visible to readers obviously, but for the fact that it's obviously impossible to show photos via URLs now. Not your best and brightest move, Blogger... 

And to download from Flickr to upload from computer (and being unable to chose image size) and get a lousy resolution, is just annoying. It looks better if you read it on a smartphone. But still, a lot of more and unnecessary work to get a post done. Buhu, bad Blogger...

I promised the recipe to this fantastic bulgur salad, here goes.

BULGUR POMEGRANATE SALAD

200 gram coarse bulgur
1 pomegranate
1 rosé or red onion
1 cucumber
2-3 tbsp tahini
rapeseed oil
salt, black pepper, vinegar

Boil the bulgur with about 4 dl water, for 7 minutes under lid. Let it rest for some minutes.

Remover the seeds from the pomegranate. (Google if you want to find the best way of doing it...).

Finely chop the onion. (If you're like me, and don't like the sharp flavour of raw onion you can let the chopped onion rest in crisp cold water for a while before you add it to the rest.)

Cut the cucumber in small dices. Put everything in a large bowl. Toss them with salt, pepper, 2-3 tbsp oil and tahini. Possibly a dash of vinegar, but it'll be fine without.

Add the warm bulgur and mix it carefully. Add more tahini if you like, it's difficult to be specific with the tahini, I usually taste and add and then add some more, to get the perfect creamy combination fo flavours.

Enjoy!

It's great with falafel, obviously, but also with grilled dairyfree cheese, tofu and actually, it's a fabulous satisfying dish on it's very own. The blend of textures, flavours, sweet, salt, sharp, fresh, creamy is just irresistibly good.