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katharina.kuehr

Not You Average (much better) Hummus and Falafel Picnic Bagel

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The name says it all. Definitely not your average bagel. This is something so much better, I promise. Recipe 2 of the picnic series, and it only is getting better, although it is hard to top the beluga lentil salad an curry hummus stuffed pita. Yet, we managed to do so. Slightly sweet and crispy bagel with creamy hummus, fresh greens and radishes, crunchy falafel and soft and salty avocado. Oh my. If I were you, I would be running to the store right now.

Bagels are just amazing by themselves already. We really need to take a moment and thank the inventor of thebagel (who by the way was Austrian!!!) for this amazing creation. Invented by accident, probably the best accident ever, and now a staple around the world. And really, cream cheese and salmon bagels are amazing, no need to doubt that, yet there are so many other combos that just taste unreal in a bagel, which you need to try out – just like this one!

Where to get good bagels?

This is really important, because if the bagel itself does not taste amazing, the entire dish only tastes half as good. So, in Vienna there are 2 places I love to get my bagels from. The first one is Budapäst Bagels – they have been the (much deserved) restaurant of the month in march and definitely have amazing bagels. You can just grab some plain bagels there and fill them at home! The other place that never lets you down is Joseph Brot. They have several shops in Vienna, so you can just choose one that is close to you. The only disadvantage here – they are sold out so quickly always! So you got to get up early for your bagels.

What’s special about this dish?

It is a mix of the traditional bagel and a falafel pita or sandwich and an avo toast. So, really the best of everything combined! Instead of spreading a bagel with cream cheese, we are spreading it with hummus. And filling it with falafel. Yep, it gets quite thick and tastes amazing. Plus, we have some springy goodness with the fresh veggies and sprouts. This bagel combo really is (not exaggerating here) life changing.

Plus, also this recipe is part of the NENI x Une Petite Cuisinière picnic series! Which means, you can use the (super delicious) Neni am Tisch products to make this. In other words, you get some healthy deliciousness in no time.

Is this dish healthy?

We got to be honest, it probably it not the most nutrient dense dish ever. It though, also is not unhealthy. The thing is that most of the time bagels themselves are not highly nutritious. To achieve their slightly sweet flavour, there often is sugar in them and they rarely are made with whole-wheat products. They do provide you with a bunch of carbs though, yet not many complex ones and not much fibre.

Nevertheless the fillings are nutritious. We have a lot of chickpeas in here – in form of hummus and in form of falafel. Chickpeas are high in protein and fibre and therefore a great plant-based food. Plus, we have some greens & radishes, meaning more vitamins and some avocado for healthy fats and deliciousness (what even is a bagel without avocado?).

How to make this dish?

This probably is one of the easiest things you’ve ever made. All you need to do is pop the falafel into the oven (this is no must, popping them into the oven just really lets them crisp up again and makes them taste much better). In the meantime we are toasting the bagel, slicing the radishes and cutting the avo.

When falafel and bagel are done, we spread some of the (best) Hummus onto the lower half of the bagel, add the falafel, the radishes, some cress or sprouts and top it with the avo. Now we got to sprinkle it with some sea salt, close it with the top and take it onto our picnic. A perfect dish for a perfect picnic!

What about meal prep and picnic?

Obviously the bagel won’t be crispy anymore when it has been stored in the fridge or in a container to be taken onto a picnic, nevertheless, it still is as delicious! If you just leave it like that, it will be a bit of a mess to eat though. To avoid that, it is best if you cut it in half and then take some parchment paper, cut a strip off it, wrap it around the bagel-half and then fix it with a string. That way everything holds together and you can eat without everything falling apart.

If you wanted to bagel to be a bit more crispy, you could also toast it beforehand and bake the falafel, then put both into a bag (not air tight!!) and take the avocado, sprouts, radishes and hummus in a separate container and fill the bagel at your picnic spot! This makes it all a bit fresher!

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Not your average (much better) Hummus & Falafel Picnic Bagel

crispy bagel with creamy hummus, crispy falafel and creamy avocado. This is the bagel combo you have been misisng out on all your life, I promise. It is so good that you will want to have it every day and take it on every picnic.

Course Breakfast, brunch, lunch, picnic
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten

What you will need

  • 1 bagel
  • 5 NENI am Tisch Falafel
  • 2-3 tbsp NENI am Tisch Hummus
  • 1/2 avocado
  • a few radishes
  • sprouts/ cress

How to

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the falafel onto a baking tray and bake them for 10-15 minutes to get them crispy again.

  2. Slice the bagel in half and toast it.

  3. In the meantime slice the radishes and avocado and chop the cress.

  4. When the falafel are done, spread the bagel with the hummus, add the falafel, radishes and sprouts, and lay the sliced avocado on top. Sprinkle with some sea salt, close the bagel with the top and enjoy!

Regardless or which way you choose to take you bagel to the picnic, it’ll be delicious and I hope that you will also find it to be delicious and enjoy it!

Have a wonderful picnic,
Love,
Katie

My May Top 6

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Welcome to May. Probs the best month of the year so far! The weather is getting warmer (hopefully) and – halleluja – restaurants are supposed to open again, at last outdoors (let’s keep our fingers crossed). So, finally no dishes at least once a week, after 6 months. Really, there is nothing bad to say about May, it is just bringing us a bit closer to summer and I can tell you – the Month of May will be delicious! Very, very delicious! Not only do we have a NENI x UPC Picnic Series starting, we also have got many more tasty recipes and surprises! All in all, get ready for an amazing month.

Restaurant of the month – Elena’s Buddha Bowls

Food (and especially restaurant-) wise, I believe May will definitely be the best month of the year so far. In Austria, it is planned that (at least outdoor) restaurants will open again in the mid of May. The day we have been waiting for 6,5 months. And really, there barely is anything I am looking forward to as much as sitting at a table and ordering food after more than half a year. But until the 19th (which you hopefully have marked in your calender), there still are 19 days. So nope, we are not having a seated restaurant in the top 6, but one where you can get a takeaway like nowhere else.

When I first heard about Elena’s Buddha Bowls, I thought it would just be another buddha bowl bar – nothing special right? Well, it definitely is not. Unlike many other bowl bars in town, Elena does not make poké bowls and they definitely are not mainstream. What makes this place so special is the quality and love that goes into every single bowl. The core of the restaurant is just good. Good in every aspect.

Eat good – not less, is the motto. The ingredients also are super good. They are more or less are produced organically and high quality, the packaging is good for the environment and they taste more than good. Plus, the entire team is just always in a good mood, which is really contagious. Plus, Elena’s puts in a lot of effort to make all their bowls healthy. It is just a restaurant, which you can only love. Plus, the price is more than fair – not more expensive than non-organic, regular bowl bars. There is nothing not good to say about it!

It is located in the 2nd district, right next to the Danube Canal – so it is incredibly easy to reach with trams nd underground. And, there are a lot of cute spots you can go to for enjoying the bowls! If you haven’t been there yet, I can only recommend it from the bottom of my heart. Definitely worth a try.

Food of the month – Avocados

Avocados are, inarguably, one of the best fruits (close after tomatoes) there are. They definitely are one of the foods that really, truly deserve their hype. But what actually makes them so special?

Well, first of all they are really nutritious. Avocados are a great source of healthy fats and vitamins. An average avocado comes with around 22-30 grams of healthy, unsaturated fat, which is an essential nutrient for your brain and also really important for other functions in your body. Moreover it contains 10-15 grams of fibre, which is an incredibly high amount for a single fruit. This fibre is essential for your digestion and helps you with digestive problems.

It is rather low in carbohydrates and protein, so it mainly is a source of fat, fibre and vitamins, such as Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Vitamin B. Moreover, avocados actually contain more potassium than bananas, which is needed by cells.

Besides all of the nutritional value, avocados just are so super delicious and versatile. They can be eaten as they are, they can be mashed onto toast, used as a dip for nachos, blended into sauces, added onto salads, even mixed into sweets. They are just such an amazingly delicious AND nutritious fruit!

Recipe of the month – Easy Peasy Rainbow Quinoa Salad w/ the Best Peanut Sauce

Honestly, this month this was the hardest category. There are just SO many delicious recipes that have been added in April, so it was incredibly hard to choose. If I could add some more, I would definitely add the citrus porridge and the Lentil Salad Pita, because the both of them too are a MUST TRY. However, this is the recipe I make the most often (basically like once a week) because it is just soso easy to make and soso delicous and nutritious. Plus, it is one of my dad’s favourite recipe from the blog – so it is someting we make ALL the time.

When making it, and especially when eating it, you feel like having an explosion of flavour of summer in your mouth. All the fresh veggies and fruits, plus the fluffy quinoa, plus the (addictively good) peanut sauce to top it all off are just working in such harmony, you just cannot get enough of it. Plus, it simply is so incredibly easy to make. It really only comes down to chopping the veggies, steaming some of them, boiling the quinoa and making the sauce.

What is more, it works great for meal prep! Since it is a salad, it can be perfectly enjoyed cold, and actually the peanut flavour will intensify when leaving it in the fridge overnight. So that is really great! If you want to see how to make it, you can check out the quick reel at @coconutbowls or watch the IGTV at @uneptcuisiniere ! It just is an essential dish for summer – something you’ll really want to have every, single day.

Workout of the month – Otmane Skillbeast

„Let’s do a chill Saturday Workout – not much sweating, just some strengthening“. Yep, that’s what I though. And no, this definitely was not what this session was like. Oti killed me in this session, my legs were shaking and my booty was sore for 3 days. Well, not quite a relaxing Saturday workout – yet it was SO good and SO worth it. Otmane, called Oti is a qualified personal trainer and has been practicing this job for over 10 years.

He is located in Vienna, but due to Covid-19, he also had to move his business online. And that was a great idea! He now not only offers Instagram live trainings, pretty much weekly, he also offers Oti2go, which is a online membership, where you get access to many, many workouts, recipes, nutrition knowledge, and also mind exercises to not only work on your body but also your mindset. I personally have not tried the Oti2go yet, but really do want to try it out. Plus, he also offers a 15-days transformation and a 21-day bootcamp. There definitely is something for everyone.

And the workouts really are much fun. The ones on Instagram are not too sweaty, but you really feel your muscles burning and your body working. On Instagram they also are for free, so a great option to try them out, and if you do like them, you can then try a membership of a bootcamp. Definitely worth a try though!

Product of the month – Crowd Farming

This really is one of the best products/ brands or rather a website, I have ever used. Actually, a friend of mine recommended it to me because she was so fascinated by it and really loved the idea. It took me some time but then I really starting looking into it and trying it out and it really is a cool initiative.

So what is Crowd Farming? It is a website featuring many different (mostly organic) farmers from all over the world. These farmers offer different fruits and vegetables that so you can directly buy from them online. Either, you adopt a tree before it is in season, to help the farmers fund the production, or you buy the food when it is in season.

What is the benefit? First of all, you really know where your food is coming from, because you know who the farmer is, you know where the product is grown and you know the quality. For example, you can buy organic avocados from Spain. You know the farmer, you even get a letter from them, you know they are planted rather close to you, and not thousands of miles away, and you know the product is organic or demeter.

Besides, you also support the farmer. Since you directly buy from the farmer, more of your spent money is left for the farmer. This enables them to invest more into their planting, to ensure fairly paid workers and makes organic farming possible and sustainable.

And, obviously super important, the fruits (at least the avocados) are really, really delicious. Yes, you can actually taste a difference, really. You get a 5kg box of them and they are supposed to last in your fridge for up to a month. The price er avocado is at about 2.4€, which is not cheap, but pretty fair, taken into consideration what the impact of this is.

Inspiration of the month – Seaspiracy

Actually, I chose something different to be the inspiration of the month, also a documentary. But then I watched seaspiracy last night, and I knew there was no way I could not include that into the top 6.

This was recommended by SO many people. They all said they had watched it and were shocked and wanted to drastically reduce their fish consumption from now on. I mean, how shocking can one documentary be? it cannot be that bad! that’s what I thought. The way seaspiracy was made and edited is incredibly good. Yet, obviously not enough to influence someone into such a big lifestyle change. What is it then?

Sadly to say, the facts speak for themselves. What is revealed there is shocking and sad. And contrary to many other documentaries, it is urgent, it is incredibly urgent. The documentary really hits hard and lets you rethink your behaviour and habit. And really, it is a MUST watch.

I really do not want to tell much more about it, in order not to spoiler you – all I can say is that it really is incredibly interesting and eye-opening. Highly, highly recommended.

I hope these tips will also take your May next level and make it the best month of this year so far! I am all wishing you a beautiful and sunny May!

Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Quick & Easy Stuffed Curry Hummus Pita with Beluga Lentil Salad

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Imagine sitting in the green grass on a sunny day, in the shade of a cherry tree and enjoying a soft and warm pita bread stuffed with creamy and tangy, Indian inspired curry hummus, together with a refreshing lentil-veggie-and feta salad and topped off with some smooth avocado and a sprinkle of sea salt. Definitely sounds like something I would love to try.

I am not sure what exactly it is, but there is something about picnicking that just hits different. For some reason, picnic season always is the best season, still it can get a little bit boring if you always make the same dishes every time. Obviously, we can easily avoid that!! Therefore with this (super tasty) dish, we are introducing a picnic recipe series, so you’ll always have something delicious to make for your next picnic brunch!! And really, this is good. The fact that my dad (who is very skeptical when it comes to vegan food and things like hummus and lentils) finished half of it before I left for a picnic.

What is special about this dish?

Kind of everything. Usually, you would dip Pita into Hummus or another dip, or you would fill if with something like falafel or chicken. Well, here we are doing neither. We actually are more or less, combining two dishes. Pita + hummus and beluga lentil salad. It may sound a lot at first, but trust me, the combo is amazung. Plus, it really is super duper easy to make and comes together in 20 minutes. And it is super meal prep friendly, easy and not messy to eat, which makes it perfect for a picnic.

Plus, it features two of the most delicious products from NENI am Tisch. NENI makes (incredibly tasty) oriental inspired food, has many, many, amazing restaurants and their own products. We are using their beluga lentils and their curry hummus here, to make this recipe even easier and quicker. You can find all their products at SPAR, Edeka, Globus & Tegut.

Is this dish healthy?

Yes, yes, yes. I mean, look at it! It already is so beautifully colourful – how can something this colourful not be healthy? Let’s break it down a little bit. As for the lentil salad, we have several different components. The lentils themselves first, they are very high in fibre and a great source of plant based protein. Plus, they come with many other nutrients. Then, also in the lentil salad we have got several different. veggies. First up the sweet potatoes. Sweet Potatoes are a nutrient bomb basically, loaded not only with deliciousness but also with carbohydrates, fibre and lots and lots of vitamins.

Then we have a mix of several different veggies. Here it really is up to you what you want to use! I love some cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions and avocado. You could also add in some asparagus or corn or whatever you like. Depending on which veggies you choose, the vitamins and minerals will vary a little, but you will definitely get a bunch of them! Then we also have some avo (obv) for some healthy fats and a sprinkle of feta (which is optional and really good) for some salty goodness and a bit more protein and fats. Not to forget about the pita, which gives us all the energy we need through its carbohydrates. If you want to go a bit healthier with that, you could swap it out for a wholegrain pita.

How to make this dish?

We need to start by preparing the sweet potatoes because they take the longest. To do so, we chop them into about 1cm sized cubes, toss them with some salt, pepper, paprika and oil and then bake them at 200°C for about 20 minutes. In the meantime we can just go ahead and prepare the lentil salad. For this we just chop up the veggies and toss it with the NENI lentils, then we only slice up some feta and avocado.

When the sweet potatoes are done, we can also toss them with the lentils and then we can start stuffing the pitas. To do so, we first spread some curry hummus onto the insides of the pita. Then we fill them up with the beluga lentil salad and top them with avo and feta. And that already is it!

The perfect picnic dish!

This really is IDEAL for picnic. You don’t make a mess while eating it because you can just take bites from the pita. Plus, it is really easy to prepare and does not loose in taste even when it is not eaten right away but stored in the fridge for several hours. Moreover, if there is any lentil salad left, you can just store it in a separate container and take it with you too. And lastly, it already looks so beautifully summery, you’ll really, really want to take this onto a picnic!

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Quick & Easy Curry Hummus Stuffed Pita with Summery Beluga Lentil Salad

Easy to make, packed with flavor and soso delicious – just the ideal picnic food. A soft and warm pita filled with summery flavours of a fresh beluga lentil salad and a curry hummus. All in all – a dream

Course dinner, lunch, picnic
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 2 servings

What you will need

  • 1 small sweet potato (about 400g)
  • 1/2 tsp paprika powder
  • 1 tbsp oil (flavor neutral)

For the lentil salad:

  • 1 package NENI "Orientalischer Beluga Linsen Salat" (or 200g cooked beluga lentils with lemon juice, olive oil & herbs)
  • 1/4 cucumber
  • a handful cherry tomatoes
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 3-4 radishes
  • a handful mixed greens
  • 100 g feta cheese

For the rest:

  • 5 tbsp NENI Curry Hummus
  • 1-2 pita

How to

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into about 1cm sized cubes. Toss them with the oil, paprika powder, salt and pepper and lay onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes until soft.

  2. In the meantime wash the cucumber, radishes and tomatoes. Half or quarter the tomatoes, chop the cucumber into bite.sized pieces and finely slice the radishes. Add them to a bowl along with the lentils, greens, the crumbled or chopped feta and the sliced avocado.

  3. 3 minutes before the sweet potatoes are done, you can add the pita into the oven so it gets re-heated. Then take everything out, toss the sweet potato with the lentil salad and cut the pita in half. Spread the curry hummus into the inside of the pita and then fill it with the lentil salad. Enjoy!

I hope you really enjoy making and eating this and have a beautiful picnic!

Love,
Katie

Easy Peasy 20-Minute Green Falafel Curry (=heaven)

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May sound a bit weird – I get you. Falafel and Curry? Is that really good? And let me tell you, oh my gosh, it is not good – it is heaven. This combination has rested undiscovered for way too long and now deserves all the attention. It is just super delicious. Imagine a veggie-packed, spicy and saucy curry with fluffy rice and then those crispy falafel that soak up all the sauce. How can you not get hungry?

This combination was more like a coincidence. I really badly wanted to make a curry since I haven’t had one in way too long. But I did not have any tofu, chickpeas or chicken or anything at home that I could add in. What I had were falafel. So I combined one and one and just decided to try this combo out and it was a very very good decision. Really, it is not too far off – you would also eat a curry with chickpeas! So why not with mashed and fried chickpeas?

What’s special about this dish?

First of all I want to apologize to all those from Thailand or Israel who feel offended by this combo, because this dish really is not than traditional. Usually curry would be eaten with some sort of fish, seafood, meat, vegetables, tofu or chickpeas. Rather something plain. Falafel on the other hand, are usually eaten in a pita, or with hummus or just as they are with a dip. Yeah, you can already see – quite different types of eating those two foods.

And special thing about this dish is that we are combining two cuisines – and two of the best foods/ dishes in the world to create a new one, even more flavorful, even more delicious one. What is more, this dish is everything else than complicated or difficult and is ready in 20 minutes, which is amazing if you want a quick lunch or an easy weeknight dinner.

Is this dish healthy?

Yup, definitely very nutritious. Curry really is one of the best ways to sneak in as many veggies as possible. And it really is a great way to clean out your fridge. (I used only green veggies for picture’s sake). If you have carrots left, throw in carrots, if you have zucchini or bell peppers or broccoli or frozen peas – into curry you can really add in any veggie you have and you like. And that also makes it very very nutritious. Depending on which veggies you choose, you get different vitamins and nutrients, but you in any case get a bunch of fibre and deliciousness!

Besides all the veggies, we cannot forget about the falafel. Are falafel healthy? I would say -ish. They are mainly made out of chickpeas and herbs. This way they are loaded with protein, fibre and nutrients, which makes them really nutritious. Yet, they are deep-fried, which makes them being loaded with fat. Fat is super essential and can definitely not be left out in a healthy diet, yet too much of it is not healthy either. So yep, I would say falafel are healthy in moderation. Plus, they are super tasty.

Which falafel are the best?

To make this dish as easy and quick as possible we are using pre-made falafel from the supermarket. This is just super convenient. Still, when you buy those, make sure the main ingredient really is chickpea and that they do not have a thousand additives. I love the ones from NENI (I buy them at SPAR) or you could also make homemade ones. I have a recipe for a version that’s a bit lighter and super easy to make! If you want to try them, you can find the recipe here!

How to make this (super tasty) dish?

As the title says, it’s easy peasy. We need to start by chopping the veggies. Then we mix the curry paste with a part of the coconut milk. Why do we do this? This helps them to combine. If you add the curry paste first and then only later on in the cooking process the coconut milk, there often stay lumps of curry paste in the curry, and we don’t want that. Then we heat up some oil in a pot and fry the coconut-curry mixture. The frying helps it really intensify the flavour.

Now the veggies are added and the remaining coconut milk. This just needs to simmer a bit until the veggies are soft. In the meantime we can prepare our side, something like rice, quinoa, naan or whatever you want. And, we must not forget about the falafel. Those need to be reheated in the oven so they get crispy and warm and fluffy again. Heating them up really is a game changer so don’t forget about that! And lastly, we only need to plate (or bowl) everything and that’s it.

As you can see, this is really simple to make, fairly healthy and soso delicious (I promise!). This really is perfect for short lunch breaks, exhausted evenings and just a quick family meal. I hope you really try this because you really should not miss out on this combo for longer and I genuinely hope that you’ll enjoy it!

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Easy Peasy 20-Minute Green Falafel Curry

A combination that may seem odd at first but actually is incredibly delicious! Spicy, saucy curry in combination with fluffy rice and crispy falafel. Plus a bunch of veggies, so we make sure to get all or greens in. Ready in 20 minutes and tastes like heaven!

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine israeli, middle eastern, thai
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 4 serving

What you will need

  • 100 g (green) curry paste usually, this is around 2 packs (green is the spiciest, if you want it less spicy, you can choose a different one)
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 600 g veggies I like to use zucchini, broccoli, peas, mushrooms, bok choy, carrots, … whatever you have on hand)
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 16 falafel (premade e.g. from the store)
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • rice to serve with

How to

  1. Start by preheating the oven to 200°C. Lay the falafel onto a baking tray and bake them for around 10-15 minutes until they are warm and crispy again.

  2. Start preparing your side (like rice or quinoa)

  3. In the meantime chop the veggies into bite-sized pieces. Combine the curry paste with about one third of the coconut milk. Then heat up the oil in a pot and fry the curry-coconut mixture for about 1 minute until fragrant. Add the veggies and stir-fry for another 3 minutes before pouring in the coconut milk and letting it simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the veggies are soft.

  4. Once the veggies and the falafel are done we can plate the curry. Add the grain to a bowl, scoop in the curry and top with the falafel and some finely sliced cucumber and spring onions and garnish with fresh cilantro! Enjoy!

Love,
Katie