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plant based

The Ultimate Creamy Vegan Green Risotto with Caramelised Onions

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Risotto but vegan? Yes!! A creamy, healthy and vegan deliciousness? Hell yes!! Pure comfort food but nutritious and fairly easy to make! Sounds too good? Try it out! You won’t be disappointed!

I know that risotto usually is not vegan. But that does not mean that you cannot make it vegan!! Actually opposite, why not challenge ourselves to create a vegan risotto instead? That’s what I thought! And this is why you now have got this (super delicious) recipe! 

What is special about this dish? 

Kind of pretty much everything. Risotto usually contains parmesan cheese and butter. And is not green. Well, of course you can make it green because you can basically add anything into risotto, from prawns to wild garlic, porcini mushrooms and beetroot. But I have to say, I have never seen a green risotto before! 

How to make vegan risotto 

The rise base is the same as for regular risotto. So (vegetable) broth, onions, olive oil and arborio rice, also known as risotto rice. Instead of the cheese and butter to create the creamy texture we are using soaked cashews for the texture, nutritional yeast for the cheesy flavor (also known as Hefeflocken in German, you can find that at most organic stores), cornstarch to bind, plant based milk, and mustard. Not to forget about the greens. I prefer a mixture of steamed spinach and kale and basil. The first two add a bunch of nutrients and the basil adds a lot of flavor. The combination is a dream. And also, to not make the risotto be boring we add some extra caramelized onions. 

Is it healthy? 

Yes! It actually is. While regular risotto is not very healthy (but very delicious), this one actually is healthy too! Why? The greens add a lot of vitamins and fibre. But the aspect that really changes it is the substitution of the cheese and butter with the creamy sauce. The cashews add some protein and unsaturated fats, which are better for us than unsaturated ones. Also the nutritional yeast adds a lot of nutrients! So yes, it is healthy! And a comfort food at the same time!! 

Meal prep and family friendly

A tick for both of them! It is very meal prep friendly because it still tastes at least as good when reheated! It will be creamy again and very good! What I also love is that it is very family friendly! If someone really cannot go without meat or seafood, it still is possible to add some form of meat of fish! And for those who just want some plant-based deliciousness it is perfect as is!

I really am in love with this recipe on colder days especially now in fall or in winter! It is super comforting while still being super nutritious and delicious! Plus, it is not very hard to make while it sounds, looks and tastes pretty fancy in my opinion! 

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do and that it will upgrade your cozy season a lot! 

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The Ultimate Creamy Vegan Green Risotto with Caramelised Onions

A healthy creamy deliciousness. At least as good as regular risotto just healthy and vegan.

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 525 kcal

What you will need

  • 280 g risotto rice
  • 2 l vegetable broth
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 white onion

For the creamy sauce

  • 50 g cashew nuts (soaked for 4 hours if your blender is not high speed)
  • 160 ml plant based milk
  • 2 tsp mustard
  • 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 handful spinach
  • 2 handful kale
  • 1 handful basil

For the rest:

  • 2 small red onions
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey

How to

  1. Heat up the vegetable broth. In a large pot heat up the olive oil. Finely dice the onion and add to the oil once hot. Sautée for about 1 minute until shiny. Add the rice and cook for another minute. Turn the heat down to medium and add a cup of the vegetable broth. Let the rice soak up all of the vegetable broth added while stiring continuesly. When it has cooked away, repeat the process for about 12 minutes.

  2. In the meantime steam or cook the spinach and kale for 4 minutes. Add them to a blender along with the cashews. plant milk, nutritional yeast, mustard, basil and cornstarch. Blend until creamy.

  3. In a pan heat up the remaining oil. Slice the red onions into thin slices. Add them to the oil with the honey. Let them cook down on medium high heat until they have shrunken down and gotten caramelized.

  4. After about 12 minutes of the rice cooking add the green sauce and the onions. Mix through very well and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the rice is cooked through.

  5. Seperate onto plates and serve with some extra nutritional yeast! Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière 

Unbelievably Good Vegan Half-baked Cheesecake with secret ingredient (healthy)

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You‘ll be like .. cheesecake – vegan?? Seriously? Well, obviously it’s not cheese but really, it is at least as good! The consistency is absolutely amazing (identical to cheesecake) the ingredients are super nutritious, and the flavor is just 100% convincing! I promise!! 

Why vegan?

We probably all have a recipe for a delicious non-vegan cheesecake. So why not switching things up? And honestly, I love a nice challenge. Plus my bestie currently is vegan so I needed to get creative with coming up with a dessert recipe for her! (I already have 2 on my blog, bit we needed something new! Find the banana bread recipe here and the black bean brownies recipe here )

What is special about this dish? 

VEGAN CHEESECAKE! Isn’t that special itself? And then that the ingredients are really wholesome and nutrient dense too!! And of course our special ingredient: silken tofu!! No, it won’t taste like tofu in the end, and yes it works really well. 

Why using silken tofu in a dessert recipe?

Silken Tofu is a super soft tofu, almost a yoghurt consistency. This is great for creams, pudding or as here cheesecake but in vegan. It also has a very mild flavor and when blending it becomes really smooth. When baking, it helps to keep everything stick together while remaining that cheesecake consistency!  

How to make vegan cheesecake:

Here we have two different things to make because we have 2 different layers. The first layer is the crust. Here we do not do a regular cookie layer but more like a baked energy ball one and it‘s heaven. Basically it comes down to blending up oats, almonds and dates and that’s it! 

For the actual „cheesecake“ layer it is really not more difficult! You just need to add soaked cashews, silken tofu, maple syrup, oil, fig preserves and cornstarch to a blender and blend until it is creamy and smooth! If you have a high speed blender you do not essentially need to soak the cashews but if it doesn‘t have too much power, I would recommend soaking them!

When the first layer is done you need to press it into a cake pan and then pour over the blended „cheesecake“ filling. To finish off just top with sliced up figs and bake in the oven! That’s it!

A few notes on the recipe:

After taking it out of the oven, the consistency of the cake will be rather creamy. When you let it sit for a little while it will get firmer! Store in the fridge. About 20 minutes before eating take it out of the fridge. That way it will taste better! 

I hope you really like this recipe and that you‘ll love this little twist to your average cheesecake! 

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Healthy Vegan Half Baked Cheesecake with Silken Tofu

A delicious and healthy twsit onto your regular cheesecake. The silken tofu makes the consistency amazing and it tastes incredible too!

Course brunch, Dessert, Snack
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 45 Minuten
Total Time 1 Stunde
Servings 8 slices
Calories 293 kcal

What you will need

For the base:

  • 100 g rolled oats
  • 30 g almonds
  • 200 g dates
  • a pinch of sea salt

For the "cheesecake" filling

  • 250 g silken tofu
  • 40 g cashews soaked overnight
  • 100 g coconut cream (just the firm part of the coconut milk! This is best seperated when putting the can in the fridge for about 2 hours)
  • 100 g maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp fig preserves
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 4-5 figs sliced up

How to

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

    To a food processor add all of the ingredients for the base and blend until it forms a sticky paste. When too dry, add more dates or some oil, when too sticky, add more oats.

  2. Line a 20x20cm cake pan (or a springform pan) with parchment paper. Add the blended mixture and press to the bottom so it forms a flat layer.

  3. Into the food processor now add the ingredients for the "cheesecake" layer and blend until very creamy. Pour over the first layer.

  4. Top with the sliced figs and bake for about 45-55 minutes until the top gets golden brown.

  5. Take it out of the oven. The cake will get firmer the longer you let it sit. Store in the fridge and take out at least 20 minutes before eating for best flavor! Enjoy!

Happy cooking, 

Enjoy,

Katie

The Crispiest Healthy Peach and Cherry Crumble you’ll make

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You know what I love about summer? There are so many fresh fruits and veggies!And there are just so many ways you can use them! Just like this one! Sweet and juicy fruits beneath a layer of Goey, sweet and crispy crumble. No, you can’t taste that it is healthy but you are going to want to have all of this at once!

Why crumble?

I need to say that I actually got the inspiration from a friend of mine. One night I forgot my keys at home and no-one was there so I stayed over at one of my friend´s houses and her mom had made this ultra tasty crumble. It was with apricots and not super healthy I think but it was amazing! So I thought I wanted to kind of recreate it and asked you guys on instagram what kind of recipes you’d like to see, and you answered crumble.

What is a crumble?

I think the name crumble comes from crumbs. I think you can already imagine what it is. So basically you can make this with any fruit you have on hand. They build the foundation. On top of the fruits are crumbs made out of butter, sugar and flour and then it is all baked in the oven. The fruits will loose some liquid but the flavour will intensify and the crumbles will crisper up. Imagine it as warm fruits with cookie on top.

Is crumble healthy?

Not really. I mean it is healthier than other desserts such as chocolate cake because it is mainly made of fruit but the crumble part is not healthy. Why? It has a lot of sugar and fat in it. Basically no vitamins or nutrients. So yes, it is better and lighter than most desserts but you can’t say that it is healthy.

How to make crumble healthy

This actually is super easy. Easier than expected. We leave the base as it is. So the fruit part is the same. But we change up the crumbles part. Instead of flour we are using rolled oats. But before using them we need to process them in a food processor until they have reached a really fine consistency, much like flour. Oats are super high in vitamins and fibre and are therefore way healthier than white flour is.

Instead of butter we use margarine. Margarine is made out of plants and oils and really high in unsaturated fat. It still is high in calories but it by far does not have such a high content of saturated fat. And instead of white sugar we are using coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is way less processed and actually has a bunch of nutrients and fibre.

Substitutes:

If you do not have peaches or cherries on hand, you could make it with berries, apricots or whichever fruit you have. It works best wit softer fruits though. Instead of rolled oats you could use any type of flour such as almond and wholewheat. If you do not have coconut sugar, you can also use brown sugar.

How to best serve it:

When you take it out of the oven let it sit for a few minutes to cool a little bit and let it crispen. Then I love to serve this with ice cream or some kind of yoghurt. Greek yoghurt, oat yoghurt or just normal one. Whatever you have one hand!

I hope that you will like this recipe (I am obsessed with it) and make it on repeat such as I do!

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Peach and Cherry Crumble

The best way to use all of the good summer fruits. Sweet and juice peaches and cherries beneath a layer of perfectly crispy crumble. Just a dream.

Course Dessert, Snack
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 25 Minuten
Servings 6 servings
Calories 208 kcal

What you will need

  • 2 large peaches
  • 200 g cherries
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup or any other liquid sweetener such as honey
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 100 g rolled oats
  • 50 g coconut sugar
  • 50 g margarine

How to

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

    Remove the pit from the peaches and cherries. Half the cherries and cut the peaches into small slices. Toss them first in the maple syrup and then in the cornstarch. Add them into a baking dish.

  2. In a food processor, process the oats until they have reached a very fine, flour-like consistency. Add the coconut sugar and margarine and pulse again until everything is combined.

  3. Crumble this mixture on top of the fruit and bake it in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

  4. Take it out and let cool a little bit. Then serve it with ice cream or yoghurt.

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Summer Rolls with Peanut Tofu

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Picture summer in a better way than having summer rolls in the sunshine with your loved ones on a picnic, maybe at a lake. Doesn’t this sound like a dream? To me it does. But wait, where’s the catch? Oh yes, maybe to get those summer rolls. I mean, sure you could order them at your favourite Vietnamese restaurant but why not making them yourself? It is so easy and way cheaper.

If you have been a little active in the food scene of instagram you probably have already seen those. I think summer rolls have become very popular a few years ago and have become part of the whole health food industry. Besides that they are super duper tasty. So here we are, and I have made a recipe for you to make them at home. If you are not very familiar with summer rolls here is just a brief introduction!

What are summer rolls?

Summer rolls is a dish popular in Vietnam. They are also called rice paper rolls, or fresh spring rolls. It is believed though, that they originally come from China and only became popular in Vietnam. Anyway, today you can find them in most asian restaurants, even in Japanese or Thai ones.

These cute rolls look very much like spring rolls. Same size and shape. The difference is the filling and the preparation. Spring rolls are mostly filled with pork and vegetables and then deep fried. Summer rolls on the other hand are filled with vegetables, prawn, pork or tofu and oftentimes also rice vermicelli (super thin rice noodles). Also those are not deep-fried or prepared with any oil and they are served at room temperature or cold. Both, spring and summer rolls, come with a sauce on the side.

Are summer rolls healthy?

Definitely! Since the main component are vegetables, they are super healthy. Other than vegetables you often have rice vermicelli, which also are not unhealthy. They are not high in sugar or fat but also not super nutritious. For your source of protein you can use prawns, pork or tofu. They are all great sources of protein. Prawns and they also are not high in fat at all. Pork on the other hand can be high in fat, depending on which part you use.

Summer rolls kn general are not high kn fat because, unlike spring rolls they are not deep fried, and prepared with rarely little fat. The only fat may be used when preparing the protein source or in the sauce.

The sauce is the only thing you should look out for when you have those. They often are served with a sweet chili sauce or lots of soy sauce. Sweet chili sauce mostly has a lot of sugar in it and soy sauce is high in sodium. If you only get a little on the side, that’s more than fine just be aware of that!

so what’s in these summer rolls?

This is a vegetarian (actually vegan) version. I do not use rice vermicelli because I prefer them without (plus it is less work). So, as a base we have a bunch of vegetables. We use a mix of carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, lettuce and radishes. You could also add red cabbage or anything else of your preference.

To not keep it boring we also are adding some fruit. I absolutely love mango in here but papaya also works. But mango is better tbh. And of course avocado. What would a meal be without avocado? (btw, did you know that avocado is a fruit?) And of course, our source of protein, the peanut tofu. It adds a bunch of flavour and is so tasty. But still, it is not so flavourful yet, that’s why we are adding some more peanut sauce and, if you want, also some sriracha or hot sauce.

The rice paper

Rice paper is not such an easy thing to find. You will probably not find it at your regular supermarket but you can find it in pretty much and asian store. It has the form of a circle and is almost see through but a little white-ish. I get mine from Reishunger because it is super good, easy to get and they ship it right to your door!

I think that you will love this recipe for summer and I hope that you will enjoy both, making and eating it.

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Summer rolls with peanut tofu

a perfectly fresh and light summer dish for those hot days!

Course Appetizer, dinner, lunch
Cuisine Chinese, Vietnamese
Prep Time 25 Minuten
Cook Time 5 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 564 kcal

What you will need

  • 10 rice papers
  • 200 g tofu
  • 2 carrots
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 100 g radishes
  • 1/2 mango
  • 100 g lettuce
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 tbsp oil

For the peanut sauce:

  • 150 ml light coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sriracha hot sauce
  • 1/2 lime
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp water

How to

  1. Combine all the ingredients for the peanut sauce. Slice the tofu into 1 cm thick and about 6-7cm long strips (or hwo ever it works best for you).

    Place them in the peanut sauce and let them marinate for about 1 h or longer if possible.

  2. Peel the carrots and either grate them or slice them into thin strips. Also slice the peper and cucumber into thin strips. Peel the mango and also cut it into bite sized pieces. Finely slice the radishes and chop up the lettuce.

  3. Heat up a pan with the oil. Take the tofu out of the sauce and fry on each side for about 2 minutes. Set it aside.

  4. To assemble prepare the rice paper according to package instructions. It most of the time works best when you take a kitchen towel and make it wet. Lay that on a flat surface. Then run the rice paper under water for about 3-4 seconds. Place them on the wet kitchen towl. Add a little bit of each filling and some of the remaining peanut sauce into the rice paper, rather on th elower end but not on the edge.

    First, fold in the rice paper from the bottom. Then fold in the sides and roll it up, so all of the fillings are in the rice paper and it is tightly closed. This takes a little practice but after a few it will work out.

  5. Pour the remaining sauce in a little conatiner and serve it with the summer rolls! Serve and enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière