Vegan Chilli Con Carne With Baked Tortilla Chips (Serves 6)

February 8, 2017August 4, 2018Leave a comment

Vegan Chilli Con Carne With Baked Tortilla Chips by The Fat Foodie

For a while now I’ve been hearing about people making their own low-fat and low-salt versions of tortilla chips by cutting tortillas into little triangles and baking them in the oven until they’re crisp and golden. I was making a vegan chilli con carne the other night and because I wasn’t in the mood to serve it with boring old white rice, I decided to make the baked tortilla chips to go with it.

It worked really well, with the corn tortillas making a small mountain of crisp, biscuity baked tortilla chips I could use to scoop up the chilli con carne. The baked tortilla chips were also very good with the salsa and guacamole dips I served alongside the chilli con carne.

I don’t like to keep bags of tortilla chips in the house because they’re not the healthiest of snack and let’s be honest, sometimes once you start munching them it’s hard to stop, so it’s great knowing that should the need arise and I fancy making something that would go well with some tortilla chips I can bake some within 15 mins.

This vegan chilli con carne with baked tortilla chips takes hardly any effort to make, but is very rewarding in the taste department and is fantastic as leftovers the next day because the flavours of the spices have a chance to marry overnight in the fridge. Although you’d normally use kidney beans in a chilli con carne, they’re a high FODMAP food, so I’ve used the much lower FODMAP option of butter beans instead and they’re just as lovely. As you can see in the photo below, I served the chilli con carne and baked tortilla chips with ‘the works’ (hot salsa, jalapeños, guacamole, cucumber and grated dairy-free cheese). I’ll definitely make this again sometime because it’s a great recipe to have on standby for a quick dinner.

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas (or gluten-free tortillas)

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp asafoetida powder

300g chopped bell peppers (green and red)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tbsp ground smoked paprika

200g of butter beans (drained and well rinsed)

250g vegan mince

400g (1 tin) of chopped tomatoes

Method:

Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and put the tbsp of coconut oil in it. Once it’s hot add the spices and chopped peppers and cook for 5 mins.

Add the vegan mince, butter beans and chopped tomatoes and cook for 10 mins.

Taste the chilli con carne and add salt if required.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas mark 4.

Using a pizza cutter, cut your tortillas into little tortilla-sized triangles, place on a baking tray and bake them in the oven until they’re golden brown and crisp. (I turned my baked tortillas over halfway through so that I could make sure they were really crisp.)

Serve the chilli con carne with the baked tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, jalepenos, grated cheese and salad.

Vegan Chilli Con Carne With Baked Tortilla Chips by The Fat Foodie

Coconut and Lemon Cupcakes (makes 12-16)

October 12, 2016December 1, 2017Leave a comment

Coconut and Lemon Cupcakes by The Fat Foodie

Ever since I’ve been cooking with coconut oil I’ve wondered what it would be like used in a cake instead of butter. I feared that it would make the sponge heavy, but it actually works really well and gives the cake a light texture while retaining its moisture. Coconut oil tastes quite strongly of coconut though, so I knew it’d have to be a cake which used coconut as one of its main flavour profiles. I figured incorporating lemon zest would work well with it and it does, creating feather-light, fruity, fluffy coconut and lemon cupcakes. (And if you’re feeling particularly self-indulgent, two cupcakes is a low FODMAP portion.)

This coconut and lemon cupcake cake mix is one of those brilliant ‘chuck all of the ingredients into a big bowl and whisk’ mixes, taking next to no time at all to prepare and with the aid of an electric whisk it’s easy to whip up a light and tasty buttercream with which to top the cakes. The real difficulty lies in stopping yourself from eating more than one at a time. Well, maybe two…

Ingredients:

140g coconut oil (melted, but not hot)

200g sugar

2 tbsps lemon juice

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

120ml rice milk

4 tbsps dessicated coconut

The grated zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp coconut essence

200g gluten-free self-raising flour (I use Dove’s Farm G/F flour because it’s made with low FODMAP ingredients whereas many other gluten-free flours are made with high FODMAP options.)

1 tsp baking powder

For the buttercream icing:

70g soft non-dairy butter

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

180g icing sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsps of desiccated coconut (for decoration)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4.

Place your empty cupcake cases in a cupcake tray or, if you don’t have one, just on a flat tray.

With the exception of the flour and baking powder, put all of your ingredients into a large mixing bowl and whisk together.

Add the flour and baking powder and whisk. (Gluten-free flour can be really absorbent, so add a couple of tbsps more rice milk, if necessary.)

Spoon the cake mix into the cupcake cases, but don’t overfill them. (I normally fill them to roughly halfway.)

Bake them in the oven for 12-15 mins until they’re golden brown. You can tell they’re cooked when a skewer pushed into the centre comes out completely clean. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.

Put all of the buttercream icing ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until the icing is pale and fluffy.

When the cakes are cool top each one with a dollop of the buttercream icing and sprinkle with desiccated coconut.

Coconut and Lemon Cupcakes by The Fat Foodie

Coconut and Lemon Cupcakes by The Fat Foodie

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Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche (serves 4-6)

September 12, 2016August 4, 2018Leave a comment

Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche by The Fat Foodie

My friend and I had made a date to have lunch the other day, but for a number of reasons I couldn’t make it into town so she kindly came to my house instead. In return I promised I’d make us a tasty Mediterranean vegetable quiche for lunch and as she’s a vegetarian I figured I’d make use of some of the baby summer vegetables that were ready to be picked from my garden.

This year I’ve tried growing tomatoes (utter failure), courgettes (pretty successful, but very small), cucumbers (I managed to harvest a small one, but it was really nice), and aubergines (a simple ‘nope’ would cover the aubergine fiasco). Although the courgette plant was my favourite because it was the plant which yielded the most produce, my favourite part of the courgette plant was the flowers it produced. The spreading plant exploded with big, blousy blossoms that made me wish I owned a deep fat fryer so I could make crisp cheese-stuffed courgette flowers, but instead I had to settle for adding them to salads. I know you can bake stuffed courgette flowers in the oven, but sadly it doesn’t produce the same effect as that of a brief dunking in a bath of hot oil.

Courgette Flowers

I had three small, sweet courgettes at hand that I’d picked that morning and I thought they’d work well in a vegetable quiche. This Mediterranean vegetable quiche uses the Hairy Bikers’ parmesan and spelt crust that I’ve used before and it works very well with the courgettes and yellow peppers, adding a cheesy nuttiness to the creamy egg filling. The beauty of this recipe is that you can add whatever vegetables take your fancy, but broccoli florets, oyster mushrooms, sliced red peppers or fresh tomatoes are suggestions which would work beautifully.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

180g gluten-free flour (plus extra for dusting) (I use Dove’s Farm G/F flour because it’s made with low FODMAP ingredients whereas many other gluten-free flours are made with high FODMAP options.)

100g cold non-dairy butter

2 tsp chopped fresh lemon thyme

50g Parmesan (finely grated) or non-dairy version

1 egg yolk

1 tsp ice-cold water

For the quiche filling:

3 medium eggs & the egg white left over from making the pastry

30g of sundried tomatoes (finely chopped)

1 tsp of mild American mustard

30g green spring onion tips (chopped)

1 tbsp chives (finely chopped)

40g parmesan, Grana Padano (finely grated) or non-dairy version

3 baby courgettes or 1 small normal one (cut into thin discs) – no more than 240g of prepared courgette in total

200g red bell peppers (diced)

8 pitted green olives (sliced)

100g cheddar cheese (grated) or non-dairy version

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Method:

To make the pastry:

Put all of the pastry ingredients into a large bowl and then rub the butter in until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the egg yolk and cold water and mix until it forms a ball. (If you feel it’s too dry, add a little bit more water until it comes together).

Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and put it into the fridge for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4.

Line a quiche tin with greaseproof paper.

Sprinkle some flour onto your work surface and roll out the pastry until it’s the right size for the quiche tin.

Place the pastry into the tin, leaving the sides to slightly overhang the edges of the quiche tin.

Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork a few times (this releases any air that might get trapped underneath).

If you have them, fill the tin with baking beans, if not don’t worry about it.

Bake in the oven for about 15-20 mins, or until it’s golden brown. (Baking the pie crust first will ensure your quiche won’t have a soggy bottom.)

To make the quiche filling:

Put aside 50g of the grated cheddar and a small quantity of sliced courgettes and red pepper for decorating the quiche.

Mix all of the remaining ingredients together.

Pour the filling into the pastry case and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top before decorating with the slices of courgette and red pepper.

Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the egg mixture no longer wobbles when shaken.

Trim off any excess pastry from the side of the quiche and serve with a nice fresh green salad.

Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche by The Fat Foodie

A fresh, crisp garden salad by The Fat Foodie

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Vegetable Risotto (serves 4)

August 29, 2016August 4, 2018Leave a comment

Vegetable Risotto by The Fat Foodie

Although I like most Sundays to be quiet, restful affairs involving such tasks as pottering in the garden and performing small chores around the house, from the moment I opened my eyes yesterday didn’t feel like it was supposed to be one of those days. So, in order to blow off the cobwebs and embrace our itchy feet we took a slow meander along to our local Lidl to pick up some fruit and veg for the forthcoming week.

I really like Lidl’s produce selection and I love their prices too, so it wasn’t a surprise that we came home with a little bit more veg than we’d intended to buy, but this doesn’t cause me concern because I know I’ll use it all in meals throughout the week.

When I was thinking about what I was going to cook for dinner I figured I’d use up last week’s veg that was left in the fridge, topped up with a bit of the fresh stuff we’d picked up that day, so a vegetable risotto seemed the way to go. I used to be wary of risottos, thinking that they were difficult to make and that they required constant stirring, but that’s not the case at all. As long as you use decent quality stock cubes and a good quality non-dairy parmesan cheese you can’t go wrong. My risotto was supposed to include the large glass of crisp white wine that was left in a bottle in the fridge from the night before, but my partner decided that it would be better used as an apéritif to sip on while watching me prepare the risotto. Top tip: keep your wine hidden out of reach until you’ve used what you need in the risotto.

It’s up to you to choose what your additional flavourings will be because the possibilities are endless: baby summer vegetables; crispy pancetta and oyster mushrooms; chicken, mangetout and white wine; or a seafood risotto packed to the gills with king prawns, mussels and squid. There’s a risotto for everyone’s taste buds, you’ve just got to find it, but I can highly recommend the one below.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

100g red bell pepper (cut into bite-sized pieces)

6 cherry tomatoes (halved)

1/2 a courgette (cut into bite-sized pieces) – no more than 120g in total

60g mangetout (cut into bite-sized pieces)

100g oyster mushrooms (cut into bite-sized pieces)

100g large leaf spinach (English spinach)

300g arborio rice

3 tbsp chopped chives

A 150ml large glass of crisp white wine (vegan optional)

3 vegetable stock cubes

1 litre of boiling water

75g finely grated dairy-free parmesan (normal parmesan isn’t vegetarian/vegan)

Method:

Prepare the vegetables as directed in the ingredients list and then add the stock cubes to the litre of boiling water and stir to dissolve them.

Put a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the red pepper, courgette, mangetout, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes to the frying pan and cook until they are tender. Add the spinach and cook until it is wilted.

Put the vegetable mix in a separate pan and leave to one side.

Put the frying pan back on the heat (don’t bother washing it, life’s far too short) and add the arborio rice. If you’ve managed to keep hold of the white wine add it to the frying pan now and let it be absorbed into the rice, stirring occasionally.

Once the wine’s been absorbed add a little bit of the vegetable stock and 2 tbsps of the chopped chives and let the stock be absorbed, stirring occasionally.

Keep adding the vegetable stock a little at a time until the rice is plump and al dente (has a slight bite to it). You might not need to use all the stock so it’s okay to have some left over if you’re happy that the rice is cooked to your taste.

Stir the grated parmesan into the rice (feel free to add more if you like, but I thought 75g was plenty). Then stir your precooked vegetables from earlier into the rice and heat through.

Serve sprinkled with the last tbsp of chopped chives and more parmesan.

Vegetable Risotto by The Fat Foodie

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The Fat Foodie

Making Low FODMAP Food Good!

Tag: Vegetarian

Vegan Chilli Con Carne With Baked Tortilla Chips (Serves 6)

Coconut and Lemon Cupcakes (makes 12-16)

Mediterranean Vegetable Quiche (serves 4-6)

Vegetable Risotto (serves 4)