Chocolate and Beyond

Recipes: Lime & Coconut 'Green' Curry

Starting as I mean to go on with adding recipes to my 'new-look' blog, this is a really delicious curry that I cooked up for dinner the other night, after spotting I had several tins of coconut milk in the cupboard and some green vegetables that needed using up!

Depending on how hot your chillies are, you can make this curry hotter with a pinch of extra red chilli powder too. But my red chilli was especially long and quite fiery, so it was enough (obviously, use less if you're not soo keen on hot, hot, hot!).

The sauce in this curry is fairly thin - the picture above is from a day after, when the sauce had thickened and dried a bit. But add more desiccated (shredded, dried coconut for US readers!) if you want it thicker.

And for the fullest flavour melding, you could also make the day before, though I ate my first dinner immediately after cooking!

Lime & Coconut 'Green' Curry

 

Serves 3-4 (with rice)

 

Coconut oil for frying
1 large onion, chopped
1 large courgette (zucchini), diced
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets and including stems
1 green pepper
400ml (1 can) coconut milk
1 red chilli, finely chopped with seeds included
2 inch stick of ginger, peeled and grated
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3 tbsp desiccated coconut
2 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
1 lime, zest and juice
½ tsp salt 

Spice mix:
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black mustard seeds
About 10-12 cardamom pods

1. In a frying pan, dry-fry the spices until they release their scent, then transfer and work to a fine powder with a pestle and mortar. Discard the cardamom skins.

2. In a large, heavy-based skillet, melt some coconut oil for frying and sauté the onion in the oil on a low to medium heat, for about 10-12 minutes, so it cooks until soft and caramelises slightly, without burning.

3. Add the chopped green vegetables, ground spices, ginger, garlic, chilli and fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Then add the coconut milk and the lime zest. Bring to a simmer, then cover the pan and cook for around 10 minutes, until the vegetables have softened. You may want to cook less if you prefer your veggies to be crunchier.

4. Uncover and add the desiccated coconut. The sauce should thicken with the coconut added though is not meant to be a very thick one. However, if necessary, reduce the sauce by simmering a few minutes longer with the pan uncovered.

5. Take off the heat and add the lime juice and most of the coriander, as well as the salt (add more if required). Leave to sit for around 10 minutes until the flavours have melded, then serve with basmati rice with the remaining coriander as garnish.

Enjoy!

7lbs lighter, new directions, and 'coming out' as vegan

Hello again. You may have noticed I haven't been around that much. That's literally true, because I'm about 7lbs lighter since the start of this year - hurray! So there's less of me. But we'll come to that in a minute.

I have been 'absent' because I've been busy with my blog Butterflyist, which was the result of a column I had in the Guardian. I was tied up doing all the work I needed for the column, and writing the blog, and I've been working on building it up. That's now milling along nicely overall.

I've also had a few ideas on how to give a bit of a revamp to Chocolate and Beyond too, because times have moved on since I began this blog, and it needs a new direction. Especially as I've taken such a new direction in my own life, regarding my diet and my general philosophy (that is, now I am a commited vegan). I think that I need to bring this blog in line with that.

Now I'm vegan

You will have read that last November, I did a vegan challenge. I had bit of a transitional period following that, but in early January after watching this lecture by Gary Yourofsky, I decided once and for all that being an ethical vegan is the only choice that I can sit comfortably with (and wrote about it all here in this post).

'Coming out' as vegan has been a strange period of my life, as well as exciting, of course, but there have been difficulties too. These do not come from my actual diet, since exploring vegan eating and creativity in my cooking has been nothing but a joy! But I knew many people wouldn't understand, and I knew life would change on many levels.

Like my relationships with family (there have been some arguments), friends (my choice to be vegan is currently something of a novelty, and there have been a few friendly jibes around it), going out socially and invitations to social events, and how I live my life in more ways than dietary - such as shopping, like no longer buying silk or leather, and taking extra care of purchasing cosmetics (I want to check that not only have they NOT been tested on animals, but also that they don't contain animal ingredients).

So, there has been quite a time of adjustment, and I'm continuing to learn and be on a journey. I'm still working out how to deal with various circumstances, as I have to admit - from my time of tucking into sausages, which is well-documented on this blog - I now feel quite sick and upset when I see other people chomp into animal flesh.

But in all the ups and downs, one of the huge bonues (other than knowing I am reduding my demand on animal products and therefore, no longer being complicit in the barbaric cruelty inflicted upon animals for their meat or produce, as far as I possibly can), has been a natural weight loss of around half a stone (maybe more). And this has happened without me even trying, or paying particular attention even to intuitive eating.

This weight loss has occurred over the last 4 months, and I'm now back in jeans that I had shoved to the recesses of the wardrobe, expecting to end up in (yet another) charity bag. I imagine cutting out cheese has had a major impact. This was the food item I always had in my fridge (and surprisingly, though I thought I couldn't live without cheese, it seems I can and very easily. I rarely miss it).

It's harder to make quick, junk food choices as a vegan too, unless you have a stash of vegan junk food in your home already. So I've been eating less in terms of confectionary or pies or other, not entirely, nutritious food items. If you're vegan and out and about and have a snack attack, a standard newsagent shop will maybe just have crisps that you can eat. Milk chocolate and many sweets (since they contain gelatine) are off the menu. So my diet has been altogether a health-fest.

And do I miss chocolate? Well, let's face it - I did focus the theme of my blog on the stuff! And yet I have not been going without. Thankfully, I have been amazed at some of the wonderful vegan chocolate choices out there (and may get to review on this site). So I can still write about chocolate, and eat it, but I just avoid milk chocolate (and this means not eating the most sugar-laden, unhealthy types).

As well, the other wonderful outcome for me is my health. The stomach problem that had been troubling me since coming back from Uganda cleared up within three weeks of going vegan. Result! The only time I get any bother now is sometimes when I drink too much wine, or occasionally when I've even eaten something which I think - unbeknown to me - must have had dairy in it.

Going forwards

So what about Chocolate and Beyond? Well, it's long due a revamp. Both in terms of style and content. I'm all for maintaining an intuitive eating, non-dieting approach blog, or at least with that being its fundamental position. But I'm now very passionate about veganism, so I'd like the site to develop more on that level.

Maybe this will mean recipes, discussion of vegan issues and politics, and I'd also like to use the blog to debunk some of the myths around a vegan diet (like about protein and calcium), as well as expose some of the risks, and falsehoods, of a meat and dairy diet.

So - if you have been a follower of this blog, I'd be very interested in hearing what you think about my ideas in taking Chocolate and Beyond forward. I know there will be some people who have been following only for the intuitive journey and help on that - though I like to think there will be something still for you here as I continue to post.

But veganism, I suppose, is part of my intuitive journey. It certainly feels like the intuitively right thing to do! And I'm so intensely passionate about it, I think this site has to now be my outlet for that passion and all I have to say and talk about on the subject.

As I say, I'd love to hear your comments.

It was a Christmas miracle! No weight gain.

Well, would you believe it, I appear to be exactly the same weight as I was before Christmas, if not a little less?

I'll be perfectly honest, I don't account this small miracle to anything I've been doing on an intuitive eating level - although the couple of weeks running up to Christmas I was definitely being a lot more mindful in terms of portion size (using a small plate again, mainly).

However, following my trip to Uganda a few months back in October, I seem to have had a persistent stomach problem. I know, I know, I need to see the doc, but it is SO damn hard to get an appointment at my local surgery, it puts me off ever getting help with my health.

Anyhow, I basically was really ill for the first few days I got back from Uganda, high fever and my bowels had turned to water, without giving you too much gory information. And the stomach cramps actually made me cry. Proper tears. And I'm no wuss, I can tell you.

Since then, I've generally just not been right. Sometimes, it seems like I'm really, really full after eating just a small amount. And other times, there just seems to be a persistent pain (not agonising, but there) and lots of bloating.

Even though I did stuff myself with my Christmas dinners, especially on Christmas Eve which is our special night with our Polish food, afterwards I suffered for it and could not indulge any further - as would be normal - meaning my Christmas intake was more limited than normal.

So - thanks probably to some parasite living inside me (right okay Andrea: GO AND GET IT CHECKED OUT!), I did not put on any Christmas weight. There's always a silver lining.

However, I have been very slack in terms of remaining intuitive and mindful about my eating, and I do intend that for 2012, I will start to revisit my normal eating principles and get some weight off.

Happy New Year anyhow!

My vegan challenge for November

I found out that November is Animal Aid's Vegan Month and I'm planning on trying out a vegan diet through the month, to see how I get along and to learn some more vegan recipes.

I bought a vegan cookbook called Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook which is supposed to be excellent, and having tried a couple of things from it, I can see the authors know their stuff. The banana bread in here is amazing, and I baked it for my son's leaving party and everyone loved it (I never mentioned it was a vegan recipe!).

On their GoVegan site, Animal Aid have a huge amount of resources to help get started as well as find out about the arguments for veganism. I have to say, I currently can't imagine being 100% vegan for life, and especially when I travel, but I'm more than happy to cut down on my use of animal produce overall (free-range eggs, cheese, etc), and make far more vegan choices than I normally do.

However, another part of me is concerned that I'm not going to be able to manage my challenge for the whole of November! Already I'm wondering about how to deal with dinner invites and so on. I know a few restaurants that I can eat vegan food at when dining out - but what about when people ask me over for a meal at their place?

Wish me luck. I'll try my best and what I reckon is, every bit helps towards a lifestyle that does not involve cruelty, exploitation or destruction of the environment. So, just being aware of making such choices is a positive step forward.

Reading 'Eating Animals' is making me re-think my prawn habit...

If you follow this blog, you'll probably know that I've gone from being vegetarian (most of my life) to eating some meat (blinkered period), to being vegetarian again (principles couldn't stay down) but trying to cut out dairy (Conklin Farms horror), to being pescitarian but only choosing MSC fish (it suffers marginally less) and now?

Well I've gone and bought myself Jonathan Safran Foer's book 'Eating Animals', and I'm really starting to think the fish - and even the prawns - have to go.

I've cut down immensely on eating fish, I have to say, and I have been working at eliminating fish from my diet completely. But I never really saw any reason to give up prawns, ever, on the basis that I didn't think they suffered (which might not be true anyhow), as well as the fact that when there's nothing else on the menu that's veggie, there's usually a prawn dish I can eat. Yet I hadn't really considered the environmental impact of my prawn habit.

In Eating Animals, Safran Foer says that "shrimp trawling devastates sea horse populations more than any other activity". Sea horses are actually quite marvellous little creatures, with very complex natures (they live in long-term monogamous relationships and the males become pregnant, for crying out loud!), and they are being wiped out by the fishing industry. And while the prawns I buy from supermarkets are only ever the ones that say 'responsibly sourced' on them, what does this really mean?

Can I guarantee a sea horse has never died from the prawns I eat? I doubt it. And what really shocked me in reading Eating Animals (though I'm so busy I haven't actually got that far in the book yet, though it's already having an impact) was how much sea life altogether is killed as 'bycatch', for just one piece of fish on your plate.

Safran Foer says "Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might need to be five feet across."

And these animals don't just include other fish. In tuna fishing, they include whales, dolphins, sharks, and sea birds of all kinds. Now that's something for me to think about, I reckon.

My roasted garlic & carrot hummus recipe (tasty & vegan too!)

I know I'll never switch to a fully vegan diet, though I do overall want to cut down on my consumption of animal products. I failed miserably to cut out dairy completely (well, not miserably, because I have switched to soya milk and I have cut down on cheese), but I have still decided to increase my repertoire of vegan recipes for cooking at home.

I made this recipe up at the weekend, when I did an afternoon tea, and it turned out to be delicious. I thought I'd share it with you (sorry I can't be more precise over the ingredients, I wasn't intending on writing about it when I first started making it!).

Andrea's roasted garlic & carrot hummus

6-7 large carrots

3-4 large cloves garlic

Approx 800g (2 cans) chick peas (mine were previously cooked from dried)

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika powder

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

4-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Zest & juice of half a lemon

Heaped tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

Some vegetable stock to 'wet' while blending

1. Chop and roast the carrots (with a drizzle of olive oil) for about 40 minutes at 190 degrees celcius then add roughly chopped garlic and cook for about another 20 minutes until the carrots are golden brown and soft.

2. Allows to cool, then blend the roasted carrots and garlic with the chick peas, spices, oilve oil, lemon juice and seasoning in an electric blender. Keep blending and stirring down, slowly adding the vegetable stock until you get the consistency that you prefer for your dip!

3. Allow to cool in the fridge and serve with pitta bread or crudités as a dip or a starter, with a sprig of parsley in the top to garnish.

There you go - easy as pie! If you end up making this, I'd be interested to know what you think (my disclaimer though is to remember that my ingredients are approximate - try the taste test as you go along to see what it's turning out like!).

 

What do you mean when you say you're eating 'healthily'?

When you talk about 'healthy eating' do you actually mean you're 'dieting', or at least switching to low-fat eating? It's become a bit of a bug bear of mine that people use the term 'healthy eating' as a euphemism for eating a low-fat diet, when there is so much evidence to show that eating the standard 'low fat diet' isn't healthy at all.

When I say I'm eating 'healthily', I mean that I'm being mindful about including nutritional foods in my diet again, when maybe I've been a bit slack for a while (such as the times I've been travelling and living off pizza!). My healthy foods include things like nuts, seeds and avocados - which are some of the most nutritionally dense foods you can eat, and are ones which dieters tend to avoid.

Also for me, a healthy diet tends to mean eating less white carbs, which don't make me feel great (though I did eat 2 slices of buttered white toast for breakfast this morning!), but I don't start using less fat, and I certainly don't start eating 'diet' foods. Again, there is so much evidence to show these do us more harm than good, and also make us hungrier in the long run because they contain so many substitute ingredients.

Of course, I do include a lot of vegetables and salads when I'm eating 'healthily' - but that's because they are the foundation of a good diet, not because they help me lose weight.

I know I'm no skinny minny, but I do now stay at a stable weight, pretty much whatever the occasion. And I am a lot happier than I used to be, when I was spending what seemed to be every waking moment thinking about how to keep the number on the scales down. For me, the way I now eat 'healthily' actually feels healthy.

 

Not in my cuppa - why we need to keep mega dairies out of the UK

We like our great British countryside don't we? Rolling hills of green, privet hedges and cows grazing the pasture. But imagine the cows and fields were replaced with massive, corrugated sheds instead? Doesn't quite sum up what a day in the country is all about.

But we need to act if we don't want our beautiful landscapes to change in that way, and if we don't want to drink milk from 'battery cows'. That is, cows kept in conditions not dissimilar to the millions of poor hens who suffer terribly in barren battery cages. I definitely don't want that to happen, and it was great to hear of the recent WSPA campaign success when Nocton Dairies had their application turned down (yet again) to install a US-style intensive dairy farm in Lincolnshire.

The threat isn't over though. While Nocton Dairies were unsuccessful on this occasion, they will no doubt try again, and other dairy businesses continue to push towards building intensive dairy farms, such as the proposed Leighton Farm expansion in Wales.

'Mega-dairies' impose terrible suffering upon cows. They are kept not in fields but inside stalls with little room to move, and have no opportunity for natural grazing. They are milked to the extreme, three times a day, and the burden this places on them makes their lives even shorter than dairy cows' lives already are. It isn't just the cows that suffer though, the environmental impact is also significant, with waste polluting local water supplies and causing massive problems.

Dairy cows in the US are already subjected to dreadful suffering through intensive 'mega dairies' - PETA are investigating one currently. We must prevent this from ever being the case in the UK. It must not be that we have to keep campaigning against mega-dairy applications, but that there must be no opportunity for dairies to make the application in the first place, with a forwards-ban on this style of farming in the UK.

I have become part of the WSPA's 'Not in my cuppa' campaign, and part of a small team of people looking to spread the word on this issue, to make sure intensive dairy farms never become part of the UK landscape. We want our cows in fields, not in factory farms (can you imagine looking at huge ugly sheds while driving in the countryside, rather than seeing cows grazing in fields?). I hope after reading this, you'll think the same.

Join the 'Not in my cuppa' campaign and make sure the milk in your tea or coffee never comes from a battery cow.

The problem with frequent travelling is weight gain

Having had a recent trip to the USA (and being served HUGE portions of food!), I currently feel weightier than I have done in a long time. In fact, I could barely fasten my jeans on the plane home!

I can honestly say, the idea of going on a diet is creeping into my mind. Especially since I have a holiday coming up in a few days, which is an all-inclusive trip, and I know I will be faced with mountains more of food.

I find intuitive eating principles are not easy for me to practice while away, and I go away a lot. Especially on a press trips, where we get full breakfast, lunch and dinner, in yummy restaurants and hotels, and I want to enjoy the experience fully. What I think is that I'm only going to be there this once, so it seems such a shame to not try things - but the effect is weight gain! At least for me.

I had a similar weight gain /dieting panic a few years back after returning from Tunisia, and I have just re-read that post to remind myself how I dealt with the feelings then.

However, my thoughts about intuitive eating have changed a bit over the years. I no longer think I should just eat 'what I want', as long as I'm hungry and I only eat enough to be satisfied. While this is a tactic for the initial stages of giving up dieting (to free yourself from deprivation mentality), I find that if I eat - for example - a lot of high-carb foods, I get hungry again very quickly and I am never satisfied for very long.

I also believe that some foods do have the effect of being 'addictive', while not necessarily good for you, especially sugary, carbohydrate foods. So I may think this is what I want, but it's not really the best choice for me (I get in a habit then of eating them and wonder why I feel bad and stodgy). 

So - I'm not dieting, no. But I am going to 'cut out the crap' for while, so to speak. That doesn't mean I will omit chocolate of course (I have cupboard loads of the stuff too, since it was recently my birthday and people bought me lots!), but I am going to make a conscious decision to aim for nutrition over 'empty calories'.

Hopefully some of this 'travel weight' will be shed in the process, and I will be able to fasten my jeans comfortably again. But I still have next week's holiday to get through. Hmmm.

Winner of RAWR Easter Eggs competition has been announced!

I'm happy to report that a winner of the RAWR Easter Eggs competition, which was recently featured on my blog, has been chosen by RAWR.

It was a touch choice as there were 60 entries for the competition, but RAWR's chocolate producers liked the suggestion of Claire Evans, who came up with the idea of a mix of dried cherries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries as a new chocolate flavour for RAWR. So Claire is the lucky winner of the eggs!

She has been notified and a box of the RAWR Easter eggs are on their way to her.

DON'T FORGET THOUGH - 10% discount on orders from RAWR is available for Chocolate and Beyond readers!

Just use the code BEYOND10 which you can add in My Cart on www.rawrchoc.com after making your order.