Red Lentil Thai Chilli

Every day I look longingly through all the recipes on Post Punk Kitchen's website, wishing I had my own kitchen again and somewhere to store the many ingredients I need to make all the wonderful recipes I want to try.


However I am still living in a hostel, my baking goods all squeezed into a small cardboard box, elbowing my way for bench space and an element that can actually boil water rather than heat it to luke warm.


I'd almost given up my love of cooking and have spent the past week in the fetal position eating doritos for dinner, when I came across an easy curry recipe on PPK website, that contained no fancy spices or ingredients that backpackers can only dream of, but ingredients that I actually had tucked away in my box of goodies! Renewed with the desire for great food I decided to reunite with my love of food and try a new curry.


Now I must admit it didn't turn out perfect, it was a bit on the runny side, and my lovely Spanish friend accidently bought me a pot plant of parsley at the supermarket rather than a bunch of coriander, but all in all it was a little bit delicious.


I can't wait to move into my new house, and more importantly my new kitchen, just in time to recreate some tasty food for christmas!!


Check out http://www.theppk.com/recipes/ and fall in love.

Red Lentil Thai Chilli

Olive oil (1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons, however much you feel like using)
1 large yellow onion, diced medium
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced medium
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 ½ lbs sweet potatoes cut into ¾ inch chunks
1 cup red lentils
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups vegetable broth
2 15 oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 15 oz can lowfat coconut milk
28 oz can diced tomatoes
½ cup fresh coriander, plus extra for garnish
Limes for garnish (optional)

Preheat a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Saute onions and pepper in oil with a pinch of salt, for 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and saute a minute more.

Add chili powder, sweet potatoes, lentils, salt and vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. When lentils are cooked and sweet potatoes are tender, add the remaining ingredients and heat through.

Taste for salt and seasoning, top with coriander and lime and serve!

Take me to bake potato heaven!!

Today I was wandering around the cobbled streets of Edinburgh after a lovely morning of coffee, art galleries and other fun things you do while your only semi employed (by the way Wellington coffee shop in Edinburgh is amazing AND they have soy milk), when an amazing smell filled my nostrils.
I followed the smell, awaiting to find out what smells soooo good yet probably contains some sort of animal product, and came across a tiny little store called 'The Baked Potato Shop'.

"Great" I thought, they're bound to have something vegan. Little did I know, I had just stubbled across not only an entirely vegetarian baked potato shop, but a vegetarian baked potato shop that had almost half it's entire menu vegan. And let me tell you, these are not boring potatoes. I'm talking vegan haggis, vegetable curry, beans, chickpea salad, and that's just to name a few.

This is not just an Irish persons heaven, this is so much more than just potatoes, I am in love! For less than 4 pounds a tattie and they're HUGE.

I got the, apparently small, vegan haggis filled tattie, and nearly burst. Buttons popped, my belly expanded and I lay in potato ecstasy.

Brilliant.

Step two: Find a job at a veggie restaurant..

Ok so this one is a little bit harder to come by... but if you do get the opportunity then this is by far the best way to get cheap vegan food.. in fact it's actually free!

Hurray for the pros of working in hospitality!

I've been lucky enough to get a job at a well known vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh, and just to brag a little bit, after slumming it all day (food wise) due to far too long in unemployment, I got to eat a wicked  meal after my first shift.

Wait for it... it's pretty good...

Rice pancake filled with baby potato, cauliflower, chick pea and toasted cashews in a spicy aromatic coconut, courgette and tomato sauce. Served with tomato chutney and a big dose of awesomeness!

This one is usually just a vegetarian option involving a mint yoghurt raita, but most of the meals can be made vegan so there's lots of choice.

Gosh listening to me you would think they're paying me for this blog, but swear to blog, I am just super excited about my overly rad meal last night!!

If you can't get a job at one, NEVER FEAR there's an easy solution...

just make friends with someone who does. Easy.

Discovering delightful vegan food all over the world

Firstly, before we become friends, I guess I should introduce myself.

I'm Katy, I'm from New Zealand and at the moment I am in Europe.

I became vegetarian by accident. Really I did. It wasn't as if one night I just fell asleep in a big mac induced coma and awoke and happy vegetarian, nor did I have a particular moment where I decide "OK Katy, this is it, the last steak, tomorrow you're going green. There was no revolting documentary or a cute little lamb wearing a pink ribbon that made me change my mind. I really just slipped into it over the course of a few months, then went "Oh.. I guess I'm vegetarian."

Then I went vegan. Because once I realised the reasons for being vegetarian (yes, I was aware of them, but I wasn't really aware of them), I realised there was absolutely no way I couldn't be vegan.


It was possibly just after that, that I became FOOD OBSESSED. 


The problem is I am an absolute "flashpacker". I refuse to live of canned beans and love nothing more than finding somewhere selling a delicious slice of rich chocolate cake or a vegan ice-cream.


And so some how my travels have became about finding a choice vegan feed. Which if any of you vegans out there have been to Europe, you will know this can be a tiny bit tricky.

So I've composed a blog to help you find all the awesome little places that Europe has tucked away  that are brilliant for veggie loving people such as yourselves.