FAINA - FARINATA

There are a whole range of recipes which use a chick-pea batter - here's my recipe for socca, which is a thin pancake, done in a frying pan.

Faina, or farinata, if I've done my research properly, is a lot thicker, and baked in the oven.

The basic recipe is very simple:
100g chick-pea (gram) flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
300ml water
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)

However, I love to tinker with recipes, and I wanted something spicy.

So I added a teaspoon of my homemade curry powder, a teaspoon of bouillon powder instead of salt, a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and a splash of mushroom sauce.

I whisked this to get rid of the lumps, and poured it into a 20cm cake tin ( actually, my silicon cake form).

This was baked in the oven for about 20 minutes at 220C.

It came out as a solid slab - and (apart from nibbling it constantly, for it was very tasty), I wasn't sure what to do with it. Eventually, I cut off  about a third which I sliced horizontally and fried lightly for a couple of minutes each side. I had this for dinner with a spicy tomato sauce with cannelloni beans (sort of baked beans) and some curried potato wedges.

I thought it was absolutely gorgeous, and it's one I shall do again. Whilst eating this, I realised that, cut into chunks and fried, it could well be used in a chilli non carne. In the event I made the chunks and added some to a veg curry I was making. This again was a lovely way to use up the faina - and I've still got some chunks left in the oven (which I'm nibbling on every time I go to the fridge!)

I could certainly see me using this in the same way I use seitan - and it's yet another alternative to soya chunks.

BREADMAKING AT TAUNTON ASSOCIATION FOR THE HOMELESS (TAH)

Wednesday 15th November 2017
Peter came today, for the first time, and made these cheese and sausage wraps. Both the cheese and the sausage were vegan - I've decided I don't want any meat or dairy in my cooking. 

They were judged 'very tasty'. Peter also made some fruit pikelets, which he generously shared with some of the other hostel residents.

Violife pizza cheese 

Wednesday 8th November 2017
Andy came for the first time today - and made bread rolls. A baker himself he needed no guidance from me. However, they didn't turn out as well as they could have done, since we used self-raising flour, which was all we had at the time. I promised we'd have strong bread flour for the next time Andy came.

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Wednesday 25th Oct 2017
Oh dear, I'm such a lazy sod - combine that with my gadfly-like impulses and nothing appears to happen. I haven't stopped teaching at the TAH, I've just been too idle to post about it. Which is a shame because we've made some great stuff. 

I'm going to get in now with a New Year's Resolution (is this the earliest?) to update this blog every Wednesday - when I've something to report.

In the meantime, I'll see if I can't find some pics of the breads my students have made - which deserve to be celebrated!

VEGAN INFO - AS IT COMES MY WAY

Almost every other day, new health research becomes available, more animal cruelty is exposed, or there's more evidence of the spread of veganism. So when I come across it, I'll post it here.

There's also global warming/climate change - the biggest challenge to our survival. Here are some facts about the effects of livestock raising from the film Cowspiracy.

The evidence is overwhelming - a vegan diet is better for our health, for animal welfare, and, most importantly for the planet. If you call yourself an environmentalist, going vegan is the most effective action you can take.

I have several friends who either have cancer or have family members with the disease, so I've gathered together some of the research on what can be done to fight this.

A whole food, plant-based diet and cancer.

Intermittent fasting and cancer.