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| From the left: Spiced Sweet Potatoes, Babyleaf Salad, Mushroom & Coriander Couscous. Squished in the middle is the salad dressing and a tbsp chopped unsalted pistachios |
Today is World Aids Day - Aids and its awareness, has been very close to my heart for years..having friends living with this illness and having lost loved ones to it. So I have been quietly contemplating getting back involved to raise awareness..which is something I did in the past and it fueled my soul. I am lucky because I don't have this illness but I do believe you can never be too aware!
This recipe selection came to be, when I was thinking about a friend of mine, who passed many years ago from an Aids related illness. She would drag me to this little restaurant and order a mushroom cous cous dish, spiced potato dish and a large house salad. She would devour every last spoonful, with a huge grin on her face...as it was the one meal she could eat that didn't seem to make her sick. I spent a lot of time at that restaurant getting take out for her. So as my Thrifty Thursday fell on World Aids Day it seemed fitting to make the meal that gave her great comfort right up until the end. She's gone but will never be forgotten...and she would get one heck of kick out of this blog posting! lol.
I knew the exact recipes I wanted to cook and turned to the wonderful cookbook by Linda Majzlik's..A Vegan Taste of North Africa
Costings breakdown can be found at the end of the recipes below...
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| Spiced Sweet Potatoes |
(Recipe from A Vegan Taste of North Africa/Majzilk)
1 1/2lb/675g sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil or oil of choice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 dsp lemon juice
6 fl oz/175ml water
black pepper
chopped fresh coriander
Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the onion until softened. Add the ginger, cumin and paprika and stir around for 30 seconds, then the potato, lemon juice and water and season with black pepper. Stir well and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until cooked. Serve garnished with chopped coriander.
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| Mushroom and Coriander Cous Cous |
(Recipe from A Vegan Taste of North Africa/Majzilk)
8oz/225g cous cous (GF alternative at the end of recipes ~R~)
6oz/175g mushrooms, wiped and finely chopped or sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil or oil of choice
2 rounded tbsp chopped fresh coriander
black pepper
16 floz/475g hot vegetable stock or water
Heat the oil or steam/saute and cook the mushrooms and garlic until the juices run from the mushrooms. Remove from the heat and add the remaining ingredients. Stir well, cover and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Fluff up by stirring. Serve.
Green Salad with Pistachios Serves 4
(Recipe from A Vegan Taste of North Africa/Majzlik)
1 bowl of mixed salad leaves
1 very small garlic clove, crushed
2 dsp olive oil or oil of choice
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of cayenne - optional
black pepper
chopped pistachios
Mix the garlic with the oil, vinegar, lemon juice and cayenne pepper season with the black pepper and spoon over the leaves. Toss thoroughly and serve garnished with chopped pistachios.
Thrifty Thursday Recipe Costs Breakdown
Items
| Sweet Potatoes | 1.04 |
| Mushrooms | 49p |
| Salad Leaves | 1.00 |
| Cous cous | 28p |
| Fresh Coriander | 20p |
| Onion | 21p |
| Pistachios | 20p |
| Oil | 16p |
| Lemon juice | 16p |
| Garlic | 5p |
| Veggie Stock | 5p |
| White Wine Vinegar | 2p |
| Cumin | 2p |
| Paprika | 2p |
| Ground ginger | 2p |
| Black pepper | 2p |
| Total | £3.94 |
Yes..that's right just 98.5p per person...Not bad for that plateful eh? lol.
NB: For you GF Folks you could use Quinoa in sub for the cous cous...but obviously that will alter the costings quite a bit. Well for the UK folks anyway as Quinoa is more expensive than gold!
Save those pennies folks!
~R~
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| Never forget....Worlds Aids Day 2011 |
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