The Spirited Palace - Vegan Caribbean Cafe in Crystal Palace

There is this little vegan Caribbean cafe that I have just discovered right near my house, and today for lunch I decided to try it out.

I am sooooo glad that I did! The food was absolutely delicious - it had everything from vegan mac n' cheese to fried plantain. You get a box that is full to the brim with your choice of quinoa or rice, squished in besides steam seasoned kale and 'sausage', served with spicy beans, fried plantain, dumpling and the BEST mac n' cheese I have tasted since becoming a vegan! Then on the side they threw in a wakame seaweed salad (or you can just have a mixed leaf salad).

What's more you could tell that the cook loved to prepare the food and really believed in what he was cooking. The service was so friendly that it made you passionate about the food you were about to eat!

I can tell you that it sounds like a lot of food (and looks like a lot of food!) but I polished it all off within 5 to 10mins - IT WAS JUST SO GOOD!

I will definitely be going back on a regular basis!

American Banana Pancakes

Every Saturday morning I like to invent my own new, tasty breakfast. This Saturday Banana pancakes were a the top of my list to experiment with, and they turned out surprisingly sensational!
I know I am English and should be a cooking patriot, but vegan British pancakes that have to be so thin are turn out shockingly bad when I make them (all mush and no pancake). So American pancakes it will have to be, until I can master the British skill of thin, light roll up pancakes.

But don't worry these ones are just as good topped with your favourite syrup of lemon and sugar!

Ingredients 

(Makes around 4 small pancakes - Enough for one!) 

• 1 medium to small banana 
• 50g of buckwheat flour 
• 4 tbs of almond milk 
• 1 1/2 tsp of egg replacer 
• 1 tsp of baking powder 
• Optional: 1 tsp of vanilla extract (although it isn't vital) 
• Coconut oil for greasing 

Method 

1. Put all ingredients into a blender/ food processor (except coconut oil) - you need it to be quite a thick consistency - it will be thicker than a conventional English pancake batter 
2. Heat up a NON - STICK frying pan (I highly recommend non- stick otherwise you will have to use a lot more oil and mine NEVER work on a conventional frying pan!) with around 1/2 tsp of coconut oil. Heat on a medium high heat 
3. After about 2 -3 mins the oil should be VERY hot - but test this by flicking some water in the frying pan - if it sizzles and spits then the pan is hot enough. 
4. Pour around 2 tbs of batter in the pan and spread around with a spoon. When the edges are dry and the batter has little holes in it then it is ready to flip. 
5. Flip the pancake over - when you can't hear a sizzling sound anymore then the other side is done (around 30 - 45 seconds) 
6. Repeat the frying steps with the rest of the batter and serve topped with blueberries and maple syrup (or your favourite pancake topping) 
7. Enjoy! 

Raw Noodle Salad with a creamy Miso Dressing

Last night I threw this together for a quick dinner and I thought it was definitely worthy to put on my blog! This is perfect for a quick and easy raw vegan dinner that gives you an immediate health boost.

Feel free to add other salad ingredients to it - it could only get better! For example spiralize some cucumber and carrots into it as well and add some fresh chopped tomatoes (the only reason I didn't is lack of ingredients!).

Ingredients 

(serves one) 

• 1/2 a large courgette
• 1/2 a large beetroot 
• 1/2 a red cabbage (you won't use the whole half!) 
• Other veg that could be added: 1 carrot, 1/2 a cucumber etc. 
• 1/2 tsp of salt 
• 1/4 tsp of black pepper
• Optional: handful of bean sprouts 

For the miso dressing 

• 1 1/2 tbs of tamari 
• 1 tbs of warm water 
• 1 tbs of sweet miso paste
• 1 tsp of tahini 
• 1 tsp of almond butter 
• 1 tsp of rice mirin 
• 1/2 tsp of chopped ginger 
• 1 tbs of apple cider vinegar 

OR for a different dressing and more sweetness: 

• 1 1/2 tbs of sweet white miso paste 
• 1 tbs of tamari 
• 1 1/2 tsp of (preferably unsalted) almond butter 
• 1 1/2 tsp of nutritional yeast + 1 tsp of sprinkling over the top 
• 1/2 tbs of rice mirin 
• 1 tsp of chopped ginger 
• 1/2 clove of garlic (or a very small clove found in the centre of the bulb) 
• Dash of chili powder 
• 2 tbs of water 
• Coriander to garnish 
• Optional: Sprinkle of sesame seeds 
• Optional: handful of raisins 

Method 

1. Spiralize the vegetables. With the red cabbage you might have to turn it yourself (as opposed to turning the handle, which turns the cabbage) - use about 1 slice worth of red cabbage from the half. Mix in salt and pepper and leave to one side 
2. Put all the dressing ingredients into a mini bullet blender, blend until smooth. 
3. Pour the dressing over the 'noodles' and enjoy. I ate mine with some bean sprouts sprinkled in - this gives it extra crunch which is really tasty. 

Vanilla Hemp Ice Cream with Hot Chocolate Brownie and Syrup

THIS DESSERT IS SERIOUSLY GOOD! That is all I have to say.

Hemp milk has quite a creamy consistency so you don't really need many other ingredients to make it the perfect ice cream base. Mix it with stevia, maple syrup and a vanilla bean and you have the perfect substitute to a rich and creamy vanilla ice cream! The brownies are really good, especially when hot and put with the ice cream.

Ingredients for Vanilla Hemp Ice Cream 

(makes a whole tub) 

• 1 litre of hemp milk (I used a brand called Pacific and it had the best creamy taste- but I don't know if you can get that in the UK) 
• 1 vanilla bean (scrape out the little seeds) 
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract 
• 3 tbs of maple syrup 
• 2 packets of stevia / 10 drops of liquid stevia (or use 5 tbs of xylitol/ sugar or 3 more tbs of maple syrup) 
• 1/4 tsp of salt 

Method 

1. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn until completely frozen (around 25mins) 
2. ALTERNATIVELY put into ice cube trays, freeze and then mix up in a blender until a slushy ice cream.  Refreeze in a tub. 

Ingredients for the Brownies 

(Makes around 6-7 BIG squares or 15 smaller squares) 

• 1 can black beans (around 250g) 
• 2 1/2 tbs of carob powder 
• 1 tbs of dark cocoa powder 
• 5 tbs choice of flour ( or oat flour: blended oats to make a fine flour) 
• 1/4 tsp of salt 
• 2 stevia packets (or 4 tbs of sugar/ xylitol) 
• 3 tbs of maple syrup 
• 2 tbs of honey (or more maple syrup) 
• 3 tbs of coconut butter (I think coconut oil would work too) 
• 3 tbs of applesauce/ 1 small banana or 1/2 a large banana 
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract 
• 4 tbs of hemp milk 
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder 

Method 

1. Pre heat a oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a small brownie dish with coconut oil.
2. Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until completely smooth 
3. Pour into the brownie dish and bake for 15 - 20 mins (depending on how gooey you want your brownies - I like mine gooey!) 
4. Leave to cool for 10mins then cut into squares. 

Serve by stacking a large brownie with one scoop of ice cream and then drizzle in maple syrup. DELICIOUS!

Raw Hazelnut Milk recipe

In America I bought a HUGE bag of hazelnuts (something I can never find in England!) and decided I would use some to make my own (first) nut milk! I thought it was going to be quite hard, but like everything in cooking, it turned out to be pretty simple. I used a juicer to make the milk, but you can also use a blender as well (although the method is a bit different).

Ingredients 

• 120g of raw, whole hazelnuts (pre-soaked overnight) 
• 1 litre of cold water 

Method 1 (with a juicer) 

1. First (if you haven't already done so) soak the hazelnuts overnight. The next morning/ day pour out the water and rinse the hazelnuts in cold, clean water. 
2. Put 1 tbs of hazelnuts in the juicer followed by around 100ml of water. Repeat this step until you have juiced all the hazelnuts. 
3. Get another jug and put it under the juicer spout. In the jug put a nut bag, so that any hazelnut mush gets caught in the next step. 
4. Pour the milk back into the juicer and let it run out into the bag with the nut bag inside it. 
5. Bring out the nut bag to let the milk strain through into the jug, whilst squeezing it to get the milk all out. There should be a little bit of hazelnut mush left in the bag when you finish squeezing. 
6. Store your nut milk in an airtight jug in the fridge and drink within 6 days 

Method 2 (with a blender) 

1. First (if you haven't already done so) soak the hazelnuts overnight. The next morning/ day pour out the water and rinse the hazelnuts in cold, clean water. 
2. Put all the hazelnuts into your blender with the water and blend for around 2 mins on full power
3. While the hazelnut milk is blending prepare a jug with a nut milk bag inside it
4. Pour into the jug (so into the nut milk bag) the contents of the blender. Bring out the nut milk bag from the jug and squeeze it to get ALL the milk out into the jug. Just keep squeezing until the pulp inside the nut milk bag is DRY. 
5. Store your nut milk in an airtight jug in the fridge and drink within 6 days. 

You can use the hazelnut pulp in many different ways. You can dry it out in a dehydrator or oven for around 4 hours on a low heat, blend it up and use it as flour.