Recipe: Butter Beans Shaak (curry) within 15 minutes

This Shaak is simple, filling and quick to make. It involves minimal preparation and tastes delicious.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for butter beans Shaak

•    1 (240g) can of butter beans or use dried butter beans which would need to be soaked for 12 hours, the water drained and then boiled in fresh water
•    2 tomatoes - blended
•    1 fresh chilli – blended
•    3/4 of a tablespoon of sunflower oil or olive oil
•    1/2 a teaspoon of mustard seeds
•    1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
•    2 sweet neem leaves
•    1 pinch of asafetida
•    1 pinch of turmeric powder
•    salt to taste
•    1 teaspoon of dried coriander powder
•    1 handful of freshly chopped coriander
•    6 wholemeal mini wraps

How to make butter beans Shaak

1.    Heat the oil in a pan and then add the mustard seeds, cumin, sweet neem leaves and asafetida
2.    After the seeds have popped add the tomatoes and chilli
3.    After a 2 minutes, add the butter beans, turmeric powder, salt and dried coriander powder
4.    After 3 minutes add the chopped coriander, stir and let it cook for 5 - 7 minutes
5.    Fold each mini wraps in half and serve the butter beans alongside it

We enjoyed this with mini wraps. It can also be eaten with rice or Rotli.

Recipe: Pasta with homemade sauce and soft cheese within 30 minutes

This dish was an on the spot creation and it turned out really well! :)

Ingredients for pasta sauce

•    3/4 of a teaspoon of coconut oil
•    1 (400g) can of chopped tomatoes
•    1 fresh chilli – cut into 3 pieces
•    1 handful of roughly chopped coriander
•    salt to taste
•    pepper to taste
•    ground cinnamon to taste
•    ground nutmeg to taste

How to make vegan pasta sauce

1.    Add the coconut oil to a pan and heat it
2.    Meanwhile blend the tomatoes, chilli and coriander
3.    Add this to the pan when the oil has warmed up
4.    Let it cook for 5 minutes
5.    Add salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg
6.    Let it reduce until it's the way you like your pasta sauce (ragu) to be - I like mine to be quite thick so I cook it on a medium high heat for about 20 minutes

Ingredients for the pasta

•    pasta of your choice - I  use rigatoni
•    1 tablespoon of vegan spread - I  use Pure Sunflower Margarine
•    1 tablespoon of salt

How to make the pasta

1.    While the ragu is reducing, put the kettle on and put the boiled water, pasta and salt in a large pan and stir
2.    Check the pasta after 7 minutes and if it’s cooked the way you like it, drain the water, add the margarine and stir
3.    Put the pasta on the plate, add the sauce on top, and garnish with some soft vegan cheese

Other ingredients

•  freshly ground pepper
• soft vegan cheese - I used Tesco Free From Cheddar Style Spread

Serving the pasta with vegan soft cheese

1. Serve the pasta creating a wide strip of it along the plate
2. Add freshly ground pepper
3. Add the sauce to the middle of the strip of pasta so that all of the pasta isn't covered in the sauce
4. Spoon some soft vegan cheese on to the sauce and enjoy!

Serving suggestion

Create a circular shape with the pasta, leaving a hole in the middle for the sauce, on top of which you could put the soft vegan cheese. 
Serve with the soft vegan cheese on the side.

Recipe: Cauliflower Shaak (curry) within 25 minutes

Cauliflower Shaak is a nutritious dish which can be enjoyed with wraps, rice, Rotli or even on its own. This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for the cauliflower Shaak

• 1 small cauliflower
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 fresh chilli
• Oil
• 1/2 a teaspoon of Rye
• 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds
• 2 Sweet Neem Leaves
• A pinch of Asafetida
• A pinch of Turmeric powder
• Salt
• 1 teaspoon of dried coriander powder

How to make the cauliflower Shaak

1. Chop the cauliflower up into small pieces - it's tastier if the pieces are small
2. Chop the tomatoes and blend
3. Add the chilli and blend it all for another 5 seconds
4. Heat some oil - I use sunflower oil or coconut oil
5. When it's heated, add the Rye and Cumin seeds
6. Add the Sweet Neem Leaves and Asafetida
7. After the seeds have popped add the blended tomatoes and chilli
8. Let it cook
9. Add the cauliflower
10. Add the Turmeric, salt to taste and the dried coriander powder
11. Stir and let it cook until you feel it's ready to be served - some people like it very soft and others like to eat it when it's semi cooked
12. Garnish with fresh coriander