Less is More

Packaging-free vegan summer menu for yoghurt lovers.

In this vegan summer menu, I have paid attention as far as possible to the use of ingredients that can be purchased without disposable packaging. The aim is to pass on ideas about ways to avoid rubbish in the long term.
The main ingredient is plant-based, home-made yoghurt, which is a common thread running through my menu planning.
It all starts with the production of one’s own plant milk. We could buy milk of course, but in a household that consumes milk daily too much unnecessary plastic or too many Tetrapak cartons accumulate.
Producing it oneself takes more time, but it’s cheaper, gives the whole family a lot of pleasure and is beneficial for our environment and our health.
So, everything starts with a handful of selected organically grown seeds, best of all from the organic farmer next door…

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Home-made, plant-based milk

[Gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, suitable for vegans] Made without a plant-milk maker.

I will describe here how to make soya milk, because this is the least complicated way to make yoghurt.
But you can also make oat or spelt and many other

Ingredients
For 1 l soya yoghurt

80-100 g dry soya beans
1.5 l still water
thin organic cotton bag or nut milk bag
1 l wide-necked glass bottle
1 hand blender or electric blender

Preparation
Soak the organic soya beans in cold water for 6-8 hours.
Rub the beans between your hands to removethe skins.
Rinse the beans several times to separate the skins and pour them away.
Place the soya beans in the blender with 1.5 l fresh water and chop them a bit.
Bring to the boil in a stainless steel pan and simmer gently for 20 min. with the lid of the pan open,
while keeping an eye on it. (Be careful: it boils over very quickly!)
Purée again finely with the blender and bring to the boil again, stirring constantly. Repeat the whole process a third time (the finer the better, which is why using a blender is an advantage, but it also works with a hand blender).
Allow the milk to cool briefly, and filter it through a cotton bag into a kitchen bowl.
Twist the bottom of the bag until finally only the coarser bits remain = okara (which can be used for spreads).
Pour the milk into a glass bottle.
Kept cool, the milk will keep for about 3-5 days.

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Home-made, plant-based yoghurt

[Gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, suitable for vegans] You don’t need a yoghurt maker.

Ingredients
for 1 l soya yoghurt

1 l home-made soya milk

Preparation
Make the lemon starter one day in advance: see below.
Pour 1l home-made soya milk into a clean stainless steel pan and warm to 40°C (no higher, otherwise the yoghurt bacteria die).
Add 2-3 tablespoons of lemon starter to the milk and mix with a whisk. An existing organic yoghurt can also be used, or a probiotic starter for soya milk (streptococcus thermophilus). The previous yoghurt can be re-used as a starter a maximum of seven times in a row because with each production the quantity of bacteria is reduced.
There is a technique for adding chilli peppers, lemon juice or chickpeas to the milk, which I have tried. With plant-based milk, however, only the lemon starter works well, which I will now explain exactly.
Pour the liquid into clean, screw-top glass bottles, screw-top jars or a vacuum flask with a glass lining (not plastic!).
After transferring the liquid, the yoghurt must stand in a warm place, wrapped in tea towels + a blanket for twelve hours, free of vibration.
Then we place the yoghurt in the fridge for a further 12 hours to thicken.
Kept cool, the prepared yoghurt will keep for about ten days.

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Produce your own lemon starter:

Ingredients
Juice of one organic lemon
150 ml soya milk

Preparation
Warm the milk to 40 degrees Celsius in a stainless steel pan.
Pour the milk and the lemon juice into a small screw-top jam jar and stir well.
Close the jar and leave it to stand in a warm place, wrapped in a tea towel + a blanket for twelve hours, free of vibration.
Check the starter, which should now have set.
Place the starter in the fridge for a further twelve hours to thicken.

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Cold raita yoghurt soup

[Gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, suitable for vegans]

Ingredients
1 small red onion, peeled and finely diced
2 organic tomatoes from Portugal, finely diced
1 organic carrot, finely diced
600 ml home-made soya yoghurt
200 ml soya milk
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp. roasted cumin powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
1/8 tsp. chilli powder
½ -3/4 tsp. salt

Preparation
Place all the ingredients in a large pan, mix together well, cover and leave to stand in the fridge for about one hour.
Pour into small soup bowls.

Topping
Chopped fresh coriander, finely diced carrot, a little olive oil.

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Raw falafel

On cauliflower tabouleh with tahini yoghurt sauce and home-made roti

[Gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, suitable for vegans]

Ingredients
250 g grated organic carrots
250 g grated organic carrots
2-3 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp. sesame or olive oil• 1/2 small red onion, peeled and finely diced
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
75 g sunflower seeds – soaked for 30 min.
75 g brown linseeds• 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 tbsp. ground linseeds
3 tbsp. very finely chopped parsley
1 tsp. ground caraway
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 pinch chilli powder
1⁄4 tsp. salt (add just before serving and nottoo much, otherwise the juice is drawn out oft he carrots)
1 blender

Preparation
Grate the carrots with lemon juice in the mixer (not puréed)
Blend the sunflower seeds to a crunchy consistency
Mix with all the other ingredients
Leave to stand for one hour
Add salt
Roll the mixture carefully by hand into falafel balls

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Cauliflower tabouleh

[Sugar-free, dairy-free, suitable for vegans]

Raw and gluten-free is possible by replacing the bulgur wheat with cauliflower.

Ingredientes
150 g bulgur wheat
1 small cauliflower from the market (400 g)
500 g aromatic organic tomatoes from Portugal,finely diced
2 bunches parsley = 2-3 cups,  ultra-finelychopped
(Option: 1-2 tbsp. spring onions – finelysliced)
100 -150 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice(2-3 large lemons)
1 tbsp. organic lemon peel
80-120 ml virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. salt
1/4 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 blender

Preparation
Make the sauce from olive oil, lemon juice, lemon peel, black pepper and salt and leave the bulgur wheat to swell in it for 1-2 hours.
Blend the cauliflower into small pieces in the blender (don’t purée) = cauliflower rice.
Mix the cauliflower rice carefully with all the other ingredients.
Leave to stand in the fridge for one hour.

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Tahini yoghurt sauce

[Gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, suitable for vegans]

Ingredients
300 g soya yoghurt
4 tbsp. white tahini
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 tbsp. juice of an organic lemon
4-6 tbsp. water or soya milk
1⁄4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper

Preparation
Mix all the ingredients together.
If the consistency is too thick, add a little soya milk until you have a thick sauce.

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Roti (flat bread)

[Sugar-free, dairy-free, suitable for vegans]

Ingredients
200 g whole grain flour (also works just withplain white flour)
100 g plain white flour
3/4 tsp. salt• 2 tbsp. sunflower oil
About 160 ml water
Oil for brushing
1 rolling pin

Preparation
Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. Gradually add the water and oil and knead into a workable, soft dough. As soon as it no longer sticks to your f ingers, the amount of water is correct.
Knead for eight minutes on a worktop to make an elastic dough.
Cover with a cloth and leave to rest for one hour.
Knead again, divide into six pieces, shape into balls and roll out thinly.
Heat a flat pan slightly, grease using paper with oil, and bake the bread for 45 seconds on each side.
Then briefly hold with tongs directly over a gas flame until bubbles form, but not too long, otherwise they will be too hard.
Brush the roti with oil so that they stay soft.
Seve hot

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Frozen strawberry yoghurt

[Sem glúten, sem açúcar, sem leite, adequado a uma dieta vegana]

No ice-cream maker needed (it is a bit creamier with an ice-cream maker)

Ingredients
500 g aromatic strawberries
800 g soya yoghurt
200 g agave, to taste
½ organic vanilla pod
2 pinches salt
Juice and peel of ½ organic lemon (variation: orange)
1 tsp. psyllium husks
1 hand blender

Preparation
Chop the strawberries into small pieces with the hand blender.
Mix the yoghurt with all the flavouring ingredients and the psyllium husk.
Fold the yoghurt into the strawberry mixture and pour into a closeable bowl.
Freeze the yoghurt for four hours, stirring at one-hour intervals with a hand whisk.
Finally, put the yoghurt in a blender so that the ice crystals are very small.
Take the frozen yoghurt out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving and place in the fridge.

Topping
Mint leaves.