Christstollen (German Christmas Cake)

This is the traditional german christmas cake called "Stollen". It's a yeasted cake, that's very high in fat and it's kind of dry because the cake should last very long. It's always full of raisins and candied citrus peel and sometimes it has also a core made of marzipan. After baking the cake gets brushed with a lot of butter (in my case magarine) and coated with a generous layer of confetioners sugar. When this spcial threatment is finished the stollen has to rest at a cool place. Some recipe call for 2-3 weeks of resting time or even more and the recipe I veganized called for 5- 7 days, which I this was enough time. Stollen is a good example for the fact that most of the cakes and cookies, that are served during christmastime in germany are based on recipes from middle ages, because Stollen was first mentioned in 1329. So this is a cake, that people bake for christmas for more than 600 years now. They also they that the cake looks like a baby Jesus wrapped into a white towel because of the shape of the cake and the white coating.
I found a recipe on the internet which was easy to veganize because it uses no eggs. This recipe and I am now going to translate it. The only changes I made were to sub magarine for butter and candied orange peel for the succade and I made the preparation a bit easier because the autor calls for some steps that really didn't make sence for me.

Vegan Christstollen

Ingredients:

750 g of wheat flour

375 g of magarine, at room temperature plus some extra magarine for brushing after baking (aprox 3/4 cup)

140 g of white sugar

42 g of bakers yeast or the amount of instant yeast you'll neet to replace that

125 ml of warm soy milk or any other non-dairy milk

375 g of raisins marinated in rum overnight

125 g of chopped almonds ( I bought a package of 100 g and it was ok)

125 g of candied orange peel

1 tsp of nutmeg

1 tbs of cinnamon

1 tsp of salt

200 g of confectioners suagr for coating

1. Place the flour into a large bowl and make a howl in the middle. Crumble the yeast into the howl and add a little bit of the warm soy milk. Mix the yeast and milk with a bit of the flour surrounding it and cover it with a fine layer of flour. Leave at room temperature for about one hour.

2. Add the remaining soy milk, the sugar, the magarine, the salt and the two other spies and mix and knead it until you've got a nice dough, that doesn't stick to the bowl anymore.

3. Add the other stuff except of the magarine and confetioners sugar and mix well.

4. Try to flatten the dough a bit and shape it into a elliptic shape. Folt over the sides. It should now look like this.

5. Wrap the loaf into aluminium foil and put it into the fridge overnight for some extra resting time.

6. At the next day you put the foil away bake it for ten minutes at 220°C and then you lower the heat to 180°C and bake for 45 more minutes. Be carefull not getting it to dark. If the stollen looks very dark during the baking proces should should maybe lower the heat a bit or even cover the loaf with some alumium foil. It's okay when it gets a bit dark but we don't want to burn it.

7. After baking, brush the warm stollen with the melted magarine and cover it completly in confetioners sugar. Wrapp it in aluminium foil and let it mature for 4- 7 days at a cool and dry place. This place isn't your kitchen cupboard even if you son't heat your kitchen. This place might be a cave or something like that. An odorless fridge might be okay as well.

8. When the maturation is done the stollen is ready to be eaten and you can keep it for couple of weeks if you wrap it well after you took a slice. Some people like to spread a thick layer of magarine (traditional butter) on their slice of stollen but well, does anyone need some extra calories at christmas season?

Vegan Coconut Macaroons with Marzipan, Jelly and Chocolate

When I discovered this recipe by Mihl, I got really really exited to try it because these cookies are being loved all over germany and veganizing them is a hard job as the traditional omni-recipe calls for lots of wipped eggwhites. I've seen and tried some recipes, which just called for coconut, fat and sugar and they've been ok but not as good as the original. But this recipe is absolutely amazing and delicious. I've already made two batches and I'am snacking on them all day.
For the first batch I used chipeaflour instead of coconut flour and it turned out great so I would suggest to use chickpeaflour or maybe even soy flour if you can't get hold of coconut flour or if you don't want to spent much money for it (it's quiet expenisve around here but defently delicious).
I made some plain one like Mihl did but also did the version shown on the picture.
I cut out thinly rolled marzipan circles, topped them with the macaroon dough, made a little hole in the middle and filled it with some delicious french red currant jelly ("bonne maman" brand, I don't know whetere this is available outside of europe). After baking I drizzled tem with a bit of chocolate. They are just heavenly. Wait, I have to go into the kitchen to get another one...

Vegan Hühnerfrikassee ( vegan chicken fricassee)

This is a dish, that's very common all over germany but I think it's supposed to have frensh originis. The omi-recipe is very easy: Cook a chicken, chop the meat, make a roux with the chickenstock and add the meat and some vegetables (canned peas, canned asparagus, canned mushrooms, carrots...).
But well, this is a vegan food blog, it's winter and I want to use fresh vegetables, that are in season right now.
The best thing about this is, that there's a vegetables, that's called the poor mans asparagus and it's in season:
Yeeesss, you're right it's black salsify. Salsify is one of the old german vegetables, that were quiet common in the past but that seams to disappear from the supermarkets. The roots are very long and thin.
It's easy to preapare. You just have to peal it, slice it and cook it. It's traditionally served with a roux and eaten with cooked potatoes just like most germans like their white asparagus the frugal way. If your're pealing it you should think about wearing rubber gloves because it has some juice in it that colours your hands in a rusty brown, which is quiet hard to get rid of. You should also quit transfere the pealed root into a pot with water or into a bowl with a bit of lemon juice because it oxidates very quickly.

Here's the recipe:

Vegan Hühnerfrikassee

Ingredients:

one piece of vegan soy chicken, chopped ( I found this at the chinese supermarket. Frozen tofu or tempeh would be a great substitude.)

one big carrot, chopped

one small parsley root, pealed and chopped

1/4 of a medium celariac, pealed and chopped

1/2 leak, chopped

1 medium siced onion, chopped

1 big salsify root, pealed and sliced into bitesiced chunks

6-8 mushrooms, sliced into six parts

2 bayleaves

2 dried shitakes

aprox. 1/4 cup of very light soy sauce

1/3 cup of nooch

3 tbs of canola oil

1 tbs of sesame oil

1/3 cup of magarine

6-8 tbs of wheat flour

salt pepper and nutmeg to taste

1. Roast the chopped vegetables alon with the canola oil.

2. Add enough water to cover it. Throw in the bayleaves and shitakes. Boil for aprox. 15 minutes.

3. Add the vegan chicken or tofu or tempeh , the salsify the soysauce and nooch and cook until the salsify is tender.

4. Fry the mushrooms in a dry pan util golden brown and add them to the stock,

5. Drain the vegetables and fake chicken and save the broth. Remove the bayleaves and the shitakes.

6. Make a roux out of the flour and magarine and stir in the stock.

7. Add the solid parts and season with salt, pepper nutmeg and sesame oil.

8. Served with cooked rice. I prefer basmati but it's your own choice.

My personal relation to traditional german food

I spent most of my life as an omni but I was a very picky child and teenager. I disliked most of the german sausages and even hated frikadellen. All those disgusting mayo flavoured "salads" like nudelsalat, kratoffelsalat and this like fleischsalat or wurstsalat scared me a lot. I kind of hated processed meat so I was a very bad german ^^. But quiet and other thing is, that my mother and grandmother are both passionate cooks and bakers even if my grandma doesn't cook or bake anymore but they itroduced me to german kitchen. My grandmother used to cook every sundays lunch for us as long as she was able to do it. She cooked things like "Königsberger Klopse", "Goulasch", "Rinderrouladen", "Kohlrouladen", "Reibekuchen", "Sauerbraten" and all those other roast, german kitchen is known for. She also prepared white asparagus when it was in season and was alwas very picky because she always wanted to find the best quality asparagus.
The dishes she made for herself at weekdays were more frugal but also traditional. She used to eat spinach with boiled eggs and potatoes, which I liked very much and she had lots of "Durcheinander"-style dishes with differnt kinds of meat. As a child i liked her fried pork chops and the beef soup. The beefsoup was always made with "Suppenfleisch", that's different kinds of cheap beef which noone would use to fry it or something but was nice in a soup even if it was fatty and soft. An other dish was "Hühnerfrikassee", a thick and tasty chickensoup served with cooked rice, which I will surely veganize in a few weeks. As a child and teenager I also traveled to the north of germany and stayed in munich for a couple of days so I was introduced to the cuisines of other german regions.
Well, this food can be gross and boring and sometimes it is quiet a pain in the a** to veganize some dishes.
The experiment during mofo made me think a lot about vegenazing meet dishes.
The challange is, that meat has it's own texture, taste, a lot of umami and fat and it provides you with raw protein, that is able to work as it's own binder.
When you try to veganize it and you what to fake this stuff autentically it's quiet hard.
I always want the texture the taste, the umami and the fat and that's the challenge for me but I will never give up to try because hey, I sucessfully faked an authentic bloodsausage without using any blood.
Let's veganize everything that's supposed to stay omni!
Do never lose the standart of doing it gourmet stile. I don't want to hear any of those food crisitcs and Antony Boudrains say, that our cruelty free food is inferior. I don't want Gordon Ramsay to cry because he has to try a vegan diet.
Vegan food is great, it's the healties choice of food you can get, it's peacefull, it's good for the environment, it's able to slow down the climate change and to stopp the hunger and it's even cheaper.
Tell me about the food that noone will be able to veganize!
After this project, I will be able to do it.
That's my way of fighting for a vegan world.

Königsberger Klopse

This dish is originated in east prussia (the eastern part of the German Empire before WWII) and it's named after Königsberg, a town which is now part of russia and named Kaliningrad, but it's a common staple all over germany. The klopse are normaly made of ground veal, stale bread, onions and anchovies. That's a lot of cruelty inside of these meatballs but I took the recipe for chickpea cutlets as an inspiration and created a recipe without anything related to small disgusting smelling fish or cute baby cows. The meatballs are simmered in a mixture of vegetable broth,white wine, an onion and some spices. After cooking the meatballs are removed from the broth and the broth is thickened with a "Mehlschwitze" (magarine and flour) and enriched with lovely, vinegary capers. Then the meatballs are going back into the enriched sauce and are served with simple cooked potatoes or plain rice. The combination of the soft meatballs, the rich sauce and the strong flavoures of the capers is just outstanding. It's such a perfect combination, that this dish even made me like capers when I was a young boy.

Königsberger Klopse

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

1/2 cup of mashed chickpeas

1/2 cup of mashed firm tofu

1/4 cup of fine breadcrumbs

1/4 cup of chickpeaflour

1/2 cup of glutenflour

1/2 cup of nooch

2 tbs of vegetablestock powder

2 tbs of olive oil

1/2 medium siced onion, finely chopped

salt and pepper for seasoning and maybe a little bit of light soysauce or vegemite if you want it to be really hearty

For the cooking liquid:

1/2 a pot of vegetablestock mixed with two glasses of white wine

1 medium siced onion, pealed and spotted with 6 - 8 cloves

2- 4 bayleaves

4 allspices berries

4 juniper berries

6-8 whole peppercorns

For the sauce:

1/2 cup of capers pickeld in vinegar ( not the dry and salted ones)

1/3 cup of magarine

aprox. 1/4 cup of wheat flour

salt and pepper for seasoning



1. Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs until you've got a thick dough and mix in the gluten flour.

2. Make little, plum siced balls.

3. Bring the stock to a boil with all the other cooking liquids ingrendients, lower the heat to a temperature between low and medium. The luquid has to simmer slowly all the time. You have to avoid a rolling boil because it could make your lovely little meatballs fall apart and you'll end up with a soggy mix of mashed fake meat and stock.

4. Add the meatballs and cook them for about 1 hour to 1 1/2.(Try one of them after one hour...).

5. When completly done, drain the meatballs into a colander and save the remaining cooking liquid.

6. Heat your stockpot again and add the magarine. Wait until it has melted. Make a roux with the flour and some of the cooking liquid.
Season with salt, pepper and capers, add the meatballs and serve with cooked potaotes or rice. Some people seam to like pickeld beet roots with this dish but this is quiet unknow to me, maybe I've got to try it.

Jan im Sack mit Birnen-Apfel-Kompott (Pearl barley with compote)

Well, this was a friday lunch dish because it didn't use any fake meats.
"Jack im Sack" is a quiet unknown dish, which I found during me research on traditional recipes from my region. It's mainly the same amount of pearl barley and dried plums mixed and wrapped into a kitchen towel. Than it's cooked in boiling water for about one hour. After cooking it's topped with melted magarine and your done. As a side dish I served a compote made of pears, apples and a bit of cinnamon and sugar.
Served like this it was quiet bland and I not going to have it this way again. I found some sources that say it should be served as a side dish to acompliment a roast like "Sauerbraten". May be this is a better way to use it.

Himmel un Aed (Fried vegan bloodpudding with mashed potaoes topped with apples and onions)

Vegan WHAT?????

Yes, you're right this is vegan bloodpudding and it's so delicious.
The idea of a vegan bloodpudding came to my mind, when I tasted the iron drops my daughter had to take after she spent a few weeks at the hospital.
Well they tasted like blood and were vegan and the idea was born.
Now a few month later I just had some vegan iron pills but that could not stop my to do a little experiment. The kind of blood pudding a wanted to create first was "Panhas", wich is traditionally made out of the broth you've got after cooking some sausages on slaughter day (Ok, this sounds really really weird on a vegan blog but hey this is an all vegan recipe of course.). Some of the sausages tend to burst and you've got lots of animalparts you won't like to use for something als so this is, when the meat jumps into the game. You at some blood and bind everything with some buckwheat flour and you've got panhas.
Well, unforunately I couldn't find whole and bleeding fake pigs at the supermarket so I
had to do a little bit of inventing and substitution to do and here is the recipe:

Vegan Panhas

1 cup of firm tofu, mashed

1/2 cup of mashed cooked chickpeas

1/2 cup of mashed smoked tofu

1 1/2 cup of homemade vegetable stock, which should be heavy on leeks and onions and include some dried shitakes

1/2 cup of canola oil

1 big onion, chopped

2 tsp of hing

3 tbs of dark soysauce

2 tbs of vegetable stock powder

5 iron pills, grind them with a mortar

a good hand of chrused walnuts

3/4 cup of buckwheat flour

a pinch of salt

some pepper

1. In a big pot, fry the onions with the oil, the hing and the walnuts and add the tofus and chickpeas.

2.Add the stock along with the shitakes and all other ingredients eccept of the buckwheat flour and grind them with a food processor.

3.Put everthing back and add the buckwheat flour.

4.Cook on medium a while contantly stiring until it thickens a lot.

5. Pour into an oiled mold of your choice and let it cool down inside of the fride for a few ours.



Himmel un Aed

Irgendients:

3-4 medium siced potatoes, pealed, cooked and mashed along with some magarine and nutmeg

1 big apple, pealed, deseeded and sliced

1 big onion, sliced into rings or strips

some magarine for frying the apples and onions

a few pieces of vegan panhas

salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Fry the apples and onions with athe butter until caramelized and season with salt and pepper.

2. In a non-stick pan fry the panhas until it's crispy on both sides. ( You won't need any oil because the pnahs is fatty enough.)

3. Put the apples and onions on top of the mashed potatoes and arange the fried panhas near to it.