Purple pikelets with nut pulp

The first time I made nut milk at home, I didn't know what to do with the pulp left at the end. To be honest, it scared me a little. It is an odd looking substance. Sort of curd-like, and moist but crumbly. Edible? I didn't think so.

Hmm. No, thank you.

And yet...quite a lot of you told me to add it to baked goods. And so when I made cashew milk recently, I retained the nut pulp and put it in the fridge and thought about what I could do with it.

The answer was a purple version of the small, fluffy pancakes that are Australian pikelets.

I don't know if it was the nut pulp or just a good pikelet-making day, but these pikelets were really, really good. Fluffy. Light. Soft. In all, so highly enjoyable that I'm considering making nut milk again just so I can replicate the experience.

If you aren't into nut milk making, you don't have to go through that step in order to try these yourself. If you're lacking in the nut pulp department (that doesn't read very well, does it?), just use almond meal or hazelnut meal instead. If you don't have those to hand, extra flour would get you by too.

You could also make these with diced apple, and omit the sultanas if they aren't your thing. There are lots of options. I served them with fig jam, but they are also delicious plain, or you could add some nut butter. Or fig jam and nut butter, which I'm now wishing I had thought of when I still had some pikelets left...

Purple pikelets with nut pulp

Vegan

Makes 1 batch of pikelets, about 16

Print recipe

Ingredients

2 small purple carrots, grated (~3/4 cup grated)

1 cup self-raising flour

1/4 cup nut pulp as leftover from homemade nut milk, OR 1/4 cup minus 1 tbsp hazelnut meal, almond meal or extra plain flour

1 cup non-dairy milk, OR 1 cup + 1 tbsp non-dairy milk if using hazelnut/almond meal or extra flour

1 tsp chia seeds

1/2 cup sultanas (small raisins)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon

Method

Combine all ingredients and stir to combine. Allow to stand for 15 - 20 minutes, preferably in the fridge.

Heat a non-stick pan and drop spoonfuls of mixture on to the pan. Cook until bubbles start to appear on the surface, about 2 minutes, and then flip and cook for a similar time on the other side. Repeat for the remaining batter.

Serve warm. 

I think I am definitely over my fear of nut pulp.

Submitted to Healthy Vegan Fridays #35.

If you make nut or seed milk, do you have a favourite use for the pulp at the end?
Or do you just have a favourite use for purple carrots?

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Purple carrot wins, and losses

Johanna should have a prize for her smoothie ingredient guess of roast carrots.

The ingredient list didn't include roast carrots, but it did include purple carrots.

Unfortunately, though, the story of this smoothie is a sad one.

You know those times when kitchen creation is driven purely by imagination? By an idea that sticks in your mind, an ingredient list that wafts to you, and a method that just comes together seemlessly?

Those kitchen moments can be magical.

But here's the thing. The magic is a bit dependent on the resulting product/s turning out. Otherwise it's somewhat of a let down - you have a delicious dish in your imagination, but not in front of you.

No one wants that.

For several weeks, I have been thinking about making soft carrot cake biscuits (cookies). Not just any carrot cake biscuits, though, but purple carrot cake biscuits.

I had such grand plans for them. They were to be beautifully purple, slightly sweet, suitable for breakfast or snack time, and firm and chewy all at the same time.

The ingredient list came to me in stages, as is right and proper for imagination-based cooking. It included coconut flour. Oats. Puffed millet. Chia. Purple carrots, of course. Pineapple juice and some crushed pineapple, almond milk, vanilla, mixed spice, agave, baking soda.

The mixture was dazzling in its purple-ness.

 The pre-baked biscuits were a bit odd, but still held promise.

But then.

This happened.

I know. I'm laughing too. Green purple cookies did not enter my imagination.

Worse than the colour (which could be viewed as odd but interesting) was the texture. Rather than firm and chewy, I had something that was both crumbly and too moist. Who knew that could happen?

In hindsight, making up a recipe and playing with a new flour (coconut flour) may not have been the wisest combination.

The taste also fell short of my dreams. These biscuits were edible but they weren't quite sweet enough, and they sat at the intersection between savoury and sweet in an unappealing kind of way.

I guess magic can't happen every time. Lesson learnt: never count your biscuits before they're baked.

On the plus side, the leftover purple carrot gave me a great smoothie, and my imagination has something to keep pondering. I also had some purple carrot success (thank goodness!) when I adapted Min's recipe for carrot, nut and date balls.

I followed Min's recipe closely but used one small orange carrot and one small purple carrot, instead of one medium orange carrot; added a couple of extra dates (14-15 instead of 12); omitted the coconut oil; and added a few tablespoons of oats.

Thankfully, the outcome was good enough to go some way to reducing the biscuit disappointment. These balls were enjoyable from the fridge and even better from the freezer, and I will definitely be making them again.

The biscuits, on the other hand...not to be repeated in a hurry.

Any recent flops in your kitchen?!

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Purple fried rice

For some time now, I have been admiring purple carrots on other people's blogs. Johanna almost has a purple carrot recipe collection happening over at Green Gourmet Giraffe, and then there is Brydie's purple carrot bread, not to mention recipes like purple carrot cake trifle. I tell you, purple is the new black!

I had resigned myself to purple carrots not being available near me, and thought that they may be a cold weather vegetable not grown in Western Australia. When I saw a punnet of multi-coloured heirloom carrots in January, I even bought some in the hope of growing my own. Of course, this wasn't entirely logical given my thoughts about the carrots potentially needing cold weather. They haven't done very well, something that could be related to my planting them in the middle of Perth's hottest summer ever!

Given all of the above, I was thrilled when I found that purple carrots had arrived at my local Coles supermarket. The fact that they were flown over from Tasmania (for non-Australians, the other side of Australia to where I am...) may explain why I don't see them at the fruit and vegetable markets where I usually buy fresh produce. I swallowed my guilt over buying non-local carrots, packaged in plastic wrap no less, and took them home with a certain amount of glee.

Initially, I just wanted to try the carrots raw. Would they taste different? Would they smell different? The answer, to my surprise, was both yes and no. They seemed a little earthier, a little mustier, than the orange carrots I know so well, but they were still definitely carrot-like.

This, I am a little embarrassed to confess, is dinner when I'm tired and don't get to starting it until 7pm: steamed vegetables, baked potato, and a vegetable burger

With the initial tasting out the way, I wanted to try purple carrots in a proper dish. In the end, I made variation of a dish I make regularly, which in our house tends to be referred to as 'mixed up rice dish'. A combination of some variety of rice, some mix of vegetables, and some protein - often tofu.

For this dish, I used 'Mathew's Delicious Tofu', as previously mentioned in this post and featured on Veganise This and In the Mood for Noodles. I made smaller pieces than the first time I made it, and they worked well mixed through the rice.

This is similar to rice dishes I have made previously, so I expected it to taste similar too. However, it didn't! It tasted quite considerably better - like the fried rice of my childhood Chinese take-away memories, but fresher and with more distinct flavours. 

I wasn't expecting that and am still unsure if the purple carrots were responsible or if it was just the particular combination of ingredients I used. Irrespective, it was quite ridiculously good. We both agreed that it tasted better than the usual, orange carrot version - so much so that I think it may be worth the ongoing, occasional purchase of purple carrots!

Purple fried rice

Serves 2 - 3

Print recipe

Ingredients

2/3 cup white or brown rice, uncooked

~175g (I used half of a 350g packet) firm tofu, pressed and cut into pieces

~1 - 2 tsp oil

1/8 cup maple syrup

1/8 cup soy sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp chilli sauce

1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped

1 onion, diced

3 purple carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 capsicum, diced

2 sticks of celery, diced

Method

Cook the rice according to packet instructions, until just cooked (I used white rice and cooked it on the stove top using the absorption method).

Meanwhile, stir fry the tofu until golden brown on both sides (use oil to taste; I used a drizzle). Combine the maple syrup, soy sauce, lemon juice, chilli sauce and ginger and whisk together. Pour over the tofu and cook until the sauce is nearly evaporated. Set aside.

In a large non-stick pan, stir fry the onion (again, use oil to taste) until lightly browned. Add the carrot, capsicum and celery and stir fry for a further 2 - 3 minutes. Add the tofu and remaining sauce and mix through. Keep over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the rice is cooked and can be added.

Add the rice to the vegetable and tofu mix and stir over low to medium heat for a few minutes. Then turn off the heat and allow the dish to stand for 10 - 20 minutes. Reheat in the pan before serving.

Have you used purple carrots? Do you find them to taste any different to the orange variety?!

Update 11th June 2012: Version two of this dish (with tofu bacon) can be found here.

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