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Wild Garlic Salt: Recipe for Herbal Salt with Fresh Wild Garlic

Making wild garlic salt is a great way to preserve fresh wild garlic leaves. So you can enjoy the taste all year round. We explain what you should consider.

The wild garlic season starts in mid-March and you can harvest wild garlic leaves for homemade wild garlic salt. Wild garlic not only offers a wonderful, regional variety in the kitchen, but is also very healthy. The leaves contain valuable essential oils, as well as vitamin C and minerals such as iron, manganese and magnesium.

In addition to the classic wild garlic pesto, there are countless other recipes with wild garlic. We’ll show you a simple recipe for wild garlic salt so that you don’t have to do without the fine, spicy taste of the wild garlic leaves for the rest of the year.

Wild garlic salt: Two simple ingredients

You only need two ingredients for the basic recipe:

250 g table salt or other salt
100 g fresh wild garlic
Since dried wild garlic leaves quickly lose their taste, it is best to process them immediately after collecting them. Optionally, you can refine the wild garlic salt with a little spiciness. White pepper or chilli are particularly suitable for this.

You also need:

a mortar or a blender
Screw-top jars for filling

Recipe for wild garlic salt

The preparation of wild garlic salt is very simple:

Wash the wild garlic thoroughly.
Dry the leaves well or place them in a salad spinner.
Then remove the stems and cut the leaves into strips.
Grind the strips in your mortar or use a chopping knife to cut them into a homogeneous mass.
Mix the salt with the wild garlic paste.
Spread the mixture on a baking sheet.
It is best to dry the moist salt in the sun. This is the best way to preserve the taste of the wild garlic. This takes about eight hours. (In bad weather, you can alternatively dry the wild garlic salt in the oven at around 50 degrees. Check regularly whether it is already dry and stir it with a spoon so that it dries evenly. It should be ready in about four hours.)
You can fill your wild garlic salt directly into a spice mill or grind it finely again before filling it into screw-top jars.


You can simply sprinkle wild garlic salt on buttered bread or use it for cooking. From scrambled eggs, to salads or pan-fried vegetables – wild garlic is always a good choice, even if garlic would also be a good choice.

Storage: Wild garlic salt should be stored in a dark and dry place. The wild garlic is well preserved by the salt and lasts for at least a year.

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Turmeric Tea: A Recipe for the Healthy Drink

A warming turmeric tea is the ideal companion for the winter months. Here you can find out how to prepare the strengthening tea and what effect it has.

Turmeric has been considered a superfood for many centuries. The turmeric root originally comes from Southeast Asia. Its resemblance to the ginger root is due to the fact that it also belongs to the ginger family. Chinese and Indian medicinal medicine have been using the root for many centuries – including in the form of turmeric tea. Turmeric is also popular as a kitchen spice in Far Eastern cuisine. The coloring agent curcumin is responsible for the yellow color of “Indian saffron”.

How does turmeric tea work?

“Spice of life” or “magic tuber”: That’s what many call the yellow dye curcumin, which gives turmeric tea its characteristic yellow and is said to help with various ailments. Although the current study situation is not very advanced, some positive effects of curcumin have already been demonstrated:

BR-Wissen speaks of an anti-inflammatory effect that may prevent or reduce cell damage. In this context, the allergist Peter Schnabel mentions above all the potential to alleviate gastrointestinal complaints.
According to BR-Wissen, in animal experiments, turmeric was also able to slow down the rate of division of cancer cells or ensure that they died.
Furthermore, the federal government also mentions in its report on the healing effects of turmeric that curcumin can lower cholesterol levels.
As the federal government continues to write, Alzheimer’s can also be slowed down by the use of turmeric. Since turmeric halts the loss of mitochondrial function, the onset of dementia could progress more slowly.
The Freiburg University Hospital reports an overall positive effect that regular consumption of turmeric products such as turmeric tea would have. For example, in India, where a lot of turmeric is used in cooking, there are fewer cardiovascular diseases or cancers. The mortality rate is also lower compared to western industrialized nations.
Ayurvedic medicine also uses turmeric to treat liver problems. Since turmeric is said to promote the formation of bile, this facilitates fat digestion.
Turmeric tea in particular can also have an expectorant effect and provide relief for respiratory diseases. In addition, the tea warms the body from the inside in winter.
Important: The previous studies are cell or animal studies that can only be transferred to humans to a limited extent. So more clinical studies are needed to better assess the effects of turmeric in general and turmeric tea in particular.

Turmeric tea: How to prepare the strengthening tea

For example, you can take turmeric tea in the morning and at noon. If you have a sensitive stomach, you should not drink the tea just before bed because of its pungent aroma. To prepare a strengthening turmeric tea, you need the following ingredients:

a piece of turmeric (one to two centimeters) or a teaspoon of turmeric powder
a pinch of pepper
250 milliliters of water
if desired: ginger, cinnamon or organic lemon to refine
When preparing turmeric tea, you should do the following:

Boil the water in a saucepan or kettle.
Pour over the powder or root and let the mixture steep for 5 to 10 minutes.
Strain the tea through a sieve.
Infuse your turmeric tea with ginger, cinnamon, or lemon if desired.
Tip: Your body absorbs the water-soluble curcumin best in combination with fat. It is therefore recommended to drink the turmeric tea with or after a high-fat meal or to take it together with a spoonful of fatty plant milk, butter, coconut oil or similar. Alternatively, you can enrich your turmeric tea with warm milk and honey. Milk fat is said to improve the absorption of turmeric. Turmeric and honey mixed together is also known as Golden Honey.

A substance called piperine also helps to increase the biological availability of curcumin. This is contained in abundance in black pepper. A pinch of it can therefore increase the effect. Together with ginger, turmeric is said to have a stronger effect on digestive problems due to the gingerols. You benefit from this, for example, if you mix ginger tea with turmeric. Cinnamon, in turn, is said to regulate blood sugar levels and thereby boost fat burning.

How common is turmeric tea healthy?

You should not drink more than four cups of turmeric tea throughout the day. As the Freiburg University Hospital explains, the WHO recommends around three grams of turmeric powder a day. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment also advises not to permanently exceed the recommended daily intake.

Caution: Some groups of people should only drink a little turmeric tea. Pregnant women, nursing mothers or children can react sensitively to the substances. Because the slightly hot note of turmeric can irritate the gastric mucosa in higher quantities and thus promote cramps, diarrhea or nausea.

You should also note that the active ingredient curcumin causes interactions with certain drugs. Since curcumin interacts with certain enzymes in the liver and these are also responsible for breaking down medicines, there can be an increased or reduced concentration in the blood. Interactions have so far been observed, for example, in connection with anti-cancer drugs. If you take medication regularly, it is better to seek medical advice before drinking turmeric tea regularly.

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Vegetable Goulash: Vegan Recipe for the Hearty Dish

The vegan vegetable goulash tastes hearty and hearty – without any meat. We’ll show you which ingredients you can use for the plant-based alternative and present a delicious recipe.

This vegan vegetable goulash is a delicious alternative to the traditional meat dish. In other recipes such as the vegan goulash or the jackfruit goulash, we replace the meat with plant-based alternatives. The vegetable goulash does not contain any meat substitutes and tastes especially good with fresh and crunchy vegetables.

Here you can find out what you should look out for with the ingredients and how you can easily prepare the dish yourself.

The best ingredients for the vegetable goulash

A few ingredients should not be missing so that the vegan vegetable goulash tastes just as hearty as its traditional counterpart:

Gherkin water and gherkins give the goulash its spicy and slightly sour taste. They provide variety alongside the traditional ingredients.
Red wine: The red wine brings the hearty aroma to the vegetable goulash. By deglazing at the beginning, the alcohol boils away and a hearty note remains.
Fresh vegetables: The fresher the vegetables, the crunchier and more flavorful your vegetable goulash will be.
Flour: The flour will help you make your goulash thick. The result is a creamy, full consistency. If you are following a gluten-free diet, use cornstarch or a cornstarch substitute as an alternative.
When buying your products, make sure that they come from organic farming. So you can be sure that no chemical-synthetic pesticides pollute the soil and your food. Organic seals such as Bioland, Naturland or Demeter are a good indication of sustainable purchasing.

Tip: Buy your vegetables at the regional weekly market or, for example, grow your own balcony vegetables. Tomatoes and peppers are in season from August up to and including October, so you are acting in the most sustainable way if you include vegetable goulash in your menu during this period. You can get an overview of the seasonality of vegetables and fruit in our seasonal calendar.

Vegetable goulash: How to prepare it

Ingredients:

1 large onion
200 g tomatoes
300 large peppers
2 carrots
5 pickles
2 clove(s) garlic
4 EL vegetable oil
3 tablespoons flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
200 mlred wine, dry
50 ml pickle water
500 ml vegetable broth
2 tablespoons mustard
1 pinch(s) of salt
1 pinch(s) of pepper

Directions:

Wash and peel your vegetables as needed. Cut the peppers, carrots, tomatoes and onion into bite-sized pieces. Finely chop the garlic. Cut the pickles into small cubes.
Heat the vegetable oil for frying in a large saucepan.
Sweat the onions in it until translucent. Add the garlic and the pickles and sauté for another three minutes.


Dust everything with flour and mix the ingredients in the pot with the (homemade) tomato paste. Sauté everything for two minutes until the tomato paste turns slightly brown.
Deglaze everything with red wine and cucumber water. Stir in the liquid slowly so that no lumps form.
Now add the vegetable broth to the pot along with the vegetables. Mix the ingredients together evenly and let the goulash simmer for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep the sauce from thickening at the bottom.
Season the goulash with mustard, salt and pepper to taste.

Tip: Garnish the vegetable goulash with fresh herbs and serve with fresh flatbread, bread dumplings or boiled potatoes.

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Wild Garlic Recipes: 5 Simple Ideas for Cooking in Spring

From March, wild garlic will sprout from the ground here. Many are familiar with wild garlic, but are wondering: what can you do with wild garlic? We show delicious wild garlic recipes and have tips on how best to prepare wild garlic.

Wild garlic is also called “wild garlic”, but you harvest the leaves and not the bulbs. As soon as the first rays of sunshine tickle the forest floor in March, the green, garlic-scented leaves sprout out of the ground. And with the start of the wild garlic season, it is also time for sophisticated wild garlic recipes.

5 simple wild garlic recipes

Three important tips first:

If you want to collect wild garlic yourself, you should be careful what you pick. Read this in advance: Recognizing wild garlic and not confusing it with poisonous plants.
Most of the aroma is in the leaves as long as the wild garlic is not in bloom. Depending on the region and the weather, wild garlic dishes only taste good until the end of April, or the end of May at the latest.
If you want to eat dishes with wild garlic outside of the wild garlic season, the wild vegetables can be preserved well, preferably frozen. Read more: Freezing wild garlic and preserving it – this is how it works.

Cook wild garlic – the basics

Wild garlic replaces garlic, onion greens or chives in the kitchen in spring. It contains the most flavor when it is not heated and eaten raw. That is why many wild garlic recipes use it cold or only lukewarm in herb butter, cream cheese or pesto.

If you want to use the wild vegetables for hot dishes, such as a soup, be careful not to heat them for too long in order to preserve as much of the aroma as possible.

Preservation tips:

With a long-lasting wild garlic paste as a basis, you can also enjoy the delicious wild garlic aroma in pesto, soups, sauces and for seasoning in other seasons. More on this in the basic recipe for wild garlic paste.
If you dry it, it loses a lot of its flavor and that would be a shame. Better to freeze then.
By the way: The garlic aroma is less persistent than that of “real” garlic, so you don’t have to worry about a “garlic flag”.

Basic recipe for wild garlic paste

Oil and salt preserve the wild garlic and its aroma for several months if you keep the paste tightly sealed and in a cool, dark place.

For a small jar you will need:

150 g wild garlic leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
This wild garlic recipe is vegan and is ideal for preserving wild garlic for a long time.

Important: With all ingredients, we advise you to pay attention to organic quality if possible. The EU organic seal is a good guide, the cultivation associations Naturland, Bioland and Demeter have even stricter ecological criteria.

Wild garlic recipe with dumplings

You can do much more with wild garlic than preparing wild garlic soup or pesto. If you like, you can serve the dumplings with a sauce seasoned with wild garlic paste.

Wild garlic recipe for about 8 dumplings

100 g wild garlic
4 stale rolls
1 onion
2 eggs
150 ml organic milk (alternatively plant milk)
some butter (alternatively margarine) or oil
pepper and salt
Cut the stale rolls into small cubes, about 1×1 cm. Mix milk and eggs and season with pepper and salt. Finely chop the onion and fry in a little butter or oil until translucent. Mix the egg milk and onions into the bun cubes and set aside.

Wash and finely chop 100 g wild garlic leaves. Put on a large saucepan with salted water. Knead the roll mixture with your hands or a hand mixer until all the ingredients are well combined and you can form dumplings. Form eight dumplings, place in the boiling water and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes over a low heat.

You can serve the dumplings however you like, for example sprinkled with grated cheese or with a fruity tomato sauce; with fresh spinach vegetables; with wild garlic sauce; with a crisp salad or colorful vegetable dishes.

Tip: If the rolls were too fresh, it may be necessary to thicken the dumpling mass with a little extra flour or breadcrumbs.

Wild garlic recipe for filled muffins

These muffins are ideal as finger food or as a main course with a salad. If you don’t have muffin tins, you can also put two paper cups inside each other or bake the small cakes in other containers, such as well-greased coffee cups.

Wild garlic recipe for 12 muffins

170 grams of flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
50g Parmesan
75g butter or margarine
2 eggs
250 ml buttermilk
80 grams of cream cheese
1 bunch of wild garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
4 sun-dried tomatoes (in oil or soft tomatoes)
Cut the wild garlic and sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces for the filling. Set aside about half of the wild garlic, mix the other half with oregano, thyme and the dried tomato pieces.

For the dough, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and parmesan. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and eggs, then gradually add the buttermilk and flour mixture. Finally, stir in the second half of wild garlic.

Fill the muffin tins with about a tablespoon of batter, covering the bottom. Using two teaspoons, place the wild garlic filling in the middle. Cover with about 2 tablespoons of dough so that the filling is completely covered.

Bake at 180 °C for about 30-35 minutes until golden and enjoy lukewarm.

Wild garlic recipe for feta cream

Make sure that the cheese used is made from sheep’s and/or goat’s milk and not cow’s milk. The protected designation of origin PDO has existed in the EU since 1997, after which only sheep and goat milk products from Greece are called “Feta”. Cheese made from cow’s milk that looks similar tastes and has a different name. The wild garlic cheese cream tastes wonderful on fresh toast, baguette or flatbread.

Wild garlic recipe for one portion that fills two people

150g feta
1 bunch wild garlic (approx. 100 g)
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
chili flakes
Crumble the feta with your hands and place in a shallow soup plate. Using a fork, fold in the cream cheese and oil until you have a creamy, fine-grained mass. Then mix in the chopped wild garlic leaves and season with chili flakes.

Harvest wild garlic in nature

In some regions (e.g. Brandenburg or Hamburg), wild garlic is listed on the Red List as “endangered”. It is also endangered in Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein. In general, you should be careful not to harvest it in nature reserves, unless the local protection ordinance allows it.

Wild garlic also enjoys a certain degree of protection outside of nature reserves, which prohibits collecting it for more than your own personal use. The wild harvest of wild garlic outside of nature reserves is fine for the occasional wild garlic soup. However, if you want to build up a large supply, you should switch to cultivated wild garlic from the trade or grow wild garlic in the garden yourself.

Grow wild garlic in the garden

Of course, it is also possible to grow wild vegetables, also known as “garlic spinach”, in the garden. It needs a rather shady and moist location, because when it occurs wild in nature, it usually chooses alluvial forests, shady stream edges or moist ravines.

For the seed to germinate, it needs cold, so it needs to be sown in the fall to sprout in the spring. Sometimes the seed takes more than a year to germinate. So be patient and let yourself be surprised in which spring it makes you happy.

If you have already seen the “witch onion” in nature, then you know that it usually occurs there in large “carpets of wild garlic” – and so the wild vegetables will also spread in your garden! If you don’t want that, you should regularly put it in its place by plucking it out – or build a rhizome barrier that prevents it from spreading.

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Emergency Supplies: You Can Get by with These Foods for 10 Days

Quarantine, power outage or worries about the political situation: Many are considering stocking up on emergency food in case of an emergency. The Ministry of Agriculture has created a corresponding shopping list with recommended foods – we have looked at them.

An emergency supply can feed you for a few days if new groceries can’t be delivered or you can’t leave the house.

However, panic and excessive hamster purchases are not appropriate. Since the first lockdown, we have known that the food supply is working well. According to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), however, it is still advisable to stock up on emergencies, regardless of the threat posed by the corona virus.

Apocalyptic scenarios are not understood as emergencies. A widespread power failure lasting several days can mean that supermarkets can no longer be supplied and the water supply is impaired.

But other unforeseen events such as natural disasters or epidemics can also mean that we suddenly no longer have access to fresh food. For these cases, the Federal Ministry has published a supply table with food that could feed a person for around ten days.

Emergency supplies: shopping list for cereals and potatoes

The list only includes products that do not need to be cooled, as it should also be valid in the event of a power failure. Therefore, frozen foods are not recommended. The ministry assumes a daily calorie intake of 2200 kilocalories per person. In addition to the “normal” table, which contains fish and meat, there is also a vegetarian shopping list. A vegan version does not yet exist.

In the cereals and potatoes category, the Ministry recommends the following foods for an emergency supply per person:

710g wholemeal bread
180g rusks
710g crispbread
280g pasta (raw)
180g rice (raw)
540g oats or other cereal flakes
710g potatoes (raw, without skin)

Emergency supplies: fruit and vegetables

With regard to fruit and vegetables, the ministry recommends using canned goods for the most part. Because they have a long sell-by date. Your shopping list should include:

570g green beans
640g peas/carrots
500g red cabbage
500g sauerkraut
290g of asparagus
290g corn
290g mushrooms
290g pickled cucumbers
290g beetroot
400g cherries
180g pears
180g apricots
250g tangerines
250g pineapple

The quantities always refer to the drained weight. Of course, canned food and well-travelled tropical fruits like pineapples are not exactly sustainable. The BMEL is primarily concerned with the list of shelf life and sufficient calorie intake. In order to improve the ecological balance of these foods, you could boil, pickle or ferment the fruit and vegetables yourself and use them to create a crisis supply.

Some dried fruit, nuts and fresh products are also on the BMEL’s emergency stock list. These are:

360g fresh onions
140g raisins
250g prunes
100g hazelnuts
710g fresh fruit (e.g. apples, bananas, pears, oranges)

Milk, eggs, substitutes, and fats on the shopping list

In the standard table, the Ministry recommends, among other things, canned tuna, sardines in oil, herring, corned beef, bockwurst or veal liver sausage. We think: Even in a temporary crisis situation, such food does not have to be. Tuna is heavily overfished, and canned sausage and meat products usually come from industrial factory farming.

The calories that the products are supposed to provide can also be consumed in other ways – without having to accept animal suffering. These products have been replaced by vegetarian alternatives in the vegetarian emergency stock list. The following foods can be found in this category:

200g tofu
150g vegetarian patties
230g vegetarian sausages
250g vegetarian spread
200g vegetarian salami
265g eggs (weight without shell)
Regarding dairy products, fats and oils, these products are on the list:

2l UHT milk (3.5 percent fat)
500g hard cheese
180g fat spread or butter
180g margarine
150ml cooking oil
To further reduce animal products, you can replace the UHT milk with oat milk or another plant-based drink. Make sure that it is a plant-based milk that does not need to be refrigerated, lasts as long as possible and has around 50 to 60 kilocalories per 100 milliliters.

Beverages and other items in emergency stock

For a 10-day emergency supply you need 20 liters of mineral water. This includes both the recommended drinking quantity of 1.5 liters per day and water for cooking pasta, rice and the like at 500 milliliters per day. For people over the age of 65, it is advisable to have even more water available, as they should drink around two liters of water a day.

In addition to mineral water, the following products are on the list in this category:

140ml lemon juice
180g coffee powder or instant coffee
90 grams of black tea
In addition, there is a table with other foods that are listed without a specific quantity. This includes:

sugar
sweetener
honey
jam
chocolate
iodized salt
ready meals
Dried potato products (e.g. mashed potatoes powder)
flour
cocoa powder
hard cookies
Pretzel Sticks

Create your individual emergency supply

The Ministry points out that this shopping list is only an example and must be adapted to individual needs such as allergies, intolerances and diets. Some foods are definitely not necessary for most people, such as artificial sweeteners or canned asparagus.

If you want to create a completely vegan emergency supply, you can rely more on legumes, which are not yet included in the ministry’s list. Lentils, chickpeas, beans and the like also provide you with important nutrients that keep you full for a long time. You can use both dried and canned products.

You can get dry groceries in bulk shops and thus avoid packaging waste. You can also reduce packaging in large containers and often save money at the same time.

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Vegan Biryani: Recipe for the Rice Dish with Zucchini and Carrots

Preparing biryani vegan is not difficult: You simply add some vegetables to the Asian rice stir-fry. We will introduce you to a biryani recipe and explain what you should pay attention to.

Biryani is a rice dish that comes from Asia. The dish is particularly popular in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The word “biryani” comes from Persian and means something like “fried”. The rice stir-fry is often prepared with meat, but you can make biryani vegan by adding your choice of vegetables, nuts or tofu to the rice.

We recommend looking for organic quality when buying the ingredients. This is how you avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides. Rice often comes from Southeast Asia and uses a lot of water to grow. Then there are the long transport routes to Europe. Rice that was grown in Europe (e.g. in Italy) is therefore ecologically more advisable. If you do use rice from countries further away, we recommend looking out for the fair trade seal. In this way you guarantee that manufacturers have observed human and labor rights during the production process and the long delivery routes.

Vegan Biryani: Recipe for the rice dish

Ingredients:

300 ml water
200 g basmati rice
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp curry spice
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika spice (sweet)
1carrot
1Zucchini
1 piece ginger (thumb size)
1 clove(s) garlic
1red onion
2 tablespoons oil
50 g cashew nuts

Directions:

Start cooking the rice. Put it in a pot with the water. Add salt and the spices. Let it gently simmer for five to ten minutes. It shouldn’t be raw anymore, but it shouldn’t be fully cooked either.
While the rice is cooking, you can grate the carrot and cut the zucchini into pieces.

Place the vegetables in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let it steep for five minutes. This will lightly pre-cook the carrot and zucchini so that the vegetables are not fried raw. Then drain the water again.

Now cut the ginger and garlic into small pieces as well. Then place the pieces in a mortar and grind them into a paste. This unfolds even more flavors. Tip: If you don’t have a mortar at home, you can also chop the ginger and garlic very small with a knife and press into a paste with the bottom of a spoon.

Gradually add the vegetables and finally the half-cooked rice.

Biryani with peanut sauce

As a dip for biryani, you can stir together a quick peanut sauce. The nutty taste goes very well with the dish. You need the following for this:

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, finely grated
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
65 g peanut butter without additives
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup (alternatively rice syrup or date syrup)
Juice of half a lime
1 pinch cayenne pepper or chilli powder
2 teaspoons water, as needed
First chop the ginger and garlic. Then mix all the ingredients together and stir them into a smooth sauce. You can garnish the sauce with peanuts or fresh herbs.

Soy sauce also goes well with the rice dish. You can simply pour it over the rice on the plate.

Possible variations for the Biryani

You can not only prepare the rice pan with zucchini and carrots, but also with other types of vegetables. Well suited are, for example, broccoli, peppers or mushrooms. It is best to buy seasonal vegetables that do not come from overseas but grow regionally or within Germany. This protects the climate and reduces CO2 emissions. Our seasonal calendar can help you with that.

In Asia, biryani is often prepared with meat. As a vegan alternative, you can use smoked tofu, for example. Cut the tofu into cubes and fry it in a pan or bake it in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius with top and bottom heat until crispy. Later you can sprinkle it on top of your biryani as a topping.

You can also replace the cashew nuts with other nuts. Peanuts, almonds or walnuts go just as well in biryani. Many nut varieties cannot be grown in Europe and are therefore imported from Africa, among other places. There they are sometimes grown under poor, inhumane working conditions. In order not to support this, you should look for a Fairtrade seal when buying the nuts.

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Wild Garlic Spaetzle: Recipe for Fresh, Homemade Spaetzle

In March, the wild garlic season finally begins again. Wild garlic spaetzle are perfect as a fresh and delicious spring dish. We’ll show you how to prepare the spaetzle.

Spaetzle are a typical Swabian dish. They are served as a side dish, but often also as a main course. Wild garlic spaetzle taste unique and are filling at the same time. You can prepare them relatively easily and quickly with just a few ingredients. The wild garlic season is from mid-March to mid-May. During this period you can buy wild garlic regionally and freshly or pick it yourself:

Make sure that your food is organic if possible, especially animal products. An organic seal confirms species-appropriate animal husbandry. In addition, it is also worth buying eggs without chick shredding. In this way you ensure that the male chicks are also raised.

Wild garlic spaetzle: Spring recipe

Ingredients:

100 g wild garlic
400g flour 4 eggs
1 pinch(s) of salt
50 ml water 2 onions
1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil

Directions:

Wash the wild garlic, spin dry and then chop very finely.
Place the flour, eggs, and salt in a bowl and use a mixer to mix the ingredients into a smooth batter. Gradually add a portion of the water while stirring until the 50 milliliters are used up. Stir the batter until it bubbles.
Stir the chopped wild garlic into the batter. Then let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes.
Peel the onions, halve and cut into thin slices. Then fry them in a pan with neutral vegetable oil over low heat until golden brown.
Then bring salted water to a boil in a saucepan.
As soon as the water boils, rub the dough into the boiling water using either a spaetzle strainer or a spaetzle press. It’s easiest if you pour the batter into the strainer or press in batches and scrape or press into the water.
If you don’t have a spaetzle sieve, spread the dough very thinly on a board. Hold the board against the edge of the pot, use a long knife to pry off small strings from the dough and slip them into the water.
Remove the spaetzle as soon as they float to the surface and place them in a bowl of cold water. That way they don’t stick together.
Mix the finished spaetzle with the onions and season with pepper and salt. The delicious, homemade wild garlic spaetzle are ready.

Wild garlic spaetzle: Vegan variant

With a few small changes, you can also prepare the wild garlic spaetzle vegan. The eggs are omitted from the recipe. For the dough, you need a little more water, soy flour, and a little turmeric for the yellowish color. The rest of the steps remain the same.

Use in step 2:

  • 250 ml water instead of 50 ml water
  • 3 tbsp soy flour or egg replacer instead of eggs
  • 0.5 tsp turmeric (for the color)
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Pajeon: Recipe for the Savory Korean Pancakes

Korean pajeon are savory pancakes with spring onions and are popular as a side dish in Korea. Here you will find a vegan and gluten-free recipe for the crispy vegetable pancakes.

The Korean name Pajeon is composed of Pa, which means “spring onion” in Korean, and Jeon, which means pancake. The crispy pancakes are both vegan and gluten-free and are usually served as an accompaniment to vegetables and tofu. But Pajeon are also very suitable as a hearty snack between meals.

When buying the ingredients for the Pajeon, make sure that they are organic if possible. In this way you support ecologically more sustainable agriculture that treats the earth’s natural resources with care. Products with the organic seals from Demeter, Bioland and Naturland are particularly recommended. These seals specify stricter criteria than, for example, the EU organic seal.

Pajeon: Savory pancakes with spring onions

Ingredients:

1 bunch spring onions
3 cloves garlic
80 grice flour
40 gbuckwheat flour
25 g cornstarch
0.5 tsp salt
1 pinch(s) of Kala Namak
160 ml water
1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tablespoons coconut oil

Directions:

Cut the spring onions into fine rings. Chop the garlic.
Combine the rice flour, buckwheat flour, cornstarch, salt, and kala namak in a medium bowl.
Then add the water, canola oil, and soy sauce. Mix everything with a whisk to form a smooth batter. Fold in the spring onions and garlic.
Heat the coconut oil in a pan and fry the pajeon on both sides until golden brown. Complete!

Korean Pajeon: Possible Variations

You can easily modify the Pajeon. They are also good for using up leftover vegetables, for example, and thus avoiding food waste. Simply cut carrots, zucchini and/or peppers into fine pieces and mix them with the pancake batter before frying.

You can also add dried chili flakes to the Pajeon batter for even more flavor.

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Wild Garlic Dumplings: A Recipe for Fresh Wild Garlic and Old Rolls

Wild garlic dumplings are a hearty, vegan dish that you can easily prepare yourself in spring. You can find out here what you need apart from fresh wild garlic.

Wild garlic dumplings or dumplings in general are a dish from southern German and Austrian cuisine. The round treat traditionally consists mainly of old rolls, eggs, milk and wild garlic. But it’s also easy vegan. You can serve them with a side salad or eat them with a sauce.

You can pick wild garlic yourself in many forests in Germany in March and April. It is important that you are able to recognize wild garlic and do not confuse it with the poisonous lily of the valley – these look very similar to wild garlic.

Important: Buy the ingredients for the dumplings with an organic seal. This is how you avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Wild garlic dumplings: recipe with step-by-step instructions

Ingredients:

400 gilte rolls, cut into cubes
2 small onions
6 tbsp vegan butter
225 ml plant drink
4 tsp locust bean gum
200 g fresh wild garlic
salt, pepper and nutmeg
possibly some flour or breadcrumbs

Directions:

Place the bun cubes in a bowl.
Peel and chop the onions.
Heat two tablespoons of the vegan butter in a pan or saucepan and sauté the onion pieces in it until translucent.
Add the sautéed onion to the bun cubes.
Then add the plant-based milk and the locust bean gum and mix everything together roughly with your hands or a wooden spoon. Let it swell for half an hour.
In the meantime, wash the wild garlic, chop it up and mix it into the bread roll mixture.
Season the dumpling dough with salt, pepper and nutmeg. If it is too soft or runny, you can add some flour or breadcrumbs and knead it in.
Bring salted water to a boil in a large saucepan.
Use your hands to form round dumplings from the dough and add them one by one to the boiling salted water. Turn the heat down and let it steep for about 15 minutes.
Lift the dumplings out of the water and let them drain.

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Food

Egg Substitute for Cooking and Baking: 6 Ideas for the Vegan Egg

You don’t have to be vegan to want to give up eggs. Substituting them isn’t difficult, but which vegan egg substitute is best for what? Foodnerdy has put together a range of foods and products that you can use to easily replace eggs.

In principle, vegans do not consume any animal products – and of course no eggs either. But many vegetarians or omnivores also want to consume fewer or no eggs. There are numerous reasons for this: On the one hand, there are the problematic housing conditions for laying hens. On the other hand, both changing nutritional recommendations and regular egg scandals unsettle us as to whether eggs are really that healthy.

6 ideas for vegan egg substitutes

If you are looking for a vegan egg substitute for the kitchen, you have many options. Only the “classic” boiled egg cannot be conjured up with plant-based alternatives. For everything else there are – among others – the following tricks and products.

Fruit puree from avocado, banana, apple sauce replaces eggs

As a binder when baking, fruit puree is ideal as a vegan egg substitute. Pureed avocados are preferred in savory dishes as “vegan eggs”, mashed bananas or apple sauce in baking.

Fruit purees are one of the easiest ways to replace eggs: after all, you can buy fruit everywhere and you can easily make applesauce yourself.

When it comes to quantity, it means experimenting a bit. The amount of fruit puree you need to replace an egg depends on the other ingredients and the method of preparation. Generally speaking, half a mashed banana or a tablespoon of applesauce replaces one egg. While you can often taste bananas as a vegan egg substitute, applesauce is relatively tasteless.

Incidentally, an “egg” can also be prepared with avocados as a topping for bread: For this, you need the Indian salt “Kala Namak” for the avocado, which contains hydrogen sulfide and therefore tastes like eggs. You can find it in health food stores or health food stores. This salt is also suitable, for example, to create an egg taste in the salad – or even to prepare vegan “scrambled eggs”.

Tip: If the recipe calls for egg whites, then there are (at least) two options: either a mixture of sparkling water, oil, flour, and baking powder – or “aquafaba”, chickpea water.

Linseed as a vegan egg substitute for savory pastries

Flaxseed is a suitable vegan egg substitute for bread and other savory pastries. Linseed is available in health food stores and health food stores, but also in the bakery section of the supermarket. About one tablespoon of flaxseed mixed with three tablespoons of water equals one egg.

Chickpea flour and soy flour mixed with water (two tablespoons of flour to two tablespoons of water) are also suitable as binding agents in baked goods.

Tofu – egg substitute also for vegan “scrambled eggs”

As a tasty egg substitute, tofu is suitable for the preparation of vegan “scrambled eggs”. There are countless different ways to do this. The type of tofu used and the other ingredients depend on individual taste.

To replace an egg in the batter when baking, puree about 75 grams of silken tofu and mix it into the batter. Pureed silken tofu is also suitable as an egg alternative in quiches or casseroles, as it sets like real eggs. You can even use it for cream desserts – but then you should balance the grainy soy taste with something sour.

Tofu is now available in almost every supermarket, but you can definitely buy it in all sorts of variations in health food stores and health food stores.

“Scrambled eggs” made from chickpeas and pasta

This vegan egg substitute is a bit more complex than just using tofu:

To do this, puree the cooked pasta until it is chunky.
Then you puree chickpeas with turmeric until a creamy mass forms.
You mix both and season the mass (very important for egg taste: Kala Namak).
Then you fry the whole thing in a pan with onions and vegetables as “scrambled eggs”.

Tip: Without heating it is more of a vegan “egg salad” (vegan mayo is also suitable).

Vegan egg substitute powder: the all-rounder?

You can get powdered vegan egg substitutes in many health food stores, organic shops or online shops. You can find a large selection of organic egg replacers at Vekoop, Vantastic Foods or Amazon, for example.

In our taste test, you can find out how vegan egg substitute in powder form can taste in the end using Greenforce’s “Easy to mix vegan egg” as an example.

Mix the powder with water, depending on the amount you need, and then add it to the other ingredients. This egg substitute is suitable for both sweet and savory dishes.

If you want an egg substitute powder, we at Utopia recommend organic products. Because organic cultivation protects soil, water and biodiversity. Incidentally, some products contain ingredients from palm oil (e.g. monoglyceride), which we also view critically. In a test, the consumer advice center also criticized the fact that most egg substitute powders contain hardly any nutrients. They contain all sorts of additives such as thickeners, emulsifiers and acidifiers.

Egg snow without eggs

By the way, you can use chickpea water (the water from a glass/can or the water that is left over after boiling dried chickpeas) to make vegan beaten egg whites – it will be just as firm as real ones. All you have to do is froth the chickpea water with a whisk or hand mixer and add a little baking powder or locust bean gum. The whole thing is called aquafaba – or vegan egg snow.

The vegan egg is “none”

Incidentally, it doesn’t always have to be an egg or a vegan egg substitute: We’ve found that in many recipes that call for an egg, you can simply omit the egg entirely or replace it with oil or a plant-based drink at the end, especially with the Bake. Just try it!

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