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Veganuary: Our dessert recipes

Posted by India Thorogood - 29th January 2016


Now here at Greenpeace UK, we are lucky enough to have a 50/50 vegetarian and vegan cafe. Every day our amazing chef Anne cooks up tasty meat-free meals – everything from dhals to stews and fruit crumbles! But despite getting pretty full up with tasty veggie and vegan food at lunch, some of us also cook up some delights for dinner and dessert at home. What better month to share these than so-called Veganuary.

First we wanted to share Mehul’s (who is certainly vying for the crown of best vegan cook at Greenpeace) vegan pancakes. Here’s the recipe!

Pancakes by Mehul!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 250 ml soya milk (experiment with other non-diary milks)
  • 1 teaspoon cider vinegar 125 g
  • wholemeal flour (experiment with spelt and other flours)
  • 1 teaspoon golden caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  •  ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  •  1 pinch of sea salt#
  • Vegetable oil
  • Soya yoghurt , to serve Maple syrup or agave syrup to serve
  • Mixed berries, to serve
  • Icing sugar, to serve

Method:

1) Combine the soya milk, cider vinegar and coconut oil (you might need to warm it up).

2) Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt, then make a well in the middle. Gradually pour in the wet mixture, stirring continuously until combined.

3) Heat a splash of vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add a ladleful of the batter to the pan. Cook for around 2 minutes, or until golden underneath and little bubbles start to appear on the surface, then flip them over. Cook for a further 2 minutes, or until golden. You can kept them warm in a pre-heated oven.
Repeat.

4) Serve with a dollop of soya yoghurt, a drizzle of maple syrup or agave syrup, fresh berries and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Vegan banana bread – by the brilliant Jack Monroe (but made by me!)

This is a really simple recipe from Jack Monroe’s book “A Girl Called Jack”. Despite never having meat, I have a seriously sweet tooth, so I am always pretty sceptical about vegan desserts! But this cake is delicious, especially if you add a bit of maple syrup at the end and some vegan ice cream! This is all you need:

IB

And this is the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3 large very ripe bananas
  • 75ml vegetable or sunflower oil, plus extra to grease the loaf tin
  • 50g of sugar, or more to taste (I think I overdid the sugar based on this generous description!)
  • 225g self raising flour (or 225g plain flour and 1 heaped teaspoon of baking power or bicarb)
  • 2 level teaspoons of baking powder or 1 level teaspon of bicarb
  • 2 teaspoons of ground cinammon

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350 F/Gas mark 4 and lightly grease a 1lb loaf tin

2) Peel the bananas, slice and mash with a fork in a large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the oil and the sugar to the bowl and mix well. It won’t look great but don’t worry! Then tip in the flour, baking powder and cinammon.

3) Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour in the centre of the overn, until the loaf has risen and is golden. If a knife comes out clean, it’s done!

4) Remove from the tin and the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing

OK, I’m not quite Jack Monroe (or Mehul) just yet, but it tasted good! Give it a go – cutting down on meat is one thing you can do to lessen your impact on our environment.

IB


Article Tagged as: Climate, Featured


About India Thorogood

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Digital Campaigner at Greenpeace UK