Veggie packed masala chickpea pilaff: Dairy free & vegan

This veggie packed chickpea pilaff feels a little like the answer to the unachievable - a quick, healthy, easy, and non sandwich based lunch that will keep me going until supper without raiding the biscuit tin!

One thing I have learned though, is that the key to said lunch, be it a pilaff, soup, noodles or pasta is to make it the night before - much like I do with M's packed lunch. That way, as soon as Harry's settled to his nap I can get on with sustaining myself for the afternoon's activities - be it a play date at the choo choo park, swimming lesson, nursery visit or just our errands.

This recipe mainly came about because of a really horrid cough, cold and sinusy virus (that's a medical term) that we've been stuck with for the last few weeks. It's hit Harry hardest and the poor love has been sofa bound with a rocketing temperature - thank heavens for Calpol. I really felt the need to put a stop to it via a nourishing bowl of something with a good kick of chilli and garlic.

There is so little faff with this recipe - the cooking can happen in one pan, and even the chopping is minimal, although I don't apologise for double podding the broad beans. Nearly all the veggies are from my freezer (sweetcorn, peas and broad beans being entirely out of season right now!) and I always have tinned chickpeas in.

Veggie packed masala chickpea pilaff
Serves 3 - 4 depending on portion size

Good spray fry light, or 2 tablespoons flavourless oil
60g bulghur wheat
300ml freshly boiled water
60g mushrooms, roughly chopped
60g peas
60g sweetcorn
60g broad beans
60g brocolli - broken into florets
1 tin chickpeas  2 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 red onion, diced

2 tablespoons curry paste - I used a tikka masala one that we had open in the fridge, but you could use any you like.
1/4 pint of water

Pop the bulghur wheat in a bowl and cover in freshly boiled water - I use 60g of bulghur wheat and 300ml of  water - leave to stand for about 10 minutes until most of the water has been absorbed then drain in a seive (not a colander)


Put the peas, sweetcorn and broad beans into a microwaveable bowl, cover with boiling water and ping for a minute at a time until the broad beans are cooked (2 and half minutes in ours) then drain- I always take these out of their wrinkled white pods so that you just have the vibrant, soft green beans


Add the drained chickpeas, and veggies to the pan and stir the mushrooms and brocolli through. Put all of this into a large bowl and add the drained bulghur wheat

Put the pan back on the heat again (add more oil or fry light if necessary)and add the chilli, garlic and diced red onion. Cook these over a low heat for a good 10 minutes. Sorry, but this time you do want to keep stirring as the garlic and onion go horribly bitter if they catch and you want them to be sweetly softened.

To this add your curry paste and 1/4 pint of water. Bring this up to a simmer and let it cook for somewhere between 3 and five minutes(ish)

Pour this into the chickpea and veg bowl and stir so that everything is coated in the curry mix

If you're doing this the night before then split into 3 medium tupperware tubs and once cool put in the fridge. It keeps easily for the next three days and you can either warm it through or have it cold.

Cooking with toddlers - Frozen pea humous (dairy free, sesame free, vegan, syn free)

Frozen pea houmous is so ridiculously easy to make, and really fresh and tasty and a huge hit with a certain dairy, egg, and soya free toddler I know. 

I don't know about you, but the coverage in the press recently about salt levels in humous were a bit of a shock. Harry, like so many toddlers, loves humous, and the reports stunned me - especially as he loves to 'dip dip' any extra veggies he might have with his supper in some. Normally I would dismiss reports like this as scaremongering, but toddler's kidneys aren't able to process high levels of salt so, ironically I've been careful with most processed food, just not humous. 

Harry has been 'helping' me in the kitchen for a while, sometimes he just likes to stir things, he loves to roll out pastry and biscuit dough, and helps beautifully with tasting. Other days he likes to watch, be it in his high chair, at my feet, stood on a chair or sat on the worktop. I know it's not the safest way to help, but our floor isn't level so chairs etc wobble.

This is so easy, and a real store cupboard standby dish - I know it's lovely to be able to use fresh ingredients, but all so often I find myself without what I need and these days, being on a strict budget means that it's much more thrifty to use frozen peas. And really, with the exception of M - who doesn't have a bag of frozen peas in their freezer - I'm almost entirely sure it's the law!

You can easily make this with a stick blender instead of a food processor - as it's a small quantity I find the stick blender easier. Or if you like your humous to have a rougher texture, use a large bowl and a potato masher



Frozen pea and mint humous
Dairy free, soya free, Vegan

1 cup of frozen peas
200g of tinned chickpeas (roughly half a tin - if you're egg free, keep the liquid from the tin for egg free meringues or marshmallows!)
3-4 mint leaves - but this is entirely optional
Half a clove of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil

Measure out your cup of frozen peas and cover them in boiling water - leave for 3-4 minutes
Pop half a tin of chickpeas into a bowl
Add the mint and garlic to the bowl
Drain and add the peas
With your stick blender, blitz the ingredients until they're a texture you're happy with - we go for fairly smooth
Add the olive oil if you feel you need it - we didn't, the damp peas gave enough wetness to the mixture

This keeps nicely in the fridge for 3-4 days, but seems to vanish much faster in our house!

Egg free, Vegan meringues

 Have you ever made anything you're so unduly proud of that you feel like telling the world? Stopping random people on the street, and saying - "Quick! Try my..." I did this weekend. A couple of weeks back I was chatting with Helen of Fuss Free Flavours  and she mentioned that you could use the water from a tin of chickpeas as an egg white replacer. I think I spoke recently about the fact that Harry's allergies have extended to eggs so I've cut them out of my diet too. I was making a batch of houmous for the baby - chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, tahini and cumin - and ended up with the jug of mysterious looking liquid below. I was about to pour it down the sink when inspiration struck and I thought I'd have a bash at some meringues. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting much!

I sort of guesstimated quantities a bit and used the method for meringues that I was taught when much younger.

Vegan meringues - egg free, dairy free


150ml brine from a tin of chickpeas (water from 1 tin)
125g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 90 degrees
Whisk up the brine until you get to soft peaks. I did it in my stand mixer and it took ages - 7-10 minutes I'd say
Add the sugar and cream of tartar and continue to mix until you get to stiff peaks

 Line some trays with baking parchment and pipe your meringue nests - I used a big star nozzle and got three trays of nests out of this mix

Bake these without opening the door for 2 hours, then switch off the oven and leave in there to cool for another hour. 

The finished product is slightly golden and tastes a little like cinder toffee/ honeycomb - they're very light and crisp initially, but today after being stored in an airtight tin overnight are much chewier (which is my preference). My husband and inlaws had them with bowls of raspberries and vanilla ice cream. I had mine plain with heaps of raspberries. They'd be fabulous in a vegan eton mess, or just with lots of summer berries.