Hibiscus Flower Tacos

I love the concept of edible flowers. There's something simply romantic about eating beautiful flowers. This recipe was taught to me  by my mother, who is an excellent cook. It's great to treat visitors from out of town or simply to enjoy at home, besides being very easy to make. It can be served as a main dish or a starter. It's also an excellent finger food., for this variation wrap the tortilla, cut into 3 pieces and serve with toothpicks.


Hibiscus Flower Tacos


Ingredients:


-1/2 kg of hibiscus flowers (In Mexico you can find them at any grocery store or market. In other countries you might be able to find them at specialized grocery stores or ethnic markets. I found this page from Traditional Foods which I hope helps. If you know of a place to buy hibiscus flowers in your area, please share in the comments section)


-3 lt of drinking water


-2 table spoons of vegetable oil


-1 chopped red onion (white onion is good too) 


-tortillas 


-salt to taste


-pepper to taste


-minced garlic to taste


If time is not an issue, you can leave the flowers soaking in the water overnight. Otherwise, you'll need to boil the flowers for 5 minutes. Don't pour the water down the drain! Use it as a concentrate to make a Hibiscus drink, just add water to taste and a couple of tea spoons of sugar.


Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan. Once it's hot, add the chopped onion until it starts becoming transparent. Add the hibiscus flowers, salt, pepper, and minced garlic. The cooking time depends on the texture you want, if you prefer them soft and tender then 5 to 10 minutes is enough. If you would rather they were crispier then about 15 minutes should be enough. Taste them as you go to see what you like best. Serve on a hot tortilla!

The tacos can be filled with  a huge variety of options, beans, vegetable cheeses, vegetables, there's a wide range of options. My personal favorite  is mushrooms and chile de árbol hot sauce.


Serves 4 if you only fill the tacos with the hibiscus flowers.


Test omnivore approved, the test kid  wasn´t so sold on it.


Enjoy!

Winter Soup

These days it's been awfully cold. Few things are better than hot soup to comfort oneself, so here is my winter soup recipe. I hope you like it:

Winter Soup


Ingredients:


-1/2 kg of potatoes- I prefer cambray, but any type is good


-1/2 kg of carrots 


-1 soup spoon of olive oil 


-1 handful of coriander- if you prefer it, parsley is great too


-minced garlic to taste- for the non cheat version you can use two garlic cloves


-sea salt to taste


-freshly ground pepper to taste- or not so fresh, for the cheat version 


-1/2 cup of water


-1 cup of soy milk, for a creamier texture (OPTIONAL, can be replaced with other vegetable milks

-sun dried tomatoes, as garnish (OPTIONAL)


-coriander leaves, as garnish (OPTIONAL)


-Music: Zombie, The Cranberries (OPTIONAL)


To start off, set a large pot of water with a dash of salt to boil. Cut the potatoes and carrots into cubes, whatever size you like, they're going in the blender later on. The smaller the cube, the shorter the cooking time. Once the water boils, add the potatoes and carrots. When they're soft they're ready for the next step.

Blend the potatoes, carrots, water, vegetable milk, garlic, salt, pepper,, coriander or parsley in a blender or food processor. If you want your soup to be more liquid (as opposed to creamy), add water or vegetable milk to taste.

Leave on the stove at low heat till it boils. Serve hot and garnish with sun dried tomatoes and coriander. Any vegan bread goes great with this soup.

Serves 4 portions.

Kid and Omnivore approved :)

Enjoy!

Cheater? Me?

A year and a half ago I decided to become a  vegan. Since then, one of the most disconcerting questions I face is, "But you can cheat, right?" It doesn´t help much that the question is usually accompanied by some omnivorous dish being enthusiastically pushed in my face (imagine a caterer, insisting you try the delicious  hors d'oeuvres on their platter. The ones with cheese. Why is it always cheese?!) I mean, I'm not the straightest arrow around. I'm not ashamed to say I'm not above cheating at board games (Monopoly isn't Monopoly if you're not robbing the bank blind), and sometimes one needs a little help to finish that extra complicated level in a video game. But from that to "cheating" at what I want to eat...

It's  clear the misunderstanding arises from a difference in definitions. If you think veganism is a diet, like the carb diet, or the apple juice, the cabbage, grapefruit and lemon juice diets (Seriously? And I'm the freaky extremist?), etc., you can understand why one could consider cheating. But, if like me, you consider veganism as a lifestyle in which the goal is to cause the least suffering to other sentient beings... things change completely. I don´t want to, nor can I, cheat. How do you fool yourself?

I admit I'm a cheating vegan. I'm a mom, I have a job and I enjoy having some free time. So, you'll find a some recipes on this blog, where I might have skipped a step or two to save time and effort. Sometimes I buy processed foods. Because, honestly,  making my own soy milk or humus, although fun, isn´t something I have time for every day. Here´s hoping these recipes are a good guide for those looking to eat deliciously with a clear conscience (regarding other sentient beings, because I can't promise anything when it comes to calories :) )