Tag Archives: German

Linda’s Pflaumenkuchen – a traditional German plum cake made vegan

Posted in The vegan elephant by

 

plumcake no elephant

Pflaumenkuchen or plum cake, has just a few simple ingredients that showcase the tart taste of the fresh plums. In my family, it was my Tante Anneliese’s signature dessert.

I was long overdue to make a vegan version of this much-loved and traditional German dessert. My friend, Linda, shared her family recipe with me and I easily veganized it with just a couple substitutions.

Henceforth, this recipe is Linda’s Pflaumenkuchen!

Cake close

This recipe features a shortbread or cookie-like crust, fresh sliced plums and a cinnamon-y streusel on top. There’s probably an obscure law that Pflaumenkuchen must be served with whipped cream (in my case coconut whipped cream).

Let’s get started.

ingredients

Ingredients for the cake

1 ½ cup flour

½ cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp ground flax seed

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup vegan margarine

5 or 6 dark plums pitted and sliced into half moons.*

1 tablespoon bread crumbs

* You can make this cake earlier in the summer using peaches or cherries or later in the fall using apples or pears.

Ingredients for the streusel

½ cup bread crumbs

1 Tbsp white sugar

1 Tbsp vegan margarine

1 tsp cinnamon

Parchment paper to cover a cookie sheet– optional but recommended.

Directions

If you’re not using parchment paper, grease and flour a 9”x13” pan.

Preheat your oven to 375°

Make a flax egg by mixing the ground flax with 3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl or cup. Set aside.

Combine the flour and sugar. Sift in the baking powder and stir everything together. Add the margarine in dots throughout the flour mixture. Then make a well in the dry ingredients/margarine dots and pour in the flax egg and vanilla extract. Stir to combine, then use your hands to combine everything thoroughly and create a smooth dough. Shape your cake dough into a ball.

Place the dough ball on the parchment paper and roll the dough out to a roughly 9”x13” square. Transfer the parchment and dough onto a cookie sheet.

If you’re not using parchment paper, put the dough in your prepared pan and press out the dough to fill the pan making sure the dough is of a uniform thickness throughout. Do not go up the sides of the pan.

Prick the flattened dough all over with a fork. Lightly dust with the 1 tablespoon of bread crumbs. Place the sliced plums on the dough so that they cover the whole dough base.

Mix the ingredients for the streusel and sprinkle evenly over the plums.

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plums on top

Bake for 40-45 minutes and let cool before serving. Respect the law and serve with a dollop of coconut whipped cream.

Enjoy!

This recipe makes 6 generous pieces.

plumcake and elephant

 

Vegan meatballs with a German flair

Posted in The vegan elephant by

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My mom used to make a traditional German recipe called Bulletten or Frikadellen– basically hamburger patties or meatballs on steroids. They’re moist, flavourful and frugal. These patties are usually eaten with a creamy gravy with noodles or potatoes.

I’ve taken my mother’s recipe and veganized it using my new favourite ingredient – TVP (textured vegetable protein). My thrifty mom would have approved!

Let’s get started on this super easy and quick recipe.

ingredients.jpg

Ingredients

½ cup TVP

1 slice bread torn into pieces about the size of a pencil eraser

2 mushrooms finely minced

2 Tbsp onion finely minced or 1 Tbsp dried minced onion

1 Tbsp ground flax

1 Tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped

Hot vegetable bouillon to make 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons broth

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ cup plant milk

1 Tbsp flour (I used chickpea flour)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp ketchup

A few grinds of pepper

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Directions

Heat your oven to 400F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or pan.

Place the TVP, flax, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper (and minced onion if using) in a heat-proof bowl and pour the vegetable broth over it. Give it a stir and allow it to stand for about 5 minutes.

While the TVP is rehydrating, you can prepare all your other ingredients and add them to the bowl.

Once the TVP is rehydrated, stir all the ingredients in and thoroughly combine them. You will have wet, dough-like ball. Form the meatballs using about 1 ½ tablespoons of the mixture for each meatball, and place the meatballs on the greased cookie sheet. You should have 9 -12 meatballs.

Bake for 15 minutes then gently flip the meatballs. Be careful because at the 15-minute mark the meatballs will still be soft and I accidentally mushed one out of shape as you can see in the photo.

Bake for another 10 minutes then remove from the oven. Let the meatballs sit for about 5minutes. Serve up, or freeze for later use.

I served mine with my mushroom stroganoff.

Enjoy!

 

Mom’s German red cabbage – veganized! (Sorry not sorry, mom)

Posted in The vegan elephant by

Red Cabbage bowl.jpg

Holiday dinners are so evocative. They’re steeped in tradition and emotion (hopefully happy) and help us measure the rhythm of the seasons and years. For vegans, it can be a hard time sitting at the table and having to forego old family favourite recipes that use animal products.

For me, red cabbage is one of those dishes. My mom made it at every holiday dinner, and only at holiday dinners. I can’t even see a red cabbage in the grocery store without thinking it’s a holiday.

My mother’s recipe calls for 4-6 strips of bacon to be rendered and crushed. Then the apples and cabbage are braised in this fat/pig-belly mixture. Ewww.

With just a bit of tweaking, I’ve figured out how to simulate the savoury, salty, smokiness of the bacon using miso, margarine and liquid smoke. The results are my mom’s recipes taken to the next level of delicious compassion.

Ingredients

Ingredients.jpg

1 red cabbage – remove the outer leaves and then cut out the core. Chop the cabbage into roughly 1 to 2 cm pieces

3-4 apples (I used MacIntosh apples – use a variety that is not sweet). You want a 2:1 ratio of cabbage to apples so adjust how many apples you use based on the size of your cabbage. Peel, core and cut the apples into 1 cm pieces (see image).

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1 tsp liquid smoke

1 Tbsp miso paste

1 ½ Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp cider vinegar*

3 Tbsp vegan margarine

½ cup water

1 tsp salt

1-2 bay leaves (optional)

A few grinds of pepper (optional)

Directions

Melt the margarine in a very large pot over medium heat. Add the miso and liquid smoke and stir to combine. Add the cabbage and apples and water. Stir everything together to get the cabbage apples coated in the margarine mix. Add the vinegar, salt and brown sugar and stir again to combine all. Add the bay leaves if using. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes. When it’s cooked, the cabbage volume will have reduced by about a third and the cabbage will be soft but not mushy). The apple will be pretty much impossible to spot. Fish out the bay leaves if you used them and serve the cabbage.

This recipe is also great with vegan sausages, perogies or “white” dishes such as tetrazzini, béchamel or alfredo-sauced pasta or mushroom stroganoff.

*Fun fact – you MUST add vinegar or some sort of acid to red cabbage when you cook it or it will turn the most unappetizing blue-gray hue that’s roughly the colour of sadness.