For the Miang Kham sauce For 260-280g of Miang Kham sauce you need the following ingredients: 2 kaffir lime leaves, 1 stalk of lemongrass, ½ chili pepper, 1 ½ shallots, ½ clove of garlic, 20g galangal, 40g coconut blossom sugar, 100ml tap water, 30g unsweetened coconut flakes, 1 tbsp low-salt soy sauce (Genen Shoyu).
Preparation:Grind and crush all ingredients as well as possible in a mortar, except for the sugar, water, coconut and soy sauce. Melt the palm sugar with water in a saucepan.
Peel the galangal before using. If you have them, use Thai shallots.
Here we have deliberately reduced the amount of coconut blossom sugar and soy sauce. Motivation (apple symbol) and link to the original recipe can be found directly above the recipe picture.
Add all the crushed ingredients to the sugar solution and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool.
In the meantime, you can start with the salad (step 5).
Toast the coconut flakes in a saucepan without oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned, stirring continuously. Remove from heat and set aside.
Once the sauce has cooled, pour the sauce through a sieve and collect the liquid (discard the rest). Add the toasted coconut and soy sauce and set aside. Continue with the salad.
For the Thai salad Cut the spring onions into thin strips. Finely chop the shallots. Crush the walnuts. Peel the pomelo, remove the hard skin, scoop out the flesh and chop into small pieces. Open the pomegranate and remove the seeds. Roughly chop the coriander and mint. Deseed the chilli and chop finely. Squeeze the lime juice and scoop out the flesh.
If available, use Thai shallots. A white grapefruit is listed as an alternative to the pomelo.
The original recipe uses peanuts instead of walnuts.
Mix all salad ingredients, except lime juice, lime pulp and chicory leaves, in a large salad bowl. For 4 servings, add about 3 tablespoons of the Miang Kham sauce. Then add lime juice and lime pulp and stir.
Serve Use chicory leaves as bowls and place some salad on each one. Alternatively, arrange the leaves with the salad mixture on small plates.
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
Fresh Vegan Kitchen Pavilion Books Company Ltd, David Bailey Raw recipes 43 (4), Cooked recipes 76 (4) Additional photos (10)
Ordering
"Fresh Vegan Kitchen — Delicious Recipes for the Vegan and Raw Kitchen"
offers a large selection of Asian-inspired vegan and raw vegan recipes.
OverviewThe Fresh Vegan Kitchenby David and Charlotte Bailey is a cookbook that can provide even the most experienced vegan chef with new ideas — this is thanks to the large variety of creative, Asian-inspired recipes it contains. However, many of the recipes are actually not that healthy as they often call for large amounts of oil and fat and sometimes include a less than desirable choice of ingredients. In this aspect, the cookbook unfortunately does not differ from the majority of other vegan cookbooks on the market. But by slightly modifying the recipes, you can conjure up dishes that are not only tasty, but also healthy.
Critical book reviews Since August 2018, we have been addressing the use of ingredients that aren’t particularly healthy. Although we don’t change recipes that contain such ingredients, we do provide alternative healthier versions of these.
Overall impressionThe Fresh Vegan Kitchen — Delicious Recipes for the Vegan and Raw Kitchen by David and Charlotte Bailey includes a diverse selection of vegan and raw vegan dishes. David and Charlotte Bailey define raw food as food that has been heated at a maximum temperature of 46 °C. They point out that some of the recipes listed as raw in their cookbook do contain smaller amounts of non-raw ingredients. Their goal is to make the most of the wide variety of vegan ingredients available, rather than simply leaving out ingredients. This is why their recipes are mainly influenced by dishes from Asian countries, which have a long tradition of vegetarian cuisine.
The many varied and imaginative dishes are a good example of just how diverse vegan cuisine is. Unfortunately, only some of the recipes include photos. The recipes are identified as raw, gluten-free, and/or wheat-free. For planning purposes, it would be he helpful to have additional information about preparation times. Most of the dishes contain common ingredients and require only very few little equipment.
David and Charlotte Bailey believe that there are many reasons to eat a vegan diet: not only animal welfare and the environment but also health is an important aspect. They have therefore tried to keep the amount of saturated fats and refined products in the recipes low, as well as the amount of salt and sugar. Unfortunately, this has only been achieved to a limited extent; as a result of the oil or coconut milk used, many of the dishes contain a large amount of fat in places where it would have been easy to reduce. The frequent use of olive oil and cashews is undesirable because of their poor ratio of omega-6 (LA) to omega-3 fatty acids (ALA). In many cases, it would have been easy to reduce the amount of fat called for or use other ingredients such as canola oil or walnuts.
It is nice to see that the basic recipes for homemade broths and spice pastes are used in many of the recipes. However, in other places processed ingredients such as canned foods and even ketchup are called for instead of more healthy natural products. It would be nice if there were a more consistent adherence to healthy eating principles.
The Fresh Vegan Kitchen by David und Charlotte Bailey is a comprehensive cookbook that shows the wide variety of vegan options that exist. And just small changes in favor of more healthy ingredients make it clear that vegan cuisine is not only varied and delicious but that it can also be healthy. The Fresh Vegan Kitchen is currently only available in English and can be purchased from Pavilion Books and Amazon.
About the authorsDavid Bailey, who has several years of experience working in top restaurants, and his wife Charlotte started their business Wholefood Heaven in 2010. They sell vegetarian street food at markets, festivals, and other events. Their famous Buddha Bowl won the 2011 British Street Food Awards for Best Main Dish. In addition to their business, they are continually developing new recipes and writing cookbooks.
ContentsThe Fresh Vegan Kitchen begins with a general introduction that is followed by a section on the health benefits of raw food and one that provides vegan cooking tips.
The recipes are divided into ten chapters:
Breakfasts
Soups
Small plates & street food
Salads
Currys & mains
Sides & dips
Desserts
Pickles, spreads & treats
Drinks & smoothies
Basics
Breakfasts:This chapter offers a small selection of breakfast dishes, most of which are on the sweet side. You will find, for example, recipes that call for lots of seeds, nuts, and dried fruits like G’raw’nola and a fruity Acai Bowl.
Soups:In this chapter, you will find a wide variety of soups, some of which are raw vegan soups. The Asian-inspired Laksa and the Chilled Cucumber and Wasabi Soup are just two examples of the recipes here.
Small plates & street food:The recipes included in this section can be served as appetizers, snacks, or main courses. About one-third of the dishes contain tofu products and about a half contain convenience products such as tortillas or dumpling dough. Examples of recipes here are the Bao Zi Steamed Buns and Vegetable Tempura with a Citrus Soy Dipping Sauce.
Salads: In this section, you can look forward to a wide variety of delicious salads, of which about two-thirds are raw. Just to name a few, Som Tam Salad, Aromatic Thai Salad, Hot Aubergine Salad, and Raw Sprouted Saladare some of the options to choose from.
Currys & mains: Many of the numerous main courses included are vegan versions of well-known international dishes, and apart from a few exceptions the main dishes are not raw. Examples of recipes found here are Beer-Battered Tofu “Fish” and Chips with Tartare Sauce and Mushy Peas and Sicilian Arancini (fried risotto balls). Given the high oil content, many of this recipes in this section contain quite a few calories.
Sides & dips: Along with dips like Baba Ganoush, this short chapter offers vegetable and tofu sides such as Maple-Glazed Tofu.
Desserts: This chapter is full of fruity, chocolaty, and creamy desserts. Recipes to try out include Poached Pears with Vanilla Cashew Cream and Peanut and Black Sesame Sweet Dumplings.
Pickles, spreads & treats:In this section, you will find a wide variety of different types of recipes: from Sauerkraut and Powerballs to Probiotic Raw Nut Cheese.
Drinks & smoothies: Examples of recipes in this section are Soya Milk and Homemade Lemonade with Chia Seeds.
Basics: You will find recipes for dressings, sauces, broths, and spice pastes here that are then called for in many of the recipes. Asian Vegetable Stock and Laksa Curry Paste are just two examples.
The Fresh Vegan Kitchen — Delicious Recipes for the Vegan and Raw Kitchen includes a recipe index at the end.
Book review written by Dr. med. vet. Inke Weissenborn
Miang Kham is a traditional dish originating from Thailand and Laos. It literally means "morsel wrapped in leaves". Typically, the leaves contain chopped shallots, chili, garlic and toasted coconut, among other ingredients.
Lemongrass: Lemongrass, also known as "lemon grass", has a reed-like appearance and develops its lemony taste best when eaten fresh. Essential oils are responsible for the intense scent, which is why the lemongrass stalks are first pounded soft for many Asian dishes in order to improve the solubility of the oils.
Galangal: Galangal ( Alpinia officinarum) is a plant species belonging to the ginger family that is used as a spice and medicinal plant. In the kitchen, the fresh rhizome is used to flavor food and drinks or in ground form as a component of spice mixtures.
Kaffir lime: The kaffir lime, also known as kaffir lime, belongs to the genus of citrus plants and originally comes from Asia. Its leaves are best used fresh or frozen to flavor dishes. The dried variety has much less flavor. While roughly chopped, whole or bruised leaves are too tough, finely chopped leaves can be eaten after cooking.
Pomelo: Even though the English word for pomelo and grapefruit is the same, they are actually two different types of cultivated plants. The pomelo is a cross between a pomelo and a grapefruit. Despite belonging to the pomelo family, the taste of the pomelo differs from that of the grapefruit.
Pomegranate: The pomegranate is a fruit that is not only rich in vitamin C, iron and phenols, but also stands out in medical studies due to its health-promoting properties.
Reduce the bitterness of chicory: For anyone who wants to reduce the bitter taste of chicory, it is advisable to make sure that the chicory is light and has as little greenish tinge as possible when buying it. You can also cut a wedge-shaped piece out of the stem, as this is where the highest concentrations of the two main bitter substances, lactucopicrin and lactucin, are located. These two sesquiterpene lactones are also found in other types of lettuce such as endive. Nevertheless, bitter substances have an appetite-stimulating and digestive effect by stimulating gastric and bile secretion.
Save salt by choosing the right soy sauce: In contrast to Tamari soy sauce, Nama Shoyu (Nama = unpasteurized) contains wheat or rice in addition to soybeans, water and sea salt. This gives it a slightly milder taste. The Genen Shoyu variant (Genen = low salt or reduced salt) is a Shoyu that has a very low salt content (up to 50%). This means that you can enjoy the soy sauce flavor with moderate consumption and at the same time do not exceed the salt levels that are harmful to your health. However, unlike traditional Shoyu, this soy sauce can be pasteurized and contain gluten.
Freezing rare ingredients: Galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves are easy to buy in advance and freeze so you always have a supply on hand.
Alternate preparation
Roasted Thaishallots: The authors recommend the additional use of crispy roasted Thai shallots (available in Asian stores) or crispy fried shallots (see recipe on page 48 of the same book).
