Let there be wraps

What a great weekend!

When we woke up on Saturday morning, the wind was blowing, which is fairly rare in Pretoria (the least windy city in South Africa). So we grabbed Sim's kite and walked to the nearby veld to fly it.

I didn't take the camera with on Saturday, so here's a recent photo of Sim flying the kite on the Rondebosch Common in Cape Town (a city where the wind practically never dies!)

 A craving for tofu then hit me (I haven't eaten tofu in years), so we whipped up a batch of eggless, gluten-free pancakes to act as wraps, after which we parked our behinds on the couch while it rained to eat brunch and watch Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory.

The combo of potato starch and chickpea flour is magic. 
It clings together like slime to a pond wall (that's a good thing, albeit untasty imagery).

All you do is modify the consistency with your liquid of choice.
So pancakes = thinner batter.
Flapjacks = thicker.

And the blend of flours is up to you.
A more neutral taste but chewier texture = more potato starch.
A heavier taste but softer texture = more chickpea flour.

Hint: a non-stick crêpe pan is muy importante.

Pancakes (to use as wraps)

gluten-free

egg-free

makes 6

Recipe:

• 3/4 cup potato starch
• 6 tablespoons chickpea flour
• water

Whisk the batter to the desired consistency (adding water slowly).

Lightly oil a non-stick crêpe pan, and ladel some batter into it 

over medium-high heat. Watch closely to make sure it doesn't burn, 

and flip it when you see air bubbles.

Et voilà!

Fillings:

• tofu
• aubergine
• wild rocket
• tomato

Slice tofu in 1cm thick slices.

Fry in a tiny bit of olive oil (just enough to coat the pan) 

till golden and slightly crispy. Add a sprinkling of your seasoning of choice 

(in this case, just a little sea salt).

Slice aubergines into 1cm thick slices.

Fry in a tiny bit of olive oil (just enough to coat the pan).

Add a sprinkling of your seasoning of choice 

(in this case, just a little sea salt).

Amass the fillings like a grand vegan army on a plate.

Born-up-a-tree!

Basiliciousness part two!

This recipe isn't really much of a recipe at all. It's just an amalgamation of two intense flavours tempered with little "toasties" :-)

To make:

• Zoesh about 8 tomatoes in a food processor and then simmer them on the stove for ten minutes with some salt.
• Garnish with fresh basil (in fact, just after this photo was taken, I threw in a whole handful of basil leaves and it was sublime!)
• Top with a mini gluten-free "toastie" (recipe below), which are just slices of day-old homemade potato flour scones drizzled with olive oil and grilled till crispy in the oven. (Crumbled cream crackers, croutons or melba toast would make a great substitution if you're blessed enough to be able to eat gluten).
  

Scones
(gluten-free)

Makes 12

This recipe comes from a TV show which used to air on South African TV when I was little called "Kideo", presented by the lovely Natasha Sutherland (the ex-wife of that philandering, ridiculously corny singer, Steve Hofmeyr) and a talking donkey puppet called Mr Chinwag!

You cannot ask for a simpler, more reliable recipe, which makes soft, delicious scones when baked with cake flour. Obviously, having to de-glutenise the recipe changes things a little.

Yes, the recipe is still reliable. Yes, the scones are still mouthwateringly soft WHEN EATEN STRAIGHT OUT THE OVEN AND STILL WARM! As soon as these reach room temp and you've only used potato flour, they get rigid. BUT that's what makes them perfect for slicing and grilling into "toasties", so it's a win-win situation :-)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• (if you're using normal cake flour made from wheat OR a gluten-free cake flour mix which you can substitute cup-for-cup, follow recipe as is. However, if you are using only potato flour, you will need to allow for about 1 cup of milk or just over).
  
• 1/2 tsp bicarb + 1 tsp creme of tartar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Beat egg & mix all ingredients together with a spoon.
2. Bake in a buttered cup-cake pan for 12 - 15 minutes (or till golden) at 175 to 180 degrees Celsius.