Greta Thunberg Mural and Graffiti Street Art in Bedminster Bristol

We went to Bristol on Sunday for a mooch about.

We had also heard that there was a new tribute mural featuring the young Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, so that was another good reason to go to Bristol as we do like checking out the graffiti street art too.   

So we took a slow walk from the city centre to area of Bedminster to see it in person.

This is what else we saw along the way...

Spicy Korean Style Gochujang - Vegan 'Meatballs' with Kimchi Gratin

I made this Spicy Korean Style Gochujang mock 'meatballs' some time last year, but never got round to blogging it for whatever reason.  It was whilst looking at photographs in my computer food files that I was reminded of it and have decided to share it as I haven't been doing much exciting cooking or baking the last few months.  

Life is just busy and I want to make the most of my lazy days with the other things happening in my life...family ...friends...the garden...

I remember the mock 'meatballs' being fine, they often are when they are out of a packet, but the spicy Korean style Gochujang sauce was exceptional and very glossy.  I liked it more the following day when the flavour matured a bit more. 

Gochujang is a thick red paste made up of fermented chillies and soy beans.  It's salty and spicy, but not hot hot.  It also umami tasting, I remember someone once describing it as a blend of miso paste and marmite with a little bit of kick. 

I admit it was a bit of a mish mash of a meal, the meatballs served here with broccoli, but it all came together on the plate with the Kimchi Gratin.  Yes Kimchi Gratin, I know …but it tasted good!

I take no credit for the Kimchi Gratin as it came from a book called Living Food by Daphne Lambert, which I picked up from Oxfam in Cardiff.  I was prompted to make it as I still had a jar of homemade kimchi in my kitchen cupboards. Gratins never photographs well.. And some chefs like to make them in mould or cut them out with round moulds - full marks for presentation, but a lot of waste - not in this house!.

Also here is an article by PeTa for 13 Vegan Korean MeatFree recipes.  I also recommend that you look at the defunct foodblog The Vegan 8 Korean that has loads of vegan Korean recipes for you to recreate at home, as well as The Korean Vegan who has some proper tasty Korean eats veganized.  Please also check out these awesome vegan BBQ Seitan Ribs with Spicy Korean Sauce by Delightful, Delicious and DeLovely.

Gochujang glaze
3 tablespoons gochujang
2 tablespoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Tamari
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 fat clove garlic, crushed
Method
Place all the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Cook for a few minutes or until thick and glossy.
Reduce the heat and keep warm, until ready to serve
Gently spoon over a tablespoon of the sauce over each meatball.
The sauce was adapted from Quiet Good Food: Veg Eats for Everyone who adapted it from Tiger Burger in New Zealand published May 2016 issue of Cuisine magazine. 

Hello June

So my lovely husband came home bearing gifts for me on  recent trip away.  He brought me African Coconut Chin Chin which are West African crunchy pastry snacks that originated in Nigeria.  Next to it is a rather large tin of Ghanian Palm Nut Soup with Herbs known as Abemudro .   If any one has had it before, please let me know, otherwise I will wait until I eat it. 

I know there is so much controversy around Palm oil, but have been told that Carotino Palm Oil is a good one to purchase; and isn't good that he came back with it.  I am looking forward to making a Ghanian Black Eyed Bean dish called Red Red again, when I made it a few years back, I never too a picture of it and therefore did not get round to sharing it.  I need to find that recipe first!   

Next we have is a box of Instant Plantain Fufu. I am guessing its like instant mash, which is not something I eat at all, but it will be interesting to try this Plantain Fufu.  I've had Plantain chips before and they have also featured on my blog in the past, so some of you will know that I am quite partial to them, they also make a nice change from potato chips or crisps.

Talking about crisps, we have Tyrrell's Vegetable Crips: parsnips, beetroot and carrot.  I do like these, but when you open the bag, the crisps are really shrivelled!

In our efforts to reduce plastic, we are trying to buy our oils in glass bottles, but its not that easy as most are in plastic bottles.  We did however find some extra virgin olive oil in a canister tin that will be decanted into a glass bottle at home.

Someone else other than my husband likes me, as I was gifted a bag full of presents from Greece including Sesame Pistachio Halva, Greek Delight and some Greek ingredients from my nephew.  It was very thoughtful .  Bless You and Thank you.  I will be tucking into these sooner than  you think.  

I also have some herbal and fruity Teapigs tea bags: Lemon and Ginger and Super Fruit.  I don't usually buy this product as its expensive for me, but as it was more than half price so how could I not. 

While D was away, I bought some blueberries from M&S and enjoyed  most of the with Greek Yogurt and a drizzle of runny honey.  It was good, though I must admit I am looking forward to homegrown blueberries.

Finally, we were both tempted by this Scottish Tablet Dairy Ice-Cream, hoping it would transport us back to our times in Scotland.  It was okay as an ice-cream, but tasted nothing like it promised, so that disappointed a tad.

For those of you who may have missed my In My Kitchen blog post from last month, for those of you who may have missed it, but today I am sharing this blog post with Sherry's Picking for the In My Kitchen series.  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by the 13th of the month.