A Quick Curry

Curry is one of the basic vegetarian food. Whenever I'm thinking about what to cook curry is the first thing that pops in my mind. It's so easy to make. Just chop the ingredients, place them in the pot, cook, let stew and that's it. You can use pretty much any vegetables so making curry often doesn't mean eating the same food all of the time. This curry is especially quick and easy to make. Apples add a nice sweetness and balance the spiciness.

Apple-lentil curry

• 3 decilitres red lentils
• 2 onions
• 2-3 apples
• 300 grams cabbage (or Chinese cabbage)
• ½ tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder or cayenne pepper
• 6 decilitres water
• salt, pepper

Chop onions, cabbage and apples. Rinse the lentils. Heat a bit of oil in a pot and add the onions. Cook them for a couple of minutes and add the cabbage. When the cabbage is soft, add apples, lentils, ginger, spices and water. Let it stew for 10-20 minutes until the lentils are soft.

Serve with rice or bread.

Date squares

The taste of dates always reminds me of Christmas, and they're healthy too. This baked good is really easy to make. You can leave out the spices if you wish but I think that they add a wonderful taste. The best way is to bake these in a rectangular pan but I unfortunately had only round ones.

Vegan Date crumble squares

Date filling:

• 350 grams pitted dried dates
• 2 decilitres water

Oatmeal crust

• 4 decilitres oatmeal
• 2 decilitres whole wheat flour
• 1½ decilitres cane sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 180 grams margarine
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom

Chop the dates. Place dates and water in a saucepan and cook on medium heat util the dates are soft and have absorbed most of the water. Let the mixture cool down and mix it in your food processor to get a smooth mixture.

Preheat the oven into 180. Place oatmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and cardamom in a bowl and mix. Mix in the butter to get a crumbly mixture. You might want to use your hands or a food processor.

Press 2/3 of the mixture on the base of an oiled pan. Spread the date mixture on it evenly. Sprinkle the remaining dough on top of the date mixture and press to compact. Bake for 30-40 minutes until it has a golden brown colour. Let them cool down before cutting.