Day 46!

Hello!

Today I am going to be sharing with you a couple recipes.  The first one is a Brazilian version of an empanada, that is completely vegan, its actually called a pastel.  These are eaten normally in Brazil, they can be served with anything inside of them, I have had them while on the road travelling through Brazil, everywhere has them, diners, gas stations, its just how they do there, but I did my own spin on it today, which includes Bacardi, which helps the dough rise!  The second recipe I am going to sharing with you, is a carrot-coconut soup, that's so good and creamy!  Its great for a cold winters day!  This soup can also be served cold as a gazpacho, but today its served hot.

Carrot Coconut Soup:

6 Carrots, Peeled and Small Diced

1 Small Onion, Small Diced

1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger

1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Garlic

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 1/2 Cups Water 

2 - 14 Oz. Cans Coconut Milk

Shredded Coconut to Garnish

Salt To Taste

Get a pot on the stove, add the carrots, onion, ginger, garlic, curry powder, cinnamon and water.  Bring to a boil and cook for 20-25 minutes, making the carrots and onions tender.  Take a hand held immersion blender and blend.  (If you don't have one add it to your food processor in increments, but I would let the soup cool down a bit before doing that, you don't want to burn yourself.)

Add the coconut milk to the puree and bring back up to heat, adding salt if needed.  Garnish with some greens or some shredded coconut.

Micro greens on top with some shredded coconut.

Beyond Easy!  Quick and barely anything to it.

So onto the next recipe!

Pastel Dough:
2 Cups Flour
1 Pinch Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Warm Water
1 Tablespoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Bacardi

Filling:
Corn
Heart of Palm (Can be found in the Goya section)
Earth Balance Butter (Awesome vegan butter)
Siracha
Salt
(This is what I chose for my filling, you can pick anything your heart desires, a vegan mozzarella would be fabulous, but I did not have any on hand.)

Directions For Dough:
Place flour, sugar, vegetable oil, salt and Bacardi into a mixing bowl, stir with your hand just to incorporate everything.  Then add the water, mixing again with your hands, work the dough in the bowl moving around in the bowl for about 10-15 minutes, until the dough stops sticking to your hand.  You may need to add a bit more flour to it, just keep an eye on it.  After it is mixed and not sticking, let rise for 30 minutes, cover with a damp paper towel.

After the dough is risen, punch down.  Flour a clean surface and flour a rolling pin and roll very thin, do not do the whole dough at once, take a bit of dough at a time.  Once thin take a pot lid, usually a smaller one and press out the circle from the dough.

Filling Recipe:
Get a pot on the stove add butter, heart of palm, corn and salt.  Stir and bring up to heat, put a little siracha in for heat (You don't have to do this if you don't like spicy food.  Set aside in a bowl.

Add filling to it and fold over, press the edges down with a fork.

I would assemble every pastel you have, before frying.  Once you are done assembling get a pot on the stove and add oil, enough to fry the pastel in.  Have the heat on medium-low, it will burn if on to high and fry on both sides of the pastel.

This recipe makes a bunch of them so you can switch up the flavors.

Here is the inside of mine.  Enjoy!

Thank you all, I will be posting more recipes this week!  I would love to hear any feedback from you guys, like if you tried a recipe or have any comments, I would love to hear them!

Namaste,

V