This is, under the forum rules, a thread for International or Swiss Vegan recipes.

Please try and only post with ingredients available in Switzerland.

Broccoli soup

Boil some broccoli florets in home-made vegetable stock for five minutes so the broccolli is just covered.

Whizz in a blender until liquid. Add extra stock if it needs to be more liquid.

Serve.

Does it matter if you use organic brocolli or is the regular stuff OK?

You missed something.

Wash thoroughly to remove the insects

That's up to you. This isn't a preaching or mocking thread.

Serious question, not ironic: is honey ok or not from a vegan perspective? Technically, it's an "animal product" because it comes from the work of bees, but I am doubtful.

The reason I ask is that, one of my favorite desserts/breakfast foods ever is red quinoa with roasted walnuts and honey on top. I just want to make sure it is ok to share with a vegan friend.

If honey is not ok, what would be a valid substitution? I would prefer not to use sugar. Thanks!

Thanks. I wondered because I'm not a vegan yet so not sure about the rules. I didn't know if as pesticides are designed to kill the bugs/animals (I think?) if this had an effect on whether non-bio produce was acceptable. But good to know as makes shopping for ingredients a little easier.

Honey is not Vegan , as far as I know. Here in CH , Birnel , a pear syrup which I've even seen at the Coop, could be a good substitute. In the US there was Brown rice syrup or something like that, but I haven't kept up with these things.

No some vegans like myself do not eat honey try agave syrup looks the same

Can you use maple syrup? Golden syrup? In the US, sometimes you can get barley or rice syrup. I remember barley sugar as a kid.

We used to suck barley sugar as kids to prevent travel sickness, or maybe it was just a ploy to keep us quiet in the car?

(Oops, that isn't Swiss, sorry)

This reminds me of the good old "free beer" thread.

Thems were the days

Honey is not OK for vegans since you are enslaving the poor bees. You can use golden syrup mixed with maple syrup instead. But you won't because that would be normal. Vegans use agave syrup because it's super exotic and different and special just like them.

Golden syrup is vegan. It's made from the washings of sugar as it is refined.

(I used to work at the T&L refinery, years ago).

Hi Readers & Poster

Here is a great Salad and thank you for starting this thread Tom

V-Up Energy Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 medium Green Leafy Lettuce

400 grams of Ripe Cherry Tomatoes (or small red tomatoes)

... 1 ripe Avocado

100 grams Alfalfa, Lentil or Wheat Germ Sprouts (or a mix of each)

100 grams approx. of Sweet Potato or Yam

3 gloves of Garlic

10 fresh Basil Leaves

1 fresh Lemon

Hand full of fresh Italian Parsley

Optional, but this adds some kick to it:

10 fresh Corianders Leaves

1 teaspoon Tamari

1 small Chili

Salt & Pepper

Here we go:

Peel Sweet Potato and cut into bite size pieces.

Then place into a small pot of boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes.

When cooked, strain under cold water till cooled.

Clean your Tomatoes, Lettuce and Sprouts.

Chop your Lettuce in small pieces and place inside large salad bowl.

Quarter all but 2 of your Tomatoes and also place in bowl.

Add the Sweet Potatoes to the bowl, as well.
Then add all your Sprouts.

Now cut your Avocado in half, remove the pit. Use half of it for your salad, using a small spoon to cut out small pieces and adding them to the bowl.

Dressing:

Peel your Garlic, then put it into your food processor with the S blade.

Squeeze Lemon and add.

Then place all your herbs into processor.

Cut your two remaining Tomatoes in half and add them in.

Scoop out the remaining Avocado half and add to the processor.

Add 100ml cold water.

Note: At this stage add any of the optional ingredients, if you wish.

Blend for about 20 seconds. You should end up with a nice thick dressing. If too thick, add a little more water and blend again.

Now add it all to your salad and stir it all in well.

Presto Enjoy

PS over the next few days I will copy all the recipes out of the other thread in off topic and post them here.

Let's all stop the bickering life is to short.

Thank you for the support on this board.

Speaking of which, what's the vegan position on beer? I understand that some kind of fish product is used to clarify it. Am I mistaken, and if not, is that a problem?

When you are a Vegan for health reasons and not the Animal issue, you can use the 5% rule, which according to doctor Esselstyn research the human body can tolerate between 5% to 10% of any food quite safely.

Most save this rule for traveling to strange place where dodgy restaurants will swear their is no butter or cream in their food, but as a Vegan you know there is, This same rule can be used for a beer,glass of normal wine with well meaning friends

Bio wine is not Vegan wine as there are Bio
eggs, pigs,and chickens, but sometime you just have live a little

Thanks to everyone for the input on honey. I return the favor including a personal recipe below.

Caponata is a traditional Sicilian dish, one of my favorites. This version is a personalized one, made with trial and error out of culinary experimentation and following my personal taste - that’s why I call it “wrong” (the traditional caponata has for example salted capers and separate vinegar, optional almonds, green olives instead of black, and no marinated sundried tomatoes).

Hope you enjoy it!

CAPONATA SBAGLIATA (“Wrong Caponata”)

Ingredients
olive oil
2 large eggplants, cut into large cubes
1 teaspoon oregano
salt and ground black pepper
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons capers preserved in vinegar
a handful of black pitted olives
5 large tomatoes, skin removed, chopped OR two cans of diced tomatoes
3 or 4 sundried tomatoes, marinated in olive oil and chili pepper

Preparation
If you can’t find marinated sundried tomatoes (there is an Italian lady in Zurich who has a small store on Josefstrasse and sells them, but if she runs out I make my own) you can: put the sundried tomatoes in warm water for 15-20 minutes or until they “revive”. Prepare a mixture with olive oil and very finely chopped chili pepper (if you have small dried pieces that’s also ok), then put the sundried tomatoes in a plastic ziploc bag with this mixture and let them marinate for a few hours until the tomatoes really absorb the flavor. I typically do this the night before, or early in the morning before going to work if I plan to cook it in the evening. While this ingredient is not essential per se, it gives the dish a nice kick.

After cutting the eggplants, place them in a colander and sprinkle them with salt, taking care that all the pieces are covered by a bit of salt, then let them rest for at least a half hour – this process ensures that the extra water is taken out from the eggplant, and you won’t have a “watery” dish.
In a large pan, pour in the olive oil, the eggplants and oregano, salt and pepper, and cook on high heat for a round 5 minutes, shaking the pan to make sure that all chunks of eggplants are evenly cooking (sometimes, if the pan is not big enough, you can split the eggplant cooking in 2 or 3 batches). Don’t overfill that pan, otherwise you won’t be able to obtain an even cooking!

When the eggplants are golden on all sides, add the chopped onion, garlic, and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes until the onion and garlic are golden as well. Then add the marinated sundried tomatoes with their oil, and let it cook for another 1-2 minutes. The sundried tomatoes should be soft and juicy. Throw in the capers and the olives, stir evenly, then add the chopped or canned tomatoes* and simmer for around 15 minutes or until tender. Tip: to remove the acids from the tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar in the pan, stir very well, then taste and adjust with salt/pepper as desired.

Once ready, season as you wish and serve. This dish is good both served hot and cold, by itself, with bread, on top of pasta, etc.

Bon appétit!

*Side note: I prefer canned tomatoes, because they’re much easier to work with, unless I have very good fresh tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes: to remove the skin, make a vertical cut on it, put the tomatoes in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, take them out and the skin should be very easy to remove. Careful, because the tomatoes will be very hot. Once they have cooled a bit, they should be chopped and the inside seeds/excess water removed.

Honey is not vegan and never has been considered vegan in the community i recall,going back to my vegan years..I used apple juice for baking,worked well.

Broccoli soup is one of my fav, OP, some organic broccoli can g et a bit tangy, if the soup is mainly that, I even it out with a few potatoes n throw in fresh chives, spring onions n parsley before blending it. Home made fresh pesto of olive oil, basil and pine nuts also ads some edge.

Vegan_chef, how long have you been vegan? Can you please explain the advantages / reasons to following a vegan diet? I am interested...

Please see his other posts. He's explained the advantages thoroughly.