Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This is an aromatic vegan and gluten free soup, light and delicious. 500 ml vegetable stock 1 can coconut cream or milk + one can of water (rinsing the coconut cream) 1 large yellow courgette (zucchini) 2 fresh red chilies 1 block of tofu a pinch of freshly grated ginger Vermicelli 1 stalk lemon grass a few coriander leaves Cherry tomatoes Simmer all together for a few minutes until the zucchini are soft but not mushy. In the meantime soak the vermicelli in hot water until soft then divide between 6 bowls. chop a few cherry tomatoes, and wash some fresh basil and some thai mint Pour the hot soup over the vermicelli, making sure that each dish has equal parts of tofu and veggies. Decorate with the tomatoes, basil and Thai mint and serve immediately. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

 First I started with a simple paste made with a small piece of ginger (peeled), one shallot (also peeled), fresh coriander (with stalks), green chili (not too much for me, maybe one or two), and fresh lemon grass (one stick). If you have kaffir lime leaves or rind, the are good too, apparently, but I didn't have any so I added a little lemon juice. Mush with a mortar and pestle or with a blender (I used the blender, too hot for the mortar and pestle!) adding salt towards the end.  Now, the only thing in the paste that came from the garden was coriander, and frozen (from last year) as this year my plant died! I also have lots of frozen chills to use, and a little plant that don't even have flowers yet!  The veggies: 1 carrot, 2 yellow zucchini, a few tomatoes, a few broccolini, borage tips, green capsicum, Thai mint, basil, onion weed flowers  and borage flowers to decorate. then: organic tofu and coconut cream. I cut the tofu and placed it in a pot with th

  I used the flesh of a small watermelon (blend with ice and a bit of water - to get the blender moving) and then passed the juice through a sieve (not too fine, just enough to keep the seed pieces out) and then stirred it with a stick of lemongrass (best if you can leave it in the fridge with the lemongrass for 30 minutes). My mint is quite 'strong' so I added it only at the end, for decoration and a hint of fragrance. Serve with ice. I am sure that there will be readers that will think of vodka too! Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

I had half a pumpkin to use, but just a little bit of Thai herbs mix (ginger, lemon grass, chili, garlic and coriander), certainly not enough to give my pumpkin a spicy flavor! Still, I felt like coconut, so I cut the pumpkin and two celery stalks with leaves and put them in my pot, then I added one can of coconut cream plus one can of water (to rinse the cream out), the remaining Thai herbs mix (about half tsp) and one organic veggie stock cube. I cook the lot until the pumpkin was soft, then I adjusted it for salt and added plenty of fresh basil leaves. I wanted to add some of my Vietnamese mint but it has all dried up (no rain in Auckland either) but the basil was strong flavored and I was surprised how nice this tasted in the end! I though of using this as a side dish (like in the photo) but I run out of time to make the main and since this dish had so much sauce I just added some cubed firm tofu to it when I warmed it up for dinner. I served with Thai rice. Very nice way of e