Berlin is for Vegans

Hi whoever reads this!

I disappeared. It was wonderful. Whoever said Germany was too full of meat and cheese to function as V was not as ambitious as I.  My friend C and I had quite the food adventure. And now I shall provide you with the evidence.

Exhibit A: Let us examine the world of travel cooking.  In a place abundant with Turkish markets and cheap grocery stores, cooking abroad is even more exciting than cooking in the safety of your own home.

Mushroom Stroganoff

After a fun exploration of all the local shops, we ended up with a ton of mushrooms, including the ever intriguing woodear mushroom. I think this really took the stroganoff to the next level.  I also had Alpro soy cream available to me, which I have never seen in the States.  Used this recipe from PPK as a basis for my first stroganoff but it really turned out nothing like it. 

The most delicious part was this brand of noodles that we found at an asian market that were definitely an eggnoodle substitution for vegetarians.  So so delicious and exciting.  I forgot what egg noodles tasted like.

nächste! 

 Exhibit B: My first meal in Europe on an extended layover to Amsterdam.  Vegetarian restaurant De Bolhoed is a real treat.  Vegan options are definitely limited and the food is way expensive, but quality is way high.  

 

Very adorable little Oasis.  I ordered the vegan ragoutcroissant filled with tofu, seaweed, veggies, leeks, and turmeric and covered in poppy and sesame seeds.  Check it out.

Supertramp was playing in the restaurant as I was inspecting these decadent salads. This has become a pattern in my life. Anyways, we have one salad with corn, red peppers and cilantro. Next with Endive, walnuts, pumpkin and sesame seeds. Chickpeas in some kind of curry-peanut paste.  Squash, pumpkin, raisins, brown sugar and I believe I tasted some anise.  Then finally there was a squash and artichoke salad with eggplant, tomatoes and a super tangy dressing.  I know, it's a lot.  I pretty much ate the whole thing including the pea greens with alfalfa sprouts, and a lemon-dill-garlic puree.  For 14 euros, I didn't care if I exploded all over their greenery. 

Linden Flower Tea, just like the last time I was there with my dearest E.L

Mmmmm

Okay, moving on. I JUST GET SO EXCITED.  Now it gets super Berliner.  

Kreuzberg, home of Yellow Sunshine, home of the vegan currywurst and the lightest, fluffiest vegan torte I ever did taste. 

 


C says that this torte is super Berlin.  Black Forest (Cherry-Chocolate).  So light and not at all overly sweet, this really did us in.

You can also see those cute little chicken nuggets in the background there. Those were pretty good, wouldn't get them again though.

Then of course there is the currywurst, just a very simple vegan sausage thing smothered in ketchup and curry powder.  If you know me, you know that I just about died from all that ketchup. Heaven! Handcut, homemade french fries too. Hell yeah.

Here is homemade recreation of what little I knew of a schnitzel.  Now I am way more aware of what it means to be schnitzel.  But for what it was, we quite enjoyed this.  I basically sliced tofu very thinly, marinated, beer battered and fried it up.  Served with boiled beets and lemon wedges with scallions.  You got yourself a decent meal here.  

 

My enthusiasm for this Turkish quesadilla called gozleme cannot be tamed.  I bought the very thin, pastry like dough from the huge market and kind of guessed as to what would be inside such delights.  Okay what do we have going on here.  One is filled with potatoes made with garlic, rosemary, white pepper, margarine and mustard, soy mince made with onions, soy sauce, red wine, spices, etc.  The other has spinach, mushrooms, chilies, curry and lots of garlic.  Apparently, they were right on. 

I just stole this picture from the interweb, but I wanted you to see the huge round devices that these guys are made on.  And this is basically what the process looks like at the markets too.  A handful of Turkish women creating these delicious foods perfectly and carefully.






Bored yet? Well suck it up I'm almost done here.  Turn on some Janelle Monae or listen to the new Luau songs like I am and I'm sure you will be entertained enough.  


Fucking Poland.  That's where we go next in our food adventure.  I'm not going to lie, it started off a little shaky with Chinese food that made me wish I was eating catfood.  But we gained our footing and stopped depending on anyone in Szczecin to help or give good advice.  What should one do in Poland? Eat Pierogies!!

 Cabbage and Mushroom stuffed Pierogies with crunchy onions sauteed in olive oil and fresh chives.  The guy assured me there were no scrambled eggs in there.  To ease the vegan paranoia, we decided to check out the only vegetarian place in the "city." We were not disappointed!

 Got some vegan kielbasa goin on there, grilled and served with also-grilled onions.  Also featuring a chickpea cutlet that was good but slightly mushy,  double mustard action that really blew my mind and a small salad of cabbage and caraway. Yum!

 Terrible picture, but rest assured that these pierogies were definitely vegan and DEFINITELY filled with fresh plums. 

And finally we were served a cauliflower soup with dill and sunflower seeds.  I'm pretty sure they puree the soup to order, so it was very fresh. Super! Thanks Poland!

Other Miscellaneous Meals...

Artichoke with Parsnip, Raisins and Lemon Bread Stuffing

Sauerkraut and Potatoes

Turkish Tortellini called Manti.  They are filled with soy protein which is weird! But delicious.  I whipped up a cream sauce from a roux, sauteed black beans with onions, lime, and cinnamon, then made a chili-basil sauce with hot red peppers, garlic, lime, chili powder, paprika, sugar, vinegar and fresh basil.  What a fantastic hot sauce! Good job me!

My days were also spent eating delicious Italian pizza with thinly sliced eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini and fresh arugula on top, Vietnemese food which is pretty good in Berlin but still inferior to these parts I'd say, and then more pizza, homemade and not.  There was lots of beer and wine, lots of cigarettes, and a lot of coffee too. Here is one of the last places at which we dined. Vux, a Brazilian Cafe in Richardplatz. Let's start with coffee and a cigarette.

 Mmm yes, soy capp with a tiny almond macaroon

Oh hello most delicious bagel sandwich in the world!  What do you have there? Homemade seitan salami, carrots, sprouts, lettuce, pea greens, peanut sauce. Holy moley. Homemade bagels too.

Oi vey, I have no idea what this is, but it was very delectable.  I don't know what kind of soy cheese it was, but when I saw it wasn't melted I almost cried because who ever wants to eat soy cheese in it's weird solid form? After my experience here, THIS GIRL DOES! Especially with this very bizarre solid, sliced fruit preserve of some sort, it really had a perfect flavor party. 

 I don't need to say much about this, except that those cherries were HOT in more ways than one.

And the finale! Same joint, different day.  This time there were lots of 30 something vegan punks with their androgynous little progeny running around on sugar highs. A Lavendar-Cassis torte and a Apricot-Lemon Cheesecake. I can't talk about it, the desire is too strong.

I hope you are hungry now!! And maybe you have some ideas for new foods to want and make! I'll be posting other German, Polish, Turkish dishes shortly I'm sure.  There's a whole new genre to explore.  Stay tuned for a delicious fall soup, coming up next on ROOTS AND VEGGIES. So long! Tschuss!

jp