The Lazy Cat Kitchen team is waving ‘hello’ from Athens. Well, we are waving, Tina is slowly recovering from an eventful day. After her first 3 years on her native Greek island, today she was brutally plucked from her beloved surroundings and stuck in a carrier to be transported to a very different country, with lots of rain (cats love rain, don’t they..?) and not that much sun. She wasn’t very happy about that obviously and we were were both feeling so guilty and worried for her.
I mean what gives us the right to pluck this little happy soul from the patch of land she knows and loves and take her somewhere scary and new? It’s not like she was unhappy frolicking in an almost limitless garden that our rented house stood on. What if she hates England and living in a city?
As her petrified eyes were getting wider and wider in disbelief that we, two ‘hoomans’ that she trusted, betrayed her, we started having second thoughts. We felt it’s so cruel to expose her to 3 days of travelling (thanks to the exorbitant cost of taking pets to England by air, we are having to catch a ferry from Holland) just because we felt like we needed a change of scenery.
Well, the alternative was to break her little heart and leave her behind, without food supply, medical care, cushion to sleep on or affection. We’ve seen hundreds of cats (and dogs) like this all over Paros, left behind after the end of the season, wandering around aimlessly, hurt, confused, betrayed and hungry and we simply could not do that either.
So with the magic help of our cat momma friend, Suzie, we medicated the poor critter a little to make the journey more bearable for her. We kind of wished we had similar medication for ourselves as we’ve been stressing almost as much as she has, but all went well and we completed the first leg of our journey. Tomorrow is a big day – a long plane flight, followed by a train, two buses and an overnight ferry, but we hope she will be more used to it now. Onwards and upwards.
Meanwhile, if you are bored of our cat saga, I also have a new recipe for you – simple and delicious vegan breakfast tacos with tofu scramble, black beans, avocado, cherry toms and some rocket. All finished off with a dollop of chilli sauce. I would love to wake up to these tomorrow, but it’s going go be jam and peanut butter on toast for us for the next few days as that’s all we can muster right now.
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
- 2 small spring onions, sliced
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 350 g silken (firm) tofu
- 1 tsp turmeric
- black salt (kala namak)*, to taste
- 2 cups cooked black beans
- 1 avocado, sliced
- sambal oelek, to serve
SOFT GF TORTILLAS (makes 10)
- 120 g / heaped ½ cup buckwheat or chickpea flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ¼ cup rice flour
- 2 tbsp ground chia seeds (or flax seeds)
- 1/3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tsp olive oil (any oil will do)
- approx. 3 tbsp water
WHEAT TORTILLAS (makes 10)
- 120 g / heaped ½ cup white all purpose flour
- 4 tsp olive oil (any oil will do)
- 1/3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- approx. 120 ml / ½ cup hot water
- Heat up 1 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick pan, on low-medium heat. Add chopped garlic and spring onions. Fry, stirring frequently, until both soften and the garlic releases its beautiful aroma.
- Place the tomato halves cut side down on the pan and fry them in the garlicky oil gently until they soften a little and release some of their juices (about 10 minutes). Move tomatoes and aromatics to the side of the pan.
- Add a block of silken tofu and break it into small pieces with a fork.
- Sprinkle with turmeric and black salt and stir it around and fry for another two minutes, just to heat it up. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Pile black beans and tofu scramble onto warm tacos, decorate with avocado slices, black pepper, spring onion and chilli paste. Consume immediately.
GF TORTILLAS
- Mix buckwheat or chickpea flour, tapioca starch, rice flour, ground chia seeds, baking powder and salt in a big bowl. Add olive oil to the flour mixture and incorporate it well with your hands.
- Add enough hot water (about 45 ml / 3 tbsp) to be able to form a dough. Knead it a little just to bring all of the ingredients together, if the dough is too dry, add another splash of water.
- Divide it into 10 equal pieces.
- Set a medium, heavy-bottomed or griddle pan on a medium heat (it’s important not to get the pan too hot, I used setting 4 out of 6).
- Roll each piece of dough into a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll out the tortillas on a lightly floured surface. Refrain from adding too much flour as it will produce dry tacos. Once you are happy with the shape and thickness (make them as thin as possible), put your taco on a hot pan.
- Little bubbles will start to appear after about 30 seconds, if any large air pockets appear, pierce them with the tip of a knife. After about 1-2 minutes from when the taco hits the pan, flip the taco and cook for only about 30 seconds on the other side. Do not let them sit in the hot pan for too long as it will produce dry and cracking tacos.
- Keep cooked tacos in a stack in a warm place (like a very low oven) covered with a damp towel (to prevent them from drying out).
WHEAT TORTILLAS
- Put the kettle on. To make tacos mix flour, baking powder and salt in a big bowl. Add olive oil to the flour mixture and incorporate it well with your hands. Once the water comes to the boil, add about 120 ml / ½ cup of hot water. Initially mix it all together with a spoon (as the mixture will be too hot), then start kneading the dough with your hands – you may need to add another splash of water if the dough is still too dry.
- Knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Rest the dough for about 30 min covered with a damp kitchen towel. The resting step is very important so do not skip it. You can also make the dough a day in advance and keep it in the fridge overnight – if you decide to do that, bring the dough to room temperature before rolling the tacos.
- Once the dough has rested, divide it into 10 equal pieces.
- Set a medium, heavy-bottomed or griddle pan on a medium heat (it’s important not to get the pan too hot, I used setting 4 out of 6).
- Roll each piece of dough into a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll out tortillas on a lightly floured surface. Refrain from adding too much flour as it will produce dry tacos. Once you are happy with the shape and thickness (make them as thin as possible), put your taco on a hot pan.
- Little bubbles will start to appear after about 30 seconds, if any large air pockets appear pierce them with the tip of a knife. After about 1-2 minutes from when the taco hits the pan, flip the taco and cook for only about 30 seconds on the other side. Do not let them sit in the hot pan for too long as it will produce dry and cracking tacos.
- Keep cooked tacos in a stack in a warm place (like a very low oven) covered with a damp towel (to prevent them from drying out).
So glad to hear you both are all settled in!