Blue Lupin and Potato Mash in Bread Cover – Sininen lupiini-perunamuusi leipäkuoressa

Estonia isn't exactly a culinary heaven if you're a vegetarian. It's closer to becoming one than many other ex-Soviet countries though, perhaps thanks to the close cultural connections with Middle Europe and the Nordic countries or perhaps the way things are getting better economically speaking. But one time in Tartu I got this really friendly service. The restaurant we went to didn't have a single vegetarian option, but they prepared the tired travelers a meal from the things they did happen to have. That included a plateful of vegetables and a dip plus this funny bread filled with mashed potatoes. Ever since I've wanted to try replicating the idea at home, only with some protein source added.

I used an oat bread of a local bakery here, but for a self-made one something like rievä would be an excellent choice. The potatoes here are a proof we did manage to grow something after all. The variety is called Blue Congo because of its adorable purple colour even brighter when raw. They're floury so they work best in the mashed form and somehow remind of what potatoes really should taste like. With them I thought I'd pair another blue plant, blue lupin. Weirdly, the tempeh made from it is actually bright yellow though.

The combination tuned out very earthy and filling. This portion is too big to eat all on your own, so cater at least two forks. And forget that spaghetti from candlelight dinners already ‒ you wouldn't eat it without hands anyway. What could be more romantic than a bowl of mashed potatoes, except a bread bowl of mashed blue potatoes?

- 1 bread
- 700 g potatoes
- 150 g tempeh
- 2 dl oat cream
- 1 onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- rape oil for frying
- green peppers
- thyme
- mustard powder
- smoked paprika
- salt

Cook the potatoes, washed well and with their skins on if possible. While they're boiling, cut a hat off the bread and scoop carefully the inner part out, leaving about 2 cm thick wall. (You can use the scooped out bread later in a soup or such.) Chop and sauté the onion. Add the tempeh to the pan in small pieces as well. Spice with mustard and paprika.

When the potatoes are done, pour the water out. Don't throw it away yet, in case the mash should need more liquid than I suggest here. Mash the potatoes together with the cream. Spice up with garlic, thyme and salt. Mix the tempeh and onion with the potatoes.

Scoop the mash into the bread. If everything doesn't fit in, there's no need to overfill like I've done it the photo. Just save the leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. Place the hat on the bread. Lit the candles.

Nutritional values / 1494 g:
energy 1810 kcal
fat 46 g
protein 67 g
carbohydrates 276 g
fiber 26 g

Dill Yogurt Covered Sea Buckthorn Cutlets – Tilli-jugurttikuorrutteiset tyrnileikkeet

Seems like we're better herb farmers than anything else. Our small field seems to be full of wild mint though we never seeded it there. I really need to get my imagination running if we're going to use it in anything else than tea. And the only plant we did seed and has grown better than we hoped is dill. So now every other dish is spiced up with it. So far I'm not complaining though.

Recipes on how to use dry soy cutlets always sound the same. First they're boiled in vegetable stock and then fried, which means that if you use the same store-bought bouillon cubes you always end up with the similar tasting chunks. Now that's a bit boring, isn't it? So I thought it almost my responsibility to start creating more creative ideas. The idea for a yogurt sauce came from some salmon recipe I happened to see. Originally I used lemons for the marinade, but since berries make such an essential part of Northern cuisine, I thought this sounded a bit classier choice.

For the cutlets:
- 100 g dry soy cutlets
- 1.5 dl sea buckthorn juice
- 1 dl rape oil
- 2 tbsp dark syrup
- salt

For the sauce:
- 2.5 dl oat  yogurt (or soy, as long as it's au naturel)
- 1 small punch of dill
- 1 small punch of chives
- black pepper

Place the cutlets with the marinade ingredients in a plastic bag. Leave in the fridge overnight but turn around a little every time you go to find snack.

When starting to get hungry, place the cutlets with their liquid in a casserole and move around a little to make sure they're marinated evenly. Mince the herbs and mix the yogurt sauce. Spoon the yogurt on the cutlets.

Move into 200°C oven for half an hour. Enjoy with barley or potatoes and some nice sidekick salad.

Nutritional values / 720 g:
energy 1625 kcal
fat 104 g
protein 72 g
carbohydrates 95 g
fiber 20 g

Himalayan Balsam Pasta ‒ Jättipalsamipasta

The plant known as policeman's helmet or Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is native to the Himalayas, as the name might suggest for the brightest of us. In recent years however, it's become a real menace in Finland too. It looks pretty, so people have planted it in their gardens but it's managed to spread very effectively, invading the habitat areas of more domestic species with its huge and dense growing stalks. Luckily, unlike most other invasive weeds, this one is completely edible, so we can try to get rid of it by filling our bellies. Before flowering the stem can be used as a vegetable, the flowers themselves look decorative and the seeds make a nice snack. Unless of course, you let the pods explode and scatter their seeds all around up to seven metres. Simple minded people like me could be popping them open for hours in a row just for the fun of it.

This time of the year the stems have already gone a bit woody, but since I wanted to try this idea of filling them which I nicked from Sami Tallberg's Villiyrttikeittokirja (Readme.fi 2010), I wanted to try anyway. I was going to use cashew cheese here but since it had gone bad already while waiting for me to get round to actually doing this, I had to settle for basic store-bought spread. Tallberg describes the taste as peppery, but I got a little disappointed from the plant's lack of flavour, especially considering how aromatic it seems. This pasta might need something with more zest, say celery or extra apple. The seeds were crunchy and nice though, so they can make a nice addition to dishes. Next time I think Imight try roasting them a bit. Collecting them is less work if you wait until they're ready to pop open. Just place a bag around them and poke with your finger.

- 250 g good quality pasta
- 3 Himalayan balsam stems
- 1 dl Himalayan balsam seeds
- 4 small apples (not those watery market varieties but real apples)
- 5 spring onions with their stalks
- 50 g soy-based cream cheese spread
- 0.5 dl white wine
-  2 tbsp rape oil
- 1 tbsp spruce syrup
- 1 garlic clove
- white pepper
- salt
- flowers to decorate

Cook the pasta in well salted water. Chop the onions and sauté them in plenty of oil.Cut the apples in four parts and remove the core. Throw them on the pan as well. When the pasta is done, pour away the water. Then add the onions, the apples, the wine, the syrup and the seeds.

Crush the garlic. Mix it and pepper with the cream. Peel the balsam stems and fill them with the cream. I find this is easiest done with a syringe. If the cream seems too thick for this, add a little bit of oat milk. Cut the stems in pieces.

Arrange the stems on pasta portions. Decorate the plate with some flowers.

(I wasn't able to find any nutritional information for the balsam, so I guess there's no point in counting it for the rest of the dish either. I'll add it here in case the situation should change.)

Pea Soup from Fresh Peas ‒ Hernekeitto tuoreista herneistä

The weekend was quite inspirational when it comes to food. This is why every food enthusiast should regularly try dishes completely different from their own stables. It helps to remember: oh yes, so many different flavours and mouth feels exist and I too, could try achieving them and learn how to change between worlds so different.

On Saturday I went to my 2-month old godchild's naming ceremony. The proud parents invited both of their families to enjoy oh-so-classic standing stable meal similar to the ones I've eaten in almost every wedding and funeral I've ever taken part of. I had potatoes with brown sauce, bean salad, broccoli gratin, a nettle-filled bread roll and the drink of Louhisaari. And the star of the day got a pretty name too. She became Taru, a name meaning fairytale in Finnish. With a name like that she just must inherit her mum's red hair. After all, daddy already bought her first tank.

On Sunday we went to four pop-up restaurants of the Restaurant Day held all over the city. We got dadaist Russian-inspired pizza with sauerkraut, chili packed inside focaccia in the park, raw sushi and green smoothie from an Alice of Wonderland and vegetable soup with very lovingly combined garnishes together with kombucha in the balcony of a yoga school located in the harmonious surroundings of Pyynikki. All of them were made with care and carried along the very personalities of their makers. This is something I never seem to find from real restaurants. Recently I flipped through an acquaintance's portfolio pictures from cook school and got really depressed on how uninspired and unappetizing their meals looked and sounded. But it's only his first year so perhaps I shouldn't blame the whole field yet. At least they seem to concentrate on something of more substance than disguising the plates as abstract art.

On both days I also dropped by in Chilifest, held in the main square, where some severely badass people compete over the world championship of eating naga morich. We just settled for shopping sauces and spices. No new younglings as impulse buying this time since our window shield is quite full of chili plants already. Perhaps I should try more about incorporating the fiery fruits in traditional Finnish dishes.

Coming back to the "what should I cook today" subject with my head squirming with fresh ideas, I thought that for once, I could try making the classic Thursday soup while the main ingredient is still fresh from the stalk. Interestingly enough, nearly all the recipes I found when trying to google similar ones actually used frozen peas though the name talked about freshness. It's quite alright to make this quick soup for lunch or dinner in wintertime too, but please don't try to deceive me with a badly chosen title.

Unlike in the dried pea version, I pureed most of the peas to achieve a velvety structure and tweaked it more summerish with fresh tasting herbs. The main spice is sage, inspired by the famous Saint-Germain soup. You can also let this cool down before enjoying on a hot day.

- 1 l fresh pea pods (or 400 g frozen peas)
- 5 dl water
- 1 dl oat cream
- 1 small punch of fresh sage
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 portion of stock
- small piece of horseradish
- mint
- thyme
- salt

Peal the pods and put  the peas in a pot together with the water. Add the spices as well. Let the peas summer until they're soft. Puree the whole soup. (I like to use a hand-held blender for this since it still leaves bits and pieces untouched and the structure thus more varying.)

Mix the cream with the rest of the soup. Garnish with herb oil, lightly roasted sunflower seeds and couple of salvia leaves. Especially nice if served with an oven-baked bread.

Nutritional values / 1000 g:
energy 283 kcal
fat 10 g
protein 13 g
carbohydrates 38 g
fiber 13 g

Cucumber Relish ‒ Kurkkupikkelssi

The commonness of this side item is best described by the  many names it is referred by. In my personal vocabulary pikkelssi refers to specifically cucumber relish though basically it means any kind of pickled vegetables. Kurkkurelissi is used though that still sounds a bit foreign to my ears. The most common name I think is kurkkusalaatti, meaning cucumber salad, which is pretty weird nowadays that salad usually refers to fresh things.

Any way, a spoonful of the relish can be an accompaniment in pretty much any Finnish meal. It's especially common with fast food you can buy from small kiosks like hamburgers, french fries, lihapiirakkas, porilainens and such. It's one part of the holy trinity of cucumber relish, mustard and ketchup. Most people just  use store-bought versions but somehow they never actually taste good. I especially hate a certain brand sold in every store which only tastes sugary and where the cucumber pieces are soft as if they had gone rotten or something. Home made ones on the other hand tend to be delicious on their own, and usually contain a lot of onion too. I also added a bell pepper just for the colour, but that's not an important part in any way.

- 1 kg cucumber
- 300 g onion
- 1 bell pepper
- 3 dl water
- 2 dl white vinegar
- 2 dl sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp mustard seeds
- dill

Wash and cube the veggies. Combine all the spices in a pot and let it come to a boil. Add the onion pieces there and cook for about five minutes. Add the cucumbers and bell pepper as well. Turn off the stove.

When the relish has cooled down, spoon it into clean and preferably sterilized glass jars. Move into a cool place, except the jar you intend to devour first.

Nutritional values / 2110 g:
energy 1011 kcal
fat 1 g
protein 12 g
carbohydrates 222 g
fiber 15 g

Chocolate Strawberry Cake ‒ Suklaa-mansikkakakku

I just  read an interesting article comparing two cup cake recipe books. They both use very similar stock photos but the contents of the actual recipes vary. Apparently the authors (whose names are missing from the cover for oblivious reasons) have. These are both translated books but unfortunately with a quick search I wasn't able to find their original titles or languages. The text of the article is in Finnish but the photos should speak for themselves.

It feels like there's some big step between posting recipes in a blog and making an actual cook book. But quite often, when I somehow hear how those books (not to mention food magazines, which I consider the lowest in this rank) are actually made, I realize most food bloggers actually upkeep higher journalistic standards than people who get paid for it.Of course there are also honourable cook book authors who only publish well-tested recipes. They tend to put their whole personalities in the process. And quite often keep a blog too.

This cake too takes influences from several sources, but I'm more than happy to give them the credit they deserve. I just wanted to use the last strawberries of the summer somewhere so I needed some ideas. Raspberry Blackout Cake by Isa Chandra Moskowitz has become rather famous itself. Satu Saunio of  Kamomillan konditoria has made so thorough instructions for different types of layered cakes that I consider it a bible in this matter. Also, I checked how Raisa Kettunen makes layered cakes and frostings in her book Puputyttö ja vohvelisankari (Moreeni 2010), also a book mostly about cupcakes but actually a one I trust is tested and trustworthy. My recipe isn't straight from any of them however, so if something goes terribly wrong, blame me and not them.

The picture I can assure, is taken by myself from the actual product. If the bottom looks a bit thick it's because I took this from the oven too early and it flattened while cooling. My flatmate actually asked if that's a mud cake I've made. Later, I also cut it a bit badly, leaving holes in the lower layer and had to patch them by cutting pieces from the upper layer, but luckily that doesn't show. All in all, I think this is quite a nice cake however, and definitely better than the previous layer cake I tried. This one I can actually recommend, especially the frosting part which manages to be fluffy but also set sturdy in the fridge. It's a pretty small one though, so if you're making it for your parent's silver wedding anniversary or other big occasion, you may want to multiply the ingredients with at least two.

The bottom:
- 3.5 dl wheat flour
- 3.5 dl soy milk
- 3 dl dark sugar
- 100 g margarine
- 1 dl cocoa powder
- 100 g strawberries
- 2 tsp apple wine vinegar
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 0.5 tsp salt

The filling and the frosting:
- 2 dl whippable soy cream
- 200 g (dark) chocolate
- about 400 g icing sugar (if you manage to find dark kind, all the tastier)
- 500 g strawberries (+ more for decoration)

Thicken the milk with vinegar. Whisk together the sugar and the margarine. Combine the two. It looks a bit messy at this point but don't worry. Filter in also the flour and the other bottom ingredients, strawberries mashed to give the cake some moisture.

Oil (and bread crumb) your cake tin. Pour the batter in it. Bake for about 50 minutes in 190°C. If you're not sure it's baked yet, try if it still sticks to a toothpick. Let the cake cool down.

Half the bottom with a knife. Mash the strawberries partly, for example with a fork. Spread the mash on the lower part of the cake. Place the upper half on top.

Whip the cream until it's fluffy. Melt the chocolate in a water bath. Combine the two. Now whip in icing sugar until the frosting feels sturdy enough to hold its shape. Pour it over the cake and help it spread across the cake edges evenly. Move into fridge for at least couple of hours. Decorate with strawberries.

Nutritional values / 2373 g:
energy 6017 kcal
fat 189 g
protein 79 g
carbohydrates 985 g
fiber 33 g

Gold Panner's Pots ‒ Kullanhuuhtojan ruukut

Things are really starting to look like autumn already, or at least like the harvest season. I accidentally emptied the market square in our neighbourhood. Only after that did I actually start to wonder what I could cook from all my beautifully golden turnips and stuff. The idea for this dish came from a bit different recipe, but I kept the name since the idea is still to feature golden-coloured ingredients. The place of gold panning in Finland is in the most northern part of the country, so they have a certain Lapland-theme. If you're serving a dessert, something with cloudberries would fit perfectly.

- 1 l golden chanterelles
- 2 turnips
- 300 g firm smoked tofu
- 4 shallots
- 2 dl oat cream
- 0.5 dl tar liqueur
- 0.5 dl rowan berries (sea buckthorn works as well)
- oil for frying
- pink peppercorn
- fresh chervil (or other mild herb)
- salt

Rye crust:
- 2 dl rye flour
- 1 dl water
- 1 dl wheat flour
- 1 tbsp oil
- 0.5 tsp salt

Start with the crust. Just mix the ingredients together with your hand. Move the chunk into the fridge for a while.

Plane thin slices out of the tofu. Fry on a pan with just a hint of oil until they've dried up a bit and perhaps curved from the edges. Peel the turnips, then chop them along with the onions and the mushrooms. Show them the pan as well, this time with a bit of more oil.

Mince the chervil and crush most of the rowan berries. Combine everything in a bowl. Divide evenly between oven-proof coffee mugs or other such serving-size pots (I got four of them). Add water to fill them up with liquid. Take the crust out of the fridge and divide into as many pieces as you have pots. Roll them into circles wide enough to cover the whole pot.

Move the pots into oven. As a precaution not to break the dishes, don't turn on the oven before this, so they'll get to warm up slowly along with the oven. Turn it to 200°C and leave them there for about half an hour or until the crusts look done.

Nutritional values /  1903 g:
energy 1917 kcal
fat 80 g
protein 89 g
carbohydrates 178 g
fiber 48 g

Apponens ‒ Apposet

My spouse doesn't really care for fresh peas, and even I have to admit those things you can buy from the market square in our neighbour aren't nearly as good as the ones we grew in our backyard in my childhood home. These are less sweet and the pods so woody they're practically inedible. Guess we just picked them before they were fully developed.

This time of the year you can get them really cheap, so I like to make something out of them. This way they get soft and sweet again. But warning: they get devoured fast too. This is about the amount you should reserve for each eater:

- 1 l sugar pea pods
- 1 l water
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 50 g margarine

Add the salt into the water and let it come to a boil. Throw the peas into it for about 15 minutes. In the late summer they might need more boiling to become soft but if you boil them too long they'll brake down, so keep checking the situation. Fish them out and forget the water.

While they're boiling, melt the margarine and pour it into a tall shot glass. It's easiest to give every eater their own. (I've also tried adding some nutritional yeast, but the two don't seem to mix. If you don't mind the unaesthetic mess, it does add some great taste though. Horseradish is another option.)

When the peas are done, it's time to eat. Grip a pea from the stem end and dip it into the margarine. Place the whole pod into your mouth. Now pull backwards while closing your teeth around the pod. The soft parts should now be left in your mouth but the woody ones in your hand. Discard the gutted carcass and help yourself to the next one.

Nutritional values / 450 g:
energy 483 kcal
fat 35 g
protein 12 g
carbohydrates 32 g
fiber 12 g

Cold Brewed Iced Coffee ‒ Kylmähaudutettu jääkahvi

This isn't a typical Finnish beverage, not really. Coffee certainly is, but not this version. I'm posting it because I see the potential of it becoming one, especially now that a heat wave is on again.

Generally speaking, Finns don't exactly shy away from coffee. We consume it more than any other nation in the world, 12 kg per capita, when the world average is 1.3 kg. If you look at the statistics, Scandinavian countries in general lead them pretty straight, which might feel surprising considering the darn bush doesn't even grow up here.

There are of course historical and cultural reasons. Coffee used to be regarded as a luxury item, even wellcomed with prohibition laws, and the consumption of those things usually rises in the clouds. A coffee package used to be a valuable gift item even in my childhood but nowadays it's something that stores compete who offers it with the lowest price. The coffee table culture used to be and in some places still is an important social gathering regulated by rituals almost as finely tuned as in the Japanese tea ceremony. I could also speculate that the punctual and hard-working nature of the Scandinavian culture – often called protestant work ethic – might urge you to large caffeine consumption.

The most often used preparation method is filtering. Though other forms are also pretty wildly available, they tend to be called "special coffees" and to the real consumers usually just serve as a sweet piece rather than the real thing and tend to cost at least double as much. My spouse is the only person I've ever heard to drink decaf. Another thing worth mentioning is that the coffee is practically always arabica and usually roasted only lightly. Milk and sugar are common additions and people tend to choose a very fixed side in whether to use them or not.

The iced version on the other hand has never been a favourite, perhaps because of the short warm period we have. The ones I've managed to find have mostly consisted of milk and sugar, which I don't find that pleasing at all. When visiting Japan during summer heat a whole new world opened up to me. Ice coffees and teas were sold cheap in automatic machines behind every corner, and they actually tasted like the real thing. My normal breakfast started to look like this.

Now, the first way of making iced coffee that comes to mind to most people is just brewing hot coffee and cooling it down. That works but it's not necessarily the best method. Cold brewing makes coffee smoother, less acidic and perhaps even a little bit sweet. I find it brings out the flavour profile pretty well so you'll want to use good quality coffee here. This is also why cold brewing is a great way to experiment with different varieties and roasts. The ratio of coffee and water is of course up to your personal taste and depends on the coffee type but here's a thumb rule to help you to begin with:

- 1 dl ground coffee
- 5 dl water

Place the coffee in your preparation container. Pour the water on it. Stir. After the coffee has started floating, stir again. Cover and let the two just sit there together until the next day. Filter and enjoy.

Now, if you still want to ruin the experience with milk and sugar, feel free. But first take a sip to taste how it's like without them. Ice cubes are a great idea but remember to take the added water into account.

Countryside Bean Salad with Herb Oil ‒ Talonpojan papusalaatti ja yttiöljy

One more part to the salad trilogy. This one is something I've been planning for a long time. I wanted to make a very filling salad with a rustic feel to it. Something I'd like to have sitting by our allotment garden after some physical work. And since this is the time for green beans, they're really the main star of the plate.

The salad
- 250 g green beans
- 230 g giant beans
- 4 slices of rye bread
- 200 g cherry tomatoes
- 125 g radish
- 100 g fresh spinach
- 3 summer potatoes
- 1 red onion
- 0.5 dl sunflower seeds
- 2 garlic cloves
- oil for frying
- salt

The herb oil
- 1 dl flax seed oil
- 1 punch of fresh parsley
- 10 basil leaves
- 2 tbsp black currant juice (unsweetened, without added water)
- black pepper

Cook the potatoes and the green beans in salted water. Roast the sunflower seeds a bit on a dry pan. Move away the seeds, add some oil and minced garlic and place the bread there, cut down into mouth-fitting chunks. Fish out the green beans and place them on the pan as well.

Cut the onion in semi-circles and slice the radishes. When the potatoes are done, slice them as well. Mix everything and serve while still warm.

For the oil, just blend everything together. Serve alongside the salad or mix right into it.

Nutritional values / 1652 g:
energy 1852 kcal
fat 109 g
protein 49 g
carbohydrates 159 g
fiber 55 g

80's Salad with Horseradish Mayonnaise ‒ Kasarisalaatti piparjuurimajoneesilla

Continuing my perversion of dishes from the luckily bygone 80's, pasta salads are a must. The classic version features a certain bag of frozen vegetables abbreviated HMP, herne-maissi-paprika or pea, corn and bell pepper. There is also ham, mayonnaise and macaroni, or in a flashier version tricolour pasta. I thought I'd modernize it by improving every part of it a little, using fresh ingredients we now enjoy during summertime.

Now, I've had my share of failures when trying to make mayonnaise myself. Usually I just got soy milk with added features. The Youtube videos I tried to watch mostly left out the actual part where the ingredients are mixed together. Then I managed to bump into this instruction and had to laugh out loud when it worked so easily for me. The only important parts are the lemon juice and the oil, the rest is just up to your personal taste. And I'm pretty sure you could use vinegar instead of lemon juice, as well as experiment with different vegetable oils.

The salad
- 250 g funny-looking wholemeal pasta
- 200 g extra firm smoked tofu
- 5 dl pea pods
- 2 pre-cooked corn ears (grilling does wonders if that's an option)
- 2 red bell peppers

The mayonnaise
- lemon juice (about 2 tbsp)
- 2 dl rape oil (not cold pressed but the neutral type)
- 2 tsp mustard
- 2 tbsp grated horseradish
- salt
- white pepper

Cook the pasta and in salted water. While it's cooking, separate the peas from their pods, chop the bell peppers and take out the edible parts of the corn with a help of a knife. Cut the tofu into long thin pieces. When the pasta is ready, drain it and mix everything in a bowl.

For the mayonnaise, you'll need a hand-held immersion blender and a jar just the size of it. First, pour enough lemon juice to cover the bottom of the jar. Stick the blender firmly on the bottom and pour the oil on it. Start the blender and pull it out sloooowly. Now the mayonnaise should be firm and you can mix the spices in it. Serve as a salad dressing or mix about 0.5 dl of it right into the salad and put the rest into fridge for later purposes.

Nutritional values / 1415 g:
energy 1807 kcal
fat 43 g
protein 90 g
carbohydrates 258 g
fiber 39 g

Millet and Chickpea Salad ‒ Hirssi-kahvihernesalaatti

Lately I've been a bit tired and thus, a lazy cook. But that's OK during summer. You can eat healthy and well with very simple recipes as there's this abundance of tasty, fresh and local stuff available. I thought I'd share with you some of the best working salads or cold dishes I've been experimenting with.

The idea for this first one came from Prometheus camp I visited recently. It had chickpeas and probably something like couscous in it, but by the time I was home I couldn't remember the rest. So I just put together things that seemed to go well together and ended up with this.

- 2 dl millet
- 4.5 dl water
- 1 can  of chickpeas (230 g)
- 1 cucumber
- 0.5 dl hemp oil
- 1 punch of fresh dill
- 1 lemon
- mint
- black pepper
- salt

Roast the millet on a dry pan for ten minutes or so. (This should make it a bit more loose than just cooking it straight.) Be careful not to burn it though. When you start to smell popcorn, move it into a pot with the water. Let it come into a boil. Turn of the heat, add some salt and cover with a lid. Let the millet swell for about 25 minutes.

In the meanwhile, chop the cucumber and mince the dill. Rinse the chickpeas. Grate the lemon peel and squeeze half of the juice into the salad bowl as well. Add the millet and everything else. Muddle up and move into the fridge to cool down before eating.

Nutritional values / 1365 g:
energy 1265 kcal
fat 57 g
protein 36 g
carbohydrates 151 g
fiber 32 g