Why this Monday Meal?

Last evening's meat free Monday supper was a fragrant coconut curry with cauliflower and chickpeas, served on a bed of fragrant rice. It wasn't exactly what I had planned last week when I prepared the daily food headlines.

As most of you know, I bake sourdough buns to sell at the market each week, and by popular demand, have converted the recipe so that they are entirely plant-based. To do this, I need a constant supply of aquafaba. That is not difficult when hummus sales are good, but when it's low season and sales dip, I can run out. I wouldn't usually get overly stressed about this but I have two regular bun buyers. One is vegan, the other isn't. One prefers the brown rolls; the other, the white. So, as happened on Friday, I had enough saved aquafaba for one batch, not two. The result: the brown rolls were vegan and my customer bought her usual three.

I have also resumed my weekly soup offering (which is how it all began) and which 99 times out of hundred, is either vegetarian or entirely plant-based. The previous week, she had bought a jar of the lentil and sweet potato soup, and had sent a rave review.

Doing away with single use plastic

Let me digress (as is my usual wont...): a couple of years ago, I decided to do away, as far as possible, with single use plastic packaging. I also decided that, as far as possible, I would not just use glass, but repurpose jars that either I save or people collect for me. My standard soup portion was two cups. However, finding suitable jar was difficult so I used large mayonnaise or pickle jars. Two cups don't fill the jar.

This year, I tested two things.

The volume - full - of those jars (750ml or 3 cups) and selling full jars.

This week's was gingered carrot. Also entirely plant-based.

What I have learned

Moving away from plastic has enabled me to have a product with a longer shelf life and one that neither needs to be frozen or kept in the fridge until after opening.

Why?

Because I sterilise the jars and fill them with hot soup so that when the lids are screwed on, they seal. This means that if I don't sell all my stock one week, and we don't eat it during the week (which is often the plan), I can carry it forward and have a slightly bigger selection at the market. As I did last week, and will, this week.

As it turns out, the larger portion also works. No-one has said it is too much after asking for an indication of portion size and/or number.

Last Saturday, my bun buyer, torn between the carrot and ginger soup and her previous week's love, the last of the lentil and sweet potato, ultimately opted for the latter.

Other customers bought the gingered carrot - with buns. I didn't sell all the soup, and the sunny weather suggests that we might not eat it either. Again, I could offer a choice of two soups this Saturday.

Lovely learnings...

Back to last night's supper

The chickpea (brine safely stored) and cauliflower curry was accompanied with an avocado and lime salad.

A fabulous combination.

Oh, and I must mention the green beans. This picking - and there are more to come are the third flush from our second crop this season.

They also made a great side to the curry as well as being a lovely contrast to the turmeric yellow of the curry to which you can add as much extra chilli as you like for that extra zing.

Until next time, be well
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Post Script

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