Guest Post – Vegan Mezze plate from Jules Vogel

Dear readers of Lara’s Blog
I’m really proud to share this post with you on Lara’s Blog today, since this girl is one of the most stunning bloggers that I know. I’ve been following Lara on Instagram since day one and she has always been one of my biggest food inspos.

Let me introduce myself first: I’m Julia, creator of the fitness, lifestyle and food blog julesvogel.com. I share my thoughts, workouts, recipes and tips with my community on a daily basis and try to motivate and inspire my readers. I would not consider myself a vegan, but the majority of the food that I share and eat is plant-based. As you all know – Lara is the absolute QUEEN of healthy sweet treats, so I thought I’d rather share a savory recipe with you. I’ve really been into oriental food lately – and when I say “into”, I actually mean that I am addicted to Hummus, Falafel, Muhammara and fresh pita bread. Sadly, there are not many restaurants around, which serve this kind of deliciousness, so I thought: why not create my own version of it?

I came up with a vegan mezze plate – with homemade falafel, muhammara, hummus,grilled veggies and olives. (the pita bread was store-bought, but there are tons of recipes for fresh pita bread on the internet if you want to make your own. I’m sure it’s even more delicious, but for now, I was fine with eating the whole grain version from the organic supermarket).

Hummus

Even though I’m pretty sure that you are all familiar with hummus, let me explain it real quick: Hummus is an oriental dip made of chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and spices. It’s one of the signature plates of the oriental cuisine and usually served as a starter.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas (250g)
• 4 tbsp tahini
• 60 ml olive oil
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• cumin (about ½ tsp)

Put all the ingredients above in a food processor and blend until smooth. Homemade Hummus will not be as liquid as store bought one, because it’s lower in fat. However, you can add some water or more olive oil if you want to make it more liquid.

Muhammara

Muhammara is not as well known as Hummus, but I promise: it’s extremely delicious!
Smooth, creamy, nutty and slightly sweet. It’s perfect on warm pita bread or as a dip for veggie sticks. What I also recommend is trying it with homemade falafel – extra YUM! It takes a bit longer to make than hummus, but it’s so worth it!

Ingredients:

• 2 red capsicum
• olive oil
• 60 g walnuts
• 50 g of stale pita bread or stale white bread
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion
• salt
• 1 tsp chili paste (Salam Oelek)
• Optional: garlic or garlic powder

Preheat oven to 200°C (grill or top heat) and cut the capsicum into long chunks. Coat with a little bit of olive oil and bake for about 20 minutes. The capsicum skin should go black because we are going to peel it off anyways and it will give the capsicum great flavor. Put the capsicum in a small glass bowl and cover with a wet kitchen towel. In the meantime, you can put the bread and walnuts in a food processor and blend it will. Peel the capsicum and add it to the mixture. Also, add the cubed onion, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, chili paste (and garlic) and blend until smooth.

Falafel

Traditional falafel is usually fried in oil (and super delish!), but I’ve created a healthier and skinnier version of it. It’s fried in a pan with just a teaspoon of oil, but still full of flavors. Trust me – after making your own falafel, you’ll never go back to buying falafel mix. It’s easy to make and requires just a few simple ingredients.

Ingredients (makes about 12 falafel)

• 1 can chickpeas
• 2 tbsp chickpea flour
• 1 tbsp spelt flour or buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp dried parsley (or fresh parsley)
• ½ tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• olive oil for the pan

Put all the ingredients in a food processor, blend well and form little flat falafel balls with wet hands. Put some olive oil in a pan and fry falafels until brown and slightly crunchy. They will be soft and gooey on the inside, but deliciously crunchy on the outside. That’s it!

Grilled courgette

Ok, I have to admit: it’s not really a recipe, but I’ll still give you the instructions.

Ingredients:

• ½ courgette
• some olive oil
• salt and pepper

Slice the courgette and coat each slice with a tiny bit of olive oil. Pan fry your veggies or put them on a grill. Instead of courgette, you can also use tomatoes, egg plant or bell pepper.

Now all you have to do is put your Muhammara and Hummus in pretty little dishes, add some olives, grilled pita, your veggies and falafel and voila – the perfect vegan mezze plate. Enjoy!

I hope you liked my post on Lara’s blog – I’d be more than happy if you checked out my blog julevogel.com.

Have a nice evening!