Homemade vegetarian "deli meat"

The other day I baked dinner rolls to have as a simple supper with Gouda cheese that we got from a relative abroad. After being deprived from Dutch cheese for so long, there's nothing better than just a bun or sandwich with cheese! 

And then I thought of something else we regularly had on a bun/sandwich, especially in our leaner periods. That was deli meat. Only, I usually made it myself. "Real" deli meat was quite expensive, especially the ones that weren't heavily processed. And we wouldn't eat just any meat anyway for religious reasons, the ones suitable for us were either ultra processed or expensive. There were also the vegetarian substitutes, which were ok but still quite processed. So after some trial and error I came up with my own homemade version. While we can afford more now, and having moved to Tunisia, there are no issues with supermarket meat anymore, I still like to control what's in our food I guess 😀 So I decided to make us some deli meat to have alongside the cheese. 

It was a long time ago (as in, years...) that I made these and I don't think I've written down this recipe, I tried to do my best to come close to my own original recipe and it really worked out well. 

Here's the recipe: 

Half a cup of water

2 eggs

3 heaped spoons of chickpea flour 

3 heaped spoons of all purpose flour (or whole wheat) 

2 bullion cubes for a somewhat meaty taste (for a stick vegetarian version, use vegetable or mushroom bullion)

1/3 cup of oil of your choice, I used olive oil to make it healthier

A spoonful of tomato paste 

More seasonings: onion powder, ground cumin, dried parsley, black pepper, garlic paste 

Dissolve the bullion cubes in very hot or boiling water. Then add to that the chickpea flour and stirr well (using a whisk) until there are no lumps. Then add the eggs, the oil, seasonings and tomato paste. Mix well. Then add the flour. The mixture should still be a bit liquid but not too runny, probably similar to a pancake batter. Then take some plastic wrap (about 50 cm/19 inch long) and pour it onto the wrap, then wrap it tightly, make a knot on the sides so that no batter can come out. Cover the plastic wrap with aluminum foil, and let it steam for around 45 minutes. Let it cool off completely before taking the "sausage" out of the wrap. 

Then use however you like- it's not limited to sandwiches: I used it a lot in pasta salad, for example. There you have your meat alternative without all the weird ingredients. 

Doesn't it look delicious? 

After slicing

Tunisian kesra bread

I believe that everyone should be able to make homemade bread. Not necessarily difficult artisan bakery style bread; just a simple recipe will do. Baking bread, in my opinion, is an essential life skill or at least something that can come in very handy.

Today I'm sharing my kesra recipe. Kesra is a Tunisian bread that's made on the hob and very delicious. It's also known by other names in some countries, such as tachnift or batbout in Morocco. 

I learned how to make it many years ago from my mother in law and my sister in law, and tweaked it a little bit to suit our taste, but other than that it's the same as theirs. And my mother in law, on her turn, also learned it from her mother- so I'm proudly sharing a real family recipe here! 

For 6 medium sized round breads, you'll need: 

9 cups of fine semolina flour 

2 heaped spoons of instant yeast 

2 teaspoons of salt, or more depending on your quality of salt 

5 cups of warm water (could be more depending on the quality of the flour) 

Oil to grease your bowl 

Some seeds, such as sesame or nigella seeds (optional) 

Start by mixing the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Add the water until you're able to make a dough that isn't sticky. 

Knead for 10 minutes. Ideally more, but I've found 10 minutes of kneading to be sufficient. 

It should look like this: 

Then devide it into 6 equal pieces. I don't have a dough scraper or other special equipment, so I just use a good old knife. 

Then I formed nice round balls from the dough, rubbed it with a bit of oil and devided it in two bowls: 

I covered both bowls with big round trays, as I try to avoid disposable plastic as much as possible, but you could also use plastic wrap. Or don't grease it and cover with a clean dish towel. Now let it sit and rise until it's at least doubled in size. The bigger the better, so don't do this when you're in a rush! Since my kitchen is very warm during the summer, it didn't take long. 

It's good when it looks like this: 

(Now compare it to the picture with the two small balls of dough in it...) 

Get the dough out, punch the air out and make two balls again. Now heat your pan on the hob. I have two cast iron pans that are purposely used for baking breads, but you can use a "regular" cast iron pan or just a regular frying pan. Just whatever you have will probably work, although I would recommend cast iron (some people here even bake their kesra in clay pans, especially in the villages)

Make sure there's enough room on your counter and that it's clean. 

I always thoroughly clean my counter after making dough 🙂

If your pan is ready (it shouldn't be really really hot!), you can start to form your bread. Just gently push it down in a rotating way so you end up with a nice round bread. Prick a few times in the dough with a fork.

Now you can transfer it into the pan. I usually fold my bread and then when it's the pan immediately turn back the piece of dough that was folded over, to make picking up the dough a bit easier. 

When it's starting to bubble, it's probably time to turn around the bread. I used a spatula for this.

Then bake the other side as well. 

Then, and this is optional, when the other side has browned enough, it's time to bake the sides. Some people prefer the sides to be more on the dough side but we like them a bit more cooked. 

It's a bit of a blurry picture lol. This was the best picture I could take with using just one hand. Just turn the bread little by little until the whole side has a nice golden brown colour too. 

Now bake all your breads like this. I use two pans at the same time so it's a bit faster, but one pan definitely works fine too. Pile them up on a tray/plate with some towels (I use old t-shirts) and try to let them cool off completely...which is probably the most difficult part! 

Apple sheet cake

We had a bunch of apples that were gifted to us and that no one really wanted to eat as is, because they were soft and had spots. There were quite a few, and since I didn't want to waste them, I decided it was best to make a treat out of them. Was in the mood for baking anyway, and this way we didn't have to waste the apples. We love apple pie, but I figured that the apples we had that I wanted to use weren't quite enough for that- plus, butter is so expensive here. So I opted for a cheaper treat, an apple sheet cake with crumble topping. The recipe I kind of made up myself - I know, I know, some people say that baking is all about precision, but somehow, my inventions never really seem to fail! So I decided to take the risk. And I'm glad I did take the risk because everyone loved it. The thing is though, with these kind of baking recipes, I hardly ever remember how I exactly made them. So when I make them a next time they might come out quite differently 🥲 Which is why I immediately wrote down the approximate quantities so I could make this exact cake again. 

For the dough, I used: 

1 3/4 cups oatmeal 

1 cup ground oatmeal 

2.5 cups white flour 

4 teaspoons baking powder 

1 cup of sugar 

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

2 eggs 

1.5 cup butter, melted (I used margarine 🤫)

Combine all the dry ingredients and then mix in the liquid ingredients. If it's a bit too dry, add some liquid, either milk or water. If it's too sticky, add some more flour or oatmeal. Now spread out the dough in the pan of your choice - I used a rectangular one which is used to make lasagna etc. Not sure what the exact measurements are. I didn't use all of the dough, around 1/4 or 1/5 was left, which I used for the crumble topping. 

Then peel, core and slice around 5-6 big apples, divide these slices over the dough. 

Now make your crumble topping. If you're like me and you've got a bit of cookie dough left over, then divide that into smaller chunks, so that it will mix easier into the crumbs mixture. Melt another half a cup of butter - or a bit more. Then add half a cup of sugar, half a cup of white flour and half a cup of oats. Mix this with the tops of your fingers until a crumbly consistency forms. If it's not yet crumbly, add some more flour, or oats, or both. If it's too dry add some butter - doesn't have to be melted, soft butter will do, too. Then spread this as evenly as possible on the apple slices. 

I baked this for about one hour on 180° c, which is 356° f. 

Some notes: 

This is a very adaptable recipe. You can add anything you'd like to add more flavour; raisins or other dried fruits, nuts, etc. We don't like raisins in sweet baked goods so I left them out. Or just use different fruits altogether. 

I call this a sheet cake which is the literal translation of what we call 'plaatkoek' in Dutch. A plaatkoek is a bit in between a large cookie and a cake, so don't expect it to be very fluffy. 

This can be freezable, although it certainly wasn't enough for all of us to have that much leftovers 🤭

Use whatever flour you'd like - I just used what I had on hand. However, I wouldn't leave out the oats, as they give this cake so much flavour and a nice texture. 

Cleaning on a (tight) budget

Whenever people are mentioning their low weekly budgets, they usually tell "...and that's even without cleaning supplies". I get that getting by on a low budget can be stressful, having had personal experience with that myself. But, the cleaning stuff have never really been an issue. In fact, it's where we'd spend the least out of all groceries. I'm convinced that with almost no money, it's possible to buy all your cleaning necessities. 

As time went by, and our finances improved, I've noticed that our spending on cleaning stuff hadn't increased so much. Not spending a lot in this area isn't just a choice out of frugality, it's also for the environment- not wanting too much harsh chemicals in the home. I'm not completely using only good stuff and rigorously shunning all the chemicals, but I'm still glad our detergent cupboard doesn't equal some sort of chemical factory either. 

What do I all use? First of all, I probably have mentioned this a lot by now, but we try to use as little disposable products as possible, so that includes wipes. I really don't see the need to pay for disposable wipes that are usually much more pricey than the good old reusable ones. So, no disposable wipes it is. I only use a piece of kitchen roll when I clean the shower drain (we live here with three girls which means quite a lot of hair...). But, only if it's a lot and I always cut one piece of paper unto four squares. So one roll still lasts a long time. Another disposable product I use are sponges - I like referring to them as semi disposable as they don't get tossed right away, but still get tossed in the end. I'm still looking for a solution to that though, I do have a cleaning brush but sponges are just more convenient in my opinion. 

Now we'll move on to the detergents. I try to keep this as minimalistic as possible, and especially not using single purpose cleaners. Those are really a waste of money in my opinion. The main products I use are washing up liquid (which I buy in large 5L jugs), a block of household soap, which is insanely cheap here, powdered laundry detergent -not just for the laundry-, and vinegar. I also have a jug of "all purpose cleaner", which is a bit of a misleading name because there is no cleaner in that jug; it's just scented water which you can add to your mopping water or even throw some of it to the toilet bowl etc. And yes, I use bleach too. Bleach water to be exactly, not the concentrated stuff because bleach water is much cheaper here. But I try not to use that a lot honestly. I'll elaborate some on how I use each of the aforementioned cleaning products: 

Washing up liquid: for the dishes (duh!), as we don't have a dishwasher. And to me that includes the counter, sink and hob. I pretty much use this washing up liquid as an all purpose cleaner, adding some drops to a bucket of water for mopping the floors, or when dusting surfaces, cleaning the fridge etc. It's basically my all purpose cleaner, just a very concentrated one. 

Block of soap: I like this for cleaning the bathroom - rubbing it on a sponge and then cleaning the sink with it. And then for the wall tiles, toilet, shower surface, floor etc. I use it diluted in a bucket of water. I also make my toilet cleaner by diluting a bar of this kind of soap and boiling it, then adding some of the scented water that I mentioned. I also use this soap to remove stains out of clothes, which works great. Sometimes I rub some of this soap on stains before the clothes get washed in the machine too. Washing clothes by hand is something which is still done by a lot of people where we live, and because this soap is so powerful at removing stains, most will use this plain soap - also because it's insanely cheap (the ones that wash by hand are doing so usually because they're very poor). One bar of soap costs onder €0.30, which is very very affordable. 

Powdered laundry detergent: We buy big bulk sacks of detergent, of 5 or even 10 KG. The main purpose is laundry, obviously, but there are other uses. When I'm short of washing up liquid, I use this detergent, as do many people here (which they then mix with bleach... But that's something I would never do!). And I use it in the toilet bowl- whenever I'm not using my other toilet cleaner. Note that this detergent isn't exactly the same as every other powdered laundry detergent, it's a multi purpose product- at least that's what the package says. 

Vinegar: I used to use it a lot more than I do now, which is because quite a few surfaces in our home aren't suitable to be cleaned with vinegar. But I still use it as a fabric softener replacement, to descale taps, etc. Last winter, I made a cleaner with a lot of leftover lemon peels soaked in vinegar - then diluted with water because the peels make the vinegar even more strong. Not only is this a great way to use your leftover citrus peels (I used lemon, but orange peels are a great option too), it's also smelling less vinegary, for those who are put off by using vinegar because of the smell. I regularly use this in the toilet bowl and for other things that I would use regular vinegar. 

Oh, and this one is probably a bit unusual but I also keep some cheap shampoo for certain cleaning jobs such as heavy duty descaling, or when I need a "real" all purpose cleaner instead of washing up liquid. I already have shampoo ar home anyway, and thus way I'm avoiding buying expensive and big bottles of cleaners that I'd use a few times before it's just sitting endlessly in the cupboard. So I guess I'd need to add shampoo to my list too. You might not consider it as a real cleaner but I guess I do. 

Bleach: I try it to use it as minimal as possible, so one bottle lasts quite a while. I clean my bathroom with it every so often and the main use is when I've been cutting chicken. Sometimes I even dare to just use washing up liquid for that. 

So these are the main cleaners we use, which allow us to spend as little as possible on cleaning while at the same time staying organized because we don't have a thousand of different kind of detergents, cleaners and whatnot. Cleaning doesn't need expensive, ultra scented stuff (although that's fine too if that's important to you, but I guess for me it isn't...). Soap is usually enough, you might have to use some extra elbow grease at times. 

Homemade sandwich spread

Years ago, I ate a lot of Heinz sandwich spread- it was a good vegetarian option in a time when there was not a lot to choose from besides cheese. Being frugal as I was, I later switched to the generic brands when they developed their own version. Even though I wasn't vegetarian anymore, I still liked it, and still didn't eat meat on bread. Now I make my own, as they don't sell anything like this around these parts. The homemade version is obviously healthier, but I find it way more flavourful as well. As it's quite perishable compared to the store bought version, I don't make large batches at once. Or I only prepare the vegetables so I can mix in the remaining ingredients on the spot. This past week, I made a batch sandwich spread to have on baguette with lentil soup. There was some leftovers for the next day. When it comes to perishable foods, I'm always a bit anxious not to make too much as I'm so cautious about wasting anything. 

I always make it a bit different, depending on what's in season and what I have at home. This is how I made it: 

An onion, cut in half and sliced very thinly    Grated carrots, turnips and courgette              Some homemade sauerkraut                            Seasonings: salt, red pepper flakes, dried parsley, and garlic

Mayonnaise and double concentrated tomato paste 

Sautee the onion and then add the carrots, sautee this with the onion for about a minute, then add the seasonings, turnip, and courgette. Stirr well and cover your pot with a lid. The turnip and courgette will release liquid so don't add any liquid. After about 10 minutes, check the doneness and if it's tender but there's still some liquid, let it evaporate without the lid. Then allow to cool completely and when it's cooled down enough, add the mayonnaise and tomato paste. The tomato paste isn't essential, but it kind of duplicates the store bought version that I liked the most. Then add some well drained sauerkraut. You can add any other fermented or pickled vegetables, this is just what I had on hand. The fermented vegetables not only adds in some extra nutrients, it's also a flavour enhancer- there should be a bit of tangy flavour in this sandwich spread, in my opinion. 

Just use your creativity and remember to use what you have, rather than to run to the store for single items. No mayonnaise? No problem! Make your own, or use yogurt/cream cheese/even leftover bechamel sauce. Use any veggie you like. No fermented/pickled vegetables? Add in some lemon zest and juice, or vinegar etc. 

Homemade "soy" sauce

Being a from scratch cook, I'm always up to challenges to make food more frugally and using substitute ingredients that otherwise aren't available where we live. Here in Tunisia they aren't big on Asian foods - there's no such thing as an "world food aisle", or however you want to call it, in the supermarkets here, like we were used to in the Netherland. Maybe this is different in the capital city, but certainly not around these parts. And to be honest, having adapted to the local cuisine I don't really miss Asian foods either, as the local cuisine is just as delicious. Epecially after minimising the variety in dishes I cook, there's not a big need for most "foreign" ingredients. However, there are some dishes I use soy sauce for, and soy sauce isn't a thing that's available here. Recently, I saw a web shop that sold soy sauce for an absolutely ridiculous price, and I wasn't tempted to order it. Especially since I make my own, much cheaper, alternative! After moving here I initially just made do without, but then I found some recipes online and adjusted some things here and there until I perfected my own "soy" sauce recipe! 

For one batch* you'll need: 

4 heaped spoons of plain white rice, the cheapest you can find                                    

Half a spoon of fenugreek seeds                 

One spoon of cocoa powder                              

3 cardamom pods        

Some black peppercorns and cloves (not really counted them, not too much, probably about 4 cloves and 10 black peppercorns)

A teaspoon of ground ginger

A teaspoon of black tea 

3 tablespoons of sugar 

4 vegetable or mushroom bullion cubes (I use vegetable as mushroom cubes aren't available here, but I guess mushroom would enhance the flavour quite a bit. But vegetable bullion cubes are OK too) 

Half a teaspoon of salt, or a bit less, since the cubes are already quite salty 

2 spoons of vinegar 

3 cups of water

Boil the rice in the water. Now I usually cook rice using the absorption method, but not for this specific recipe, as you'll need the starchy rice water. So boil the rice in 3 cups water. When it's done, drain the rice. Now to the rice water, add in all the remaining ingredients. Start off by mixing in the cocoa powder using a whisk, since it can become quite lumpy, and then add in all the other ingredients with no specific order. Let it simmer until around half of the water has evaporated and let cool. Once cooled down, strain the sauce (preferably using a mesh sieve) and discard the whole spices. 

Just some notes: 

*By one batch I mean I can fill several small (250 ML) bottles. Since this sauce doesn't keep very long in the fridge, I usually freeze my sauce and just keep in the fridge the amount that I'm using right away. 

By 'teaspoon' and 'tablespoon' I don't mean the ones that are used for measuring, but the ones we eat with. One "eating tablespoon" is somewhat bigger than a "measuring tablespoon". 

You can leave the tea out- it's just there to enhance the brownish black colour - I used only cocoa powder at first, but I've found that using some tea along the cocoa, it made a better colour. But you can leave out the tea if you prefer or use a brown/black colouring instead. 

Homemade broth can be used instead of the cubes, although the results might vary. I've used different types of broth for this, but the cubes really give the best results in my opinion. I'm not very fond of using a lot of bullion cubes because of the MSG they contain, I must admit, so I don't use them a lot. In fact, this is one of the very few ways I'm using them for. 

Make sure you use your rice! Whether it's added to a soup, or making rice pudding out of it... Whatever you feel like making with the rice, just don't discard it, ok? 😬

Of course, for most people soy sauce is easily available, so this probably isn't everyone's cup of tea. Still, I'd probably be making this even if soy sauce were available here (and decently priced). Because it's easy, tastes just as good (in my opinion, anyhow!), and I just like making my own foods I guess. It's also good for people who avoid soy for health reasons, which is also why I still wanted to share this recipe. 

Homemade golden syrup

Living in a country where you can't buy everything you were used to can be a challenge. Sometimes you just make do without, whereas other times you might be able to make your own homemade alternatives. Sometimes the alternatives you make at home aren't exact duplicates of the ones you were used to, but that's a matter of adjustment. 

The syrup we used for pancakes in the Netherlands can't be easily duplicated, but golden syrup seems to be a decent replacement. It's easy to make and shelf stable for a long period, not to mention it's cheap to make! 

For one jar, you'll need: 

1 1/4 cups of water, plus 3 tablespoons

3 cups of sugar

One slice of lemon 

In a saucepan, bring 1 1/4 cups of water to a boil.* Then in the meantime, in another saucepan (preferably with a thick bottom) mix 1/2 cup of sugar with 3 tablespoons of water. Let it simmer until it starts to brown. Then slowly and carefully, add the boiling water, and the remaining sugar. Also add the lemon. Let it simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes. Then let it cool down completely. 

It may be too thick when cooled down, in that case just reheat it and add some more water. I like to add a few tablespoons very strong brewed black tea to give it a nice brown colour. To pour it in a jar, it's advisable to reheat it a bit anyway, in order to be able to pour it more easily. 

If the syrup isn't too thick (some people prefer it thicker whereas some like it runnier), but you still want that brownish colour, you can also add a teabag for a few seconds after reheating. Or add one spoon of brown sugar. Since we don't have brown sugar here, I just use the tea method. (We don't use tea bags though- which is probably worth a seperate post...)

Oh, and this is essential: don't skip the lemon, as it keeps the syrup from crystalizing! 

*You can use your electric water kettle too. I don't really use it, which is why I just heat up water on the stove.