Flatbrauð

Icelandic flatbread

And - haven't I reached deep into the Viking cliché box here...?!? I also didn't miss little Þór with his hammer Mjölnir.

But basically it's true - the people of Iceland have probably been eating a flatbread made only from flour, water and sea salt since the time of the conquest. So it's also a recipe from the "always vegan" category. I just added a bit of baking powder to the flour.

The bread is traditionally still baked directly on the hot stove, of course completely without fat. But before I slapped the dough directly onto my ceramic hob, I preferred to use my good cast iron pan.

Ingredients for approx. 10 pieces

200 g wheat flour

200 g whole wheat flour

200 g rye flour

4 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

500 ml boiling water

Preparation

In a large bowl, mix the different types of flour with the baking powder and salt.

Pour in the boiling water and knead everything into a smooth dough.

Knead the dough well and divide into 10 roughly equal portions.

Form each portion into a small ball, if necessary on a floured work surface...

...and then roll it out into a circle about 0.5 cm thick.

Then bake the dough flatbreads one after the other without fat in a cast iron pan.

Then enjoy the finished Flatbrauð straight away or store it in an airtight container. It will keep for a few days.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Hjónabandssæla

"Happy Marriage" Cake

This cake has the beautiful name "hjónabandssæla", meaning "happy marriage". It is baked with oatmeal and rhubarb jam and is actually one of the most popular everyday cakes in Iceland - probably also because it is so wonderfully easy to bake!

There are many different recipes for a "happy marriage". Some are with butter and eggs - but there are also vegan variants with margarine and without eggs. This one is actually a traditional, unchanged recipe which has always been vegan. 

Traditionally, "Happy Marriage" cake is served with whipped cream. For this vegan variant we, of course, used plant-based whipped cream instead.

Ingredients

200 g soft margarine

180 g oat flakes

180 g flour

100 g brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

3 - 4 Tbsp rhubarb jam

Preparation 

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

In a bowl, knead the soft margarine with the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar and baking soda. 

Line the cake tin with baking paper, put a good half of the dough in the tin and press firmly.

Brush with rhubarb jam. 

Knead the remaining dough into sprinkles and sprinkle over the rhubarb jam.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat on the middle shelf for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Let the finished cake cool down well and serve traditionally with whipped cream (here, of course, with vegan whipped cream).

[Translated from here.]

Kjötlaus kjötsúpa

Meatless meat soup

Kjötsúpa, meat soup traditionally made with lamb, is one of the most famous dishes in Icelandic cuisine.

Here I found a vegan version of this soup, instead of lamb with lentils.

But the taste - it really fits!

Ingredients

1 onion

1 stalk of leek

2 Tbsp rapeseed oil

1 tsp ground cumin

300 g carrots

1/2 celery bulb

150 g potatoes

1/2 head white cabbage

150 g red lentils

6 Tbsp oat flakes

1 cube of vegetable broth (vegan)

2 liters of water

2 - 3 bay leaves

1 tsp coarse sea salt

1 bunch of parsley

Preparation

Heat the oil in a large pot.

Peel the onion and leek and chop roughly...

...and fry in the hot oil.

Sprinkle with the cumin and toast carefully.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the carrots, celery root and potatoes.

Add carrots, celery and potatoes to the pot.

Clean the white cabbage, chop it up and cut it into thin strips, then add the cabbage to the pot too...

...as well as the lentils and the cube of vegetable broth.

Add the oat flakes, pour in 2 liters of hot water, season with salt, add the bay leaves and let the whole thing cook for about 3/4 hour.

Then remove the bay leaves.

Wash, pick and chop the parsley and add it to the soup.

Then serve the hot soup with rye bread and vegan margarine to taste.

[Translated from here.]

Plokkviskur (vegan)

Vegan fish mash

Plokkfiskur, or mashed fish with potatoes and white sauce, is a classic Icelandic dish. I was even more pleased to find a vegan version of it - with banana blossoms instead of fish.

However, instead of the normal salt, I preferred to use the seaweed salt from Saltverk to capture a bit of the "sea" taste.

Ingredients

500 g banana flowers

300 g boiled potatoes

50 g vegan margarine

1 onion

3 Tbsp flour

350 ml plant milk

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 pinch of coarse sea salt

1 pinch of black pepper

1 tsp dried dill

Preparation

Remove the banana blossoms (Banana Blossom) from the can and drain the salted water thoroughly.

Cut the cooked potatoes into bite-sized pieces.

Melt the margarine in a large pot.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion...

...and then let it become translucent in the margarine.

Dust the onion pieces with flour and mix everything well.

Then pour in the plant milk in portions and stir thoroughly again and again.

When the milk has boiled, reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Then add the potato pieces to the sauce...

...also the banana blossoms and let them simmer.

Season with sugar, salt (if available seaweed salt) and pepper to taste.

Season with the dill.

Then serve the Plokkviskur with rye bread and vegan margarine.

[Translated from here.]

Gulrótarkaka (vegan)

Vegan carrot cake

In fact, carrot cake with cream cheese cream is one of my personal favorite cakes in Iceland. It doesn't matter whether in Reykjavík at Kaffi Loki on Hallgrímskirkja or in the cafeteria in the national park - so far the gulrótarkaka has been really tasty everywhere!

That's why it was a personal need for me to have a "veganized version" of this cake on the blog - as delicious as this cake is!

Ingredients

360 g wheat flour

150 g brown sugar

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 pinch of ground vanilla

400 g almond milk

120 g oil

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

4 medium carrots

150 g vegan cream cheese

250 g vegan butter

250 g powdered sugar

1 organic lemon

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

In a large bowl, mix the wheat flour with the brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda as well as the cinnamon and ground vanilla.

Then stir in the almond milk, then the oil and vinegar one after the other until you have a nice, uniform dough.

Peel the carrots, grate them finely and then fold them into the dough.

Pour the dough into two round shapes (approx. 18 cm)...

... and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat (test with a toothpick!).

Then let the two cake layers cool thoroughly.

Then prepare the cream:

Stir the vegan butter in a suitable container until fluffy.

Then mix the vegan cream cheese with the butter, then the powdered sugar, the grated organic lemon peel and the squeezed lemon juice.

Place the first base on a cake plate or similar and spread with the first half of the cream.

For purely visual reasons, I first filled some cream into the garnish syringe and sprayed the cream around the edge before I spread the remaining portion of the first aid in the middle between the sprayed "heaps".

Then place the second base on top and spread with the second half of the cream...

...and decorate as you wish.

In my case, chopped hazelnut kernels went onto the top layer of cream, and I had previously filled a syringe full of the cream and sprayed the cream all around so that the edge looked a little more decorative.

Then serve the cake well chilled.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]