Recipe - Speedy Sweet Chilli Sauce...

I love this condiment (almost as much as mayonnaise) and I always have. I never really gave any thought to it being vegan, until now, and thank goodness it is!

I think it goes well with so many dishes and I'm so pleased I've finally got round to making my own.

I suspect many of you will have made this already - but for those who haven't, I'd really recommend it, because it's so quick and simple to create, yet tastes and looks incredibly impressive. It would make a perfect gift for someone and I think is something I shall include in my Xmas hamper this year.

Enjoy!

Chantal xx

[Makes approx 340g / 350ml - recipe can easily be multiplied for batch cooking]

Collect a: Small pan and wooden spatula, food blender, small cup and teaspoon, sterilised glass bottle/s with cap/s, funnel, dry tea towel.

Gather

4 large red chillis - chopped (remove seeds from 3 of them & retain seeds from 1 or more if you like it really spicy)
3 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped
125ml  /  1/2 cup clear rice vinegar
125ml  /  1/2 cup cold filtered water
125ml  /  1/2 cup caster sugar
4 tsp corn flour - mixed with a little cold water to form a creamy consistency
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt (I use pink himilayan rock salt & used just two tiny wooden scoop measures)

Create

1.  Put your glass bottle in the oven and turn on to 140C (or fill the already cleaned bottle with boiling water from the kettle).

2.  Literally add all of the ingredients to your food blender and whiz until the pieces of chilli are very small.

3.  Transfer the sauce to the pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally.

heat gently in a pan and stir until thickens and just bubbling

4.  As the sauce heats up it will start to thicken. Once it starts to bubble, remove from the heat.

5.  Very carefully using a tea towel either remove your bottle/s from the oven or pour out the boiling water and fill with the sauce using the funnel (this may be safer with two people - as if your funnel creates a seal with the bottle the boiling sauce can splash back up and burn you!)

6.  Seal the bottle with the cap immediately and leave to cool - or, leave unsealed and use on the noodle salad mentioned below (patience never was one of my strong points!) and refrigerate once cooled.

the finished sauce in a very glamorous old ketchup bottle!

Enjoy!

Obviously the food to serve with this tangy sauce is veg tempura (a vegan classic!) which you can easily make from a variety of veg dipped in a thin batter of cornflour & sparkling water and then deep fried.

This veg tempura is my fave starter at Typedong restaurant in Exeter - they do lots of vegan food!

 The day I made this sauce I added it to a warm noodle salad with shredded vegetables:

poured over this warm rice noodle salad with shredded veg & toasted cashews

A couple of days later I used copious amounts of the sauce to go with my nemesis: avocado - made into the rather crispy little panko-covered goujons. Loved the sauce, ate half the avocado - so it was progress at least!

'enjoying' some crispy avocado goujons with my sweet chilli sauce!

'Amazing' animals...

It's very easy to persist in thinking that humans are the ultimate animal on earth, after all, many humans say it on a regular basis that we are the dominant and the most intelligent species. It's often the argument used for people justifying the use and abuse and eating of other species.

In truth, humans as a collective, are the most selfish, destructive and arrogant of all animals - not something to be proud of; and in these blog posts I seek to remind us all of the fact that we are just one species in a whole planet of amazing animals that should be considered equal to us.

We find it amazing that other animals should have traits similar to ours, but it shouldn't amaze us really - they are living, thinking, feeling beings.

Chantal xx

This week in the news:

Scientists from the University of St Andrews have discovered that dolphins call each other by name... read more here.

I love this comment that this article provoked from a friend on Twitter:

@vegsoup4thesoul Because in the end, they found it a bit embarrassing to keep saying, "Oy, you, over there, with the blowhole."
— Vanilla Rose (@MsVanillaRose) July 23, 2013

Dogs CAN see in colour - scientists dispel the myth that dogs only see in black and white... read more here.

I have to say that I thought this had been known about for a while and was the reason why you so often see toys for them in different colours (blue and yellow, in particular).

However, it's great to have further confirmation of what we dog companions all knew anyway!

Dog finds a tiny kitten and risks everything to save her...  read more here.

If the pictures that accompany this heart-warming story of care by one species for another don't have you saying awwwww with a moistening of the eyes - then you are a hard-hearted person!!!

Here's just one of the pics as a sneak preview (sniff...):

permission to say 'awwwwwww.....'

Looks like the human species could learn something from fellow animals...

Caring for hens #2 considerations - 'Time'.

Hello! I'm Bridget - chief hen, I love spending time with my companion humans in my new home :)

In part 1 I looked at the potential costs associated with caring for ex-caged (battery - now called 'colony'!) hens. This is probably one of the most important issues in the current economic climate.

But time, as with caring for any animal, is just as important - and there's no point in rescuing hens only to leave them at the end of your garden all on their own.

Hens love good interaction/s with humans - they are great companion animals to care for - inquisitive, amusing, talkative and helpful in the garden.

So aside from the time necessary to keep them clean, safe, healthy, well fed and watered, it's good to consider how much time a day you can spend enjoying life with them.

It's quite difficult to estimate overall how much time I devote to my girls here at Secret Cottage, so I've broken it into daily, weekly, bi-monthly tasks with them and the rest is pure fun time!

I'm no expert by any means, but I hope that my experiences can help you to make a more informed decision before bringing some of these wonderful animals into your lives.

*All times are approximate and based on a small flock of up to 12 ex-bat hens. 

Amy knew where the treats were in the shed & how to get up to them!

DAILY

Letting them out, locking them up at night (colder months only), refreshing water, refreshing food (including making them up any food from kitchen scraps etc), collecting eggs, quick coop/run clean/tidy up.

Observing hens for any signs of unusual behaviour / potential illness. (This can involve simply watching them come out in the morning, if you are up that early, as well as checking on them later in the day looking out for lethargy, lack of appetite, depression, lone hens separate from the flock etc, and also examining any hens that, for example, appear to still have a full crop in the morning. This is all good animal husbandry and can prevent serious problems and illnesses from developing).

Other health care such as protecting combs and wattles in winter and summer with barrier creams etc.

Checking coop for signs of infestations such as red mites.

30 minutes

WEEKLY

Cleaning and sanitising all feed and water containers (water often needs doing more regularly in summer).

More thorough cleaning of the coop if you have more than 6 hens or so in your flock. 

Refreshing of coop bedding and nest box bedding. 

Health care such as checking each hen's skin for any signs of mites, legs for scaly-leg and beak for any discharge.

40 minutes (more for flocks larger than 12)

BI-MONTHLY

Thorough cleaning and sanitising of coop (you may need to do this more often with a larger flock - particularly in summer - droppings and ammonia filled coops are neither healthy or fun for your girls). 

Refreshing chippings in fixed runs, sanitising ground and refreshing dust bath soil etc.

Necessary maintenance of coops, runs, equipment etc.

Purchasing of feeds, healthcare products etc.

Longer term healthcare such as worming and clipping longs nails etc.

180 minutes

MISC 

Free ranging:  If like us, you live in an area where foxes are prevalent and active during the day you will need to keep your girls as secure as possible and either have them in an electrified area or a fixed run. We have a fairly small fixed run but a large garden, so I make sure that the hens come out with us every day and have a chance to free range. Sometimes this is for an hour - sometimes it's for half a day. However - I also spend this time multitasking i.e. doing some gardening, walking the dogs, eating meals outside etc - so it doesn't really add up to much extra time in a day at all when you treat it like this. (NB I advise against letting your hens free range if you are not in the vaccinity - foxes are clever opportunist killers and will even watch to see if you break your routine and go indoors leaving your hens unattended.)

zero minutes if you multitask

2 of the girls doing a spot of gardening with me

Illness:  This is probably the one time when naturally you are going to devote more time to a poorly animal. On about 6 occasions in 3 years we have had to bring a hen into the house with us for 1-2-1 care. Time wise, this has meant sometimes administering medicines, feeding by hand, watering by hand and simply cuddling in a blanket on the sofa. Whilst it seems labour intensive - I don't need to tell you that this is the commitment you make when taking on the care of other animals. It's like having children and you need to do what is necessary. What I can say is that in 5 out of 6 cases we have managed to successfully nurse hens through a period of illness to see and enjoy another day. Every second is worth it to eliminate suffering.

a poorly girl recuperates in our kitchen next to the aga until she's well enough to rejoin her friends

2 days a year (approx)

Trips to the vets: Following on from dealing with illness in the section above, there may be times if one of your flock is poorly that you do need to spend time travelling to and visiting a vet. This will be more likely in the early days while you are still learning about your hens and the various illnesses that can befall them. Unfortunately, it is still the case that most vets do not know an awful lot about hens, because they are seen as a 'low value expendable commodity' by farmers and so vets simply don't get the practice in. However, as more members of the public are starting to keep and care for hens, this has started to improve and they have started to gain experience. Before you launch into rescuing hens I would recommend spending a little bit of time finding out which of your local vets has someone with experience of working with hens - diagnosing and treating them when they are ill. (NB if a hen is poorly and you don't know how to treat her - please don't delay in getting her to the vets. As prey animals, hens hide illness very well, so by the time you have noticed it, it's likely that she's already been under the weather for a few days. They lose weight very quickly if they are not eating and can in fact die in just a few days.)

6 hours a year approx

THE MORE FUN TIME

Here's the thing... if you don't want to spend time with your rehomed hens, then please don't have them.

I'm not saying that they need you to be there with them 24/7 - simply that I believe they deserve some special treatment given the horrendous lives they've had up until the point they've been rescued and rehomed. Show them humans can be good and they will literally repay you with hours of fun.

It's an absolute lie that chickens aren't intelligent. Spending time with them - even just a little extra every day - will soon help you to learn that they are. They also love routine and if you can give them one you will hear them calling you if you miss a time-slot!

Spending time with them will also allow you to get used to their different noises and calls. Egg laying  induces a very triumphant clucking (and why not? - its hard work!) and we are now familiar with calls for danger, feeding time, let me out time and excitement [I must try to capture this noise on video - because it is truly a beautiful sound.]

Also, if you can get to handle each hen every day initially, and call her by name, they WILL learn their names! And getting them used to (gentle) human handling will pay dividends at times when you need to catch them for any healthcare treatment. It enables you to look for and feel for any signs of illness at all. Be warned though - until you are really familiar with your girls don't hold them up to your face - they can and will go for eyeballs (although mine never have)! Whilst they aren't cuddly animals having them on your lap and a treat or two in your pocket to hand feed them is a lovely way to interact with your hens. [NB try not to handle in the morning before they have laid and never hold a hen tightly - their lungs are complex delicate organs and can be easily crushed.]

As much time as you have - but.....leading to a happier life, less stress and living longer!

the girls enjoying a treat on xmas morning (yes, they do get stockings every year!)

So, over and above the (timed) necessities noted above - the more time you can spend with your girls the more fun you will have with them. Interacting in this way with other species is so beneficial to them and to us.

I can promise you now that if you've either had a bad day or your mood is low, for whatever reason, 5 minutes into being with your hens will have your spirits lifted again and your mind far away from your troubles. [You can read about one of our special hens - Amy - here.]

This is the power that these wonderful animals have. While we continue to abuse billions of chickens every year on this planet you can at least play a small part in giving a few of them a 'happy ever after'.

Big clucks

Chantal xx

If this has clinched it for you, then you can source your beautiful girls from:

Your local animal rescue centre / shelter.

A local farm - many farmers are happy to notify you of days when they are due to send all of their hens for slaughter and you can usually buy hens from them for 1GBP each (just be warned - you will want to take ALL of them home with you!)

The Hen Rehoming Hub

The British Hen Welfare Trust

Little Hen Rescue

this is how your girls might look when you get them...

and this is how they will blossom with your care and time xx

@vegsoup4thesoul @SundayBrunchC4  Great blog on getting started keeping chickens!
— Get Chickens London (@ChickensLondon) August 18, 2013

Recipe: Make your own - Ribena (blackcurrant cordial)!

As I sit here typing I'm sipping that most delicious of drinks... but it's homemade and so simple to do that I just had to post it.

With the heatwave we've had I think we'll be in for a bumper crop of blackcurrants this year and if you can gather a kilo from your bushes you'll have enough to make approx 3 x 250ml bottles of this special cordial that's full, for most of us, of childhood memories.

My urge to make it came mostly from necessity, as I actually had blackcurrants still in the freezer from last year's crop! (life has been too hectic to make jam etc).

It's hard to do a sugar/nutritional comparison with actual Ribena because of the way they word their labelling (just how much water is in their 'juice'?) but I do know that my cordial contains no added Potasium Sorbate, Sodium Bisulphite (preservatives) or additional Anthocyanins (for colour).

What a perfect summer drink. What a perfect summer.

Chantal xx

Collect: large heavy bottom pan, wooden spoon, measuring jug, scales, large sieve, fine sieve, glass bottles, funnel, ladle, large spoon, boiled kettle.

Gather

1kg ripe blackcurrants - off the stem (a job to do while sitting in front of the TV one night)

500ml water - ideally filtered or bottled so that the taste isn't tainted in any way

300g white granulated sugar approx (you can use less - go by a taste that you prefer - or a good rule of thumb is half volume of sugar to juice you produce)

Create

1. Add the blackcurrants and water to the pan and bring to the boil.

2. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the fruit are softened and the juice released. Press them gently with the the back of your wooden spoon or a potato masher to make sure you extract as much juice as possible.

jam bubbling in background, cordial at front & sieve at the ready

3. Whilst simmering, sterilise your bottles - you can either do this in the oven, or, if lazy like me and they have been through the dishwasher, you can fill them with boiling water and empty just before you fill them with cordial. (I place the bottle lids in boiling water too.)
 
4. Strain the mixture through a sieve and press with the back of a spoon to make sure you get the maximum juice.

5. Strain the juice again through a fine sieve if you have one or through a muslin cloth (this may take some time) into a measuring jug and note the volume.

6. Add the juice to a clean pan and add sugar to half the volume of the juice that you've collected. I had 600ml juice and so added 300ml sugar (but I think I could get away with less next time) so err on the side of caution first and taste as you add sugar a bit at a time.

7. Gently heat the juice and sugar until it's just simmering and all of the sugar has dissolved. 

8. Using your funnel (don't forget to sterilise this in boiling water too) ladle or carefully pour your boiling cordial into your hot sterilised bottles and cap tightly immediately.

9. Leave to cool completely before labelling and using.

motley assortment of bottles I had to hand at the time!

Enjoy!

Simply add cold water to dilute to a taste that you like. Sparkling water is great with it and I dare say it would be fabulous (dahlink) with a drop of champagne!

Keep the opened bottle in the fridge and consume within a week (no problem with that once you've tasted it) and keep unopened bottles in a cool dark cupboard. [unsure yet as to how long it will keep - will update when I know]

Cooks tips:
I use Silver Spoon sugar because it's made from sugar beet grown in the UK and is suitable for vegans (it isn't refined/bleached using animal ash).
I keep all old jars and glass bottles for just such an occasion - they are very expensive to buy new, so its a great habit to get into!

Grow your own - compost!

Yes it's the post the you've all been waiting for - welcome to the wonderful world of composting! How to make your own, to grow your own:

I've been composting for a few years now and I have to say that it gets quite (secretly) addictive! Not to mention the fact that it saves money on buying compost which is often poor quality and of very dubious origin! If you are vegan and/or environmentally conscious it's the only way of ensuring good quality compost that's totally green and has no animal or chemical components to it.

There are several types of different composters you can buy - but it's also fine (and free!) to just create a pile in a disused part of your garden.

The classic bell shaped composter usually has a lid at the top to remove for filling and a 'hatch' at the bottom. This is where you draw the finished compost from.

bell shaped composter with collection hatch

These wouldn't be my first choice of composter because of the hassle bending down to get the finished compost out - but I've inherited one of these and so I've just filled it and kind of left it!
These type of composters rely on generating heat to get started, so add quite a lot of matter if you can - all different kinds of things from the list that will follow.

As you cannot rotate the bin its a good idea to aerate the contents occasionally with a garden fork or similar - but having said that, if you just pile layers of things in you would find it would still probably turn to compost - it's just that it would take about 2 years!

aerator which you push down in twist & pull back up to mix

For me, the better types of composter - which are so easy to use, are the tumbling kind. I have one large one and two small ones (like the picture below). They remind me of the old tombola boxes and the principle is basically to add matter and then give them a spin to mix every day. If you can locate it near your backdoor somewhere, it's a great habit to get into taking out kitchen scraps at the end of each day, and giving it a spin!
All of the marketing around these says you will make compost in just a few weeks - but I find it does take about 6 months, if not more. But you can make a really rich compost for use next season, and, like I say, they are really easy to use.

a tumbling composter with two compartments

For larger scale composting of prunings and grass cuttings etc I find these wooden composters good. You can build them anywhere on an accessible piece of flat ground and the slats at the front come away so that you can tip a wheelbarrow of compost material in more easily.
Again - its good to get started with a large pile of greenery and to keep the compost aerated. I have a tarp-type cover on mine too, to aid breakdown of matter and to stop it getting water logged and all the 'nutrients' washing through/away.

this is called an easyload wooden composter

And finally, if you have the space then I would strongly recommend having an open leaf cage. Leaf mould/compost is really rich and is great for mulching plants and for mixing into garden soil to improve texture as well as nutrient content. I use it all the time.
Add all of your leaves to it throughout the autumn and turn over every month or so.
Then the following season you can dig down to retrieve the more rotted mulch or you can transfer the mix to another cage or wooden composter like the one above, cover and leave until the following season - when it will be an even finer texture (This is a system I inherited here at secret cottage and it produces a wonderful compost that I've used with all of my food crops this year).

our leaf cage at the end of the garden - this was full last autumn!

So - what can you compost? That's the key question now...

Things to add (same for all types of composter):

• veg peelings, unused veg etc
• egg shells - crushed
• used tea bags (split) and coffee grains
• newspaper and brown bags - shredded
• cardboard such as loo roll inners and cereal boxes - torn up
• junk mail - shredded - best place for it!
• grass clippings
• small weeds - [or large ones too if you can shred through a chipper or similar first]
• hedge / shrub clippings
• saw dust and wood shavings

Things to avoid:

• Meat fish and bones of any kind (no problem if you are veggie/vegan - hurrah!).
• Any cooked foods - they must be raw.
• Citrus peelings
• Wood / tree / bark chippings (they absorb too much moisture).
• Heavily printed / thick glossy paper / card 

 
 
 
Speeding up the process:

To speed up the composting process it's best to shred / breakdown items as much as possible before you add them. I always chop up hard veggie stalks such as those from cauliflowers or cabbages and when I replace my food processor I think I shall use my old one to shred veg before I compost it.)

You can also buy a 'compost starter' which is like a 'sand' that you add when you have topped the bin up with a layer of goodies [NB at the time of writing I am unsure of the components of this - it may not be suitable for vegan / organic gardening].

It's also effective to add a little garden soil each time - as it will contain the bacteria / organisms that you need. 

You'll get the best compost from adding a mix of all of the items above.

As a specialist note, if you have chickens you can also add their droppings and bedding (providing it is something that will rot well) to the mix (or to one of your mixes separately).

Chicken manure is rich in nitrogen which is great for growing brassicas!

So there you have it - my starter guide to composting!

As you get into the process (and if you have the space and the time) you can get quite involved in creating different mixes that will have different nutrient content for growing certain crops. But really any of the ingredients above will provide you with a rich source of plant food for the next year. Nature is wonderful in that the remains of our food can be used to create food for our subsequent crops - what a virtuous circle!

Have fun!

Chantal xx

[Disclaimer: I am not a gardening expert - these musings are simply gathered from my own research and subsequent gardening adventures and experiences.]