The Urban Vegetarian - First Season

You know, nothing quite says comfort to me like a

hot cup of honey, lemon, and ginger tea.

It tastes so good but it's also really nice whenever I have

a little tickle in my throat.

Some warming ginger.

Puts a little fire in my belly.

Mayhem time, ha-ha!

Now it's good for frustrations,

but the little bashing of the lemon grass,

ensures that you kind of break up the cells

and help release the actual flavour in the lemon grass.

I love making my own tea because I can switch it up.

Whatever I'm feeling that day, whatever flavours I'm craving,

I can put in my tea.

And as much as I like the classics,

it's fun to put a little spin on tradition.

I haven't always been like a natural fan of sweet breakfast,

so I don't typically eat a lot of waffles but I love falafel.

So I thought I'd make a

falafel waffle or a "fawaffle".

So to make my "fawaffle",

I'm going to start with some chickpeas.

They're neutral in flavour, they're high in protein,

and they've got this kind of rich buttery flavour,

that I'm going to build up with all of these other aromatics.

A little cumin.

Which has this earthy, peppery,

but also kind of citrusy flavour.

And then a little bit of actual lemon because sometimes,

you can't beat the real deal.

Going to start getting these flavours a little bit

more acquainted.

A little bit of chickpea flour.

This is ground from dried chickpeas.

High fiber, high protein,

crazy satisfying.

These are waffles that stay with you.

And this is where the batter comes to life.

I'm looking for a consistency that's not paste like,

but it's not runny either.

Even though I'm not super accustomed to sweet breakfast,

this waffle however, this is something I can get behind.

A little sweet, a little savoury, and super satisfying.

A little bit of oil on here.

Just a little bit, I don't want the "fawaffles" to be greasy.

Nice big scoop.

And now we wait.

So I mentioned playing with that sweet savoury thing,

so I'm going to make these little sesame grape bombs.

It's an extremely Mediterranean dish.

Just going to heat these up with a little sesame oil.

I don't need to cook them through, just warm them.

By the time my "fawaffle" is done I'll have these luscious,

just sesame coated grape bombs.

Now as much as love maple syrup,

doesn't exactly go with my "fawaffle".

So I'm going to make a honeyed tahini sauce just to give a

nice little drizzle over everything.

Tahini is that classic addition to hummus.

But it's also a really common addition for sweets

in the Mediterranean too.

You can never have too much honey, really.

We're talking "fawaffles" here.

Golden brown.

A little crispy but it's going to be really soft and

delicious inside.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

I'm so excited about this one.

Really, really excited about this one.

The sesame in the grapes plays off the sesame in the tahini.

And just one more sesame touch.

A few toasted sesame seeds.

I'm am so excited for this, I'm like almost speechless which is

kind of hard for someone like me.

A bit of that tahini and honey and grape.

Totally satisfying.

That richness of all those flavours you don't think are

going to go together.

That bit of garlic, the bit of cumin.

But with the grapes and the honey, totally knocks it out of

the park.

I can't eat it fast enough, so good!

Soup has been underrated for too long.

So I'm going to go ahead a declare soup the new juice.

But mine is going to be a twist on the classic because it's

going to be two soups in one.

I love making soup at home because

it's a really great way for me to clean out my fridge.

A half an onion here, a little piece of broccoli.

Just got to layer in all those flavours.

Garlic, yes, onions, yes.

Leek, a little softer, sweeter version of those garlic and

onion flavours.

All come together in the alchemy of soup world to

make something super delicious.

Super delicious, I didn't mean to do that.

Now those are just the basics.

Now I'm going to make some soup.

Into one pot, a little olive oil.

And some butter for the other.

Onions for both.

And potatoes for both.

Some of the flavours are going to be

the same between the soups because they're

both going into the same bowl.

Now here's where I start to switch it up.

This one gets garlic.

And this one gets leek.

My garlic friend is a Caribbean squash soup.

So it's going to be all about the spices for that one.

So my little leeky buddy over here is my broccoli soup,

so now's the time to add that in.

Now I need to let these sweat for a bit and get

nice and soft.

For my squash soup it's all about the spices.

Starting with curry powder.

And cinnamon,

kind of sweet, smooth flavour that really pops,

with a bit of heat.

A little nutmeg.

And to me this is really what kind of kicks it into

Caribbean territory.

And it smells like Christmas to me.

I roasted this with some olive oil, some salt and pepper.

Look how gorgeous that is.

That caramelization,

just pumps up that sweet flavour of the squash.

So broccoli kind of gets a bad wrap,

I'm not quite sure why.

It's one of my favourite veg.

And it's so healthy.

What it does need...

is a little bit of garlic.

Smooth, sweet, delicious, with the broccoli.

it's time to turn these babies into soup.

A little bit of veggie stock.

And a little bit of cream.

So I'm going to get a bit of spinach,

to punch up that colour.

A little bit of lime to punch up the flavour.

Here's where we get fancy.

A little bit of crunch.