Innocent Veg Pots - Homemade Version?

Britneyspears

I love them and the smoothies.

Kate78

The only time I had one of these was when it was marked down to 70p at our local Tesco. It was yum but no way could I pay full price for these.

I have re-used the pot numerous times freezing and reheating home made soups though.

rachbc

I've jsut made a batch of butter nut squash and lentil curry that I'llportion out and take to work with brown rice, doing a similar thing with cous cous and a chickpea and veg spiced thing on top

ChocClare

If anyone can reverse engineer the Tuscan bean stew with cavolo nero then I would be extremely grateful as it's DD's fave (I'm not that impressed, myself, but there you are)...

vodkawitch1

:TWelcome to the boards Britney

Britneyspears

Thankyou Vodkawitch

valk_scot

Yup, they look like leftover pots to me. Layer of rice/pasta/couscous, layer of runny stuff like curry or stew, a few leaves of spinach or part cooked green beans or shreds of onions or cherry tomatoes on top. Microwave, stir to get the veg down into the main food, finish microwaving. The reason the veg tastes fresh and not mushy in these pots is that they only get cooked during the actual microwaving just before you eat them. It's because of the layers. Spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes are particularly sucessful I think because they really do only need cooked for seconds.

jap200

http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/things_we_make/vegpots/moroccan/

The Moroccan veg tagine with giant couscous is my favourite innocent veg pot, so much so that I have worked hard to try and recreate it in a MSE way. I started by writing down the list of ingredients and then working out the quantities and method. I think I have it just about right now. The recipe makes about 8 pots at least (size of innocent ones) and freezes well. I am a bit more generous with the veg (and larger chunks) than the ones you buy.

I finally found giant couscous in Holland & Barrett (labelled 'toasted couscous') - it's very cheap and rather lovely. You could always use the regular couscous though.

Anyone fancy working out the cost for me?

PM me if you would like me to send you a word doc or PDF of the recipe as it's rather long, but I have pasted it here too, so off we go:

Moroccan roasted veg tagine (innocent Moroccan veg pot)
Serves 8 (or makes 8 pots to freeze)

Ingredients
400 g tin/carton chopped tomatoes or creamed tomatoes/passata
500 ml water or veg stock (from cube or marigold powder)
1 small aubergine (or ½ large), chopped into small chunks
450 g tin chickpeas
450 g tin cannellini beans
1 large or 2 small carrots, chopped into small chunks
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 large potato, chopped into small chunks
½ small butternut squash (or other orange squash or pumpkin), peeled, de-seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp tomato puree
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp veg oil
1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
1 level tsp each of cinnamon, allspice and paprika
½ level tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
50 g raisins (optional - listed on the innocent pot, couldn't be found in the pot! Leave out if you don't like them)
1 heaped tsp harissa paste (or dried chilli flakes)
1 heaped tbsp cornflower
1 dessert spoon demerera sugar
1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped or 1tsp dried mint
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped.
400 g giant couscous (sold in Holland & Barrett as ‘toasted couscous’ in 200 g bags) – use the usual couscous if you can’t get the giant stuff.
Salt to taste

Instructions:
1. Lightly fry chopped onion in the oil until softened.
2. Add cumin seeds and heat until spluttering and then add the other spices: harissa paste/chilli flakes, cinnamon, allspice and paprika, as well as the garlic. Stir for 30 seconds or so, but don’t let it burn.
3. Add the rest of the chopped vegetable and stir until nicely coated in spices.
4. If using chopped tomatoes, blitz them in a blender until smooth. Add the creamed tomatoes to the spicy veg mixture together with the tomato puree, lemon juice and sugar.
5. Measure out the cold water and then take a small amount to mix with the cornflower to make a smooth paste.
6. Add the water/veg stock and cornflower paste and stir well. Add the dried or chopped fresh mint (but not the coriander).
7. Add the drained chickpeas and cannellini beans. If necessary add more water so that all the veg and beans are covered.
7. Bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins or so until the veg are softened but not disintegrated. Leave the lid off to evaporate if it looks too wet. Taste and season if necessary.
8. Meanwhile, cook the giant couscous according to the packet instructions, if there are any. Otherwise see below.
9. When the veg are cooked, take off the heat and add the chopped fresh coriander and mint and stir in. Save some fresh coriander as a garnish if you are eating this now rather than freezing.

To serve (or freeze), put some couscous in the bottom of the bowls (or storage pots) and ladle some veg stew on top. Sprinkle on the remaining fresh coriander (unless you are freezing it). Label and freeze the pots when cold. Best to defrost before heating in the microwave.

Cooking giant couscous
This is not like the usual fine-grain couscous that just needs soaking in boiling water. It is more like pasta or rice and needs cooking through to soften. Watch out not to overcook or add too much water as it turns to mush! The butter or oil is added to stop it sticking when cooked.

Measure out the volume of the couscous in a dry measuring jug. Put it into a saucepan with double the volume of cold water (so 200 ml of couscous needs 400 ml water). Add a knob of butter or a little olive oil and ½ tsp salt. Bring to the boil and simmer on low heat with lid on tightly until all the water is absorbed – 10 mins or so. Peep quickly to check as you don’t want the steam to escape. When you hear the last sizzle of water being evaporated, fluff up the couscous with a fork, add a little more oil or butter if it looks like it needs it and leave in the pan with the lid on until needed.

jap200

Forgot to add that I actually used squash, carrots and onion from my garden.

Cinnamon, allspice and paprika aren't on the list of ingredients, but is says 'spices', so I improvised!

Also, the kids don't like cooked raisins, so I actually left them out, but have listed them in the recipe as they are on the pot ingredients, although I didn't find one!

tod123

The dhal curry has these ingredients

Water, carrot, yellow split peas (12%), onion, potato, chickpeas (7%), peas, cauliflower (5%), tomato, [STRIKE]cooked rice (water, basmati rice, vegetable oil)[/STRIKE], leek, spinach (1%), vegetable oil, lemon juice, cornflour, garlic, sea salt, coriander, ginger, cumin seed, mustard seed, spices, red chilli, curry leaves

The cornflour will be a thickening agent imo.

basically you would fry the onion , garlic and leek slowly in the vegetable oil , then add the spices (inc chilli and curry leaves), then add the veg, cooked chic peas and tomato.

For the yellow split peas you would need 2 cups of water to one of peas

Cook for about 40 mins , then add some lemon juice & salt to taste.

Many of the spices will be in any old split pea dhal recipe , so just find one and see what the ratio of spices, onion and garlic to dhal is.