Advent 2022 - Fast Tracking #18

 

 Today's Challenge: Fast from... sugar.

Another sugar-free day today. The only time I really find the no-sugar regime difficult is afternoon tea-time. But I've found the multigrain seeded crackers make quite a good stand-in. They aren't remotely sweet but their intense, salty nuttiness is an acceptable (temporary!) substitute for my usual bun or whatever. 

I found the basic recipe here when I'd acquired a small packet of seaweed flakes for cooking and was wondering about how to use them. I've adapted and simplified the original formula to suit my taste. For starters, I only make half the original quantities. While I find the crackers keep well in a tin for a bit, after a week or so, I find they taste a bit stale so a smaller batch is better, at least for my rate of consumption. Having halved the quantities to 50g each of oats and rye flour, I omit the sunflower seeds and use 30g linseeds, 20g sesame seeds, 50g pumpkin and 10g poppy seeds for the seeds and much less seaweed - only 1tsp. I do use 1tsp ground fennel seeds but I omit the nigella and cumin seeds and the chilli flakes. They need a little more salt in my version - a generous ½tsp or so, as I don't sprinkle any on the top. 

I often substitute rapeseed oil for the olive oil but you could use any oil you like - sunflower, grapeseed, flaxseed, avocado or a nut oil. That said, the basic method is Kellie's original one and it's excellent. The dough is not as cohesive as some - it is definitely easiest to roll out on a piece of baking parchment which you then transfer to a baking tray. I've found a single sheet though is enough if you dust the dough surface with a little rye flour to stop the rolling pin sticking.

Remember to cut the crackers before you bake them as they are very brittle and fragile, once baked, and will shatter into a million fragments if you forget and try to cut them afterwards! Just saying!

For supper I made a simple one-pot chowder - the idea came from a Waitrose recipe which again I've changed up a bit. It's basically chopped leeks, onions, fennel, red pepper and potatoes sweated in a little butter with the addition of a couple of fresh red chillies and homemade vegetable stock, and then cooked in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes before adding frozen sweetcorn and 100g single cream and simmering for a few extra minutes to cook the sweetcorn briefly. It's nice sprinkled with a bit of fresh parsley.

Breakfast

tea with unsweetened soya milk 

apple juice

fruit 

homemade Greek-style yoghurt

Lunch

homemade yoghurt cheese, sourdough crackers, fruit

Tea

black tea

multigrain seeded crackers

Supper

sweetcorn, potato and chilli chowder

white rolls flavoured with ground fennel seed

clementines and Brazil nuts in their shells

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