The Happy Pear Boys ‘powered by veg’, are celebrating 20 years in business.
Twin brothers David and Stephen Flynn were just 24 years old when they decided to open a little veg shop in Greystones in Co. Wicklow.
It soon morphed into a café, supper club, a coffee roastery and a production facility for their products. Next step was to buy two farms…
Meanwhile in their ‘spare time’, they gave cooking courses, wrote six best-selling cookbooks, lots of TV programmes, set up a YouTube channel while encouraging everyone they came in contact with to eat more veg and look after our planet. There’s no stopping these lads!
A recent crowd funder raised 2.5 million in less than 24 hours; such is the influence of these supercharged boys.
At first, they were vehement vegans, embracing a strict wholefood plant based diet. Striving for what they felt was dietary perfection. They meticulously followed the advice of every health guru pushing themselves to the extreme. On their own admission, ‘we were annoyingly preachy, those vegans who always turned every meal into a discussion about food and why what was on our plate was better than what was on yours!’
However, when they had children, their food philosophy gradually evolved and can now be summed up in their words – ‘eat more veg and keep well away from UPF’s (ultra processed foods)’.
They are very hot on the need for extra fibre in our diet and the importance of each of us doing our bit to look after the environment and the soil that feeds us.
Their latest book includes a collection of the tried and tested, Flynn Family Favourites, the cafés most beloved and economic dishes and lots of top 20 lists.
20 ways to eat more veg (and to get your kids to eat more veg!).
20 ways to pick yourself up when feeling down
20 things we’ve learned after 20 years
20 learnings from our podcasts
20 dreams we have…
A few recipes to whet your appetite but lots more excitement between the covers of The Happy Pear 20.
*All recipes from The Happy Pear 20 published by Gill
Books.
The Creamiest Hummus Ever!
We make literally tons of hummus every week in our factory in Pearville! Over the years, we have explored every trick and hack in search of the perfect hummus. Here are three simple tips to take your hummus to the next level:
1. Boil your tinned chickpeas with baking soda for a few minutes,
then remove the skins – this makes the hummus creamier.
2. Use ice instead of water – it will help make the hummus lighter
and fluffier.
3. Blend for longer – our friend from the Middle East blends his
hummus for 30 minutes in his food processor!
Makes about 800g
Ingredients
2 × 400g tins of cooked chickpeas
½ tsp baking soda
2-3 cloves of garlic, depending on your preference
4 tbsp lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
4 tbsp tahini
3-4 ice cubes
4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to garnish
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
pinch of sumac or sweet paprika, to garnish
1 tbsp sesame seeds, to garnish
Method
Prepare the chickpeas: Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add to a pot. Add the baking soda, cover the chickpeas with just-boiled water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the chickpea skins: Drain and rinse the cooked chickpeas. Set a small handful aside for garnish (if you’d like), then soak the rest in a large bowl filled with cold water. Try to get rid of the chickpea skins that came loose during the cooking by rubbing them together, or use a small sieve to help with this. Discard the skins.
Blend: Peel the garlic cloves. Add all ingredients for the hummus, except the sumac or sweet paprika and the sesame seeds, to a food processor and blend till super smooth – we recommend blending for 2–5 minutes, depending on your patience! Taste and adjust the seasoning to your palate. If it’s too strong or too thick, add a little water to thin it out.
Serve: Serve with a glug of olive oil and a pinch of sumac or sweet
paprika and a light dusting of sesame seeds.
Easy 10-Minute Indian Dhal
We have cooked this dish hundreds of times, and it is always well received. It’s richly flavoured and deeply nourishing and ready in just 10 minutes. Here, we serve it with toasted wholemeal pitta bread, but it’s also perfect with wholemeal couscous or a pack of pre-cooked brown rice.
Serves 2 on its own, or 4 with an accompanying grain
Ingredients
3 cloves of garlic
thumb-sized piece of ginger
bunch of scallions
1 × 400g tin of chickpeas
1 × 400g tin of lentils
10 cherry tomatoes
3 wholemeal pitta breads
1 tbsp oil
1 handful of baby spinach
1 × 400g tin of coconut milk
1 × 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
To serve
1 lime
1 fresh red chilli (optional)
small bunch of fresh coriander or other fresh herb of choice
Method
Preparation: Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger. Finely chop the scallions, removing any limp outer leaves. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and lentils. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
Toast the pittas: Put the pitta breads in the toaster at max heat.
Cook the dhal: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil for 1 minute in a large saucepan over a high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and cook for 1 minute. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients: Add the chickpeas, lentils, baby
spinach, coconut milk, chopped tomatoes, curry powder, tamari or
soy sauce and salt and black pepper. Stir well and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat.
Garnish and serve: Finely chop the fresh coriander (including the stalks). Squeeze the juice of the lime over the dhal and add the coriander. Stir to combine. If desired, finely slice the chilli and sprinkle on top for added heat. Cut the toasted pitta breads into soldiers (strips) and serve them on the side of your easy dhal. Enjoy!
Easy Sesame and Coriander Flatbreads
These are surprisingly simple to make, and you can adapt this
basic recipe to virtually any flavour you like. Here we’ve gone
with sesame and coriander, but you could leave those out to
make plain flatbreads.
Makes 4
Ingredients
200g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
150ml natural soy yoghurt or coconut yoghurt
flour for dusting
3 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 tbsp oil, plus extra for brushing
10g fresh coriander
salt
Method
Make the dough: In a mixing bowl, add the flour and a teaspoon of
salt and stir together. Add the yoghurt and mix well until it’s uniform in consistency. In the bowl, knead the mixture for 5 minutes till you get a soft dough.
Divide and roll out: Cut your dough into 4 equal pieces. Dust your work surface with flour and roll out each piece of dough to about ½cm thick.
Cook: Put a large pan on a high heat. Once it’s hot, reduce the heat to medium. Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds and 1 tablespoon of oil (use sesame oil if you want to increase the sesame flavour) then one of the rolled-out flatbreads. Cook till it starts to turn golden underneath, it may also start to form air pockets. Turn and cook on the other side till golden too. Repeat with the remaining flatbreads.
Serve: Brush with a little oil, then sprinkle with some freshly chopped
coriander and coarse sea salt for one of our favourite types of flatbreads!
