So Long, Farewell

Well, I though this day would never come, but the Lentil soup at Guilia has been taken off the menu.
I've been too upset until now to even mention it, now I'm plain angry.
All part of the grieving process, so I'm told.
Anyhoo, please regard my post about the soup made earlier this year as a tribute now.

Rustic Spanish Chickpeas

Well, it's been a while, but I'm posting this recipe for Leigh.
I had a Spanish-themed dinner and, among other dishes, I made this chickpea dish, dead easy and tasty:

olive oil for the pan
1 large foccacia roll
4-6 cloves of garlic
2 cans of chickpeas (organic if poss)
I large bunch english spinach
1 lemon
sea salt

pan-fry the foccacia roll and cloves (with their skin on) until the bread is nicely toasted.
cut the bread into small cubes and skin cloves, return to the pan.
add chickpeas and roughly cut spinach.
continue to cook until the bread softens and forms a paste with the wilted spinach.
season with salt, and before serving add lemon juice and 2 tbsp of zest into the pan.
enjoy!

Vegans Choice wrap - Giddyup!

Recently I noticed that Vegans Choice have stepped up their fresh produce section, I had a Wrap there and I must say it was delightful
they have a choice of 3, the salad is fresh and the dip plentiful.
they also sell a range of baked treats (cupcakes, cookies) which I plan on sampling over the coming weeks.
Though, I doubt the cupcakes are as good as Eliza's.
Time Will Tell.
Ems

Chai in Chippo

Hi There,
I've been making a tradition of having a hot cup of chai in the afternoon.
So far this week I've tried Mattino, CM and Giulia, goes without saying that Giulia makes the best (so far) I've gotta try Toby's Estate, (maybe tomorrow) to be totally fair. All-round they could be creamier (hmmm, 'creamy for soy milk, if you're getting me).
will keep you posted.

Warm Salads

Throughout winter, there's no reason why one can't enjoy a nice warm salad, delish!
Also, I have raw greens to thank for my exceptional Folate levels, you too could have sweet levels like me!

The chilled elements are fundamentally the same:
Greens: (baby spinach or rocket)
torn fresh herbs - basil, parsley
cherry tomatoes halved
shallots
cucumber (scored and seeded)
avocado diced

the warm elements cuould be as simple as;
garlic croutons (well toasted bread, rubbed with a clove of garlic and diced
or a piece of flat-bread grilled and smashed apart.

If you're feeling more motivated;
cube up tofu and fry in peanut oil with some soy and chilli
roast vegetables
or
dry-fry chickpeas and onions with cumin and black pepper

Finish off the salad with a generous lemon and olive-oil dressing

Enjoy!

Red Room Slice

I was asked to make a signature slice for the Red Room Company and this is what i came up with:

Red Room Slice

For the base:
150 g Nuttelex
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Seeds from a Vanilla bean pod

For the filling:
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp agar agar powder
1/2 cup coconut cream
250 g raspberries
the Vanilla bean pod from the base
2 tbsp Brandy
2 and a half cups dessicated coconut (I used half shredded coconut for texture)

For the topping
150 g dark vegan chocolate
3 tbsp Nuttelex

Base:
In a big mixing bowl, blend the nuttelex and sugar together with a fork, and make sure all the clumps of sugar are not clumps anymore.
Sift the flour and baking powder over the top of the butter/sugar, as well as the Vanilla bean seeds, give it a good mix.
Mix this together well (I started off mixing with my fork but ended up having to use my fingers). Once it’s mixed together it will be very crumbly not hold together much. That’s good!
Press the mixture very firmly and evenly into slice tin lined with baking paper.
Bake at 180 for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Filling:
In the smallest saucepan you have, put the water, sugar and agar powder. Leave while you get the rest of the filling ready.
Cook the Raspberries in a separate saucepan with the Vanilla pod and Brandy. Mix in a big mixing bowl together with the coconut cream and coconut.
Put the saucepan with the agar and water and sugar on the stove, and bring to the boil, covered. Simmer for about 5 minutes, covered, stirring every now and then to incorporate the sugar and agar from the sides of the pan.
Pour over the glace cherry mixture and mix well.
With slightly wet hands pack this mix firmly and evenly onto the biscuit base.
place in the refrigerator while you prepare the topping.

Topping:
Melt the chocolate gently in a double boiler. Carefully and slowly stir in Nuttelex.
Pour evenly over the top of the slice, and spread with a spatula.
Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before slicing into small pieces.

Lentil Soup - Lentil as Anything

My housemate, Travis was starving for a Lentil soup this weekend, and I was happy to oblige.
This is how it rolled:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 brown onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cubes vege bullion
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1tpsp dried mixes herbs
2 tsp mustard
300g French green lentils, rinsed
3 carrots, peeled and cubed
4 potatoes cubed
2 cups spinach chopped
5 medium tomatoes diced
salt and pepper to taste
Water (probably 2 litres)
1 1/2 cups minced parsley

to dress: minced shallots and a drizzle of balsamic


Fry onions until soft, add garlic and herbs/mustard and saute for a minute.
add in bullion and lentils, dry fry for a couple of minutes with all the vegies and salt and pepper and add water.
simmer for 40 minutes to an hour, adding more water if needed.
stir in parsley just before serving.

...and that's it! basic.
Luckily, Trav loves basic stuff, I'm pretty sure he loved the soup.

If you don't have an obliging house-mate, or, if you're out and about, Matthew, at Cafe Guilia in Chippendale makes an awesome lentil soup. It's so good, I eat it 3 times a week, and I feel confident that I'll never, ever get sick of it.

baked mushrooms from the middle-east

Last night I threw some stuff together and it came out really well.
I remembered a dish Kat Egan used to make that was like a baked potato casserole almost braised in tomato paste and olive-oil... this is inspired by that very dish, only spicier with whole mushrooms instead of spuds, practically no prep...
Oh yeah!

1/2 kilo button mushrooms (whole)
3 medium tomatoes, diced
spanish onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
4 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp sweet paprika
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp mustard
zest of 1 lemon
salt n pepa

I threw all of these into a casserole dish (no lid) and baked in a hot oven for 30mins.
after that time I put a heaped tbsp of nuttlex stirred through and baked for another 10 minutes.
it was rich and delicious.

I served with a variation on trad. lebanese rice and lentils where I cooked the rice with the lentils, fried onion and a tbsp of paprika in the rice cooker, it worked really well!
Of course there was a green salad as well.

Soysages

I'm not so much into faux meats, but I do enjoy the odd vegan sausage.
Tonight, I had Vegi Deli Lincolnshire style vegi Sausages,which were great.
I normally enjoy Sanitarium Vegie Delights hot dogs, but these new ones were a nice surprise.
the only draw-back was the cost ($8.50 at doctor earth newtown for 8 - yeek!)

as for the way I cooked them?
jsut fried in onion and garlic with some organic baked beans and wilted some baby spinach in at the end.
perfect for a hungover sunday dinner in front of the tele,
time to try a little laziness

Vegan Brownies

I made this for my friend, elouise who had a birthday recently.
Super-easy and super rich!

2 blocks Green and Blacks Maya gold (melted, leave to cool)
125g nutelex
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup soy milk
2 teaspoons white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla essence

optional:
1/2 cup walnuts, or macadamia could be good

cream the nutelex and sugar, add chocolate and remaining ingredients.
put into a greased spring-form pan
bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20-25 mins (until you can smell it)
cool
I served this with fresh strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

Chilli Burritos

Hi There,
Had some friends around for dinner last night and made these Burritos.
This is probably a good time to talk about Nutmeat:
Nutmeat is a Sanitarium product that is basically pressed nut protein in a can (wham-ba-lam).
To be honest, I think the only way it works is in a hot, spicy chilli... otherwise, it's pretty gross.
The strong flavors of the dish overpower the natural Nutmeat taste and allow you to play to it's strength, the dense, nutty texture, which works well. This chilli is also great without it.

Chilli beans:
I large onion, diced
4 large cloves garlic
2 hot birds-eye chillis (for the fast burn)
1 tsp powdered chilli (for the slow burn)
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp musitard seeds (or wholegrain mustard)
salt to taste
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can kidney beans
1 can diced tomato
1 can nutmeat
salt to taste
add a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin 5 minutes before serving.

fry onion until soft, add the garlic, salt, chilli and spices, allow the cumin and mustard a couple of minutes cooking time to become fragrant.
add the tomato paste and dry-fry for a minute (this removes the bitterness a bit)
then add beans and Nutmeat, wait another couple of minutes and finally add the tomatoes.
Simmer for at least 20 minutes, adding water as needed.


I served this chilli as burritos with a finely chopped green salad (lime dressing and fresh coriander), steamed rice and Guacamole Wrapped in warm tortillas.

My friend, Tom made the Guac:

2 ripe Avocados mashed (hard to find a ripe one this time of year, but Tom didn't complain about the hard work, he's a silent sufferer)
I clove garlic
1/2 a lemon, juiced
2 tbsp minced red onion
salt/pepper
optional:
red capsicum, diced
fresh corrinder
lime juice instead of lemon

Hello

Hi there,
this is my first ever blog, I plan on putting up my own vegan recipes, reviewing some places I eat and maybe doing a bit of random ranting here and there.
Enjoy!
Ems

Vegan Moussaka

Vegan Moussaka

1 large eggplant
4 medium sized potatoes

Napoli:
1 large onion minced
4 large cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp chilli powder
3 tbsp minced fresh hard herbs (rosemary and thyme are good)
1/3 cup red wine
1 can of Diced tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
salt n pepa

Chickpea puree:
2 cups cooked chickpeas
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup water (approx)
salt n pepa

cut potato and eggplant into 1cm rounds and grill until browned on both sides
set aside
napoli:
fry onions and add ingredients in sequence, simmer until sauce is thick (you know what to do)
puree:
put all ingredients in a food processor add water as required to make a thin paste.
(think of this like a cross between humous and parsley pesto, this is my vegan answer to béchamel sauce)

alternate layers of grilled vegies and napoli with the chickpea puree in a ceramic casserole dish until you're out of ingredients.
bake for 40 minutes in a moderate oven. (finish with a layer of puree and sprinkle with paprika)

serve with sourdough garlic bread, green salad and a glass of pinot.