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.