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.