Laksa inspired tofu marinade.

Laksa Tofu (right) (and meat-less balls, left)

I love laksa.

I found laksa powder in the Asian grocery and made up this tofu marinade to have an easy laksa fix without the guilt of half a liter of coconut cream that comes with a great laksa.

Serves 2-3 as a side serve of tofu with a wombok salad. Or on jasmine rice with steamed vegies.

Ingredients:

1 x 375g block of plain tofu
1 x 275ml tin of light coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons of laska powder (3 if you like it spicier)
3 - 4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup hot water

Directions:

Press tofu well in tea towel to squeeze out the water so the tofu absorbs as much marinade flavor as possible. Then cut into 2cm cubes approx.

Prepare marinade by mixing coconut milk, laksa powder, peanut butter and hot water together in a tupperwear container until peanut butter and laksa powder have disolved and combined well. Using boiling water helps disolve the peanut butter.

Place cubed tofu in marinade and coat well, store in fridge over night or for as long as possible prior to cooking.

To cook: (In oven or on stovetop)

Oven bake - Pour marinade and tofu into pyrex baking dish or small lasagna dish and bake in oven at 180 degrees until most of liquid has been reduced, turning tofu occasionally and coating well in marinade. Bake until tofu has firmed and becomes slightly golden and some reduced marinade remains as a sauce.

Stove top - Pour marinade and tofu into large frypan or cast iron frypan and cook uncovered on medium-high, occasianlly stirring, until the marinade has reduced to a thick sauce and tofu has firmed and browned.

Potato Salad Recipe

Potato Salad (right) (with crispy noodle and wombok salad, left)

This is the same potato salad I made for the PPCR Camp in September, and I promised I would blog the recipe! Sorry it has taken until Christmas!

Ingredients:
10 - 12 small new potatoes (skin on) - cut into 1/4's
2-3 shallots - sliced very thin.
3 gloves garlic - minced
2-3 stalks celery - sliced thinly
2 TBS fresh thyme (2 teaspoons if using dried)

Dressing:
1 cup vegan mayonnaise (if unable to find Soy King brand mayo or don't want to make your own, the fat-free "Praise" brand is egg-free)
1/3 Cup pickle relish
1 TBS Dijon mustard (or 1 teaspoons mustard powder)

Directions:
Steam potatoes until tender, don't overcook, they should be a little firm still to not crumble when you mix the salad. Cool under cold running water when cooked.

Mix all dressing ingredients and garlic in large bowl. Stir with a fork to combine well.

Mix in celery, shallots, and thyme with dressing.

Add potatoes and mix with wooden spoon to coat well.

Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Christmas 2009

My family doesn't go overboard at Christmas, we're not very good at over-eating really, and part of the family was doing the big Christmas dinner thing, so it was a light lunch for us yesterday....and we still had leftovers!

So for our vegan lunch we had:

Meat-less Balls with tahini-miso sauce and my favorite marinated tofu, a spicy laksa inspired flavor, with good old potato salad and a wombok and noodle salad with roasted seaseame seeds, and a dressing of sweet chili, soy and sesame. The wine was Sav Blanc and the desert was vegan christmas fruit cake with rum and nutmeg frosting and cherries, mango and pawpaw.

Vegan Cookies at the Coast 2 Kosciusko Ultra Marathon

As I was unable to go to the Coast to Kosciusko Ultra this year as planned due to injury, I still sent along a vegan cookie care-package for some of my favourite people to enjoy on their 240km journey from Boydtown Beach at Eden to the summit, the highest point of Australia.

Here is Michael with one of my cookies at each important milestone of the race (I'm still blown away that he thought to take these shots for me!).....

At the Marathon mark, 42.2kms, of the race

At the 100km point....

At 100 miles.....

And Michael + cookie at the summit!

My cookies have made it to the summit before me, but my time will come!

Oh and if anyone is more interested in the cookies than the run, or wants to bake them to fuel themselves on their next adventure, I will post the recipes ASAP!

Meat-less Balls

Great Christmas finger food, or for any occasion needing finger food really!

I modified the recipe for Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon (http://www.theppk.com/nomicon.html) for these.

INGREDIENTS: If you are referring to the Veganomicon recipe this is 4x that with a few modifications.

2 large tins of chickpeas, drained (4 cups)
8 TBS olive oil
2 cups vital wheat gluten (also called gluten flour -buy this at a produce deli or order in at health food store)
4 well crushed wheatbix (easier than breadcrumbs to have on hand)
1 cup vegetable stock
4 TBS soy sauce
4 TBS vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (no anchovies)
6 garlic cloves , pressed or grated
2 tps lemon zest
2 tps dried thyme
2 tps Hungarian paprika
1 tps dried rubbed sage
1/2 cup of plain flour for rolling balls in.
Canola oil for pan frying.

DIRECTIONS

Mash (or pulse in blender) the chickpeas and oil until no whole chickpeas remain.

Add wheatbix and pulse until well mixed - Unless you have a huge blender this will need to be done in 2-3 batches to get a proper mix.

Put all blended ingredients into large mixing bowl.

Add remaining ingredients (but not flour!) to chickpea mix and knead for 3-4 minutes until strings of gluten have formed.

Form little balls about the size of cherries or slightly larger and roll each ball lightly in the flour.

In a fry pan heat about 1cm of Canola oil and fry balls in batches.

Serve with toothpicks to pick up each meat-less ball and dip in mustard sauce, sweet chili sauce or tahini-miso sauce.

Super bananary banana muffins

Adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen Recipe


Ingredients

DRY
3 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

WET
5 small (or 4 large) very ripe bananas, mashed well (or freeze ripe bananas, then when they thaw they turn very runny, perfect!)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
small container vanilla soy yogurt (180gms)
3/4 cup soy milk
2 teaspoons vanilla


Directions
Preheat oven to 180 C. Spray baking muffin tin with some canola oil spray.

In a large cooking bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Bananas should be pretty smooth but leave a couple of lumps. Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine until dry ingredients are just moistened. Pour in to muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes (I rotate tray in oven after 10 minutes). Cool on baking rack.

Additions can include chopped dates or walnut pieces, choc chips or coconut.

Can also make banana bread, but it can be difficult to get it to bake evenly through.

More photos from Plant Powered Camp '09

PPCR Garie Beach Vegan Food and Trail Running Weekend

Well the inaugural Plant Powered Cool Runners weekend has come and gone, and it was worth every second of the planning and cooking. It was so much fun that for 2010 we have decided to hold it on a long weekend over 3 days/nights instead of 2!

PPCR Garie Beach Weekend Information

PPCR Garie Beach Weekend Information Sheet

General information:

Dates: Friday 25th September - Sunday 27th September

Location: Garie Beach YHA in the beautiful RNP South of Sydney.

Cost: $55 per person (includes food and some alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages for the non-drinkers)

Starting on Friday afternoon, through to after lunch Sunday, however there is the option of just one day or night for anyone who needs this.

Location info: http://www.cronullabeachyha.com/garie-beach-yha/index.html

To secure your place please email bjm29377@gmail.com for the account details to pay into.

What you will need: Linen, pillow or sleeping bag, toilet paper, and personal toiletries, torch, insect repellent, bath towel, swimmers, running gear, board games/playing cards, musical instruments, etc. however, please note that everything you want to bring will need to be carried approximately 1.5kms (20 minutes walk) across a beach and up a single-track bush trail. I don’t recommend valuables be left in your car at the surf club car park over night either. Additional things that would be great include folding camp chairs, and if anyone has a hammock there is a good pair of trees just perfect to string one up.

Getting there:

From Sydney - Follow the Princes Highway to Sutherland and follow the signs to the Royal National Park and then to Garie Beach.

If you're driving into the park, you will need to purchase a National Parks and Wildlife Services vehicle day pass for $11 at the entry to the Royal National Park (prices as at January 2005). If the entry station is un-maned just drive on through and the rangers patrol the car parks the next morning and will put a notice on your windscreen, it’s a pretty easy-going system, so don’t stress about this aspect!

Please note that the gate to the entrance to the Garie Beach Surf Club is only open between 7am and 8:30pm. The gates are locked by the Royal National Park overnight, so if you are driving make sure you get there before 8:30pm, or you will be locked out, but in this case just ring me and someone will come and get you!

Check out www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au for park maps and gate times.

http://www.cronullabeachyha.com/garie-beach-yha/garie-info.pdf

If anyone wants to car-pool or needs to be picked up from Sutherland train station please speak up and we can arrange this.

Getting to the YHA from Garie Beach car park:

(approx 20 mins)

1. Walk past the front of Garie Beach Surf Club

and north along the beach for approx. 150 metres.

2. Turn left (before you reach the gulley between

two hills).

3. There are a series of rocky steps with a rusty

pipe heading up the hill.

4. Walk up these steps and follow the bush track

through the trees to the YHA.

Other info:

Bedrooms
There are two bedrooms (we have equal numbers of men/women also so this works well) that sleep 12 people in total. A bunk bed, single bed and double bed with single on top are available in each room. Blankets and pillows are provided but please take your own sleep sheets and pillow cases (or sheets/sleeping bags) as these are not supplied.

Lighting
As there is no electricity, lighting is powered by solar energy and set on a timer to turn on at 7pm in the Summer and 6pm in the Winter. There is a camp fire area and we will be buying decent firewood to make sure we have a good camp fire all weekend also.

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN TORCHES / HEADLIGHTS! And if anyone wants to bring a camping lantern for the outdoors table that would be great too.

Cooking and Drinking Water

- Please bring a few large bottles of water with you for your own drinking water, obviously these can be left in the car so you won’t have to lug litres up the hill, but it would be greatly appreciated if everyone had a personal supply of drinking water from home.

- Food will be provided and is included in the cost of the weekend.

- Please BYO alcohol (some beer will be provided if we have $$ left over after I have bought the food) but we do not have means for keeping things cold other than one esky for the provided beer. So

There is a small gas stove and pots, pans, cutlery and crockery are available. Water is provided by tanks outside the YHA, please ensure you boil this water before use.

Showers and toilets

An eco toilet in located on the YHA grounds. There are no showers at the YHA, but cold showers are situated in the Garie Beach car park as identified on the map on page 2 (providing there are no water restrictions in place). Please conserve water as this YHA is only on tank water.

Rubbish
Please think about the next guests and take any rubbish and recycling when you leave. There are bins provided at the Garie Beach car park for rubbish disposal.

Contact details:

Bethany – 0 4 2 1 3 7 3 4 8 7

If those confirmed could please let me know their ETA for the Friday over the next week or so that would be great – thanks

Mango Ginger Tofu

This is the most devine sweet and sour style tofu marinade ever from the Post Punk Kitchen

Mango Ginger Tofu

I served it up on Jasmine rice with lightly steamed baby squash, zucchini, broccoli and carrot with some soy and sesame sauce for the veggies. But as usual, no photos sorry, I'm terrible. I'll have to make it again just to take photos, not least because it is well worth making many times.

What your crumbled tofu should look like....

Here is a photo of some basil 'ricotta' tofu (recipe from Vegan with a Vengence cookbook) that I made for pizza, it's a good example of what your crumbled tofu should look like for the lasagna recipe.

Vegan Lasagna......at last

Here is my lasagna recipe, at last. The best bit about this recipe is the awesome white sauce! It has the feel and taste of really naughty white sauce but is very low in fat for such a thing, and it can also be used on potato bake, macaroni, or cauliflower!

I will add recipes for alternative fillings (as I make them!) in future, such as bean and tofu filling and TVP and lentil filling, which are more "mince" like for traditional lasagna lovers.

Ingredients

1 family size packet lasagna pasta sheets (6 serves)
1 medium eggplant - sliced thinly, 3-5mm thin.
1 large red onion - sliced
1 red capsicum - sliced
1 zucchini (or 2 small) - sliced
300 grams plain firm tofu - crumbled well to resemble ricotta cheese
1 jar plain tomato pasta sauce (or your favourite recipe)
2 tins crushed tomatoes (or 4 cups fresh diced roma tomatoes)
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic

(White sauce ingredients)
1 cup nutritional (savoury) yeast flakes
2 cups soy or rice milk
1/4 cup Tahini
1 tablespoon (approx) cornflour

Herbs: fresh or dry basil, oregano, black cracked pepper and sea salt, to taste, be generous with the oregano.
Balsamic vinegar
Spray olive oil

Equipment

1 family size lasagna dish (or will fit into two small pyrex dishes)
1 small saucepan
1 large saucepan
trays for grilling/roasting veggies
mixing bowl

Preparation

Slice eggplant very thinly, lay on paper towel or a tea towel and lightly salt for 10 minutes (lots of water will come out of them, but so will any bitterness, if your eggplant is very fresh this isn't needed)

While eggplant is salted, crumble tofu well between your fingers in a mixing bowl until it looks like ricotta cheese.

Instructions

Heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Grill or roast lightly, eggplant, capsicum and zucchini slices, with a spray of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over slices. Put aside when cooked, for when ready to build lasagna.

In a large saucepan cook onion and garlic until onion softens.

Add crumbled tofu and mix well with onion.

Continue to cook tofu mixture for 5 minutes, then add pasta sauce and tinned/fresh tomatoes, and mix well, stirring through herbs, salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

Make white sauce (recipe below).

Build lasagna - starting with a layer of pasta sheets, top with a small amount of tofu and sauce mix and grilled veges, then repeat layers of pasta, tofu mix and vege mix until a final layer of pasta.

Pour white sauce mixture over lasagna and smooth across top, then sprinkle 1/4 cup savoury yeast flakes across the top to give a cheesy appearance.

Bake for 45 minutes.

White Sauce Recipe

Slowly heat 2 cups soy or rice milk until lightly steaming, do not overheat!
Stir in 3/4 cup of nutritional yeast flakes
Stir in 1/4 cup tahini, mixing well.
Slowly add cornflour and mix continually so clumps don't form.

Continue to mix until sauce thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Add more soy milk or cornflour if needed to adjust thickness.

Publication, Whoo!

Great new Australian Website from Action for Animals - TryVeg

http://www.tryveg.net/

And they have kindly published my recipes!

Recipe: Asian-style Soup with Tofu and Udon Noodles

Recipe: Pasta Bake with Cashew Cheez Sauce

On the "to make" list.....

Indonesian Coconut Rice (Vegan.com Top 10 Recipe, 2008)

Don't be deterred by long lists of spices in recipes, it's all about having a well-stocked pantry, and getting the hang of what works well together, making recipes like this is really good practice on how to use spices. Then most recipes become quick and easy when you get the hang of it and have everything on hand.

Yet another stir-fry sauce!

Oooo I have a great addition to my never ending obsession with stir-fry sauces!

This is for one to two serves:

1 TBSP Wasabi paste
(you will hardly notice it, it just gives a lovely flavour, I promise!)
2 TBSP Tahini
3 TBSP Light soy sauce
1 TBSP Mirin
1/4 cup boiling water.

Dissolve wasabi paste and tahini in boiling water in small bowl, add soy sauce and mirin and mix well, then pour over stir-fry veggies and tempeh a few minutes before serving, mix well and serve over basmati, or brown rice or Soba noodles.

Super Easy Recipe, with greens.

Lately I have been eating a lot of variations on 4-5 ingredients because I have been very busy with work and have been cooking for myself only for the past 10 days. Plus I have a thing about greens, and this recipe has 3 green ingredients, which is probably why my iron is so good for a female running vegan!

Here is an easy one that I had for lunch today (about for dinner about 5 nights out of the last 10).......

Ingredients

1. plain tofu, cubed
2. baby spinach
3. 2x shallots, diced
4. 1/2 avocado (or some small broccoli florets if you prefer)
Plus chilli powder/chilli sauce and sesame oil (I know, that's technically 6 ingredients!)

Instructions

1. place big pile of baby spinach in bowl
2. cook up cubed plain tofu with a little bit of sesame oil and a generous dusting of chilli powder (in the absence of my beloved chilli sauce)
3. toss 2 diced shallots to cook in the with tofu
4. add 1/2 small avocado sliced in on top of the baby spinach leaves, then add cooked ingredients when you are happy with how cooked you like your tofu.

When you put the cooked tofu and shallots in on top of the baby spinach the heat wilts it nicely without actually loosing any of the raw green goodness :)

If you don't love chilli (sacrilege!) you can place 1 tablespoon tahini with 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a jar and give it a good shake to combine, and pour that over the tofu.

Baby spinach goes especially well with chilli and tahini flavours I think :)

Stay tuned - Vegan Lasagna Recipe coming up!

My Mum's friend can't eat cheese and whilst staying with us for a week, and eating my vegan food, she told me that she would like a vegan lasagna recipe. So rather than just google a recipe for her, I told her I would come up with one of my own especially for her. I have my shopping list ready, and tomorrow is Sunday, a good day for cooking, so stay tuned for the out-come........

Cake! Vegan Mud Cake

Unable to go to my little brother's 30th birthday party, I sent a cake along in my absence. It was apparently a hit. The recipe is from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, and it's a super moist and very chocolaty mud cake style cake, and especially because for the topping I used proper dairy free bittersweet dark chocolate, as opposed to compound cooking chocolate. I really wanted to decorate it, but freaked out that I might just end up ruining it completely. I think some roasted nuts on top will definitely be my plan for next time.

Thai-style Curried Tofu

I had some red curry paste to use up, and my family like satay-style tofu stir fry, so today I came up with the following marinade.....

Ingredients:
1 TBS Red curry paste (fish sauce/shrimp paste free!)
1/4 Cup light soy sauce
1 Small tin of low fat coconut milk (165ml)
equal parts water (165ml)
4x shredded Kaffir lime leaves
1 TBS peanut butter
3 TBS satay powder

1 250g block plain firm tofu - cubed

Mix all ingredients well in shallow container and place tofu cubes into marinade. Refrigerate for as long as possible, best if made at lunch or the night before.

To cook:
Heat a mild oil such as Rice Bran Oil in wok. Scoop tofu cubes out of marinade (set aside) and brown well in wok, add veggies such as spring onions, broccoli, wombok or other Asian veggies, mushrooms and zucchini, stir fry for 3-4 minutes, add remaining marinade, heat well then serve over basmati or brown rice.

Plant Powered Cool Runners - The Gathering '09

So, this September I am going to be 'catering' for a few like minded runners, vegan food only, for 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners, in a fairly remote location with only a gas stove and no electricity, at "The Gathering '09", the inaugural Plant Powered Cool Runners weekend get-together. So I better get my thinking cap on!

For any Cool Running people who might read my blog, and may be interested in a weekend of vegan food, trail running and fun with the PPCR's here are the details:

PLANT POWERED COOL RUNNERS - THE GATHERING '09

A weekend away for any and every CoolRunner who is interested in eating yummy vegan food, and any and every combination your heart desires of trail running, relaxing, swimming, bush walking and general fun stuff with other like-minded CoolRunners.

Dates: Friday 25th September - Sunday 27th September
Location: Garie Beach YHA in the beautiful RNP South of Sydney.

Cost: $55 per person (includes food and some alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages for the non-drinkers)

Starting on Friday afternoon, through to after lunch Sunday, however there is the option of just one day or night for anyone who needs this.

Location info: http://www.cronullabeachyha.com/garie-beach-yha/index.html

To secure your place please email bjm29377@gmail.com for the account details to pay into.

What you will need: Linen, pillow or sleeping bag, toilet paper, and personal toiletries, torch, insect repellent, bath towel.
Optional: swimmers, running gear, board games/playing cards, musical instruments, etc.

Shopping List - Walnut and Beetroot Quinoa

Quinoa
Fresh Beetroot
Raw Walnuts
Garlic
Lemon (or 100% lemon juice)
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Mustard (smooth)
Coriander
Spring Onions
Red Capsicum
Carrot
200gm Packet plain firm tofu

(Quinoa is pronounced Keen-wa and is a South American grain that is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, high in amino acids (protein) and calcium. I usually buy it at Coles, or at Healthy Life health food stores).

Walnut and Beetroot Quinoa - Recipe

Today I had some quinoa that I wanted to cook, and some beetroot I needed to use up, so a quick google of beetroot and quinoa uncovered a few salad recipes, and I came up with the following after a look at the ingredient suggestions for a few of the salads. But it's not a salad, it's more of a stir-fry, or pilaf style dish.

I also have an alternative idea for this recipe, to roast the vegetables, as opposed to cooking then in the cast iron fry pan as I did this first time, so I will update with further details once I've roasted if it turns out better.

My Mum and Dad were my guinea pigs, and I had to squeeze it out of them a little, they're not huge foodies, and are not vegan, but they said they think they'd prefer the beetroot roasted. They are not use to eating raw beetroot like I am, so they thought the pieces were too big and a little bitter (?) via the following method.

Another alternative I am going to try at my Mum's suggestion is replacing the beetroot with roasted pumpkin cubes.

But for starters, if you don't want to cook all the goodness out of your veggies, I highly recommend the following cooking method.

Ingredients:
1 Large, or 2 small fresh beetroots, peeled and cubed (or 2 cups of cubed roasted pumpkin?)
1 cup fresh raw walnuts
2-3 spring onions, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 x 200gm packet plain firm tofu
1 cup Quinoa
3 cups vegetable stock or water
2 tablespoons olive oil for the pan
2 tablespoons dried (or 1/4 cup fresh chopped leaves) corriander

Sauce/Marinade:
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons mustard (smooth variety)
1/4 cup veg stock or water

Method:
1. Prepare at least an hour or more ahead of cooking time, firstly combine all marinade ingredients in a container for marinating the tofu in and mix well. Place cubes tofu in marinade, coat well and store in fridge.

2. Bring veg stock to boil and cook quinoa, stirring 2-3 times, for 15 minutes, until liquid absorbed.

3. While quinoa is cooking heat a cast iron pan (or any fry pan) and add walnuts to lightly toast, set aside in a bowl.

4. Heat olive oil in pan and cook tofu until browned and a little crispy with a small amount of the marinade.

5. Add vegetables to pan and cook until beetroot is just tender and quinoa is ready.

6. Stir tofu vegetable mix, and the remainder of the marinade, into the quinoa and combine well, stirring through coriander and walnuts. Serve and enjoy!

(Serves 3)

Walnut and Beetroot Quinoa - Photos

The final photo wasn't great sorry, as I lost my nice natural light coming in the window.

Step 1: Marinate the Tofu in the sauce
Yummy raw walnuts
Chopped fresh veggie ingredients

Tahini-Miso Tofu

This goes well in stir-fry with some veggies, chick peas and Soba noodles, or on a burger or toast with avocado for lunch, it tastes quite satay-ish, especially if you use the un-hulled variety of tahini. It also goes really well on a bed of Chinese cabbage (Wombok) with fresh bean sprouts and crispy fried noodles.

Ingredients

Sauce ingredients:
1/4 cup hot water
2 heaped tablespoons Tahini
1 heaped tablespoon of soy bean paste (Miso without the bonito)
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
1 tablespoon low salt light soy sauce

Other ingredients:
1 teaspoon (or clove) minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2-3 tablespoons rice bran oil (or sesame/peanut oil for the pan)
2 spring onions, chopped roughly
1 zucchini, chopped into 1 cm long, thin slices
200gm block of plain firm tofu, cubed

Instructions:

Whisk sauce ingredients together in bowl and set aside
Prepare tofu, spring onions and zucchini and set aside
Mince garlic and ginger
Heat pan and oil (preferably cast iron pan)
When oil is hot fry garlic and ginger for a 20 seconds before adding tofu, fry tofu until nicely browned, then add spring onions and zucchini
Cook for 2 minutes then add sauce and stir well for a few minutes to coat and heat until sauce has thickened.

Seitan O'Greatness continued...

Uses for seitan:

1. Sweet and Sour Chinese-style stir-fry, with plenty of red and green capsicum
2. Sliced on sandwiches with avocado and hummus
3. As part of a vegan anti-pasto platter
4. In pasta or rissotto in place of prosciutto

Seitan O'Greatness

From The Post Punk Kitchen

Seitan O'Greatness

Ingredients
DRY:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper (I use 2 tsp)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use 1/8 tsp if you like it less spicy)
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsp garlic powder

WET:
3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. (325 degrees F)

In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the rest of the ingredients (liquid ingredients) in a smaller mixing bowl. Whisk well until mixed.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead for a minute or two.. it doesn't need long.

Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends. Bake for 90 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way. Then wrap it foil or plastic and refrigerate. Slice to use as desired.

Easy Yummy Pasta

Tonight I made some Pasta for my Mum and Dad, which they really liked, so I thought I'd put down what I did.

Ingredients:
1x Packet of your favorite pasta, I like Vegeroni Spirals or Al' Fungi Pasta from the Deli if I'm feeling fancy.
1x Jar of plain tomato pasta sauce
3 Cups chopped mushrooms
Olive Oil for the pan
1 tin Butter Beans
2 Cloves crushed garlic
2 large Spring Onions, chopped finely
1 large carrot, julienned
3 Tablespoons Hommus
Balsamic Vinegar (a good splosh)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
Optional: 1 tablespoon of fresh minced chili

Instructions:
Chop all ingredients and have everything at hand
Boil water and heat pan (I love a big cast iron pan for this)
Cook pasta as per packet instructions
While pasta is cooking, cook garlic, spring onions, carrot and mushroons for 5 minutes, then add butter beans and pasta sauce and heat through.
Stir in about 2-3 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar, then stir through hommus.
Drain Pasta and return to pot.
Add veggie, bean and sauce mix from fry pan and stir through.
Stir through chili if using.

Enjoy! (with Verdelho)

Vegan Laksa Recipe

I am on a spicy food kick again now that the weather has cooled down, the last 2 nights have been vindaloo! But it got me thinking about Laksa again. So in Googling 'Vegan Laksa' I found this recipe on delaksa.com to make it vegan you only need to omit the shrimp paste from the paste recipe.

http://www.delaksa.com/vegetarian_laksa.php

I would modify it with the tofu fried in a little sesame oil and would use maybe 2 fresh chilies, and only de-seeded one of them. I like my Laksa spicy!

I will make it ASAP and report back....

***LAKSA PASTE ***
Makes: 320g (1 ½) cups
Prep: 10mins (+20mins standing time)

6-8 long dried red chilies
8 purple (Asian) shallots, coarsely chopped
5 candlenuts
3cm-piece fresh galangal, peeled coarsely chopped
2 stems lemon grass, pale selection only, coarsely chopped
2 tbs peanut oil
1 ½ tsp finely grated fresh turmeric
Or ½ tsp ground turmeric
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped

To make the paste, place the dried chilies in a heatproof bowl, Cover with boiling water and set aside for 20mins to soften,

Drain and chop them coarsely. Place chilli, escaholt, candlenuts, galangal, lemon grass, oil, turmeric, and garlic into a food processor and process until finely chopped…

Ingredients 1/2 Cup of Laksa paste from above 2 Tbsp oil (I think rice bran oil) 1 large onion cut into wedges 1 large carrot sliced thinly 1 ear corn - remove corn from husk 1 fresh chili 2 cloves garlic sliced 1 piece raw ginger sliced 1/2 cup Mirin 900 ml stock 1 can coconut milk 1 cup snowpeas cut into 2cm pieces 1 pack rice noodles 2 bunches bok choy washed and roughly sliced 200 gms firm tofu in 1 cm cubes

Instructions Place the onion in a large cooking pot and fry lightly in olive oil with garlic, ginger and chilli (about 2 mins over medium heat). Add the stock, the Mirin (available from an Asian deli) and the coconut milk. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins. Add the carrot and corn and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add the rice noodles and snow peas and cook for another couple of minutes. Finally add the tofu and bok choy and cook for a final 2 or 3 minutes. Serve hot or cold. It's delicious both ways.

Essential Ingredients - a post in progress.....

There are quite a few essential ingredients that I make sure I have on hand, so that every week night it is easy to make fresh and simple dinners, and have left-overs for lunches as well if that's your thing.

I try not to purchase pre-made jars of stir fry sauces and pasta sauces, as I find this can be expensive, excessive, and they mostly include added sugar and or salt as feature ingredients.

Once you stop adding sugar and salt to things you will get use to it, it just takes a few weeks. It is worth it in the long run, and you'll find plenty of different herbs and spices to make things tasty instead.

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS

Condiment type things, for stir fry sauces and marinades:

Tahini
Miso Paste (White or red, and the Bonito (fish) free one, often called Soybean Paste)
Light Soy Sauce (I like salt reduced)
Sweet Chili Sauce
Lemon Juice
Lime Juice
Rice Wine Vinegar
Mirin (yes it's sugar, but used sparingly!)
Hummus (freshly made or pre-made ok)
Olive Oil
Sesame Oil
Peanut or Rice Bran Oil
Canola Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

Wasabi paste (tube)

Spices and Herbs:
(Ground or powder unless otherwise stated)

Curry
Cumin
Turmeric
Cardamon
Cinnamon
Mustard
Nutmeg
All Spice
Cloves
Chili (fresh)
Curry leaves (dried)
Kaffir Limes Leaves (fresh)
Lemongrass (fresh)
Garlic (fresh)

Optional:
Star Anise
Chinese Five Spice
Garam Marsala

Tinned, and long-life ingredients:

Coconut milk (I used the low fat variety but sometimes keep a samll tin of the real stuff on hand for special occasions)
Tinned tomatoes, whole and crushed
100% tomato paste (salt reduced)
Chick peas
Lentils
Frozen or tinned green peas
Corn (frozen or tinned)
Butter beans
Borlotti beans and/or Canellini beans
Red kidney beans
Curry pastes (for when you don't have time to fiddle with spices)
Rices - Basmati, Brown and Aborio are my 3 must haves.
Pasta (wholemeal is my fave, or the al'fungi fancy sort from the deli!)
Cous Cous
Polenta
Quinoa
Noodles (hokien, sorba or rice)
Savoury Yeast Flakes (otherwise called Nutrional Yeast Flakes, not the same as baking yeast!)

Fresh:

Tofu
Tempeh
all your favourite seasonal vegetables and fruit.

Shopping list for Curried Rice Salad

Brown rice
Raisins
Almond pieces / slivered almonds
Celery
Brown onion
Olive oil
White vinegar
Fresh garlic
Curry powder
Ground cumin
Ground cinnamon
Ground fresh black pepper

Curried Rice Salad

My Mum started making this recipe a few years ago now, and it's naturally vegan, and very yummy for summer lunches and BBQ dinners. I don't claim it as my own although I have fiddled with it a lot over the years. So my apologies for not being able to cite the original creator!

Curried Rice Salad

Ingredients:
2/3 cup brown rice (cooked as per packet instructions)
1/2 to 1 cup of raisins (or blend or currents and raisins)
1/2 cup almond pieces (can be lightly toasted if desired)
4 - 5 stalks of chopped celery
1 brown onion (finely chopped)


Dressing:
3 Table spoons olive oil
2 Table spoons white vinegar
1 - 2 gloves crushed garlic
1 Table spoon curry powder
1 tea spoon cumin
1/2 tea spoon ground cinnamon
1/4 tea spoon ground black pepper

Instructions:
In large bowl combine raisins, almonds, chopped celery and chopped onion
In small bowel mix dressing ingredients
When rice cooled mix all into large bowl and sit overnight in fridge.

It can be kept for 2-3 days and like any good curry it gets better as it goes!

Veggie Patties

Ingredients:

1x tin chick peas
2 large carrots, grated in food processor
1 large zucchini, grated in food processor
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 cup bread crumbs (probably optional)
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon Satay Spice Powder
Peanut oil for pan cooking onion, mushroom and garlic
Flour for forming patties.

Method:

Cook onion, mushrooms and garlic in frypan.

In food processor, grate carrot and zucchini, put in large mixing bowl, then pulse chickpeas, breadcrumbs, peanut butter and Satay Powder together and put in bowl with all other ingredients.

Mix together well, trying to get grated veggies as uniformly mixed through out chickpeas as possible.

Put a small amount of flour in a small bowl, and dust hands also. Form mixture into patties lightly coating with flour to make them not so sticky. Store in Tupperware container in fridge until time for BBQ.

Serve on crusty rolls with sweet chili sauce!

Shopping List - Satay Tofu

Fresh pineapple juice
Garlic
Soy sauce (I prefer salt reduced)
Satay powder (from an Asian grocery if your supermarket doesn't stock any)
Plain firm tofu
Peanut oil, or rice bran oil.
Peanut butter, preferably 100% peanut.
Onion
Vegetable stock cubes, powder or liquid.
Cumin powder
Curry powder
Soy milk
Lemon juice or fresh lemon
Carrots
Snow peas
Red capsicum
Broccoli
Basmati Rice or brown rice

Satay Tofu

MARINADE:

1 cup Pineapple juice (unsweetened)

2 Cloves Crushed Garlic

3 Tablespoons salt reduced light soy sauce

2 Tablespoons satay powder

Stir marinade ingredients together and coat tofu cubes well, store in fridge overnight or as long as possible.

INGREDIENTS:

Marinade and Tofu from above.

Peanut or rice bran oil

½ cup crunchy peanut butter

1 small onion

1 cup vegetable stock

1 tsp ground cumin

½ cup soy milk or coconut milk

1tsp mild curry powder

½ cup of the tofu marinade

1½ tbs lemon juice

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

1 red capsicum, roughly chopped

1 cup snow peas, trimmed

½ cup broccoli florets

Steamed rice, to serve

METHOD:

Pre-marinate tofu

Heat the oil in a fry pan. Add tofu, reserving half a cup of the marinade, cook until golden brown on both sides. Set aside and cover to keep warm.

Combine peanut butter, onion, stock, cumin, soy milk, curry powder, marinade and lemon juice in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring mixture to the boil; reduce heat and simmer, (5-6 minutes).

Whilst sauce is simmering, heat remaining oil in the fry pan. Add carrot, capsicum, snow peas and broccoli, stir-fry (2-3 minutes) until tender.

Return tofu to the fry pan add satay sauce, toss to combine and warm through. Serve immediately over steamed rice.

Tofu 101 - Preparation

Many people have a severe misunderstanding of tofu. No tofu doesn't taste good, out of the packet (unless you buy the Malaysian Satay pre-marinated variety or are my dogs who have a tofu-thing) it's all about what you do with it.

Marinating tofu is a really good place to start, once you've got a marinade you like, you can experiment with different ways of cooking it.

The longer you marinate it for the more flavour it will absorb. So a little pre-planning helps.

In Australian supermarkets it is easy to buy fresh packed plan firm tofu in the refrigeration section, next to those nasty margarine's, cheeses, dips and slimy packets of pig slices.

I like to squeeze my tofu in a few layers of paper towel to get excess water out of it to allow maximum absorption of marinade. Or if you want it extra dry, wrap it in a clean tea towel, then place between 2 plates and plonk a cask of wine (for cooking purposes obviously) on top to squeeze it while you prepare the marinade.

Chop the block into bite size cubes, slices, cutlets or triangles. Then place in a container deep enough or shallow enough depending on the volume of marinade, to have all the tofu covered. Keep it in the fridge until needed.