Chilli fried rice with tofu and cucumber cashew salad July 2, 2008

I’m very bad at resisting buying any new vegan cookbook that comes out. All the time I make myself promises that I won’t buy new cookbooks until I’ve seen them in the flesh, so that I don’t get disappointed. I should know by now that of course Amazon is going to recommend any book with the word vegan in the title, and it’s no guarantee that it won’t be pants. I won’t name them here but I’ve sometimes nearly cried in disgust at some of the books that have turned up in an exciting looking brown Amazon box….

However, the most recent cookbook I bought is called Asian Vegan Kitchen and on this occasion I’m really pleased I went with my instincts. The book has chapters from 9 Asian countries - some such as Indian and Thai I’m fairly familiar with, but I know nothing at all about Burmese, Korean or Indonesian cuisine.

I made my first meal from the book today. As so often it was inspired by something that came in my veg box - in this case, a huge cucumber! I picked out the cucumber and roast cashew salad to try, and flicking through the book, I saw that the author recommends serving it with this chilli fried rice, which also used up my tofu. Perfect.

The rice has chilli, onion, spring onions, tofu, thai curry paste and other things in it, and the salad had a really spicy chilli, garlic and lime dressing, which lifted the rice and made for a lovely fresh meal which had a great chilli kick to it.

I’m looking forward to trying out more from this book!

Black eye bean fritters with turmeric rice and spicy coconut sauce June 29, 2008

I’d made this dish from the Cafe Flora cookbook before and decided to have it again this weekend. It was really quite simple to make - some turmeric rice, a very unusual coconut sauce and some black eyed bean fritters. The sauce was the real hit and it had a real mixture of ingredients in it - star anise, fenugreek, molasses, tomato paste, bay leaf, coconut milk and much more. The fritters were based on black eyed beans with chipotles, celery, spring onion, panko and other things.

Very unusual and very tasty.

Fermented beancurd and Monk’s Vegetables June 29, 2008

I don’t quite know whether I bought the ingredients specially for this dish or whether I made the dish because I had the ingredients. Still, no matter. I do know where it started though - with fermented beancurd. I’d read lots about this strange stuff and when I read that it described as a chinese version of cheese I knew I had to have it. But it remained elusive for quite some time. I started to dream of it and search on-line to see where I could get it from. Finally I made a semi-special trip to Birmingham so I could get my hands on this cheesy delight.

When I got it though, my bravery disappeared. I read articles saying that it made people vomit; I saw someone on Gordon Ramsey’s F Word trying it in conjunction with lots of other stinky nasties. My cheesy dream was turning into a nightmare.

Then, someone posted about fermented beancurd on the BBC Food message board and my interest was reawakened, I was particularly taken with a dish called Monk’s Vegetables, or Lo Han Zhai. It looked like a perfect, naturally vegan way to try my beancurd. It also contained dried beancurd sticks, another strange ingredient that was clogging up my cupboards. But annoyingly, it also contained more ingredients that I didn’t think I’d be able to find anywhere - dried red dates and lily buds. Grrr. Operation fermented beancurd shelved again.

A few weeks later someone at work mentioned a new Chinese supermarket that had opened near to me. I dashed off there in a hurry and - yay!!! Both dried red dates and lily buds!! Monk’s Vegetables would be mine!!

All the recipes I could find were different so I decided to just guess at amounts and based the ingredients on this web album. Sunflower often posts on the BBC message boards and is a superb encyclopedia of knowledge on chinese food. I followed it exactly and had no idea how it would turn out. My husband was very suspicious so I made some home made spring rolls to serve with it just in case the stinky cheese proved to be too much for us!

There was a fair bit of chopping involved but it was all very easy, even without a direct recipe. The finished result was something very different to any sort of chinese food we’ve had before. The dried beancurd sticks were lovely; a very meaty texture. The fermented beancurd seemed to mellow amazingly as soon as it hit the pan and to be honest I could probably have used more, but we could definitely detect a savoury, umami taste that I suppose could be described as slightly cheesy. I was very proud of my attempts and it isn’t often you get to try cooking with 4 brand new ingredients in one meal.

I will be revisiting these ingredients soon!

Buttermilk biscuits with almond milk gravy June 22, 2008

We went Texan for breakfast this morning. I first came across biscuits and gravy when I went to Virginia for a wedding a few years ago. To British ears, biscuits and gravy just sounds plain odd but it’s a very typical American dish. As soon as you start to realise that biscuits are a totally different thing to what we know as biscuits, and likewise the gravy, it starts to make a bit more sense. I have heard people describe biscuits as being a bit like scones but I don’t think that’s right - biscuits are lighter and fluffier and I’m amazed that we haven’t embraced them in this country.

I’ve made biscuits and gravy several times before, usually the biscuits from Vegan With a Vengeance. However, I realised recently that although I’ve liked everything I’ve made from Yellow Rose Recipes, I’d hit a dead end and stopped making things from it. So I asked people on PPK what their favourite dishes were from it, and someone suggested these biscuits and gravy. That person is from Nashville, and Joanna (book author) is from Texas, so I thought that this would be a good Southern US breakfast.

I had a minor hangover this morning and my husband had a major one, so this was a potentially good hangover cure. Under normal circumstances I’d like to make my own sausage for the gravy but today I decided to rely on Realeat frozen sausages. Almond milk is quite new to me and is very expensive but I love it and plan to try making my own soon.

The biscuits look a bit burnt but they’re not - they’re made with wholewheat pastry flour. This again is new to me and I thought I couldn’t get it in this country but someone very helpfully on the BBC boards told me that Doves Farm fine wholemeal flour is the same thing. That’s really good to know because quite a lot of US recipes have it in now.

The gravy was very strange to our tastes because it was savoury and sweet at the same time. I think that’s a traditional southern US thing and it was really nice but did take a bit of getting used to. It certainly cured our hangovers and I’ll do the biscuits again definitely but I think I’ll stick with a more savoury gravy in future. If you’ve never tried this US breakast treat I urge you to give it a go!

Curried lentil stir fry with fennel and apricots June 17, 2008

I bought “Vegan Gourmet” almost a year ago and although I’d read through it a few times and thought it looked OK I hadn’t had the urge to try anything. This week’s vegetable box turned up fennel, broccoli and carrots - all of which were included in this recipe.

It looks a bit like a dull stew but it’s got cayenne, cinnamon, coriander, cumin and turmeric in which all gave it a nice level of spice, and dried apricots to give it sweetness. I don’t normally go for savoury dishes with fruit in but I was feeling adventurous!

The finished dish was very tasty but something wasn’t quite right and when I relooked at the recipe there was no salt in it at all. I think she may be cooking for low sodium diets but I love my salt so I had to give it a boost at the end with plenty of extra. From reading the recipe I thought the rice was an intrinsic part of the dish but it was actually only an accompaniment and I’d probably use bulgar or couscous instead another time.

I also have a grip about the title of the dish because it certainly isn’t a stir fry. It sounds like a lot of complaints but I warmly welcome recipes using this amount of vegetables, especially the never ending vegetable box carrots, so I would make it again!

Farfalle with courgette, mint and almond sauce June 17, 2008

This is nothing like the sort of thing I usually eat. I used to eat lots of meals which consisted of loads of pasta with a light sauce like pesto, but I try to limit my refined carbs a bit, and also to include more vegetables with a main course.

But I’d had the book Vegan Italiano for ages and never cooked anything from it, and this recipe came recommended. I had a couple of stubby courgettes in the fridge so decided to give it a go.

It was the simplest thing I’ve cooked for ages and the more we ate it the more we enjoyed it. It was so light and fresh, and the lack of spices and heavy seasoning really made the other ingredients sing through.

Here’s what I did:

Cook enough pasta for 2 people (in our case, half a bag)
Cut the courgettes into small cubes and add to boiling salted water for about 3 minutes.
In my mini chopper I put about 1/4 cup whole almonds, a good handful of mint, a small clove of garlic and some salt. Whizzed it up then added nearly all the courgette and gave it another whizz.
Mixed up the pasta with the sauce and put the reserved few bits of courgette on top.

Really summery and fresh; will make again!

Cholent June 9, 2008

I’d been looking at this recipe in Veganomicon ever since I got it, trying to decide whether or not I fancied trying it. It looked a bit dull and flavourless compared to some of the Veganomicon recipes but it still intrigued me. The other day I was watching New British Kitchen on UKTV Food. It’s a new programme and the presenters travel round Britain focusing on foreign influences on our cookery, interviewing people and cooking traditional recipes. This episode looked at Jewish food and one of the dishes they cooked was Cholent! I was immediately interested to see how it looked and the meaty version looked so good that I decided I would give it a go.

It was very easy to put together and then needs to just simmer together to let the flavours come together. There are carrots, kidney beans, lentils, butter beans, TVP chunks, red wine, onions, garlic and herbs in it, and I decided to serve it with some cabbage.

It was good comfort food and I did enjoy it but I found it lacked a bit of depth of flavour. The book does say that it gets better if you leave it for a few days, as stews often do, and I’ve got leftovers so I can see if I agree. I would make it again but I think a tablespoon of marmite stirred through it would really give it a bit of oomph and depth. It was nice to eat something nice and hearty and it made a good change!

Broccoli and chickpea tagine with bulgar and harissa May 28, 2008

I used to eat this weekly when I first became vegan, and then I abandoned it when I bought new vegan cookbooks and began to experiment a bit more. But I had some broccoli to use up and remembered this dish and so I made it last night. Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it isn’t tasty, and if you’re looking something to get on the table in a hurry this one fits the bill perfectly. I’ve tweaked the original Celia Brooks Brown recipe enough to both make it my own AND know exactly what I put in it, so here’s something you don’t see very often from me - a recipe! I promise to try and measure things more from now on!

Serves 2 people:
150g bulgar wheat
Boiling water to cover

1 tbsp olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 fat chopped clove garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small piece cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tbsp each chopped coriander, parsley and mint (or just choose 2 herbs and increase to 1.5 tbsp)
1 small head broccoli, including tender parts of stalk, chopped
1 tin chickpeas with liquid
Salt, pepper and harissa, to serve

Put the bulgar wheat in a bowl and cover with boiling water, going about 1 inch over the top of the wheat. Cover and let sit for 20 - 30 minutes until soft. When serving you may need to drain off some excess water through a sieve.

Heat a medium sized saucepan and add the olive oil. Add the onion and fry on a medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and spices and fry for 30 seconds more.

Add the whole tin of chickpeas with liquid, bring to the boil then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the herbs and broccoli and simmer until broccoli is soft, around 8-10 minutes but check after 5. It will depend on how big your broccoli pieces are and you don’t want them too soft.

Serve the stew with some of the bulgar wheat, salt, pepper and a big blob of harissa (I like Belazu Rose Harissa available from Sainsburys).

Pierogi - potato and sauerkraut mushroom May 26, 2008

This is a test for the new brunch book. We’re not supposed to post pictures really but I think that was aimed at the people who have very popular blogs read by loads of people. Not so many people read this and I don’t think you’ll all be e-mailing Isa Chandra Moskowitz and asking for the recipes.

I’ve done quite a few tests now but I absolutely have to blog about these because I’m so proud of myself. These were 2 different stuffings - potato in one and sauerkraut and mushroom in the other. I made both. In the recipe they are served just as they are smothered in caramelised onions, but I threw on some Toffuti sour cream with dill too.

I loved eating pierogi when I lived in Russia years ago but they’re not a thing I eat often. Actually since the Polish influx into England you can buy them frozen quite easily in Polish shops but they’re not often vegan (thought I did get some vegan cabbage ones once).

These were quite fiddly to make and had the potential to go wrong at many stages (making the dough, rolling it, stuffing and sealing them, boiling them and finally frying them). But, amazingly, they didn’t. They were some of the nicest things I’ve eaten for years, made even better for the fact that they’d been a fiddle to make. I will definitely make these again.

This book is going to be absolutely brilliant and will totally redefine the way you think about brunch!!

Mixed tomato tart May 17, 2008

I have made this tart before several times with normal red tomatoes, so when a gorgeous tub of mixed tomatoes turned up in the veg box I thought this would be the perfect recipe to show them off. Unfortunately the picture doesn’t quite do the beautiful colours justice as it was quite dark when I took it.

The base is filo pastry then you heat up some olive oil with a small amount of fennel seeds, cumin seeds, ground coriander, sliced spring onions and garlic. Just heat the sliced tomatoes through in the oil with the spices and onions. Layer the tomatoes on top of the pastry and bake for about 12 minutes. Drizzle any remaining oil over the tart and serve. I had a few of my favourite potato squashers with it and it was light, fresh, colourful and perfect for summer!

I won’t be cooking much I can blog about over the next few weeks. Earlier this week I was honoured to be selected to test recipes for Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s forthcoming brunch book, “Crack of Noon”. She’s asked us not to publish pictures yet. I’ve already tested 4 recipes and I can promise you it’s going to be wonderful! I’ve got a few things I cooked a while ago and didn’t get round to blogging, so I’ll probably use a few of those to keep my hand in!