Vegan MoFo Day 16 - MoFo Mondays - Cheddar stuffed black bean burgers and Sindhi bhindi masala

Yesterday was the half way mark of Vegan MoFo, it was also the first day I have missed a post! Weekends are generally pretty hectic around here and as the one that just passed was busier than most, I couldn't find time to sit down and condense my growing bookmarks into a Summary Sundays post. 

This week for MoFo Mondays it was time to get stuck into some recipes from the last couple of weeks - first were Dawn from Veg-am's cheddar stuffed black bean burgers. As I'm not a big fan of commercial BBQ sauce and didn't have a homemade one on hand I switched it up and used Frank's Red Hot sauce to give the burgers a buffalo flavour. This change worked well for me and the other minor things I did differently was to use cheezly mozzarella in the burgers (as it was the only melting type of cheese I had in the fridge) and a little bit of rice flour when the burger mixture wasn't quite holding together. I was quite excited to discover that asparagus had come into season so the burgers were served with oven baked potato wedges and asparagus. These burgers had a great texture and I loved the buffalo flavouring but regretted not stuffing a larger quantity of cheezly into the centres. 

We have been right into okra curries lately and I've made a handful of different recipes over the past couple of months without being able to find a favourite. When I saw River from Wing It Vegan post about a gorgeous looking sindhi bhindi masala I simply had to give it a try. The recipe is posted at The Lotus and the Artichoke and includes a few handy tips about how the curry can be customised. This was just the sort of recipe I needed, after tinkering with it slightly it turned out to be the okra curry I've been searching for. The gravy was richer than the other recipes I've made and the spices packed a decent punch. I'll definitely be making this one every now and then to have on our regular curry nights.   

If you read last Monday's post which talked about a corned beef seitan you may recall that the seitan wasn't quite what I was searching for. More than half of the seitan was remaining as well as heaps of sauerkraut so I combined them with a cheesy sauce into a oven bake I named Reubenesque casserole. We enjoyed the seitan in this casserole more than we had in sandwiches and this casserole kept us going for a few meals. 

2012 - The unblogged edition

The 18th January marks the anniversary of my blog which has been going for two years now. During 2012 I only managed to publish 101 posts, which was a bit lower than 138 posts in 2011. Challenges on and off throughout the year prevented me from writing as much as I would have have liked and ever since Ollie's arrival in July a lot of my usual free time has been devoted to training and exercising him (which is very rewarding, good exercise and lots of fun). Although it wasn't the most productive year in the blogging sense, there were many recipes from other blogs I tried along the way so here's a round up of a few I can recall (with photos of ones I've been able to locate).  

Post Punk Kitchen - Chesapeake tempeh cakes. Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe posted about this recipe at a time when I was struggling to like tempeh much at all. I found the tempeh in these tasty little "crab" cakes to be very enjoyable although I wasn't particularly fond of the remoulade drizzled on top. I must make these again soon!

Seitan is my motor - Pasta with walnut, mushroom and tempeh sauce. This recipe was given high praise from vegan about town and where's the beef so I was keen to give it a try. Unfortunately it wasn't a winner for us, we didn't enjoy the tempeh in this meal and the flavour of the walnuts in the sauce were too strong for our tastes, so I'll stick to using cashews in creamy pasta sauces.

Holy Cow - Aloo posto. The man and I have a similar distaste for potatoes in curries so I generally steer clear of these types of recipes. I was intrigued by Vaishali's potato based curry as I had never seen a poppy seed paste in a curry previously so I made the recipe with cabbage instead. Even though my blender struggled to break down the poppy seeds completely it was still a very enjoyable dish which my extended family enjoyed too.

Fat Free Vegan - Okara crab cakes. This is an older recipe from Susan V's archives I stumbled upon when searching for okara recipe ideas after making home made tofu. I added the upper end of the stated amount of Old Bay Seasoning (purchased from USA Foods) which resulted in a strong peppery flavour that none of us were particularly fond of.

Inspired eats- Pan fried shiitake mushroom bacon. I was curious to see if a recipe that listed so few ingredients (mushrooms, oil, salt) would actually taste like bacon. The flavour was quite impressive given there was no liquid smoke or smoked paprika involved and they tasted great on baked potatoes with a spicy noochy sauce. It hasn't replaced my favourite tofu bacon but it was fun to try out another facon recipe.

Diet, dessert and dogs - Greek inspired chickpea scramble and Quinoa pizza balls. Both of these recipes tasted fantastic, the chickpea scramble made with besan was full of delicious Mediterranean flavours and is a great alternative to a regular tofu scramble. The quinoa and bean based pizza balls flavoured with tomato paste and herbs turned out a little softer than I expected but they were still lovely to snack on.

Sweet Roots - Coconut milk cheddar - There is something about coconut products that just doesn't work with my palate and I really need to stop experimenting. Heavily spiced coconut based curries are about the only savoury meals where I enjoy coconut and anything else just doesn't appeal. The coconut flavour in this cheese was way too strong for my liking and put me off vegan cheese making for a while.

Wheres the beef - Kentucky Fried Tofu. Cindy's not so secret blend of herbs and spices in this recipe that was written up in the Planet VeGMeL zine last year was really delicious and rather simple to prepare for a slightly indulgent nostalgic meal.

Tales of a Vegan Food Fetishist / Wrapped in Pastry - I'm a huge fan of Leigh Drew's recipes and was rapt to get my guys on board with split peas in her garlic lemon dal recipe as they usually associate split peas with soup. The man and young man were also highly impressed with the Subway style "meatball" subs I made early last year. Pate en croute and pissaldiere (bottom right in the photo above) from Leigh's latest cookbook Wrapped in Pastry were popular at family Christmas gatherings last year. I loved both of these recipes but the man wasn't crazy about the pate en croute.

Vegan Dad - Corned Beef. The man used to have a penchant for corned beef back in the day so I gave this version a try. I wasn't able to track down all of the ingredients and made a couple of substitutions which may have contributed to it's failure. The accompanying white sauce with capers I whipped up wasn't fantastic either. I was sad to read recently that Vegan Dad has farewelled the blogging world as I've enjoyed several recipes from his blog over the years.

Vegan about town - Dan dan mian. I was really disappointed that the man didn't share my enthusiasm for this delicious bowl of noodles and tempeh in a super spicy broth as I was so happy to find another tempeh dish that I enjoyed. We usually have similar tolerances to chilli but on this occasion it was too spicy for him and perfect for me. Perhaps if it's toned down a fraction I may have better success next time?

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I would like to finish this post with a huge thank you to all readers of this blog, everyone who has tried a recipe or two, readers that have left me a comment during these years and the many people I have connected with through regular comments on my blog as well as their own. It really means a lot and all of the feedback I receive is much appreciated. I hope you are looking forward to another year of posts with plenty more stopovers from around the world to come!

Pan fried dumplings

Every so often I concoct a random meal out of bits and pieces that need using up in the fridge. Sometimes I surprise myself with how well these experiments work and realise later I foolishly haven't recorded the recipe. Other times when I have made the effort to jot down notes, the meal hasn't been that great but at least I have something to work on for next time around.

The other night I made a big batch of dumplings with a bunch of leftovers in the fridge which turned out to be amongst the nicest dumplings I've made. Gyoza wrappers were nearing their best before date, cabbage was discolouring around the edges, mushrooms were becoming soft and I had mistakenly bought a bag of carrots even though I had a full bag in the fridge. To save time preparing the filling, I used my food processor to chop the onion and then the mushrooms. Whilst the onions were frying I attached the grating disc to shred the carrots and cabbage, so the only chopping I needed to do by hand was the garlic and ginger. After the vegetables had softened I seasoned them lightly with a bit of light soy sauce, tamari or regular soy sauce would also work well if you don't have this on hand.

One of my favourite kitchen gadgets is a set of dumpling presses I purchased from Minh Phat in Richmond, a huge Asian grocery store. From memory the set only cost $2 or $3, I believe they are worth their weight in gold as they create a neat finish with minimal effort and save copious amounts of time. All you have to do is place a wrapper on the press, spoon in a small amount of filling (being mindful not to overfill them) and press the little handles together. The edges of the wrappers can be moistened with a drop or two of water if the wrappers aren't sealing properly, although sometimes I find there is no need for this step.

Our preferred style of dumplings is pan fried, I probably only steamed dumplings once before we became hooked on the crispy pan fried style. After the dumplings are browned on each side, a splash or two of water is added to the pan which is covered briefly to create some steam which completes the cooking of the wrappers. As I was in a creative type of mood I made up my own dipping sauce to go with the dumplings. I don't have the precise measurements for this so I won't add it to my recipe list yet. It was a mixture of soy sauce (~3 tablespoons), sesame oil (~2 teaspoons) and a finely sliced birds eye chilli. Some minced garlic would have been been lovely in this too.

These dumplings were a household success, the man isn't fond of too much ginger and thankfully I hadn't gone over the top. There was no way the three of us were going to make it through a batch of 48 dumplings even though the young man managed to polish off 20 on his own! I was pleasantly surprised that the leftovers held up well when I enjoyed them cold for lunch the following day.


Pan fried carrot, cabbage and mushroom dumplings

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5cm piece ginger, minced
2 medium carrots, grated
400g green cabbage, finely shredded
100g portobello mushrooms, finely diced
2 tablespoons light soy sauce, tamari or regular soy sauce (approximate measurement, add to taste)
48 gyoza wrappers
Olive or peanut oil, for frying
Water, for the steaming step

Heat the olive oil in a large deep sided frying pan over medium heat and cook the onions for 5 minutes until softened. Stir through the garlic and ginger for a minute then add the carrot, cabbage and mushroom. Cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until the vegetables have reduced in size and softened. Stir through the light soy sauce and continue to cook until the mixture is fairly dry. Turn off the heat and transfer the contents to a large bowl. Allow the mixture to cool down before stuffing the dumplings (I put mine in the freezer for 15 minutes to cool it quickly).

Construct the dumplings using a dumpling press by placing a wrapper on the pressing tool, spooning a small amount of mixture into the centre and pressing the handles together. If you don't have a dumpling press and are feeling adventurous there are some folding tips and pictures here (be warned that this isn't a vegan site).

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan with a lid over medium-high heat. Place as many dumplings that will fit into the pan comfortably and cook for a couple of minutes or until browned. Flip them over and brown the other side. Splash a few tablespoons of water into the pan and cover with a lid. Allow to steam for 3 more minutes then remove the lid, if there is any liquid remaining allow it to cook off. Gently remove the dumplings from the pan with a spatula and continue pan frying the rest of the dumplings in batches.

Serve with your preferred dipping sauce.

A different week in the kitchen

It certainly has been a different week in my kitchen - not a chilli in sight! I wanted to write about this recent period as my cooking has felt entirely different to what is usually on the menu. The man had minor surgery last week (nothing serious) and has needed to eat blander food than usual during his recovery. I usually sway towards spicy meals and probably cook them about 50% of the time so I took this as a perfect opportunity to broaden my horizons a little.

Last weekend I made pierogis which was fun to do but very time consuming. I prepared the dough, a potato-fried onion-dill filling, a sauerkraut-mushroom filling and fried onions for topping ahead of time which was rather simple to do. When it came to putting these little dumplings together, it felt like it took forever and even that was with the aid of a pasta machine to roll out the dough.

I had a few issues with getting the thickness right and initially made the dough too thin which meant that it wasn't robust enough to contain the filling. Another issue I ran into was overstuffing the dumplings which is something I have been guilty of doing in the past with Asian dumplings and really should know better by now. Once those issues were ironed out it was still a lengthy process to manually seal the dumplings and in hindsight I should have used my handy little dumpling press for this task.

The good news was that the pierogis tasted fantastic, the bad news is that I can't share the recipe as it is from Terry Hope Romero's new cookbook that will be released in October. We all preferred the potato and dill filling out of the two and I was especially pleased to find a recipe that made me appreciate this herb as it hasn't been one of my favourites in the past.

With a surplus of dill leftover I investigated other ways to make use of it. Beef stroganoff was something we used to enjoy years ago when we ate meat and then a mushroom version when we were vegetarian. I've been meaning to try a vegan recipe for a while using slices of tempeh and a sour cream replacement so I gave it a shot. I looked up a few different recipes from my cookbooks to get some inspiration but nothing was exactly what I was looking for so I ended up creating my own version inspired from about 3 recipes. I was very happy with the flavour of this meal and the man adored this so I'll have to make it again. I'm going to hold off posting a recipe for now as the consistency of the sauce was too thick and the way I prepared the tempeh needs a little tweaking so stay tuned for this one.

Tonight was the man's birthday and I made him a vegan spanakopita which incorporated baked almond feta which was posted by Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe recently. Johanna mentioned in her post that the cheeze needed more oomph and even with a bit of extra salt, it still wasn't tasty enough. The texture was great as it was creamy and a bit crumbly so I'll be revisiting the feta in the future. The spanakopita was pretty good although a little lacking in salt so once again I'll be tweaking this recipe further before posting my version. 

I'm so used to writing up a post with the objective of sharing a recipe so it feels strange to leave you without one this time around. In recent times I've been cooking up way more than I have had time to write about so at least it feels good to share some of my photos and experiences of the previous week. And even though I'm beginning to crave a spicy meal, it has been anything but a bland week of eating.

Vegan MoFo - O is for Olive Bread and Okonomiyaki

Oooohhh, it's a double post! Olive bread was my choice for this letter until the man asked me to make the Japanese pancake thing you used to make that starts with O - he meant Okonomiyaki of course.

I used to buy Olive bread from time to time but it wasn't terribly popular at home so I would end up devouring the majority of it. I love eating it fresh or toasted and we also discovered on the weekend that it gives an interesting twist to your standard garlic bread. I halved quantities and adapted a recipe from The Cook's Companion which made a french stick sized loaf. A mixture of black and green olives went into the mix as it was what I had on hand and I also used a different herb. It turned out to be a really nice light loaf of bread although I probably would use a few more olives next time.

The name Okonomiyaki translates to okonomi - "as you like it", yaki - "grilled". They are Japanese pancakes which are very tasty when made solely with vegetables as it's the topping sauces that really complete the dish. All of the okonomi sauces contained oyster sauce at my Asian grocer so I searched around and decided to give this simple one a try. I scaled the quantities of the recipe back to 1/4 and made a couple of vegan friendly substitutions. I found that the sauce was rather thin so it was thickened up with some cornflour.

The pancakes are very easy to put together especially if you have a food processor to shred up the cabbage, carrots and zucchini. This was the first time I have used capsicum or bean shoots but they needed using up so they went in.The hardest thing to judge is the consistency of the vegetable batter, if it's too runny they pancakes won't hold together very well but if it's too thick they can taste too floury. They are easy to make and fun to decorate and will fill you up a lot quicker than you think.      

Click here to see my A - Z of Vegan MoFo posts.

Olive bread (Adapted from The Cook's Companion)

300g bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon dried oregano
12 black and green olives, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
150ml warm water

Place the flour, salt, yeast, oregano and olives in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre, pour in the oil followed by the water and mix well. Transfer the mixture to a clean bench and knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is springy and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size, approx 1 hour.

Tip the dough onto your bench but don't knock it back. Work the dough gently in a long loaf shape, then wrap in a floured tea towel and allow to rise to 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 220C with a baking tray inside. Roll the loaf onto the tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.


Okonomiyaki

1/2 small cabbage, shredded
2 small carrots, grated
1 medium zucchini, grated
1/2 red capsicum, finely chopped
1/2 cup bean sprouts, washed and trimmed
1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
pepper, to taste
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water
1 cup plain flour
olive oil spray
okonomi sauce (recipe below), for topping
vegan mayonnaise, for topping
spring onions, for garnish

Mix the cabbage, carrots, zucchini, red capsicum, bean shoots, stock powder and pepper together in a bowl. Add the water and flaxseed/water mixture and use your hands to combine thoroughly. Add the flour a little at time, mixing well with your hands.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and spray lightly with olive oil. Grab a large handful of the mixture, form it into a ball, flatten it slightly then add it to the frying pan. Press down gently on the pancake to flatten it further. After about 3-5 minutes, flip the cake over and cook for a further 3-5 minutes on the other side. Repeat until the mixture is used up.

Serve okonomiyaki topped with okonomi sauce and vegan mayonnaise, garnished with spring onions.


Okonomi sauce Adapted from Okonomiyaki recipe blog)

1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vegan worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon vegan oyster mushroom sauce
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 teaspoons cornflour

Mix the ketchup, worchestershire sauce, oyster mushroom sauce and agave nectar together in a small saucepan. Stir cornflour with a small amount of water in a teacup to make a smooth past, then add it to the saucepan. Heat gently, stirring for a couple of minutes until thickened.

Vegan MoFo - D is for Dal Makhani

When it came to the letter D there was no question about what I was going to make - Dal Makhani! I used to make Indian food on a weekly basis until my husband and son started losing interest in all curries apart from "butter chicken" and koftas. There is something about those little balls that my boys can't get enough of. Personally, my love has always been for dal and although I have tried so many different varieties over the years it is difficult to pick a favourite.

Dal Makhani was chosen for Vegan MoFo as it is one of my most treasured dal recipes and judging from my post where you can find the recipe, it has been over 6 months since I last made it! Black lentils and kidney beans mixed with tomatoes and spices, finished off with a cashew cream is such a divine combination. The man isn't usually very enthused about dal but last night he totally enjoyed the meal and commented several times about how good it was. As we have eaten a fair bit of rice recently, I served the dal with frozen store-bought parathas which puffed up beautifully after a quick fry in the pan. We enjoyed the dal and bread with one of our regular Indian vegetable side dishes which also appeared in my dal makhani post, punjabi cabbage.

Click here to see my A - Z of Vegan Mofo posts.

Mexican Fiesta

Last Saturday night, we had our first official family gathering post renovations. Although the majority of our renovations were completed early this year, we wanted to hold off on dinner parties until we purchased a new dining table. The year has been slipping away too quickly and as we are no closer to purchasing a table, we decided it was time to pull out the old trestle tables and have the man's family over for a meal.

Over the last couple of years we have fallen into the habit of having curry nights in colder months with everyone bringing a curry or two to share. As this was to be our first hosted dinner, I wanted to do something different and suggested a Mexican night which was warmly received.

I planned to make enchiladas and the man suggested that I make two different kinds, potato-chickpea-spinach filling with tomatillo sauce and smoky tofu and black bean filling with tomato enchilada sauce. As well as guacamole, salsa and cashew crema, I felt it would be a good time to try out a salad from Viva Vegan and settled upon the classic cabbage salad with cilantro-lime dressing. And then I felt like there should be some sort of appetiser and a dessert and went off to explore some further options.

On Friday night, my preparations began. I wrote out a task list, marked a few things that could be knocked off in advance and away I went. A couple of hours (and several dishes) later, two different sauces and fillings had been made for the enchiladas, black beans and cashews were soaking and the dressing for the salad was made.

The following day I made two types of flans from Viva Vegan for dessert, vanilla coconut and coffee flavoured (cafe con leche). They had the same caramel topping with a touch of lime juice so it was simple to prepare my moulds in advance with a double batch of this mixture. The fillings were fairly easy to make using agar flakes as the setting agent.

A few years ago I made a 7 layer dip to take to a party and it was very popular although I found it difficult to enjoy as there were too many layers to appreciate at once. I decided to cut back on the layers this time around and wound up with what I will call a triple layer dip. It starts with a layer of refried beans, followed by cashew crema and the top layer is a mixture of chopped avocado, tomato, olives and coriander. The dip was enjoyed by all and the man thought that it deserved a place on my blog. Other family members requested that the cashew crema recipe be posted as they thought it was fantastic as part of the dip and an accompaniment to the main meal.

It was great fun cooking so much food and I enjoyed dabbling in desserts which is something I should do more often!

Triple layer dip

Refried bean layer

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno chilli (or to taste), finely chopped
310g tin pinto beans
1/2 cup cooked black beans
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup water
salt, to taste

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and fry the onion for about 5 minutes until soft. Stir through the garlic and jalapeno and cook for another minute. Add the pinto beans, black beans, cumin, oregano and water and simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat. Mash the beans with a potato masher or a fork until they reach the level of smoothness you want. Season with salt to taste.

Cashew crema layer (From Viva Vegan)

1 cup cashews
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon agave nectar (or use other sweetener)

Soak the cashews in water for at least 4 hours. Drain and rinse then place into a blender with the remaining ingredients. Process for a couple of minutes until a smooth paste is achieved. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Top layer

1/2 large avocado, diced small
1 medium tomato, diced small
8 kalamata olives, diced
1 spring onion, chopped
2 tablespoon fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
squeeze of fresh lime juice
salt and pepper, to taste

To assemble, spread the refried beans evenly on the bottom of your serving dish followed by the cashew crema. Sprinkle the diced avocado, tomato, olives, spring onion and coriander on top. Add a squeeze of lime and some salt and pepper.

Lentil & vegetable colcannon pie

Lentil vegetable cottage pie has been on our repeat list for some time and this wasn't the first time it has been given a make-over. As I missed out on making a St Patrick's Day type of meal last week plus there was a quarter of a cabbage still left from my recent cabbage meals, I decided to turn my old cottage pie into Lentil Vegetable Colcannon Pie.

It's one of those recipes where the filling always fluctuates depending on what vegies are in the fridge. Last weekend, I picked up a couple of dirt cheap bags of red capsicums and mushrooms, however they do need to be used sooner rather than later. This was the first time red capsicum has been a cottage pie ingredient and I probably wouldn't use it again as it made the filling a bit sweeter than usual. Carrots, mushrooms, zucchini and peas seem to blend in without a problem.

It was quite a while ago that I first tried making colcannon so I did a quick recipe search to refresh my memory. One recipe used a method of boiling a quarter of a cabbage and then chopping it after it was cooked which I liked the sound of so this is what I ended up doing.

The pie turned out to be quite a success! When you play around with beloved recipes sometimes it doesn't turn out favourably however this was an exception. Both man and son liked it better than our standard cottage pie so I will make it this way again next time there is spare cabbage around...

Lentil & vegetable colcannon pie

1/2 cup dried brown lentils (or 1 x 400g tin and skip the first step)
1/4 cabbage
5 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 red capsicum, diced (some frozen peas or diced zucchini works better)
5 button mushrooms, diced
1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Place lentils in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Drain and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add 1/4 of an unchopped cabbage. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the cabbage has changed colour and softened slightly. Remove with tongs and drain. Chop roughly when cool enough to handle. Add the potatoes to this pot and cook for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Drain.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook until softened. Stir through the garlic for a minute, then mix in the carrot, red capsicum and mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally then add the tinned tomatoes, basil, oregano, bay leaf and tomato paste. Simmer covered for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables have softened then stir through the lentils. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Heat the dairy-free margarine in a large saucepan and cook the shallots for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the potatoes and mash thoroughly, drizzling in soy milk slowly until a smooth consistency is achieved. Mix through chopped cabbage, nutritional yeast and season with salt and pepper.

Place the lentil and vegetable mixture in the bottom of a 30cm x 20cm casserole dish and spread evenly. Add the colcannon and smooth it out to the edges so it entirely covers the filling. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the colcannon is starting to brown.

Dal Makhani with Punjabi Cabbage

Indian food has been sorely neglected in my kitchen recently. We all used to love frequent Indian feasts at home, however the only way I seem to be able to get my troops enthused about it these days is to make koftas (which I have just promised to make again soon). Give me a bowl of nicely spiced dal any time and I am a happy camper.

The first time I sampled Dal Makhani was in a restaurant and I loved the creamy texture even though it was not spicy enough for my liking. I searched for a while and tried a few different versions and made up my own based upon these recipes. A girl of Indian heritage that I used to work with advised me that Dal Makhani is also known as the "Royal Dal" as it is commonly served at special occasions and weddings.

With a surplus of cabbage left-over from last night's cabbage rolls, I knew exactly how some of this could be put to good use. Punjabi Cabbage is another great vegie side I have made several times from my cookbook, The Food of India. It is a rather spicy dish so I decided to cut back on the spices by half this time. This turned out to be a bit too mild so it probably needs to be somewhere in between.  

The Dal Makhani was also toned down a little from how it used to be prepared and this time the result was perfect, so creamy and a nice balance of spices. It turned out to be one of the best dal recipes that I have prepared so I will stick to this formula in the future. A little planning is required as the dried lentils and kidney beans need to be soaked for about 8 hours prior to cooking.  

Dal Makhani

1 cup of dried black urad dal/black lentils
1/3 cup of dried red kidney beans
1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews
1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
10 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tomatoes, diced
salt to taste
fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped,to garnish

Soak the lentils and kidney beans together for 8 hours. Drain the water and rinse thoroughly. Place into a medium saucepan and fill with water until the pulses are covered and there is about 2cm of water above them. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered for 1 hour.

Place the cashews in a bowl and cover with water. Soak for 1 hour.

Heat the margarine in a frying pan. Add cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle, then add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for a few minutes until softened then add turmeric, curry leaves, chilli powder, coriander and half of the garam masala. Stir for a minute then mix through the diced tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes have softened.

When the lentils and kidney beans have cooked for an hour, stir through the tomato and spices mixture. Add salt to taste, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. 

Place the cashews into a blender with a small amount of water and process for a few minutes until the mixture has a smooth and creamy texture.

Stir the extra garam masala, cashew cream and coriander through the lentils and serve. Use extra coriander for garnish.

Punjabi Cabbage (Adapted from The Food of India)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped finely
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
4 cups green cabbage, finely shredded
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the cumin seeds until sizzling and fragrant then add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli, fry until softened but not browned. Add the turmeric, salt, pepper, ground cumin and coriander to the saucepan and stir through. Mix in the cabbage, stirring thoroughly until all the leaves are coated in the spices.

Cook for 10 minutes with the pan partially covered, stirring occasionally until the cabbage is soft. If the cabbage becomes too dry and starts sticking to the pan, add 1-2 tablespoons water. Stir in the margarine and season with salt, to taste.

Ottolenghi Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls have been on my radar to cook again and blog about for a couple of reasons. The first being that they were really nice when I first made them and also because Yotam seems to becoming increasing popular on the blogosphere.

I observed my mother-in-law making cabbage rolls containing meat some time ago which I had never tried in my life. She gave me the idea that I may be able to find a vegetarian version and after searching on the net, I was thrilled to find Yotam's cabbage rolls as there were a few of his recipes that I had already tried successfully.

The original recipe uses ricotta as part of the filling so the natural substitution for this was tofu, nutritional yeast and lemon juice. It is a rather time consuming dish to put together, however once the cabbage rolls are prepared there is an hour of free time to prepare a side dish or two.

It probably wasn't the best decision to serve these with couscous as there are enough grains contained within the cabbage rolls. There was half a packet of pearl couscous in the pantry which I love and had been wanting to use for some time so this became our side dish. It was made up of 2 cloves of garlic, diced carrots and red capsicum, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon harissa, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and a cup of vegetable stock. When the couscous was cooked, I added half a tin of lentils and a tablespoon of coriander. This resulted in a tasty, mildly spiced side dish.

The cabbage rolls turned out beautifully again, however I think they would be even nicer with double the amount of tofu, nutritional yeast and lemon juice and the rice reduced to 1/3 - 1/2 cup. This is what I'll be trying next time...

Cabbage Rolls (Adapted from a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe via The Guardian)

1 tablespoon Nuttelex or other dairy-free margarine
45g vermicelli (recipe states not to use the rice variety but that's all I had!)
3/4 cup basmati rice
1 1/4 cups water
Salt and black pepper
1 medium white cabbage
40g pine nuts, toasted, chopped
125g firm tofu, crumbled
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 x 700ml jar passata
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 cup water, to rinse the passata jar
1 tablespoon sugar
Extra parsley, chopped

Melt the margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat. Break the noodles into rough 2cm lengths and add to the pan, stirring continuously. When the noodles start turning golden, stir in the rice, water and half a teaspoon of salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to sit for 10 minutes, then remove the lid to let it cool down a bit.

While the rice is cooking, remove 12 leaves from the cabbage. Blanch the leaves in boiling water for about 5 minutes, until semi-soft (I do this in batches). Rinse under cold water, drain, pat dry and set aside.

Heat the oven to 180C. Add the pine nuts, tofu, nutritional yeast, mint, parsely and garlic to the rice, season to taste and stir with a fork. Make a parcel with each cabbage leaf, filling it with a generous amount of the rice mix and rolling it up so that the filling is totally enclosed.

Arrange the cabbage parcels close together in a baking dish. Mix the passata, white wine vinegar, water, sugar and some seasoning, pour this over the parcels, and sprinkle with parsley. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the sauce is thoroughly bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for five minutes before serving sprinkled with extra parsley.